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4X03 - THE AWFUL TRUTH ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON ABC: 01/12/05 Black Screen, then: BA(H)AMAS Cut to daytime establishing sh*t of a tropical beach. Cut to Sydney and Marshall walking into a bank. Sydney is dressed in a knee length geometric print dress w/ expensive looking glasses. She reeks of money. Marshall is wearing a smarmy thin fake mustache, his hair slicked back, light tan suit with a black shirt, smacking gum, and carrying a briefcase. A bank manager comes out to meet them. A glance at Sydney shows she's also smacking on some gum. The bank manager puts out his hand and Sydney shakes it. Bank Manager: Mrs. DeMarco, it's a pleasure. I'm the bank manager; we spoke on the phone. Sydney (in nasal voice with heavy Noo Yawk accent (think Marissa Tomei from "My Cousin Vinny"): Yeah... My jet got bouncy outta Newark... Not to be a pain in the shaker, but can we cut to this, aight? Bank Manager: By all means. They start walking. Sydney offhandedly introduces, Sydney (pointing to Marshall with her sunglasses): This is Leon... The bank manager turns and shakes Marshall's hand as he says, Marshall (also in New York accent): Hey, how ya doin'? Leon Frost... CPA, MBA, Phd...That's a nice suit. Bank Manager: Thank you. Sydney: So...can we do business? They walk by a desk where a very disgruntled Vaughn is talking with his voice raised to the bank worker helping him. Vaughn (in an Australian/British accent): Yes, I'm sure this is the right bank. Please check it again: Roger Fonseca. You've never heard of the Fonseca vineyards!? Bank Associate: No. Vaughn: Please, check it again. F O N S E C A...like it says on the passport. Cut back to Syd, Marshall and the bank manager as they enter his office. Sydney: You guarantee...my name can't be traced to my account number? Not that I've got anything to hide or anything... Bank Manager: The names of all the account holders are stored exclusively in my personal safe (pats safe), right here. It's only my hand...protected biometrically. Sydney primps at her eyebrows. Sydney: If it's good enough for three ex-presidents, I guess it's good enough for a plumber's wife... Both "Leon" and the bank manager laugh at Sydney's joke. Bank Manager: Now, the minimum deposit that I mentioned... Sydney: Leon... (smacks him on the arm impatiently) Marshall: Guess that would be my department... Marshall opens the briefcase to flash at the bank manager. It's full of money. Marshall (under breath): In here... Bank Manager: Excellent. All right. Your full name. Sydney: Claudia Maria Viasquez DeMarco. Bank Manager: That's a lovely name. Sydney: Oh, charmed, I'm sure... Cut to the main lobby and Vaughn at the desk. Vaughn: This is ridiculous. I'm going to start getting upset if you don't find my account information now! Your manager will not be happy to lose my business... Dixon walks in, dressed in long dreadlocks, sunglasses, shell necklace, etc. He walks right up to the desk where Vaughn is sitting and completely interrupts. Dixon (in Jamaican accent): Excuse me please, miss...Tell me where I can go to cash this check... Vaughn (to Dixon, annoyed): I'm doing business here, Braidy. Go bother someone else. Dixon: Is me you're talkin' to like that, mon? Vaughn: Yes, 'mon'... it is! And I'm not in a good mood, so just walk away! Dixon (laughs and puts a friendly hand on Vaughn's shoulder): Oh my...you need more peace in your life, brother... Vaughn (standing up now, confrontational): Maybe you need a hearing aid...and I'm not your brother, so shove off! (shoves Dixon in the chest) Dixon shoves Vaughn back and Vaughn punches him. The woman at the desk stands up, phone in hand. Bank Associate: Okay, break it up! Guard! Cut back to Syd, Marshall and the bank manager. Bank Manager (showing Sydney an index card): This is your account number, and this is your name...in code, of course. Phone rings. Bank manager answers. Sydney takes her account card and dances it between her fingers as if tickled about having it. Bank Manager: Yes. (hangs up phone, then to Sydney) Excuse me... I'll be right back in one minute. Marshall: We'll hold down the fort...anyone tries to steal anything from ya... (bank manager pats Marshall on the back on the way by, enjoying his joke) Sydney(admonishing him): Leon... Marshall: Oh, sorry. They both wait until the bank manager closes the door and then they spring into action. Sydney crosses the room to the safe. Marshall lifts a false bottom on the briefcase to reveal a scanner. Sydney peels a piece of latex from her palm and places it on the safe's hand scanner. Marshall: Scanning to get a base reference. (scanning Sydney's account code) Cut to the main lobby, where Vaughn and Dixon are wrestling. A guard is trying to break them up. The bank manager sees the scuffle and comes running. Bank Manager: Break it up! Break it up! Break it up! He tries to pull Vaughn off of Dixon and gets shoved aside. Cut to Sydney as the biometric scanner recognizes the bank manager's palm print. The safe pops open. Sydney pulls a metal file box out of the safe and starts searching through it. Sydney: What's the account number? Marshall: 1420543020202020222069685. Cut to the lobby as the guard and the bank manager muscle Vaughn and Dixon outside. Cut back to Syd and Marshall as Syd hands Marshall the appropriate card. He scans it while Syd checks her watch. Cut to the lobby as Vaughn and Dixon are removed. The bank manager stops apologizes to other patrons. Cut back to Sydney and Marshall as they rush to put the card back. Sydney puts the box back into the safe and closes it. Sydney is still bent over the safe as the bank manager comes back into the office. Sydney slowly rises to a stand. Bank Manager: What were you doin'? Sydney (still in character): Breakin' inta your safe? She picks up her sunglasses from a wall ledge behind the safe. The bank manager looks between her and Marshall for a moment, but then starts to laugh. Bank Manager: Ya almost fooled me. Sydney smiles and puts her sunglasses back on, then starts to giggle. Then she full out laughs and points at the bank manager as if it were a practical joke and she caught him. CUT TO BLACK LOS (A)NGELES Establishing night sh*t of LA skyline. A doorbell rings. Cut to Sydney's door from the outside. Sydney opens the door. Sydney: Thanks for coming. Come on in. The pizza delivery guys follows her into her apartment. She's having a party. Sydney: Right here, please. (indicating kitchen counter) The delivery man puts three boxes on the counter and leaves. Dixon and Marshall are on either side of the counter, digging into the top box. Marshall: Hungry... (piles three slices of pizza on his plate and then looks up guiltily at Dixon) I'm...starving... What? You're taking three... Dixon: These are for my kids. Marshall: Well, these are for Mitchell... Dixon: Your son is 14 months old... Marshall: Is that...too young to have pizza? Sydney comes over, smiling with amusement at Marshall and taking a slice of pizza from the box. Sydney: Marshall... Marshall: Hey...thanks for inviting us... Sydney nods and giggles. Cut across the room to where Weiss and Nadia are talking animatedly. Sydney walks up to stand next to Vaughn. Sydney: So...I think something's going on between my sister and the birthday boy. Vaughn: Yeah, I've been watching that...I can tell you, that is not a great thing. Sydney: Why not? Vaughn: Because the same thing happens every time: He gets way too eager, the girl breaks his heart, and I have to clean it up. Sydney (playfully scolding): Don't be a cynic. Sydney holds up a slice of pizza and Vaughn takes a bite from it. Vaughn: Pizza and vegetables? Sydney (smiling at his teasing, shrugs): I know. Cut to Nadia and Weiss. Weiss: The hard thing to do... Nadia: We should go sometime. Weiss: No woman ever wants to go to the Magic Castle... Nadia: Oh, I like magic...and I like your smile, too. Weiss blushes and points to his own face. Weiss: This one right here? This smile? Nadia (giggling): Yeah. Weiss (laughing): How red is my face right now? Nadia (laughing): Very red... Sydney and Vaughn approach them, Sydney sidling up to Nadia, Vaughn sidling up to Weiss. Sydney: Hey, guys. Nadia: Hey! Sydney: How's it going? Nadia: Very well. Vaughn (aside to Weiss): Easy, tiger... Weiss: Oh no...I'm on f*re, my friend. She loves magic... Sydney (to Nadia): You think people are having fun? Nadia: Yeah. A friend of Weiss comes up and play strangles him from behind. Weiss: Whoa! (saving his drink from spilling) Friend: You're so old! Weiss: Dude, you're so bald! What's up? I'm so glad you're here. These are friends of mine. This is Sydney... Friend: Hey, how you doing? Weiss: Nadia... Friend: How you doing? Weiss: And, uh...(trailing off as if he can't remember) Vaughn: Michael? Weiss: Right! Vaughn and Friend shake hands. Weiss: I used to work with these guys until they went private sector on me. Friend: What do you do now? Sydney: I work in a bank. In the loan department. Vaughn looks over at the door and spies Jack coming in. Vaughn motions over to the door with his head and says to Sydney, Vaughn: Looks like the party just got started. As he walks by the counter, Marshall says to him, Marshall: Hey, Mr. Bristow! Jack nods in his direction. Marshall: You want some pizza...or a cocktail? Jack doesn't answer. He's looking straight at Sydney, who excuses herself from the group and walks over to him. Sydney: Dad... Jack: It must have been lost in the mail. Sydney (in surprise): Your invitation? Jack: Unless it was an e-vite. I don't read...e-vites. Sydney looks aside a little, recognizing Jack's joke. Jack smiles just a ghost of a smile in return. Cut to Syd and Jack outside on the patio talking. Jack: Your mission in the Bahamas last week paid off. We know who has the Valta. Sydney: That's what you came here to tell me? There's a briefing in the morning. Jack: I've learned...that you've invited your sister to live here. Sydney: I'm letting her stay here, yes. Jack: Are you aware that Sloane has Langley's approval to make her a permanent member of our team at APO? Sydney: If you're wondering if I've told Nadia that you k*lled our mother...No, I haven't...but I plan to. Jack: Out of spite? Sydney: Out of respect. Jack: Sydney...consider the ramifications... Sydney: She's my sister. I need to tell her the truth. Jack: This isn't about what you need, Sydney... Sydney: No, apparently it's about what you need... Jack: You don't know how Nadia may react to that information... Sydney: Which would be especially true if she finds out from another source. Jack: I needn't remind you that your sister has sworn to k*ll the man responsible for your mother's death. At that moment, Nadia slides open the glass door to the patio. Nadia: Hey, (to Jack) Hi. Syd, where are the candles? These guys wanna do the cake? Sydney: I'll be right there. Nadia: Okay. Nadia walks away. Sydney: Trust me, Dad...I don't look forward to telling Nadia what you did...or why you did it... but she will learn the truth somehow, and I would rather it be from me. Sydney leaves Jack to his thoughts on the patio. CUT TO BLACK Alias Theme. (Or, now is the time in Alias when we dance!) Establishing sh*t of daytime LA. Cut to Sloane, giving the briefing at APO. Sloane: Ten days ago, the Valta computer was stolen in broad daylight as it was being transferred to NSA headquarters. Now, the Valta represents cutting-edge technology; will revolutionize information gathering from satellite networks. If it falls in the wrong hands... Marshall: It would be like, monster bad... Sloane: Simply put, we cannot let the Valta be delivered. Sydney: Delivered to whom? Sloane: A new t*rror1st network out of Germany...the Baden Liga. The theft was financed by transferring 3 million Euros into an untraceable account in the Bahamas. Your work has given us the name on that account. Martin Bishop. Intel indicates that Bishop is still waiting to receive final payment before he delivers the Valta. Sydney: Then we need to get to Bishop right away. Dixon: What do we know about him? Sloane: He's a British ex-pat living in Spain. He has a reputation as a lady-k*ller...literally. His wife disappeared three years ago. Rumor has it that he k*lled her in order to spend more time with his mistress. Sydney: Charming. Sloane: Professionally, Bishop specialized in acquiring high-risk, high-reward military targets. The Valta...must be recovered...or destroyed. I want you to find it. That will be all. (pause as meeting breaks) Sydney... Sydney watches as the others leave the conference room. Sloane: Thank you. Sydney: For what. Sloane: For letting my daughter stay with you. As Nadia acclimates to this life, to a new family...she needs support...and you have put my mind at ease. Sydney: The thought that I did something that might have given you a warm and fuzzy feeling makes me want to kick my own sister out of my house. Sloane: Yeah. Well, Nadia won't be assisting you on the Bishop case. Now that she's joining our team, your father has offerred to run her through her psych evaluation. Sydney (unsettled by this news): Really... Cut to Sydney and Jack walking down an APO hallway. Jack: The Yaga-Hoshi review can predict how an individual will react to highly stressful situations and the discovery of delicate intel. Sydney: Delicate intel... Jack: Sydney, I'm resigned to the fact that you're going to tell Nadia what happened, but when are you going to tell her that?Now? Two hours before you leave for an operation? Sydney: Not until I get back. Jack: Understood. And I agree...it's for the best. Sydney (looking highly suspicious): What are you up to, Dad... Jack (he instead looks over Sydney's shoulder and looks in the conference room): They're waiting for you, Sydney. Sydney reluctantly walks away. The camera pans back so that we see Jack standing alone in the hallway. Cut to Nadia standing at the other end of the hallway, watching him. Sloane walks up behind her. Sloane: Nadia... Nadia: Is he always so cold? Sloane: Jack? (he smiles) I'm afraid so. So, I was wondering...are you free tonight? There's this restaurant on Melrose that serves Argentinian food... We can go anyplace you like. Nadia: I'd like that. Sloane: Good. (Jack catches his eye and nods.) I'll see you when you're through. Nadia: Okay. Nadia turns and walks down the hallway toward Jack. As she walks by the conference room we hear, Vaughn: Great. I'll check that out with the NSA... Cut to Vaughn, Marshall, Dixon and Sydney talking about the mission. Vaughn: Intel indicates Bishop owns a dozen industrial properties in Spain. Any one of them could be a safe hiding place for the Valta. Bishop also recently purchased an MK-1200 from Shayleen Tech. Marshall: Well, you don't buy a server like that to look at online p*rn... Vaughn: No, you buy it to coordinate international business operations; at least, that's what it's made for. Sydney: Logistics, essentially. So, let's assume the location of the Valta is on that server... Marshall: ...and the server's on his estate. Dixon: An hour out of Malaga...a couple of hundred acres. Marshall: And you can't hack into an MK-1200 from the outside, FYI. Vaughn: Okay, so what if you're on the inside? Dixon: Multiple electric fences, cameras on high sweep, armed guards, comm jammers... Marshall: Well, if you can get past all that, I've got this really cool laser lock pick that'll help you hack into the server. It's housed in this watch that's awesomely designed...by me...Marshall J. Flinkman...except I'm still working on that overheating problem... Sydney: So, we need to get into that house, get into the server, and that will tell us where he's hiding the Valta. Vaughn: How do you break into the house of a master thief? Sydney: I don't think you do. I think you have to be invited... CUT TO BLACK MARTIN (cell, in German): The delivery will be on time. MARTIN (cell, in German): When was the last time I let you down? MARTIN (cell, in German): Call me when you arrive. The mercedes drives past a grove of trees where Marshall, Dixon, etc. are hiding in a van. MARSHALL: Okay, they're approaching. DIXON: I've locked onto the cell phone frequencies. VAUGHN: All set. Martin sees the car crash, and tells his driver... MARTIN: Pull over. The picture feed to the van is upside down. VAUGHN: Marshall, can you flip that? MARSHALL: Sorry. DIXON: Okay, cell phones are jammed. VAUGHN: Hey, it's not igniting. MARSHALL: What? Hang on a sec. Sometimes you just need a little magic touch... and... f*re. SYDNEY: Help! Help! Can't get my seat-belt off! MARTIN: Are you all right? SYDNEY: I don't know! My seat-belt's stuck. Please hurry. Please, my seat-belt's right here. Please. MARTIN (to driver): Call for help! SYDNEY: Mah seat-belt! Please, sir, please! Hurry, please, please. MARTIN: It's stuck! VAUGHN: Trigger the belt. MARSHALL: What, you don't want to milk this a little bit? DIXON: Marshall, do it. MARSHALL: Allright. Don't have to get so snappy. Martin gets Sydney out of the car. MARSHALL: And now for the big finish. Rock 'n Roll Cleveland! DRIVER: Sir, are you okay? MARTIN: Fine. (to Syd) What about you? SYDNEY: Yeah. DRIVER: Sir, I can't get a signal. I don't know what's wrong. SYDNEY: Please don't call anybody. Please. MARTIN: You just rolled your car. You must have been going at 200 kilometers an hour. SYDNEY: Sometimes you need to drive fast. MARTIN: So why are you in such a rush? SYDNEY: Long story. MARSHALL: This guy scares me. You know, he k*lled his wife. He's a wife-k*ller. b*at her to death, stuffed her in a dumpster, who knows what else. VAUGHN: Marshall, shut up. MARTIN: Where are you headed? SYDNEY: You just saved my life. MARTIN: Perhaps I did. I'm quite something, aren't I? SYDNEY: To me you are. MARTIN: You know, a doctor should really look at... SYDNEY: No... I'm fine, I just need a place to rest. I haven't slept much the past few days. I'm fine. MARTIN: I live near here. I'm taking you back to my house. SYDNEY: Okay. DIXON: Outrigger to base. Phoenix is in. She's on her own. VAUGHN: g*n to base. Hold your position. We're still on schedule. Outrigger's patching us into the grid, we'll have a laser-mic operational in 5 minutes. SLOANE: Affirmative, g*n. We're standing by for your information. VAUGHN: Roger that. VAUGHN: Are you sure we can't use standard phones? MARSHALL: Bishop is using at least four high-impedence jammers. To bore a hole through that kind of noise, Sydney would have to wear a generator the size of a baby hippopotamus. There's certainly no way to sneak around somebody's house with a baby hippopotamus strapped to your... back. Vaughn gets up and leaves the van. MARSHALL: Good luck! Martin Bishop spies on Sydney while she's taking a shower, then goes through her purse. Syd comes out of the shower in a robe. SYDNEY: That's a nice shower. MARTIN: Yeah. Good. I'm glad you like it. How are you feeling? SYDNEY: Fine. Grateful. MARTIN: No more thanks. You have a good excuse to get to know my house. I haven't been in this room for about three years. SYDNEY: Three years? MARTIN: Not since my wife left me. SYDNEY: I'm sorry to hear about it. MARTIN: It's in the past. His cell phone rings. MARTIN: Yeah? MARTIN (German): I told you there could be a delay. MARTIN (German): All's well. Have faith. I'll see you tomorrow. MARTIN: Your shoulder. SYDNEY: It's nothing. MARTIN: All this didn't come from the accident. SYDNEY: It's fine. MARTIN: Who are you running from? SYDNEY: Your wife left you. I left someone. Only he didn't want me to go. MARTIN: Who is he? I can have someone talk to him. SYDNEY: I'm all right. Now I'm all right. Just have to remember not to wear something strapless. MARTIN: I have some business in town. Stay here Charlene. Rest. When I get back, we'll have dinner. SYDNEY: My car's totalled. I'm not going anywhere. Thank you, Martin. MARTIN: Oh, stay in side. Don't run on the grounds. There's security. SYDNEY: I'll stay put. You might need to wake me when you get back. MARTIN: I look forward to it. --- Jack doing a psych evaluation... JACK: You've been sent to Paris to extract a deep-cover operative. You've successfully transferred him to a safehouse on ? San-Louis, when a secure communication comes in that you've been exposed. Do you abort? NADIA: Well, that depends... JACK: What's your impulse? That's what this is about. NADIA: Is the operative one of us? JACK: Yes or no? NADIA: No. JACK: While tapping the phone line of a target in New Delhi, you're spotted by the enemy. Your partner tells you to continue with the mission objective while he neutralizes the target. Do you obey him, or fight back? NADIA: Is the phone system ? PBX matrix? JACK: Just answer the question, please. NADIA: Why is my partner a man? JACK: The sex of your partner is irrelevant. NADIA: Oh. No I would not obey. I'd help her fight him off, then she and I could finisht the job together. --- SLOANE: Jack. How's she doing? JACK: I don't quite know yet. SLOANE: Oh, come on, Jack, it's been two hours. You must have formed an opinion. JACK: I have, but I need to be certain. SLOANE: Of course. --- Spain Vaughn uses some weird laser mic to communicate with Sydney, who has made her way to a balcony. VAUGHN: g*n to Phoenix, how do you read? SYDNEY: This is so weird. It sounds like you're right next to me. You can hear me? VAUGHN: No. SYDNEY: That's good. It's like talking to my conscience. VAUGHN: It is, a little bit, isn't it? VAUGHN (comm): Merlin, what's your status? MARSHALL (comm): Give me a sec. Okay, uh... Okay, we've got a huge power drain in the basement, it's the room at the far southern end. VAUGHN (comm): Copy that. VAUGHN: Phoenix, your target is in the basement, southern-most room, looks like an office. Rendezvous at the far window on the first floor; move on my mark. I see two visible bogeys, one on the third floor, one below. Okay, you're clear. Go. A guard goes snooping around Sydney's room, but it's okay because she left the water running in the bathroom and had a marshall gadget that's playing her end of a fake cell phone conversation. The guard goes away. Syd gets to the room. Vaughn can communicate with her with the magical laser mic because there's a window. SYDNEY: We're good. VAUGHN: Good. Move fast. She uses the nifty laser key lockpick thing in her watch to access the computer. As soon as the display shows up, there's an image of a Sierpinski tetrahedron and a Sierpinski cube. Gratuitous eye candy. She tells the computer to search for "VALTA" SYDNEY: I found the VALTA. It's located at Alameda yards, id number is charlie-zero-seven-one-seven. VAUGHN: Okay, the coast is clear. Get out of there. I'll see you at the extraction point. VAUGHN (comm): Sydney's on her way. DIXON (comm): On our way for pick-up. SLOANE (phone) This is Arvin Sloane. The requested intel's been acquired. VALTA is located in container ID charlie-zero-seven-one-seven in Alameda yards. VAUGHN (comm): Wait, stand down. DIXON (comm): What? MARSHALL (comm): What, what is it? As Sydney leaves the house, Martin Bishop pulls up. SYDNEY: I saw you pull in. MARTIN: You seem out of breath. SYDNEY: Just glad you're back. MARTIN: Really? This way. VAUGHN (comm): We've got a problem. --- Psych evaluation, continued. JACK: You're part of a three-man team. Three-woman team, if you prefer. A tactical mission. You suspect that one of your team members may be a mole. Do you tell the third? NADIA: No. JACK: You return from an operation overseas. While the operation was successful, certain information may reflect negatively on one of your team members. Do you include said information in your op report? NADIA: No. Mr. Bristow... JACK: Yes? NADIA: I don't mean to seem impatient, but.. I've never done anything that's lasted as long as this. JACK: How sad for you. Jack's phone rings. JACK (phone): Jack Bristow. JACK: Wer're through. --- SLOANE: I gave Langley the location of the VALTA. JACK: Are they asking ? SLOANE: They have a team standing by in Malaga. They're about to raid one of Bishop's yards. JACK: What about Sydney? SLOANE: She's still in the house with Bishop. JACK: Is her cover blown? SLOANE: I don't know. JACK: Can we extract her? SLOANE: Not yet. Langley considers the raid top priority. We have the authority to seize Bishop only after the VALTA is seized or destroyed. I'm sorry, Jack, but I just thought that you should know. JACK: Then I'm going to Spain myself, and I'd like to take Nadia with me. SLOANE: About that, have you learned anything helpful? JACK: Enough. Enough to deal with the problem at hand. --- MARTIN: It occurred to me that this night represents things I've been considering for some time. SYDNEY: How's that? MARTIN: The choices I make, the people with whom I choose to keep company. Work versus everything else. VAUGHN (mic): If you can hear me, tuck your hair behind your ear. She does. SYDNEY: Sounds like a mid-existential crisis. MARTIN: (laughing) Yes, that's it. VAUGHN: Langley's ordered a raid on the Alameda yard. You have got to get out of there. SYDNEY: It's easy to doubt yourself, but sometimes you need to stick with it and stay the course. VAUGHN: Damnit, no! You've got to get out of there. When Bishop hears about the raid, he'll suspect you. MARTIN: But I think in my case, it might be time to make a mid-course correction. The fact is, I don't believe in coincidences. SYDNEY: Meaning what? You and I were destined to meet? MARTIN: Possibly, but I'm more interested to know why we met. SYDNEY: I told you. I was involved with the wrong man. MARTIN: I don't believe that. --- At Alameda yards WEISS: Let's go! Move! Move! WEISS: ? in position. WEISS: Fan out. They open the container and throw in a grenade. Someone starts sh**ting at them. The grenade explodes. sh**ting continues. --- House MARSHALL: I don't get it. Why doesn't she just kick his ass, and then run? DIXON: She doesn't want to blow her cover. She wants to get out clean in case the raid goes south. SLOANE (comm): g*n, team is down. Weiss was team leader. We believe he's been captured. VAUGHN: (mic): Take that son of a b**** out! The CIA team's under att*ck. They've got Weiss. MARTIN: You're trembling. SYDNEY: I want to be honest, but everything has happened so fast. I promised myself I wouldn't see someone again. I really need more details. MARTIN: About me? VAUGHN: We don't have more details. Weiss took out the VALTA with a grenade and then went radio-silent. You've got to move, now! MARTIN: I have nothing to hide. His cell phone rings. MARTIN: Excuse me. MARTIN: Yeah? VOICE: Sir, we just had an incident at Alameda yards. MARTIN: How bad? VOICE: The VALTA was destroyed. It was CIA. I double checked our signals traffic. Somebody was on your server, in your house, an hour ago. MARTIN: Interesting. Thank you, Peter. SYDNEY: You alright? SYDNEY: Your expression, reminds me of my uncle. VAUGHN (comm): g*n to Outrigger. Phoenix just gave the callsign. I'm going in. Request backup. DIXON (comm): I'm on my way. They go in. VAUGHN: Outrigger, anything? DIXON: Negative. VAUGHN: Where is she? DIXON: Where's anyone? --- In the van VAUGHN: The escape tunnel only gave them an out. They have to be somewhere. MARSHALL: While you're getting very impatient, I'm doing the best I can. VAUGHN: You've been doing it for an hour. MARSHALL: Well, to trace a guy on a cellular network using the frequency of his phone is like trying to find a needle in a county full of haystacks. VAUGHN: You have to find them. MARSHALL: Yeah, I know what I'm supposed to be doing, alright? Shut up. MARSHALL: Sorry about that. VAUGHN: No, that was good. MARSHALL: Hey, we got a h*t. The cell phone signal's weak. VAUGHN: Can you locate them? MARSHALL: Yeah. I'm trying. --- On a cargo plane, Jack and Nadia JACK: They were tracking Bishop. We'll coordinate with Vaughn on the ground. NADIA: I know it must be hard for you, having me at APO. JACK: Not at all. NADIA: I can't defend the choices my mother made. JACK: Nadia, I would never blame you for your mother's infidelity. But there is something I need to share with you. I only do this because of your test results. NADIA: Did I fail horribly? JACK: Hardly. Not surprisingly, your ability to adapt to sudden changes in protocol, to handle adverse situations, is exceptional. The results were very much like your sister's. JACK: Sydney doesn't know this yet, the results of an ongoing investigation. Ironically, this intel came in to me just this morning. --- SLOANE (phone): This is Sloane. VAUGHN: It's Vaughn. We've got Jack and Nadia. We're tracking Bishop, and we're en route. --- MARTIN: Let me explain something to you. I have been paid hansomely, paid by the Baten Leiger to deliver the VALTA computer, which you decided to destroy with the toss of a hand grenade. As you can imagine, they won't be very happy. When they get here, which they will shortly, the will k*ll me unless I can provide them with information of equal or greater value. MARTIN: You're both CIA, so you've obviously infiltrated my friend's network. I want to know how. So, what's your real name, Charlene? SYDNEY: I'm a... MARTIN: Ima what? SYDNEY: I'm a going to kick your ass. He slaps her. WEISS: Son of a b****! He sh**t just past her. MARTIN: The next one will go between your eyes. He gets a phone call. GUARD (cell): Yeah? GUARD: The Baden Leiger. MARTIN: If they move, sh**t them in the kneecaps. Sydney's cutting through the rope with her laser watch. WEISS: Argh! My heart! The guard approaches, and Weiss kicks the guard. Sydney has gotten free, and beats the guard up. WEISS: What the hell is going on? You said you weren't Agency anymore. SYDNEY: I'll tell you later. Thanks for the distraction, by the way. WEISS: Yeah, thanks for saving my life. WEISS: Wait, this is black ops, isn't it? Is Vaughn part of this too? SYDNEY: We've got to go. WEISS: Am I right? SYDNEY: We've got to go. --- MARTIN (cell): The machine is destroyed, but I have something of greater value-- two CIA agents. VOICE (cell): We don't want agents. We want the Valta. You're a d*ad man, Bishop. You're d*ad. He hangs up. Sydney and Vaughn start sh**ting at him. WEISS: Go for Bishop! Weiss runs into Vaughn. WEISS: Dude, I knew it! Meanwhile, Sydney is hanging onto the roof of an old mercedes as Martin is trying to make his getaway. She sh**t Martin's shoulder from above. He crashes the car, and she's thrown off the roof. He gets out. MARTIN: I liked you much better as Charlene. Nadia sh**t him to death, emptying the magazine. SYDNEY: Is that how you normally deal with bad guys? NADIA: He was the one. He k*lled our mother. --- SYDNEY: Dad, why does Nadia think that Bishop k*lled our mother? JACK: I adjusted some details in Bishop's file. SYDNEY: You set her up. JACK: I'd hardly call Martin Bishop an ally. I solved two problems with one answer. (Geez, who is writing these scripts? Can you get more awkward-sounding language than that?) SYDNEY: You manipulated Nadia. JACK: I gave your sister closure. SYDNEY: But not the truth. JACK: Sometimes the satisfying lie, Sydney, can do more good than the awful truth. Sydney walks back to the group, which now includes Weiss. Jack's usual gloomy face looks on.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x03 - The Awful Truth"}

foreverdreaming

4X04 - ICE ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON ABC: 01/19/05 Scene opens to a Middle Eastern indoor marketplace. There are various stalls selling metal wares, goats, etc. Pan to a bearded Caucasian man in his 30s (Modell), dressed in shorts, polo shirt and baseball cap wanders through the crowd mumbling to stray passerby: MODELL: My bird is missing. MODELL: My bird is missing. MODELL: My bird is missing. MODELL: My bird is missing. Watching this, Weiss (who is also dressed casually) rolls his eyes and sidles up behind Modell to tell him: WEISS: It's "I've lost my canary," and try telling it to the woman in the café upstairs. Weiss shakes his head as Modell walks away. He threads his way through the crowd. We see he passes Vaughn, also dressed in casual clothing, pretending to look at some wares as he watches the staircase up to the café. Modell finds casually dressed Sydney sitting at a table drinking a cup of espresso. He sits down and says: MODELL: I've lost my canary. SYDNEY: You should have clipped its wings. Modell crosses his arms together and shivers a little bit. MODELL: It's weird. Are you cold? I'm kind of cold. It's probably nerves. It's not like I've ever stol Dixon walks up, dressed in indigenous clothes, posing as a waiter in the café. In Arabic, he asks: DIXON: Anything for your friend? SYDNEY: No thanks. Dixon melts back into the background and resumes his watchpost. MODELL: Now can I see my money? SYDNEY: As soon as you show me the w*apon. MODELL: Umm. Yeah. Funny thing about that. The w*apon might take a little while. Only way I could smuggle it out. (Leaning forward and half-whispering) I swallowed it. Cut to Vaughn at his post in the downstairs part of the marketplace. As he eyes the crowd, he notices a slight blonde woman browsing at a stall across the way. Her back is to him and he continues to stare until she finally turns and we see she is an innocent stranger. She moves along and Vaughn lets out a tortured sigh. Just then a man walks out from behind another stall, and he doesn't look like he's shopping. Cut to Sydney as she listens. VAUGHN (comm): We have company. Single white male downstairs in the back. MODELL (reacting to the look on Sydney's face): What's wrong? SYDNEY: You didn't follow our safety protocols, did you? MODELL (as if shocked she could think such a thing): What? Of course I did. Why wouldn't I? SYDNEY: You were followed. Modell whips his head around, looking for the potential thr*at. Sydney turns her head and spots another man casing the market. SYDNEY (comm) : I've got a second white male. Cut to Dixon's view of the market. DIXON (comm): I see another two. Strike that, three more. SYDNEY (comm): Going to plan B. MODELL: What's plan B? SYDNEY: Come on. Sydney gets up and grabs Modell by the hand, pulling him along and back toward the staircase. Instantly, the men that Dixon had seen start running after them. Cut to Sydney and Modell running down the staircase. Cut to Weiss, starting up the escape van and pulling it into position. Cut to Dixon tripping and taking out the men he'd seen as they run by him. Cut to Sydney and Modell as the exit the bottom of the staircase. SYDNEY: Come on, come on The target that Vaughn had seen raises a p*stol to sh**t Modell, but Vaughn clocks him in the face with a metal urn. Cut to Syd and Modell, weaving through the crowd, heading toward the main exit. The man that Sydney had spied comes running from the side, tackling Modell into one of the stalls. Sydney whacks him in the face with a metal pot. She reaches down and helps Modell back to his feet. He groans and says: MODELL: I can't make it. SYDNEY: You don't have a choice. Cut to the van pulling into position at the exit. Cut to Dixon searching the crowd. DIXON (comm): Anybody have a 20 on the last guy? Cut to Sydney and Modell as they walk quickly toward the exit. Suddenly and inexplicably, Modell's left leg breaks off at mid calf as if it were a piece of china. There's no blood, just this leg piece. A glance of Modell shows his leg where it broke of is also not bleeding. Modell starts to gasp and reaches down toward his broken off leg in horror. Sydney stares at him in horrified shock. As Modell gasps, Vaughn rushes up and they each take Modell under and arm and drag him backward toward the van, abandoning Modell's leg. Weiss throws open the back of the van, waiting for them. As they drag Modell, it appears as if his he's no longer moving. We see the final mark taking aim with a p*stol at Modell as Dixon comes up behind him. Dixon hits the man's arm, but the sh*t is already away. We follow the camera is if we are the b*llet as it targets Modell's head and His entire body shatters into tiny frozen pieces that shower over Vaughn, Weiss and Sydney. As they exchange horrified looks, we: CUT TO BLACK Alias Theme (Or, now is the time in Alias when we dance!) --- Credits: Guest Starring: Kelly MacDonald Mark Aiken Richard Speight, Jr. ed by Hughes Winborne music by Michael Giacchino production designer Scott Chambliss dir of photography Donald Thorin, Jr. Producers Monica Breen & Alison Schapker supervising producer Lawrence Trilling supervising producers Josh Appelbaum & Andre Nemec co-exec producer Jeffrey Bell co-exec producer Jesse Alexander co-exec producer Jeff Pinkner exec producer Jeff Melvoin exec producer Ken Olin exec producer J.J. Abrams produced by Sarah Caplan written and directed by Jeffrey Bell --- Open to daytime establishing sh*t of LA via helicopter. Cut to Vaughn in an elevator as the doors open. He's got stubble on his face, his hair is more bedheaded than usual and he looks very tired. He lets out a sigh as he steps out of the elevator (which opens up into the main hallway of APO) and starts walking down the hallway. Sydney walks into the hallway via the subway entrance and calls out to him. SYDNEY: Hey. Vaughn turns back to face Sydney. VAUGHN: Hey. Vaughn gives her a strained smile. Instantly, she notices something is wrong with Vaughn. SYDNEY: God, you look awful. VAUGHN (with amused sarcasm): Thank you. Good morning. Sydney assesses him and asks seriously, SYDNEY: You all right? He purses his lips but nods, shrugging off whatever is bothering him. VAUGHN: Yeah, yeah. It's not every day you see a guy shatter into a million pieces. SYDNEY: Yeah. They walk together down the hallway. --- Cut to Sloane's office, where he is giving a post-mission briefing. SLOANE: Two weeks ago, the CIA was contacted by an American ex-patriot named Derek Modell. Mr. Modell, for reasons more pecuniary than patriotic, stole a sample of a new biological agent from an arms dealer in Montenegro. He called it "Ice 5", and offered it to the Agency for ten thousand dollars. [Note: "Ice nine" was an imaginary w*apon created by Kurt Vonnegut for his book, Cat's Cradle. It does pretty much the same thing as Ice 5, instantly crystallizing (freezing) water. Ice nine is also an imaginary computer virus from the movie "The Recruit". I don't remember what it did, but it was something absurdly unrealistic.] JACK: As you know, Mr. Modell failed to comply with any number of safety protocols we'd outlined and he was followed and k*lled before the exchange could be completed. WEISS: k*lled? He exploded like a frozen pinata. SLOANE: We believe his death was caused by this biological agent he was transporting. SYDNEY: You're saying this stuff turned Modell into a human popsicle. Marshall raises his hand as if he wished to be called on in class as he stutters, MARSHALL: If I may, I might be able to.. if you're all curious... elucidate. Marshall stands up and begins to explain. MARSHALL: Well we know this guy, Modell, he swallowed the sample to smuggle it out, kind of like a drug mule. (He stands up, holding a small canister inside a plastic bag up for all to see.) Based on some tests, we found the sample in this medical container. It was found in the van mixed with the... WEISS: Chunks. MARSHALL: Yeah. Chunks. MARSHALL: This was not meant to be swallowed. It probably started leaking as soon as it got into his stomach. And then, when he was tackled, bam, complete rupture, instant OD. NADIA: When you say instant OD, you mean it instantly froze him? MARSHALL: Well, not exactly. It didn't really freeze him as much as freeze-dry him. It crystallized him in seconds. VAUGHN: So the mission was a bust. WEISS: So to speak. SLOANE: Now this man, Derek Modell, spent the last nine months as a relief worker at the hospital Sava in Montenegro. He believed that Ice 5 was being covertly developed there by a man named Fenton Keene. Sloane puts a photo of Keene up on the screen. DIXON: Haven't heard that name in a while. SLOANE: That's because Mr. Keene claims to have gone legitimate. SYDNEY(dripping sarcasm): Seems to be all the rage among evil geniuses. SLOANE: Fenton Keene is wanted by just about everybody, but he's protected. He runs his arms and drug op out of Montenegro, taking advantage of its political instability. DIXON: You want us to take down Keene? JACK: The director simply wants us to obtain a viable sample of Ice 5. SLOANE: So, Sydney, we're sending you into Montenegro as a relief worker from the UK branch of Omnifam. I want you to understand this is not a tactical mission. We go in, obtain the Ice 5, and come out. I don't want anyone else getting this before we do. That's all. Good luck. Cut to Vaughn in the break room, pouring himself a large cup of coffee. Jack walks in under the guise of getting himself coffee. As he pours, he asks, JACK: Is there something on your mind, agent Vaughn? Vaughn shakes his head slightly. VAUGHN: No, not really. Jack takes a sip of his coffee, his eyes never leaving Vaughn's face from over the rim of the cup. Clearly, Jack doesn't believe him. Finally, Vaughn admits, VAUGHN: I'm not sleeping very well. Instantly, Jack knows what's wrong. JACK: It's Lauren, isn't it? VAUGHN: I think I see her sometimes or I thought I saw her in the market in Algeria. That ever happen with you? JACK: (sarcastic) Do I have visions of Lauren? VAUGHN (also sarcastic): I don't know many people who k*lled the woman they were married to. I was just wondering if that's what happens. JACK(seriously): It did. Now it doesn't. Cut back to Vaughn through the windows of the room as Jack walks away, leaving him alone with his thoughts. --- Cut to Sydney and Nadia in Sydney's house as Sydney packs for the op. SYDNEY: I'm taking the last of the toothpaste. NADIA: It's okay. I'm going to the store later. SYDNEY: Do you know how excited I am that I'm not the only one going to the store? NADIA: You need anything? SYDNEY: No, I'm good. Thanks. Nadia looks onto a side table and notices a small pile of old pictures there. Hesitantly, she picks them up and motions toward Sydney with them. NADIA: You mind if I...? SYDNEY: No, go ahead. Nadia flips through the pictures. NADIA: Are these our mother? Nodding, Sydney says, SYDNEY: There was a f*re. I lost all the pictures I had of her, so I asked my dad if he had any, and he found those... the only ones he hadn't thrown out. Nadia holds one out for Sydney to see. It is of a very young Irina holding a baby. NADIA: Is this you? SYDNEY: I don't know who the baby is. NADIA: I've never seen pictures of her like this. Just the official stuff. I haven't seen much There is a pause, and then the doorbell rings. SYDNEY: It's Vaughn. Nadia hugs Sydney and they exchange kisses on the cheek. NADIA: Be safe. SYDNEY: You too. Cut back to Nadia studying the picture of Irina holding the baby. Hold on the picture then, CUT TO BLACK --- M[O]NTENEGRO Daytime establishing sh*t of Sava hospital in Montenegro. Cut to Sydney dressed in prim turtleneck, blazer and pants, hair up in a bun and granny-type glasses. She is walking down a crowded hospital hallway next to a pretty woman in her 30's dressed in a lab coat. KIERA: I hope you're not squeamish. From time to time they send me a squeamish one. It never ends well. SYDNEY (with slight English accent): I'm not squeamish, though most of my work with Omnifam has been administrative. KIERA: We'll fix that, have you patching folks up in no time. SYDNEY: You're a doctor? KIERA: Nurse by training. Doctor, janitor, and babysitter by default. SYDNEY: Sounds overwhelming. KIERA: Nothing a bit of Bushmills and a few Hail Mary's can't cure. Sydney and Kiera walk by a nurses station where a plain-clothes Dixon in workman's disguise stands filling out paperwork. Surreptitiously watching them walk by, he murmurs into his comm, DIXON (comm): Phoenix is in play. Cut to Vaughn at the safehouse, monitoring via a computer with a satellite link. VAUGHN (comm): Copy that. Cut back to Dixon. DIXON (comm): I know it's too risky, but I wish she was wearing a transmitter. Cut back to Vaughn. VAUGHN (comm): She will once they trust her. (teasing) Besides, it'll give you a chance to brush up on some of your old-school tricks. Back to Dixon, smiling. DIXON (comm): Hey. A little respect for your elders. --- Cut to Sydney in Kiera's office as she speaks to someone on a cell phone. She hands Sydney a lab coat and Sydney puts it on. KIERA (into cell): No, I'm not happy. You promised we'd have the test tube kits two days ago and we're still waiting. Kiera hands Sydney a pair of latex gloves. Sydney goes to pocket them, but Kiera shakes her head no and motions for Sydney to put them on her hands. She does. KIERA (into cell): Tell you what. Our cafeteria locked into about twenty crates of fresh strawberries. You have my kits here by dawn tomorrow and I'll cut you in for half the fruit. Nay, fresh as in not old or frozen. You're amazing. Thank you. Kiera looks at Sydney, satisfied that she's now ready for her first day. Nodding, she says to Sydney, KIERA: Okay then. Cut to Kiera and Sydney walking down another hallway. KIERA: There's more work than we can do, so you'll need to pace yourself. Be quick, but don't hurry. I've gone through nine relief workers in the past six weeks. I'd hate to lose another. SYDNEY: Don't worry, I'll be fine. KIERA: That, madame, is what they all say. Let's find out. Kiera opens the door to a patient's room and they both stand in the doorway. An elderly gentleman who's suffering from some type of skin condition is sleeping in the bed. Motioning toward him, Kiera says, KIERA: Poor old guy suffers from cirrhotic arthropathy. Needs to be greased from head to toe. She grabs a tub of grease, plopping it uncerimoniously into Sydney's hands. KIERA: Welcome aboard. Off Sydney's reaction, we, CUT TO BLACK. --- Cut to Marshall's techie office at APO. Holding up the Ice-5 container with a gloved hand, he's speaking to Nadia and Weiss. MARSHALL: There's no way I'd eat this. No way at all. My kid would. (Motions to his computer monitor, where Marshall has several pictures of Mitchell taped up) Mitchell. He will eat anything. He's already been to the emergency room twice. He swallowed a quarter, and a car. Not a real car... it's huge. NADIA (smiling): He's beautiful. MARSHALL: Thanks. I've got a million of these pictures. I probably should update them. Nadia studies the pictures and smiles at one in particular. MARSHALL: Oh, you like that one? There's a cute story behind that one. Weiss, starting to feel jealous, cuts in jokingly, WEISS: I'll warn you right now. Nadia's immune to your cute baby story charm. Nadia smiles, amused at Weiss' antics. NADIA: Oh, I'm not so sure. WEISS: Uh, do you have any w*apon scenarios for ice 5? MARSHALL: Three obvious forms are liquid, powder, and gas, but really depends on a few things. NADIA: Difficulty of manufacturing, s*ab, intended use. MARSHALL: Right! I mean, is it designed for an evil empire that wants to dump it in the water supply and freeze-dry an entire city, or maybe for just one crazy assassin guy... put a couple drops on a hollow-tipped b*llet... WEISS: Either way, it's a high ticket. We should target major players: governments, large t*rror1st cells. NADIA: Then offer it for sale ourselves, see who might be shopping for designer w*apon. WEISS: Right. I'll put a list together. Weiss mouths "You're married" to Marshall. --- Cut to Sydney, still dressed in character, hurriedly searching a storeroom. She finds a locked door in the back and she pulls out lockpicks and starts to unlock the door. She hears someone coming in and drops the picks into a nearby trashcan and picks up a box of syringes. Kiera walks in and gives Sydney a suspicious look. KIERA: What are you doing in here? Sydney shows Kiera the box she's holding. SYDNEY: We're almost out of syringes. I was searching for a purchase order. Kiera continues to give Sydney a semi-doubtful look. Suddenly, a strange sound and commotion erupts in the hallway and Kiera and Sydney rush out. They find a large, burly soldier on a rolling stretcher. Part of his face has been frozen and upon inspection, they find that part of an arm is missing and the remainder is frozen, much like Modell's leg before he shattered. KIERA: I'm trying to help you. KIERA: I need you to breathe. Breathe. SYDNEY: What can I do? KIERA: Put your ears near his heart. After an initial welfare check, Kiera and the accompanying soldiers start to quickly roll the stretcher down the hallway, Sydney closely following. SYDNEY: What happened to him? KIERA: I don't know. SOLDIER (in Russian): It was an accident, Miss. Our jeep was h*t. Yegor was carrying the container -- KIERA (in Russian): Quiet. I can see what happened. SYDNEY (pretending she didn't understand): What's he saying? KIERA: Car accident. They stop at a closed door secured by a swipe card entry system. Kiera pulls a swipe card out of her labcoat pocket, swipes it and types in her password. Sydney watches her closely, obviously memorizing the code for later. As the door opens, Sydney grabs the head of the stretcher, preparing to push it in so that she can gain access to the restricted area. As they start to roll forward, Kiera blocks her entry, taking Sydney's place at the head of the stretcher. Sydney has no choice but to step back. KIERA: We can handle it from here. SYDNEY (protesting): I don't mind helping. KIERA (a little annoyed): If you want to last here, you'll do as I say. Get back to that supply room and finish what you were doing. This area's off-limits. --- Jack approaches Nadia, who is at work on a computer at her desk. He hands her a piece of paper and she stands to receive it as he speaks. JACK: You can eliminate both the KCL and the African Global Party from your list of potential ice 5 buyers. It's out of their league. Everyone else seems good. NADIA: Thanks. (pauses, and then) Jack?...I was wondering if you knew who this baby is. Nadia holds out the picture of Irina holding a baby for him to see. JACK (slightly defensive): Where did you get this? NADIA (nervous): Oh... It's Sydney's. JACK: She gave this to you? NADIA: I...found it. I was hoping you might be able to tell me who... JACK (very abrupt): There's nothing to tell. Jack turns on his heel to stalk out, leaving Nadia confused and disheartened, but Weiss interrupts them. WEISS: Sorry to interrupt. We got the uplink from Montenegro. Cut to Vaughn at Montenegro safehouse. VAUGHN: A soldier came in with the same frozen symptoms we saw in Algeria. He was taken to a secure wing of the hospital by a nurse named Kiera Maclaine. That M-A-C, capital L-A-I-N-E. She said she was from Glasgow. Cut to APO briefing room. JACK: Is MacLaine embedded with Keene? Cut back to Vaughn. VAUGHN: We don't know yet, but Sydney said MacLaine definitely recognized the effects of Ice 5. She's still at the hospital trying to learn more. Cut to Dixon. DIXON: There's a strong military presence at the hospital, but it seems to be in support of the staff, nothing we can't handle. Cut back to APO briefing room. WEISS: Okay. MacLaine seems to be clean. Registered nurse, no criminal record. For the last nine years, she's worked for relief agencies around the world. NADIA: We know Keene gives cash to the hospital. Maybe she takes care of his men in exchange. SLOANE: What do you know about the secure wing? Cut to Dixon. DIXON: We think it's the research lab. Blueprints indicate several interconnected rooms and a large ward. VAUGHN: The entrance is protected by a swipe card and a keypad. We already have the access code, but we need that card, which we'll get off MacLaine. Marshall checks Kiera's name in database. Computer display in APO briefing room shows: name: Kiera MacLaine criminal rec: none passport: United Kingdom occupation: Registered Nurse occup loc: Relief Agencies #02544 --- Montenegro Cut to Dixon as he punches Vaughn in the head. Vaughn grimaces slightly then stands back up with a mocking smile. VAUGHN: Come on, man. It's got to look real. Do it again. DIXON (protesting): Vaughn, I h*t you. VAUGHN (goading): Yeah, like a girl. Just h*t me again. Come on. Dixon hits Vaughn again...harder. This time, Vaughn sports a cut over his right eye and it takes him a little longer to push up from the table behind him. However, he pushes Dixon to h*t him again...almost as if he wants to be punished for something. VAUGHN: One more time. You can do better than that. Come on. Off of Dixon's third swing, we cut to: --- Vaughn sitting on a stretcher as Sydney dabs at the cut as Kiera approaches. VAUGHN (flinching): Ow, damnit! Watch it! Kiera walks up and demands imperiously, KIERA: What are you doing? KIERA (to Vaughn): Sorry, Father. The scene cuts back and we can now see that Vaughn is dressed like a priest. SYDNEY: I'm just trying to help. Sydney backs away as Kiera steps in. KIERA: Let me take a look at that. Kiera starts checking Vaughn's wound. Sydney leans back in to watch what she's doing. SYDNEY: Maybe I should watch, see how you do it. (leaning forward and poking her gloved finger at the open wound) I was going to sew it shut right there. Vaughn reaches into Kiera's pocket and pulls out her keycard, slipping it into Sydney's other hand. VAUGHN (flinching and glowering at Sydney): Ow! Stop that! SYDNEY: Sorry. KIERA: Go! I'll look after him. Sydney meekly turns and walks away. KIERA: Sorry. She's new. A bit eager. KIERA: I can't help noticing the fine cologne you're wearing, father. Glenlivet, if I'm not mistaken. [Note: That's a well-known scotch whiskey, for those pure Alias fans who are underage or otherwise non-drinkers] VAUGHN: Is is that bad? KIERA: Not at all. KIERA: Come on. I'll finish up in the office. --- KIERA: That's a pretty nasty cut. You mind telling me how you got it? VAUGHN: Somebody didn't like my last sermon. KIERA: Well, I've known a priest or two. VAUGHN: That sounds rather ominous. KIERA: But none that get into bar fights. VAUGHN: I see my reputation preceeds me. I'm Father Michael ?. I'm new here at Saint Cyrus. KIERA: Kiera MacLaine. Good to know thee. I think. VAUGHN: I should also mention I hear confession every weekday from four to six at tavern Nikolai. KIERA: Why does that not surprise me? VAUGHN: Whe's the last time you went to confession, Kiera MacLaine? KIERA: I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel. VAUGHN: About what? KIERA: A flirty priest. VAUGHN: I assure you my intentions are honorable. Mostly. --- VAUGHN: You're not what I expected. KIERA: Is that your way of saying, "What's a nice catholic girl doing in a hell-hole like this?" Same as you. I was sent here for my sins. FENTON: It's not that bad. KIERA: Fenton. What are you doing here? FENTON: Well, it's nice to see you too. FENTON: She's not real happy with me of late, Father. VAUGHN: I see. You two are married? FENTON: No. Your good book would frown upon that, wouldn't it? --- Code to the lab is something like 6398841 KIERA: We had an agreement. FENTON: We do. But one of my men had a wee accident. I thought I'd spin by, pay my respects. You treated him right. So, how's your day? KIERA: I think you know. FENTON: You should be nicer to your big brother. Isn't that what the Bible says? VAUGHN: What, I look like some kind of an expert? FENTON: Don't worry, Kiera. I'll be out of your way soon enough. VAUGHN: Your brother seems like a nice enough guy. What's he do? KIERA: You must be new here. --- SOLDIER: I made sure Yegor gets special treatment. A separate room. Away from the guinea pigs. --- (There's a teleconference going on, and Syd/Vaughn/Dixon can quickly send images and stuff to APO headquarters.) SYDNEY (cell): Not only has Keene developed ice 5, he's testing it on humans. I saw a room full of test subjects. SLOANE (phone): I'm more concerned by the pressurized canisters. It means Keene's found a way to make it airborne. DIXON (phone): Here are the photos Sydney took. SYDNEY (cell): I thought the t*nk were full of propane or liquid nitrogen. Then I saw the cyrillic stencil. JACK: Ice 5 released into a city... the damage could be in the tens of thousands. SLOANE: How many t*nk in the lab? WEISS: I'd say 14. We found a buyer in Damascus. That's what they're expecting. NADIA: They want it fast. Less than 48 hours. SYDNEY: We have to shut Keene down. JACK: I don't disagree, but you lack the manpower. You aren't a tactical squad. VAUGHN: We can do it without a fight. We can use Kiera MacLaine. DIXON: After we learned she was Keene's sister, we re-ran her info. Her real name is Meghan Keene. She's former IRA as is her brother. They were involved in several b*mb in the early 90's, including one that k*lled a father and two boys. New displayed dossier: Meghan Keene Affiliation: Former IRA PRIORS: Several b*mb 92' 91' 90' Victims include a father and two boys Wanted: Wanted for m*rder in the United Kingdom by SAS [The dossier is very poorly done. The SAS does not deal with criminal issues, and apostrophes go before two-digit years, not after.] SYDNEY: But MacLaine's conflicted, has issues with her brother. We think we can turn her. DIXON: She's the one person that could get Keene alone, away from his men. It might give us a chance to grab him without a fight, shut down the lab. SLOANE: Have you determined how to approach MacLaine? VAUGHN: Yeah. In confession. --- Tavern Nikolai [the song in the background is Fade Into You, by Mazzy Star (1993)] VAUGHN: Thank you. VAUGHN: I'll have another one of these for my parishoner. KIERA: I don't know what I'm doing here. VAUGHN: I'm glad you came. KIERA: Cheers. VAUGHN: Cheers. VAUGHN: Is it that bad? KIERA: Is what that bad? VAUGHN: You tell me. KIERA: I suppose I'm feeling a bit trapped. VAUGHN: At the hospital? KIERA: Trapped by your brother? KIERA: I do this for a living. Not the drinking. And it doesn't take a priest to notice how angry you were when you saw him yesterday. KIERA: It's complicated. Love the sinner, hate the sin. Isn't that what they say? VAUGHN: Something like that. KIERA: A long time ago, he saved me. I owe him. VAUGHN: But he scares you? KIERA: You don't know Fenton. He's done some awful things. We both have, I suppose. VAUGHN: You could always leave. KIERA: Like I said, you don't know my brother. SYDNEY: He can do it. He can turn her. VAUGHN: I know what it's like to feel trapped, to have a past you despise, that you can't escape. I know we all have secrets, Kiera. I was married, for a short time. KIERA: That being your secret? VAUGHN: That being part of it. That obviously was before I had the collar. The woman I was married to betrayed me. She betrayed a lot of people. And when I found out what she had done, I let my hate for her consume me. And I began to wish the woman I loved was d*ad. I woke up every day, imagining how I'd do it, what was the best way, what was the most efficient way. I mean, that's all I wanted. That woman was evil, and deserved to be punished, so I k*lled her. And althought that woman was the worst kind of evil, I also know that k*lling her was wrong. I don't sleep much. I can't close my eyes without that scene, that moment, the look on her face. She won't leave me. She won't. KIERA: Forgiveness is a tricky thing, isn't it? Even God can't do it if you won't let him. I've never been able to say no to... to my brother. I'm not alone in that, but it's my shame. It's the one thing I can't forgive myself for. I understand what it feels like to wish someone was... I just wish there was a way out. VAUGHN: There are other ways to keep him from having power over you, to make him go away. KIERA: You underestimate my brother. VAUGHN: Or maybe you underestimate me. I know it doesn't feel like it, but you can leave. KIERA: What are you? VAUGHN: You deserve another chance. KIERA: I can't even think about doing something like that. VAUGHN: Why not? KIERA: When? VAUGHN: Tonight. --- APO SLOANE: just... [a minute] (he's writing) NADIA: Freight manifest from our contact in Damascus. SLOANE: Thank you. And that? NADIA: I thought you might know something about the picture. Who the baby was. SLOANE: Yeah. Your mother was a very private person, Nadia, and as you know my relationship with her was... brief. NADIA: That's okay. I just thought maybe you'd seen it before. NADIA: Thanks. --- Clinic - Restricted area KIERA: What are you? SAS? MI5? [Note: This is a mistake. MI5 tends to operate within Britain; it's a domestic spying and investigative agency. MI6 is the organization that operates abroad.] VAUGHN: I meant what I said. I can make your brother go away. KIERA: Well whatever you are, you're sweet. VAUGHN: Kiera, I need you to listen. Whatever your brother's done in the past pales compared to what he's doing now. KIERA: I wouldn't know. VAUGHN: Yes you do. You've seen it. You know he's been testing it on your own patients. KIERA: I have nothing to do with that. VAUGHN: You're a party to it. That's enough. KIERA: There's nothing I can do about it. VAUGHN: Thousands of people will die if you don't say no to him now. Do you want that on your conscience? Could you ever forgive yourself? KIERA: Who do you work for? VAUGHN: You've been afraid of your brother for too long. Help me, and I swear I will protect you. FENTON: I can't wait to hear the details. --- FENTON: Did you really think my sister would betray me for you, after everything she and I have been through? VAUGHN: Nothing really surprises me anymore. FENTON: You'll discover that isn't true. FENTON: You know, the trouble with ice 5 in its liquid form is it's too unstable, too hard to mass-produce. I've made people drink it, breathe it, applied it topically, laced it into food. One thing I've never tried, though, is to inject it directly into the brain. Maybe because it's not cost effective. FENTON: I think you should do it. It's your fault he's here. VAUGHN: You hate him. You hate what he does. KIERA: Shut up. VAUGHN: I could have helped you. I would have. FENTON: My sister may look like an angel, but her heart is as black as yours, and mine. VAUGHN: I don't believe that. I know you want out. Everything I told you was true. I can still help you. You know it. FENTON: Show this fool he's wrong. Inject it into his eye. I want you to be the last thing he sees. FENTON: I don't know how you got in here, little girl, but it was a big mistake. --- KIERA: Forgive. VAUGHN: Kiera, you know I'm not really a priest. I can't do that. KIERA: No. I forgive... I forgive you. --- APO JACK: Fenton Keene's in custody, and the Ice 5 has been acquired. Sydney's safe, and the whole team made it. NADIA: Good. Thank you. JACK(softly, kindly): May I see that photograph? After a moment of studying the photo, JACK: Irina told me years ago that this is a picture of her holding her niece. She told me that holding this baby filled her with a longing and hope to have children of her own. The next day, I asked Irina to marry me. I wanted my child to be loved like the baby in this photograph. JACK: Of course, the story could have been a total fabrication. Another one of the countless lies designed to draw me in. Well, I choose to believe it was the truth. When we had Sydney, Irina held her in this exact same way, and I can only imagine she did the same with you. So, for me, I choose to believe. But then I suppose each of us needs to find our own sense of closure. Nadia cries. --- On the CIA plane travelling back to LA: SYDNEY: Listening to you talk to that woman... VAUGHN: I know. SYDNEY: I just wanted you to know you can talk to me whenever you want. Vaughn smiles sleepily and replies quietly, VAUGHN: Thanks. SYDNEY: When we get back...maybe you should spend the night. Vaughn doesn't answer. SYDNEY: Vaughn? She looks over and realizes that Vaughn is asleep. After touching his face softly and tucking him in under his blanket, she slowly removes her hand from his with a sigh. CUT TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x04 - Ice"}

foreverdreaming

4X05 - WELCOME TO LIBERTY VILLAGE ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON ABC: 01/26/05 A man in his late 30's sitting in a SUV is surveilling a docking area. He watches through binoculars, casing how many men (three armed men) there are, protection, etc. and is reporting his findings in Russian through an earpiece (no translation). A truck pulls into the docking station. As the men go to unload the truck, the man in the SUV drives up and hits one of the men with the SUV. He sh**t the truck driver and other two guards. He grabs a normal looking suitcase from the back of the SUV and then opens up the back of the truck. He types in the access code to a safe in the back and then removes a plexiglass suitcase that has some sort of electronic gadget inside and safely stores it inside the empty suitcase he brought. He gets into the SUV and drives away. Cut to same SUV pulling into a driveway in a surburban subcomplex. As he gets out of the SUV a woman walks up to him with a smile. WOMAN: Honey, you're late. I was getting worried. MAN: I'm sorry, beautiful... I got hung up at work. They kiss and put their arms around each other's back to amble into the house. Cut to establishing nighttime LA sh*t via helicopter. NADIA (voiceover): It doesn't make any sense. Cut to Weiss, Nadia, Vaughn, and Sydney sitting around Syd's dining table having dinner. WEISS: What is so hard to understand? You take a ball, right? You roll it, you knock over some pins and everybody cheers for you... VAUGHN: Or in your case, everyone laughs. Everyone laughs. NADIA: How is that fun? SYDNEY (in mock shock): How could she even ask such a thing? (giggles) WEISS: You know what? I think I know what your problem is... You've never had a true. bowling. experience. NADIA (pretending to be insulted): We have bowling in Argentina, you know. WEISS: Yes, but you don't have, like, glow in the dark pins; you don't have all you can eat hot dogs after ten or bad disco music pumping through the stereo... You know what? Why am I still talking about this? Let's just do it. We're going bowling. Come on. Nadia turns from helping Sydney clear the table. NADIA: Really? WEISS: Yeah, yeah. Come on, we're all going bowling. SYDNEY: Now? WEISS: Yeah, there's a 24 hour bowling alley... VAUGHN (cutting in): That's not the point... SYDNEY: We have work tomorrow. WEISS: Guys...you don't have to analyze everything you do; you can just...decide to have fun. It's okay. SYDNEY (defensive): We're fun. WEISS (scoffing): Yeah, you guys are about as spontaneous as my grandparents...and they're d*ad. VAUGHN: Look, it's Wednesday night. SYDNEY: We're not going bowling. WEISS: All right. Well, suit yourself. The kids are going out. NADIA (teasing): How can I resist all you can eat hot dogs after ten? WEISS: Don't wait up. NADIA: Let's go. Weiss and Nadia leave. Sydney and Vaughn look at each other. SYDNEY (slightly defensive): We don't analyze everything we do. Vaughn sighs and shakes his head as if he disagrees with Weiss' assessment also (but the look on his face indicates that he might secretly agree). SYDNEY: Do we? VAUGHN (almost too quickly): No, no we don't. (pause) And besides, we agreed to take things slow. SYDNEY: Right. (Pause, rationalizing) We're choosing not to be spontaneous... VAUGHN (rationalizing): Exactly. They look at each other as if trying to make themselves feel better about that when both their cell phones ring. They check to see who's calling and Vaughn quips, VAUGHN: And that's why they call us when something's wrong... SYDNEY: Right... Sydney smiles and shakes her head as she answers her phone. VAUGHN: Vaughn. SYDNEY (at same time): Yeah? Cut to APO office. Jack, Sloane and Dixon walk into the conference room from one side, Sydney and Vaughn from the other. SLOANE: Six hours ago, an electromagnetic w*apon was stolen from a warehouse in Kystroma. MARSHALL: Well, this thing's a prototype...really bad news: its repeatable core, amplified radius...I mean, you guys know what an electromagnetic pulse does, right? SYDNEY: Destroys elecrtonic equipment, melts circuitry. MARSHALL: Right. Now, if this baby goes off, anything in a ten mile radius that contains electronic parts like computers, radios, cars, radar...everything would be fried. JACK: If a t*rror1st were to detonate this in a major metropolitan city, the casualties would be extreme. MARSHALL: You know, hospitals would lose power, traffic grids would be destroyed, airplanes would fall from the sky... I mean it's really... Oh, and the most impressive thing about this particular device is its repeatable core. DIXON: You could black out Los Angeles and then use it to take down San Fransisco in the same day. SYDNEY: Who's the thief? A photograph of the man we saw steal the device flashes on the screen. SLOANE: His name is Yuri Korelko, former KGB officer, currently reported to have ties with an extremist group known as the October Contingent. VAUGHN: The Russian Ultranationalists. SLOANE: That's right. They're largely ex-military, but they're looking for new recruits. Sloane flashes a two new photos on the screen: a man and a woman who look very vaguely like Sydney and Vaughn. SLOANE: Three days ago, German authorities picked up a man and a woman attempting to smuggle w*apon through a customs checkpoint. Subsequent interrogation revealed them to be Dmitri and Ileona Tabakov, suspected Chechnyan mercenaries. JACK: Under duress, they disclosed that the October Contingent has made back-channel overtures toward them to join their group. SLOANE: Sydney and Vaughn, you will imperonate the Tabakovs, infiltrate the Contingent. Your mission is twofold: you will identify the group's objective and retrieve the electromagnetic w*apon. Sydney, Vaughn...you know that any attempt to communicate to you from our end might jeopardize your lives. VAUGHN: So we're on our own. SLOANE: Not quite. (nods to Marshall) Marshall, please. Marshall stands up and removes a watch from a case in front of him. MARSHALL: What I have here is a normal, everyday wristwatch. Now, under normal uses, it won't alarm any countersurveillance scans, but once activated (demonstrates), it will give us GPS coordinates to triangulate your position. Oh, and its also capable of short burst transmissions. DIXON: You can send images, and...we'll monitor you as best we can. SLOANE: And if we detect your cover is in jeopardy, we will send the abort signal. I want you to extricate yourselves immediately. Your plane leaves in an hour; I wish you well. Good luck. CUT TO BLACK MOS©OW An establishing night sh*t of Red Square in the rain. Cut to a couple walking down the sidewalk together under a single umbrella. A van pulls to the end of a side street in front of them. The passenger window rolls down as Sydney and Vaughn approach. Yuri Korelko asks them in Russian: YURI: Will this road lead me to Red Square? SYDNEY (in Russian): Keep driving. Eventually all roads lead to Red Square. YURI (in Russian): You are aware of our project? VAUGHN (in Russian): We're aware you pay good money. YURI (in Russian): We require quite a commitment. VAUGHN (in Russian): We require quite a payment. Yuri smirks a little and then asks, YURI (in Russian): How is your English? SYDNEY (English, in very thick Russian accent): We...are able to get by...yes. YURI (in Russian): Can you speak without the accent? SYDNEY (in perfect English): What would you like me to say? YURI (in non-accented English): I think that'll do just fine. Yuri gets out of the van and opens the sliding back door to allow Sydney and Vaughn to enter. YURI (in English): I gotta tell you, if you two are half as good as rumored, we're really in for a treat. Come on, hop on in. Let's get you out of the rain. My name's Tom, by the way. (Yuri will now be known as Tom in the transcript) Syd and Vaughn climb inside and Tom gets in behind them and closes the door. Cut to Marshall and Jack in Marshall's tech office. He's sitting in front of a computer monitor as he speaks: MARSHALL: NRO retasked a keyhole satellite for infrared flyover. Picked them up on the MA shortly after Sydney began transmitting. Cut to infrared road map on Marshall's screen. JACK: Destination? MARSHALL: Well, the closest city in that area is... Petrozavodsk. It's about twelve hours away. JACK: What else is in the area? MARSHALL: Nothing really: farmland, tundra, turnips. JACK: Let me know the moment that van stops moving. MARSHALL: You got it, boss. Jack walks away as Marshall continues to watch the blip that is Sydney and Vaughn's position move on the screen. Cut to inside the van. Tom points to a man sitting next to him from behind a computer screen. (Everything is now spoken in English unless indicated otherwise) TOM: This is Nick; he's going to take some photos of your for our project. SYDNEY: And this project...requires us to speak English, like Americans, for some reason. We watch as "Nick" takes photos of Syd and Vaughn and uses them to manipulate a number of pictures, placing them in it. TOM: Well, first order of business...we need to establish some new identities for you two, and something tells me that... He reaches over and retrieves two fake passports from Nick with Sydney and Vaughn's photos in them and reads out the names from them. TOM:...David and Karen Parker...don't exactly spend a lot of time speaking in the Russian tongue. Tom hands Syd and Vaughn their fake passports. TOM: Don't worry. We'll go over everything once we get to Liberty Village. In the meantime, just sit back and enjoy the ride. You just became Americans. Sydney and Vaughn exchange concerned glances. Cut to Nick's computer screen as he continues to manipulate photos. Cut to Jack walking into Sloane's office. SLOANE: I want to know more about this group Sydney and Vaughn have infiltrated. So Jack, I'm recommending you reach out to Alexi Vasilevich. Any objections? JACK (sighing, impatient, this is not an idea he likes): He'll want something in return. SLOANE: Yeah. Look, Jack, I can task another agent if you feel this is something... JACK (cutting him off): I simply question whether it is prudent to involve him at this point considering... Sloane's videophone rings, cutting Jack off. SLOANE (answering it): Yes? (to Jack) It's Marshall. Marshall's face appears on the video screen. MARSHALL: Uh, Mr. Sloane? You're gonna want to come see this... SLOANE: Okay. Cut to the briefing room. Marshall walks in with a handful of rolled photographs. MARSHALL: I think I found something. About an hour ago, the van left the highway. They followed access roads to this facility (pulls out photo and lays it out on the table): Suberov 13. It was supposed to have been abandoned in the late 70's. JACK: Perimeter patrols, manned g*n in placements along the access roads, active airfields... SLOANE: It certainly doesn't look deserted. JACK: Marshall, can you put that onscreen? MARSHALL: Yeah. Marshall types into the computer and a photo of what looks to be a surburban housing development pops up. MARSHALL: There it is. SLOANE (walking closer to study the photo): Is that military housing? JACK (walking closer also): Not like any I've seen. Russian base housing resemble barracks... Those are single family homes with lawns and culdesacs... MARSHALL (also studying the photo): Is...is that a swingset? Huh. Looks like my neighborhood... Cut to the van pulling to a stop in the driveway of a house in the development. Tom gets out and then lets Sydney and Vaughn out of the back of the van. There is surprise on both their faces as they study their surroundings. TOM: I hope you guys like your new house...I love mine. It's almost exactly the same, I just...hope the guests haven't trashed the place. Tom, Syd, and Vaughn walk up the walkway of a beautiful home that looks like it could be anywhere in America. SYDNEY: We have guests? Tom doesn't answer, just keeps walking. Sydney turns and gives Vaughn a concerned look. Tom opens the door to the house and lets Syd and Vaughn in. TOM: They shouldn't be too long. We just have to do a...well, and initiation of sorts. Don't worry; shouldn't be too painful. Tom closes the door behind them. Tom ushers them into the living room, where a small group of people, all dressed like yuppie Americans at a party, wait. TOM: Everyone...guys? Allow me to present, David and Karen Parker. Everyone greets them and lifts their glasses to toast them. SYDNEY: Hi. VAUGHN: Hello. Tom puts his arm around the woman he spoke to in the opening sequence. She looks up at him with an adoring smile. TOM: Welcome to the neighborhood. VAUGHN: Thank you. Off of Vaughn and Sydney's nervously friendly smiles, we: Cut to the Alias Theme (Or now is the time in Alias when we dance!) Cut to the kitchen where Tom is pouring soda into two glasses for Syd and Vaughn. Note that a few doctored photos of them already grace the door of the fridge, held up by magnets. TOM: The town's offically known as Training Center 56B, but students started calling it "Liberty Village" sometime during the mid-80's, trying to capture that uh, American sense of irony, I suppose. SYDNEY: So, this is a government operation. TOM: It...was a government operation...Karen...but it's a private enterprise now, which is fine with us because it gives us the freedom to do our job. Tom hands Sydney the two glasses of soda. Sydney hands one off to Vaughn. SYDNEY: What exactly is our job...Tom? TOM: Well, right now...your job is to prove that you belong. You're under evaluation. We need to be sure you can portray Americans convincingly. From this point on, assume everything is a test, you understand? Sydney nods. TOM: Excellent. Now, let's go do some formal introductions so you can get to know your new neighbors... Tom walks out of the room. Sydney turns to look at Vaughn, who has this hilarious "You've got to be kidding me..." look on his face. Sydney sets her watch and then they follow Tom out into the living room again. Cut to Sloane in his office at APO. Marshall sticks his head in and tells him: MARSHALL: They're transmitting. Cut to Syd and Vaughn as they meet one couple. Sydney is holding her drink in the hand with the watch on it so that her watch can clearly view everything in the room. WOMAN#1: It is so nice to finally meet you. Sydney shakes her hand as Vaughn shakes the husband's hand. MAN#1: We've been looking forward to this for quite some time. SYDNEY: Believe me, we have been too. Cut to briefing room of APO where they are studying the photo feed their getting. SLOANE: Marshall... Marshall types furiously on keyboard, focusing in on the faces of the couple Syd and Vaughn are talking to and then searching the database for them. MARSHALL: Working on it. Okay, hold on...gimme a sec...Got it. Sergei Danislov and Elena Vasia. w*apon, drugs, suspected t*rror1st affiliations include: the Novgorood Authority... SLOANE: They're responsible for the Grozny b*mb in '98. They k*lled 47 people. WOMAN#1: I went ahead and did a little of shopping for you...You have a bunch of clothes in your closet upstairs you need to go through. Sydney appears surprised and is about to thank her when, MAN#1 (interrupting): Honey, please...there'll be plenty of time to talk about shopping later... They giggle and walk away. TOM: And this is Bill and Donna Johnson. They live in the house just next to you. Syd and Vaughn shake their hands and exchange hellos. Cut back to the APO briefing room. JACK: Anatoli and Tatiana Sadova. DIXON: Formerly GRU. They're wanted by British authorities in connection with a bank robbery that left 7 d*ad. Cut back to Syd and Vaughn. TOM: And of course, Ken and Linda Taylor. More handshakes and greetings ensue. Cut back to APO briefing room. MARSHALL: Raisa Tupakov and Nikolai Brechev; contract K*llers, Russian mafia ties, known m*rder in the double-digits. LINDA: We just moved in a few days ago. You are going to love it here. VAUGHN: That's good to know. SYDNEY: Great. Yeah. TOM: And of course, my lovely wife, Diane. DIANE: Hi, nice to meet you. SYDNEY: Nice to meet you. VAUGHN: Nice to meet you. Cut to APO briefing room. DIXON: Marina Avden, chief interrogator from the Markova detention center. Cut back to Syd and Vaughn. Diane hands them a photo of themselves pasted in front of the Colleseum in Rome. DIANE: I was just looking at your photo. Tom and I just adore Rome... How long ago were you there? Sydney looks at the photo and then at Tom and Diane. VAUGHN (jumping in): Oh, what was it? Five years ago? SYDNEY: Has it been that long? VAUGHN: Yeah, we were going to go for the millenium, but you didn't want to fly because of Y2K... SYDNEY: Yeah, at the time it was a big deal... VAUGHN: So we decided to go in the spring. SYDNEY: Loved it; no crowds, no tourists...we even got to hear the Pope speak. Sydney and Vaughn smile at each other in Stepford-like fashion. TOM: Yeah, yeah...pretty good. DIANE: Yeah, I liked the part about Y2K. TOM: They can do a lot better, though. DIANE: Oh, without a doubt. TOM: But don't worry, we're not gonna k*ll you over a bad story. DIANE: Not on the first night, anyway. (followed by a very sweet smile) Syd and Vaughn laugh uncomfortably. Cut to APO briefing room. SLOANE: What's the connection? Why is the Contingent associating with t*rrorists, thieves, contract K*llers? MARSHALL: More importantly, why are they all dressed up like the Cleavers? DIXON: They must be using the facility as a training ground for some impending operation. JACK: It is unlikely a t*rror1st group could gain unlimited access to a Russian military base without some kind of state sponsorship. SLOANE: Jack... talk to Alexei. I'll leave the negotiations to your discretion. DIXON: Do we hold off on the abort code. SLOANE: For now...but be ready. This situation could deteriorate rapidly. Cut back to Vaughn and Syd's living room. Woman #1 hands them a casserole dish wrapped in plastic wrap. WOMAN#1: This is my three-layer casserole. Just enjoy. (leaning toward Sydney conspiratorially) We'll later go over the recipe. Chatter stops and all eyes turn to look at Woman #1. Tom clears his throat. Hesitantly, she corrects, WOMAN#1(with an embarrassed smile): We'll go over the recipe later. Sydney takes the dish out of Vaughn's hands and sets it aside. SYDNEY: I can't wait. WOMAN#1: Good night, guys. A round of good nights ensue. SYDNEY: Good night. Thank you. All the guests leave except for Tom and Diane. Once the door is closed, they turn to face Syd and Vaughn. DIANE: So...it's a lot to take in, isn't it? SYDNEY: It's different...from our usual jobs. DIANE: Not to worry; you guys are doing great. TOM: Mmmhmm. Just, uh...a couple things to keep in mind... We recruited you becasue you're a couple; embrace it. Americans love to show affection for each other. You two? You...seem a little cold. SYDNEY: We're not...cold. TOM: I know, I know...first night. It's a common problem; don't sweat it. Diane walks up behind Tom holding a metal pie plate with a lid over it. TOM: Oh, and just one more thing...we have a little homework for you. Diane hands Sydney the pie plate. SYDNEY (confused): You want us to eat this pie? TOM: It's uh...a little welcome gift. Open it up. She does and what she finds is a small g*n in pieces, fit into slots cut in foam. TOM: Are you familiar with the new Tokarev? Vaughn shakes his head no. TOM: Get familiar. You'll need it tomorrow. Make sure you can assemble it in under 20 seconds. DIANE: And don't forget to put Tammy's casserole in the fridge. (conspiratorial whisper) That third layer is tuna... Tom and Diane laugh. TOM: All right, well, we'll see you tomorrow. DIANE: Sleep well. SYDNEY: Okay.Thank you. DIANE: Good night. VAUGHN: Good night. TOM: Bye bye, now. VAUGHN: Bye. Tom and Diane leave. SYDNEY (looking at Vaughn in mild confusion): Hmmm... VAUGHN: Yeah. Cut to a shower being turned on, and then the tap in a sink. Cut back to Syd and Vaughn standing in the house's bathroom with all the water spigots turned on to drown out the sound of their talking. SYDNEY: What the hell is going on?! VAUGHN: Yeah, it's like a weird nightmare... SYDNEY: ...that we're trapped in. Did you see the security when we arrived? VAUGHN: Yeah, it's like an entire military division. SYDNEY: Why would they go to this much trouble? VAUGHN: They must be planning an att*ck. SYDNEY: On what, Surburbia?! VAUGHN: Well, maybe some long-term infiltration. SYDNEY: Why steal the EMP if it's long-term? VAUGHN: Well, why train operatives to be American if it's short-term? SYDNEY: Well I'm not saying it's logical, but they asked us to play charades with them! VAUGHN: But that's an act. They're well organized, they're professionals; it's part of their test. SYDNEY: Which apparently we're failing... VAUGHN: No, come on...that was ridiculous... SYDNEY: What, did they expect us to do, just drop and go at it on the floor?! VAUGHN: If one more person calls us boring... SYDNEY (insulted): He didn't call us boring, he called us cold... (insecure) Who thinks we're boring? Vaughn has a moment of hysterical eye shifting guilt as if he let something slip he shouldn't have before he quickly shakes it off and changes the topic. VAUGHN (defensive): No..nobody...That...that's not the point. So, what's our next move? SYDNEY: We have to assume they're tracking our every move. We maintain cover. VAUGHN: Yeah, we act like we have nothing to hide. SYDNEY: I'll do some reconnaisance; see if I can locate the EMP. VAUGHN: In the meantime, one of us should start on our homework. Montage of Sydney in jogging outfit, running through the neighborhood, using her watch to surreptitiously try to find the EMP as opposed to Vaughn practicing putting the g*n together and checking his time with a stopwatch until he can do it in 19 seconds. Outside one of the homes, Sydney slows down to a walk and sneaks up to a tree to look inside. She sees Diane at a desk, reading some paperwork. As she's watching, she suddenly hears: TOM: Can I help you with something? Sydney is startled but recovers almost immediately. SYDNEY: You scared me... (laughs a little) I thought you might still be up... I, um...wanted to thank Diane for that bath salt kit she left us. That was really nice. TOM: How'd you know this was our house. SYDNEY (not missing a b*at): Your name's on the mailbox. TOM: Were you out for a jog? SYDNEY (nodding): I needed to clear my head. TOM: Good chance to do some reconnaisance as well. I'd imagine. So...what's your assessment of our little town? SYDNEY: Strong military perimeter. Armed guards, rotating patrol. Not a lot of people getting in...or out, if you don't want them to. Lack of obvious security presence within the town itself suggests heavy surveillance...security cameras in all the streetlights. And in this immediate area, judging by all the power lines, I'd say that one of those houses is probably a guard station. TOM: Yeah. First sign of trouble, we lock down the streets, give the sn*pers the go ahead to f*re at hostiles...It's our version of the Neighborhood Watch program. Helps everyone sleep well at night. Sydney just nods her head. TOM: All right. Don't stay up too late, okay? You've got a big day tomorrow. Oh, um... I'll be sure to tell Diane about the bath salts. SYDNEY: Thank you, Tom. TOM: You're welcome, Karen. Cut to a surveillance feed of Vaughn sitting at the dining room table, putting together the g*n. Sydney walks in and sits down. VAUGHN: How was your run? SYDNEY: Great. Ran into Tom. Apparently, we can sleep well at night. VAUGHN: Well, that's a relief. Pan back to show Diane watching them as Tom walks in. DIANE (in Russian): They're well trained; guarded with their communication. TOM (in Russian): The woman showed initiative. And she managed to keep her composure. DIANE (in Russian): We may have found some promising prospects. TOM (in Russian): We'll find out tomorrow. DIANE: Da. CUT TO BLACK A graying, bearded man, probably in his 50's smoking a cigar stands waiting as we hear thunder and rain outside. MAN: Hello, Jack. Jack Bristow appears in front of him. JACK: Alexei. ALEXEI: What can I do for you? JACK: There's a military facility 300 miles southeast of Petrozavodsk. I assume you're familiar with it. ALEXEI (with an implied undertone): We trained some of our best operatives there. Jack works his jaw at the obvious implication, but otherwise doesn't respond to Alexei's baiting. JACK: I need to know if the government is still running active operations out of it. ALEXEI: Well, it depends on how you define "government", I suppose. JACK: I have assets in play within the facility who may require assistance with their extraction. ALEXEI: This is not some fringe group we're talking about, Jack. The people who control that base may not have official sanction, but there are many in power who look upon their actions favorably. JACK: You would have my gratitude for any assistance rendered. ALEXEI: While that does warm my heart, I'm afraid the reward does not outweigh the risk. JACK: What do you want, Alexei? ALEXEI: Well...now that you mention it...perhaps there is something you can do for me. Cut to morning in Liberty Village as Tom walks down the sidewalk, waving to one of the neighbors. WOMAN: Morning, Tom. TOM: Morning, Cheryl. He walks up Syd and Vaughn's walkway and rings the doorbell. Knocking on the door, he says, TOM: Rise and shine! Got ourselves a big day! Sydney opens the door. She's wearing chinos, white Keds and a collared buttondown under an argyle sweater. TOM: Karen... SYDNEY: Hi, Tom... TOM: Aren't you just the picture of radiant? Tom leans in and gives her a friendly hug and kiss, the way you would with a relative or acquaintance. TOM: Morning... Tom sees Vaughn coming and says, TOM: Oh, how'd ya sleep, Dave? VAUGHN: Like a baby. Vaughn is wearing a light blue polo shirt and khakis. TOM (crowing with delight): Oh hey, look at that! We're wearing the same shirt. You'd be amazed how often that happens here. So, I guess we'll be twins today. Shall we head out? VAUGHN: Should I bring the g*n? TOM: Nah, you'll be provided with one. As they walk down the street: TOM: We have a working gas station, a movie theater... A passerby calls out: MAN: Hi, Tom... TOM: Oh, hey! ...Uh, supermarkets, bowling alley... SYDNEY: Why would the government need a bowling alley... TOM: Too many agents getting b*rned in the 50's. Russians couldn't grasp the culture, so they immersed themselves in it. Found out there's no substitute for the real thing. Oh! (snaps his fingers) Hey, that reminds me, I uh, (pulls a ring box out of his pocket) have another little gift. If you two are going to be a couple, you might as well be acting the part. He hands Sydney the box, which she opens to reveal a mens and ladies wedding band and engagement ring. TOM: I just figured that might help with your little...you know, your intimacy issues... Tom pats Vaughn on the arm as he walks off in front of them. Syd is completely unenthused as she hands Vaughn his ring. Cut to an establishing daytime sh*t of LA via helicopter. Jack opens a metal box and hands Marhshall an ornately decorated leatherbound book. MARSHALL (joking): Oh, Mr. Bristow...you shouldn't have... JACK: Irina Derevko collected 19th century literature. There was a small bookstore in Prague that stocked rare first editions. (Jack starts leafing through one of the books and his voice is vaguely nostalgic) Whenever I was in town, I'd buy one for her as a gift. MARSHALL: Aww, that's sweet. JACK (looking up from the book): The KGB encoded assassination orders in these pages. MARSHALL: Oh. Well that's...not as...sweet. JACK: The NSA decyphered all the codes in these books, but Irina's former resident chief just asked for them back. Which means there's something in here the NSA overlooked. Find it. Jack turns and walks out. Tom, Syd, and Vaughn walk into a used car dealership. TOM: It's not a novel concept. Trust me, somewhere in America, CIA agents are sitting around in a fake Koroshkovia practicing the Russian table manners. SYDNEY: You built a used car dealership? TOM: Training station 327F; home of the Kirilov scenario. Your objective is simple; you have to buy a convertible. Tom gestures behind him to a convertible that spins on a revolving dais. VAUGHN (surprised): What? TOM: You'll be evaluated on characterization, reflex analysis, emotional response and physical endurance. SYDNEY: Physical endurance? A salesman walks up to them. His name tag reads "PHIL". PHIL: Welcome to Liberty Village Automotive. TOM: Good luck. Tom walks off as Phil walks up to them. PHIL: You must have heard about our Democracy sale. We've got 0% financing for 72 months, and a mindblowing selection of pre-owned stepsides. VAUGHN: Well, uh, actually, Phil...we're here to buy a convertible. PHIL: You sure about that? Because we only have one convertible, and...huh, it's a pretty fast car. SYDNEY (deadpan): That's how we live, Phil. Fast. PHIL (nodding): Okay. Cut to Phil, Sydney and Vaughn standing on the revolving dais next to the convertible. PHIL: Few things scream freedom like a brand new convertible. You put the top down and excitement blows through your hair. Vaughn opens up the door and climbs inside. VAUGHN: What's it gonna take to get us over the curb in this baby, Phil? PHIL: You guys are first time buyers, aren't you? SYDNEY (as simpering wife): Is it that obvious? PHIL: Well, you don't get to be regional sales associate of the month four times in a row without knowing how to read people. Newlyweds, right? SYDNEY: Relative newlyweds... PHIL: Let's see that ring. Sydney puts out her hand so that Phil can see her wedding band and engagement ring. Phil whistles, impressed, then asks: PHIL: How'd he pop the question? SYDNEY (fumbling): He...took me to... VAUGHN (cutting in): Santa Barbara, actually. He gives Sydney a half smile, which she returns. We can tell they are both thinking of the trip they were supposed to go on three years ago. VAUGHN: I had this whole romantic weekend planned. Presidential Suite at the Biltmore, candlelit dinner on the cliffs overlooking the ocean... So we went into town, and she wouldn't stop talking about the zoo. So, we went to the zoo. Figured I'd get it overwith. Vaughn gets out of the car to stand in front of Sydney, looking at her as he continues to talk. VAUGHN: And then I saw how happy it made her. It made me forget about all my stupid plans. And here we had this personal chef making this unbelievable meal at the hotel, and... (pauses) I proposed on one knee in sawdust in front of a giraffe with a crooked neck. Vaughn gives Sydney this very intense look and she stares back at him, clearly enthralled by his story. PHIL (laughing): Now, how can I resist the charms of young love? Tell you what, let's sit down, and we'll talk deal. Cut to Syd and Vaughn sitting in Phil's office alone. Sydney is clearly digesting the story Vaughn just told. She turns to him, her face full of questions. VAUGHN (softly): What? Sydney looks hesitant, but then opens her mouth to speak...and Phil walks in the room. PHIL: Good news, guys. I had to butt heads with my sales manager, but it turns out I'm going to be able to offer you...the newlywed rate. There's just one small problem. Another couple is interested in the car. You guys know Ken and Linda, right? SYDNEY: We met them last night. Phil points across the showroom floor to an office on the other side, where Ken and Linda are sitting. They wave. PHIL: Well, they arrived in Liberty Village a few days before you did, and they're under evaluation as well. We're only going to let one couple join our family here, and, this being America... Phil reaches under the desk and pulls out a metal briefcase and plops it on his desk. PHIL: We thought we'd decide things with a good old-fashioned...competition. (starts to open the case) The winning couple gets to move on in our program, oh, and a brand-new convertible...while the losing couple, well...dies. (Phil opens the case to reveal a g*n identical to the one Vaughn practiced assembling.) Now I should probably, get on out of the way before I get myself sh*t. Oh, and it looks like Lloyd gave them a bit of a head start...Sorry about that. Good luck to you guys. Phil moves out of the way as Vaughn moves around to start frantically assemble the w*apon as Ken and Linda across the way do the same. CUT TO BLACK Back to Vaughn and Ken assembling their w*apon. Ken finishes first and hands the w*apon to Linda. SYDNEY: Get down! Syd and Vaughn flip Phil's desk in time to block the sh*ts. Vaughn has now finished assembling his w*apon and holds it up over the edge of the desk as Ken and Linda scatter. Vaughn leaves the office and Ken att*cks him with their metal suitcase. Vaughn's g*n goes skittering across the showroom floor. Vaughn and Ken begin to fistfight. Sydney hides behind one of the cars on the floor as Linda takes aim at her. After a moment, she runs across the floor, scoops up Vaughn's g*n and rolls herself across the back of the convertible to hide inside as Linda fires at her. (Note that all these cars appear to be armored, as none of them take b*llet damage) Sydney fires at Linda and Linda ducks behind a car. Cut to Vaughn and Ken. Vaughn kicks the suitcase away and punches Ken. Cut back to Sydney in the car as it spins, she takes aim and fires, catching Linda in the chest. Looking ahead, Sydney sees Vaughn and Ken still fistfighting in the remnants of Phil's office. Sydney searches the car for keys and then we hear the car revving up. Vaughn takes a quick peek to see who it is and gets punched in the jaw for his trouble. Sydney puts the car in gear and it screams down the ramp. Vaughn gets up and whacks Ken with his metal suitcase, pushing Ken out of the room and right into Sydney's path. Sydney hits him with the car and Ken goes flying up over to land on the concrete. Screeching to a halt, Sydney yells: SYDNEY: Get in! Vaughn hops in the car and they streak away. Evening as we see the convertible parked in front of Syd and Vaughn's home. Cut to the bathroom, all the taps running again. Cut to a closeup of Marshall's watch. THe crown is all smashed. SYDNEY (handing it to Vaughn to inspect): It's d*ad. Sydney sits on the edge of the bathtub, Vaughn sits on the floor, his back against the half wall that protects the toilet. VAUGHN (who has a small gash on his left forehead): Well, protocol dictates we contact APO and let them know what's going on. SYDNEY: We might have access to communications, now that we've "joined the Liberty Village family"... VAUGHN: They tried to k*ll us over a car. I mean, if we stay, they might...send us to the supermarket and launch grenades at us... SYDNEY: Well, we can't just leave. This place is like a prison! Our best bet is still to maintain cover. Vaughn reluctantly nods. VAUGHN: Yeah, well next time we go on one of his tests, I'm bringing our g*n, I don't care what he says. Vaughn lets out a long, weary sigh and rests his head against the half wall behind him. SYDNEY: Vaughn, come here. She puts out her hand and he puts his in it. She pulls him over to sit next to her on the bathtub rim. Sydney examines his wound and he flinches. VAUGHN: Is it bad? SYDNEY: You've looked better... Sydney runs her hand down his face and through his hair while resting her other hand on his far cheek, pulling him to her gently so she can kiss his temple near where he got hurt. Sydney starts to drop little kisses on the side of Vaughn's face as his hand slides up to cover the one she has on his cheek. He pulls back slightly, just enough so he can look into her face before they lean forward in a tender kiss. As it deepens, Vaughn lifts a hand to Sydney's cheek and then pulls her into his embrace as her hands slide to his back. Fade into Syd and Vaughn in the shower, naked except for their wedding rings and the string of pearls that Sydney was wearing. They are face to face, kissing and holding each other. Sydney pulls back a little and says, SYDNEY: The story you told at the dealership... Vaughn nods. Sydney slides a hand down Vaughn's cheek and he leans in to drop a kiss on Syd's neck. SYDNEY: We were supposed to go to Santa Barbara three years ago...and we never made it. Vaughn shakes his head as if to say "No, but..." VAUGHN (in soft, loving voice): Karen and Dave did. Syd and Vaughn stare lovingly at each other for a long moment and smiling before kissing passionately again. Cut to nighttime establishing sh*t of LA flyover of buildings via helicopter. Cut to Marshall's techie office, where Jack has arrived to find out what Marshall has discovered about any missed hidden codes in the books. MARSHALL: Well, I started by eliminating the more obvious: sequence book codes, steganography, invisible ink, maybe the watermark...but then, I realized (picks up a book and gestures with it)...it was right in front of my face the whole time; the inscription. Take a look... Marshall opens up the book to the front end paper, where Jack had written a dedication to "Laura" when he gave it to her. MARSHALL (reading inscription): Right here... (ahem) "Laura, All my love forever and a day... Jack." Jack has this constipated look on his face as if he really wishes he didn't have to be reminded yet again how gullible he once was. MARSHALL: That's...really sweet! I mean...that's a side of you I never really get to see, Mr. Bristow. I have to...have to say I like it. JACK (deadpan): I fail to see the relevance. MARSHALL (squirming): Uh, right, sorry. So did the NSA. Anyway, I ran a criminographic analysis of the ink, and check this out: one of the periods in the ellipses contains ink that was different than the inscription did itself. It was added after you wrote it. Irina encoded it with a microdot. Marshall goes over to his computer screen and pulls up a microscopic photo of the enhanced microdot, showing a jumble of Cyrillic letters shaped like a circle. MARSHALL: So...I maginified it with a digital microscope, and...look at this. It's a protocol Irina used to contact one of her operatives: someone important, considering how detailed it is. Jack looks stunned (for Jack, that is ). JACK: Any idea whom she was communicating with? MARSHALL: Well, all that's there is a codename: Sentinel. JACK: Do we have copies of everything inside? MARSHALL: Well, yeah...but you're giving it to the Russians? Jack walks over to a metal case and puts the book inside, closing the lid. JACK: Sentinel's a deceased operative; it's a d*ad end. The Russians can have it. Our priorities are Sydney and Vaughn. Jack picks up the case and starts to leave the room with it, leaving Marshall to stare after him. Cut to Syd and Vaughn, asleep in bed. Syd is sleeping on Vaughn's chest and he has his arm around her. She's wearing a white satin slip and he's wearing a gray T-shirt. As they sleep, we hear noise coming from outside their room. The door to their room creaks open and a sliver of light is illuminated across Vaughn's chest. Suddenly, Vaughn springs from the bed intent on att*ck...pushing the assailant against the wall of the bedroom and takes a swing at him...but Tom is ready and catches his fist. TOM: Gooooood. (he drops Vaughn's fist) You're awake. We need to get you packed: We're going to America. Cut to Vaughn's reaction; he takes a baby step back as if surprised. Cut to Sydney's reaction as she sits up in bed. She's also surprised. CUT TO BLACK Cut to daytime sh*t via helicopter of the observatory. Cut to Alexi and Jack. Alexi is looking inside a paper bag. ALEXI: The agreement was for all of the books... JACK: That's the one you're looking for. Alexi pauses for a long moment and swallows, as if surprised that Jack knew what they were looking for. ALEXI: We haven't heard from Irina in quite some time. JACK: She's a difficult woman to keep track of. ALEXI: That she is. She always spoke quite favorably of you. Her attachment made her work...problematic at times. JACK (laced with sarcasm): I hope I didn't cause you...too much inconvenience. ALEXI: We have an aircraft waiting at Cheznyev airstrip. A support team will provide transport for your assets once they have left the facility's perimeter. Jack nods. ALEXI: Goodbye, Jack. JACK: Alexi. Alexi turns and walks away. Cut to Syd and Vaughn's Liberty Village home. Tom, Syd, Vaughn and Bill sit around a dining table. Tom has a laptop open while Syd and Vaughn study a dossier in front of them. TOM: 1526 Glenbury Lane: three bedroom, two bath, hardwood floors...they've even got a breakfast nook. VAUGHN: What, we're moving to Chicago? TOM: You're Chicago...(indicating Bill and Donna) they're Atlanta, Diane and I are New York. You have a meeting on Tuesday with Piers Financial. We've prepared extensive backgrounds for you. Human resources flip out over young, upstart couples like yourselves...provided you ace the interview, of course. SYDNEY: We're attacking an investment firm? TOM: No, we just need access to their servers. At some point in the near future, an unfortunate incident is going to befall the New York Stock Exchange. If we have access to these servers of America's financial institutions at that time, we'll be in prime position for a massive redistrubution of wealth. BILL: Think of it as, um...aggressive Marxism. VAUGHN: What's the casualty projection for this...unfortunate incident? TOM (amused): Are the 'Gladiators of Liberty Village Automotive' having a sudden crisis of conscience? SYDNEY: Civilian deaths mean repercussions. VAUGHN: We'll need an exit strategy. TOM (to Vaughn in Russian): You'll be long gone before the bodies are cold, Dmitri. Vaughn nods. TOM: That reminds me...we should go over the op tech in case we have to reroute you guys through New York. What do you know about electromagnetic w*apon? Vaughn and Sydney give each other a fleeting look. Cut to daytime establishing sh*t of LA via helicopter. Cut to Marshall, who is working on another gadget in his office. As his computer beeps, he looks up. The computer screen reads: INCOMING DATA ALERT - Russian Consulate Update: Germans have transferred the Tabokovs to a maximum security prison in Havel. Marshall gasps and gets up, and practically runs down the corridor to Sloane's office. MARSHALL (breathless): Mr. Sloane...the Tabakovs...the couple that Sydney and Vaughn are impersonating? The Germans just moved them. SLOANE: ...to a maximun security prison in Havel. The Consulate informed me of the transfer a few minutes ago. MARSHALL: The Consulate informed everybody of the transfer a few minutes ago: they sent the order over an unsecured line. If the October Contingent have the Tabakovs' names flagged... SLOANE: Send the abort code. Get Sydney and Vaughn out of there now. Marshall runs back to his office. Cut to a sh*t of the watch lying broken on a bedside table while Bill and Vaughn pack. BILL: Now, underneath you have a secondary compartment. (lifts it to show two dossier folders inside) your meet protocol, your exit fill documents...we even threw in the backgrounds of all your new neighbors. Should help you make small talk at barbeques. (Bill pats Vaughn on the back as they share a laugh) Cut to a sh*t of the EMP device as Tom explains it to Sydney. TOM: Disengage the failsafe device (demonstrates)...lift the cover (demonstrates)...and flip the switch (mimicks the motion needed to flip switch). You don't wear a pacemaker, do ya? Sydney smiles and Tom smiles back as Tom's cell phone rings. TOM: I'm kidding... Sydney and Tom share a laugh as he answers his phone. TOM: Hi, hon. Yeah, yeah...no, things are right on schedule. (pausing to listen) Um, hmm? Yes...no, they're very excited about their breakfast nook. DIANE (in Russian): k*ll one. Keep the other for interrogation. TOM (turning back to look at Sydney, who is still sitting at the table, stydying the schematic for the EMP while he talks): Yes, I'll be sure to tell 'em. (pause) I love you, too. Sydney gives Tom a sideways glance before going back to the schematic. CUT TO BLACK In Sydney and Vaughn's dining room as Tom hangs up his cellphone. TOM: That was Diane. She said to pack warm; Chicago's cold this time of year. Gets a little obsessed when we travel. Sydney looks up at Tom and smiles, setting the schematics aside. TOM (offhand): You want some more coffee? SYDNEY: I'd love some, thanks. Tom takes Sydney's cup and walks toward the kitchen with it as he speaks. TOM (laughing): Watch...I'm telling you, it's amazing, just like clockwork. As soon as we'll be outside of Vologa, she'll um, think that we left the stove on... Tom pulls his g*n from inside his belt and whips around...but Sydney is gone. He starts to walk around, searching for her, his g*n still drawn. Cut to the bedroom where Bill talks as Vaughn packs. BILL: So we had to do our initial evaluation at the Liberty Village Fried Chicken. I got burn marks all over my back from the fry machine. Cut to Tom, still searching the downstairs. His cellphone rings and he answers it with one hand. TOM (in Russian): Where is she? Just as Tom walks into the room, Sydney hits him in the back of the head with a vase. Cut to upstairs, where Bill and Vaughn hear the commotion. Suddenly Bill reaches for his g*n and Vaughn knocks it out of Bill's hand as Bill shoves him against the wall. Bill and Vaughn trade punches. Bill punches Vaughn in the face and then grabs him by the back of the neck and throws him across the room through a floor length mirror (shades of The Telling, anyone?). Cut back to Syd and Tom fighting in the living room. They trade kicks and punches until Syd finds her back to the fireplace mantle. Tom puts his hand around her neck and tries to strangle Sydney. She elbows him in the face and pushes him away, snatching up a fireplace poker just in time to knock Tom's p*stol from his hand again. In the distance, we can hear police sirens and see searchlights from a helicopter outside the window. Sydney hits Tom a couple more times with the poker and finally knocks him out. She picks up his p*stol and comes around the corner of the room into the hallway with the g*n drawn...only to find Vaughn, with Bil's g*n drawn coming down the staircase. SYDNEY: They're on to us. VAUGHN: Yeah, I figured that part out. Sydney runs into the dining room and grabs the EMP device. SYDNEY: I don't know what happened, but we gotta get out of here. They open the front door and run onto the lawn as the helicopter searchlight tries to follow their progress. They are sh*t at by sn*pers, but miss. They crouch down behind Tom's car in the street. They look up to see the helicopter circling around toward them. VAUGHN (yelling to be heard over the noise): Set it off! Set off the EMP! Sydney sets the case down and sets off the EMP device. Suddenly all the streetlights, car headlights go off, cars stop, the helicopter searchlight goes off. Cut to an over head sh*t of Liberty Village from the air as all the power grids go off. Cut back to the helicopter as it falls helplessly from the sky, landing on a house down the street in a fiery crash while soldiers getting out of a jeep in front of it scatter. SYDNEY: Maybe it's time we move out of the suburbs. Syd grabs the EMP device and Sydney and Vaughn take off running. Cut to daytime establishing sh*t of LA skyline by day. Cut to Sloane, talking to someone in his office. SLOANE: Russian authorities officially deny that an American training ground ever existed within their borders. However, off the record, they have expressed gratitude for our assistance with their takedown of the October Contingent. Cut to view of Sloane's face over a videophone. Pull back to see Sydney and Vaughn in the cargo hold of a military aircraft, watching the feed from the phone. SLOANE: We'll debrief in detail upon your arrival, but for now...good work. Cut to Sloane's view of Sydney and Vaughn on his video phone. SYDNEY: Thank you. VAUGHN: Thank you. Sloane turns off the feed, and then speaks to Jack, sitting across the desk from him: SLOANE: So, Alexi made good on his promise. JACK: Which means our suspicions regarding Sentinel are correct: the Russians are searching for Elena Derevko. SLOANE: Well, we will have to move up our timetable. Jack nods. Cut to an exterior sh*t of military aircraft. Cut to inside, where Syd and Vaughn sit. SYDNEY: It's strange...but I'm not exactly excited about returning to America...for some reason. VAUGHN: Well, it was kind of nice not to have to be us for a while. Vaughn removes his Liberty Village wedding ring and sets it down next to the computer they were using as a videophone. SYDNEY: Well, I happen to like us...even if we are a little cold. VAUGHN (smiling): And boring...don't forget boring. SYDNEY (smirking): How could I? Sydney takes her rings off and sets them down on the other side of the computer. VAUGHN: You know, we have operational command of this aircraft. The pilot could take us anywhere we want... SYDNEY (playfully scolding): Our orders are to proceed with our extraction. If we were divert this aircraft for our personal use, we would get into a lot of trouble. VAUGHN: Yes. SYDNEY (looking a bit disappointed): Yeah... VAUGHN: Wanna have dinner with me in Paris? SYDNEY (no hesitation at all): Absolutely. They lean in to kiss each other tenderly and then the camera cuts to Sydney's engagement and wedding ring sitting on the table in front of them, focusing closer and closer until, CUT TO BLACK END

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x05 - Welcome to Liberty Village"}

foreverdreaming

4X06 - NOCTURNE ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON ABC: 02/09/05 Scene opens to a large metal gate. A woman opens the gate to pass through it as the subtitle "Universitat Van Amsterdam" appears onscreen. The woman is wearing a small pack on her back and is seen jogging through a couple of halls until she skids to a stop and enters a classroom and sits down in an already full classroom. A female teacher who appears to be in her mid to late 30's, pretty, attractive, dressed conservatively stands at the head of the class. Teacher: Okay, settle. Notebooks out. We're going to start with three sentences; at least one noun and one verb in each one...in English. Uh, Martina...why don't you go first: three things you saw on your way to class today. Martina: Uh, I saw a man...pedd...peddling his bicycle? Teacher: Peddling...good, good. Martina: And then I saw...my friend Klaus kiss Katrina Walt. And then I saw Katrina slap Klaus' face...(class laughs) It's true! Katrina hates Klaus. A cell phone starts to ring. The teacher looks around the room, but the ringing continues and no one seems to be answering it. She notices the girl who was running to class's backpack on the floor by her desk. Teacher: Anna, please. Turn your phone off. Anna gives the teacher a funny look, as does a couple of other kids in the class. Teacher (more sternly): Your phone; turn it off. Anna reaches into her backpack and pulls out the cellphone. Anna: It...wasn't ringing. The teacher looks suddenly frightened as her eyes dart back and forth. Her breathing becomes quick gasps. Grabbing her pack-like purse she says as she hurries down the aisle out of the classroom: Teacher: Martina...take over class. Martina and other students turn to stare after their teacher as she hurries out. Cut to her in the hallway. She turns a corner hurriedly only to come face to face with a tall ugly man talking into a cellphone. He looks menacingly at her. More panicked now, the teacher starts down the hallway in the other direction, pulling a revolver from her purse as she runs. Suddenly another man steps out from the shadows at the other end of the hallway, pointing a g*n at her. Gasping, she turns again and sees the cell-phone guy at the other end of the hallway, slowly screwing a sil*ncer into place on his revolver. She turns, her g*n square, prepared to sh**t the first man, but suddenly, he's not there. She turns to face the man with the sil*ncer, g*n still drawn...but he's gone, too. Still holding her g*n up in front of her, her eyes wild, Martina steps into the hallway and into the teacher's line of f*re. Martina looks shocked. Martina: Mrs. Cowell!? The teacher looks past Martina and the man with the sil*ncer is back. She trains her g*n past Martina and onto the man. Martina (panicked): Mrs. Cowell!? The teacher speaks to Martina wildly in Dutch, her eyes still trained on the end of the hall. Teacher: Vertel hen het is grappig. Then, with Martina looking on, she puts the g*n under her own chin and we see Martina's shocked face as the g*n goes off. CUT TO BLACK LOS (A)NGELES Evening establishing sh*t of LA skyline. Cut to Sydney and Vaughn playing ice hockey. Vaughn and Syd skate side by side, carefully passing the puck back and forth. Sydney awkwardly skates forward, carrying the puck as she says like a hockey announcer: Sydney: Bobby Orr...moves in for the sh*t... Suddenly Sydney loses her footing and falls very ungracefully face first onto the ice. Vaughn giggles as he skates over to her. She's also giggling as she turns onto her side and puts her arm out for Vaughn to pull her up. Sydney (joking): Don't laugh at me! Vaughn: Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. (pulls her to a stand) Lemme get your stick. Sydney brushes the snow from her arms as Vaughn retrieves her hockey stick and hands it back to her. They are both standing in front of the net. Vaughn: Okay, let 'er rip. Sydney takes a sh*t and she pulls it to the side, missing the net. Vaughn stands right behind her, pulling her into position. Vaughn: Here...move back...(positions her and then helps her with her sh*t as it goes in the net) Use a little more wrist. You just put a little more snap in it, like this. Vaughn demonstrates his rising wrist sh*t. Vaughn: Lift it up. Sydney: What position did you play? Vaughn: I was defense. In high school, coach moved me up to center. Sydney (taking another sh*t): You were a chick magnet, right? Vaughn (laughing): Actually, my first face off I took as a center, I got knocked right on my ass. The other team's center was like this 15-year-old 6 foot 2, bearded...actually, probably on steroids, now that I think about it... Sydney giggles. Vaughn: Finally, there was 12 seconds left, we were down by a goal... I'd had my teeth kicked in so many times I just said "Screw it..." I stopped caring, won the draw, skated around him, moved in for the sh*t (skating around Sydney and taking a sh*t at the net as if demonstrating what happened)... Sydney: You tied the game... Vaughn: Nah, I h*t the post. (sighs) But I did learn something...about how we can let fear get in the way. Syd...I know you want to take things slow, but...what are you afraid of? They share a long look and Sydney looks as if she's about to answer, when both their cell phones start to ring. Vaughn gives Syd a semi-exasperated look as they answer their phones. Sydney: Yeah. Cut to a scene of the subway station outside APO. Cut to the main entrance of APO as the door hisses open, allowing Syd (in slo mo) to enter. Cut to a DOD picture of the teacher we saw in the opening scene. Sloane (voiceover): Her name is Nancy Cahill; an operative at Langley's Narcotics Task Force... Sloane: ...specializing in the development of new synthetics. She's been stationed in Europe for the past three years. Her cover: Associate Professor at Amsterdam University. In the briefing room, the APO crew open their dossier folders. Sloane: She sh*t herself 36 hours ago: an eyewitness report; a student from Cahill's class. Sydney (reading from transcript): "Vertel hen het is grappig." Tell them it's funny... Jack: Cahill's most recent psych eval reported nothing of note. Mental status reviews have been exemplary. Vaughn: What's our assignment? Sloane (putting another photo up on the screen): Cahill's husband, Jason,also an agent, has gone off the grid. Hasn't been in touch with his handler in 3 weeks. All attempts to contact him after his wife's death have been unsuccessful. Our objective is quite simple: locate Jason Cahill. So Dixon, you take Weiss; retrace Nancy Cahill's final days. Vaughn, you and Nadia do the same thing for Jason Cahill. Sydney, Jack, the Cahill's Amsterdam apartment...standard protocol: recover all files, classified computers, any evidence of CIA affiliation. Any questions? CUT TO BLACK AMS(T)ERDAM Cut to the outside of an upscale apartment building, evening. Cut to Sydney and Jack walking down a darkened hallway with flashlights and entering the Cahill's apartment. Sydney goes to turn on a lamp in the living room, but it doesn't go on. She walks over to another lamp and shines her flashlight on it from the top. Sydney: No bulbs. Jack and Sydney continue searching by flashlight. Sydney finds a picture of the Cahill's, smiling and happy. She sets it back down and moves on. Jack finds something that looks suspicious and stops to check it out. Sydney moves on to the kitchen, trying the lightswitch in there, but that one doesn't work, either. Jack removes a false backing on the television set and pulls out a small laptop computer. Cut back and forth between Sydney searching the kitchen and Jack unwrapping and accessing the laptop. Sydney looks in drawers, in the fridge, while Jack attaches a USB memory pod to the computer to download information. Sydney opens a cupboard and moves a few pots to reveal a small hidden door which is locked with a padlock. Sydney can see that there is an open area behind the door through the slats, so she picks the lock and opens the door, crawling inside. She finds a small concrete bunker-like crawlspace. Papers strewn on the floor blow restlessly as she continues cautiously down the corridor. There are papers taped the the walls, filled with gibberish writing and disturbing drawings. Sydney shines her light to the floor to find flies gathering around what must be days old remnants of food on a plate. Sydney continues to look nervously around the walls at more and more papers with nonsensical writing and dark, frightening pictures drawn on them. She turns to the side to continue down a curve in the hallway when she is suddenly att*cked. Jason Cahill, who appears completely insane, grabs Sydney and bites her on the neck as she struggles to push him away. Suddenly, it appears he's vomiting blood onto her and then he collapses on top of her. Sydney looks up to see Jack with his g*n drawn, obviously having just sh*t Cahill in the back. Jack looks unnerved by what he just saw. Sydney pushes Cahill off of her and sits up, gasping. CUT TO BLACK Alias Theme (or now is the time in Alias when we dance!) Sydney, now back at APO's Medical Services, is lying on a table in a red hospital gown. She lies quietly as they take a CAT scan of her brain with a concerned Jack watching from behind the technicians. Cut to Sydney, now fully dressed with a bandage over the bite wound on her neck, nervously tapping a rubber knee mallet against her hand. She looks up as a doctor enters the room. Doctor: Good news, Agent Bristow. Your blood work's negative and your scans are clean. The doctor leans in toward her. Doctor: May I? Sydney: Sure. The doctor removes the bandage to inspect the bite wound. Doctor: Looks fine. My little brother did the same thing to me once; bit me like this. Jack: Perhaps you can tell us now what you were looking for in the CAT scan. Cut to Sydney, Jack, and the Doctor entering another room. Doctor: The Cahills came in contact with a drug that affected the nervous system. The pineal gland... The doctor walks closer and we see Jason Cahill on a table with the top of his cranium removed, exposing his brain. Doctor: ...was about twice its normal size. Nancy Cahill's autopsy revealed the same condition. Sydney: Which indicates what? Doctor: By itself? Nothing. The pineal creates melatonin, which regulates sleep cycles and body temperature. However, actute melatonin imbalance has been known to create uncharacteristic behavior, even acts of extreme v*olence. Sydney: The writing in Cahill's closet; it seemed like he was suffering from severe paranoia: seeing demons. Doctor: I know. I initially assumed we were dealing with a psychotropic, but hallucinogens have particular biochemical markers, none of which were present here. Jack: No matter what drug Jason Cahill may have been exposed to, he couldn't have transmitted it to Sydney by biting her...so why the CAT scan? Doctor: The Cahills dealt with emerging drugs. I wanted to take every precaution, but all of our diagnostics indicate that you're fine. Do you feel okay? Sydney: Fine. Jack gives one skeptical glance at the doctor. Cut to Sloane, sitting at his desk in his office. Sloane: Langley wants to know what substance the Cahills came in contact with, who's manufacturing it, what's it being used for. So, what do we know? Vaughn: Neither Cahill travelled outside Amsterdam in the past month. In her last days, Nancy placed twice her usual amount of phone calls. They were routed through anonymous relays; standard deep cover protocol. Marshall: Well, if you give me the routing numbers, I'll see if I can hack a backtrace. Now, as far as Cahill's laptop, the hard drive was erased, but it's possible the files weren't completely rewritten. I'll see if I can reconstruct them. Sloane (holding up one of Jason Cahill's papers): Okay, what do we know about these? Weiss: Jason Cahill was analyzing data; names, dates, links between sources. He was looking for something...I don't know, maybe his mind...this guy was really crazy. His wife actually locked him...(trailing off as he notices Jack entering the room)...in his...closet... Jack: Sydney's fine. She's just exhausted; she hasn't slept in 36 hours, so I'm sending her home. Sloane: Yes, yes of course. Vaughn: Excuse me. Vaughn gets up and leaves the room and approaches Sydney. Vaughn: Hey. Sydney: Hey. They start walking together. Vaughn takes a peek at the bandage on Syd's neck. Sydney (teasing): Oh, you think it's sexy, don't you? Vaughn (teasing back): Only if I'd done it. (more serious) You need a ride home? Sydney: No, thanks. I was freaked out...but now I'm just tired. Good night. Sydney walks away as Vaughn watches her go with a concerned look. Cut to the readout of a digital clock as it changes for 12:10 am to 12: 11. Cut to Sydney, lying awake in bed. She rubs her forehead, but when she closes her eyes, she sees Jason Cahill's snarling face above her. Cut to Sydney, now lying on her side. She turns over and her clock now reads 1:45 am. She gets up and goes into her bathroom. She studies herself in the mirror for a long moment, then slowly removes the bandage to study the bite mark. Then she self-consciously covers it with her hair. She looks down on the vanity and notices a small spider. She watches it as it crawls along next to a prescription bottle. She picks up the bottle, but the spider is suddenly gone. She moves another bottle, but still doesn't see the spider. She studies her reflection in the mirror again for a long moment. Cut to Sydney searching in a drawer in the bathroom. She pulls out a digital thermometer. Cut to Weiss and Nadia as they arrive home. Weiss (obviously finishing a conversation started off camera): He still thinks that's funny. Nadia says something intelligible. Weiss: Greeaaat. Nadia looks up and notices Sydney standing in the doorway of her bedroom. Nadia: Oh, God...I hope we didn't wake you up. How are you doing? Sydney: I'm fine. I had a headache; I couldn't sleep. I'm fine. Have you...learned anything new? Weiss: Umm...well, lemme just say, Cahill's papers? Just thinking about them...makes my head hurt. Nadia: Marshall said he's making some progress with Cahill's hard disk. He thinks he may be able to retrieve the data. Weiss: Yeah. Weiss starts fidgeting with his overcoat, as if unsure if he should remove it or not. Sydney (smirking): Oh...Are you s... Weiss: What? Staying over? No... Nadia turns and gives Weiss an amused look. Weiss (suddenly unsure): Unless I am...am I? Nadia (amused): You're not. Weiss: I'm not. Nadia: I'll walk you out. Weiss: She'll walk me out...She almost said yes...you saw that, right? Nadia (talking over Weiss): Right now... (pushing on his arm) Weiss (to Sydney): This close...I was...(to Sydney) Good night. Sydney: Good night. Sydney looks down at the thermometer in her hand as it starts to beep. The reading on it says: 111 degress F. Sydney puts her hand to her head and rubs at her eye and the side of her head. When she looks back down, the thermometer's temperature is still rising, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116. CUT TO BLACK The scene opens to Sydney (obviously the next morning), standing in front of a wall of monitors, flipping through scans of Jason Cahill's papers, studying them. She scans in on one particular page until the scrawled word "Vampire" practically fills the screen. (From behind her) Vaughn: Hey. Sydney jumps nervously. Vaughn smiles apologetically and Sydney smiles back. Vaughn: Sorry. You're here early... Sydney: I couldn't sleep. Vaughn nods. Sydney: What do you think about this? Was Jason Cahill just...delusional? Vaughn: Well, we're assuming the Cahills realized they were affected by something they came in contact with...probably a drug from one of their sources, but...which source, which drug, they didn't know. Looks like they were retracing their steps, trying to figure it out. Sydney: Maybe looking for an antidote. Vaughn nods. Cut to the APO group around the briefing table. Marshall: I thought I was losing my mind. The hard disk was wiped clean, remember? But the data recovery wasn't a problem. The files were fragmented. Sydney: What's on the disk? Marshall: The motherlode: Cahill's travel itinerary, d*ad drop protocols, routing numbers for discretionary funds... Sloane: What's pressing for now is that according to his records, Jason Cahill has a meeting scheduled for Bucharest. His contact is known to him as "The Count". Sydney: The Count!? You've gotta be kidding me... Vaughn: No, the Count is mentioned several times in Cahill's papers. He seems to be one of their sources. He supplies them with samples of new drugs. Marshall: Now, here is a photo...I retreived it from one of Cahill's disks... (a photo of "The Count" pops up onscreen) Marshall: Ladies and Gentlemen...introducing The Count. Sloane: The meeting is tomorrow night. Obviously, Cahill won't attend, but we will. Sydney, you will identify yourself as an associate of Jason, you'll lead him into a conversation, and find out what drugs he'd acquired for them. Dixon: It's a mistake. Both Sydney and Sloane turn to look at Dixon. Sloane: I beg your pardon. Dixon: Sending Sydney back into the field so quickly. It's a tactical error. Sydney: No, it's... Dixon: Sydney, someone else can do this. Sydney: I'm fine. Sloane: That's it. Sloane and Dixon stare each other down. Cut to Sydney and Marshall walking from the briefing. Marshall: Well, you know, based on my limited experience with mind-altering drugs, this one must have been a doozy. Sydney: Theoretically, could the drug's effects have a delayed reaction? Marshall: Well, there is a half hour or so for it to kick in... Sydney: That's not what I mean. I mean a while, like a...day or two. Marshall: Uh, no, not sure...hold on a second...it's my wife. (answers cell phone) Hey, honey... (whispering to Syd) I'll look into it, okay? Marshall turns and walks into his office. Marshall: Yeah, sure, put him on. (in a voice you'd use for young children) Hey, Boo Boo! Daddy loves you, yes he does! As Sydney turns, she sees Nadia at her desk holding up a CD. Sydney approaches her. Nadia hands it to her. Nadia: Scans of Cahill's papers, his references to The Count. Sydney: Thank you. Sydney puts her hand to her forehead suddenly, as if in pain. Nadia: Another headache? Sydney: Yeah. Nadia: I've got some aspirin; you want it? Sydney: No. Thanks. This is gonna sound crazy. After you got home last night, I took my temperature. Nadia: MmmHmm? Sydney: It was 111. Nadia: Syd, that's not possible. Sydney: I know. I must have been dreaming, right? Nadia: Have you told Dr. Jain? Sydney: Everything was back to normal this morning; all my tests came back negative. Nadia: You have to let them know. Sydney: Well, you just said it yourself: It's not possible. Nadia: It's not, but you still have to. Sydney: If I tell them, they'll sideline me for who knows how long. Nadia: If you don't tell them, I will. Sydney: Nadia, I'm fine. I shouldn't have said anything. Vaughn walks up to them. Vaughn: Hi. They both turn to look at him. Vaughn: The plane's waiting. Sydney: Okay. Sydney and Nadia give each other meaningful looks, and Vaughn notices. Vaughn: Uh, what's going on here...girl stuff? Nadia pauses, and then says: Nadia: People stuff. (to Sydney) Be safe. Sydney nods and walks away with Vaughn. Nadia also looks concerned. Cut to Dixon, walking into Sloane's office. Dixon: You wanted to see me? Sloane: Yes, please. Sloane indicates that Dixon should approach and he does. Sloane: You know, Marcus...I appreciate your friendship with Sydney. Having said that, whether or not an agent is fit for duty is my decision. Dixon: We both know Sydney has a history of putting her work ahead of her own wellbeing. I was just suggesting that someone else... Sloane: Dixon... In the 11 years you worked for me at SD-6, I came to recognize your brilliance as a field agent. But during those 11 years, not once did you suspect you were working for a renegade organization. Dixon's face goes cold. Dixon: What are you suggesting? That somehow my loyalty is a liability? Sloane: I'm suggesting that you do your job, and that I do mine. Dixon, looking disgusted, walks away. CUT TO BLACK BUCHAR(E)ST Cut to a nighttime flyover scene of Bucharest. Cut to scans of Jason Cahill's drawings. Cut to see Sydney, sitting in a bathrobe drinking a mug of tea sitting in front of a laptop, studying the pictures. Vaughn is sitting in a chair nearby readying a p*stol for the op. Jack walks into the room. Jack: 11:30; we should move. Sydney, when we find The Count, you'll approach him and see what he knows. If he gets suspicious, the abort code is "takedown". (to Vaughn) Once we're inside the club, you take point, I'll cover the back. Vaughn looks up to acknowledge Jack as Sydney goes to take another sip from her tea mug. When she looks down, she sees a giant tarantula climbing out of the top of the mug. Stunned, she drops the mug which spills blood all down the front of her, splashing onto her face. As she stands, the cup shatters on the floor. When she sits back down, however, we see that the stains on her bathrobe are not blood but tea. Vaughn (worried): Sydney! Jack stares down at her, also concerned. Sydney studies herself again, and, seeing that it is in fact just tea spilled on her, she says sheepishly: Sydney: The tea was hotter than I expected. (pause) Give me a minute to change? As she gets up and leaves the room, Jack and Vaughn share a concerned glance. Jack: I want one of us to have line-of-sight on her at all times. Vaughn nods grimly. Cut to Sydney walking into a "vampire" club (people sort of dressed like vampires and such, but just a nightclub). She is wearing a push up dress, a long cape and her hair in this bizarre reddish blonde wig with hair sticking up in the back. As she walks by Vaughn, seated at one of the bars, she asks: Sydney: Do you see him? Vaughn: Negative. Sydney continues to wander around the club as we see The Count walk up to another bar. Jack: Okay, he's at the front bar. Sydney: I'm on my way. Sydney sits down next to The Count at the bar. Sydney (in foreign language): We have a mutual friend. Count (in foreign language): I don't think so. Sydney (in foreign language): Jason Cahill. He couldn't be here. He sent me. The Count looks up suddenly at the mention of Cahill's name. Count: Is good, is good you come, but uh, not safe to talk in the open. In the hall, there's a balcony. Count to ten, meet me there. Sydney: He could run; I'm not gonna wait. Jack: I agree; go. We see The Count slowly weeding his way through the crowd and Sydney follows behind him. As she walks, sound around her becomes vaguely distorted, and it appears as if other patrons recognize her/toast her as she passes. She turns her head and sees a man sitting in a chair with a slight blond woman on his lap, passionately kissing her. She stops and stares in possible recognition. The two break apart and for a split second the man is Vaughn...but then another patron walks between them and we see that it is actually a stranger kissing an unknown woman. Unnerved, Sydney continues walking. Sydney climbs the stairs and walks into the balcony room by The Count, who locks the door behind them. Count (worried, afraid): Who are you? Why did Jason not come? Sydney: He's sick; he sent me to talk to you for him. Count (worried, agitated): He's sick!? He's sick how? Sydney: Listen, he wanted me to tell you... Count (pulling a g*n from the waist band of his pants): You're lying. Who are you? Sydney: I'm not lying. Count (agitated): Turn around...I said turn around! The Count starts to frisk Sydney as she tells him, Sydney: Cahill is d*ad. His wife is too. The Count finds Sydney's p*stol and steps away from her. Count: Who are you!? You police!? He throws Sydney's g*n aside. Sydney: I don't know what they told you, but they're d*ad because... Count: Oh no, you lie again! Sydney: They were affected by a drug; I'm trying to find out what that is... Count (noticably upset by that news): Oh, my God... Sydney: You know that drug is; tell me what it is. The Count rushes Sydney and whacks her on the side of the head and bolts out the door. As the door opens, Vaughn comes from around the corner f*ring and the Count fires back. Vaughn: We're under f*re! Takedown! Takedown! Cut to Jack running through the patrons of the club. Cut to Vaughn as he tackles the Count by the feet. They cascade down a half a flight of steps, stopping on the landing. The Count pulls out his p*stol and Vaughn rushes him again, knocking them down the rest of the staircase. Vaughn grabs the Count by the lapels and punches him in the face, knocking him out. Sydney comes down the stairs behind Vaughn training a g*n on the Count. Vaughn looks over his shoulder to see her standing there. Vaughn: You all right? Sydney: Your arm... We now see that Vaughn's arm was nicked by a b*llet and is bleeding. Vaughn: I'm fine. Let's get him out of here. Cut to an ashtray with a smoking cigarette in it. Cut to The Count picking up that cigarette and taking a drag. Jack, followed by Sydney and Vaughn enter the room. Jack sits down at the table. Sydney: We know who you are, Andre Cirescu. Andre: Nice...that was good pronounciation. Sydney: We know you're Romanian national, 32 years old, charged twice with black market electronics. Jack: We know you were convicted three years ago for fencing stolen pharmaceuticals. Andre: Yes...I wanted to appeal this one... Jack (cutting him off): Tell us what you know about this man. Slides a photo of Jason Cahill across the table. Jack: I will only say that if you choose not to cooperate with us, you'll regret that decision for the rest of your life. Andre (not sure if Jack is serious): Who are you guys, huh? Jack: Just answer the question. Andre (nervously swallowing): He told me he was chemist. Worked for pharmaceutical company. He hired me to be his, um...spy. Keep eye on competition. Vaughn: In a sense, that's true, but in fact, you were spying on behalf of the US Government. Andre (brightening, as if pleased by this news): Oh... Vaughn: Who called the meeting, you or Cahill? Andre: He did. Vaughn: Why? Andre (shrugs): I don't know. Jack: You performed other jobs for him. Andre: Yeah. Jack: Start with the most recent. Andre: I need this...how do you say? pen... Sydney's cell phone rings as Jack hands Andre a pen. Sydney (to Vaughn): Marshall... Sydney walks into the kitchen to take the call. Cut to Marshall's lab as he walks to sit in front of a computer. Marshall: Hey, Syd...your idea? Well, you were right. Sydney: What idea? Marshall: The incubation period. Turns out I did some research and it turns out the Czechs, oh, well and some Germans...anyway, they've been toying around with some designer analogs across the blip brain barrier they'll be a pathogen. So, in other words, this drug works like a virus: Cut back to Syd, pouring herself a cup of tea, listening. Marshall: It gets in your blood and incubates for a few days. It infects you and then permanently alters your brain. Cut to Sydney's reaction to this news. Marshall: Weird, huh? Anyway, I called Dr. Jain, and he's gonna culture Cahill's blood and make sure that's not what we're dealing with, okay. Syd...this...isn't about...you, right? I mean, you're feeling okay, right? It's clear from Sydney's face she knows what's happening to her is exactly like what Marshall described. Sydney: Yeah. Thank you, Marshall. Marshall: No problem. That's what I'm here for. Sydney hangs up the phone. She looks devestated. CUT TO BLACK Jack is sitting at the table, reading what Andre has written, while Andre rubs his head wearily and yawns. Sydney walks into the room, drinking from a tea mug. Jack: Nocturne. Two weeks ago, you delivered a sample of it to Cahill. Tell me about it. Andre: It comes in vial like this (indicates size with fingers). Cahill says is like speed, only better. Sydney: What do you mean like speed? Andre: You take, you don't sleep. Except not (imitates being jittery)...just energy, but no need to rest. Jack: You failed to include where it came from. Andre: Yes, because I don't know. As Andre continues to talk, Sydney notices him picking up a p*stol from the table and beginning to load the g*n with b*ll*ts. Andre: Nocture developed in Eastern Bloc. Sydney looks at Jack and then Vaughn, but neither one is reacting to the fact that Andre is loading the p*stol right in front of them. Sydney closes her eyes for a moment as if to indicate she realizes what she's seeing must not be real and she's trying to make it go away. Andre: But I find no evidence of this, so...I ask an associate. One week later, he bring me a sample of Nocturne. Sydney watches as Andre spins the b*llet barrel and closes it, and begins to place the g*n in his mouth. Jack: He didn't tell you where he got the Nocturne? Andre: No. Andre appears to be looking right at Sydney, speaking only to her, stroking the g*n along the side of his face. Andre: Is too bad for you...because you're dying, too. Sydney watches as Andre puts the g*n in his mouth again. We focus on Sydney's face as she hears the g*n discharge. She jumps at the sound...but then we cut back to Andre at the table, obviously fine with a g*n nowhere near him. Everyone looks up at Sydney. Vaughn: You all right? Sydney (quietly): Yeah. Cut to a videophone screen with Sloane and Dr. Jain on it. Dr. Jain: It seems that Nocturne incorporates a stimulant which overrides the pineal gland. Cut to Vaughn, sitting on a couch on the other side of Jack. Vaughn: There was intel a few years ago that the North Koreans were working on an experimental program just like this one, trying to create 24 hour soldiers. Dr. Jain: And there have been others; all failures because no one understood the true biochemical nature of dreaming. Vaughn: So, the Cahill's delusions were...were forms of dreams? Dr. Jain: Nightmares, yes; in a matter of speaking. The problem being with these dreams? Once triggered... Jack leans forward on his knees, blocking our (Sydney's) view of Vaughn. Dr. Jain: ...there's no waking up. Cut to Sydney, watching the videoscreen, then to the screen itself. Sloane: Sydney, you listening? It's working, isn't it? Bit by bit, I'm wearing down your defenses. I'm gaining your trust. Sydney looks to the side as Jack sits back and instead of Vaughn sitting there, it's Sloane. Sloane: But we both know at some point, I'll betray you. And the people you care most deeply about? They'll die. Sloane leans back behind Jack again and we settle on Jack's face, worriedly watching Sydney as Sydney stares wild-eyed at the spot where she saw Sloane. Cut back to that spot, and Vaughn is sitting there, staring at Sydney also. Vaughn: Syd...you okay? Syd looks away, and then gets up and stalks into the other room, grabbing Andre in a choking grip and pushes him back into the chair he's sitting in. Sydney: You weren't surprised when I told you Cahill had died from Nocturne. You weren't surprised. Why weren't you surprised!? Andre: I don't know...I don't know what you mean! Sydney (fierce): What aren't you telling me!? Andre: I tell you everything. Sydney: Do not lie to me! Sydney starts choking Andre. Sydney: I'm one of them. Do you hear me, you son of a b****!? Cahill bit me! Sydney is yanked off of Andre by Jack and Vaughn. She steps back behind Vaughn. Andre: Okay! I know it was bad. This was why I was to meet Cahill! I contact him to tell him. I don't find Nocturne...at least, not what they make today. Vaughn: So what did you give Cahill? Andre: Old sample. It was meant to be destroyed. This drug, it go right through skin! Vaughn (bitterly): And he didn't know this. Andre (pleading for them to understand): I need money! I lied to him; I'm sorry. Behind them, Sydney starts to break down, leaning her weight on the back of a chair and putting her head down. Jack: From where!? Where did it come from!? Andre: I don't know...is somewhere in Prague. I don't know. Andre looks at Sydney with remorse. Andre: I'm sorry. I'm very sorry... Sydney leans her head down on the chair and starts to silently sob. Vaughn puts a comforting hand on her back as Jack turns back to Andre with a "What have you done?" look. Cut to daytime flyover of some buildings in downtown LA. Cut to Weiss and Nadia, still working on Cahill's data. Weiss: What was the last thing Nancy Cahill said to that eyewitness? "Vertel has hat es grappig?" Tell them it's funny!? That's gotta mean something else... Nadia thinks for a moment and then types the word "grappig" into the APO database. It immediately pops up with an information window. Nadia: The Grappig Group, Prague. Loose affiliation of biochemical engineers. (A photo pops up with more intel) Nadia: Milan Latuza, Grappig's senior chemist, specializes in synthesis and isolation of novel therapeutics. Weiss: Nancy Cahill had found where Nocturne originated, only she was too far gone to do anything about it. Cut to Jack listening to Sloane on videophone. Sloane: Jack, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but even if we could recover a sample of the drug, we don't have time to engineer an antidote. Sydney needs medical attention. Cut to Vaughn's distraught face and then to Sydney, lying on the couch with her eyes closed, moving restlessly. Vaughn: Unless Latuza's already taken that step for us. If they realized they made a bad batch of Nocturne, it's possible they manufactured a remedy. Jack: Contact the jet. We're going to Prague. CUT TO BLACK P( R )AGUE Cut to a black van pulling to a stop in an alley. Jack opens a laptop and is speaking to Vaughn. Jack: Once you've accessed Latuza's database, any files that may be even remotely related to Nocturne, research, test results, formulas... Cut to Sydney, uneasily listening from the front seat of the van. Vaughn: I'll grab what I can. After a pause, Vaughn: What if I don't find anything? Jack: Let's not discuss that here. Cut to Sydney, still listening the two of them. She hears them talking quietly to themselves and looks over her shoulder at them: Jack: Sydney's about as trustworthy as her mother. Vaughn looks over at Sydney worriedly. Vaughn: I know. Jack: I'm going to k*ll her just like I did Irina. Vaughn: Good. Jack: Latuza's office is on the 6th floor; you'll need to get a key. Vaughn: Yeah. Sydney turns back facing front. As Vaughn leaves the van, she surreptitiously slides a switchblade into her hand from a pack behind her chair. Sydney turns around just in time to see Jack pulling a p*stol on her...but then suddenly he's only holding a bottle of water. She appears to realize that what she just saw was not real, and it disturbs her. Jack notices the look on her face. Jack: What is it? Sydney (tentatively): Dad.. She gets up and comes to sit behind her chair, facing him. Sydney: Do we have any tranquilizers? Jack: No. Sydney: Then I think you'd better tie me up. Jack looks horrified at the prospect of doing that as Sydney puts her head in her hand. Cut to a security guard in the building, sitting in front of a monitor console, talking to someone on the phone in a foreign language. Suddenly, some of the monitors and lights go out, then the rest go out. The guard goes off with a flashlight en route to the fuse box, but is knocked out by Vaughn when he gets there. Vaughn filches the guard's keys. Vaughn: All right, I'm in. Headed upstairs. Cut to Sydney's hands, pressed together in her lap as Jack wraps silver duct tape around her wrists. She is already bound around her chest to the back of the chair. Sydney looks up at Jack just as he finishes and sits back. Jack is visibly concerned, almost as if he wants to cry, knowing Sydney is suffering and is helpless to help her. Sydney: I'm gonna be all right, aren't I? Jack: Of course you will. Sydney: What if we can't make it stop? Jack: Shhh...don't talk... Jack's face goes blank and his voice is suddenly monotonic and cold. Jack: You can't imagine how much I hate it...when you talk. Sydney (startled): What? Jack: The reason I k*lled your mother? I had a desperate need to make her voice stop ringing in my ears. What torments me now, is that every time I look at you, I see your mother's face. Sydney (crying): Noooo! No...(shaking her head as if to clear it) That's not true. That's not... Jack (his voice full of emotion again): Sydney! Listen to me! This is all going to pass... Cut to Vaughn, searching by flashlight. Vaughn: All right, I'm on the 6th floor. How is she? Jack: Okay. Just get to the lab and find the damn antidote! Cut to Sydney, trying to hold back tears. Cut to Vaughn entering Latuza's office. Jack: Sydney, look at me. Breathe, in and out. That's right. (She looks up at him and breathes.) That's right. Good. The timbre of Jack's voice changes slightly. Jack: Look into my eyes... (Sydney does) They're the last thing you'll ever see... Sydney (keening): Noooo... Cut back to Jack's face. He's alarmed now, almost panicked. Jack: Sydney! I'm here with you! Cut back to Vaughn, still searching the office, opening and searching through filing cabinets, but he's not finding anything useful. Cut back to alarmed Jack in the van with Sydney. Jack: Sydney, look at me! Breathe! She nods as he continues is his alter ego voice, Jack: Your mother k*lled me...just like I'm gonna k*ll you. A tear rolls down her face as she shakes her head. Sydney: I won't let you! Jack: How are you going to stop me? You're tied up. Sydney looks down and sees that he's right and starts to cry. Jack's voice is again panicked, trying desperately to reach her. Jack: Sydney! I'm here with you. No one's going to harm you. I won't let anything (his voice breaks slightly here) happen to you! Sydney looks up pleadingly, tears in her eyes, and whispers, Sydney: Dad... Jack: I'm here, Sydney. Sydney looks off to the side for a moment as tears slide down her cheeks. Then she looks back and asks with a pitiful little girl voice, Sydney: Will you hug me? Jack (moved): Of course I will. Jack leans forward and gives Sydney a comforting hug, whispering to her, Jack: It's okay... He starts to pull back from her, he looks into her eyes...and she viciously head butts him, knocking him back. Jack (alarmed): Sydney! No! Sydney kicks him in the face, knocking him out. Then she opens the switchblade still hidden in her hand and starts to cut herself out of her bindings. Cut back to Vaughn in Latuza's office. Vaughn: Jack, can you hear me? Jack, what is it? What's happened? There's no answer from Jack. Desperately, Vaughn looks at a digital clock on the table in front of him...and seems to get an idea, following the cord to a power strip and then following another cord out to what appears to be a case. Vaughn opens the case to reveal a small refrigerator inside, filled with vials. Vaughn opens the door and searches the vials, grabbing one with yellow liquid inside and grabbing a needle from a nearby counter. Vaughn: I've got the antidote; I'm on my way. Vaughn opens the door to the van to find it trashed and deserted. Suddenly, he hears Sydney's desperate voice calling from down the alley, Sydney: Help! Help! Anybody! Vaughn runs down the alley until he's within 10 feet of her. Sydney: Help! Sydney looks down on the ground and looks like she is going to break down completely, tears streaming down her face. As Vaughn slows to a stop, she says, Sydney: My father...I think... Vaughn looks down and leaned up against the side of the brick building, sitting up and at least unconscious, is Jack. Vaughn (out of breath and incredulous): Sydney, what did you do? Sydney (crying hysterically): I think I k*lled him! CUT TO BLACK Sydney bends down and puts her hand on Jack's shoulder. Vaughn also leans over and...Sydney suddenly pulls a g*n on him. Vaughn looks incredulous; he can't believe what he's seeing. Vaughn: What are you doing? Sydney: Get...get down. On your knees. Vaughn: Sydney...it's Michael. I've got the antidote; it's right here in this bag. Sydney (disbelieving): Don't lie to me. Vaughn: Oh Sydney...Sydney, listen to me... Syd starts to sob, but tells Vaughn sternly, Sydney: Put your hands up... now! Vaughn does. Sydney (accusing): I know what this is. This is a game to you! A cruel joke at my expense. Vaughn (doesn't understand): What, what's a game? Sydney: You and me. (she raises the g*n and points it right at his face) Admit it. Vaughn (gently): No, Sydney...Sydney, listen to me. What are you scared of? Sydney: I am scared! Scared you're gonna betray me...again...like you did when you married Lauren. Vaughn: Sydney...I would never, ever hurt you... Sydney: Stop! Stop right there... Vaughn slowly closes in on Sydney, fully believing he can talk her into giving him the g*n. Vaughn: You need to give me the g*n, all right? Sydney (more desperate): I said stop! Vaughn: Just give me the g*n... Vaughn starts to reach out his hand toward Sydney...and she pulls the trigger as Vaughn flinches...but there are no b*ll*ts in the g*n and it clicks hollowly. For a split second, Vaughn looks at Sydney as he couldn't believe she'd actually tried to k*ll him..and then he knocks the g*n out of her hands. She tries to punch him, but he grabs onto her fist, so she kicks him in the stomach. He grabs onto her leg instead, and she uses a flip move to knock him aside with her other leg. He bangs into a metal dumpster and she flips herself back to a stand. Vaughn turns to face her and attempts to block her punches and kicks without hurting her. She pins him by his neck against the dumpster. Vaughn (struggling): Sydney...don't do this... He grabs Sydney's head and headbutts her to get her to let go. He tries to grab Sydney's hands, but she grabs him by the back of the hair and shoves him back into the dumpster. He elbows her in the stomach and then shoves her backward, pinning her against the brick wall. Vaughn: Sydney, don't do this. Sydney leans down and bites Vaughn's hand, forcing him to let go. She puts her hand over his face to hold him off and then knees him in the gut. Then she grabs Vaughn by the hair and slams his face into the brick wall. He falls over backward. Sydney grabs a long metal pipe from the ground and hits Vaughn in the back as he tries to stand up and then sweeps his feet out from under him with it. She swings the pipe up to deliver the k*lling blow as Vaughn tries to shield himself... Vaughn: No! Jack grabs Sydney from behind, carefully choking her unconscious and laying her on the ground. Vaughn: You took the b*ll*ts out... Jack: Seemed a reasonable precaution. Vaughn goes over and collects his bag from the ground and pulls out the antidote and the needle. He fills the syringe and injects it into Sydney's arm. LOS AN(G)ELES Cut to daytime view of LA skyline. Sloane: Preliminary review by Medical Services: Sydney will be fine. Cut to Sloane, talking to the others at APO in his office. Sloane: For that, I know we are all deeply grateful. Furthermore, Interpol has raided both the office and laboratory of Dr. Milan Latuza. The Nocturne program has been dismantled. That thr*at is now over. Okay, that's it. The meeting starts to break up as people leave the room. Sloane: Dixon? Dixon turns and looks back. Sloane: Sending Sydney out...(nods his head) a tactical error, indeed. Dixon nods his head, then walks closer, getting right in Sloane's face. Dixon: I'd've said this earlier, but when I get done, it's likely you'll have me relieved of my position and I didn't want that to happen while Sydney was in the field. I've asked myself...countless times...why I never saw the...true nature of SD-6. For a while, I punished myself over it. Finally, I realized...my only failure was that of...imagination. Despite all the evil I'd encountered, I'd never imagined a person could exist...someone as throughly...toxic as yourself. I won't make that mistake again. You want us to believe you've reformed; that for the love of your daughter you've decided to listen to the better angels of your nature. Arvin...let's be honest: You don't have any. And on that inevitable day when your true motive reveals itself? I promise you...I'll be there. I'll be waiting. Dixon turns around and walks away, leaving Sloane to stare inscrutably after him. Cut to Sydney, lying in a hospital bed in Medical Services. She appears to be deep in troubled thought. She looks over at the doorway and Vaughn enters the room. Sydney: Hey. Vaughn: Hey. She looks up at him wide-eyed, almost as if she's afraid of what he might say. Sydney: Vaughn, what I said to you...what I did... Vaughn sits down on the side of Sydney's bed and lets out a sigh. Vaughn: Syd, you weren't yourself. Sydney (whispering): No. Vaughn shakes his head also and looks down. Sydney looks down, troubled, and then raises her head up to give Vaughn a small kiss. As they pull away from each other, Sydney gives Vaughn a tenative smile, which he returns. She looks down and to the side...and sees a spider crawling on top of her bedsheet. Vaughn turns to see what she's looking at, smiles slightly and then puts his hand down, scoops up the little spider to deposit it on the floor next to the bed. Smiling at Sydney, he says, Vaughn: My father liked spiders; he said they were good luck. Sydney gives Vaughn an almost playful side glance. Sydney: I've never heard that. Vaughn: No? They smile at each other and then Vaughn whispers to her, Vaughn: Get some rest. Sydney gingerly lies back down. Vaughn: I'll see you tomorrow. Sydney: All right. Vaughn leaves and Sydney is once again alone with her thoughts. CUT TO BLACK ~End~

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x06 - Nocturne"}

foreverdreaming

4X07 - DETENTE ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON ABC: 02/16/05 IRK(U)TSK Exterior night sh*t of foreign looking street. Cut to close up panning sh*t of a jukebox. All the writing on it is in Cyrillic. A Russian language bluesy ballad is playing. Cut to scenes of glasses and a beer tap, then pan from the bartender's hand (which is pouring a drink) to two men sitting at a back table speaking in Russian. Man: You came alone, yes? The man is nervously tapping his fingers on the table. Close up on the man's hand as it taps and then another hand, which reaches over to stop the movement. Camera pans up: It's Vaughn. Vaughn: The information, Anatoly. Anatoly (in English): I'm an officer. I swore an oath never to betray State secrets. Vaughn: You said it was important; highest national security... What is it? Anatoly: Russia's been developing Black Thorine. Vaughn (unbelieving): Developing? Researching... Anatoly: Producing; we've made some. We've only been able to distill a small amount; ten milliliters: enough for a single vial. This government...will stop at nothing to contain this information. Vaughn: So why tell me? Anatoly: Because the vial was stolen. Vaughn's eyes widen in reaction. Vaughn: By whom? Anatoly reaches into his coat and pulls out a small, folded piece of paper and hands it to Vaughn. Anatoly: This is the routing number to my superior's bank account. He's recently come into a great deal of money. Both men look up as the door to the bar opens. Two men in military uniform approach them. One of them pulls a g*n and aims it at Anatoly. Soldier (in Russian): Lieutenant Anatoly Grodsky, come with us. Vaughn looks at the soldiers and then at Anatoly as he stands up from the table, knowing that whatever happens, it's not going to be good. Suddenly, Anatoly tries to pull his p*stol, but is sh*t before he can. Then the soldier aims his g*n at Vaughn. Soldier (in Russian): Who are you? Vaughn puts his hands up. Vaughn (in Russian): I'm not the one you need to worry about... Pan to see Sydney, in traditional Russian garb behind the soldiers with a mop handle. She swings it into the soldier holding the g*n. It discharges harmlessly as it is knocked out of his hand. Vaughn begins to fight with the second one as the first one grabs the broken mop handle from Sydney and tries to use it against her. Vaughn punches his soldier, then grabs his head and rams it into a glass mirror on the wall. The other soldier has Sydney pushed up against the bar with the wooden handle across her throat. Sydney successfully takes control of the bar, smashing the soldier in the side of the head with it, pushing him backward. She swings around and hits the soldier with it again, causing him to fall to his hands and knees. Vaughn, turning from his fight, notices the man trying to get up and viciously elbows him in the head, dropping the man to the floor unconscious. Vaughn (to Sydney): Let's go! Vaughn and Sydney hurry out of the bar. CUT TO BLACK LOS AN(G)ELES Establishing night sh*t of LA skyline. Cut to Sydney coming home from her trip, entering her home. Sloane (offscreen): Sydney! From the foyer, she looks down into the living room...to see Sloane sitting with Nadia. Sloane looks pleased to see her; Nadia looks a bit nervous. Sloane: We didn't expect you back so soon. Cut to Sydney still unmoving in the hallway; the shock and disgust on her face is palpable. She palms her keys into her other hand and then deliberately walks down the stairs toward them. She walks behind the breakfast bar counter; Sloane and Nadia are sitting on the other side. Sloane takes a drink from a glass. Sloane: So, Russia...was a success... Sydney (coldly, cutting him off): Yeah. Sydney coldly stares down Sloane. Next to him, Nadia looks down as if nervous or ashamed. Sydney (unblinking): There's a report waiting for you...in the office. Sydney continues to coldly stare at Sloane. Nadia (trying to make amends): Sydney...he just dropped by...I didn't realize... Sydney (cutting her off, still addressing Sloane): Get out. Sloane looks down, spins his glass on the counter slightly. Sloane: All right. He leans over and kisses Nadia on the cheek. Sloane: I'll walk myself out. Sydney turns to look accusingly at Nadia; Nadia looks admonished. Sloane turns halfway up the staircase. Sloane: I'll see you both tomorrow. Nadia: Okay. Sydney says nothing; just gives him another look of death and then turns back to look at her sister, as if waiting for an explanation. After Sloane leaves, Nadia gives her one. Nadia: He came by wanting to talk...He says he wants a fresh start; to get to know me. Sydney (is disbelief): You think that's all he wants? A little father-daughter bonding!? Nadia: I know you feel about him... Sydney (cutting her off): You can't possibly. Nadia: I don't understand; you work with him at APO. Sydney: I accepted the job so I could watch him. Don't delude yourself, Nadia, into thinking you can trust that man! Do that, and you will end up hating yourself for it. Nadia: He's my father! Sydney (shaking her head): If you knew what he's done... Nadia: Sydney, I know. I know what he did...to you; what he took from you: your best friend, your fiance. Sydney (after a pause): And knowing that, you still let him into my home. Nadia looks down at her lap. There are tears hovering in her eyes. Nadia: I'm not naive, Sydney. I'm not deluded. It's not easy to reconcile the past; I thought you had. Sydney looks away, then down. Cut to briefing room at APO. The g*ng is all sitting around the table. Arvin is standing behind Nadia's chair. Nadia: The development of Black Thorine violates how many treaties? Sloane: Twelve, to be exact. Marshall: Well, there's a reason. I mean, it's a mega-breakthrough in expl*sives. It's odorless, undetectible, I, uh...ran a simulation. Check it out. All turn and watch the screen as a whole city block explodes. Marshall: (Whistles) Huh? I leveled an entire city block, and that just a little drop of Black Thorine...imagine if you add the whole...vial...Actually, it's a really...depressing take on progress. Weiss: Are we sure there's only one vial? Sloane: The Russians are stonewalling; they refuse to admit the existence of the substance, much less that they're developing one. But my sources confirm that they're panicking. Sydney looks up at this announcement with pure venom in her eyes. Sydney: Your sources... Sloane: If that vial is their only prototype as the intel appears to corroborate, its theft has set their classified w*apon program back decades. Sydney (still pushing): Would you mind telling us where that intel comes from? Or are we all supposed to rely on your sources...no questions asked. Panning around the table, everyone appears distinctly uncomfortable and Vaughn gives Sydney an admonishing look. Sloane: It's a fair question...but one I'm not inclined to answer, unless you need me to explain the essential nature of confidentiality. Sydney (staring him down unflinchingly, answering with much sarcasm): No, I'm all caught up on that, thanks. Cut to Nadia's reaction; she obviously doesn't like seeing her only two living relatives fighting. Sloane: What matters is that we recover the vial. Jack: We were able to trace the routing number the informant gave Vaughn. Two million Euros were deposited into the account (Hands out folders) of Colonel Nikolai Voskev. The money came from this man: Boris Tambor. The photo shows a young, attractive man in his early 30's talking on a cellphone. Vaughn: The Russian oil magnate? Jack: Tambor might have made his money in oil, but he's since diversified into mining, media outlets, and his latest venture, arms dealing. Nadia: Seems Tambor's quite a player; high-end real estate all over Europe. Sydney: He owns a fleet of sports cars: Ferarris, Lambourghinis, Bentleys... Weiss: This guy's living my junior high fantasy... Marshall: Or my current one... Sloane: Tambor keeps his entire operation mobile. He never stays in one place too long. Right now, he's booked into the Santa Monteya Monte Carlo. Jack: He takes a regular seat at the high-stakes poker table every night at nine. That will be your window. Sloane: Your mission is to get into Tambor's suite, find out where he keeps the Black Thorine, how he plans to move it. You leave tonight. Wheels up 2200. Sydney immediately gets up and leaves the table without a backward glance. Sloane watches her leave, his face unreadible. Cut to Sydney, sitting in front of her desk at APO, deep in troubled thought. Pan to see Dixon, sitting at the desk next to her, studying her. She finally realizes he's watching her and looks down as if embarrassed. Dixon gets up and sits down on the corner of Sydney's desk. Dixon: You wanna tell me about it? Sydney: Sloane. He was in my house...last night, to visit Nadia. I came home; he was sitting in my living room. Dixon sighs and nods as if in understanding. Dixon: Oh. Sydney: I thought I could do this--work for Sloane again--but now I...I don't know; I think I might have been kidding myself. Sydney and Dixon share a long look. Dixon: I dream about Diane...Which isn't unusual, I've been told...except for me? It's almost every night. These dreams...are always the same. At some point, I get to her, and I hold her face...and I can see it in her eyes: the dissapointment..in me, that I couldn't prevent what happened. Then, she tells me that she loves me, and she loves the kids. And she asks me to do the right thing. She doesn't ask me to; she tells me to. And that's how I make peace...with Sloane. I don't put the past away, or compartmentalize it...I transmute it. I make it the right decision...today. Sydney (moved): I hope I'm capable of that. Dixon: I know you are. Sydney smiles at Dixon, and he places a hand on her shoulder and then leans in to give her a fatherly kiss on the forehead before walking away, leaving Sydney with her thoughts. CUT TO BLACK Alias Theme (or, This is the time in Alias when we dance!) Establishing daytime sh*t of LA by day via helicopter. Cut to Nadia at f*ring range as her sh*ts take out the paper target's head. Sydney walks up behind Nadia as she removes her hearing protection. Sydney: Sorry about last night. Nadia (shaking her head): It was my fault. My father is one of the reasons that... Sydney: You don't have to explain. I get it. Nadia nods, waiting. Sydney: When our mother came back, she...she had done her share of bad things. Nadia: I know. Sydney: But still...I needed to know her. I just did. Nadia (smiling): Thanks. Sydney smiles back at her sister. Sydney (playful): Nice sh*t. Cut to Sydney and Nadia putting their goggles and hearing protection on and f*ring at targets side by side. Both of them take surreptitious glances at how the other is doing. Both of their targets' heads are filled with holes. CUT TO BLACK MONTE C(A)RLO Nighttime establishing sh*t of Monte Carlo. Cut to a luxury suite where Sydney, Vaughn, Weiss and Nadia prepare for their mission. Nadia stands in front of a mirror in a maid's uniform, straightening her name badge on her chest. Weiss walks up to study the pin, Weiss: What's that...Gretchen!? (shakes his head and smirks) Nah, I don't buy you as a "Gretchen". Nadia turns playfully to look at him as if insulted. Nadia: Nein? Was scheine ich zu sein, Herr Weiss? Weiss (impressed): Whoa...uh, I, uh...okay. Sydney: Okay, guys...we have one hour. You all know the drill. Vaughn (at computer): Surveille the room, get in, get out with the Black Thorine. Cut to a maid vaccuuming a hallway. Camera pans up; it's Nadia, and she's vaccuuming outside of Tambor's suite in front of two guards. Cut to Sydney using a small drill to drill a hole in the wall that adjoins Tambor's suite. The loud vaccuuming is now revealed as cover for the sound of the drill. Vaughn: Evergreen, maintain position. We're almost there. Cut to Nadia, still vaccuuming in hallway. Cut back to Sydney, who finishes making the tiny hole in the wall. Sydney: Okay, I'm in. Cut back to Nadia in hallway. Vaughn (on comms): Evergreen, you're clear. Nadia bends down and turns off vaccuum. Cut back to the room as Sydney takes out a tiny fiberoptic line and starts inserting it into the hole. Sydney: I'm inserting camera now. Weiss: Ready for sound? Vaughn: Patching audiovisual feeds...now. Marshall: Copy that. A visual of the desk in Tambor's room appears on screen. There is a laptop on the desk. Cut to Marshall in front of a computer at APO. Jack and Sloane stand behind him, both on comms, monitoring the mission. Cut back to Vaughn. Vaughn: Okay, I've got a visual on Tambor. Cut to his computer screen as Tambor sits down at the desk and starts typing on his laptop. Cut to Nadia in front of a suite door as she uses the knocker. Nadia: Housekeeping. The elevator beside Nadia opens to reveal a pretty young woman wearing an expensive coat. A valet is walking beside her, carrying several shopping bags for her. Nadia watches as the woman enters a suite down the hall from where she's standing. Weiss opens the door. Weiss (joking): Oh, I'm sorry; I ordered a French maid... Nadia smiles and shoves the towels she's holding into Weiss's chest. Nadia (whispering): Here you go. Weiss steps aside and Nadia enters the room. Cut to Sydney. Sydney: The laptop's our priority. After that, we go for the PDA. Weiss: What's going on? I thought this guy hits the tables every night by nine? Sydney: That's what we know. Weiss: Yeah, well it's 9:06. Cut to the feed of Tambor as he closes the top to his laptop and gets up from the desk. Vaughn: Ooop, here we go. Cut to Tambor as he pours himself a drink. Cut to APO group watching the feed. Nadia: What's he doing? Cut to Tambor as he picks up a remote control and turns on the television set. Cut to reaction of mission crew, and then of Marshall, Jack, and Sloane. Marshall: That room...that's nice. Check out those digs! Marshall turns around and looks at Jack, who gives him a droll look. Cut back to Nadia and Sydney watching as Tambor crosses the room and sits down on the sofa in front of the television. Cut back to APO. Jack: Marshall, what soccer match is that? Marshall: Uh, uh, lemme, uh, sorry...I'm not much of a sports fan (searching listings on his computer)...more of a Scrabble club type...Boggle tournament if I'm feeling dangerous. "Slovak Devils vs. Club Lautrec" pops up on Marshall's screen. Sloane (over comms to all): Guys...Tambor owns the team. Cut to Nadia and Sydney's reaction to that news, and then Vaughn and Weiss. Weiss: He's kidding, right? Sydney: So he's in for the night. Vaughn: He checks out first thing in the morning. If we don't get him there tonight, get the data off that computer, we lose him. Cut to Nadia and Sydney, studying the computer screen of the feed from Tambor's room. Nadia: Wait a minute... Cut to the monitor as we see a bottle of perfume on a counter. Nadia: I hate that perfume. It has a weird Patchouli smell. Weiss looks at them, confused as to where they're going with their line of thinking. Sydney: You see under the bed, the slingbacks? Nadia (clearly following what Syd's talking about): Champagne bottles on the nightstand. Sydney: Check out the magazines. Nadia: Designer purse. Nadia and Sydney look at each other. Sydney: It's a sh*t. Vaughn (confused): What's a sh*t? Weiss (also confused): What're you talking about? Nadia (to Sydney): I know where to get what we need. Nadia turns and walks out. Weiss: Wait a minute...where's she going? Vaughn (to Sydney): You mind filling us in? Sydney: Tambor's got a girlfriend; she's staying with him. She's our way in. Cut to Sloane at APO. Sloane: We have no intel on that woman; you'll be going in blind, Sydney. Sydney: We know enough...She has gossip rags all over the room, which means she's fine making a mess, which means she's not a one-night stand. Her shoes cost more money than most people's monthly salary, so... Cut to Vaughn, giving a look to Weiss as if he can't believe that Sydney can tell all this from what she's seeing. Weiss looks equally stunned. Sydney: ...either she has money of her own or access to Tambor's. Either way...empty champagne bottles, her side of the bed... Cut to Marshall, listening in, very impressed. Sydney: ...this girl likes to party. Cut to Sloane, who is not as impressed. Cut back to feed and then to Sydney. Sydney: But her boyfriend would rather stay in and watch TV their last night in Monte Carlo than hang out with her, so she's bored...most likely pissed off. Cut to Jack at APO. Jack: How do you propose to find her? Cut back to Sydney. Sydney: Well, she left her handbag; she didn't go far. In fact, I'm guessing she's hitting the hotel bar right now. Cut to Vaughn's reaction; he's impressed and amused. Sydney: All Nadia and I need to do is get to her and get her to take us to the room...(to Vaughn) Why are you smiling? Vaughn (with a teasing smile): I dunno. (Note: Vaughn's facial expression here is almost exactly the same as his reaction in 2x22 when Sydney says they need to go undercover at the sex club, and then she looks at him and says, "What?" and he goes, "Nothing..." Truly hilarious look.) Sydney smiles back. Cut to Nadia as she reenters the room with the shopping bags that the valet had been carrying earlier. Weiss: Where'd you get this stuff? Nadia: I borrowed them. Weiss: You stole it, didn't you? Weiss is smiling, also impressed. Weiss (to Vaughn, motioning toward Nadia): She stole the stuff... Vaughn has that silly grin back on his face again. Cut to Sloane. Sloane: Nadia, this could jeopardize the entire mission. Cut to Sydney and Nadia, looking over the items in the bags, trying to find something to wear, obviously determined to go on the mission regardless of Sloane's objections. Sloane: Tambor's security team saw you... if they recognize you as the maid, they will not hesitate to take action. Nadia: With all due respect, noone pays attention to the help. Weiss gives Vaughn another, "Huh, huh, see? My girl is awesome" look. Sydney and Nadia are still sorting through the clothes. Nadia: I promise they won't recognize me. Sydney holds up a red dress and gives Nadia a big smile. Cut to two pair of glamourous legs and then pan up the bodies as we witness Nadia in a blue dress and Sydney in the red dress, strutting the Bristow/Derevko strut into the bar in slomo. Cut to Nadia as she walks by a woman at the bar. She indicates to Sydney from behind the woman, Nadia (whispering): Patchouli. Sydney turns on her cellphone and begins to speak into it as Nadia sits down a the bar. Sydney sits next to her, and also next to the woman. Sydney (into cellphone): Wait a minute, wait a minute...What do you mean? (petulantly) Well, guess what? I'm sick of your pathetic excuses! She gives Nadia a "Can you believe him?" look as she hangs up the phone. Sydney: He's not coming. Nadia (coquettishly): You still have his charge card, right? Sydney: Oh, my Gawd... Sydney and Nadia smile a cattish smile at each other. Motioning to the bartender, Sydney says, Sydney: Two. Nadia: Please. Looking over at the woman as if Sydney has only just noticed she's there, she says, Sydney: Men suck, don't they? The woman looks Sydney over and then says with a small smile. Woman: Usually. Cut to an elevator door opening. Sydney's arm, still holding a champagne bottle wraps around the open door as the three women giggle drunkenly. Sydney: I swear to God I am so not that loopy. Nadia (giggling): Don't listen to her, she's incapable of holding her liquor. The three of them walk, or rather wobble, toward Tambor's suite, where the armed guards still stand. Sydney: Oh, shut. up! Nadia: Do I need to remind you of Ibiza? You and Luigi with the handcuffs!? Sydney (airheadedly): I'm ignoring you now... They all giggle. Woman: Just a warning...just a warning... my boyfriend? He's kind of a jerk... Sydney (scoffing): Like mine isn't... Nadia: Please... Nadia turns and smiles right at the guard who noticed the "maid" earlier. He shows no signs of recognizing her. Woman (to guard): Are you going to stand there!? Guard: I'm sorry, Miss Bridget. Bridget (giggling): They call me "Miss Bridget"... The three girls enter; Nadia gives the one guard a flirtatious smile as she walks by and he closes the door behind them. The guard lets out a long breath. Cut to Marshall in front of his computer. Marshall: Okay, they're doing it. They're in the room. He turns around to look at Jack and Sloane. Marshall: You know, Mr. Sloane, I know how against this you were, but...if Sydney chooses to say "I told you so..." you know... Sloane (with a dry look): She's not out yet. Marshall: That's true, but...They're good; they're really good. Off Sloane's less-than-pleased reaction, we, CUT TO BLACK Cut to Tambor, who looks over his shoulder as the three women enter. Bridget (to Tambor, who looks vaguely disgusted with her): Five minutes to change and then we are leaving...(to Nadia and Sydney) Make yourselves at home, ladies... Bridget leaves to change. Sydney goes to sit at the desk, Nadia sits on the sofa next to Tambor. Nadia: What's the score? Tambor: Devils 1, Lautrec 3. Nadia (scoffs): Slovak will come back. Cut to Sydney, who takes a device out and sets it on top of the laptop while she hides it from view with her purse and pretends to read a magazine. Nadia: Last year, against Real Madrid...Brasco's diving header in overtime? The best goal, ever. Tambor gives Nadia a sideways glance as if impressed that she actually knows something about soccer. Nadia: Bentner is a great midfielder...not too bad on the eyes, either. Tambor (disgusted): For what I'm paying him? (scoffs) Nadia turns toward him, looking confused. Nadia: Wh...what do you mean? Tambor: Is my team. Nadia (as if stunned and excited): Shut up! Shut up! You own the Slovak Devils!? Cut to Sydney, still copying hard drive and "reading" her magazine. Nadia (offscreen): Felicia, did you hear that!? Cut to Vaughn and Weiss, watching on the feed. Vaughn (impressed): She's cloning the hard drive, and he's in the room. Weiss (impressed): How the hell does she know about the Slovak Devils? Was that in the file? Vaughn: Maybe she's a soccer fan. Weiss: Oh God...this is the greatest girl ever. Cut to Sydney looking over her shoulder and then palming the copying device. Cut back to Vaughn and Weiss. Vaughn: She got it. I didn't know you liked soccer... Weiss: I do now. Oh, and by the way? It's called futball... Vaughn: I'm sorry? Weiss: Foooot ball. Vaughn: Futball? Weiss: Foooooooot. Vaughn (deadpan): Right. Weiss: Right. Cut back to the room. Nadia: If I can be honest, the back four are solid, no question, but watching defensive footie is a little bit boring, really. Nadia palms Tambor's PDA out of his jacket. Tambor: Not to me, eh? Sydney walks over with the magazine in her hand, the copying machine still palmed in her hand. Nadia (to Tambor): It's your money... Sydney (showing Nadia the magazine): Donata...can you believe that hag is dating the prince of Greece? Nadia palms the PDA to Sydney. Sydney begins copying it. Nadia: Oh Gawd...doesn't she have any friends who can tell her she looks like trash? Tambor gives them a sideways glance and rolls his eyes. Cut to Vaughn and Weiss. Weiss: Wait, did you just see that? She just palmed the PDA from his jacket! That's magic, man. I showed her that with like a business card...you know, like "Fazsham!" Vaughn (rolling his eyes): No, no...I get it. Weiss: She's amazing! Vaughn (smiling and shaking his head): I get it. "Fazsham!?" Weiss: Yeah, "Fazsham"...She's incredible. Vaughn snorts back a laugh. Cut to Marshall's feed, showing Sydney copying Tambor's PDA. Marshall: Nice, they're doing it. They're cloning Tambor's PDA. She's good. Cut back to the room. Sydney indicates something on one of the magazine's pages. Sydney: Oh my God, those boots are horrific! Sydney hands the PDA back to Nadia. Nadia (looking mock offended): I own those, b****! Nadia slips the PDA back into position and gets ready to place it back on Tambor. Cut to Weiss and Vaughn. Weiss: It wouldn't be weird for you would it? If we were dating sisters? Vaughn just rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Cut to the TV screen as one team comes up the field with the ball. Nadia: Vega's lost his step since the knee surgery; you should replace him... Nadia goes in to re-pocket the PDA, but... the other team scores and Tambor jumps up in disgust. Tambor: Idiote! Nadia gives Sydney a worried glance over her shoulder, indicating she didn't get a chance to put the PDA back on Tambor. Sydney takes the copying machine and puts it inside her dress. Cut to Vaughn and Weiss. Vaughn: Nadia's still got his PDA...come on! Nadia gives Sydney another worried glance...and then Bridget reenters the room in a sparkling black dress. Bridget: Extraordinary. Sydney: Oh, my Gawd...! Nadia turns to admire the dress. Nadia: That dress is magnificent! Tambor feels around his pockets in a panic. Tambor: My PDA. Cut to Vaughn and Weiss. Weiss: Oh, God. Cut back to the room. Tambor: Anton! Search these two. The guards come into the room. Tambor: Search their bags. Nadia hands her bag to one man as the other goes to Sydney. Sydney: Oh, my God...You can't be serious! The other guard takes Sydney's handbag. Tambor (to Bridget): Where did you find them? Nadia, still with the PDA still palmed, goes back to the couch and pretends to "find" it there as Weiss and Vaughn look on nervously. She stands back up with a "What a total jerk!" look on her face and says snottily, Nadia: Is this what you're freaking out about? Nadia holds it out to Tambor as he crosses the room and she deposits it none too gently into his hand. Bridget (gently): You better go now. Sydney (scoffs): Yah...you think? She and Nadia share nervously disgusted looks. Sydney: You were right; your boyfriend is a total drag. Come on. Cut to Jack and Sloane, and then back to the two women as they exit Tambor's suite. The door closes and then they walk down the hallway with huge grins on their faces. LOS ANGEL(E)S Cut to establishing daytime sh*t of LA via helicopter. Cut to Sloane's office at APO. Sloane: You were given a direct order, one you chose to disregard. Nadia: We gathered the necessary intelligence. Sloane: That's not the point, Nadia. You report directly to me. I assessed the risks and determined they were too great, and still...you both chose to defy orders. Sydney (flippant): We did what we were tasked to do; end of story. Sydney turns around and starts to walk out of the office. Sloane: I should remind you... Sydney stops and reluctantly turns back. Sloane:...you report to me. Sydney looks offended by his tone; Nadia looks chastened. Nadia: You're right; we disregarded a direct order. It won't happen again. Sloane: Just so we don't have these misunderstandings again, let me be clear...to both of you: Questioning my authority, whether its in this office or in the field is unacceptable. Sydney (riled): Unacceptable...coming from you, that's almost funny. Nadia (wanting to keep peace): Sydney, please... Sydney (slowly walking toward Sloane until she's standing right in front of him): Do you really want to engage in a conversation about what is...and what is not...acceptable? Every day I work here, I see your face in briefings, I hear your voice in my ear during missions; you wanna know what that's like? It makes me sick to my stomach. Having to pretend the past never happened, that you're not the same... m*rder, criminal sociopath you were three years ago...It makes me want to retch. Nadia looks away in discomfort. Sydney: If you want to talk unacceptable...that is unacceptable. Sloane: I'd assumed that you had accepted the fact that I'd made amends for my past. Sydney: Amends!? Francie and Danny are gone...and yet, here you are. And everywhere I look, I'm reminded of the man who k*lled them. Sloane: I see. Nadia looks up at them, pained, just as Marshall bursts in. Marshall (unaware of the tension in the room): Hey, uh, Tambor's encryption program? I broke it... kinda, brilliant on my part, but then again, the data itself was coded, so I had to cross-reference it with... Sloane: Marshall, what is it? Marshall: Well, it looks like the sale of Black Thorine? It's going down in 16 hours. Sloane: We'll be right there. Marshall: Okay, hurry! Marshall runs back out of the office and down the hallway. Nadia gives both Sydney and Sloane a pained glance and walks out. Sydney looks back at Sloane with an accusatory staredown before turning and walking out, leaving Sloane to stare after her in thought. CUT TO BLACK Cut to daytime establishing sh*t of LA. Cut to the briefing room at APO. Jack: The situation is critical. Tambor is selling the Black Thorine aboard his yacht, the ARGENTA. We have less than 16 hours to get on that boat and retrieve the stolen vial. Sloane: According to Harbormaster records, the Argenta is sailing in the Black Sea in the protected waters off Turkey, which means we have no choice but to go in stealth without the cover of night. Vaughn: Do we know who the buyer is? Jack: No, but we do have an idea of where the Black Thorine is being stored: here, in a cabin below deck. Marshall. Marshall: Okay. Here is the schematic of the vault you'll be dealing with: its secured, built into the bulkhead, old school, so... whoever is going in is going to need...these. Uh, your basic safe-cracking tools. Dixon: Sounds simple. Marshall: Not quite. Now, I found some receipts on Tambor's hard drive. Turns out he bought a Condor TLC60 free-standing safe last month. Now, I did some measurements and, oddly enough, it fits perfectly within the vault, so...I think it's safe to assume Tambor...has a safe within a safe. Nadia: He's certainly paranoid enough. Vaughn: How do we crack it? Marshall: The Condor uses a time-synchronized lock. It randomizes the combination every 60 seconds. Now, the combination appears on a key card with and LCD screen. Now, you can assume that Tambor will have it on him, sooooo...you gonna need this. This is a handheld wireless monitor, and this right... Marshall opens what appears to be a small ring box and turns to Jack. Marshall: ...Will you marry me, Mr. Bristow? (snickers) Jack looks at Sloane as if to say, "Is this guy cracked?" and then looks back at Marshall with the same expression, which flusters Marshall, who thought it was a funny joke. Marshall (swallows): It's a wave millimeter camera; it'll allow you to read the combination through his clothing...assuming he's not wearing a lead girdle...doubtful, but you understand...my point. Sloane: There's a jet standing by. This is a high-risk mission; no backup. Vaughn, Dixon, this is your op. I'm sending you to the ship. Sydney: If you don't mind, I'd like to finish what I started. Nadia: So would I. Sloane looks at Jack and says nothing. Cut to Jack and Sloane arguing in Sloane's office. Jack: They are the two best divers! Sloane: For me to send them after the way they behaved in Monte Carlo, not to mention the way Sydney just behaved in my office, would be tantamount to rewarding them for insubordination. I thought I would have your support on this. Jack(pauses, then): Arvin, the nuances of fatherhood may elude me, but...there is one thing I am sure of: You are not going to forge any kind of bond with Nadia if you attempt to keep her from working with her sister. Close in on Sloane's pensive look. (T)HE BLACK SEA Cut to establishing sh*t of the yacht, anchored out to sea. Cut to a cirlcing view of the yacht so that we can see it's being guarded with armed men. Cut to Tambor in a room with a number of guests. Tambor: I told him, "If you don't win us next game, you're going to suffer a painful training injury, eh?" Other men in the room laugh. The man across the room, paunchy, greying hair in his 50s with glasses smokes on a cigar and smiles. Bridget: Is that why you doubled his salary? Tambor smiles nervously, wishing Bridget had kept her mouth shut; he's obviously trying to impress these men. Cut to another view of the boat with a guard on the high deck. There is a rope up the side of the ship, with two people climbing up the rope. Cut to Marshall at APO. Sydney (over comms): Phoenix to base: We're on deck. Sloane: Proceed with caution. Sydney: Copy that. We're moving in. Cut to Sydney and Nadia on deck, surreptitously hiding their scuba gear, leaving their suits on. Cut to a van, sitting on the end of a pier. Cut to Dixon and Vaughn inside. Sydney (over comms): We're going below deck. We'll be radio silent until we reach the safe. Vaughn: Roger that. Cut to Sydney and Nadia entering the safe room. Nadia removes a painting from the wall to reveal the wall safe. Sydney surreptitiously sticks the card reader to the window in the door that leads to where Tambor is while Nadia prepares to open the outside safe. Sydney turns on her portable monitor and sees what's going on in the room; so can Vaughn. Vaughn: Phoenix, we've got a visual. Sydney: Copy that; switching to millimeter wave. Vaughn (to Dixon): Freeze it there; save it. Dixon: Standing by...enhancing the image. Cut to the room with Tambor and his guests. The man with the cigar blows a smoke ring. Man: I always believe in pleasure before business. But, that being said... Cut to APO office. Sloane is watching the feed on Marshall's computer. Sloane: Marshall, rewind the feed. Marshall begins to reset the feed as Jack asks, Jack: Is there a problem? The screen focuses in on a profile of the man with the cigar. Sloane: Marshall, pull up everything we have about Leo Orissa. Marshall (typing): Leo...Orissa...all right. An Interpol photo and description pops up. Sloane stares at the photograph as if he knows the man. Tambor: Anton, get the man what he came for, huh? Tambor hands the key card to his henchman. Orissa: If you don't mind, I would like to first for my chemist to conduct a little test, eh? Tambor: A precaution. Orissa nods indulgently. Cut to Nadia, who has just cracked the outside safe. Nadia flips open a case and then says, Nadia: Ready. Dixon: Copy that. Scanning Tambor for the latest combination. We see Dixon's scan, and the results. Dixon: The code is: 42687. Nadia types in the numbers and then opens the safe. We see several large canisters inside, not a tiny vial, like had been reported. Nadia: Oh my God...we need a bigger case. Cut back to Tambor, who indulgently waves at the man's "Chemist", who stands. One of Tambor's guards starts to walk him toward the safe room. Sydney: Close it up...now! Nadia scrambles to lock the safes and they rush out into the hallway. The guard walks in with the chemist and takes the picture frame holding the safe on the wall. Nadia and Sydney watch from a crack in the door as the guard starts to open the safes. Cut back to Tambor and the man. Tambor: So, you never told me...what do plan to do with your purchase? Orissa (smiling): It is interesting, actually...(pauses) We plan on taking control of your entire organization. Tambor (looks frightened for a moment, then starts to laugh): This guy... (he motions toward Bridget; she doesn't look happy) Cut back to APO. Marshall: You know this guy? Sloane: He's an old friend. Marshall: Badass friend. Cut back to Orissa, still chuckling at the supposed joke. Tambor starts to sober, realizing suddenly that Orissa is not kidding. Cut to Bridget, standing at the drink cart, who suddenly pulls a g*n and aims it at Tambor. Tambor moves just in time, running down the narrow hallway with Bridget and Orissa in pursuit. Orissa pulls a g*n also, but also misses. In the safe room, the "chemist" pulls a g*n and sh**t the guard d*ad while Sydney and Nadia watch in horror. A g*n ensues in the room where Tambor just fled and Orissa's henchmen take out the rest of Tambor's. As soon as the chemist leaves and goes into the other room, Sydney and Nadia flee back up topside. They narrowly b*at Orissa and Bridget to topdeck, grab their gear and jump overboard. Tambor comes up one side of the topdeck, Bridget and Orissa the other. They corner Tambor at the front of the boat. Bridget (g*n pointed at him): You don't treat a girlfriend like that... We hear a sh*t and then a splash as we watch from underwater as the body of Tambor sinks past where Sydney and Nadia are hiding. Back at APO, Sloane waits impatiently for word from Sydney and Nadia as Marshall chews his thumb nervously. Sloane: Phoenix, Evergreen, do you copy? Cut to a very concerned Vaughn and Dixon in the surveillance van. Sloane (voiceover): I repeat...do you copy? All they hear is static. Cut to one of Orissa's henchmen opening the interior safe that holds the canisters of Black Thorine. He starts loading them into a protective metal briefcase. Sydney and Nadia finally surface, well away from the boat, pulling themselves onto a dock. Sydney: Phoenix to base: Tambor and his men are d*ad. Ambushed. Sloane: ...by Leo Orissa, head of the Russian Organized Crime Syndicate. I used to work with him...when I was head of SD-6. Sydney and Nadia glance at each other in recognition. Sydney: He has a link on the inside; the girlfriend fed him everything he needed. Jack: They're in possession of the vial? Nadia: A lot more than that. At least ten canisters. Marshall: Tambor must have reverse-engineered it. Jack: Which means they're manufacturing it. Tambor has a lab somewhere. Sydney: Orissa must know where it is. Sloane: Orissa's associates are most likely securing the Black Thorine for transport. Nadia, can you take them out alone? Nadia: I think so. Sloane: Given my history with Orissa, I believe he'll be willing to talk. Sydney: How? Sloane: Sydney, in order for this to work, you're going to have to listen to me. You're going to have to trust me. Sydney gives Nadia a stricken look. CUT TO BLACK Cut to Tambor's boat, still anchored. It's now close to sunset. Sydney starts to climb the stairs to the topdeck in slomo, still in her wetsuit. She steps onto the deck and walks slowly toward Orissa and Bridget, who are lounging. Sydney (to Bridget): Hello again. Orissa sits up suddenly while Bridget grabs her g*n and points it at Sydney. Sydney: My employer won't be happy if you pull that trigger. Orissa: Your employer!? Who the hell do you work for? Cut to APO and Sloane. Sloane: Tell him. Cut back to Sydney. Sydney: I work for Arvin Sloane. Orissa stands slowly and puts a hand on Bridget's arm to signal her to put the g*n down. Bridget looks between them, confused. Cut to the henchman who is carrying the Black Thorine below deck. Suddenly, Nadia whacks him on the side of the head with a f*re extinguisher. She grabs the two suitcases he was carrying and runs down the hallway. Cut back to the topdeck, where Orissa is irritably tying the sash of his terrycloth robe. Orissa: He's demanding 50 percent!? Sydney: Including all future profits from this venture. Orissa: Arvin always had a...an odd sense of humor. Cut to Sloane at APO, listening. Sydney: I came unarmed, out of respect...so we could talk...like gentlemen. Bridget: You're not seriously considering making a deal with this woman!? Sloane: Do not let her derail this, Sydney. Sydney (to Bridget): I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you. You're the one who made it easy; you practically drew us a map! Orissa turns on Bridget. Orissa: You!? You let Sloane to me!? Bridget: I thought she was just some kind of... Orissa smacks Bridget hard across the face. Cut to another henchman unloading more Black Thorine. He is kicked from behind by Nadia and then she grabs his head, slams it against the ledge of the safe wall, and then clangs it into the metal safe door, knocking him out. She stands in front of the safe, still full of canisters. Cut back to topside. Orissa: Fine. I agree to his terms. Incensed, Bridget stands back up beside him. Sloane: Ask for insurance. Sydney: Mr. Sloane will be pleased. Of course, he needs a sign of good faith. Orissa (shaking his head as if he can't believe it): What more does he want? Sydney: The location of the lab. Cut to Nadia starting to load the canisters when someone appears behind her, holding a g*n to her head. It's the "chemist". Chemist: Don't move. Nadia pauses but a millisecond before turning and knocking the g*n from his hand. A fight ensues, but the chemist gets the upper hand and holds Nadia by the neck. Cut to APO office and Sloane as he talks. Sloane: Mention my friend Dr. Haleb...what I did to him, after he betrayed me. Cut to Sydney. Sydney: I assume you haven't forgotten Dr. Haleb...what Sloane did to him? Sloane (narrating to Sydney via commlink): The sound of his own screaming woke him up. Cut to Vaughn and Dixon in the van, listening, disturbed. Sloane: He saw everything burning around him, including his own flesh. Sydney (to Orissa): The f*re...the smell of his own flesh burning, the screams... Sloane: I imagine he spends his days...nights...wishing I had finished the job. Wishing that he were d*ad. Sydney (to Orissa): His body doesn't work, but his mind does. He's a living corpse. Sloane didn't show enough mercy to k*ll him. Cut back to Nadia and the chemist, fighting again. Nadia lands a punch and then viciously kicks him in the face, knocking him out. Cut back to Sydney. Sydney: Let me tell you something I know: Arvin Sloane is cruel. Cut to Sloane's reaction as he listens to what Sydney says about him. Cut back to Sydney. Sydney: He's inhuman. If you make this difficult, he will come after you. And not just you. Cut to Vaughn and Dixon, listening. Cut back to Sydney. Sydney: Your friends will not be spared. Your family will not be spared. If he chooses to let you live, you'll spend every waking minute of your life reminded of what he's cost you. Cut to Sloane's reaction and then back to Sydney. Sydney: Word to the wise: give him what he wants. Cut to Marshall's stunned reaction and then he slowly peeks over his shoulder to guage Sloane's reaction. Jack studies Sloane, but Sloane's face is unreadable. Cut back to Orissa. We can see that Sydney's speech has sufficiently scared him. Orissa: The lab...it's in the Ukraine. Mygnyzky. Bridget: You son of a b****! Bridget grabs the g*n and fires a b*llet into Orissa's forehead from point blank range, k*lling him. Sydney kicks the g*n out of Bridget's hand and they fight. After trading a few blows, Bridget charges Sydney and they go rolling off the topdeck onto the main deck. Sydney is slow to get up and Bridget kicks her in the face. Then she grabs a rope and starts to strangle Sydney with it. At that moment, Nadia comes running and kicks Bridget in the back, forcing her to lose her grip on Sydney. Nadia elbows Bridget in the face twice and then runs her face into the side of the ship, knocking her down. Bridget crawls over toward her g*n, Sydney reaches for a g*n beside her...and Sydney sh**t first, before Bridget can sh**t them. Cut to the surveillance van with Vaughn and Dixon inside. Sydney (over comms): Phoenix to base: We're ready for pickup. Vaughn (heaving a sigh of relief): You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. Dixon: I'll call the chopper. Cut back to APO. Sloane is just walking away from the monitor and pulling his comm from his ear. Jack: Arvin. You did what you had to do. Sloane: Yes...although I imagine it's the last time I'll be working with your daughter. Sloane walks away, leaving Jack to stare after him. CUT TO BLACK Cut back to the yacht. Cut to Sydney, sitting on deck where they finished their fight with Bridget. Nadia walks up and sits down, carrying a bottle of what looks like vodka. Nadia hands it to Sydney, who smiles and takes it from her. Nadia sits down next to her as Sydney takes a drink. She hands the bottle to Nadia, who also takes a drink. Sydney: You did a good job. Nadia: I was gonna say the same thing to you. They share a smile. Nadia: I never imagined this. I didn't even know spies were real until I was recruited. Sydney: From school? Nadia (shaking her head): From a juvenile detention home. When I was young, I was reckless...angry. I remember one judge said he thought I was lost. He wasn't wrong. My training agent used to tell me I was good at getting in and out of situations without being noticed. Not to mention I had no one: no family, no ties...I couldn't be compromised because I was alone. I always thought that's what made me a good spy. Sydney: And now? Nadia (smiling): I might have been wrong. They share a smile and pass the bottle again. Cut to daytime establishing sh*t of LA skyline. Cut to Weiss sitting on the edge of Nadia's desk doing a card trick for her. Weiss (slowly flipping through the deck): Just say stop anywhere... Nadia: Okay, stop! Weiss stops and pulls a card from the deck at that spot. Weiss: Okay...is that your card? Nadia: Nnnnoooo... Weiss: This wasn't your card... (holding up ten of hearts) Nadia: It is not. Weiss: Are you sure? Nadia: It's not at all my card. Weiss: Okay...I think you're lying but...hold onto that... Weiss hands Nadia the card face down. Weiss: You sure!? Nadia: Mmmhmm. Weiss: Well, that's never happened... Nadia: Sorry... Weiss: Hold on...hold on one second...what was your card? Nadia: Queen of spades. Weiss: The queen of spades? You said that wasn't your card. Weiss motions toward the card Nadia's holding in her hand. Nadia: It is not... She flips the card over...and it is indeed the Queen of Spades. Nadia: How did you do that!? This is incredible! Weiss: It's not incredible, it's child's play...I've got a million of 'em. Nadia smiles joyously. Weiss: Your smile is so unbelievable... Nadia smiles even wider as Vaughn walks up. Vaughn: You going? Weiss: Uh, yeah we're going. We're just flirting here, if you don't mind. Vaughn (smiling): Sorry. Cut to Sydney, stalking toward Sloane's office. She stands in front of him. Sloane: Langley is pleased. They located the production facility for Black Thorine. The raid was successful. Sydney: I'm happy to hear it. Sloane: So Sydney, I contacted Chase...She's expecting a call from you regarding a transfer from this unit. Given your sentiments, I assume that's what you want. Sydney (leaning over the desk to make eye contact with Sloane): I want to make something clear: I will never forgive you for what you've done to me...to the people I love. No amount of time or distance will ever change that. (pause as she stands straight again) I'll see you tomorrow. She turns and walks out of the room, down the hallway to meet up with Vaughn, Weiss and Nadia as Sloane watches. From behind his hands, which are clasped together in front of his mouth as he leans on his elbows, it almost looks as if he's smiling. CUT TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x07 - Detente"}

foreverdreaming

4X08 - ECHOES ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON ABC: 02/123/05 Open to daytime establishing scene of aerial view of the beach area where Sydney and Weiss live. Cut to Nadia, sitting at the breakfast counter, while Sydney stands behind it in the kitchen area, getting ready to prepare breakfast. Nadia: We were driving on Mullholland, you know, all the curves...and we come around this corner and the sun's right in our eyes... Sydney: Egg whites? Nadia: Yeah, sure...thanks. Sydney: So the sun's in your face? Nadia: Completely blinding me. And the first thing he does, without even thinking about it, is...he slaps down the, uh... Sydney (supplying word for her): Visor... Nadia: Yeah, the visor...so the sun's not in my eyes. And I just thought that was so sweet! Sydney: He really likes you. Nadia: He's so funny. Sydney: You're not gonna break his heart, though, right? Nadia: Me? Sydney: Eric's a friend; you know what I mean. Nadia: No, I like him, too. (pauses, looks down) Sydney: But... Nadia: But nothing. They nod at each other and then both their cell phones go off. Nadia: Hello. Sydney: Yeah. Nadia: Okay, I'll be there. They both hang up their cell phones. Nadia (getting up from her chair): We'll eat later. Cut to Vaughn and Weiss walking down the hallway leading to APO talking. Vaughn (scoffing): She compared you to ice cream... Weiss: Yeah, Vanilla Swiss Almond, which is a really significant flavor... Vaughn: I'm not saying it's not... Weiss: And then she said I'm like this big spoonful... Vaughn: Which you took as a compliment!? Weiss: I take everything she says as a compliment; she's got that great accent. I don't know; I can't even look at this girl, she's so pretty! Man, I... Vaughn (cutting Weiss off): Nadia's great. I know that, all right? But you might want to just consider taking it slow. Weiss stops walking. Weiss: Whoa, whoa, whoa... What's with the warning? Vaughn: Huh... Sally Benson? Weiss: Sally...that was a completely different story. Vaughn: How is that different? When it ended, you were all...weird. Weiss: Weird how? Vaughn: You were building ships in bottles...you built many, many ships in many bottles over many, many months. Weiss (defensive): That's called a hobby. Vaughn: Hobby!? You locked yourself in a closet for a month, and... Weiss: Tell me you don't still think about how I got those ships in the bottles... Vaughn shakes his head no and opens his mouth to reply, but Sydney and Nadia walk up, cutting off whatever reply Vaughn might have had. Sydney: Hey. Weiss (smile brightening as he sees Nadia): Hey. Vaughn: What's goin' on? Sydney: We got called in, but they've been in there all morning. Sydney looks over her shoulder into Sloane's office. Sloane and Jack are inside with the doors closed, obviously having a very serious discussion. Vaughn: Well, that's weird. Weiss: What do you think it is? Nadia: We don't know. Vaughn (looking over Nadia's shoulder): Here we go... The women turn to face the office again, just as the door opens and Jack and Sloane exit. Sydney turns to stare at Jack as he walks by and into the briefing room. Cut to the briefing room with the APO team gathered around the table as Sloane talks. Sloane: As you know, my position here at APO is contingent upon an agreement I made with Director Chase's office last year. That agreement includes a short list of operatives with whom I am not authorized to engage, so that if a mission arose that involved any of these people, I am to immediately recuse myself...I am to...step down. Well, that day has come. So, as of now, I am giving full operational authority over your next assignment to Jack Bristow. I would ask for your cooperation in not involving me at all. Good luck. Sloane steps away from the table and back to his office. He definitely does not look happy at having to give up his command and not be involved in the mission. Everyone watches after Sloane, and Eric asks, Weiss: So, what? He's not coming back? Jack: When this matter is resolved, yes. Vaughn: If Sloane can't touch this case, then why did they assign it to his task force? Jack: Because of Sydney. Our target is someone with whom several of you are quite familiar. Sydney: Who is it? Jack: Anna Espinosa. Vaughn immediately gives Sydney a worried glance. Sydney leans forward in her chair as if she can't believe what she's hearing. Sydney: I...She's supposed to be d*ad. Jack: So are a lot of people. Nadia (to Sydney): Who is she? Sydney: Former Soviet agent, raised in Cuba. Used to be K-Directorate. Jack: Four days ago our London listening post intercepted chatter about a d*ad drop from a suspected t*rror1st group. Satellite surveillance of the specified location revealed this: Jack shows a photograph of Anna from the d*ad drop. Jack hands the remote to Marshall. Jack: Marshall. Marshall: Thank you...and congratulations on the, uh...Uh, now, I pulled the file on Ms. Espinosa (shows file data on screen)... She specializes in close-quarter kills, strangulation, edge-w*apon, g*n, high-level theft, security breach... Dixon: She spent six years on Interpol's most wanted list. Marshall: Six and a half, actually...Did the... After she left K-Directorate, she went freelance, worked for the highest bidder, you know...you give her the dough, she'll give you the show. Um, she's also associated with...the Followers of Rambaldi. (Marshall hones in on a photograph of the mark of Rambaldi on Anna's hand. Nadia suddenly looks very ill at ease and Sydney notices. Jack: Intel indicates Anna's making contact with an associate at Pergruen ze Prundenzar in 36 hours from now... Nadia (cutting in): Excuse me. Nadia gets up and walks out. Jack (continues): concerning an assignment... Jack stops speaking as he notices Nadia walking out. Everyone turns to watch Nadia who slowly crosses to her desk and sits down. Jack (getting her attention): Sydney? Sydney turns her attention from her sister back to the matter at hand. Sydney: You want us to surveille the meet. Jack: Yes. You, Dixon, and Marshall. Given your familiarity with Anna's methods, I want you to track her movements, find out what the assignment is. If the opportunity presents itself, you're authorized to bring her in. The category of force you choose to exercise will remain classified. Dixon: When do we leave? Jack: We're arranging a jet for this evening; you'll have 20 hours in-country to coordinate before the meet. That's all. The meeting breaks up. Eric sidles up to Sydney as they leave. Eric: What happened? Sydney: I don't know. Eric backs off as Sydney approaches Nadia, who looks like she's on the verge of crying and is pinching her nose at the bridge. She looks up as Sydney approaches and appears to compose herself. Sydney: Are you okay? Nadia: I got lightheaded. Sydney: We have a while before we have to leave; do you want to grab something to eat? Nadia: Sure. Cut to an outdoor cafe. The camera slides across and then focuses on Nadia and Sydney, sitting at a table having lunch. Sydney: It was just me and Anna in the middle of the stadium. I have the key; she has the box. (Note: This is actually the opposite of what happened. Anna had the key and Sydney had the box...probably just an error on the writers' part, rather than a mislead of Nadia by Sydney.) Sydney: We needed to work together to get the code, but there she is right next to me. All I was thinking was, "I could take her out...right now. End it once and for all." Nadia: But that wasn't your assignment. Sydney: Not that night. But I swore to myself if I ever had the chance again, I would not hesitate. Nadia: This...can't be easy for you. Sydney: I'm not worried about me. What's going on with you? Nadia: I know only a few things...about Rambaldi. I know he was a prophet, 15th century. I know my father was...is...I don't know, obsessed with him. Last year, when my father connected me with Rambaldi, I started to hallucinate. I saw something awful. Sounds and fast images, they went by quickly but...there was one vision...that felt so real. Sydney: What was it? Nadia: We were both together...scared and upset, holding g*n aimed at each other. And I remember my hands were shaking...and I pulled the trigger. Sydney looks up, but this doesn't exactly shock her, almost as if this was what she was expecting to hear. Nadia: Blood was pouring down your chest...and I wanted to say I was sorry, but you just looked at me...as if you'd been expecting it. As if you knew all along; knew I was going to k*ll you. Sydney looks down at her plate. Nadia: I know I must sound insane. She looks down, blinks back tears and takes a drink from her soda. Sydney (sighing): Nadia, there's something I should have told you. Nadia looks up at her, but before Sydney can elaborate, she's interrupted. Waiter: Miss Bristow? There's a call for you. Sydney gets up and crosses the cafe. When she reaches the hostess, she is handed the phone. Hostess: Here you go. Sydney: Hello. Anna: Hello, Sydney. Sydney reacts to the sound of Anna's voice...she visibly stiffens. Sydney: Anna. Anna: Turn around. Sydney turns around to see Anna sitting beside Nadia at the table, smiling like the cat that ate the canary. Sydney's eyes widen. Anna: I'd advise against any action; my associates wouldn't like that. Sydney looks down at her chest and we see six red laser dots appear and center in the middle of her chest. Sydney looks up at the high buildings around her, trying to locate the sh**t, to no avail. Anna: There's something I need you to do for me, Sydney. Sydney stares Anna down, but Anna just looks amused. Anna: I must say I have been looking forward to working with you again. Cut back to Sydney's reaction. CUT TO BLACK Alias Theme. (Or now is the time in Alias when we dance!) Jack is sitting at his desk in his office when a winded Sydney bursts in. Sydney: Anna has Nadia. She knew she was gonna be intercepted in Brussels, so she took her. If I don't do what she says...Dad, she's gonna k*ll my sister. Cut to Dixon walking by Sloane's office as he stands in the window watching. He watches as Weiss and Marshall also hurry into the briefing room. Jack starts to cross the hall but stops and stares for a moment at Sloane, who is staring at him. Sloane's face shows that he knows something bad has happened. Cut to the rest of the APO crew in the briefing room. Jack: If we don't meet her demands, Anna Espinosa claims she'll k*ll Nadia. We have 18 hours to comply. Vaughn: What are her demands? Sydney: She wants me to take the meet in Brussels posing as her. I'm to retrieve a package from a man named Milo Sabine. If I deliver it to her in a boutique in Beverly Hills by a specified time, she claims she'll let Nadia go. Jack: Sydney, scrap the surveillance op in Brussels. Get with Marshall to coordinate your new parameters: You're going in as Anna Espinosa. Jack (to Vaughn) : Dig up everything you can about Sabine, business associates, last known whereabouts...the works. Jack (to Weiss): Coordinate with Langley. We'll need total satellite coverage of the meeting point. Jack (to Dixon): I want sn*per teams and full ground support ready to go. Dixon: On it. Jack (to all): Wheels up within the hour. CUT TO BLACK BRUS(S)ELS An establishing sh*t of Brussels by airplane at night. Cut to Sydney walking in a park. Sydney (over comms): Approaching the Metro station. She rounds a corner and sees the entrance the Metro station. Before it is a park bench. An older man is sitting alone. Vaughn (on comms): Do you see anyone? Sydney (over comms): White male, late 70's. Cut to Vaughn and Dixon in the surveillance van. Vaughn: There's no photo on his file, but based on the date of birth, this could be our guy. Cut back to Sydney as she sits down next to the man on the bench. Sydney (with Russian accent): This time of year does terrible things to my hair. The man looks up. Sabine: Miss Espinosa. Sydney just looks at Sabine as if thoroughly unimpressed. Sabine: How I wish that I were younger... Sydney: Do you have the package? Sabine: What your associates have requested of me is, um...highly valuable. I will...like to make sure that I get my money's worth. Are you prepared to...reach your end? Sydney: I'm always prepared...once apprised of the specifics. Sabine: Thirty minutes ago, a man entered the hotel Metropol. He is currently enjoying a 17 year old scotch the bar located in the west lobby of the hotel. The man's name is Wilhelm Cogg. (He pulls out a photo) This is the man...the man you are to k*ll. I will require photographic evidence of his corpse, plus, what I understand is your keepsake: his right index finger. I will be sitting on this bench for the next 40 minutes. Return within that time and you will get your package. After that, I will not be sitting in this bench. Tick tock, Miss Espinosa. Cut to the surveillance van. Vaughn: Hotel Metropol's seven blocks away. Dixon: We have 32 minutes. Sydney: Marshall, how are you doing on Cogg? Do you have anything on him yet? Cut to Marshall, who is looking at Cogg's file on his computer. Marshall: On its way. It's a...rather large file. Cut back to the van. Dixon: We got it. Sydney (reading over Dixon's shoulder): This guy's wanted in 4 different countries. Vaughn: Money laundering, kidnapping, conspiracy. Sydney: Affiliations: Russian and Chinese organized crime syndicates. Known associates: Anton Matteo and Peter Guiger. Vaughn: Solicitation for prostitution, three charges. This guy's got a real thing for hookers. Sydney looks at Vaughn suddenly. Sydney: Wait... Sydney pulls off her coat and rips the sleeves, part of the bosom and skirt off her dress. She grabs a bottle of water from the counter and begins to wet down her hair with it. Sydney exits the back of the van in a tight, short black sleeveless dress that completely shows off her cleavage. Her hair is all slicked back and she looks like she could be a high-priced hooker. (Think of that scene from "True Lies"...this is a total shout out to that movie.) Cut to the hotel lobby as Sydney stands at the counter. Behind her, Dixon enters the lobby. Clerk: There you are, ma'am, 1132. Two keys. Sydney takes the key and palms one off to Dixon as he walks by. Clerk: Will you be needing help with any bags? Sydney (in French accent): No thank you; I'm travelling light. Sydney enters the bar and looks for Cogg, then approaches him. Sydney (continuing French accent): Wilhelm? Cogg: Yeah? Sydney: Do you know...how hard...has been to find you? Cogg: If I knew you were looking, I'd have made it...a lot easier. Sydney sits down at the table. Sydney: Matteo said you were not drinking anymore, you bad boy. I won't tell Matteo. Cogg: How do you know my business partner? Sydney: Who do you think...sent me to you? I am Matteo's early birthday present. Cogg: Really? Sydney: He wouldn't tell me how old you were. He knows I don't usually...work...with older men. You don't seem so old. Cogg: Thank you so much. Sydney holds up her key. Sydney: We have a room. Shall we? Cogg: So it's...happy birthday to me, eh? Cut to Cogg and Sydney entering the hotel room. Cogg: Great...beautiful arms...We love arms... As they step further in the room, we see Vaughn standing in the corner. Cogg looks up and, Cogg: What...what is this? Sydney hurriedly locks the door as Dixon and Vaughn walk toward Cogg like he is prey. Sydney: It's your lucky day. Vaughn: You get to live. Dixon: But we're going to need that ring... Sydney: And the finger it's on. The three of them are trying to restrain Cogg, who's thrashing about. Cogg: Wait! What's happening!? Dixon: There are people out there who want you d*ad. Fortunately for you, we're not them. Vaughn: When this is over, you're going to walk out of this hotel and disappear. Sydney: You can thank us for it later. Cogg: What are you doing!? Sydney forces Cogg's hand into an ice bucket. Cut to a slow pan of Nadia's hands and chest roped to a chair and then up to her face. She appears scared, but otherwise unharmed. Anna: You look like her... Nadia turns to face Anna. Anna: ...your mother. Nadia (with bravado): Don't waste your time trying to scare me. Anna (amused): You are scared. Anna walks up and starts inappropriately touching Nadia's hair...like a mother instead of an enemy. Anna: I would be scared, too...if I did not understand what this was all about. Nadia: She told me about you...Sydney. I know enough. Anna smiles indulgently. She is screwing a long metal piece onto a handle. Anna: Your sister...she's a curse. Nadia turns to look at Anna, shocked. Anna: You see what happens, don't you? To everyone she loves. Nadia looks away. Anna: One day, you will be asked to pay the price. Today...you will feel a little bit of that. Anna lights a Bunsen-like burner and puts the metal rod into it. Focus in on Nadia's face. Cut to Cogg, still struggling in the chair he's been placed in. Cogg: Please, please! There must be another way, please! Dixon: We've got nine minutes left. Cogg yells again. Vaughn: Keep him quiet. Sydney (stuffing a washcloth in his mouth): Bite this, bite this. You got it, Vaughn? Vaughn: Yeah. We see Vaughn preparing to cut Cogg's finger off with a large bolt cutter. Sydney (trying to keep Cogg's attention): Look at me...look at me... Sydney looks at Vaughn and he cuts off Cogg's finger. Cogg falls forward on the floor, writhing in agony. Dixon picks up the finger with a washcloth and hands it to Sydney, who puts it in a plastic bag. Vaughn bends down and begins to administer first aid to Cogg. Dixon bends down with a swab as Cogg continues to writhe. Cogg: What are you people doing!? Vaughn: Don't move. Dixon swabs the dye on Cogg's forehead, and then dribbles some of the fake blood away from the "wound". Sydney takes a picture of the supposedly d*ad Cogg, and... Cut to Sabine, holding the photo. Sabine: Your reputation is well-earned. I still wish I were younger. Sydney hands Sabine the bag with Cogg's finger in it. He looks inside. Sabine: You should let your associates know that this is the last remaining sample. They should treat is as if it were sacred. Sydney: Absolutely. Sabine gets up and walks away. Sydney (into comms): I've got it. I'm on my way. Cut to Anna with the metal rod end still in the f*re. It's glowing red hot. Anna: This is a gift...from me to you...to Sydney. Anna reaches over and pushes Nadia's hair off her shoulder. Anna: Every time she looks at you... Anna grabs Nadia's hair while a henchman holds Nadia's head in place. Anna: ...I want her to think of me. And one day, whether you choose to or not, you will help me destroy her... We now see the metal rod is a brand...a brand of the Eye of Rambaldi. Anna holds it to the back of Nadia's neck and Nadia screams. CUT TO BLACK Cut to Marshall's lab in APO. Jack and Vaughn stand beside him as he speaks. Marshall: The lab confirmed, it's the Dante compound: a super-rare, phosphorus-based putty. But it's...not the...same kind of putty you use on a newspaper to copy Beetle Bailey...out of...you ever do that with...? Cut to Jack and Vaughn's almost identical look of exasperated impatience. Marshall: Anyway, it's completely harmless on its own, but when mixed with certain nerve agents, the VX gas in particular, Bouyaka! It mutates the neurotoxins, causing them to replicate at a rate that would be like historic. Vaughn: We'll have to secure all laboratories that manufacture VX. Jack: How long would it take you to construct a fake? Marshall: A fake? What, you mean like something that would actually pass as the real thing? Jack: Sydney's meeting with Anna in 30 minutes. Turning this over to her is not the ideal option. Can you do it? Marshall: No, absolutely not, no... Jack just continues to stare at Marshall. Marshall: Okay, probably...but listen, one more thing: I know this isn't, you know, like my province, but...I think I have an idea who Anna's working for. There's this fringe t*rror1st cell called the Cadmus Revolutionary Front. Vaughn: Yeah, they're former Covenant. Marshall: Yeah, so I don't have to tell you you...(looking at Jack) Do you...? Jack: Yes, I know who they are. Marshall: Well, it turns out, the CRF? They've been trying to acquire the Dante Compound for over a year. I think they're trying to build a chemical b*mb. Vaughn: I read the Echelon report on the CRF. We don't know what their agenda is. Jack: Then we need to increase our knowledge base, find a way to penetrate the CRF and determine their motives. Marshall: Well, we actually have somebody in custody with CRF connections, considering their Covenant ties and all... Vaughn rolls his eyes and looks away, not at all looking forward to that prospect. Vaughn: Oh, God... Jack turns to look at Vaughn. Cut to Jack's office and an irate Sydney. Sydney: If we give Anna a fake, she'll k*ll Nadia; you know that. Jack: Turning over the compound would be irresponsible, not to mention unnecessary. Sydney: My responsibility is to get Nadia back. Safe, alive! Sloane: He's right, Sydney. Sydney: What are you talking about? I'm trying to save your daughter! Sloane: Giving Anna the compound is an unnecessary risk. Sydney: Unnecessary!? Sloane: She won't k*ll her; it's not her destiny. Sydney: Please tell me this is not about what I think it is. Sloane: If you had faith, you would know what I know. Sydney: Faith in a 15th Century lunatic!? Dad, please tell me Rambaldi is not dictating procedures. (looks at Sloane) He has no authority here, and I know Anna better than anyone, that's why you chose me for this mission. Dad, please, I need to get my sister back. Jack looks troubled, but he nods his assent. Sydney: Thank you. Sydney turns and leaves the room. Sloane looks at Jack, looking very betrayed. Jack looks slightly penitent, but says, Jack: You shouldn't be here, Arvin. Cut to Vaughn walking through the APO office. Sydney crosses his path. Sydney: Hey. Vaughn (on a sigh): Hey. Sydney: Where're you going? Vaughn: I'll tell you later; when's the meet with Anna? Sydney: Now. Vaughn: Nadia's going to be okay. Sydney: I just want the ghosts to go away. Vaughn: Tell me about it. Vaughn walks away. Sydney watches him leave, thinking. Cut to the boutique in Beverly Hills. Soft elevator music plays as Sydney enters the store, pretending to look around until she spots Anna. She walks up next to Anna and hands her the purse she had over her shoulder. Sydney: Here. Anna: Nice work. Anna slings the handbag on her shoulder without even looking inside. Sydney: You're not even going to look at it!? Anna: I trust you; you wouldn't try to decieve me, would you? Anna walks around to another rack of clothes. Sydney follows. Sydney: Where's my sister? Anna holds out an a*t*matic door opener from a car and Sydney takes it. Anna: Wait five minutes after my exit, then go to the 4th floor of the parking structure across the street... Anna turns toward Sydney and places a hand on the center of her chest. Anna: ...or my friends will blow a hole in your heart. Sydney: Get your hands off me. Anna: It was nice getting to know your sister... Anna runs an "affectionate" finger down the side of Sydney's face and starts to turn to walk away, but Sydney punches her right in the face. They start a fistfight in the middle of the store, with Anna getting the better of Sydney at first. She fights off Sydney's first att*ck, sending her knocking into the wall display. A security guard steps forward to subdue Anna, but she quickly dispatches of him. However, that gives Sydney time to recover and Sydney kicks her twice in the abdomen before taking a couple of punches. Then Sydney runs up and onto a display case to kick Anna in the face, knocking her back into a mannequin. Blood runs from the side of Anna's mouth. She sees the car door opener lying in front of her and quickly palms it. Sydney goes to grab Anna, but Anna grabs an arm from the fallen mannequin and whacks Sydney with it, but Sydney does a spin kick, which knocks Anna onto one of the display cases. Anna goes to punch Sydney, buy Sydney side steps it, grabs Anna's arm, turns it, and shoves her face-first back down onto the display case. From behind them, they hear, Guard: Dispatch, I need backup. Sydney looks over at him and then lets go of Anna's arm, saying, Sydney: She can have the blouse. Sydney walks across the room and retrieves the handbag. Anna walks toward her holding out the key fob. They blatantly make the switch and Anna walks out. Cut to Sydney running frantically through the parking garage, hitting the button over and over, trying to find a car it belongs to. Finally, a car sounds behind her and she runs to it. Sydney looks in the windows of the car and then pops the trunk to find Nadia lying there bound and gagged, but otherwise okay. She flicks open a switchblade and cuts Nadia's bonds and helps her out of the trunk. They cling to each other. Sydney: Are you okay? Nadia doesn't answer, just clings to her. Cut to an establishing sh*t of a federal penitentary. Cut to Vaughn and a guard walking down a corridor inside the prison. They get to the end of the hall and stop at the end cell. Vaughn: Open it up. Guard: Procedure dictates... Vaughn: We're old friends. Camera pans to Sark, sitting on his bed inside the cell. Sark: Actually, given our shared intimacies with your late wife, I may even go so far as to say we're family... The guard opens the door and Vaughn steps inside, giving Sark a menacing look. CUT TO BLACK Sark: Mr. Vaughn, your timing is impeccable. The last of my broken bones has finally healed and I sit before you a fresh canvas for your aggression. Before we begin whatever inquisition you're here for, there is a...pesky question that's been lingering in my head. Do you mind? Vaughn: Go ahead. Sark: Was it the infidelity or the espionage that motivated you to k*ll the woman I loved? Vaughn (with a snort of disbelief): The woman you loved? Sark: Yes, loved. (pause) You know, she once actually told me that she longed to love you...but the mundane existence you provided couldn't hold a candle to my passion. Vaughn punches Sark hard across the face. Vaughn: That wasn't for sleeping with the woman I was married to; I couldn't care less about her. Sark: Then what, the t*rture? Vaughn: This is how it's gonna be...and I'm only gonna give you one sh*t at this. The CRF... they've hired Anna Espinosa. They're building a b*mb. Why have they made repeated attempts to contact you? Sark: So it's g*n. Vaughn: What has? Sark: Wouldn't you like to know? Vaughn: Well, you're gonna tell me...what they're planning and where they're located. And if you're fishing for some kind of pardon agreement; it's not in the cards. But I am willing to provide you with certain amenities that will make your life in confinement a little more comfortable. Sark: I see your bargaining skills have gone the way of your manhood... Vaughn: Let me rephrase that: I'd be willing to leave you with what you already have and not make your life more uncomfortable. Sark: I don't see that there's much left to take away. Vaughn: You stonewall me, and I'll have you shipped to Alder Penitentary, and I'll have you secured in darkened solitary to the end days. 24/7 in a pitch black cell with zero human contact is a slow way to die. Especially with all the demons you've got in your closet; and believe me, they will come knocking. Sark: I regret to inform you, Mr. Vaughn...I'm not afraid of the dark. Vaughn gets up and sighs, nodding toward the guard at the end of the hall. Vaughn: You should be. I'm having you transferred to Alder tonight. Vaughn is buzzed out of the cell and walks down the hallway and out around the corner, where Jack is waiting. Jack: How did he respond? Vaughn: As expected. Jack: We'll send in the surgical team this evening. Cut to establishing daytime sh*t of LA by helicopter. Cut to Weiss coming to a stop at the entrance to APO's entrance tunnel. Cut to Sydney and Nadia slowly walking up that hallway. Nadia walks forward, Eric walks forward to meet her. He's obviously very worried about her. Stopping in front of her, Eric asks, Weiss: What'd she do to you? Nadia: I'll be okay. Weiss: You sure? Nadia: MmmHmm. I should go. Nadia looks back at Sydney, who now approaches them and they walk on to the end of the tunnel where Arvin Sloane is now waiting. Nadia (to Sloane): Hey. Sloane puts a fatherly hand on the side of Nadia's face. Sloane: I'm so glad you're all right. (to Sydney) Thank you, Sydney. Sydney doesn't answer, just stares right through him. Sydney: The doctor's waiting. Cut to a close up sh*t of Nadia's "brand" and the damage around it as the doctor examines it. Dr. Jain: The tissue in the scorched region is completely mascerated so we'll have to graft new skin. But we can fix this. Nadia: Thank you. Dr. Jain: I'll be back in a minute to dress it for you. Sydney enters as Dr. Jain leaves. Sydney: We're gonna find Anna. We know who she's working for now; we're tracking her down. Nadia: She said things...about us. That we'll be torn apart. What does that mean? Cut to Sydney and Nadia sitting at Sydney's desk. Nadia has had her wound bandaged. Sydney: When Mom died, I requested clearance to her files. I got it. There was an audio tape, surveillance from a hotel in Hamburg. She was talking to a man; his voice was never identified. She was describing the symbology of this (pulls up a photo on her computer screen): the Mark of Rambaldi. She said the outer markings represent her two daughters. The center is the object over which they will do great battle...with each other. Nadia looks up at Sydney, shocked. Sydney: Those are her words. (Sydney shakes her head) And then Mom went quiet...it was almost as if the next part were too painful. Nadia: Tell me. Sydney: Nadia, it's insane. Nadia: What? Sydney: According to Rambaldi, only one of the daughters will survive. I'm not gonna lie to you; some of the predictions Rambaldi made have come true. So if...if you wanna go back... Nadia: To Argentina? Do you believe in all this? Rambaldi? Sydney: No. But the people who do are dangerous. They're zealots who will stop at nothing to make their visions into reality. Nadia: Are you kidding me? Change my life because some...freakshow made a prediction 400 years ago? Anna can try to tear us apart; make some ridiculous prediction come true...but we're together now. Sydney looks visibly moved. Cut to a ceiling air vent. It's making a slight hissing sound. Cut to Sark's sleeping form on the cot in his cell. A light goes on and three men with gas masks enter the cell. Sark does not awaken. One of them is Marshall, he hands a injection g*n to another masked man and then opens up a small suitcase and begins typing. The man loads a small glowing pellet into the g*n as Marshall's computer says "Countdown Activated". The man injects the pellet into Sark's neck. Sark doesn't move. The two masked men and Marshall leave the cell and lock it back up. Cut to Marshall's suitcase computer, still linked to the chip inserted in Sark's neck. Vaughn: Sark's being transferred to Alder tonight. Marshall: Good, because the tracking device is in. That anesthetic gas? Totally knocked Sark out; didn't know what h*t him. Vaughn: How many hours until the delayed activator goes hot? Marshall: Twenty-four. Oh, and if the CRF tries to run a counter-surveillance sweep on Sark? No detecto. That's not the only modification that Mr. Bristow authorized. Now, the tracker is packed with a high-density expl*sive. Marshall pulls out a small remote and shows it to Vaughn. Marshall: Just enough to blow off his melon if he goes off book. Marshall puts the antenna back down on the remote and hands it to Vaughn, who puts it in his inside coat pocket. Marshall: You mess with a friend of Flinkman? You're messin' with Flinkman. Vaughn: Good job, Marshall. Cut to Sark in the process of being transferred. He is shackled hand and foot and let out to an armored transport van with no windows and placed into the back. Guard (over walkie talkie heard through wall of van by Sark): This transport team Alpha. We have secured the prisoner and we are in route. ETA 0600. Home Base (via walkie talkie): Copy that, Alpha. Just then, we hear a speeding vehicle and then a sudden expl*si*n rocks the van as it skids in reaction. Sark is thrown around in the back of the van. There are sounds of much g*n as it hits the side of the vehicle. The van continues to swerve and Sark is repeatedly thrown about the back of the van as the van attempts to outrun its attackers. Guard (over walkie talkie): One man down. Three vehicles in pursuit! There are more g*n and then the van falls over on it's side, throwing Sark around once more. All is quiet, and then the door to the back of the van falls open. A lone, hunched man stands there in the pouring rain holding a machine g*n and then tosses a set of keys at Sark. Man: Come with me! Come on! They start running from the back of the van to the man's escape vehicle. Man: Quickly! Go! They run out in front of the tipped over van and get into the attacker's van. The street is filled with carnage of d*ad guards and overturned vehicles. Man: Get in back! There is change of clothes! They get in a drive away. We get a sh*t of the d*ad guards inside the front of the van...and then one of them opens his eyes. Cut to Jack in his office at APO. There is a knock at the door and Jack looks up to see Sydney. Sydney: You got a minute? Jack nods and Sydney enters and sits down. Sydney: We picked up chatter on a meet schedule between the CRF and an admistrator at the Chillignost Chemical labs in Estonia...Ivan Vorich. Jack: Chillignost was a Soviet run facility; marginal security at best. Theft of a level 4 toxin could go unnoticed there for years. Sydney: It's probably just a meet, but...if Anna's there, this would be our best sh*t at getting her back in our sights. Jack pauses, thinking, then stands up. Jack: Take Nadia with you. Observation only. If Vorich has a sample of VX, I want you to find out where it is. This is a surveillance...not a boxing match. Can I trust you to maintain your professionalism? Sydney (looking chastened): She brings out the worst in me, Dad, but yes, of course. Sydney looks down as if something is bothering her. Jack immediately notices. Jack: What is it? Sydney: Anna never checked the sample. Jack: Marshall said he couldn't have made a good fake anyway. Sydney: You were right, Dad. I was stubborn. I'm sorry. Jack: You trusted your instincts to ensure the safe return of a fellow agent...a member of your family...and you succeeded. Sydney looks at Jack and almost gives him a smile. Cut to the van containing Sark pulling to a halt in a vacant area. Man: Take the motorcycle. Get yourself to CRF headquarters. Sark: What about you? Man: Follow protocol! Go! Sark gets out of the van and gets onto the motorcycle, puts on the helmet and rides off in the rain. As Sark pulls away, the man says via comms: Man: Tango is in motion. Jack (via comms): Copy that. Cut to Jack, Vaughn, and Marshall in the APO briefing room. Jack: In the next 24 hours, Sark should lead us to CRF headquarters. We'll put a tactical team on stand-by. For now, we wait. Marshall: Who wants to order Chinese? I'm starving. Marshall continues to talk nervously as Jack and Vaughn give him identical stares. Marshall: Thai? Indian? Cut to Sydney walking down the APO hallway. She is stopped by Sloane. Sloane: Sydney? You and your sister? Are you going after Anna? Sydney: This is highly inappropriate. Excuse me. She starts to walk off, but Sloane jogs to keep up with her. Sloane: Come on, Sydney...you know of Anna's beliefs. Sydney reluctantly stops and turns around. Sloane: You know the lengths she'll go to see them realized. Sydney: You wanna talk about beliefs!? This is something you wanna discuss? From where I'm standing, it was your mad obsession with Rambaldi that dragged both me and Nadia into this endless pit of confusion. So, given that, let me ask you: What is it you believe? Sloane: I believe that if the two of you go out on this mission, and Anna Espinosa has her way (gets choked up)...that only one of you will return home...alive. Sydney gives Sloane this look like "You sick, sad, loathesome little man" and walks away, leaving a troubled Sloane to stare after her. CUT TO BLACK Cut to nighttime sh*t of LA skyline via helicopter. Cut to the APO crew minus Sloane, Nadia and Sydney sitting at the APO briefing room table. Cartons of Chinese food litter the table. Weiss gets up and starts pacing. Weiss: Okay, it's been 24 hours; Sark's tracker is still dark. Marshall (in front of laptop): I know. I'm checking the satellite...making sure it's not off-line. Weiss: You sure you did the insertion properly? Marshall: Come on...it's me. Jack: I can't stress how critical it is we locate CRF headquarters. Marshall: I know, all right? Why is everybody picking on me? Weiss sighs and pushes himself back to a stand from leaning over the table. Marshall: Seriously! It's hard work...(after a moment) Okay, I got it; it's hot. They are in South Africa...Johanessburg...658 Kroner Street, to be exact. Dixon: Let's move, people! Everyone but Marshall gets up and leaves the table. Jack walks by Sloane's office, then stops for a moment to talk to him. Jack: Sydney and Nadia are in Estonia. Dixon is leading a team to Johannesburg to raid CRF headquarters. This should all be over soon. Sloane: Thank you. Jack walks away and we pan to Sloane's unreadable expression. JOH(A)NNESBURG Cut to the exterior of what appears to be an abandoned warehouse. Pan to Dixon's team, about to enter the building. Dixon: Maintain your perimeter cover points. We need to lock this building down tight. Weiss: No one slips out. We'd rather take home data on CRF , not prisoners. Dixon: Let's go. Go, go, go, go. The team begins the raid. Dixon, Vaughn, Weiss and the team begin to search the building with flashlights and g*n drawn. So far, everything appears deserted. Dixon peers around a corner, then informs the team quietly, Dixon: I've got something. They follow Dixon down a hallway to a door, which, once in position, they break down to storm the room. It appears to be a cafeteria of sorts...lots of tables in a row. Only one man sits in the dark in that room. Their flashlights reveal, Sark: Gentlemen. Sark pops the cork off a bottle of champagne. Sark: Were you expecting a bigger party? Sark irreverently takes a swig of champagne. Vaughn (in half disbelief): This isn't CRF headquarters... Sark: You're a genius. Vaughn: Where are we? Sark: Nowhere...in particular, and that's the truth. Just a nice place for a chat. Vaughn puts his g*n down and approaches Sark. Sark: Really, Michael...don't look so shocked. You couldn't have had such low expectations of me? Vaughn looks as if he wants to b*at the crap out of Sark...either that or cough up a hairball. He looks both visibly sick and incredibly angry. Sark stands up and approaches him. Sark: Now...with regards to your previous request, I will help you locate CRF leadership...but, as always, you must do something for me in return. Vaughn: Why the charade? If you were going to cooperate, why run at all? Sark: For the bubbly, of course. Sark takes another swig from the champagne bottle. CUT TO BLACK ESTO(N)IA Cut to nighttime stock footage of what is supposed to be Estonia. Cut to Sydney and Nadia placed near a window of the chemical lab, waiting for the meet. Nadia: We're early. Sydney (teasing): Who says girls can't make it anywhere on time? Get comfortable. The elevator dings and the sisters give each other a look of almost disbelief saying "Already?" We see a man exit the elevator. Nadia: Vorich. Sydney: All right, one down; one to go. Where are you, Anna? Come on... Povich walks down a hallway as Sydney and Nadia surreptitously follow his progress. They stop to watch outside a window as Vorich checks his watch. Suddenly, from behind a piece of construction plastic (the floor they are meeting on is having renovations), Anna reaches out and starts to strangle Vorich. Sydney (to Nadia): Let's take her. Man (from behind them with g*n drawn): Bad idea. It's the henchman that helped hold Nadia's head in place when Anna branded her. Man (to Nadia): I was hoping we could spend a little more time together... Nadia kicks the g*n out of his hand and Sydney kicks the man over backward. She turns and looks through the window to see Anna taking a canister that looks like a small f*re extinguisher from inside Vorich's coat. Anna looks up and her eyes meet Sydney's. Sydney (to Nadia): Vorich had the VX gas with him. Nadia: Go! Sydney runs off after Anna as Nadia fights the henchman. He aims his g*n at her as she struggles to hold it away from her. She is able to eject the b*llet cartridge and then forces him to sh**t the one b*llet in the chamber away from her, and then knocks the g*n aside. Cut to Anna running down a staircase and Sydney chasing her. Cut back to Nadia still fighting the henchman. She kicks him and goes in for a punch, but he grabs her arm and knifes her across her side. She kicks him away from her and then whips off her belt. She wraps it around his hands to bind them and then, as they topple over, the Kn*fe s*ab the henchman in a blow that will soon k*ll him. Cut back to Sydney, who pulls her g*n as she enters another open workspace. She rounds a corner and then reacts as a sh*t ricochets off the metal plate of an elevator beside her. Another one rings off the metal as Sydney ducks back behind another corner and we see Anna running off. Sydney takes a few sh*ts of her own. Cut to Nadia as she pushes the Kn*fe even deeper into the man's chest. Nadia: Why is the CRF assembling this b*mb? What do they have planned? Man: It's no use...you're too late. Nadia shoves the Kn*fe even deeper. Nadia: Tell me! She leans over the dying man as he whispers something she hears, but we cannot. She leans back, looking shocked. Cut to Sydney, running to chase Anna. She comes into another work area; much of it is draped with that plastic drop cloth material that hangs from ceiling to floor. Sydney looks around, not seeing Anna. Cut to Nadia, getting up from the henchman who is at least unconscious, if not d*ad. She grabs the henchman's g*n, reloads it and runs off to find Sydney. She runs by a surveillance camera. Cut back to Sydney, still searching carefully for Anna. Sydney sees a figure's shadow from behind one of the panels of draped drop cloth and moves in, g*n drawn...but it's not Anna; it's Nadia, her g*n also drawn. Both heave a great gasp as they begin to lower their g*n. Sydney: Oh my God, I thought you were... Nadia: Anna. Nadia starts to walk toward Sydney to hug her and...a b*llet round goes off. Nadia has been sh*t in the back. Sydney looks up and sees Anna running away. Nadia feels her back and pulls her hand away all bloody. She drops to the ground as Sydney cradles her head. Sydney: Nadia...Oh God...Oh, God...Don't be scared! Nadia gasps and begins to sob. So does Sydney. Sydney: I'm right here...It's okay... stay with me! Breathe...just stay with me... Nadia is beginning to lose consciousness. Sydney: Just keep breathing... Nadia has passed out. Sydney: Nadia...Nadia! (Sydney shakes Nadia's head, trying to get a reaction, but doesn't get one. Sydney begins to look frantic.) Look at me! Look at me! Look me in the eye! Don't...don't...I'm right here, don't... Off of Sydney's panicked, sobbing face we, CUT TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x08 - Echoes"}

foreverdreaming

4X09 - A MAN OF HIS WORD ORIGINAL AIR DATE ON ABC: 03/02/05 Our first set of "Previously on Alias"! Sydney's "She's supposed to be d*ad" and Jack's "So are a lot of people..." Clipped scene of the "boutique fight" "She can have the blouse..." Sloane: "I believe that if the two of you go out on this mission, and Anna Espinosa has her way, only one of you will return...alive." During the surveillance mission, Sydney: "Let's take her..." Henchman: "Bad idea..." -Shortened version of Nadia/Henchman fight. -Shortened version of Sydney chasing Anna. -Nadia leaning over henchman as he whispers in her ear. Nadia and Sydney almost sh**ting each other and then Anna sh**ting Nadia. Open to Sloane shoving open a hospital door and stalking down a hospital corridor. He walks over to stand next to Sydney, who is watching her sister through the glass outside her room. Sydney turns and sees Sloane beside her and then looks away again. Cut to the heartrate monitor and then slide to Nadia lying unconscious in bed with an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. Cut to Sloane's reaction to seeing his daughter that way; he's definited moved. Sydney: The surgeons in Estonia got the b*llet out. She's s*ab, but the internal bleeding was severe. Sloane: They put her in a coma. Sydney: Until she recovers at least basic metabolic function...48 hours at least, they think. Sydney meets Sloane's eyes. He looks hurt and worried. Sydney looks away is if she feels guilty. Sydney: I'm sorry. Sloane: It was Anna Espinosa. She did this. Sydney: Anna...has got the b*mb. We didn't stop her. Sydney looks down again as if ashamed. Sloane's phone rings. With him still staring at Sydney he answers the phone. Sloane: I said I'm not to be bothered. (pauses, listening) I'll be right there. Sloane closes up his cell phone and walks away. Cut to elevator doors opening. We see the bottom third of a handtruck and several men "guarding" it. On the handtruck, we see a man's feet and legs from the knee down, dressed in what appears to be grey prison garb. As the entourage turns and starts to walk down the APO hallway leading to the office, the camera pans up to take in the man's hands in handcuffs in front of him and straps holding him to the handtruck. His head is covered over with a black bag. As he's wheeled into the office, other random APO workers stop and stare. Cut to the man being strapped into a chair, and then the guard removes the bag to reaveal Julian Sark, who finds himself seated across the table from Arvin Sloane. Sark stares at Sloane for a moment and then begins to smirk. Sark: This is...classic. Cut to a monitor showing that scene and then pull back to reveal Jack and Dixon watching. Dixon: Is this really the only way to get intel on the CRF? Jack: You disagree with my methods. Dixon: Sloane signed an agreement with Langley. He's prohibited from engaging with certain operatives...Sark is on that list. Jack: Sark will only negotiate openly if he feels he's met his intellectual match. As Acting Director, I'll take full responsibility. Dixon nods his understanding. Cut back to Sark and Sloane. Sark: Four years ago, if I'm not mistaken, you convinced a small army they worked for the CIA, when in fact, they worked for you. However you convinced the US Government into offerring you the real thing is a story I'm dying to hear. Suffice to say, Arvin...you have my undying admiration. Sloane doesn't say anything, just slides a manila folder across the table toward Sark and waits for him to open it. Inside are pictures of mutilated bodies. Sloane: You recognize those men? They were going to help you escape our custody in Johannesburg. Turn the page. Sark does, and he sees another picture of someone who's been k*lled. Apparently it's not pretty, because Sark looks a little uncomfortable. Sloane: An object lesson. This is what we will do to you if you refuse to cooperate. (pauses for effect) Now...how do we retrieve the b*mb? Sark: The Cadmus Revolutionary Front is run by a man named Ushek San'ko. We worked together under my last employer. Jack searches the CIA database as Sark continues to talk. Sark: He'll be taking possession of the b*mb shortly. Jack (to Dixon): I've got him. Sark: I told Mr. Vaughn in Johannesburg, I would help you infiltrate CRF and retrieve this b*mb from San'ko...and I promise you, I will. You have my word. Sloane: Your word. Sark: Which has a considerably greater value than when you knew me last. Incarceration has given me a sense of...perspective. Sloane (in a scoffing, almost condescending tone): Well, I'll consider that. Sark: But first, I have a demand. I've heard from unreliable sources that Lauren Reed...is d*ad. Now, I've filed numerous requests about her status; all have gone unanswered. What I want...is to visit her grave. I want to see her body for myself. Sloane sits as if weighing this demand, and then says with a sigh, Sloane: I'll arrange transport. Sloane gets up and starts to leave. Sark: There's something else. Sloane turns back to look at him. Cut to Sydney and Vaughn, walking through an APO hallway. Sydney: I heard about Sark. He didn't give you anything in South Africa? Vaughn: Nah...He was on to us from the beginning. They're questioning him now. If Sark can give us intel on how to stop the CRF, we still have a chance. Sydney: We can't depend on Sark. Vaughn: I understand he's cutting a deal. Sydney makes a face. Vaughn: Look, I don't like it any more than you do, but if listening to him helps us get the b*mb back, I can live with it. Sydney: Well, even if you're right, what if Anna gets away? Vaughn gives Sydney an empathetic look. Jack walks up to them and stops. Jack: Sark has agreed to lead us to Ushek San'ko, the leader of CRF. We believe San'ko can provide us operational intelligence that will allow us to stop Anna and recover the w*apon. Sydney: When do we leave? Jack: He has, however, made a demand...(looks at Vaughn) which involves you. Sydney looks at Vaughn worriedly. Vaughn puts up an stoic face, preparing himself for whatever he's about to hear. Jack: He wants to exhume your wife's body. Sydney closes her eyes and flinches empathetically for Vaughn. Vaughn looks as if he doesn't quite know how to react to that. He glances at Sydney, looks down in troubled thought, swallows audibly, and then, Vaughn (tightly): Fine. Let him. Sydney sneaks a glance at Vaughn to guage how he's taking the news. Jack: That's not all. Sark has demanded that you open her coffin for him. Vaughn looks down and away: anger, pain, guilt, hatred and disgust mingle on his face. Sydney: No! Jack: Agent Vaughn? Sydney: You can't order him to do this! Jack: I'm not ordering; I'm asking. (to Vaughn) Sark's participation, leading us to CRF, stopping Anna is dependent... Vaughn (very tightly, cutting Jack off): I'll do it. Sydney looks up at him in reaction, almost surprised he was willing to do it, knowing how much Lauren's death still haunts him. Vaughn eyes meet Jack's and he swallows audibly again, almost as if swallowing his own disgust at what he now has to do. CUT TO BLACK Alias Theme. (Or, Now is the time in Alias when we dance!) Cut to nighttime establishing sh*t of LA via helicopter. Cut to several men entering a darkened room. The lights go on and we see it is Vaughn and an armed detail guarding a handcuffed Sark. The room is some sort of mausoleum. Sark (to Vaughn): This is where you keep her? Vaughn bends down and pushes against a screen in front of one of the drawers. Vaughn: For security reasons, some bodies aren't allowed a public grave. In this case, we didn't want Lauren's death to become public knowledge. Vaughn puts his hand inside the box behind the opened screen and a light turns from red to green. Vaughn stands and pushes a button and the drawer unlocks and starts to open. Sark watches the covered drawer slowly slide open as Vaughn assesses Sark. Vaughn (snarky): This make you feel better...watching this happen? Sark (quietly): It gives me hope...that I can still achieve closure. Vaughn stands in front of the drawer and slows its movement to a stop. Vaughn (sarcastic): Guys like you don't believe in "closure". That would actually require you care about something. Sark: Perhaps that's true. Perhaps all I can hope for is a moment for us all to share: you, me... (looking down at the drawer) her. Vaughn purses his lips in annoyance and looks away. Sark: And in letting go of the subterfuge, we can finally admit the truth: Your wife loved me. Not even death can change that. Vaughn glares at him. Sark: Do it. Open it. Vaughn nods for a moment and purses his lips in tense anger. Vaughn (voice gravelly, still sarcastic): You want your moment? Here, take it. Vaughn grabs the lid to the drawer and, looking away, pulls it up. He rubs at his nose and walks away. He stands several feet from the drawer, arms crossed, turned about 90 degrees so that he doesn't have to look at the body. Slowly, Sark, his hands cuffed in front of him, approaches the drawer and kneels down. Vaughn sneaks a sideways peek and Sark and then looks away again. The look on his face tells us how much this is costing him, both having to be near Lauren again, and having to do this for Sark. Sark purses his lips, as the sight of Lauren in the drawer obviously affects him, as if he'd been hoping until that moment that it weren't true. Slowly, he starts to unzip the body bag that surrounds Lauren from the neck down. Vaughn immediately reacts to the sound of the zipper. Vaughn (suddenly, vehemently): Stop! Sark slowly looks up at Vaughn and says softly, Sark: My agreement, Mr. Vaughn, allows for this. Vaughn looks away and swallows and steels himself. Sark continues to unzip, pulling the flaps of the bag aside to reveal a g*n wound in the area of Lauren's heart, and then two bulletholes on the other side of her chest. Seeing the b*llet wounds affects Sark; his grief shows on his face. Sark (almost to himself): And a perfect triangle at that... (a little louder, bitterly) consistent with CIA training. He stands up and stares at Vaughn, as if betrayed. Sark (accusing): It was you. Vaughn turns toward him, showing no remorse. Sark (accusing): You did this. Vaughn (hard, steely, not giving an inch): Yes, I did. Sark purses his lips and Vaughn looks away. Sark kneels before the body again and tries to hold back a sob of grief. Vaughn, turned away from Sark, looks slightly guilty. After several moments, Sark stands and tries to compose himself again. Sark (pained): I'll take you to CRF... Vaughn looks over at Sark for a moment, almost as if he were surprised at how easily Sark gave in, nods slightly and looks away again. Sark (softly): But I want you to face what you did. Vaughn turns to look at Sark. A split second of surprise and then dread crosses his face before he steels himself and then looks down at Lauren's body. For the first time, we actually see Lauren's face as she lies d*ad in the drawer. Vaughn takes a deep breath as if steadying himself, and then another as he stares at Lauren's face. A host of emotions cross his face: guilt, bitterness, anger, betrayal, sadness and finally the tiniest bit of grief. Slowly, he raises his eyes and meets Sark's. Sark turns his eyes to look down at Lauren again and Vaughn turns his face away, looking as if it's only with sheer willpower that he's able to hold himself together in front of Sark. Cut to Sydney talking on her cell phone outside Nadia's hospital room. Sydney: Do a search for "Black Widow"; it was one of Anna's callsigns. Who knows, she might still use it. Dixon, will you call me if you find anything? (pauses, listening) Okay. She turns off her cell phone as Weiss, sitting in a chair just outside of Nadia's room stands up. They both look as Sloane walks out of Nadia's room. Weiss (to Sloane): Is there anything you need? Sloane (shaking his head wearily): No. Weiss leaves Sydney and Sloane alone, and enters Nadia's room. Sloane: You shouldn't blame yourself, Sydney. I certainly don't hold you responsible for what happened to Nadia. I've said this before; Anna won't k*ll Nadia. She can't. Sydney: After all this, you still believe. Sloane: Sydney...my daughter lies there in a medically-induced coma. What else do I have but my faith? Sydney looks away in thought, and then a red light on the ceiling in the hallway starts to blink and an alarm starts to sound. Voice on intercom: All patients and personnel, please remain calm. Weiss turns and walks out into the hallway, approaching Sydney and Sloane. Voice: We experienced a small f*re in the subbasement. Please proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly manner. Weiss draws his g*n. Sloane: There should be a security detail in the building. Sydney: Stay with Nadia until they get here. Sydney and Weiss take off down the hallway, g*n drawn. Cut to patients and personnel evacuating. We see one nurse walking the other direction. She turns, and we see it is actually Anna Espinosa. Cut to Sydney jogging up the staircase. Cut to Weiss and he rounds a corner with g*n drawn and starts down a hallway. He gets to the end of a hall and starts up the staircase. Cut to Anna, who had ducked into a room on that floor. She walks down the hallway and into Nadia's room, where she is covered from head to toe with a blanket. Anna takes three sh*ts and we see the blood starting to seep out the holes before she turns and starts to leave. Sydney enters the otherwise empty floor and starts trading g*n with Anna. As Sydney ducks for cover, Anna breaks the glass on the f*re hose, wraps it around her arm a few times and then approaches the window at the end of the hallway, emptying her clip into the window and then jumping out. Sydney runs toward the sound, but seeing the taut hose, knows she's too late. Cut back to Anna as she dangles a story from the ground and she jumps, safely reaching the ground. Sydney watches Anna sprint away into the night, then turns to run to Nadia's room. Running into the room and seeing the blood on the blankets, she grabs the blanket in dread, whips it back and sees...piles of bagged blood pints on pillows in the otherwise empty bed. Sloane: Nadia's next door. Sydney whips around at the sound of Sloane's voice. Sloane: I thought it prudent to change her room until her extraction arrived. CUT TO BLACK Cut to Nadia being relocated to Medical Services at APO. Jack (to Sloane): The doctors at the hospital assured me that Nadia will be able to complete her recovery here. Cut to an unconscious Nadia as nurses and doctors scramble around her, getting her settled. Sloane: Anna came after us, Jack. In a public place. Jack: The operative question is: Why? Anna has the b*mb, why come back for Nadia? Sloane (menacing) : I don't care about her agenda. That woman is a thr*at; I want her destroyed. Jack: Your daughter has just been att*cked. I understand that...but this is not the time to react emotionally. Sloane (still menacing): Whatever it takes; you find Anna. Whatever corners you have to cut, whatever favors you have to call in, do it...but find her. Eliminate her. Jack: And what about your faith...that Nadia will survive? Sloane: Oh...This isn't about faith. Cut to Marshall in his office, watching a security feed on a screen in his office, talking to Jack. Marshall: Well, it took me a while to patch into the security system in Estonia...the firewall was a piece of cake, but the CCTV was rigged with a fluctuating log-on and...(looks at Jack)you don't really care...about... The point is, I did manage to hack in. By the way, is it just me or...does fast-forward make you a little nauseated? Jack (ignoring last question): Do we have audio? Marshall: All we have is raw video feed, but, fortunately I wrote a voice-reconstruction program based on lip movements a few years ago and...check this out. Marshall runs the part of the tape where Nadia is convincing the henchman to talk. Nadia (with stilted computerized voice): Why is CRF assembling this b*mb? What do they have planned? Nadia leans forward as the man speaks in her ear. Watching the feed, Jack says, Jack: What did he say? Marshall: Well, that I couldn't rebuild. But...look at this...you see that shadow, right there in the background? Well, I enhanced the detail, and...look at that! Marshall focuses in on it and clarfies it. It's Anna, watching as her henchman talks to Nadia. Jack: That's why Anna came after her in the hospital. Marshall: Excuse me? But Jack is already walking off. Marshall:I don't...under...stand...(louder to Jack's retreating form) You're welcome! Cut to Sydney and Vaughn in the APO briefing room. Vaughn (showing Sydney the classified section of the newspaper): Sark gave us the contact protocol to meet with CRF; its a coded message in the classified ads. If all goes as he says it will, we should have a response by the evening edition. Sydney: And then what? You and I go in there alone? Vaughn (smiling): You mean as in a glorified date? Sydney (smiling also): That's not what I meant, but is it? Vaughn: No, not exactly. We've got to take Sark with us. He insists we won't get in the front door without him...so we rely on the expl*sive tracking device we put in his neck. If he tries to burn us in any way--sabotage, escape, whatever-- Sydney: We take him out. Vaughn nods and Sydney nods grimly in response. Sydney's face quickly dims and she stares at her fidgeting hands. After a moment, Vaughn puts his hand over hers in a comforting way. Vaughn: Hey...Nadia's gonna make it. Cut to Nadia's hospital room at APO. A nurse is monitoring her and has just attached a heartrate monitor to Nadia's finger. Cut to Jack talking to Dr. Jain. Jack: You're monitoring Agent Santos' progress. If she were to be...awaked from her coma early, what risks would she be exposed to? Dr. Jain: It would increase stress on her circulatory system. The quicker you revive her, the higher the risk of shock, heart att*ck, stroke. Is there some reason to wake her? Jack: Not yet. Jack looks away in troubled thought. Cut to CIA transport plane. Cut to Sydney, Vaughn, and Sark in the cargo hold of the airplane. Sydney: The man we're meeting with, Ushek San'ko...what else can you tell us about him? Sark: San'ko's expertise is coordinating t*rror1st activity. Vaughn: And you're convinced he'll know where the b*mb is? Sark: I'm quite certain he's the one who tasked Anna to get it. Following our protocol, he took out a series of ads in response to mine. This one here says I'm to meet him in a club in Venice where we've done business before. It says I'm to come alone. Vaughn (in disbelief): Alone!? That's interesting. Sark: I gave you my word, Mr. Vaughn. Am I to take it that you don't trust me? Vaughn: You're about to betray one of your former partners; it doesn't really instill faith in your loyalty. Sark: My past infidelities are just that; mistakes I've learned from...repented for. I've become a trustworthy man. Vaughn: Well, the answer's no. Where you go; we go. Sark and Vaughn look at each other for a long moment, then Sark turns to study Sydney as well. Sark purses his lips just slightly, as if it bothers him they don't believe him, but can understand why. Then he says, Sark: Well, Lauren and I, we set up a w*apon deal with San'ko before the Covenant imploded. The thing is, he's never met her face to face. All he knows is her voice. Sydney straightens in her chair when she realizes what Sark is getting at, and then glances at Vaughn to gauge his reaction. Vaughn looks back at Sydney, worried. Cut to Sydney in a wavy blond wig. She is putting blue contacts in her eyes. She adjusts her hair, applies blush, eye pencil, mascara to her eyebrows to darken them, clear lip gloss. Cut to Jack apprehensively looking through the glass in Nadia's hospital door into the room, where Sloane sits in vigil at Nadia's bedside. Cut back to Sydney putting the finishing touches to her look. She is dressed only in a black silk bathrobe. As she fixes the fit on her wig, cut to Vaughn, watching her progress with the disguise as if seeing Sydney dressed as Lauren just brings back all those painful and angry memories of being duped. Still, he seems transfixed; like a car wreck he can't turn his eyes from. Sydney notices him standing there and turns to face him. Putting on Lauren's air and accent, she says, Sydney: How's this? Quietly, his Adam's apple bobbing, Vaughn answers, Vaughn: Perfect. CUT TO BLACK (V)ENICE Cut to a strange nightclub built like a large stairwell. The bottom floor has a seating area, otherwise everyone is congretated on the staircase, talking and drinking and swaying to the loud music. As we pan down the stairwell, we see Vaughn dressed appropriately in a black leather jacket, leaning on the corner of the armrail, keeping lookout on the bottom floor. Cut to Sydney, dressed in a semi-kinky black dress with a buckles holding the bust together. Vaughn watches Sydney and Sark's progress as they sit on a couch in the middle of the floor, giving Vaughn an excellent position for reconnaisance. Sark is appropriately dressed in a black shirt and black dress pants. Sark (as they sit down): I must, uh, tell you...Lauren and I had a... reputation; certain intimacies were public knowledge. We must maintain appearances. Sydney glances up at Vaughn and then balances herself on the arm of the couch next to Sark. Sydney (rolling her eyes): Dream on, you perverted freak. Cut to San'ko and his girlfriend walking toward them and sitting down opposite them. San'ko: Mr. Sark! Sark: San'ko. It's good to see you. San'ko: And you must be...Lauren Reed. Sydney tips her head to the side in a cold-shoulderish gesture of acknowledgement. San'ko: What a pleasure to meet you after so long. San'ko grasps Sydney's hand and places a kiss across her fingers. Sydney (in Lauren accent): The pleasure's all mine...obviously. San'ko: So...let us toast! To CRF, hmm? San'ko pours tequila into glasses for them. Cut to Vaughn watching apprehensively from above. Sydney and Sark each take one of the glasses, and San'ko raises his. San'ko: Salud! Sydney and Sark each drink their sh*t in one gulp; San'ko drinks half of it and then pours the other half in his girlfriend's cleavage and slurps it out. He takes a lusty bite from his lime as Sydney looks on. San'ko: So...what is the nature of your business? Sark: We represent certain interests that stand to profit should the market fall...If you would provide us with some insider information, we would be happy to split the profits. San'ko: How nice of you! Information about what? Sark: Our sources tell us you've just acquired a chemical b*mb. What do you intend to do with it? San'ko: Which w*apon are you talking about? Sydney: The one you hired Anna Espinosa to steal. San'ko doesn't answer, just looks surprised. Either that, or he doesn't know what Sydney's talking about. She stands abruptly. Sydney: Obviously you've never heard of her. Sorry to waste your time. San'ko (to Sydney): You want something from me? (He leans forward in his chair, closer to Sydney) I want something from you, my dear. Sydney sits back down. Sydney: And what is that? San'ko: Mr. Sark has told me about your...predilictions. I have a room above this club. I'd like to watch that...for myself. Sark looks up at Sydney in amusement, obviously both because she didn't believe him earlier, and also to see how she will react. Vaughn, from his vantage point, tells Sydney through her comms, Vaughn: You have my permission to k*ll him, if you'd like... (meaning Sark) Sydney leans forward in her chair and picks up another sh*t of tequila. Sydney: I'm sure Julian's told you that we never mix business with pleasure. Sydney places a lime with the pulp facing out in between Sark's lips, drinks the tequila and then pounces on Sark's lips, kissing him deeply as she sucks at the lime. San'ko is quite obviously enjoying this show. Just as obviously, Vaughn is not enjoying the show. As Sydney extracts the lime from Sark's mouth, she gives him a nip on his lip for good measure that draws blood. Sark says "ow" and touches the spot, realizing he's been blooded. San'ko looks incredibly turned on and pleased and starts to laugh. Dabbing the blood from his lip with a napkin, Sark says, Sark: I told you she was special. Cut to Sydney, still sucking on the lime (now the long way), her eyes pinned on San'ko. San'ko: Ohhhh, yes...she is indeed special. San'ko lifts his glass to drink another sh*t, (and probably planning on extracting the lime from Sydney)...when he is sh*t in the neck, shattering his glass. He grabs at his neck and falls sideways as Sark and Sydney duck. Vaughn pulls his p*stol and looks up as San'ko's bodyguard is taken out also from higher up the staircase from Vaughn. Sark and Sydney start to take cover. Sydney (to Vaughn): Anna! Vaughn (to Sydney): Above us. Sydney (to Vaughn): I'll take the lead; we'll cover each other's corners. Vaughn turns to start following Anna. Sydney turns to Sark. Sark: Give me a g*n; I can help! Sydney pulls out a set of handcuffs and cuffs Sark to the staircase. Sydney: Stay here and shut up. Anna takes a couple of sh*ts at Vaughn as he follows, but misses. Sydney catches up to Vaughn, and takes the lead. Anna tries sh**ting at Sydney, but misses also, hitting the metal staircase railing instead. They get to the top of the stairs, but Anna is gone. A door opens out onto a street. Sydney: Let's get Sark. We might still be able to cut her off. They rush down the stairs...but Sark is gone, his handcuff undone, the other still attached to the handrail. Cut to Anna, three of her henchmen...and Sark, walking down a hallway. They exit the building and out to the riverbank where a small speedboat awaits. Cut to Syd and Vaughn as they climb down the stairs of the club to the outside. Cut to the speedboat as it pulls away around the corner. Cut to Anna putting on a surgical glove and approaching Sark. Sark: What are you doing? Anna: There is an expl*sive device in your neck. Sark: Wait, how do you know that? Anna (to henchman): There's no time for painkillers; hold him down. (to Sark) Don't move! Anna cuts into the side of Sark's neck. Sark: Please! Ughh...God! Cut to Syd and Vaughn. Vaughn has used the tracking device and located Sark's signal. Vaughn pulls the detonator out of his pocket. Vaughn: Syd, we have to blow the tracking device. Sydney: Vaughn, wait a second... Vaughn: No...it's our backup protocol. Sydney: No, no, no...wait. He might lead us to Anna. Vaughn: He's out of our custody; we can't take that chance. We have to blow it now. Cut back to the boat, where Anna pulls the tracking device from Sark's neck and throws it out of the boat into the river. Cut to Vaughn's finger as the activates the detonator. Suddenly, the screen on the locator goes dark and reads "Signal Lost". Sydney: What happened? Vaughn: It failed. Cut to the boat. Anna extends a hand to Sark, and Sark shakes it. Anna: Anna Espinosa. Sark holds a cloth to the wound in his neck with the other hand. His face is all sweaty; the extraction of the chip caused him a good deal of pain. Sark: Julian Sark. It's nice to meet you. CUT TO BLACK Cut to an evening establishing sh*t of the canals of Venice. Cut to Sydney, who has pulled off her "Lauren" wig, but it still otherwise dressed in costume, pacing the hotel room, talking to Jack on the phone. Sydney: We played right into her hands. Anna k*lled San'ko in front of our eyes and then distracted us long enough to grab Sark. Sydney dumps the "Lauren" wig onto the bed. Jack (over phone): You couldn't have predicted this. He had no intelligence suggesting the two shared a history or an agenda. Sydney: Still, I should have considered it was a possibility. Cut to Jack in his office at APO. Jack: We need to focus on where Anna and Sark are headed with the b*mb. Contact all your sources; see if anyone has heard anything. Cut back to Sydney. Sydney: I'll check back on the hour. Cut back to Jack. Jack: Good. Jack looks up and then starts to walk out of his office. He's met at his doorway by Dixon. Dixon: APO is monitoring traffic. We've called in every favor we can to get Sark and Anna on difference intelligence radars. Considering the destructive capacity of the b*mb they have in their posession, they're going to take extra precautions to cover their tracks. At this point, we'll take anything we can get. As Dixon walks away, we focus on Jack's face and the realization of what he knows he must now do. Cut to an elevator door opening onto the Medical Services wing. Jack exits the elevator. He surreptitiously looks around to see if anyone notices him, and then walks into a medical supply room. Once there, he locates a specific vial, removes it from the fridge and grabs a sterile syringe. After looking in the window of Nadia's room, he enters and stands beside Nadia. He reaches into his jacket and pulls out the already loaded syringe and injects the medicine into Nadia's IV tube. Jack sits down in the chair next to Nadia, then reaches out and brushes the hair off of her forehead in an almost fatherly gesture, intimating that it is not his intention to harm her, but that he had no more options. We hear the heart monitor start beeping more rapidly, then Nadia takes a deep breath inward, her head moving to the side as her eyes flutter. Sleepily, Nadia shoves the oxygen mask away from her face as Jack watches on with worry. Cut to a full plate of food. Pan up to find Sark sitting in front of it, not eating. As he looks up, Anna walks into the room with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She places them down on the table and says with a smile, Anna: Not talking? I thought after a year in a maximum security prison, that...you would appreciate a decent meal. Anna pours wine into the glasses. Sark: "Beware a summit that begins with shared bread; the sated man is at his weakest." Anna looks at him and then sits down across from him. Anna: Who said that? Sark: A Vietnamese general I had dinner with once. By dessert, I put a b*llet between his eyes. Anna gives him a "Touche" look and then reaches across the table with her fork, spears a piece of asparagus from Sark's plate and eats it. Sark notes that his food is not poisoned and gives a slight smile before saying, Sark: I appreciate the rescue...I assume there's a price. Anna: When I heard of a young man so ruthless in his shifting allegiances that he k*lled his own father...I thought, "This is a man I am fated to work with." Sark smiles, but does not say anything, so Anna continues, Anna: My aim tonight was Ushek San'ko's head. CRF is a...weak organization. No vision, considering the power of the b*mb I stole for them, and...they did not pay me nearly enough. Sark: So you decided to go into business for yourself. Anna: I thought it an appropriate time. Sark smiles as if impressed. Anna: And then I spotted you in the club... Sark: ...and you saw your opportunity. Anna: Yes. Sark (as if trying the idea on for size): A partnership...my brains, your skills... Anna (smiling): You flatter yourself, but something like that. Anna takes a sip of her wine. Sark: I must tell you, selling a b*mb on the black market can be tricky. Anna: I already have a buyer in mind... Sark takes a sip of his wine. Anna: ...right here in this very city. Michel Guinot. Sark: A man with whom I have an excellent credit rating. Anna: Yes, Mr. Sark... I know you do. Sark gives Anna a hint of a smile and deliberately takes a bite of his food and eats it. She raises her glass to him and takes a sip. Jack: Anna is selling the b*mb to a man named Michel Guinot, gateway of all arms sales in and out of Central Russia. Cut to Sydney and Vaughn in their hotel room. Vaughn is packing while Sydney talks on the phone to her father. Jack (over phone): Guinot's on the watch list. We have surveillance coverage. Sydney: Where'd the intel come from? Cut back to Jack. Jack: Classified...but reliable. Your mission is to intercept the b*mb and detain the principals. Cut to Sydney. Sydney: Do we have a confirmed location for the meet between Anna and Sark? Cut to Jack, sitting at the desk in his office. Jack: Guinot's on the move to a property he owns; a graveyard. He's been known to hold meets there. Marshall's sending coordinates. If this meet goes through, Sydney, both Anna and Sark will be in the wind. We may never have this opportunity again. Cut to Sloane, walking down a hallway of Medical Services toward Nadia's room. He is stopped in the hallway outside of Nadia's room by Dr. Jain. Sloane looks inside as Dr. Jain speaks, Dr. Jain: We called as soon as there was any change. Inside, we see an awake but groggy Nadia with a nurse attending to her and Weiss at her bedside. Sloane: When did she wake up? Dr. Jain: A few minutes ago, but she's fine; out of the woods. Sloane (hoarse with emotion): Thank you. Dr. Jain: There was an irregularity we thought you should see. Niloxin's a drug we use to wean patients out of medically induced comas. Your daughter had four times the amount we normally use. Sloane looks up at the doctor in shock. Dr. Jain: Mr. Sloane...Nadia didn't just...wake up. Someone did this to her, and I believe I know who it is. Off of Sloane's reaction, we, CUT TO BLACK Panning from a foreign skyline by day to an open courtyard, the words "Venice, Italy" are superimposed. Three men stand in wait in the courtyard. Cut to ground level as Sark and Anna pull up to the edge of the courtyard via gondola and disembark. The man who is obviously in charge, who we can assume is Michel Guinot asks in French, Guinot (in French): Is that you, Mr. Sark? Sark (in French): Oui. Guinot (in French): How long has it been since you've been out of prison? Sark (in English): About fourteen hours. Miss Espinosa was kind enough to set me free. Sark and Anna come to stand across the courtyard from Guinot, guarded by one of his guards. Guinot (in French): You vouch for this woman as a business partner? Sark (in English): She came here with me, didn't she? Guinot (to Anna): Madamoiselle Espinosa. (bows slightly in greeting) As the buyer, I dictate certain terms, starting with good faith on your part. Put your w*apon on the stone, please. Anna walks forward and places a briefcase on the edge of the step for the fountain and opens it to reveal a small b*mb about the size of an hourglass. Then she steps away to allow Guinot to inspect it. Guinot: It's very nice. Cut to Syd and Vaughn watching the exchange from a roof on the edge of the courtyard. Syd (quietly): Let's go. They move away from the edge of the roof. Cut to Guinot shutting the suitcase and stepping backward. Anna: Is the device acceptable to you, Monsieur Guinot? Guinot: It is. Sydney and Vaughn get into position at the edge of the courtyard. Anna: And the price...is that acceptable also? Guinot reaches into his coat pocket and extracts a cell phone and dials a number. Cut back to Syd and Vaughn, still jockeying for position. Guinot (in French): Guinot. Wire twenty million dollars to the account I gave you earlier today. Merci. Vaughn walks down another corridor to set up across the courtyard from Sydney. Vaughn (quietly in comms): Give me ten seconds. Cut to Sydney still watching. Vaughn stops and looks quickly around a corner, ready. Cut back to Guinot, Sark and Anna. Guinot: The transfer is almost complete. Guinot smiles at Anna and Anna turns to look triumphantly to Sark. Sydney (on comms): Go. Sydney sh**t one guard; Vaughn takes out the other. Guinot grabs the suitcase and runs one way, Anna and Sark run the other way. As they chase, Vaughn says, Vaughn: You get Sark. I'll go after the b*mb. Cut to Vaughn running down a hallway. Cut to Sydney running down a different hallway and looking down a hallway, not finding Anna or Sark. Cut back to Vaughn, who has almost caught up to Guinot. As they run down a set of stairs, Vaughn jumps Guinot and they tumble to the landing. A short fistfight ensues. Guinot drops the suitcase and the b*mb drops out, clattering down the next set of stairs one step at a time. Vaughn catches up to it just as it has rolled across another landing and is about to drop into the river. Cut to Sark, running down a hallway. Anna sees him and starts to follow. Sark rounds a corner, looks over his shoulder, almost as if to make sure that Anna is following, and then runs on. He gets to the end of the hallway, bursts through a wrought iron gate, then quickly turns and locks it behind him, just in time for Anna to be locked in. In horror, she asks, Anna: What are you doing!? Sark (calling out loudly): Sydney! Cut to Sydney as she stops walking and listens. Cut back to Sark, who stares at Anna through the gate as he speaks. Sark: I'm a man of my word! He stares at Anna for just a moment longer and then turns and starts to walk away. Anna (desperately): I will k*ll you! You bastard! She turns and looks back down the hallway. Cut to Sydney who rounds a corner with g*n drawn. Anna has taken down one of the heavy metal gilt light sconces and uses it as a battering ram, whacking Sydney in the stomach with it. Sydney's g*n goes skittering off. Anna drops the sconce as they begin to fight. They trade a couple of punches and kicks and then Anna sweeps Sydney's feet out from under her quickly, causing Sydney to flip over and land on her back hard. While Sydney is winded and struggling to get up, Anna crawls toward her like a cat nearing it's prey and punches her wickedly across the face and then stands to viciously kick her in the face. Sydney falls over backward and Anna grabs the sconce whacks it full force into Sydney's stomach. Standing over Sydney as she struggles to stand, Anna holds the sconce across Sydney's neck and pulls her up from behind and starts strangling her. It appears that Anna firmly has the upper hand, but then Sydney runs up the wall and flips over Anna's back, taking the sconce with her. She kicks Anna against the wall and then whacks her in the back kidney-punch style, and Anna crumples to the floor. Sydney drops the sconce and pulls out a ziptie and puts around Anna's hands and pulls it tight. Sydney (winded): The United States Government has some questions for you. Suddenly we see a hand shove Sydney's g*n across the floor to her. Sydney looks over to find Vaughn standing there. Sydney picks up the g*n and holds it for several seconds as if she is going to sh**t Anna in the face, and then instead uses her elbow to knock Anna out. Vaughn walks toward Sydney and then takes her in his arms. Sydney: We got her. Vaughn: Yes, we did. They hug for a moment and then Sydney says apologetically, Sydney: Sark... Vaughn: We'll get him back. They continue to hug. Cut to daytime establishing sh*t of LA via helicopter. Cut to Nadia's bedside where Weiss is entertaining her with magic tricks. Weiss (pulling a long line of colorful handkerchiefs from his hand): Now, most people attribute the words "Abra Cadabra" to Houdini. That's not actually the case. What it... (suddenly pulls a bouquet of magician's flowers from his sleeve, which startles Nadia, and then she laughs) Okay...okay...that was not supposed to happen... Weiss walks around to the other side of Nadia's bed as she looks on, beaming with amusement. Weiss: You know what? Keep 'em. There's a knock on the door behind them and Weiss turns around to see Sydney. Sydney: Can I come in? Weiss: Hey! Yeah, sure. I'll be out in the hallway entertaining sick people, if you need me... Weiss leaves. Sydney sits down next to Nadia's bed. Nadia: Como estas? Sydney: I'm good. You? Nadia: Better. (pause) So, you got her? Sydney(nodding): Mmmhmm. Nadia: And the b*mb? Sydney: Yeah, we got that, too. Nadia (teasing): And hey...we didn't k*ll each other... Sydney: Nope. They smile at each other. Cut to Jack signing paperwork in his office as Sloane enters. Jack finishes signing and caps his pen. Jack: My closing report as acting Director. The job's yours again. Sloane (tentatively, as if testing Jack's reaction): Nadia's out of her coma. Jack (standing): Thank God she pulled through. Sloane: God had nothing to do with it. Her medical chart indicates that someone injected her with a counteragent in order to wake her up. As a professional courtesy, I would like you to justify your decision. Jack rounds the desk to stand right in front of Sloane. Jack: Your words: Do whatever it takes to stop Anna. We stopped Anna. You also indicated this wasn't Nadia's time, that she would pull through. (Slightly snarky) Don't tell me you're losing your faith? Sloane (his voice quiet, but you can tell he's royally ticked off): When I stepped down as Director of this Task Force, you had full discretion. I'm not going to argue with your choice because the mission was a success..but I would appreciate it as a father to be apprised of your (through clenched teeth) decision to put my daughter's life...at risk. Jack (not backing down one inch): As you do mine every day. Sloane (speechless for a split second, then): When I accepted this position, I made two agreements: one with Langley...and one with you. A pact. Jack: That's still in effect. Sloane: But only because my daughter is unhurt. (sarcasm) I wonder, Jack...what assurance do I have that you will continue to honor it? Jack just stares at him, his jaw clenching, then turns abruptly and walks away. Cut to Sloane watching Jack's retreating back, a menacing look on his face. CUT TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x09 - A Man of His Word"}

foreverdreaming

P[A]RIS Sydney, in an alias of an (ugly) prosthetic nose and a curly red wig, enters a restaurant. Host: Bonsoir, Madame Syd: Marie Gerard Host: La table est prête Sydney follows the host, and walks pass Vaughn, sitting at the bar. Sydney is seated. Syd: Un martini. Sec. Quatre olives. Vaughn: She's in position. No sign of Connelly. Cut to Dixon in van. Dixon: He'll reveal himself. Host (placing Martini on table): Madame. Syd: Merci. Syd takes the four olives out of the glass and puts them on the table. Vaughn: She just made the announcement. A man walks up to the table Connelly: Il est trop tard pour une femme d’être ici toute seule. Syd: Moins dangereux qu’au Bangladesh. Connelly nods and sits down. Connelly: I thought you might not come. Syd: You underestimate me already. Connelly: Well, I almost didn't come Syd: Why is that? Crisis of conscience? Connelly: I thought I might find a buyer willing to pay more. Syd: I am not here for small talk, Monsieur Connelly. Are you selling, or no? Connelly: I presume. . . you brought the down payment. Sydney smiles slightly. A man enters the dining room. Vaughn notices him, watches him sit down. Vaughn: We may have a possible third party. Sending you a visual Outrigger. Vaughn snaps a pic of the man with a camera phone. Dixon: Got it, searching for a match. Dixon's computer runs a facial recognition scan. Cut back to Syd and Connelly Connelly: So, what are your plans for your...new purchase. Syd: Monsieur Connelly, where..is..the chip? Connelly pulls of the bottom of a wine bottle, revealing the chip. Connelly: This is my way out. Cut to Vaughn Vaughn: Anything, Outrigger? Dixon: Come on...No matchs g*n. Cut back to Syd and Connelly Connelly: With this sale, I can buy a new life. A House on the Mediterranean. Maybe, get a dog - sh*ts are fired, Connally is sh*t in the back of the head. Vaughn: We're under f*re! The man fires, Sydney and Vaughn jump to the ground. The man runs by the table and takes the chip. The man runs into the kitchen, but Vaughn sh**t him in the shoulder, making him fall down. Syd and Vaughn enter the kitchen, and the man grabs a Kn*fe. Vaughn: Laisse le couteau Syd (pulling g*n on him): Freeze! Dixon enters the kitchen, g*n on the man also. Man: He won't get me! My family! I'm not going to be made into (something). (sobbing) I won't have it! My wife! My kids! Now, he has the Kn*fe up against his neck. Syd: Put down the Kn*fe! The man slits his own throat, causing Syd to look away in disgust. APO Sloane and Jack are in Sloane's office. Sloane: Marshall ran an analysis on the chip recovered in PAris. The download confirms that a biometric targetting device is in fact being developed at a secure location in Austria. Jack: Attached to a w*apon system, this device would facilitate the targetting of an individual based only on a DNA sample or a biometric scan. Syd: A next-gen sn*per. Sloane: Precisely. That's why I want you a plane to Salsburg by nightfall. Standard retrieval operation. Syd: But...the man who k*lled himself? Sloane: He was sent there to intercept the sale. When the assassin realized that the mission was a failure, he k*lled himself to protect his family from his employer. (After a pause) Sasha Korchev (Sloane says this, looking at Jack) Jack looks flustered and disturbed by this. Syd: I don't know that name. Jack: Korchev is a monster. He's run arms to rebel forces in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Angola, and holds a very tight leash over his men. Amongst Korchev's tactics is leveraging the live's of their families. Syd: And it's Korchev's network that's developing the device. Sloane: Yes, that's correct. But now that we have confirmation that Korchev is alive, I'm tasking Dixon to locate his whereabouts and report to CIA Proper. They'll send a tactical team to secure his arrest. Jack: I have a liaison at the Angolan Chancory in D.C. . Put Dixon on something else. Sloane: You want to take this over? Jack: For the sake of expedience. Syd: What am I missing? Sloane: OK JAck, it's yours. (After a pause, to Sydney) Good luck in Salsburg. Cut to Briefing room, Weiss and Vaughn are talking Weiss: I'm telling you, this is a mistake. You gotta bring the team in on this one. Vaughn: No way, not until I find out more. Weiss: Alright, let's just ASSUME that your father did write those journals. Vaughn: I know my father's handwriting. Things were referenced, things he couldn't know about. I know it sounds crazy but - Weiss: The Soxs winning the Series is crazy. What you're talking about doing here is insane. Vaughn: The Nurse who led me to those journals, she disappeared. she was a plant. Weiss: So someone's trying to manipulate you. Vaughn: What if my father is still alive? What if it's his way of trying to contact me? Weiss: Ok. Ok, but why now? Why let you and your mother believe that he's been d*ad for 25 years? Vaughn: I don't know, that's what I'm gonna find out. Vaughn walks away. Weiss: Hey Weiss hands him a piece of paper. Vaughn opens it, and it has the address for a Paul Murdock in San Diego. Vaughn: What's this? Who's Frank Murdock? Weiss: The codename that you asked me to check in the journals. He's ex-Special Forces. Changed his name several times, finally settled on Frank Murdock. He runs a furniture repair shop outside San Diego. Vaughn: You didn't tell anyone else about this, did you? Weiss (Annoyed): Dude. Vaughn: Nadia? Weiss (Almost angered): Hey Vaughn: Thanks Cut to Sloane entering Jack's office. Sloane (amused): The Angolan Chancory in D.C...Hmm, don't you think that's a bit thin, JAck? Jack: You should've brought this to me first. Sloane: The details of Sasha Korchev's mission are classified. As far is anyone is concerned, the assigment is only to tag the location. Jack: The CIA wants him assassinated. Sloane: Which is why I felt it unfair to burden you with this. Dixon has the necessary experience. Jack: With Dixon, it would have to be a distance h*t. I'll be able to get close to Korchev. Sloane: Oh, I'm aware of that. And frankly, that concerns me. Jack: I'll be fine. (b*at) Korchev should've been eliminated years ago. When I had the chance. MADA[G]ASCAR Jack enters a little cottage on the beach. Man: Ah, look at you. Back from the d*ad. Jack: Hello, Jimmy. You look awful. Jimmy: I keep telling my self, green vegetables. Gotta eat more of them. He pours himself and Jack a drink Jimmy: BUt, you know how that is. (after they drink) So, um, Jack, do you come bearing gifts? Jack: Only the best. Jack pulls out a portable DVD player and a CD Case. Jack (tapping the CD Case): This. . . This was hard to find. Jimmy's rubbing his hands together in excitement. Jack puts the DVD in and plays it. Screams emit from the player, female screams, accompanied by a low, guttural one. Jimmy's hands are moving in a strange way. Jimmy: Is this...? I thought it was just a rumor! Jack closes the player. Jimmy has a weird, twitchy reaction. Jimmy: Jack! What do you want? Jack: Information. Jimmy: Anything! Jack: The protocol for contacting Sasha Korchev. Jimmy's smile disappears now. Jimmy: Um, come on JAck. You know I can't! Jack puts the DVD player back into his bag. Jack: I'm disappointed Jimmy. I thought you were a true conniesuer Jack begins to walk away. Jimmy: Seriously, man, that's just not right! Jack! If Korchev finds out it was me...my life might not be worth much! But whatever, still! Ok! Jack turns around. Jimmy: I'll, I'll lay it out for you. Cut to black. Opening Credits Syd and Marshall watching a video of Mashall’s son MARSHALL: One small step for Mitchell Flinkman, one giant leap for man kind SYD: Look at those legs, oh he’s incredible, he’s delicious MARSHALL: Hehe, I’ve taken many a chop with a little salt n pepper. He’s the best, makes it all worth it, oh Sorry, speaking of which Salisbury, now according to the memory chip Korcheff is storing the targeting system in a sub-basement of a disco tech that he ownes called The Club Felice, which officially begs the questions what is it with these guys and night clubs? SYD: cracks a smile Scene enters at night club shows Sydney in plain clothes then flash back to APO MARSHALL: Korcheffs regional security chief is a Jerimiah Goster, from Goster’s Insititute of security protocol of based on access cards you will need a level 3 clearance to enter the belly of the building since the access card hardware is annoyingly difficult to duplicate you will need to steal one from from one of the night club employees. Scene back to the night club eyeing all the employees with access cards and where they are on their persons View changes to a bar back as he’s addressing a customer in another language, Syd approaches bar back SYD: Con eak un stellin ona dia (Austrian words phonetically spelled) Syd sounding like an amatur at the language BAR BACK: Laughs - not bad, definitely in the ball park SYD: O my God, thank you for being an American. I don’t think I can bare mangling the language in front of one more local BAR BACK: Don’t feel bad, these people like to be offended, its their comfort zone SYD: Let me guess…Upstate New York… BAR BACK: Yeah, Yeah Rochester.. How did you know that? SYD: I went to Buffalo State, Undergrad BAR BACK: Come on, GO Bangles SYD: Don’t even say that it makes me wanna cry, my god, I miss it so much…I mean this time of year me and my girlfriends should be grabbin 2 beef on wrekin and a six pack you know. (drops something) ops look at at me… for the nosebleeds. There’s nothing like Roast Beef and psillner in 30 degree weather, you know what I mean BAR BACK: Yeah, yeah I do know… Voice from the bar yelling out Sam …..something in Austrian BAR BACK: Oh that’s me SYD: Sam BAR BACK :Yeah, sorry I cant offer you a drink…Bar back… SYD: waves at him going back to the bar smiling Back to APO … MARSHALL: The good thing, slash, bad thing about living in Austria, smoking is not prohibited. Er-go you have just developed a smoking habit (offers Syd a Cigarette) SYD: No Thanks MARSHALL: Good answer, just checking. It is actually a mag strip encoder. Just slide it through here like so and it will analyze the access control algorythems, extrapolate the clearances and then reprogram the card to give you full access. SAM: Hey SYD: Sam, hey SAM: Eh, Do you need a light? SYD: No, thank you, I was just looking SAM: Didn’t mean to scare you SYD: oh, stop, found it SAM: um, so listen, I never do this, really, but um I been here for six months and I don’t really know anybody, at least not anybody who knows anything about Beef on wrek. So, (laughs) that smile and those dimples are pretty much the greatest thing Ive ever seen, so, I think SYD: I have a boyfriend SAM: Right, no, right, of course SYD: Thank you SAM: Guess you gotta try huh SYD: Where’s the bathroom? SAM: Its just (pointing stumbling on his words) SYD: (Sneaks down to the basement of the club) Merlin, Merlin MARSHALL: (putting on ear piece) Ok, I got ya Phoniex SYD: Heading in Show the control room of the club Something said in Austrian about the door being opened. Security man responds in English CLUB SECURITY MAN: No one is supposed to be down there. Run a sweep on section Delta. Pull up all the employee access records. Let’s find out who is down there. SYD: (looking at papers and stuff on a computer desk in a dark lab looking room) MARSHALL: What do you see? SYD: The work station is cleared. Wait a minute (walks to another part of the room sees a bin on a desk) Status report, Operation Hawkeye, dated today, MARSHALL: Open it up SYD: (blank orange paper) nothing (puts the paper under a light and sees hidden writing) The reports embedded. ( goes to a copier machine and makes a copy) Transport protocol enacted, delivery on schedule, they moved the targeting device. Scheduled to leave the country at 0600 hours MARSHALL: OK, checking airfields and shipping yards. SYD: Installation complete, status field ready. My God, its already w*apon. (someone opens the door of the room) MARSHALL: Syd? Syd are you ok? SYD: (Grabs the man coming in) Operation Hawkeye, where is it being shipped out of? Tell me! CLUB GUARD: No! Back in the security control room of the Club on the computer screen a picture of the employee Sam CLUB SECURITY MAN: Sam Houser, breach initiated by Sam Houser. Club level employee, all units locate and detain him! SYD: (over hears order on the radio that the guard has on him) It was’nt a yes or no question. The name of the shipping yard. CLUB GUARD: The Delomper shipping. SYD: (elbows him in the face and walks out) MARSHALL: Syd are you okay? CLUB SECURITY MAN: Movin in, let’s get him.. The guards walk by Sydney hiding behind a door and then she makes her way back up to the club floor. SYD: Im ok MARSHALL: whoo, be careful ok SYD: What do you have? MARSHALL: Houser, Samual, David living for a ½ year in Austria on a student visa. Odd jobs, owes money on some over due movie rentals but other than that, he’s, he’s just a guy. On the club floor Syd looks for Sam and goes up to him SYD: Hey, let’s get out of here SAM: uhh but you said you had a boyfriend, I thought SYD: A girl can change her mind right? SAM: Um I don’t get off for like another hour but you can wait for me at the bar or SYD: (plants a kiss on him) If you don’t leave with me right now you will regret it SAM: right, well uh we can slip right out the back door SYD: you took the words right outta my mouth They both go out the back of the club CLUB SECURITY MAN: Go check over there BACK TO APO NADIA: Delomper shipping is 30 miles outside of Salisburg SYD: Have an in country contact. SLOANE: Use him have him supply you for the mission. We need to secure the w*apon before it leaves port. SAM: Hey, if we cross over to Philton I know a great wine bar SYD: Im sorry Im on the phone with my sister SAM: Where’s the phone? SYD: We have another situation, a civilian, Korcheff’s team tagged him as my accomplice, I can’t leave him SLOANE: Pass him off to your contact, We’ll have him reestablished stateside by the weekend SAM: That cell is insane, the guy at the store told me mine was the smallest I knew he was jobbin me. SYD: Sam SAM: Yeah SYD: There’s something I have to tell you SAM: Your having second thoughts SYD: Its not about that SAM: If this is about your boyfriend, let me just say SYD: Forget about the boyfriend SAM:Well then maybe we can just go back to my place and talk it nice to have a normal conversation, if you don’t mind a mess SYD: Sam…. you can never go back to your place. SAM: What? SYD: Listen to me. Your bosses at the club are bad men. I was there tonight to stop them from doing a bad thing SAM: Wait a minute SYD: I needed your access card and I took it and now they think we work together. SAM: Work together? What about Beef on … Who the hell are you? SYD: I need you to trust me right now SAM: Oh is that what you need? Ok that’s good cuz I gotta get back to work so I can get away from SYD: WAIT…if you go back there, they will k*ll you SAM: Your serious SYD: But if you stick with me I promise I will protect you. We have ways of handling situations SAM: Whose we? SYD: I can’t tell you that SAM: You already lied to me once so how do I know your not one of the bad guys? SYD: If I was was one of the bad guys you’d already be d*ad. SAN DIEGO Scene goes off to a carpenter shop where a guys hands a man in a wheelchair a piece of woodwork MAN IN WHEELCHAIR: Thanks Joe Vaughn walks in to the shop and approaches the man in the wheelchair VAUGHN: Hi uh I’m looking for someone Frank Murdock have you heard of him? MURDOCK: Nope never heard of him VAUGHN: Well the shop is registered to his name. MURDOCK: (Snickers) What are you a cop? VAUGHN: No it’s a personal matter regarding my father. Tell you what; whenever you get your memory back tell him Michael Vaughn is looking for him. (Hands Murdock a piece of paper) Here’s my number, thanks for your help. MURDOCK: You really Bill Vaughn’s kid? VAUGHN: Yeah. MURDOCK: (Shows Vaughn a picture) There’s your dad. In the middle. That’s me on the right. Everyone else is d*ad. VAUGHN: What do you think he’s still alive? MURDOCK: Well I hope not. VAUGHN: When was the last time you saw him? MURDOCK: The Falkland Conflict. We were supposed to lead a team of locals to secure a British position. Our men were ambushed, and Bill didn’t even flinch. While I broke command and charged in to defend our men, next thing I know my legs went numb. He sh*t me in the back. I don’t remember hitting the ground but I remember lying there looking up at him completely paralyzed and he just stared down at me and lit a cigarette, ha and walked away. That’s the last I ever saw of him. VAUGHN: I can’t believe that’s true. MURDOCK: Yeah, well if he’s still alive, I’ll give you one piece of advice; don’t turn your back on him. END OF SCENE SYDNEY: (In a phone booth looking at an ad then picking up the phone while Sam is in the background.) SAM: Who you calling? SYD: (Turns and smiles at him coyly) SAM: Oh yeah, that’s right, my bad CONTACT ON THE PHONE: Good Evening SYD: Phoenix inquiring about a midnight snack. CONTACT ON THE PHONE: And how many will we be serving? SYD: Two, One will have the special, One will be ordering off the menu CONTACT ON THE PHONE: When will you be joining us? SYD: As soon as possible CONTACT ON THE PHONE: I’ll make sure the table is ready. SYD: Thank you. (Hangs up and turns to Sam) SAM: Let me guess…that wasn’t a real restaurant. (Flash to CONTACT PERSON ON THE PHONE on the phone calling the CLUB SECURITY MAN CONTACT PERSON ON THE PHONE: I’ll have them delivered to you shortly CLUB SECURITY MAN: I assure you Mr. Tuabber; Sasha Korcheff will be made aware of your allegiance MR TAUBBER: That’s all I ask. ANGOLA JACK: (Approaches a group of armed Mercenaries at a picnic table) In Angolan sub titled in English I’m looking for the Rug Merchant (The Mercenaries get up and start to pat and search Jack, take money from his wallet) His shop is sixty kilometers up the Bantu River. MERSONARY MEN: (h*t Jack in the back of the knees and bag his head with a sack, speaking in Angolan, throw Jack in the back of a pick up truck) Switch back to SYD and SAM SAM: When are they coming? SYD: They should be here soon, Sam SAM: I’m not stupid. Ok, I understand what happens in the witness protection program. I get shipped off to some boring suburb; they pick a name right out of the Episcopalian registry. I don’t get to see my family anymore. You think my mother is gonna be able to handle that? SYD: When I know everything is safe I’ll let her know you’re okay. SAM: You know what the real pisser about this whole thing is? Is that I came here to pump some thunder into my veins, try to find some inspiration, take a sh*t at writing something. Didn’t happen. Just drink a lot of beer. SYD: Here we go. (A man gets out of a jeep and approaches them) MR TAUBER: Agent Bristow, so good to see you again. (Kisses her on both cheeks) Is this the cargo? SYD: This is Sam, yep MR TAUBER: We’ll have him whitewashed in an hour. Come, please. No worries, the supplies are in the vehicle. SYD: You have a w*apon for me? MR TAUBER: Of course my dear, let’s get out of the cold first hum (They walk over to the Jeep and SYD notices someone trying to hide in the back seat. SYD grabs MR TAUBER and sh**t the man in the back seat. Then she fights with MR TAUBER and smashes him using the door of the jeep. SAM watches in amazement) SYD: We need to get out of here. We’re not safe. SAM: I’m not going anywhere with you. SYD: Sam! Take my hand we have to go. SAM: Look at what you did to him. SYD: We just got blindsided and we dealt with it. But that doesn’t mean we give up. It doesn’t change who we are. I’m on your side. I’m not gonna lie to you Sam, I’m not gonna have the supplies I was counting on, I can’t promise you how this thing is gonna turn out. SAM: What you mean you don’t have back up SYD: I’m it. I need you to think. Do you know any back ways to the Delong Precia Shipyards? SAM: Yeah, I mean you can take the Metro, why? SYD: The people who are after us have a w*apon they shouldn’t have and I want to take it from them. SAM: Let’s go to the Metro. Hey hold on, you do understand that I don’t have any skills. Not in a physical sense. SYD: It’s okay. I got you. Come on Come on (they run towards the Jeep) Scene change to Sasha walking down stairs with guards. Jeep pulls up with Jack hooded in the back. MERCENARY MAN: This is your stop. SASHA: Remove his hood. Untie his hands. Did this man carry identification? MERCENARY MAN: Yes he did. SASHA: And do you know who he is? (Says something in Angolan) MERCENARY MAN: Sir, I…I didn’t Sasha pulls a g*n out and sh**t the man in the knee. SASHA: You strike this man and you strike me in the heart, understand? Jack, my dear friend. JACK: Hello Sasha SASHA: I apologize for that scene outside; I’ve always remembered what you taught me. Treat your men like children. Give them rope to become their own men, if they make mistakes, hang them with it. JACK: I’d say my lessons have served you well. SASHA: I’d ask how you managed to find me but I know you too well. JACK: You can rest assured you’re well insulated. SASHA: I do what is necessary to stay alive. After all I don’t have you or the CIA to watch my back anymore. I must say I was shocked at how abruptly our association ended. One day we are working together, arming a rebellion, the next you’re gone. JACK: My mandate changed. SASHA: Yet here you are. Why are you here Jack? JACK: I’m entering the private sector. Now that I’m out from under their watchful eye I was hoping we could talk business? SASHA: It would be my honor to work with you. (His cell phone rings) Excuse me. (Answers phone) Yes. CLUB SECURITY MAN: The delivery of the package is proceeding on schedule SASHA: Keep me posted. (Hangs up and turns back to Jack) SASHA: Jack, I want to show you my Zoo JACK: (laughs) It was a dusty ride SASHA: Of course, forgive me. I have an 18 year old single malt to remedy that. Heh JACK: Excellent (both walk into Sasha’s home) SASHA: Jack, I’d like to you to meet my wife, Lamni. LAMNI: The Jack? SASHA: The One. LAMNI: Well then, the pleasure is all mine. I hope you will be staying awhile; I’d like to get to know the man my husband talks about. JACK: That’s very kind but I'm not sure how long I can stay. LAMNI: Well, dinner at least? I’ll see that the staff prepares something wonderful. Truly it’s so good to finally meet you. JACK: You too. SASHA: I need to steal Sasha from you for just a moment. JACK: Certainly SASHA: Make yourself comfortable in my office. First door on your left. SASHA and LAMNI walk away and JACK enters SASHA’s office JACK: Looks around the office and picks up a photo on the desk of 2 military men (maybe Bill Vaughn?) He puts the photo down and pulls out a retractable wire which he then starts wrapping around his fingers while looking at himself in a wall mirror. Scene changes to the CLUB SECURITY MAN and an associate walking on a dock or pier pushing a utility cart into a building. View changes to SYD and SAM creeping by a white van outside the building. SAM: Can you tell what it is? SYD: UAV as*ault Chopper SAM: It’s kinda small. SYD: They customized it SAM: What? SYD: It’s a biometric targeting system. It’s in the chopper. Once that thing locks on to its target there’s no hiding SAM: So that thing kills people? SYD: Can you drive this thing? (Nodding towards the white van) SAM: Yeah SYD: Remember when you said you wanted to pump some thunder into your veins, well your about to get your chance. Ill get the w*apon. You drive the Van into the warehouse. Pick me up in 3 minutes. SAM get into the van SYD goes into the warehouse and hits the guy over the head with a crow bar. SAM puts key into the ignition. SAM: You can do this. Stay cool. SYD is in front of the w*apon and it targets her as the enemy. The van comes screeching into the warehouse and the CLUB SECURITY GUY tried to get out of an office but it’s locked. SAM: (to SYD) Get In! SYD: Here take this. CLUB SECURITY GUY has a laptop that states the helicopter is SYSTEM ACTIVE att*ck. The mini helicopter starts up in front of SYD and she begins to run while the mini helicopter sh**t at her. SYD: Get down, stay in there. (Syd takes off running for her life from the mini helicopter throughout the warehouse.) SAM is in the van and the CLUB SECURITY MAN comes to the van with his g*n pointed. SAM slips out before the man gets there. The CLUB SECURITY MAN stops searching the inside of the van and walks around it. SAM comes around from the back of the van g*n in hand. He comes from behind the CLUB SECURITY MAN and starts sh**ting, missing the man entirely, the CLUB SECURITY MAN sh**t back and hits SAM in the upper arm. SYD jumps out from behind some boxes and starts to fight. The Mini helicopter comes around the corner and SYD takes CLUB SECURITY MAN and blocks herself with him and the mini helicopter sh**t the CLUB SECURITY MAN and SYD tricks the mini helicopter into thinking she was eliminated. SYD pushes the CLUB SECURITY MAN off of her and goes over to SAM who is lying on the floor. SAM: I missed. SYD: I noticed. SAM: That guy was my boss. He sh*t me. (Laughs nervously) It doesn’t hurt. SYD: It will soon. SAM: Oh oh (in pain) we did it huh? We saved the world. SYD: Something like that (Syd pulling him up off the floor) Scene changes back to SASHA’s house. SASHA walks into his office JACK: She’s lovely, your wife. SASHA: Indeed, we just found out, she’s pregnant. JACK: Congratulations SASHA: I’ll be honest with you. When I first saw the heartbeat, I was scared. I thought what kind of father will I be? Seeing you here, I’m reminded of the tools you’ve given me, the tools for being a man. (holds up glass to JACK to salute, they drink) JACK: I gave you the tools; you chose how to use them. SASHA: There was a time Jack when we were both working for a higher purpose but our goals were not the same, that became clear when you and your agency abandoned me. I realized on that day how naive I‘d been. I had no option but to pick myself up, stay on course. Because that is the man you taught me to be. I know that there are some in your government that see my business as a form of betrayal. JACK: (While strangling SASHA with the wire) You betrayed me. JACK leaves SASHA d*ad in the office and exits the office. JACK: Mr. Korcheff asks not to be disturbed. He will be out shortly. I need a car; I need to go to town. Back to LA WEISS: Hey VAUGHN: Hey WEISS: When did you get back? VAUGHN: About an hour ago. WEISS: Did you find Murdock? VAUGHN: Na, I couldn’t track him down. NADIA: Ready? We should go. We’re going to the movies do you wanna come? VAUGHN: Oh, no thanks, not tonight. NADIA: Is it important, we don’t have to go. VAUGHN: You guys go. I’ll see you tomorrow. WEISS: Alright NADIA: Good night VAUGHN: Goodnight (sighs after they leave) Scene changes to bleachers with SAM and SYD: SYD: I spoke to my people, they spoke to people. It’s safe for you to go back home. SAM: Think I’m done here. (Laughs) I think its time for me to move on. It must k*ll ya. You get to do all these crazy things, see these amazing places, gotta keep it to yourself SYD: You know what it’s not so bad. It gives people like us something in common. SAM: People like us huh (cheesy smiling) (SYD gets up to walk away) SAM: Hey, Ill see you around the globe SYD: Goodbye, SAM BACK TO APO SYD: Hey Dad. I heard you located Korcheff. JACK: Yes, I did. SYD: Sloane said he was taken in a standoff. Were you there? JACK: I saw it play out. SYD: Heading home? JACK: Yeah, I’m gonna grab some dinner first. SYD: okay, night. JACK: Good night. SYD: Dad, I’m kinda hungry myself, If you wouldn’t mind the company JACK: What about your report? SYD: It’ll keep They smile and walk out of APO.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x11 - The Road Home"}

foreverdreaming

SAN MARCOS ORPHANAGE Scene begins with a flashback of the orphanage San Marcos (Buenos Aires, 1992). It is the middle of the night and a man is creeping thru the dark room. He approaches a young girl, clasps his hand over the mouth of the girl and shushes her. All of a sudden a flashlight shines and a little girl yells: YOUNG GIRL: (Most dialogs in this episode are in Spanish) Let her go! MAN: Get back in your bed! YOUNG GIRL: Let her go! The young girl with the flashlight runs to h*t the man, he grabs her. Throws her onto her bed and slaps her around, she runs out of the room. He yells at the girl: MAN: You ever come back, I’ll k*ll you. A woman enters the room. Sonya Braga as Head of the Orphanage. WOMAN: What’s going on? She turns on the lights to see a man holding his eye. WOMAN: To my office now! NOW! Where is Nadia? What happened to Nadia? The girls all look at each other and then one walks up and says: CHILD: She left. Nadia saved me and she left. LOS ANGELES Scene starts with Nadia running down a road with a white fence. She brings in the mail to her and Syd’s apartment NADIA: Hi SYD: Hey, (pause for a few seconds approaches her opening her mail) what’s going on? NADIA: Nothing. SYD: When something is bothering me I go running. You’ve gone twice in less than 12 hours. NADIA: (phone rings) Hello, Hey Vaughn, yeah sure, she’s right here. (Hands the phone to Syd.) SYD: Thanks (takes the phone, Nadia walks away) Hey, sure when do you wanna meet? VAUGHN: (flipping thru a notebook) it’s definitely my father’s handwriting. SYD: But these entries VAUGHN: I know SYD: I don’t understand? VAUGHN: They’re dated after his death. Now you know about as much as I do. You know, either he didn’t die when the CIA says he did, which they may or may not know the truth about; or someone wants me to think he is still alive. SYD: You have nothing else but this? VAUGHN: I tracked down a guy Murdock, he’s mentioned in there, he claims that he went on a mission with my father in 1982. He says my dad sh*t him in the back and left him for d*ad. He called my father a traitor. I don’t know what to believe. SYD: (Putting her hand on his shoulder) What do we do? VAUGHN: Well there are names of classified missions in there. Now to get the details, I need access to all operational achieves. Now, I could put a request into Langley SYD: But if someone is orchestrating this from the inside, you don’t want your name on an official request. I can do that. VAUGHN: Sure you don’t mind? SYD: Vaughn. If your fathers alive we’ll find him. And if he’s not we will find the person who is doing this. Scene back to APO SLOANE: The Bella Russian Institute of Science has developed an ex-Geon optical component it’s called Amplifying Glass. MARSHALL: Now what is amazing about this is, well if my math is correct, and it is. What they developed could boost a laser pulse by a factor of 10,000 maybe even higher. Meaning you could take a simple aluminum galler arsenide laser and…eh let me... oh, you know how a cd player has a laser that will allow you to…well you take that laser, you amplify it by this lense, you can sh**t down a plane from the sky. Or you can take a t*nk and slice it in half or you can even have an SUV... WEISS: Right, we got it JACK: We’ve been tracking Intel which indicates that the Jakarta Faction wants the lense and they’ve employed this man to acquire it for them. SLOANE: His name is Cesar Martinez, he’s an Argentine resident. Nadia looks visibly disturbed by seeing this picture and info. Scene changes to a flashback of Nadia as a teenager walking into a store with a bag. The flashback in all in Spanish. YOUNG NADIA: Hello, Coffee with milk, please OWNER OF STORE: Five pesos Young Nadia looks into her bag and Young Cesar Martinez walks into the store, opens a bag of chips in front of the store owner. OWNER OF STORE: You’re gonna pay for those, no? YOUNG CESAR: (Throwing the bag of chips at the man) You wanna bet. (He runs out of the store with the owner chasing him) Young Nadia jumps the counter, opens the register and takes the money, puts it in her bag and hops back over the counter. The man comes back in and sees her trying to gather her bag. OWNER OF STORE: What are you doing? YOUNG NADIA: (pulling out a g*n) Get back. Down. Now. On the floor. (Then she sprays him with the water g*n laughing, turns and runs out of the store) Flashes back to APO meeting to Nadia looking uncomfortable SLOANE: A few days ago I tasked Nadia with working up a profile of him NADIA: Martinez is freelance, no loyalties. Excessive force, that’s his M.O. He willed his reputation with the execution of a former Argentine Intelligence Officer, Roberto Fox. DIXON: Any idea when Martinez is planning to make his move? SLOANE: Signal intercepts indicate that he is developing a team. It should be three days a week at the most. JACK: The Institute of Science is dedicating a new Wing to its research facility tomorrow night. SLOANE: So our mission is to obtain the amplifying glass before Martinez does. Sydney your on point, Agents Vaughn, Weiss, and Santos will be there for support. This is a snatch and grab situation. Are there any questions? Everyone stays quiet. Flashback to Young Nadia running down the street around a corner starts to yell. YOUNG NADIA: Cesar, Cesar Cesar jumps out and grabs Yong Nadia and playfully backs her up against a wall and kisses her cheek. CESAR: Worried about me? YOUNG NADIA: Look. Look (while rustling thru her bag.) POLICE OFFICER: Garbage! Young Nadia takes her bag and starts to swing it at the officer, the officer backslaps Cesar to the ground then starts to b*at Young Nadia up with his club – she’s yelling Flashes back to APO where Nadia looks disturbed and gets up from the table. SYD: Hey (Looks at her like she’s hiding something) NADIA: I knew him, Roberto, the man who had Martinez k*lled. SYD: If this mission is too difficult and too personal for you. Talk to your father and ask him to task someone else. NADIA: It’s my job I can make it work. OPENING CREDITS Scene is in APO showing Vaughn looking thru his father’s notebook highlighting information. MARSHALL: Hey, Mitchell learned a new word. VAUGHN: What was the word? MARSHALL: Oosh not, its Mitchell’s baby speak for beta particle. Anyway, here Sydney wanted me to give you these. Access code for the operational achieves. She wanted me to give them to you to give to her. VAUGHN: Thanks. MARSHALL: Ok (just stands there with a smile on his face) VAUGHN: Anything else? MARSHALL: What's a, what’s going on (pointing at the paper he just gave to Vaughn) VAUGHN: Nothing MARSHALL: (nods his head in disbelief) you’re lying to me right? Come on Come on, I’m smarter than you think. VAUGHN: Ill tell you later. MARSHALL: You don’t trust me do you? VAUGHN: Marshall, MARSHALL: No my fault, eh, probably get that just like high school, jr high, elementary VAUGHN: Marshall, We should have lunch sometime. MARSHALL: Really? Yeah, aw man, anytime, absolutely. I’m there. Did, today? VAUGHN: No. MARSHALL: No. that’s cool. I got a lot of stuff to do in the a … Thanks. VAUGHN: You got it. MARSHALL: Ya Ill see ya, Lunch (Walks out raising his arm) Saying what’s up buddy to someone walking in the office) MINSK Scene shows a crowded party. SYD: Outrigger, How are we doing? DIXON: (Takes a picture of a couple) 10 seconds Phoenix. The architect just arrived. (Uses a thermal camera and looks in the architects jacket) He has PDA is in his jacket. MARSHALL: Ok great, Phoenix, you’ll have to get right up next to him, cozy like. SYD: (Grabs champagne off a tray) MARSHALL: The architect is a security freak, always carries copies of his project files on him. Blueprints, schedules even sketches, so it should show us which lab the glass is in. JACK: What is she using to clone his PDA? MARSHALL: It’s in her purse. It’s a low frequency wi-fi scans and clones. The thing is its working radius is only a couple of feet. She needs to get right up…oh, here it comes. Great. Syd, oh I’m sorry, Phoenix, it's what I was afraid of, it’s encrypted. The PDA is protected with handwriting recognition software, so time to turn on the charm. SYD: (walks over to the architect) This building is even more elegant that the library you designed in Amsterdam. ARCHETECT: Thank you SYD: This is embarrassing… but if you don’t mind, may I have your autograph? ARCHETECT: How can I resist? MARSHALL: It’s the look, the feel, the bend of paper but actually it’s a microscopic layer of non conductive polymer, and it’s sandwiched... JACK: Marshall, not the time. MARSHALL: Vaughn asked me to lunch. (Tilts his head at Jack like “how about that”)(Continues to work on the signature encryption) Ok, signature, plus a password, plus a little Finkman secret sauce. And, Nice. Bow before me and weep encryption gods. ARCHETECT: Perhaps you’d like a private tour. SYD: That’ll be fun. Just you, me and your wife. MARSHALL: ok blueprints and security protocols for the research facility. Got the location of the glass. JACK: Evergreen, we are going to need that access key. You’re a go. NADIA: Anyone have visual on the scientist. WEISS: He’s holding fort due east. Nadia walks up to the scientist and spills champagne all over him. NADIA: What did I do? Please let me… (Puts the card in her purse walking away from the man) That was easy. Scene flashes back to a jail cell and Young Nadia is in the corner crying. Roberto comes to her aid in the cell yelling out to the guards. ROBERTO: Call a doctor. Now. (Nadia tries to gather herself from crying) ROBERTO: What is your name? (Young Nadia refuses to speak) ROBERTO: May name is Roberto Fox. Ever heard of me? (Young Nadia shakes her head no) No? Of course not. You are famous. Did you know that? We don’t have your name. Just your resume. Shoplifting, burglary, breaking and entering, as*ault….. –there are over 130 crimes here. And the only thing that links them all together is this. (points to fingerprints in her file) (Nadia looks over and stays quite) 130. What an incredible amount. And your what? Seventeen? Eighteen? You left fingerprints at all those places, but you weren’t in the system. You didn’t exist. Until now. Some people think your luck finally ran out. But I don’t believe anyone could succeed that long on just luck. No, No, No, It takes talent. I don’t know if anyone’s ever said this to you but… you’re special. Yes. That’s why I’m here. I believe we can take that talent and use it to help you. To help your country. I work for the government. I’m here to offer you a life you could never imagine. (She looks at him in curiosity) Flash back to the party Weiss walking. SYD: Ok Merlin, Showtime. MARSHALL: The lab it’s on the fifteenth floor, east corridor. NADIA: (Sees Martinez and goes into a flashback of her as Yong Nadia) I thought I’d never see you again. CARETAKER Sonja Braga) Nadia, why didn’t you call me sooner? YOUNG NADIA: After what happened. I’d thought you’d be furious. CARETAKER: Furious? I looked for you everywhere. YOUNG NADIA: I’m so sorry I ran away. CARETAKER: I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have protected you. It was my duty to protect you. YOUNG NADIA: A man came to see me. From the government. He offered me a job. A way out of here. CARETAKER: That’s wonderful… this isn’t where you’re meant to be. I believe people come into our lives for a reason. If this man’s offering you a chance for a fresh start… good. (They smile at each other and it flashes back to the party... Nadia looking in shock) NADIA: Martinez is here. Cesar Martinez is in the building. Anyone see his backup? DIXON: Sit tight Evergreen, this may be recon on his part. NADIA: If this was recon we wouldn’t know he was here. He’s making his play. SYD: How do you know? NADIA: Trust me. We need to grab him. WEISS: Phoenix is almost inside. NADIA: You don’t understand. (Syd gets into the lab at the same time at the party machine g*n f*re in the air.) DIXON: Phoenix abort six hustlers on the loose with force SYD: I can make it. (Scene shows militant men screaming at people to get down get on the ground and not move. Martinez walks out of the crowd with g*n in hand and proceeds to the lab. Syd is in the lab trying to break into the safe with the crystal. g*n fires at the lab door from the outside and Martinez with two men barge into the lab and Syd is standing there with the crystal in her hand. He walks towards her and she walks toward him. He pulls his w*apon and points it to her face and sticks his hand out. She drops the crystal into his hand.) MARTINEZ: Who do you work for? SYD: You forgot to say the magic word. MARTINEZ: (nods his head and then p*stol whips Syd in the head) SYD: Now your gonna have to say pretty please. MARTINEZ: Last chance. Who do you work for? NADIA: (comes from behind Martinez) She works with me. MARTINEZ: (Looks at Syd and Nadia several times) Nadia? NADIA: Put the g*n down, Cesar. So we can talk. MARTINEZ: (Walks over to Nadia and whispers something in her ear) Tie them up. (While Nadia is getting her hands tied behind her back Syd is looking at her wicked with betrayal in her eyes) BACK TO APO SYD: He had his men secure us in the lab. By the time we escaped – he was gone. SLOANE: When I asked you to do research on Cesar Martinez, why didn’t you inform me the two of you knew each other. NADIA: He was not supposed to be there. I didn’t know we’d make contact. SLAONE: You knowingly withheld Intel that would have altered options during the operation. I’ve suspended agents from field duty for less than that, Nadia. SYD: Her knowing Martinez was the only thing that saved my life. MARTINEZ: This story Nadia, what is it? NADIA: We met when I was young. After the orphanage, I was on my own and Cesar was one of the boys I ran around with. We got in trouble with the police. We went our separate ways. SLOANE: Why do I feel there’s more? NADIA: If you want me to sit at a desk after this, fine. But it is personal now. Please let me get the glass back from Cesar. I know how to contact him, I can do it. SYD: She had a relationship with him, she can use him. You of all people should appreciate that. SLOANE: Reach out to Martinez; he’s acquiring this for someone else. Find out if we can buy it for ourselves. Sydney, you and Weiss will be back up on this. Let me be clear Nadia. I expect full disclosure from you. Nadia nods and the scene flashes back to a training room in Argentina. Roberto teaching a class. ROBERTO: From hydrogen to electric to the simple devices you’re constructing, the principles of b*mb making are the same. In the words of Albert Einstein – MALE STUDENT – Don’t blow yourself up. ROBERTO: (Laughs) “Everything should be made as simple as possible …but not one bit simpler.” (A beep goes off at the Male Students work station) Sorry, Diego. You’re d*ad. (Walks over to Nadia’s works station) The lead should’ve been coupled with the auxiliary. YOUNG NADIA: That’s the most obvious choice. ROBERTO: You’ve cut yourself off from the power source. YOUNG NADIA: If I connect the two. I’d trigger the ignition. Had I done what you are suggesting … I’d be in heaven playing a harp with Diego. (Smiles at Diego. Suddenly Cesar Martinez walks thru the door. Young Nadia smiles and he smiles back when they see each other) ROBERTO: Mr. Martinez, please take a seat so I can bring you up to date. Back in APO Nadia opens her lap top. Syd approaches her. SYD: Withholding information from Sloane I can accept, I don’t care much really, but from me. You and I are in the field together. I need to know there is a level of trust. NADIA: What do you want to know? SYD: What did Martinez whisper to you? NADIA: I told you. He said call me. Sydney that’s it. SYD: You’re telling me there’s nothing else? NADIA: For the last time, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Cesar. But there’s nothing else you need to know. (Sydney looks at Nadia hard, they look at each other then Syd walks away.) Flashback to training martial arts with long sticks in pairs in a large lot. Cesar and Young Nadia are sparring. MARTINEZ: I’m stronger than you. YOUNG NADIA: I’m faster. MARTINEZ: I’m bigger YOUNG NADIA: I’m smarter. MARTINEZ: I’m prettier. ( he knocks her down on the ground) Give me a kiss … and I’ll let you go. ROBERTO: What the hell are you doing? Huh? What was that? (Grabbing Martinez by the top with force.) MARTINEZ: Doing what you said. Beating my opponent. ROBERTO: In this line of work, you can’t afford to split your focus. You have to be professional. It will save your life. Understand? MARTINEZ: Yes. (Roberto lets go of his shirt and backs off) Flashes back to APO. Vaughn and Sydney are at his laptop SYD: How’s it going? VAUGHN: Well, I cross-checked my fathers list against the CIA Achieves and there are still missions that I can’t verify even existed. Am I insane to think that this old journal is gonna help me find my father? (Syd grabs a small notebook from Vaughn’s desk) SYD: These the ones you cant find? VAUGHN: Yeah SYD: Hand me the pen. What if these aren’t operation names? VAUGHN: What are you doing? SYD: Substitution psypher VAUGHN: Ok, how’d you see that? SYD: My father used to encrypt my crossword puzzles when I was a kid. The least of my childhood dysfunctions. (Vaughn smiles at her talent) Try that. VAUGHN: When’s your plane leave? SYD: Half an hour, I wish I could stay. VAUGHN: Well, I’ll take it from here. (Syd gets up and kisses Vaughn, pats him on the shoulder and leaves) BUENOS AIRES Nadia is in an open seating area reading a magazine. Weiss and Sydney are hiding out watching her back as she sits in an open market type area. MARTINEZ: Nadia? (Nadia turns around to see Martinez behind her)Hola. NADIA: Hola, I wasn’t sure you still read El Diario MARTINEZ: I check all of our old protocols. NADIA: Really? MARTINEZ: I do? Everyday. Just in case. NADIA: In case of what? MARTINEZ: in case your ever in trouble. And you are in trouble, aren’t you? NADIA: Because of you. MARTINEZ: Ah, you can’t blame me … for Belarus. NADIA: My team had the glass. You stole it from me, Cesar. MARTINEZ: You did your job, I did mine. Maybe next time it will go your way. NADIA: there’s not going to be a next time. Not with these people. Do you understand? MARTINEZ: Nadia, no one knows you as well as I do. What we’ve been through. You’re afraid. You need help. Let me help you. NADIA: You really want to help? MARTINEZ: Of course. NADIA: I have to deliver the amplifying glass to my employers before tomorrow night. If not … I have to do it. MARTINEZ: Then the amplifying glass is yours. NADIA: Just like that? MARTINEZ: Just like that. I’m sure I can make my buyer understand. You’ll have to pay for it of course. NADIA: Of course. Sure. MARTINEZ: I’ll take you where it is. Once I know we’re alone. NADIA: I don’t understand. MARTINEZ: Let me guess. You have a tracking device in your purse? We learned the same tricks. You didn’t come here without backup. SYD: Evergreen, you can not proceed without coms... NADIA: But the purse, Cesar? Please. That’s for beginners. (She takes the hair clip out of her hair and gives it to Martinez) SYD: Evergreen abort this mission now! MARTINEZ: (Laughs) Nadia. The amplifying glass is locked up in my office. It’s this way. (He stands up and smashes the barrette under his boot. Nadia gets up and follows him) SYD: What the hell is she doing? (Syd and Weiss get out of a van. Nadia looks back to see if they see her) TO BLACK Vaughn is sitting at his desk. He figures types in a password and checks his list and says out loud. VAUGHN: Portugal CUT SCENE BACK TO BUENOS AIRES WITH NADIA AND MARTINEZ MARTINEZ: Do you ever wonder what it would have been like? If things had been … different. (They continue walking thru the plaza and Weiss and Syd following behind.) NADIA: What? MARTINEZ: It’s funny. All those years that we stole things together, drove us apart. Now – WEISS: Alright I’ll go this way (splits off from Syd) SYD: ok NADIA: I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you are doing. But I can’t stay here. I can’t. MARTINEZ: Look at you, still minding Roberto’s rules. NADIA: It’s always served me well, not mixing business with pleasure. (They get to an area where a lot of worker are moving stuff around and slip thru to another area and the gate closes behind them.) MARTINEZ: This way. (They get into a van that is parked outside) Syd is looking all around and get to the area where the door closed behind them. It looks like it has been that way all day because there are pallets full of stuff in front of the door. She turns back sees Weiss. WEISS: Syd, Anything? (Syd shakes her head no) Ah come on. Scene shows the van Nadia and Martinez got in speeding down a main road. MARTINEZ: Almost there. You ever think about him? About Roberto? NADIA: Everyday. If it weren’t for him. I don’t know who I’d be. Scene changes to a flashback of Nadia entering a room in a black dress about to go on a mission. Approaches Roberto in his office. She is smiling at Roberto and he smiles back adoringly and walks up to her. ROBERTO: Diego’s expecting you in three hours. YOUNG NADIA: (nods her head) First floor. Service corridor. If Diego has the disk, the lamp will have a knot in it. ROBERTO: You’ll have at most a thirty second window to make the delivery. It’s imperative you’re not spotted together. YOUNG NADIA: We won’t take any risks, I promise. Anything else? ROBERTO: (motions to Young Nadia to wait and goes over to his desk and grabs a necklace.) A graduation present. (Nadia turns so he will put it on.) YOUNG NADIA: How does it look? ROBERTO: Beautiful. (He leans forward and kisses her, and then they embrace. Scene changes to the mission she was scheduled to go to) NADIA: (Walking into a lounge and checks to see if the lamp has a knot in it and it does. She continues to walk passes two men who look like bodyguards. She stands still and looks in their direction. One of the men notices her. She walks away briskly and the man looks at the other man and get up from the bar. She runs into a back room, the men following her. One man goes into the door she went into and can’t find her. She is hiding and comes out when he leaves. She gets to the place where she is supposed to me Diego and the door is locked, she knocks) YONG NADIA: Diego? (She knocks again and no answer she then breaks in the door. She sees Diego sh*t in the chest propped up against the wall on the floor.) Oh my god. DIEGO: The disk. YOUNG NADIA: Did they get it? DIEGO: They didn’t find it. (He hands her the disk) YOUNG NADIA: I need to call Roberto. DIEGO: No! What Roberto had me steal... they’re intelligence documents. YOUNG NADIA: You’re not making sense. We’re intelligence. DIEGO: No. That’s what … he wants us to believe. YOUNG NADIA: That can’t be. DIEGO: Nadia, Roberto is corrupt. YOUNG NADIA: That’s not true. DIEGO: He plays both sides. He’ a criminal. YOUNG NADIA: It’s not possible. DEIGO: He used us. The disk – YOUNG NADIA: It can’t be true. Diego, please. Diego, Diego, Diego (crying) CUT TO BLACK Flashes back to Nadia with Martinez walking into a building. NADIA: You still come here? MARTINEZ: I never left. I bought it after Roberto was k*lled. It was very cheap. (They walk into the place where why were taught to be agents.) My best memories are here. Training, learning – with you. And of course, Roberto. This is where my life began. NADIA: It’s sad isn’t it? That it’s outlived its usefulness. Can we get what we came for? MARTINEZ: Sure. SYD: We lost them here at Plaza del Camino. WEISS: Yeah, Martinez said he was taking her to his office to make the exchange. Its gotta be close. SLOANE: Since learning of Nadia’s history with Martinez, I did some digging. Martinez owns several pieces of property including Roberto Fox’s training facility. MARTINEZ: You remember Roberto’s office don’t you? NADIA: Of course. MARTINEZ: You said Roberto made you who you are today. I feel the same. With one difference. It’s his death that made me. NADIA: k*lling a high level agent certainly gave you a reputation. MARTINEZ: One d*ad body and my name meant something. I was suddenly someone to be feared. The thing is… I didn’t k*ll him. Roberto had so many enemies. He could have been k*lled by anyone. I always wondered... If it was you. Your work. The look on your face, Nadia. Confirms it. Flashes back to Nadia returning from the mission she was on for the disk with Diego. She approaches Roberto in his office. ROBERTO: What happened? NADIA: Diego’s d*ad. I just read the disk. (Throwing it at him) How could you do this? ROBERTO: Nadia NADIA: (Puts her head down and upon looking up sh**t Roberto 5 times back into his desk chair.) (Flashes back to the present with Martinez) Everything he told us was a lie, Cesar. He said we were working for the good of our country. MARTINEZ: Do you remember what our lives were like before him? We were sleeping on the streets. NADIA: Roberto was an assassin. A criminal. He made us traitors. Don’t you understand? MARTINEZ: Who gives a damn? It’s not important. If it weren’t for him… we’d be rotting in that prison or d*ad. He saved us. And you k*lled him. NADIA: And I’d do it again. (Martinez points the g*n to Nadia’s forehead and sh**t. She is able to h*t it away from her face. They struggle and she starts throwing things. The fight until Martinez gets Nadia on the ground and starts choking her. The van that Syd and Weiss were in drives up to the Training Facility. Meanwhile Nadia gets Martinez off of her and takes his g*n and has him staring down the barrel of the g*n. Syd and Weiss finally get into the building.) WEISS: Nadia. Nadia, alright? NADIA: I’m fine. There’s a safe inside, the amplifying glass should be there. WEISS: Alright. (Takes Martinez into custody) Nadia looking at Syd sadly, both come together for a hug. Nadia almost in tears. LISBON Vaughn walks into a garden patio type setting. Approaches a house with a red door, looks around before knocking. Nadia’s caretaker answers the door. CARETAKER: The Mail? No. (Scene changes to Vaughn and the Caretaker sitting at the garden patio) The first and only time I met your father he was covered in blood with a baby in his arms. VAUGHN: Nadia. CARETAKER: He brought her to the orphanage in Buenos Aires. He said she was in danger. He’d been sh*t in the shoulder. I knew not to ask too many questions. You father, he stayed a few days, until he was well enough to travel. One morning I woke up and he was gone. VAUGHN: I don’t understand. If he knew you in Buenos Aires, why would he encode this address in Lisbon in his journal? CARETAKER: I don’t know? Oh, you thought he might be here. I am sorry. I wish I knew more. VAUGHN: Can you remember anything, something he said maybe a detail? CARETAKER: Nightingale. VAUGHN: Nightingale? CARETAKER: He was on the phone and something in his voice, it was important to him. May I ask you a question? VAUGHN: Sure. CARETAKER: Nadia, How is she? VAUGHN: She’s good. (The Caretaker fakes a smile and then puts her head down and looks up at Vaughn)

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x12 - The Orphan"}

foreverdreaming

HA[V]ANA Hot Salsa dancers with only the bottom part of their bodies shown on screen, and at the long sh*t a very prominent yellow-dressed woman shakes her bottom. The sh*t moves up and we see it is SYDNEY, with a ridiculous wig that looks like a cat got on top of her head. She turns towards the screen and does a few moves, before the camera pans away to the other dancers again. Camera moves to the people at their tables, and they're chatting and looking at the dancers. Camera focuses towards a particular table. Camera then moves towards the dancers again. A random dancer moves towards another random man to ask to dance, then we see SYDNEY moving towards a man at said table. She puts her leg up on his chair (Camera provides a rather nice sh*t of her leg) and holds her hand towards him, and he takes it, but not before taking a glance at his companions at his table. SYDNEY smiles and they move towards the dance floor. They danced for a while. Camera pans to his companions, who are watching pretty amused. PHANTOM: (subtitles) You dance like an angel. SYDNEY: (subtitles) Yet my feet touch the ground. Camera now pans over to the table again, then back to the dancing pair. PHANTOM: I betray him; I spend the rest of my life on the run. SYDNEY: We can help you with that. PHANTOM: You brought the payment? She moves her hand down his face, a diamond bracelet clearly evident. SYDNEY: I hope you like diamonds. They continue dancing and the camera pans ominously at the man sitting at the table. PHANTOM: They are planning an att*ck. Large-scaled, civilian target. SYDNEY: Where? PHANTOM: I'm not sure, but it's on the hard drive. Everything you need. Your man is in Los Angeles? Scene cuts to DIXON walking down a hallway. SYDNEY: (Voiceover) He's ready. PHANTOM: (Voiceover) Have him proceed to locker 471. DIXON: I'm on the move. Scene cuts back to dance floor. PHANTOM: The locker combination is 8-0-2-37. Scene cuts to DIXON opening the locker, then back to the dance floor. Camera pans over to the table again. PHANTOM: Has he found it? Cuts to DIXON, who puts the harddrive into his briefcase. DIXON: I have it. The package. Back to SYDNEY on the dance floor. SYDNEY: He’s got it. She twirls PHANTOM around, and slips the bracelet into his hand, then pretends to continue dancing again. SYDNEY: On the next turn, spin me and cut into the nearest dancer. PHANTOM: Pleasure dancing with you. He kisses her hand, then spins SYDNEY as instructed, adjusts his tie and cuts into the next dancer. The camera pans ominously over at the man at the table. Scene then cuts to MARSHALL rushing at home. MARSHALL: Honey have you seen my shoe? I really need to go. (Mitchell is crying in the background. We then see CARRIE carrying Mitchell at the medicine cabinet) CARRIE: No, you don’t! MARSHALL: Yes, I do! He trips over some of Mitchell’s toys, and Mitchell cries harder. CARRIE coos at him. MARSHALL finally found his shoe in some box at some obscure corner. MARSHALL: I found it! Who put it in the box? CARRIE: (as Mitchell cries louder) Hey Marshall? MARSHALL: Okay, I’m out of here. CARRIE: He’s warm. MARSHALL: Well, you know, he’s just got out of the bathroom – CARRIE: No, it’s not the bath; he’s feverish! MARSHALL: (Stumbling over his words) ** [I couldn’t catch what he was saying] CARRIE: No, just feel him. MARSHALL: He’s just a little warm.. CARRIE: Won’t you hold him? Just hold him- MARSHALL: (while CARRIE is talking, he’s been talking) I can’t take him right now… CARRIE! CARRIE! (She walks away, then his phone rings) Hold on, hold on, just a second. (CARRIE gets something from a drawer) Hello? Scene cuts to SLOANE at APO. SLOANE: Where are you. MARSHALL: (on the phone) Hi Mr Herderington, (to CARRIE) It’s Mr Herderington! (CARRIE shakes her head) SLOANE: DIXON on work with the hard drive, you were supposed to be at work an hour ago. Where are you? MARSHALL: Well, you know, we had a bit of a, domestic crisis here – SLOANE: I’m not interested. (cuts to MARSHALL nodding his head, then back again) Get in here. Cuts to MARSHALL. MARSHALL: Okay, I’d be right in, thank you, Mr Boss Man. CARRIE walks out with a horrified expression on her face. CARRIE: You can’t go back in! MARSHALL: I have to, the server crashed, okay? CARRIE: He needs to go to the doctor’s! MARSHALL: Well, then you take him. (Camera pans to CARRIE’s disappointed and disapproving expression, then MARSHALL switches MITCHELL from his left to his right) Carrie. I’m sorry. I need your help right now. I have to get to work, okay? (He hands Mitchell over to her and looks guilty as Mitchell cries even louder) Cuts to night, in Havana, where it’s raining. SYDNEY walks out with her cell phone at her ear. SYDNEY: My contact here indicates that Third Faction is planning a large-scaled (cuts to VAUGHN walking in a room at APO) civilian att*ck. VAUGHN: We’d have the hard drive decrypted by the time you touch down. Just don’t spend too much time sightseeing in Cuba. Cuts back to SYDNEY in Havana SYDNEY: Don’t worry, I’m ready to get out of here. You have any idea (Cuts back to VAUGHN) how hard it is to maintain cover while dancing the salsa in three-inch heels? VAUGHN: Yes, actually, I do, but let’s keep that between us. Cuts back again to SYDNEY SYDNEY: (Sniggering) You’re doing the next intel swap, I don’t care what the {**} perimeters are. VAUGHN: Oh, nothing will make me happier. I love dancing. SYDNEY: (Laughs) You hate to dance! Cuts to VAUGHN. VAUGHN: (A grin plastered on his face) How did you know? SYDNEY: I’ve never seen you dance. VAUGHN: Well, I’m a mysterious man. A lot of things you don’t know about me. SYDNEY: You’ve never once (cuts back to her) taken me dancing. VAUGHN: (Cuts to him) Okay. Let’s go dancing. SYDNEY: Really? VAUGHN: Yeah, sure! (Scene cuts back to SYDNEY) SYDNEY: (Laughing again) But you hate dancing! VAUGHN: And yet, I’m taking you. Like I said, I’m very mysterious. You see your driver? SYDNEY: Yeah. She approaches the car, and the scene cuts to VAUGHN. VAUGHN: Have a safe trip. Scene cuts back to SYDNEY, who closes the door. Closeup on her face reveals an enormous grin, and the car pulls away. ~ Dixon walks into APO carrying a briefcase, he passes it off to a random guy who then walks with Dixon to a computer. The guy opens the case and hooks up the hard drive that was inside to the computer. ~ Sydney’s car is being followed. She sees headlights in the rearview mirror and turns around to see, when she turns back there is red dot aimed on the back of the driver’s head. SYDNEY: Get down! sh*ts are fired from the tailing car and the driver is h*t. We now see that there are two cars, Sydney pulls at the door handle but it’s locked and then one of the cars hits Sydney’s side of the car and she falls back from beside the window. The second car smashes into the back of the car and she is knocked unconscious. Both her car and another car are stopped. Two men get out and pull Sydney from the car stuffing her into theirs. ~ Inside APO, we see Dixon talking to a man at a desk while the other man, in the next room, is still working away at the computer. There are a bunch of 0's and 1's on the screen along with ‘CAUTION! UNAUTHORIZED CONTENT! PROCEED WITH CAUTION’ The computer blows up and Dixon runs into the room which is now filling with smoke. He waves it away as he goes to the guy. DIXON: I need a med tech! The office is filling with more smoke and there is an automated voice warning of a pathogen alert. The monitors in APO now display BIOHAZARD signs. Sloane and Jack look up startled by the alarm which is still being sounded as Dixon yells... *something I can’t make out* DIXON: I need some help here! Doors close as they go into lockdown and Sloane and Jack get up to see what’s going on. Vaughn runs in with a case in his hands with Nadia running alongside. The guy who was at the computer isn’t doing too good now. His cheek looks like it has blisters on it and he is gasping for air. Dixon puts an oxygen mask on him and grabs his wrist to feel his pulse. Vaughn opens the case and hands the contents to a nearby agent. VAUGHN: Jeff, hand these out; make sure everyone gets one. JEFF: You got it. Dixon now sees blisters on his own hands and is beginning to cough. Vaughn is handing out medication from his case. VAUGHN: Here, it’s *something else I can’t make out (most likely the name of the medication)* Dixon collapses, gasps for air, and Weiss runs over. WEISS: Vaughn. VAUGHN: Don’t touch him! Don’t touch him! WEISS: Hey, *Holson,* come on. VAUGHN: Here, inject *yourselves.* Dixon seems to be seizing and Nadia, wearing gloves, injects one of the syringes into his leg. Weiss follows suit into his own and then Nadia injects herself with her own syringe. Vaughn comes over and crouches beside Dixon’s head. VAUGHN: Clear his airway. Dixon, it’s alright. It’s okay. Weiss supports Dixon’s head with one hand and rests his other on Dixon’s chest by his neck to feel for his pulse. VAUGHN: It should start taking affect. WEISS: It’s working. VAUGHN: Relax. Breathe. ~ We see two men dragging Sydney, in the dark, and dropping her to the ground. It sounds like one of them says 'get up' and then she pushes herself to her knees. Another man falls beside her, also on his knees. Both have bindings around their wrists. Car headlights shine in their eyes, Sydney is out of breath and the man beside her looks at their captor. (Subtitles on.) In German: ULRICH: You betrayed me for jewelry? MAN: Ulrich, please listen to me– Ulrich says something and we don’t get any subtitles. MAN: You’ve made a mistake. Give me another chance. (Subtitles off.) Ulrich pulls out a g*n and sh**t the man in the forehead and he hits the ground. Sydney, who had been looking back and forth as each of the men spoke, now looks a little uneasy although she doesn’t let it show to Ulrich. He walks closer to her and she makes eye contact with him. ULRICH: He was under the impression this was a negotiation. He was mistaken. Now, I don’t particularly care who you are and who you work with, but I’m sure your conspirators will have their hands full with the hard drive we sent you. He gestures towards the d*ad man with his g*n in hand. ULICH: *Wrong business for them. I need them to see what I do to my enemies, I need them to see what I do to you.* SYDNEY: So would it help with your demonstration if I started crying and pleading for my life? ULRICH: You obviously don’t understand your situation. He was my friend, you’re not. I have something much worse planned for you. Sydney stares at him and we go to the... (ALIAS theme) Jack walks through APO with papers in hand over to where Sloane is on the phone. SLOANE: Yes, Director, we’ll keep you informed on the hour. Right. He hangs up and turns to Jack. SLOANE: What’s our status? JACK: Vents have been sealed, air filters are working, electricity has been shifted to back up generator. SLOANE: Our cover prevents local emergency responses from intervening. We’ll have to wait for hazardous material team to give the green light. Until then proceed with quarantine protocol. When will the ICU be ready? JACK: Minutes. The hard drive Dixon brought in exploded after it was connected to APO’s network. It’s possible our computer system has also been compromised. SLOANE: Right, then we’ll run an emergency diagnostic. Where’s Marshall? ~ Marshall pulls into the parking garage and is quickly gathering his things as he gets out of the car. His phone rings. Marshall answers by pressing on the earpiece he’s wearing. MARSHALL: Flinkman. SLOANE: Lockdown protocol 4 Alpha Charlie, confirm? Marshall hurries to drop his things back into the car and get to his laptop. SLOANE: Confirm! Marshall sets the laptop on the car and gets to work. MARSHALL: Yeah, sorry. 4 Bravo *Inkblot* confirm. Firewall networks are secure. We haven’t been hacked... Is this a drill? SLOANE: Unfortunately not. A nerve agent has been released inside APO. We have neutralized the thr*at but our exposure is still a biohazard outside the office. Until we get cleared, noone comes in or out of here. MARSHAL: Okay, okay I got it. Um, is there anything uh– what can I do? What can I do? SLOANE: Nothing. Stay on the line, we’ll tell you what we need. MARSHALL: Okay. Weiss and Nadia walk into the office, Sloane, Vaughn, and Jack are each standing beside a chair at the table. WEISS: What the hell happened? SLOANE: We’ve been double-crossed. NADIA: What about Sydney? VAUGHN: She last checked in before *not sure where he says* JACK: Have we confirmed the flight? Vaughn walks around the table and dials Sydney’s cell. The screen is black and we hear her phone ringing. After a few rings she gasps and is out of breath when she answers. The blue light from the phone allows us to see a wound on the right side of her forehead. SYNDEY: Hello? Hel– She looks at the screen... one missed call. Creaking noises start and she tries to look around her a bit, as the creaking continues Sydney begins to realize where she is and her breaths become deeper and more frequent. She continues to look around her with the help of the light from her phone. She gasps when she finds the body of the man who was sh*t by Ulrich laying beside her. We then see a sh*t of a dark cemetery and now we know where she is. A phone rings. Sloane answers and it’s on speaker. SLOANE: Sydney, is that you? SYDNEY: Don’t hook up the hard drive. VAUGHN: We know, where are you? SYDNEY: I’m not sure. They... dragged me to a cemetery and knocked me out, and I woke up in a... coffin. Nadia, Vaughn, and Jack all look at each other worriedly. Marshall, still out in the parking garage, looks just as worried. MARSHALL: Syd, are you uh... have you been buried? SYDNEY: (whispers) Yes. JACK: Stay calm. We’re going to find you. WEISS: What about your contact? SYDNEY: They sh*t him, he’s– he’s in the coffin with me. Marshall looks horrified as he listens in. NADIA: We have CIA friendly support in Cuba. SYDNEY: No we don’t, we’re black ops. We’re on our own. But, you guys have to come get me. VAUGHN: Sydney, the hard drive has been rigged. Ir released some sort of a toxin in here, we’re in lockdown. SYDNEY: Lockdown? For how long? SLOANE: We estimate about 36 hours. SYDNEY: Then, what are our other options? Everyone looks sad and concerned, knowing Sydney’s buried alive and they’re all helpless. MARSHALL: Um, ex– excuse me. Listen, I know you told me you’d let me know if you need anything but... I could do it. I could go to Cuba. SYDNEY: Wait a minute, Marshall? You’re– you’re not in lockdown with the rest of the team? MARSHLL: No, Syd, listen... Mitchell this morning, well– it’s a long story. How many bars do you have on your cell phone? SYDNEY: Four. MARSHALL: Four. Okay, good. That’s excellent. Every cell phone has a distinct radio frequency that’s traceable. If we can get a locator– JACK: But there’s no way to get the op-tech to you. MARSHALL: Well, I could rig one in-country, okay. I mean, the only thing is, Syd, you’d have to stay off the phone while I’m traveling, ya know, just to conserve the battery. SLOANE: Done. We go with this. Marshall, there’ll be a passport and a visa for you at the airport. MARSHALL: Passport and visa, passport and– okay– okay I’m going. He grabs his laptop and gets into the car. JACK: Marshall. Sydney has a limited supply of oxygen in that coffin, we have no margin for error, understood? MARSHALL: Yeah. I understand, I can do this. Marshall drives off. SLOANE: Sydney, I want– SYDNEY: No, I get it. I– I’m hanging up now. Sydney hangs up, takes a deep breath, and begins to cry and the coffin creaks some more. The camera moves up from her legs to her face and you see she’s shaking, wrists still bound and her cell phone between her hands. She’s trying to compose herself and stifle her cries but gives in and begins to panic. She frantically bites and pulls at the roping on her hands as her cries intensify. ~ We pan past Dixon who is laying, asleep, in a hospital bed, both hands are wrapped in gauze bandages past his wrists. SLOANE: Reports confirm that ten containers of ** were stolen a week ago from a warehouse in Morocco. They h*t us with a drop, less than a gram according to lab analysis. Third Faction has enough toxin to infect an entire city. I want their target. Cross-check all DIA and Echelon watch lists. Consult with all of our contacts, petroleum major ports, you know the protocol. Nadia, who has seemed somewhat emotional and distracted for most of the scene, leans over to Vaughn and whispers. NADIA: How long has she been in the ground? SLOANE: Look at me! Marshall is on his way. We’ll get Sydney out, make no mistake. Third Faction wants us on our heals. They think they can b*mb our operation, they think they can bury our agents alive, and they think that will stop us. Well, they’re wrong, we have a job to do. Get to work. HAVANA Music plays in the background and Marshall is at the counter in a store, constructing his locator with various parts, including a cell phone. There’s a chicken eating on the counter as well and a man working behind it. An elderly woman is sitting in a chair nearby. MARSHALL: Uh. Uh, uh... d-do you have a screwdriver? A flathead screwdriver, por favor? (Subtitles on all but Marshall) In Spanish: MAN: Stop making hand gestures at me. Also, my store is not a workbench for you to play with. Marshall looks confused MARSHALL: That can’t be regular Spanish, that’s way too fast. Uh, slow down, por favor. MAN: You’re scaring away my customers. MARSHALL: You know what, never– WOMAN: Let the boy work. I like watching him. (to Marshall) I like watching you. (Subtitles off) He continues screwing something onto his gadget, he smiles and nods. MARSHALL: Hola. Como esta. Alright, she’s really starting to freak me out a little bit, k. Okay, uh, do you have, um uh uh... a radio? Ya know, *shouts something in Spanish* MAN: Ah, radio. MARSHALL: (In Spanish dialect.) Radio, radio, radio. The man seems to lighten up a bit and walks out to get the radio, talking in Spanish as he exits the room. Marshall looks to the woman and smiles. MARSHALL: It’s the same in... Spanish... He holds up his contraption. MARSHALL: Bueno. The chicken is pecking at the food on the counter. MARSHALL: These your chickens? The man brings out the radio and puts it on the counter, saying something else in Spanish to Marshall. MARSHALL: Bueno. ~ Sydney runs her hands along the inside of the coffin above her face, which is still creaking. She looks around with her phone agin and holds it close to the guy while she searches his pockets. After lying still a minute or two she calls Vaughn. VAUGHN: Syd, slow down. (He puts her on speaker.) Say that again. SYDNEY: We can ID him. VAUGHN: Who? SYDNEY: Phantom, my contact. I can send you a picture. You can check it against airport surveillance, inbound flights to Cuba. He wasn’t alone. Get visuals of the other members of Third Faction and... track that against where they’ve been and where they’re– where they’re going. The more she talks, the slower her delivery rate becomes. JACK: Send the photo. She takes a picture of him with the phone. VAUGHN: Okay, Syd. We got it, we’re indexing it now. SYDNEY: Vaughn? VAUGHN: Yeah. I’m here, can you hear me? SYDNEY: I know what he looks like. Vaughn looks to Weiss who looks to Jack. VAUGHN: Syd, we got the picture, we’re working on it. SYDNEY: We can check it against airport surveillance. VAUGHN: Syd, you already said that. SYDNEY: And he wasn’t alone. We can find where he’s been, where he’s going... She sounds very groggy now and Vaughn and Jack exchange glances. Then Jack walks out. ~ Marshall is in a cab tinkering with the locator he made when his phone rings. MARSHALL: Yeah? JACK: Marshall, what’s your status? MARSHALL: Well, it’s really hot here and everyone keeps calling me chongo. JACK: (snaps impatiently) Marshall, where are you? MARSHALL: We’re close. Really close. I’ve got her signal locked in. Jack is standing outside the board room now and looks inside before cautiously speaking again. JACK: We don’t have much time. MARSHALL: I understand. Hold on. Okay. Okay, uh, senior? Turn here. Turn here, sir. Senior? AQUI! AQUI! SENOR! AQUI! AQUI! A LA DERECHA! The driver turns sharply to the right. MARSHALL: I took a little Spanish in college. Vaughn sits back down and looks from Weiss to Nadia and sighs as he rubs his forehead before taking Sydney's call off hold and bringing her back to speaker. VAUGHN: Syd. Marshall is on his way. We’ll be dancing before you know it. She looks as if she’s about to pass out at any moment. SYDNEY: Yet my feet touch the ground. VAUGHN: What was that? Sydney? SYDNEY: Vaughn? There’s interference on the line and her phone beeps twice, alerting her of the weak signal. SYDNEY: My phone is dying... Vaughn? MARSHALL: Okay. *He speaks to the driver in spanish.* Alright, Mr. Bristow. I’m here. I’m here at the cemetery. Hold on. VAUGHN: Syd. Marshall’s there. Hang on. Marshall is out of the cab and it drives off. MARSHALL: I just– I just need to... find out... which grave she’s in. He goes off running to search for the right one VAUGHN: Syd? Sydney?! Her phone flashes ‘low battery’ and she lays quietly. MARSHALL: Okay. Okay. No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. His signal on the locator begins to die and he’s banging on it trying to make it work. SYDNEY: Vaughn? Vaughn?! She’s scared now and the screen on her phone says ‘goodbye’ and it shuts off. The coffin goes dark and she whimpers. SYDNEY: (squeaks) Vaughn. MARSHALL: ...four...five...six...seven... Seven. There are seven fresh graves here. VAUGHN: Marshall, you don’t have time to dig them all up. Is there any way to narrow it down? MARSHALL: Wait a minute. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Vaughn, can you task a satellite over my position? Vaughn goes to a computer and sits down. VAUGHN: Okay, I’m here. What do I do? MARSHALL: Well... tasking a satellite through the NRO would take forever, so go to the *config* access menu. He sees something and runs over to grab it. It’s a shovel. MARSHALL: Now, my phone is GPS so you should be able to route the coordinates through the system. VAUGHN: Got it. MARSHALL: Okay. Now type KH11/INT/THERM/CONFIG.SYS VAUGHN: Hang on, I don’t see a prompt. MARSHALL: Well... there is no prompt. The prompt is implied. VAUGHN: What, I’m supposed to just type it in? MARSHALL: Yes, god. Vaughn, this isn’t that hard. VAUGHN: Yeah well, I’ve never done this before. MARSHALL: Well, I do it for you people all the time. Now come on. VAUGHN: Okay. I have a visual. MARSHALL: Okay. Great, great, great. The commands I gave you should change the view to thermal. VAUGHN: Okay. Wait, I see her. Uh, eight rows north from where you are, three graves west. MARSHALL: North, west. Okay, I’m on it. VAUGHN: Marshall, stop. Turn around. Your other north. He turns and run to the grave Vaughn directed him to. VAUGHN: That’s it. It’s right in front of you. MARSHALL: I got it. I got it. Marshall drops his phone and begins digging down into the dirt with his shovel. Vaughn and Jack watch from the monitors and Nadia comes in to see too. Finally Marshall hits the top of the wooden coffin. MARSHALL: Syd? Syd? Syd, can you hear me? I’m coming! He clears the dirt away enough so that he can pull off the lid. When he opens it he sees the d*ad guy and Sydney laying unconscious beside him. MARSHALL: Oh my god. No. No. He climbs inside and lifts Sydney out of the grave and onto the ground. MARSHALL: Syd? Syd? Syd? Syd? He rolls her over onto her back and taps the side of her face, trying to wake her. MARSHALL: Syd? Syd? Syd? He puts his ear to her mouth so see if she’s breathing. Nothing. MARSHALL: Oh my god. Okay. He gives her mouth to mouth and does some chest compressions. MARSHALL: Come on. Come on. The three, now accompanied by Weiss and Sloane, sit in silence at APO watching the screens. Marshall is doing more compressions and listens for breaths again. MARSHALL: (with each compression...) Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Sydney finally lets out a weak cough and then she begins to cough more intensely and gasp to get air into her lungs again. MARSHALL: (whispers) Oh my god. Syd? VAUGHN: That’s her. She’s moving. They onlookers are relieved. MARSHALL: Syd? You okay? He strokes her head gently and she looks up at him and smiles timidly, still out of breath. SYDNEY: Marshall. MARSHALL: Yeah. As she gains her strength and rolls onto her stomach, propped on her elbows... Marshall is exhausted and rolls onto his back. He’s smiling and she watches him for a minute. SYDNEY: Thanks. MARSHALL: You’re welcome. ~ SLOANE: We have an ID on the Phantom. Alex *Rucker* high tech specialist. He was recruited to the Third Faction by this man... Ulrich *Catore*. Sydney and Marshall are in the back of a car. Sloane puts Ulrich’s picture on the screen at APO and Syndey and Marshall see it via some sort of gadget off-camera. SYDNEY: That’s him. SLOANE: Phantom says that another chemical att*ck is imminent. The assumption is that Ulrich has the intel we need to stop it on his computer. Sydney, Marshall, APO is in lockdown for at least another 24 hours, your mission is not over. Sydney closes her eyes, taking it in, and nods. JACK: This picture was taken 10 hours ago in a Berlin airport. Ulrich operates out of a nightclub there. Infiltrate the club. Sydney looks over at Marshall who is listening intently. JACK: Find Ulrich’s hard drive and upload it’s contents to us. SYDNEY: Ulrich knows me. There’s no way I can get close to him. She looks to Marshall, speaking in his direction. SYDNEY: But we could send someone else. MARSHALL: I’ve never been to Berlin. He smiles nervously as we go to... BE®LIN Night time in Berlin and Sydney is going over the mission and the gadgets with Marshall in a van. The camera alternates between each of them. SYDNEY: Make eye contact with everyone, particularly Ulrich’s bodyguards. MARSHALL: Why? SYDNEY: Well, you have to convince them you’re not scared. MARSHALL: Right. Yeah, I think you’re supposed to do that in prison too... I heard. SYDNEY: The flash drive inside will automatically begin transfer when you’re within range of his computer, but you have to get kind of close. MARSHALL: How close? SYDNEY: Two... three feet. MARSHALL: Syd, this guy, he buried you alive. SYDNEY: Yeah, but he cheated. He h*t me with a car first. Marshall smiles and nods a whispered ‘yeah.’ SYDNEY: Ordinary cell phone, right? MARSHALL: Right. She demonstrates how it works. SYDNEY: Snap off the back. You’ve got your barrel, your trigger, magazine... the magazine holds two b*ll*ts– MARSHALL: I know. SYDNEY: Be careful when you load it– MARSHALL: Syd, I know. I built that, remember? I mean, I built all this stuff. SYDNEY: It’s different in the field. He nods understandingly. MARSHALL: I know. SYDNEY: So, be careful when you load it because this is very sensitive up here. Marshall’s cell phone interrupts while Sydney is speaking. MARSHALL: Hold on one sec. He searches his pockets for his phone and looks to see who it is. MARSHALL: It’s Carrie. He answers. MARSHALL: Hey, honey, hi. What time is it? He switches the phone to the other ear and checks his watch and then switches ears again. MARSHALL: Ohhh. Sorry. What’s he doing, is he okay? We didn’t– I mean, I didn’t realize– Aww, poor Mitchell. Alri– you know what, put him on. Yeah, put him on. Well– did you try that thing where you– okay yeah, put him on. Hey. Hey, booboo, hi. Daddy loves you. Marshall clears his throat and sings to Mitchell while Sydney smiles at her observation. MARSHALL: Hush... hush... hush little Mitchell, don’t you cry. Daddy’s here to teach you about Lanthanides. He sneaks a peak at Sydney who is smiling in amusement. MARSHALL: Cerium is first, yes it leads the way. Hexagonal structure and it’s iron gray. Praseodymium is next and it looks like brass– What? No. I can’t make it home right now, I’m sor– Tonight, I promise. By tonight, that’s the best I can do. I’m sorry. Yes. Yes, Carrie, it’s a crisis. Carrie, I– He realizes that she has hung up on him and he stares at his phone sadly. Sydney watches sympathetically. MARSHALL: I told her I’d be home tonight. SYDNEY: You will. MARSHALL: (whispers) Okay. SYDNEY: (quietly) Here. She hands him the cell phone. MARSHALL: Right. Wish me luck. He prepares himself and gets up and slides open the door. He steps out and turns back to Sydney who nods to him with an assuring smile and he nods as well before sliding the door closed. At the nightclub, Marshall walks around cautiously while communicating to Sydney who is still in the van. MARSHALL: Okay, I’m in. Now what do I do? SYDNEY: What do you see? MARSHALL: Well, a lot of people who are into spanking apparently. A random woman grabs his face and kisses him. MARSHALL: Oh my god, I think I just got hepatitis. SYDNEY: What? MARSHALL: This woman who looks like *Marlena Detrich* she just kissed me. He wipes his mouth. MARSHALL: I don’t think she’s *I can’t make out this part* though. SYDNEY: What are you talking about? MARSHALL: Nothing... Okay, I see a back office. There’s a bouncer standing guard and apparently a lot of men with g*n. SYDNEY: You can do this, just remember what we talked about. Eye contact. Now, walk up to them and repeat exactly what I tell you. He grabs a drink and nods to the person with the tray. MARSHALL: Thank you. He downs the drink in one sh*t. MARSHALL: Okay. He approaches one of Ulrich’s bodyguards. MARSHALL: I’m uh.. (clears throat) here to see Urich. GUARD: Ulrich not seeing anyone. SYDNEY: Tell him Alex wasn’t the only one betraying him. MARSHALL: Tell him Alex wasn’t the only one betraying him. The guard talks to Ulrich on a walkie talkie and then motions to Marshall. GUARD: This way. They enter an office and Marshall is patted down. The guard hands him back his cell phone and cigarette case with the flash drive inside. MARSHALL: Thank you. The man says something to Ulrich in another language and leaves. Ulrich hangs up the phone he was on and Marshall approaches. MARSHALL: Mr. *C* Thank you for taking the time... ULRICH: Stop. I don’t know who you are and you’re distracting me at a critical juncture. So, I hope you have something interesting to tell me.. Mr? SYDNEY: Okay, this guy’s a blow hard. MARSHALL: Bristow. Jack Bristow. SYDNEY: (slightly startled) That’s– that’s good. MARSHALL: And if I’m wasting your time by being polite, well I’m happy to walk out of here. SYDNEY: Wait, don’t go overboard. MARSHALL: Just don’t call me when the Third Faction goes down in flames. SYDNEY: Don’t mention Third Faction! Marshall sits down across the desk from Ulrich. ULRICH: You said you had information about my men, now what is it. SYDNEY: Marshall, I’m not getting a reading from the flash drive. Get the case closer to Ulrich’s computer. He takes out the cigarette case from his jacket and takes one out and places it in his lips. MARSHALL: Cigarette? ULRICH: No thanks. Marshall lights the cigarette and tosses the case onto the desk by Ulrich’s laptop. He inhales and coughs quietly. MARSHALL: I have some... conversations on tape. SYDNEY: Perfect. Now just keep that going for two minutes. Tell him he’s mentioned on the tapes. MARSHALL: You’re mentioned on those tapes. Marshall is now more comfortable with his smoking and is puffing away during conversation. ULRICH: My men would never go to the government. SYDNEY: No, but they would sell you out to the *Slobidan* Wolves. MARSHALL: No, but they would sell you out to the *Slobidan* Wolf. SYDNEY: Wolves. MARSHALL: Wolves. ULRICH: So who... who’s doing this? SYDNEY: Dietrich Gustof, his third in command. MARSHALL: Dietrich Gustof, your third in command. ULRICH: I’m confused by something. You say you have these recordings, and Dietrich... well he only speaks German. MARSHALL: So? ULRICH: Doesn’t that mean... *speaks a few sentences in German* SYDNEY: Okay, he just insulted you. Now say, *tells him what to say in German* MARSHALL: I work for myself. And as for these tapes, it’s none of your business how I got them. And my German, (subtitled) I know enough to deal with trash like you. SYDNEY: Now laugh like it’s all a big joke. So he does. VAUGHN: Uh, Syd, we’ve got a problem. SYDNEY: What is it? VAUGHN: The hard drive is connected to network firewall. Everything you’re sending us is encrypted. But hold on, I’m checking all the computer shipments to your location. If we can figure out the system, we might be able to bypass it. ULRICH: Alright, Mr. Bristow, bring me that tape and we’ll cut a deal. SYDNEY: Marshall, we’ve h*t a glitch. Stall. VAUGHN: Okay, Syd. We’ve isolated the firewall, it’s located in the basement of the club. SYDNEY: I’m on my way. VAUGHN: No, no, no, wait, wait. The firewall is biometrically linked to Ulrich. We have to get him down there to disable it. SYDNEY: Marshall, change of plans. The hard drive is encrypted, we need Ulrich in the basement to shut down a network firewall. MARSHALL: I’m afraid we can’t do that... just yet. ULRICH: Why, is there some sort of problem? SYDNEY: Marshall, you have a g*n, use it. Get him to the elevator, I’ll meet you in the basement. Marshall reaches into his jacket and gets out the cell phone and fiddles with it under the desk where Ulrich can’t see him. MARSHALL: You know what they say, never discuss money on your first meeting. I sort of need to settle on a fee first. ULRICH: We’ll negotiate that after I see what you have. MARSHALL: I’m afraid I can’t do that. Kind of a policy I have, cash up front. Not really a policy per say more of a been b*rned by too many fly by night t*rrorists to trust them sort of thing. Ya know... one day they say ‘we’ll pay you in gold’ and the next they say ‘did we say gold, we meant goat–‘ His cell phone g*n goes off, sh**ting Ulrich in the chest. Marshall jumps to his feet. SYDNEY: Marshall, you okay? MARSHALL: Oh my god. S-S-Syd, I–I think I just k*lled Ulrich. Sydney is in the van looking very serious. And Marshall is buzzing around the office very worked up now. MARSHALL: Syd, Syd, Syd. I need your help now. SYDNEY: Hang in there, I’m on my way. JACK: What type of biometric scanner are they dealing with? VAUGHN: Retinal. JACK: Marshall, can you hear me? MARSHALL: Hey, Mr. Bristow. Listen, I’m really sorry, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to sh**t– JACK: Marshall, we are going through with this mission. Look around, do you see any sort of cutting tool? A Kn*fe of some sort, or... MARSHALL: No. JACK: Look on the desk is there a letter opener? Marshall rummages through a drawer and finds one. MARSHALL: Yeah, got it. Why? JACK: You have to cut out Ulrich’s eyes. MARSHALL: Oh my god. He looks shocked and shakes his head slowly. JACK: The biometric scanner in the basement operates off Ulrich’s retinas. MARSHALL: No. No, I-I-I– JACK: You don’t have time to get his body into the basement. MARSHALL: Mr. Bristow. No, I can’t do that. I’m sorry. JACK: (firmly) Yes you can... I’ll talk you through it. MARSHALL: (whispers) Okay. Marshall spins Ulrich’s chair around to face him. MARSHALL: Alright. Sydney is walking through the nightclub now and approaches a guard. He puts his hand on her shoulder to stop her and she smiles sweetly before twisting his arm and knocking him out. Then she proceeds on her way, fighting more men and obtaining a g*n. Marshall, letter opener in hand, stands in front of Urich. MARSHALL: I’m– I’m ready. JACK: You have to go under the eye and sever the optic nerve. Brace the head, the bundle is denser than you think it’s going to be. MARSHALL: Okay. He– here we go. We see the back of Ulrich’s head as Marshall grunts and digs the w*apon into his eyes, liquid like noisescan be heard. MARSHALL: Oh god. It’s oozing. It’s oozing everywhere, sir. JACK: That means you’ve ruptured the macula, the eye is useless. Abandon it. Approach the second one gently, like a soft-boiled egg. You’re going to need a digging instrument to assist with this. Marshall pulls something else from the drawer. MARSHALL: I’ve got a spork. JACK: What’s a spork? Jack and Vaughn just look at each other as Marshall explains. MARSHALL: It’s like a half-spoon... half-fork, will that do? JACK: That will work. Marshall unwraps the plastic utensil. MARSHALL: (breathing heavily) Okay. Okay. Okay. He throws the wrapper to the floor and grabs Ulrich’s head and begins to dig again. MARSHALL: Alright... soft-boiled egg. He grunts some more and is totally repulsed as the eye comes out, cradled on the spork. He carefully puts the spork on the desk and empties a case of the glasses inside and puts the eyeball inside and closes is. MARSHALL: Done. There’s a know at the door and a man asks something in German. The door opens and Marshall is ready with a w*apon. He hits the man on the head from behind and he fals to the ground. Sydney gets there just in time. SYDNEY: Come on. Elevator doors open and they step out, Sydney has her g*n poised. They work their way around the basement to get to the biometric scanner. Marshall hands Sydney the case with the eye. MARSHALL: Here, you do it. I can’t look at it anymore. Sydney takes the case, opens it, and takes out the eye. She holds it up to the scanner and two men with g*n come out of the elevator. The scanner is done and they run off. Sydney sees the men and takes one out the other sh**t back and Marshall is working away at a computer. SYDNEY: (shouting) How much time do you need?! MARSHALL: 15 seconds! The guy sh**t at Sydney and she fires off a few more sh*ts. VAUGHN: Marshall. It’s working. There’s more sh**ting until Sydney runs out of a*mo. SYDNEY: I’m out! MARSHALL: Syd! Marshall tosses her the cell phone and she gets a sh*t off into the guy’s stomach and he collapses to the ground. MARSHALL: Got it! Sydney tosses the cell phone g*n back to Marshall and makes her way back through the basement, collecting the g*n from the most recently sh*t man, and makes sure the coast is clear. VAUGHN: Okay. We’ve got a location on the b*mb. Hong Kong. I’m alerting the local CIA offices now. Marshall walks slowly towards Sydney. JACK: Sydney? Are you and Marshall alright? Satisfied that they are safe, she tucks her g*n in the back waist of her pants and goes to Marshall. SYDNEY: We’re fine. Back in LA... SLOANE: The Ministry of Security confirmed the seizure of a *couldn’t tell what it was called* b*mb in downtown Hong Kong, they’ve expressed their gratitude to Langley. Third Faction’s operation extended far beyond our original estimate. The hard drive that Marshall downloaded contained hundreds of names of contacts throughout Europe and Asia, which we will have to confirm. All the team at APO takes notes. SLOANE: Start with all arms related activity, don’t limit your parameters to chemical Dixon walks in, hands bandaged. All eyes are on him. DIXON: So, where are we? Dixon sits down and Sloane begins to fill him in. SLOANE: Third Faction had few political affiliations. Their primary interest was maximizing profit of the t*rror1st activities. The camera pulls back and the volume decreases as the scene fades out. ~ We see a rain soaked street and a then pan up to a car pulling up to a house. Sydney and Marshall sit in the car a few minutes to chat before he gets out. Carrie is seen in the window holding Mitchell. Marshall turns his head towards Sydney, he’s smiling sadly. MARSHAL: These are not the clothes I left the house in; what do I tell Carrie? SYDNEY: Maybe you had spare clothes at the office. He shakes his head as he looks out the window at the house. MARSHALL: I hate lying to her, Syd. Syd, I hate lying to Carrie. SYDNEY: I know. MARSHALL: It’s part of the job though, right? SYDNEY: Well, you could tell her the truth. That you had to cut out a man’s eyes to save the world. MARSHALL: Yeah, I could tell her that. Probably be best just to keep that between us. And I didn’t save the world... exactly. Just Hong Kong. SYDNEY: You saved me. MARSHALL: Yeah... All in a day’s work. Sydney looks at him for a second, then smiles, which he returns and unlatches his seatbelt. MARSHALL: Anyway. You want to come in, get some dinner with us? SYDNEY: (laughs) Yeah. And how would we explain that I drove you home? MARSHALL: I don’t know, we can think of something. I mean– we’re quick on our feet. We’re spies. SYDNEY: Thank you. But... I need to go away to the train station. There’s someone I need to see. MARSHALL: Yeah. I know the feeling. He goes to open the door to get out but turns around once more. MARSHALL: See you tomorrow. SYDNEY: Okay. He gets out of the car underneath an umbrella. MARSHALL: Bye. He closes the door and goes into the house. Carrie greets him at the door, Mitchell on hip and Sydney drives away. ~ Sydney sits on a train station bench waiting for her someone. Her head is turned to the right and doesn’t ee him approach, she turns her head to see a smiling Vaughn with his hand held out to her. She warmly returns the smile and takes his hand and rises from her spot on the bench. He twirls her gently under his arm and they hold each other and dance slowly in the train station. Vaughn rests his face against hers and she laces her arms around his neck, a wide grin on her face. They sweetly gaze into the other’s eyes and Sydney’s happiness never fades. As the rest in each other’s embrace, they romantically dance us to the end of the show.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x13 - Tuesday"}

foreverdreaming

Opens with stock footage of Washington, DC at night. Pan to a wall (presumably at Langley) with five pointed stars engraved in it with the heading: "In honor of those members of the Central Intelligence Agency who gave their lives in the service of their country" As the camera pans down, we see what appears to be a workman who is just finishing engraving or cleaning one of the stars. From the side, we see Vaughn, dressed in a black suit, approach the wall, watching the workman's progress. As he watches, we hear a voice that we assume is a memory playing inside of Vaughn's head: VOICE: On behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency, a grateful nation thanks you for your father's sacrifice. This star on the wall is in some ways too small a gesture. The workman finishes, picks up his work bag and walks away as Vaughn walks over to stand in front of the star the workman was working on, as if perhaps it's the one that belongs to his father. The voice in his memory continues to speak as he stares at the star. VOICE: Bill Vaughn dedicated his life in service and commitment for his country. His death in the line of duty is a tragedy for his loving wife and his young son. At this point, Vaughn leans closer to the wall, as if he notices something amiss with his father's star. He reaches forward and touches inside the crevice created by the carving, and his finger comes away covered in black grime. He looks over his shoulder to ensure he is alone and not watched, then he reaches into a back pocket and pulls out a large pocket Kn*fe. He opens it and starts trying to scrape the black g*n out of the star's carving. As he sees more g*n come out of the hole, Vaughn starts to dig and s*ab at the hole. Plaster starts coming away from the wall as Vaughn's movements become stronger, almost frenzied. The star has been completely mutilated as Vaughn digs a larger and larger hole in the wall behind it. Franticly, the camera cuts between the hole getting larger and Vaughn digging and yanking at the wall until the whole is large enough for his entire face. He stops to look inside the hole...and an arm pops out of the hole and starts to strangle him. Smash cut to Vaughn sitting upright in bed, breathing heavily as he wakes from an obvious nightmare. After a moment, he lays back in bed again. We see Sydney still asleep beside him. He looks at her for a moment, but doesn't wake her. Then he stares off at the ceiling, trying to get a grip on his rattled emotions. Cut to YAKUTIA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT, SIBERIA (daytime stock footage of power plant). Cut to the interior, where an unconscious man is being dragged up a set of metal stairs by two other men. The man is dragged into a room and dropped on the floor, watched by two other men outside the chamber, which has a plexiglass window facing the room. The unconscious man is sh*t in the neck with a drug and the man dressed in a lab coat like a coctor motions for the two men to leave the room. DOCTOR (in Russian): Go, get out of the chamber. The men leave and the door to the room shuts tight behind them. DOCTOR (in Russian over intercom): Bring the reactor online. Cut to a person in a radiation suit, who pulls a nuclear fuel rod out of its holder and places it in the reactor chamber. Cut back to the doctor, who pushes a button on the console in front of him. A recorded message in a female voice says in Russian: VOICE: Thirty seconds. The camera pans to a computer screen in the console that says "Nightingale" as part of its title. Cut to man in room, now beginning to awaken. The doctor and the 2nd man watch as the man begins to stir and stand up. The man is dressed as if possibly in a prisoner's uniform. MAN (in Russian): What is this? What is this? Cut to the console as we see it charging up. The doctor pushes another button. Behind the man in the room, some kind of nuclear coil is exposed. VOICE (in Russian): Twenty seconds. The man goes over to look at the coil and his fear and confusion are palpable. MAN (in Russian): What... The doctor and the 2nd man watch and then the doctor pushes another button. The room is now illuminated in red and the secondary coil begins to glow. (It also emits sounds that remind me of the Rambaldi device from "b*mb") MAN (in Russian): Somebody...Can you hear me? What is this? The doctor and 2nd man watch in silence. The man continues to babble as the voice counts down, VOICE (in Russian): Three. Two. One. There is a series of very bright lights that emit from the coil and the man screams in pain (again, reminiscent of the "b*mb" device). As we watch, the man's face almost writhes beneath his skin, transforming his appearance grotesquely. He has become a monster of his former self and blood is dripping from his ears, then his mouth as his fist makes squishing sounds as he pounds against the glass. DOCTOR (in Russian to 2nd man): I think you understand the power of Nightingale. The 2nd man cannot quite watch as the man inside the room continues to mutate into something almost unrecognizable as a human, groaning and pounding against the glass until he slides downward, d*ad. DOCTOR (in Russian to 2nd man): Your investment should prove to be quite lucrative. Cut to stock footage of beachfront near Syd's place. Cut to Vaughn, dressed in work shirt, sitting at the breakfast bar reading the newspaper. Syd walks up to him from inside the kitchen area and pours him a cup of coffee. SYDNEY: Did you see the front page? Vaughn reaches over and plops it down in front of Sydney. VAUGHN: Yeah...here you go. SYDNEY: Thank you. Sydney pours herself a cup of coffee and opens up the paper to read, standing on the inside of the breakfast bar. VAUGHN (not looking up from his newspaper): (sigh) So, Laughton called me back from CIA Archives... Sydney looks up in surprise. SYDNEY: About Nightingale? VAUGHN: Yeah. SYDNEY: When? VAUGHN: Yesterday morning. SYDNEY: Why didn't you tell me? VAUGHN: I was going to...he, uh...didn't find anything. Sydney's face registers the disappointment in Vaughn's voice. Encouragingly, she replies, SYDNEY: We'll keep looking. Vaughn half smiles and looks back to his newspaper for a moment, then abruptly gets up instead. VAUGHN: I should get dressed. Sydney watches Vaughn thoughtfully for a moment before following him into the bedroom. Cut to Vaughn, who is looking through what is obviously his own drawer in Sydney's dresser. SYDNEY: There could be a hundred reasons your father didn't register "Nightingale" with the CIA... VAUGHN: Yeah, I know... (turns toward Sydney) Uh, listen...have you seen my jacket anywhere? Sydney looks for Vaughn's jacket. SYDNEY: I mean, it's a setback, but...there are people we can talk to... VAUGHN (turning away from the dresser. He seems flustered, a bit out of sorts): No. No, there aren't. Sydney hands Vaughn his jacket. He immediately starts looking around again. VAUGHN: Keys...Where the hell are my keys...? SYDNEY (fetching his keys from the bedside table): We could bring it to APO...They might be able to help us track... Cut to Vaughn, putting his jacket on and straightening the collar. VAUGHN (cutting Sydney off): We're not bringing this to APO. The last thing I want is Sloane knowing I was investigating my father's death and him using that against me. SYDNEY (tossing Vaughn his keys): We don't know your father's d*ad. VAUGHN: Yeah...at this point I do. SYDNEY: After all the progress you've made, how can you just...? VAUGHN (cutting Sydney off): "How can I just..." what!? What have I got? Some...journals in his handwriting that shouldn't even exist? And a word? One word. Nightingale. What the hell does that even mean? Some random woman mentioned it to me... I would have been better off asking for the goose that layed golden eggs. SYDNEY (quietly firm): It wasn't some "random woman"...She was the woman who raised Nadia. Vaughn looks away and pinches his nose in frustration. SYDNEY: I wanna get to the bottom of this as badly as you do. We always thought my mother k*lled your father...but what if we were wrong? What if there was some other plan? Vaughn, looking a bit calmer now, gives Sydney just a ghost of a smile. Cut to the APO sign, then cut to Jack, sitting in front of a laptop in his office inside APO. He looks up as there is a knock and Sydney enters. SYDNEY: Do you have a minute? JACK: Certainly. Sydney walks in and stands in front of the desk. SYDNEY: I need to ask a favor. I was wondering if I could use your Level 6 clearance to look at some files. JACK (puzzled, a bit wary): In reference to what? SYDNEY: They're not for me...it's...They're for Vaughn, actually. JACK: I see. Sydney sits down in a chair in front of Jack's desk. SYDNEY: A month ago...Vaughn found a journal that belonged to his father. The entries ended in 1982. Mom k*lled Bill Vaughn in '79, but we authenticated the handwriting... JACK: That proves nothing. Counterfitters are experts at graphoanalysis. SYDNEY: I know, but it doesn't explain "Nightingale". JACK (looks confused): What's...Nightingale? SYDNEY: We don't know. Vaughn followed a lead in the journal that took him to a woman in Lisbon who knew all about Vaughn's dad...that he rescued Nadia when she was a baby. She said that shortly after that, he left looking for Nightingale. I mean, it could be a codename; it could be an operation... Jack looks down, troubled. SYDNEY: I know I'm asking for a lot... Jack looks up at Sydney. SYDNEY: ...but I understand what Vaughn's going through... JACK: You also know how dangerous that search can be. SYDNEY: Yeah, I do. Jack looks down and types into his computer, enabling his level 6 clearance. He stands up to make room for her in front of the computer. She stands also. SYDNEY (in almost a whisper): Thank you. JACK: I appreciate you...trusting me with this. Seems like we haven't really talked since... SYDNEY (cutting in): ...Mom died. JACK: Feel free to come to me...anytime. Sydney turns and watches Jack as he walks toward the door to his office. In the doorway, he stops and looks at her before leaving. Sydney sits down at Jack's desk and types in the word "Nightingale" in the search box. Cut to Vaughn and Dixon dressed in protective boxing equipment as they spar in what appears to be a gym area built into APO. As Dixon sees Sydney coming, he puts up his hands to signal they stop. To Vaughn, he says, pointing behind him to Sydney (who is holding a file folder), DIXON: Looks like you have an audience... SYDNEY (smiling): Not bad. Cut to Vaughn opening a file. Inside, we see a picture of the doctor from the Nightingale experiment from the beginning of the episode. SYDNEY: Nightingale is the brainchild of a Josef Vlatczko, Russian emigre we recruited into DARPA. He vanished 25 years ago after running tests on human subjects. VAUGHN: Nice guy. SYDNEY: When he left, he took all the records of Nightingale with him. That's why you couldn't find anything; DARPA had to cover up the security breach. VAUGHN: So, if we find Latczko, we might find something about my Dad. Sydney reaches over and flips to another portion of the folder. There is the photo of the 2nd man that watched the Nightingale experiment from the beginning of the show. SYDNEY: Hans Deitrich, German money launderer. Last year, he started branching out into higher risk investments, mainly new w*apon systems. He funneled over a million Euros into an encrypted bank account labeled Nachtigall...Nightingale. Vaughn looks up at Sydney. SYDNEY: Deitrich's office is in Munich. He runs a beer hall on the ground floor. IF we can get to his records, we might be able to find a lead...something on Latczko...who knows? Vaughn smiles softly at Sydney, obviously impressed. VAUGHN: Syd, how'd you get all this? SYDNEY: (pauses nervously) My dad. VAUGHN (surprised, not happy): What? SYDNEY: He has clearance...we... VAUGHN (cutting Sydney off): Did you tell him everything? SYDNEY: I had to. Vaughn looks away unhappily. Cut to Sloane sitting at his desk in his office. He looks up as his door slides open. It's Jack. SLOANE: How much do they know? JACK: Uncertain. Apparently there were journals we couldn't account for. SLOANE: Hmm...Well, I should shut them down. JACK: We could turn this to our advantage; let Sydney and Vaughn obtain intelligence for us... SLOANE: I see...And you have no problem with that? JACK: Of course I do. But given our current obstacles...they might provide a lead we couldn't get on our own. SLOANE: All right, Jack; give them a long leash. But just so we're clear...we cannot afford to be compromised...not even by your daughter. JACK: It won't come to that. Jack and Sloane stare at each other tensely for a moment before Jack turns and leaves, Sloane staring after him. CUT TO BLACK Now is the time in Alias when we dance! Open to someone reading a magazine at Sydney's breakfast bar. The camera pans up to show us it's Weiss as we see Vaughn emerge from Sydney's bedroom with both hands full of luggage. As he walks by Weiss, he deadpans, VAUGHN: No, I'm fine, thanks. Don't help. WEISS: Aww, boo hoo. I'm gonna go up north and drink wine for two days while my friends stay here and work. VAUGHN: It's called 'accumulated vacation', man. You use it or lose it. Vaughn puts the bags down on the steps leading up to the front door. Sydney and Nadia enter from Sydney's bedroom. SYDNEY (to Nadia): So, you'll water the plants, right? NADIA: I've got it. SYDNEY: And you'll send out the...? NADIA: Sydney, go. Have a good time. WEISS: You know what? We could actually drive up and meet you guys... Vaughn puts an affectionate arm around Sydney's shoulder and makes the "I don't know..." face at Weiss. VAUGHN: Um... SYDNEY (rescuing him): We're busy. VAUGHN: Yeah. WEISS: You gotta eat...one meal. VAUGHN (slighly suggestively as he pulls Sydney into a closer embrace): That's what room service is for... NADIA: Don't mind him. Have fun. WEISS: I mean...we're crazy...this weekend anyway...we've got plans...you know, we're doing the...um...there's that, uh... Sydney looks back at Weiss with an amused smile. NADIA: Yeah. M(U)NICH Cut to daytime stock photo of Munich. Cut to a number of establishing scenes inside the beer hall, including waitresses dressed in blonde wigs and traditional German dresses. Traditional beer hall oompa music is playing. Camera pans across the crowded room to stop on a table in the back of the hall. We focus on the man in the photo, who is drinking beer. VAUGHN (off screen): That's Deitrich. Cut to Sydney and Vaughn at a table in the front of the beer hall. Vaughn is facing toward the back and Sydney is looking at Deitrich in her make up mirror while pretending to apply lipstick. SYDNEY: He's with his bodyguards. The man on the right is Deitrich's second in command, Kron Gulav. This is gonna be fun...(puts makeup away) No toys from Marshall...Cell phones instead of comms... VAUGHN (half disbelief): Yeah, now all we have to do is get Deitrich alone...convince him to show us his files on Nightingale... Cut to Deitrich as one of the waitresses reaches across his table to remove his glass. He grabs her hand and kisses it before letting her get away. Cut back to Sydney, who watched that scene in her mirror. SYDNEY: I can get him alone. Vaughn smiles. Cut to Sydney walking into a back room in the beer hall. It appears to be a dressing room of some kind with rows of lockers. Sydney walks down the row, trying to open one of the lockers. WOMAN (off screen, in German): Can I help you? Sydney slowly turns. It's one of the waitresses. SYDNEY (in German): Where are the uniforms? I start today, I was told there'd be spares here. The woman walks up to Sydney. WOMAN (in German): Are you Klaus' cousin? SYDNEY: Ya. The woman slaps Sydney across the face. WOMAN (angrily, in German): I think there's something you need to say to me. Sydney, with a hand held to her face, looks up at the woman. Cut to the beer hall as a waitress hands Deitrich a check. Vaughn dials his cell phone. Cut to the woman, knocked out on the floor, still in her dress but her wig is gone. SYDNEY (answering phone off screen): Yeah. VAUGHN: They're getting the check. They're almost out the door. SYDNEY (braiding her wig, dressed in another dress): Okay, okay, I'm almost there. Vaughn hangs up as he watches Deitrich sign the slip and hand it to a waitress. Vaughn turns to see Sydney walk by with a beer stein on a tray, headed toward Deitrich. Sydney, giving Deitrich the eye, places the beer down in front of him. DEITRICH (in German): We've already paid. SYDNEY (in German): Compliments of a friend. DEITRICH (in German): Who? SYDNEY (in German): Me. They stare at each other for a moment, then, with a ghost of a smile, Deitrich holds out his hand to her. She puts her hand in his. DEITRICH (in German): What is your name? SYDNEY: Olga. (pause) (in German): Come with me. Deitrich gets up and starts to walk off with Sydney. Cut to Vaughn, whose phone is ringing. Confused, he looks at it and then answers it. VAUGHN: Yeah? Cut to Eric, back at Syd's place. WEISS: Hey man, I got a quick question... VAUGHN (watching Sydney walking away with Deitrich): Eric, this is a really bad time... WEISS: Where are you? Is that a party? VAUGHN (watching Sydney tensely): Look, I'm gonna have to call you back. WEISS (teasing): Romantic getaway's goin' that good, huh? VAUGHN (as Sydney walks by with Deitrich): Braids, fishnets...it's pretty spectacular. WEISS: Somebody's gettin' lucky tonight...(amused) Byyyyeeeee! Vaughn hangs up. Sydney and Deitrich enter his private office. Sydney is still carrying her tray under her arm. Deitrich walks up to her and says suggestively, DEITRICH (in German): So, what God smiled at me and sent you my way? Sydney smiles as if flattered. SYDNEY (in German): Mr. Deitrich...Surely you do this with all the girls. DEITRICH (in German): It's been known to happen. He leans toward Sydney as if to kiss her. Sydney grabs him by the lapels of his jacket and launches him over the top of his desk to land in his chair behind it. She slides her leg across the desk to lodge the heel of her shoe into his throat. SYDNEY: Where do you keep your financial records? DEITRICH: What? SYDNEY: Your business files; where do you keep them? DEITRICH (struggling to breathe against the pressure of Sydney's foot): God...they're on my computer! SYDNEY (sliding her foot higher, so that the heel is right over Deitrich's jugular.): Show me or I'll break your neck. DEITRICH: I will! He reaches over and types one-handed a password on his computer. DEITRICH: Please...don't hurt me... Sydney kicks him in the side of the head, knocking him out. She finds the "Nightingale" file, goes to open it...but it requires another password. Cut to Deitrich's 2nd in command, who is beginning to look antsy that his boss has been gone so long. Vaughn speed dials' Sydney's number. VAUGHN: The guys down here are getting pretty antsy... How's it going? SYDNEY: Give me 30 seconds... GULAV (in German): Let's go get Deitrich. Vaughn gets up and moves to intercept. Stepping in front of them, he says with a thick Italian accent, VAUGHN: Hier Gulav...Ignacio Maldini, Europol liaison, Organized Crime unit. Gulav sighs impatiently. VAUGHN: We've recieved complaints... GULAV: Take it up with our lawyers... Starts to walk by Vaughn. Vaughn puts a staying hand on his shoulder. VAUGHN: We have. And unless you want my entire office down here tomorrow, you'll listen to me. Cut to Sydney, removing the exterior hard drive and getting up from behind Deitrich's desk. A man walks in, surprising her. MAN (in German): What are you doing here? SYDNEY (in German): I'm Klaus' cousin. He asked me to come back here. MAN ( in German): I'm Klaus. Sydney reacts for a split second, then smashes Klaus in the face with the hard drive and then again against the side of his head, knocking him out. She takes off out of Deitrich's office in a run. Cut to Vaughn, still tying up Deitrich's men. VAUGHN:...Low wages, no overtime, rampant sexual harassment... GULAV: (scoffing) What!? Sexual harassment? At that moment, Sydney bursts out of the back area to slide down the length of the main bar. Vaughn uses the distraction to punch Gulav in the face. Sydney turns herself mid slide and kicks Gulav in the face, knocking him out, then grabs a beer stein and crashes it on the 2nd bodyguard's head, knocking him out, too. Vaughn takes out a 3rd guard. Vaughn pulls open the front door and holds it open for Sydney. She turns to the watching crowd and says, SYDNEY: Auf wiedersen. The crowd in the bar cheers. LOS AN(G)ELES Nighttime establishing sh*t of LA skyline. Cut to Sydney and Vaughn in her bedroom, trying to hack into Deitrich's hard drive. VAUGHN: Okay, try it now. Sydney types in Deitrich's main password, and is able to pull up at file heading that says "Nachtigall", but the rest is encrypted. SYDNEY: It's there. It's encrypted. It's gonna take a while... VAUGHN: Yeah. Well, as long as it's in there. Vaughn's phone rings. VAUGHN: Hello? VOICE (unknown male voice): Say it's Weiss. VAUGHN (confused): What? VOICE: Tell your girlfriend that it's Weiss...if you wanna know about your father. Vaughn pauses for a second and then mouths "It's Weiss" at Sydney. Sydney nods and goes back to working with the hard drive. Vaughn turns on the end of the bed so his back is to her. VOICE: You got lucky in Munich, but Nightingale won't answer your questions. Only I can. Sherwood Library, UCLA Campus. Get there in an hour. The library will be closed, but the side door will be open. VAUGHN (covering): Uh...yeah, you know what? I'll see if I can. VOICE: What I have is for you alone. If you tell your girlfriend, she'll be d*ad by the time you come back. (hangs up) VAUGHN (covering): All right...I'll talk to you later. (hangs up) SYDNEY: What's going on? VAUGHN: Uh, nothing. He just, uh, wanted to grab a burger. SYDNEY: Well, you should go. I'll work on this. Besides, if Weiss gets suspicious... VAUGHN: Yeah. Yeah, okay. He gets up, grabs his coat. VAUGHN: You want anything? SYDNEY (not looking up from her work): No, thanks. I'll grab something later. VAUGHN: I won't be long. Vaughn walks over and kisses Sydney on the forehead. SYDNEY: Take your time. VAUGHN: Bye. Vaughn starts to walk out. SYDNEY: Tell Weiss I said hi. VAUGHN: I will. He stops in the doorway of the room, ostensibly to put on his coat, but really he's watching Sydney, nervous about what he's about to do. He walks away. Cut to exterior of the library. Cut to Vaughn, inside the library and walking down the stacks. His cell phone rings. VAUGHN: Yeah. VOICE: Through The Looking Glass. The illustrated edition. Looking annoyed, Vaughn hangs up his phone and heads through the entrance to the children's part of the library. (An interesting detail is as he's walking down the aisle where the book is, behind him is a sculpture of the Cheshire cat from the movie version of Alice in Wonderland.) Vaughn finds the book and pulls it off the shelf. He opens it up to find a space in the middle cut out of the pages. Inside is a syringe with a blue ribbon rolled around it. Unrolling it, we see it reads, "Inject Me". VAUGHN (in disbelief): You've gotta be kidding me. Cut to Vaughn as he drops the book into a trashcan, preparing to leave. His phone rings again. Annoyed, he answers it. VAUGHN: Listen, if you think I'm gonna inject myself, you're out of your mind. VOICE: If I wanted you d*ad, I could k*ll you right now. You wanna know about your father? I'll give you two minutes to do the right thing. Vaughn hangs up the phone and looks around and then looks back at the trash can where he threw the book away. Cut to Vaughn entering a darkened reading area in the children's library. He sits down, places the book next to him. He wipes his mouth nervously, then opens the book to again reveal the syringe. He looks at it, then rubs his face furiously with his hands, as if warring within himself what he wants to do. He looks over at the syringe again...puts his head in his hands again...then grabs the syringe, rips off the ribbon and the cover and injects the substance into his arm. CUT TO BLACK Open to establishing night sh*t of LA. JACK (voiceover): I traced Sydney and Vaughn's movement. They went to Munich. Cut to Sloane's reaction. SLOANE: What did they find? JACK: Undetermined at this point. SLOANE: Jack, the plan was to let Sydney and Vaughn open doors we couldn't go through and to pull them back if they got too far. I don't see much here in the way of containment. JACK: We have an option. I can go to Sydney, engender her trust, convince her to bring the case to APO. SLOANE: Hmm. No. She's too intuitive. Considering your relationship, she'll see right through you...through us. JACK: No, she won't. I know exactly how to approach her. Cut to Sydney, sitting cross legged on her bed, still working on breaking into the Nightingale file. Her telephone rings. She answers. SYDNEY: Hello? JACK: It's me. SYDNEY (surprised): Dad. Hi. JACK: I uh, realize this is short notice, but...I was wondering if you would join me at Micelli's this evening? SYDNEY (stunned): Um... JACK: Is it...bad timing? SYDNEY: Uh, no...I JACK (trying to sound nonchalant): Hey...I was just...hoping you'd be free for dinner. SYDNEY: (pauses) I'll meet you there in 30 minutes. JACK: See you there. Sydney looks at the phone and then hangs up. She goes back to her work with the computer. She unlocks the file and information, schematics, etc. pop up on the screen. Cut to a close up of two limp hands. The camera trails up the person's seated body. It's Vaughn. He appears unconscious and his face is covered in sweat. He begins to come to, breathing heavily. It appears that he tries to move, but finds that he can't. (Note: This appears to be the same neurotoxin the Covenant doctor used on Sydney when they forced her to watch her funeral) Cut to a shadowy figure in the doorway of the darkened room. VOICE: Mr. Vaughn... Cut back to Vaughn, who is still trying to move, but other than moving his eyes and a bit of a grimace on his face, nothing else is moving. The man steps forward. It's a black man in his 30's...someone we've never seen before. MAN: Welcome back. (appears amused by Vaughn's struggle). Don't worry; it's temporary. He walks over and sits down next to Vaughn on the bench seat. MAN: The paralysis should wear off in about...(checks his watch) four minutes 20 seconds. Might sting a little...you know, the re-entry. VAUGHN (barely above a whisper): Who are you? MAN: A man that could tell you about your father. But first...what I want. That intel you stole from Deitrich will lead you to Nightingale. What I'm interested in is the transforming coil inside of Nightingale. VAUGHN (struggling to speak): Are you out of your mind? MAN (snorts): I'm not the one that injected myself with an unknown substance. (pause) So, now that we've established your desperation...it's a matter of how far you're willing to go. VAUGHN: Why should I believe anything you say? MAN: Philip Burke. (leans closer to Vaughn) B. U. R. K. E. VAUGHN: Who's that? The man stands up. MAN: You look him up. And when you're done, you contact me. (holds up a business card, then tucks it under Vaughn's arm.) One time only. Make it count. The man pats Vaughn on the side of the arm and then walks out. Cut back to Vaughn's hands. His fingers are starting to move. Cut to watching Vaughn's feet as he stumbles out into the main part of the library. Obviously, the neurotoxin is still wearing off. Cut to a nighttime establishing sh*t of LA. Cut to Jack, standing as Sydney approaches the table. JACK: Thanks for coming. Sydney clears her throat and then sits down at the table. JACK: I took the liberty of ordering a bottle of Pignot Noir. SYDNEY (pleasantly surprised as he pours her a glass): Okay. JACK (smiling softly): You look...very nice. SYDNEY: Thank you. JACK: So...(lifting his glass) SYDNEY (lifting her glass also): Yes... (Note: It doesn't appear that either one actually takes a drink here) JACK: Everything...okay? SYDNEY: It's fine. JACK (putting down his glass): How's your investigation going? Vaughn's father... SYDNEY (puts down her glass): It's complicated, actually. JACK: You found something. SYDNEY: The intel on the hard drive makes it seem like...Nightingale is an active project. JACK: Active? SYDNEY: Vlatczko is running it out of an abandoned nuclear reactor in Siberia. He's jury-rigged enough power to drive what he needs. JACK: For what purpose? SYDNEY: I'm not sure exactly, but the experiments are molecular, they're...altering human DNA. There was a list of over a dozen human test subjects. All of them died. There's mention of the genetic markers AD9, but I don't know what it all means. JACK (takes a drink from his glass): Sydney, you have to bring this to APO. SYDNEY: Not until I talk to Vaughn. JACK: Vaughn doesn't know that people may be dying because of it. I gave you level 6 clearance because I trusted you. I'm asking you to trust me now. Bring this to APO. If you really want to find answers, use the resources that APO can provide. Sydney looks away in thought. She looks torn. JACK: You have to discuss this with Vaughn first; I respect that. But the longer you keep this off-book, the worse this will look for both of you. The only way to proceed is honestly...above-board. Promise me you'll tell Vaughn that. SYDNEY (nodding): I promise. Jack nods. Cut to Jack sitting in Sloane's office. SLOANE: She told you this? JACK: Yes. SLOANE (seems impressed): Hmm. For 20 years, Josef Vlatczko's been off the grid. Now we find him through Sydney, of all people. (pauses, smiling, then sits down next to Jack). Well, I have to hand it to you, Jack...I never thought that you'd be capable of exploiting your own daughter. I certainly couldn't do that. (switching topics) I could have a strike team on the ground in Siberina in 72 hours. JACK (his voice belying his annoyance): That's a foolish course of action. SLOANE: Vlatczko's our strongest lead to Yelena Derevko. With this intel, we need to act quickly. JACK: Sydney cannot know that I've betrayed her confidence. We wait for her to bring this in. SLOANE: And if she doesn't? JACK: She will. I asked her to. When she does, we'll draw up an ops plan requiring me to go along on the mission. Once there, I'll interrogate Vlatczko without Sydney or Vaughn knowing. SLOANE: If our assumption is correct, Vlatczko's communicating with Yelena. Once you've completed the interrogation, he needs to be eliminated. JACK: It's a little extreme, don't you think? SLOANE: No, I consider it a necessary precaution. He could alert Yelena to our agenda. Or even worse...he could talk to Sydney...which would be a disaster, unless, of course, you want to destroy everything we've worked for. Off Jack's troubled look, we CUT TO BLACK Pan sideways to Vaughn seated in front of his computer at APO. He types the name BURKE, PHILLIP into the search engine. The engine searches and then pulls up a file with photo that says: Phillip Burke, Status: k*lled in Action, Date: 10/21/79, Report: Phillip Burke k*lled in Laos. CIA Agent: 00231545. VAUGHN (reading aloud to himself): Phillip Burke, k*lled in Laos...10/21/79. This information sinks in, and then Vaughn begins typing furiously. Cut to a printed report with Phillip Burke's photo attached. VAUGHN (voice over): They're identical. His name's Phillip Burke. Cut to Vaughn, standing beside Sydney, sitting on a couch in her living room looking through the report. VAUGHN: CIA Black Ops agent k*lled in Laos the exact same date my father was k*lled. The autopsy report showed that Burke was sh*t with a Makarov p*stol, the exact same make and model your mother used to k*ll my father. And there's more. Vaughn pulls out a small envelope and removes a set of dental X-rays and hands them to Sydney. VAUGHN: Dental records. The ones on the left are Burke's, the set on the right are my father's. Sydney studies them and realizes they're the same. SYDNEY: Oh, my God... VAUGHN: I mean, we've always thought your mother k*lled my father...but what if she k*lled Phillip Burke instead? Sydney thinks about it for a second, then asks, SYDNEY: How would the CIA...how would anyone... VAUGHN (cutting her off): Maybe the CIA didn't know and someone wanted the world to think Bill Vaughn died and replaced him with Phillip Burke. Sydney thinks for another moment, then asks, SYDNEY: Vaughn, where did you get this information? VAUGHN: That phone call from before. It wasn't Weiss. I went to see a guy named Roberts. I made a deal with him because he said he had information about my father. Sydney lets that sink in, then stands abruptly, upset. SYDNEY: I can't believe you didn't tell me. VAUGHN: Syd, he said he'd only talk if I came alone. SYDNEY: I don't care; what you did was crazy! VAUGHN: Yeah, and it paid off! This guy knows more and he'll tell me. SYDNEY: In return for what? (crosses her arms across her chest) VAUGHN: He wants me to give him Nightingale. Some...transformer coil. SYDNEY (upset): We don't even know what Nightingale is yet and you want to just hand it over!? VAUGHN: We're just gonna shut down the testing, we're not handing over the entire program...just a part of it. Syd, we do missions like this all the time! SYDNEY: Not on our own; not rogue. Vaughn looks away. After a moment, Sydney continues, SYDNEY: My father wants us to bring this in to APO. Vaughn turns to look at her, and his annoyance is clear in his voice, VAUGHN (not a question): You talked to him again. Sydney nods once in semi-defiance. VAUGHN: Yeah, well your father and Sloane will never let me keep technology like this for myself. And besides, I don't trust them. I don't trust anybody...except you. SYDNEY: Then what do you suggest? VAUGHN: We come clean at APO like your father wants. We drop a mission that will get us Nightingale...then we run a countermission. SYDNEY: Like the old days. VAUGHN: Our stated goal is to retrieve the coil... SYDNEY: ...but instead, we keep it for ourselves. VAUGHN: The only problem is, there's no way we can make a duplicate. We won't have time to make a fake one... SYDNEY: ...so we have a Plan B. Vaughn nods. Cut to daytime view of LA via helicopter. SLOANE (voiceover): We need to retrieve the coil and shut down Nightingale. Cut to briefing room of APO. Sloane, Jack, Marshall, Vaughn, and Sydney are present. SLOANE: Assuming you got to the facility undetected, what then? SYDNEY: Once inside, Vaughn and I will split up. I'll recover the coil while Vaughn takes care of security. VAUGHN: Now, each door in the facility is keycode operated, but Vlatczko operates out of the security station here, so I'll subdue him, I'll override all the locking mechanisms. That should get Sydney into the control room where the coil's held. JACK: What configuration did you say the reactor was running? VAUGHN: RBMK. JACK: Then you'll need two people to retrieve the coil: One to ensure the reactor stays in standby mode while the other enters the test chamber to grab the coil. MARSHALL: Yeah...that's right! SLOANE: That means you're missing one man to override security. JACK: Then...I'll join the team. As third man, I'll access the security system while you and Vaughn recover the coil. Once the mission is complete, we can bring Vlatczko back for questioning. SYDNEY: If we need a third man, Dixon is more than capable... SLOANE: Actually, Jack's experience will serve you well...unless there's something about this mission that you haven't told me. Sloane looks from Vaughn to Sydney, who both stone-cold bluff him. VAUGHN: No, sounds good. CUT TO BLACK SIBE( R ) IA Outside the power plant, Sydney, Vaughn and Jack approach a grate covering the exit to a ventilation shaft. Vaughn unscrews the bolts with an electric drill and removes the cover. SYDNEY: Home plate, we're in. MARSHALL: Copy 5x5; Phoenix standing by. Sloane stands watching and listening over Marshall's shoulder. Cut to Syd, Vaughn, and Jack entering the access and walking through the ventilation tunnel. They come around a corner and take out two guards with tranq g*n. They go around another corner and take out another guard just coming up the stairs. JACK: Going ahead to the security room. SYDNEY: We'll meet you back here with the coil. Jack continues down the corridor; Syd and Vaughn climb some stairs leading to the control room. Cut to Jack turning a corner. He looks up and nonchalantly fires his tranq g*n. As he walks by the camera, we see the body of the person he tranqued fall to the floor from above him. Cut back to Syd and Vaughn taking out guards on their way to the control room. Just as Syd and Vaughn are detected on the security cameras, Jack enters the security room, tranquing the guard and coming up to Vlatczko. JACK: The more you cooperate, the less pain you'll endure. Sit down. Sit down! Vlatczko complies. Jack hits buttons on a console in front of him. JACK: Shutting down security. SLOANE: Jack, are you with Dr. Vlatczo? JACK: Yes, he's been subdued. (switches comms on) g*n, Phoenix...unlocking the door to the control room now. VAUGHN: Copy; almost there. Cut to Syd and Vaughn bursting into the control room and tranquing two scientists. VAUGHN: Okay, Marshall...We're at the control panels. MARSHALL: Is the reactor online? SYDNEY: Negative. I can see the transformer inside now. MARSHALL: Right. Open up the containment shield. That's where the coil is. SYDNEY: Copy. Vaughn hits a button and the shield over the coil lowers. MARSHALL: Now, release the lock to the test chamber. Vaughn hits another button and the chamber door slides open. SYDNEY: We've got the chamber opened. I'm going in. Sydney enters the chamber. SYDNEY: Dismantling the pressure shield now. Sydney starts cutting a hole in the top of the device to remove the coil. SYDNEY: This will take a couple minutes. Cut to Jack and Dr. Vlatczko. JACK: I need information, and I need it very quickly. VLATCZKO: I don't know what you're talking about. Jack whacks him across the face. JACK: I know about Nightingale. VLATCZKO: If you know about Nightingale, what else can I possibly tell you? JACK: The location of Yelena Derevko. VLATCZKO: Yelena? JACK (menacing): Tell me where she is. VLATCZKO: I don't know. Jack hits him across the face again. Cut to Sydney, who almost has a complete hole through the pressure shield. SYDNEY: Ready to remove the coil. Sydney lifts off the piece she cut out. Cut to Jack and Vlatczko. JACK: Where is Yelena? VLATCZKO: I told you, I don't know! JACK: You worked for her. You've been in contact. You couldn't have set this up without her help. VLATCZKO: It was years ago. JACK: I don't have time for this. Jack sh**t Vlatczko in the thigh. Cut back to Vaughn, monitoring from the control room, when a guard comes in, f*ring a machine g*n at him. He ducks to the side and jumps behind the control panel, which is hailed with b*ll*ts and starts to spark. Behind him, the door to the test chamber starts to slide shut. Sydney hears it and runs for it, but not in time; she's locked in. Vaughn takes out the guard, but the damage is done. The control panel is fried. The reactor starts to come online. RECORDED VOICE (in Russian): Sixty seconds. Sydney tries to pull the door open, but it won't budge. SYDNEY: Vaughn! VAUGHN: Syd, the controls are fried. SYDNEY: Can you get me out of here? Cut to Jack and Vlatczko. Jack still has his g*n pointed at him. JACK: Tell me where she is! VLATCZKO: I don't know! VAUGHN: Home base. The reactor's coming online, it's coming online now! MARSHALL: Vaughn, bypass the nuclear fusion switch. It's on the panel under the main controls. VAUGHN (to Sydney): I have to run a bypass! Vaughn gets under the panel and runs the bypass. RECORDED VOICE (in Russian): Thirty seconds. The reactor coil begins to light up in preparation for activation. Sydney pulls at the door and looks helplessly through the glass at Vaughn, and CUT TO BLACK Back to Sydney still in the chamber trying to pull the door open, then cut to Marshall. MARSHALL: Okay, is there an ethernet port next to the motherboard? VAUGHN: Yeah. MARSHALL: Okay, plug it in there. (typing furiously on his keyboard) That should give me access to...(his computer connects to the one at the plant) Okay, nice. That's it. (to Sloane) I'm on the server. Vaughn, use the blue and yellow wire together to open the door. He wires it and then says to Sydney, VAUGHN: Okay, Syd...try the door now. SYDNEY: Still locked! Vaughn! VAUGHN: Marshall, I can't bypass the door. Sydney's in the room with the reactor. Cut to Jack listening to this on his comms. Cut back to Vaughn. VAUGHN: Is there another way to shut down the core!? MARSHALL: Only if you remove the fuel rods. Cut to Jack. His face shows he's obviously torn. Then, he sh**t and kills Vlatczko and bolts out of the room and down the corridor. JACK: Marshall, I'm headed toward the core. MARSHALL: No! No! No! Do not do that! Exposure to that amount of radiation can k*ll you, okay? I can slow down the countdown and buy enough time to corrupt the reactor or mainframe. Just give me some time. RECORDED VOICE (in Russian): Twenty seconds. Vaughn spies the machine g*n the now d*ad guard was using and picks it up. VAUGHN: Take cover! Vaughn sh**t at the glass between him and her, but it's bulletproof. Cut to Jack, running up to the room where the fuel rods are. He tries to enter via the keypad, but it doesn't work. MARSHALL: No, Mr. Bristow... I see what you're doing. Don't go in there. I've almost got it; I can keep the reactor from coming online...I can! SYDNEY (to Vaughn): It's um...getting a little warm in here... VAUGHN: Hang on! I'm working on it! Jack takes apart the keypad to try to hotwire it. RECORDED VOICE (in Russian): Ten seconds. VAUGHN: Marshall, come on! MARSHALL: Okay, almost there, almost there, almost there...got it, the countdown's slowing down. Jack has gotten the panel off and is trying to short the wires. The countdown continues (slower) and we bounce back from Vaughn's worried face to Jack trying to break into the fuel rod room. Cut to Marshall on his computer. MARSHALL (typing furiously): Work some magic! Work some magic! Work some magic! Work some magic! Work some magic! Countdown goes from three to two. Cut from Vaughn's stricken face to Sydney still trying in vain to open the door. Cut to Jack, who has just gotten the access light for the door to go green. Cut back to Vaughn, staring in horror at the coil and then in anguish at Sydney. Sydney braces herself against activation. As the countown gets past two, everything stops. The light on the coil goes out and the regular lights come back up. VAUGHN: Marshall, what happened? MARSHALL (reading from his computer screen): Total system shutdown due to core corruption...I did it. Cut to Vaughn's relieved look at Sydney that Sydney returns. MARSHALL (joyous): We did it! We... Marshall launches himself into a very surprised Slaone's arms to hug him in glee. SLOANE (pulling Marshall off of him): All right, Marshall...Marshall...just free Sydney, would you? MARSHALL: Right! Sorry...um, system's in reset; that should be a problem (types a few keys), and...free at last. Cut to Vaughn running toward Sydney in the hallway. Sydney is carrying the coil. VAUGHN: Sydney! (He grasps Sydney by both shoulders as if steadying her) You okay? SYDNEY: Yeah, I'm fine. (She hands Vaughn the coil.) Plan B. Vaughn shakes his head in almost disgust. VAUGHN: Ah, I hate this. Sydney takes a deep breath and steels herself. SYDNEY: Vaughn...are you sure? Vaughn's face softens and Sydney looks at him almost as if to say, "What?" He reaches forward and pulls her to him, kissing her passionately. As he pulls away, he tells her softly, VAUGHN: I love you. Sydney smiles a bit and answers in a soft, almost a playful tone, SYDNEY: Yeah? (pause) Still? Vaughn smiles and nods slightly, then steels himself and then punches Sydney really hard across the face. Sydney drops to the floor with a grunt. Vaughn grimaces after making contact as if it hurt him to h*t her. She gets back up; her lip is bleeding and she's breathing hard in reaction to the pain. She gives him a little glance almost as if to say, "Nice punch." SYDNEY: Remember what you promised... VAUGHN (strained, as if he hates to see Sydney in pain): I'll let you know when I get there. SYDNEY (gingerly touching the side of her face): 'Kay. Sydney turns and watches as Vaughn runs off with the coil. Cut to Jack running up the stairs toward Sydney. JACK: Sydney! Sydney runs straight into her father's arms. SYDNEY: I couldn't stop him... Sydney pulls out of Jack's embrace to look him in the face. SYDNEY: It was Vaughn... he took the coil. Sydney protects the tender side of her face with her hand for effect. SYDNEY: I couldn't stop him, Dad. He pulls her back into his arms. His face says he clearly doesn't believe her story. Cut to daytime sh*t of LA skyline. Cut to Jack and Sloane in Sloane's office. SLOANE: Well, I don't understand this. Vaughn as*ault Sydney and stole the coil? JACK: Yes. SLOANE: And you believe her? JACK (shaking his head no): Vaughn wouldn't go against us without reason. From his father's journals to this...rash action... Someone must be feeding him information...a third party we're not aware of. SLOANE: Yeah, well obviously this complicates our situation. JACK (annoyed): Yes, I imagine this must be quite upsetting to you, Arvin. My not anticipating Sydney and Vaughn's deceit might be greater than your own... SLOANE (lets that go): Have you thought about how we're going to deal with this... Jack doesn't answer. He appears a bit dazed. SLOANE: Jack? JACK (as if waking from a daydream): Hmmm? SLOANE: Are you all right? JACK: Fine. Just tired. Sloane's face clearly says he's not buying that. JACK: I'll work up some options on retrieving Vaughn and the coil. He stands up and leaves Sloane's office. Sloane watches him leave, and appears to be concerned over Jack's strange behavior. Cut and then pan to Sydney sitting at her dining table, reading the newspaper, eating a sandwich and drinking some milk. She hears a ringing and looks over toward the breakfast bar, where her cell phone sits. She picks it up and her display says she has a new message. She presses on the screen and reveals an email from Vaughn. It says, "I'm okay. Wish me luck..." Sydney smiles softly and then looks worried. Cut to Jack, walking swiftly through APO toward the exit. Marshall chases after him. MARSHALL: Uh, Mr. Bristow...Mr. Bristow! Jack does not slow down at all, but Marshall finally catches up to him. MARSHALL: Hi. Listen, I uh, ran the diagnostics on the core reactor shutdown... You remember the...Marshall saves the day, and uh... JACK (cutting him off): Marshall, this is not the time. MARSHALL: Yeah, but I re-ran security protocols and I checked them and rechecked them twice, believe me, because I couldn't quite understand... JACK (cutting him off again, impatient): Marshall, what is it!? They've reached the hallway leading out into the subway. MARSHALL: I didn't shut down that reactor at all! JACK: That's impossible. MARSHALL: No it isn't! The printouts! Listen, it is physically impossible for me to shut down that reactor from a remote location. I mean, given it's particular status, they would have to be shut down manually, but that's impossible, too, because that would mean that someone...that...that's... (realizing the truth and is horrified) He looks up at Jack with such awe and horror. MARSHALL: I mean, you... The only way it could happen is if...(choked up) you went into the reactor yourself. Jack's face is stoic as usual, but it's clear he's not denying it. Gravely, he says, JACK: It was my daughter's life. Marshall's face is just a picture of grief and utter sadness. The elevator arrives and Jack gets on it, with Marshall just staring after him. Just before the doors shut in front of him, Jack says, JACK: Between. Us. Marshall nods, and the doors close.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x14 - Nightingale"}

foreverdreaming

Opens in the middle of an action sequence. Dixon is jumping out of a vehicle with g*n drawn. DIXON: Drop your w*apon! His team is in a tunnel. Three persons dressed in black are trying to escape. As the front two run, the third turns and fires upon Dixon's team. Dixon hides behind a piece of contruction equipment. DIXON: I need some pressure f*re! Another officer comes up behind Dixon and fires, drawing f*re. Dixon then takes out the man that was sh**ting. Dixon gives chase to the other two fugitives. Dixon pulls open a door and enters an access tunnel. The two fugitives continue to run, but then the one in the back trips and falls. Dixon peeks his head around the corner, and the fugitive lying on the ground fires and a*t*matic at Dixon, who ducks back around the corner. He jumps back out and sh**t the fugitive, but the other fugitive fires on Dixon, hitting him three times in the chest. Dixon slides down the wall, and we hear his breathing is labored. From his point of view, we have a fuzzy picture of the third fugitive walking toward us. The man begins to lift his facemask when Dixon's eyes close and he loses consciousness. Cutting to the fugitive's face as he lifts the ski mask, we see that the sh**t was a very concerned Vaughn. Cut to heliocopter flyover of a building in LA in daytime. LOS ANGELES 48 HOURS EARLIER Cut to Sydney walking into Sloane's office. SYDNEY: You wanted to see me? SLOANE: Has Vaughn contacted you yet? SYDNEY: I'd have mentioned it, don't you think? SLOANE: Sydney, we pulled Vaughn's phone records, and they indicate that he sent you an SM message...to your cell. I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that it got lost in transmission and that you never received it. SYDNEY (hard): If you're looking to catch me in a lie...yes, I got the message. When Vaughn took off, as I've already told you, I tried to stop him. He h*t me. He contacted me to tell me he was sorry...which I didn't consider professionally relevant. As far as where he is or what he's doing, I still have no idea. SLOANE (said off the cuff, as if possibly testing Sydney): He disappeared with a dangerous piece of technology. I have no choice but to notify Langley. SYDNEY: Vaughn isn't a traitor! He would never do what he's doing without a reason. SLOANE: Vaughn went rogue...an unsanctioned mission. Out of consideration for you, I'll give him 48 hours to either return or contact me with an explanation. In the meantime, we will withhold his status from the rest of APO. Should this matter come to light, I don't want anyone else complicit in his deception. SYDNEY: Thank you. Sydney turns around and starts to walk out. SLOANE: Sydney... Sydney turns back around. SLOANE: If Vaughn should contact you... SYDNEY: You'll know. CUT TO BLACK PA( R )IS Cut to Vaughn, sitting at a table at an outside cafe. He checks his watch impatiently and sighs in frustration. A waiter walks by and is about to refill his water glass, when he puts out his hand, motioning, VAUGHN: Non, merci. The waiter walks away. Vaughn checks his watch again, and then stands up. He tosses some coins onto the table with a frustrated huff and turns to leave. Roberts is standing behind him, holding a white pastry bag. ROBERTS: Goin' somewhere? Vaughn turns around to face him, very annoyed. VAUGHN: You're late. ROBERTS: Hardly. Been watchin' you for an hour. VAUGHN (sarcastic): Yeah, am I your type? ROBERTS (with a shrug): Had to be sure you came alone...followed instructions. Roberts offers him a pastry from his bag. VAUGHN: Can we just get this done? ROBERTS: Look around! It's Paris in the springtime! VAUGHN: I'm only interested in answers. ROBERTS: In exchange, you were supposed to bring me something today. VAUGHN: Your big prize is in a safe place. ROBERTS: That's not the deal. VAUGHN: It is now. Vaughn turns and starts to walk away. ROBERTS: You're bluffing. Vaughn turns, rubs his face with his hand and faces Roberts again. ROBERTS: Don't forget, I know how desperate you are. No way you're willing to walk away. VAUGHN: Oh, I suppose that depends on how badly you want it...'cause personally, what the hell am I gonna do with a transforming coil? ROBERTS: You talkin' personally? I don't have a use for it either. VAUGHN: Well, then you can tell your employer exactly what I'm telling you. You'll get the coil when you tell me everything you know about my father. Vaughn and Roberts stare each other down. Cut to nighttime view of LA skyline. Cut to Sydney in her apartment, rubber gloves on, furiously scrubbing the kitchen sink while giving surreptitious glances toward her cell phone. As Nadia and Eric enter, she picks up her cellphone and hits a button, which displays "No Messages". She sets it back down and gets back to cleaning. NADIA: A volcano? ERIC: Yeah, yeah, it's um, Old Yellowstone. It's like a funnel. NADIA (to Sydney): Hey. Nadia and Eric place their grocery bags on the counter, and Nadia starts unloading the bags. ERIC: And the thing is that, on average, it blows every 600,000 years. NADIA: Well, then I don't think we have to worry about it. ERIC: No, no...it hasn't blown in 600,030 years. We're due, sister... What is this? Eric grabs a bar of expensive chocolate off the counter. ERIC: Fancy chocolate? NADIA (grabbing it from Eric's hand): That's not for you. ERIC: Yeah, it...I like fancy chocolate... NADIA (changing the subject): Where is the freezer bag? I left it in the car... ERIC: I'll get it. NADIA: No, no, no, no, no...I'll get it. You...chill. Nadia walks outside. Eric starts to finish unloading the bag. As Nadia walks out onto the porch and shuts the door, her cell phone rings. NADIA: Hello? OPERATOR: You have a collect call from prisoner number 41958 from the Quantico Women's Detention Center. Do you accept the charges? NADIA (looking around to make sure no one is listening): Yes I do. KATYA (voice over phone): Nadia? NADIA: Hello, Katya. KATYA: I was worried about you. NADIA: I'm sorry...I couldn't get away yesterday. But I'm planning to visit tomorrow. KATYA: That's wonderful! NADIA: I have a little gift for you. KATYA: Forgive me for calling...It's just that your visits...it makes this place bearable. NADIA: I'll be there tomorrow. Cut to Eric unloading the groceries. He looks over at Sydney, who is still furiously scrubbing the sink. ERIC: Uh...You heard from Vaughn? SYDNEY: Uh, uh...not yet. ERIC: Gotta be tough on him, right? Going to visit your uncle and all you can do is watch him die? Nothing you can do about it? SYDNEY: Yeah... ERIC: My mom used to do stuff like that. SYDNEY: Like what? ERIC: Scrub the sink...when she was worried about stuff that was out of her control... SYDNEY: I like a clean sink. ERIC (clearly not believing her): Uh, huh...But you would tell me if there was something I needed to be concerned about? SYDNEY: Of course. Cut to Roberts, talking on his cellphone. He and Vaughn are now seated at a table in the outdoor cafe. ROBERTS (into phone): No deal. Says that he has the coil, but he wants answers first. Roberts listens, then hands the phone to Vaughn. ROBERTS: Says he wants to talk to you. Vaughn takes the phone. VAUGHN: Hello. VOICE (through a voice disguiser): You violated our agreement. VAUGHN: You listen to me. I'm sick and tired of all these games. Here's how we're gonna do things... VOICE: You're angry. Good. You can channel that into your next assignment. VAUGHN: No. No. No more assignments. I'm done. You got what you asked for. VOICE: You didn't abide by the terms of our deal. The price has just gone up. Disobey again, and it will continue to do so. VAUGHN: No. That's it. I'm done. VOICE: Check beneath the table. VAUGHN: What? VOICE: Beneath the table. There's an envelope. Open it. Vaughn reaches beneath the table and there is indeed a small manila envelope that's been taped to the bottom of it. He pulls it out and opens it. Inside are several surveillance pictures of a man that looks like he's Vaughn's father. VOICE: If you still wish to back out, feel free to do so. VAUGHN: He's alive. VOICE: Your father is very much alive. The question, Mr. Vaughn, is how far are you willing to go to find him? Vaughn shuts the flip on the cell phone, and the scene, CUTS TO BLACK Now is the time in Alias when we dance! The scene opens to the exterior of a prison. Nadia, accompanied by two guards, walks around a corner and down the hallway where Katya's cell is. We can hear Katya singing the notes to a song to herself. NADIA: That was lovely. Katya turns, smiling, and gets up to approach Nadia. KATYA: It's a folk song my father used to sing about a Russian Robin Hood. It was one of your mother's favorites. Katya reaches through the bars and tenderly touches the side of Nadia's face. KATYA: Ah, it's so nice to see you again, sweetheart. Cut to Marshall walking into Jack's office at APO. Jack is talking on the telephone. JACK (on phone): No, it shouldn't be a problem. MARSHALL: Sorry, I just... Marshall lays some paperwork in front of him to sign. JACK (on phone): Well, considering the hearings, I'm sure the DDO has his hands full. Of course. Give my regards. (shuts off phone) MARSHALL: Sorry, um, requisition forms. The secure server to Langley went down. I did what I could, but I'll need all new servers and a VS2 module, so... Jack signs a form. MARSHALL: Great. If you could also... (hands him another form)...this one here...(Jack signs it, Marshall hands him another one) By the way...since the...incident, have you had a chance to see a doctor? Jack looks up and gives Marshall a "None of your business" look. MARSHALL: Because the radiation levels in that chamber were near lethal, sir. JACK: I'm fine, Marshall. Is there anything else? (hands back the paperwork he signed) MARSHALL (sheepish): No. Thank you. Marshall turns and walks out with the paperwork. Jack looks up and gives him a fleeting glance before going back to his work. Marshall takes the file folder of forms Jack signed into his office. Opening the folder, he sets a blacklight to shine on it, which illuminates Jack's fingerprints on the papers. He puts on rubber gloves, and, taking a surreptitious glance around the office to make sure no one is watching him. He takes a glass bottle and pulls a dropper from the top of it and puts the drops on Jack's illuminated fingerprints. Then he puts the liquid into a vial and caps it, pulling off his gloves. He marks the side of the vial "Patient 17". He turns and walks away with the vial. Cut to Katya and Nadia. Katya is holding the bar of fancy chocolate Katya bought. KATYA: Our family didn't have much -- just the necessities. But your mother had no intention of denying herself. After school, she would go to the St. Basil's Cathedral, where all the tourists were. So careless with their money. So easy to pickpocket. NADIA (surprised, but smiling): How old was she? KATYA: Young; still in grade school. She used her money to buy us candy...until our father found out what she had been doing. (starts to unwrap the chocolate bar) Elena and I were terrified, but not your mother. She stood there, finishing the candy, smiling. We were waiting for her to get h*t. But instead, my father laughed, looking at this little rebel in front of him. Your mother can be quite stubborn, much like your sister. (pauses, then walks back to the bars) How is Sydney? NADIA: Katya, I've told you... KATYA: I know, I know...she's off limits. (Holds out a piece of chocoloate like a pointer) Thank you. (Takes a bite.) NADIA: Of course. (pauses) My mother...Irina...did she ever talk about me? Katya sits down on the bunk in her cell. Turning toward Nadia, she looks ill. KATYA (sounding pained): It's happening sooner than I expected... NADIA: What's happening? Katya pulls up the sleeve of her prison uniform to show Nadia an angry red swelling. KATYA: I'm deathly allergic to chocolate. Nadia looks horrified. Katya stands slowly and grabs onto the bars like a lifeline. KATYA (labored): In fifteen seconds, my breathing will become difficult. NADIA: Katya... KATYA (labored, almost gasping): ...and I would lose consciousness. Tell Sydney, this is how far I am willing to go to see her... (gasps) NADIA: Guard! I need help now! KATYA (gasping, as she loses consciousness): Tell Sydney... NADIA: Guard! Cut to a side street in Paris at night. Vaughn is standing on a streetcorner and Roberts walks up to him. (Assume everything Vaughn says in the next sequence is tinged with annoyance and attitude.) ROBERTS: I know what you're thinking...You'll find him on your own, right? VAUGHN: What are we doing here? ROBERTS: Waiting. I hired a team of independent contractors to help us with the job. VAUGHN: Which is what? ROBERTS: Assume that's not important. VAUGHN: Assume it is...to me. ROBERTS: All you need to know is it's an instruction manual of sorts. Now that coil you got for us? Apparently, it wasn't being used properly. VAUGHN: That's terrific. Like I said, I don't care about the coil. ROBERTS: I'm just like you, man. The less I know, the less guilt I feel. VAUGHN: Yeah, we're a lot alike. ROBERTS: Where do you think he was during the funeral? I mean, like when you were mourning by his grave with your mom? You know, it's usually a girlfriend...at least that's why my old man took off...But I'll tell you, with my mom? Can't say I really blame him. Vaughn looks away, very annoyed. There's a car horn beeping. Both men look toward the car. Roberts starts to walk toward the car, then turns back to look at Vaughn. ROBERTS: You comin'? Vaughn pauses another moment, still upset, but then starts to follow. Cut to their "hideout", where other members of the team are assembled. One is working on perfecting some b*ll*ts. MEMBER1 (with German accent, drinking a beer): Waste of time. 45 caliber; it's not like you need to make it more dangerous... MEMBER2: Maybe not, but it makes me feel better. MEMBER3 (blonde woman, to Roberts as he enters): You said an hour. ROBERTS: Yeah, well we had to take a detour. (as Vaughn walks in behind him) This is Mike. MEMBER3: So, is he any good, or just eye candy? Vaughn turns and glares at her. ROBERTS: Like I said, he's the man who has the technical skills to get what we need done. (introducing the team to Vaughn) This is Sabina, that's Gregor (the one with the beer), and that's Johann over there. Vaughn looks over at Johann, who nods his head in greeting. GREGOR: Mikey...pour you a pint... VAUGHN: I don't usually drink until the job's finished. GREGOR: You drink with me or you cut b*ll*ts with Johann. Your choice. VAUGHN (annoyed): Yeah, well, how 'bout I do neither (turning to Roberts) and you tell me why the hell we're here. Roberts looks at Sabina, who's holding blueprints. Cut to the blueprints being rolled out onto the table. ROBERTS: Okay, now this is a two-pronged plan. Now, tomorrow at midnight, an armored transport will be leaving Darmstadt carrying a very valuable item. We will be stealing that item. But to do it, we're going to need a cold laser. Prototype hasn't even h*t the streets yet. It's in a secure RND wing in a private hospital in Bordeaux. Heavily guarded. VAUGHN: Civilians? ROBERTS: Yeah, you got a problem with that? VAUGHN (after only a second's pause): No. Cut to aerial view of LA skyline. Cut to Jack, walking into Sloane's office. JACK: I got your message. What is it? SLOANE: Dixon has been taken out of the field of rotation. JACK: I know. I authorized it. SLOANE: Yes, I see your signature all over the release forms. Do you really think we can afford to be down one agent when Vaughn's whereabouts are still unknown? JACK: We didn't have a choice. The director of the DSR contacted me directly. And since, for the moment, we're keeping Vaughn's status confidential, I thought it best to comply with his request. SLOANE: I see. What exactly is the nature of Dixon's assignment? JACK: I'm afraid that's confidential as well. SLOANE: From you or from me? Come on, Jack...you don't have to be a genius to see what this is about: Rambaldi. And while I accept that these matters are above my purview, Dixon is a member of my taskforce and it's my responsibility to know what actions and risks he's taking on. JACK: It's a routine transport. Darmstadt, and I assure you, the risks are minimal. Cut to Dixon, catching Sydney in the hallway of APO as they walk toward their office. DIXON (holding up a set of tickets): Syd? Clippers tickets, third row center. I can't go. Langley's tasked me to a special assignment. SYDNEY: You're kidding. DIXON: Nuh, uh. SYDNEY: Well, I'd love to go, but I'm swamped. DIXON: I was going to go with my son. So I tell him I can't go and he tells me it's actually good because he has a date. He's twelve. SYDNEY (smiling): Why doesn't he take her to the game? DIXON: Apparently she'd rather go to a movie. SYDNEY: I'm sure you've taught him well. DIXON: Dinner when I get back? SYDNEY: Yeah, sure. Dixon walks away and Nadia approaches her. NADIA: We need to talk. Cut to Sydney and Nadia talking in the entrance hallway near the door leading to the subway station. SYDNEY: How long have you been seeing her? NADIA: It was our third visit. Sydney pulls Nadia aside as someone exits the elevator and walks by them. They wait until he's gone, then, SYDNEY: This is exactly why I warned you about her. NADIA: Katya's the only person who's ever been willing to answer my questions about Irina. SYDNEY: Irina Derevko was manipulative and cruel. NADIA: She was also our mother. SYDNEY: Which makes it harder to accept, I know, but trust me... NADIA: I know her crimes. I also know how much she helped you at the CIA... SYDNEY: Until she betrayed us...like she always did. NADIA: There's more to her than what's in her file...Katya told me stories... SYDNEY: And you believed her!? NADIA: About some of it, yes. SYDNEY: Then you're deluding yourself, Nadia! Nadia looks away, hurt. Sydney looks sympathetic, grabs her by both arms and shakes lightly to get her to look back at her. SYDNEY: I'm sorry. I've been through this before. Katya's doing the same thing to you that Irina did to me: Telling me what I wanted to hear. Appealing to what I wanted more than anything else in the world: a mother, a family. It was all a manipulation. (pause, then) Do you want to know the truth about our mother? Our mother put a h*t on my life. Our mother tried to have me k*lled. Nadia is utterly shocked. NADIA (whispering): Why didn't you tell me? SYDNEY: There was never a reason to. NADIA (whispering): Oh, my God, Syd...If I knew, I... SYDNEY: Where is she? Katya? NADIA: She's in the hospital. They're keeping her for observation. Sydney walks away purposefully as Nadia turns to watch her sorrowfully BORDEAUX In a hospital. Vaughn enters with Sabine wailing. She has a cut on her head. They are both dressed up fancy. Doctor: What happened? Vaughn: I don’t know. The car just came out of nowhere. Ran right into us. They lay Sabine down on a table. Doctor: Dr. Gerard I need your help. Wheeling Sabine to another room. Sabina: It’s bad. It’s bad, isn’t it. Doctor: (to Vaughn); Sir, she’s in good hands, but you’re going to have to wait outside. Doctor #2 fingers the cut on Sabina’s forehead, and it peels off. The doctor looks confused. Sabina continues to wail. Sabina swings her arm around and knocks him out. Vaughn does the same to his doctor. S and V take the doctors’ clothes and ID. Sabina: I always hated going to the doctor. Let’s go get the laser. They walk down the hallway in nurse and doctor uniforms. They pass by people. Use ID cards to enter a door. Go down some steps. Through another door. Into a room. Possibly a cold-storage lab? The light glows red. Vaughn: There it is. Some light. Sabina: How long will this take? (Pulls out some tools from underneath her skirt. Including a flashlight which she shines at the laser) Vaughn: Hold still. We can’t risk destroying the emitter. Wire cutters. (Sabina hands him a pair of wire cutters) Sabina: Can’t we just unplug it or something? Vaughn: Sure, if you don’t mind bl*wing it up, and k*lling both of us in the process. Argon canister. It’s under pressure. (continues working) Sabina: So you’re CIA. Vaughn: Is that what Roberts told you? Sabina: He said you were in a period of transition. Vaughn: I guess you could say that. Sabina: I went through the training program. Camp Perry. CIA was looking for female agents with Russian language skills. They rejected me. Vaughn: Yeah, but you’re probably better off. Sabina: That’s what I figured. More profit. And more fun, too. Vaughn: This should do it. (refering to the laser) Sabina: Let me help. (she tries to kiss V) Vaughn: (pulls back abruptly) I’m good, thanks. They take the laser. A guard comes in to see Vaughn and Sabina kissing. Once they “realize” the guard is there, they stop. Speak French. Vaughn: (to the guard) How dare you. Get out of here. Guard: I’m sorry sir. Vaughn: Please leave. Guard: I just need to check your identifications. Vaughn goes to show him his ID, but fights him instead. Vaughn turns his back. Guard pulls out g*n to sh**t Vaughn. Sabina pulls out g*n and sh**t the guard. Sabina: Let’s go. (V stares at the d*ad guard) We need to leave now! Back in warehouse. Vaughn and Sabina sitting on a bed. Sabina is bandaging Vaughn’s cut on his arm. Sabina: I’ve seen worse. You could use a few stitches I suppose. Vaughn: That won’t be necessary. Sabina: Fine. Let it scar. Who knows, it might toughen you up a bit. I saw the look on your face when I k*lled that guard. I saved your life. Vaughn: Thanks. Sabina (smiles): Don’t tell me you’re torn up inside. I thought you agency boys were tougher than that. Vaughn: (looks at her) It was him or me. I’m okay with that. Sabina: You could have fooled me. You haven’t stopped brooding since we left the hospital. Vaughn: Yeah well maybe it’s because I don’t like being here with you. Sabina: You know what I think? This is exactly where you want to be. (she kisses his neck) Vaughn throws her down on the bed, roughly. Vaughn: Consider this the second time you’ve been rejected by the CIA. Katya’s hospital room. Sydney walks in. Katya sits up in a hospital bed with some tubes sticking out of her. Sydney: Understand this. Talk to my sister again, I will make sure you regret it. Katya: The protective sister, how charming. And how satisfying it must be for you to know you have it all figured out. I would think you of all people should know the world is never black or white. Sydney: The last time I saw you, Aunt Katya, you tried to put a b*llet in my head. Given the opportunity, I wouldn’t mind seeing you suffer. Consider this visit a warning. Leave Nadia alone. (she goes to leave) Katya: I had no intention of k*lling you, nor did your mother. Sydney: (she turns back) What do you know about that? Katya (smug): I know you believe your mother put out a contract on your life. Surely you must have asked yourself why she would want you eliminated. And I’m willing to bet you haven’t come up with a satisfying answer. Your mother loved you. And to look at you now and see how quickly you’ve abandoned her-if she only knew she would be ashamed. Sydney: I’m not having this conversation. Katya: Before dying, Irina tried to contact me. She believed someone was setting her up, wanting it to appear that she was trying to have you k*lled. I need you to get me that message. Bring it to me. It’s the least you could do for her. APO Marshall’s office-lab. Sloane walks up. Marshall’s working on something. Sloane: Marshall. Marshall: (stands up) Mr. Sloane. Hey. Sorry. You know the classics. (referring to what he’s working on) Never go out of style. Sloane: A test tube was sent to forensics for analysis. Did you authorize that? Marshall: Yes. Yes I did, uuuuh. Is that a problem, ooooor- Sloane: There’s no problem. Just a curiosity. It’s indicated that the blood sample was one of Dr. Vlachko’s test subjects. I thought we already analyzed those. Am I missing something, Marshall? Marshall: Uh, y’know what? I haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately. Mitchell’s got an ear infection (points to his own ear) and I probably just forgot to send it in. (points to Sloane) Sorry. Sorry about that. (turns around and starts working on something) Did the results come back? Sloane: It’s nothing we didn’t already know. The subject was suffering from a large scale genetic mutation. However, Marshall, I want you to know, (Marshall looks at him) There are protocols in this office. I’m sure your failure to notify me of this submission is also do to your lack of sleep, yes? Marshall: Yes, it probably was. I’m very tired, and I’m not. . . (Sloane leaves) Inside warehouse. Vaughn, Roberts, Sabine, Gregor, Jan sit around a table looking at plans. Gregor: Why complicate our life? We could get on and off without the transport even knowing they were h*t. Roberts: That item we want is extremely delicate. I mean, we can’t risk the transfer in a moving vehicle. Gregor: I thought you said we were stealing an instruction manual? Roberts: We are. A very old one. Written by an inventor in the fifteenth century. You breathe on it wrong and it will crumble. Jan: Seems like a lot of trouble for an old book. Roberts: It’s valuable to my employer, so then it’s valuable to us. Okay, it’s gonna be a 2-car caravan. (points to drawings on a dry-erase board) The lead car’s going to be the armored transport. It’ll be leaving the depot at midnight tonight traveling along this route. Vaughn: We’re hitting a CIA convoy. Roberts: That’s right. Vaughn: So this is why you needed me. Walking outside. Vaughn and Roberts. Vaughn: From the moment you contacted me, you knew you’d need the bypass, Even if I had given you the coil- Roberts: We’d have never told you where your father is. That’s right. Guess that makes us bad people, huh? Nothing’s changed though, you still want answers. Vaughn: You son of a b****. Roberts: You know, by the way, you should be thanking me. You should be grateful. Vaughn: Thanking you for what? Roberts: For tracking your father down. Let me tell you something. That wasn’t know small feat. Your father’s been hiding for the past- Vaughn: You’re asking me to betray my agency. Roberts: Well. l I fell really bad about that, you know what? I’ll say an extra hail Mary tonight before I go to bed. Vaughn: If I do this, I can’t go back. Roberts: (laughs) That has a certain poetry to it, doesn’t it? Like father, like son. Me? I came this far, I’d have crossed the finish line. But like I say, I’m a bad guy. Oh, guess what? Your dad is too. I mean, he’s not being held prisoner. And for 25 years, he allowed his wife and his kid to think that he’s been d*ad? That’s a bad guy. You think on that. I’ll be inside. (goes inside) APO Nadia walking up to Sloane sitting at his desk in his office. Nadia: I need to speak with you. Sloane: Of course, what is it? Nadia: I wanted to tell you before you were notified through official channels. I’ve been visiting Katya Derevco. Sloane: Your aunt? (Nadia nods) And I assume it’s not on official business. Nadia: No. It was personal. I thought Katya might be able to fill in the blanks about my mother. Tell me who she was. Sloane: I see. Well. . .thank you for telling me. Nadia? What did she tell you? Nothing I didn’t already know. That she was a criminal. A m*rder. Sloane: (gets up) Sweetheart, no one is a single thing. Look, I understood Irina. We were both cut from the same cloth. Both committed to our work. And I suppose because of that, we both did some things that are unforgivable. But, Nadia, Irina is also capable of having a great capacity for love. I saw the way she looked at Sydney. The way she held that child in her arms. And I am absolutely sure she felt the same way about you. She searched for you Nadia. She may not be here to answer your questions, but the one thing I know to be true- your mother loved you. Nadia: I’d like to believe that. Sloane: Then do. (hugs Nadia) Repair shop. Clocks ticking. Sydney opens the door. Bell dings. Clerk (Friendly looking, gray-haired old guy): (to customer) Have a wonderful day. Customer leaves. Sydney walks up to the counter. Sydney: Hi. I’m here to pick up a repair. Clerk: Of course. You have the service ticket? Sydney: Nope, just the number. 112402. Clerk: Give me just a moment. (goes to get box and places it on the counter, opens box and pulls out a beautiful wooden music box) Quite lovely, isn’t it. Open it. Sydney opens it and a song starts to play. Sydney: How much do I owe you? Clerk: Nothing. It’s already been paid for. Have a lovely day. Sydney: Thank you. (Starts to leave when her cell phone rings. To phone) Hello. (pause) Hello? Shows Vaughn listening to his cell phone. He doesn’t speak. Sydney: Vaughn? Vaughn, say something. Vaughn hangs up. Warehouse, I guess, where Roberts and his team have been. Roberts is sitting at a desk. Vaughn walks up to him. Vaughn: We’re gonna do this my way. You want to pull this off, I’m taking charge. Roberts: Sure thing. Vaughn: That truck will be heavily guarded, loaded with state of the art surveillance. I want RF jammers on every team member. Shows elevator. Guys walk off it carrying a briefcase. Vaughn’ voice over. Vaughn (VO): Now an item this important, the CIA’s gonna use their best agents. Even the smallest mistake will compromise our mission. Shows guy carrying briefcase walking up to Dixon and crew. Vaughn (VO): We can use the cold laser to open the safe, but without the proper code, the safe’s backup system will engage. Show’s Dixon taking the briefcase. Shows Roberts and Vaughn preparing for the mission. Vaughn: Once we’re inside, I’ll bypass the safe’s backup system while Sabina sets up the cold laser. We’ll have no more than 3 minutes. Shows convoy back doors opening. Dixon gets inside. Opens safe. Opens briefcase. Takes out Rambaldi manuscript. Places it in the safe. Closes safe. Closes briefcase. Leaves Guard in there. Dixon leaves. Doors close. Shows Vaughn and Roberts’s team. Vaughn: One last thing, because there’ll be no sh**ting on this job. CIA protocol. They will not f*re unless fired upon first. If anyone has a problem with what I just said, speak up now. We understood? Sydney’s apartment. Se’s messing with the music box. The music is playing. Red lights start flashing in box. Nadia walks in. Nadia: You have a minute? Sydney: Of course. (Quickly close the music box) Nadia: I wanted to apologize about going to Katya. I should have told you. Sydney: You don’t have to apologize. Nadia: When I found out Arvin Sloane was my father, I was horrified. My entire life, I wanted to meet my parents, and the truth was so . . . ugly. But he’s changed. There’s good in him. I guess I was hoping the same thing was true for our mother. Sydney: I’m sorry. Nadia: Me too. Doorbell rings. Nadia: That’s Eric. We’re going out for lunch. You want to come? Sydney: No thanks. I’m just gonna hang out here. Nadia: Okay. Sydney: Have fun. They smile at each other. Nadia leaves. Sydney goes back to working with the music box. Opens it. Red lights flashing. Red lights turn out to be numbers. She writes down the numbers. APO Shows notebook. Number is 001-87456829. Shows Sydney typing at computer, at her desk. Opens some files. Shows different bank accounts. Shows name . . . A. Sloane. Sydney gets a desperate look on her face. DARMSTADT Street. Convoy drives with escort. Stops at red light. Roberts drives up beside, listening to loud music. Shows Vaughn and Sabina underneath Roberts car. Vaughn: Here we go. Shows V and S slide from underneath Roberts’s car to underneath the convoy. V uses blowtorch on underside of the convoy to make a hole. Guard sees smoke. Gets suspicious. Goes to inspect. The hole hits him and he goes unconscious. V and S enter the convoy through the hole. Vehicles start moving again. V and S get to work cutting wires and connecting others. Vaughn: We’ve secured the hole. Roberts (on comms): Copy. Strike team, they’re clueless. No idea you’re hitching a ride. 110 seconds till X-fer. Vaughn: (to Sabine) Now we’ll see how good you really are. Sabine: Oh, I’m good. Roberts: You’ve got 95 seconds. Vaughn How you doing? Sabina: Ready. Sabina turns on cold laser and uses it to cut a hole in the safe. Vaughn: Almost there. Convoy and escort enter the tunnel from the beginning of the episode. Roberts: All right. Here we go. V and S cover their heads as the safe falls apart. Sabina: Nice timing. Roberts: Strike team, repot. What’s going on? What the hell is going on? Shows V take manuscript out of safe. Sabina: Package secured. Shows vehicles in tunnel. Escort a bit further down than convoy. Smaller vehicle to the right of the convoy cuts in front of the convoy and brakes. Roberts: Strike team. Get ready for impact. Shows V and S. Show convoy driver. Shows Dixon in escort. Dixon: Turn back. (Readys a g*n. Escort vehicle turns around and drives back to convoy.) Vaughn: (to Sabina. Still in convoy) Let’s go. V and S exit convoy. Dixon gets out of escort vehicle. Dixon: Drop your w*apon! Masked bandit starts sh**ting. Vaughn (yells): NO! Masked bandit continues sh**ting. Dixon: (to crew) I need suppressive f*re now! Dixon and crew sh**t the masked bandit sh**t, most likely Jan and Gregor. V and S run off. Dixon: (To masked bandits) Drop your w*apon! (g*n sh**ting) (To crew) I need suppression! V and S run away. Dixon follows suit. Down a stairwell and through some doors and down a hallway they run. S falls and screams. V doubles back to help, but Dixon comes around the bend and sh**t S when she starts sh**ting at him. V sh**t Dixon. S is d*ad. V walks up slowly to Dixon and takes off his mask. Vaughn stares at Dixon. Dixon’s radio: Dixon report. Do you copy? Two hostages escaped into the tunnel. Hostages in the tunnel. Do you copy? Warehouse. Roberts: Got to hand it to you man. You a closer. Let’s see em. Where’s the manuscript? Vaughn punches Roberts. And holds him by the collar. Vaughn: He’s d*ad all along. Hasn’t’ he? Roberts: What? Vaughn: My father would never have done this. Roberts: Man, Have you lost your mind? Vaughn: My father’s d*ad, you son of a b****. And you used that. The truth! I want to hear you say it! He’s been d*ad all along! Roberts: Man, you’ve seen the pictures. Vaughn: Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of things. Roberts: All right, you want me to say it? Fine. He’s been-(Vaughn punches him again) Vaughn: The truth! Tell me the truth! Roberts: Woah. (Vaughn starts to swing at him again) Okay, okay. He’s d*ad man. Okay, he’s d*ad. Vaughn: What else? Roberts: What? Vaughn: The rest of it. How’d he die? Roberts: Man, you know the rest. Vaughn: Say it! Roberts: Irina Derevko k*lled him. The pictures, the witnesses, the journals-everything was fake. Everything. Vaughn: Who else? Who set me up? Who do you work for? Roberts: Please. You know- Vaughn bangs him up a bit. Vaughn: Who do you work for? Tell me. Roberts: Sloane. I work for Sloane. (faints) Katya’s prison cell. Katya: You found the message. Sydney: Bank records. Payments to the assassin who tried to k*ll me. Katya: The records exonerate Irina. Sydney: Yes. Katya: Sydney, whoever did this, for your mother, my sister, we have to make it right. We have- You already know who it was. Sydney: My mother traced the bank payments to their source. She discovered who it was. Katya: That case- Oh if I would have gotten the message in time. . . Sydney: She would still be alive. Katya: Who is it? Sydney: Before I tell you, you must promise me Nadia can never know. APO Jack’s office. Marshall walks in. Jack is sitting at his desk. Marshall (just being Marshall): Your’re probably gonna want to k*ll me when I tell you this, but I ran some tests. (lifts folder in his hands) Jack: What kind of tests? Marshall: You may be very sick, Mr Bristow. Now, you’ll need additional bloodwork to be sure- Jack: I thought I made myself clear, Marshall. This is not something I care to discuss. Marshall: I understand. Just hear me out. You have a mutation. Jack: Marshall, I’ve heard enough. Marshall (urgently): Dammit, you may not care what happens to you, but what happens to you affects other people. Sydney, for example. Have you thought about that? You need to see a doctor, now! Sloane (from behind): Is everything all right here? Jack: We were just finishing up. Marshall: Yeah, just finishing up. (takes one last look at Jack and leaves) Sloane: Jack. . .Is there something we need to discuss? Sydney’s apartment. Doorbell rings. Sydney answers. It’s Vaughn. Vaughn: Hi Sydney: Hi They hug. She gives him a kiss on the cheek. Vaughn: He’s d*ad, Syd, my father. He’s been d*ad all along. I think. You know, I’ve- I’ve lived with his death for so long, I would have done anything just to see him again. But then I realized that my father, he would have never left my mom and me, not for anything. The man I knew could never have walked away from the people he loved. Sydney: How did you know? Vaughn: Cuz I couldn’t either. (they smile at each other) It was Sloane. I should have seen it all along. I swear to G-d, Syd, I am gonna k*ll that son of a b****. Sydney: Come inside. There’s something I have to tell you. APO Sloane’s sitting at his desk in his office. Sloane: Jack. Jack: I just spoke with Sydney, Vaughn’s returned. Sloane: Where was he? Jack: I’ll be debriefing him tomorrow. He retrieved the coil. It’s on his way to the DSR facility for analysis. Sloane: Good. Jack: One more thing. Dixon ran into some interference abroad. He’s okay. He had his vest on. But you were right to be concerned. Sloane: What about the DSR transport? Jack: The artifact has been secured. Sloane: Okay. Jack: Unless there’s something else, I’m headed out. Sloane: No, have a good evening, Jack. Jack: You too. (he walks out) SANTIAGO Office somewhere. Man hangs up phone and starts walking angrily. Man: Mr. Sloane? I’m sorry to report, Mr Sloane, we didn’t recover the manuscript. And Roberts hasn’t reported in. Arvin Clone: (sitting in his desk) I see. Nothing changes. Everything proceeds as planned.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x15 - Pandora"}

foreverdreaming

Krakow, Poland Plane lands. Inside airport. A woman talking on her cell phone. She’s in the metal detector line. Sinclair: (to phone) I know. I know. I know. I’m simply exhausted. The engineer’s meeting went over by about 2 and a half hours. And of course, I missed my flight, but luckily I was able to rebook the same day. Oh, you know what? Francis called, and, um, they want to publish my paper. (laughs) I know. I know. (picks up her bags) Well, you know, we’ll celebrate when I get home. You know what? I’ve got to go, sweetheart. Tell the girls I have a little something for them. Give them a kiss. All right, love you too. Bye. (ahhh, so sweet) She hangs up. She puts her bags on the conveyer belt and walks through the metal detector. It beeps. Guys in military uniform watch her. Guy 1: Excuse me. (to Sinclair) Place your luggage and shoes on the table please. Sinclair: Oh, me? (she does what she’s told) Guy 2: And your shoes. Sinclair: Oh. (she smiles) They r*fle through her things and pull out a . . .teddy bear. Sinclair: Oh, it’s just for my daughter. Guy 1: I will need you to follow me. Sinclair (confused): I don’t understand, It’s just a bear. Guy 1: This way. (he walks away) Sinclair: Hang on. Can I have my shoes back, please? (she follows) Excuse me what is going on? (bunker) Am I not allowed to have a toy? Y’know, I’d like some answers out of the 2 of you. I’m an American citizen. Guy 1: Don’t worry, Dr. Sinclair. Sinclair: Hang on a second. The other guy looked at my passport. You didn’t. How did you know my name? Guy 1: Your luggage tag. Sinclair: Ugh. (barefoot she stepped in water) Oh, this is great. This is just great. Guy 2, I think, puts his arm around her throat and tranqs her. She gasps. Los Angeles Nighttime. Outside. On a walkway. Sydney and Vaughn are already there. Jack walks up. Sydney: (to Jack) Thanks for coming. Jack: On the phone, you sounded desperate. Vaughn: For the past month, I’ve been investigating leads which- Jack: Suggest that your father is still alive. So? What did you discover? Vaughn: What I learned is that it was a hoax. My father was k*lled by Irina Derevko in 1979. But someone was trying to make me believe otherwise. Jack: Any idea who may have perpetrated this elaborate conspiracy? Vaughn: Arvin Sloane. Sydney: One of his colleagues confessed. Jack: What possible motive would he have- Vaughn: To force me into stealing something they wanted. I mean, come on Jack, do I really have to explain to you what this is about? Sloane hasn’t reformed. And he’s still after the same things. Sydney: There’s more, dad. Vaughn wasn’t the only person deceived by Sloane. The contract, the h*t that was put on my life-I’ve seen the bank records. The payments paid to the assassin. It wasn’t Mom. It was Sloane. He was behind it. He wanted you to k*ll her. I’m sorry, dad. We should notify the Agency- Chase. Jack: No. I’ll handle everything. AC’s warehouse. Sinclair is sitting in a chair, crying, with a bag over her head. Man pulls bag off. Sinclair: What do you want? Just tell me what you want. Arvin Clone walks in. AC: Welcome, Professor Sinclair. Men’s restroom. Sloane is standing against the wall. Jack walks up to him. Sloane: What’s this about, Jack? Jack (grabs Sloane and hold him up against the wall): You can’t imagine what it felt like looking into the face of the woman I once shared a life with, and with a single b*llet ending that life. I ran through every scenario. Why? What was the purpose of having me believe the only way to save my daughter’s life was to k*ll her mother? And then it occurred to me why you would go to such lengths It was for Sydney. You imagined you’d drive a wedge between me and my daughter. Sloane: I didn’t. I had nothing to do with Irina’s death. Jack: (pulls out a g*n, puts it to Sloane’s head) One good reason why I shouldn’t do to you what I did to my wife. Sloane: Jack, this doesn’t make sense. Think about it. Even if I did succeed in undermining your relationship with Sydney-which, given our agreement, runs counter to my self-interest-even then, with all the people in Sydney’s life-Vaughn, Nadia, anyone-do you really believe that she would turn to me? Jack, I didn’t do this. (Jack lowers the g*n) Someone is setting me up. AC’s bunker. Sinclair: (to Arvin Clone) Who are you? AC: Your questions will all be answered in time. It’s-what I have, what we can do together, that matters. (Opens Rambaldi manuscript) Years ago, I was with the army corps of engineers. They wanted me to study a certain manuscript. These pages were drawn over 500 years ago by a man of genius who anticipated scientific principles centuries ahead of his time. (shows her Rambaldi drawings, including the one of the Mueller device) Sinclair: You’re insane. AC: Not at all. Prototypes of his designs have already been built. Turned up all over the world. I’ve been collecting them for the past 35 years. Sinclair: I don’t understand. What do I have- AC: I’ve been following your career, Dr. Sinclair, since Stanford. I need your expertise. Sinclair (dubious): You want me to build a 500 year old machine? (laughs) Okay. Listen to me. I know that, um, we all have beliefs, and things that we really want and wish to be true and real. But these specs-they’re just theoretical. They have absolutely no basis in physical reality. AC: Once you see, once you believe, It’ll change everything for you. Sinclair: And what if I don’t cooperate? Enter new guy. Wheeling a tray with a small Mueller device on it. (it looks different than the one in the pilot) AC: You will. APO Hallway outside entrance. Jack, Vaughn, and Sydney. Sydney: You believe Sloane. Jack: Until proven otherwise, yes. Vaughn: Until proven otherwise? Didn’t you hear what I said? What the hell did Sloane say to you? Jack: Actually, Agent Vaughn, in this country the burden of proof is established on guilt, not innocence. Sydney: Roberts, he’s in custody. He said that Sloane was behind the att*cks, that he worked for Sloane. Vaughn: You want to put them together? Sydney: Assume he makes a positive ID. You put him face to face with Sloane. Watch him try to deny that. Vaughn: (to Jack) You’ll have your proof. Roberts is being lead down a corridor with some guards. Vaughn (VO): Roberts, the man you are about to see is your former employer, Arvin Sloane. All we need you to do is make a positive ID. Sloane sitting at a table. In the next room over is Roberts sitting in a chair with Sydney, Jack, Vaughn, behind. Vaughn: Well? Roberts: Huh. Vaughn: What does that mean? Roberts: I mean, that dude is him-sort of. Jack: Is it him or not? Roberts: I mean, yeah, it’s him, but then, it’s not. Know what I’m saying? Sydney: So it’s not him, but- Roberts: But, almost him. This is wild. Like, they don’t even look that much alike, but. . .Oh, this is freaky, man. You ask me, both of them give me the creeps. Vaughn, Sydney, Jack, Sloane, walking through APO. Sloane: (to Jack) Now that I’ve been exonerated by your informant, I suggest you find out what it is he really knows. I’ll be in my office. I believe it’s still mine, yes? (he leaves) The others just stand there discussing. Vaughn: Just because Roberts didn’t make a positive ID doesn’t mean that Sloane’s not involved. AC walks up to Sinclair, in the warehouse. AC: There a problem? Sinclair: (standing, pouring over the manuscripts) Yes, actually there is. You’re missing a vital component. AC: Am I? Sinclair: A transformer coil. AC: Which acts as a containment s*ab. Sinclair: Yes, that’s right. AC: Yes, we were hoping to have obtained the coil by now. Sinclair: Well, then you know then, without it a device of this size is incapable of withstanding it’s own power output. AC: (grins): Hmmm. (moves the manuscript out of the way and takes off his glasses) Maggie. I hired you because countless times you’ve proven yourself capable of improvising solutions where others have failed. (You can tell he’s getting impatient) Sinclair: Well, I thank you for your vote of confidence, but even I have my limits. AC: I see. AC leaves and finds guy from earlier. AC: (to Guy) Motivate her. Guy enters room with Sinclair in it. APO Sloane’s office. Nadia: I want to believe you, but it doesn’t make any sense. Why someone would set you up, pursue the same specific things you’ve pursued in the past. Sloane: So you think that I have resumed my search for Rambaldi. Nadia: Have you? Sloane: Nadia, I made you a promise. I gave up my past obsessions for you. Look, I know I’ve given you reasons to doubt me. I know I’ve acted crazy in the past, but what happened in Sienna, sweetheart. . .that won’t happen again. I promise. Warehouse. Sinclair tied to a chair. Sinclair: (to guy) What he’s asking might not even be possible. Even with the component. Please listen to me I’m begging you. Guy turns on machine. Sinclair screams. APO Briefing room. g*ng around the table. Sloane: As you are aware, evidence indicates that someone has been actively perpetrating crime in my name. Objective is simple-find the man. Apprehend him. Vaughn: Assuming he exists at all. Jack: That’s the assumption we’re working with. Sloane: Our best lead is Roberts. Where are we with him? Dixon: Roberts has been interrogated. His knowledge of the organization he was working for is extremely limited. Sydney: But we can still use him. He knows their contact protocol. We give Roberts the coil and put him into play. He makes the exchange, we track the coil back to Arvin Cloane. Minimal laughter around the table. Sydney: Sorry, that’s what we’ve been calling him. Weiss: Yeah, also, uh, Marvin Sloane. Rolling Sloanes. Marshall: But obviously equally disrespectful. Nadia: Has Roberts agreed to cooperate? Sloane: I’m sure we can persuade him to see things our way. Marshall: Um, excuse me, sorry, but we all know the coil is a key component in the Rambaldi design. Rambaldi. Which means that, per your pardon agreement, Mr. Sloane, you must recuse yourself of all matters Rambaldi. You have to leave this room. Sloane: Marshall, this mission is about proving my innocence. Sydney, Marcus, talk to Roberts. Help him to see that it’s in his best interest to work with us right away. Typical white APO room. Roberts: You expect me to double-cross Sloane? Sydney: He’s not Sloane. Roberts: Whoever he is. You dangle bait in front of a man like that, you lose a hand. I’m sorry, but, uh, no can do. Dixon: Let’s be clear. You play ball with us, or enjoy the rest of your life in prison. Roberts: I’ll be safer in prison. Trust. Sydney: We guarantee immunity from prosecution. National security crimes, Europal records, parking tickets- you name it, it all disappears. Dixon: And we relocate you to someplace safe. Roberts: Someplace safe, what, like Mars? Sydney: You’ll have full CIA protection. You have our word. Roberts: Look, I met the man twice. I deal with his number 2. Cat named Carter. You think about running a trace, they’ll know. Sydney: (referring to the phone) The line’s clean. Warehouse. Screaming. Carter turns out to be the one torturing her. Carter’s cell phone rings. Sinclair: Please, no! No, please, no! Roberts: I’m hanging up. Sydney: No, no. Let it ring. Roberts: What do you want me to do, leave a message? Sydney: We won’t get a chance like this again. Sinclair is screaming. Carter’s phone rings. Carter answers. Roberts: It’s Roberts. Carter: Where have you been? Roberts: Well, hello to you too, Carter. Carter: It’s not nice to disappear, Mr. Roberts. Roberts: Yeah, well, um, things got a little hot. So I had to lay low for a little while. Carter: Lie low. A thing lays. As in you lay a book down. A person lies. Roberts: Oh, okay. Uh, well, listen. Why don’t we get together. You can give me some grammar lessons, and I can give you that coil you’ve been looking for. Carter: You have the coil? Sydney: I’m looking right at it. But considering the considerable risk I’ve taken to procure it, the price just went up. Carter: Name it. Roberts: 750. Plus a neutral place to meet. Plus no more grammar lessons. Carter: A neutral location? Roberts: Yeah, that’s right. Or I disappear again, and I take your slinky with me. Carter: You can call back in a half hour. I’ll have a location. (hangs up, pause, to Sinclair) Might not seem it but this could be the luckiest day of your life. Roberts: (to Dixon and Sydney) You people better have my back. Sydney rushes into Jack’s office. Sydney: (to Jack) The meet is on. Jack: Where? Dixon: Tomorrow. Around the corner. 1500. Fancy hotel, of course. Nadia and Sydney hacking into the computers. Sydney: 47. . .45. . . Nadia: He’s innocent. Sydney: Maybe. Nadia: I know it, Sydney. Sydney: I hope you’re right. Nadia: Do you? Marshall (on comms): Okay, one more patch ladies and I am tied into the hotel surveillance system. Marshall: Perfecto. Que bueno, Nadia y Sydney. All systems up and running, ready to rock. Dixon: Moving into position. Sloane: Copy Dixon, we have you on screen. Weiss enters hotel with his arm around Nadia. Weiss: Oh, this place is k*ller. We have to get married here. Nadia: You haven’t even proposed yet. Weiss: They don’t know yet. We can tell them that we’re thinking about it and get a free meal off the sampler menu. Roberts walks through the lobby, carrying the case with the coil. Vaughn comes down the escalator and stops Roberts Vaughn: Excuse me sir, do you have the time, please? Roberts: Time for me to get the hell out of here. Vaughn: Just look at your watch and tell me what time it is. Roberts: 2:55 Vaughn: When Carter arrives we’ll move in and arrest him. You have nothing to worry about. Roberts: Clearly, you don’t know the man. They go on their ways. Roberts passes Dixon, who is sitting, reading a newspaper. Roberts goes to the bar and sits. Roberts: (to bartender): Yo, rum cannonball. Sydney: (also sitting at the bar) A little early for the hard stuff, don’t you think? Roberts: No, I don’t. In fact, make it 2, one for each hand. Jack: We have an approach. Man sits next to Roberts. Roberts: Do I know you? Man: I’m just here to make the sweep. Make sure you’re not carrying any w*apon. (Makes the sweep.) Jack: Sit tight, Sydney, see where this goes. Man: Okay, come with me. Roberts: Woahwoahwoahwoah, the plan was to meet here. Man: The plan’s changed. We’re doing this in the penthouse. Jack: (to marshall) Show me. Marshall’s computer shows the penthouse entrance, with 2 guards standing outside. Roberts and Man go to elevator. Jack: All teams redeploy to cover the penthouse. Weiss: Moving to the freight elevator. W and N go. Dixon goes. Vaughn goes. Jack: Sydney, we need audio on Roberts. Sydney: (on cell phone) copy. (she gets up and leaves) At the elevator. Man: You got stones, man. Double-crossing Carter like that? Sydney (comes up behind them): Sir? Sir, you left this at the bar. (hands Roberts the cell pone, she leaves) Roberts: Thanks. (Man checks Sydney out) So, did Carter come himself or did he send somebody? Man: Oh, nonono, he wants to do this face to face. They get inside the elevator. Sydney goes for the other elevator. Sydney: Following them up. Sydney looks out the elevator glass to see. . .Arvin Clone looking right back at her through the other elevator that is going down. Sydney: Something’s wrong. He’s here. The Clone. Sloane: They’re gonna cut the cable. BOOM. The cable snaps, it’s been cut. The elevator falls. Sydney (watches): On my way to the subbasement now. Subbasement. Carter opens the elevator with a crowbar. Man and Roberts are d*ad. Cater picks up the case with the coil and hands it to Arvin Sloane. In Sydney’s elevator, she pulls out a g*n. Her elevator opens, she walks to the other wrecked elevator. There is broken glass and wires strewn across the elevator. Sydney: Roberts is d*ad. And the coil is gone. APO Sloane is looking at a picture of Arvin Clone. Sydney walks in. Sydney: I need to speak with you. I saw him at the hotel. It was only for a moment, but I know now what Roberts was talking about. The man, the imposter-everything about him Sloane. His clothes, his posture, the way he looked at me-it’s the way you look at me. Sloane: And how is that, Sydney? Sydney: Let’s just say it’s equally disturbing. Sloane: Yeah. Well, quite frankly I’m surprised that you didn’t get to it before. Sydney: What’s that? Sloane: You read the report. The operation, the elevator cables. Sydney: Moscow, 4 years ago. Sloane: Yeah, I tasked Julian Sark to a similar strategy in order to relieve a Mr. Karpachev of a certain item I required. Sydney: Why would someone be impersonating you? Sloane: It appears to be more than that. This man-his strategy, his appearance, his affinity for all things Rambaldi. Sydney: You believe, he actually believes he’s you. Sloane: Ohhhh, perhaps Marshall was right. Perhaps I should recuse myself from any further involvement. Sydney: No, you have to stay in it. In fact, you may need to go deeper. The coils, the manuscript, your sense of strategy. If your right about this, he has access to everything. CIA files, your psych reports, mission analysis. You may be the only one who can do it-anticipate his next move. Sloane: You’re asking me to go back to Rambaldi? Sydney: G-d help us, yes. At the CIA Rambaldi storage facility. Sloane is signing some papers at a desk. Dixon watches him. Sloane places his hand on a scanner. Which beeps and replies: identity confirmed. Doorway opens. Sloane enters room of Rambaldi artifacts closely followed by Dixon. Sloane stares at the picture of Sydney from the Rambaldi manuscript. He places his hand on the Rambaldi manuscript cover. Sydney’s apartment. Sydney (to Nadia): I was wrong about your father. I’m sorry. Nadia: I know it’s been hard to work with Sloane, to trust him. Sydney: That’s no excuse. Nadia: No, you’re doing your job. You don’t have to apologize. Sydney: Thanks for saying that, but asking him to go back to the thing that was the cause of so many problems. . . Nadia: What do you mean? Sydney: Chase authorized my request to Rambali- Nadia: Are you serious? Sydney: He’s in there with Dixon, right now. Nadia: Sydney. . . Sydney: What is it? I thought- Nadia: You don’t know what I saw. Lat year when my father and I went to Siena, the closer we got to finding this artifact that he wanted, the more he began to change. I saw him slipping away from himself. His passion, this desperation to connect with Rambaldi, it completely overtook him. He became a different man. His eyes were mad, lost. I didn’t want to be around him after that. The only reason I agreed to come back, to join APO, it was because he promised me that part of his life was over. We see Sloane pouring over the Rambaldi manuscript. Sloane: I know what he’s doing. I know what he’s doing. APO Briefing room. g*ng sits around the table. Sloane: The man we’re looking for is attempting to construct an energy source- in essence, a massive battery. Is the simplest way to describe it. Marshall: What is the power? Dixon: We don’t know. Weiss: So that’s why he needed the transformer coil. Sloane: That’s right. But in order to use it, it’s necessary to have an engineer with a specialty in nuclear physics. An advanced knowledge of quantum electrodynamics. There are only a handful of scientists in the world. Vaughn: You think one of them is working with our target? Jack: Yes, but not by choice. (Turns to big screen. Picture of Sinclair pops up.) Dr. Margaret Sinclair disappeared last week in Krakow. We can presume this is no coincidence. Sydney: Could this battery already be completed? Sloane: It’s unlikely. There are other important components, including Xanthium 242. Weiss: How do we know they don’t already have it? Sloane: I contacted a former colleague of mine in Sicily. Someone who trades in illicit chemicals. Apparently yesterday morning, Arvin Sloane placed an order for an unprecedented amount of Xanthium. I kindly told him to hold the order. That I would be picking it up personally. Nadia and Sloane walking into Sloane’s office. Nadia: Someone else can do this. Sloane: No, it’s my contact. Nadia: Then you should have backup, I’ll come with you. Sloane: Nadia, it’s a meeting. I don’t need backup. Look, sweetheart, I know what you’re concerned about. Rambaldi. You have nothing to worry about. I’ll be fine. Nadia: I think you’re asking too much of yourself. Sloane: Look, I’ve proven myself to you, to everyone. I don’t have to- Nadia: The DSR was a contained environment. You were being watched there were limitations. Sloane: The only limitation that was necessary when I was at the DSR was you. When I was studying those manuscripts, the only thing my thoughts kept returning to was you. I was surrounded by symbols of all the things I once believed in, and it all felt meaningless. Having a daughter, knowing you means more to me than anything ever has or ever will. Nadia: What about Siena? Sloane: I can’t change what you witnessed in Sienna. But I can assure you that the man that you saw there no longer exists. I’m sorry Nadia. Nadia: For what? Sloane: Having me as a father is an arduous undertaking, one that I imposed on you. Nadia: Don’t say that. I don’t want to lose you again. Sloane: Then I need to know that you have faith in me. Sicily Racetrack. Sloane walks up to Ignacio in the stands and sits next to him. A horse and rider are running. Sloane: Considering she doesn’t like running on a wet track, that mare is quite the longshot. Ignacio: Mr. Sloane, it’s been so long-in person, I mean. Sloane: Well, I’ve had to take some precautions of late. Do you have the package? Ignacio: Yes, of course. (hands Sloane a pair of binoculars) Sloane twists the lenses off the binocular and pulls it out. There is a tube of liquid inside. Sloane takes it. Ignacio: There is a question I’ve been wanting to ask you for the longest time. Now that you are here. . . Sloane: Yes, what is it? Ignacio: This Omnifam foundation you founded, feeding the world’s poor and hungry- what was that really about? Sloane puts the binoculars up to his face. Ignacio: What was in that food you sent to those impoverished countries? Sloane: Ignacio. Ignacio: I know you were involved with genetic experimentation. Sloane: Ignacio, the fact is that someone in the black market is posing as me. And that same someone placed all the previous orders of Xanthium 242 with you. Ignacio: Mr. Sloane, he- he followed all of you protocols. I didn’t know. I swear. Sloane: Ignacio, I’m not here to hurt you. But you need to tell me exactly where that shipment was supposed to be sent. APO Jack walks into Marshall’s office/lab. Marshall is looking at some device. Jack: Marshall: Our teams going to Santiago. Pull up satellite surveillance. 1500 Court of Barrera Montin. Marshall: Got it. I’m on it. Jack: (walks out) Weiss, make sure the jet is on standby. Coordinate an in-country rendevous with Sloane at 1200 hours. Weiss: 1200? Jack, it’s me. You can say noon. Jack: Just do it! Dixon: (walks up) Sloane is joining the tactical team? Jack: Considering whom we’re up against, and considering our need for Rambaldi information Dixon: And are you considering the man himself? It’s one thing to allow Sloane into the DSR, But if his imposter has assembled the Rambaldi device and Sloane is put in front of it, what assurance do we have- Jack: I’m calling the sh*ts here, Marcus. Dixon: And you have a problem with my questioning Sloane’s motives. Jack: As far as I’m concerned, at this juncture, Sloane’s motives are irrelevant. If he can help bring the imposter to us, I say let Sloane do what he needs to do. Go to Santiago. Let’s end this. Dixon nods and leaves. Santiago A van pulls up to a gat. Vaughn is driving the van with Dixon in the passenger side. They sh**t tranqs at the guards. Dixon gets out to open the gate and Vaughn drives through. The van drives up to a building. We see Arvin Clone in his office. In walks Carter. Cater: Mr. Sloane, the shipments here. AC: Good. Meet them at the loading dock, see that it’s properly handled. I’ll get Dr. Sinclair, we meet you at the lab. Back at the van. Two guys go to open the back. When they do, they get tranqed by Sydney and Weiss. They jump out the back with Sloane, Vaughn, Nadia. Sydney: (on comms) Outrigger, do you have visual. Dixon: (still back at the gate) I count 7 tangos so far. Still searching for the hostage. (He’s looking through video surveillance.) Back to AC flanked by 2 bodyguards walking into the room with Sinclair in it. AC: The Xanthium has arrived. You can begin assembly immediately. Sinclair: I could have worked more efficiently if you hadn’t ruined my hands. AC: I have faith that you’ll find another way. Dixon: I’ve got a twenty on Dr. Sinclair. Northwest side, Level 2. Hangar’s on the ground floor, east side. Sydney: Understood. Vaughn: All right, we’ll split up. One team retrieve the hostage, the other secures the lab. Sydney: I go with Sloane. Sloane: I was gonna suggest that myself. The 2 teams walk off in separate directions. Sydney with Sloane. Nadia, Vaughn, and Weiss. Sydney, Sloane come to a password box. Sydney puts password device on it. Slaone: (watches Sydney) Strange, isn’t it? Sydney: What’s that? Sloane: All our years working together, this is the first time I’ve been with you in action. Up close. Dixon: Alpha team, you’re almost on target. Take the next left. Vaughn, Nadia, Weiss, running down a corridor. All of a sudden, bad guys sh**ting at them. Bad guys run through a door and close it. Vaughn: Watch your f*re. They’ve got Sinclair. They run up to the closed door. Vaughn: It’s locked. Weiss: Stay back, stay back! (fires at the door with his g*n) On the other side of door, AC stands with 2 guys and Sinclair. AC: (to guy) Give me your radio. (into radio) Carter, change of plans. Secure the device from the hangar and meet me by the side exit. Password box says -DECODING-JA Sydney: What is this? This is taking too long. If this were your facility, what would the access code be? Sloane: J-A. . . Try “Jacquelyn” J-A-C-Q-E-L-Y-N. Sydney types it in and door opens. Sydney: Am I supposed to know who that is? They walk into the hangar, They see big Rambaldi ball. Sydney: I’ll set the charges. Sloane: No. No, we don’t have to. We can dismantle it. Sydney: No, Sloane. Sloane: Sydney, we have to consider the value of this. Sydney: I don’t care. Vaughn: (on comms) Phoenix, we’re cut off. They’ve got Dr. Sinclair. You’ve got to intercept them. Sydney: Where? Vaughn: Northwest corridor. Headed your way. Sloane: Go. Go. Sydney: I’m on it. (she leaves the hangar) Minutes later, Cater enters hanger and sees Sloane’s back. Carter: Mr. Sloane? I thought we were supposed to rendezvous on the side entrance. Sloane: (turns around, g*n drawn) Hello. We see Arvin Clone with Dr. Sinclair and 2 guys. Sydney enters and starts sh**ting. Sinclair runs and hides. Arvin Clone runs out with one guy. Other guy start sh**ting at Sydney. Sydney sh**t a can of vapor. Vapor hits guy in the face. Sydney runs up and fights guy. Sydney knocks guy unconscious. Vaughn and Weiss enter through other door. Sydney (to Vaughn and Weiss, referring to Sinclair) Stay with her. (Sydney runs out.) Back to Sloane and Carter in the hangar. Sloane: Who’s the man misrepresenting me? Carter: It’s Arvin Sloane. Sloane: I am Arvin Sloane. Carter tries to pull out his g*n. Sloane sh**t him in the knee. And he falls, screaming. Sloane picks up the miniature Mueller device shown to Sinclair earlier. Sloane: Do you know what this is that you’re doing? Carter: What the hell do you want? Sloane: Do you understand what you’re dealing with here, and for what? Carter: Please, he told me-Mr. Sloane- Sloane: Listen to me. Don’t make me tell you again who I am. You fool. Carter: He told me- he told me that I can live forever. Sloane (goes berserk): No! (he hits Carter with the Mueller device) Is that what you think this is all about?! Immortality?! You bought the rumor, you simple-minded dilettante! (He hits him again. They both scream. We see Nadia walking.) A mystery. The true secrets of these creations will always be held back (Sloane has blood splattered across his face.) from you, the unworthy! (Sloane hits Carter about 5 more times. More blood is splattered on Sloane. Nadia walks in. (He’s calm again.) Nadia. ( Carter is d*ad) It’s all over. It’s all over, honey.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x16 - Another Mister Sloane"}

foreverdreaming

Two guys sit at a table. One guy places what looks like a C-4 strapped to a cell phone inside a back pack. He hands the backpack to the other guy. 2nd guy stands. Kradic: I’m counting on you, Aleksander. Aleksander: I’ll call you when it’s done. (he leaves) Indonesian Embassy, Copenhagen Aleksander places his backpack on the conveyer belt and passes through the metal detector. The guard stares at the bag and then looks at Aleksander. They speak foreign language, not sure what. Aleksander: Which line is for visa applications? Guard: Last one down. Aleksander takes his bag and goes. Guard: I’m going to take a smoke break. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Aleksander: Visa. Aleksander sees a pretty girl. She says “hi” and smiles. Aleksander drops his bag and then leaves. APO Breifing room. We see the expl*si*n of the Indonesian Embassy on screen. g*ng sits around the table. Sloane: You’re looking at the work of an emerging t*rror1st organization known as the Beograd Faction. Yesterday at 5 o’clock they h*t the Indonesian Embassy in Copenhagen. It was their fourth major att*ck within several months. Weiss: And their first overtly political act. Sydney: If that’s in fact what it is. Just looking at their files, they haven’t claimed an ideology. They’ve made no demands, no pronouncements. Something doesn’t add up. Sloane: Langley is desperate to acquire intel on this group. To that end, they placed an undercover agent within the organization. His name is Thomas Raimes. (his picture pops up on the screen) He specializes in prolonged deep-cover work. He’s been in place for the last few months posing as a document expert in forging, counterfeiting. Ywo weeks ago he warned Langley of a pending att*ck in Denmark. Dixon: And he never followed up with the details? Sloane: Agent Raimes has missed has missed the last four meetings with his handler and hasn’t notified headquarters. Vaughn: Which means he was either caught or k*lled. Sloane: In one of his last communications, he was able to identify the leader of this group, a man named Milos Kradic. Echelon intercepts suggest that Kradic has a meet set up tomorrow at a location in Amsterdam. Dixon, Vaughn, you’ll run surveillance on that location. If Kradic shows up neutralize him and take him into custody. Sydney, coordinate with Jack when he gets in. You’ll run the operations from here. Until then, find out what other motives they could have had for hitting that embassy. Okay, that’s it. Thank you. As Nadia leaves the table, her cell phone rings. She answers. Nadia: Hello? Sophia: Nadia. Nadia: Sophia, is that you? Sophia: It’s so good to hear your voice. Nadia: Yours too. I’m so surprised you’re calling. It’s been- Sophia: A long time, yes. I am flying to Los Angeles. I was hoping we might catch up. Nadia: I’d love to. Why don’t I meet you at the airport? Sophia: That’ll be wonderful. I arrive in the morning. Nadia: Okay, I’ll see you then. Airport. Sydney: So, how long has it been, since you heard from Sophia? Nadia: Like, 10 years. Sydney: Why has she come to Los Angeles now? Nadia: I don’t know. She didn’t say. You’re okay with this? Sydney: She can stay as long as she wants. You know that. Nadia: Thanks. Sydney: Where else am I gonna hear embarrassing stories about you as a kid? You okay? Nadia: Yeah, I’m fine. Sydney: You don’t seem very excited. Nadia: I know, but I am. It’s just last time I saw her, I was in jail. I don’t want to be a disappointment to her. Who knows if she’ll even recognize me. Man over PA: Oceanic airlines, nonstop flights to Sydney is now ready for boarding at gate 17. We see Sophia being wheeled in a wheelchair by a flight attendant. It looks like she’s been beaten. Nadia goes up to her. Nadia: Sophia. Sophia: I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Nadia: What happened? Sophia: I didn’t have anywhere to go. It’s so good to see you. Hospital. Sophia is lying in a hospital bed surrounded by Nadia, Sydney, and Sloane. Sophia: For the last few weeks, I had a feeling that I was being watched. I kept seeing the same faces everywhere I went. Then last night, I came home early from work, and they were in my house. As soon as I walked in, they att*cked me. Sydney: What did they want? Sophia: I don’t know. Sloane: Did they take anything? Sophia: I honestly don’t know. When I regained consciousness, the house was ransacked and they were gone. I couldn’t stay there. I’m sorry I came here like this. Nadia: It’s okay, you did the right thing. Sydney: We should let her get some sleep. Sloane: Yes. I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances. (he takes her hand) You’re family to Nadia, which means you’re family to me. I’ll see to it that you’re well taken care of. You have nothing to worry about from now on. Sophia: Thank you. Sloane and Sydney leave Nadia with Sophia. Sloane enters the hallway with Sydney. Sloane: That woman took care of Nadia when I couldn’t. I owe her. As soon as I get back to the office, I’ll reach out to our connections in Portugal. Sydney: Whatever I can do. Sloane: You need a ride? Sydney: No, thank you. Sloane: Okay. Sydney: I’ll meet you there. Sydney leaves. Sloane pulls off a latex glove that he used to get Sophia’s fingerprint. Doctor’s office. Jack sitting in a chair. Dr. Liddell gives Jack medicine. Dr. Liddell: That should take the edge off. Jack: It’s less painful than the last few times. Liddel: Glad to hear it. I’ve increased the dosage of Lipoic Acid. Sorry to say, you may experience some increased side effects. It’s not a cure, but, um, should keep it at bay for a while. Jack: I’ve been looking into studies from the Institute of Radiology in Prague, based on treatment protocols in Chernobyl- Liddel: It’s apples and oranges, Jack. We’re not talking about alpha particles, and beta particles, gamma or neutron rays. The radiation you were exposed to when you walked into that reactor-well, it’s a different fruit all together. Jack: Then, I’ll keep looking. Liddel: 20 years I’ve known you. You’re not one iota less stubborn. How’s Sydney. Jack: She’s doing well. Liddel: I remember when she was just starting school. Where do the years go? Jack, I’ve watched countless people die. Had to look into my patients eyes when I tell them what they have is terminal. And you know what? That stuff about laughter being the best medicine? It’s a load of bunk. Jack: I assume you have a point. Liddel: A clean conscience-that’s a treatment I can stand behind. We both know how this going to end. We can filter your blood til the cows come home, but there’s no changing the outcome. Clear your conscience, Jack. Jack: That will take another lifetime at least. Liddel: I’m not suggesting you write your memoirs. Although I’m sure they would make a hell of a read. Start small. Talk to your daughter. Jack: She’s better off not knowing. Liddel: Jack, these secrets you’re keeping, they’re not yours to keep. Amsterdam Dark street. Vaughn, Dixon inside van. Vaughn: We’ve been waiting for over an hour. Think Kradic’s gonna show? Dixon: I hope so. Vaughn: You have history with the target? Dixon: I knew the undercover agent- Raimes. Vaughn: From Langley? Dixon: We were in the corps together. Force recon. Toughest guy in our platoon. Didn’t think the b*llet was made that could take him down. Vaughn: We don’t know that he’s d*ad. He could’ve been captured. Dixon: If Raimes were alive, he would have made contact. A car pulls up nearby. People get out. Dixon: Okay, there’s Kradic Vaughn: There’s another guy there. Brown jacket. You see him? Dixon: It’s Raimes. Vaughn: Do you think he’s gone rogue? Nadia leaning over Sophia in her hospital bed. Sophia: You’ve grown into a beautiful woman, you know. So different from the girl I once knew. You were so angry then. Nadia: I know it’s hard to believe, at least it is for me, I have a home now. A family. I finally feel like I belong somewhere. Sophia: Your father’s a good man. I can tell. Nadia: You should rest now. I’ll be by tonight to check on you. Sophia: Nadia, wait. (she takes off her necklace and gives it to Nadia) Sophia: It’s San Marcos, the orphanage’s namesake. My happiest times were there watching over you girls. I want you to have it. Nadia: I can’t. Sophia: Please. It is my way of thanking you for taking care of me. APO Marshall’s lab. He has on what looks like a virtual simulation helmet. He’s using it to play and look at a little thing of what looks like jello? Hehehe, he looks funny. Mr. Sloane does not look amused. Marshall: WOAH, uh, hey- I-sorry-Mr. Sloane. I was testing out a mod on a virtual imager, and, well, you looked a little freaky. Sloane: (hands a small case to Marshall) There’s a latex fingerprint in here. I want to get everything you can on the person it belongs to. I want it kept between us. Marshall: Yeah, sure, no problem. Sloane: Thank you (leaves) Marshall goes back to playing with his helmet,. But this time instead of using the jello thing, he uses the latex fingerprint. We see Jack in his office scratching at the skin on the palm of his hand, which is peeling. Ewww. Sydney walks in. Sydney: Dad, Dixon and Vaughn called in. They found Raimes, he’s alive. He’s traveling with Kradic. Jack: Have our team shadow Raimes. The second he’s alone, pull him aside for questioning. I want to know why he hasn’t contacted Langley. Sydney: I’ll let them know. Dad? Jack: Let me know when Dixon have secured Raimes. Sydney: I’ll keep you posted. Jack continues to peel at his skin. Ewww. Vaughn and Dixon in some party lounge watching Kradic and Raimes. Vaughn: (on radio) Got the target. He just ordered a whiskey strait up. Dixon: Okay, go for it. Vaughn starts walking and bumps into the woman carrying the tray to Kradic, Raimes, and Aleksander. . He places a tablet in Raimes’s drink. Vaughn: (to woman, with a smile) Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there. Woman delivers the drinks to the crew. Raimes: Cheers. (drinks all in one gulp) Aleksander: We’re in Amsterdam. This is the best place we can find? No. If I chose the meet, we’d be in a park or near a beautiful canal. Raimes looks like he’s going to be sick. He leaves. Kradic: Where are you going? Aleksander: Where are you going? Raimes makes his way to the restroom. He passes by a suspicious looking Man. In the restroom, he is sick. Vaughn and Dixon come out to interrogate him. Dixon: Last time I saw you like this was in a bar in Baghdad. Raimes: Marcus. What are you doing here. Dixon: Langley assumed you were compromised. What’s going on? Raimes: The Embassy b*mb. Vaughn: You warned of an att*ck somewhere in Denmark, 2 weeks ago and then nothing. Why didn’t you send a second warning that the b*mb would go off? Raimes: You know what? I’ll fill out a report later. Right now, I gotta get back out there, because Kradic is meeting with an associate. Dixon: Then talk fast, Tom. We need answers. Raimes: You don’t understand. Dixon: So explain it to us. Vaughn: Why haven’t you checked in with your handlers? Raimes: Kradic is paranoid. If I would have radioed in- Vaughn: There are other ways. Dixon: I have to report in, Tom. And right now, we’re looking at 2 scenarios. Either you blew your intel, or you’ve gone over. Which is it? Raimes: You think I sold out? Vaughn: You tell us. Raimes: All right, I had the intel, okay? But if I would have warned Langley, Kradic would have known we were on to him. Vaughn: So you decided to let 15 people die? Raimes: I had my reasons. Dixon: We’re listening. Raimes: Kradic is after a new w*apon developed by the Indonesians. It’s a water contaminant. It can wipe out whole ecosystems. Kradic has a line on it. The Embassy b*mb was crucial to acquiring the w*apon. It was a handful of lives against a half a million. Dixon: That’s not your call to make. Raimes: You weren’t there. Now, look, if I’m not back in a few minutes, Kradic is gonna know something’s wrong. Yes, 15 people died, but if we don’t recover that w*apon, It’ll be hundreds of thousands. So, you gonna let me walk out that door or what? Your call, Marcus. Dixon (on phone) Kradic knew the Indonesians developed a sample of hydrosec but they didn’t know where. So he b*mb the Embassy as cover for the intel theft. Sydney: Emergency protocol dictates that if a b*mb goes off, all confidential intelligence is transferred to off-site servers. The expl*si*n triggered those protocols. Jack: Kradic must have been prepared to intercept the outgoing data. Vaughn: The location of the hydrosec must have been in those files. He knows where it it and now he’s putting together a team to steal it from the Indonesians. Sloane: Indonesian officials deny that their intelligence has been compromised. Dixon: What else could they say? If they admit to developing hydrosec, they’d be violating international w*apon treaties. Raimes: We’re talking in circles here. The only option we’ve got is to make Kradic lead us to the w*apon. We could take them out before he gets a chance to use it. Sloane: Dixon, what’s your tactical assessment? Dixon: Considering our situation, I think our best bet is to keep Agent Raimes in the field. Vaughn: Agreed. You and Vaughn will shadow. Dixon: Copy that. We see Kradic and Bodyguard where they were earlier. Kradic (to Aleksander): Go check on Raimes, make sure he’s okay. Aleksander goes. Back in bathroom. Dixon: We’ll outfit you for comms. Raimes: No dice. Kradic has stat of the art counter-surveillance detection. If I show up there wired for sound, I’ll light up like a Christmas tree. Dixon: Then we’ll modify the comms. Spread-spectrum burst transmitters. Should be beyond Kradic’s capabilities. It’ll take us a few minutes to get them ready. I’ll brush pass you with them. Raimes: Fine, I’ll meet you at the bar in 10 minutes. Dixon: Wait. This meet, who is it? Raimes: A hacker. Linus Halsey. Why? Dixon: Does Kradic know this hacker face to face? Raimes: You’re thinking of switching him out? Vaughn: Well, you stand a better chance with another man on the inside. Raimes: Fine, but you better hurry. He’ll be here in one hour? Raimes walks out and runs right into Aleksander. Aleksander: Hey, what the hell? Where did you go? Raimes: Let me tell you something. sh**ting whiskey on an empty stomach—not good. What’s the matter, Milos pushing you around again? Aleksander: He’s waiting. Raimes: You’re like a little girl. Come on, Let’s go. APO Sydney: I’ll start with Langley, see if they have an open file on Halsey. Jack: If there’s a current file photo, we can run his faceprint through interpol’s biometric city scan. Sloane: Make it fast. We don’t have much time. Sydney and Jack leave, Sloane continues walking. Marshall comes running up to him. Marshall: Mr. Sloane, sir-Mr.—Here’s that background check that you asked me to run. Sloane: Yeah. Marshall: Sophia Vargas. Yeah, you probably just want to skip to the last page. Sloane does so. Weird music plays. Pause. Sloane: Thank you, Marshall. Marshall: Sure. Sydney and Nadia sitting at their desks looking at various files on Linus Halsey. Sydney: I found the hacker, Linus Halsey. He was an MIT gradiate with a degree in Nonlinear Cryptoalgorithisms and Stochastic Systems Analysis. Because if they call it ‘code-breaking’ they couldn’t charge 30 grand tuition. Nadia: Okay, I’m linked with Amsterdam’s urban surveillance network. I’m checking the database for hotel reservations. Got him. Hotel Ruisseau. It’s just a few blocks over from where they are. Hotel Ruisseau. We see Halsy walking down the hall, watched by Vaughn. Dixon is still in the van. Vaughn: (on radio) Got eyes on Halsey. Dixon: Let me know when you’ve got him, and I’ll head inside. Vaughn pulls out a needle and syringe. He walks down the hall to s*ab Halsey, but Halsey att*cks him. They fight. Halsey throws Vaughn on the ground and runs out. Vaughn follows. Dixon: g*n, What’s going on? Vaughn chases Halsey down the f*re escape. Halsey jumps into the dumpster. Vaughn follows, landing the dumpster 3 seconds before Halsey can climb out. They commence running. Vaughn: Dixon, coming your way. Running, running. A car runs into Halsey and he rolls over it. Halsey runs right into Dixon who probably s*ab him with a needle. Vaughn runs up. Vaughn: I would have had him. Dixon: I know. Nadia is sitting at her desk fingering the necklace Sophia gave her. Sydney walks up. Sydney: Hey. Good work on Hotel Ruisseau. They caught Halsey. Nadia: Thanks. We aim to please. Sydney: You’re in a good mood. Nadia: Yeah, I guess so. Sydney: So things went well with Sophia after we left? (sits) Nadia: Yeah, I’ve missed her so much. Sydney: It’s been a long time. Nadia: I was so different back then. You wouldn’t have known me. Sydney: I bet I would have. Nadia: No. I was crazy, wild. I don’t know what Sophia saw in me. She was always telling me, I was her special one. For years after I left the orphanage, that was the only thing I could hang on to. I knew someone, somewhere, believed in me. Sydney: You were lucky to have a person like that in your life. Nadia: Yeah. Sophia’s hospital room. Sloane storms in. Sloane: Why did you really come here? Tell me? Sophia: I don’t know what you mean. Sloane: I know all about Jose Pedraza. I know how the Argentine police found his body. I know they found a suspect’s fingerprint. But they couldn’t find a match. I did. Sophia: He was hurting my girls, and I was the one who hired him to tend the grounds. I didn’t realize. Nadia: Did he hurt Nadia? Sophia: He tried. I didn’t give him the second chance. I know what I did was wrong, but they were my children. Sloane: Yeah. I would have done the same thing. Still, that doesn’t answer my question. Sophia: All I ever wanted was to protect Nadia. When she was brought to me as a baby, she was in danger. I changed her last name to Santos so nobody could find her. (What was her name before? Derevko, Sloane, Bristow?) The men who att*cked me in Lisbon-They weren’t after me. They were after Nadia. They wanted to know what name I had given her. Sloane: And what did you tell them? Sophia: Nothing. Sloane: Why didn’t you tell Nadia? Sophia: When I saw her with her sister, with you. . .She deserves the happiness she’s found here. I couldn’t bring all that pain back to her life. Sloane: Don’t worry. Now I can take care of her. Sophia: How can you be sure? Sloane: Because I know who’s after my child. Marshall’s lab. Sydney walks in. Sydney: You wanted to show me something? Marshall: Oh, yeah, hey, Syd. Yeah, check this out. Now this is one nanogram of hydrosec, which is one billionth of a gram in a 500 milliliter of water. (we see simulation of a drop of liquid dropping into a bowl) According to my simulation, the toxin actually feeds off the water. One gram of hydrosec, Lake Michigan turns into sludge. It’s incredible, really, y’know? Dr. Evil sort of way. . .(takes his pinky and puts to his mouth) Sydney: What would it take to manufacture this stuff, Level 4 biohazard containment? Marshall: Yeah, and a massive cooling system, which should narrow down the possible locations. Give me a couple hours. . . Sydney nods and sees the VARGAS, SOPHIA file on Marshall’s desk. She picks it up. Sydney: What’s this? Marshall: Huh? Uh. . .It’s just a copy of some research I’m doing for- ahem- Mr. Sloane. It’s not- (she leaves) Damn it. Sydney walks into Sloane’s office. Sydney: What the hell are you thinking? Sloane: I’m sure you mean that in the most polite way. (pours himself some water) Sydney: Using CIA resources to check up on Sophia. Sloane: I was merely being cautious. Sydney: I don’t understand this, but Nadia believes in you. Somehow you’ve earned her trust. Every time you lie to her, you break that bond. I want you to understand that I’m not telling you this out of concern for you. Only my sister. Lounge where Kradic has been. Dixon walks in posing as Halsey. Raimes, Aleksander, and Kradic are all seated on couches. Dixon: Nobody reads the paper anymore. Kradic: There is too much tragedy in the world. Aleksander: (does a sweep of Dixon) Clean. Kradic: Have a seat. (Dixon sits) Your reputation proceeds you, Mr. Halsey. Dixon: You’re too kind. Kradic: Temperamental. Arrogant. Vindictive. Violent. Vain. Petty and deceitful. We see Vaughn listening in to the conversation in the back of the van. The real Halsey sits with his mouth taped up. Dixon: You’re forgetting talented. Brilliant. And easy on the eye. Kradic: Ha, there is that. You are supposed to be brilliant. Raimes: They say you’re the best hacker in the EU Kradic: That’s the rep. But, what went wrong on the Kroner job? Van with Vaughn and Halsy. Vaughn: Kroner job-what happened? (he rips the tape off Halsey’s face) Halsy: Petty? Who the hell’s that son of a b**** to call me petty? You know what? You can all go—ahh. (Vaughn tugs on one of his many eyebrow rings, he’s got earrings and nose rings too) Dixon: Nothing went wrong. Kradic: Then why does Kroner hate you so much, hmm? Dixon: I finished the job as agreed. Perfectly, I may add. Back in van, Vaughn pulls off a few more of halsey’s facerings. Vaughn: Listen to me, you son of a b****, I’m not gonna let you hang my partner out to dry. Halsey: The son of a b**** shorted me 10 grand. Vaughn: Kroner stiffed him 10,000 euros. Dixon: Then Kroner turned around, forgot to pay me my 10,000 euros. Kradic: That doesn’t explain why he hates you. Vaughn: Now, by my count, you still have 3 rings left. That’s on one ear. What happened? Dixon: After he stiffed me. . . Vaughn: He hacked Kroner’s credit card to buy hookers. Dixon: I hacked into his credit card account, charged it exactly 10,000 euros to several young ladies in the red light district, and then sent the bills to his wife. Yes, I did. Raimes and Aleksander start laughing. Kradic: We leave in an hour. Aleksander, tell the team to meet us at Tuege airfield. APO Jack in his office peeling the skin off the palm of his hand. Grabs a letter opener, and uses that on it. Sydney wlks in. Sydney: You wanted to see me? Jack: I was thinking. . .The embassy transmission that Kradic intercepted-the network tap he installed would have had to have been physically placed on the premises. Sydney: I don’t follow. Jack: It would be too risky to send someone to retrieve it afterwards, so we can assume, it stores the information. Sydney: Which means we might be able to access it as well and download the same intel Kradic got off it. Jack: This is all assuming the Indonesians haven’t already located and removed the tap. Sydney: It’s worth a sh*t. I’ll get Marshall right on it. She leaves. Jack resumes scraping the palm of his hand with a letter opener. He cuts his hand open and he pulls out a capsule. The look of shock on his face is obvious. Doctor Liddel’s office. Liddel: Decades of research went into the development of this little marvel, and you yank it out with a letter opener? Jack: What are you talking about? Liddel: You don’t have the faintest-I implanted it to regulate the medication in your bloodstream. I explained the entire procedure to you. Jack: You did? Liddel: I did. Jack: I have no memory of this. Liddel: Well, we talked about the fact that memory loss could be a side effect. I even implanted a second one in your calf. (Jack lifts up his pants legand we see a gauze strip) You don’t remember that either, do you? Jack: My position, my job-this side effect is unacceptable. Liddel: I can adjust the medication. But your condition is progressing quicker than I had anticipated. Jack, have you thought anymore about what we discussed? About Sydney? Jack: Sydney has had to face so many things in her life. Too many for someone so young. And now, given my condition, I don’t want to burden her. It’s not fair. Liddel: Honesty-that’s fair. You won’t always be around to protect her, Jack. She has to know the truth before it’s too late. Back of a van, On the way to the airport. Dixon and Raimes chat. Raimes: You disagree with my decision? Dixon: The embassy? I wasn’t there. Raimes: I was boxed in. So, I made a call. Did some civilians die? (nods) Yes. Would I do it again? Absolutely. (shakes his head as Dixon looks on) There are sacrifices we have to make. There are casualties in the business that we’re in. You disappoint me, Marcus. There was a time you understood that. Dixon: That was a long time ago. Things are. . .different. Raimes: What happened, you get religion? Dixon: I had that. No, I got married. Had kids. Changes a man. Raimes: Hm. You mean it softens. Dixon: I mean it deepens, Gives a man perspective. Maybe we need men who can make the hard call, weigh the many against the few. I just know that every time I think of those 15 people at the embassy, it weighs on me. Raimes: (pause, in which he tries to speak but can’t) How many kids you got? Dixon: A daughter, Robin. And a son, Steven. Raimes: And the lucky lady? (smiles) Dixon: My wife was k*lled a few years ago. What you would call a casualty of the business we’re in. Teuge Airfield. We see some airplanes. It’s nighttime. A van pulls up. We see Vaughn inside a shed dialing on a cell phone. Aleksander and Kradic get out of the van. Aleksander walks off. Kradic: Make sure the plane’s ready to go. (opens the back of the van and Dixon and Raimes step out) Dixon: Ooh, hope it’s warm where we’re going, cause this weather’s k*lling me. Bodyguard: We are 15 minutes behind schedule. We’ll have to make it up in the air. APO Breifing room. Sloane, Nadia, and Sydney sit around table. Sydney: Vaughn just checked in. Nadia: Kradic and his men just arrived at Tuege airport. Sydney: Marshall was able to run a network probe at the Indonesian Embassy. It turns out m father was right. Nadia: We’ve got a source on the hydrosec. Sydney: It’s in a manufacturing plant in Peru. Unfortunately, (Jack walks in and takes a seat at the table) Kradic b*at us to it. He must’ve had a team in place. Four hours ago there was a f*re in one of the research labs. Nadia: Our theory is that one of Kradic’s men caused the accident to steal the hydrosec. Sloane (nods): It fits their M. O. Using disaster to achieve their operational objectives. Sydney: Well, the big question is, since they have it, where do they plan to use it. Sloane: It’s most likely that Kradic will set up a rendezvous with the heist team. Our best course of action would still be to keep Dixon in play. That’s it. (Nadia and Sydney leave, he looks at Jack) Something else, Jack? Jack: I know we agreed to keep this between ourselves, but the time has arrived. Personal considerations have been weighing on me, Arvin. We need to tell them the truth. (he looks over at Sydney and Nadia at their desks) Sloane: Yes, I know. You’re right. I’m afraid that Nadia’s already in danger. Teuge airport. Aleksander walks up to the rest of the group. Aleksander: Fully fueled and ready to take us over the border. Kradic: Get the gear. Let’s move. Bodyguards gather stuff. Dixon and Raimes walk ahead. Followed by Aleksander and Kradic. We all of a sudden see another group of men walking. This group includes the suspicious looking Man from earlier. Man: I’m in place. Do you read? Man on comms: Go ahead. Aleksander hears beeping and pulls out ear piece which he places in his ear. Man: Kradic has gathered a total of six team members, and they’re en route to the plane. Man on comms: And Agent Dixon is still embedded? Man: Securely. Aleksander hears all of this. He whispers in Kradics ear. Dixon and Raimes continue walking. Kradic: (yells) HEY! Bodyguards, Kradic, and Aleksander all pull out g*n. Dixon and Raimes turn around. Dixon: What’s going on? Vaughn: Outrigger, I’m in position. (he closer to them, behind some boxes) Kradic: I have a better question. Which one of you is Agent Dixon? Dixon: (laughs) What? Oh, man, you’re out of your mind. Raimes: Milos, come on. Put the g*n down. Take it easy. Kradic: Enough! Aleksander intercepted a transmission. Dixon: Transmission? Raimes: What are you talking about? You’re just being paranoid. Kradic: I know one of you is an agent. Vaughn: If I move any closer, I’ll be made. Do you have a w*apon? Dixon shakes his head. Raimes: Milos, come on. Let’s talk this thing through. Come on. Kradic: We are not doing anything until I find out the truth. (looks at Dixon) I sensed something was wrong about you. Dixon: No, no, no. you wrong! (yells and points at Kradic) You know my reputation. You checked out the Kroner job. Kradic: I should have trusted my instincts. Dixon: Now, see, this is insane. I am not an agent! Raimes: Take it easy. Kradic: Who do you work for? CIA? Mossad? Dixon: Man, What you talking about? Raimes: Milos, nobody here is an agent. Kradic: Okay, then you leave me little choice, huh? I’ll have to k*ll both of you. Which one of you would like to die first? Dixon: Nobody’s got to die. We’re all on the same side here. Everybody just needs to calm down. Lower your g*n. Kradic: Okay. (puts away g*n) k*ll both of them. Raimes punches Dixon and pulls out a g*n. He sh**t the bodyguards. One of their g*n lands near Dixon, who picks it up. He aims his g*n at Aleksander and Kradic. Dixon: Enough! Vaughn: Outrigger, don’t sh**t Kradic. We need him to lead us to the hydrosec. Dixon: Let me finish this. (to Raimes) Get on your knees. (Raimes complies) This is how you deal with traitors. (to Raimes) What you got to say now, Agent Dixon? (Places his g*n to Raimes’s chest) So Dixon, any last words? Kradic: Hey, casualty of the business I’m in. Vaughn: He’s giving us an out. He’s sacrificing himself to save the mission. sh**t him. Do it. BANG Raimes falls to the ground. Dixon: (turns to Kradic) We have business to do, and we need to get out of here before this guy’s backup shows. (hands his g*n to Kradic) You’re welcome. Kradic: (takes the g*n and turns around) Let’s go. Kradic, Aleksander, and Dixon board the plane. The plane takes off. Vaughn runs out to Raimes. Vaughn takes out a phone and dials. Vaughn: This is Agent Vaughn, field code alpha-5-0-niner-charlie. Request authorization for a code 4 medivac. We have an agent down. APO Sydney walks up to Marshall and Weiss at a desk. Sydney: Vaughn just reported in. Agent Raimes is being medivaced to Deventer. He’s critical but s*ab. They’re saying the sh*t didn’t h*t any of his vital organs. Dixon saved his life. He just boarded a plane with Kradic and his team. Here’s the tail number of his flight. (hands Weiss a paper) Weiss: All right, I”ll put in a call to Euro control, see if we can track it. Marshall: I think I might be able to triangulate Dixon’s signal using, one of NSA’s com sats. Just- Jack: (walks up) Excuse me, do you have a minute? Sloane’s office, Nadia and Sloane are already there. Jack and Sydney walk in. Sydney: What is this about? Sloane: Please, come in. Jack: There’s something we need to tell you, something you have the right to know. It concerns your mother’s sister. Nadia and Sydney look at each other. Sydney: Katya? Jack: Elena. She was one of the KGB’s foremost assassins, responsible for the m*rder of countless diplomats and politicians throughout eastern Europe. In the course of her work she earned a reputation fro being the cruelest of the Derevko women. Nadia: Why are you telling us this now? Sloane: Because, almost 30 years ago, Elena disappeared. It was rumored she had a falling out with Irina. Elena severed all ties with the KGB, as well as her family. Both the CIA and the KGB tried to find her, but to no avail. Even Irina couldn’t locate her. Sydney: But you found something. Jack: I received a message from an old associate about a year ago that led me to one of Elena’s safehouses in Warsaw. Sloane: Inside we found this. Sloane lays 2 books in front of Sydney and Nadia. They each open them to reveal pictures of them. Sydney: It’s me in college. Nadia: This is my old apartment in Argentina. Sydney: My grad school transcripts. Nadia: I was nine here. Jack: Given what’s here, we can assume she’s been surveilling you both for at least a decade. Sloane: We can also assume she is responsible for the att*ck on Sophia. Nadia: Why? What does she want from us? Sloane: We don’t know. We’re doing everything we can to find out. We see Sophia at a computer listening in on the conversation. Sydney: What did you learn? The conversation continues. The words are unintelligible. Man: (still suspicious-looking from earlier, on phone) It’s me. The plane is in the air do you know where they’re headed? Sophia: (on phone) I’ll contact you once I have their final destination. Man: I’ll be waiting. I won’t let you down Elena. Elena/Sophia is still listening in on the conversation. Sydney: Do you have any idea where Elena is now? Sloane: At this point, she could be anywhere.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x17 - A Clean Conscience"}

foreverdreaming

Vienna. Inside a club. Sydney walks past Vaughn, carrying a tray with drinks. Vaughn is sitting at a bar. They both have on disguises. It’s dark and loud music is playing. Sydney keeps walking and up some stairs. A guy stops her. They speak foreign language. Anthony: You didn’t take their order. Sydney: I know what they want. Anthony: Do you know what I want? Sydney: Why do men always want what they can’t have? He moves aside and Sydney walks over to where Dixon, Kradic, and Aleksander, and a bodyguard. are sitting. She lays a paper on the table next to Dixon, looks at him, and hands him a drink. She hands drinks to the others. Dixon: What’s taking so long? Kradic: You’re an impatient bastard, aren’t you? Dixon: Time is money. Kradic: (unworried) The hydrosec will be here soon, at which point we’ll move on to the next stage. Dixon: Which is? Kradic: Dispersal. (Sydney leaves) For now, we’ll relax and enjoy ourselves. (picks up his glass) Cheers. Sydney: (to comms to Marshall, Sloane, and Nadia, who’re at APO) Outrigger’s armed. He’s in VIP with Kradic and 2 others. Expect delivery of hydrosec any minute. Sloane: Good work, Phoenix. Once delivery is confirmed, we need to take every precaution to ensure the hydrosec remains s*ab. Nadia: Have we confirmed the method of transport? Sloane: It was Jack’s responsibility. He hasn’t checked in yet, this morning, has he? Nadia: No. (shakes her head) Marshall: Now, it’ll most likely arrive in a large metal, biometric case- y’know, the kind that are usually named after large multinational corporations. Sloane: g*n, what’s your status? Vaughn: No sign of Kradic’s men yet. We see suspicious looking man from previous episode pick up a glass and walk off. Kradic’s phone rings and he answers. Kradic: (into phone) Yeah? (pause) Good. (hangs up) Dixon: The hydrosec’s here? Kradic: Out front. Dixon: About time. Sydney heard that on comms. She nods to Vaughn, who nods back. Suspicious looking man places a chip inside his glass. Vaughn starts walking and sees a couple of guys walking, carrying a briefcase. Vaughn: (on comms) Got a visual on the hydrosec. Suspicious looking man walks over to Sydney and places his glass on her tray and walks away. Sydney watches him go. She hears the glass beeping. Sydney: Vaughn, take cover! She throws the tray against the far wall and runs and ducks behind the corner of the other wall. The glass explodes. People start running and screaming. Kradic and his men start running. Dixon picks up the g*n Sydney gave him earlier. Sloane: Phoenix, what’s happening? Suspicious-looking man touches something on a palm pilot, and another wall explodes. The briefcase is on the ground, Sydney, Dixon, and suspicious-looking man go for it. People continue to run and scream. Sydney att*cks the suspicious-looking man. Syd wins, of course. Sydney: Drop the g*n or lose your arm. (he drops it and then swings at her) Vaughn runs in to grab the briefcase. Aleksander grabs him and puts his g*n to Vaughn’s head. Aleksander: Don’t move! Dixon comes up and sh**t Aleksander. One of Kradic’s men knocks Vaughn to the floor. Kradic sh**t at Dixon, who hides. Kradic spies the briefcase on the ground. Kradic takes the briefcase and makes a run for it. Vaughn punches out the guy who tackled him. Dixon starts running after Kradic. Dixon: (to Vaughn) I’m on it! Sydney continues to battle suspicious-looking man until she gets thrown on the floor. Sloane: Phoenix, what’s going on? Sydney: Third party tried to intercept the hydrosec. I’m in pursuit. (follows man outside where she loses him) Kradic is running down a corridor. He pulls out some the hydrosec and opens a container connected to the pipes. Vaughn and Dixon come in with their g*n raised. Kradic: Put the g*n down! Or this goes into the drinking water! I said put them down! Vaughn and Dixon do so, momentarily. Dixon quickly raises his g*n again and sh**t Kradic and he falls over. Vaughn: (on comms) Send in the biohazard team. We need to contain the hydrosec. Nadia: On their way. Outside. Night. Suspicious-looking man is on the phone. Elena: So the CIA has the hydrosec? Man: They got lucky. If I can find out where they took it, I can get it back. Elena: Leave that to me. Come to Los Angeles. Contact me when you get here. (she is in Sydney’s apartment) Sophia/Elena walks into the kitchen. Nadia is there. Nadia: Everything all right? Sophia: Oh, yes. Just making a hotel reservation. Nadia: Sophia, you just got here. They speak Spanish. Sophia: You’ve been too generous as it is. I will check into a hotel and I’ll visit. Nadia: Sophia, you have to stay. I want you to be with me as long as you can. Stop being so stubborn. Back to English. Sophia: (smiles) Didn’t I used to say that to you? Nadia: Stay. I insist, we want you to be here. Please. Sophia: All right. But you must tell me the minute I become a burden. Nadia: I promise. APO Sydney walks to Vaughn at his desk. Sydney: Hey Vaughn (looks up): Hey Sydney: Have you seen my father? Vaughn: Nothing yet, huh? Sydney: I’m worried. I left him like a dozen messages. He was supposed to report in 2 days ago. Vaughn: So what do you want to do about it? Jack’s apartment building. It’s kinda fancy in an old sort of way. Vaughn and Sydney step out of the elevator. They walk down the hallway. Vaughn: So, this is where your dad lives, huh? Sydney: Yeah, what did you expect? Vaughn: I don’t know. A bunker or something. So, you’ve really never been here. Sydney: No. Vaughn: That’s very strange. Sydney: As opposed to everything else about my relationship with my father. 301. Here it is. (First, she knocks. Then decides to pick the lock, and opens the door.) Dad? Inside we see a well-kept living room. With dark brown leather couches. It’s spotless. Vaughn: Not much for clutter, is he? Sydney: No. She goes over to an end table and picks up a picture of herself. She places it back and sees what looks like a bowl of pet food on the floor. Not all of the food is in the bowl. Some of it is on the ground. Vaughn: Sydney, come here, look at this. (he’s paging through a journal) Body temperature, blood pressure, blood cell counts. He’s monitoring his vitals. (we see inside the book, it says, “Radiation Treatment Protocols”) Sydney enters the bathroom and sees finds pill bottles by the sink. In the trash can are a bunch of bloody syringes. Sydney looks like she’s about to cry. APO Marshall walking quickly through APO. Nadia: Marshall. Marshall: Oh, hey, did you hear the news? I get to run an initial analysis on the hydrosec this afternoon. I love level 4 biohazard toxins. Nadia (smiles): My father asked me to give you this artist’s sketch based on descriptions from Sydney and Vaughn. (she hands him a drawing of suspicious-looking man) He wants to know if you can- Marshall: Run a biometric match. Yeah, but off a sketch it’s a bit tricky. Nadia: Can you do it? Marshall: Flinkman doesn’t know the meaning of failure. One ugly puss, huh? Muy feo. Elena and suspicious-looking have been listening to the conversation. Elena: Now they have a picture of you. Man: They have a cartoon drawing. They’ll never get a positive I. D. off that. Elena: You underestimated them in Vienna, and we lost the hydrosec. Man: Lucky break. Elena: Nadia has a laptop with APO access. She brings it home every night. We may be able to use it to find the hydrosec. How long would it take you to hack in to it? Dr. Liddel’s office. Jack rolls down his sleeve to cover a piece of gauze. Liddel: I’m afraid our options are limited, Jack. The white blood cell anomalies are not what we’d hoped for. (he’s looking at some papers) Jack: Limited, not exhausted. (he puts on his jacket) Liddel: Science is full of happy accidents. Alexander Fleming spent years trying to figure out how to treat bacterial infection. He needed a vacation so bad, he forgot to wash his Petri dishes before leaving the lab. So he comes back, a week later, well rested, tanned, and what’s he faced with? A stack of moldy dishes. But he looks a little closer, and son of a g*n. Not an iota of bacteria growing anywhere near the mold. Penicillin. Just a happy accident. Jack: Fascinating anecdote, although its relevance to my condition isn’t exactly- Liddel: I have spent most of my career researching genetic mutations. Mostly in rats. I like rats. Much smarter than they’re given credit for. These little buggers were exposed to the mother lode of radiation. I was distracted one day-problems with my wife-and I accidently gave them a lethal dose of an alkylating agent. But lo and behold, a few of my rats survived. Milo lived to the ripe old age of 4 Jack: That’s something. Liddel: Yes, but 84% of my rats were d*ad within a week. And given what they went through, death was a blessing. Jack: We both know the prognosis for my condition. I don’t see that I have a choice Liddel: This alkylating agent was discontinued decades ago. It’s considered too lethal, even in a controlled environment. Jack: I have contacts. I’m sure I can procure the necessary chemicals. Liddel: Here’s what we need. (he pulls a piece of paper out of a cabinet) Jack, as one friend to another, these drugs are nasty. If they don’t cure you- Jack: I’ll turn out like one of your rats. I’ll be in touch. APO Marshall’s lab. He’s searching for suspicious –looking man on the computer. Nadia walks in. Nadia: Come up with anything on that assailant? Marshall: Not yet. But I am writing an algorithm into the program too speed things up, so. . . Nadia: (her cell phone rings) Excuse me. (she leaves the lab, and into phone) Hello. Sophia: I hate to bother you at work, but I was hoping I could make dinner for you and Sydney and our boyfriends tomorrow night. Nadia: Sophia, you don’t have to. (she walks over to Weiss’s desk) Sophia: It would mean so much to me after all you’ve done. Nadia: (to Weiss) Are we free for dinner tomorrow? Weiss: Dinner, food, are you kidding me? Yes. Nadia: It’s fine for us, but I have to check with Sydney and Vaughn. Sophia: Great. Monkeys. In cages. Some lab somewhere. Science guy Anthony working with chemicals. Anthony: Jack. Jack: Were you able to get what I requested? Anthony: Yeah, sure. Jack: Cute. (looks at the monkeys) Anthony: Listen, I need you to promise me there’s no way this is gonna get traced back to me. Jack: I’m familiar with your concerns. Anthony: Look, Jack, I don’t mean to be presumptuous, tell you how to handle your business, but the human body is not designed to handle this stuff. Whoever this poor guy is you’re gonna be torturing- Jack: Curious morality coming from a guy who kills monkeys for a living. Anthony: What I’m saying-be conservative. (hands him 2 small bottles filled with blue liquid) A few CCs at a time, or you’re gonna be out of fun before it begins. Jack: Thanks for the advice. Anthony: So this-this pays off my debt to you, right? Jack: Be seeing you Anthony. APO Marshall and Sydney in Marshall’s lab. Sydney: I need a favor. Marshall: Sure, what can I do for you? Sydney: Pull up everything you’ve got on alkylating agents. And cross-reference it with radiation sickness. Marshall: Okay. Kind of an odd combination. (starts typing) What exactly are you looking for? Sydney: Something’s wrong with my dad. I have to get to the bottom of it. Marshall: (stops cold for a second) Coming right up, just uhh. . . Sydney: Marshall, what’s wrong with my father? Marshall: Hmm? Sydney: You know, don’t you? Marshall: It was after your mission to Yakutsk. Sydney: Yeah? Marshall: (starts typing more and pulls up report of the mission) God, he pulled the fuel right out of the core reactor. He told me not to tell you. He actually made me swear on Mitchell’s life, but seeing that you came in here to me, I guess I didn’t really violate- Sydney: I thought you shut down the reactor from here. Marshall: So did I, at first. But then you got trapped in the experimental chamber, and he thought it would be best if he went inside, and- Sydney: Marshall, whatever information you have, on his treatment, I need it now. Marshall: Syd. . .there is no treatment. I mean I have been all over the medical journals, harassing researchers that I know- some that I don’t know. (Sydney puts her hand to her forehead) If there was a treatment, I would have found it by now. Sydney walks into Sloane’s office. Sloane: Sydney, what is it? Sydney: We have to find my father. APO Breifing room. g*ng, excluding Jack is sitting around the table. Sloane: Jack Bristow is in need of immediate medical attention. Currently, he’s off the grid. We’ve tried all usual avenues of communication. Sydney: We have contacted every hospital and private practice in Los Angeles county. No one has record of treating him. Dixon: Maybe he checked in using an alias. Marshall: Well, we considered that, but the genetic mutation he experienced would require any doctor to make special note, and nothing matching your father’s criteria has been reported. Sydney: The truth is, whatever my father has, it isn’t treatable. If he’s as sick as we think he is, it’s likely that his mental faculties are impaired. Vaughn: Which means, someone might be preying on Jack using the false promise of a cure. Sloane: We must act quickly. If someone is actively trying to harm Jack, he may be in no position to defend himself. Jack walks into Liddel’s office. Liddel: How did it go? (Jack hands the 2 bottles to him) All right. I’ll prepare this and we’re ready to go. (points to nurse) Connie will take care of your personal belongings. Connie: How are you feeling today, Mr. Bristow? Jack: Hopeful. APO Weiss: (on computer) We got a h*t. (to Marshall) Jack just used a drive-thru ATM on 9th about 20 minutes ago, down near staples center. Marshall: Great. (on computer) I’ll log onto the traffic surveillance network, see if I can spot his car leaving the bank. (finds what he’s looking for) Fantastic. Sydney and Vaughn are driving in a car. Sydney is on the phone, Jack’s answering machine picks up. Sydney: Come on dad, pick up your phone. Jack: Please leave your name and number with a brief message- Sydney: (hangs up the phone) Damn it! Vaughn: Syd, we’ll find him. Marshall: (to Weiss) Okay, I got it. Sydney’s phone rings. Sydney: Yeah, Marshall? Marshall: We found his car, it’s parked outside a building on Pierpont. Sydney: (to Vaughn) Do you know where Pierpont is? Vaughn: Yeah, about 5 minutes out. Sydney: (to phone) Oh, thank you Marshall. Remind me to kiss you. Marshall: Uh, okay. Weiss: What? What’d she say? Marshall: Uh, nothing. Dr. Liddel’s office. Jack is in the chair. It has restraints. Liddel: Everything’s set. The whole procedure should take about 4 hours. Jack: What are these restraints for? Liddel: Uh, some patients go into convulsions when they’re unconscious. I didn’t want you to hurt yourself. Jack, have you thought about talking to Sydney? (he puts on the restraints) Jack: I do keep to many secrets. When this is behind me that’s gonna change. Sydney deserves more. She deserves to know she’s the most important thing in my life. She and Laura, of course. Liddel: I’m proud of you Jack. Sydney and Vaughn drive up to an old warehouse building. They get out of the car, Sydney’s on the phone. Sydney (to phone): We found his car. (she hangs up) Vaughn and Sydney enter the building. The walls and floor are gray and it looks a bit dark. We see very ill people lying on the ground. They start walking. Sydney: What would my father be doing here? Vaughn: I don’t know. They see a guy lying on a mattress. He’s wearing a jacket. Sydney and Vaughn stop to interrogate him. Sydney: That’s my father’s jacket. Vaughn : (to guy) Where is the man you took these from? (he grabs him) Hey! Where is he? Sydney: Come on. (Vaughn takes his g*n, which was probably Jack’s) Dr. Liddel’s office. Jack: If for some reason, this doesn’t work, tell my girls I love them, Sydney and Laura. Liddel: You’re gonna pull through this Jack. I’ll see you on the other side. (He injects him with the blue liquid medicine) I’d like you count backwards from ten. Jack: 10. . .9. . .8. . 7. . . Sydney and Vaughn walk in with their g*n out. All of a sudden, we’re back in the warehouse. Jack is on a bed, injecting himself with poison. Sydney: Dad! Jack: It’s okay, everything’s. . . Sydney: Oh my God, Dad! (to phone) Marshall, we need medical attention, now. (hangs up) Dad. (Vaughn is holding him up as he starts to shake, and Sydney pulls out the needle) APO Vaughn is talking to Sloane. Vaughn: Sydney’s with Jack. They’ve taken him to the infirmary. Sloane: So, he injected himself with poison? Vaughn: Well, apparently, he thought is was a cure. Now, they got it out of his system, but this illness- they say within 72 hours, his condition will advance to the point where it’s irreversible. Slone: Did he wake up in the ambulance? Vaughn: He kept wanting to see his doctor, Dr. Liddel. Apparently he’s been suffering from hallucinations for weeks. Sloane: Dr. Liddel. Vaughn: Yeah. APO Briefing room. g*ng around table. Picture of Liddel up on the screen. Sloane: Dr. Atticus Liddell. Dixon: He exists? Sloane: He did. 25 years ago, Atticus Liddel developed a radical thesis regarding the treatment of genetic mutations. IN 1981, he left the US to pursue his theories. He was working with patients devastated by an undisclosed nuclear accident in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, it was the cold w*r. Shortly after he arrived, the Soviet’s became convinced that in addition to being a physician, Liddel was also a spy, which he was. Vaughn: Did they k*ll him? Sloane: No. One of Jack’s handlers informed us of the Russians’ suspicions, and Jack was able to extract him before they could act. He changed his name, gave him a new identity. Sydney: Then there must be a record of where Liddel is located. Sloane: No. In those times, Jack and his handler had a strict policy-anything that sensitive, they kept no documentation. Sydney: So, we have to contact my Dad’s handler. Sloane: Jack’s handler is d*ad. He died 8 years ago. Dixon: But supposing Jack knows where Liddel is, why didn’t he make contact when he first developed symptoms? Sydney: He thought he did. Marshall: Wow. Mr Bristow hallucinated the one man who can actually save his life. Even his delusions are lucid. Vaughn: A man like Liddel can’t just disappear. Sydney: Yes, he could, if he was hidden by my father. Sydney is looking in at Jack’s desk when Nadia walks up. Nadia: Hey. Is there anything I can do? Sydney: We’re doing everything to find a doctor who might be able to help. Nadia: I’m so sorry, Syd. Sydney: Thank you. I’m gonna sit with him for a while. Nadia: You want company? I’ll cancel dinner with Sophia. Sydney: You should keep it. There’s nothing you can do here anyway. Nadia: Okay. But if you need anything. . . Sydney’s apartment. Sophia is laying out dishes. Nadia and Weiss walk in. Nadia: Hi. Sophia: Hi. (smiles and hugs Nadia) Nadia: Something smells good. Sophia: (goes over to Weiss) You must be Eric. Weiss: Yes. Sophia: I’m Sophia. Weiss: Oh, hi. Eric Weiss. (Sophia gives him a hug) Oh, wow. How are you? (to Nadia) I love her already. Sophia: I’m so sorry Sydney couldn’t make it. How sick is her father? Nadia: It’s hard to say. They’re running some tests now. (she puts down her bags) Weiss: Yeah. Sophia: That’s awful. It’s very hard. When it’s a parent, it’s always so difficult. Give me those. (she picks up Nadia’s bags) I want you two to relax. You had a rough day. I’ll take care of everything. Uh, Eric? Weiss: Yeah. Sophia: You have no idea how excited I am to meet you. Nadia says the most beautiful things about you. (she leaves) Weiss: (to Nadia) Really? Nadia: She asked me if you were tall, dark, and handsome. I told her you were tall. (Weiss laughs and they kiss) In Nadia’s bedroom. Sophia/Elena gives Nadia’s bags to suspicious looking man and she leaves. Suspicious looking takes out Nadia’s laptop and downloads files. Hospital. Jack is lying in a bed. Sydney sits nearby. Jack starts to mumble and his eyes open. Sydney: Dad. Dad can you hear me? Jack: Hello. Sydney: Hi. Jack: What are you doing-why am- Sydney: I need to ask you something, dad. Jack: Oh, no, it was my turn to pick up Sydney after dance class. I’m sorry. Can- can you take care of that? I’ll cover next time Laura, I promise. Sydney: Laura? Jack: I don’t- I don’t know why I’m so tired sweetheart. I’m so tired. Sydney’s apartment. Nadia, Weiss, and Sophia around the table, eating. Weiss: (holds up a piece of food) What are these, the emperanas, these are incr- they’re so good. (Nadia giggles) Sophia: Empanadas. Weiss: Whatever, they’re delicious. Sophia: I taught Nadia how to make them when she was very little. Weiss: Well, I’ve been seriously deprived. Nadia: Please. Weiss: Well have you ever made these for me? Nadia: (her cell phone, which is in her room, rings) Excuse me. Sophia: Can’t you let it go? Nadia: I really have to get this, I’m sorry. (she leaves the table) Sophia: Nadia. Do you want some more wine? Nadia: Sure. Sophia: Red? White? (she discreetly pulls a g*n out of her bag) Nadia: Red. (Nadia goes into her room) Weiss: I know there’s- you know, there’s seafood in here, but what- what is this? Is this artichoke hearts? What is this? Sophia: (watching Nadia’s door) Many things. Weiss: And the rice. What is the spice in the rice? I can’t- is it, um. . . Sophia: Saffron. Weiss: Ah, saffron. I was going for cumin. Saffron- your secret ingredient, of course. Nadia comes back out. Sophia/Elena discreetly replaces her g*n back in her bag. Nadia: It was Vaughn. Weiss: How’s Jack? Sloane’s office. Sydney and Sloane. Sloane: He’s to far gone, Sydney. In his present mental state, he will never tell us where he hid Liddel. Not to mention thet it’s possible your father doesn’t even remember. Sydney: My father doesn’t forget things. We can hypnotize him. Slaone: Yeah, I considered that myself, but given his situation, his condition, these hallucinations. . . Sydney: He called me Laura. He thought I was my mother. Sloane: He called you Laura? Not Irina? You said he called you Laura. Suppose we convince your father that he’s still living in 1981, specifically the day that he extracted Liddel out of Russia. Sydney: My dad’s hallucinating. That’s distinctly different from what you’re suggesting. Sloane: (waves his hands) No, no, I’m not sure it is. Calling you Laura, imagining Dr. Liddel. What if we could recreate his surroundings? Perhaps we could guide his delusions, get him to reveal exactly where he relocated Liddel. Sydney: (eyes widen) You want me to be my mother. Sloane: That’s right. Sydney is sitting at a table. She’s dressed like Irina. Vaughn comes up. Vaughn: Found a girl. (places a picture of a young girl in front of her) Six years old. She’s got your eyes. Her mom wants to know if she can use this for her acting reel. You okay? I get it. (rubs her shoulders) Not okay. Sydney: I don’t know how I’m gonna do this? Vaughn: Well, you know, it’s not too late. We can always have Weiss dress up as Irina. I’m sure he’d make a great housewife. Sydney: (she laughs) I don’t remember my parents back when they were together. Vaughn: Well, you were a little girl. Sydney: I remember the time. I don’t remember them. My dad. . .was my dad. He was never around when I was a kid. He was always away on business. My mom. . .I don’t know what my dad was like around my mother, or what she was like around him. I don’t know how to do this. Vaughn: Syd, it’s just a job. It’s another alias like all the others. Just trust your training. Follow your dad’s cues. Follow his leads. Besides, I’ve got sn*pers everywhere if he starts to get inappropriate. (he smiles and Sydney laughs) Nadia: (comes in) They’re ready. (she leaves) Vaughn: Hey, listen to me. You can do this. Sydney enters another room, which turns out to be they’re old house. She looks around. Sloane: (comes in from the opposite direction) Oh my God. It’s unsettling, isn’t it? Sydney: This is my old house. (other guys comes in and place some things) Sloane: It should be sufficient as long as Jack, doesn’t examine the details too closely. (turns) That bowl is in the wrong place. (he picks it up) Hmm, it’s murano glass. Emily and I gave this to your parents- or at least the original version- as a housewarming gift. Sydney: It belongs on the coffee table. Sloane: That’s right. We’ll give you a few minutes after Jack wakes up to sell the illusion. When the phone rings, give him his privacy. (moves a few things around) Medical will move in as soon as we get Liddel’s location. We’ll get this- (Men roll Jack in on stretcher)- we’ll get this over with as quickly as possible Sydney. (men lay Jack on a sofa, Sydney and Sloane watch him) You ready? (she nods) Your mother used to call your father sweetheart. It was a pet name for him. Good luck. (he walks out) A guy injects Jack with something. Sloane: (on comms) He should be conscious in 30 seconds. (to Marshall) Turn on the television. Marshall: Ok, tv. . .on. Marshall, Nadia, Sloane, and Vaughn watch Jack and Sydney through multiple cameras. The tv in the living room nexto Jack, who is lying on a couch, turns on. Man on tv: First conference President Reagan has held since the assassination attempt a month ago. And now, here’s Sue with the weather. Jack wakes up. Woman: All right, thank you Jim. We’re looking at the downtown L. A. and Hollywood area, which should remain sunny and warm for the next few days. (Sydney is shown in the kitchen) . . . . Jack picks up the remote and turns off the tv. He starts to get up. Vaughn: Sydney, go ahead. Sydney picks up a brown paper bag, and opens and shuts the door. Sydney: Jack? (Jack gets up and goes to the kitchen) Oh, good you’re home. (she lays the bags on the table and starts taking food out, as Jack stares at her) Jack: Sydney. Sydney: She’s upstairs, isn’t she? Would you give me a hand with these? (pause) Sweetheart is something wrong? Marshall: It’s not working. Sloane: Just give her a moment please. Sydney: Arvin called. He and Emily want to have dinner next Saturday. I told him we’d love to. Jack: You could have just said we’re busy. I know how you put up with Arvin for my sake. Sydney: Sweetheart, he’s your best friend. I’m your wife. I can tolerate him. Jack: (smiles) How can you do that? Sydney: (continues putting away groceries) Do what? Jack: How can you be so perfect? Loving mother, beautiful wife, just- just by standing there. Sloane: Vaughn. Vaughn picks up a phone. The phone rings. Sydney: Jack, would you get that? Jack: (goes back to the living room and answers the phone) Hello. Vaughn: Control number 80709. Is this line secure? Jack: Yes, it is. Vaughn: I’m calling from Agent Grady’s office. We’ve moved up the timetable to get Liddel out of Minsk. We have to get him out of there now. Jack: Yes, I understand. (he watches Sydney move around the kitchen) Vaughn: I can expedite your movements from here. What travel arrangements do you need set up? (pause) Where do you want Liddel moved? Marshall: His mind’s rejecting this, possibly because Vaughn’s voice doesn’t sound like his handler’s. Nadia: We should send in the girl. Sloane: Do it, Marshall. Marshall: Sending in. . .the girl. Little girl, supposed to be Sydney, walks in. Girl: Hi, dad. Is it okay if I practice the piano? Jack: (smiles) Of course. Little girl smiles and goes over to the piano. She starts playing. Jack: (to phone) You still there? Vaughn: Yes, of course. Jack: I have company. Vaughn: I understand. Jack: About the doctor, I’m feeling a bit under the weather, but I’m much better now. Marshall: It’s code, do you recognize it? Slaone: No, it must be something Jack had with his handler. Vaughn: Go ahead. Jack: Despite that, I think it’d be wise to have a checkup. It’s been over a year since my last stress test. Can you schedule that for me? Vaughn: You got it. Jack: Thank you. (he hangs up) Sloane: Sydney, Marshall should be able to decode the message. Keep trying to get Liddel’s location. Jack goes back to the kitchen. Jack: Sorry, honey, I have bad news. Sydney: Oh? Jack: That was Grady. Who else would it be this early on a sunday. He has a mission for me. I’m afraid I have to leave town. Nadia: He told her. She knew he was a spy. Sloane: It would seem so. Sydney: What’s the mission? Jack: There’s a doctor, who’s research has put his life in danger. I need to make him disappear. New name, new identity, new life-low risk, I promise. Sydney: Where will you take him? Jack: Finland. The medical community there- Sloane: Marshall, run a biometric of Dr. Liddel against the databases of Finnish passport offices and medical licensing board. Marshall: Already on it. Vaughn: Sydney, we got it. Good work. Jack: What concerns me- I won’t be back until next week. I’ll miss Sydney’s birthday again. Sydney: That’s okay. You’ll explain it to her. She’ll understand. Jack: She’s a child. She shouldn’t need to understand her father isn’t home to celebrate her birthday. Laura, the only memories I have of my father are of him leaving. I don’t want it to be that way for her. She deserves better. Sydney: (you can tell she’s about to cry) The work you do is important. Jack: Not as important as her. Or you. (pause) When I get back from Europe, I’m going to talk to my supervisors. Sydney: What about? Jack: I’m giving notice. Sorry. I should have discussed this with you before I made any decisions. Sydney: No. That means more to me than you’ll ever know. (she’s about to cry as Jack kisses her hand) Sloane: We’ll send in the med techs to sedate your father. Jack goes over to the piano and sits next to the little girl. Jack: That’s good. Can I join you? Girl: Uh-huh. (she nods and he plays the piano with her) Sydney comes in and watches them. Twinkle twinkle little star. Guy comes in and tranqs Jack. Helsinki, Finland. We see an old man sitting in a bench. Sydney walks up to him. Sydney: Dr. Liddel. He gets up and walks away, without even looking at her. Sydney: Jack Bristow. He needs your help. (he stops and turns around) APO Marshall comes running up to Weiss and Nadia. Marshall: Guys! Weiss, Nadia, hold on! I was about to run some more carbide tests on the hydrosec- case carbide tests, and I went to get it out of cold storage, and it wasn’t there, but of course you knew that. Nadia: How would we know that? Marshall: Well, it was moved at your request by your unit to a low-security facility offsite. I’m just wondering why, cause that’s some dangerous stuff. Suspicious looking man walks down a corridor. There are 2 men tied up behind him. He attaches a device to a wall. Elena is walking down a street and comes upon a guard. Elena: Excuse me, sir. I’m terribly sorry but I’m lost. Could you please tell me where Division street is please? Guard 1: Sure. Actually Division Street is the one-way street, (points) heading north. In another section, Guard 2 goes up to Guard 3. Guard 2: What’s going on? Guard 3: (watching Elena on camera, then turns back to 2) Just some lady asking directions. APO Weiss: No one in our unit authorized anything. Marshall: Well, the request was authenticated. It came over our secure network. Suspicous looking man presses a button and the security cameras go out. Guard 2 and 3 notice. G 2: Security system’s offline. G3: I’m calling it in. Back to Elena and G1. Elena: You’re saying that way is a one-way street, goas- G1: Right-(she tranqs him)-ahh. (Elena carries him over to behind a wall and drops him) Back to Guards 2 and 3. G3: Hey, hey-hey-how did you get in here? Elena pulls out a g*n and tranqs both of them. Weiss tries calling the security office, no answer because G 2 and 3 are tranqed. Elena walks down the hall with suspicious looking man. Guard comes around the corner and she tranqs him. Weiss: Nothing. I’m getting nothing, no answer. Nadia: Let’s go. Elena takes a card from the unconscious guard and uses it to open a door. She enters followed by suspicious looking man. They come to a safe. Man: It’s double-folded titanium. Elena: Take a look at this. We can cut through that. He uses a blowtorch to cut through it, while Elena guards the doorway. Nadia and Weiss enter the building and find Guards 2 and 3 unconscious. They move on. Man: (to Elena) Done. Elena comes away from the door as Man pulls the door off the safe. Elena takes the case out and opens it to inspect what’s inside. Nadia and Weiss find another tranqed guard. They enter the room with the safe. Nadia: Hydrosec’s gone. Weiss: Oh, God. (he sees suspicious looking man lying on the floor d*ad, Elena k*lled him) Nadia: It’s the guy from Vienna. The one Sydney and Vaughn- Weiss: What the hell happed here? The hallway outside APO. Sydney is walking through with Dr. Liddel. Sloane: (comes up) Atticus. (they shake hands) So good of you to come. Liddel: After what Jack did for me. . . Sloane: Sydney will show you the infirmary. If there’s anything you need- Liddel: I’d like to see my patient. Sydney: Right this way. (they walk on) The infirmary. Jack is asleep in his bed. Sydney picks up Jack’s hand. Sydney: Dad. (he wakes up and looks at her) Dad. A friend is here to see you. Liddel: Hello, Jack. Jack: Am I cured? Liddel: Not yet. But I’m gonna make you better.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x18 - Mirage"}

foreverdreaming

MONTE VIDEO : Two vehicles, including a van, drive up to a monastery. Monks gather in front as Arvin Clone steps out of the car. Monk: Mr. Sloane, welcome to Mount Inferno Monastery of the Vespertine Order. AC: Thank you. Monk: You will forgive us our cautions. AC: Of course. Another monk sweeps him as we see another monk holding a r*fle. AC: Hunting season? Monk: Come. Father Kampinski is waiting. Monks close the monastery gate as we see the Rambaldi eye at the top. We go inside. Kampinski: Mr. Sloane. AC: Father Kampinski. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. Kampinski: What can I do for you, Mr. Sloane? AC: Our institute is mandated to develop methods to counter terrorism. We have, of course, heard about the work you’ve done here. And, you know, wanted to perhaps- Kampinski: Our bees are not for sale. AC: Well, of course they’re not. What we wanted was your. . .knowledge, not your insects, per se. I understand, you’ve bred the aggression out of them. Kampinski: This is not strictly true. The aggression is there. The nee for it, happily, is not. Come Mr. Sloane. I’ll show you. Outside. Watching bees mess with the flowers. There are monks everywhere. Kampinski: Our bees have an exceptionally venomous sting. They’re very hard to antagonize. They choose productivity over aggression. Aggression is a distraction, which is why we’re able to work among the apiaries without the traditional protective garments. AC: Remarkable. Kampinski: There is so very much we can learn from these exquisite beings. AC: Fascinating. Kampinski: They’re imbued with a kind of grace- unlike so many humans. AC: And you’ve achieved that grace? How? Kampinski: Monte Inferno, we’re dedicated to the- the marriage of supposed opposites, amongst them man and his science, God and his miracles coming together for the profit of all. Just think about it. The right blend of genetic engineering, dietetic supplements, behavior modification, and- AC: (nods) You could create a new species. Kampinski: Oh, no ,no, my son. Merely a better bee. One closer to God’s grand design. We even have the ablilty to control their body temperatures, makes the bees work harder, longer, more in synch- all for the common good. They come to a room in a greenhouse. In that room, is a large flower. There are bees everywhere. AC: Extraordinary. Paphiodilum khan. The rarest of lady slipper orchid species, generally thought to be extinct. Kampinski: Not exactly. A close cousin. AC: No. This is the genuine article. Brought here to Italy from China by Marco Polo, 1269, a gift from Kubla Khan. Kampinski: And what do you want? AC: If I might, I’d like to spend a little time here, examine your historical papers, take a cutting of your orchid. Kampinski: A cutting? Hahaha. AC: For $50 million. Deposited immediately. To your accounts in Vanuatu and Samoa. Kampinski: Yes, it’s true, I have a little put away for a rainy day. The fact is, I’m uninterested in money. I’m a man of God, not a merchant. AC: In my experience, Father, the two are hardly mutually exclusive. Kampinski: I’m so sorry you came all this way for nothing. AC: No. I’m the one who’s sorry. Arvin Clone on phone. Outside. AC: (to phone) I’m coming home. Inside van, a woman snaps shut a phone. There is also a man. Woman: Plan “B”. Man messes with a computer, and we see a miniature Rambaldi ball spinning quickly. The bees go crazy and start stinging people. Cries of “ow” and general screaming as the bees continue to sting, growing rapidly in momentum. Arvin Clone walks around wearing a bee mask and carrying a r*fle. All the other monks lay unconscious, if not d*ad. He comes up to Father Kampinski, is not yet d*ad. Kampinski: Please. . .help me. AC: Certainly. Anti- venom. (holds up a tube) Enough to give you a sh*t of actually surviving. But first, the Rambaldi orchid formulas. Which you used on your bees. Kampinski: You go to hell. AC: You first. (he sh**t him with the r*fle) Infirmary. Jack sitting on a hospital bed, with the nurse holding his arms up. Sydney looks on. Nurse: Now keep both arms up. Like this. Jack: Yes, I know, I know. You tell me every day, thank you. (to Sydney) They treat me like an idiot. (he starts to put his arms down) Sydney: Keep them up Dad. It’s for your own good. Dr. Liddel said you have to follow the procedure to the letter if you want to make a full recovery. (she buttons his cufflinks for him) Jack: I never thanked you for what you did- helping to find Liddel. Sydney: You don’t have to. (buttons his other sleeve) Jack: That other charade- you pretending to be your mother- whose idea was that? Sydney: Sloane’s. You were living in 1981. You were delusional. It was the only way we could get you to reveal LIddel’s whereabouts. You told her, dad. You told mom you were a CIA agent. You broke protocol. That’s how she stole Agency secrets. Jack: (referring to his arms) I’m putting these down now. Sydney: You also said you were thinking about resigning from the CIA. (pause) You would have, right dad? If she hadn’t left? Jack: I didn’t like being away all the time. Not being a part of your life. Sydney: You’re part of it now. Nadia walks in as Sydney helps Jack put on his jacket. Nadia: They’re ready for the briefing. Sydney: Thank you. We’re coming. Briefing room. g*ng around table. Sloane: Yesterday a rare orchid was stolen from the Monte Inferno Monastery in Umbria. 45 monks were k*lled to obtain it. Satellite photos confirm it’s the same man we encountered in Santiago, the man who claims to be me. Details are in your briefing folders. Sydney: What’s so special about this orchid? Marshall: Well, it has chemical properties, which heighten receptivity in the neutral pathways. . .we think- we assume, well, we don’t know, really. It’s just that nobody in the scientific community has laid eyes on it for centuries. Sloane: We have been asked to recover it. Find the imposter. Get the orchid. I want a plan on my desk by 2200. That’s it. Everyone gets up and leaves. Except Jack. Jack: Arvin. . .a word. Sloane: Of course. Sloane’s office. Jack: You said it was harmless, this could never happen. Sloane: I didn’t know it could. I never imagined the effects of the orchid could be reversed. Jack: No, but somebody did. Sloane: Let’s not overreact, Jack. What we saw- the effect of the Mueller device- was a demonstration on insects, not on humans. Jack: We are staring at the potential for global disaster, in no small part because of what you’ve put in place. Sloane: Don’t you think I realize the responsibility I bear? We need to find the orchid, Jack, not waste time arguing over what we can’t change. Jack: 72 Hours. If we haven’t recovered the orchid in that time, I’m going to Langley with this. It’ll mean the end of you Arvin. Sloane: You too, Jack. Jack I know. 72 hours. Sydney’s apartment. Sydney, Nadia, Vaughn, and Dixon. Dixon: The Italian police d*ad-ended on both vehicles. Satellite surveillance was a bust. Vaughn: Echelon’s bone-dry. Apparently our Sloane Clone’s vanished into the ether. Nadia: Then we’re back to square one. Sydney: Not exactly. If we can’t find him, we’ll make him find us. The Vespertine papers- Rambaldi texts that refer to our stolen orchid. Rumor is they were destroyed during World w*r II. Vaughn: You want to bring them out of hiding? Sydney: Leak dummy intel that they were found in Father Kampinski’s personal belonging’s. Dixon: We can get the DSR to loan us some documents. Nadia: Set it up as an auction. Sydney: I have a contact at the Paris Antiquities House. Paris. Auction house. Nadia and Dixon walk down the stairs. Dixon: Smile and look like a lot of money. Nadia: Dollars or euros? Dixon: Euros definitely. They come up to a desk. Dixon: Mark Mullins from the Carolina Institute. Dixon: (signs paper) Ah, yes. Nadia: (desk person hands her a card) Thank you. Marshall: (on comms, watching the camera that’s in Nadia’s glasses) Evergreen you are on the air. Vaughn: Uplinking to APO. APO Jack, Sloane, Sydney around the table. Sydney: I’d love to be there. Sloane: It’s too risky. The imposter’s seen you before. Sydney: I know, just- Sloane: Nadia will do fine. Jack: Let’s hope so. Back to auction room. A crowd of people sit in chairs, including Nadia and Dixon. Auctioneer: Sold, for 5 million euros to the man in the gray flannel suit. Our next item- lot 47- is a last-minute addition. The Vespertine papers. (man carries briefcase to table) All interested bidders should take a few moments to examine the documents. Look, but, please, do not touch. Nadia and a few other people walk up to the table and examine the briefcase. Sydney: Let’s see who takes the bait. Nadia looks at the other buyers standing around her. Sydney: Identity? Sloane: Toshira Tokenada. Wealthy Rambaldi collector from Kyoto. (another person) Efraim Dousseau Ngumbe. Dilettante, far more money than vision. (another person) I’ve never seen her before. Sydney: Evergreen, get a look at her name tag. Pamela McNabb, Stanwyck Institute Marshall: Yowza. Vaughn: Easy. Marshall: What? We can’t appreciate beautiful things? No, you’re right, watch tv, can’t touch the knobs. Jack: (looks something up on computer) It’s a dummy corp. McNabb’s a phony. Auctioneer: (guards take the briefcase out) We will start the bidding at 2 million euros. (man raises sign) I have 2 million. Do I hear 2.5? (other man raises sign) 2.5. Do I have 3 million? (Dixon raises sign) 4 million. 6 million. 9 million. 10 million. McNabb stops bidding and listens to a cell phone. Nadia: (notices) Our girl stopped bidding. Sloane: Something went wrong. Merlin, McNabb’s cell phone. Marshall: I’m all over it. (types at a computer) Scanning to get a GSM source. Her conversation’s encrypted. Auctioneer: 11.5? (McNabb gets up and leaves) Nadia: McNabb’s on the move. Sydney: Stop the woman. Dixon: (sitting in a chair) Copy that. (gets up and follows) Auctioneer: 12 million? (Nadia follows McNabb) Jack: Suppose she’s not working for your imposter. Sloane: No, it’s her. Sydney: Then why’s she leaving. Sloane: I would only stop bidding if I was certain that I could recover the papers through some other means. Auctioneer: 13 million? McNabb walks down the hall followed by Nadia and Dixon. Sloane: She’s a decoy. Outrigger, check the papers. Dixon: Copy that. In the auction room, people are passed out as a guy steals the papers. Nadia chases down McNabb. Dixon enters the auction room to find people unconscious and the papers missing. Dixon: Evergreen, forget about her, the papers are gone. Out the back. (pulls out a g*n and runs outside) A van is leaving. Dixon chases it, until a CIA van drives up and blocks it. Dixon, Vaughn, Nadia, and Marshall k*ll the drivers and open up the back to find Arvin Clone. AC: Marcus. What a surprise. Vaughn: We got him. Sloane: Good work. Bring him home. We’ll make him tell us where the orchid is. APO White room. Arvin Clone is sitting in chair. Just outside, Nadia, Sydney, Marshall, watch him. Jack and Sloane enter the room. AC: Jack. Of course, I should have known. Jack: You know me. AC: Well, what kind of question is that? Of course I know you. Sloane: And me? AC: What about you? Sloane: Do you know me? SC: No. Sloane: I am Arvin Sloane. AC: I see. This is your idea, Jack- play with my sense of reality. Jack: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never met you. AC: It’s not going to work. Ok. Shall we state this for the record? I am Arvin Sloane. Jack: Posing as Arvin Sloane, you recently stole a rare orchid from the Monte Inferno Monastery. Your masquerade is over. You’ve been caught. AC: What happens next? You deprive me of food? Try to alter my sense of time? Childish attempts to break me down. You, Jack, of all people should know that. Jack: Who are you? AC: Who am I? 1985. Belize. For 72 hours we were stuck in a safehouse questioning a revolutionary. And after you cut off- how many fingers was it?- 8, he told us what we wanted. Only you and I know that. You let it off the after- action report. How desperate the company must be to play this pitiable mind game. Think you could call this. . .actor, this- this clown, Arvin Sloane and make me doubt my own identity? Jack: Tell me, how do you account for the fact, that in the recent past, this man created and ran an international relief agency called OMNIFAM? The world knows his face as Arvin Sloane. AC: He’s a CIA stooge with my good looks, and I can prove it. The affair in Santiago, I noticed that both Marcus Dixon and Sydney Bristow were in on that mission. It beggars reason to believe these same two agents would ever agree to work for the man who k*lled their loved ones. That’s the most logical scenario. That I’m the imposter. . .or that you are? Marshall: (on the computer, moves to the other computer) This is weird. AC: And unless you have anything better to offer, either start cutting off my fingers or kindly call my lawyer. Nadia: (walks in) Marshall would like to see you. AC: Tell him I said hello. (he doesn’t appear to recognize Nadia) Jack: (to Sloane) Try not to k*ll him. (he follows Nadia out the door and speaks to Marshall) What have we got? Marshall: Oh, hey, uh, I think you should see for yourself. (he turns the monitor so Jack can see) Jack: What am I looking at? Marshall: Well, these are the imposter’s EEG readings, his brain activity. Basically every individual has a unique brain pattern, a signature, and- take a look at this other one. Sydney: They’re identical. Marshall: Exactly. Jack: Whose EEG is this? Marshall: Well, that’s the weird part. I pulled these from the CIA database. This is Arvin Sloane. The real Sloane. Our Sloane. Jack: You’re telling me, these two men share identical brains? Marshall: For all intents and purposes, well, yes. I mean, this man is Arvin Sloane. At least his brain is. Nadia: How is that possible? Marshall: Back at SD-6, I worked on a project that focused on brain imprinting. Engram encoding. Jack: That program was run out of psy-ops, by McCullough. Nadia: Who’s McCullough? Breifing room. g*ng, including Sloane, sits arounds table. McCullough’s picture and info pop up on a screen. Jack: Calvin McCullough, senior partner at SD-6. He headed the psychological warfare and operations division. Among the numerous programs he oversaw, was something called Project Brainstorm. It’s purpose- to explore experimental technologies to aid in interrogation, brainwashing, the creation of sleeper agents, as well as the transfer of memories. From one subject to another. Sydney: This is what we think happened to this man? He was made to believe he’s Sloane? Jack: Not just believe, but to act. Among other things, he shares the same desires, which explains his pursuit of Rambaldi artifacts. Marshall: Well, if you think about it, this guy’s been able to stay two steps ahead of us the entire time. He thinks like you, he knows your strategies, your playbooks, your secrets. Sydney: When we were in Santiago going after Sloane Clone the first time, you knew the access code to his facility- “Jacquelyn”. Sloane: I had no reference to that. It just came to me. Marshall: Probably because it’s buried deep inside your subconscious, which also means it’s buried inside his. Nadia: But you said they were only experimental technologies at the time. So someone must have continued McCullough’s research after SD-6 was taken down. Jack: McCullough was tipped off to the raid. He evaded capture. Nadia: Who tipped him? Sloane: I did. I owed him a favor, one he clearly didn’t return to me. Sydney: If McCullough is holding the strings, then we may have a lead on the orchid. Sloane: I have a good idea where he might be. Jack: I’ll put Dixon and Vaughn on McCullough. In the meantime, we continue the interrogation here. Buenos Aires. McCullough is sitting at an outside table reading the newspaper. Vaughn and Dixon approach him. Dixon: I see you are enjoying your retirement. Vaughn: Don’t mind if we join you, do you? (they sit, McCullough looks shocked) McCullough: It’s been a long time, Mr. Dixon. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company? Dixon: Arvin Sloane sent us. The real Arvin Sloane. Tell us where the orchid is and we might be able to cut you a deal. McCullough: I don’t know where it is. (McCullough rips up a piece of paper and empties the powder into his coffee cup. HOW DO DIXON AND VAUGHN NOT SEE THIS? It’s right in front of their faces.) Vaughn: Listen to me if you don’t want to spend the rest of your like in a federal prison, I suggest you start cooperating with us now. McCullough: And I am telling you I don’t have the answers you’re looking for. Dixon: We know you used Project Brainstorm technology to make that man believe he’s Arvin Sloane. McCullough: And I’m not denying that. Dixon: You had him acquire the orchid for you. Where is it? McCullough: (takes a sip of coffee) Yes. I made him believe he’s Sloane. But I did to good a job. He double-crossed me and kept the orchid for himself. Just like Arvin would have done. Vaughn: You’re lying. McCullough: I’m beyond lying. All that really matters now is that my employer would never let me live long enough to be interrogated, and that right now I have 300 milligrams of cyanide coursing through my veins. Dixon: The coffee. Vaughn: Get an ambulance! (shouts something in Spanish) Dixon: (Dixon holds him up) Who are you working for? McCullough: Tell Arvin, I- (he dies) Arvin Clone interrogation room. AC is sitting. Sydney walks in. AC: I’m so happy to see you Sydney. Sydney: I have only one question to ask you. Where’s the orchid? AC: Four years is a long time not to see someone you love. It appears you’ve done well. Sydney: Look, if you want to tell me where to find the orchid, I’ll be happy to continue this farce, otherwise. . . AC: Are you sure that’s what you want, Sydney? Think about it. There are so many things you could ask of me. Why not choose one that matters. Sydney: Such as? AC: The reengineering of the evolution of a species. Sydney: You found an application for one of Rambaldi’s formulas. AC: Mm-hmm. Finally. I’m the first to admit that some of Rambaldi’s quests occasionally degenerated into sheer folly, but not this one. Sydney: Go on. AC: The work we did- the work you do now- taking down bad guys, putting out fires- you’re a b*at cop. Not making a dent. You’ve got to go to the source. Human nature itself. Where we are headed. What will become of human beings. You want to change the world? You want to really deal with the vanquishing of evil and the ascendancy of good? Well, I’m your guy. Sydney: You’re telling me you’re one of the good guys? AC: Come work with me. Sydney: This work- would it involve genetics and bioengineering? AC: In part. A Vulgarian would use the word “mutate”, but it has such negative connotations. Sydney: Mutate into what? AC: Ostensibly into a more evolved, less aggressive being- you know, cooperative, calmer. Sydney: Easier to control, like the bees at the monastery. You turned them into K*llers. AC: The bees were a test. I wanted to see if what goes down, could come up so to speak. Oh, come on Sydney, how many wars were there last century? And how many people died in those wars through genocide or political repression? We’re disgusting, humans. Do we learn from grace or beauty or what we call God? Sydney: What were you gonna do about it? AC: Suppose one could administer a formula to the general population that would quietly alter our brain chemistry, exponentially expanding our capacity for qualities like empathy and harmonic coexistence. Sydney: This formula- how would you administer it? AC: Nothing could be more simple. (he places his glass of water in front of her) Do you have any idea how many additives are in our drinking water? Hallway outside APO. Sydney, Marshall, Nadia, Jack, Sloane, stand talking. Sloane: If I could undo what I did, I would. The truth is, through OMNIFAM, I introduced a combination of substances into water supplies throughout the world. It was my intent, based on Rambaldi’s formulas, to create a more peaceful species. To breed the aggression out of the population. Just as the monks had done with their bees. Nadia: We don’t have time for your rationalizations. Sloane: No- Marshall: Excuse me. I’m assuming that you failed, right? Sloane: Yes, I failed. Because I didn’t have the orchid, I attempted to artificially manufacture its nectar. Sydney: Because your imposter already has the orchid, he doesn’t need to acquire any of the other substances you mentioned. All he has to do is put the nectar into the water you contaminated. Nadia: You loaded the g*n. Sloane: That’s right. Sydney: How many people are we talking about? How many people drank the contaminated water? Sloane: Somewhere between 3 and 4 hundred million. Sydney: What? Jack: Assuming the imposter’s organization is already harvesting the chemical from inside that orchid, I suggest we not waste time on accusations right now. Sydney: What are the options? Jack: Dixon and Vaughn are uplinking all of McCullough’s files. There might be a lead in there. Divide it up. See what you can find. Nadia leaves. Followed by Marshall. Sydney: (to Jack) I’d like to talk to you. Jack’s office. Sydney: I saw it on your face. You knew. You knew what he did and you ignored it. I want to know why. Jack: Sydney- Sydney: He’s sick, dad, can’t you see that? Jack: He was at the height of his obsession with Rambaldi, but he abandoned his scheme. Sydney: You still trust him. Jack: I trust that when he laid the seeds for this crisis, he thought he was doing something good, that he didn’t see this as a trigger for global genocide. Sydney: So he’s simply a delusional megalomaniac with benign intentions? Jack: What Sloane did cannot be undone. To alert the public would be worse than useless. It would create worldwide panic. We need that flower. Sydney: Which we could have recovered long ago which we could have recovered long ago and turned over to the DSR for safe-keeping, but we didn’t because you sat on what you knew, which you just as guilty as he is. Jack: Yes, Marshall? Marshall: (he’s standing in the doorway) I think I found something. Sloane’s office. Nadia, Jack, Sydney, Marshall, Sloane. Marshall: Okay, from what I was able to get from McCullough’s files, SD-6 performed detailed brain scans on Sloane. McCullough then recreated Sloane’s brain digitally and then uploaded it to this guy. I mean, those files- they’re ingrained deeply. Which leaves us very few options. Sloane: He’ll never give us the location of the orchid as long as he still believes that he’s me. Marshall: That’s right, We’ll have to shock it out of him- you know, split it off from his dual persona and then get his real personality to tell us where the orchid is. Nadia: Are we talking shock therapy? Marshall: No, not in the traditional sense. According to the research, reliving a painful memory or a tragic experience will literally shake his moorings, but has to be something really bad. It can’t be , you know, like- “I’m sorry-“. Sydney: Hypnotic regression. Take him back to a point in his past and- your past- and make him recall the memory. Marshall: Arvin Clone? He’ll probably resist that. You would have to relive a painful memory. And then record it, using McCullough’s technology, and then upload it to Sloane 2. You know, it’s kinda like throwing a switch. One second he’s Arvin Clone, and then shazam, he’s himself again. Jack: What are the risks? Marshall: To the subject? I’m not sure. It’ll either break him down or not. Sloane: What about to him? (looks at Sloane) Marshall: The thing is, I’m gonna need a little bit more time to run some tests before I synthesize, so- Sloane: No. We do it now. Jack: Fine. Where do we begin? Sloane: Jacquelyn. Jack: Who’s Jacqueline? Sloane: Thirty years ago, I- Marshall: No! Don’t. Sorry, sir, it’s just- it’s better if you experience it in the moment. Don’t verbalize. Another room. Sloane is strapped to a chair. Marshall standing beside him. Marshall: Okay, now, this should help you feel nice and relaxed. Once you’re semiconscious, the electrodes will administer small pulses to put you into a hypnotic state. Sloane: I’m going to need some help accessing Jacquelyn. Marshall: Right. Mr. Bristow will speak to you through your ear bugs. He’ll administer certain verbal cues which should bring your mind into the right place. Sloane: I see. (obviously, not looking forward to this) Marshall: Okay. Good luck. Nadia stands in the doorway staring at Sloane as Marshall leaves the room. She waits and then follows Marshall. Outside the room Sloane is in. Marshall, Sydney, Jack, Nadia. Marshall: Okay, we are ready to record his experience. You’re on. Jack: Arvin, I’m going to count back from ten to one. When I get to one, you’ll be in a place where you can tell me about Jacquelyn. 10. . .9. . .8. . .(Sloane jolts) Sydney: What was that? Marshall: He’s fighting it. He doesn’t want to go back to Jacquelyn. Keep going. Jack: 7. . .6. . .5. . .4. . .3. . .2. . . 1. VISION Sloane is outside in a garden, walking. Emily is sitting on a bench. He sits next to her. Sloane: I thought we could take the boat before it gets too cold. Perhaps have lunch in Bellagio, hmm? What do you think? Emily: I like just being here. You can see the wind in the trees. Maybe you should go. Sloane: No, no. No, we can sit here for as long as you like. For as long as you need. And I promise you we will get past Jacquelyn. Emily: I don’t want to hear that name. You can’t say it, Arvin. Hurts too much. Will you promise me that? You won’t speak her name again? REALTIME Sloane: Never say. . .her name. VISION Sloane: Let me in, Emily. Please. Emily: I’m alone in this, Arvin. Right now, I am alone. Sloane: No. REALTIME Sloaen: Jacquelyn. Sydney: Jacquelyn. Could she have been a mistress? Sloane: Please. Marshall: Wait a minute. Look at this. Nadia: Is he okay? Marshall: I don’t know. Jack: Arvin, we’re not quite there yet. VISION Sloane is walking and Jack shows up. Jack: You need to go back. Who is Jacquelyn, Arvin? Go back to when you met her. Sloane turns around and goes back. Emily is gardening. Sloane: You’re supposed to be doing exactly nothing. And that means not gardening. Emily turns around and we can see her pregnant belly. Emily: It’s the nesting instinct. I can’t help it. REALTIME Sloane: Emily. Please. . . VISION Sloane is walking Emily to a bench. Emily: Please, no more funny names of Italian villages. (laughing, they sit at a bench) We can’t have a daughter named Carlotta, Tabanabia, or Fabina. Sloane: (hands Emily a glass of tea?) Fabina. That name is perfect. (they kiss) How about Jacquelyn? Hmm? Emily: Jacquelyn. (she smiles) Yeah. REALTIME Sloane: Do you like it? (he smiles, and laughs) Baby Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn. I like that. Nadia gets up and watches Sloane. Sydney: Baby Jacquelyn. Dad, did you have any idea? Marshall: Sloane’s numbers are wild. His beta brainwaves are cycling at 14 per second, and he’s releasing massive amounts of glycine onto the motoneurons. Nadia: We have to bring him out. Jack: Do we have enough? Enough to confront the imposter? Marshall: No, not yet. Jack: Arivin. . .keep going. What happened to Jacquelyn? VISION Hospital room. Emily lies on a bed. Emily: How is she? Sloane takes her hand and shakes his head. Emily: (starts crying) No. No, no. . . please, Arvin. It’s a mistake. Please, no. REALTIME Sloane starts crying. VISION Sloane: Listen to me. This was a risky pregnancy. And she fought. She tried so hard to stay with us. It was too much. Her heart couldn’t- Emily: (continues crying) No, no. . .My baby! Sloane: Emily. . .I love you. I love you so. (he leans down and kisses her cheek) I love you. I love you Emily. REALTIME Sloane: (crying) My baby. VISION Emily and Sloane continue to cry. REALTIME Sloane: (continues to cry) Oh, oh my baby. . .I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. No. Marshall: Guys, that’s it. We have enough to break down the imposter. Jack. Come with me, Marshall. Bring Slone out. Arvin Clone strapped to his own chair much like the real Sloane. Sydney looks on. AC: Jack, please. Are we really wasting our time with this? After all, it was you who taught me to endure t*rture. It was your training that enabled me to get through McKenas Cole and the needles of f*re. Jack: Listen to me, you pathetic freak. (takes away AC’s glasses) Even if what you’re saying was true, you can be sure that I kept a few things to myself. Jack goes to a computer and does stuff. AC starts shaking. Images from Sloane’s flashbacks flash across the screen. Jack: Tell us your name. AC: My name- Ned Bolger. Corporal. US army. Serial number 112762. Sydney: Where’s the orchid? AC: Who are you? Sydney: Corporal, where’s the flower? AC: At a warehouse. Ugano, Switzerland. 43 Paseo Mantello. Sydney and Jack run up to him. AC: Damn you, Jack! I always knew you were a traitor, and you’d turn me in. Sydney, please, don’t let him do this. (Jack and Sydney watched with shocked faces, speechless) I’m Ned Bolger. (twitch) I’m from Torch Lake, Michigan. You can’t t*rture POWs. Geneva Convention. Who a- who am- who am I? Who are you? Who- who are you? Nadia walks in. Nadia: There’s a problem. Marshall: It’s Sloane. He’s not coming back. I’m trying to bring him out of it, but he’s fighting it. I mean he’s supposed to be waking up. Nadia looks devastated. VISION Sloane is standing looking out at the sunset. Emily walks up beside him, holding Jacqueline. Emily: Honey. Is everything okay? Sloane: (he puts him arm around Emily’s shoulders) Yeah. Everything is wonderful. REALTIME Marshall: Take a look right here. (looks at computer) You see that spike right there? That’s his serotonin release. You know, like a pleasure center. It mirrors the exact reaction he had at the time of Emily’s pregnancy. He’s there right now. He’s stuck there. He’s kinda in that state. Nadia: Can we just wake him up? Jack: You saw what happened to Bolger. The shock could k*ll him. Marshall: Right. Think of it in computer terms. You can’t just force-quit. You have to reboot his brain. Sydney: How? Marshall: Beats me. Nadia: What is one of us tried to guide him back? The way that Jack was able to prompt some of my father’s memories by talking to him. Marshall: Well, it could work. But it could also k*ll him. You know, serotonin overload. I mean he could die of happiness- literally. Jack: You have a better idea? Marshall: No. Jack: Let’s get started. Marshall: (to Nadia) Okay, he can hear you now. Nadia: Hi, dad. Sydney: Keep going. Nadia: Dad, it’s me. Nadia, your daughter. VISION Sloane and Emily are playing with Jacqueline. They are sitting on the bench. Emily: You know that nice lady in the little store in town, Angelina? Sloane: Uh-huh. Emily: She told me she didn’t approve of the way I was dressing Jacqueline. Nadia: (appears as of out of thin air) Dad? Emily: Who’s that? Sloane: She’s a very lovely girl. She’s my. . .she’s my Nadia. Nadia: You can’t stay here, dad. I’m sorry. Sloane: I’m happy here. Nadia: You may be but your work isn’t done. Sloane: What a beautiful girl you are. How proud you make me. But I can’t come with you. The terrible things I’ve done. Nadia: That’s why you have to. Sloane: Why don’t you stay here with us? REALTIME Sloane: Stay here with us. Nadia. . .Stay with us darling. VISION Nadia and Sloane are standing. Sloane: We’re family. Nadia: Emily and Jacqueline are gone, and you have to let them go. Sloane: I will never let them go again. No. Nadia: They’re already gone. Sloane turns around and sees the bench where Emily was sitting, empty. Sloane: What did you do? I was a good man once. Now I’m a monster. And monsters cannot be allowed in this world. Nadia: Yes, you were once a good man. I believe it. And you can be again. But you have to undo what you’ve set in motion. You have not earned the right to rest. Sloane: I’m tired, Nadia. I am tired, and I am ashamed. Nadia: Then there’s hope. Come back and redeem yourself. Sloane turns around and a door opens. Emily is standing in the door way holding Jacqueline. Sloane: It’s so beautiful here. Nadia: But it’s not real. Be brave. Come back with me. Show me who you are deep down. I believe in you. (Sloane shakes his head) Please, do not betray that belief. Do not betray again. Sloane: (smiles) Goodbye. Nadia: No, don’t go. Dad- REALTIME Sloane: Uhh. . .Dad. Nadia goes in the room. She runs to Sloane and gives him a hug. Sydney walks in and stands in the doorway. Sloane is standing with Jack outside Bolger’s room. Sloane: The first time I heard the name Rambaldi, I was working with the Army Corps of Engineers. It meant nothing to me- his life, his works. It was a simple curiosity. Something I quickly set aside. And then we lost Jacquelyn. . .When Emily lost the baby. . .I felt utterly abandoned. One night I came across some of his writings that I had stored in a drawer. And somehow. . .it filled the hole in my heart. Oddly, it wasn’t until I saw him that I realized how much of myself I had lost. I am going to rectify this, Jack. I will clean up this mess that I have made. Jack: I’d like to believe that, Arvin. Sloane: But you can’t. Jack: I’ve heard it before. Sloane: Yeah. Well, Jack, all I can say is I’m trying. And every day it’s a struggle. Every day.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x19 - In Dream"}

foreverdreaming

DSR Rambaldi artifact storage facility Guard is walking around and he gets tackled by a man. Man kills guard. Not quite sure how. Man 1: (to radio) I’m in. We see an as*ault team on the roof. They blow the locks off the gates and steal all the Rambaldi artifacts. Including the nightingale coil, and a ball, which turns out to be the sphere of life. Sydney’s apartment. Sydney comes inside. Sydney: Hey, there’s a cab waiting outside. Nadia: She wouldn’t let me drive her to the airport. (she’s standing next to Sophia/Elena) Sydney: Is everything okay? Nadia: The Lisbon police called. It’s safe for Sophia to go home. Sydney: Oh, that’s great. (gives Sophia a big hug) I’m so glad you came. Sophia: Thank you. Sophia/Elena: Look at the two of you. Such beautiful and smart women. Before I make a fool of myself. . .(gives Nadia a hug) Nadia: Promise you’ll come back. Sophia: Nadia, for you, anything. APO Vaughn is watching Jack in his office. Jack is on the phone. Vaughn starts walking toward Jack’s office. Marshall stops him. Marshall: Oh, hey, Vaughn. Could you sign this? It’s for Weiss. His grandfather died. (wouldn’t Vaughn already know something like that?) Vaughn: Yeah, actually, can I do it in a little bit? I need to ask Jack something first. Marshall: Oh, sure. No problem. (follows Vaughn as he continues to Jack’s office) Vaughn: Where are you going? Marshall: Well, I thought I’d go with you to get Mr. Bristow to sign this while we’re in there. Vaughn: You know what? Actually, I need to see him alone. It’s kind of personal. Marshall: Oh. Uh, since when can you tell Mr. Bristow something you can’t tell me? Vaughn: This is something I need to ask Jack. If you were Sydney’s father, I could ask you, but you’re not. Marshall: No, I’m not. I still don’t understand what me not being Sydney’s father has to do with you- Vaughn: (pulls out the ring and shows it to Marshall) Understand now? Marshall: Oh, my God. Hey, man. Congratulations. That’s fantastic. I’m sure Mr. Bristow’s gonna be thrilled. Vaughn: Really? I’m just hoping he doesn’t sh**t him on the spot. (he goes to Jack’s office) Jack: (on the phone speaking in foreign language) No. You’re not listening, General. (Vaughn walks in) We’re not going to pay you. Because I don’t believe it exists. Fine (he hangs up and speaks to Vaughn in English) As if w*apon-grade anthr*x grows on trees. What is it? Vaughn: Oh, if this is a bad time, I can- Jack: No, please. After dealing with that Cechnyan lunatic for the past couple of hours, whatever business you have will be a welcome relief. Vaughn: Well, we’ve, um. . .I know you’re a man who- I know you’re a man who respects tradition. As I do. And- Jack: Please get to the point, Agent Vaughn. Vaughn: I’m gonna ask Sydney to marry me, and I’d like your blessing. Jack: Perhaps you believe my recent illness has rendered me less coherent than before, or that my cognitive faculties have been somehow dulled or diminished. Allow me to clarify the facts for you, Agent Vaughn. While I’ve come to believe you’re not as useless as I first imagined, I still don’t feel you have- (alarms go off) CIA agents come in carrying boxes. Agent: Everyone please remain where you are. This is a warranted search. Jack: May I see that? Agent: (hands Jack a piece of paper) We’ve been authorized to confiscate all relevant materials. Jack: It’s been signed by Director Chase. Sydney’s apartment. Director Chase and CIA agents knock on the door and Sydney answers. Chase: Where’s your sister? Sydney: What? Chase: I expect your full cooperation. (Chase and agents enter with boxes) Sydney: If Nadia’s in some kind of trouble- Chase: Where is she? Sydney: In the shower. Agent enters the bathroom. We hear water running. Nadia, wrapped up in a towel, knocks him out and takes his g*n. She slowly walks out. Chase: Stand down, Agent Santos. (Nadia gives her the g*n) Nadia: What’s this about? Chase: (to Nadia) Men are d*ad. Things are gone, and you’ve got some explaining to do. The agents continue to search the apartment. They find numerous g*n and knives hidden throughout the apartment. Nadia sits in a robe being interrogated by Chase. Chase: (shows Nadia’s laptop to Nadia) Is this yours? Nadia: Yes. Chase: Does anyone else use it or have access to it? Nadia: No. Chase: Not even Sydney. Nadia: I said no. Sydney has her own laptop. She also has- We see an agent interrogating Sydney. Agent: -an as*ault r*fle, a 12-gauge g*n, four g*n, two tazers, and a . . .secret drawer of knives. Let’s start with the knives. Sydney: Let’s start with you not wasting my time. Director Chase says men are d*ad. What men? What does she think Nadia did? Chase: (to Nadia) We know you overrode the DSR security system tonight. Nadia: What? Chase: Alarms on an access door were deactivated. We traced the override command to your laptop. And you just told me that you’re the only one who uses it. Nadia: Yes, but I didn’t do it. Chase: We also have evidence that tonight’s incident isn’t the only one that leads back t o you and this laptop. An agent uses a scanner on a bookshelf. He opens a jewelry box and sees the necklace Sophia/Elena gave to Nadia. He brings the necklace to Chase. Jack and Sloane enter the apartment. Jack: (to an agent standing at the door) We have clearance. Sydney: Micro transmitter? Chase: In the medallion. When did she give you this? Nadia: Few weeks ago. Why should Sophia do something like that? Jack: It would help explain why several missions were compromised. Sloane: I personally investigated Sophia Vargas when she first arrived. Prints, background- everything came back clean. Chase: Well, somebody tapped into Agent Santos’s laptop. And because of it, five agents are d*ad. And several Rambaldi artifacts are gone. Nadia: I don’t believe it. I won’t. Sydney: Why would she do this? Jack: I think our clue lies in what was stolen. Sloane: You’re reaching for straws, Jack. Jack: Am I? Who else would be capable of pulling this off? Chase: What are you talking about? Jack: Elena. Sydney: You think Sophia Vargas is connected to Elena Derevko? Jack: No. I think Sophia Vargas is Elena Derevko. Arvin and I have been searching for her for months. I believe she found us first. Has been using us to achieve her own end. Sydney: You mean the journal of Vaughn’s father, Sloane Clone- Jack: McCullough, everything. It’s been Elena all along. Sydney: Oh, my God. Nadia: You’re saying it’s all a lie? That she spent all these years, all this time, so she could steal some Rambaldi artifacts? Jack: She is a Derevko. Her sisters possessed that same single-minded purpose. Sloane: If Jack is right, if Elena has gathered Rambaldi artifacts, her final step would be to assemble them. We can’t let that happen. APO Sloane’s office. Nadia walks in. Nadia: She never made it to the airport. The cab dropped her off a few blocks from our house. Sloane: Have Marshall check traffic cams in the area. Nadia: I already did. I also notified the FFA to check flight manifests, and I updated train and bus stations with her current I. D. Sloane: Good. We’ll find her. Nadia: I brought her into my house. This is my fault. Sloane: No, Nadia, it’s mine. It was my obsession with Rambaldi that pulled you into this. It’s my mess. It’s my responsibility to clean it up. I can only imagine how hard this must be for you- the betrayal. Nadia: I’m just glad we found her. That I know the truth. Sloane: Yeah. So, if Elena has all the Rambaldi pieces, there is only one place she can go. Nadia: To see Lazlo Drake. Sloane: Yes. Nadia: I’m on it. Sloane: Nadia? We’ll find her. I promise you. I will end this. China, one year earlier. Nadia and Sloane are in a car, being driven. Nadia: I don’t understand. Why are we in China when I already told you Rambaldi’s sphere of life is buried in Siena? Sloane: Because I need answers to a few final questions. Lazlo Drake is the only man in the world who can provide that. The car stops, there are people passing with animals, in the road. Driver: (in foreign language) Sorry, sir, it will be a few minutes. Sloane: (to driver in foreign language) Okay. (to Nadia in English) Before he went into hiding, Drake was a professor of European history. He built his reputation on the single most important discovery of his life- a manuscript. In effect, a template describing how Rambaldi’s creations were to be assembled in order to bring forth his final prophecy. Just know that we’re gonna make the world a better place, and we need Drake to do it. Later, nighttime outside, somewhere. We meet Drake. Sloane: Professor Drake, my name is- Drake: Arvin Sloane. Yes. Sloane: You know who I am? Drake: How could I possibly not know of you, Mr. Sloane? Your appetite for all things Rambaldi is almost legendary. Sloane: This is my daughter, Nadia. Drake: My God. (he looks at her) I am honored to meet you. Nadia: Thanks. Drake: Lovely. Please. (they sit down around the campfire on various logs) You have no idea what it is like to be in your presence. It is like meeting the virgin Mary. Nadia: What do you mean? Sloane: Drake, you know why we’re here. Drake: You have collected the Sphere of Life. Sloane: No, not yet. But we know where it is. Drake: If it is not in your possession, we have nothing to discuss. Sloane: You have the only known translation of Rambaldi’s Vademecum- instructions for how the pieces fit together. I need to know. Drake: That is information I will share with whoever has all the artifacts in his possession. Your visit is premature, Mr. Sloane. I suggest you come back, when you have retrieved all the items, including the Sphere. (to Nadia, he takes her hand) You will come back too, won’t you? I would like that. Sloane: (breaks their hands apart) Nadia, I wonder if you would let me speak to the professor alone. (Nadia gets up and walks away) Drake: I never thought I would see, let alone touch with my own hands, a living embodiment. Sloane: My daughter is not an artifact. Drake: So protective of her. Sloane: She is my daughter. Drake: You brought her on this journey for one reason- only she can retrieve the Sphere of Life. Only she knows its secret location. You know that. Sloane: I didn’t come this far to quit. Siena Sloane and Nadia are wandering around on some hills. Nadia: This is it. (they enter a cave, and walk down some stairs) Sloane: Rambaldi wrote that a man would come and discover the true meaning of his work. And in doing so would change the world. I always wanted to be that man. They come to a room. Sloane lights a torch, which causes the other torches to light up. We see a Rambaldi eye made up of small shards of glass. In the center of the eye is a stand holding the Sphere of Life. Sloane: It’s made of glass. Think of it. You and I are the first ones to set foot in here in almost 500 years. Do you have any idea how many lesser people have dreamed of this moment? And only you can complete this. Nadia: What? Sloane: Nadia, this is the part of the journey that I can’t take. You have to bring the box. Nadia: I don’t understand. Sloane: Rambaldi had a role for you to play. I need you to do this Nadia. I need you to bring me that Sphere. Nadia, we can change the world. Go. (pause) Go. Nadia steps out carefully onto the glass. You can hear the shards scraping against each other. Sloane: Have faith, sweetheart. (She reaches the stand) Yes. (she opens the box) No, Nadia. Bring the box to me. Nadia touches the box and sees visions of what happens in the finale. Includes Sydney and Nadia fighting, the red ball, and the sound of a horse neighing. Nadia: (to Sloane) You lied. It was not about peace. (she leaves the box where it is and goes back to Sloane) Sloane: Nadia, I am your father. You will go back there and bring me the box. (he grabs her roughly) You get back there. I want that box. Nadia: (crying) You think you can control this power, but it’s poisoning you. Don’t you see it? You don’t have to do this. Please. Let’s just walk away. You and I, together. Sloane: Coward! (he pushes her) Nadia: Please, let’s just go. Sloane: I don’t need you. (he steps out onto the glass) He chose me. (he slowly closes the box back up) See? (the glass breaks and he falls threw) and down the hole) Nadia finds him at the bottom of the hole. There are some glass shards sticking out of him. Nadia pulls the shards out. Sloane: You’re still here. Nadia: Try not to talk. You’ve lost a lot of blood. Sloane: I didn’t think that you would be here after I- Nadia: You’re my father. I’m going to get you out of here. Sloane: Thank you. Nadia: That shard of glass in your chest- when I move you, it might k*ll you. I need to pull it out. Sloane: Okay. (she pulls it out) Ahhh! APO Briefing room. g*ng around the table including Chase. Chase: Who’s Lazlo Drake? Sloane: He is the self-appointed keeper to Rambaldi’s endgame. For Elena to complete her plan, she will have to contact him. He has what amounts to the instruction booklet. Vaughn: I’m sorry, maybe it’s only me, but what do you mean when you say “Rambaldi’s endgame”? I mean, what is it? Is it a scenario? A w*apon? Sloane: In Elena’s hands, most likely an apocalypse. Jack: Which is why we need to get to Lazlo Drake before she does. Nadia: Drake’s completely off the grid. The manuscript has made him a target. He never stays in one place too long. We saw him in China. He could be anywhere. Sydney: If Drake’s gone underground, he needs a source of income. Nadia: That’s the path I’ve been pursuing. Greyson Wells, billionaire financer. Vaughn: Organized crime. Money laundering. CIA’s been watching him for years. Nadia: He’s also the man who financed most of Drake’s early research into Rambaldi. Jack: If they’re in communication, he might know where to find Drake. Sloane: Agreed. Coordinate with ops. Draft up a plan to approach Wells. I’ll start preparations to talk to Lazlo Drake myself once we have his location. Dixon: I believe you’re forbidden from participating in cases involving this particular subject matter. Chase: Agent Dixon has a point. Sloane: Yes. I’m aware of the agreement. But I have a history with Drake. Sydney: So does Nadia. Sloane: I’m sure Nadia would agree that her presence would only complicate matters. Nadia: He’s right. Sloane: Drake will talk to me. If we approach this tactically, his security force will respond. We can not let this turn into a firefight. Our timetable is too critical. Chase: Proceed as instructed. Once you have a location on Drake, you’ll relay it to Director Sloane. That’s it, people. Be safe. Cannes Sydney walks into a jewelry shop, wearing a white fur coat. Doorman: Bonjour. (speaks French, Sydney hands him her purse) Sydney: Don’t touch the fur. (pause) All right, you may touch the fur. (she holds out her arm) Once. Doorman: (touches the fur) Merci. Sydney walks on. She takes a glass of champagne from a waiter. She continues walking and brushes up against Greyson Wells. She continues over to the jewelry counter. Doorman: Please, let me know if there is anything in particular you would like to see. (Sydney taps on the glass at a bracelet) Ah, very good. Platinum Liana. (Sydney goes to sit) Fully paired with the flawless brilliance. (brings her the bracelet) Can be worn as a bracelet or an anklet. Sydney: (she lifts up her ankle) Put. (he does) Hm. (to Wells) What do you think? Ankle or wrist? Wells: Well, to be honest, I’ve always found anklets to be a bit vulgar. Though, admittedly, you are making me rethink my position. I think I’d have to see it on your wrist before I gave an informed opinion. Sydney: Do. (Wells comes over and unattaches the bracelet from her ankle and, when he takes her wrist, we see they both have the Rambaldi eye tattoo on their hands) Something wrong? Wells: It appears we have a mutual interest. (he puts the bracelet on her wrist) Sydney: So it seems. (she goes and stands in front of a mirror) Hm. Wells: Better as a bracelet. Will you allow me to buy it for you? Sydney: You trying to impress me? Wells: Well, that depends. Is it working? Sydney: Sweetheart, it’s not your money I’m interested in. In another room, Sydney is still in her disguise talking on the cell phone. Sydney: (to phone) I’m going with you to see Drake. Sloane: This is not your call Sydney. Sydney: It is now. I have his location. I’ll go alone if I have to. Sloane: Well, he’s not gonna talk to you. Sydney: Then I suggest you get on a plane. Solana airfield. Outside Mexico City. 0800 hours. I’ll be there when you land, and we’ll go see Drake together. (she leaves and we see Wells sitting in his boxers and tied up in a chair) APO Marshall’s lab. He’s taking apart the necklace Elena gave to Nadia. Marshall: Well, all the parts are pretty generic. I mean, it’s really difficult to track where it came from. Sorry. Nadia: It’s all right. I just feel stupid I trusted her. Marshall: Hey, I don’t blame you. I mean, she was like family. You know, but don’t put this on your self. I mean, hell, I trusted Sloane for 6 years before I found out he was evil. You know. . .not that he’s evil, per se. . .We have a long history together. Look we’re gonna find this Sophia/Elena woman person. Your dad’s totally on it. Mexico Sydney stands near the runway as Sloane’s plane lands. Sloane gets out of the plane and goes to Sydney. They start walking. Sloane: This is a reckless course of action. Sydney: Try calculated. I’m not letting you meet with a man who’s gonna tell you how to put the Rambaldi contraption together. Sloane: That’s ridiculous. I had everything I needed last year, and I gave it up. You know that, Sydney. Sydney: You didn’t have everything. Sloane: You’re putting yourself in danger by coming with me. Sydney: I know what I’m doing. I just hope you do, because I swear if this is about you and your twisted beliefs— Sloane: Do you have any idea about what Nadia has been through. Betrayed by the woman who raised her. I would never do anything to put her in any more pain. I’m here for one reason alone- to put an end to this nightmare once and for all. Sydney: I wish I could believe you. They drive to a trailer out in the middle of nowhere. Sydney: Looks cozy. (they walk up to the doorway and see a d*ad man underneath a tree) Sloane: Elena got here before us. Sydney: (she opens the door and we see Drake, d*ad, in a chair) It’s Drake. Sloane: He’s d*ad, isn’t he? If I didn’t have to rendezvous with you, I would have been here hours ago. Sydney: If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have to be here at all. (Sydney walks around the trailer, looking around) Sloane: What are you doing? Sydney sees a camera in the tree. They go inside the trailer. Sydney opens cabinets looking for something. She finds a tv screen. She finds the remote. She turns it on. The screen shows her and Sloane standing there. Sloane: See if you can rewind the feed. She rewinds it and we see Elena sitting talking with Drake. Sloane stands behind her. Sloane: (he takes the remote from Sydney) Here, let’s start over again at the beginning. Drake: I have to admit, I did not think it would be you. Elena: You thought Arvin Sloane would have all the artifacts. Drake: He nearly completed the work once before. Elena: And failed. He threw it away. And for what? The girl. Drake: Do you have a secure facility to assemble everything. Elena: I do. A factory outside of- Sloane turns the tv off. He tranqs Sydney before she can react. Sloane: I’m sorry, Sydney. I’m so sorry. (he lays her gently on the floor) APO Jack’s office. His phone rings. He answers. Jack: Yes? Sydney: Sloane tranqed me. That bastard knocked me out before I could get Elena’s location. Jack: Are you alright? Sydney: I saw this coming and he still b*at me. Jack: Sydney, are you sure you’re okay? Sydney: Dad, I’m okay. Jack: I’ll notify Director Chase. We’ll find him. Stairwell Dixon is standing and Chase comes in. Chase: Agent Dixon. Dixon: Why didn’t you stop Sloane when you had the chance? Chase: I understand your reaction. Dixon: You just opened the door to temptation and let Sloane walk through it? Chase: End of discussion. (Dixon goes to leave) Hey. . . Dixon: This man’s taken lives. Chase: I did what I thought was best. Dixon: I know. In spite of all this, it’s good to see you. Chase: Yeah. (they kiss) Weekends aren’t enough. Dixon: Tell me about it. Sydney’s still in Mexico. Sydney: (answers phone) Yes? I have an idea but you’re gonna hate it. Jack: You want me to talk to your Aunt Katya. (Jack is walking down a corridor) Sydney: How did you know that? Jack: First you said I would hate the idea, and you’re correct. Second, I arrived at the same conclusion myself. We’re at a complete impasse here. Time is running out and she’s the only Derevko we have. Call you afterwards. Jack is at Katya’s cell. He enters. Jack: Lock the door behind me. Katya: (sitting on her bed) Is that look on your face supposed to be intimidating? You forget, Jack- I’ve seen your tender side. Jack: I need everything you know on Elena’s operations- right now. Katya: What makes you think I know anything? Jack: Call it an instinct. Katya: Do you intend to t*rture me? Jack: If I have to. Katya: While I know that would be enjoyable for both of us, I should warn you, I have quite a bit of stamina. But you already know that about me. Jack: What do you want? Katya: Full pardon. Immediate release. Jack: I don’t have that authority. Katya: You’ll find a way. Jack: If the information you provide leads us to Elena, I will do everything in my power to procure your freedom. You have my word. Katya: If you’re here, my sister must be pursuing aggressive action. What has she done? Jack: She broke into the DSR, stole a cache of Rambaldi artifacts. Katya: She has been acquiring artifacts for several years now through her front. Jack: Her front? Katya: Don’t look so surprised. It has been happening right before your eyes. Jack: The Covenant. Katya: See? I knew you could do it, handsome. Jack: Elena ran the covenant? That’s impossible. We dismantled its operations. Katya: No, that’s what she wanted you to believe. You took down a straw man. Elena’s agenda’s always been the same. It’s always been Rambaldi. Jack: How do we stop her? Katya: You are asking the wrong sister. Irina spent the last few years of her life tracking Elena. She was determined to stop our sister from enacting her endgame. And she would have done it, too, but. . .you had to go and put a b*llet in her head. Jack: I was set up. Elena put a h*t out on Sydney, and framed Irina for it. Katya: Oh, I see. So you ex*cuted my sister on a misunderstanding. Oh, then all is forgiven. Don’t stand there pretending you’re a patsy. You’re too good at what you do. If you pulled the trigger, part of you wanted to be manipulated. I can help you find Elena. But unfortunately, I cannot tell you how to stop her. Thanks to you, that hope died with Irina. Jack: (on phone) Sydney, listen carefully. Elena Derevko is in Praque. Her base of operations is a decommissioned chemical facility south of the industrial zone. Sydney: And Katy knew that? She just gave you that location? Jack: No, Katya never just gives anything. But she tied Elena to the Covenant, knew she worked out of Europe. Marshall and Vaughn were able to pinpoint her exact location based on declassified KGB files and some thermal satellite imaging. Sydney: Do you think we can trust her? Jack: She’s a Derevko. I need you get on a plane and rendezvous with Dixon and Nadia at Ruzyne Airport. The cargo terminal. They have your ops plan. Sydney: I’m on my way. (she hangs up) Prague Elena’s facility. Daytime. Elena sits at a desk in her office. Someone knocks on the door. Two men come in with Sloane between them. The men leave. Elena: My men think you’re hear to k*ll me. Sloane: You should hire smarter men. Elena: You walk in, unarmed, and surrender yourself. You’re not the most convincing, so let me guess. You’re here to offer me a deal. Sloane: I know what you’re trying to do. I can help. Elena: Thank God. Sloane: You’re wise enough to see my value. There’s no one on this earth who knows more about Milo Rambaldi. Elena: I’d heard you reformed. Sloane: I suppose I’ve been born again. Elena’s facility. Nighttime. Dixon, Nadia, Sydney are near a fence. Sydney: (on comms) Perimeter security has been disabled. Phoenix and team are on the move. Jack: (in Marshall’s lab) Copy, Phoenix. Director Chase has authorized sh**t to k*ll. Nadia: Copy that. Marshall: Okay, now we have the facility on thermal satellite. Looks like there are about 40 people inside. And the blueprints we acquired were accurate. There are three main areas to secure. Sydney: Understood. Jack: Sydney, be careful. Sydney: Copy. Let’s move. They sneak off in various directions. Nadia walks down a hallway. Sydney comes to a lab where she avoids confrontation with 2 men. Dixon is near an exit where he sees a prisoner being led into a van. Man: The prisoner, right? Man 2: Yes, of course. I’m bringing her down. Man: Transferring prisoner. (they go in a van and drive off) Sloane comes up behind and draws a g*n on Dixon. Sloane: I was as surprised as you are. Dixon: (has his g*n out too) Drop your w*apon. Sloane: No, Marcus. Drop yours. Dixon: I said drop your w*apon Sloane. Marshall: Okay, I got em. Pinpointing their location. (Nadia runs down a hallway) Jack: They’re at the loading dock. East side of the building. Dixon: Put your w*apon on the ground. Sloane: I warned Sydney. I warned all of you not to do this. Dixon: I mean it. Sloane: Please, Marcus. It’s too big now. You can’t stop this. Only I can. Sydney att*cks a man. Nadia att*cks a man. They both run into the same hallway. Sloane: You’ll have to trust me. Dixon: Trust you? Sloane: Get out of here now. Nadia and Sydney hear some g*n. They run toward the sound. Dixon falls, to reveal Elena, who sh*t him in the back. Jack: Outrigger, report. Outrigger, report. Elena: Time to leave. (she and Sloane leave) Nadia and Sydney run to Dixon. Sydney: Dixon! Nadia: Evergreen to base. We need an emergency medical extraction. We have a man down. Repeat, we hav ea man down. Sydney: Dixon. Hospital Sydney is standing outside Dixon’s cubicle. Dixon lies on a bed. Chase kisses him. Jack walks up to Sydney. Chase leaves. Chase: If anything changes, you call me. (leaves) Sydney: (to Jack) Did you have any idea she and Dixon. . . Jack: No. But then I tend to miss those kinds of details. Sydney: What are you talking about. You’re the master of details. Jack: Really? I’ve gone over the details a thousand times in my mind. Each one added up to the same conclusion- that your life was in danger and your mother was the lethal thr*at. Sydney: Dad, we’ve gone over this. You don’t need- Jack: I’ve lived my life trusting in the veracity of details, and in doing so, I lost sight of the one thing I know to be true. Your mother would never hurt you. She was ready to shut Elena down, and I k*lled her. She was our only hope. Sydney: That’s not true. We can stop them. I know it. You and I may disagree on a lot of things, but I never question your motives. You always have my bests interests at heart. I know that. Jack: How’s Nadia feeling? (Nadia is sitting on a bench down the hall) Sydney: I don’t think she’s feeling much of anything, right now. Inside a vehicle. Sloane and Elena. Elena: How could you let Sydney and Nadia follow? Sloane: Everything is proceeding as planned. Elena: You talk the talk, but I’m still not convinced you’ve returned to the fold. We’ll see if you have what it takes to finish the journey. Hallway outside APO. Vaughn is waiting for the elevator. Jack gets out the elevator. Vaughn: How’s Dixon? Jack: The same. Sydney and Nadia are there now. (Vaughn starts to leave) You asked me a question earlier that I didn’t get a chance to answer properly. Vaughn: I’d say the answer was loud and clear. Jack: We’re more alike than I care to admit, Agent Vaughn. And I realized now that in disapproving of you I was only hating my own limitations. I wasn’t asking myself what would be best for Sydney. If you honestly believe that you can make my daughter happy, then by all means you have my blessing to marry her. Vaughn: Okay. (Jack leaves) Back at hospital. Nadia and Sydney sitting on the bench. Nadia: You always knew my father would do this. Sydney: I hoped he wouldn’t. Nadia: Despite everything, I really believed that he chose me. You must think I’m pretty foolish. Sydney: Of course not. He’s your father. Nurse: (walks up) Agent Bristow, Agent Santos, he’s asking for you. (they go to Dixon) Sydney: Dixon. We have been so worried about you. Dixon: Before I saw Sloane, I saw a prisoner, shackled. Syd. . .it’s your mother. She’s alive.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x20 - The Decent"}

foreverdreaming

British Embassy, Vienna 18 months earlier Jacki stands on a balcony as he watches various people enter. He watches Irina enter. Later, Jack is in the pool room sitting at a table drinking. Irina comes in. Irina: I was pleased to get your note. This party looks insufferable. Jack: I would prefer not to spend the little time we have together with idle banter. Irina: (laughs) Well, then. . .What do you suggest? Jack: A dance. (they star dancing) You broke my heart, Irina. Irina: That was another lifetime. I won’t do it again. Jack: Good to know. (they kiss, alot) Irina: This has been lovely but I should go back. Jack: (he stops her) Tell me, Irina. How did it feel giving the order? Was it difficult, or. . . Were you able to remain cold, indifferent? Were you amused? Irina: Jack, this is cryptic, even for you. Jack: Then let me be clear. How did it feel to pay a man to k*ll your own daughter? Irina: You weren’t supposed to find out. Jack: You didn’t feel a thing, did you? How is that possible? Were Sydney and I nothing to you, merely strategic alliances to be disposed of once we outlived our usefulness. After all we’ve been through, Irina. I deserve an explanation. Why? I need a reason. Irina: Because it had to be done. (Jack puts a g*n to her forehead) Jack. Jack: Damn you. (he fires) Irina falls into the pool, smiling. Jack is standing in the hallway outside APO. Sydney walks by. Jack: How’s Dixon? Sydney: s*ab. Jack: Has his story changed? Sydney: No, he still swears he saw her, but the amount of blood he lost, he must be delusional. Jack: I would have thought you placed more trust in your partner. Sydney: It’s impossible. Jack: We’ve seen the impossible before. Sydney: This is a distraction. Jack: You don’t know that. Sydney: Dad, you k*lled her. Jack: I k*lled a woman I believed to be your mother. Sound familiar? You know the doubling technology exists. The Helix protocol. Sydney: Dad, we’re being set up. Elena and Sloane are gone and the only person capable of stopping them is dangled right in front of us. Doesn’t that seem a little convenient? Think about it. This wouldn’t be the first time. Elena manipulated Vaughn into searching for his father. Look how that turned out. No, they want us to pursue this. Jack: I understand your skepticism, although your unwillingness to even entertain the idea, suggests fear. Sydney: Fear? Of what? Jack: perhaps a false hope. Sydney: Maybe it’s easier for you to believes mom’s alive than to live with what you did. Jack: Maybe so. But the fact remains, as long as Sloane and Elena are out there, we’re pursuing every lead. We have work to do. (he leaves) Sydney enters APO. She’s walking. Nadia: How’s Dixon? Sydney: He’s lost a lot of blood. . . Vaughn: (walks by on a phone) No, sir, we still don’t know what their endgame is. Marshall: Vaughn, come here, check this out. Vaughn: (goes to Marshall, still on phone) Uh, hold on, we may have just gotten something. (to Marshall) DCI. Tell me you just got something. Marshall: (on computer) Well, you know the tapes from the break-in? I found some data blocks that are still intact. Is that enough for a positive I. D. Vaughn: Yeah, that’s enough for an I. D. Marshall: Up top. Vaughn: (continues on phone and goes somewhere else) We’re identifying one of Elena Derevko’s associates. I’ll keep you updated.(he hangs up, Weiss starts talking) Weiss: Hey. I just talked to Langley. They are all over this. Vaughn: Yeah, you have no idea. Sydney is on the phone speaking in a foreign language. Sydney: (to phone) Mr. Nemec assured me it was possible. (the computer shows Irina’s picture) Yes. Every flight manifest to and from Prague. Back to Weiss and Vaughn. Weiss: I know we’re in crisis mode, but did you ask her? Vaughn looks over at Sydney, who’s on the phone. Sydney: (to phone) No, I don’t think sleep is a luxury only American can afford. Vaughn: It’s not exactly the right time. Weiss: When’s the right time, what, the night time? Vaughn: Eric, come on. Weiss: Look, it’s not like you have a ring burning a whole in your- (Vaughn gives him a look) You have the ring on you right now? Vaughn leaves. Sydney: (on the phone, still) I’m sorry, would you mind holding? (she sits down, looking out of breath) Marshall: (bursts into Jack’s office) We got it. He’s former covenant. Lucien Nisard. And he didn’t just head-up the DSR break-in. Once we had a name, I ran a series of traces on a cell network in Prague. Turns out Nisard made phone calls from the same location at the same time Dixon says he saw Irina. Of course, tracking him, that’s gonna take some time. Jack: I need you to log in through Sloane’s computer. Check the Blackwell Index. (he starts to leave) Marshall: Wait a minute, the Blackwell Index? Sloane doesn’t have that. He gave that over to Langley. (Jack looks at him and leaves) Didn’t he? (Marshall follows) Vaughn goes over to Nadia. She’s sitting and writing. Vaughn: How are you holding up? Nadia: I’m trying to stay focused. Vaughn: By reopening the Bishop files? Nadia: He supposedly k*lled my mother. If she’s alive then the CIA obviously missed something. Vaughn: Nadia, researching Martin Bishop, it’s- it’s not the most productive use of your time. Nadia: What do you mean? Vaughn: You should talk to Jack. Jack and Marshall in Sloane’s office. The Blackwell computer is opening on the computer. Marshall: Okay. Um, I hope you don’t mind me asking, Mr. Bristow, but when you helped Sloane steal this thing, you didn’t realize he was going to switch sides, did you? I mean you didn’t see it coming? Jack: No. Marshall: Okay. I was just curious because I didn’t think that- wow, look at the people on this thing. Jack: Lucien Nisard. I want all aliases, addresses, contacts, vices, and weaknesses. Marshall: No problem. Just give me a sec. Nadia: (comes in) I need to speak with you. Jack: (to Marshall) Give us a minute, would you? Marshall: Sure. Hey. (leaves) Jack: What is it? Nadia: My mother’s k*ller- Martin Bishop- what is it you haven’t told me? I’m tired of lies, Jack. After what my father and Elena have done, I want the truth. Jack: Martin Bishop didn’t k*ll Irina. I did. I learned Irina had put a contract out on Sydney’s life. I believed she was going to have her k*lled. I had no other viable option. Nadia: I k*lled Martin Bishop because you told me it was him. Jack: Yes. I learned later that I had been set up by Elena. Perhaps I was too quick to assume Irina had betrayed me and Sydney again. Nadia: Does Sydney know? Jack: This is not the time for recriminations. Your mother may be alive. Nadia: I hope she is. And you should, too. Vaughn walks by Sydney at her desk. Vaughn: Syd, something’s happened. (she follows) Vauhgn and Sydney walk into the room with the tv screens. There are different news programs in various screens speaking in different languages. They watch the screens. Sydney: What’s going on? Marshall: There’s been some sort of an accident. Nadia: We don’t know the details, Russia isn’t saying. Marshall: But look at the satellite footage. The city- Sevogda- They’re coordinating some sort of military perimeter around it. Vaughn: Is it a quarantine? Weiss: No idea. Jack: (enters) I just spoke to Director Chase. Intelligence on this incident is nonexistent. Not even our agents within the Kremlin have any inkling as to what’s happening. Computer starts beeping. Nadia: What is it? Marshall: It’s from a hacker friend of mine in Moscow. It’s raw footage. You guys should see this. The footage shows up on the screens. Fighting, cars on f*re, rioting, general chaos. And above it all floats a big red ball. Sydney: It’s them. APO Briefing room. g*ng around table, excluding Dixon and Sloane. Jack: The Russian government’s officially claiming an industrial accident. Sydney: And they expect that story to last? Vaughn: Well, conspiracy theories have already been posted on the web. Weiss: t*rror1st att*ck, military experiment gone wrong- Marshall: Don’t forget aliens. I mean, there’s lots and lots of speculation about extraterrestrials. Sydney: Given what we know, have you been able to put anything together? Marshall: You mean Sloane and Elena’s endgame? It’s unclear. But what is obvious is they’ve activated some sort of ginormous Meuller device. From the footage, I’d say it’s at least six blocks in diameter. Now, the Russian government, they’re keeping a tight lid on what’s actually happened, but from what’s leaking out, I’d say the citizens of Sevogda, they’re going postal. I mean, you know, mass v*olence, aggression, inability to reason. Jack: They must have infected the water supply with the chemical properties of the orchid, priming the population of the city. Making them susceptible to the effects of the Mueller device. Marshall: So, what you’re saying is, a large red ball plus contaminated water equals a city full of homicidal maniacs. That was a sentence I never thought I’d say. Vaughn: But what’s the point? I mean, the weirdest t*rror1st att*ck of all time? Jack: Their purpose remains a mystery. Perhaps Sevogda serves some strategic importance. Weiss: I’d go with world domination, but that’s always my go-to. Nadia: Why isn’t important. Stopping them is. Vaughn: (to Sydney) You’ve destroyed a Meuller device before. (Sydney gives him a look) Marshall: Uh, guys, sorry to interrupt here, but, you know, this thing is beyond toxic. I mean, and one this size? Unless it was shut down properly, it would be like draining primary coolant from a nuclear plant times ten million. Sydney: I don’t know how to disarm the device safely, anyway. Jack: But I know someone who might. Based on the eye-witness account from Agent Dixon, Irina Derevko is currently being held prisoner by her sister. Vaughn: Any ideas on how to find her? Jack: Lucien Nisard- former covenant member and an associate of Elena’s. (picture and info pop up on the screen) Flight records indicate he flew to Ibiza this morning. The sordid details in these files (hands files to Vaughn and Sydney) should make it easy to isolate him, get him to talk. Do whatever it takes. (Vaughn and Sydney look at each other) Wheels up in 2 hours. Separate room. Vaughn and Sydney pack gear. Vaughn: The usual? (messes with a g*n) Sydney Not with what I’ll be wearing. (she takes out a case) I had this feeling before. A sense. (messes with a g*n) I almost felt like I was going to pass out. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was just like dread, like something horrible was happening. Vaughn: (he kisses her) We’ve been tasked to rescue a woman who k*lled my father- your mother, who is supposes to be d*ad, by the way, and to disable a giant red ball floating over a Russian city. Sydney: Crazier things have happened. Vaughn: That’s kinda my point. Syd, without you, I’d be lost. I mean, this world, this job, everything. It would make me insane. Sydney: I know. Vaughn: (he takes her hands) We’re gonna get through this. Sydney: How can you be sure? Vaughn: How can I not be? We’re still here. Syd. . .(he puts his hand in his pocket) Sydney: What? Marshall: (bursts in) Hey. Sorry to interrupt. You ready to roll? Vaughn: Yeah. Marshall: All right. (hands him something) Vaughn: Thanks. Sydney: Vaughn? Vaughn: We should go. (takes his hand out of his pocket) Sydney goes over to Nadia at her desk. Sydney: Nadia. My dad told me he spoke to you. I was only trying to protect you. Nadia: And him. Sydney: Yes, and him. I should have told you, I’m sorry. Nadia: It’s not important now. You may not believe our mother’s alive, but I do. Please find her. Ibiza A club. People dancing, music playing. Vaughn and Sydney walk in smiling, holding hands. They walk around. Vaughn: Got him. Sydney: Where? Vaughn: At the bar. Sydney: (turns and sees Nisard) That’s him. How do you wanna play this? You want to be rough, or do you want me to be rough? Vaughn: You’re always rough. Sydney: No, I’m not. Vaughn: Yes, you are. Sydney: That’s not true. Vaughn: Yes, it is. Sydney: Are you talking about at home or on ops? Vaughn: Both. Hey, I’m not complaining. Sydney: If I’m rough it’s because you like it when I- Are we on comms? Jack: (back at APO with Marshall) Yes, you’re both on comms, right now. Sydney: (laughs as Vaughn smiles) We’ll both be rough. (they go up to the bar right next to Nisard) Vaughn: Water. They start making out. Nisard watches. Sydney: Bite me. Vaughn bites her. As Sydney bites him, he takes a drink of water and looks at Nisard.Vaughn goes over to the couch. Sydney sticks her fingers in Nisard’s drink and then presses them to her neck. Sydney goes over to the couch and continues making out with Vaughn. Nisard continues to watch. Vaughn: Want me to bite you again? Sydney: Shut up. Sydney waves her finger to get Nisard to come over. Nisard comes over. Nisard Bon soir. (Sydney stands up) You’re enjoying yourselves. Sydney: He’s French. I like the French. They’re tender. Vaughn: (looks at Nisard) Fine. Sydney: (to Nisard) Are you just gonna stand there and watch all night, or do you wanna get involved? Nisard: What exactly do you have in mind? The three of them are in the restroom. Sydney has Nisard pinned up against the wall. Sydney: (to Vaughn) Check the stalls. (he does so) Nisard: Is he going to join us, or just observe? (Sydney runs her hands along his face) Vaughn: I think I’ll just watch. Sydney: Suit yourself. Sydney Slams Nisard against the wall. Sydney tries to take his palm pilot, but he stops her. She slams him face first into the wall. She tosses the palm pilot to Vaughn. Nisard: All this trouble just to rob me? I would have paid handsomely Vaughn: (hooks something up to the palm pilot) Transmitting. Marshall: (APO on computer) Receiving transmission. It’s encrypted. Standard. Give me a sec. Sydney: What do you know about Irina Derevko? Nisard: Who? Sydney: You’d be surprised what I know about you besides what turns you on. I know who you’v ebetrayed. If you don’t tell me what you know- Nisard: You haven’t been watching the news, have you? Bad timing, sweetheart. It’s the end of the world. Or haven’t you heard. Blackmail is not as effective as it once was. Marshall: Numbers, numbers, numbers, some past girlfriends. Let’s see here, wait a minute. No Elena. No Sloane. Jack: Stop there. Sydney, there’s a mention of Helix in his files. Sydney: (pulls Nisard’s head out of the toilet) Tell me what you know about the Helix Protocol. Nisard: If you know so much about me, you know this isn’t so much a thr*at as it is a treat. (she puts his head back in the toilet) It’s too late. You can’t stop this. (she holds his head in the toilet longer) Okay, okay. Please. Sydney: The Helix protocol. Nisard: Elena- she found it. Sydney: Did she use it? Was Irina doubled? (she puts his head in the toilet again) Nisard: Okay, Okay. Elena wanted people to believe Irina was d*ad. A follower- a follower agreed to do it. Sydney: Someone volunteered to be m*rder. Nisard: You have no idea how willing we are to do what is necessary for what is about to come. Sydney: Is Irina Derevko alive? Nisard: Of course she is. (he starts laughing) Sydney is shocked. APO Nadia is watching the screens when Jack comes in. Jack: Sydney and Vaughn learned that Irina was moved yesterday from Prague. She was taken to a remote location in Guatemala. Nadia: Is she okay? Jack: We don’t know. While Vaughn secures Lucien Nisard for extradition and transport, you and I are meeting Sydney in country. Nadia: You don’t seem relieved. Jack: Transport’s waiting. (he leaves, Nadia follows) Tikal Nadia, Sydney, Jack drive down a road. They stop and get out of their vehicle. Jack takes out a computer, Nadia and Sydney take out a raft. Jack: Here’s a satellite layout of the camp where your mother’s being held. (shows them some sort of map on the laptop) The river will take you within 100 yards of the perimeter. Nadia: How exactly will we find her? Jack: See these cold spots? (points to orange dots) They’re all carrying a*t*matic w*apon. Except for this one. Sydney: Mom. Jack: It appears she’s being held in the northeast quadrant of the camp. Once you retrieve her, I’ll be waiting two kliks down river. Sydney and Nadia set up an inflatable raft. Sydney: It’s okay to be nervous. Nadia: It’s just not about meeting Irina. It’s just this feeling. Sydney: Dread? Darkness? Nadia: Yeah. How did you know? Sydney: I’ve been feeling it too. Nadia: I never believed in prophecies- you know, fate- but. . .Now I’m not so sure. Jack: (comes up, holding a bag) Nadia, is this your gear pack? Nadia: That’s some of Irina’s clothes from CIA storage. I thought she might need them. (to Sydney) I want to be the one to tell her who I am. Sydney: Of course. Sydney and Nadia are in the raft on the river. Jack brings them a few things. Jack: I’ll see you both at the exfel point. (they start the motor) Be careful. Down the river they go. They pass some ruins. Later, at night. They use paddles instead of the motor. They go up to the shore and get out of the raft. They start walking through the dark. Sydney: (to comms) This is Phoenix. We’ve reached the perimeter. Jack: Copy that. Proceed. Phoenix, incoming guard. Nadia and Sydney stop walking. Jack: All clear. Proceed. Sydney: Copy that. We’re moving in. (they continue walking) Jack: Up ahead 20 yards there should be a small clearing to your left. Sydney and Nadia advance, g*n drawn. Jack: No movement from the guards. You’re clear. She’s 15 feet straight in front of you. Sydney: (to Nadia) Over here. This should be it. (they continue walking) They don’t see anything. Sydney: She’s not here. Jack: Phoenix, you’re standing right next to her. Sydney: There’s nobody here. This- this can’t be it. (she steps on something) Sydney and Nadia clear the leaves away to reveal, a door. They pick the lock and open the door. They see Irina huddled in the corner. Sydney: Mom? (she jumps down into the hole) Mom. Mom, I’m here. Irina: S- syd. Sydney: You’re gonna be okay. Irina: Sydney. Sydney smiles to keep herself from crying. She cuts the ropes from Irina’s wrists. Irina puts her hands on Sydney’s face. Irina: I knew you’d come. (Nadia and Sydney help Irina out of the hole) Sydney and Nadia, with Irina between them, start heading back to the river. We hear loud noises and we see a string with noisemakers all over it. Sydney: Trip wire. (they start to run as guards chase them) Sydney goes flying upside down into the sky. She has her foot stuck in a rope. Irina: (to Sydney) Give me your Kn*fe. Sydney: I can’t reach it. Nadia: Here, take mine. I’ll hold them off. (gives her Kn*fe to Irina and runs off as Irina starts cutting through the rope) Nadia has her g*n out and creeps up on the guards. She kills one of them and when she goes to take his w*apon, another one comes up and kicks her. Nadia falls over, but gets right back up, waving a branch. She hits the guard a couple times. He punches her, too. He tries to choke her. Irina cuts through the rope. Sydney comes falling out of the sky. Nadia jumps and the guard falls.She jumps on him and at the other guard who just came up. She fights him. Her branch breaks. She takes their w*apon and runs. She reaches Irina and Sydney. Nadia: They’re right behind us. They start running. Men f*re at them from behind. Sydney turns and sh**t right back at them. Irina and Nadia get in the raft. They keep sh**ting. Bad guys drive up in a vehicle and sh**t at them. Sydney throws a b*mb at them and jumps in the raft. The vehicle explodes. Later. Daytime. Jack is standing against his vehicle. He hears noise and pulls out his g*n. Sydney: Dad. (Sydney, Irina, and Nadia walk on) Jack: (also takes a couple steps, coming face to face with Irina) Irina. (she punches him in the face, as Sydney and Nadia watch) On the plane. They all sit in various seats. Sydney: Mom, Elena’s already g*n. Sloane is with her. Irina: Sloane, of course. The only person as driven as she is. Though her cruelty runs deeper. Sydney: I’m sorry we didn’t find you sooner, mom. We didn’t know. (she tries to take Irina’s hand, but she pulls away and grimaces) What did she do to you? (Nadia and Jack look up to listen) Irina: I found a Rambaldi manuscript- one I knew Elena was looking for. It’s called “il diluvio”. Sydney: The flood. Irina: Rambaldi imagined a moment when the world would be cleansed, when everything would begin anew. Sydney: An apocalypse. Irina: When I saw what was in the manuscript, I had to destroy it. Sydney: Of course. Which is why Elena needed you. Irina: She kept me in darkness. I don’t know. . .where or how long. I had barely enough food, water. There came a time I didn’t know whether I was alive or d*ad. She’d release me only for questioning. Elena was always volatile, quick-tempered. I expected her to get angry and k*ll me. But she had learned patience. (wipes her eyes) Eventually I was moved to a medical facility and injected with something. The pain was excruciating. I’d go into cardiac arrest. She’d simply s*ab my heartbeat and allow me to rest so I could endure more. And she did this dozens and dozens of times. I couldn’t fight it. I told her everything. Sydney: Mom. . .(Irina takes her hand) Mom. . . Irina: Sydney, I wish I could spare you from what’s about to come, but I need you to come with me. Sydney: I’m with you. Irina: We must go to Sevogda. Jack: Irina, they’ve activated the Meuller device. The effects are already evident. It’s too late for that city. Irina: Elena’s already there. So is Sloane. If we don’t stop them now, they’ll move on to another city, and another. Jack: We’ll send a team. Irina: I helped Elena build the device. I can figure out how to destroy it. There are no alternatives. Jack: Alright. I’ll tell the pilot to change course. (he goes to speak with the pilot) Irina: Is there anywhere I can clean up? Sydney: (smiles) In the back. Nadia: (stands up and hands Irina the bag of chlothes) Here, I brought you these. Irina: Thank you. Nadia: Just some clothes. Irina turns around and looks directly at Nadia. She puts her hands to Nadia’s face and hugs her. Irina: Oh, sweetheart. Nadia: Mom. APO Chase walks in. Chase: Give me an update. Vaughn: NRO just sent over the satellite images from Sevogda. There was heavy cloud cover. They couldn’t see much. Has Langley got anything from inside? Chase: Yes, DSR has a field team in the city. Vaughn: What’d they find? Chase: We made contact, but their transmission was interrupted. Langley’s trying to reestablish a connection, but so far they’re not responding. Vaughn: Let me know if I can help. Chase: Oh, you can. Where’s Jack? Vaughn: He’s not here. Chase: He’s acting director on this task force, and right now we’re in the middle of a crisis. Where is he? Vaughn: Right now he’s heading up a tactical rescue mission in Guatemala. Chase: A tactical mission? To rescue whom? Vaughn: Irina Derevko. Back on the plane. Jack: We can expect the military perimeter to be heavily guarded. Entry to Sevogda will be at best difficult. Sydney: Do you have any idea what to expect once we’re in there? Irina: (comes back in and sits) Is this where the device has been activated? Sydney: Yes. Irina: Elena and Sloane need to hole up somewhere safe, away from the hazards of the Mueller device. Jack: (phone rings, he answers) Bristow. Irina: Perhaps a bunker, a warehouse. Needs to be a fortified location. Jack: Yes. (hangs up) Sydney: Dad. Jack: It was our pilot. Our plane is being diverted. Official orders from Langley. (nobody says anything) Plane has landed. Police vehicles and such. Sydney: She’s working with us. She’s not a thr*at. Guard: Irina Derevko is a fugitive. You got a problem, you take it to Langley. Irina: I’ll see you. (guards take her away) APO Sydney walks up to Chase. Sydney: Taking my mother into custody was a mistake. Chase: Irina Derevko is an enemy of the state. Sydney: My mother helped Elena engineer the device. She can disarm it. Chase: She was convicted of espionage, of m*rder CIA operatives. Do I need to go on? Sydney: We don’t have time to debate her record. If this were any other situation, I would say fine, interrogate her, vet her intel. But people are dying, and it’s only going to get worse. Chase: It is under control. The matter is being handled. Sydney: Really? How? By whom? Chase: The Russians are preparing a tactical air strike of Sevogda. It will be over in a few hours. Sydney: An air strike, Director Chase, will release toxins into the atmosphere. The results would be catastrophic. This is what Elena wanted. She anticipated how the government would respond. We need to stall the Russians. Let us go in there and shut down the device. Chase: I will not trust Irina Derevko. Sydney: When you brought me into APO and placed me under Arvin Sloane’s supervision, you asked me to trust you, and I did. Chase: My mind is made up, Agent Bristow. Sydney: You put Sloane in charge. You gave Sloane full access to the resources of the CIA. And now he is going to do more harm than you can even imagine. We need to find him and end this, and the only person who can do that is my mother. Please, Director Chase. This time you’ll have to trust me. Guards walk Irina into APO, where she meets with Jack. Jack: Come with me. Jack and Irina sit a atable in an APO room. Jack: You can accompany us to Sevogda on the condition that if- when we capture Sloane and Elena and deactivate the Mueller device, you will be returned to CIA custody to serve out your sentence. Irina: Life in prison. Jack: Yes. (he slides her a paper, she signs it) Irina: How’s your jaw? Jack: I’ve been through worse. Irina: Jack, I understand why you believed you had to k*ll me, but the truth is, if the situation had been reversed. . . I would have found another way. Jack: I can’t imagine this would give you any comfort, considering what you’ve been through, but. . .the truth is, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t regret what I did. Irina: About my indiscretion with Sloane- I can hope you’ll accept my apology. Jack: Of all the things you’ve done, that’s what you’re going to apologize for? (they smile at each other) You’re going to enjoy getting to know Nadia. She’s exceptional. Irina: I wonder where she got that from. On the plane. Sydney, Nadia, Jack, Vaughn, Irina, prepare for the mission into Sevogda. Irina: (to Nadia) Let me help you. (tugs on Nadia’s harness) I’ve seen you all my life, in my mind. Nadia: When this is over, maybe we could spend some time. Irina: I’d like that. Jack: (phone rings, he answers) Yes. Chase: The Russians are moving up their timetable. I’ve tried every channel, but they’re resolved. Jack: How long do we have? Marshall: Uh, about four hours. Jack: (to team) We have four hours before a tactical strike levels the city. Vaughn: (to Sydney) Syd, come here. (she goes to him) I had it all planned out. Sydney: What? Vaughn: I was gonna take you to the beach, Santa Barbara. We’d go out for a walk, maybe when the sun was setting. But now we’re here, and I don’t know what we’re jumping into. And I may never get another chance to do this again. Sometimes I wake up before you do, and I watch you sleep. And I’m overwhelmed because. . .you’re so amazing. And I don’t know why I’m lucky enough to have you in my life, but you’re here with me. (Sydney nods) And I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you trying to make you as happy as you make me. Sydney: My God, Vaughn. Vaughn: (he pulls out the ring box and opens it) Sydney Bristow, will you marry me? (she kisses him) Sydney: We’re gonna make it out of here. Vaughn: Is that a yes? (they kiss again) Sydney: Ask me on the beach. Jack: (stands up) We have sixty seconds. (he makes eye contact with Sydney and they both smile) The hatch door opens up and the five of them stand on the edge. They each put on their helmets and they jump out. They see a huge red ball floating over Sevogda.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x21 - Search and Rescue"}

foreverdreaming

Savogda Shows airplane flying. Shows airplane hatch opening. Nadia, Irina, Vaughn, Jack, and Sydney all jump out of the hatch. And into Savogda. Nighttime. There is a big red ball hovering over Savogda. Team meets up on the ground, in the streets. There are many wrecked vehicles. Jack: DSR team is supposed to be here. Contact APO. APO. Marshall and Weiss. Marshall: We’ve got Mr. Bristow on sat-comm. Weiss: Jack, what’s your situation? Jack: We’re at the rendevous point, still waiting on the DSR team. We’ll give them 5 more minutes and then move on. Have we made any progress with the Russians? Weiss: No. Director Chase is in Washington. They’ve organized a coalition to pressure the Russians to call off the air strike, but so far, no luck. Jack: They do understand that destroying the device with conventional expl*sives will cause enough toxic fallout to make Chernobyl look like a kitchen f*re? Weiss: Yeah, their official position is they’re not buying it, which gives you about 2 hours (both Marshall and Weiss look at their watches) to deactivate the device. Sydney: Dad, we got a signal from the DSR team’s transponder. They’re a block and a half away. Jack (into phone): We’ll be in touch. APO Marshall: The Russians rely on the Milsat satellite network to vector the b*mb, right? If I can hack into it, I can shut it down. Weiss: And violate several thousand international laws? (whoohoo let’s go for it) Marshall: We’re talking about the end of the world. I’m not worried about a tribunal. Weill: That’s a good point. Gogogogo Elena’s hangout. Sloane’s here too. Man walks up to Elena. Man: It’s operational. Elena: Have you notified our cells? Man: We’re on schedule. Elena: Good. (Man leaves. Pause. Elena turns to Sloane. ) It won’t be long before you see her again. I know Nadia. She’s gonna make us proud. Team walking along streets. Sydney: The signal’s coming from right here. They find the DSR vehicle with an arm inside. They grimace Jack: We should keep moving. Rattling sounds. Sydney and Vaughn hold up tranq g*n. Brodien comes around the bend. Sydney: Brodien. Brodien: Bristow? Oh for G-d’s sakes, what are you- I thought you were relieved of duty. Sydney: Well, don’t believe everything you hear. Vaughn: What happened here? Brodien: Uh, let’s just say those tranqs-they’re not gonna do you any good. Not on the infected. They’re like rabid dogs. They travel in packs. (pulls out machine g*n for everyone) It only took them one night to wipe out my entire team. Jack: You’re the last one alive? Brodien: I don’t know how many there are out there. Hundreds, could be thousands. Sydney: What about the resat? Brodien: d*ad if they’re lucky. When there’s no one left to k*ll they turn on each other. The municipal water supply was tainted. And the device is broadcasting a subaudible frequency off any spectrum. Anyone within the radius of the signal who drank the water has been psychologically altered. Nadia: Are we gonna just sh**t them? Brodien: Yes. I mean, It’s either them or us. They’re already gone anyway. We’re putting them out of their misery. There is no cure. Once you’re infected, there’s no reversing the symptoms. Jack: What have you learned about the device? Brodien: Uhhh, Best we can tell, the epicenter is, uh, 4 miles northwest. (pulls out a map) Over the Oransky building. Right here. Jack: In that case, the control center for the device should be located on the rooftop. Brodien: I’ve taken out the city’s power grid. The device keeps running. Nadia: Irina knows how to bring it down safely. Brodien: Irina? Irina Derevko? (stares at her) Irina: The device has been modified to run off an internal energy source. We need to get to the roof of that building. Brodien: Okay. Uhh, right. But we can’t drive. All the roads are closed off with gridlock. Sydney: We can get through town through the subway tunnels. It’s a straight sh*t to the Oransky building. There should be an emergency battery system to power up the cars. Brodien: Those tunnels are pitch black. There’s only one way in or out. Sydney: I’m not saying I’m looking forward to it. Brodien: All right. Let’s go. They continue walking. Camera pans to show one of Elena’s men. Man: (into radio) They’re here. Elena’s hideout. Elena: (to Sloane) Less than 2 hours before the Russians launch their strike. Nothing can stop us. Sloane: Regardless, we should eliminate all possibility. I’ll lead the as*ault team. ( He turns to leave) Elena: Nadia. Sloane: (turns back) What about Nadia? Elena: Bring her back. Give her the option to join us. Sloane (exasperated): I was going to. (to as*ault team) Let’s go. APO Marshall trying to hack into Russian network. Weiss is close by. Marshall: Dammit. It’s too secure. I can’t get in from the outside. Unless we have a valid access code, this isn’t gonna work. Weill: So get an access code. Marshall: Only Russian military officials have access codes to those. Weiss: We’ve managed harder. Come on, there’s got to be a way. What would Jack do in this situation? Jack is the king of this sort of thing. (hehe it rhymes) Marshall: Well, first he’d probably glower a bit, right? And then he’d probably blackmail or t*rture somebody. Right? (he gets that lightbulb facial expression) You’re a genius. You, Eric Weiss are a genius. Marshall and Weiss in Sloane’s office looking at the Blackwell Index. Weiss: I thought Sloane turned the Blackwell Index over to Langley. Marshall: He didn’t. It’s complicated. Weiss: Sloane’s evil. Why wouldn’t he hold on to blackmail material on world leaders. Marshall: Okay, here it is. Russian Deputy of Defense, Minister Karkov. (highlights name on the index, opens files) We find the right dirt, he’ll be begging to give us the code. Weiss: I think we found your passion. What’s this guy into? Marshall: Let’s take a look. (clicks file) Whoah, hello. Weiss: Is that a. . . Marshall: I hope not. Weiss: Wow. Jack and team walking along the street. Jack on the phone. Weiss: Jack, we found a Russian minister off the Blackwell Index who can get us access to the Milsat. We’ll keep you posted. Jack (to Irina): Marshall and Weiss are working on the Russians. Stubborn bunch, your countrymen. Irina: We like to control our own fate. You never put much faith in that, did you? Fate, destiny. Jack: About as much faith as I put in horoscopes, fortune cookies. Irina: Look. (We see and hear a horse walking along the street. The horse is white, but appears red because of reflection of Rambaldi ball.) Rambaldi wrote, “when bloodred horses run through the streetsand angels fall from the sky, the Chosen One and the Passenger will clash. And only one of them will survive.” Jack: You really are through the looking glass, aren’t you. When I see angels fall from the sky, I’ll start to worry. Irina: I just can’t shake the feeling that tonight, one of my daughters will perish. The team reaches a gate. Brodien: This is it. (Uses a blowtorch to open lock on gate.) Sydney: Hey, Brodien. It looks like the ear heeled up pretty nicely. Brodien: Yeah, and if you plan on putting any more holes in me, just go ahead and tell me now. All right? (Opens gate) Infected guy, who was waiting inside the gate, s*ab Brodien with a long metal pole. Sydney and Nadia sh**t Infected guy. Sydney rushes over to Brodien. Sydney: Hang in there. Brodien: Go. End this. (dies) Jack: We should move. Now! (enters gate, everyone follows) All are on radios. Underground subway. Switching room. Nadia and Sydney walk in with flashlights. Sydney: We found the switching room. We’ll set green lights all the way down the line. Jack is in the subway. There are d*ad people. Jack: It should only take a few minutes to redirect the power to the drive wheels. How are we on the brakes? Vaughn is working underneath the subway. Vaughn: The calipers have seized. Must have happened when the power shut down. But if we cut the hydraulic lines and bleed the fluid, they should disengage, but we’ll have no manual topping power. Nadia: We can set the track switch to trigger an emergency stop. Jack: Right. Be careful out there. Vaughn and Irina are working on the brakes. Irina: You shouldn’t wait. Vaughn: For what? Irina: I saw the ring. Vaughn: Yeah, you know what? You k*lled my father. The way I see it, I don’t have to ask for your blessings. Irina: Despite that, you may have them. Along with some advice. Vaughn: Marital advice from you. Wondeful. Like what, don’t betray your spouse? Irina: Yeah, that’d be one of them. But even between a husband and a wife, some secrets are acceptable. However, your activities are not. Vaughn: What are you talking about? Irina: You’re not as covert as you like to think. Consider my life an object lesson. If you don’t want to end up like Jack and me, tell Sydney the truth. Back to Nadia and Sydney in the switching room, flipping switches. Nadia: It’s not catching. Sydney: They’re at either end of the platform. Maybe when the train’s at the station, they have to be set manually. We can do it. Nadia: Okay. (sighs) Sydney: You still feeling it too? Nadia: Like something awful’s going to happen. Sydney: I know. (pause) Vaughn asked me to marry him. Nadia: Sydney. . .That’s amazing. Sydney: I’m sure there are plenty of brides who want to k*ll their maid of honor. I’m not one of them. Nadia: Okay. Sydney: I’ll take the switch in front. (they leave the switching room) APO Weiss and Marshall on the phone. Speaking Russian, badly. Weiss: May I speak to Deputy Minister Karkov? Voice: Please hold. Karkov: This is Minister Karkov. To whom am I speaking. Weiss: Careful. Be listening. We are needing your code of Milsat network. Karkov: Whoever this is your Russian is awful. Marshall (covers phone): (In English, half to Weiss, half to himself, half to Karkov) I wrote this program in five minutes, you perv. Weiss: (in English) I’m gonna make this real simple for you. We need your Milsat access codes. Either give it to us now, or every major news organization will get the tuva photos by morning. Karkov: (in English) A, I don’t know what you’re talking about. B, I’m running a trace on this call. Weiss: Great. I look forward to meeting you. While I’ve got you on the line, let me ask you-what’s the significance of the green balloons. (pause, Marhall gives a thumbs up) Karkov: Alpha-5-7-2-8-1-1-black. Now let me be clear. If those photos ever- Weiss: Oh, sure thing, Minister. Or should I call you, “cowboy.”? ( Marshall and Weiss both laugh) Marshall: Got it. Jack alone in subway. There are d*ad people. A cell phone rings. Jack finds it and answers. Woman: (in Russian?): Leonid? Thank G-d, What’s happening out there? I’ve been watching the news and they- Jack: I’m sorry. Leonid is d*ad. (woman cries, Jack puts cell phone away) APO Marshall and Weiss hacking into computer. Marshall: Okay, code’s good. We’re in. Weiss: Good. Marshall: Okay. Wait a second. This is odd. (computer shows map of world with arrows all over it) Weiss: What? What’s odd? Marshall: Well, there is a signal coming out of Savogda. Someone’s trying to uplink an encrypted broadcast connect to the Russians’ network. Weiss: It could be Elena. But why would she broadcast over a closed network? Can you find out? Marshall: Let me see. Jack in subway. Vaughn and Irina come in. Vaughn: Jack, we cut the breaklines. As soon as you restore power, we’ll be good to roll. Jack: I’m almost done here. Give me a sec. ( He continues to work with wires) Cuts to Nadia walking in front of the subway train, with flashlight. She finds the brake switches. Cuts back to Jack. He gets the power to work. Irina: Need any help? Jack: No just another minute. Sydney enters the train. Irina: Where’s Nadia? Sydney: She isn’t back yet? Irina: No. Nadia is trying to lift the brake switches. She hears screams. \ Nadia: Guys, they’re coming. Vaughn: Nadia, get out of there! (runs down the train) Nadia: Got it. Train starts to move, Nadia starts to run. Behind her is a mob of infected people. Zombies. Sydney: (follows Vaughn) Nadia! Vaughn! (Opens th back door of the train) Nadia! Nadia! (Nadia is running, Vaughn sh**t at zombies.) Dad, Stop the train! Jack: Sydney, we can’t! Sydney: Stop the damn train! Nadia! (holds out her arm, Nadia keeps running) Nadia: Sydney! Sydney: Come here! Come here! Sydney’s and Nadia’s fingers touch. Nadia gets tackled by a zombie. Hmmm, someone yells, not sure who, Nadia or Sydney. Other zombies tackle Nadia. Vaughn pulls Sydney back inside the train. Vaughn: Syd! Inside subway train. Irina: (to Sydney) Your sister’s alive. Sloane and as*ault team run along the subway stations. Sloane kills the as*ault team. Jack: (in subway train) Hold on! We’re coming into the station. The wheels screech. Subway doors open. Sloane is aiming his g*n at them. They aim their g*n at him and walk out of subway train. They see the d*ad as*ault team. Sloane: These are Elena’s men, sent here to k*ll you. Jack: I suppose you’re expecting a thank-you. Sloane: There’s no time for sarcasm, Jack. Elena’s men have already primed the world’s drinking water. No one else can stop her if we don’t get to her within the next few hours. Sydney: Wait a minute, you expect us to believe that you came here to help us?, please. Sloane: I have never been disingenuous with you on this, Sydney. I allied myself with Elena in order to put an end to her plan, to shoulder the risk myself. But she’s built in security devices, and I haven’t had the time. Jack: I’ve heard quite enough, Arvin. Sloane: Jack, I’ve been inside the operation. If you want to stop Elena, this is how we’re gonna do it. She’s secured herself inside an antiquated COG facility, below the Oransky building. Sydney, Vaughn, open a line to APO. Jack, you take point. Irina, forgive me, but there’s no time for pleasantries-(punched by Jack, and knocked out) Jack: You’re no longer in charge of this team. APO On phone. Weiss: Jack we might have a breakthrough. Marshall detected a signal coming out of the city. We believe Elena is trying to uplink to the milsat network. Sydney: Do we know why? Marshall: I decoded the signal-it’s a subaudible frequency below the range of human hearing, the same frequency being used by the Mueller device. She’s using the Russian satellite network to distribute that frequency worldwide. Jack: If she succeeds, the effects we’re seeing will occur globally, everywhere the water’s been primed. Marshall (frantic): I know I told you there were 2 hours before the air strike, but the instant the Russians scramble those b*mb, the satellite network, it’s going to go online. The minute that happens, that signal-It’s going to be broadcast. She is super tricky-counting on the Russian air strike all along. Sydney: How much time do we have? Marshall: 40 minutes, give or take. Irina: We need to get to the roof of that building and shut down the device. Jack: (to Marshall) Can you send us intel on the facility-thermal scans? Marshall: Okay, just give me a sec. (opens files at computer) The Meuller device is causing too much interference. The best I can do is building blueprints. Uploading now. Vaughn: (his cell phone rings) Got it? Jack: Put in a call to Chase-Washington should be kept up to speed so they can order foreign leadership to begin preparations. Weiss: Good luck. Jack: Yeah, likewise. Vaughn: Our best bet is the northwest entrance. We can approach it through the alley without being seen. Sydney: If she anticipated that, all her defenses would be there. Jack: (to Sloane) You’re going to help us get inside that building and up to the roof. We have 40 minutes. Sloane: Of course. Jack: If we fail, I will personally put a b*llet in your skull. (How many times has he said that?) Sloane: You won’t have to. I can take you up to the roof. It’s not a problem, Elena left it unguarded. Once you disable the device, the toxins that are inside will dissipate into the atmosphere. What you’re talking about is a su1c1de mission. Irina: Just get me to the roof. I can cut the wire to the relay- reverse the ionization. Aside from the impact, the water will be harmless. Sloane: I’ll take you, but your sister changed the wiring scene. It’s one of her fail-safes. Irina: In that case, take me to my sister. Sloane: I will. Where’s Nadia? Nadia fighting the mob of zombies wither her g*n. Nadia: (into radio) Do you copy? Can anybody hear me? (starts climbing up ladder) Sydney! (climbs back up to the street. She walks along the street, and comes across some angel statues that must have fallen off a church or something. Guy: Hello? Is somebody there? Help me! Please. (he’s sitting on some steps) Don”t hurt me! Nadia: What happened to you? Guy: My leg- I think it’s broken. Thank G-d. I’ve been here for hours. Nadia: It was pretty risky, going out like you did. How did you know I wasn’t one of them? Guy: Because (holds a g*n up to her face) I know who you are. Elena’s hideout. Elena has Nadia tied up to a chair. Elena: Sweetheart. I’m sorry it had to be done this way. I hope you understand. I never wanted to hurt you. I never wanted children of my own, Nadia. Then you came along. And ever since then, no matter how far I was from you, I always thought of you as my daughter. (puts her hand on Nadia’s cheek) Nadia: (pulls back roughly) Don’t touch me! Elena: You have a choice. You can embrace your anger and hate me or you can join me. The flood has g*n. (she holds Nadia’s head in place) Only precious few will survive. (Looks at a map on wall with pins sticking out of it. Pins probably show places where contaminated water was distributed.) There she is. I see her now-your mother. She used to look at me with those eyes. (Nadia starts to cry.) It’s time that you accept the life you have ahead of you. I know it’s not easy. Greatness never is. Nadia: You’re right. (Tears stream down her face) I see my future. Two minutes from now, I see myself k*lling you. (Elena hits her) The only reason you want me to be on your side is because you believe I’m the one to stop Sydney Bristow. But she’s my sister. You’re nothing to me. Elena: I am sorry you feel that way. (goes to get a syringe and needle) Nadia: What’s that? Elena: Don’t worry, darling. It’s only tap water. Nadia: I will never betray my sister. Elena: We’ll see. (she injects the fluid right in the middle of the Rambaldi eye that Ana had branded on her neck, she screams) We’re probably in the Oransky building. Sydney is walking to go to the roof when Vaughn comes up behind her. Irina, Jack, and Sloane are a bit further away. Vaughn: Syd! Sydney: Did I forget something? Vaughn: Yeah, me- I’m coming with you. Sydney: Did my dad change the plans? Vaughn: No, I did. I’m joining you on the roof. Sydney: It’s a one-person job. My mom will relay up the wiring instructions. I can disarm the device myself. Vaughn: You can’t outrun the wall of water that thing’s gonna turn into. Sydney: How are you going to help me? Vaughn: We’ll figure something out. You’ll run faster if I’m chasing you. Sydney: I’ll be fine. And they need you in the bunker. If we don’t get Elena. . . Vaughn Syd. Sydney: Don’t say it. I’ll see you in a few minutes. Vaughn: Okay Sydney (starts walking away, but turns back): Just in case, yes. Vaughn: yeah? Sydney: (close to tears) Yeah, I want to marry you. They kiss. Vaughn pulls out the ring. Sydney takes it and puts it on. Sydney: It’s perfect. So are you. (they kiss again) Vaughn: Go. Sydney: I’ll see you. Vaughn: I know. Sydney turns and leaves. In the elevator, she fingers the ring. APO Marshall: (Into phone) That’s right, a polymorphic computer virus capable of infecting military-grade encryption. You think you can handle that? Not 10 minutes- I need it now! Just get it done, okay? Thank you. Weiss: Are we close? Marshall: That’s not really a helpful question right now okay? Weiss: Don’t blame yourself. This satellite network was designed to withstand World w*r III. I just got off the phone with my buddy in the secret service. They’ve initiated the “continuity of government” protocol. The president, his cabinet, their family members-all being evacuated to underground command centers. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’ve kidded myself, but I thought maybe I’d be on the list. Marshall: Yeah. It’s kind of like high school all over again. The cool kids are having a party, and I’m not invited. Weiss: All right, there’s still time left. Let’s not give up on them yet. Marshall (picks up cell phone, dials): Hey, honey. Hi, uuuh, no, I don’t have a lot of time. I just- I just wanted to tell you I love you. I don’t get to tell you that often enough. No, I haven’t been drinking. I’m just- I’m just gonna be home early tonight, okay? Bye. Elena’s bunker. Man: Russian b*mb are taxing to the runway. Elena: Have you uploaded the signal? Man: Once Milsat is online, the signal will be broadcast worldwide. Sloane’s back. Shows video footage of Sloane helping someone to walk. Man goes running to greet Sloane. Sloane sh**t Man d*ad. Vaughn, Jack, and Irina follow Sloane to Elena. Irina: (to Elena) Hello, sis. Ever since you were 11, there’s something I wanted to do. (PUNCH. Elena falls to the ground.) Now. Sloane picks Elena up and ties her to a chair. Vaughn and Jack go to the computer. Jack: Can’t retract the signal from this terminal. (to Vaughn) Find the relay room and destroy it. Back to Sydney on roof of the Oranskey building. She stares up at the Mueller device and the big red ball. She finds and opens a hatch, which shows a great mass of wires. She turns around and sees Nadia. Sydney: Nadia! Nadia, it’s me. (Nadia’s eyes glow red) It’s Sydney. I don’t want to hurt you. (Starts backing up while Nadia continues to advance.) Jack (on comms): Sydney, what’s happening? Sydney: It’s Nadia, she’s guarding the device. She’s infected. (starts to tear up) Sloane: (to Elena) This is all you’re doing. Jack (to Sydney): You have to take her out. Sydney: No, dad. She’s my sister. Irina: Listen to me, she’s not your sister anymore. Sydney: I know. Please Nadia. Please let me help you. (she cries a little) Nadia att*cks Sydney, twisting her around. N kicks then punches S. Irina: Sydney? Jack: Sydney, what’s happening? Sydney: (has N’s arm pulled back behind her) Nadia, stop! N gets free and kicks S a few times. N starts to strangle S, who in turn, starts to choke, and cough. S punches N in the face. S kicks and punches N a few times. N gets S’s g*n. They both do a few more twists and turns. Nadia sh**t twice at Sydney, who dodges. Vaughn enters the relay room and sh**t some wires with his g*n. Vaughn: The relays blown. Check the signal strength. Irina (she sounds weary): No good, Vaughn. The signal’s still broadcasting. Elena: I’ve planned this for 5 years. Don’t you think I’ve accounted for every possibility? Irina: Vaughn, is Sloane with you? Vaughn: No, he’s not with you? Irina: Get to the roof, right now. Vaughn: On my way. (runs out of the relay room) Nadia and Sydney continue to fight on the rooftop. Nadia picks up a metal pole and starts hitting Sydney with it, much like the way she did with that big stick in the Descent. Camera shows Vaughn running down a corridor. (This music reminds me of LOTR, don’t you think?) Back to N and S. The arm N has the g*n in is stretched way out. S puts her hand on it and the b*llet chamber falls out. N pulls out her own g*n and sh**t at S. The b*llet appears to have grazed S’s cheek. She swings around, kicking N. We see Vaughn running up some stairs. N is knocked out. S is chaining her up. Sydney goes back to big mass of wire’s. Music goes back to normal Alias music. Sydney: Okay, Mom, I’ve removed the panel. Irina: Do you see the master circuit board? Sydney: I see a lot of circuit boards. Irina: It’s the one closest to the power supply. Trace the ground wire. It should lead you to the coil. Sydney: Got it. (she removes the circuit board to reveal, the coil from Nightingale) Okay, I’m there. Irina: There should be 2 wires, one black, one yellow. Sydney: No. She’s changed them out. One wire’s blue, the other’s white. Irina: Hold on, Sydney. (she walks over to Elena) I’ll give you one chance to do the right thing. Not that you were ever any good at that. Which wire? Elena: It’s useless. In a few minutes, when the signal broadcasts, the whole world will be different. However you plan on torturing me, I’ll hold out-at least for that long. Irina (smirks): I’m not gonna t*rture you. I’m gonna let him do it. (she jerks her head at Jack) And he really doesn’t care for you. Especially after you tricked him into k*lling me. (Jack moves around, getting equipment) One thing you should know about Jack, he hates being anybody’s puppet. Jack: I’m actually hoping, you don’t tell us what we need to know. (Gets a syringe, a needle, and a vial of tap water) There’s a 50/50 chance Sydney cuts the right wire. I’m willing to take those odds. . .if it means I can stand here and watch you turn into an animal. Elena (shakes her head, worriedly, it looks like): You’re not a gambling man, Jack. Jack: I didn’t used to be, but it’s been a rather interesting year for me. It’s made me re-evaluate certain parts of my life. I’m trying to have more fun these days. (inserts the needle in Elena’s neck) Elena: Wait! How do I know you won’t inject me anyway? Jack: You don’t. Elena: White! Tell her to cut the white wire! (BANG) Irina (Holding a g*n, her arm’s outstretched): Sydney, cut the blue wire. And then run like hell. You have 15 seconds before the ball bursts. Sydney: Copy that. Cutting the blue wire. (Chain goes around her throat) N is choking S with the same chain that S chained N up with. S is choking. BANG. Sloane sh*t N. N falls. S coughs. S stares at Sloane. Sloane: I had no choice. Vaughn (finally arrives): Sydney we got to go. Sydney: Get her into the elevator. Vaughn: (picks up Nadia) She’s still breathing. Sydney leans over the wire mass. Vaughn (Nadia in arms): Sydney, let’s go. Vaughn heads the elevator. Sloane follows. Sydney shuts her eyes, takes a deep breath, cuts the blue wire. And she starts running like hell. In the elevator, Sloane rubs Nadia’s head. Sloane: She’s bleeding out. Vaughn: Put some pressure on it. (Sloane puts his hand over the b*llet wound.) Big Rambaldi Ball explodes. But instead of flame, like with normal expl*si*n, we get tons of water. Back in elevator. Sydney: The device is coming apart. Windows of the Oranskey building shatter. Water follows the elevator. They reach the bottom. Water follows. They run. They meet up with Jack and Irina, who close the big gate that blocks the water, barely. APO Weiss (Paces, on comms.): Raptor, do you copy? Come on. Phoenix. Raptor. Phoenix. Do you copy? Come on. Anyone? Marshall (on computer): Hold on. I’ll try an alternate signal. Weiss: Anything? Marshall: Nothing. Weiss: All right, what’s the status of the building? Marshall (mouth agape): It’s not there anymore. Savogda Vaughn (into phone): 3-9-alpha-2-4. We’ve transitioned out of the bunker. Requesing immediate evac. Med-support needed. Popping smoke now. Jack (to Irina): The chopper should be here any minute. Irina: We both know how this is supposed to play out. You bring me back to the States, turn me over to your superiors. Jack: On foot, you could reach the border by daybreak. Irina: What about the Agency? What would you tell them? Jack: Oh, I think they know- no one can hold on to Irina Derevko for too long. Irina grins and gives Jack a kiss on the lips. She walks over to Sydney. Irina: Take care of your sister. Sydney: I will. Irina: 3 years ago, when I told you, you were the Chosen One, that only you could take down the greatest evil, I know your mind must have been overwhelmed with confusion. But tonight, you recognize that you’ve done just that. I’m so proud of you. (she kisses Sydney’s forehead) Sydney: Thank you. Irina walks away a bit then stops and turns around. Irina: Sydney. You may not see me on your wedding day, but I’ll see you. Sydney cries as she watches her mother leave. Sloane in a prison cell. Sydney comes to visit. Sloane: Nadia. Is she- Sydney: Her vitals are s*ab. They’re keeping her under sedation until we find an antidote for her condition. Sloane: What about the survivors? Russians must be running tests- Sydney: There aren’t any survivors. The Russian military ex*cuted all remaining civilians inside Savogda. Sloane: Of course. Otherwise it would bely their claim of a chemical expl*si*n. It’s because of me. . .Because of my choices. I’ve hurt the most precious thing in my life. Sydney: We’ll get her back. Whatever it takes, we’ll find a cure. Thank you. (Cell door opens.) I’ve arranged for you to see Nadia. Sloane: Sydney. Sydney: I didn’t think I would ever say this, but I believe you were trying to do the right thing. Sloane: Thank you. (He’s escorted out.) Santa Barbara, not really, Vaughn and Sydney are in the car driving. Sydney kisses Vaughn’s hand. She glances out the window. She fingers the back of Vaughn’s head. She takes her hand away to look at her ring. Smiles. Sydney: I had a thought. Vaughn: Yeah. Sydney: What if we just blow off the whole big-wedding thing? What if we just do it on the beach? Vaughn: The beach. (Glances back and forth between Sydney and the road. Both are all smiles) Sydney: What do you think? Vaughn: I like it. Barefoot on the beach, you’d look sexy as hell. Oh, but wait. What about your dad? He doesn’t look like the kind of guy who likes to have sand between his toes. Sydney: That’s true. So. . .we won’t invite him. Vaughn: Your father? Sydney: What if we don’t invite anyone? We just elope? Vaughn: You’re serious? Sydney: I would love it. Vaughn: All right. Then we’ll elope. Sydney: Have I told you that I love you? Vaughn: Yeah. Go ahead, tell me again. Sydney: I love you. Vaughn: I love you too. (She starts to play with his hair again.) Sydney: I know. Say it again. Vaughn: I love you, Syd. That’s why I need to tell you something. Just so there’s no secrets between us. Sydney: Okay, whatever it is, I can handle it. Just don’t tell me you’re a bad guy. (pause) You’re not a bad guy, are you? Vaughn: I guess that depends on who you ask. Sydney: Vaughn. . . Vaughn: It’s from a long time ago. It’s before we met. Actually it’s the reason we met. It’s no accident that I was the one you came to when you walked in the CIA with your story about SD-6. Sydney: Wait. I don’t understand. Vaughn, what are you telling me? Vaughn: Well, for starters, my name isn’t Michael Vaughn. CRASH. Another car crashes into them.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "04x22 - Before the Flood"}

foreverdreaming

(Off the road on the way to Santa Barbara. The car is sitting, wrecked, next to a cornfield. Both Sydney and Vaughn are unconscious. They both have cuts on their faces. Sydney wakes up. ) Sydney: (whispers) Vaughn. Vaughn? (and falls back asleep) (Next, Vaughn is being taken away on a stretcher. Sydney is still in the car. ) Sydney: Vaughn? Vau-- Medic: (opens up her door) Don’t worry, we’re going to get you out of here. Sydney: Is he okay? Medic: You need to stay still, alright? (Medic prepares a needle for her) Sydney: I don’t need anything. I’m fine. (Medic continues filling the syringe with medicine) I don’t need any of that. Medic: (into radio) The girl’s alive. I’ll take care of her. Radio: Copy. Four minutes out. (Sydney gets suspicious) (Medic goes to inject the needle, but Sydney punches him and makes him inject himself. He falls over. She takes off running, straight for the cornfield. One guy yells at her, 2 others start sh**ting at her. She’s being chased through the cornfield. They continue sh**ting at her. She loses them, but comes upon some pigeons, who fly away. She runs, then stops when she hears a helicopter and sees a guy with a g*n who had been chasing her. She att*cks him and uses him as a shield so she doesn’t get sh*t by the other man, and takes his g*n. She uses the g*n to sh**t the guy who had been sh**ting at her. She goes to the edge of the cornfield and sees 2 guys roll Vaughn on a stretcher, to the helicopter. The helicopter takes off. ) (Back in LA, Sydney’s talking to a doctor in the examining room.) Doctor: We’re going to run a few tests, just as a precaution, but everything appears normal. Sydney: When can I go home? Doctor: Soon. But you’re going to have to take it easy. Sydney: Of course. (The doctor leaves the room. Sydney goes over to a table and takes her engagement ring and puts it back on her finger. Enters Gordon Dean. ) Dean: Miss Bristow. How’re you feeling? Oh, uh, Gordon Dean, Office of Special Investigations. (holds up ID.) Sydney: Any word on Vaughn? Dean: No, I’m afraid not. I hate to do this now, Agent Bristow, given what you’ve been through. Sydney: I already called in a report. Dean: Yes, I know. I just need you to clarify a few things, if that’s alright with you. (takes out a pen and pad of paper) In your report you indicated that you two were going on vacation. You didn’t say where. Sydney: Santa Barbara. Dean: And you were struck about halfway there? Sydney: About that, yeah. Dean: What about before the accident? Did Agent Vaughn anxious, perhaps, preoccupied? Sydney: He seemed relaxed. We were taking a few days off. (Dean nods) You’re not writing any of this down. Dean: You’re not telling me anything worth writing. Sydney: I’m telling you exactly what I remember. If that’s not enough… Dean: You two are engaged. Isn’t that correct? Sydney: Yes. Dean: And you understand that marital privilege does not trump matters of national security? Sydney: Of course I do. Dean: I'm asking you to remember where your loyalty lies. Sydney: My loyalty? My fiancee was just abducted-- Dean: Perhaps. That's what we're trying to determing. Sydney: Wait a minute. What are you suggesting? (Enter Jack Bristow.) Jack: (to Dean) Whatever information you need, my daughter will be happy to cooperate. But, uh, she’s just been through a traumatic experience. I’m sure you can afford her some time. Dean: Of course, Director Bristow. (to Sydney) We’ll talk again. Jack: Thank you. (Dean leaves) Sydney: Dad. Jack: Sydney, when your mother defected, I spent a year in prison because the cia assumed I collaborated with her. Before you say anything that may implicate you, we need to go over your story. Sydney: My story? Dad—what is going on? Jack: Vaughn is currently under investigation. There have been a number of red flags raised by his conduct. Sydney: What red flags? Jack: Langley believes Vaughn ma be a double-agent. We think the crash may have been an extraction. (Somewhere in a simple white room. Vaughn sits in a chair at a table. An interrogator comes in.) Interrogator: Been hearing about you for a long time. (grabs chair from other side of the room and brings it the table and sits) It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. Michaux. (Sydney is on a train, sketching a drawing of someone. She comes to the APO door, and enters. She walks down the hallway. She sees Jack and Dean talking.) Interrogator: You’ve had a bad day. Vaughn: Where’s Sydney? Interrogator: In better shape than you. Your shoulder’s dislocated. We’ll take care of that. I, uh, (takes out a small package) I believe this was intended for you. (Vaughn stares a the package) Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you’re not curious. (pause) Open it. (Vaughn does and pulls out a tape recorder. It plays music) Vaughn: Catchy but dated. (tosses the recorder onto the table) (The interrogator picks it up and takes it apart. Pulls out a battery. Opens the battery up and pulls something out. A roll of paper) Interrogator: You mind telling me what this says? Vaughn: (Vaughn unrolls it to reveal a bunch of numbers.) 5—7—3—8—4— Interrogator: We know what this is about. We know who sent it. What we don’t know is where’s Lehman. Vaughn: Who? Interrogator: You must be in a lot of pain. Maybe that’s why your memory is a bit fuzzy. (to guys) Why don’t we help Mr. Michaux out? (guy comes and twists Vaughn’s arm which is dislocated, and Vaughn screams) (APO. Weiss at his desk talking on a phone) Weiss: (to phone) It flew somewhere. Those helicopters are stealth. They’re not invisible. (pause) Then restack the satellites. (Sydney comes up) Call me back with something. Sydney: Any word yet? Weiss: (shakes his head no) No. But there is a guy here from Langley and he’s been— Sydney: I know. Why was Vaughn assigned to be my handler? Weiss: What do you mean? Sydney: Six years ago when I walked into that CIA office, why was Vaughn assigned to my case? Weiss: I don’t know. He asked for it. You came in, you were all screwed up, you had that freaky red hair, he likes a challenge…Hold on, you’re not actually considering this are you? Syd, the idea that he’s disloyal, that’s insane. Sydney: Yeah. (Guy has Vaughn's face pressed against the tabel.) Interrogator: Just tell us what we want to know. I'm tired of playing these games. Vaughn: Quitter. Ow. Interrogator: Are you really going to hold out until we k*ll you? (Vaughn doesn't answer) I can respect that. Seems Mr. Michaux needs a little incentive. Go down the hallway to his fiancee. Bring her in. Just her finger. Vaughn: Leave her out of this. Interrogator: And that's up to you, isn't it? The one with the ring. (The man lets go of Vuaghn and starts to leave the room.) Kind of poetic, don't you think? Vaughn: Stop. The message. It's in code. I need a pencil. (APO. Marshall at a computer. Gordan Dean is standing next to him) Dean: Can you speed it up Agent Blinkman? Marshall: Flinkman! With an F sound. Not that hard really. Look, I know you wanted me to access Agent Vaughn’s personal files but I’m telling you you’re not going to find anything. Dean: No one is judging Agent Vaughn. Marshall: If he was up to something, I’d know about it. We’re friends. We do lunch. (pause) Dean: How much longer? (Marshall continues typing) (Sydney is at her desk doing a face search with the sketch she drew earlier, and Dixon comes up) Dixon: Hey. Sydney: Hey. Dixon: How’re you holding up? Sydney: What if I was wrong about him? Dixon: Sydney. You remember when we were working at SD-6, that night on the pier? I caught you breaking in to a secure facility. You asked me to trust you, but I didn’t. The proof was right in front of me, you were a traitor. If I had to do it over again, I’d give you the benefit of the doubt. Interrogator: Is there a problem? Vaughn: I can’t write. Would you mind setting my shoulder? (The interrogator does, Vaughn yells, pauses, then punches the interrogator. He beats up him and the guard. He holds a pencil to the guard’s eye.) Vaughn: Where’s Sydney? Where is she? Answer me! Guard: She escaped. (Vaughn beats him up) (Two other guys come in with g*n. Vaughn has gone through the vent. He runs and jumps out a window into a garbage dumpster. He continues running.) (APO. Sydney’s cell phone rings. ) Sydney: (to phone) Hello. Vaughn: (at a pay phone) Sydney, are you okay? Sydney: Thank God. I’m fine. Hang on. (she makes her way to the restroom, Dean sees her leave) Are you okay? Vaughn: I’m fine. Sydney: Where are you? Vaughn: Look, I know you have questions. Sydney: About a million of them. Vaughn: I’ll tell you everything as soon as I can, but Sydney, no one can know you’re talking to me. I need my father’s watch. You need to get it to me. Do you remember the d*ad drop we used to contact Vesina(?)? The lockers? Sydney: Of course I do. (another woman walks into the restroom) I don’t know. Vaughn: Syd, please. I need you to do this for me. Sydney: I need to think about it. (she leaves the restroom and comes face to face with Jack and Dean) Dean: Where is he? Sydney: I don’t know what you’re talking about. Dean: By withholding information you’re only implicating yourself. I’ll give you one more chance. Jack: Sydney, I understand your inclination is to protect Vaughn at any costs, but assume you’re right, that this wasn’t an extraction but Vaughn was abducted, and even if he’s escaped he’s still in a tremendous amount of danger. If you really want to protect him let us bring him in safely. Sydney: He’s in Mexico City. (Cars drive up outside of some building. Dean and some agents get out with g*n. Inside the building, Vaughn is walking to a locker. He opens the locker, but it’s empty. The guys outside set an expl*sive on the door to the building. The door explodes. Turns out they are at separate buildings. Sydney comes out of the darkness holding Vaughn’s father’s watch.) Sydney: Looking for this? (pause) I want the truth. Start with your name. Vaughn: Andre Michaux. I’ll tell you the rest on the way. (We see Vaughn and Sydney walking near the street outside.) (Another building. In the hallway) Vaughn: Seven years ago, a woman came to me. Said that he father had been involved in a project. Something people had gone to great lengths to cover up. She said my father was part of it. She said it was called Prophet 5. Sydney: Your father was an agent. Vaughn: Before he joined the CIA. She said his name was Michaux. That he was a mathematician. (they get in an elevator) The day you walked in to the CIA. You described a mission to secure a device made by a man named Mueller. The same man I was told had originated the Prophet 5 project. Now, this was my first proof that this woman’s story was true. But whatever it was my father was running away from. He changed his identity, he changed mine. I was 18 months old at the time. This man we’re meeting, James Lehman. Renee and I have been trying to find him for years. We believe he worked with our fathers. Sydney: Rene who? Who is this woman? Vaughn: Renee Rienne. Sydney: Vaughn. (The elevator stops working, then it starts again. It stops at a floor, and the doors open. Lehman shines a flashlight right in Vaughn’s face. ) Lehman: The watch. Show it to me. (Vaughn does, Lehman turns off the flashlight.) You were supposed to come alone. Vaughn: Whatever you say to me, she can hear. Lehman: Follow me. (APO. Jack and Dean) Dean: I was prepared to bring Agent Vaughn in for questioning. Jack: You think I know where he is. Dean: Oh, I think it’s possible, yes. Your daughter, too. Jack: I don’t. Dean: Then I have no choice. I am now officially classifying him a fugitive and your daughter an accomplice. Now, if you want me to show her any leniency find her and tell me where she is. Jack: Maybe you should try Mexico City. Dean: You’ll be notified when they’ve been apprehended. (he leaves and passes by Marshall) Marshall: (to Dean) Hey…Mr. Dean. Jack: What is it, Marshall? Marshall: He’s not going to find Sydney and Vaughn, not from what I gave him. I encrypted Vaughn’s files four thousand ninety-six bit. It’ll take him years. I mean he’s an a**. Deal with it. Jack: You still have the originals? (Marshall nods) Get them for me. Lehman: Before I start, you should know, your father did everything he could to protect you from this. Vaughn: Mr. Lehman, I want to know about Prophet 5. Lehman: I was a cryptologist. A specialist in patterns. Working for the Pentagon. In 1972, a private foundation recruited me, along with others. Scientists, linguists, the best and the brightest. That’s where I met your father. Vaughn: What was the objective? Lehman: We were given one page of the book. La Profeta Cinque. The Fifth Prophet. The fifteenth century text that supposedly had been written in an unbreakable code. Sydney: They wanted you to break the code. (Lehman nods) Were you successful? Lehman: After years, yes. It referred to proteins, amino acids, nucleotides. It seemed to be some sort of advanced genetics five hundred years ahead of its time. Just a few days after we turned in our report your father contacted me. He told me what was happening to the others. Accidents, car crashes, fires, heart att*cks, strokes, all people who were involved with the project. So I followed your father’s advice. Changed my name, I disappeared. Vaughn: What’s changed now? Why did you contact us? Lehman: Over the years, I’ve developed sources, leads to where the book might be stored. But all my attempts at recovery failed. Sydney: You have another lead. (pause) Lehman: These people, whoever they are—When they know you’re on to it, they’ll stop at nothing to silence you. Vaughn: I’ll contact you when I have the book. (Cape Town. Sydney and Vaughn in disguise, arrive at a hotel.) Man: Your invitation, please. (Vaughn and Syd speak in foreign language, probably Italian or French.) Sydney: Honey, show the man. Vaughn: You didn’t bring it? Sydney: You were supposed to— Vaughn: No, I specifically asked you-- Sydney: No, when I was getting ready, you asked if I-- Vaughn: I asked if you had room in your purse. Sydney: (In English) My husband is right. It is my fault. Man: Go ahead. Sydney: Merci. (They walk on. Inside they fill a champaigne glass with special liquid. Vaughn distracts the waitor, while Sydney exchanges the glasses. The waitor goes outside with the tray, and a man takes the glass that Sydney put on the tray. Sydney and Vaughn follow and start to dance. ) Sydney: You’re waltzing! (giggles) Vaughn: Yup, I’ve been practicing for our wedding. Sydney: With whom? Vaughn: Weiss. (Sydney laughs. Man who had the champagne glass that Vaughn and Sydney had messed with, collapses. Vaughn goes into an office of some kind and Sydney goes to the junction box. Vaughn opens a shelf to reveal a safe. Sydney calls Vaughn.) Sydney: (to phone) Hey, I found the junction box. Vaughn: Ready when you are. Sydney: It’s been customized. Hang on, I’ll call you right back. (She calls Dixon and speaks to him.) Remember what you said? If you had to do it over again? Dixon: What do you need? Sydney: Service records. Pan-global security. Serial number 1—6—1—5—4—1—3—1. (Dixon types into a computer: ‘SEARCH:// WORK ORDER 1615431 PAN GLOBAL SECURITY CORP’. Meanwhile, Vaughn is still waiting in the office when in walks a young blonde woman carrying a bottle of champagne. She sees Vaughn) Vaughn: Just admiring the collection. Blonde: It’s pretty gruesome if you ask me. Dad’s really into g*n. I think he’s overcompensating. Your Walter, aren’t you? Vaughn: What gave me away? Blonde: He’s always going on about the new guy at work. (She takes a sip from the bottle and moves closer to Vaughn.) Vaughn: Aren’t you a little young? (Referring to the bottle.) Blonde: I’m a little young to be stuck at this snore-fest. (Dixon and Sydney are still talking on the phone.) Dixon: Looks like the safe’s been re-routed through the central alarm system. You need to re-patch. Do you see a purple wire? Sydney: Yes I do. Dixon: Cut it. Sydney: Got it. Dixon: Okay, tie it to the last terminal. (Vaughn and Blonde in the office.) Blonde: My dad’s thr*at by you, you know? Vaughn: I very much doubt that. Blonde: Seriously, he’s so lame. But you’re young. Smart. Cute. You know…this party would be a lot more fun if we were naked. Vaughn: That’s not going to happen. (Sydney and Dixon) Sydney: Done. Dixon: Now, Syd, you just need to reset the system and wait. (Sydney presses a button, which beeps) (Vaughn and Blonde in the office.) Vaughn: You know, there are better ways to get back at your father. Blonde: But none involve me….and you. (She leans forward and whispers in Vaughn’s ear.) Vaughn: Woah, okay. Hey, you need to leave now, or Dad’s going to find out what his little girl’s really like. Blonde: Jerk. (She leaves. ) (Syd and Dixon) Sydney: Oh, Dixon, thank you. Dixon: Be safe. (They hang up.) (Vaughn opens up the shelf again, and the safe, and pulls out the book. He’s flipping through the pages when in walks the blond, again.) Blonde: Oh, Walter, (Notices what he’s doing) Guess you’re getting fired. (Presses the button on the alarm system.) (The alarm starts blaring. Sydney and Vaughn start running out of the building. Sydney’s cell phone rings, and she answers. ) Sydney: I’m heading to the extraction point. Doctor: Sydney? This is Doctor Park. Your test results are in. Sydney: (walking quickly) Now really isn’t the best time. Doctor: You’re going to want to hear this. (Sydney reaches the cliff, Vaughn running behind her, tearing off his jacket to reveal a parachute. He catches up with Sydney who’s standing with the phone to her ear.) Vaughn: We have to go. (Sydney hangs up) Sydney: The doctor called. I’m pregnant. Vaughn: What? (They hear g*n and people yelling at them. They jump off the cliff.) (Sloane’s jail cell. Sloane is looking through some papers. Jack comes up.) Jack: Arvin. Sloane: Nadia. How is she? Jack: There’s been no change. Sloane: I have to get out of here, Jack. If they’re not prepared to charge me with a crime, you have to do something. Jack: I am trying to expedite your release. Sloane: It’s not enough. My daughter is being kept in a coma. A come, Jack. She is suffering from a condition which no one understands. It is a condition that I am responsible for, with no hope for a cure. I can’t help my daughter, sitting in a cell, combing through obscure medical journals. Jack: I know. (Pause) Sloane: I’m sorry Jack, I—you didn’t come here for that. What is it? Jack; Are you aware of the off-book trips Vaughn took to Marseilles? Three over the last twelve months. They occurred while you were head of APO. Sloane: If you’re looking to find out if I’d tasked him, no. Tell me what this is about. (Jack slips a file through the cell bars. Sloane reads it.) Serbia, 2 years ago. Istanbul, 2001. Are you familiar with Corval(?)? Jack; The raven, Rene Rienne. Sloane: That’s right. She’s wanted for the assassination of a Turkish Interior Minister in 2001. And for the m*rder of three CIA agents stationed in Serbia. Jack: Vaughn’s movements track with hers. Sloane: Does Sydney know about this? (He gives the file back.) Tell her, Jack. (Somewhere, APO maybe? Dean goes up to a blonde woman working on a computer) Dean: Tell me you have something. Blonde: Four thousand ninety-six bit. Not bad. But whoever screwed with these files used a modified version of DOD’s encryption for them. I hacked into NSA’s network and pulled the decryption key. Dean: What did you find? Blonde: (Pulls up Vaughn’s picture on the computer) Your fugitive used a handful of documented alias’s. One of which passed through Italian customs last night. Dean: You’re a genius. Blonde: (Turns around. Gasp, it’s the same blonde as earlier which set the alarm on Vaughn) Yeah, I know. (Vaughn and Sydney drive up into some parking lot near a train station and some train tracks.) Sydney: He said nine. We’re early. (pause) Are we just going to sit here and not talk about the thing we’re both thinking about? Where are you with this, Vaughn? I just need to know how you feel. Is it something you want? Vaughn: The truth? Sydney: Of course. Vaughn: What we do, the things we see everyday. Honestly, no, I didn’t think this was what I wanted. I mean, bringing a baby into this world, that is so messed up, I just assumed that, that I’d wait, that we’d wait. Sydney: For… Vaughn: For things to be safe, or at least safer. Sydney: Yeah. I get it. Vaughn: But, looking at you, all I can think about is what our kid is going to be like. I’m not worried about the world. I just—I can’t wait to meet this—this new little person. Sydney: Really? I mean it’s pretty great, right? Vaughn: You’re going to be an amazing mom. And I’m going to be a disaster. I’ve never changed a diaper. Sydney: Neither have I! We’re going to have to call Marshall for assist. (Both laughing) Vaughn: Oh, god! (They see Lehman.) Sydney; He’s here. You should go. Vaughn: Be right back. (He kisses her. ) Start thinking of names. (He exits the car and walks over to Lehman, who is standing by a train. Vaughn gives him the book.) Vaughn: Can you decode it? Lehman: It’ll take a while. When I’m done, I’ll contact you. From now on, do not initiate contact with me. (A car drives up behind them. Dean gets out. Two more cars come. Sydney gets out of her car. An oncoming train obscures her vision. Lehman tries to run, but Dean sh**t him. Sydney hears the g*n and starts running over. The train is still passing. Another guy gets out of a car and continues sh**ting Lehman. Then he turns and starts sh**ting at Vaughn. Sydney sees them sh**t Vaughn. The train finishes passing .Dean takes the book from Vaughn. Dean and his guys get away. Sydney stares at them, in shock, waiting for the train to pass. It goes on, she runs over to Vaughn. She reaches him and tries to stop the bleeding.) (Vaughn in surgery. Doctors stand over him. Sydney sitting outside the room. Jack enters. Sydney stands and g;oes to him.) Sydney: He’s still in surgery. No ones come out and told me anything. Jack: I hope you understand what you’ve done. Sydney: What? Jack: Your heroic efforts to help Vaughn were short-sighted. You acted impetuously without the benefit of the facts. Sydney: You don’t know what you’re talking— Jack : Sydney. Vaughn is not the person you think. He’s been working with a known criminal. Sydney: Rene Reinne. I know. Jack; What on earth prompted you to risk your own life not to mention your professional integrity? Sydney: Dad. Vaughn and I—we’re having a baby. There’s an explanation for all of this if you’ll let me tell you—(A doctor comes out) Is he out of surgery? Doctor: He’s in recovery, now. But, the organ damage sustained is significant. So our expectation is that we will stop the bleeding, but…We’ll know more in the next 24 hours. Sydney: I need to see him. Doctor: You can wait in his room until he wakes up. (he leaves) Jack: Sydney, I’ll do everything I can to help you both. (Sydney looks at him, then leaves. Jack’s phone rings, he answers.) Yes? Dixon: (On phone) I just spoke with Director Chase. According to her, Dean wasn’t Special Investigations. Went off the grid two years ago. Jack: Status? Dixon: He was presumed d*ad. (Sydney in Vaughn’s hospital room. She rubs his forehead. He’s awake. Jack enters. ) Jack: Hi. Gordan Dean is a ghost. Well-placed and well-connected. Sydney: What are we going to do? (APO. Weiss is walking carrying a half-rolled paper. Marshall joins.) Marshall: Hey, I just broke about thirty federal laws. If I get caught I’ll be sharing a cell with a guy named Bruno. Weiss: That’s white-collared. More like Martha Stewart. (They meet up with Dixon.) Dixon: I’ve contacted our Italian friend. He’s got the passports. He’ll coordinate transports as soon as Vaughn is s*ab. What’s the outlook? Jack: (still at hospital, on phone) Sometime in the next 24-48 hours. We hope. Weiss, are you there? Weiss: Yeah, I got the blueprints to the Cape Town building. They are right in front of me. We’ll have no problem getting in but we will need two teams. Jack: Give my full authorization. What about Pentagon records? Marshall: Well, I already cross-referenced the 1972 archives for the name Prophet 5. So far no luck. Jack; Keep looking. Go back at least ten years. Someone might have slipped. (He hangs up. He can see Sydney and Vaughn through the window.) (Vaughn’s hospital room. ) Sydney: I always liked the name Owen. (She gives him a drink.) Vaughn: Owen. Sounds like something you name a gerbil. Sydney: Clementine is cute. Vaughn: For a fruit. Sydney: It’s also a name. Vaughn: It’s also a campfire song. Sydney: Okay, you don’t like that one. What about Isabelle? Vaughn: Isabelle Vaughn. Isabelle Bristow Vaughn. Sydney: That’s pretty. (She starts to tear up) I like that. Vaughn: Me too. Sorry, Syd, I’m getting so tired. Sydney: Close your eyes, I’ll be right here. Vaughn: Syd, I love you. Sydney: I love you too. (She kisses him, and then kisses his forehead.) (She walks over to the window. Things start to beep. Vaughn is flatlining. The computer flashes ‘Heart Failure’. Doctors rush in. Sydney is taken out of the room, where she stands by the window, watching. The doctors try to revive him but there’s not much they can do. She starts to cry. Her hand goes to cover her mouth. She looks back at Jack. Then back at Vaughn. She’s crying. The blinds covering the window close.) (Later. Vaughn’s Hospital room. Sydney is sitting by the bed holding onto his hand. Doctors come in and cover his face with a blanket. Jack watches them wheel Vaughn out of the room. Sydney comes out of the room. Jack moves his head slightly, and so does Sydney.) (Church. Vaughn’s funeral. A pastor is standing over the congregation. Sydney sits next to Jack. Two people open the church doors. The pastor walks out followed by Dixon, Marshall, Weiss, Jack, and two other guys carrying Vaughn’s coffin. Sydney walks behind. They put the coffin in a hearse. Sydney stands by the church doors. Jack turns back and looks at her. ) (London. 4 Months Later. In a bar. Sydney walks up, in disguise. Sits on a stool. A woman passes by. She is Rene Reinne.) Rene: Help you? Sydney: You’re a hard person to find. But if I can do it, then so can they. Rene: Sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about. Sydney: I know who you are, Rene. (Rene shakes her head.) We need to talk. Rene: We have nothing to talk about. (She reaches for a g*n under the counter.) Sydney: It’s about Michael Vaughn. Rene: You’re Sydney. Sydney: Yeah. Rene: How did you find me? Sydney: I know everything. Rene: Then you should have walked away. Sydney: You don’t know me very well.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x01 - Prophet Five"}

foreverdreaming

(A bar) RENÉE: It’s no accident you found me here. The people who k*lled Vaughn – they own this place. There’s an operation center in the back. I haven’t gotten in yet, but judging the way that man over there is looking at us, you just blew my cover. You should go. Walk out, slowly. SYDNEY: What about you? RENÉE: I didn’t spend three months getting in the place to just walk away. We can access their servers. That might give me a window into their operation. I’m going there. SYDNEY: I’m coming with you. Renée pulls out a g*n and covers it with a dish towel. The two walk into another room in the club and run into a man guarding a door. MAN: You know the rules. You’re not supposed to be back here. RENÉE: You’re gonna want to step aside now. MAN: Sexy. So I’m bein’ thr*at by a waif and a pregnant chick. RENÉE: (punches him, twisting his arm around his back and pinning him against the wall) Feeling sexy now? Sydney takes the man’s hand and places it on the biometric scanner to open the door. RENÉE: Get up. Renée positions the man in front of the door as the door is opening, sh**ting through him to k*ll a man inside the room. One person pushes an alarm button. Renée sh**t the other people in the room and accesses a computer. The screens read DATA DESTRUCTION IN PROGRESS and DELETING FILES. SYDNEY: The data’s being destroyed. (types into the keyboard) I can’t stop it. RENÉE: Me, neither. (sh**t a man who enters the room) It’s no use. We better go. They start to leave the room when Sydney spots a surveillance camera. SYDNEY: Wait. RENÉE: What is it? Sydney follows the wires to a computer hidden inside a cabinet. She yanks out the hard drive. SYDNEY: We got it. They exit the bar. SYDNEY: Doesn’t look like it’s been fried. The data should still be intact. RENÉE: Probably encrypted. (pulls off wig) SYDNEY: It won’t be a problem. I don’t know if Vaughn ever mentioned, but I work with a genius. He’ll be able to crack the encryption. I’ll upload it for you. Here, take this. It’s a secure line. Dial 9. Wait for the tone, dial 8-1-6… RENÉE: You’re not bringing this back to the CIA… SYDNEY: No, we’re an off-the-books division. It’s different. RENÉE: Not to me. I don’t know them. SYDNEY: I do. You can trust them. RENÉE: Who says I trust you? SYDNEY: (sighs) Good point. RENÉE: What did Michael tell you about me? SYDNEY: Not that much. Just that… you’ve been working with him for years and you were the one who told him about Prophet Five. I understand why you’re reluctant. I mean, you’re Number 8 on the CIA’s Most Wanted List. I get it. But you have to understand, these people k*lled my fiancé, the father of my child. I’m gonna enlist every resource available to immobilize them. And if that means that this is the last time you and I see each other, that is fine by me. Just tell me how you wanna do it. RENÉE: Number 8… SYDNEY: Yes. RENÉE: I’m slipping. I used to be Number 6. (pauses) You’re exactly like Michael said you were. Fine. Do it your way. Give me the phone. SYDNEY: You called him ‘Michael.’ RENÉE: Yeah. (turns and leaves) Don’t worry. He was crazy about you. (Doctor’s Office) DOCTOR: How’ve you been feeling? SYDNEY: Oh. Good. The morning sickness is gone, and my energy’s back, so… DOCTOR: Right on schedule. That’s normal for the second trimester. How was your trip? London, right? Do any shopping? SYDNEY: It was more of a business trip, actually. I had to meet with one of my fiancé’s old friends. DOCTOR: What about exercise. Are you keeping active? SYDNEY: My job is still... pretty demanding. DOCTOR: That’s great. Doctors used to tell women to stay off their feet. You’re pregnant, you’re not sick. As long as you feel comfortable, you just keep doing what you’re doing. Let’s take a look, shall we? Should I ask the nurse to bring in anyone from the waiting room? SYDNEY: No. I – I came alone. DOCTOR: You know, Sydney, I see a lot of new moms, and one thing I can tell you from experience, it’s really important to be able to reach out, ask for help. SYDNEY: I’ve never really been good at that. DOCTOR: You should try. Okay, let’s see how we’re doing. And there we go. That’s your baby. That’s the head, the spine, and that pulse… SYDNEY: Look at its little heart. DOCTOR: Mm-hmm. You’ve got an active one there. Just like Mommy. Everything looks great. (takes printout of ultrasound and hands it to Sydney) And I’ll see you in a few weeks. Sydney gets into the car and puts the key in the ignition. She sits back and picks up the ultrasound and looks at it again. She sighs. ALIAS INTRO: ADHD Edition (APO) JACK: This is the man that k*lled Vaughn. His name is Ivan Curtis. He ran operations for a corporate security firm out of Dublin, until three years ago -- when European aviation records say he died in a private plane crash. DIXON: Well, it’s starting to fit a pattern – Gordon Dean was presumed d*ad two years ago, both of the men who we know were involved… JACK: From what we’ve learned, their operation has been in place thirty years without being detected. Whoever these people are, they must have access to high-level resources. I’m leaving tonight for Washington. Ahern has some names for me to consider. DIXON: Do you still think that’s a good idea – bringing in a new agent now, someone we don’t know? JACK: We’re down a man, and I trust Ahern’s recommendation without reservation. In the meantime, Curtis has been in London. Have Marshall run a facial profile so we can run him against their surveillance networks. WEISS: So Sydney said she got this footage from a contact. What do we know about this person? JACK: She didn’t say. (Sydney's House) Sydney is working on her computer and notices something. She calls someone on the phone. (Cut to a cell phone ringing with rock music. Marshall is in bed and answers the phone.) MARSHALL: Yeah. Hello? SYDNEY: It’s me. I’ve been going over the footage from London. I think I found something. MARSHALL: Mmm. I’d love to, baby, but I’m married. SYDNEY: Oh – Marshall. Wake up. Marshall. MARSHALL: I’m up, I’m up. Sorry. Uh… Syd? SYDNEY: I need you to pull up the surveillance footage from London. Marshall. Okay. Uh, gimme a sec. Marshall gets up, tripping over toys in the hallway on his way to his home office. MARSHALL: You been at this all night? SYDNEY: Are you looking at the footage? MARSHALL: Hold on. Gimme just a sec. (pulls up the video on his screen) MARSHALL: Okay. Now I’m in. What am I looking for? SYDNEY: Time index 12-40. Curtis is dialing a number. Can you enhance it? MARSHALL: See what I can do. (zooms in on the cell phone) That looks like a 4. (picks up a MagnaDoodle to take down the number) That looks like a 3… no, might be a 5. You know what? I’ll run it against the Echelon call archive. I’ll use the 5. (finds the number on his computer) Got the audio. Patching it through. Sydney and Marshall listen to a man and woman having a conversation in Dutch. SYDNEY: They’re ordering takeout, Marshall. MARSHALL: Right. Sorry, must be the 3. Alright. Got audio. Patching it through. Man: Hello? Curtis: Any news on my package? Man: Not yet. I am still working on it. Curtis: I’m growing impatient. If this becoming a problem for you… Man: I haven’t disappointed you yet, have I? Twenty-five more kilos. I’ll have it for you. Curtis: Fine. I’ll be there to pick it up. Don’t let me down. MARSHALL: Looks like we got our guy. SYDNEY: Who was Curtis talking to? Can you run a trace? MARSHALL: Yeah, um - (turns to see Carrie comes into the room) Uh, actually, it’s not just the server, Bob. You have to run a diagnostic on your entire network. SYDNEY: What? MARSHALL: Can you hold on one sec? (turns to Carrie) CARRIE: Who’s Bob? I’ve never heard you mention Bob. MARSHALL: Bob? But you know Bob. He works in the corner, uh, he brings in the dark roast... coffee. Carrie looks dubious. MARSHALL: I’m not having an affair. CARRIE: I know you’re not having an affair. I just don’t want you to wake Mitchell. MARSHALL: Oh. Okay. CARRIE: Okay. (leaves) MARSHALL: You uh, you think she believed me, right? SYDNEY: Yeah, Marshall, I think you’re okay. MARSHALL: I’ll run a trace on that call. SYDNEY: O-kay. MARSHALL: (pulls up the number) It belongs to a Heinrich… Roemer. Where do I know that name from? (Prison) Sydney walks up to a cell. Sloane is working at a desk when he notices someone standing there. It's Sydney. He walks over to the bars and looks her over. SLOANE: You’re beautiful. Sydney doesn't respond. SLOANE: Your father… he told me about Vaughn. You have my condolences. He was a good man. What you must be going through. SYDNEY: (shakes head slightly) One of the men responsible, Ivan Curtis – he’s been in contact with an arms dealer, Heinrich Roemer. According to SD-6 files, you worked with him. SLOANE: Yes. He supplied arms to several SD cells. SYDNEY: Curtis is planning a meet with Roemer. We don’t know when. We need to locate Roemer’s base of operations, get inside, wire it with cameras. SLOANE: So you can monitor him and wait for Curtis to make contact. I understand. This is you first lead, isn’t it, Sydney? Sydney doesn't admit it, but it is obvious. SLOANE: Look. I know how important this is to you, but revenge is ultimately a hollow pursuit, Sydney. SYDNEY: This isn’t about revenge. They know who I am, they know where I work, and as long as they are out there, I am not safe. SLOANE: Okay. (Amsterdam) SLOANE: (voiceover) Roemer operates out of Amsterdam. Tactical entry is out of the question. Roemer is paranoid about security. You’ll have to go in posing as buyers. There’s a vending machine on Ballister, near Amstel. Enter the sequence 5-1-0-9-4. Shortly thereafter, you will be contacted. Then all you need are the proper bona fides. WEISS: (speaking Dutch into pay phone) 4-3-9 (?) Weiss opens a car door for Dixon, who steps out. They have arrived at Roemer’s base of operations. SLOANE: (voiceover) Roemer’s security system is capable of detecting bugs. Your best option is to piggy back off his closed-circuit feeds. Weiss and Dixon are patted down by a guard on their way in. DIXON: (African accent) Right jacket pocket. (The guard finds a g*n in the pocket) Keep it. Small gift. GUARD: (takes g*n) Follow me. Sydney monitors their entry. SYDNEY: (comms) Okay. I’m ready to hack into their surveillance system. You’ll just need to direct an RF pulse from your wristwatch for each interior camera. Weiss and Dixon arrive in Roemer’s office. ROEMER: Gentlemen. Welcome. Heinrich Roemer. DIXON: Jalin Khamisi. It’s my pleasure. (takes off sunglasses and holds them up) WEISS: (pauses, then remembers his role) Oh. Sorry. (takes Dixon’s g*n) DIXON: My business manager Isaac Malcolm. ROEMER: Have a seat. So. Who do I have to thank for your business? DIXON: A mutual friend, Jean Briault. We worked together in Montreal. He spoke highly of you. ROEMER: Jean Briault. I haven’t heard that name in years. He was a good man. It is a pity what happened. Dixon is silent. Roemer shifts uncomfortably. ROEMER: Well, what can I do for you? Weiss hands him the order. ROEMER: "3,000 Kalashnikov r*fles, 75-man portable shoulder-fired stinger m*ssile, M77 anti-personnel mines." What exactly would you do with a purchase this large? DIXON: I intend to secure some beachfront property. Roemer begins to laugh, but stops when met with stony silence from Dixon. ROEMER: An order this size – it won’t be easy. I couldn’t do it for less than, say, 5 million dollars. Dixon nods to Weiss. WEISS: Uh, Mr. Khamisi will forward an additional 20% if you can complete delivery by… Friday. Dixon: Oh, God. Oh! Weiss has squirted his pen on the sleeve of Dixon’s jacket. WEISS: Ah. I’m so sorry, Mr. Khamisi. I’m sorry. (starts rubbing vigorously on Dixon’s sleeve) DIXON: It’s no matter. WEISS: No, it is, and it’s my fault (continues rubbing) Dixon yanks his arm away from Weiss and turns to Roemer. DIXON: Do you have some place I can clean up? ROEMER: (speaks Dutch to guard, then to Dixon) He’ll show you the way. DIXON: Thank you. Dixon looks icily at Weiss and leaves, activating the RF pulse with his wristwatch on the camera on his way out. Sydney monitors the closed circuit feed. SYD: (comms) Outrigger, Camera One is up. Connection is solid. Dixon pulses another camera in the hallway on the way to the bathroom. SYDNEY: (comms) Camera Two is online. Dixon goes into a restroom. DIXON: How are the video signals? SYDNEY: Good. (monitoring video) Outrigger, we’ve got company. It’s Curtis. He’s here. You gotta move now. DIXON. No. I know what you’re thinking. Hold your position. Curtis walks in with two of his men and one of Roemer’s guards. GUARD: Mr. Roemer wasn’t expecting you until tonight. CURTIS: Plans change. I took an earlier flight. I assume that won’t be a problem. GUARD: Of course not. I’ll let him know you’re here. (speaks Dutch to another of Roemer’s men) (Back in Roemer’s office) ROEMER: I take payment via wire. Currency is too easy to counterfeit. WEISS: Of course. One of Roemer’s guards walks in. GUARD: Curtis. ROEMER: Yeah. (to Weiss) If you’ll excuse me, just a small matter I need to attend to. Please make sure our guest is comfortable. Roemer leaves to meet with Curtis in a conference room. ROEMER: Mr. Curtis, good to see you. CURTIS: Where’s my package? ROEMER: Well, your item just arrived today. (shows case) Twenty-five kilos of nuridium, as promised. Which leaves us just a matter of the payment. (hands PDA to Curtis) CURTIS: Sure thing. (enters information into PDA and hands it back to Roemer) ROEMER: Thank you. Curtis picks up the case and his men f*re on Roemer and his guard. Hearing g*n, the guard with Weiss reaches for his g*n. Weiss struggles with the guard. SYDNEY: (comms) Weiss is in trouble. DIXON: I’m on it. Weiss is about to get skewered when Dixon comes up behind the guard and knocks him out. WEISS: (sighs) Thanks. DIXON: Come on. We gotta go. Sydney sees Curtis leaving with the nuridium. She goes after him. Curtis and one of his men approach an SUV to make their getaway. Curtis gets into the back seat. SYDNEY: (appears next to Curtis in the back seat and points a g*n at him) Need a ride? Dixon twists the neck of Curtis’ guard. Curtis considers the situation he is in. (A warehouse) Curtis is thrown down to the floor of a room. Dixon puts Curtis into a chair and straps his arms down. CURTIS: Augh! Would you take it easy? DIXON: Shut up. Sydney and Weiss walk into another room of the warehouse. WEISS: Hey, listen, Syd – Dixon and I can handle this…. SYD: No. I’m gonna talk to him. WEISS: (quietly) All right, fine. I’ll be here if you need me. Sydney walks into the room where Roemer is being held. SYDNEY: (to Dixon) Can we have a minute? Dixon steps out and closes the door. SYDNEY: (stares at Curtis) Do you recognize me? CURTIS: (smirking) No. SYDNEY: Four months ago, you m*rder a man – Michael Vaughn. Do you remember? I do. I was there. It’ll be b*rned into memory for the rest of my life as the day my child lost its father -- so you can imagine what I’d like to do to you. Lucky for you, there’s someone I want even more. Tell me where I can find Gordon Dean? CURTIS: Is this whole routine supposed to scare me? I – I do this for a living. SYDNEY: It’s a funny thing about pregnancy – hormones. Whew. I woke up today… feeling pretty hormonal. I’m gonna give you another chance. Where’s Gordon Dean? Curtis shakes his head and smirks. Sydney smacks him upside the head. (APO) MARSHALL: (on phone with Dixon) Nuridium? That’s some pretty nasty stuff, that’s for sure. Uh, all right. Go ahead. Give me the lot number. DIXON: 6-6-4-R-T-4-5-6-9. MARSHALL: Yeah, NASA’s been experimenting with nuridium as a long-term power source for deep space probes. Problem is, it’s inherently unstable. It’s most easily suited as a high-yield expl*sive. You know, I’m talkin’ Megaton here. Some big bang, kinda crazy, bad ass stuff. Heh. Wait a minute. RT4569? DIXON: Yeah. MARSHALL: Are you sure? DIXON: Yes, Marshall. MARSHALL: Uh-oh. (Warehouse) CURTIS: You have no idea what you’re getting involved in. SYDNEY: Why don’t you enlighten me? CURTIS: You wanna know the truth? The truth is you’re better off not knowing. DIXON: (opens door) We need to talk. Sydney follows Dixon into the other room. DIXON: Six canisters of nuridium disappeared from a Russian processing plant last month, from the same lot as the one we just recovered. WEISS: The phone call between Curtis and Roemer – they talked about the rest of the shipment. We think that Curtis already has the canisters. (sighs) Our options here are limited, Syd. But we think if we let them go, there’s a really good chance that he’ll lead us to the rest of the nuridium. SYDNEY: You want to let him go. DIXON: We’ll make him believe he’s escaped. SYDNEY: No. We can’t risk losing him. DIXON: The risk will be minimal – SYDNEY: We just need more time to break him. DIXON: We don’t have more time. With that much nuridium, we may be looking at Hiroshima times 50. SYDNEY: We’re talking about releasing the man who k*lled Vaughn. Dixon, Weiss, and Sydney go back into the room where Curtis is being held. Dixon unties one of Curtis’ arm restraints. DIXON: Water? (hands Curtis a bottle of water) CURTIS: Thank you. (drinks from bottle) DIXON: We know about the nuridium. CURTIS: I see. DIXON: Possession of nuridium is considered an act of terrorism, based on which we can lock you away indefinitely. No formal charges, no trial. But right now that does neither of us any good. Tell us where the rest of the nuridium is, what you intend to do with it, and we’ll cut you a deal. CURTIS: Uh-huh. I want immunity. From everything – the nuridium and k*lling Michael Vaughn. You’d do it, wouldn’t you? You’d have to. Mm, well, I’ll save you the trouble. No deal. I’m not talking. (hands Dixon the bottle of water) Sorry, baby. Daddy just went snooping where he shouldn’t have gone. Sydney angrily kicks him through the window, where he falls down to a body of water below. WEISS: Did he drink enough? DIXON: (checks the amount of water remaining in the bottle) Yeah. I’d say we’ve got about two hours before the tracking serum enters his bloodstream. WEISS: All right. I’ll set up the scanner. (Washington, D.C.) Jack is seated at a table at an outdoor cafe, reading the newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. AHERN: That stuff will poison you, you know. Jack sets his cup of coffee down. AHERN: Liberal rag. Jack drops his newspaper and looks annoyed. AHERN: Coffee’s not too good for you either. Jack smiles. AHERN: I think I found your man. Outsider, like you asked – but fully documented. No family, no entanglements. Just off a four-year tour with Special Ops. (hands file to Jack) Jack looks it over, flips to the second page and notices something. He looks up at Ahern, concerned. AHERN: (nods) I know. I assume you can deal with that. Jack nods. AHERN: They say he also has a bit of a temper. (A bar) A man in a suit punches a guy, knocking him down. He then picks the guy up, pins him against the wall. He glares at the guy while catching his breath, as if he were about to say something. GUY: Seriously, something has to be done about your breath. SUIT: Oh yeah? How about this? The man in the suit strikes the guy across the face, sending him crashing into a table and onto the floor. SUIT: Jackass. The guy rolls over onto his back. Someone walks up and stands over him. It’s Jack. JACK: Thomas Grace? GRACE: Who wants to know? JACK: Let’s take a walk. (Warehouse) WEISS: Did you know that we have astronaut ice cream here? The Neapolitan is a little nasty, but apparently, it lasts for centuries. (sits down next to Sydney, who is working on the computer) Still nothing? SYDNEY: Nothing. WEISS: You know, how quickly the isotope is absorbed depends on this guy’s metabolism. SYDNEY: It’s been two-and-a-half hours. WEISS: It’s gonna h*t, Syd. Trust me. (pauses) All right. You know what? I can’t wait with this any longer. I’ve been offered a promotion to coordinate the covert ops for the NSC. And I’ve known about it for about a week. I asked your father not to tell you 'cause I wanted to tell you myself, but there hasn’t really been a great time – SYDNEY: Wait a minute. In D.C.? WEISS: Yeah. Steps away from the President. SYDNEY: Well, that’s great. (nods) That’s good news. (looks sad) I’m gonna miss you. But I – I’m really, really happy for you. WEISS: I can’t do it. SYDNEY: Weiss… WEISS: No, I can’t do it. Come on, Syd. Vaughn, Nadia… I mean, to leave now, it just doesn’t seem right. SYDNEY: Wait, listen to what you’re saying. Steps away from the President. WEISS: Oh, I know. SYDNEY: You can’t say no to that. The computer beeps, initializing the signal from Curtis. WEISS: Okay, we got a signal on Curtis. DIXON: Where is he? SYDNEY: I can’t tell. It’s not pinpointing. DIXON: That’s because he’s not on the ground. (A bar) Rachel Gibson is out with some friends. BALD GUY: All right. During the Vernal Equinox, you can actually balance an egg on its end. RACHEL: No, you can’t. It’s a myth. BALD GUY: No, it’s not. Listen, it has something to do with the Earth’s axis and the alignment of the Sun. Trust me. I Googled it. Rachel’s cell phone rings. RACHEL: Yeah, okay, just like water swirls the other way in toilets in Australia? BALD GUY: It does! RACHEL: (answers phone) Hello? (to her friends) Guys, I’m gonna take this. I’ll be right back. (walks away from the table) Mr. Curtis, what can I do for you? CURTIS: Let Dean know we’re on our way. We’ve got the device on board, but I’m going to need the analysts team to meet me at the airport. [CC: “meet us at the airfield.”] RACHEL: Of course. CURTIS: We’re 200 miles out. Right on schedule. (disconnects call) A sh*t of his plane is flying in the air. We see a box, presumably the device to which Curtis was referring. (Washington, D.C.) Jack is walking down the street, talking on his cell phone. JACK: At 1700 hours, Ivan Curtis boarded a private jet. Marshall pulled the cargo manifest from Schiphol. Curtis loaded several oversized containers onto the plane. DIXON: He’s transporting the w*apon. JACK: The flight plan indicates their final destination is PyongYang. The flight was granted diplomatic immunity. DIXON: Diplomatic immunity? How’s that possible? JACK: We’re still exploring that. WEISS: We can’t just let these guys fly to North Korea. There’s got to be something we can do. SYDNEY: Maybe there is. (B-2 in the Air) Dixon, Sydney, and Weiss are aboard a B-2 approaching Curtis’ jet. The teams checks their gear. DIXON: We’re just about there. (Washington, D.C.) JACK: (on phone) What’s their current position? Do we have an ETA for rendezvous? MARSHALL: Okay, the docking point is two miles out. Final approach for hookup. JACK: Is there any indication they’ve been detected? MARSHALL: No, A.T.C.’s still blind. And, I was able to jam the airliner’s traffic collision avoidance system. They don’t know we’re coming. JACK: Good. Keep me posted. I want to know the second that plane is secured. (Aboard the B-2) The B-2 positions itself directly below the jet. DIXON: Okay. The B-2 attaches to the jet. Weiss presses some buttons. WEISS: Docking tube’s pressurized. Weiss opens the hatch. The team begins to climb the ladder to board the jet. A cell phone rings. JACK: (answers phone) Yes. MARSHALL: Rendezvous complete. They’re on board. JACK: Good. Thank you. The B-2 disconnects from the jet. The team makes its way into the cargo hold of the jet. Weiss turns on the lights. Sydney spots the device and calls Marshall. MARSHALL: (answers phone) Flinkman. SYDNEY: Hey, it’s me. MARSHALL: Oh yeah, I know. I gave you your own ringtone. So did you find the b*mb? SYDNEY: I’m standing right in front of it. MARSHALL: Okay. Great. Well, what do you see? Tell me about it. SYDNEY: It’s about 8 feet by 3 feet. (opens container) There’s a hose running alongside it. Looks like it’s feeding nuridium into the panel. MARSHALL: Okay, you need to access that panel. Can you get to it? Can you open it? SYDNEY: Let’s see, just give me a sec. (starts to pry open panel) Meanwhile, Dixon and Weiss have gone to secure the cabin. DIXON: Three tangos. On my go. Three… two… one… Suddenly, a man comes out of the lavatory, right in front of Dixon. Dixon knocks the man out, but the man’s cell phone falls into the aisle of the cabin. Weiss is considering his next move regarding the two men in the front of the cabin when the cell phone rings. The two men in front hear the ring and turn to see Weiss. They sh**t at him. Curtis gets out of his seat. Sydney is working with Marshall (via phone) to dismantle the device. MARSHALL: Go, go, go. Oh, you know what? There should be a detonator attached to the regulator. Do you see that? SYDNEY: Okay. I don’t see it. MARSHALL: Well, it has to be there. Because without a detonator, there’s no detonation. That’s how it works. SYDNEY: Fine. I’m just telling you, it’s not here. MARSHALL: Well, Syd, it has to be there, okay? Because there is no b*mb without a detonator. Sydney examines the device again and opens another panel, revealing a monitor. The device beeps. Sydney sees a body in the window of the container. SYDNEY: Marshall… I don’t think it’s a b*mb. A g*n cocks. CURTIS: I don’t believe you have a boarding pass. SYDNEY: Go ahead. sh**t me. But if you do, there’s a damn good chance my hand will slip, and I’ll cut this connection. Whoever this guy is, he’s obviously pretty important to you. It’d be a shame is something were to happen to him. CURTIS: Step away from the container. SYDNEY: I don’t think so. Back in the cabin… WEISS: Dixon, cover me! Weiss pushes a food cart up the aisle and dodges b*ll*ts. He is able to get to the front of the plane and fight one of the men. Back in the cargo hold… CURTIS: You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into. SYDNEY: I’ll ask you once, and if you don’t answer me, I will cut this. Who is Dean working with? Who gave the order to k*ll Michael Vaughn? CURTIS: Even if I told you, you wouldn’t believe me. SYDNEY: Humor me. Back in the cabin… Weiss continues to fight the man, who fires some sh*ts into the cockpit, k*lling the pilot. The plane loses control momentarily, knocking Curtis down and helping Weiss overcome the man he is fighting with. WEISS: Going in the cockpit! Weiss grabs the pilot and drags him out of the cockpit. WEISS: I got him. Take him. Dixon takes the controls and restabilizes the plane. Back in the cargo hold…. After Curtis was knocked off balance, he dropped his g*n. Sydney manages to grab it before he got to it. She points the g*n at Curtis, who is sitting on the floor. CURTIS: What are you waiting for? SYDNEY: (pauses) Turn around. On your knees. I’m taking you in. CURTIS: Then… you might as well k*ll me. (gets up) I won’t survive the night in custody. SYDNEY: If you’re willing to cooperate, we can protect you. CURTIS: No. You have no idea. These people… SYDNEY: Who? Curtis reaches up and opens the door to the cargo hold. He gets sucked out of the jet. Sydney grabs on to avoid the same fate. APO A meeting with Jack, Sydney, Dixon, Weiss, and Marshall. JACK: Our initial assumptions were wrong. The nuridium wasn’t being utilized as an expl*sive. We believe it was used to power a cryogenic chamber. WEISS: You mean, freezing people-cryogenics? MARSHALL: Sort of. Um. It’s usually done with liquid nitrogen. But this is like, next-gen cryo-preservation. I mean, whoever this person is, or was, they probably died of a terminal illness, and they’re using this container to preserve the corpse until a treatment is found. Of course, the notion that anyone can ever be revived – complete fiction. Believe me, I’ve tried. SYDNEY: Have we IDed the body? JACK: Not yet. The container is currently in DSR custody. They’ll forward us the forensic analysis as soon as it’s complete. An evidence team scoured the plane for anything that might be of value, but I’m not expecting anything to come of it. For now, we’ve done everything we can. We’ll just have to wait for the reports. The team nods. Dixon, Weiss and Marshall leave the room. JACK: Sydney… (walks over and sits down in front of her) SYDNEY: (sighs) We lost our only lead on Gordon Dean… I’m not sure if I can do this, Dad. JACK: (concerned) We’ll get another lead. SYDNEY: It’s not that. It’s everything, it’s … it’s hard being without him. I saw the baby’s heart b*at for the very first time the other day. I was by myself. It’s not fair. He should have been there. JACK: (sighs) I’m here. How can I help? SYDNEY: My next doctor’s appointment’s in a few weeks. Would you go with me? JACK: Sweetheart, of course I will. Sydney, you’re gonna be okay. SYDNEY: Yeah. (nods) Yeah. Thomas Grace walks into APO. Someone takes him to an empty desk. Grace puts his stuff down. Weiss sees Grace at this desk and comes over to introduce himself. WEISS: Hey, how you doing? Eric Weiss. GRACE: Tom Grace. WEISS: Hey, Tom. Uh, listen. This desk isn’t exactly an ideal location for you… it’s right under the air conditioning vent and there’s actually a wobble in the desk. (shakes desk around). You know. GRACE: Yeah, I get it. The guy I’m replacing – he sat here. WEISS: You can have mine. That’s… (points to his desk) I’m not gonna need it anymore. And you know, actually, I suppose you’re replacing me as well. Look, these are really good people here. GRACE: Yeah. (walks over to his new desk) Sydney walks up and hugs Weiss. WEISS: Hey! SYDNEY: I’ll see you soon enough. I mean, God knows I have enough frequent flier miles. WEISS: You’re lying -- but I appreciate that. I was just thinking about how humid it is in D.C. I mean, and I am a sweater. I mean, you know that. DIXON: (walks up) I just got off the phone with the DSR. There was a breach at their holding facility. Two agents injured, that’s all I know. We better notify Jack. SYDNEY: Yeah. (looks at Weiss, concerned) WEISS: Yeah, go. Go. Dixon nods to Weiss and leaves. Sydney smiles at Weiss and goes to join Dixon. Weiss is left alone in the middle of APO. (Renée’s Hideout) A cell phone rings. RENÉE: (answers) Hello? SYDNEY: Hey. RENÉE: Got your message. Have you identified the body? SYDNEY: That’s why I’m calling. The body was stolen. It was being held by a scientific research division, and their facility was h*t. Once I get the incident report, I’ll forward you the details. RENÉE: I’ll dig around. I’ll see what I can find out. Renée walks past a container – the same one that was on the jet. As the monitor begins to beep at a constant rate, the hand of the body inside the container moves.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x02 - ...1..."}

foreverdreaming

EXT. ISTANBUL – DAY A computer beeps as two workers in clean suits work with vials filled with a yellow substance. Two white mice are in the small room with them. They speak Turkish to one another. The clean room in which they are working is apparently in the lobby of a building. The doorbell to the building buzzes. A WOMAN in a burqa is standing at the door. GUARD: Can I help you? WOMAN: I’m here to see Ramal. GUARD: Ramal’s busy, come back later. WOMAN: Please, his son is ill. I must speak with him. The guard buzzes the woman in. The woman enters and walks to the guard station. WOMAN: Thank you. Thank you. GUARD: I need you to stop here. I’ll call for Ramal. The guard reaches for the phone. The woman pulls out a g*n and sh**t the guard three times. She lowers the headpiece, revealing her face. She has dark brown hair. She walks toward the clean room and attaches a device to the keypad to the door of the room. WOMAN: I’m patched in. Go for the hack. The door opens. The woman steps inside. WOMAN: Agaist the wall. Now. The workers in clean suits put their hands up and back away. The woman keeps a g*n pointed at them and retrieves two vials. She picks up a third one. WORKER: Please, be careful. That vial… the seal is already broken. WOMAN: (backing away) That’s okay. I only need two. She reaches the door of the clean room, tosses the unsealed vial toward the workers, and pulls on the hoses to their clean suits, disconnecting them. The vial shatters, exposing the men to the substance inside. Alarms sound. The woman leaves, pulling her headpiece back over her head. The workers shout and frantically try to get out of the room, pounding on the door. They soon collapse and die. One of the mice doesn’t look so good either. EXT. VENICE, CA – DAY INT. SYDNEY’S HOUSE - DAY Sydney picks up the mail and sorts through it. She stops when she sees the Hockey Trends magazine. It is addressed to Michael Vaughn. She makes a phone call. ROGER: Thank you for calling. For the purposes of training, this call may be monitored. My name is Roger. How may I help you? SYDNEY: Hi… Roger. I’d like to cancel a subscription, please. ROGER: Certainly. Can I have the name on the account, please? SYDNEY. Michael Vaughn. V-A-U-G-H-N. ROGER: Got it. I see it right here. May I ask why you’re canceling the subscription? SYDNEY: (pauses) Mr. Vaughn died. ROGER: I’m sorry. I’ll take care of it right away. SYDNEY: (softly) Yeah. (hangs up) Sydney puts the phone down and takes a moment. SYDNEY: (sighs) Okay. Sydney picks up the magazine and puts it in the wastebasket. She begins to walk away, but then turns back and takes it out, gently putting the magazine into a desk drawer instead. INT. APO – DAY Marshall is briefing Sydney, Jack, and Thomas Grace on his latest find. MARSHALL: When your wife tells you it’s a waste of time having a pen pal, she’s wrong. ‘Cause, um, two days ago, there was a theft in an R&D facility in Istanbul. The Turks have done a pretty good job of keeping it under wraps, but - my friend Ali forwarded me this. (pulls up video) Now take a look right there. You see that - those vials? That’s a nerve agent called Substance 33. It was developed by the Russians during the Cold w*r. Remarkable stuff. You know, in an end-of-civilization… sort of way… SYDNEY: What makes you think they worked for Dean? MARHSALL: Well, they don’t. As far as we can tell, they’re independent. (to Grace) Gordon Dean, he’s a – GRACE: Former CIA. Disappeared two years ago. Infiltrated this office. Compromised one of your men. I’m up to speed, thanks. MARSHALL: Sorry, um, new guy. I just assumed that maybe, uh… (clears throat) Anyway… (turns back to the video and points) This woman right here – that’s who I think works for Dean. JACK: You think…? Based on what? Your pen pal? MARSHALL: Who, Ali? No. See, this woman had help – a hacker who remotely accessed the security system using the same computer as a hack on the NSA a few months back, which we know was ordered by Dean. So, two hours ago, I traced this computer to Prague within these 5 square miles. (points out the area on a map) But, you see, if I can go to Prague, I can narrow it down to like, 2 feet. And then we can grab this hacker and get him to tell us where the Substance 33 is. SYDNEY: But if we do that, we lose Dean. Once he realizes his hacker is missing, he’ll disappear as well. MARSHALL: Right. JACK: Okay, I want you both accompany Marshall to Prague. Follow the signal, locate Dean’s operation there - but don’t do anything to reveal yourself or to engage his men. Once we’ve done that, we’ll reassess our options. SYDNEY: (surprised) Shouldn’t Dixon be going with me? JACK: I’ve tasked Dixon to another assignment. Marshall will brief you on your op-tech. Let me know when you’re ready to leave. Jack leaves. Sydney is silent and nods. She exchanges looks with Grace, but decides to follow Jack to air her displeasure, leaving Marshall and Grace behind. SYDNEY: Dad, you’re making a mistake. JACK: Sydney, I understand you’d be more comfortable taking Dixon with you, but that was inappropriate. SYDNEY: This is not the time to break in a new agent. JACK: Agent Grace has extensive field experience – SYDNEY: And I have a history with Dixon. What is so important, Dad, that he can’t come with me on this mission? JACK: Your sister. SYDNEY: What about my sister? JACK: You know that Sloane has been searching for a cure for Nadia. He may have found one. (hands Sydney a piece of paper) SYDNEY: (reading page) “Conditional Release of Arvin Sloane”…? JACK: Sloane cultivated a lead who will only meet with him face-to-face in Russia. I was able to convince the attorney general to let him out of prison for 72 hours. I’m sending Dixon as a security detail. SYDNEY: When was I going to find out about this? JACK: (hesitates) I didn’t want to raise your hopes until we knew what Sloane had. SYDNEY: Well, in that case, I prefer to go with Marshall by myself. JACK: Sydney – SYDNEY: It’s not that complicated a mission. JACK: In fact, it’s very complicated – recovering the nerve agent without tipping Dean… Sydney still looks stubborn. JACK: (pauses) What aren’t you telling me? SYDNEY: I read his file. JACK: Agent Grace’s? A hint of defiance flashes in Sydney’s eyebrows. JACK: You had no authority to do that. SYDNEY: In the last three years, he has turned down half a dozen team assignment - instead, taking long-cover operations by himself. He’s a loner. JACK: He’s a superior agent, and he’s agreed to be on this team – which is good enough for me. MARSHALL: Um, sorry, didn’t mean to… it’s just that you said to let you know when – GRACE: We’re ready to go. MARSHALL: Yeah. Sydney is still unsure about working with Thomas Grace. ALIAS Intro INT. PRISON – DAY DIXON: Tell me about your contact, Alexander Dolzhenko. SLOANE: Dolzhenko was an undersecretary in the Politburo. I had been working with him for the past decade. DIXON: Trustworthy? SLOANE: Reliable. DIXON: Why is he insisting on meeting with you in person? SLOANE: For his protection. After the Sovogda incident, we believed that the Russians k*lled all the infected. But according to Dolzhenko, they’ve kept some of them alive, and they’re pursuing treatment. Of course, the Russians deny that Sovogda ever occurred. So by passing the cure to me, Dolzhenko is risking his life. DIXON: Suppose Dozhenko has been found out by the authorities. This could be his way of cutting a deal. SLOANE: And you’re suggesting that I might be walking into a trap? Hmm? No. No. About the Sovogda incident, the Russians have no idea that I’m responsible. DIXON: Then why has he agreed to meet with you at all? SLOANE: $300,000. DIXON: My job is to make sure in three day’s time, you return to this cell. I intend to do exactly that. When we’re in the field, you’ll follow my instructions explicitly. No questions. It’s my show. SLOANE: Great. EXT. PRAGUE – DAY Sydney, Marshall, and Grace are inside a Ranger Rover parked near a coffeehouse. Marshall is working on his computer to pinpoint the location of the hacker. GRACE: Sure you’re reading that right? MARSHALL: Ehh… GRACE: Seems like an unlikely place to hide an operation. MARHSALL: It’s definitely him. I mean, the signal I’m getting is weak, but clean. The hacker’s right inside that building. SYDNEY: Wi-Fi hotspot? MARHSALL: Yeah. (continues working on computer) Must be using a laptop off-site. Know what? That’s okay. I got an idea. Marshall opens up a case and fiddles with something. MARSHALL: Okay. Got it. Here’s what we do. Pack of mints, right? (shakes tin case around) Microprocessor on the bottom of the case. It’s a relay. Get it within 5 feet of the hacker’s computer. It should allow me to clone the hard drive - might even tell us where the nerve agent is. Even better – offer him a mint. Inside each one is a tracking device. Don’t worry. He won’t die or something if he swallows it - just feel a little sick, a little nausea. If Gordon Dean has an operation here, chances are the hacker will lead us right to it. GRACE: Got it. Both Sydney and Grace reach for the mints, but realize they need to settle who is going to go in. SYDNEY: (speaking Czech) GRACE: What’s that? SYDNEY: (smugly) That was Czech. GRACE: I’ll fake it. It’s all sort of Germanish, right? Grace concedes the pack of mints. GRACE: Go for it. Sydney takes the mints. Marshall seems to be glad that the issue was settled. Sydney walks into the coffeehouse. SYDNEY: (comms) Okay, who am I looking for? MARHSHALL: Far window, back to the wall. SYDNEY: Baseball cap on backwards. Got it. Sydney looks at the guy using the laptop and walks toward him. SYDNEY: (Czech accent) You are American? GUY: (confused) No. SYDNEY: I just assumed… your hat. The Red Sox. GUY: Oh. SYDNEY: I like them, too. (smiles) MARSHALL: (comms) Great, Syd. That’s perfect. I’m starting the clone now. SYDNEY: Care for a mint? (opens case) MARSHALL: Nice. SYDNEY: They’re very good. The guy takes a mint and pops it in his mouth. Sydney smiles at him. MARSHALL: Hold on a second. Wait a minute. GRACE: What is it? MARSHALL: Well, I’m not the only one accessing this computer. Syd… GUY: So you’re pregnant? MARHSALL: (comms) Does your guy have two laptops networked together? SYDNEY: (aloud) No. GUY: No? SYDNEY: A joke. Of course I am. (laughs) MARSHALL: Syd, we have a problem. Someone beside me is piggy-backing off this computer. They’re trying to steal the bandwidth – which means the hacker doesn’t have a laptop at all, maybe a PDA or cell phone? A young, blonde woman walks past Sydney and turns off her phone. MARSHALL: Great, the signal just went d*ad. SYDNEY: I got her. Blonde hair, brown jacket. She just left. She’s coming your way. GRACE: There she is. The blonde woman, Rachel Gibson, looks around her before getting into her silver Mini Cooper. GRACE: (to Marshall) You’re going to want a seatbelt. Rachel drives down the road in the opposite direction that the Range Rover is facing. Grace decides to do a quick 180 to catch Rachel. MARSHALL: (buckling seatbelt) Wh- what are you doing? GRACE: Following her. Rachel turns right. MARSHALL: Watch out! The Ranger Rover nearly hits an oncoming motorcycle, which swerves out of the way. MARSHALL: (waves to motorcycle) Sorry! In order to catch up to Rachel, Grace takes a hard right, squealing the tires. Rachel notices the Range Rover is following her and takes a quick left into an alley. GRACE: She made us. Hold on. Grace takes a parallel alley. Rachel takes the Mini around a few more corners, but Grace manages to confront her in the oncoming direction. Unable to get past the Range Rover, Rachel swerves into the sidewalk and crashes. Grace steps out of the range rover and draws his g*n. GRACE: (points g*n at Rachel) Hi there. Rachel takes a couple of breaths before finally putting her hands up. INT. PRAGUE HOTEL ROOM – DAY Rachel is strapped to a chair. She struggles with the restraints. Sydney leaves Rachel in a room by herself and closes the door. SYDNEY: (to Marshall) Hey, did you get anything from her cell phone? MARSHALL: No. The simm card is completely shattered. She says the phone broke when we h*t her car. SYDNEY: Well, more likely, it was a countermeasure. She smashed it when she realized you were chasing her. And if her people realize she’s gone - if there’s some protocol to check in that she misses, they’ll disappear as well. GRACE: Maybe under the circumstance, you’d have done something different. Sydney glares at Grace. MARSHALL: O-kay. Um, uh, you talked to your father, right, Syd? I mean, what’s he want us to do? SYDNEY: I’m going to talk to her again, see if I can get her to give up Substance 33 while there’s still time. Can you rig a voice stress analyzer? MARSHALL: Yeah. Uh, sure. Just give me ten minutes. EXT. OMSK – NIGHT Sloane and Dixon are waiting next to their car for Dolzhenko. SLOANE: Dolzhenko is typically a few minutes late. DIXON: Half an hour is more than a few minutes – Sloane’s cell phone rings. Sloane answers the call on his earpiece. DIXON: Here we go. (uses his earpiece to listen in on the call) SLOANE: Alexander. DOLZHENKO: You deviated from my instructions. I told you to come alone. SLOANE: He’s backup. He’s only here for my safety. DOZHENKO: Do you have the money? Dixon opens the back door of the car and takes out a briefcase with the money and opens it on the trunk of the car. SLOANE: It’s all here, Alexander - $300,000. DOLZHENKO: Our last job, where we parted company – be there by 8, alone this time. Dixon shakes his head. SLOANE: I can’t do that, Alexander. DOLZHENKO: Then the deal’s off, and you lose your daughter’s cure. SLOANE: Marcus… DIXON: (sighs) No. (closes the briefcase) SLOANE: If you’re concerned that this is a trick, an escape, you have my daughter. She’s all the insurance you need. DIXON: Could be a trap. Russian police could be waiting for you – SLOANE: It doesn’t matter to me. I have to see this through. What if it were your daughter, Marcus? Dixon hands the briefcase to Sloane. DIXON: Call me when you’re ready to be picked up. (turns off earpiece) Dixon starts the car and drives away. INT. PRAGUE HOTEL ROOM – DAY Rachel is wearing monitors on her fingers as Sydney questions her. SYDNEY: Three days ago, you hacked into a security system that facilitated the theft of a chemical w*apon, Substance 33. (pointedly waits for an answer) RACHEL: I want to contact the American Embassy. I’m a U.S. citizen, I have rights. SYDNEY: You committed an act of terrorism. You forfeited your rights. RACHEL: Honestly, I - I have no idea what you’re talking about. Thomas Grace interrupts with a knock on the door. GRACE: Hey. Rachel Gibson, traveling on a student visa issued two weeks ago. So what are you studying? RACHEL: (pauses) Architecture. The Gothic influence. GRACE: Well, that’s fascinating. RACHEL: (matter-of-factly) It is. Rachel rubs her restraints against her wristwatch, making a clicking sound. Grace notices and lunges toward her. RACHEL: What are you - GRACE struggles with her as he tries to grab her watch. RACHEL: Get off of me! Let go of me! No! Don’t – let go! GRACE: What is this? RACHEL: Whoever you people are, you’re making a big mistake. MARSHALL: (to Grace) Can I see that? RACHEL: Pretty soon, there will be a ton of U.S. agents swarming this place looking for me. SYDNEY: U.S. agents…? RACHEL: (boldly) That’s right. MARSHALL: It’s an ELT – Emergency Location Transmitter. She was trying to send a distress signal. GRACE: Do we need to worry? MARSHALL: No, looks like it’s still intact. The signal didn’t go out. Rachel’s face falls. SYDNEY: You’re scared? You should be. No one’s coming to rescue you. RACHEL: I’m an operative for the U.S. Government, so unless you want to start a w*r with the CIA, I would suggest – SYDNEY: Here’s your next problem, Rachel, we’re CIA. RACHEL: Well, then this must be some… big misunderstanding. If you’re CIA, we’re on the same side. SYDNEY: (to Grace) Call Langley. Verify her story. Grace nods. RACHEL: You can’t. We’re off-book. Black ops. Langley won’t verify us. SYDNEY: That’s convenient. RACHEL: Well, that’s the truth! SYDNEY: I’ve had enough. MARSHALL: Syd – INT. APO – DAY Jack is on the phone with Marshall. MARSHALL: The stress analysis indicates she’s telling the truth. JACK: That may be, but the more likely scenario is that she’s practicing a form of self-hypnosis to convince herself that what she’s saying is true. MARSHALL: Well, I triple-checked my readings and filtered them against every known method of duping. She believes what she’s saying. Sydney nods and looks over at Grace. GRACE: What? SYDNEY: Marshall, you and my father said the same thing – that Rachel believes what she’s saying. She believes she works for the CIA. MARSHALL: Yeah, I think so. That’s right. SYDNEY: (sighs) I need to talk to her. Sydney goes into the other room to speak with Rachel. SYDNEY: I want to tell you a story. Just… stop me if I get something wrong. You were approached in college, someplace public, in the quad or walking to class. A man asked you if you wanted to serve your country. When he told you it was for the CIA, you just – you couldn’t believe it. But you took the tests, and they were easy for you. It made you feel good about yourself. You probably started work at a false front, some phantom company that had you doing entry-level analysis. Maybe you wondered why you were never sent to Langley. Maybe you wondered why you weren’t being trained with other recruits. Then you got promoted. You met the director of your division, Gordon Dean. He offered you a position on his team. Dean took you under his wing. He convinced you that - you were so important, you just had to be out there, helping him save the world. How am I doing? RACHEL: You read my file. SYDNEY: No, I didn’t. Thirteen years, ago, the same thing happened to me. Only I had been lied to. What I was told was the CIA was, in reality, a criminal organization. I think you’ve been told the same lie. I know that you don’t believe me, Rachel. You think this is another interrogation tactic. It’s not. I think I can prove it. RACHEL: You can prove it – that I work for a criminal organization… SYDNEY: Your transmitter – where does the signal get received? RACHEL: CIA Headquarters. Langley. SYDNEY: You’re sure of that…? RACHEL: I designed it myself. SYDNEY: I’d like you to build a trace program, one that piggybacks onto the signal your watch sends out. If I’m right, it won’t go to Langley. Rachel works on the computer and finishes the program. RACHEL: Okay. It’s ready. SYDNEY: Let’s do it. MARSHALL: Okay. I’m going to send out a test signal. Whoever receives this will just assume you’re checking the system, okay? Here we go, and… Marshall opens up the watch and presses a button. The watch glows a red color. MARSHALL: … Testing. The computer tracking the signal showings the signal originating from Prague traveling over to Langley. MARSHALL: Yep. Went to Langley. (sighs) Sydney looks at Rachel, who looks relieved. Suddenly, the computer beeps. The distress signal is being re-routed elsewhere. MARSHALL: Wait a minute. No, it isn’t. That ping was just a ghost signal. It was meant to throw us off. It’s not going to Langely at all. Where’d it go? (follows tracing program) Prague. Vlasska Street. SYDNEY: (to Rachel) What’s on Vlasska Street? RACHEL: (pauses) Our office. It’s temporary so that Dean can oversee the transfer of Substance 33. SYDNEY: Wait. Gordon Dean is in Prague? RACHEL: Yeah. He’s right around the corner. EXT. PRAGUE HOTEL BALCONY – DAY Rachel looks out over Prague as she considers the truth she just learned. JACK: (on phone) How’s she doing? GRACE: About how you’d expect. She was told Substance 33 was developed by a t*rror1st cell and was being transferred to U.N. w*apon inspectors. JACK: Most likely, it’s being sold to the highest bidder. Does she know when the exchange is to be made? GRACE: Tonight, but she says she doesn’t know where. She said it’s all classified, and all classified intel is stored on Dean’s own dedicated server. JACK: What else? How much does she know about his operation? GRACE: Dean calls it “The Shed.” She was recruited two years ago. Computer specialist. She’s willing to give us everything – mission history, suppliers, contacts… the works. JACK: Without more background, it’s too risky to move on Dean. He could destroy his data before we have time to secure it. Marshall, can we access that server? MARSHALL: Well, according to Rachel, Dean uses an encryption key that changes daily. But if I could get inside, I could crack the key and maybe download the entire hard drive. JACK: Obviously, that’s too dangerous. What about the girl? GRACE: (shakes head) She’s not a field agent. And her whole world is coming apart right now. JACK: I don’t see another option. We have to recover Substance 33 before it trades hands. Sydney goes out to the balcony to speak with Rachel. RACHEL: What is it? SYDNEY: We need some help. Inside, Marshall explains the plan to Rachel. MARSHALL: All you have to do is copy the encryption key and then bring it back to me, okay? Shouldn’t take me more than a couple of minutes to crack the code. Then - go back inside, all right? You think maybe you can open a remote access port to Dean’s server? RACHEL: Yeah, from my workstation. Dean’s server has about a terabyte of data. I mean, that’s going to take you, what, an hour at 20 gigs a minute? MARSHALL: Don’t worry. I can hop RAM while the data’s being transferred. I mean, unless they know where to look, it can’t be detected. RACHEL: The encryption key is pretty massive. I mean, I don’t think I have anything big enough to copy it to. MARSHALL: That’s okay. Got a little present for you. Okay? Just a little something I picked up – looks like a normal credit card, right? But you look closely – actually holds 240 Gigs of memory. Yeah. And it’s a working credit card. Just go shopping with it because it’s already at its limit. My wife – crazy with the clothes, Mitchell… RACHEL: It’s clever. MARSHALL: Yeah. I wanna tell you that I’ve been admiring you, too. Not, you know, in anything kind of creepy, weird, just - totally professionally. I mean, your hack on the NSA? Genius. Too bad it was being used for evil. Though, been there myself. RACHEL: (quietly) Thanks. MARSHALL: Hey, listen. You’re gonna be okay. All right? I have been through stuff way scarier. I’m still here. EXT. RUSSIA – NIGHT Sloane emerges from a doorway as a silver Audi pulls up. The door opens. ALEXANDER DOLZHENKO steps out of the car. SLOANE: Alexander. DOLZHENKO: Old friend. The two men embrace. SLOANE: So I did ask you asked. It’s just you and me. DOLZHENKO: I’m sorry for my precautions. I’m sure you understand. SLOANE: Of course. DOLZHENKO: I’m eager to get this over as well. SLOANE: (hands over the briefcase of money) You can count it. DOLZHENKO: No. Please. (smiles) We’re friends. I trust you. Dolzhenko places the briefcase in the backseat of his car. SLOANE: So you have the cure. DOLZHENKO: As I told you, it’s still experimental. But, uh, yes. So far the patients have made a full recovery. SLOANE: Good. DOLZHENKO: Come. It’s right here. Dolzhenko unlocks the trunk of his car. Sloane lifts the trunk open to look inside. There doesn’t seem to be anything useful in the truck. A g*n cocks. Dolzhenko points a g*n at Sloane. SLOANE: Alexander, please. DOLZHENKO: No. Begging will not help you. SLOANE: Whoever wants me d*ad… let me reason with them. I’ll pay them. DOLZHENKO: “Whoever.” But Arvin - it’s me who wants you d*ad. SLOANE: Sasha, why are you doing this? I’ve never done anything to you. DOLZHENKO: Oh, yes. Yes, you have. I had a daughter in Sovogda myself. Because what you released, I didn’t even have a chance to bury my own child. I lied to you. Besides your daughter, there are no other survivors. No experiments, no cure. Sloane is devastated. DOLZHENKO: Yeah! It’s worse than dying, isn’t it? Knowing there’s nothing you can do to save your own child. Turn around. SLOANE: No. DOLZHENKO: (shaking) Turn around! SLOANE: No. If you’re going to sh**t me, I’m not going to make it easy for you. I know your pain, Sasha. k*lling me won’t heal it. You’re not a k*ller. Don’t become one now. Don’t make this your daughter’s legacy. Dolzhenko puts the g*n down, with tears in eyes. Sloane closes his eyes, relieved. Dolzhenko gets in his car and drives away. EXT. PRAGUE – DAY Sydney is doing some last minute preparations to help Rachel with her mission in a van outside of The Shed’s office. SYDNEY: I’ll be able to hear anything you say, even if it’s barely a whisper. If anything goes wrong, if you even sense that you are in jeopardy, we’ll pull you out. We’ll call off the mission. RACHEL: (nods) Okay. SYDNEY: Okay. That’s the easy part. The hard part… you have to walk back into that office and look everyone in the eye – your co-workers, Gordon Dean. You can’t let them see that you know the truth. When you’ve copied the encryption key, let me know. We’ll brush pass in the lobby like we said. RACHEL: Okay. (pauses) How many of them know? How many of them are in on it? SYDNEY: It’s impossible to say. In my case, it was half a dozen out of fifty agents. (pauses) Have you ever seen this man? (shows Rachel a picture of Michael Vaughn) RACHEL: Yeah. Dean said he was a CIA agent who turned, and he’s… in custody outside Los Alamos. (realizes when she sees Sydney’s reaction) …That was a lie, too. SYDNEY: His name is Michael Vaughn. He was a U.S. agent. But he was good man. Rachel, look at me. The reason I’m telling you this is because right now, you are our best chance at seeing Gordon Dean pay for what he’s done. He used you, Rachel. He used you to m*rder U.S. agents. (pauses) I believe in you. Rachel nods. She gets out of the van and goes to the office. As she steps out of the elevator and into the office, she takes in her surroundings, looking over each of her co-workers. She heads to her workstation when she is interrupted. PEYTON: Hey. RACHEL: Peyton. Hey. PEYTON, a woman with long, dark brown hair, walks up to Rachel, smiling. Peyton is the woman who stole the vials of Substance 33 in Istanbul earlier. PEYTON: I thought you weren’t due in until tonight. RACHEL: Yeah, I have some reports to clean up. PEYTON: (senses something) You okay? RACHEL: Rough weekend. PEYTON: Well, if you wanna take a nap on the couch, I can hide you. RACHEL: Thanks. I’m good, though. I’m gonna get to work. PEYTON: Okay. Oh - don’t let Dean see you, or he’ll make you translate surveillance footage. RACHEL: Yeah, you’re right. Rachel walks over to her workstation and logs into her computer. A co-worker passes behind her desk and greets her. CO-WORKER: Rachel. Rachel nods to the co-worker as he goes past. She pulls out the credit card from Marshall, plugs it into a USB port on her keyboard, and begins to copy the encryption key. Meanwhile, Sydney is working on the computer as she, Marshall, and Grace wait for Rachel to finish copying the encryption key. MARSHALL: (sighs) How long has it been? SYDNEY: Since the last time you asked, 30 seconds. Look, she’s been in there 10 minutes. MARSHALL: I’m sure she’s fine. Rachel is still copying the encryption key when Gordon Dean comes by her desk. She quickly slides one of the disks off a stack on her desk to cover up the credit card USB drive. DEAN: Rachel. RACHEL: Hey. DEAN: I don’t know whether to thank you or curse you. Rachel doesn’t look like she understands what Dean is talking about. DEAN: The book you recommended - Devil in the White City... I’m addicted. Truly! I was up all night reading. I never would have thought I’d be so, uh, fascinated by a serial k*ller. Somehow I find myself even... (chuckles) sympathetic. RACHEL: Yeah, I guess. DEAN: So, listen. Intel suggests that Iran is trying to buy a nuclear core from the French. But we’ll be in Paris next week. I need a prep report by the end of the day. RACHEL: Okay. I’ll get right on it. DEAN: Thank you. (leaves) Rachel takes the credit card USB drive out and gets into the elevator. RACHEL: (comms) I’ve got it. I’m on the way down. SYDNEY: Great. I’m coming to meet you. We’ll brush pass just outside the door to your building. PEYTON: Hey, hold the elevator. (steps into the elevator) You going for coffee? RACHEL: Yeah. Last time I’m going to see the sun for a few hours. PEYTON: Perfect. I’m dying for a smoke. SYDNEY: (comms) Rachel, listen to me. We can still do this. We’ll do the pass right under her nose. Just follow my instructions. I’ll talk you through it. Inside the van, Grace puts on his jacket. SYDNEY: What are you doing? GRACE: I’m going with you. SYDNEY: No, you’re not. GRACE: Yes, I am. If Gordon Dean can recognize you on sight, so can any of his agents. How do you say, “You’re welcome” in Czech? Rachel and Peyton walk down the street. RACHEL: I thought you quit. PEYTON: I did… in the U.S. But here, everyone smokes. It’s a social necessity. Grace positions himself behind Rachel and Peyton. Sydney, wearing sunglasses, plans her move across the street. SYDNEY: Rachel, have the credit card ready in your left hand. I’m ten seconds away. Palm the credit card down by your side. Don’t look at me. Rachel and Peyton stop so that Peyton can light her cigarette. Grace goes up to Peyton and offers her a light for her cigarette. When Peyton is distracted, Sydney walks by Rachel and takes the credit card. Rachel continues staring in the direction where Sydney went, away from Peyton and Grace. PEYTON: (smiling, taking a good look at Grace) Thank you. GRACE: You’re welcome. Grace leaves. Peyton turns back to Rachel, who still looks distracted. PEYTON: See? Social necessity. If I didn’t smoke, that never would have happened. But I suppose he’s not your type anyway, is he? RACHEL: ...No. Grace returns to the van. GRACE: Remind me to ask her what that means – “not her type.” Sydney gives him a questioning look. GRACE: (to Marshall) How’s it going? MARSHALL: Um, good. What kind of idiots don’t double-encrypt their firewalls? I could do this stuff in my sleep. Okay… we’re in. Let Rachel know. SYDNEY: (comms) Rachel, Marshall’s decoded the key. You can open the access ports now. Rachel and Peyton are just getting back into the office. PEYTON: That’s what I love about our friendship – no competition. RACHEL: Yeah. PEYTON: You sure you’re okay? RACHEL: Of course. It’s nothing a little caffeine won’t fix. Peyton doesn’t seem convinced, but lets it go. PEYTON: (smiles) Okay. (leaves) Rachel goes back to her workstation and opens the access ports. MARSHALL: Got it. She’s in. SYDNEY: Rachel, good job. We’re in. This shouldn’t take too long. Gordon Dean walks into his office. Peyton is waiting for him inside. DEAN: Peyton. What is it? PEYTON: I think we may have a problem. DEAN: What kind of problem? PEYTON: Rachel Gibson. Gordon Dean checks Rachel’s computer activity log. DEAN: I don’t know. She hasn’t done anything unusual from her terminal. Dean checks her computer’s RAM usage. It’s excessively high. DEAN: (laughs) She’s brilliant. PEYTON: What? (leans forward to see his screen) DEAN: She’s hopping RAM. She’s trying to stay undetected. (checks his computer) She’s copying everything on my server! In the van, Marshall goes through files that they have finished downloading. MARSHALL: One sec here. Substance 33. Shipping tonight. Budapest. Shipping container 1147. Great. I’ll let Mr. Bristow know. Gordon Dean and Peyton discuss what needs to be done. DEAN: She’s compromised everything. PEYTON: I can eliminate her. She trusts me. DEAN: No, it’s too late for that. Execute Plan B. (hands Peyton a key card) PEYTON: Are you sure that’s necessary? DEAN: Just do it quickly. I’ll meet you in the parking garage. Peyton puts a key card into a machine and flips a row of switches, initiating a countdown. MARSHALL: (getting back into the van) Okay, I spoke to Director Bristow. He contacted the Hungarian authorities. Once again, these bad guys picked the wrong dude to mess with. (checks the download progress on his computer) Huh. What’s that? GRACE: What? MARSHALL: There’s some RF interference. Should be able to compensate for it. Just then, there’s a whirring noise in the office and all the computers turn off. Two black cars screech out of the building’s parking garage. GRACE: Contact Rachel. See how she’s doing. SYDNEY: (comms) Rachel, it’s me. Do you copy? Rachel? Rachel, if you can’t talk, cough. MARSHALL: Oh, hell. The server’s down. SYDNEY: Rachel, listen to me - MARSHALL: It’s no use. They set off an EMP. They fried the electronics. Immediately, Grace gets out of the van and races to the building. Rachel and her co-workers are unsure of what to do. The countdown is at 55 seconds. RACHEL: (trying the comms) Are you there? Can anybody hear me? When there is no answer, Rachel decides to leave. 19 seconds are left on the countdown. She tries the elevator, but it’s not working. Grace reaches the building, pulls the f*re alarm on the first floor, and runs to the stairwell. 11 seconds. Hearing the alarms, Rachel goes toward the stairwell. 7 seconds. The b*mb counts down and explodes, destroying the entire 10th floor and shaking the entire building. Upon hearing the expl*si*n, Sydney rushes out of the van. MARSHALL: Syd. Syd, no. Grace, who was knocked down during the blast, continues up the stairs to the 10th floor and finds the destruction. He hears a groan and finds Rachel under some debris in the stairwell. When he sits her up, Rachel begins coughing. Sydney reaches the 10th floor and finds them. GRACE: She’s okay. She’s gonna be okay. Rachel weakly looks up at her rescuers.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x03 - The Shed"}

foreverdreaming

(EXT. MONTE CARLO CASINO – NIGHT) Sydney pulls up to a casino in a silver Jaguar and gets out. She is wearing a dark brown wig with reddish highlights and a turquoise and black dress with a matching jacket. Thomas Grace, dressed as a parking valet, gives Sydney her ticket and takes the car. Sydney walks into the casino. She walks up to a craps table and lays down a stack of money. One of the dealers hands Sydney three trays of chips in exchange. SYDNEY: (Southern accent) Thank you. Can I have the dice? Everyone seems to be looking at Sydney strangely. The croupier pushes the dice to Sydney. SYDNEY: You guys seem a little wound up. Let’s loosen it a lil’ bit. Come on! (claps) Loosen it up! Get out the kinks. (rolls the dice in her hands) A security guard waves Thomas Grace into the garage to park Sydney’s car. Back inside the casino, Sydney’s table has drawn a crowd, which cheers for Sydney. CROUPIER: Gagnant. (Winner.) SYDNEY: It’s that easy - it’s that easy! I can’t even help it. Bring ’em back! The croupier pushes the dice back to Sydney. SYDNEY: (takes dice) That’s right. There we go! Come on! (rolling dice around in her hands and rubbing them on her chest along the top of her dress) Mama would love a new pair of shoes! She kisses the dice before rolling them down the table. Meanwhile, Grace parks the car in the garage and gets out. Back at the craps table, Sydney rolls again. CROUPIER: Huit. Elle a gagné. [Eight. She wins.] SYDNEY: (putting more chips down) Tell your pit boss we need more money. We’re feeling lucky tonight. (rubs dice on her belly) The croupier glances over at the pit boss, who looks suspicious. Meanwhile, Grace picks a lock to a room and goes inside. He heads to a panel on the wall. SYDNEY: Ready? (rolls dice) The crowd cheers. SYDNEY: How did I win? I wasn’t paying attention. I can’t even help it - I can’t help it! The croupier doesn’t look too happy. Grace opens the panel and examines it. SYDNEY: (rolls again) And it is that easy. The crowd claps and cheers, but is silenced by Dixon. DIXON: (French accent) This is disgusting. SYDNEY: Can I help you with something, Frenchman? DIXON: You’re pregnant. You should not be a casino. You should be at home. SYDNEY: (to her belly) Do you feel home, Baby? (to Dixon) We feel at home. The croupier pushes the dice to Sydney once again. SYDNEY: Thank you. Dixon puts some chips down. SYDNEY: Oh, you’re gonna bet against me? Good luck with that. (kisses dice) Grace goes back to the car and opens the trunk. Sydney rolls again and wins. DIXON: (in French) Bon Sang…! [Holy Crap...!*] (looks at Sydney in disbelief) SYDNEY: Don’t give me that look, Frenchie. I warned you. DIXON: (to Stickman) C’est pas possible! Pas trop de chance. [No woman is that lucky.] (literally, It's not possible! Not that lucky.) The croupier examines the dice. Immediately, Sydney grabs her chips and leaves the table. SYDNEY: This table’s gone cold. Sydney walks through the casino with her trays of chips when she is surrounded by casino security, led by the pit boss. PIT BOSS: Madame, could we please have a word with you? Sydney looks surprised. The guards lead her into an office. SYDNEY: Sir, this is insane. Do you have any idea who I am? PIT BOSS: Sit down. SYDNEY: (indignant) I will not! I've done nothin’ wrong. The pit boss reaches over and pulls something from Sydney’s cleavage. Sydney exaggerates a gasp at the offense. The pit boss holds up the real dice for emphasis. PIT BOSS: Sit down. As Sydney sits down, she readies her g*n, hidden under her jacket draped across her arm. PIT BOSS: I have seen some despicable acts of cheating in my time. But a pregnant woman using her own baby to escape suspicion… I don’t know how you live with yourself. SYDNEY: What can I say, sir? (drops act) I’m not like other moms. Sydney draws her g*n and sh**t the pit boss with a tranquilizer g*n, then turns and sh**t the other guard behind her. She opens door and sh**t the guard outside the room. SYDNEY: (comms) Outrigger, I’m on my way to the vault. Sydney makes her way down a hallway into a room. SYDNEY: (comms) Sidewinder, I’m approaching the vault. What’s your status? Sydney takes out her combination laser glass cutter and vacuum lifter tool and attaches it to the glass door to the vault. There is no response from Sidewinder. SYDNEY: Sidewinder? GRACE: (comms) …Sidewinder’s gonna need a little more time. Sydney cuts a hole in the glass door above the knob and removes the cut piece of glass. She reaches through the hole and pushes down the knob from the inside, opening the door. She steps inside the vault and finds the deposit box she is looking for. SYDNEY: I’m at the vault. I need that key code. Grace has the code written on a newspaper. GRACE: Got it. Ready when you are. SYDNEY: Go. GRACE: 9-7-3-2-6-3-4-7. Sydney enters the numbers. The keypad beeps and turns from red to yellow. She opens the deposit box and retrieves a small device. She checks it over, satisfied. SYDNEY: I’ve got the package. I’ll meet you at the front. GRACE: All right. Grace goes back into the car and takes it to the front of the casino. Sydney steps out of the front doors. Grace gets out of the car, allowing Sydney to take the car and escape. Sydney drives off and pulls off her wig. (INT. APO – DAY) SYDNEY: (on phone) This is Phoenix. We have the archive. JACK: Any complications? SYDNEY: Well, I think I lost us about $900,000, depending on the exchange rate. JACK: Copy that. What’s your location? SYDNEY: I’m approaching the ferry now. JACK: Have a safe trip. (disconnects call) She approaches some sort of checkpoint. A guard stops her and takes out a pen and begins jotting something down. Sydney notices something in her rearview mirror. A large truck pulls up behind her. Suddenly, an electromagnet comes down on the car and pulls the car up with Sydney in it. Sydney looks out the window. A crane is hanging the car high off the ground. Sydney’s cell phone rings. SYDNEY: Hello? VOICE: You have something of mine. SYDNEY: Who is this? VOICE: I want my property back. I want Mockingbird. SYDNEY: What? VOICE: You will have your people deliver Mockingbird to me within the hour, or I will drop you. SYDNEY: There must be some kind of mistake. I don’t know what Mockingbird is. VOICE: You’re wasting time. SYDNEY: Please, what is Mockingbird? LOS ANGELES – DAY 72 HOURS EARLIER (INT. APO – DAY) Rachel Gibson writes her statement in an APO office. Sydney comes into the room and brings Rachel a sandwich and a glass of water. SYDNEY: Rachel… you should eat something. Sydney sets the food down and sits across from Rachel. SYDNEY: You need to eat, you need to rest. The debriefing can wait. RACHEL: No, it can’t. SYDNEY: I know what you’re going through. You need to give yourself time – RACHEL: It can’t wait. Rachel continues writing, then stops, feeling the need to explain herself. RACHEL: I’m held together by a string right now, Ms. Bristow. A week ago, I had a good job working for the CIA. Now I have the truth. My job was a front for a mercenary organization, and my boss is a criminal, and my coworkers are all d*ad - because I got them k*lled. SYDNEY: It wasn’t your fault. RACHEL: They’d all still be alive if I hadn’t walked into that building. SYDNEY: Your boss, Gordon Dean – he k*lled them, not you. RACHEL: It doesn’t change the fact that every time I close my eyes, I see their faces. So I need to give you everything I have - right now, because the sooner I’m finished, the sooner this is over. SYDNEY: Rachel, first of all, just - don’t call me “Ms. Bristow.” It’s Sydney. Secondly, your information will go a long way towards helping us find Gordon Dean. We will get the people responsible for this. RACHEL: (looks hopeful) Then I’d better get back to work. SYDNEY: (turns to leave, but stops) Oh, by the way, uh, a name keeps coming up in your data – “Mockingbird.” We don’t have a base reference for it. RACHEL: Oh. Sorry. It’s a briefing habit. I take it for granted. It’s, um, my agency call sign. It’s me. I’m Mockingbird. ALIAS Intro (INT. DEAN’S BASE OF OPERATIONS – DAY) DEAN: I have an assignment suited to your abilities. I’ll leave the approach to your discretion. I assume you’re familiar with the target. The man peeks inside a folder and closes it. MAN: I am. DEAN: You’ll have our full resources at your disposal. MAN: (looks around Dean’s office, unconvinced) You have resources? DEAN: Don’t let the appearance fool you. We’re in the midst of a relocation. MAN: I’ll keep you updated. The man gets up and leaves. Peyton sees that Dean is free and comes over with a laptop. PEYTON: I need money. DEAN: Where do we stand on the satellite offices? PEYTON: Cleveland, Seattle, Chicago – they’ve all been abandoned. We b*at the CIA by about an hour at the St. Louis office. DEAN: They find anything? PEYTON: Just extension cords and surge protectors. Alternate location should be set up by day’s end. We’ve got the account transfers ready across the board. I just need your passcode for the withdrawals. Peyton remains standing at Dean’s desk. Dean pulls the laptop closer to him so that Peyton cannot see him enter the passcode. PEYTON: (rolls her eyes) God, you’re paranoid. DEAN: That’s why I’m still alive. (INT. APO – DAY) A computer beeps an alert. Marshall is briefing Jack, Sydney, and Rachel. MARSHALL: I got him. I’ve been monitoring Dean’s bank accounts based on your intel. Thirty minutes ago, he liquidated every single one of them. JACK: Our infiltration in Prague must have him concerned. He’s closing ranks, covering his tracks. MARSHALL: Right, but not to worry, because I’m a bit of a master tracker myself. I’m kind of like a Comanche Indian - (chuckles) uh, Comanche Indian who - who tracks data. Anyway, he consolidated all of his funds. He deposited them into one account designated – RACHEL: 1017. It’s the agency fail-safe account in the Cayman Islands. I set it up. 10/17 is my birthday. SYDNEY: Wait. Dean’s money is all in one place? If we seize his funds, we can cripple his operation. RACHEL: You won’t be able to do it. It’s a trapdoor account. It can’t be hacked. You have to be at the bank to access it, and you need the pre-arranged responses to Dean’s protocol questions. The only answer set is on Dean’s server in the Prague office - which he destroyed. I know how he works. The only copy of his protocol was in that building when he blew it up. There’s nothing left. Sydney looks at Jack, who grimaces. Rachel notices the look. Rachel: What? SYDNEY: Czech authorities have g*n their investigations into the b*mb. We’ve accessed their site inventories, and they have catalogued already several BR-46 servers. (shows Rachel photos of the inventory) RACHEL: (nods) That’s them SYDNEY: Marshall’s designed EM recovery software. RACHEL: We can reconstruct the protocol. SYDNEY: …Here’s the problem. The BIS won’t release their evidence until they finish their investigation. So… I’m going back to Prague. I need you to come with me. RACHEL: No. (voice breaking) Absolutely not. SYDNEY: Rachel – RACHEL: You want me to dig through that building… SYDNEY: If Dean transfers his assets before we can access his account, we lose him entirely. RACHEL: I’m not going back there. Those people are all d*ad because of me. I’m not going to search through their remains. SYDNEY: I wouldn’t ask you to do this if there was another way. Believe me. We need you to do this. (pauses) We need you to go back into that building. (INT. HEARING ROOM – DAY) Arvin Sloane looks pensive as he waits in the hearing room. Jack walks in, touches Sloane on the shoulder to let him know he’s there, and takes a seat on the right side of the room. Three men walk into the room and take their seats at the panel in the front of the room. The man seated in the middle addresses Sloane. HARKIN: Mr. Sloane, my name is Boyd Harkin. I’m Special Prosecutor to your case. I’m required to inform you that under National Security Directive 115B, you do not quality for legal counsel. SLOANE: I understand. HARKIN: (nods to the man on his right) This is Deputy Director Miller, (nods to the man on his left) Undersecretary Reeves. We’ve spent the last few months reviewing your case. The Justice Department is prepared to accept our recommendation for your sentencing. Before we rule, however, we have a few questions for you. SLOANE: I’m prepared to cooperate. HARKIN: Good. Mr. Sloane, a little over a year ago, you signed a pardon agreement with the Justice Department. What were the terms of that agreement? SLOANE: I was asked to oversee a black ops unit for the CIA. In exchange for my participation, I received a pardon for my crimes. HARKIN: Let’s talk about those crimes. (opens Sloane’s file) Your record reads like a veritable catalog of illegal activity – multiple counts of m*rder, conspiracy, treason… I have trouble understanding how any pardon agreement resulting in your freedom could be justified. SLOANE: If you will examine the record of the previous proceedings, you will find the charges against me were carefully considered before they were dismissed. As to whether the pardon itself was justified… I suppose that’s a question for the Justice Department. HARKIN: Perhaps. But since I have you in front of me right now, why don’t we see if we can suss it out? SLOANE: Of course. EXT. GEORGE TOWN, CAYMAN ISLANDS – DAY) Dixon and Grace are dressed in suits without ties. They walk along the beach. DIXON: We’re scheduled to meet the emissary at 3. Sydney should have touched down in Prague by now. Give her two hours in and out of the site. Should have plenty of time to spare. GRACE: We know what this emissary looks like? DIXON: No. He’s got our descriptions. He’ll escort us from the beach. Helps keep the bank’s location a secret. GRACE: If he tries to blindfold us, he may have a problem - I’m not in the mood for blindfolds today. DIXON: Noted. GRACE: What do we do till 3? DIXON: We wait. The two sit down on lounge chairs under a straw umbrella. (INT. THE SHED’S PRAGUE OFFICE – DAY) Sydney and Rachel walk into the building. They pass a covered body being wheeled out. Rachel immediately gets nervous. She grips the strap of her bag tightly as they walk to The Shed’s office. RACHEL: I can’t do this. SYDNEY: Well, you’ve got the easy job. Once we access the protocol, we feed it to Tom and Dixon - they handle the heavy stuff, we’re out of there. RACHEL: There’s a reason I wanted to work at a desk. I don’t like pressure… or death, for that matter. SYDNEY: Listen to me. (stops walking and turns to Rachel) I have to do unpleasant tasks all the time - and the best way to do it is to become someone else. Where are the BIS badges? Rachel reaches inside her bag and pulls them out. SYDNEY: I’m not Sydney Bristow, you’re not Rachel Gibson - we’re Czech Intelligence, Terrorism Unit. (clips badge to Rachel’s jacket) When we walk on that floor, we outrank everyone else in the room. Act like it. Nothing in there can rattle us because we see this type of thing every day. Sydney turns and continues walking. Rachel looks unsure. They reach The Shed’s office. The office is destroyed – heaps of twisted metal are strewn about the room. Sydney and Rachel stop near the entrance to the office. Rachel stares at the destruction RACHEL: (voice shaking) We see this every day. Sydney looks over at Rachel. Rachel squeezes her eyes shut for a moment and opens them again. RACHEL: (emphatically) We see this - every day. SYDNEY: (pulls out some papers) According to the building’s floor plan, everything in the office should be where it was. You know, more or less. Rachel looks at the destroyed office. A vision of the office as it existed when she worked there flashes before her. SYDNEY: Which way do we go? RACHEL: Follow me. Rachel leads Sydney through the office toward Dean’s office at the far end. As she walks through the main room, she envisions the room as it used to be – a furnished office with desks, computers, and her coworkers. Her coworkers stare at her as she walks past. Rachel stops and looks around at Sydney, and her vision fades back to reality. She nods to Sydney and continues leading her to Dean’s office. RACHEL: It should be right here. SYDNEY: Let’s get to work. CUT TO The Cayman Islands A woman with a briefcase walks up to Dixon and Grace. WOMAN: Excuse me. Misters Taldash and White? Dixon sits up and nods. WOMAN: My name is Pierpont. I’m here to escort you to the bank. DIXON: You’re early. PIERPONT: (surprised) I’m merely following your account’s protocol. Is there a problem? Dixon turns to Grace. DIXON: Of course not. Excuse me. (makes a call on his cell phone) CUT TO Prague Rachel brushes debris off the case of the server and checks it. RACHEL: Yeah, this is it. Sydney’s cell phone rings. She answers it. It’s Dixon. CUT TO The Cayman Islands DIXON: This is Mr. Taldash, Room 440. I’m going to have to cancel my massage this afternoon. I’m afraid I got my times mixed up. Thank you. PIERPONT: (smiles) Shall we? DIXON: Yeah. CUT TO Prague SYDNEY: That was Dixon. We don’t have as much time as we thought. Rachel turns the server case over and finds biological matter splattered on the inside. RACHEL: Oh, God. (stands up) Oh, God. SYDNEY: It’s okay. It’s okay. I’ll just – I’ll deal with the server. (pushes Rachel away) Go on. RACHEL: I have to get out of here. (starts leaving) SYDNEY: Rachel. Rachel stops. SYDNEY: Rachel, look at me. I’ll handle the server, but you have to tell me what to do. RACHEL: You need the hard drive. SYDNEY: Which one? RACHEL: Fifth. Fifth one down. SYDNEY: Get the computer ready. Rachel nods but breathes nervously. SYDNEY: Rachel. (turns to get the hard drive from the server.) Rachel knocks some equipment off a table to clear space for them to work. She opens up the laptop and gets it ready. CUT TO The Cayman Islands GRACE: So how far is the bank? PIERPONT: You’ve never been here before? DIXON: This is our first time in the Caymans. PIERPONT: Ah. Well, you’re lucky. The bank’s not far today. The three approach a white tent set up on the beach. Two guards are waiting for their arrival. PIERPONT: We gave up our fixed location years ago. Grace and Dixon exchange glances before going inside the tent. The two guards close the flaps to the tent. PIERPONT: Technology allows us a certain fluidity. We find our clients prefer our business remain mobile. Pierpont sits down behind a desk, while Dixon and Grace take their seats in front of the desk. PIERPONT: Our clients, as I’m sure you’re aware, are highly security-conscious. The two guards draw their g*n with sil*ncer and point them each at Dixon and Grace. PIRPONT: Welcome to First Cayman Trust. (smiles) CUT TO Prague Sydney works through the computer and removes some bloodied fabric that is stuck to one of the drive bays of the server. She takes out the hard drive. There is some blood on it. Sydney walks over to Rachel with the hard drive and hands it to her. SYDNEY: Hook it up. CUT TO The Cayman Islands DIXON: Are the w*apon necessary? PIERPONT: They certainly won’t be if you know your account’s protocol. (smiles) Dixon and Grace share a forced laugh. CUT TO Prague SYDNEY: Give me your hand. Rachel stares at the bloodied hard drive and finally holds out her hand. Sydney places the hard drive in her hand. SYDNEY: Hook it up. Rachel places the hard drive next to the computer and begins to set it up. CUT TO The Cayman Islands PIERPONT: Gentlemen, there are over 300 possible questions. DIXON: We’ve… committed the answers to memory. GRACE: Our boss is highly security-conscious. PIERPONT: Of course. Rachel has set up the laptop and it tries to recover the data from the hard drive. PIERPONT: Here we go. “The select blood runs through…” The guards stand ready with their g*n trained on Dixon and Grace. Sydney listens in on her comms with Dixon. Rachel is just getting the hard drive up PIERPONT: Do you need me to repeat the question? DIXON: No. The select blood runs through… Rachel searches for the answer to the question. The answer displays on her screen. SYDNEY: (comms) Roquet’s Heart. DIXON: …Roquet’s Heart. PIERPONT: (pulling up next question) “The future’s history is written in…” Rachel finds the answer to the question, which displays on her screen. SYDNEY: “The ink of the past.” (to Rachel, puzzled) What are these questions? DIXON: The ink of the past. PIERPONT: “What the mirror reflects…” SYDNEY: (comms) Lives eternal. GRACE: Lives eternal. PIERPONT: “If there was never a one, there was ever…” Rachel tries to search for the answer. Dixon and Grace are silent. Rachel gets a CORRUPT DATA message from the computer. RACHEL: Oh, no. SYDNEY: What? RACHEL: The data’s corrupt. PIERPONT: “If there was never a one, there was ever…” Dixon looks over at Grace. DIXON: This was yours. GRACE: No. No, no. This – this was yours. RACHEL: I’ve heard Dean say this before. GRACE: You had all the questions that rhymed, remember? DIXON: Yes. (apologetically mutters to Pierpont) PIERPONT: Gentlemen, I need an answer. RACHEL: (whispers) If there was never a one, there was ever… (aloud) The Twelve. SYDNEY: The twelve. DIXON: The twelve. (to Grace) I’m sorry. PIERPONT: Gentlemen, we’re at your service. Pierpont turns around the laptop to face Dixon and Grace. There is a list of transactions totaling $541,378,284.88. At the bottom of the screen, it says ACCESS GRANTED. Dixon leans forward to use the laptop. The guards put their g*n away. Sydney closes the laptop Rachel was using. SYDNEY: Come on. Let’s get out of here. Rachel blinks, looking disoriented. SYDNEY: It’s over. Come on. Dixon is accessing the 1017 account on Pierpont’s laptop. PIERPONT: Can I get you something to drink, a cigar? GRACE: You know what? I’d love a drink. (INT. DEAN’S BASE OF OPERATIONS – DAY) Peyton notices that someone withdrawn all the money from the account. She reports the loss to Dean. PEYTON: Someone accessed the 1017 account. They cleaned us out. We lost everything. DEAN: That’s impossible. PEYTON: They were on-site, transferred from the Caymans. DEAN: No one can do that. I am the only one with… (realizes) She’s still alive. Rachel Gibson’s still alive. PEYTON: And they’ve got her in custody. DEAN: We need to get her back. (INT. HEARING ROOM – DAY) HARKIN: I’d like to turn our attention to Omnifam. SLOANE: For three years, I ran a world relief organization dedicated to humanitarian causes. HARKIN: Which you used as a cover for a genetic engineering project that almost caused a global genocide. SLOANE: Yes. HARKIN: Yes? Mr. Sloane, I just accused you of attempting to m*rder millions of people. I was hoping for a bit more than a “yes.” SLOANE: For years, I was driven by a misguided attempt to pursue… a higher power. I will not attempt to deny my wrongdoings. There is no reason to. The government has pardoned me for those actions. However, I am reformed. (pauses) Two years ago, I learned I had a daughter. She has changed by life. Since the moment I met her, I have dedicated my every moment, every action, to atoning for my sins. HARKIN: Mr. Sloane, four months ago, you betrayed your agency and participated in a conspiracy that caused the deaths of thousands of people in Sovogda. How exactly is that atoning for your sins? SLOANE: I did not betray my agency. I was forced to go undercover to establish credentials with Elena Derevko, and you should have in front of you corresponding statements from the agents involved. HARKIN: Yes, I have the statements. Your colleagues seem to have bought your hollow justifications, but I find your actions fit a pattern of criminal behavior you have demonstrated your entire life. Time and again, you explain away your crimes as some sort of necessary evil. I find it shocking people continue to believe your lies. In truth, these proceedings are a mere formality. You will atone for your sins, Mr. Sloane. Only you don’t get to decide the punishment – we do. Sloane closes his eyes and considers what Harkin just said. (INT. PRISON – DAY) Sloane is being led down a hallway back to his cell. JACK: (voiceover) Assuming the worst, it will happen fast. You’ll be immediately transferred to a federal penitentiary. Jack is speaking with Arvin in his cell. JACK: It’s doubtful we’ll have a chance to go over your affairs, assuming they rule against you. SLOANE: They’re going to rule against me. Jack is silent. SLOANE: Thank you for getting Sydney and Marcus to write statements on my behalf. I’m sure that must have been very difficult. JACK: They volunteered. I didn’t have to ask. SLOANE: Well, thank them for me. (pauses) I want to give you power of attorney over Nadia. JACK: Of course. SLOANE: Promise me you’ll do everything you can to save her, Jack – as if she were your own daughter. JACK: You have my word. SLOANE: (whispers) Thank you. (INT. APO – DAY) DIXON: He’s scared. The Cayman transfer was a success. We were able to take full control of Dean’s finances. As a result, he’s getting sloppy, making uncharacteristic mistakes. An hour ago, Echelon intercepted a call Dean placed to Laurent Moreau, a business associate Ms. Gibson flagged in her debriefings. Dixon nods to Marshall to play the audio recording of the conversation. Moreau: You lost everything. Dean: It’s a setback. We’re moving forward as scheduled, but I need to retrieve my operations archives. Moreau: You’re planning on blackmailing yourself out of the red? Dean: Where are the archives, Laurent? Laurent: Relax. They’re safe at Rue L’Or. Dean: I’ll contact you Thursday to arrange transfer. SYDNEY: Dean’s going after his archives. DIXON: If we can b*at him to it, we’d have access to Dean’s entire operation. GRACE: They said they’re being held at Rue L’Or. What’s that? MARSHALL: Well, looks like it’s in Monte Carlo. One of Moreau’s fronts. Hey, it’s a casino. SYDNEY: What did we do with all that money we seized? (INT. PRISON – DAY) Sloane is writing a letter to Nadia. A man interrupts him. It’s Dean’s man. MAN: Having trouble sleeping, Mr. Sloane? I don’t blame you. You’d have to count a lot of sheep to erase today’s proceedings, that’s for sure. I’m guessing they’re gonna put you away for a long time – which is just too bad, really, ‘cause… (walks up to the bars) It’ll be awful hard to help that daughter of yours from inside a federal penitentiary. Sloane looks up at the man. MAN: Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way. Huh, Mr. Sloane? I work for some very powerful people. My benefactors may be able to help sway the committee’s decision tomorrow. SLOANE: I see. And I suppose that these benefactors of yours want something in return for their help. MAN: They would at that. SLOANE: Ah. (INT. APO – DAY) Sydney, Dixon, and Grace are planning the operation to Rue L’Or. They pour over the blueprints and other information they’ve gathered on the casino. SYDNEY: We need to tap into the fiber optics. There’s a maintenance station in the parking garage. DIXON: Guard checkpoints are here and here (points on blueprints). They’ve got the garage locked down. GRACE: I can get into the parking garage. MARSHALL: (excited) Hey, guys. Check this out. (drops a pair of dice) Winner – seven! Every time. (drops dice) Seven! SYDNEY: Marshall, you’re not supposed to h*t seven. MARSHALL: No, no, it’s – it – it’s supposed to h*t seven, right? I mean… see? Winner - seven. (smiles) DIXON: You’ve got it backwards. She’s right. MARSHALL: Really? (takes dice back) SYDNEY: Talk to me about this vault. DIXON: The deposit boxes are in electromagnetic tumblers. SYDNEY: Can we get around it? DIXON: It’s on a systemic system. The mainframe resets the passcodes daily. RACHEL: I can get around it. Dixon and Sydney turn and look at Rachel. RACHEL: If… it’s an EM system, I can decrypt the algorithm. I just need access to the building’s network. SYDNEY: Can we do it from a remote location? Rachel walks over and looks over the information they have. RACHEL: (shakes head) It’s a segregated network. I’d have to be there. But... I’ll go. Sydney looks at Rachel, concerned. RACHEL: (nods) I’ll do it. SYDNEY: It’s okay. RACHEL: No, I – I mean, I want to. (pauses) I had to dig… through my friends yesterday because of Gordon Dean. If I can help you stop him, then that’s what I need to do. There’s not a whole lot that’ll scare me. Not anymore. Sydney nods. MONTE CARLO Sydney pulls up to a casino in a silver Jaguar and gets out. Thomas Grace, dressed as a parking valet, gives Sydney her ticket and takes the car. A security guard waves Thomas Grace into the garage to park Sydney’s car. SYDNEY: (putting more chips down) Tell your pit boss we need more money. We’re feeling lucky tonight. (rubs dice on her belly) Grace opens the panel and examines it. Sydney is rolling and winning. Grace runs back to the car and opens the trunk. Rachel is hiding inside the trunk. Grace takes her hand and helps her out of the trunk. Meanwhile, Sydney is getting stopped by casino security. PIT BOSS: Madame, could we please have a word with you? Rachel and Grace go into the room with the panel. Rachel attaches a PDA to the panel. Numbers flash on the screen. RACHEL: I need a piece of paper. Grace goes to find some paper. Meanwhile, Sydney sh**t the pit boss with a tranquilizer g*n, then turns and sh**t the other guard behind her. Grace finds a newspaper on a desk in the room and brings it to Rachel. GRACE: Here, have this. SYDNEY: (comms) Sidewinder, I’m approaching the vault. What’s your status? Grace is waiting for Rachel to finish her calculations on the newspaper. GRACE: They’re waiting for us. SYDNEY: Sidewinder? GRACE: We gotta go. RACHEL: Do you wanna come over here and do the advanced binomial calculus? ‘Cause… I’d be more than happy to stand there and watch. GRACE: (comms) …Sidewinder’s gonna need a little more time. Sydney cuts a hole in the glass door above the knob and removes the cut piece of glass. SYDNEY: I’m at the vault. I need that key code. Rachel hands the newspaper to Grace. GRACE: Got it. She opens the deposit box and retrieves a small device. She checks it over, satisfied. SYDNEY: I’ve got the package. Rachel and Grace go back into the car. Rachel gets back into the trunk of the car. Grace takes the car to the front of the casino, and Sydney takes the car and drives off. Inside the trunk, Rachel turns on the light. SYDNEY: This is Phoenix. We have the archive. JACK: What’s your location? SYDNEY: I’m approaching the ferry now. JACK: Copy that. Have a safe trip. She approaches the checkpoint. A guard stops her and takes out a pen and begins jotting something down. Sydney notices something in her rearview mirror. A large truck pulls up behind her. Suddenly, an electromagnet pulls the car up with Sydney and Rachel in it. Rachel has no idea what is happening from inside the trunk. Sydney’s cell phone rings. SYDNEY: …I don’t know what Mockingbird is! Please - what is Mockingbird? Inside the trunk, Rachel is scared. SYDNEY: I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what you want. Suddenly, the car shakes. Rachel screams from inside the trunk. Dean and Peyton are on the end of the line with Sydney. DEAN: Ms. Bristow, you’re not exactly in the position to play coy. You know who I am. SYDNEY: Yes. DEAN: You know what I want. Sydney glances over at the archive she retrieved. SYDNEY: You’re not thinking this through, Dean. If you drop me, you destroy your archive. DEAN: The laptop’s a fake. There’s nothing on it. Where’s Mockingbird now? Ms. Bristow… SYDNEY: All right - all right, you win. Listen… The CIA has her in protective custody. She’s… in a safe – A ship horn sounds loudly in the distance and interrupts her. DEAN: What? SYDNEY: She’s in a safe house in Philadelphia. DEAN: Listen carefully. Tell your people to deliver her to the 30th Street Train Station. They have exactly thirty minutes. (hangs up phone) RACHEL: Sydney… what’s happening? SYDNEY: Rachel, hang on a sec. I gotta call my dad. (INT. APO – DAY) JACK: (on phone with Sydney) Dean doesn’t know Rachel’s with you? SYDNEY: No. He’s expecting the CIA to deliver her in exactly… 26 minutes. Jack walks into a room with Marshall. JACK: (to Marshall) Task the satellites. I want full coverage of the area. Sydney, if Dean calls again, route it through us. Don’t worry, we’ll get you down. SYDNEY: You’d better. JACK: (on phone) Dixon, where are you? DIXON: We’re en route. Five minutes away. JACK: Approach carefully. We don’t know who’s on the ground – but get to that crane. Rules of engagement are at your discretion. DIXON: Copy that. Almost there. (INT. MONTE CARLO – NIGHT) Inside Sydney’s car… SYDNEY: Rachel, how you doing? RACHEL: I’ve been better. How are you? Sydney is going through her stuff to look for useful items. SYDNEY: Oh, you know. Just another day at the office. Hey, Rachel, look around back there. Is there anything that might be useful? Rachel takes a look around in the trunk. RACHE: Uh, well, there’s a - a tire… and - a crowbar, and I – and I have my purse. Are those helpful? SYDNEY: No, not really. RACHEL: Uh… how high up are we? SYDNEY: Oh, just… (looks out window) couple hundred feet. Don’t worry, I’ve been in much worse situations than this. RACHEL: You have? On the ground near the crane’s control cab… DIXON: Area’s clear so far. We’re approaching the cab now. (climbs up) It’s empty. JACK: (on phone) Can you get to the controls? Dixon checks the controls. DIXON: Hang on… it’s got some sort of… (looks up and sees a camera) Uh-oh. Dean and Peyton see Dixon through the camera. DEAN: (checks his watch) That was fast. Do it. Peyton presses a button on her screen that says RELEASE. The car drops suddenly. Sydney and Rachel scream. JACK: Sydney… Just as suddenly, the car stops falling. Sydney gasps. The car dangles precariously in the air. DEAN: (on phone with Sydney) Pull your agents off-site. Right now. JACK: Outrigger, get out of there! Dixon and Grace climb down from the cab of the electromagnetic crane. DEAN: You’re trying my patience, Ms. Bristow. Any further deviations, and I will drop you. I want confirmation that Mockingbird’s en route. SYDNEY: What sort of confirmation? DEAN: Have her call me. RACHEL: (whispers) What? (INT. APO – DAY) MARSHALL: Dean’s got the place wired. It’s all on remote. If I can isolate the frequency, I might be able to override the crane’s controls. JACK: What do you need from us? MARSHALL: Just time - just time. (EXT. MONTE CARLO – NIGHT) RACHEL: Sydney. I can’t do that. I can’t call him. He’ll know. I’m a terrible liar. That’s why he wants me to call. SYDNEY: Rachel, this is easy. This is just like in Prague. You have to become someone else. You have to become the person you used to be. All you have to do is act helpless and scared. RACHEL: I am scared. SYDNEY: Yeah, but you’re not helpless. Not anymore. Look… I’ve spent my life dealing with men like Gordon Dean. They all have a fatal flaw. They always want power – so you just fool ’em into thinking they have it. And you h*t ’em when they’re not looking. RACHEL: So what do I do? SYDNEY: Act terrified. Keep him on the phone. We’ll do the rest. Rachel takes out her phone and makes the call. Dean answers. DEAN: Hello. RACHEL: They told me to call you. DEAN: Rachel. Where are you? RACHEL: I’m in a van. I don’t know. They wanted me… they wanted me to tell you that they’re doing everything you asked. They’re turning me over to you. They won’t tell me anything else. Meanwhile, Marshall is trying to pinpoint the frequency of the signal. RACHEL: What are you gonna do to me? DEAN: Just come in, Rachel. We need to talk to you. RACHEL: I didn’t tell them anything. I swear, I didn’t tell them anything. DEAN: I believe you. Back at APO… JACK: Marshall? MARSHALL: I’m almost there, almost there. Just give me a sec. Give me a sec. Almost there. Back in the car… RACHEL: What are you gonna do to me? DEAN: That depends on how cooperative you are. RACHEL: I’ll do anything you want. Please, Mrs. Dean. Please. I don’t wanna die. A ship horn sounds loudly and rattles Rachel. She tries to cover the phone. SYDNEY: Rachel, Plan B. Rachel quickly hangs up the phone. DEAN: What was that? SYDNEY: Kick the backseat as hard as you can. Rachel tries to kick the seat, but nothing happens. SYDNEY: Now! Do it right now! Rachel kicks harder and folds the seat down, allowing her to crawl through. SYDNEY: Crowbar! DEAN: She’s in the car. Sydney takes the crowbar and breaks the moonroof window. SYDNEY: Give me your hand. DEAN: Drop ’em! Sydney takes the vacuum lifter and attaches it to the electromagnet through the moon roof. The car drops down around them as they emerge through the roof, with Sydney hanging on to the lifter attached to the magnet and Rachel hanging on to Sydney. The car crashes down. (INT. HEARING ROOM – DAY) Sloane stands to be accept the committee’s decision at his hearing. HARKIN: Mr. Sloane, this committee has reviewed your case and is prepared to render its ruling. Before we do so, I’d like to reiterate for the record my extreme disapproval for tactics you have employed while working under the auspices of the United States Government. Your compromised methodology sullies the name of every man and woman who serves this country honorably. (pauses) However, while I may detest your methods, I cannot deny your results. Slone seems to look pleased. Jack looks surprised and glances over at Sloane. HARKIN: After careful examination of the facts, this committee is forced to conclude your recent actions fall within the guidelines of your pardon agreement, and that, in truth, (pauses and looks to his right before continuing) you have this country’s best interests in mind. I find no cause for violation. Arvin Sloane, I hereby order your release, effective immediately. Jack looks at Sloane with suspicion. Sloane closes his eyes. It’s over. (INT. PLANE – DUSK) The camera goes down the aisle as we see the team going home after the operation. Dixon is sleeping in his seat. Grace is in the next row sleeping with headphones on. Sydney and Rachel are sitting together behind Grace. Sydney has her eyes closed. Rachel is still awake and looks over at Sydney. RACHE: How can you people sleep after something like this? SYDNEY: (with her eyes closed) You just learn to take it where you can get it, I guess. RACHEL: It’s never gonna be over, is it? I’m gonna be with you a while. Sydney opens her eyes and looks over at Rachel. RACHEL: In custody, I mean. SYDNEY: You’ll be with us until it’s safe for you to go home. RACHEL: When will that be? SYDNEY: I honestly don’t know… Dean knows how dangerous you are to him. We can’t release you until we’ve brought him in. RACHEL: …But it doesn’t end with Dean. SYDNEY: No, it doesn’t. RACHEL: It’s never gonna be safe. SYDNEY: I guess we’ll have to bring ’em all down - every single one of ’em. In Washington, D.C., Sloane leaves his hearing. As he leaves, Sloane walks past the man possibly responsible for swaying the committee’s decision. Sloane continues on, a free man.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x04 - Mockingbird"}

foreverdreaming

U.S. ARMY STORAGE FACILITY FRANKFURT, GERMANY (EXT. STORAGE FACILITY – NIGHT) It is raining and thundering. A jeep pulls into a complex past the guard station in front. A soldier in a rain pancho sends off a large army truck. As the truck pulls away, someone dressed in black with their face concealed under a balaclava uses a taser on the soldier, who falls down, unconscious. The intruder leaves him there and goes up some stairs and into a storage space. The intruder uses a blowtorch to cut open a locked gate. Meanwhile, another soldier has found the soldier unconscious on the ground. The intruder searches the storage facility with a flashlight and stops when they see a container with a red and white cross on it. SOLDIER: Kindt, we got a man down. It’s Rodriguez. Do you copy? Do you copy? Do you copy? Come in! CUT TO a walkie talkie on the ground. Kindt is not responding because he is also knocked out. Alarms sound. The intruder takes a silver case and starts to leave, but runs into a soldier, who begins f*ring. The intruder ducks out of the way, behind a concrete column. The soldier’s b*ll*ts h*t some flammable barrels, which explode and start a f*re. The intruder notices a window on the other side of the f*re and leaps through the f*re, breaking out of the window just as the rest of the barrels explode. They fall into an army truck bed below the window. The tarp breaks their fall. The intruder emerges from the truck and pulls off the balaclava. It is Renée Rienne. (INT. SYDNEY’S HOUSE – DAY) Sydney practices yoga with music on. Rachel walks in, wearing pajamas. RACHEL: Hey. SYDNEY: Hi. I wish I could still fit into those. Rachel looks down at what she is wearing. SYDNEY: Did you sleep okay? RACHEL: Yeah, I did. Sydney turns down the music with a remote control. RACHEL: You okay? SYDNEY: I’m just… I’m telling you, this kid’s gonna to be a black belt. Here, give me a hand. (reaches out) Get ready. They share a laugh as Rachel pulls Sydney up off the floor. Rachel takes a seat on the couch, and Sydney sits in a chair across from her. RACHEL: Wow. You, uh… must be so excited. SYDNEY: Yeah, when I’m not terrified. RACHEL: You don’t seem terrified. SYDNEY: I have no idea how to be a parent. The thought of my life changing forever… doing it on my own – it’s a little overwhelming. RACHEL: Yeah. I know what you mean. SYDNEY: You know, you can stay here as long as you want, Rachel. There’s no hurry. RACHEL: I don’t want to impose. SYDNEY: We’re both going through transitions. We… might as well keep each other company. RACHEL: Thank you. (smiles) SYDNEY: I’m going to change. (gets up and starts toward her room) Help yourself to anything in the fridge… RACHEL: Okay. SYDNEY: …if there’s anything left. RACHEL: Hey, Syd? Sydney stops. RACHEL: You’re going to be a great mom. SYDNEY: (looks a little sad, and then smiles) Thanks. (INT. UPSCALE RESTAURANT – DAY) A hostess is leading Jack to Sloane’s table. Sloane stands up and greets Jack. JACK: You seem to be enjoying your freedom. SLOANE: I was hoping to offer you more than prison food. JACK: I must confess, I’d grown rather fond of the shepherd’s pie. Jack and Sloane sit down. JACK: I’m assuming you didn’t bring me here simply for the cuisine. SLOANE: Look, Jack, during the past few months, I have had to rely on you more than any friend should - which is what makes it difficult for me to ask you this. JACK: You need another favor? SLOANE: I want to return to APO. Of course, my position would be subordinate. You would be director of the task force, and I would have the highest respect for that. In return, you can engage my connections wherever you thought it would be most effective. JACK: And you would, in turn have full CIA resources to search for Nadia’s cure. SLOANE: Exactly. (pauses) I know this puts you in an awkward position – JACK: I’ve already put in the request for your limited reinstatement. SLOANE: You have? I don’t know what to say. JACK: Your gratitude may be premature. Langley hasn’t denied the request, but they haven’t approved it either. Normally, these things… take a few days, but I’m getting informal reports that something – or rather, someone – is standing in the way. SLOANE: Do you know who? I’m happy to make my case personally. JACK: I’m trying to ascertain that myself. Jack’s phone rings. He checks who is calling. JACK: (gets up) I apologize. I’m going to have to cut this short. SLOANE: Whether you’re successful or not, Jack, thank you. Jack turns and leaves. Sloane watches him leave and takes a drink of water. (INT. RENÉE’S HIDOUT – DAY) Renée watches the monitor on the container for a moment and presses a button on the screen. The container opens. We see the man inside the container is an older man with a gray beard. (INT. APO – DAY) Dixon brings a file to Jack’s office. DIXON: Eighteen hours ago, an army storage facility was h*t outside of Frankfurt. JACK: The Dornier Stockpile? DIXON: The intruder crossed two minefields, deactivated a 30,000-Volt electric fence and took down half a dozen army rangers by non-lethal means. JACK: Do we have any potential suspects? DIXON: Agent Grace is on the phone to the base in Germany now, trying to get uplinks of their surveillance imagery. JACK: This lone individual walked right past a stockpile of heavy w*apon, opting instead for a few hundred CCs for something called Atropine ZX. DIXON: ZX is a highly experimental medical stimulant. Its primary use is for b*ttlefield resuscitation of gravely injured soldiers. The infiltration bears striking similarities to the DSR theft a month ago. JACK: Are you suggesting this is somehow connected with the container we recovered in North Korea? DIXON: It could be the secondary phase of the same operation. By all appearances, the man inside the container was in some sort of… next-gen cryogenic deep freeze. JACK: And the stolen ZX could be used to wake up the body? DIXON: It’s possible, yes. CUT TO Tom talking on the phone. TOM: Yes, Guder, I promise. Eight cases of jerky – half beef, half turkey. It’s on the way. Danke. (hangs up phone) Apparently, you can’t get good beef jerky in Germany. MARSHALL: Really? I always thought of Germany as the home of processed meats. You know, ’cause all the sausages that they… Jack and Dixon walk into the room. MARHSALL: …and there’s liverwurst, bratwurst, fleischwurst – TOM: Here it comes. Let’s take a look at our bad boy. JACK: Put it on-screen. They watch the monitors. In the video, the intruder pulls of her balaclava, revealing her identity. TOM: Make that a bad girl. DIXON: Renée Rienne, also known as Le Corbeau. In ’02, she att*cked one of our listening posts in Turkey, made her Number Eight on the CIA’s Most Wanted List. SYDNEY: You don’t know she’s the one who took the body. DIXON: No, but it’s beyond reason that this is a coincidence. SYDNEY: If she took the body, she had a reason. I’ll talk to her. JACK: You exchange information with her twice a week. If she hasn’t told you by now… SYDNEY: Not over the phone. I’ll go in person. JACK: Sydney, this woman is an assassin. SYDNEY: Vaughn trusted her. They worked together for seven years. Besides, if she did take the body and hasn’t told me, it’s because she doesn’t trust me, either. If we make a move on her, that just proves she’s right. JACK: I’m hardly concerned with her feelings. SYDNEY: No, but I am concerned about burning her as an ally. We know the body was in Dean’s possession. Finding out why may tell us more about Prophet Five, what their ultimate agenda is. JACK: Go see her, but you’re not going alone. CUT TO Thomas Grace target sh**ting. He fires multiple sh*ts at the target and puts his g*n down and takes his hearing protection off. JACK: I think you got him. TOM: My mother always said, “If someone was worth sh**ting once, then they’re worth sh**ting twice.” JACK: I’m sorry I never met her. She sounds like my kind of woman. TOM: I think the two of you would have gotten along. JACK: Sydney’s going to Marseilles to meet with a contact. Wheels up within the hour. I’d like you to accompany her. TOM: I’m on escort duty. JACK: Sydney’s contact is Renée Rienne. TOM: Really…? JACK: Miss Rienne has been helping Sydney with her investigation into the Prophet Five conspiracy, though that fact is off the books. TOM: Got it. JACK: Miss Rienne used to work with Michael Vaughn. Based on that, my daughter has inherent trust in her. I do not share her trust. TOM: (nods) I see. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure she’s safe. (EXT. RENÉE’S HIDEOUT MARSEILLES– DAY) TOM: Hope you got the right address. SYDNEY: Micro surveillance cameras, motion detectors on the windows – and this is definitely her place. TOM: I’ll cover the stairs. You slip around front to the elevator. (pulls out g*n) SYDNEY: Put that away. You won’t need it. TOM: She’s already k*lled three CIA agents. We’re not going to be four and five. SYDNEY: When my father briefed you, he told you we’d been working together. TOM: Yeah. He also said if I suspected a thr*at to your safety, I have orders to k*ll her. SYDNEY: My father is overprotective. Inside, Renée loads Atropine ZX into a syringe and injects it into the man in the container. Just then, her cell phone rings. RENÉE: (answering phone) Oui? SYDNEY: It’s me. We need to talk. RENÉE: It’s not a good time. SYDNEY: It can’t wait. I’m out front. RENÉE: (in person) I know. Sydney turns around in surprise and disconnects her phone. Renée appears behind Tom and takes his g*n from him. Tom looks defeated. Renée points her g*n and the two CIA agents. SYDNEY: We aren’t here to thr*at you, Renée. RENÉE: We had an agreement. SYDNEY: I know you took the body. Whatever it is, you can tell me. RENÉE: No, I can’t. This is different. I need to do this myself. SYDNEY: That’s not an option. TOM: Does he know what you’re up to? The three look up and see the man through a window, walking around inside. Quickly, Renée goes back inside and looks for the man. Tom comes in and draws his g*n. RENÉE: No, he’s not dangerous. Renée approaches the man. Suddenly, the man, wielding a Kn*fe, grabs Renée. He holds her hostage, with the Kn*fe to her throat. MAN: Qu'est-ce qui se passe? [What's happening?*] RENÉE: He won’t hurt me – he won’t hurt me! SYDNEY: Let her go. RENÉE: He won’t hurt me! SYDNEY: (to Tom) Do you have the sh*t? TOM: Just say when. RENÉE: No. Please – he doesn’t understand! MAN: Qui sont ces gens? Où sommes nous? [Who are you? (“Who are these people? Where are we?”)] RENÉE: Ça va, ils vont pas te faire de mal. C'est moi. C'est moi. C'est Renée, c'est moi. [It’s okay, they won’t hurt you. It’s me. It’s me. Renée.] The man drops the Kn*fe to the ground. Renée turns to face the man. MAN: J'en crois pas mes yeux. [Can it really be you? (“I don't believe my eyes.”)] RENÉE: C'est moi, Papa. [It’s me, Papa.] TOM: Did I hear her right? SYDNEY: He’s her father. Renée hugs her father. ALIAS INTRO (INT. RENÉE’S HIDE OUT – DAY) Sydney and Tom watch as Renée talks to her father, Luc. LUC: Mais je rêve. Ma petite fille. [How can this be? (“But I'm dreaming.”)] RENÉE: T'es en sécurité maintenant. [You’re safe now.] LUC: On est en quelle année? [What year is this?] RENÉE: 2006. LUC: 23 ans. Pour moi c'était hier. [Twenty-three years. To me, it was yesterday.] SYDNEY: Vous savez qui vous a fait ça? [Do you know who did this to you?] LUC: Qui sont ces gens? T'es sûr d'eux? [Who are these people? Do you trust them? (“Who are these people? Are you sure of them?”)] RENÉE: (nods) C'est eux qui t'ont trouvé. [They were the ones who found you.] Luc looks over at Sydney. RENÉE: Was it Desantis? LUC: Desantis, c'est ça. Quand ils nous at rattrapés, je n’allais pas lui dire où je t'avais caché. Il essayait de me faire parler. D'abord il m’a torturé, puis... I do not… remember. [Desantis. (nods) Yes. After he caught up with us… he tried to make me talk. He tortured me. But I wouldn’t tell him where you were. Then… I do not… remember.] SYDNEY: Is Desantis part of Prophet Five? Luc gets up and stares intently at Sydney. LUC: Prophet Five? What do you know about them? RENÉE: Assied-toi, Papa. [Sit down, Papa.] LUC: No, no, I am fine. TOM: You’re not fine. Your ear is bleeding! Luc reaches and touches his ear. SYDNEY: Here, get him down. RENÉE: Papa? Luc puts his hands over his ears and collapses. SYDNEY: Get him down. His pulse is all over the place. We need something to sedate him to get his heart rate under control. RENÉE: I’ll get some diazepam. SYDNEY: Get his legs steady. TOM: Calm down. Renée runs over and gets a vial of diazepam. Luc is struggling with Sydney and Tom and hyperventilating. Renée takes the syringe and injects Luc’s arm. Immediately, he calms down.. TOM: His heartbeat’s weak, but it’s s*ab. SYDNEY: What do you know about that device? Why was he in it? RENÉE: I don’t know. I just had to get him out of there. (EXT. LOS ANGELES – NIGHT) Arvin Sloane leaves the National Naval Hospital. Dean’s man is waiting for him. Sloane walks down the steps as Dean’s man, Keach, comes up behind him. KEACH: How’s your daughter? Nadia, right? That’s such a pretty name. SLOANE: What are you doing here? KEACH: Just checking up on our investment. Thought this might be a good place to find you. SLOANE: Don’t you ever contact me in public again. And tell whoever you answer to that I’m proceeding as instructed. KEACH: Tell him yourself. Sloane looks at Keach with surprise. At that moment, a car pulls up to the curb. Keach opens the rear passenger car for Sloane, who gets in. Gordon Dean is in the car. DEAN: Hello, Arvin. SLOANE: Hello, Gordon. So you’re my mysterious benefactor. DEAN: I’m one of them. Are you familiar with Senator Lewis? Dean hands Sloane an envelope. Sloane opens the envelope and flips through several pictures of the senator. SLOANE: She’s the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee. DEAN: She’s the reason your security clearance hasn’t been reinstated. She doesn’t seem to care very much for you. Sloane continues flipping through the photographs and sees a young girl in one of the photographs. DEAN: It may have something to do with the fact that she’s actually a decent human being. SLOANE: If she’s the one standing in my way, my chances of returning to APO are slim… at best. DEAN: And I need you at APO. You’re going to have to persuade Senator Lewis to see things your way. Luckily, that’s what you do best. (INT. RENÉE’S HIDEOUT – NIGHT) TOM: (on the phone with Jack) Look, I gotta be honest with you. I’ve had basic field medical training. If the guy were sh*t, I could handle that, but… this is beyond me. JACK: Is he s*ab? TOM: That’s kind of hard to define. He was bleeding out of his eyes and his ears. He’s unconscious. His breathing’s shallow, but regular. MARSHALL: Well, if we knew why he was in the container, we might have a better idea of what was wrong with him. TOM: I took a look inside the box. It’s lined with IVs apparently feeding him nutrients. There’s an on-board hard drive tracking his vitals. Other than that, a bunch of tech stuff I can’t identify. DIXON: I still have contacts within the DSR. I can reach out. Maybe they analyzed the container before it was stolen. TOM: Renée mentioned a name – a Dr. Aldo Desantis. Apparently, he put her father in the box twenty years ago. RACHEL: I know that name. Dean had me arrange the transfer of some of his files. They were archived at the University of Milan, but about a year ago, Dean had me move them to a private facility in San Francisco. JACK: Agent Grace, tell Renée we’ll coordinate a mission to obtain the Desantis files. Perhaps they’ll shed some light on her father’s condition. In the meantime, contact Dr. Etienne Laurent. He’s twenty minutes outside Marseilles. He can check Renée’s father into a facility under an assumed name and run the full examination. TOM: Copy that. I’ll contact you when I get there. CUT TO Renée and Sydney monitoring Luc’s progress. RENÉE: I can take care of him. SYDNEY: No, you can’t. If my father vouches for this doctor, your father will be safe. Look, if we were going to double-cross you, we would have done it already. Just let us help you. You have my word. RENÉE: Okay. TOM: I’ll pull a van around front. Tom takes the elevator downstairs. Suddenly, the lights flicker and buzz. Suddenly, the power goes out throughout the entire building. RENÉE: What’s going on? SYDNEY: I don’t know. The elevator is stuck between the first and second floor. Tom opens the elevator gate and crouches down to get out at the first floor. He hears some rattling noises and ducks down behind some crates. The rattling continues. Tom goes around to get a clearer view of the door, which is where the noise is coming from. Suddenly, the door is kicked open. Armed, uniformed men file into the room. Tom checks his cell phone, which beeps that it is not receiving a signal. He sighs in frustration. The armed men fan out through the room. Their g*n have laser sights. One of the them holds a tracking device of some sort. One of the men spots Tom, who races back to the elevator. The men shout at him in French and begin sh**ting. ARMED MEN: Là-bas! Allez! Là-bas! À toi! [He's over there! Go, go! Over there, you get him.*] Tom climbs back up into the elevator car and up into the shaft to get back to the second floor, where he closes a large metal security gate to the elevator. Renée’s landline phone rings. RENÉE: Allô? [Hello?] VOICE: Vous avez pris quelque chose de nous. Nous voulons le recouperer. [You took something from us. We want it back.] RENÉE: Vous êtes qui? [Who are you?] VOICE: Vous avez vingt minutes. [You have twenty minutes.] Renée hangs up the phone. RENÉE: They want my father. The door opens. It’s Tom. TOM: We’re under siege! SYDNEY: They want Renée’s father. Who are they? TOM: I wish I knew. RENÉE: It’s the DGSE. TOM: Intelligence? No, it’s not French Military. They’re armed too well. RENÉE: That’s why I didn’t tell you. SYDNEY: What, you think we brought ’em here? RENÉE: How else would they know? Sydney flips open her cell phone. TOM: It’s no good. They’re using a jamming device. Sydney closes her phone. TOM: We need w*apon. RENÉE: Back there. There is a closet. (hands Tom a set of keys) I have an army radio. If you can find a clear frequency, call for help. (sets the radio down for Sydney) Tom opens the storage closet and finds well-stocked cache of w*apon, including g*n, grenades, and r*fles. RENÉE: Inside those cases there are monitors for the security cameras. So what are we up against? SYDNEY: Well, there are twelve of them it looks like, at least. They’re planning something. What is it? Sydney and Renée watch the monitor closely. Tom returns with the w*apon he chose. The surveillance cameras show a truck with a wide hose parked near the building. RENÉE: What’s that? SYDNEY: Gas. They want to knock us out before they att*ck us. TOM: Right there, they’re pumping it into the vent. RENÉE: Get in the bedroom. Seal yourself in. I’ll take out the truck. TOM: No, no, no, I’ll go. You watch your father. SYDNEY: (to Renée) Come on. Sydney and Renée head to the bedroom, while Tom runs the other way to take care of the truck. (INT. APO – DAY) RACHEL: Marshall, Dixon’s ready for us. MARSHALL: Yeah, I’m ready. It’s gotta be here somewhere. Where is it? You know what an audio coupler is? You know, the piece that slides over the base of a telephone headset? RACHEL: Yeah, like from w*r Games. MARSHALL: You know w*r Games…? RACHEL: Yeah. It’s my second-favorite movie. MARSHALL: Really? Mine, too. Now don’t tell anyone, but it’s what inspired me to hack into The Pentagon for the first time. RACHEL: How’d you get in? MARSHALL: I, uh, went in through the electrical system. Yeah, there was a side-wire cutout for air conditioning repairs, so I got the woman from the repair company on the phone and convinced her that I was inside the building and then sweet-talked her into giving me the password. I think her name was Ina. RACHEL: I went straight in through the sewer controls. MARSHALL: Really? That’s – that’s pretty smart… and a lot… easier. RACHEL: So are we hacking into the storage facility’s network? MARSHALL: Yeah, to find out where the Desantis files are stored. RACHEL: Well, if we’re going in via RF, then the network must be terminal. MARSHALL: No, closed loop. Oh! Found it. Marshall holds up the audio coupler and tosses it to Rachel, who catches it. She turns and leaves. (INT. SAN FRANCISCO - DAY) MARSHALL: I hope none of you suffer from arachnophobia, ’cause this little six-legged freak (picks up the small robot he created) is not pretty, but she gets the job done. I call her Charlotte, for obvious reasons. Oh, check this out. There is a tomographic camera right on the bottom there. It basically acts like an X-RAY or a CAT scan. (takes pictures of Dixon) It takes images layer by layer. See? Look at that. The monitor shows Dixon layers of Dixon’s face. MARSHALL: This will allow us to take images of the Desantis files… RACHEL: Without ever having to remove them from their storage container. MARSHALL: Right. (INT. STORAGE FACILITY - DAY) Rachel, wearing a dress suit with fishnet stockings and red heels, and Dixon, wearing a suit with a red tie, walk down the hallway with the manager of the storage facility. Dixon is carrying a wooden box. DIXON: I assume your vaults are climate-controlled. MANAGER: Of course. Now, if you purchase our premium package, your item will be stored in the most secure wing of our facility. They reach the front desk of the storage facility. DIXON: Yes, I’ve heard that before. (opens box) Let me explain something. (motions at vase inside the box) This particular piece is from the Yongle Period – very delicate. I don’t want the most secure wing. I want the wing you reserve for the people who will come looking for you if anything happens to their stuff. MANAGER: (pauses) Right this way. The manager closes Dixon’s box and picks it up. Dixon checks his cell phone. DIXON: Oh, my cell died. (to Rachel) Call my wife, would you? Let her know we’re running late. RACHEL: Would you mind? MANAGER: Of course not. Be my guest. RACHEL: Thank you. Rachel leaves to make the call, while Dixon and the manager go to put the box in storage. Rachel sits down at the lobby phone and attaches a device to the bottom of their cordless phone. It beeps. Rachel puts the phone to her ear. RACHEL: Hi, Meredith. We’re running a little bit behind. MARSHALL: Nice. Phone link is good. Accessing the network…. Rachel turns to check the man at the front desk. He notices Rachel and look sup at her. Meanwhile, the manager punches in a code in a keypad. He opens the door. Inside is a short hallway leading to another door. MARSHALL: Uh, you know what? Just stay on the phone one more minute? RACHEL: Yeah, I’ll have him home by dinner. The manager reaches a second door and slides a car key in the reader to open another door. Inside is the vault. Marshall locates the Desantis files on what looks like a circuit diagram. MARSHALL: Got it. Rachel hangs up the phone. MANAGER: As you can see, temperature and humidity-controlled. We even have backup generators in case of prolonged blackout. DIXON: This is fine. MANAGER: I’m glad you’re pleased. The manager smiles and places the box on a shelf. MANAGER: Now if you’ll just follow me, we can finish the rest of our paperwork. Dixon nods and follows the manager out. The manager closes the door as he leaves. Inside the vault, there is a beeping sound coming from the box. A small door opens, and Charlotte crawls out from the box. MARSHALL: Come on, Charlotte. You go, girl. Marshall controls Charlotte via remote control. Charlotte crawls around to the front of the box, traveling down the shelf. MARSHALL: Come on, Charlotte. Don’t let me down. Rachel and Dixon have finished at the storage facility and join Marshall inside the van. RACHEL: How’s it going? MARSHALL: Well, according to their network, the Desantis files are inside Cabinet 2187, so we’ll soon see for ourselves. Charlotte crawls around until Marshall stops it at a certain spot. MARSHALL: Come on, Charlotte. Work your magic. All right, imaging through the first layer of metal. “Desantis.” We got ’em. DIXON: Good. Let’s scan the rest of those documents and relay them to APO. MARSHALL: Okay. (INT. RENÉE’S HIDEOUT – NIGHT) Sydney fiddles with the army radio, trying to find a frequency they can use to call for help. RENÉE: Any luck? SYDNEY: Low-band frequencies are completely blocked. I found this… midrange. (turns up radio to hear this static and noise) Chatter of some kind, but it’s too nosy to transmit over. Renée touches her hand to Luc’s head. RENÉE: He’s got a fever. SYDNEY: Why do they want him, Renée? (pauses) Tell me the truth. RENÉE: I was very sick as a child. The medicine I was taking – it was expensive. My father answered an ad in the newspaper for a job. Later that week, he came home with more money than I had ever seen. I could tell he was scared. Renée looks over at her father. He looks delirious. RENÉE: He packed what he could, and we left. He didn’t want to scare me, but I knew he was running from someone. One day in Geneva, they found us. Renée flashes back to her childhood. She stares out a window, clutching a teddy bear. Her father grabs her and puts her in a closet. RENÉE’S FATHER: Allez, écoute Papa. T'ouvres pas cette porte avant le matin, quoique tu vois. T'es si courageuse. Papa reviendra. [Listen to Daddy very carefully. Don’t open this door until tomorrow morning. No matter what you hear, or what you see. Do you understand? You are so brave. Daddy will be back.] Renée’s father closes the closet door. Two men approach Renée’s father. An older man follows behind and seems to be in charge. RENÉE’S FATHER: Vous êtes qui? Qu'est-ce que vous voulez? J'ai pas - non! Laissez-moi! [What do you want? No - let me go!] Renée watches as the two men force her father against the wall. RENÉE’S FATHER: Let me go! The older man takes out a syringe and injects Renée’s father, who passes out. The men take Renée’s father away. RENÉE: I later found out that the man I saw take my father was Desantis. They were his clinical trials my father had been paid for. I assumed they k*lled him that night. SYDNEY: This is why you began pursuing Prophet Five. RENÉE: To make them pay. Sydney remains silent. Tom heads to the stairs when he sees three men coming up the stairs. One guard directs the other two guards. GUARD: Vas-y, on est prêt. Vous allez par là, et par là. Tout de suite. [Go on, we're ready... you, go through there, and through there.*] The two guards separate, leaving their commander at the top of the stairs. He reports to someone over a walkie-talkie. GUARD: On est pret, deuxième étage. C'est ça. [Hurry up. We're ready, second story.*] Suddenly, Tom comes up behind him and knocks him down the stairs. Tom carefully goes down the stairs with his g*n drawn. The two guards come back to the top of the stairs. A uniformed guard comes up the stairs and joins the other two guards. It’s Tom, who has stolen the uniform from the guard he knocked out. He follows the guards for a bit, but soon slips away to take care of the truck outside. Tom walks out of the building, still dressed in the guard’s uniform. He walks around to the left side of the truck. After looking around first, he pulls a timed expl*sive out and places it on the left front tire of the car. The timer is set for 20 seconds. Tom begins to walk away, but stops when a guard calls out to him. The guard comes up behind him and grabs Tom’s arm, while talking to him in French. GUARD: Qui êtes-vous? J'ai demandé de qui êtes vous. [Who are you? I asked - who are you?*] Tom grabs the guard’s arm, causing the guard to f*re the g*n prematurely. Tom equips his Kn*fe, but the guard pushes him against the front of the truck, knocking his helmet off. Tom punches the guard and s*ab him. The guard falls to the ground. There are only six seconds left on the b*mb. Tom takes off running, as two other guards start sh**ting at him. GUARDS: Vite, vite! [Quickly, quickly!*] The b*mb explodes, destroying the truck and catapulting Tom forward. The two guards that were f*ring at Tom are caught in the blast. Sydney watches the blast through a window. RENÉE: What can you see? SYDNEY: (turns away from the window) Nothing… I don’t know if he made it. They hear the sound of glass shattering. Renée draws her g*n. Sydney picks up her g*n and they carefully make their way toward the door. LUC: Renée! RENÉE: Papa? LUC: Qu'est-ce qui se passe? [What’s happening?] RENÉE: T'inquiète pas. Il y a des hommes dehors, ils sont armés, mais ça va. [It’s okay. There are men outside. They have g*n. (“Don't worry. There are men outside, they're armed, but it'll be okay.”)] LUC: C'est moi qu'ils sont venus chercher. [They’re coming for me.] Someone pounds on the door. TOM: It’s me! Let me in. Renée and Sydney remove the fabric they used to seal the sides of the door and slide open the door for Tom. SYDNEY: Nice job. TOM: (walks toward the window and peeks out) I think I just pissed ’em off. (comes back to Sydney and Renée) We need to get ready. They’ll be coming in soon. Sydney, you stay here with her father. If I can take enough of them out, maybe they’ll decide we’re not worth it. Renée looks to Sydney and reassures her father. RENÉE: T'inquiète pas. Personne ne va te faire de mal maintenant. [You’ll be alright, Papa. No one is taking you away again. (“Don't worry. No one will hurt you now.”)] Renée and Tom head to the other room, while Sydney remains with Luc. (INT. WASHINGTON, D.C. SKATING RINK – DAY) A girl is skating to “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy. A skating instructor coaches her. INSTRUCTOR: That’s great. Good - keep your back up. Senator Lewis watches the girl proudly. INSTRUCTOR: Over your toe. Stay over your toe. Good! Arvin Sloane is watching also, from behind Senator Lewis. SLOANE: She’s quite good. SENATOR LEWIS: (without turning around) Thank you. SLOANE: You must be very proud. SENATOR LEWIS: (smiling as she turns around) You have no idea. Her smile fades when she sees her visitor. SLOANE: Senator Lewis. SENATOR LEWIS: What can I do for you, Mr. Sloane? SLOANE: (walks toward the senator) Well, actually, I was hoping for a minute of your time. SENATOR LEWIS: If you’ve come here to lobby for your security clearance to be approved, I suggest you save yourself the trouble. SLOANE: Yeah, I understand your reluctance, but I’m asking you to reconsider your position. With my knowledge and my resources, I can be a valuable asset to this country. SENATOR LEWIS: Touching. But somehow I doubt that you’re motivated by mere patriotism. SLOANE: You’re right. I have an agenda – my daughter, Nadia. She’s very sick. SENATOR LEWIS: (sympathetically) I know. SLOANE: I hope to use APO resources to find a cure for her condition. In exchange, I will happily do whatever the government requires of me. SENATOR LEWIS: I’m sorry about your daughter… but I can’t in good conscience put you back in that office. If it were up to me, you’d still be in prison. You’ll have to find another way to help your daughter. I’m not reinstating your clearance. (turns back around to watch her daughter skate) SLOANE: (pauses) You’re daughter’s very lovely. (hands the senator the envelope he received from Gordon Dean) I’m sure you’re proud of her. Puzzled, the senator takes the envelope. She is shocked by the photographs she finds. SLOANE: You’ll recognize the inside of your own house. You’ll notice none of those pictures were taken with a telephoto lens. The photographer was standing right next to her. It makes you wonder about her security detail, doesn’t it? The senator looks at Sloane, speechless. SLOANE: It makes you wonder if you can ever keep her safe at all. Suddenly, they are interrupted by Senator Lewis’ daughter, who skates up. DAUGHTER: Mom, did you see that? SENATOR LEWIS: I did, honey. SLOANE: I was just telling your mother how talented you are. You know, you skate like an angel. DAUGHTER: (smiles) Thank you. SLOANE: (smiles) You’re welcome. Senator Lewis’ daughter beams at her mother and skates away. SLOANE: Enjoy the rest of your day, Senator. Thank you in advance for your support. The senator stares Sloane with anger as he leaves the skating rink. (INT. RENÉE’S HIDEOUT – NIGHT) RENÉE: They’re gone! TOM: (comes over) What do you mean, they’re gone? Renée shows Tom on the surveillance monitor. The cameras show no one is near her building. RENÉE: They’re not in the street. TOM: That’s ’cause they’re probably on the roof. They hear something. Renée notices Tom’s arm. RENÉE: You’re hurt. TOM: It’s nothing. Renée pulls a bandage out. Tom removes his jacket, revealing a gash on his arm. TOM: I found this device. They all have them. Tom pulls out the locating device we saw earlier. TOM: It’s a tracker. They’re probably following a signal. RENÉE: From what? Renée puts the bandage on Tom’s arm. Tom watches the tracking device and walks toward the container, which is flashing a red light. TOM: It’s an emergency beacon. You must have activated when you opened the container. RENÉE: No. I would have noticed. TOM: (holding up tracking device) Their signal’s still active. It’s not jamming the frequency this transmits on. Maybe I could piggyback this signal, get out a call for help. Renée nods. (INT. APO – DAY) Jack is reading a file when Dixon walks into his office. DIXON: Jack, I’ve just received hard copies of all data the DSR obtained from the cryo-container before it was stolen. JACK: Marshall and Rachel are in the briefing room reviewing the files you recovered from San Francisco. DIXON: (nods) I’ll cross-index the data. Dixon hesitates. JACK: Is there something else, Marcus? DIXON: I just got off the phone with the office of Senator Dianne Lewis, the Chairperson of the Intelligence Committee. JACK: (clearly knows what issue the call was regarding) Yes, I know who she is. DIXON: Her office was following up on a request to reinstate Arvin Sloane’s security clearance so he could return to duty within APO. I told them I didn’t know anything about it. JACK: The request to reinstate Sloane’s clearance came from me. I assume it was granted. DIXON: (nods) He’s been given full access - gold level and beyond. Are you certain this is the right course of action? JACK: I believe Arvin Sloane now has a single purpose – to save the life of his daughter. If it is within my power to help him with this endeavor, I will do so - gladly. DIXON: Of course. (turns to leave) I suppose having him here at APO will allow us to keep a close eye on his activities. JACK: Yes, that thought crossed my mind as well. Dixon gives Jack a nod of understanding and leaves. CUT TO Marshall and Rachel going over the Desantis files. MARSHALL: Oh, I got it. Here it is. Uh, actually, this is “Garceau” with an “A.” RACHEL: Yeah, this here. (pushes a piece of paper to Marshall) Look – “Goursaud.” MARSHALL: Oh, “Goursaud.” Excellent. RACHEL: Oh, here. Looks like some kind of chemical study. But it’s all encoded. And then blood work, brain scans, and x-rays are all normal. MARSHALL: This is also – yes – twenty years old. So… all this really tells us is that Mr. Goursaud was healthy at the time he was abducted. DIXON: (walks in) What do we got? MARSHALL: Well, I’ll tell you one thing. This guy’s into some freaky stuff here – manipulation of neural pathways, genetic manipulations - DIXON: Anything on Goursaud? RACHEL: Nothing that helps. DIXON: The DSR sent over everything they had on the container. (hands Rachel the files from the DSR) It looks like while Goursaud was on the inside, his brain functions were severely limited. The container was also administering doses of antiproliferatives and… calico-neurin inhibitors - MARSHALL: Calcineurin inhibitors, actually. With a “Ssss…” sound. It’s an immunosuppressive drug, basically – prevents the immune system from attacking itself, kind of like, you know, when a transplant patient rejects a new organ. RACHEL: But - he hasn’t had any transplants. MARSHALL: Wait a minute. Is that Goursaud’s EEG reading? (looks over at the Rachel’s file) Marshall takes the two EEG readings and compares the old one with the one from the DSR. He shakes his head. MARSHALL: I don’t get this. CUT TO a view of the two EEG readings. JACK: Brain scans? MARSHALL: Yeah, that one’s from Desantis. That one’s from the DSR. JACK: How old are these readings. MARSHALL: Taken three weeks ago. JACK: They don’t match. A by-product of the aging process? RACHEL: Not gray matter. The volume is set by Age Four - MARSHALL: Age Four. JACK: You’re suggesting the man who came out of that container is not Luc Goursaud? MARSHALL: That’s right. JACK: Then who is he? MARSHALL: Somebody who – who’s not… Luc Goursaud. DIXON: (joins them in Jack’s office) I just called the clinic in France. Sydney and Tom never showed up. I tried her cell. No answer. (INT. RENÉE’S HIDEOUT – NIGHT) LUC: The people who took me… they want me back. Give me to them - and you all walk out of here. SYDNEY: That’s not an option. LUC: Twenty years ago, I let them capture me - to keep Renée safe. Nothing has changed. I am her father. It is my job to protect her. SYDNEY: But giving yourself to them won’t protect Renée. It will destroy her if you’re k*lled. LUC: They will not k*ll me. SYDNEY: You can’t know that. LUC: Once they tracked the beacon up here, they could have blown us to bits, but - they did not. Sydney frowns. LUC: They want me alive. Living. SYDNEY: What beacon? You just said they tracked a beacon. What beacon? Luc realizes he has said too much and pulls out a g*n from under the blanket. He points the g*n at Sydney. He leads Sydney out of the bedroom. LUC: Put the radio down. Renée and Tom turn to see Sydney with her arms up. Luc stands behind her with a g*n. RENÉE: Papa! LUC: This woman was trying to k*ll me. SYDNEY: He’s lying. He’s the reason we’re being att*cked. TOM: Let her go. (points his g*n at Luc) RENÉE: (points her g*n at Tom) Don’t! Tom looks over at Renée. SYDNEY: He said they tracked a beacon. He sent a signal. He led them here. LUC: Don’t listen to her. She’s only trying to confuse us. SYDNEY: This isn’t an abduction. It’s a rescue. RENÉE: How do you know about the beacon? LUC: I’m your father, remember? I protected you. SYDNEY: That’s right. Your father protected you. That night, when Desantis kidnapped him, he said… he left you somewhere safe. Ask him where he hid you. LUC: That is silly. SYDNEY: Ask him Renée, ask him. RENÉE: Tell me. LUC: (pauses) That was twenty years ago, Angel. RENÉE: But for you, it was only yesterday. (points the g*n at Luc) Who are you? Suddenly, there is a sound of a rocket coming toward the building. Luc ducks. A large hole is blasted open on a brick wall to the room. A helicopter appears and shines a light into the room. A guard on the helicopter throws out a line with a harness. Luc grabs it and puts the harness on. Suppressive f*re from a machine g*n on the helicopter forces Tom, Sydney, and Renée to scramble for cover. Tom ducks behind a column and tries to return f*re. Renée and Sydney take a couple of sh*ts at the helicopter, but it is no use. The diversion enables Luc to climb out of the hole. Renée and Sydney watch as he is quickly whisked away by the helicopter. (INT. RENÉE’S HIDEOUT – DAY) Renée is packing a suitcase. SYDNEY: APO tracked the helicopter to a small airport. Shortly after it landed, an executive jet took off, bound for North Korea. RENÉE: And that man? SYDNEY: We still don’t know. We’re working on it. We’ve seen things like this before, believe it or not. Doubling technology. Renée looks at Sydney in disbelief. SYDNEY: But it’s impossible to say. My team is still reviewing Desantis’ papers. Hopefully, they’ll give us some insight into Prophet Five. I’ll contact you as soon as we know anything. Renée is finishing up her packing and looks to her last item – her teddy bear. She picks it up and looks at it wistfully. RENÉE: I thought I had him back. SYDNEY: (nods) I know. RENÉE: Michael always told me I could come to you. I didn’t trust him. I was wrong. (pauses) Thank you. SYDNEY: Yeah. (INT. BUILDING IN KAESONG, NORTH KOREA - DAY) Gordon Dean enters and goes to a room with a door with a glass window. He sees the doctors is finishing up with the man we thought was Renée’s father, Luc. He opens the door to Luc’s room and goes in. Luc looks over at his visitor. DEAN: Gordon Dean. How are you feeling, Dr. Desantis? DESANTIS: Couldn’t be better. Thank you. DEAN: And I’m told there shouldn’t be any lingering side effects from the procedure. DESANTIS: Twenty-three years. DEAN: (nods) The cohesion problem was solved once we understood how to re-sequence the information. DESANTIS: (pauses) The girl’s alive. She calls herself Renée Rienne. Works with the CIA. DEAN: Well, then keeping an eye on her won’t be a problem. Dr. Desantis smiles. (INT. APO – DAY) Arvin Sloane opens the main door to APO. He enters and walks toward the front desk. At the end of the hallway, Jack Bristow is there to greet him.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x05 - Out of the Box"}

foreverdreaming

(INT. A HOUSE - NIGHT) A football game is being shown on television. Announcer: So, here we go. 3rd and 5. Williams drops back to pass… A girl is on the computer, talking to her friend on an Instant Messenger program. GIRL: Hey, Dad. Fiona wants to know if I can come over and study for awhile. Her father’s eyes are glued to the football game. FATHER: Maybe tomorrow night, okay, kiddo? The girl turns back to computer. The rest of her family – her father, mother, and brother are in front of the television watching the game. A dark figure glides past, behind the sofa. The son notices something, but sees nothing behind him. MOTHER: Oh, I left another message. FATHER: Look, you know she’s always traveling. I mean, where is she now, Europe? MOTHER: Yeah, but she usually calls. Suddenly, the electricity turns off in the house. FATHER: Oh, come – that’s okay. I got it. (gets up from the sofa) It’s probably just, you know, a circuit breaker or some - There is a crashing sound. Shadowy figures capture the family members in the darkness. MOTHER: Oh! SON: Hey! The electricity comes back on, but the room is empty. A framed photograph of Rachel Gibson sits on the fireplace mantle in the living room. (INT. SECURE FACILITY - DAY) The Gibson family waits in a small, empty room with only a simple table and a few chairs – the kind of room typically used for interrogations. The father paces the room. Rachel Gibson watches her family through a two-way mirror. Sydney is with her. RACHEL: (voice shaking) How much do they know? SYDNEY: Not much… that this is a government facility, that they’re here for their own protection. RACHEL: I’ve ruined their lives. SYDNEY: That’s not true. RACHEL: They can’t go home. They can’t go back to work. They can’t even say good-bye to their friends. SYDNEY: Because it’s not safe. You know that. There were taps on their phones. There was surveillance equipment. Witness protection is the best way to ensure their safety. RACHEL: They say I won’t even be able to call them. How am I supposed to this alone? SYDNEY: You do it because you don’t have a choice… because you want the world to be safe for the people you love. Rachel looks over at Sydney. SYDNEY: I know some people think I’m crazy, still working like this, but I can’t go home and sit there and just - be pregnant. Not when the men who k*lled Vaughn are still out there. It’s my responsibility to stop them… so this baby can be safe… so you can be with your family. Rachel nods. RACHEL: (smiling and tearing up) We’re kind of a weird family. We actually like each other. (sniffs) SYDNEY: Then go in there and let them see you’re okay. That’s all they care about. Rachel looks over at Sydney with tears in her eyes and nods. RACHEL: Okay. The mother hears the door open and looks toward the door. MOTHER: (gasps) Oh, my God! Rachel! Rachel’s mother rushes over to Rachel and hugs her. RACHEL: I wanted to call. I just – I couldn’t. FATHER: We were worried something had happened to you. RACHEL: Something did happen, and that’s why you’re here. Oh, where do I begin? (whispers) Okay… Sydney watches the family reunion through the two-way mirror. (EXT. PIER – DAY) Sloane and Dean walk down a pier. SLOANE: Rachel Gibson’s family has been moved to a witness protection program. DEAN: We knew that might happen. SLOANE: I will not hurt Rachel or anyone else from APO. It was not part of our agreement. DEAN: Our agreement is whatever I say it is. I’m the one who got you out of prison, and I can easily put you back. SLOANE: (stops walking) Let me say this again. I will not hurt those people. DEAN: I’m not telling you to – not yet, at least. But we both know you’ll do whatever it takes to save your daughter. If that means you have to hurt a few people along the way, well - so be it. SLOANE: Are we finished? DEAN: Almost. Have you heard of a w*apon designer named János Vak? SLOANE: No. DEAN: We’ve been after him for some time. He’s disappeared. I want you to use your resources at APO and find him. Dean hands Sloane a USB drive. DEAN: What would your colleagues do if they knew you answered to me… that you were betraying them on a daily basis? SLOANE: (looks up directly at Dean) Same thing I hope to do to you someday. DEAN: Call me when you find Vak. (turns and leaves) (INT. APO – DAY) Sloane holds the USB drive for a moment and turns it over before finally plugging it into his laptop. He opens up the contents of the drive, but stops and pauses for a moment. He looks around the APO office at all the employees, his gaze finally stopping at a very pregnant Sydney, who has stopped to talk to Marshall. Sloane’s computer shows János Vak’s Hungarian passport. CUT TO Jack leading an APO meeting with Sloane, Sydney, and Marshall. JACK: Now that Arvin’s returned in the capacity of Assistant Director, I’ve asked him to read Rachel Gibson’s debriefing. I believe his… unique insights into a covert organization like The Shed will be extremely useful to us. SLOANE: Thank you, Jack. This is an extremely well-insulated organization. Of all the names mentioned in the debrief, there was only one that I recognized immediately – a w*apon designer named János Vak. Sloane pulls up Vak’s file on screen. SLOANE: Mr. Vak is a Hungarian national. For the past decade, he has specialized in designing targeting software. His present obsession – he calls it “Lasso Technology.” SYDNEY: DOD’s been worried about this. It’s a software program that would allow an incoming m*ssile to be electronically intercepted and redirected. MARSHALL: Right. Basically, you could lasso a target that was headed for a military target, say in the Middle East, and then redirect it to… Switzerland, you know? I mean, and then the Swiss call, and they’re like, “Hey, uh, we’re neutral, remember?” (laughs) JACK: Thank you, Marshall. I think we all… understand. MARSHALL: Right. That was just… a hypothetical. SLOANE: Based on Ms. Gibson’s statement, Gordon Dean has been trying to locate Vak for the past six months. JACK: Arvin has suggested, and I agree, that if we can find Vak first, we can then use him as bait to catch Gordon Dean. SLOANE: In the past, he has been known to frequently partner with an Algerian arms broker. (pulls up a file of Zigza Zidane on screen) Evidently, they had a meeting a few months ago. Nobody has heard from Vak since. JACK: The Algerian Underworld is particularly difficult to penetrate. SYDNEY: I think I know someone who can do it. JACK: Renée Rienne. SYDNEY: Yeah. JACK: Make contact with her. See if she can get a lead on János Vak. Sydney closes her file and gets up. She walks over to her desk and sets the file down. Sloane approaches her. SLOANE: Sydney, I haven’t had a chance to thank you for the letter of recommendation you wrote to the tribunal. I know it helped persuade the judges regarding my release. SYDNEY: You’re welcome. SLOANE: Look, there’s something I need to confess to you, and I hope you don’t judge me too harshly for it. (pauses) Every day I go to the hospital to visit Nadia. I get off at her floor, talk to the doctors. And yet, I cannot set foot… into her room. I can’t bear to see her hooked up to all those machines, knowing that it’s my fault. SYDNEY: I know you’ll do anything in your power to find a cure for Nadia. SLOANE: Yes, I will. I will do whatever it takes to save my daughter. GENERIQUE MARSEILLES, FRANCE (INT. BUILDING – NIGHT) Zigza Zidane and two men play Mahjong. The sound of a motorcycle racing closer alarms the men. Before they can react, a motorcycle crashes through the door. The rider slides the motorcycle to the side plowing it into the Mahjong table, knocking one man over with the table and scattering the other two. The second man draws a g*n, but the rider quickly pulls a Kn*fe and throws it, piercing the man’s hand and forcing him to drop his g*n. The rider walks toward the man, removes her helmet and slams it into the man’s head, knocking him down. The rider is Renée Rienne. Zidane tries to run away, but Renée throws a Kn*fe into the back of his leg. Zidane falls facedown to the ground, wincing in pain. Renée walks over to Zidane, straddles his back, and wraps a wire around his neck, tightening the line before questioning him. RENÉE: Bon soir, monsieur. [Good evening, sir. I’m looking for a w*apon designer named János Vak.] (INT. APO TRAINING ROOM – DAY) Rachel trains on a punching bag. After landing one final elbow on the bag, she stops and rubs her eyes, exhausted. The door opens. TOM: Sorry. (turns to leave the training room) RACHEL: No, uh, you can use the bag. I’m done. TOM: No, I don’t really like to work out around other people. RACHEL: Hey… I could use somebody to spar with. TOM: I don’t really… spar. RACHEL: I don’t either – which is why I could really use your help. Don’t want to get my ass kicked in the field. What do you say? Tom looks hesitant. CUT TO Rachel and Tom squaring off, fists raised. RACHEL: How many fights you been in? TOM: I don’t know. Enough. Rachel is jumpy, trying to decide on her move. RACHEL: You win? Rachel throws a succession of three punches at Tom, who blocks. TOM: Of course… mostly. Why, what did you hear? RACHEL: Nothing. I’ve just never been in any real fights. I kind of want to know what to do. With that, Rachel tries to kick Tom, but he blocks it. She spins around and tries a right side kick, but he deflects her awkward attempt easily, sending her backwards onto the mat. He reaches out his hand to help her up. TOM: Not that. Don’t ever do that spinning kung-fu crap. You’ll get yourself k*lled. RACHEL: Okay, fine. What should I be doing? TOM: All right. For real? (pauses) I fight dirty. RACHEL: Dirty? TOM: Go for the eyes, the throat, the nuts. RACHEL: The nuts? TOM: Cause as much damage. Inflict as much pain as humanly possible. RACHEL: I don’t know if I can do that. TOM: Well, then you shouldn’t be here. I’m serious! Look, everybody is taking care of you. If they can’t depend on you… just go pack up your playthings! Go home to Mom and – Rachel slugs Tom, who is stunned temporarily at the impact and slowly rubs his jaw. Rachel stands with her fists raised - shaking, but determined and ready. TOM: (chuckles) That was better. I want to see more of that. Tom’s cell phone rings. TOM: (answering) Tom Grace. Got it. (disconnects call) Briefing in fifteen. Tom turns to leave. Rachel follows him. (INT. APO BRIEFING ROOM – DAY) SYDNEY: Renée located the Algerian arms dealer. The lasso technology is no longer a rumor. János Vak designed a program to intercept and redirect m*ssile. According to the arms dealer, three months ago, Vak met with a Chinese official who bought the new w*apon. SLOANE: Do we know where Vak is now? SYDNEY: No one’s seen him since the meet. He’s just dropped off the planet. JACK: Which is why we are going to pursue the Chinese official. His name is General Li Yum Sung, and he’s staying at the Chinese Consulate in b*mb. The General is marrying an Indian woman next month. The consulate is throwing them an engagement party. DIXON: I’ve checked with our contact in Indian intelligence. He says the General keeps an encrypted copy of his contacts and schedule in a safe in his room. They should lead us to Vak. JACK: Sydney, you’re going to break into the safe and acquire the intel. Agents Dixon and Grace will offer support. Marshall and Ms. Gibson will run op-tech. Good luck. b*mb (EXT. CHINESE CONSULATE – NIGHT) A crowd of people is there for the engagement party in the courtyard of the Chinese Consulate. Tom arrives with Sydney, wearing a green sari, on his arm. They make their way through the crowd. Dixon is already at the party, chatting with guests. When he sees Tom and Sydney, he excuses himself and walks over to them. DIXON: The General is still upstairs. TOM: Doesn’t the man know it’s kind of hard to break into his safe if he’s sitting right in front of it? Sydney looks over at the General’s fiancée, who looks distraught. SYDNEY: I don’t think he’s coming down tonight. See that woman over there? That’s the General’s fiancée. The fiancée looks up toward the General’s office. A friend comforts her. SYDNEY: She looks pretty unhappy. I think the General might be having second thoughts. (comms) Hey, Marshall? MARSHALL: (comms) Go, Phoenix. SYDNEY: What’s going on upstairs? MARSHALL: Wait for uno momento, por favor. Marshall taps into the surveillance feed. MARHSALL: Uh… okay. Looks like all’s quiet. Just one soldier outside the General’s door, very sharply dressed. SYDNEY: We’ve got to go about this a different way. (to Dixon) Remember the Prince in Bahrain? DIXON: They guy with the harem…? SYDNEY: Let’s try and do that. TOM: What are you talking about? SYDNEY: (ignoring Tom) I need your watch. TOM: It’s okay, I’m not really here. Dixon takes his watch off and hands it to Sydney. DIXON: (to Tom) Just follow my lead. Dixon approaches the General’s fiancée. DIXON: (speaking with an accent) I am sorry, but I cannot allow you to marry the other man. The fiancée still looks upset, but is clearly confused. DIXON: You belong to me. It is time we told the world the truth. Our love cannot be denied. The fiancée looks at her friend incredulously. FRIEND: Who is this crazy person? FIANCÉE: I have no idea. Dixon gets down on one knee and grabs the fiancée’s hand. FRIEND: Ay, yi yi! DIXON: Marry me, Naomika. Let us share our joy with everyone! FIANCÉE: Let go of me! DIXON: I know that you love me! FIANCÉE: Eh! Tom rushes up to diffuse the situation. TOM: Uh, the lady said let her go. DIXON: But - TOM: Let her go! (waving to a guard) Hey! DIXON: We are destined for each other, Naomika. The guard leaves his post to help Tom, allowing Sydney to get upstairs into the Consulate. Tom and the guard try to drag Dixon away. DIXON: Tell them! Dixon kisses the fiancée’s hand a few times, despite her protests, before being forcefully dragged away. DIXON: Ours is a forbidden love! (INT. CHINESE CONSULATE – NIGHT) Sydney walks through the corridors of the Consulate until she reaches the General’s office. She approaches the guard. SYDNEY: (speaking Mandarin Chinese) I need to see the General. GUARD: He’s not to be disturbed. SYDNEY: He’ll want to see me. Sydney puts her hand on her belly for emphasis. SYDNEY: You know what, never mind. I’ll talk to his fiancée instead. I’m sure she’ll love to meet me. (turns to leave) GUARD: Wait. Marshall and Rachel watch the interchange on the surveillance feed. RACHEL: (amazed) She improvised that whole thing. MARSHALL: Yeah, who’d think you could turn a pregnancy into an alias? RACHEL: …and in Chinese. MARSHALL: Listen, I’ve had to do a little alias magic myself to save the day a few times. Do you know what a spork is? RACHEL: They’re letting her in. The guard opens the door for Sydney to enter the General’s office. The guard leaves the room and closes the door. The General looks up wearily at Sydney. GENERAL: Did she send you in? SYDNEY: Many of your friends are worried about you. GENERAL: I just need more time. I just… need more time. SYDNEY: It’s okay. It’s still early. Sydney points Dixon’s watch toward the General and presses a button. A tranquilizer dart hits the General in the neck, knocking him out. Sydney removes a painting behind the General’s desk, revealing a safe. From her purse, she retrieves a code cr*cker disguised as a compact and attaches it to the door of the safe. SYDNEY: (comms) Okay, Marshall, I’m ready. MARSHALL: Okay… Marshall tries to connect to the compact, but the computer is unable to receive the signal. MARSHALL: You know what? I’m not getting a reading, Phoenix. There must be too much shielding in the building. SYDNEY: Are you saying you can’t do it? MARSHALL: Well, no. Of course not. Marshall reaches into his toolbox and digs through it. MARSHALL: All right, Phoenix, this is going to take a sec. I need to set a relay closer to the building so I can boost your signal. SYDNEY: Copy that. MARSHALL: (finds the relay) Got it. RACHEL: I can do it. You’ll need to be here when it’s activated. It’ll be faster this way. Marshall hands her the relay. RACHEL: Thanks. Rachel leaves the van to set the relay. Meanwhile, Tom and the guard set Dixon down on a bench in a quiet area of the courtyard. TOM: Okay. (to the guard) Thank you for your help. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just had his heart broken. I’ll get him home. Thanks. Dixon acts heartbroken, but keeps his eye what is going on in the courtyard. He notices the fiancée leaving her friends. DIXON: (comms) Heads up, Phoenix. The fiancée’s moving your way. SYDNEY: Marshall, what’s the ETA? MARSHALL: Oracle, what’s your status? Rachel just finishes setting the relay. The lights on the device blink green. RACHEL: Relay’s set. MARSHALL: Okay. Hang on a sec. Marshall receives the signal from the compact. MARSHALL: Great. We’re at five by five. Way to go. Marshall cracks the code to the safe. The compact enters the code 11205 into the safe, unlocking it. Sydney removes the compact and opens the safe. She finds the device and puts it in her purse. SYDNEY: I’ve got it. I’m on my way. Rachel heads back to the van but a guard spots her. GUARD: Halt. Stop right there. Rachel stops. The guard approaches her. GUARD: What are you doing back here? Rachel smiles but is silent, frozen in place. As the guard gets closer, she panics and runs away. The guard runs after her, shouting in Chinese. RACHEL: (comms) I’m busted! East side of the building. TOM: (to Dixon) Wait for Sydney. Tom grabs a pole from one of the rope barriers. Sydney comes down the steps and coolly walks through the courtyard past Dixon, who pauses a moment before following her out. Rachel is running along the east side of the building and passes some bushes, where Tom is waiting. TOM: Get down. Just as the guard is about to pass the bush, Tom knocks him out with the pole. Rachel groans as she tries to get up off the grass. TOM: You okay? RACHEL: If by okay you mean freaked and embarrassed, then yeah, I’m great. Tom helps Rachel up off the grass. (INT. STORE – DAY) Sydney sits on a rocking chair and watches a toddler play with the stuffed animal toys in the store. The child’s father comes along. FATHER: (whispering) What you got there? The father puts a red hat on her head, and picks her up, holding her close. The storekeeper interrupts Sydney’s reverie. STOREKEEPER: Finding everything okay? SYDNEY: Yes, thank you. Oh – I’d like to get this, please. (rubs the armrest of the rocking chair) STOREKEEPER: Okay, great. The storekeeper notices Sydney is distracted and follows her gaze to the father and daughter in the store. STOREKEEPER: Oh, we get so many dads in the store these days. (chuckles) I don’t think my husband ever bought so much as a diaper. SYDNEY: Yeah. (gets up) My dad wasn’t exactly hands-on either. (laughs) STOREKEEPER: What about your husband? Has he been doing his part? SYDNEY: He’s been great. Wishes he could do more. STOREKEEPER: I love hearing that. Times sure have changed. SYDNEY: (whispers) Yeah. (INT. ALTERATIONS SHOP – DAY) Sloane walks into the shop. A bell monitoring the door rings. SLOANE: Hello. SEAMSTRESS: Hello. SLOANE: You altered a suit for me. Here’s the ticket. SEAMSTRESS: (glancing at Sloane’s ticket) Oh, yes. Why don’t you wait in the back, and I’ll bring it to you. SLOANE: Thank you. Sloane walks to the back room of the shop and finds Gordon Dean. DEAN: You should’ve told me about the Chinese Consulate before your team went in. SLOANE: There was no reason to complicate things. Anyway, I assumed that you wanted APO to do the heavy lifting. DEAN: (stands up and stands in front of Sloane, thr*at) You don’t get to assume anything. Did you locate János Vak? SLOANE: The intel was encrypted. I’ll have an answer for you before the end of the day. DEAN: Call me when you do. (INT. APO – DAY) Sydney walks into the office. DIXON: (on the phone) I don’t have time to explain. Yeah, she’s here now, thank you. (hangs up phone) Dixon gets up and greets Sydney. DIXON: Hey. SYDNEY: Hey. DIXON: We found Vak. He’s secluded on an oil platform in the South China Sea while he finishes his software program. Marshall’s still pinpointing the exact coordinates. SYDNEY: Great. How are we going in? DIXON: We’re not. We’re backup. SYDNEY: (surprised) Who’s my dad sending? DIXON: Rachel Gibson. SYDNEY: Rachel? Dixon nods. SYDNEY: He’s sending her in solo? Why would he do that? DIXON: The Chinese government has suspended all shore leave for the men working on the platform. No one gets on or off until Vak is done. The sole exception is that every other weekend, Vak is allowed… female companionship. CUT TO Sydney and Jack discussing whether Rachel should be the one to go on this mission. SYDNEY: You can’t send her in alone. JACK: Rachel’s incredibly bright. You’ve seen it yourself. SYDNEY: You saw what happened on our last mission. She ran. JACK: The mission was a success, Sydney. You may not want to hear it, but this isn’t an assignment you can do. You know it as well as I do. SYDNEY: She’s not ready. At least delay the mission a few weeks. Just give her time to train. JACK: That’s not an option. If we’re going to use Vak and his w*apon as bait to catch Gordon Dean, we can’t afford to wait. This is no different than when you were sent back into SD-6. SYDNEY: It’s completely different. I had Vaughn. JACK: And Rachel will have you. Sydney looks crushed for a moment, but recomposes herself. [I[CUT TO[/I] Marshall, going over the op-tech for Rachel’s mission. MARSHALL: Okay, once you see Vak, you’re going to need to knock him out, right? You know, I don’t mean, you know, like, rock’em-sock ‘em, knock him out. It’s more of a, um, actually, here we go. Okay, take a look right here, this looks like a normal lipstick. Marshall twists the lipstick tube, showing Rachel the color. MARSHALL: It’s a very nice shade of red. I think it would look good – but, anyway - touch it anywhere on his skin, it’ll knock him out for at least two hours. By the time he wakes up, he’ll think he had the time of his life. You – you’ll be on a chopper halfway home. Oh, and also… Marshall pulls out a circular hairbrush. A blade pops out of the top of the brush, startling Rachel. MARSHALL: I spring-loaded an ice pick into here. You know, just in case. But you’re probably not gonna… need that. I mean, I’m sure you’ll be… you’ll be fine. CUT TO Rachel prepping for her mission in a locker room. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a g*n. DIXON: Are you about ready? RACHEL: I’ve been going to the f*ring range every night so that when the time came, I’d be ready. Of course, on my first solo mission, I have to go in unarmed. Rachel puts the g*n into her locker. DIXON: Rachel, Jack wouldn’t send you in if he didn’t have complete faith in your ability to succeed. RACHEL: I appreciate you saying that, but I know what everyone is thinking. I’m the new girl, I panicked on the last mission, and everybody is asking whether or not I can do it. And the truth is – I don’t know. I’m terrified. But I’m more terrified of not trying. So… I’m gonna put on my strappy shoes and my teeny dress, and I’m gonna try. And by this time tomorrow, we’ll know whether I can do it or not. Dixon nods reassuringly. (INT. PARKING GARAGE – DAY) Gordon Dean is waiting in the parking garage. A car pulls up, screeching its tires as it stops in front of Dean. The driver window rolls down. It’s Sloane. SLOANE: János Vak has been found. (hands Dean a sheet of paper) The details are in here. APO is sending in your former associate, Rachel Gibson. She’s going in solo to get the w*apon design. DEAN: (surprised) Gibson? Alone…? SLOANE: Once she acquires it, I’ll swap it out. I’ll get you the real program. Sloane rolls the window up and drives away. Peyton steps out of Dean’s car. PEYTON: Did he just say they’re sending Rachel? DEAN: I don’t trust Sloane. We’re not gonna wait. I want you to get the w*apon yourself. Peyton nods, but hesitates. DEAN: Is there a problem? PEYTON: It’ll just be strange if Rachel and I cross paths. She thought I was her best friend. DEAN: Look, if we could’ve convinced her to play on our side, we would have. But things didn’t go that way. PEYTON: So… if I run into her? DEAN: Show her the professional courtesy of putting a b*llet in her head. MER DE CHINE [Music - The Bodyrockers: “I Like the Way”] Rachel pulls up to the oil platform on a speedboat. She is wearing a short pink and purple dress with a leopard print fur coat. A guard leads her up a flight of stairs to Vak’s room. CUT TO flashback of Sydney helping Rachel prepare just before the mission. RACHEL: This is a mistake. I’ve never done anything like this with the – the wig and the dress and… What am I gonna say to him? SYDNEY: Well, it isn’t what you’d say. Remember, you’re playing a character. It’s what she would say. (thinks of an idea) Who was the sluttiest girl in your high school? RACHEL: Mandy Camarillo. SYDNEY: (amused) You didn’t have to think very hard on that one. RACHEL: Tramp stole my date at junior prom. She had red hair and a pierced tongue. SYDNEY: (laughs) Okay, so you’re Mandy Camarillo. And János Vak is your prom date. Just say what she’d say. You’re not gonna be alone Rachel, not for a second. I’ll be on comms the whole time - the way Vaughn was for me. RACHEL: It helps a lot – having you. (breathes) I can do this, right? SYDNEY: Absolutely. CUT TO Rachel on the oil platform. A guard follows behind her. As they enter a corridor, he stops her and points to Vak’s room. She removes her sunglasses and walks toward the room, but hesitates, looking back at the guard. He shoos her into the hallway leading to the room. Rachel turns a corner and arrives at Vak’s room. Another guard is at the door. He punches in a code to open the door for her. Rachel gets nervous. RACHEL: (comms, under her breath) Sydney? SYDNEY: Okay, I’m with you Rachel. Just breathe. Rachel knocks the door. VAK: Come in. Come in. Rachel enters the room. Vak sits on the foot rail of the bed, waiting for Rachel. She closes the door behind her. Vak sits up expectedly. Rachel smiles nervously. RACHEL: (walking toward Vak) You’re so cute. They didn’t tell me you’d be so cute. Vak remains seated and seems confused. RACHEL: You do speak English, don’t you? I mean, they told me you would speak English. VAK: (getting up and walking toward Rachel with his arms out) Of course, English. I love English! Rachel extends her hand for a handshake. RACHEL: Nice to meet you. Vak thinks it was a curious gesture, but takes Rachel’s hand. VAK: (bowing) I am János. RACHEL: Ra- … Man-dy. Sydney winces at Rachel’s mistake. VAK: Ray-Mandy. A beautiful name. RACHEL: So this is where you live, huh? (walking toward Vak’s desk) It’s pretty sweet. VAK: Only for a few more days. My business here is almost done. RACHEL: (sighs) You must get very lonely. VAK: Well, yes, which is why I’m so happy to see you. Perhaps you would be more comfortable over here on the bed, RayMandy. RACHEL: No, I’m, uh, I’m good. SYDNEY: Come on, Rachel. What would Mandy do? RACHEL: Do you know how to make daiquiris? VAK: I have champagne. RACHEL: Even better. (whispers) Idiot. Rachel digs through her purse. Vak pops the cork on the champagne, startling her. She drops something onto the floor. RACHEL: Uh-oh. SYDNEY: What do you mean, “Uh-oh”? RACHEL: I dropped my lipstick. VAK: Not a problem. Your lips are absolutely perfect just the way they are. Vak walks toward Rachel with a glasses of champagne. SYDNEY: Don’t let him kiss you. You’re the one in charge. VAK: Let me show you. Rachel slaps Vak across the face. Vak stands there for a moment looking at Rachel, stunned. VAK: (looking guilty) Has Baby been bad? SYDNEY: Oh, this is gonna be too easy, Rachel. Rachel smiles knowingly. Meanwhile, an oil platform worker takes some steps down to the lowest level. He is sh*t by Peyton, who has arrived at the platform to steal the w*apon design. Peyton climbs a ladder up to the oil platform and continues on her way, g*n in hand. Vak is being tied to the bed rails with duct tape. VAK: (excited) RayMandy, you’re driving me crazy! Rachel finishes the last makeshift restraint on Vak’s left arm. RACHEL: (authoritatively) Did I say you could talk? Rachel walks around to the foot of the bed and twists Vak’s big toe. VAK: (in pain) Yoy! RACHEL: You’ve been a very bad boy. VAK: (pouting like a baby) I’m sorry. RACHEL: (mimicking his pouting) Mmm. Rachel crawls on the bed toward Vak. RACHEL: You know what? I’m gonna be honest with you. This whole “baby talk” thing kind of creeps me out, so… I’m just gonna cut to the chase, okay? Vak opens his lips, expecting a kiss. Rachel rips another section of duct tape and covers Vak’s mouth. RACHEL: I gotta go. Rachel goes over the computer. Vak struggles against his restraints and tries to yell, but it is useless. Rachel takes out an eyeglass case and places it on the desk. She presses a button inside the case. RACHEL: (comms) Downloading now. SYDNEY: You’re doing great. Peyton walks through the oil platform, sh**ting any guards she encounters. She makes her way to Vak’s room PEYTON: (pointing her g*n at the guard) The code.. The guard puts his hands up and punches in the code. As the door opens, Peyton sh**t the guard. She enters the room and cocks her g*n, but finds Vak bound to the bed and a smoking computer on his desk. Peyton turns and runs out of the room. Meanwhile, Rachel walks back toward her boat. RACHEL: Phoenix, I’ve got the data. I’ve destroyed the original. SYDNEY: Copy that. Almost home. Rachel finds a d*ad guard, but keeps going, hurrying to the dock. RACHEL: Phoenix, I’ve got a small problem. There’s a d*ad soldier, and the boat’s gone. SYDNEY: Copy that. I’m sending in an emergency extraction. Outrigger? CUT TO Dixon and Tom in a helicopter. DIXON: We heard, Phoenix. We’re on our way. Rendezvous in approximately five minutes. Tom takes the helicopter up. SYDNEY: Did you hear that, Rachel? You’re gonna be fine. Just make your way to the helideck. RACHEL: Copy that. Rachel begins climbing the first flight of stairs. Peyton searches the platform for her. Finally, Rachel reaches the highest level of the platform and heads toward the helideck. A g*n cocks behind her. It’s Peyton. PEYTON: Surprise. RACHEL: My God, you’re – PEYTON: Not d*ad? RACHEL: I was gonna say “evil.” Tell me I’m wrong. PEYTON: (lowers g*n) Let’s just say we work for different teams. RACHEL: You knew this whole time. You were in on it with Dean! PEYTON: (taking a step toward Rachel) I wanted to tell you. RACHEL: You blew up that building, and you k*lled all those people. PEYTON: It wasn’t personal. I… I always liked you. RACHEL: It was a lie – everything we did! (steps toward Peyton) Peyton raises her g*n, preventing Rachel from getting closer. PEYTON: That’s enough. RACHEL: Now you’re gonna k*ll me. PEYTON: That’s what Dean wants. You’ve made it really hard for him since you left. Like I said – I always liked you. I don’t want to k*ll you. Just give me Vak’s software program, and you walk away from this. SYDNEY: (comms) Rachel, we can always track Peyton after she leaves the platform. If you believe she’ll let you live, give her the data. Your life is more important than the mission. PEYTON: Come on, Rachel. You’re in way over your head. Don’t make me sh**t you. Give me the disk. RACHEL: …Okay. Rachel pulls out the hairbrush and holds it in her left hand, but continues digging her purse for the disk. PEYTON: You’ve got two seconds. One… Rachel pulls out the eyeglass case. RACHEL: Here. Instead of handing the case to Peyton, Rachel pops the ice pick out from the hairbrush and s*ab Peyton in the right shoulder, causing her to drop the g*n. Rachel kicks the g*n away. PEYTON: You b****! Rachel tries to fend off Peyton again with the ice pick hairbrush, but Peyton dodges Rachel’s swing and elbows her in the head. Rachel tries again, but Peyton knocks the brush from Rachel’s hand. Rachel stumbles. PEYTON: (smiling) You should’ve given me the disk. RACHEL: You were gonna k*ll me anyway. PEYTON: Yeah. But I would’ve felt bad about it. Peyton pulls out a Kn*fe that was strapped to her knee. PEYTON: Now it’s gonna be fun. Peyton swings at Rachel with her Kn*fe. Rachel dodges it and tries a sweep kick on Peyton, who jumps up and dodges it. Rachel loses her balance and falls backwards. Peyton advances toward Rachel, but Rachel kicks her. Rachel finds a metal pole on the platform and knocks Peyton’s Kn*fe out of her hand. Rachel delivers another blow to Peyton’s stomach. RACHEL: Still having fun? An oil platform guard begins sh**ting at the pair with an AK-47. Rachel grabs Peyton and pulls her away from the b*ll*ts, behind some barrels. Peyton looks baffled, but ducks behind the barrels with Rachel. A helicopter arrives and turns to the side. It’s Dixon. He sh**t the guard, and two other guards, with a machine g*n. Peyton stares at Rachel’s purse, which is nearby. Dixon trains his g*n on Peyton, who decides it’s time to get out of there. She takes a running leap off the top of the platform and into the water below. Dixon motions at Rachel. Rachel nods, grabs her purse, and meets them at the helideck. Dixon helps her into the helicopter, and they leave. (INT. MARINA STORAGE – DAY) Arvin Sloane walks in and meets with Gordon Dean. DEAN: You’re late. SLOANE: I told you none of my people were to get hurt. DEAN: I do what I want, when I want. Now, where is it? SLOANE: You didn’t trust me, and you nearly ruined the entire operation. DEAN: I want the w*apon. SLOANE: You don’t get to have it. That’s my price for your mistake. DEAN: My mistake? I’m not the one responsible for one hundred thousand deaths. I’m not the one dangling on the end of a fish hook. I’m the one who decides if the little fish gets thrown back into the pond, or if it gets flushed down the toilet. Am I being clear? SLOANE: You don’t get Vak’s w*apon. DEAN: How’s your daughter? SLOANE: Nadia has nothing to do with this. DEAN: Oh, sure she does. I want a copy of the lasso software first thing in the morning. Gordon Dean leaves. Sloane looks out on the marina, alone. (INT. APO – DAY) Sydney watches as Jack speaks with Rachel in his office. When they are finished, Rachel leaves and walks toward Sydney. RACHEL: Your father’s kind of scary. SYDNEY: Yeah, tell me about it. RACHEL: But he said we all did good, so… SYDNEY: No, you did great. RACHEL: Thanks… for being in my head. SYDNEY: You’re welcome. I know how important that voice can be. Vaughn talked me through all my early missions with the CIA. Sometimes his voice was the only thing that kept me going. RACHEL: I wish I could’ve met him. SYDNEY: (touched) I’ll see you tomorrow. (leaves) [Music - Karla Bonoff: "The Water is Wide"] Rachel looks around the office and sees Tom Grace. Tom gives Rachel a reassuring nod. (INT. NATIONAL NAVAL HOSPITAL- NIGHT) Sloane arrives at Nadia’s hospital room. He watches through the glass doorway for a moment, but finally enters her room. He sits next to Nadia’s bed and takes her hand. (INT. APO – NIGHT) Rachel is working late. She clears off a couple of files off her desk and stops when she finds a photograph of her family. She looks at it, wistfully. (INT. SYDNEY’S HOUSE – NIGHT) A recording is playing. Sydney sits in her new rocking chair and holds a micro cassette player to her belly as the recording plays. Vaughn: You okay? Sydney: Just having some trouble picking the lock. My fingers are kinda numb. Vaughn: Look, you’re almost home. Just get inside and plant the bug. Sydney: That’s easy for you to say. It’s 20-below out here. You’re nice and warm. Vaughn: I’ll tell you what - I’ll talk to Langley. See if we can send you someplace warm next time. Sydney: It should have a beach. Vaughn: (laughs) Absolutely. I’ll find a bad guy who owns a really nice beach resort. And you’ll have to go undercover for like, a month. You know what? That sounds pretty dangerous. Maybe we both should go. Sydney: (laughs) You’d do that for me? Vaughn: Hey, we’re in this together, right?

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x06 - Solo"}

foreverdreaming

(INT. UNIVERSITY OF ROME BUILDING – DAY) Sydney is walking down a hallway with the Chancellor of the University of Rome. SYDNEY: Devo ammettere, Signor Rettore, che dopo questa visita avrei voluto frequentare la vostra università. [I have to admit, Chancellor… after getting the tour, I wish I had attended your university.] CHANCELLOR: L'importante, Signora Borghese, è che Lei sia qui ora. Il vostro contributo per la nuova ala in restauro è molto apprezzato. Grazie. [The important thing is you’re here now. Your donation for a new restoration wing is so appreciated.] SYDNEY: I nuovi artisti dovrebbero vedere le Pietà del mondo. [The artists of the future should see the “Pietas” of the world.] CHANCELLOR: Sono pienamente d'accordo. Veda, è per questo che abbiamo aperto la nostra collezione privata al pubblico. [I totally agree. That’s why we’ve recently opened our private collection to the general public.] CUT TO Someone prying the hinge of a fastener holding a door shut with a padlock. The person pushes the door open and goes inside. Renée Rienne gains access to a hallway in what looks like the basement. CHANCELLOR: Mi farebbe piacere presentar La ai Decani dell'Università. Prego da questa parte. [Then I’d like to introduce you to the Dean of Students. Please, this way.] RENÉE: (comms) I’m at the archive. Your turn now. Sydney and the Chancellor reach an office. When the chancellor turns his back to her to unlock the door with an access card, Sydney slips something from the chancellor’s coat pocket. CHANCELLOR: (opening door) Da questa parte, prego. Prego. [Please.] Sydney gasps and feigns losing her balance as if she were about to faint. The chancellor catches her. CHANCELLOR: Signora Borghese, oh mio Dio, mio Dio! Ch'è successo? Si sieda un attimo. [What happened?] Sydney blinks and looks dizzy. CHANCELLOR: Venga, venga, venga. Oh Dio! [Come, come, come. Oh, my God!] The chancellor pulls up a chair for Sydney. CHANCELLOR: Sta meglio? [Do you feel better?] SYDNEY: Un leggero capogiro. [Just light-headed.] CHANCELLOR: Meglio. respiri, respiri. [Breathe, Breathe –] SYDNEY: Il piccolino sta già provando a insegnare alla mamma chi comanda. [Little girl is already trying to teach her mother who’s boss.] CHANCELLOR: (laughing) Questi bambini sono terribili! [These children are terrible!] SYDNEY: Potrebbe gentilmente portarmi dell'acqua? [Would you be so kind and grab me some water?] CHANCELLOR: Comando. Respiri. [Of course. Breathe.] SYDNEY: Grazie. [Thank you.] The chancellor leaves. Quickly, Sydney takes out the key holder she swiped from the Chancellor’s pocket and pulls a key from the ring. From her purse, she retrieves a device with a mold inside. She presses the key into the mold and closes the device. SYDNEY: Got the key. It’s transmitting now. Insert key template. Renée has a similar device. She loads the template into the device, and a light on the device flashes red. She opens it, revealing a duplicate key. RENÉE: Perfect. I’m entering the archive. Renée puts the key into the archive door and unlocks it. Sydney puts the device back into her purse and looks around for something at the desk. Renée searches the archive with a flashlight. The room is lined with shelves of numbered boxes. RENÉE: I need the lock number. CUT TO flashback of Sydney and Renée meeting. SYDNEY: So what are we looking for? RENÉE: All I know is it’s intended for Gordon Dean. The intel I received said it will be left for him at the University of Rome inside a package shipped to their museum archive. SYDNEY: Well, how will we know which package? RENÉE: It will be sent from Milan from an alias – Marcello Demasi. CUT TO the present. Sydney is looking through the papers in a clipboard. SYDNEY: I found the alias. Can you give me a moment to find the name? Sydney finds the name and number on one of the pages. SYDNEY: Here it is. Marcello Demasi. Num- PROFESSOR CHOI: Sydney? Sydney Bristow? I don’t believe it. Sydney flips the pages of the clipboard back and puts it down. SYDNEY: Professor Choi. RENÉE: Sydney, I need the lock number. PROFESSOR CHOI: Look at you. You look great! SYDNEY: Thank you. RENÉE: Sydney. SYDNEY: What are you doing in Rome? PROFESSOR CHOI: Uh, sabbatical. I’m teaching classes and doing some research. And what about you? SYDNEY: Oh, I’ve just been traveling – (pressing her finger to her ear) 12 countries in 22 months. RENÉE: Got it. 1222. SYDNEY: I know that’s a lot, but I won’t have a chance after the baby’s born. PROFESSOR CHOI: Ah. RENÉE: Now get out of there, before the Chancellor gets back. SYDNEY: Well, I should let you get back to your class. PROFESSOR CHOI: No problem. I’m on a lunch break. We have plenty of time. SYDNEY: Great. Renée finds Box 1222. She starts to open it, but someone is opening the archive door. Renée quickly hides behind a stack of boxes. A man walks in with a flashlight. Renée draws her g*n. PROFESSOR CHOI: You know, uh, I don’t wanna be presumptive, but, uh, you married? SYDNEY: Newlyweds. PROFESSOR CHOI: Ah, eager to start a family then? SYDNEY: I guess you could say we dove right in. PROFESSOR CHOI: Well, he must be some guy. You seem really happy. SYDNEY: (pauses) He is. Meanwhile, the man who entered the archive goes to open Box 1222. AGENT ONE: I found the shipment. I’m retrieving the package. Renée creeps forward with her g*n ready. The man pulls a sculpture from the box. RENÉE: (cocking g*n) I’ll take that. The man turns toward Renée, holding up the sculpture in his hand. RENÉE: Put it down. Step back. The man lowers his hand slightly but tosses the statue toward Renée, who is distracted as she catches the statue with her left hand. The man kicks her, knocking her backwards and allowing him to catch the sculpture. He pulls his g*n out, but Renée deflects his arm just as he fires. Renée sweep kicks the man, knocking him down to the ground. The man performs a kip up, propelling himself quickly up off the ground and onto his feet. The two struggle over control of the statue. The man pushes Renée into the boxes with a choke hold. Renée punches the man, who drops the statue, breaking it and revealing a key card hidden inside. With one swift move, Renée reaches down and grabs the card, avoiding a kick from the man, and then kicks him, knocking him out. RENÉE: Got it. I’m on my way to the extraction point. PROFESSOR CHOI: So is he with you, your husband? SYDNEY: He’s at the hotel. Sydney notices the chancellor is coming back with a glass of water. SYDNEY: I’d love for you to meet him. Um, we’ll take you to dinner. If you’ll just write down your number. PROFESSOR CHOI: Sure, I would like that. Here, take my card. Professor Choi reaches into his bag and gets a card out, but when he looks up again, Sydney is gone. The Chancellor also arrives and looks for Sydney. Both men look confused. Outside, Sydney walks down the steps and meets with Renée. RENÉE: It was inside the sculpture. SYDNEY: Any idea what it is for? RENÉE: No. So… who was that man? Choi? SYDNEY: No one. He was from another life. (INT. NATIONAL NAVAL HOSPITAL - NIGHT) Arvin Sloane enters and shows his badge to a guard. He pauses at Nadia’s door before entering and walking over to her, planting a kiss on her forehead. DR. MARKS: She’s still unresponsive. There’s been no change since yesterday. I’m afraid the Xylenol didn’t work. SLOANE: The drug is still in the experimental stage. It deserves more time. DR. MARKS: Mr. Sloane, we’ve kept Nadia in a medically-induced coma for five months now. None of our procedures have shown any promise. When we bring her out, she displays the same violent propensities. Now these treatments are extremely costly. SLOANE: Expense is not an issue. DR. MARKS: We’ve simply run out of options. At this point, anything that we may try is unlikely to inspire change. It may… even do more harm than good. SLOANE: I am not prepared to give up. DR. MARKS: Neither are we. In the meantime, I think you should consider alternative care… in a place a little more comfortable. SLOANE: Okay. Thank you, Doctor. Dr. Marks leaves. Sloane puts his hand on Nadia. His phone rings. SLOANE: (answering) Yes? DEAN: How is she doing today? I feel for you. I can’t imagine how hard it must be looking into the face of your own sins. SLOANE: What do you want, Dean? DEAN: Sydney Bristow has taken something of mine – an access card. I want you to get it back. SLOANE: Why? What is it for? DEAN: That’s none of your concern. Forty-eight hours. Don’t let me down. Gordon Dean finishes the call. He is walking with Peyton out of a building. PEYTON: Are you sure this is the right move? DEAN: The right move…? PEYTON: If they find out what you’re up to – DEAN: Oh, they won’t. Besides, I don’t think I have a choice at this point. PEYTON: You’re being paranoid again. You’re too important to this operation to be dismissed over a few setbacks. DEAN: Well, maybe you’re right, but some life insurance will help me sleep better at night. You, too, I imagine. Odds are, if they terminate me, they’ll decide our entire cell is a security risk. I’ll let you know when Sloane contacts me. Dean gets into his car. Peyton watches as he drives off. (INT. APO – DAY) Jack is working on his computer when Sloane walks into his office. SLOANE: Hello, Jack. JACK: Arvin, good news. Sydney’s mission in Italy was a success. SLOANE: Yes, I already knew that. JACK: Did you? How? SLOANE: Gordon Dean told me. ALIAS Title Sequence (INT. SYDNEY’S HOUSE – DAY) [Music – Rachael Yamagata: “1963”] Rachel is sitting on the couch in the living room, working on something. Sydney walks in the house. RACHEL: Marshall ran analysis on the card you retrieved. SYDNEY: (setting down her purse) He suspects it’s an access key for a secure network. RACHEL: So we just have to figure out which network. Well, luckily there are only ten billion secure networks in the world. SYDNEY: We may have a d*ad end on that side, but we intercepted Dean’s property. I’m guessing he’s not too happy about that, so… The doorbell rings. SYDNEY: …I’ll take what I can get. Sydney answers the door. Two delivery men are waiting. DELIVERY MAN: Delivery for Sydney Bristow. SYDNEY: Hey! Come on in. Sydney lets the delivery men enter with a large box. SYDNEY: Just put it in the nursery. It’s right through there. DELIVERY MAN: Thanks. SYDNEY: (explaining to Rachel) Crib. Inside the nursery, Sydney looks around the room. It is empty, except for a few paint cans, some built-in shelving, and the newly-delivered box with the crib. Rachel joins her. RACHEL: You know, the, uh, nursery could use a little work. SYDNEY: I don’t know. I think it’s kind of airy. I’ll grab my bag. We can head in to work. RACHEL: I thought you were taking the day off. SYDNEY: I was. That was before we had ten billion secure networks to analyze. (smiles) RACHEL: I have a better idea. First, let’s set up the crib, and then at least that way, we’ll know we got something accomplished today. SYDNEY: It’s okay. I’ll do it later. RACHEL: What could it take, half an hour? SYDNEY: I used to think that stuff would be so fun – decorating a room and picking out colors. (pauses) Hasn’t turned out exactly the way I thought it would. Rachel looks at Sydney sadly. Sydney’s cell phone rings. SYDNEY: Yeah? (INT. APO – DAY) Inside Jack’s office, Sloane explains his arrangement with Gordon Dean to Jack and Sydney. SLOANE: I was first contacted about a month ago. It was during my sentencing hearings. As I told your father, the terms were simple. They offered to sway the Committee’s decision for my release and I, in turn, would be indebted to them. It was not made clear what that would entail, but I had an idea. SYDNEY: You’ve been lying to us this whole time. SLOANE: There’s no justification. However, faced with spending the rest of my life in prison while my daughter was in the hospital, I – JACK: Nadia hasn’t made any improvement. Why admit this to us now? What’s changed? SLOANE: Nadia won’t be getting better, Jack. Jack looks over at Sydney. SLOANE: If I have to face a life without my daughter… I still have to live with myself. It sounds hollow, I know, in light of what I just told you… but I consider you both to be my family. SYDNEY: …You expect us to forgive you now? SLOANE: No, Sydney, not at all. I know how much pain Dean has caused you, as well as Rachel Gibson. I have damaged your investigation enough. Ironically, Dean’s arrangement puts me in a unique situation. The last thing he expects of me is to double-cross him. SYDNEY: You’ll help us arrest him…? SLOANE: Yes. He’s tasked me with recovering something you took from him – an access card. I can use that as bait. SYDNEY: Understand something. If this is a setup – SLOANE: It’s not, Sydney. I assure you. Once we have Dean in custody, he will be forced to expose his organization, and you will have all the answers you’re looking for. JACK: You have a way to contact Dean? CUT TO Sloane talking on the phone. Dean answers his phone. DEAN: Hello? SLOANE: It’s me. I have what you wanted. DEAN: Good. I knew I could count on you. Jack watches Sloane make the call. SLOANE: Where should we meet? DEAN: Get a pen. Write this down. CUT TO APO planning the operation. DIXON: The meeting place is a racetrack. Dean may trust Sloane, but he’s still being cautious He picked this location because it’s safe – several exit strategies, a large crowed to blend in with. MARSHALL: That or maybe he’s got Lollipop in the second. SYDNEY: We’ll have to grab him before he has the chance to slip out. RACHE: That won’t be easy. Dean doesn’t go anywhere without a security detail. It’ll most likely be two men – heavily armed, nearly invisible. We can assume that one will shadow Dean, the other, Sloane. MARSHALL: Um, sorry. Is anybody else having déjà vu here? I mean, first Sloane was good, then he’s bad, now he’s good again? Although, I guess he was bad at first. I just thought – JACK: We have a significant tactical disadvantage. Dean knows what we look like. He can ID every one of us. TOM: Not everyone. He’s never seen me… but I look forward to making his acquaintance. JACK: Good. Tom, you’ll take lead. Dixon, Sydney, Rachel, you’ll provide support in the field. I want a plan drafted within the hour. Wheels up at 1500. We may not have another chance like this. Let’s make it count. DUBAI (INT. A VAN PARKED OUTSIDE THE RACETRACK – DAY) SYDNEY: Dean’s reserved you a seat in the grandstand. He won’t arrive until he’s confirmed you’re alone. If we put a transmitter on you, his security countermeasures may detect it, so I’ll be tracking you remotely. You’ll need this. (holds up the access card that Renée recovered) SLOANE: It’s a facsimile, I assume. SYDNEY: No, it’s the real card. Dean may verify it with a reader. We’ll move in as soon as we’ve intercepted his men, but until then, you’ll have to stall. RACHEL: (coming into the back of the van) Okay. I hacked into the closed-circuit feeds. We’re ready to go. SYDNEY: Okay, you’re up. SLOANE: Look, Sydney… I may have lost the opportunity to save my own child. I only hope that by taking out Dean, I will have helped to save yours. Good luck. Sloane leaves the van. RACHEL: Okay. (pulls up closed-circuit feed on her computer) Dixon and Tom are in position. No sign of Dean yet. SYDNEY: He won’t reveal himself until Sloane is in place. (INT. RACETRACK – DAY) Sydney, dressed a light blue dress with a wrap and a large, wide-brimmed hat, forces her way through a crowd to get to her seat. SYDNEY: (using a Southern accent) Excuse me, Mama comin’ through. Watch out. Don’t jostle the package. Tom sits at the bar and drinks out a metal flask. Dixon, wearing a salwar kameez with his face disguised under a shora, sits in the lobby reading the newspaper. Sydney holds up her ticket to an usher and moves toward her seat, making her way past a woman wearing a headscarf and a man with a decorated shora. SYDNEY: How y’all doin’? You gonna help me pick a winner today, Skinny? Haha. He’s cute… for a sheik! Sydney takes her seat and looks around. She points the purse, which is equipped with a device, in a specific direction. She watches through her binoculars as Sloane takes his assigned seat in the stand. SLOANE: Excuse me, that’s my seat. (INT. APO – DAY) Jack and Marshall monitor the team’s progress. MARSHALL: Okay, laser mic’s on target, Phoenix. Reception’s good. (INT. RACETRACK – DAY) TOM: (comms) Hey, base. You got a visual? MARSHALL: Affirmative, Sidewinder. TOM: Good, ‘cause uh, I was wondering, what do you think of this suit? Pretty sweet, huh? MARSHALL: Yeah, it’s a nice… suit on you. Blue’s a good color. And for you as well, Director Bristow. JACK: Thanks. Oracle, can you get us a closer look at Sloane? Rachel zooms in on Sloane. RACHEL: How’s that? JACK: Fine. DIXON: I got him. Gordon Dean comes up the stairs. DIXON: The package has arrived. East concourse. MARSHALL: There. SYDNEY: Sloane’s in position. Dixon follows Gordon Dean. DIXON: Sidewinder, we’re headed your way. TOM: Ten-four. Let’s do this. RACHEL: We’ve got you. JACK: Sidewinder, you’re up. Tom pours out some alcohol from the flask onto his hands and dabs it on his neck. He bumps into Gordon Dean. TOM: (using Australian accent) How ya doin’, mate? Dean continues walking, but Tom keeps talking to him. TOM: Well, I’m fantastic, thanks for asking. You know why? The Tasmanian devil is straight as a string. Gonna make me a rich man. The thing is, I’m short two grand. What do you say you front me, and I double it for you by dark? DEAN: Not today. TOM: Come on, mate. That watch alone would get me two grand across the card. DEAN: (walking away) We need an assist here. SECURITY DETAIL: (pulling Tom aside) This way. The guard walks Tom toward a sofa. Tom pulls a taser from his pocket, stuns Dean’s security guard, and eases him into the sofa. TOM: First security detail down. The second one hasn’t shown. But this guy’s wearing an earpiece. JACK: Which means Dean’s communicating with him via radio. He could be anywhere. Outrigger, until we ID the second detail, we’ll have to proceed with the meet. DIXON: Copy that. Sydney looking through her binoculars as Dean meets with Sloane. The “cute sheik” behind Sydney notices. SHEIK: You search crowd. Someone you know? SYDNEY: Yes, I do. Dean takes his seat next to Sloane. DEAN: Lovely day. SLOANE: Yes, it is. RACHEL; Outrigger, if Dean’s following his standard protocol, that second detail shouldn’t be any more than fifty feet away. DEAN: Do you have something for me? SLOANE: I do. Sloane pulls out a case from his coat pocket and opens it. He pulls out the access card and hands it to Dean. Meanwhile, Sydney searches the crowd for the second security detail. SYDNEY: Outrigger, I’ve got him at 12:00. Blue cap, binoculars. DIXON: I’m on it. Dixon walks over to the second security detail. DIXON: (using accent) Excuse me, sir. I believe you have my seat. As the guard begins to stand, Dixon uses a taser on him. The guard slumps back into his seat, unconscious. DIXON: Drinks too much! Filthy habit. Dixon leaves the second security guard. DIXON: Second security detail is down. JACK: Good work. At that moment, the race begins and the people attending the race stand and clap, blocking Sydney’s view. The track announcer begins calling the positions over the public address system. JACK: Outrigger and Sidewinder, move in. Unfortunately, the APO team only hears feedback on the comms. Gordon Dean swipes the cardkey through a scanner to verify it. DEAN: It’s been a pleasure. Post One, what’s your status? Marshall and Jack watch the closed circuit feed helplessly. JACK: Outrigger, Sidewinder, move in. DEAN: Post Two, what’s your status? SYDNEY: Oracle, I’ve lost sight of him. DEAN: Post Two, do you copy? JACK: Sidewinder, come in! Outrigger, do you copy? MARSHALL: Their PA system must be bleeding into our channel. I’ll try to find an open frequency. (works on his computer) SYDNEY: Oracle, do you copy? I’ve lost – RACHEL: Outrigger? Phoenix? JACK: (still trying comms) Come in. We’ve got a problem! DEAN: Stand up. SLOANE: Why? DEAN: We’re gonna take a walk. Sloane hesitates and looks around. Dean pulls out a g*n. DEAN: Do it now. Dutifully, Sloane gets up, with Dean following right behind him. RACHEL: Base? Anyone? Tom and Dixon still can’t hear feedback on their comms and stand their positions. JACK: Phoenix! RACHEL: Damn it. (gets up) Dean leads Sloane through the s*ab SLOANE: You don’t need to do this. I’m telling you, I came by myself. DEAN: Just keep going. Dean unlocks a silver Mercedes with a remote. Sloane spins around and knocks the g*n from Dean’s hand. Dean throws a punch, but Sloane blocks it. Dean quickly att*cks from the other side and grabs Sloane, punching him in the stomach. Dean slams Sloane into a railing. Sloane collapses to the ground. Dean kicks him, knocking him out. RACHEL: (running up) Stop! Dean walks toward Rachel and stares at her. DEAN: Well, isn’t this a surprise? Rachel returns his stare. DEAN: What are you doing here, Rachel? Rachel looks down at the g*n on the ground. Dean follows her eyes. DEAN: (incredulously) You gonna fight me? Why do you think we never put you in the field? Because we knew you weren’t equipped. RACHEL: Well, then… that was your loss. Rachel kicks Dean. Dean punches her in the face and grabs her by the back of her neck. He throws Rachel to the side near some garden tools. Dean picks up his g*n and turns toward Rachel, but is met with a shovel to the head. SYDNEY: Oracle, come in. Do you have a visual? RACHEL: (breathless) Yeah, actually, on - on Dean. SYDNEY: What’s he doing? RACHEL: Eating dirt. I just h*t him with a shovel. SYDNEY: A shovel? Is he conscious? RACHEL: Yeah, I think so. SYDNEY: Then h*t him again. Rachel picks the shovel up again and wields it, as Dean groans from the ground. She slams the shovel down on Dean again. (INT. APO – NIGHT) Gordon Dean is brought into APO by two gaurds, accompanied by Rachel Gibson. SYDNEY: (on the phone) We got Dean. RENEE: That’s good. What happens now? SYDNEY: He tells us everything, and we get the truth about Prophet Five. Inside a room, Dean is strapped to a chair. Sydney comes into the room. DEAN: You seem very pleased with yourself. SYDNEY: I’ll keep this simple. We have a few questions for you. We want to know who you’re working for and what their agenda is. The only other question is whether you’ll cooperate willingly or unwillingly. (holds up a syringe) DEAN: The ironic thing is, Ms. Bristow, you and I may not share the same agenda, but we have the same goal. Sydney draws fluid into the syringe and looks at Dean questioningly. DEAN: I want to know who I’m working for as much as you do. Unfortunately, for both of us, you robbed me of that opportunity. The access card. SYDNEY: You were making a power play. DEAN: The people I answer to – their power stems from remaining anonymous. I was hoping to balance the playing field. All the information you want can be accessed off a communication hub using that card. But before I tell you the location, you have to agree to do something for me. SYDNEY: And what is that? DEAN: I want ten million dollars, as well as documents to authenticate half a dozen false identities and dental implants capable of fooling facial-recognition software. In short, you’re going to make me disappear. SYDNEY: Not a chance. DEAN: I wouldn’t be so hasty. That access card will expire in just under twelve hours, at which point the information will vanish and I can no longer help you, so…I suggest you talk to the people you answer to and share with them my offer. SYDNEY: I don’t need to. I don’t think it’s gonna take that long. Sydney preps the needle and injects the fluid into Dean’s arm. RACHEL: What is it? MARSHALL: LSD. Well, sort of. See, I started with a lysergic acid diethylamide-based serum and, you know… Flinkmanized it. Of course, he’s not gonna see any dancing bears on this trip, I promise you that. Not that – I mean, I heard… about it from a guy once. I’ve never… Jack walks into the room. MARSHALL: Hey, Mr. Bristow. JACK: How long till we can interrogate Dean? MARSHALL: Not long. In about an hour, he’ll think you’re God. He’ll tell you anything you wanna know. Of course, if you’d like, I could facilitate the process. JACK: Let’s do that. Rock music begins playing in the room – loudly. JACK: I see you’ve done this before. (EXT. PIER – DAY) Arvin Sloane stands against a railing, looking out onto the ocean. Joseph Ehrmann interrupts. EHRMANN: Peaceful, hmm? SLOANE: Yeah, it is. EHRMANN: I imagine you’re having quite a difficult day. Sloane looks over at Ehrmann suspiciously. EHRMANN: Am I right? SLOANE: Excuse me. Do I know you? EHRMANN: Nope, you don’t know me, Mr. Sloane. But I do have one small favor to ask of you. My associates and I are aware of your adventure in Dubai. We also know that Gordon Dean is still in custody, presumably at APO. We need you to eliminate him. SLOANE: Eliminate him? EHRMANN: Yes, and we have every confidence that you’ll be able to overcome any obstacles that stand in your way. SLOANE: I see. You can go to hell. I’ve already confessed my bargain with Mr. Dean. You people no longer have any power over me. EHRMANN: That may be. But we do still have plenty to offer. SLOANE: I doubt there’s anything that you could do for me. Sloane’s cell phone rings. EHRMANN: Uh, you should answer that. (walks away) SLOANE: (answering) Yeah. (INT. NATIONAL NAVAL HOSPITAL – DAY) Sloane bursts into the secure wing of the hospital. He looks into Nadia’s room. Nadia stirs in her hospital bed, no longer comatose. Sloane walks into her room. Dr. Marks is standing in the room, monitoring Nadia. SLOANE: My God. Sloane walks over to Nadia and puts his hand on her shoulder. SLOANE: What did you do? DR. MARKS: Nothing. It just happened. The nurse came through on rounds fifteen minutes ago and found her awake. Sloane bends over and kisses Nadia’s forehead. NADIA: (whispering) Dad? SLOANE: I’m right here, Sweetheart. I’m right here. NADIA: Where am I? SLOANE: You’re gonna be okay, Nadia. You’re gonna be okay. (smiles) (INT. APO – DAY) The loud music continues playing in Dean’s room. The combination of the music and strobe lights overwhelm Dean, who thrashes around in his chair. MARSHALL: Well, his brain waves are all over the place, which I guess explains why his heart rate’s off the chart. Maybe Twisted Sister wasn’t the way to go. JACK: Cut it. Marshall shuts off the music. MARSHALL: Right. You know, I think I gave him too much diophorazide. My bad. I mean, he is hallucinating hard. Whatever he’s seeing, it’s scaring him to death, literally. JACK: We have to s*ab his vitals. He won’t talk otherwise. MARSHALL: Well, no, I don’t think his body can withstand any more drugs. SYDNEY: Then what do we do? MARSHALL: Well, not that I would know or anything, but… well, he needs to feel safe. I mean, maybe if somebody comforted him. Jack looks over at Sydney. CUT TO Sydney sitting next to Dean. Sydney puts her hand on Dean’s shoulder. Dean looks over and is startled. DEAN: You! SYDNEY: Shh. I’m not gonna hurt you. I know you’re scared. Just relax. DEAN: They want me d*ad. They’ll k*ll me. SYDNEY: Well, that won’t happen. I won’t let it. I’m taking care of you now. Marshall checks the progress. MARSHALL: Okay, his heartrate’s coming down. It’s working! SYDNEY: I’m gonna ask you some questions. When you answer me, I’ll make sure no one can hurt you. Okay? No one. Do you understand? DEAN: They want my eyes. Don’t let them take my eyes. SYDNEY: No, I won’t. No one can hurt you as long as I’m here. No one. Listen, the access card… it was designed to patch into a specific network. Tell me which one. Dean look saway. SYDNEY: Which network does the card access? DEAN: I can help you. When you see the watchman, you’ll need me. I can help you. SYDNEY: Listen to me. You need to focus. How do I get into your organization’s network? DEAN: Get away from me! SYDNEY: Shh. DEAN: It’s your fault! I needed to find the secret. I needed protection! SYDNEY: I’m protecting you now. Tell me the secret. I’ll keep it safe. Stay with me, Gordon. DEAN: The watchman is on the roof. You need to go… to the roof. SYDNEY: Okay. Which roof? Where do I find it? DEAN: Glenheim. SYDNEY: Okay, what is Glenheim? MARSHALL: Okay, there’s a Glenheim Corp in Seattle. The Glenheim Towers. JACK: Pull up the building schematics. MARSHALL: I’ll pull up the building schematics. Okay. There’s a satellite on the roof connected to the network of servers. JACK: Rachel, we need a plane fueled and ready to leave for Seattle within the hour. Rachel gets up and leaves to make the arrangements. Jack’s cell phone rings. JACK: (answering) Hello? (pauses) When? Inside the APO Conversation Room, Dean whimpers. DEAN: I shouldn’t have done it. I didn’t mean to. They insisted. SYDNEY: You didn’t want to do what? DEAN: They insisted to k- k*ll Michael Vaughn. I can help you defeat them, but you have to hurry. They have plan for you. SYDNEY: What plans? The door opens. Jack walks in. JACK: Sydney, you need to go. I’ll take over from here. Sydney hesitates, wanting to learn more from Gordon Dean. JACK: It’s Nadia. (INT. NATIONAL NAVAL HOSPITAL – DAY) SLOANE: You’ve never looked more beautiful, Nadia. NADIA: Sovogda… SLOANE: Shh. NADIA: What happened? SLOANE: I’ll tell you about it in time. Just rest for now. NADIA: (not feeling well, breathing more quickly) Dad? SLOANE: What is it? NADIA: Where’s the doctor? SLOANE: Just stepped out for a minute. Nadia starts to twitch. NADIA: What’s happening? Nadia thrashes around in her bed, her eyes red. Her monitors begin to beep. SLOANE: Oh, God. Please! I need help here! Please! Help! I need help here! Doctor! Dr. Marks and a nurse rush into the room. DR. MARKS: Help me hold her down. I need you to step back, Mr. Sloane. SLOANE: Nadia! Please! DR. MARKS: Blood pressure 70 over 50. I need 500 milligrams of Detropine IV. Dr. Marks injects the Detorpine into Nadia’s IV. She calms down immediately. Sydney arrives at that moment. The medical team checks on Nadia. Later, Dr. Marks briefs Sloane and Sydney. DR. MARKS: We were forced to induce coma again. Look, I’ll be honest. Waking up without any signs of her disease was, frankly, a fluke. Without an explanation, it’s likely this is never gonna happen again. Of course, we’ll watch her closely. Sloane nods. SYDNEY: Thank you, Doctor. Dr. Marks leaves. Sydney observes Sloane’s pained expression for a moment. SYDNEY: You’ve done everything you can for her. Beyond that, it’s out of your control. SLOANE: Thank you, Sydney. Sydney leaves. SEATTLE A helicopter flies above Glenheim Towers. Two figures – Dixon and Tom – descend onto the roof. DIXON: This is Outrigger. We’ve touched down. MARSHALL: Copy that. Sydney returns from the hospital and joins Jack, Marshall, and Rachel. JACK: I heard. Are you okay? SYDNEY: Yeah. JACK: How’s Sloane? SYDNEY: Not well. Tom opens the roof access door to the building. Dixon and Tom climb down a set of stairs and find an access panel. JACK: We figured out what Dean was talking about. The network his organization’s using is mobile. SYDNEY: Meaning…? RACHEL: Their communications are piggy-backed through a series of telecom satellites. The Glenheim people don’t know they’re being used, which is exactly the point. They wouldn’t know the network was there unless they were looking for it. JACK: Further, the network is rerouted every few days as a precautionary measure. If we lose them now, we won’t find them again. SYDNEY: How much time do we have? RACHEL: Twelve minutes, fifty-eight seconds. MARSHALL: Sidewinder, what’s your status? TOM: We’re at the dish. We’re cutting through now. MARSHALL: Great. When you open up the panel, let me know what you’re looking at. Dixon cuts open the panel with a blowtorch, revealing a screen with numbers on it. DIXON: I’m looking at a keypad and an LCD readout. MARSHALL: Okay, um, any access ports? DIXON: Affirmative. (plus a device into the port) Uplink should be coming your way. Marshall’s computer begins acquiring the node data. MARSHALL: Got it. SYDNEY: Marshall, what are we looking at? MARSHALL: Not sure. It looks like the network’s not tracking back to just one source. JACK: Meaning…? MARSHALL: Meaning when I try to locate the origin, several addresses keep popping up. I mean, it looks like the information’s being fed by a number. Wait a minute. That is weird. One of the node streams to Credit Marquis…! RACHEL: What’s that? JACK: Public front for French Intelligence. MARSHALL: That’s not all. I mean, there’s a stream back to Russian SVR, a European pharmaceutical conglomerate, the CDC, MI-6… This list goes on! JACK: So they’re hijacking government servers? MARSHALL: No, if that were the case, I’d be able to detect it. I mean, this suggests… (shakes head) They are government. Jack looks concerned. SYDNEY: Dad? Gordon Dean didn’t bribe someone on the inside to get Sloane out of jail. His organization is already on the inside. JACK: Marshall, can you trace those nodes? MARSHALL: Yeah, let me see what I can do. Arvin Sloane arrives at APO and checks his watch. The agent from Rome and another agent receive a signal from Sloane and are monitoring him. AGENT ONE: Right on time. Network diagnostic is up and running. Sloane walks past a security camera. AGENT ONE: You got two minutes to grab that coffee. Oh, and get me a cup, too? Little cream. The second agent leaves the room. Sloane takes out a handkerchief from his pocket and opens the door to APO’s Conversation Room. DEAN: Arvin. SLOANE: For the next minute and a half, no one knows I’m here. DEAN: Good. Get me out of these. SLOANE: That isn’t exactly what I had in mind. Back in Marshall’s office, the team continues to try to trace the nodes. MARSHALL: Okay, I’ve narrowed the network down to twelve isolated nodes. I think I can trace their point of origin. RACHEL: Twelve…? MARSHALL: Yeah. RACHEL: If there was never a one, there was never The Twelve. In the Caymans, that was one of Dean’s account protocols. Marshall’s computer begins beeping. MARSHALL: Oh. SYDNEY: What just happened? MARSHALL: We’re locked out. Let me try to bypass the encryption. A window pops up on Marshall’s screen prompting for a password. MARSHALL: Oh, no. JACK: What is it? MARSHALL: “Grade Three Watchman Encryption.” There’s no way around this in six minutes. RACHEL: The program’s requesting an access code. SYDNEY: Dean mentioned “Watchman.” He said when I find the watchman, he would help me. This is what he meant. He has the access code. JACK: Go. Sydney leaves Marshall’s office. In the other room, Dean pleads with Sloane. DEAN: Don’t do this, Arvin. I have the access code! You can take down Prophet Five! Sloane grabs Dean behind his neck, forcing his head backwards, and puts a pill in Dean’s mouth. SLOANE: God forgive me. Sloane holds Dean’s jaw shut until Dean swallows the pill. DEAN: Help! Somebody, please! SLOANE: These walls are soundproof. There’s no point in shouting. Sloane pops a blade out of a Kn*fe and waits. Sydney walks down the hall toward the room. She opens the door and finds Dean d*ad. He sits slumped over, still strapped to his chair. There is a bit of blood on his lip. Sydney looks defeated. Later, Sydney meets with Jack in his office. Jack pours a glass of water. JACK: According to medical services, Dean took his own life. Apparently with a cyanide pill he had subdermally implanted inside his cheek. Jack sits down with Sydney and hands her the glass of water. SYDNEY: I don’t understand. This morning he wanted immunity. He wanted to live. JACK: Clearly, Dean thrived on power. Once the drug wore off, he must’ve realized he was facing a life sentence. Death was easier to accept. SYDNEY: Marshall counted twelve sources that make up Prophet Five. Twelve, Dad. It’s like The Alliance all over again. JACK: I know. SYDNEY: If they are embedded inside global government, where do we even start? JACK: We’ve already started. SYDNEY: I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. (smiles, but hesitates) Do you have any plans for tonight? JACK: What did you have in mind? (INT. A CAR – NIGHT) Joseph Ehrmann pours a glass of liquor. He turns to Peyton, who is sitting in the car with him. EHRMANN: You’re sure you won’t join me? We can drink to your success. Peyton takes a glass from him. EHRMANN: Or, perhaps, if you like, to soothe your guilt. PEYTON: Guilt isn’t one of my driving emotions. EHRMANN: To your success, then. Peyton smiles. EHRMANN: As we agreed, Dean’s operation is now yours. But with one warning – I appreciate ambition, but if you’re considering any further betrayals, they will come at your own expense. PEYTON: I understand. The two clink glasses. Outside, a car pulls up in front of theirs. EHRMANN: I’ll be right back. Ehrmann meets with Sloane in front of the car. EHRMANN: A job well done, Mr. Sloane. I’m so glad you took our offer. SLOANE: I didn’t have much of a choice, did I? EHRMANN: There’s always a choice. SLOANE: My daughter…when will she be cured? EHRMANN: Soon. SLOANE: Soon? Perhaps you could be a bit more specific. EHRMANN: I wish I could – but there are a few more things we need you to do first. SLOANE: We have a deal. EHRMANN: No. We have an arrangement, which you don’t seem to understand very well. SLOANE: You son of a b****. EHRMANN: We’ll be in touch. Till then, I want you to remember one thing – you have something now that you didn’t have this morning. SLOANE: What’s that? EHRMANN: Hope. Ehrmann walks back to his car. The car backs up and drives away. (INT. SYDNEY’S HOUSE – NIGHT) [Music – Elton John: “Your Song”] Jack has finished assembling the crib in Sydney’s living room. JACK: Okay, that’s the headboard. SYDNEY: (looking up from the assembly instructions) That’s the footboard. JACK: Mm-hmm. That’s what I said. SYDNEY: Have you ever actually built anything before? JACK: Yes, in fact. I built your crib. SYDNEY: Really? JACK: Well, your mother and I did it together. Jack drops the mattress into the crib frame with a flourish. JACK: Done. SYDNEY: Done? JACK: Mm-hmm. Why? Did you doubt me? SYDNEY: No, of course not. The two roll the finished crib back into the nursery, but they find that it won’t fit through the door. Sydney looks at Jack expectedly. JACK: Get me the screwdriver. Sydney nods and smiles.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x07 - Fait Accompli"}

foreverdreaming

(EXT. SIBERIA – NIGHT) A passenger train travels through snowy Siberia. A man opens a door and enters one of the passenger cars, closes the door behind him, and looks around cautiously. He carries a newspaper wrapped around something as he walks down the aisle. As he passes a couple of old men playing chess, a bishop piece gets knocked over into the aisle. The man kneels down and picks up the piece for the old man. OLD MAN: Thank you, sir. The man studies the chess board for a moment before getting up. MAN: Just a suggestion. The old man looks curiously at his helper. MAN: Try… Knight to C-5. The old man looks back at the chess board and tries the move. OLD MAN: You are right. The man looks pleased and moves on, continuing down the aisle. As he leaves, we see that he has left a device under one of the seats. The row of lights on the device increase with each second. The man enters the next car and closes the door. He takes a seat and begins reading the newspaper. He checks his watch. At that moment, in the previous car, the old man is about to win the chess game. OLD MAN: Checkmate. A bright light flashes inside the car. The man walks back into the previous car. The car is not damaged, but charred bodies are all that remain of the passengers inside. The man retrieves his device and leaves. (INT. LOS ANGELES – NIGHT) RACHEL: Did you crack Dean’s encryption? MARSHALL: Well, I was working on it, but… I got a little sidetracked. I intercepted a string of MI-6 transmissions. They’re all about the testing and sale of a prototype MPB. TOM: That’s impossible. MARSHALL: Yeah, I thought so, too. RACHEL: What’s an MPB? MARSHALL: Sorry. It’s a micropulse b*mb. These things – super nasty. Incinerate the people, leave everything else intact. DIXON: There was an incident aboard a train in Siberia two days ago. Information’s leaking out slowly, but – TOM: You think that’s the test…? There’s no way the Brits are pursing an MPB. That breaks every arms treaty known to man. RACHEL: Well, have you notified the Director General? DIXON: Until we know who we can trust, we can’t approach MI-6 officially. Jack and Sydney are in England trying to find out more. In the meantime, we’re going to go over every single transmission Marshall pulled off the server to see if we missed something. I’m working on these. RACHEL: Okay. TOM: I’ll take these. Each member takes a stack of file folders to analyze. YORKSHIRE (EXT. AN ENGLISH MANOR - DAY) At an outdoor party, Sydney sits a table outside and has tea with an older woman. WOMAN: You should see my youngest grandchild Daisy – four years old and already a master of the computer. Sydney feigns amazement. WOMAN: Have you chosen a name? I myself have always been partial to “Rupert” – such a distinguished name. Sydney scans the party attendees and watches a blonde woman, Elizabeth Powell. Jack is also at the party, chatting with someone. He seems to nod to Sydney. WOMAN: A shame it fallen out of favor. Wouldn’t you agree, dear? SYDNEY: Rupert – it’s classic. JACK: Will you excuse me? SYDNEY: Can’t seem to get enough of that Devonshire clotted cream. We don’t have it in the States. If you’ll just pardon me…? WOMAN: Yes, of course. SYDNEY: Thank you. Elizabeth Powell is getting pastries at one of the tables as she talks to someone. ELIZABETH: I prefer the cinnamon, but the blackberry is also very good. Elizabeth turns around just as Sydney walks up. SYDNEY: Excuse me, ma’am. You forgot a napkin. Sydney hands Elizabeth a napkin. ELIZABETH: Oh, thank you. SYDNEY: You’re welcome. The woman reads the note on the napkin and turns back to look at Sydney. Inside the house, Jack Bristow idly plays a few notes as he stands and waits by the piano. Elizabeth Powell walks into the room. ELIZABETH: Do you still play? JACK: No, gave it up years ago. Jack pulls off his glasses. ELIZABETH: You shouldn’t have approached me here. JACK: I take it Joseph still doesn’t know what you do for a living. The woman raises her eyebrows. ELIZABETH: How would it look for the French Ambassador to have a spook for a wife? Besides, this is where I get my best intelligence. JACK: I already talked with the Minister of Finance. He’s a dimwit. ELIZABETH: What’s this about, Jack? JACK: We believe someone operating within MI-6 is attempting to acquire a micropulse b*mb. ELIZABETH: Well, that’s outrageous. MI-6 would never sanction it. JACK: I agree. More likely, whoever it is represents some corrupt element. ELIZABETH: Are you suggesting we have a double agent? JACK: Yes, but it goes much deeper than that. Have you ever heard of Prophet Five? Outside, Joseph Vachon, the French Ambassador, looks for his wife. JOSEPH: Have you seen Elizabeth? MAN: No. Sorry. SYDNEY: (using a Southern accent) Excuse me! Pardonnez-moi. Are you Joseph Vachon, the French Ambassador? JOSEPH: Why, yes, I am. SYDNEY: I knew it! Hey, I’ve been taking French classes at night, (nodding to her belly) ‘cause little ones are supposed to pick up so quickly, you know? Joseph slowly nods. SYDNEY: I was just wondering if I could just practice a little bit on you. Joseph looks around uncomfortably, but agrees. JOSEPH: I suppose so, yeah. SYDNEY: Great. Okay. All right. Sydney closes her eyes and breathes. She proceeds to speak in a very heavily-accented French. SYDNEY: Quand votre famille… part en vacances, qu'est-ce que vous préférez? Une plage de soleil… ou de montagnes glacés? [When your family goes… on vacation, what do you prefer? The sunny beach… or the frozen mountains?] AMBASSADOR: Très bien! Mm-hmm. [Very Good.] SYDNEY: (excited) Très bien! Great. Okay. Um… Sydney continues her diversion as Jack continues to explain the situation to Elizabeth. JACK: The network behind Prophet Five is far-reaching. They appear to have infiltrated multiple intelligence agencies, not just MI-6. ELIZABETH: And you think that following this w*apon will give us the key to finding out more? You want me to investigate my agency from the inside? JACK: I wouldn’t be coming to you if it didn’t also involve Sydney. ELIZABETH: Sydney? Is she all right? JACK: She’s fine. You just met her, in fact. ELIZABETH: Oh, my goodness. (smiles) It has been a long time. And unless she’s wearing a very convincing disguise… JACK: I’m going to be a grandfather – a very young grandfather. ELIZABETH: Jack… she’s lovely. JACK: She is. The agent I told you about, Michael Vaughn – he was her fiancé. ELIZABETH: Oh. I’m sorry. What you’re asking me to do, to investigate my own agency – that’s treason. JACK: What’s a little treason between old friends? (INT. APO – DUSK) JACK: My source got back to me. She confirmed what we suspected – the acquisition of the MPB w*apon is strictly off-book. MI-6 has not sanctioned it. TOM: Could she identify the double agent? JACK: No, but she was able to identify the engineer who designed the w*apon – this man, Lukas Basarov. A profile of Basarov is shown on the screen. He is the man who set off the device on the train in Siberia. JACK: Tenured faculty, University of St. Petersburg. Holds advanced degrees in physics and thermonuclear engineering. DIXON: Apparently, he has a side business. JACK: Basarov is currently en route to a conference being held in São Paulo, Brazil. He’s scheduled to give a talk on theoretical microdynamics. MARSHALL: Wow. Sounds awesome. Everyone looks sat Marshall questioningly. MARSHALL: Well, Brazil. Isn’t that, you know, the place where they have the um, string – you know, what are they called? Not bikinis, but, um… JACK: Thongs. MARSHALL: Yes. JACK: My source found evidence which indicates that within approximately 48 hours, Basarov will receive a transmission regarding where and when the sale is taking place. We can presume he’ll be receiving this one at the conference via his laptop. MARSHALL: (eagerly) Well, that’s easy. We just access the laptop, upload the bugging software – piece of cake. I could definitely do it! JACK: You need to be here to decrypt the transmission. Marshall’s face falls. JACK: Rachel’s perfectly equipped to do the work in the field. Wheels up in two hours. Marshall is still clearly disappointed when he leaves the table. Rachel begins packing for her mission. Sydney comes to see how she’s doing. SYDNEY: Hey. RACHEL: Hey. SYDNEY: Here’s your program. It’s a Flinkman special. Sydney hands Rachel a USB drive. RACHEL: Thanks. SYDNEY: You’re sure you’re okay with this? RACHEL: Yeah. I’m actually glad that I’m going – anything to keep the investigation moving. SYDNEY: (laughs) When’s the last time you did something just for fun? RACHEL: Hitting Gordon Dean on the head with a shovel – that was fun. SYDNEY: Okay. RACHEL: Okay, it hasn’t been high on my list of priorities. SYDNEY: But… you have to have a life. RACHEL: I know. Okay. I’ll work on it. I promise… after Brazil. SAO PAULO Rachel walks into a hotel wearing glasses and a dress with a matching blazer. She wheels her luggage to the front desk. RACHEL: (using a British accent) Hi, I’m checking in. Lydia Sand. CLERK: The room you requested is available. I see you’re here for the conference? RACHEL: Yes. CLERK: Let me get your information packet. Behind Rachel, another guest is making a commotion with another hotel clerk. MAN: I don’t care what sort of geek conference you have here! I was told an upgrade wouldn’t be a problem. RACHEL: (sighs and rolls her eyes to the clerk) Americans. Rachel gets into the elevator to go to her hotel room. Just as the doors are about to close, someone jams their briefcase into the door, forcing the doors open again. It is the rude American hotel guest, Mr. Sark. He gets on the elevator. On their way up, Sark looks over at Rachel and notices her name tag. SARK: (still using an American accent) So Lydia, you here on business? RACHEL: (still using a British accent) Yes. The geek conference. SARK: You heard that, huh? RACHEL: I did. The elevator doors open. Rachel steps out and goes to her hotel room. Sark follows behind her. Rachel finds her hotel room – and Sark’s room is right across from hers. SARK: What are the odds, huh? They open their doors and go inside their respective rooms. Rachel opens her luggage and takes out her op-tech. She drills a hole into the wall and feeds a fiber optic camera into the hole. She monitors Basarov’s room. Meanwhile, Sark is preparing in his room. SARK: I’m in place. Yes, I’m looking at him right now. I’ll have the details of the trade by tomorrow. Don’t worry, Benjamin. For what you’re paying me, I won’t let anything stand in my way. < ALIAS – Title Sequence > Lukas Basarov comes down the stairs of the hotel with a colleague. Rachel has been waiting in the lobby and approaches him. RACHEL: Dr. Basarov? Hi. Sorry to interrupt. I was just reading your article, and well, I was wondering – would you mind signing it? Basarov smiles and takes the journal from Rachel. BASAROV: (to his colleague) Look. I have – what do you call them? Groupie. RACHEL: Hmm. Thank you. BASAROV: You’re welcome. Basarov and his colleague continue on. Back in her hotel room, Rachel scans the back of the journal she asked Basarov to sign. She lifts his fingerprints from the scan and creates a duplicate fingerprint tip. In his room, Sark is calling for room service. SARK: I would like the shrimp stew, the pork and beef skewers, and also the tomato salad. I’m trying to lay off the carbs. Sark looks on his monitor and sees that Basarov is about to get into the shower. SARK: Get it here in ten minutes, and I’ll triple the gratuity. Rachel cautiously steps out of her hotel room and walks next door to Basarov’s room. She inserts a device into his room’s door lock, which decrypts the lock sequence and opens the door. She slips into the room and closes the door behind her. Basarov is in the shower. Rachel puts the device into her inside jacket pocket. She quickly moves to Basarov’s laptop and boots it up. She takes out her duplicate fingerprint, but suddenly, there is a knock on the door. SARK: Room service. Rachel quickly closes the laptop and hides. Sark opens the door and wheels in the cart of food he had ordered. He goes to the laptop, finds an access keycard on the table, and sprays something on the card. Rachel is hiding outside on a ledge next to the window, pressed tightly against the wall with her eyes closed. Sark puts his fake fingerprint into the biometric scanner. He inserts a PC card into the laptop and uploads a program onto Basarov’s laptop. After the upload is compete, Sark removes the PC card, closes the laptop, and leaves the room. Finally, Rachel is able to get back into the room. She breathes a sigh of relief. She hears Basarov get out of the shower. She hesitates, but decides to finish the job. She moves quickly to the laptop, inserts the USB drive with Marshall’s program, and scans her fake fingerprint. She quickly uploads Marshall’s program and leaves, just as Basarov comes out of the bathroom and finds the cart of food. He checks it out, interested. Rachel quickly goes back into her room and closes the door behind her. She stands in front of the door for a moment to calm down. (INT. APO – DAY) A phone rings. Tom Grace answers. TOM: Agent Grace. RACHEL: Hi. It’s me. TOM: How’d it go? RACHEL: It went fine – Great. TOM: Good. I’ll notify Jack and Marshall. RACHEL: So… uh, what do I do now? TOM: Keep your PDA with you. It’ll alert you as soon as it intercepts Basarov’s transmission. Then go ahead and send it to Marshall. Till then, it looks like you got the night off. Just relax. RACHEL: All right. Rachel is enjoying a martini in the hotel restaurant at the bar. Sark arrives at the bar a few seats down from her. SARK: Lydia? Rachel looks over warily. SARK: Right? I’m sorry about the crack I made earlier. Twelve hours on a plane next to a screaming toddler. You know how that can be. Of course, that’s no excuse. RACHEL: Don’t worry about it. SARK: (to the bartender) Whatever beer you have on tap, please. (to Rachel) The name’s Bob Brown. RACHEL: Lydia… but you already knew that. SARK: (to the bartender) Thank you. (to Rachel) Conference that bad? RACHEL: No. It’s just, you know, tough day. Sometimes at these work events, I feel like I’m in over my head. I just started in a new division. It’s a lot more responsibilities, more risks. SARK: Sounds like you need to rethink your perspective a little bit. Sark moves over a couple of seats and sits next to Rachel. SARK: Anything in life worth doing has an element of risk. It’s what makes life interesting. RACHEL: I can definitely say my life has been interesting lately. And I did manage to do what I came here for, so… SARK: Well, then good for you. As you say, cheers. RACHEL: Cheers. They clink glasses. RACHEL: So, Bob, you here on business as well? SARK: Yep. I’m in international trade. RACHEL: What do you trade? SARK: Whatever my clients pay me to trade. RACHEL: Do you like it? SARK: Hell, yeah. I work freelance, so I get to travel, meet all sorts of fascinating people – present company included. Last year, I tried something a little different – something more conventional, s*ab. RACHEL: How’d that work out? SARK: It didn’t. I was terrible at it. I was so bored that I wanted to blow my brains out. So I decided to take less drastic measures and do something I know best. RACHEL: I just moved. Left my entire life behind, actually. SARK: Well, new starts are good, right? RACHEL: And the new people I work with are great. SARK: You don’t sound too convinced. RACHEL: No, they are. That’s part of the problem. They’re so good at what they do. I mean, there’s this one woman – she’s amazing, and she’s about to have a baby. I’m not sure I could manage work and a goldfish. SARK: Well, aquariums are overrated. Remember that. RACHEL: Okay. (laughs) SARK: You want another one? RACHEL: I would love one. SARK: Okay. Later, the two walk back to their respective hotel rooms. RACHEL: So, um… thank you for keeping me company. SARK: It was my pleasure. They stand in the hallway for a moment before Sark gives Rachel a brief kiss. RACHEL: Good night. SARK: Good night. Sark seems to step back slightly, but they both move in for longer, lingering kiss. SARK: Do you have your key? RACHEL: Oh, no, we can’t go in my room. There are clothes all over the place. Can’t we go to yours? Sark hesitates. RACHEL: Please? SARK: Uh… RACHEL: (whispering in Sark’s ear) Please. Sark kisses Rachel. SARK: What the hell. Sark unlocks the door. The two step inside, still kissing as they make their way to the bed. Afterwards, Sark cradles Rachel in his arms. Rachel runs her fingers along Sark’s chest. RACHEL: Mmm. Just so you know, I don’t usually do this. SARK: Well, I appreciate you making the exception. You should know that gorgeous engineers have a way of throwing themselves at me, so… RACHEL: I did not throw myself at you. SARK: Okay, okay. If that’s what you need to believe. Rachel leans in for a kiss. SARK: Want something to drink? RACHEL: Yes, that’d be lovely. SARK: Okay. Sark kisses Rachel again before getting out of bed. After he leaves, Rachel moves over to the nightstand and looks at Sark’s passport. It bears the name he gave as his alias, Bob Brown, and lists his date of birth as April 15, 1968 and birthplace in Chicago. She opens the airline ticket envelope and finds a ticket going to Nassau, Bahamas. Suddenly, her cell phone rings from her purse. She quickly gets out of bed. Sark returns to the room after a bit. SARK: We’re in the tropics, so how about some rum? He is surprised to see that Rachel has already gathered her belongings and is dressed and ready to leave. SARK: Okay, so you hate rum. RACHEL: Sorry, I forgot how early my flight was. SARK: What are you talking about? We got a couple of hours, right? RACHEL: Seriously, I’ve got to meet with my boss, and I’m completely unprepared. SARK: Well, I hate to be the one – Sark notices a device in his room is flashing. SARK: - to make you lose your job. Rachel gives Sark a kiss on his cheek. RACHEL: Bob, it’s been – SARK: Yeah, it has. Rachel leaves the room. Sark goes to his laptop. (INT. APO – NIGHT) Marshall is playing Tetris when his cell phone rings. MARSHALL: Carrie, honey, listen, I’m into something really huge right now, okay? RACHEL: No, no, no, Marshall, it’s Rachel. The transmission’s coming in early. MARSHALL: Oh, okay. Uh, give me a sec. RACHEL: Transferring now. MARSHALL: I’ll get right on it. The next day, Rachel is back at APO and talks with Sydney. SYDNEY: Rachel, you did great. Marshall’s almost done analyzing the transmission. It won’t be much longer. RACHEL: I’m glad. Sydney studies Rachel. SYDNEY: You’re in a good mood. Anything you’re not telling me? RACHEL: I… nothing. I just – the trip was really relaxing. SYDNEY: What did you do? Spit it out. RACHEL: (embarrassed) I met a guy at the hotel. Some business guy, which is not at all my type. We were just talking at the bar, and well, one thing led to – SYDNEY: Another, obviously. Are you going to see him again? RACHEL: He thinks I’m Lydia, a British engineer. SYDNEY: Oh, rats. Yeah. RACHEL: So no, I guess. SYDNEY: Guess what happens in Brazil stays in Brazil. JACK: (walking in) What happened in Brazil? SYDNEY: Oh, Rachel got food poisoning. JACK: Sorry. Marshall decrypted the transmission. The double agent is due to meet Basarov in Spain in 14 hours. I’m leaving now to surveil the exchange. SYDNEY: You taking anyone with you? JACK: My MI-6 contact is joining me. Sydney raises eyebrows. JACK: You’ll coordinate from here. SYDNEY: Yeah. JACK: Okay. MALAGA Inside an old building, Jack and Elizabeth wait to monitor the exchange. ELIZABETH: Well, this is charming. JACK: (smiling) I knew you’d like it. I could have spared you the trip, handled this alone. ELIZABETH: Someone from my agency is involved. You can’t expect me to stand on the sidelines. JACK: I figured as much. Why don’t you start with the cameras? Jack hands Elizabeth a small video camera mounted on a tripod. Elizabeth smiles and goes to set it up. SYDNEY: (comms) This is Phoenix. How are you doing? JACK: We’re almost set up. ELIZABETH: (checking the camera) Connection’s good. JACK: Okay. You should be getting visuals. Sydney monitors the footage from APO, along with Marshall and Tom. SYDNEY: Got it. We’re standing by. Jack opens a w*apon case and takes out a device. JACK: We can tag the w*apon with this tracker. Once they – Elizabeth’s cell phone rings. She checks the caller. ELIZABETH: Joseph. JACK: Where does he think you are? ELIZABETH: Developing nations summit. (silences her cell phone) You were saying? JACK: Once the w*apon’s in transport, we’ll notify the CNA so they can recover it without tipping the double agent. ELIZABETH: Sounds good. Outside, a vehicle arrives at the meeting place. ELIZABETH: Looks like they’re ahead of schedule. Lukas Basarov gets out of the truck and motions for his assistant to uncover the w*apon loaded on the truck bed. SYDNEY: Do you see that? MARSHALL: Yeah. Given the size, I’m assuming it’s got a least a twenty-mile blast radius. Sydney looks concerned. A car pulls up next to the truck. JACK: I thought he was showing up alone. ELIZABETH: So did I. Basarov is surrounded by a group of men. One man approaches Basarov. SYDNEY: That man – Can you get a better image? MARSHALL: Yeah. I’m on it. The man seems to look straight up into the camera. SYDNEY: Oh my God. That’s Masari. MARSHALL: Who? SYDNEY: (comms) Dad, those are not MI-6 agents. Repeat – those are not MI-6 agents. That is Benjamin Masari. MARSHALL: Wait a minute. Who’s Masari? TOM: Sudanese head of the RLF – t*rror1st squad responsible for b*mb Western targets in Africa. JACK: This is an ambush. The men open f*re on Basarov and his assistant. ELIZABETH: The b*mb! Elizabeth quickly moves to load her w*apon. They hear a noise close by. Suddenly, Sydney’s video feed turns to static. Another team of men have found Jack and Elizabeth. SYDNEY: Dad, can you hear me? MARSHALL: It’s no good, Syd. They’re jamming our signal. SYDNEY: Oh, God. Dad. Dad, do you copy? Dad, can you hear me? The APO team scrambles to figure out what happened. TOM: I want intel from anybody who’s ever done business with Masari. I don’t care if they crossed the street next to him… find out what they know. DIXON: (walking up to Marshall) Anything yet? MARSHALL: Well, I’m indexing passenger manifests to and from Malaga. So far, nothing. DIXON: Find something. Dixon walks down the hallway, where Rachel briefs him on what she’s found. RACHEL: The head of Interpol is on the line. DIXON: Any trace from the signal? RACHEL: No. They must have disabled the tracker. DIXON: I want everything we have on the RLF. RACHEL: Right away. Arvin Sloane quickly walks straight to Sydney Bristow’s office. SLOANE: I came as soon as I heard. SYDNEY: I’m sorry to pull you away from Nadia. SLOANE: How did it happen? SYDNEY: They were surveilling a w*apon trade. An MPB was supposed to be delivered to a double agent within MI-6. Masari and his men showed up instead. I’ve been reviewing the footage. SLOANE: What time was the meet set? SYDNEY: 2:30 am, local time. SLOANE: Masari and his men? SYDNEY: Showed up at 2:17. SLOANE: The double agent never had a chance. They b*at him to it. SYDNEY: You think it’s unrelated? SLOANE: Micropulse b*mb – it’s the kind of w*apon that would be coveted by most criminal organizations. Masari must have found out. SYDNEY: How? SLOANE: How did you get your intel, Sydney? SYDNEY: Rachel intercepted a transmission. SLOANE: Well, maybe she wasn’t the only one. SYDNEY: Someone else was in that hotel. Sloane finds a familiar face from the video surveillance at the São Paulo hotel. He displays a photo of Sark on the screen. SLOANE: Say hello to an old friend – Julian Sark. Rachel recognizes Sark immediately and looks worried. SLOANE: Footage places him at the hotel in São Paulo at the same time that Rachel intercepted the message, which makes it likely that he did the same. DIXON: I thought he was out of the game. MARSHALL: Apparently not. DIXON: He must have been working for Masari. He was probably paid for the information. TOM: Who is this guy? SYDNEY: Kidnapper, extortionist, m*rder, the list goes on. Formerly tied to SD-6 and the Covenant. He mostly works for himself. RACHEL: (softly) Freelance. Rachel looks over at Sydney, who realizes something is up. CUT TO Rachel meeting with Sydney privately to discuss Rachel’s run-in with Sark in São Paulo. RACHEL: I had no idea. I will do anything. SYDNEY: I have to ask – did he use you for information? RACHEL: No. There’s no way. We were never in my room. He never even had access to the transmission. Sydney nods. RACHEL: I can find him. SYDNEY: He’s probably halfway around the world by now. RACHEL: No, when I was in his room, I saw a plane ticket. He’s going to the Bahamas. NASSAU (EXT NASSAU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – DAY) As Sark leaves the airport, he finds Rachel waiting for him. SARK: (using an American accent) Lydia. RACHEL: (using her normal accent) How nice. You remembered my name. Sydney walks up to the two. SYDNEY: Do you remember me? SARK: (dropping his American accent) Sydney. I suppose a congratulations is in order. Sydney gives Sark a wry smile. SARK: I’m warning you, if you’re planning on arresting me, I’m not gonna make it easy on you. SYDNEY: My father and another agent have been taken c*ptive by Benjamin Masari. We need to find his base of operations. SARK: My clients pay handsomely for their privacy. It would be unprofessional of me to give that information to you. SYDNEY: Which is why we aren’t here to arrest you. We’re here to hire you. Sark nods. TUNISIA (INT. MASARI’S COMPOUND – DAY) Jack and Elizabeth are being held in a room inside Masari’s bunker-like compound. Benjamin Masari pays them a visit. JACK: I was beginning to wonder if you’d forgotten about us. MASARI: I imagine for you this cell seems somewhat inhuman. You Westerners, so accustomed to your indulgences. JACK: Why are we here? MASARI: You were transmitting a video feed when you were found. Where was it going? Elizabeth and Jack are silent for a moment, but Elizabeth decides to boldly answer. ELIZABETH: Holiday photos. Costa del Sol in winter. As you say, we do like our little indulgences. Masari motions for a guard to take Elizabeth. JACK: Do not touch her! The guards pick her up and put her elbows down on the low table in the room, forcing her hands down flat on the table. MASARI: If you want to spare her, answer me! Masari cocks his g*n and points it at Elizabeth’s hand. MASARI: Where was the transmission going? Elizabeth shakes her head at Jack. JACK: Take me. ELIZABETH: I’m not easily frightened. MASARI: You should be. Masari sh**t Elizabeth through her left hand. She screams in pain and falls backwards away from the table. Despite his handcuffs, Jack delivers hard blows to two guards. Eventually, the guards force Jack back down and hold a g*n to him. MASARI: The right one. The guards force Elizabeth back to the table, with her right hand pressed down on the table this time. MASARI: If you want to spare her, answer me. Masari cocks his g*n. MASARI: Perhaps we should try this again. Who do you work for? JACK: Wait. ELIZABETH: Don’t tell him! MASARI: Clearly, you don’t work with your hands, huh? Elizabeth looks at Masari with desperation. A guard interrupts, whispers something to Masari, and hands him a phone. Masari leaves the room to take the call. The guards release Elizabeth momentarily. MASARI: What is it? SARK: My sources tell me things got complicated in Spain. MASARI: What do you know about it? SARK: Everything. Sloane is in the room with Sark, monitoring the call. SARK: You’ve kidnapped two agents – one’s CIA, the other’s British Intelligence. There’s an international search underway. MASARI: I appreciate the information. You’ve saved me some time and a few b*ll*ts. SARK: Perhaps I could do more. I have a proposition. MASARI: Always the businessman. SARK: Well, those agents you’ve kidnapped are quite valuable. I know some people that would pay an exorbitant amount of money to get their hands on them. MASARI: Best k*ll them and be done with it. Sloane presses a button and mutes the phone. SLOANE: Do whatever it takes. SARK: Benjamin, you have many enemies. Given what I know, I imagine I could broker a pretty lucrative deal for myself. Masari looks incredulous at Sark’s audacity. MASARI: Are you thr*at me? SARK: As you said, I’m simply a businessman. When opportunity knocks… MASARI: I’ll expect you within the next 24 hours. SARK: Where should we make the exchange? MASARI: Tunisia. My compound. (INT. APO – DAY) Dixon and Sydney discuss using Sark to get Jack and Elizabeth back from Masari. DIXON: Can we trust him? SYDNEY: He is telling the truth. I’ll arrange for transport. DIXON: Sydney, getting your father from Masari... we need to go in tactically. SYDNEY: How am I supposed to sit here and do nothing? It’s my dad. DIXON: We both know he wouldn’t want you to go. SYDNEY: I can’t lose him. DIXON: You won’t. (EXT. TUNISIA – DAY) Dixon is driving a truck with Tom in the passenger seat. Inside the back, Rachel briefs Sark. She hands him a watch. SARK: A gift? RACHEL: A locator. We need to know exactly where Masari’s holding them. We can’t risk tipping him off. SARK: You haven’t done this before, have you? Rachel gives Sark a look. SARK: Look, I imagine you feel somewhat to blame for all this, but you’re not. I’m very good at what I do. RACHEL: When you’re with them, press the winding stem on the watch. We’ll do the rest. SARK: I must admit, you’re quite fetching in black. RACHEL: I will gag you. The truck stops. Tom gets out and walks toward the back of the truck. SARK: Does this mean we can’t be friends? Tom lowers the tailgate of the truck. TOM: Time to switch. RACHEL: Thank God. Rachel quickly gets out of the truck. Sark pauses for a moment and follows Rachel out of the truck. (INT. APO – DAY) Sydney hangs up the phone. MARSHALL: (walking by in the hallway) Hey, heard the phone ring. SYDNEY: Wasn’t them. Marshall walks into Sydney’s office. MARSHALL: Um, you want some company? You know, while we wait? SYDNEY: I’d like that. (EXT. MASARI’S COMPOUND – DAY) Dixon drives into the compound, with Sark in the passenger seat. The engine compartment of the truck is smoking as Dixon pulls to a stop. Sark steps out of the truck holding a briefcase, as Masari’s guards walk up to the truck to make sure everything is safe. SARK: Masari’s expecting me. Dixon steps out of the truck. One guard goes to the back of the truck and opens the tailgate. The back of the truck is empty. The guards pat down Sark and Dixon. Rachel and Tom are hanging to the underside the truck, hidden from view. GUARD: (to Sark) I’m sure Colonel Masari will be very pleased to see you. SARK: (to Dixon) If you expect to be paid have this wreck fixed before I’m done with my business. DIXON: (speaking Arabic) He still thinks he’s living in the colony. The guard chuckles. Dixon opens the hood of the truck to check the engine. Another guard leads Sark into the compound. Inside, Sark is taken to Masari’s office. MASARI: How was the trip? SARK: Exhausting, as usual. Have you ever thought about moving somewhere more accessible? MASARI: Remoteness is a virtue. SARK: Yes, and it’s also time-consuming. So I’m afraid we’re gonna have to cut this visit short. Sark opens the briefcase and shows Masari the money inside. Masari takes a stack of money and flips through it. SARK: If you could take me to the prisoners, I can be on my way. MASARI: Why the rush? SARK: I need to be in Tunis by nightfall. MASARI: I’m afraid that, uh… Masari cocks his g*n and points it at Sark. MASARI: ...won’t be possible. Outside, Dixon tries to get some help from a guard to repair the truck. DIXON: Can I get some water? It’s overheated. GUARD: I can’t leave my post. The guard’s walkie talkie beeps. He answers it. GUARD: Of course. Right away. As the guard reaches for his w*apon, Dixon pulls a g*n out of the engine bay and sh**t the guard in the leg, who falls to the ground. Tom and Rachel roll out from under the truck. They approach the downed guard with their g*n drawn. DIXON: (holding a g*n to the guard) Where are the prisoners? Dixon and the team approach the door to Masari’s compound. DIXON: I need help! When the guard inside opens the door to respond, Dixon quickly sh**t him. DIXON: (to Rachel) Cover the entrance. (to Tom) Come on! Tom and Dixon approach a short hallway where three of Masari’s men are guarding the prisoners’ room. At the corner, Tom throws a flashbang grenade toward the guards, stunning them and allowing Tom and Dixon to take the guards out. Tom opens the door and finds Jack and a wounded Elizabeth. JACK: She needs medical attention. TOM: You don’t look so good yourself. (to Elizabeth) You okay? ELIZABETH: Yeah. DIXON: An extraction team is standing by. I’ll call for them. RACHEL: Yeah. TOM: We’ve got them. RACHEL: And Masari? TOM: He and Sark are still missing. Rachel draws her g*n and goes to look for them. She opens the door to Masari’s office and finds something beeping. She calls APO. SYDNEY: Yeah. RACHEL: Sydney, it’s me. SYDNEY: Oh, thank God. How’s my father? RACHEL: He’s alive, but we’ve got another problem. Rachel has found Sark handcuffed to the MPB. The timer on the b*mb is at 8 minutes and 30 seconds. SYDNEY: Can we evacuate? MARSHALL: No. There’s not enough time. They won’t get very far. SYDNEY: Rachel, we’re gonna talk you through this. Rachel walks up to the b*mb. Sark looks up at her dubiously. MARSHALL: Okay, Rachel, there should be a front panel. Do you see that? RACHEL: Uh… (examining the b*mb) Yeah. It’s screwed in. Sark continues to try to undo his handcuffs. MARSHALL: Great. Just unscrew it. RACHEL: Unscrew it? With what? SARK: Might I suggest something sharp? RACHEL: Hold on. Rachel looks around and find a letter opener on Masari’s desk. RACHEL: Here. Rachel uses the letter opener to unscrew the panel. RACHEL: (to Sark) So what happened? SARK: I underestimated my friendship with Masari. He assumed I was betraying him, and he took the money and he left. RACHEL: Oh. So then he knows you pretty well. SARK: Mmm. Rachel lifts the panel off. A control board with wires slides out from the side of the device. RACHEL: Okay, I unscrewed the front panel. Now what? MARSHALL: Okay. If this b*mb works on microwave energy, it should have a coaxial capacitor bank. Do you see that? RACHEL: Uh, maybe. I don’t know. SYDNEY: It should be attached to a power source. RACHEL: Okay, I found it. MARSHALL: Okay, great. You need to jam the pulse. RACHEL: How? MARSHALL: Reroute the wires to a neutral bank. Rachel disconnects and reconnects a couple of wires. Sark watches Rachel work, concerned. She picks up a pair of scissors to cut a wire. RACHEL: Okay. SARK: Wait. Rachel looks over at Sark. SARK: If that’s the wrong wire - RACHEL: I thought you liked risks. SARK: I also like my body. As I recall, you do, too. Rachel cuts the wire, but the timer continues to count down. RACHEL: It’s still armed. MARSHALL: That’s okay. It’s okay. Um. You just need to disable the compression generator. Look for a wire running to the microwave antenna. RACHEL: Okay. SARK: Don’t you want to get Dixon? No offense, but you haven’t had the best judgment lately. RACHEL: Okay, I got it. MARSHALL: Cut that. That should work. SYDNEY: Should or will? MARSHALL: Should. Rachel gets ready to cut the wire. Sark closes his eyes. RACHEL: Just so we’re clear –you approached me. You were the one that was stupid enough to let me into your room. And afterwards, you were the one that wanted to cuddle. Rachel cuts the wire. The b*mb shuts down. RACHEL: It’s disarmed. SYDNEY: That was spectacular, Rachel. RACHEL: Thank you. SYDNEY: (to Marshall) About what you just heard… MARSHALL: Don’t need to know, don’t want to know. Outside the compound, a medical team has bandaged Elizabeth’s hand. JACK: I’ve spoken with the driver. There’s a plane waiting in Tunis. You’ll be in a London hospital by nightfall. ELIZABETH: Wish Sydney well for me. JACK: I’m sorry, Elizabeth. ELIZABETH: Don’t be. Jack takes Elizabeth’s hand. Elizabeth holds his hand tightly for a moment before she is wheeled away into the ambulance. Inside, Dixon and Tom meet with Sark. DIXON: About your payment… SARK: You’d love to arrest me right now, wouldn’t you? DIXON: Next time. TOM: Give us the account number, we’ll wire you your fee. SARK: Don’t bother. This one’s a freebie. On the way out, Sark nods to Rachel, who seems pleased. (INT. APO – DAY) SYDNEY: (on the phone) You sure you don’t need anything? I could stop by on my way home. JACK: I’m fine. I’m just… exhausted. SYDNEY: That’s understandable. JACK: Why don’t we meet for breakfast? I’ll come by and pick you up. SYDNEY: That’d be great. Dad… if anything had happened, and I couldn’t have been there… JACK: Sydney, you did exactly what I would have wanted. You and the baby are all that matters. SYDNEY: I love you, Dad. Sleep well. Sydney hangs up the phone just as Dixon walks into her office. She gets up and gives Dixon a hug. Meanwhile, Jack plays the piano alone in his house. Despite what he told Elizabeth, clearly, he still plays.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x08 - Bob"}

foreverdreaming

Int. Sydney’s apartment. She looks at herself in the mirror with a weird/curious look, then walks over to the sink and sits down. Then, pushing the tap up to let the water run, she puts a kettle under the tap and fills it up. She walks over to the stove and let the water boil, while picking up a box and reading its contents of a sachet. A man runs across the translucent doors and he pushes them open. It’s Vaughn, grocery bag in his hands. VAUGHN: Back! Sydney looks up, a smile growing on her face. SYDNEY: Hey. What took you so long? VAUGHN: Traffic light out on Venice. She still has a weird look on her face as he comes over and kisses her. SYDNEY: Would you look at something for me? VAUGHN: Yeah. SYDNEY: See an eyelash? (Widens her left eye with her hand) Something itches like hell. VAUGHN: (he looks) No. SYDNEY: Sure? VAUGHN: Yeah, maybe those contacts you wore on the Ireland mission irritated your eye. She doesn’t look too convinced. SYDNEY: Yeah. Vaughn starts taking the groceries out of the bag and Sydney peers into the bag. SYDNEY: What’s this? VAUGHN: What do you think about Orecchietti? SYDNEY: I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it. Vaughn takes a cutting Kn*fe out. The sound made is loud and crisp, and Sydney has a weird look on her face again. SYDNEY: Wait a minute, don’t tell me you cook. VAUGHN: (A smile on his face) There are a lot of things about me you don’t know. SYDNEY: You clean, too? (She’s still looking through the grocery bag) VAUGHN: I’ve been known to. Why, you thinking about hiring me? SYDNEY: Why would I hire you when I get you for free? VAUGHN: (small laugh) Are you taking a bath? SYDNEY: (She walks behind him) Maybe. (There’s a somewhat cheeky look on her face) Maybe we’re gonna take a bath. Close up sh*t of Vaughn cutting the broccoli. He accidentally cuts his finger. VAUGHN: Ah, damn it. Sydney rushes over immediately, a look of concern etched on her face. SYDNEY: You okay? VAUGHN: Yeah, I’m fine. (Sydney takes his hand to inspect the wound) SYDNEY: Let me see. (She applies pressure to it) VAUGHN: It’s nothing. SYDNEY: Not nothing. (They look at each other and Vaughn looks pleased at her concern.) Scene changes. The background music now sounds like it’s coming from the radio. We get another closeup of their hands, and this time Sydney is putting a bandaid over the wound. Vaughn looks at her and smiles a little, and she puts his finger to her mouth and kisses it. SYDNEY: Here you go. All better. VAUGHN: You’re gonna make a great mom. SYDNEY: Yeah, maybe. The statement seemed to have h*t a raw nerve. She stands up, presumably to place the bandaid box to its place and in front of the mirror again. SYDNEY: Just that, my mom wasn’t exactly the best role model. VAUGHN: Well the good news is that, you’re nothing like your mother. Suddenly a warped voice in a voice over. VOICEOVER: You’re not there yet, Sydney. She looks up in mild shock, then meets the eyes of Vaughn. SYDNEY: Did you hear that? VAUGHN: What. (It was almost as if it was a statement and not an answer…) SYDNEY: Radio. VOICEOVER: You need to go further back. Follow Vaughn VAUGHN: It’s just the radio, Syd. If you don’t like it we can turn it off. She seems to like that idea a lot. SYDNEY: That’s right. Vaughn switches off the radio, then smiles. VAUGHN: How about a nice bottle of wine with this bath? SYDNEY: That would be great. Vaughn walks away, and Sydney looks in the mirror again. This time, she is shocked by what she sees. Something odd is reflected; a blue hue. Sydney sees herself being held on a chair with electrodes stuck to her forehead and she squints. The scene changes into the actual scene of her being tortured for information. The camera view is now a mesh of colours which focuses slightly, and as it pans it occurs that we’re looking through Sydney’s eyes: She sees a doctor. SYDNEY: Who are you? DOCTOR: Shh. Syd, sit still. We’re almost there, Sydney. He takes a syringe. DOCTOR: We almost have what we need. We just need to go a little further. Sydney squints and looks utterly confused. She sees him sucking liquid into the syringe and asks. SYDNEY: What are you doing to me? DOCTOR: Nothing for you to worry about. I’m just trying to help you relax. SYDNEY: Why? What do you want? (The doctor shushes her) DOCTOR: I just need to find a vein… A distorted voice fills the room. DISTORTED VOICE: Stop. Are you certain this won’t harm the baby? DOCTOR: Quite certain. SYDNEY: (almost as if getting out of a stupor) Wait, the baby… don’t… DOCTOR: (towards the one-side mirror) But if you want your answer you’re going to need to let me do my job. SYDNEY: Who is that behind there? Who’s behind there? DISTORTED VOICE: Okay, you may proceed. SYDNEY: If you hurt my baby… (he sticks the syringe in) I swear to you… (tears stream down her cheeks) I will k*ll you. We see the view from Sydney’s eyes again, and the doctor gets blurred. End of scene. SAN FR[A]NCISCO 2 DAYS EARLIER Ext. Rain is pouring down and camera pans to a woman serving noodles. WOMAN: You like? We see Peyton at the receiving end. PEYTON: Yes, I like very much! WOMAN: It’s nice to see girl like you eating noodle. My granddaughter, she tell me, ‘too many carbs!’ Peyton smiles politely and barely eats two mouthfuls of noodles before the door rings open. A man in a suit walks through the door and she jumps on her feet. PEYTON: Thank you! I’m late for a date! WOMAN: Okay! Bye bye! She rushes off and catches up with the man in the suit through the rain. PEYTON: Excuse me, Mister! Thank god, I’m supposed to meet some friends in the [Mission?] district. My cab driver from Oackland just dropped me off here and zoomed off. I – I’ve been trying to find a cab, and no one here seems to… MAN: There’s a stand two blocks over the right. PEYTON: Thank you! He turns to walk away and she calls him again. PEYTON: Oh, do you know what time it is? He comes back and looks at his watch. MAN: Yeah, it’s – (she s*ab him and blood spews out from his mouth) PEYTON: Nice watch. (She pulls the Kn*fe out and places him against the wall, rummaging through his pockets and takes his watch off, looking furtively around (Because, like, there isn’t anybody on that street, you know.) and walks away) She walks quickly through the same door and walks up the stairs, fiddling with the watch which is now on her wrist. Stopping at a door, she pushes three knobs up and gets green light, then placing the wristwatch on a sensor. ACCESSING… AGENT ZACHARY TURNER ACCESS GRANTED The door opens and she enters the room, stopping at the nearest desk. There is another agent at his own desk. AGENT: Again Turner? You’ll miss your plane. Peyton types. AGENT MICHAEL VAUGHN AGENT: You missed that pickup in Cartagena, I’m gonna hear it from the Director. She presses enter while looking at the other agent, worried. Lots of technical effects before the screen stops at SERVER 4 SLOT 29. The agent turns around just as she walks towards server 4 presumably. AGENT: What did you forget this time? He gets up and looks, while the camera pans to Peyton looking for the server – still – and finally reaching it. The agent looks at the computer (still beeping away) and Peyton takes a handdrill to loosen the screws of slot 29. He walks the way of server 4; and Peyton continues to loosen the remaining screws. The agent finally reaches the spot – Peyton isn’t there anymore. He starts to walk away, then looks at slot 29: it’s open, so he walks towards it… Peyton jumps from behind and strangles him with a cord, asphyxiating him. She kicks him in the calf and he goes down on his knees, and she tightens the cord. He struggles… then dies. Peyton retrieves the data, puts it in her handbag and leaves, taking a last look at the d*ad agent. Cut to outside. The first agent she k*lled is still propped up against the wall… Then slumps to the wet ground. Nice noodle woman comes around. WOMAN: Mister! You okay?! Peyton walks through that same door again, one ear against her cellphone. PEYTON: This is agent 4962 Bravo. Requesting for technician. Cuts to DeSantis in his office. DESANTIS: This is he. PEYTON: Dr. DeSantis, this is Kelly Peyton. DESANTIS (VO): Were you able to retrieve Agent Vaughn’s files? Peyton: Yes. I’m exiting Chao Ke Street now. Camera pans to nice noodle woman who exclaims in anguish as she pokes at the d*ad agent. (the background sounds of the woman screaming) PEYTON: I’ll run the analysis in the attaché (?) DESANTIS: Excellent. I’ll let our benefactors know. (Referring to the background sound) What is that noise? PEYTON: You know how it is. Rough neighbourhood. She clips the phone off. Off the camera, we see her walking away and the d*ad agent is still lying on the ground; the background sounds still filled with screams and shouts… Cut to the Alias Theme (Or now is the time in Alias when we (used to, until the episode!) dance!) Camera pans over a nice sh*t of the skyscrapers of LA. (camera cuts to the interior of a hospital. The doctor leads the way and Jack is in front of Sydney) (Voiceover) DOCTOR LYNN: After your initial triage and check-in, we’ll bring you up here into the labouring and delivery room. SYDNEY: So this is where I’ll be getting my epidural. DOCTOR LYNN: Yes, it is. (she laughs lightly) If you want one. SYDNEY: I do. I’m – I’m not a big fan of pain. JACK: Are there any adjustments Sydney should be making to her life style? I’m sure her boss at the bank would be (he pauses slightly) happy to lighten her workload. DOCTOR LYNN: No, she’s fine. I tell mothers staying active for as long as they can is a good thing. They stop in the middle of the ward. DOCTOR LYNN: You must be excited. Won’t be much longer now. SYDNEY: Oh no, the due date’s still three weeks away. DOCTOR LYNN: Sure it is, but you never know. Your baby might be in a hurry. You’re far enough along (camera cuts to Sydney’s slightly shocked expression) if your water broke today we could expect a healthy delivery. (Sydney nods) SYDNEY: Wow, I, uh I didn’t know that. (Doctor’s pager beeps) DOCTOR LYNN: My service. I need to run. (she smiles at Sydney) I’ll see you next week for your check-up. Sydney seems overwhelmed, but nods anyway. SYDNEY: Okay. They start walking out of the ward. Cut to Jack’s slightly humoured expression: JACK: So, any day. SYDNEY: Well she said it could be any day. (she shrugs it off, but her expression on her face remains slightly surprised) They stop at the nursery, and the camera pans on a baby. His father is looking at him lovingly, and the camera pans back on Sydney’s forlorn expression. Jack looks at Sydney awkwardly, then reaches into his pocket. JACK: I have something for you. SYDNEY: What? He hands her a little wrapped gift and she looks surprised. SYDNEY: A gift? JACK: Technically, no (she starts pulling at the ribbon), it’s already yours. I’m just… returning it. She opens it, all the while sharing a smile on his face. It’s a little rattler. JACK: Your mother and I bought it when you were born. You wouldn’t let it out of your sight ‘til you’re almost three. Reminds me of the time when I could keep you safe. (Sydney is full of gratitude, then of sadness) SYDNEY: It’s beautiful, Dad, thank you. Scene cuts to APO. Marshall is doing some soldering work. Grace walks in. GRACE: You wanted to see me? MARSHALL: Oh, yeah, hey! Agent Grace! (he puts the soldering pen down and then takes his protective glasses on) Listen, I was doing some housekeeping: logging aliases, uh, safe house authorisation, family contacts. You know. The sucky part of my job. (Grace cracks a little smile) And I came across… a mistake in your file so I contacted Langley, turns out I don’t have a proper clearance to my own job. GRACE: What did you find? MARSHALL: Marriage certificate from 7 years ago. Listen, if it supports just an outdated alias I probably ought to resend it sooner or later… you know. GRACE: (shaking his head a little) It’s not a mistake. I was married. MARSHALL: Really. I’m sorry, I never heard you mention that. GRACE: For three years. Didn’t work out. MARSHALL: Totally understand that. I mean, it’s a – it’s a struggle to – GRACE: (curtly) Hey do me a favour. Next time you have a question about my personal life, why don’t you call me before Langley? MARSHALL: (stupefied) Absolutely. I – I’m really sorry. His computer starts beeping. MARSHALL: Uh oh. Camera pans to the computer screen: Breached apx: Currenttime }{ - 0400 hours Documents Compromised: Agnet Mortality Logs Contact Protocol Database Audio Field Journals Biometries logs and tables >> additional undetermined docs. Perpetrator identified as [pf21] Prophet Five … GRACE: I’ll get Jack. (He walks away.) Cuts to APO briefing room. Jack is standing up while Sydney, Dixon, Grace, Marshall and Rachel sits around the table. JACK: Four hours ago an agency facility storing closed matters was breached. (He presses on a button and the screen displays Peyton) Security cameras identifies the perpetrator as an operative of Prophet Five. RACHEL: Kelly Peyton. DIXON: Do we know what she took? JACK: Among the archives, were files of all our agents k*lled in the line of duty. Their contact protocols, audio field journals biometric read-outs (Sydney *looks* at him) SYDNEY: They were Vaughn’s files, weren’t they? (He looks at her) You were going to have to say it eventually. JACK: (nods) Yes, that’s right. Sydney looks at him then looks away. DIXON: Why would they want Vaughn’s files? JACK: Isn’t clear at the moment, which leaves us in a vulnerable position. SLOANE: Vaughn’s investigations of Prophet Five were off-the-books; it’s unlikely he kept those records on CIA files. JACK: I’ve tasked Tom and Marshall on disabling all of Vaughn’s official protocols. (he looks at Dixon) I’ll like you to locate any of his old contacts to ensue a warning. Sloane will oversee Rachel in analysing the remainder of the intel. SYDNEY: Me? (She looks on, earnest) JACK: Though I would prefer to keep you close by, I know that’s not an option. (There’s a hint of a smile as he talks to Sydney. She gives him a “Well, what can you do about me?” look) Given her intimate knowledge of Prophet Five and her association with Vaughn, you should meet with Renee Rienne (Sydney nods) and see if she has any idea of what they may be looking for. SYDNEY: Yup, okay. (She collects the files and starts to leave. The others follow suit.) The camera pans to Sloane for a moment before moving back to Jack. JACK: Sydney. (She stops in front of him) You should know, when it comes to Vaughn… I take it quite personally. She nods. SYDNEY: I know, dad. JACK: We’re gonna fix this. It’s the expression of eternal gratitude again. She walks away abruptly, and the camera focuses on Jack… It’s almost as if he has got something up his sleeves… Cut to some technician’s place. It’s Peyton’s office. On someone’s screen there are Vaughn’s photos (the one the other man from Welcome to Liberty Village superimposed on the diver’s suit). Peyton strides across the office. PEYTON: (to a group of people) Anything? WOMAN: Listen to this. (Peyton walks to her cubicle) PEYTON: The location? WOMAN: Not quite. But I think Vaughn shared it with Sydney Bristow. Peyton puts on the earphones. VAUGHN ON RECORDING: And I met this afternoon to discuss the protocol for her SD-6 counter-missions. I briefed Agent Bristow on the full scope of the operation. How far it reaches. PEYTON: Go back. VAUGHN ON RECORDING: I briefed Agent Bristow on the full scope of their operation. How far it reaches. WOMAN: She knows where it is. Cuts to DeSantis. DESANTIS (on the phone): And you’re certain Agent Vaughn communicated this intelligence to her? Cuts to Peyton. PEYTON: Yes, according to his own CIA report. (she has a pleased look on her face) but it was several years ago. There’s no guarantee Sydney will remember. DESANTIS: (over the phone) That’s of no concern. (Cuts to him) An associate of mine will be able to refresh her memory. I’ll forward you the contact protocols of Doctor Gonsalo Boris. He is going to ask for a lot of money. Tell him I will pay half. Have him waiting for me at the Athena facility. PEYTON: Then, you’re suggesting that we abduct Sydney Bristow. (over the phone) Which you realise might compromise our larger agenda. DESANTIS: We’ve been searching for more than 30 years and this is the closest we’ve come to retrieving Horizon. (over the phone) If Sydney Bristow can tell us where it is, we must act immediately. It’s a chance we have to take. Peyton switches off the call connection. MA[D]RID Ext. The busy streets of Madrid. The camera pans to a park, and a group of giggling school girls walk past Sydney, who is sitting on a bench. She looks around. Renee arrives. SYDNEY: Hello Renee. RENEE: You look beautiful. Sydney looks down at her stomach. SYDNEY: Doctor says it’s my last week to fly. RENEE: (sits down beside Sydney) Which means this is a special visit. SYDNEY: Prophet Five is targeting some of Vaughn’s CIA files. I need to know, did he make a record of your investigation? RENEE: No. It was all in our heads. (Sydney looks a little disappointed) SYDNEY: Then was there anything that Vaughn was working on, or – or any leads, or contacts that might be of value to Prophet Five now? RENEE: What’s in the files? SYDNEY: Presumably everything he’s worked on: SD-6, The Covenant, The Alliance… RENEE: Then, no. It’s impossible. All he worked on SD-6 ...(Sydney notices two g*ons coming towards them) SYDNEY: (cuts in) Where did you park? RENEE: I walked. Why? SYDNEY: Let’s move. (They get up and walk quickly) RENEE: There’s a police station at the corner, you’ll be safe. SYDNEY: Just take it easy, it might be nothing (re: Renee reaching into her pocket to take out her knives) The two g*ons get their g*n out. RENEE: Go. Renee turns swiftly and throws her knives like daggers into their hearts and they stumble and fall. Sydney walks in front and screeching tires are heard. She is stopped by a van and two men clothed in black gets hold of her and injects her with a tranquilliser. She is rendered unconscious. RENEE: (shouts) Sydney! She sees two black vans driving away and takes out her g*n, running after one of the vans. She sh**t at the driver, and blood splatters up the windscreen. The van crashes into a car, then she takes out another g*n (how many w*apon does this woman keep in her pockets anyway?) and starts sh**ting at the storage space. She opens it and sees Desantis. RENEE: You… Where are they taking her? (he doesn’t answer, so she shouts) Where are they taking her? CUT TO BLACK DOCTOR: I just sedated her with a drug (?) cocktail which should take full effects within minutes. (it looks like he is speaking to whoever is behind the one way mirror) It’s a chemical process of forced hypnosis which will effectively numb the body but leaves the mind partially lucid, allowing me to access any (camera pans to Sydney) part of her memory you’d like. He walks to his desk again. DOCTOR: Which means, it’s now time to tell me what it is you’re looking for. DISTORTED VOICE: First I’d like some prove that this technique would work. DOCTOR: Of course. He fiddles with some buttons on the machine that Sydney is hooked up on, then faces Sydney. DOCTOR: Tell me your name. Sydney doesn’t respond, and the doc tasers Sydney on her chin. She reacts physically. DOCTOR: Tell me your name… SYDNEY: Sydney Bristow. DOCTOR: That’s it, girl. Sydney, I want you to remember Michael Vaughn… He uses the taser on her, this time on her forehead, and she reacts physically again. DOCTOR: Find him. Sydney is now struggling with her tears and trying her hardest not to cry. DOCTOR: Find him and remember the time when you were both happy… A time that was meaningful… Go back, Sydney… Find him… Sydney seems to be resisting, yet the scene transits to flashes of Vaughn in the plane (Search and Rescue) SYDNEY: (whisper) Vaughn… Cut to Sydney on the plane. She looks at her safety guard and a weird look is on her face; she adjusts the guard. Vaughn comes forward and sits next to her, just like it was in Search and Rescue. VAUGHN: I had it all planned out. (Cut to Sydney’s bewildered face) SYDNEY: Vaughn…? VAUGHN: No, just, please; let me do this. SYDNEY: Do what? VAUGHN: I was going to take you to the beach, Santa Barbara, go for a walk, maybe; maybe during a sunset. But now, now we’re here, and I have no idea (cut to Sydney who is still feeling extremely confused) what we’re about to jump into. He reaches into his pocket and fishes the ring box out, opening it for Sydney. VAUGHN: I don’t know if I’ll get another chance to do this. SYDNEY: But, Vaughn, we already did this. (She shows him her ring on her finger) VAUGHN: (frowning) I don’t understand. SYDNEY: (as if a light dawns upon her…) I think I do. The people you were looking for. The people behind Prophet Five. I think they’re holding me. (she looks around conspicuously) VAUGHN: How do you know about Prophet Five? SYDNEY: You told me and they sh*t you. VAUGHN: What, they sh*t me? No, I’m here. SYDNEY: I know… They injected me with something, they hypnotised me… Trying to get something out of my head. VAUGHN: What? SYDNEY: I don’t know… But I think they’re trying to use (camera cuts to hypnotised Sydney) you against me. DOCTOR: Stay with Vaughn, Sydney. Remember the love you feel for him. He uses the taser again, and the scene cuts back on the plane. She looks around. SYDNEY: I should go. VAUGHN: No. I don’t wanna be without you. SYDNEY: I know… I miss you. Vaughn notices the lack of a ring on her finger. VAUGHN: Look. (She looks at her finger) Sydney Bristow, will you marry me? SYDNEY: I – I don’t know what I’m supposed to say… VAUGHN: You’re supposed to say ‘yes’. She smiles genuinely. SYDNEY: Yes. (Cuts to hypnotised Sydney) I wanna marry you. DOCTOR: Ok, we’ve got it. Now perhaps you should tell me what we’re looking for. [APO] DIXON: There’s a call for you on the overseas line. They’re following out contact protocol, but I don’t recognize the voice. Jack picks up the phone. JACK: This is the director. Cut to Renee. Desantis is tied to a chair in the background, his chest heaving in his painful attempts to breathe. RENEE: Is this Sydney Bristow’s father? Scene cut. At the APO briefing table. JACK: Prophet Five has Sydney. She was last seen in a black van heading west away from the Salamanca quarter. Rachel, access Madrid’s surveillance infrastructure. RACHEL: Okay. She walks out. JACK: Marshall, monitor all movement through local port and airspace. MARSHALL: What’s the timeline? JACK: She was abducted 40 minutes ago. MARSHALL: Well they could be out of the sea limits in 20! JACK: Then MOVE! MARSHALL: All right. He walks out, too. JACK: We’re assuming Sydney’s captor is connected to something that Prophet Five found in Vaughn’s files. GRACE: I’ll reassess it with that in mind. Grace walks away as well. Sloane and Dixon are the only ones left with Jack. JACK: Dr. Aldo Desantis was present at the ambush, which implies they may intend to use Sydney for a medical procedure. SLOANE: My God, the baby. JACK: Renee Rienne has Desantis in custody. I’m gonna join her and assist with the interrogation. DIXON: Do you want me to come with you? JACK: No I need you to run operations until I return. DIXON: I’ll secure a flight to Spain for you. Dixon leaves. SLOANE: Where do you need me? JACK: You sure you have no means left by which to contact Prophet Five? SLOANE: Jack, I told you that Gordon Dean was my only resource. With him d*ad, I have nothing. JACK: Ok. Then use your underworld contacts. The news of a federal agent in captivity may have made the rounds. See if they know anything. SLOANE: I’ll get right on it. Jack walks away, and off Sloane’s face, the scene cuts to him talking on his cell phone on a rooftop SLOANE: This is Arvin Sloane. I’d like to speak to Mr. Ehrmann. (v.o.): Mr. Ehrmann is not available. SLOANE: This is an urgent matter. I need to speak to him. (v.o.): You’re not playing by the rules, Mr. Sloane, remember, we contact you. SLOANE: A pregnant woman’s life is at stake. Someone very dear to me. (v.o.): The only woman you can save is lying in a hospital bed. May I suggest you pick your battles, sir. SLOANE: (slightly desperate) Please! (v.o.) Goodbye Mr. Sloane. The other party hangs up, and Sloane flips his phone in dejection. Cut to a dark alleyway and then to Jack, knocking on a door. Renee opens, checks if anybody is behind him, and lets him in. RENEE: Jack? Do you have anything? JACK: Satellites lost her at the city limits. Desantis is strapped to a chair. RENEE: If we don’t get him to a hospital he’s gonna die. JACK: Has he given us anything? RENEE: Won’t talk. I pulled this from his jacket. It’s got dates. Addresses. They walk towards him. DESANTIS: So this is how you do it. Bringing a man in a suit to scare me into talking? JACK: You’re right. The suit shouldn’t scare you. What should scare you is that I’m a very concerned father. Jack whips out a small Kn*fe, walks towards Desantis menacingly… and in one swift motion, he slices Desantis’ ear off. Desantis yowls in pain. Cut to hypnotised Sydney. DOCTOR: I’m gonna continue the regressive process, attaching her to a memory of Vaughn then taking her back through time until you get your answer. (He tasers Sydney) Sydney, I want you to remember the last time you were with Vaughn. Think of the comfort you feel when you’re with him. Live there, in your memories. He uses the taser Sydney again and we cut to Vaughn lying in his hospital bed, right before he died Sydney sits next to his bed. SYDNEY: Vaughn? (she touches his face) Vaughn! He gets out of slumber and she smiles slightly at him. VAUGHN: Sorry, I guess I drifted off there. Hey, we should think about more names for the baby. SYDNEY: There will be plenty of time for that. VAUGHN: I know. What do you think about Oscar? SYDNEY: What if we have a girl? VAUGHN: I meant for a girl. (small laugh) I wish she were here already. I wanna meet her. SYDNEY: You will. VAUGHN: I know. Doctor guy enters, and places the cup of water on the sidetable. DOC GUY: Are you comfortable? VAUGHN: No. DOC GUY: When he feels ready, make sure he drinks it slow. Don’t overdo, just a sip at a time. I’ll be back soon. SYDNEY: Thank you. VAUGHN: Can I? I’m thirsty. She picks up the drink, about to give it to him when she realises… SYDNEY: I gave you this and then you crashed. Vaughn, I can’t. VAUGHN: Syd, shhh! They can hear us. Come closer. (Syd leans in) You said it yourself. They’re using me against you. The only way to defeat them, I need to go away. SYDNEY: (trying to control her tears) I don’t care. I don’t wanna say goodbye to you again. VAUGHN: I know. I know. It’s ok. I need to go away. We’ll find each other. Cut to the prison in North Korea SYDNEY: (in a continuation to Vaughn’s previous words) We always find each other VAUGHN: Syd? SYDNEY: The baby kicked. VAUGHN: Really? What’s it feel like? SYDNEY: Here. (she places Vaughn’s hand on her stomach) VAUGHN: I don’t feel anything. SYDNEY: Wait! ...there! VAUGHN: No I don’t…. THAT? There are enormous grins on their faces. SYDNEY: Yeah. Cut to DOCTOR tasering Sydney again DOCTOR: Very good, Sydney. I want you to stay with Vaughn. Cut back to North Korea SYDNEY: Don’t ever leave me. VAUGHN: Never. The guards come in. SYDNEY: Where are they taking us? VAUGHN: Nowhere good. Vaughn gets up and starts fighting the guards, walking outside… and disappears into thin air. Sydney hears Vaughn’s voice coming from a radio one of the guards dropped. VAUGHN: Syd! SYDNEY: Vaughn? DOCTOR (on the radio thing): Don’t let him go! Cut to DOCTOR: DOCTOR: I want you to stay with Vaughn, Sydney! He tasers her again. Cut to North Korea, Syd picks up the radio and hears Vaughn’s voice again: VAUGHN: Sydney can you hear me? SYDNEY: Vaughn, where are you? VAUGHN: I…I’m losing… go to Che…. SYDNEY: Vaughn? Vaughn! DOCTOR (on the radio thing): Don’t let him leave you, Sydney! Cut to Sydney’s place, back where the episode started. Sydney hears the doctor on her radio. DOCTOR: Where is Vaughn? She fills the kettle again, taking it to the stove and examining the teabag. Vaughn comes back in with the groceries. VAUGHN: Back! Cut to Sydney in the t*rture chair. SYDNEY: What took you so long? DOCTOR: (pleased) They’re back together. --- Cut to Jack interrogating Desantis JACK: Tell me where they have my daughter. DESANTIS: I’ll tell you nothing. JACK: You’ve been sh*t. You’re lucky you survived the blood loss, though I am prepared to draw this out to the last second, make it as painful as it needs to be, until you tell me where she is. DESANTIS: Where she is does not matter. Your concern should be where she is going. RENEE: Jack! I found a repeating address in the calendar. JACK: Christina Crue 37E. That’s in Hungary. RENEE: He had it marked three times in the last four months and once on this date. Three weeks from now. (Jack looks over at Desantis) Jack, what is it? JACK: That’s Sydney’s due date. Give me your g*n. She hands it to him, and he walks to Desantis: he points the g*n to his neck JACK: Tell me what is going to happen on Christina Crue 37E. DESANTIS: You’ll never know. JACK: Is Sydney being held there? DESANTIS: (chuckles) Oh, of course not. JACK: You’re lying. DESANTIS: Very well. Maybe I am lying. JACK: What’s. There? DESANTIS: You can’t do anything to be now. I’m quite prepared to die. Jack loosens his grip on Desantis’ head, walks to Renee and hands her her g*n. JACK: See if he means it. As he walks away, Renee walks towards Desantis – the splitting image of her father… JACK: (voiceover) Dixon, it’s Jack. (scene cuts to him) I need you to prepare transport to Hungary. Behind him, Renee fires two sh*ts. --- DOCTOR: Sydney. Think back to a comforting time. The place you were the first time you realise that Vaughn really cared for you. SCENE CUTS TO: Pier, night. The exact replica of the famous scene in 1x04, A Broken Heart. The carousel is at the background. Sydney looks at Vaughn, who is looking beyond the ocean, possibly enjoying the zephyr breeze. VAUGHN: I forgot how beautiful it is. The ocean. They share a smile. SYDNEY: Yeah. We should’ve come here more often. Her phone rings, and she fishes it out from her bag, bringing it to her ear. DOCTOR: (on the phone) Draw me a map. How far it reaches. She looks shocked, then throws it into the Pacific. The phone makes a splash. Vaughn looks at her. SYDNEY: They’re pushing me closer. VAUGHN: What do they want? SYDNEY: I don’t know.. Something about a map. VAUGHN: A map? Her phone rings again… DOCTOR: (on the phone) Listen to me. Draw me a map. How far it reaches… She throws it into the Pacific again. VAUGHN: (a small laugh) You just threw your phone into the Pacific. Twice. SYDNEY: (she laughs) I know. They grin… She looks pleased with herself…. The mood shifts suddenly, a heavy weight in the air. VAUGHN: Listen to me. You’ve got to let me go. SYDNEY: (blinks back tears) I can’t. VAUGHN: You have to. SYDNEY: I can’t, Vaughn… I can’t stand it. Being here without you… VAUGHN: Sydney… SYDNEY: I feel like I’m losing my mind! I do. (she takes a deep breath) I don’t even know who I am anymore, what I’m doing, or why I’m doing it… VAUGHN: Okay, stop. You remember the last time we were here? Your contact has just been k*lled in Morocco and your world was collapsing around you and I told you that even in the middle of all these darkness you could not allow it to swallow you. SYDNEY: You gave me strength. VAUGHN: Yeah… but the truth is, the truth has always been you are the one who has kept the darkness from overtaking me. You can do this. I know you can do this. I’ve seen you do this time and time again! Sydney’s on the verge of tears. VAUGHN: I gotta go. And you are gonna take these guys down. Okay? He touches her face… she is reluctant, but lets him leave; her view of his retreating back getting smaller and smaller. DOCTOR: (voiceover) She’s fighting the process. I want you to stay with Vaughn, Sydney. He uses the taser on her… She reacts, then the scene cuts to the warehouse. Specifically, the scene is the lie detector scene from 1x08: Time Will Tell. VAUGHN: If you don’t say goodbye to me, they win. SYDNEY: I can’t do it on my own. VAUGHN: I’m not here. This isn’t real. None of this is real. He places his hand on her face again… SYDNEY: It’s real to me. That’s all that matters. VAUGHN: No. Don’t say that. That’s what they want you to say. SYDNEY: But do you know what I want? I want the world to forget about us. I’m tired, Vaughn. I’m tired of having this weight on my shoulder. I – I don’t want to be the one who has to save the world. I want you back. I want you all to myself. I want to go away, just you and me and our baby; somewhere no one can bother us, on a deserted island. (pause) I want out. Scene cuts to hypnotised Sydney SYDNEY: I don’t care if they win, Vaughn. I don’t care. I just want you to stay with me. DOCTOR: That’s it. He turns to the one way mirror. DOCTOR: We got her. DISTORTED VOICE: Excellent. Now I want the map of SD-6. Scene cuts to the blood mobile… Specifically the scene 1x02: And So It Begins. SYDNEY: I want no more of these spy crap, I just (she sniffles) … That’s why I went to you in the first place. So just listen to me… And I will give you in record time the names of people who will render SD-6 useless. VAUGHN: Record time? SYDNEY: Two months, tops, and then I’m out. I walk. Note: While she said these lines like they were in And So It Begins, her face tells an entirely different story as her eyes were filled with tears and she struggles to keep them back. VAUGHN: Draw me a map of SD-6. And all its allies. How far you think it reaches. Draw me a family tree of SD-6 and how deep it goes. (She looks at him) Just do it! Sydney draws it on a piece of paper… Pushes it towards him. It’s the same map she drew. Vaughn stands up and takes the larger map down. He unrolls it. VAUGHN: This is what you’re in the middle of. This isn’t about cutting off the arm of the monster. This is about k*lling the monster. Scene cuts to the doctor. DOCTOR: Focus on the map. VAUGHN: The upper right corner. What do you see? DOCTOR: There’s a name… What is it? VAUGHN: Tell me what it is. She doesn’t want to… Looking up to Vaughn with glassy eyes, only to be met by his slight smile… Scene cuts to her hypnotised. SYDNEY: X23 – Norte. DOCTOR: Well done… Scene cuts to Vaughn… who assumes the voice of the doctor. VAUGHN: Well done. SYDNEY: (hypnotised) (whispering) Vaughn… DISTORTED VOICE: Thank you doctor. Then, in the way we all love Alias… The captor’s face is revealed: It’s Irina. She talks to Peyton. IRINA: I’ll let my sources know we got the location of The Horizon. I’ll be back in a few days. Until then, keep her comfortable. Scene cuts to hypnotised Sydney. Cut to a beautiful tropical beach. Vaughn is waiting in a white suit and Sydney is walking in his direction. SYDNEY : Do you hear that? VAUGHN : I didn't hear anything. SYDNEY : I know. It's great, isn't it? (Sydney catches the left hand of Vaughn) I wish we could stay here like this forever. VAUGHN : There's nothing I want more. They're gonna figure it out, Syd. Sooner or later, they're gonna know you gave'em the wrong name. And when they do, I can't be here. They'll keep using me against you. They won't stop until they get what they want. I have to go. SYDNEY : I know. VAUGHN : We'll find each other. We always find each other. They kiss on this beautiful beach. Cut to hypnotised Sydney, who seems more confident. In Hungary, Jack and Renee are in a black car in front of the building where Sydney is presumably held. JACK: Unit three is on the third floor. RENEE: The lease expired 16 years ago. JACK: Nevertheless. In the laboratory, with the chemicals wearing off, Sydney opens her eyes and finds Peyton unstrapping her. Syd s*ab Peyton with the drug and escapes. In Hungary, Jack and Renee, w*apon in the hands climb a stair. Meanwhile, still groggy, Sydney finds her way around narrow corridors… Renee and Jack find a room with an empty nursery. No trace of Sydney! JACK : Good Lord. Sydney opens a last metallic door, and watches a helicopter flying away. After walking down a red stair, she discovers that she's on a ship at sea.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x09 - The Horizon"}

foreverdreaming

The episode starts where we left off last episode. Sydney steps onto the upper deck just as a helicopter is taking off. Peyton and her g*ons are not too far behind. PEYTON: (spotting Syd) There! Sydney ducks back inside, trying each of the doors but most of them are locked. She finds an unlocked room and goes inside, knocking unconscious a man who is working on a laptop. Seeing that the room has computer and radio equipment, she locks the door behind her. She tunes one of the radios and speaks into its mic: SYDNEY: This is field agent ID Black-seven-niner-three-c-r (?) confirmation foxtrot… Sydney pauses to wince at a pain in her stomach. She gathers herself with determination: SYDNEY: Repeat. Confirmation foxtrot-one. Status: MIA. I'm being held upon a cargo freighter. Registry: unknown. The door rattles as Peyton tries to open the door. Sydney looks up, alarmed. Cut to outside the room where Peyton is rattling the locked door. She turns to her lackey: PEYTON: Do it. Lackey steps up and sh**t at the lock. They enter the room to find it empty - Sydney has escaped using the other door. PEYTON: Organize a deck-by-deck search and find her. Lackey runs off to search for Sydney. Peyton looks around for clues - she finds the radio's mic hanging down and the radio tuned to '447550.000' PEYTON: Damn it. Cut to LA. Sloane walks up to Jack entering APO. They both look troubled. SLOANE: What did you find out? JACK: I've confirmation Prophet-5 is holding Sydney. I believe they've had designs on her from the beginning. They knew precisely when and where she'd be most vulnerable. They must've been tracking her movements. SLOANE: Have they made any demands? JACK: None. [inaudible]…their intentions. Right now, I have reason to believe they need her alive. SLOANE: Listen, Jack, we've seen Sydney come through some bad situations. Whatever you need, I'm here. JACK: For now, contact everyone you know. Official, or otherwise. I'll do the same SLOANE: Okay. I'll let you know if anything comes up. Cut to Marshall's office. His computer beeps and one line of the spreadsheet he's looking at is highlighted red and blinking. MARSHALL: Um. [loudly[ Mr Bristow! Jack enters Marshall's office looking concerned. MARSHALL: I just recovered a field transmission from Sydney. JACK: Where is she? Marshall brings up the transmission to play it. SYDNEY: [on the transmission] This is field agent ID black-seven-niner-three-c-r confirmation foxtrot… [Sydney gasps in pain] Repeat: Confirmation foxtrot-one. Status: MIA I'm being held [message begins to become garbled. Cut to Marshall's monitor: "TRANSMISSION FILE //0121545 CORRUPT" (Marshall also has a photo of him holding Mitchell taped to the side of his screen - cute.) JACK: [visibly upset] Wh-wh-what happened? MARSHALL: [frowns as he types at the keyboard trying to answer Jack] Don't know. It's like the file's just corrupted. I can't seem to pull them up. You know what? Okay, I just need a second to triangulate the signal origin. Then I'll have the exact location Sydney sending from. I just… Cut to Marshall's screen again. Marshall pulls up some transmission archive folders. The files start disappearing MARSHALL [confused]: Woah. Wait a minute. You know what? They're being deleted. This doesn't make any sense! It's like someone just wiped out the archive I--- JACK: [a little panicked] Marshall, what archive? Who's system are you logged into? Marshall: [shaking his head] This must be wrong. His computer continues to beep. JACK: [in realisation] It's our own. Gather everyone in the briefing room. Cut to the freighter PEYTON: [speaking into a phone] No, we haven't located her yet. No, that won't be necessary. [hangs up.] LACKEY: Shall we prepare to welcome company? PEYTON: Transmission's been taken care of. LACKEY: We've cleared the lower deck, still nothing. PEYTON: [annoyed] Then why are you still standing here? Cut to the lackey searching the ship, giving instructions to his underlings. He enters a room. Pan across to a vent he just passed by. Sydney's eyes are visible. She looks out at the g*ons nerviously. Cut to APO briefing room. JACK: Moments ago, we received a field communication from Sydney. From the little we were able to decipher, it appears she's still being held in the custody of Prophet-5. However, before we were able to resolve the entire transmission, someone deleted it. Someone at Langley. Based on our current intelligence, we already have reason to believe that Prophet-5's network has infiltrated the intelligence agencies of several foreign governments. It now appears they may have infiltrated our own. Someone within the CIA did not want us to receive that message. Standard protocol for all incoming signals priority-33 and above are to be backed up on Echelon's com archive. Unfortunately, the only way to gain access to this archive is on the premises itself. Not an easy task given the security measures. TOM: Wait, are you suggesting we break into CIA headquarters? JACK: Yes. DIXON: Wouldn't it be prudent to consider other possibilities? Maybe the message was purged accidentally. SLOANE: We could ask Langley for a copy of the archives. Might-- JACK: [cutting in] I appreciate your concerns, but at this point we have no way of knowing how deep this conspiracy reaches. We can't risk tipping them off to our agenda. Effective, as of this moment, all information relating to this taskforce and its activities is to be strictly compartmentalized even from the CIA itself. Understand what I'm asking of all of you. An action of this kind could be considered treason. Given that if anyone feels the need to take a leave of absence you may feel free to do so. No questions asked. But now is the time to speak up.. Camera pans around the room. No one speaks up. JACK: All right then. We're wheels-up in an hour. OPENING SEQUENCE. Open on the freighter. PEYTON: I want a visual inspection of every container on that deck. Post four, do you copy? g*n cocks behind Peyton. SYDNEY: Post four, reporting in. PEYTON: You tracked me with the radio. SYDNEY: [smirks] Not really. You're just predictable. PEYTON: A woman in your condition [looks at Sydney's bump] - shouldn't you be resting? SYDNEY: Thanks. I don't plan on staying long. Turn around. Give me your radio. PEYTON: Whatever. [does what Sydney instructed. Sydney begins to pat Peyton down for w*apon]. But you should know, no one's coming for you. We intercepted your message. SYDNEY: Nice try. My message didn't go through a relay. It went directly to my people. PEYTON: [turning around to face Sydney again] That's not true exactly. Technically, it went to Langley. That's where it was intercepted. SYDNEY: Your bluffing. If you really had an undercover asset within the CIA, why would you risk admitting it to me? PEYTON: Because you're not getting off this ship. Cut to APO Sloane: Jack, Dixon just called. They're in position. We're ready out here. Cut to Langley. TOUR GUIDE: I'd like to welcome everyone to the CIA's new headquarters building here in Langley, Virginia. Comprising 1.1 million square feet of space, and resting on 258 acres, this building was an expansion of the original structure, completed in 1991. Aside from the obvious human presence, there are over 5000 surveillance cameras that watch over every inch of the complex… As the group moves through the space, camera moves over the group to reveal that Marshall and Dixon have joined the tour. TOUR GUIDE: And chemical and biological w*apon detection sensors that monitor the air quality as well as various other state-of-the-art technologies, that, well, if I told you I'd have to k*ll you. Tour group laughs politely and quietly. Marshall fake-laughs very loudly, stops abruptly when he catches Dixon's pointed look. TOUR GUIDE: If you'll notice the commemorative plaque to your right, it honors the unsung heros, of World w*r 2, the intelligence gathers of the CIA… The group walks off-screen as Tom walks on-screen. Cut to APO JACK: Sidewinder, we're almost ready here. TOM: [through com] Roger that. Through security. On my way to payroll. Cut to Rachel going through a security checkpoint. A metal detector beeps. RACHEL: Hi, I have an appointment with human resources. Emily Higgins. SECURITY GUY: Right. Just need an ID. RACHEL: Oh. Yeah. Sure. Sorry, job interview. I'm a little nervous. SECURITY GUY: I'm sure you'll do just fine. Please place your purse on the table. Cut to Tom TOM: 'Scuse me, do you know where payroll is? Cut to security checkpoint, where contents of Rachel's purse are being dumped onto the table. SECURITY GUY: I'm sorry, ma'am. We don't allow camera phones on the premises. Just pick it up from the security office on your way out. [hands Rachel a receipt] RACHEL: Okay, thanks. SECURITY GUY: Third floor. Elevator's to your right. Security guy nods at a colleague, who takes Rachel's phone into the security office. Cut to Tom. TOM: Hey, I'm sorry. I think there's a problem with my cheques. WOMAN: Yeah, just a sec. TOM: Ma'am, I'm, you see, in kind of…in a.. WOMAN: Name? TOM: Thomas Grace. WOMAN: It says here you're no longer an employee of this agency. TOM: Yeah, that's actually why I'm here. I've had several back cheques owed to me. I never received them. WOMAN: Well, our records show that all your cheques went out and they were cashed. TOM: That's impossible. WOMAN: It's usually the spouse that cashes them. I suggest you check with your wife. TOM: Look, I'm sure if you check your file again, you'll see that you're mistaken. WOMAN: [checks and her looks turns sombre] Oh. Mr. Grace, I'm sorry, I didn't realise. Maybe there's something I can do here. Tom sits down. Cut to security office. A device pops out of Rachel's phone. It scans the servers around the room. Cut to APO. JACK: Sidewinder, we're logging into the server now. Cut to Tom. TOM: Look, I don't have six months to wait for the claim to be processed. WOMAN: [sympathetic] I understand, but… TOM: I've got a mortgage to pay, so could you please just… Please help me out.. Cut to security office. Rachel's phone finds a server it can log onto. Cut to APO. JACK: Connection's been established. Sidewinder, stand by for the access code. Cut to Tom. WOMAN: All right, I'll check with my supervisor. Maybe we can help clear this up? TOM: Thanks. When she's gone, Tom goes to her workstation and starts working. JACK: Access code is: Alpha-7-Delta-Lima-22. TOM: Copy that. I've got access. Cut to Rachel. RACHEL: Outrigger, I'm approaching your twenty. DIXON: Copy. I'm gonna need item…[eyes a sensor] number 2. TOUR GUDE: And here's another one of our display items. Looks like ordinary pocket change, [holds up a coin that has a secret compartment inside] but spies use devices like these during the Cold w*r to smuggle tiny microphone messages. You can only imagine what's in use today. Rachel palms something off to Dixon as she walks by the group. Cut to Tom. He's unlocked four doors to the server room. TOM: Oracle, you're clear to the server room. Call us when you get there. Cut to Rachel entering the server room. Cut back to tom. TOM: She's in. I'm done here. JACK: Copy that. Log out and move to the rendezvous point. TOM: Affirmative. On my way. Cut to monitor of Tom's computer. He pulls up a window which says: "BUILDING ACCESS CONTROL SYSTEM. ACCESS SYSTEM: [blank]" Tom enters "WITSEC_21-29-UNLOCK", opening the WITSEC record room doors. Tom leaves the cubicle and into the restricted access corridors. He ducks behind a wall as he spots Rachel entering the server room. When Rachel is gone, Tom enters the Witsec Records room. Cut to Rachel. (This scene cuts back and forth between Rachel, APO and the tour group as the g*ng exchanges dialogue) RACHEL: I'm in the server room. Guards are in position. JACK: Copy that. Stand by for the signal. Merlin, you're up. TOUR GUIDE: This sculpture was designed in part as a monument to the code breakers who helped crack the German enigma cipher. In fact, as you can see, the sculpture itself a code. Apparently, a very good one. To this day, no one has been able to decipher the message. Now, if we move on… MARSHALL: I got it! Sorry, it just came to me. The group and the tour guide look at Marshall, perplexed. MARSHALL: I play a lot of sudoku. Um.. [clears his throat] 'scuse me… I'll just… ca.. tell you more.. [Gestures towards the sculpture]The letters overlaid under the coding sections, they act as a key to the cipher. Based off that… As the group is distracted with Marshall, Dixon gets out the item he got from Rachel earlier. He uses it to spray a substance at the nearby sensor. MARSHALL: …right? It's all you need to do. See? Cut to security office. A monitor blinks with the following message: "BIOHAZARD ALERT: PARTICULATE MATTER DETECTED. anthr*x." The guards activate an alarm. MARSHALL: Oh god. Maybe they found out I decoded the message! WE SHOULD RUN! DIXON: [under his breath to Marshal] Take it down a notch, Hamlet. TOUR GUIDE: Please everyone, we need to move quickly to the exits. Cut to Rachel. As the guards run off to respond to the anthr*x alert, Rachel takes this opportunity to sneak into the server room. RACHEL: I'm in. I need the server number for Sydney's transmission. JACK: You're looking for 8-5-7-7. RACHEL: 8-5-7-7. Got it. Cut to Tom pulling up a criminal investigation file. It shows photos of a woman lying d*ad on the concrete ground. Tom opens another window that reads: WITNESS PROTECTION FILES SUSPECT: ALLEN KORMAN STATUS: WITNESS PROTECTION SERVICES REFERENCE NUMBER: //012155SFF22 CURRENT LOCATION: //SECURED INFORMATION// Tom looks pensive and clicks on 'CURRENT LOCATION'. The computer then asks for an encryption key. Tom unscrews a USB flash disk from his pen and inserts it into the keyboard. Cut to Rachel in the server room. RACHEL: I found it. Pulling the archive now. JACK: Sydney's transmission is time-stamped. 9:55am Cut to Rachel's computer screen. There's no transmission that was received at that time - the records jump from 9:52 to 9:57. RACHEL: The archives have been purged The message isn't here. JACK: Can you pull the hard drive? We may still be able to recover the data. RACHEL: Okay. Hold on a sec. [pulls out the hard drive] It's no good, the hard drive is patched into the security grid. If I remove the drive, it will trigger the alarm. JACK: Oracle, pull the hard drive. SLOANE: Langley will initiate a lockdown, Jack. We'll never get them out. JACK: PULL THE HARD DRIVE NOW. I'll get you out. An alarm sounds as Rachel pulls out the hard drive. Both Tom and Rachel find that they're locked in. SLOANE: Make the call, Jack. Cut to Marshall and Dixon's tour group. They're in the foyer of the building. GUARD: Excuse me, you'll have to hold it right here. We're locking down the facility. Marshal and Dixon exchange concerned looks. TOUR GUIDE: Sorry everyone. It looks like we're having a minor security incident. No one will be able to leave the building just yet. Cut to… Weiss! Talking on his cell phone and exiting a building. WEISS: A lockdown? Thirty seconds ago, I got a call about an evacuation due to an anthr*x att*ck. Well there's a big difference. An evacuation means everyone has to leave. A lockdown means everyone has to-- No, he's in with the delegation. I'm not gonna disturb him. Besides, what the hell am I gonna tell him? I got a great idea. Why don't you get your facts straight and then call me back. Great Weiss turns to his assistant (?). WEISS: [sighs] Put in a call to the State, cancel my 4 o'clock. I'm not gonna believe this but I have to cancel my pilates again. [his phone rings] Yeah. JACK: Eric, it's Jack Bristow. WEISS: Jack. JACK: Sydney's in trouble. I need your help. WEISS: What? Yeah. Uhh.. yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever you need. CUT TO BLACK Cut to Weiss' car arriving at Langley. Cut to Dixon and Marshall, then Tom. TOM: Outrigger? Do you copy? What's going on out there? DIXON: Building's locked down. Are you at the rendezvous point? TOM: I'm stuck in the witness protection archives. The door must be sealed because of the lockdown. DIXON: Hold your position. I'll see what I can do. TOM: Okay. DIXON: [off Marshall's concerned look] What is it? Cut to Weiss entering the building, flashing his credentials at the guards. MARSHALL: Think he's here to arrest us? He… looks like he's coming here to arrest us. [weakly smiles at Weiss] Hey. Weiss runs up to the duo, all smiles. WEISS: Ambassador Rudland. Weiss and Dixon shake hands. Dixon laughs. DIXON: Yes. WEISS: How are you sir? [turns to Marshall] And you must be Mr. Gornish. MARSHALL: [laughs and shakes Weiss' hand] Yes. WEISS: It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I'm - uh - Eric Weiss. I'll be your liaison. I apologize, for the security problems we're having today. DIXON: Please. It's not a problem. I understand - these things happen. WEISS: And I understand you have a meeting on the Hill in thirty minutes. I'm personally here to make sure you make that meeting. [To the guard on his left:] Thank you. I'll escort our visitors from here. The guard leaves and the three move in the opposite direction. WEISS: Jack filled me in. What's going on? DIXON: Tom's trapped in Witsec Records. Rachel is still in the Echelon server facility. WEISS: Okay, you know what? Witsec Records is in the north-east corridor. This should get you in… [gives Dixon an access card as feigns shaking his hand in goodbye] the door. Marshall and I will handle Rachel. Marshall: Thanks. Good to see ya. WEISS: Yeah? You too. Cut to two security guards entering the Echelon server room. Rachel looks nervous, standing beside some servers, ducks around the corner just as one of the guards come into view. Cut to Dixon finding Tom. DIXON: Tom! TOM: Oh, thanks. DIXON: What were you doing here? TOM: I got detoured. I needed some place to hide. DIXON: Come on! We need to move. Tom grabs his usb key and follows Dixon. Cut to Marshall and Weiss in an office. Weiss is putting on an earpiece. Marshall is going through the surveillance feeds. MARSHALL: Okay. Got it. Uhh…that's not good WEISS: Where is she? MARSHALL: There she is. WEISS: What's her callsign? MARSHALL: Oracle. WEISS: Oracle, listen to me very carefully. RACHEL: Who is this? WEISS: Right now, I'm your superior officer. I need you to do exactly as I tell you. There's a guard that's about to go right down the row that you're in I need you to turn left right now. Make a left! Good good good. Go straight. Keep going straight. MARSHALL: Weiss, look. [points to the screen where Rachel is about to come into the view of a guard who is in the next aisle] WEISS: Okay, STOP right there, stop. Marshall, how much longer for that door? MARSHALL: Just give me ten seconds. WEISS: All right. When I say 'go', I need you to go as fast as you can to those doors in the far end. Don't stop. We'll have those doors open by the time you get there. MARSHALL: Okay. Got it! WEISS: GO! Rachel runs, and the guards give chase as they hear her running. Rachel runs into the door and grunts when she falls down. MARSHALL: [flinches sympathetically] Ooh. Uh… sorry. Forgot to h*t 'enter'. Okay, now go. GUARD: STOP! The door finally opens and Rachel slips through, closing it behind her and locking the guards in. WEISS: Wow. [exhales in relief] Cut to the building's underground level. Weiss, Dixon, Marshall and Tom are running down some stairs to meet Rachel. DIXON: How did it go? RACHEL: Not well. WEISS: [nods to Rachel] Hey. MARSHALL: Don't worry. He's with us. WEISS: Yeah. Eric Weiss. [shakes hands with Rachel] RACHEL: Rachel Gibson. Thank you for the help back there. WEISS: My pleasure. TOM: Any luck with Sydney's message? RACHEL: They wiped the back-ups. [holds up hard disk] We may be able to run data recovery from this, but if they went to all the trouble of deleting the message, I don't think they'd be careless enough to leave any traces behind. Marshall and Dixon nod solemnly. WEISS: Better get a move on. If you take this tunnel to the end, it'll drop you to the south-east edge of the complex. I better get back inside and wipe out the surveillance footage. Oh, and if you hear anything about Sydney… DIXON: We will. WEISS: Okay. And one more thing. Next time? Just call. Dixon and Weiss nod, smiling. Marshall waves goodbye. The four APO agents head down the tunnel Weiss spoke of. Weiss leaves in the opposite direction. CUT TO FREIGHTER. Sydney is holding Peyton's hands behind her back with one hand and pointing a g*n at Peyton's back with the other. PEYTON: Care to tell me exactly where we're going? SYDNEY: Your ship has lifeboats. We're taking one. PEYTON: [scoffs] Good idea. We'll be spotted the second we step on the deck. SYDNEY: Not if you order your men to search the lower decks. Do it. Men's voices are audible as they approach. SYDNEY: Get in there. Go! They head into a nearby room. Sydney closes the door behind them. SYDNEY: Make a sound and you're d*ad. It sounds like the men are now right outside their room. Sydney gasps at her abdominal pain and holds onto a table for support, struggling to keep her g*n pointed at Peyton. PEYTON: Something's wrong, isn't it? SYDNEY: Move. PEYTON: Whatever you say, but you don't look so good. They move towards and adjacent door. Another wave of pain hits Sydney SYDNEY: Stop. Stop. Sydney breathes heavily. Again, she leans onto a table for support. She looks down at her hand and sees a folder marked "BRISTOW, S. DOB: 4/17/74". Sydney flicks on the lightswitch and looks around the room - it looks like an infirmary. There are sonograms on the light boxes. SYDNEY: C'mon. Sydney pulls Peyton in front of her with g*n still pointed and walks back into the room to examine the sonograms. SYDNEY: What is this? Why is this here? You have until three to start giving me some answers. One… [she closes her eyes painfully. Breathes heavily] Two… Peyton seizes this opportunity of weakness to take the g*n from Sydney and points it at her. Sydney tries to stand up straight, but passes out instead. CUT TO BLACK. Fade in on Sydney's point of view, she is coming to. A faucet Is dripping water, she looks up and see a monitor showing her ultrasound. Colourful flecks flicker in the picture. Sydney tries to get up to find that she's restrained to the bed. She tries to break free. ORDERLY: No, no, no. You must not move. SYDNEY: What are you doing to me? ORDERLY: Just be still. A doctor is on the way. SYDNEY: Doctor? What doctor? Just tell me what's wrong. Fade in on the ultrasound monitor ORDERLY: I need to tell them you're awake. You should be still. SYDNEY: [vulnerably] Wait. Please don't go. ORDERLY: I'll come back soon. SYDNEY: Wait! Sydney stares at the monitor, looking as if she's about to cry . Cut to LA. We're in Marshall's office. TOM: You can crack into this hard drive and find Sydney's transmission? MARSHALL: Cracking Langley's encryption won't be a problem. I wrote a program that can handle anything under 512-bit encoding. Marshall's computer decrypts the files. Tom looks impressed as he gets an idea. Marshall finds Sydney's transmission file, but it's still coming out garbled. MARSHALL: Huh. Can't seem to recover Sydney's transmission. Whoever wiped it used a secure deletion program. Basically rewrites random junk over it hundreds of times, so... TOM: The original data's still here. So it should be retrievable, right? MARSHALL: Well, yeah, if I had an electron microscope and two weeks, maybe. Dixon and Rachel enter. Dixon hands Marshall some papers. DIXON: I think I found something. Hard copies of the server logs. Check [inaudible] twenty-two MARSHALL: Looks like an authorization tag. DIXON: That's what I thought. MARSHALL: This tag has an AB-prefix. That means whoever authorized Sydney's transmission had Alpha-Black clearance. RACHEL: What's Alpha-black clearance? Cut to… JACK: Alpha-black is the highest clearance level within CIA. If Prophet-5 has ties to the CIA's operation that would give them all access to classified operations, undercover agent rosters, our entire infrastructure. MARSHALL: The good news to whoever deleted Sydney's message had Alpha-black clearance? That narrows down our list of suspects to just a handful of guys. Only seven people in the entire agency have it. All of them division directors. Aside from that, the only other thing these guys have in common? They were all assigned a modified version of the standard STU -- a secure cell phone. JACK: What are you thinking? MARSHALL: Well, each cell phone broadcasts a unique device ID. Now, it took some digging, but I was able to match the alpha-black authorization code from the server logs to the cell phone ID of the person in question. SLOANE: So does that mean we know who it belongs to? MARSHALL: Not exactly. For security purposes, Langley doesn't put names to numbers. But if you can get within just 50-feet of that person's cell phone? I might be able to scan it. See if it matches. We'd have our guy. DIXON: We could divide into teams. Put all seven of them under surveillance. JACK: That could take days. Whatever Prophet-5 is planning for Sydney, we can assume we don't have much time. I have an Idea. Cut to: WASHIN[G]TON D.C. Jack walks down a hallway. As he approaches a door, he shows his ID to some men. They nod and let him into a room. It's a meeting room and six other men have already arrived. DEVLIN: Jack! It's been a long time. How's life underground treating you? JACK: Good. Always…full of surprises [smirks] DEVLIN: [laughs] I can imagine. Can't say I miss it. Jack sets his suitcase down and presses a button. Cut to APO. MARSHALL: Scanner's hot. [nods at Dixon] DIXON: [into his com] Jack, we got connection here. Cut to Jack. DAVENPORT: So, Jack. Care to enlighten us as to why you've called an operations meeting at 8 o'clock on a Friday? JACK: I didn't call you all here for an operations meeting. Given that all of you have Alpha-black clearance, most of you may already be aware that APO has been investigating an operation known as Prophet-5. What may, however, come as news to you, is that we have reason to believe that someone within our own agency is in collusion with this organization. Someone with Alpha-black clearance. Cut to APO. SLOANE: What have we got so far? MARSHALL: Four down, three to go. Still nothing. Cut to Jack. JACK: The reason I've gathered you all here, if it isn't obvious by now… Only 7 people in the entire agency have this level of clearance. And all of them are sitting in this room. DAVENPORT: Oh, come on! DEVLIN: Jack, this is absurd! Are you suggesting that one of us is working for a t*rror1st organization?! JACK: That's exactly what I'm suggesting. Cut to APO. Marshall's computer beeps MARSHAL: I got a match. DIXON: Jack, we got a signal match. Cut to: JACK: One of you is working for Prophet-5. And we have your number. DEVLIN: That's enough. This meeting is over. Cut to APO. SLOANE: Go. Marshall dials a number. And we cut back to the meeting. A phone rings. Davenport looks up, alarmed. Jack sh**t him and Davenport falls back down into his chair. DEVLIN: Jack! What the hell are you doing? JACK: [choke-holds Davenport and point a g*n to his face] Tell me where Sydney is. Devlin approaches Jack. Jack looks up with his g*n at Devlin. JACK: Do yourself a favour. Stand back. Davenport gasps for air. Jack turns back to him. JACK: I'm gonna give you one chance. Where are they holding my daughter? DAVENPORT: Go to hell. I don't know what you're talking about. JACK: Wrong answer. Jack sh**t him in the shoulder. DEVLIN: Stop! For god's sakes Jack! One of the directors activate an alarm that's hidden under the table. Agents outside the room rush to the door with their g*n drawn. JACK: I've sealed the doors! The agents sh**t at the glass door, trying to get it open. DAVENPORT: [croaks] You're crazy. JACK: [hits him in the nose[ Answer me! DAVENPORT: [coughs] The… [uncomprehensible[… cargo ship. JACK: Where is the ship? DAVENPORT: Atlantic. Armed agents throw a table through the glass door and rush in to arrest Jack , taking the g*n off him. JACK: [into com] Did you get that? DIXON: We got it, Jack, we're on it. Jack and Devlin exchange looks. Devlin is shocked by this revelation. CUT TO BLACK. Cut to APO. Tom sits quietly at his desk, waiting. Pan across to Dixon and Marshall exiting Marshall's office. Tom enters Marshall's office and plugs is USB key into a slot in the computer's keyboard. Opening up the Allen Korman file, he uses Marshall's decryption program to crack the file's encryption key. Tom finds out Korman's current address: 1313 Racine. Cut to Sydney. She is still strapped down the infirmary bed as the orderly from before comes in. He injects a substance intravenously into Sydney. SYDNEY: What is that? ORDERLY: Something to make you relax. SYDNEY: But… whh… [gasps and moans] Cut to APO, Marshall's office SLOANE: Marshall, can you find the cargo ship where Sydney's being held? MARSHALL: There are miles and miles of ocean here. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. [shakes his head] RACHEL: What if you patched into the radar sat? MARSHALL: Overlay it in the optical feed. Rachel nods. MARSHALL: Right. That's GENIUS. All right. Looks like multiple radar returns. SLOANE: [points] Ignore those. They're commercial shipping. Heavily patrolled. They wouldn't run the risk of a random inspection. MARSHALL: Right. SLOANE: There. That one - it's in international waters. Ship that size wouldn't typically be that far out. MARSHALL: Got it. Sloane dials a number on his cell phone. Cut to exterior sh*t - night. [/b[ Dixon, all dressed in black exiting a black SUV with Tom and one or two other men. A helicopter whirs nearby DIXON: Hello? SLOANE: We have a h*t. We're uploading the co-ordinates to your on-board GPS. DIXON: Understood. [yells to his fellow agents as they board the chopper] All right! Let's go! As the chopper takes off, we cut to Sydney, coming to. Her vision is blurry and voices are coming in a little muffled and distorted. She sees two figures standing at the door. VOICE 1: What else? Besides abdominal pains? VOICE 2: Dizziness. And her complexion is pale. VOICE 1: Any trouble breathing? VOICE 2: Yes. A doctor (Voice 1) approaches Sydney. It's Dr. Lynn, the OB/GYN that Sydney's been visiting in LA. DR LYNN: Hello, Sydney. SYDNEY: [in recognition] You… DR LYNN: I understand you're having trouble. Don't worry, we're gonna take care of you. It's good you called me. Let's take this off her.[unstrapsa restraint on her belly]] SYDNEY: You b****. What did you do to me? DR LYNN: My job as your doctor, Sydney. Nothing more. I understand this must be hard to accept. But it would be much better if you could just relax. Sydney, I need you to hold very still. I need to draw a sample of your amniotic fluid SYDNEY: Go to hell. Sydney tries to struggle free. The orderly holds her down. DR LYNN: Please. I need you to listen. This is a delicate procedure. Any sudden movements could risk the health of your baby. SYDNEY: Please don't. DR LYNN: This might pinch a little Close in on Lynn's syringe ash she draws some clear, yellow fluid. At about 13ml, she begins to draw blood. DR LYNN: [to the orderly] Prep the room. We need to start right away. Cut to APO SLOANE: Zero-one, what's your status? Cut to helicopter DIXON: We're en route on closing (?). ETA 2300. Cut to Peyton PEYTON: [on phone] Are you sure she gave us the wrong information? What if you… No, I'm not doubting you. I just don't see how that's possible. But… what do you mean? How far out? I'm not sure that gives us enough time to… Of course. Yes. I'll let you know as soon as it's done. Cut to Sydney's OR. Peyton bursts in. PEYTON: Our timetable's change. You're going to have to work quickly. LYNN: We're just about to start. PEYTON: How long? LYNN: About an hour. PEYTON: You've got about 40 minutes. Let me know the second you're finished. [exits] SYDNEY: Please… LYNN: Just relax. I'm gonna take care of you. Orderly puts a gas mask over Sydney's face and she loses consciousness. Cut to helicopters. They're making its descent onto the freighter. Dixon and Tom exit. DIXON: I don't like it. Where are they? TOM: Probably taking a defensive position below deck. DIXON: We'll split into teams. You start clearing from the aft quarter, we'll come around from the other side TOM: Outflank them. DIXON: Let's go! Dixon and Tom split off to search the ship. It's empty. TOM: Where is everybody? It's all clear. Cut to more sh*ts of the two teams searching the ship. No one is there. Tom sees a bright light coming from inside one door. He enters as we cut to Dixon's team. DIXON: Bravo, we're all clear here. They must've known we were coming and abandoned the ship. TOM: [through com] Not entirely. DIXON: What do you mean? TOM: Come down to the infirmary. Dixon as his team head down to the infirmary and we cut to Sydney waking up. DIXON: Sydney, are you all right? SYDNEY: I can't move. DIXON: Get the helicopter ready. We'll need to MedEvac her out of here. SYDNEY: Dixon, is the baby okay? DIXON: It's going to be okay, Syd. The two exchange looks, both have their brows furrowed. Cut to Dixon, Tom and two other agents loading a stretcher with Sydney onto a helicopter. Dixon squeezes Sydney's hand reassuringly. Sydney nods at Dixon, looking worried. The helicopter takes off. Cut to APO, Sloane's office MAN ON PHONE: I'm sure you're pleased with Sydney's return. You, however, made a grave error, Mr. Sloane. You should've contacted us the second your agency identified our ship. SLOANE: If you recall, I tried contacting you earlier regarding this matter. I was told-- MAN ON PHONE: Don't play games with me. I am aware of your fondness for power, so I imagine this arrangement is less than desirable for you. If you value your own daughter's life, from this point on, you are not to take a single action without clearing it with us first. As far as you're concerned, we own you. Is that clear enough? SLOANE: [trapped and clearly feeling unhappy about it] Yes. That is perfectly clear. MAN ON PHONE: You may take this as a victory right now, but you should understand, every action has consequences. We'll be in touch soon. [hangs up] Cut to Marshall, walking to Rachel's workstation. MARSHALL: You have a minute? RACHEL: Yeah, sure. MARSHALL: You know that decryption program I wrote? Somebody accessed it when I was out of my office. RACHEL: We should tell jack about the breach. With everything that's been going on… MARSHAL: I recovered the data that was decrypted. When you were in Langley, Tom accessed the Witsec archives. RACHEL: [opens the files that Marshall handed her] Amanda Grace. MARSHALL: Yeah. Did you know he was married? RACHEL: No. [flips the page and sees the Allen Korman photo] This is the guy who did it. MARSHALL: Yeah. I think that's what tom was looking for. Cut to a parking garage. Tom is waiting in a car, looking at the people entering the garage. His phone rings - it's Rachel. Tom spots Korman and switches off his phone. Korman is at his car when Tom approaches. KORMAN: How did you find me? TOM: Hello, Karl [?] KORMAN: Peter, I'm sorry. I was under orders. You have to believe me. TOM: That's not why I'm here. I need to get a message to The Cardinal. Cut to hospital. Jack enters Sydney's room as a suited agent waits outside. JACK: Sweetheart. [Kisses Sydney on the forehead] I'm sorry I took so long. SYDNEY: They just keep running tests. I mean, no body is… they won't tell me. JACK: I know. They want to be sure. SYDNEY: And? [off Jack's look] It's okay. Whatever it is, I can handle it. JACK: [sits down on the bed] Seems there was a crisis with your pregnancy while you were on that ship. Sydney starts to cry. JACK: Sydney, the baby's fine. It's fine. What they did to you on the boat - you were suffering from something called placental abruption. They corrected the problem. They weren't harming the baby. They were saving its life. SYDNEY: Why? Why would they do that? JACK: I don't know. We're not sure what it means. I promise you, we'llg et to the problem of it. Jack strokes the side of her face as Sydney cries. SYDNEY: While I was on the ship they tried to extract information from me but I lied to them. JACK: Shh. [shakes his head] Not here. There is a knock on the door and the suited agent enters. AGENT: Mr. Bristow. I'm sorry, sir. That's time. JACK: [off Sydney's frown] It's nothing. Just a small matter I need to attend to. Jack another kisses Sydney's forehead one more time and leaves.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x10 - S.O.S."}

foreverdreaming

Washington - exterior - A blue van drives by. Cut inside. Davenport lies inside - his nose is still broken from being h*t by Jack, he's in hospital clothes and is wearing an oxygen mask. Two armed and fully-armored men sit in the back of the van with him. Davenport lowers his oxygen mask to speak. DAVENPORT: What's gonna happen with my family? GUARD: My orders are to deliver you to the airfield. I have no information beyond that. DAVENPORT: Could you find out? A car horn goes off. Guard 1 gets up to see what is going on. DAVENPORT: What's happening? Why did we stop? Guard looks out the front and sees that the traffic lights are green but the flatbed truck in front of them hasn't started moving yet. The truck in front responds to the horn from before and starts to move. GUARD: It's all right. We're on our way. Cut outside. Another truck crashes into Davenport's van at full speed then hurries away. The van turns on its side upon impact. DAVENPORT: They're here! God, they're here! One of Davenport's guards go outside to investigate with an "I'll go on" only to get sh*t down. Davenport screams. The other guard makes a distress call. GUARD: This is foxtrot. We're under att*ck! The remaining guard is k*lled as someone sh**t at the van. Davenport gets up, slowly limping out the van. DAVENPORT: All right! Don't sh**t! I'm coming out! [raises his hands] Don't sh-- Davenport gets sh*t in the leg, yelling as he falls down. DAVENPORT: Oh, god. [groans] An armed woman approaches Davenport as continues groaning in pain. He looks even more frightened when he recognises the woman. It's Irina. And she's not happy. DAVENPORT: Irina. IRINA: You've compromised our agenda, Jeffrey. DAVENPORT: No - I - I didn't do anything. This is all a mistake! Irina cocks her g*n. DAVENPORT: Okay! I'm sorry. [pained] I'm sorry! IRINA: Tell me exactly what you said to my husband. Did you tell him about the Horizon? DAVENPORT: No! Of course not. No - you have to believe me. I swear! IRINA: [calmly with a slight smile] I do believe you. Irina sh**t him twice in the head and walks away. LA - Hospital - Interior - A doctor enters Sydney's room as she sits waiting. DOCTOR: Sorry to keep you waiting, Agent Bristow. [closes the door behind him] I know Langley's anxious to debrief you. SYDNEY: Is my baby okay? DOCTOR: Yes. SYDNEY: You're sure? DOCTOR: I can't imagine what you went through on that ship. Having said that, the surgery they performed probably saved your pregnancy. You and your child are in great health, Agent Bristow. SYDNEY: Well, thank you. And call me 'Sydney'. I mean, if you're going to deliver this baby the next couple weeks we might as well get to know each other. There is a knock on the door and Dixon enters. DIXON: Hi. SYDNEY: Hey. DIXON: Uh, they told me you were done? DOCTOR: We'll see you next week. Cut to Sydney and Dixon exiting the hospital. DIXON: So are you okay? SYDNEY: Yeah, I'm fine. Do you mind if I borrow your phone? I wanna-- DIXON: The CIA released your father. SYDNEY: They did? DIXON: [nods] Davenport confessed. Apparently he cut a deal. Your father wants to see us before you contact APO. SYDNEY: Where is he? Cut to APO - Tom is at his desk. Rachel is finishing up talking to a co-worker RACHEL: Thanks. [walks towards Tom] Hey. TOM: Hey. What's up? RACHEL: Wanna go for a walk? TOM: Yeah. Tom sees Sloane talking with Devlin. Sloane gestures for Tom to come over. TOM: [to Rachel] Raincheck. I'll find you when I'm done. DEVLIN: …authority is no way in question. This only temporary. SLOANE: Of course. I understand that. DEVLIN: Davenport and I came up together. I'm godfather to his eldest son. SLOANE: [a little dismissively] Yeah. DEVLIN: How are these people able to corrupt him? SLOANE: I have no idea. Agent Tom Grace, this is Director Devlin. Devlin and Tom shake hands. SLOANE: Director Devlin and his team will be auditing our investigation on Prophet-5. Will you assist him, please, with whatever he needs. TOM: [nodding] Sure. Of course. DEVLIN: Thank you. I'd - uh - for starters - like to see your sit reports and - uh - operation files. TOM: Right. Uh - I can get you your sit reps but we're performing diagnostic on the computer network. Files will take longer. It's just routine. DEVLIN: Who can provide me with admin privileges to your access logs? TOM: That's - uh - Rachel Gibson. She's over there. [points] DEVLIN: Thank you. [goes to Rachel's desk] TOM: What just happened? SLOANE: He wants to review the computer transactions to see if anyone provided Prophet-5 with Davenport's travel route. TOM: He thinks the leak came from this office. And the phone logs will reveal who it was. SLOANE: Apparently so. As Tom leaves, Sloane looks more and more apprehensive. Parking lot - Exterior - It's near the ocean - A car drives up to where Jack waits. Syd and Dixon exit their car to greet Jack. Sydney and Jack hug. JACK: You okay? SYDNEY: I'm fine. Okay, what's going on? Why are we meeting out here? JACK: Davenport's been k*lled. His transport was ambushed DIXON: That transport route was classified. The only people knew were-- SYDNEY: CIA. You think Prophet-5 has another mole inside the Agency? JACK: It seems so. Yes. There's more. As a condition of my release, Director Devlin has insisting we suspend our investigation of Prophet-5 until Langley's had a chance to review our findings. SYDNEY: We can't do that. JACK: I agree. Which means that as long as Devlin maintains a presence inside APO, we have to stop documenting our work. Operations will be compartmentalized to senior staff only. [to Sydney] When I came to see you at the hospital you wanted to tell me something - the reason Prophet-5 abducted you. SYDNEY: When I was on their ship, before the operation, they performed some kind of regression therapy. They wanted me to remember a cipher: "Leo 47 Norte". It was an entry on an Alliance organization chart Vaughn showed me years ago. JACK: Did you give them the intel? SYDNEY: Changed the phrase. DIXON: [remembering] "47 Norte"… It's a territorial designation in France. "Leo" designates a specific mission. JACK: I'll review the Alliance archives. Someone on that mission might still be alive. I want you on a plane to Paris. Assuming I'm successful, you'll be in a position to act quickly. [turns to Sydney] Make contact with Renee Rienne. Ask her to provide Dixon with whatever documentation he may need. SYDNEY: Okay. JACK: Then, I want you to go home and pack a bag. I'm moving you to a secure location. SYDNEY: No. JACK: It's just temporary. SYDNEY: Dad, don't be silly. I - I wanna help. JACK: [overlapping] Help. Yes, I know. For now, you need to go underground. Prophet-5 abducted you. I can't risk doing that again. Cut to - Sydney and Dixon's car DIXON: Don't blame your dad, Syd. He's only trying to protect you. SYDNEY: [whispers, looking down] Yeah. DIXON: What? SYDNEY: Do you remember what Dean said? That Prophet-5 had plans for me. Dixon nods. SYDNEY: They saved this baby for a reason. Why? DIXON: I don't know. Maybe that's why Jack wants you in a safehouse. SYDNEY: I can fend for myself. DIXON: But you're not just fending for yourself. You're fending for two. And let's be honest - right now, you waddle. SYDNEY: I don't waddle. DIXON: [laughs] Oh, yes, you do. SYDNEY: I'll admit. I may be a little less graceful. [shakes her head, whispering] But I don't waddle. DIXON: [nods, feigning agreement] You're right. Sydney scoffs. DIXON: Actually, it's more of a teeter. Dixon and Sydney share amused smiles. Sydney's home - interior - Sydney "teeters" in, closing the door behind her. Walking farther into the apartment, she pauses as she notices something that catches her by surprise. Cut to the couch, where Irina sits waiting for her daughter. IRINA: Hello, Sydney. SYDNEY: [exhales] Mom. CUT TO BLACK. Irina stands up with a proud, ear-to-ear grin. Sydney returns the grin, very happy to see her mother. IRINA: You look beautiful. Sydney and Irina share a tight embrace. Sydney lays her head on Irina's shoulder, emotional. IRINA: [tenderly] I'm here now. [strokes Sydney's back] Everything is going to be fine. Suddenly troubled, Sydney pulls back. SYDNEY: Mom. I'm so glad you're here. Honestly, there's no one else I want to go through this with. But… [shakes her head] it isn't safe. IRNA: Sydney… [shakes her head, frowning] SYDNEY: No. Mom, we're involved in an investigation. The CIA is everywhere. If they find-- IRINA: I know about Prophet-5. I know they abducted you. [off Sydney’s dubious look] That's the reason I've come. They've been rumoured for over thirty years – an organization so secret most of us thought they were a myth. And six months ago, a contact of mine told me that they’ve become active again. That after all this time they finally found someone who they believe will lead them to what they’ve been looking for. Sydney still looks as if she can’t decide whether or not to trust her mother. IRINA: The reason they came together – to pursue something they call The Horizon. SYDNEY: [thinking] Hmm. IRINA: You’ve never heard of it? SYDNEY: [shaking her head] No. IRINA: Prophet-5 believes you have. They believe you know where it is. [walks up to Sydney and puts a hand on her arm with a small smile] What are you thinking? SYDNEY: When Prophet-5 abducted me, they tried to get me to reveal information about an old Alliance mission. IRINA: What was the mission? SYDNEY: Well, I don’t know the details. Just the code name – but dad is looking into it. IRINA: You told your father? [tucks hair behind her ear] Sydney nods. A big smile comes onto Irina’s face. IRINA: That’s good. How’s Jack? SYDNEY: He’s good. [she looks down, with a sentimental expression] Prophet-5 k*lled Vaughn. IRINA: [whispers] I know. I’m so sorry. The mother daughter exchange sad looks. APO – Marshall’s office JACK: It was an Alliance mission. Designation: Leo 47 Norte. MARSHALL: ...47 Norte. I got it. [types at his computer] All Alliance archives are backed up Langley’s archives. JACK: Can you do it without being traced back to this office? Marshall pauses to look at Jack. MARSHALL: So Devlin can’t find out about it. [looks out at Devlin’s team] Sure – I can use a proxy to spoof the origin. [Jack nods and Marshall continues to work] I love secret conspiracies. You know, as long as I’m a… co-conspirator. Marshall finds the mission and brings it up. MARSHALL: Okay. Here it is. [reads off the screen] Um, operation originating back in 1999. Co-ordinated by a Jean Bertrand. Let me see if I can find a… You know, back in high school? We took apart our calculus professor’s car and re-assembled it in his classroom. Actually… my friends did it. I woulda helped, but they wouldn’t trust me - said I had loose lips. Which, you know, ridiculous. TOM: [walking in] Hey, Marshall? Marshall fumbles as he gets up, knocking things off his desk. He faces Tom with a deer-caught-in-headlights expression on his face. MARSHALL: Uhh--- nothing! [points to his computer screen] We’re not – doing – any…thing. Jack’s phone rings and reaches into his jacket pocket to answer it. JACK: Yes. [moves out of earshot] TOM: The diagnostic on the server – Let me know when it’s done? MARSHALL: [thumbs up at Tom] You got it. TOM: [nods as he turns to leave] Thanks. MARSHALL: [waves] Good to see you, Tom. [turns back to Jack] JACK: That is… unexpected. I’ll be there shortly. [hangs up] MARSHALL: Was that Syd? [off Jack’s look] Well, your voice – it modulates a little when you’re talking to Sydney. Is everything okay? JACK: [sternly] What do you have on Bertrand? MARSHALL: Right. [whispers] Secret! [laughs and nods, turning back to his computer] ‘Kay – latest intel places Bertrand in Paris. JACK: Forward the intel to Dixon. He’s joining up with Renee. Use tag-3. I don’t want it going through APO servers. MARSHALL: Got it. Sydney’s home – Sydney opens the door for Jack. JACK: She’s still here? Sydney nods as she lets Jack in, looking a little taken aback by his abruptness. Irina sits at the dining table with a drink. IRINA: Jack. JACK: [with a smile on his face] You look… well. IRINA: [returning his smile] I got your messages. I wanted to reply, but I sensed it might be a CIA trap. [smiles again] Look at us. About to become grandparents. JACK: [joking] I’m doing my best to ignore that. Sydney smiles. IRINA: Did Sydney tell you? [softly] I fear for her safety. JACK: Yes, she did. SYDNEY: Did Dixon find out anything? JACK: Not yet. But he’s with a source now. P[A]RIS Parking lot – interior – Bertrand is in a hurry. When he gets to his car, he finds Renee (in fishnet stockings, a mini skirt and a blond wig) sitting on the hood of his car. This scene’s dialogue is in French BERTRAND: Can I help you? This is my car. Renee shrugs. Dixon approaches Jean from behind. DIXON: Good evening, Jean. BERTRAND: Jean? No, I’m sorry. You have the wrong man. DIXON: Seven years ago, you co-ordinated a mission for the Alliance. Designation: Leo 47 Norte. BERTRAND: Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Dixon sighs and holds out his g*n at Bertrand. Renee gets off his car and approaches Bertrand. BERTRAND: Look. I don’t know who you people are. But I won’t be intimidated. Now, I suggest you step away before— Renee takes his keys from his hands BERTRAND: --Hey. RENEE: [jingling keys] Perhaps a ride will refresh your memory. Cut to the car speeding around the parking lot. Renee is driving. Bertrand’s duct-taped upside-down and spread-eagle to the hood of his car. BERTRAND: Stop! DIXON: Leo 47 Norte – what was the mission? BERTRAND: A package! I was told to store it. RENEE: What was in the package? BERTRAND: I don’t know! I swear! Stop. STOP! RENEE: Last chance, Bertrand! BERTRNAD: Vancouver! It’s in Vancouver! Bertrand’s car screeches as it brakes, still heading towards a concrete pillar. Bertrand yells in fear. The car stops inches before Bertrand’s face smashes into the pillar. Cut to— Sydney’s home JACK: Thanks. No, I’ll take it from here. That was Dixon. He couldn’t confirm what the horizon is. But we can confirm it’s in a safe deposit box in Vancouver in Queens Bank. SYDNEY: We’ll need to act fast. Prophet-5 has probably figured out by now I gave them a the wrong information. IRINA: [sardonic] Yeah, that’s a safe assumption. JACK: We can’t use APO. Devlin’s men are everywhere. IRINA: If you’re being watched, I can go. I have contacts in Vancouver. JACK: [nodding, pensive] We’ll go together. Retrieve the Horizon ourselves. Can your contact make the travel arrangements? SYDNEY: Make them for three. I’m going too. IRINA: S— Jack looks concerned. SYDNEY: I know what you’re gonna say. You’re worried about my safety. It’s a three-hour flight. A bank. We’ll be in and out. IRINA: [shaking her head] Sydney… SYDNEY: The Horizon is why Prophet-5 k*lled Vaughn. It’s why they kidnapped me. If we can get it before they do, we can finish this thing. [resolved] For good. JACK: Make the arrangements. Irina seems dismayed at Jack’s agreement with Sydney. Looks down in defeat - she's not going without them. Interior – unidentified dark corridor – A man pushes past the people in his way and runs up to Peyton. MAN: Hey. Just got a message from Irina Derevko. The Horizon is in Vancouver. She’s on her way to retrieve it. PEYTON: Assemble a team. We’re going too. MAN: You question Derevko’s loyalty? PEYTON: No, I don’t. But I’m not willing to take the chance that I’m wrong. Not when we’re this close. CUT TO BLACK. VANCO Cut to Queens Bank - Vault MOREAU: We’ve taken great pains to ensure the security of this facility. In fact, we pride ourselves on being too careful with our clients’ assets. IRINA: That’s good to hear. [smiles at Jack] Cut to Sydney SYDNEY: Rachel, it looks like 512-bit encryption. I can open up a port if you need to upload a program. RACHEL: Uh, no, that’s okay. I think I got it. [scribbles on some paper] Cut to Vault IRINA: What about emergency response? When an alarmed is tripped, how long before – uh – the authorities respond? MOREAU: The building has round-the-clock security. Our drills place it at four minutes, but to be honest, it’s never been activated. IRINA: Then let’s keep it that way. Irina takes the hairpin holding her hair up and s*ab Moreau with it. Moreau falls unconscious. JACK: [through comm.] Syd, we’ve got it. What’s the box number? SYDNEY: Hang on, Dad. Rachel? RACHEL: Okay, try this. 8-4-3-8-2-2-0. Sydney enters that as Moreau’s password and successfully logs in. SYDNEY: [amazed] Someday, you’ll have to show me how you do that. RACHEL: A magician never reveals her secrets. Be safe. SYDNEY: Thanks. They hang up and Sydney finds the number of Bertrand’s safe deposit box. SYDNEY: Okay, Dad. Box 135. Underground garage – Peyton and her men exit a car. Vault – Jack sprays a substance at the lock of box 135, making it sizzle and smoke. Moreau’s office – Sydney is putting her things away. She looks up at the computer screen when something catches her attention. It’s the surveillance feed – Peyton is sh**ting the guards at the front desk. She hurries out of the office. Vault – Jack opens the deposit box, pulling out a metal container. He opens it to reveal a satchel. He takes it out and puts a scanner over it. Scanner beeps and blinks with the message: “CHARGE DETECTED” JACK: I can’t open it. IRINA: [walks closer] Why? JACK: Counter measure. Looks like it’s acid-based. IRINA: Can you disable it? Camera pans down Irina’s hand. She presses something on her ‘hair clip’ and a needle springs out. JACK: Not without destroying the contents. We’ll have to take it back to Marshall he’ll be abl— Irina moves to s*ab Jack, but Jack grabs her elbow to deflect it. Irina tries again, swinging her arm around his face. Jack dodges it. SYDNEY: [running in] Peyton’s here. She sees that Jack now has his left hand holding back Irina’s right arm. He puts Irina in a chokehold with his right hand and slams her into the deposit boxes. Jack takes out his g*n and presses it against her throat. JACK: Talk. FAST. They’re here as backup. You’re working with them, aren’t you? Irina looks defiant. JACK: ANSWER ME. As it sinks in, Sydney begins to look betrayed. She walks towards Irina. SYDNEY: [realising] That was you. Wasn’t it? Behind the glass. You orchestrated the whole thing. [disgusted] Because you wanted this [re: Horizon] Irina rolls her eyes. SYDNEY: And when – when you couldn’t t*rture it out of me, you came to me as my mother. IRINA: I am your mother. Sydney’s eyes well up, looks at Irina with detestation. JACK: Call of your team, right now. IRINA: [shakes her head] They’re not my team. JACK: [angry] I don’t believe you. SYDNEY: Dad? IRINA: You need to believe me. ‘Cause if Peyton’s here, [softly] she’s here to k*ll me too. JACK: Then she’s going to be very disappointed, because I’m about to b*at her to it. SYDNEY: [insistent] Hey, dad? JACK: I thought I k*lled you once. This time I’ll be more thorough SYDNEY: Dad? Jack finally turns to look at Sydney. SYDNEY: Baby’s comin’. CUT TO BLACK. LA – APO - Devlin supervises his team. Cut to a close-up of Sloane, with Rachel in the background. SLOANE: We have a problem. Devlin’s men are accessing our server logs. They believe there’s a mole within APO leaking information to Prophet-5. RACHEL: You think they’re right? SLOANE: No. [shakes his head] No, I don’t. However, Sydney and Jack are in the field without clearance. I’ve been assisting them. RACHEL: So have I. SLOANE: Yes. I know. I’ve already tried purging the logs myself, but the files are read-only. RACHEL: I can do it. I can crack the logs and delete the entries. Make them untraceable. But it’ll take a little time. SLOANE: Well, then, get to it now. Queens Bank – Vault JACK: You should sit. Irina sits with her hands restrained with a cable tie. Sydney rolls a chair over to her but doesn’t sit down. SYDNEY: Look, we need to get out of here. [to Irina] What’s their approach? IRINA: What? SYDNEY: Their plan – what is it? How are they going to att*ck us? IRINA: [shrugs and shakes her head] I don’t know. I already told you – this wasn’t part of my operation. You wanna escape? Give her the Horizon. I’ll tell her you already left the building. JACK: That isn’t going to happen. Sydney gasps and looks down at her belly. IRINA: Jack, don’t be stubborn. The baby is coming. I’m trying to help. Giving you a way out. Sydney holds onto the table for support. Queens Bank – interior – Two unconscious guards are propped up against the wall. Two of Peyton’s henchmen set their bags down and starts to assemble g*n, handing a machine g*n to Peyton. She walks over to the front desk, where one of her men is in a the bank’s security guard uniform. BARKER: Okay, I’m in. We’ve got control of their system. PEYTON: Can you see them? BARKER: The bank has its own dedicated security feed. If they enter any of the stairwells, I’ll see them. PEYTON: Lock the building down. I’m going up. Queens Bank – Vault SYDNEY: How were you gonna do it? Once you took the Horizon, what was your extraction? All the lights in the bank go out. SYDNEY: Look, they’re coming. How were you going to get away from us? IRINA: There’s a helicopter that’s waiting for my signal. SYDNEY: Does Prophet-5 know about it? IRINA: [shaking her head] No. JACK: The elevators would all be grounded. It’s four flights of stairs to the roof. SYDNEY: I can make it. JACK: [to Irina] MOVE. They get up to leave. Queens Bank – front desk BARKER: Peyton, I’ve got a visual. Queens Bank – stairwell PEYTON: Go ahead. BARKER: They've just entered the main stairwell – 15th floor. But they’re not going down. They’re heading up. PEYTON: The helipad. Redirect those cameras to exterior surveillance. I’m going to keep going. I’m six floors behind. Cut to Irina, Jack and Sydney. JACK: What’s the signal for the helicopter? IRINA: Beacon. It’s in my bra. [smiles at Jack] Sydney pauses to catch her breath. Jack gets the beacon from Irina’s bra, expressionless, and activates it. Irina continues to smile smugly. JACK: Keep moving. [turns around to Sydney] We’re almost there. Sydney gathers strength and continues up the stairs. Cut to Peyton’s team following the group. Cut to the helicopter approaching. Cut to the front desk, a surveillance feed also sees the helicopter. BARKER: I’ve got a chopper. Approaching inbound from the north-west. PEYTON: Damn. [looks around, exits the stairwell at 12th floor] Out here. Peyton and her men run towards the windows. Cut to the roof, SpyFam are at the helipad. Helicopter is about to make its descent. Cut to 12th floor. Peyton sh**t at a window, breaking it. She looks out the window and at the helicopter. PETYON: Quickly. Cut to the roof. Cut to 12th floor where one of the henchmen hand Peyton a bazooka. She aims and sh**t the helicopter down. The helicopter explodes. Irina, Sydney and Jack duck. Peyton discards the bazooka, she and her men head back towards the stairwell as the helicopter crashes to the ground in the background. CUT TO BLACK Queens bank – Interior - Sydney, Irina and Jack run down a hallway. SYDNEY: This building has to have a freight elevator. JACK: Sydney— SYDNEY: If we hotwire a juncture box, we might be able to restore emergency power to one of the cars. JACK: Even if we could, they’ll be waiting for us as soon as we override the elevator. SYDNEY: We have to try. IRINA: We need to set up a defensive position. SYDNEY: I’m not interested in your opinion. JACK: She’s right. Even if we could outflank them down the stairwell, you wouldn’t make it. Here. [hands Sydney his g*n] Cover your mother. [gives Sydney the bag with the Horizon inside] I’ll take care of Peyton and her men. [removes his jacket] Be right back. Whatever happens, keep that pointed at your mother. If she even blinks… SYDNEY: I’ll sh**t her. APO –Sloane’s office – Sloane looks out at Devlin’s team working. RACHEL: Okay, I’m in. Logs are online. SLOANE: Have they found anything yet? RACHEL: No. They’re still working on the tasking logs. I’m gonna start with the comm. Entries. Here we go – Sydney’s communication from Vancouver. [deletes that entry] And Paris – this is from Dixon’s PBX communication. [deletes] Okay, this seems to be it. SLOANE: No, there’s more. I had to post satellite imagery of the building in Vancouver. You’ll have to delete that as well. Timestamp should be somewhere between midnight and 2am. [looks up nervously at Devlin’s men] There. Sloane points to an ‘outgoing transfer entry’ from ‘JTINDLE’. RACHEL: Tindle isn’t your login name. SLOANE: No. My network account timed out. I had to create a temporary one. Computer beeps – Rachel looks apprehensive. RACHEL: I can’t do it. SLOANE: What do you mean? RACHEL: They’re on the same page of entries. That’s them now. Cut to the computer screen. The entry two lines above the Tindle one is highlighted red, indicating what Devlin’s group is looking at. RACHEL: If we delete this one they’ll see it. Sloane sighs and picks up his phone. Devlin’s phone rings. DEVLIN: Devlin. SLOANE: It’s me. It seems you don’t have the latest server logs. What’s the timestamp on your last entry? On Sloane’s computer, the white highlighting scrolls down beyond what Sloane and Rachel are looking at. DEVLIN: 10:37 this morning. Rachel deletes the Tindle entry. She nods and mouths “Got it” to Sloane. SLOANE: Okay. It matches up. Sorry about the interruption. Sloane and Devlin hang up. SLOANE: Good work. Rachel smiles. Queens Bank – Interior – Sydney and Irina sit against a wall. Sydney sighs. SYDNEY: The truth takes time. That’s what you said. Years ago. Is this what you meant? IRINA: You like it to be simple. [shakes head] It’s never simple. SYDNEY: Did you put out the order to k*ll Vaughn? Irina doesn’t reply, only looks at Sydney, blinking. Sydney inhales, frowning. The camera pans down to her stomach. IRINA: I’ve known about his investigation for a long time. In Savogda I tried to warn him. Sydney shakes her head. IRINA: He didn’t take my advice. SYDNEY: I fell for you. Even Dad fell for you. But Vaughn never trusted you. Queens Bank – Stairwell – g*n in hand, Jack walks down. He hears Peyton’s men coming and exits the stairwell. HENCHMAN: This is Alpha-team. We’re on sixteen. We have a possible target. PEYTON: Copy that. Two henchmen investigate sixteenth floor – the laser sights of their g*n swing around the room. Jack quietly sneaks up on one of them with an arm around is neck. Henchman 1 groans in pain and sh**t at the ceiling. Henchman 2, hearing this, turns around and sh**t towards Jack’s direction, but hits his partner instead. Jack sh**t Henchman 2. Cut to Stairwell. PEYTON: Alpha team – report. Alpha team, do you copy? Barker, where are you? BARKER: (through comm.) Just sweeped 17, moving onto 18. PEYTON: Roger. Finish up there and report in. Queens Bank – Interior – Sydney sitting on a couch, with her g*n still trained on her mother. She is gasping with the pain of her contractions. IRINA: Exhale through your mouth. SYDNEY: [resentfully] No! IRINA: I’m only offering advice. SYDNEY: Don’t! [breathes heavily] I know why you saved my pregnancy. You want my baby, and I don’t know why. Frankly, I don’t care. I just want you to leave us alone. Long pause. IRINA: You should know something, Sydney. I never wanted to have a child. The KGB demanded it. They knew it would ensure your father’s allegiance to me. You were simply a means to an end. And then when the doctor put you in my arms and I looked at you? So fragile. All I could think was, “How could I make such a terrible mistake?” Tears well up in Irina’s eyes. Sydney is visibly upset, tears streaming down her face. IRINA: And at that moment I was sure of one thing: I couldn’t be an agent an a mother. I’d either fail at one or both. And I chose to fail at being a mother. Sydney’s g*n is no longer pointed at Irina as she braces herself through a particularly painful contraction. Barker’s footsteps can be heard and Irina looks nervously in that direction. IRINA: Gimme the g*n. Syd, they’re coming Sydney reluctantly gives her the g*n. Irina quickly kills Barker, then gets up to unties herself using a letter opener. She crouches in front of Sydney, taking the Horizon. IRINA: In time you’ll learn. [shakes her head] You can’t do both. SYDNEY: Watch me. Irina turns to leave. Sydney gasps and whimpers in pain. Irina goes back to Sydney, tears staining her face. IRINA: The only reason I saved the baby was because you’re my daughter. Sydney sobs. IRINA: Now do exactly as I tell you. Get in that chair. CUT TO BLACK. Queens Bank – Stairwell – Peyton is opening the door to Jack’s floor. She pauses. Jack looks at the door when he hears the handle rattling. The door opens, Peyton enters, g*n blazing. Jack returns f*re. Peyton finds some cover. PETYON: This really is no place for you, Grandpa. By the way, where’s Sydney registered? Jack grabs a f*re extinguisher. PEYTON: I’d love to get her a gift for the baby. Jack tosses the f*re extinguisher towards Peyton. She sh**t at Jack as she hears it the extinguisher clang across the floor. Jack aims his g*n at the f*re extinguisher. Peyton looks alarmed as she spots the red dot of his g*n’s laser sights on the f*re extinguisher. It explodes in a white cloud of smoke. Jack walks across the floor, and sees Peyton’s motionless hand from behind a cabinet. He walks closer and sees Peyton laying unconscious. The camera pans down and focuses on Peyton’s hand – it twitches. Cut to Sydney gasping in pain with Irina in front of her. IRINA: Sydney, don’t push. SYDNEY: God, Mom, I have to. IRINA: Nononono – Listen to me. Don’t push. I know you want to, but you can’t. Sydney, Listen to me. The baby is coming out backward. SYDNEY: [sobbing[ Wh-what does that mean? Mom. JACK: [entering] What is it? What is it? IRINA: Her muscles are locked she needs to relax. The baby needs oxygen. If it doesn’t come out right now… JACK: Listen, squeeze my hand. This is important. As hard as you can. SYDNEY: [whimpers] Dad. IRINA: Just keep breathing – breathe. SYDNEY: Dad. [gasps] IRINA: In. And out. Sydney breathes heavily. JACK: Okay. Now, again. Look at me. Sydney looks at Jack with tears in her eyes. Nodding as she breathes. JACK: You can do this. Sydney shakes her head and sobs. SYDNEY: I can’t, Dad. I can’t. JACK: Sydney. Yes you can. SYDNEY: I don’t want to do this here. JACK: That’s okay. Tell me where you wanna be. SYDNEY: I’m scared. JACK: I know. That’s why we’re here. We’re gonna take care of you. Now. Tell me – where you wanna be. SYDNEY: I wanna be at the beach. JACK: That’s good. Just go there. Now tell me about it. SYDNEY: [still sobbing] And Vaughn is with me. JACK: Good. Vaughn is there. With you on the beach. Good. Vaughn is with you. SYDNEY: I miss him. JACK: I know. [smiles] I know you do, sweetheart. It’s okay. It’s gonna be okay. Irina turns around to reach for a blanket. IRINA: Okay, now, Sydney. Push. JACK: Sydney, you can do this. Now, again. IRINA: Push. JACK: Sydney, as hard as you can! Sydney winces painfully, crying. IRINA: Good! The baby’s voice can be heard. IRINA: Sydney. [whispers] You have a baby girl. Sydney cries as Irina hands Sydney her daughter. She holds the baby close as she looks at her. She looks at Jack, then to where Irina is, but her mother is nowhere to be found. SYDNEY: She took the satchel. JACK: I know. We’ll find her. [Re: baby] Oh, sweetheart. She’s so beautiful. Sydney smiles. APO – Marshall’s office - His cell phone is ringing. MARSHALL: Flinkman. IRINA: Listen to me very carefully, Marshall. Jack and Sydney are in Vancouver. Queens Bank. They need extraction. MARSHALL: Okay… uh. Is this – who I think it is? IRINA: Tell the team, they’ll need diapers. [hangs up] MARSHALL: Okay. [rushes off] Airplane – interior – Jack is hanging up his cell phone. Sydney is holding her daughter. JACK: I just spoke to Dixon. He’s in contact with Europol and SVR. So far, nothing. We’ll find her, Sydney. SYDNEY: Would you like to hold your granddaughter? JACK: [smiling] Yes, I would. Sydney hands Jack the baby, he sits down. SYDNEY: [softly] She has Vaughn’s eyes. JACK: Yes, she does. SYDNEY: Dad? They share a long look, speaking without words. JACK: I’ll take care of it. They smile. BHU[T]AN Long sh*t of a green field with snowy mountains in the background. Someone rides across the field on horseback. The horse gallops towards a lone house. The horseman dismounts and runs towards the house. He approaches a robed man (a Buddhist monk?) and whispers something in his ear. The robed man turns to speak to someone else who’s also in the room. MONK: My brother…there’s good new. You have a daughter. The ‘someone else’ is none other than Vaughn. Vaughn looks down, then smiles.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x11 - Maternal Instinct"}

foreverdreaming

MINSK. Night. A limo arrives at a castle and a hooded man gets out of the car. The hood is removed by Mr. Ehrmann to reveal it is Arvin Sloane. EHRMANN: I'd apologize for the method of transport, but I'm sure you understand our need for discretion. SLOANE: And I am not in a position to simply disappear for an extended period of time without raising concern. Some advance warning would have been preferred. EHRMANN: Yes... but then that would spoil all the fun. Inside, Sloane and Ehrmann walk down a stairs in a big hall. EHRMANN: We have some business which requires your immediate attention. But I can assure you, we'll have you back in Los Angeles before your co-workers even realize that you've gone. SLOANE: It's not your timetable that troubles me, Joseph. It's your manners... EHRMANN: Here you are. SLOANE: You're not joining us? EHRMANN: The 12 are waiting for you inside. SLOANE: You're not allowed in that room, are you? Sloane hands him his overcoat, indicating that he considers Ehrmann a lackey now. He enters in a large room where 12 people wait him. A first man comes to him. MAN 1: Mr. SLOANE. It's an honour to meet you. We've been admirers of yours for quite some time. SLOANE: Gentlemen. MAN 1: We'd like to thank you for all the work you've done thus far on our behalf. SLOANE: I'm not certain I have much choice. MAN 2 (old man sitting on a chair) : Not to get into a free will debate right now, Mr. SLOANE, but... you've always had a choice. This is our most recent medical report on your daughter, Nadia. As you're aware, we have the capabilities to restore her health. MAN 1: And we're prepared to do so on a permanent basis, provided of course you complete one final assignment for us. SLOANE: No, I've heard such promises for some time now. Tell me, what guarantees do I have that this is the last you'll require of me? MAN 3: Look around you, Arvin. Would we show you our faces if it were our intention to keep you subservient? You've earned the right to stand in front of us. We have a job for you. You'll keep your eye on the endgame, as you always have. Because the moment this assignment is over, we'll give you back your daughter. SLOANE: What exactly do you want me to do? IN A HIGH SECURITY PRISON. Night. PEYTON arrives with a guard in front of Anna Espinosa’s cell. GUARD: This prisoner is one of the most dangerous inmates we have in this facility. We don't leave anyone alone with her. I'm simply concerned for your safety. PEYTON : Well, that's sweet, but something tells me we're gonna get along just fine. Door opens. Anna Espinosa is sited on the floor. PEYTON: Ms. Espinosa, my name's Kelly Peyton. I work for an independent organization interested in retaining your services. ANNA: Get out of my cell. PEYTON: If I'm interrupting your busy schedule of invasive interrogation, I do apologize. This facility you're in doesn't exist on government record. You're being held here without charge, which means you don't exist anymore. I can't imagine that thought's appealing to you. My employer will secure your immediate release, in exchange for which, you will undertake a long-term, deep cover operation for us. ANNA: I told you to get out of my cell... (She stands up et gets to Peyton) which means if you don't take your skinny little ass back down that hallway right now... you won't exist anymore either. PEYTON: I don't think you're understanding me. I'm offering you the chance to get back at the person who put you here. I'm offering you the chance to destroy Sydney Bristow. Anna is now more interested and looks intensely at Peyton. LOS ANGELES. Night. Sydney’s home. SYDNEY: (She puts Isabelle in bed) Here you go. (She hears Kn*fe noise coming through the kitchen)What are you doing? JACK: They fell when I tried to put them away. Sydney, you do not leave edged w*apon within the reach of children. SYDNEY: She's 4 weeks old, dad. JACK: Particularly young Bristow women. SYDNEY: She can't even hold her head up. I think we're safe. Have you contacted your field sources? JACK: Nobody's heard so much as a whisper since Irina disappeared. SYDNEY: We should task Echelon with her known aliases. JACK: We already have. Rest assured, we've engaged our full resources in looking for your mother. SYDNEY: Any news of Prophet Five? JACK: No significant activity in the last few weeks. I don't like it. SYDNEY: Mom dealt Prophet Five a significant blow when she stole the Horizon. If we aren't picking up activity, it's only because they're regrouping, coming up with an alternate plan of att*ck. JACK: Try to enjoy your time away. Right now you only need to concern yourself with being a mother. As soon as the affairs of the world require your attention, I'll let you know. MINSK. prophet5. SLOANE: I need assurances that Sydney Bristow will not be harmed. MAN1: It's not our intention to k*ll Miss Bristow, if that's what you're asking. SLOANE: I believe you're overestimating my ability to influence her. Even when agent Bristow thought that I was an honourable man, she rarely did as I directed. MAN1: We're simply asking you to guide her actions a bit. SLOANE: She's on leave, content to stay at home and care for her newborn daughter. I can't task her to re-enter the field and expect her to follow orders. She would need… MAN3: Incentive. I think you'll find, Arvin, it won't be as difficult to get Miss Bristow into the field as you imagine. LOS ANGELES. Night. Raining day. Anna Espinosa arrives in a car, takes an umbrella and rings at a house. Will Tippin opens the door. ANNA: Will Tippin? WILL: Sorry, I think you have the wrong house. ANNA: I'm agent Reeves, witness security, C.I.A. There's been an incident. I'm afraid that your cover may have been compromised. Something's happened to Sydney Bristow. Will: Come in Anna sees that he has lit candles and a bottle of wine. ANNA: Sir, is there anyone else in the house? WILL: I was sort of expecting someone 'un. ANNA: But you're alone now? (Anna then fires a taser at him. As Weill convulses on the floor, Anna phones) All right. I've got him. LOS ANGELES. APO, Briefing room. Jack and Sloane show a security video to Sydney showing that Anna has captured Will. JACK: Will's home security system caught the abduction. SYDNEY Y: When did this happen? SLOANE: Last night. Will missed his standard checking. SYDNEY: Have we identified the assailants? (She sees Anna on the video) JACK: The detention facility reported Anna was still in custody as of yesterday morning. They were surprised too, to learn she's at large. SYDNEY: And we're just going to accept that? SLOANE: No, of course not. Anna's escape, plus her knowledge of Will's location, suggests internal assistance at the highest level JACK: Langley launched a full-scale investigation. SYDNEY: I don't trust anyone else on this. JACK: We've already requested and been granted the authority to go after Tippin ourselves. SLOANE: We're only telling you this because Will is your friend, and we both know you'd want to be informed. We are not asking you to end your leave. We have this under control. You don't need to come back to work. JACK: Anna's involvement is actually a positive for us. SLOANE: She's too well-known in the underworld to disappear outright. We anticipate that she will reveal herself before long. We will find her. SYDNEY: Yes, we will. I appreciate your effort to protect me on this, but as of this moment, I'm back. IN A ROOM. Will is tied to a chair, still unconscious. The doctor who was working with Irina on the freighter enters with a syringe. Dr. BURRIS: Would you mind holding his head steady, please? He should be awake shortly. (He injects a small expl*sive pellet into the unconscious Will's head.) PEYTON: I'll have Anna make the call. LOS ANGELES. APO. Arvin telephones Sydney that Echelon has intercepted a phone call of Anna talking about having Will. A Russian Mafia lieutenant, Yerik Semanko has Will in Moscow ANNA: I have the subject you requested. I'll give you the location once I receive payment.. YERIK: The Centurion. Midnight. Come alone. SLOANE: Echelon intercepted the phone call an hour ago. Voiceprint matches. It's Anna. SYDNEY: Who's the other man? SLOANE: We believe he's a Russian mafia lieutenant named Yerik Semanko. (Sydney is at home and prepares is suitcase) The Centurion is one of their known fronts. Sydney, you're to infiltrate the club and survey the meet. We'll have a support team on standby to extricate Will as soon as you ascertain his location. SYDNEY: Anna will have 'em on alert. It's doubtful we'll be able to just walk in the front door. SLOANE: We will have an insertion scenario prepared for you. You'll get the necessary optech as soon as you get on the plane. SYDNEY: Got it. (Door bell). I gotta go. The babysitters are here. (She opens the door to see two agents). RANCE: Miss Bristow? I'm agent Rance. This is agent Dalton. Your father sent us. SYDNEY: He speaks very highly of you. RANCE: May we come in? SYDNEY: Sure. RANCE: We've been briefed. You're wheels up in 82 minutes. That doesn't give us much time. (He opens his suitcase which contains baby and security things). SYDNEY: This has all been rather unexpected. RANCE: It's my understanding Isabelle is approaching 5 weeks in age? SYDNEY: Yes. RANCE: I would imagine you have a healthy amount of separation anxiety towards leaving your daughter. SYDNEY: Yeah, I do. Yeah. RANCE: In addition to our field officer training, agent Dalton and I are both fully trained in infant development, including emergency care. If you agree, we'd like to go through the house, baby proof it from top to bottom, socket protectors, safety latches, gates for the stairs, spread spectrum R.F. Detectors, perimeter sensors, expl*sive sniffers, all the usual stuff. (The baby starts crying) Perhaps now would be a good time to introduce me to Isabelle. SYDNEY: Sometimes she just likes to cry. (She takes Isabelle in her arms) It can take her a while to calm down. You just have to be patient. RANCE: May I? (The baby calms down) I understand your current assignment is short-term? SYDNEY: Yeah, I mean, hopefully she won't even know I've been gone. RANCE: Oh, no. The mother child bond is impossible to replicate, even by agent Dalton and myself. She'll definitely know you're gone. But we'll keep Isabelle safe and secure until you return. SYDNEY: Thank you, agent Rance. RANCE: No need to thank me, ma'am. I'll give you some time to say goodbye. SYDNEY : (Sydney takes Isabelle, kisses her and talks to her) It won't always be like this. I promise. I'm just trying to make the world safer so you can grow up and have a regular life. Someone I love is in trouble. I have to go and help him out. It's my job. Mama's gotta go to work. Syd fires a zip line and slides across the street to the rooftop of the nightclub. She opens a panel to the building's computer and connects a relay to it. Marshall then sends photo identification passes of Tom, Rachel and Marcus to the VIP database. Marcus and then Rachel are admitted into the disco. Seeing a guard near the roof door, Sydney asks for Dixon to make a distraction. Marcus acts like a drunk and gets into a fight. The rooftop guard gets a call to break-up the fight, so Sydney is able to enter the building and head downstairs, entering the disco. Tom then gets admitted from the front too. MO ON A PLANE. SYDNEY: Well, so, did they interrogate you? WILL: When I came to, there were a bunch of people in the room but they didn't say a word to me. They just sort of left me alone. Next thing I know, you're kicking in the door. She got you good. SYDNEY: Oh, it's cosmetic. It'll heal. WILL: Listen, you think it's safe to make a call? I should probably let my fiancée know I'm okay. SYDNEY: Did you just say "fiancée"? WILL: Did I? Oh. I guess I did. SYDNEY: Will! WILL: Do you remember that painter? That I was gonna ask out? SYDNEY: Yeah. WILL: I... I asked her out. SYDNEY: And what, you're getting married? WILL: Yeah. Well, no, not exactly. I was actually planning on asking her last night before Anna interrupted. But I'm pretty sure she's gonna say yes. SYDNEY: Oh, I can't believe this. How can you be marrying a girl I haven't even met yet? WILL: Well, you know, I think the government mandated Isolation might have something to do with it. Sydney, we haven't spoken in, like, two years. What about you? What's been going on? SYDNEY: For starters, I have a daughter. WILL: What? SYDNEY: Yeah, a baby girl. Her name is Isabelle. WILL: Sydney, are you kidding? That's incredible. Who's the father? SYDNEY: Vaughn. WILL: Vaughn, of course. You guys finally ended up together. LOS ANGELES. APO. Will talks with Marshall and Dixon. Behind a window Sydney looks at him with her father. SYDNEY: I hate lying to him. He's my best friend. I can't even tell him the truth. You should've seen Will's face when I told him Vaughn was d*ad. JACK: Sydney, the only way to ensure Vaughn's safety is to keep his existence a secret. You did the right thing. SYDNEY: That doesn't make it any easier. JACK: Will's abduction only underscores our need for absolute vigilance. We're dealing with a very powerful opponent. SYDNEY: You think Prophet Five had something to do with Will's abduction? JACK: There's no logical reason anyone would abduct Will Tippin... unless they were trying to get to you. PROPHET 5. EHRMANN (phone): Relax. The operation is moving forward as planned, and may I say that you have performed admirably. SLOANE (phone): The agreement was for Nadia's cure. EHRMANN: Yes, once the operation is complete. SLOANE: If I'm to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, I need to know the full parameter of what you've planned. EHRMANN: All you need to do, Arvin, is task your team accordingly when I give you the signal. SLOANE: And what exactly is the signal? EHRMANN: Believe me, you'll know. A biometric acquisition of Anna Espinosa is performed. The computer screen indicates "Isotope Data Transfer: Complete." Sydney’s home. She takes Isabelle out of the cradle in order to present her to Will. SYDNEY: This is Isabelle. WILL: Oh, Syd. Sydney, she's beautiful. SYDNEY: Thank you. RANCE: Ma'am, would you like us to stay on duty for the night? SYDNEY: That won't be necessary. You can go home. WILL: Thank you. RANCE: The surveillance equipment's up. SYDNEY: Thank you. WILL: See you. SYDNEY: (To Will) you want to hold her? WILL: OK. (Isabelle is in her arms) Really? Okay. Hey! Hey. I'm Will. What am I, like an uncle? SYDNEY: Uncle. WILL: Yeah. I'm uncle Will. SYDNEY: Will, we were talking about what happened. We have to assume you were grabbed because someone was trying to hurt me. WILL: Yeah? Well, yeah. I didn't think they wanted me for all the Lakers statistics I have in my head. Right? SYDNEY: No. It's... just... I'm sorry. None of this would have happened if I wasn't in your life. WILL: Syd, stop. Are you kidding me right now? My life is so much better because you're in it. A survey computer shows: ALERT! IDENTIFY DEVICE IMMEDIATELY. The security alarm sounds. WILL: Oh, what... Oh. What... RANCE: (Rance points his p*stol at Will) Sir? Hand over the baby. WILL: What? SYDNEY: Agent Rance... RANCE: Ma'am, take the baby from him right now. WILL: Okay, okay. What's going on? Take it easy. What's going on? (They push him against the wall and do a sweep with a metal detector). Hey! Sydney, what's going on? SYDNEY: I don't know. I don't know. They find that Will has an object imbedded in his head. LOS ANGELES. APO. Marshall observes skull scan of will. MARSHALL: Well, it's a sub dermal device placed just below the skull at the brain stem. I've never seen one this small before. It looks like they patched a radio receiver to a powerful micro charge. WILL: So, what? What does that mean? MARSHALL: It means that they... they... put a b*mb in your head. WILL: What? MARSHALL: I know. I know. But there's good news. It looks like the charge is small enough that the blast will be localized. WILL: Wait, wait. So it might not k*ll me. MARSHALL: Oh, no. It'll definitely k*ll you. There just won't be any collateral damage. SYDNEY: Marshall... How do we get it out of him? MARSHALL: Well, we could perform a surgical procedure, but… I'm worried there's a gyroscopic failsafe. I mean, there is a very real chance that if we try to remove it, Will's head could explode. JACK: Get medical in here. I want a full extraction scenario. WILL: What? No! Didn't you just hear what he said about the exploding? SYDNEY: Will, calm down. WILL: Sydney, how can I calm down? There's a b*mb in my head. SYDNEY: Look, don't worry about it. We're gonna get it out of you. Just... Will's cellphone rings which startles everyone. MARSHALL: What is that? WILL: It's my phone. It's just my phone. (“BLOCKED CALLER CALLING”). Am I supposed to answer this? Sydney: Hello? ANNA: Hello, Sydney. Now that I have your attention, I have some demands. (All the team is in another room to listen the conversation) Pay attention, Syd. You are going to need to do exactly as you are told. You have access to the government's Rambaldi archives at the D.S.R. I'd like you to bring me a particular page from his manuscript. SYDNEY: Which one? ANNA: Page 47. I'm sure you're familiar with it. There's a train leaving for Madrid from the Coimbra rail station at 21H00 tomorrow. Be on it. Come alone. Once I have the manuscript page in my possession, I will give you the deactivation codes for the b*mb. SYDNEY: Anna, I swear to you... ANNA: Any deviation, Sydney, and I'm afraid I'll have to blow up your friend. Bye now. SLOANE: We have to take her thr*at seriously. JACK: Marcus, how quickly can you get page 47 from the D.S.R.? DIXON: I can have it within the hour. JACK: Do it. SYDNEY: Of all the Rambaldi artefacts, why would she want page 47? RACHEL: Who's Rambaldi? Later… SLOANE: Milo Rambaldi was a 15th century Visionary with an uncanny ability to predict the future. His designs have prophesied everything from binary code to nuclear w*apon to... RACHEL: is that Sydney? (Looking at the page 47) SYDNEY: Not exactly. There are people that believe that's me. RACHEL: "Mulier hic picturata." "The woman pictured here, the chosen one," "will render the greatest power unto utter desolation." You're "the chosen one"? You people really believe this stuff? DIXON: We've... seen things that give Rambaldi's words weight. WILL: Guys, can we debate this later... after the b*mb is out of my head? SYDNEY: What's the harm in giving Anna the page? These are prophecies about things I might do. If I don't do them, they're just words. SLOANE: That's right, Sydney, you have a point. Without you, that page is worthless. DIXON: We're not seriously considering giving into Anna's demands? WILL: yes, we are. SYDNEY: No, we're not. This page will get me close, but there's no guarantee Anna will deactivate you if we give her what she wants. JACK: Marshall, can you hack the detonation frequency? MARSHALL: Well, I mean, she mentioned deactivation codes. The b*mb and the detonator are networked I mean, maybe I could build a device that would tap into the communication protocol, reverse engineer the codes, but we would need to get the b*mb within range of the detonator in order for it to initialize. JACK: Get started on it. WILL: But... the only thing I understood from that was to get the b*mb in range of the detonator? SYDNEY: You ever been to Portugal? LISB[O]NNE. Onboard the Lisbon train, Syd and Will use a French accent as they negotiate with a conductor. CONDUCTOR: I'm sorry. It's simply not possible. WILL: There has been a terrible mistake. Look at me. I would not know how to purchase a coach ticket if I tried. SYDNEY: We demand a first-class cabin at the front of the car. It is away from the commoners. CONDUCTOR: Please, there is nothing I can do. WILL: I simply will not allow my wife my delicate, porcelain lily... to be ogled by the Portuguese wharf mongers. CONDUCTOR: (in Spanish) Take your seat or I will escort you from the train at the next stop. WILL: Does he speak Portuguese to us? SYDNEY: I believe so. It is a d*ad language. It hurts my ears. WILL: Perhaps our fluent steward speaks Euro. Ahh ! (Will shows him a wad of Euro banknotes as a bribe. The conductor accepts the Euro and leads them to a first class cabin). Along the first class car. WILL (to Conductor): Careful. It's fragile! CONDUCTOR: I hope you find this cabin to your liking. Perfectly adequate. WILL: Thank you. Inside the cabin. SYDNEY: Will, "delicate porcelain lily"? WILL: Leave me alone. I was on a roll. Sydney taps into the train's security monitors for the laptop computer Will is using. WILL: Syd... you know, my girl, she's waiting for me back home, and, uh... so depending on how this all goes down... if, uh, I was... SYDNEY: Will, look at me. You're gonna make it through this. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. WILL: I know that. SYDNEY: Okay. WILL: Wait. What did you think I was asking? SYDNEY: I... was just being supportive in case you thought... you might .. WILL: Die? SYDNEY: It's not important. What were you asking? WILL: I was asking you to be my best man. SYDNEY: Really? WILL: Yeah. Before I realized that you have such little faith in me. You thought I was gonna die? SYDNEY: No, I you want me to be your best man? WILL: Well, I did. Now I'm not so sure. SYDNEY: How would that work, exactly? Would I have to wear a tux? WILL: You don't have to worry about it, 'cause you're not invited. Okay, we're in. They then spot Anna in the dining car SYDNEY: There she is. Now I just have to keep Anna busy long enough to scan the codes. Incidentally, I'd be honoured. WILL: Let's do this. Sydney joins Anna. ANNA: You're early. SYDNEY: I've never been good at following the rules. ANNA: I understand you being so cavalier about your own life, but I'm surprised that you care so little about your friend. WILL (coms): All right, Syd... It's working. ANNA: Tell me, Sydney, what's to keep me from k*lling Tippin right now? SYDNEY: You've always been a professional, Anna. And I have something you want. ANNA: Not here. Let's find someplace more private. WILL: Okay. So far, so good. Exterior view of the train. Anna and Sydney go to an empty car. WILL (coms): Okay, you're at 38%. Stay close. Syd opens the suitcase and present the manuscript to Anna. ANNA: Not a very flattering likeness. SYDNEY: What I want to know is, why do you want it? We disproved these writings years ago. ANNA: Doesn't really concern me as long as the check clears. Although I must say I have had a lot of fun on this one. SYDNEY: Where is the detonator? ANNA: I don't have it on me. Wait here. Will (coms) : No, she's lying, Syd. We wouldn't be able to run the scanner if she didn't have the detonator on her. SYDNEY: I'm not letting you out of my sight. ANNA: Sydney, you know I don't play by the rules very well either. Wait here. I'm not asking. Will (coms) : No, we're only at 65%. You can't let her leave Syd catches the suitcase and throws it into the Anna’s back. They get into a fight while the b*mb is seconds for exploding (set time : 47s). WILL: Sydney! Sydney, my head's beeping! Syd defeats Anna and stops the timer. Anna is knocked out. SYDNEY: You still having fun, Anna? You'll never b*at me. ANNA: And you still don't understand the game. Anna recovers, gets the suitcase and escapes. She leaves the car, closes the door and kisses the glass to mock Sydney. She sets off a trap. Red fluid is showering Sydney. Syd can't break the glass to get out. She struggles and then passes out. The red liquid evacuates itself at the bottom of the car and fills a container attached under. ANNA (phone): We're collecting her D.N.A... Now. We have g*n the process. You should have genetic samples shortly. I understand. There will be no further delays. As Anna is walking down a corridor, Will hits her in the head with a f*re extinguisher, then rescues Sydney. WILL: Syd! He breaks the glass window and enters the car to save Sydney. WILL: It's okay. I've got you! SYDNEY: Anna… we have to get her... Anna recovers and restarts the timer and tosses it out of the train. ANNA: I'm right here, Syd. Looks like you have about 30 seconds. SYDNEY: No, Will. Sydney pulls Will out of the train to go after the transmitter. They fall into a river. Will surfaces first and is afraid that the b*mb is going to explode. Syd then emerges with the transmitter. She turns it off WILL: Sydney, thank god, Oh, thank god. Thank you... I'm ready to go home LOS ANGELES. Outside parking. Sloane has a covert meeting with Kelly Peyton. SLOANE: Sydney Bristow was not to be harmed. PEYTON: How exactly was Bristow harm? SLOANE: You locked her in a train car, and you sprayed her with a chemical agent. PEYTON: I assume your doctors have given her a thorough examination. Let me guess they couldn't find anything wrong. SLOANE: I need to know what you did to her. PEYTON: No, you don't. All you need to know, Mr. Sloane, is that you've fulfilled your contract with our organization. Congratulations. We've prepared the compound. Inside you'll find the necessary instructions for administering the cure to your daughter. It's all there... everything you need to bring Nadia back. It's been a pleasure doing business with you. MOSCOU, At the Prophet-5 base, inside a laboratory. A container is filled up with a red liquid. We see Anna lying in a wire cage. DR. BURRIS: We've loaded the Bristow D.N.A. Template into the sequencer. Genetic fluid is primed and ready. EHRMANN: Good. How's our subject? ANNA: Ready to get this over with. DR. BURRIS: Vitals are good. The provacillium should be taking effect. I've given you something to help with the pain. If our prior experiences with genetic manipulation serve as an indicator, I'm afraid the narcotics won't be of much help. ANNA: I'm sure I've been through worse. DR. BURRIS: I really don't think you have. Anna is submerged in the red fluid that was showering Syd. She convulses. Burris and Ehrmann are in another room looking at the experience. LOS ANGELES. Syd and Will are walking through a park pushing a baby stoller. SYDNEY: They'll give you a panic button. If anything happens, I'll be at your side in 30 seconds. WILL: Okay. That part sounds pretty cool. SYDNEY: Yeah, we'll keep you safe. WILL: Syd, don't worry about me. SYDNEY: I can't help it. I'm sorry you've had to go through all this, Will. WILL: If you apologize one more time, I'm gonna slap you. Hey, it's not your fault. SYDNEY: It is, actually. The people I love sooner or later, something terrible happens to them. It happens over and over and over. They're kidnapped; they're tortured... or k*lled... because they know me. I feel like I'm this plague, and everyone I love is infected. I just... I just want you to know how sorry I am for all of it. WILL: Yes, I've been tortured, and I've been kidnapped several times, actually, and most likely, none of that would have happened if I hadn't helped a clumsy girl pick up her books freshman year in bio class. But it's not your fault. You can't blame yourself for the evils of the world. Look, since I've known you, I've seen a lot of horrible things. There are people out there that are capable of more cruelty and more hatred that I even thought possible. But I still sleep well at night. You know why? Because I know that you're out there fighting against them. Sydney, you save the world every day, and you never ask for anything in return. I think I speak for everybody who loves you... when I say thank you for watching over us. SYDNEY: But if you'd never met me, you'd have a regular life. WILL: Who wants it? I wouldn't trade you for anything. I know a lot of regular people who live regular lives. There's only one Sydney Bristow. MOSCOU, At the Prophet-5 base, we see the wire cage being lifted out. Anna has been made into a genetic double of Sydney.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x12 - There's Only One Sydney Bristow"}

foreverdreaming

JAIPUR (India). Syd, in disguise (blond wig, pink pants and glasses) is in a large market. She arrives near a house in a vehicle (sort of a motorcycle). She is on the phone with someone. SYDNEY: Honey, that's not good enough. What am I, a dog whistle? I said no. "N.O." that's right. That's better. Thank you. (A man waits in front of a house). Mr. Halbe? HALBE: It's a pleasure to meet you. SYDNEY: Hi! HALBE: I hope your trip wasn't too arduous? (He helps her to go out of the vehicle) SYDNEY: My trip was fine. It's these marketing people. B.A.S, M.B.A. Sand not a lick of common sense among 'em! They almost didn't launch my new perfume L'Eau De Passion. They said the name was tacky. Can you believe that?! HALBE: It's a lovely name. (Halbe opens the entrance door). SYDNEY: I know. That's why I always trust my instincts, and now it is flying off the shelves, flying! HALBE: I assure you, we can take care of all your customer service needs. (They walk through a corridor) SYDNEY: I don't want my people suffering through no ten minutes of pan flute to place an order. HALBE: Of course not. Let me show you our main call centre. (They arrive in the large room of the call centre). SYDNEY: Ouch! I think I came to the right place. FLASHBACK APO : Marshall’s office. MARSHALL: We just got a lead on Anna. She's routing her calls through a call centre in Jaipur; using what? Encrypted router. She must have put something on a line outside. So they have no idea she's piggy backing on their system. She's totally anonymous. SYDNEY: So we locate the router and remove the encryption key. Next time Anna makes a call, we listen in. MARSHALL: Right, maybe even trace her location. SYDNEY: What's the approach? MARSHALL: All you need to do is get this perfume bottle within 5 feet of... a WiFi access, point. And then you can just map the phone system. We can figure out which line she's using. SYDNEY: (Sydney observes the name of the perfume) "L'Eau De Passion”? MARSHALL: What, you think it's...too tacky? SYDNEY: I'll work with it. JAIPUR. HALBE: Soon, we'll be doubling our call volume capacity. SYDNEY: You're gonna need to triple it when you start getting calls about this baby... EMPLOYEE: (On phone with a client) the Mandarin Stripe is on back order, but the Heather Sprig is available. SYDNEY: Excuse me, ma'am. How do you like this smell? (She prays the perfume everywhere) It's called “L'Eau De Passion”. Nice. Well, you keep it. (She puts the bottle on her desk near a Wifi access point) EMPLOYEE: (to the client) Sorry, my computer's working a little slow today. RENEE: (outside - coms) Signal's good. I'm mapping the system now. HALBE: If you outsource, you can cut your customer service budget by at least 30% SYDNEY: Interesting. RENEE: (coms) Syd...We've got a problem. Their router is not out here. It's in the building. SYDNEY: (To Halbe) Could I come back tomorrow? I need to think about it. RENEE: (coms) No, don't go. (She closes the electrical panel) Just follow my lead. (Renee barges in as a robber and holds everyone up at g*n) Nobody move! Drop it! (A guard just put his g*n out) You get on the ground. (To Sydney) You in the pink, come here. (To Halbe) Get down! (She looks at the cable on the ground and throws Sydney near them) Get on the ground! (She opens a bag) Watches, jewelry, wallets in the bag! Hurry up! No reason not to be nice! Come on! Sydney finds the access point and takes out the chip. SYDNEY: All right now. That's enough for today RENEE: (She takes Sydney as a hostage) get up. If anyone does anything in the next three minutes, she dies. (They run) SYDNEY: (She takes the bag) Let me see this. (She throws the bag). RENEE: Hey, I saw a watch I liked! SYDNEY: It's probably a Knockoff. SYDNEY: Renée, what you did back there... RENEE: You don't approve. SYDNEY: No, it was brilliant. You should think about joining A.P.O. Really. (They are about to jump in the car). RENEE: In case you forgot, I'm a criminal. SYDNEY: We could try for a pardon. You should think about it. RENEE: OK, no. BARCEL[O]NE. Hall outside, night. EHRMANN: I was surprised to hear from you. You made it very clear that your dealings with us were over. SLOANE: I read the instructions. In order for the serum to work, Nadia's heart needs to be stopped. EHRMANN: Only briefly, as I recall 30 seconds or so. SLOANE: You're asking me to k*ll my daughter. EHRMANN: I'm asking you to have faith in Rambaldi. SLOANE: You're saying Rambaldi designed the cure? EHRMANN: Well, given that Nadia's illness stems from his invention, doesn't that make sense? Surely, I don't have to convince you of the genius behind his designs. You spent decades pursuing his works. If things had gone differently, you'd be working with us right now. You'd be there. When we realized his greatest achievement. You still could be. SLOANE: My pursuit of Rambaldi is over. I won't allow it to consume me again. I'm only here for Nadia. EHRMANN: That's unfortunate, but we upheld our end of the bargain. We gave you the cure. Whether or not you choose to administer it, that's up to you. APO. DIXON: Anna's line just went active. Marshall and Rachel are standing by to intercept. MARSHALL: Initiating the back trace. RACHEL: Bringing the optical satellites online. We hear a dialogue: KOLLER :Hello ? PEYTON! Did you bring your umbrella? The weather report calls for rain. RACHEL: That's not Anna but Kelly Peyton. JACK: Can you locate them? MARSHALL: Already on it. KOLLER: Who are you? PEYTON: That's not important. Anna Espinosa works for me now. That's all you need to know. KOLLER: I don't do business with strangers. PEYTON: Check your account. You've already been compensated. MARSHALL: I got him. He's in Zurich. 47-22north, 8-32 east. RACHEL: The KH-12 feed is up. I'm zooming in now. KOLLER: I suppose given your generosity, I could make an exception. PEYTON: I figured. Check under the bench at the base of the stairs. JACK: We need Peyton's location! MARSHALL: I know, but she's routing it through too many hubs. Via satellite, they zoom in on Koller’s suitcase and find Page 47 of the Rambaldi manuscript. DIXON: Can you get a better view? RACHEL: Yeah. KOLLER: I've got it in front of me. What exactly do you want me to do? PEYTON: There's a message hidden in the text. DIXON: page 47. KOLLER: What sort of message? A code, a transfer, microdot? PEYTON: If I knew that, I wouldn't have to pay you, would I? MARSHALL: Got it... Barcelona. JACK: Where? MARSHALL: I don't know, just give me a sec. Keep talking. more minute, please. PEYTON: Use the protocol you had with Anna to contact me when you unveil the message hidden on the page. (She hangs up) MARSHALL: Barcelona. That's all we have. BARCELONE PEYTON: I don't know, Anna. He sounds a little skittish. SYDNEY (ANNA): He's the best. If it exists, he'll find it. APO RACHEL: It doesn't make any sense. If this guy in Zurich was Anna's contact, why is Peyton the one calling? JACK: It's unclear. But now I want you and Marshall to work together. See if you can I.D. him. If we can bring him into custody, we can use him to get to Anna. Tom, Dixon, reach out to all our contacts in Barcelona. If Prophet5 has established a new outpost there, perhaps someone's heard about it. DIXON: What about the message? TOM: You mean the one buried in a year old piece of paper? Are we taking that seriously? JACK: We've seen too much not to. RACHEL: Look, we still have a copy of page 47. I could take it and analyze it and... JACK: I'm taking it with me. You have your assignments. If anything develops, notify me at once. MARSHALL: Wait, where are you going? Not that you have to tell me, unless you want to. JACK: I'm going to see Sloane. He had page 47 in his possession long before it was turned over to the D.S.R. Given his obsession with it, maybe he knows something we don't. HOSPITAL. Sloane inside Nadia’s room. SLOANE: can't just let you lie here like this, not if there's a way to get you back. I'm sorry. (He kisses her face, unplugs perfusion and devices. He stops her heart by smothering her). God, I'm sorry. It's the only way. As Sloane was about to draws the cure into a syringe, Jack enters. JACK: Arvin, Move away from her. SLOANE: You don't understand. We don't have time. JACK: Stop! This is not your decision to make, no matter how much she's suffering. SLOANE: I have to do it now! (Sloane draws the cure into a syringe) Oh, my God. It's too late. It was a cure, Jack, A cure. (Nadia wakes up, bringing joy to Arvin’s face and suspicion to Jack’s) It's okay. It's okay. We're here. APO. DIXON: So she's working with Prophet5? SYDNEY: Well, that explains how Anna escaped from prison, but why? I mean, why would they want her? DIXON: She's good. SYDNEY: Yeah, I know. But Prophet5 has always been low profile. Anna is on everybody's radar. DIXON: Maybe they had to go to her. Maybe there's only something she can do. RACHEL: We've identified the man from Zurich: Mortiz Koller. He used to be an art historian, was kind of a big sh*t. Supposedly discovered Da Vinci's lost drawings. DIXON: Supposedly? RACHEL: He forged them. He was completely discredited. It looks like he went freelance. And plenty of criminal organizations are more than happy to put his talent to good use, including Le Corbeau. DIXON: He worked with Renée? RACHEL: More than once. SYDNEY: Well, that means she'll know how to find him. MARSHALL: Syd, your father's on line two. Nadia's awake. HOSPITAL. SLoane talks with Jack in a corridor. Nadia is with the doctor. SLOANE: Looking at her like this, I'm almost afraid to believe it's true. JACK: It must be an overwhelming relief. SLOANE: Yeah. I know you have questions, Jack. JACK: Why didn't you tell me? SLOANE: I wanted to, but I was afraid for people to know. Conventional medicine gave up on my daughter. I couldn't. I've been funding dozens of backchannel research projects, phase one studies using class "A" drugs, methods that no country would condone. And then one of them paid off...A study out of Barcelona. JACK: Barcelona? SLOANE: I had no guarantee that it would work. My options had run out. Sydney arrives. JACK: Sydney. SYDNEY: Is she okay? JACK: She's with the doctor now. Sydney enters the bedroom and smiles at Nadia. DOCTOR: he's doing wonderfully. You need me for anything, you call the nurse, OK? SYDNEY: Hi. NADIA: Hi. In the corridor, the doctor joins Jack and Sloane DOCTOR: Everything seems normal. I need to run some tests, see if we can determine how... Nadia's condition reversed itself. SLOANE: No. My daughter has been poked and prodded enough. If her health is no longer in jeopardy, I want to make arrangements to take her home. She deserves her life back. DOCTOR: I understand. I'll update her file now and... See if we can get her out of here as soon as possible. SLOANE: Thank you. You want to go in? JACK: In a minute. I have a call to return. DIXON: Hello? JACK: It's me. I need you to look into something, off the record? DIXON: Sure. What is it? JACK: Sloane's recent activities. That is travel itineraries, call logs, meeting reports. DIXON: Anything you want me to focus on? JACK: Barcelona. APO. Sydney enters Jack’s office where she also finds Dixon. SYDNEY: Did you find Koller? JACK: Tom's en route to meet Renée in Paris. SYDNEY: But you called me away from Nadia. JACK: Sydney, how much do you know about Nadia's cure? SYDNEY: Why? DIXON: Sloane's travel records indicate he's made several trips to Barcelona. He was there shortly before we intercepted Peyton's call. JACK: Sloane told me he acquired the cure in Barcelona where Prophet5 is based. We know they've used Nadia's condition to blackmail him in the past. Perhaps Sloane's association with them...didn't end there. SYDNEY: You think he's working with them, that Prophet5 gave him the cure? JACK: Perhaps in exchange for information. DIXON : Sloane's been breaking protocol, incorrectly logging phone calls made from A.P.O. for months, dozens of calls, Syd, all of them made to numbers that no longer exist. SYDNEY: He's already admitted to using illegal research channels. Perhaps he's trying to cover it up. JACK: Or the backchannel research could be a cover for something else. SYDNEY: I know what Sloane is capable of. You don't have to remind me, but Nadia has her life back because of him. JACK: Which is why I hope I'm wrong about this. SYDNEY: Well, do what you have to do. But until you have something concrete, I'll be with my sister. LOS ANGELES. HOSPITAL PARK. Nadia and Sloane are sited on a bench. SLOANE: You cold? Want me to get you a blanket? NADIA: No, the air feels good. SLOANE: Okay. NADIA: Sydney should be here soon. I can't wait to spend some time with Isabelle. I'm even looking forward to changing diapers in the middle of the night. SLOANE: So you're going to stay at Sydney's? NADIA: Yeah, I assumed so. Sydney pushing a baby carriage arrives. NADIA: Oh my God. Let me see her. SYDNEY: Come here, baby. She's dying to meet her aunt Nadia. (Sydney puts Isabelle in Nadia’s arms) Yeah, there you... NADIA: Hi, beautiful. SLOANE: Well, I'll leave the three of you to enjoy each other's company. SYDNEY: Where are you going? SLOANE: A.P.O. Jack wants to see me. I'll be back. NADIA: We'll be fine. Won't we? SLOANE: Okay, enjoy the sun. NADIA: What's happening? Hi. What is it? APO. Sloane enters Jack’s office. SLOANE: You wanted to see me? JACK: I arranged for the leave of absence you requested. The forms are all here for you to sign. SLOANE: Thank you. Look Jack, I realize the timing on this might be less than ideal, but if you need me... JACK: You should be spending this time with Nadia. SLOANE: Well, unfortunately, I'm not sure if she feels the same. JACK: Give it time, Arvin. SLOANE: I know. You're right. JACK: One last thing. We intercepted a call from Prophet5. Turns out Anna gave them page 47.They're looking for a hidden message encoded in the text. Were you...aware of this? SLOANE: No. JACK: Apparently, the message is hidden in a substitution cipher. Marshall believes she's close to decoding it. I could let you know when we find out. SLOANE: No. No, I think it's better I not be involved. JACK: I understand. Dixon arrives when Sloane leaves. DIXON: I talked to Marshall. He'll confirm he's working on page 47 if Sloane goes to him. JACK: And the taps are in place? DIXON: If Sloane alerts Prophet Five, we'll know. JACK: Thank you. Any words from Tom? DIXON: He's connected with Renée. They should be making contact with Koller soon. PARIS. On the quays of the Seine river. TOM: We should get this going. RENEE: We're following Koller's protocol. TOM: it’s 10h00. RENEE: it’s 9h59. TOM: I didn't realize the French were so punctual. RENEE: We're not. It's you Americans who are always in a hurry. TOM: And we get fat, too. Is there anything else? RENEE: Now it's 10h00. (She calls Koller) ZURICH. KOLLER’S HOME. He observes page 47 when his phone rings. (French discussion) KOLLER: Allo. RENEE: Tu te souviens de moi. KOLLER: Renée bien sur comme ça va ? RENEE: J’ai besoin de toi Morritz, un job très important. KOLLER: Pas maintenant je travaille. Mon client est plutôt exigent. RENEE: Mais ça ne peut pas attendre Morritz et j’ai sans doute quelque chose de plus intéressant à t’offrir. KOLLER: Tu sais il s me payent une fortune. RENEE: mmm, ce n’était pas vraiment l’argent que je pensais. KOLLER: J’aimerai bien crois moi, mais. RENEE: Mais quoi ? (He finds something strange on the page 47 when he runs a black light over the document) Qu’est-ce qu’il se passe ? KOLLER: Rien, Une surprise c’est tout, je peux me libérer plus tôt que prévu. Tu sais quoi ? On peut se voir finalement. RENEE: Vraiment ? KOLLER: OUI, absolument, Vient à Zurich. They hang up. RENEE: (To tom) we’re on. APO. Sloane calls someone. SLOANE: We need to meet...Tonight. LOS ANGELES. Sydney’s apartment. Nadia looks at her bracelet’s hospital « DE SANTOS NADIA PATIENT N°3059 ADMIT DATE 04-23-05 " NADIA: How's Isabelle? SYDNEY: She's asleep, finally. I'm all yours. NADIA: You shouldn't stay up. You must be exhausted. SYDNEY: Well, what about you? NADIA : It's strange. I've already missed so much time. I wish I had been here for you, with everything that's happened. SYDNEY: I know. And I know what it's like to have a part of your life taken from you. For what it's worth, it gets easier. NADIA: My father wanted me to stay with him, but I couldn't. Ever since he came into my life, it's always the same. I just don't want to get hurt anymore. SYDNEY: I don't blame you. You have every right to be guarded. But... You should know that while you were sick, he was completely devoted to you. I mean, I've never seen him so dedicated to anything. NADIA: Even Rambaldi? SYDNEY: From what I've seen, even Rambaldi. You can stay here as long as you want, as long as you don't mind a crying baby. NADIA: Are you crazy? I love having so much life around me. SYDNEY: (Her phone rings) It's my dad. Hey, dad. JACK: Sloane set a meet. SYDNEY: When? JACK: Tonight. I'm going to survey it. I thought you should know. SYDNEY: I'll wait for your call. NADIA: What is it? SYDNEY: There's something you should know. LOS ANGELES. CAR PARK. Jack opens his car and Nadia joins him. JACK: Nadia. NADIA: Sydney told me what you're doing. I want to go with you. JACK: You sure that's wise? NADIA: Whatever you're about to find out about my father...I need to know. JACK: All right, let's go. They get in the car. ZURICH. NIGHT. KOLLER’S HOME. (French discussion) RENEE : M. Koller s’il vous plait. HOMME : Oui bien sur. (He calls Koller) Il y a une dame pour vous voir. Oui elle est très belle. RENEE : (She gets to the apartment) (coms) Security is armed. TOM (coms) : Aren't they always? Just try to buy me a couple more minutes. KOLLER : Toujours aussi ravissante. RENEE : Toujours aussi charmeur. (She enters) Ah tu as mis le paquet dis donc KOLLER : Euh, pas vraiment. RENEE : Non ? Tu travailles toujours à la lueur des bougies ? KOLLER : J’ai toujours un petit faible pour toi. (She discovers page 47 on a table) Tom paints a large red square on a wall. KOLLER : Je ne savais pas quel genre de musique te plaisait. Euh, j’ai du jazz aussi… Euh si tu veux (Renée gets near him and puts his hand in his hair) RENEE : Chéri tout est parfait KOLLER : Euh, j’ai du champagne Tom still paints. KOLLER : Il est juste un peu dur. RENEE : On le boira plus tard pour se remettre de nos émotions. KOLLER : On serait peut-être mieux sur le canapé. (He starts to undress himself). TOM (coms) : Renée...Almost there. RENEE : (To Koller) habilles-toi on s’en va. Je dois trouver Anna Espinosa et tu vas m’aider à le faire. KOLLER : Je ne comprends pas. Tom finishes the painting. RENEE : Je te prends en otage KOLLER : Quoi ? Mais tu es folle ? RENEE : Ah tu penses ça oui ? Quoi qu’il en soit tu viens avec moi. He puts a plastic charge on the square. KOLLER : Les gardes, mes gardes ils vont te tuer. RENEE : T’inquiètes pas on ne passera pas par là. KOLLER : Tu es folle. TOM (coms) : . Three, two... Renée catches Koller and pushes him on the ground. Tom blows a square hole into the house. Tom pushes the rest on the wall in order to get inside the room. RENEE : Espèce de... garce. (Renée kicks him) (To Tom) I hate that word. TOM : I'll remember that. Tom gets Koller. LOS ANGELES. Jack and Nadia follow Sloane. NADIA: You finally got the Ford hybrid. JACK: Electric. It comes in handy when you have to be quiet. Regardless of what we find, I believe your father's feelings for you are genuine. NADIA: I wish that was enough for him... JACK: Sloane's not the only family you have, you know. NADIA: Thank you. A car follows Sloane’s car and together they gets to a storage facility. JACK: What are you doing? NADIA: We can't see anything from here. Nadia gets out of the car to follow. SLOANE: (To an other man) All right. She watches him enter the unit and take a suitcase. The door is shut and she watches the codes being implemented. The two cars leave. Nadia goes to the door and tries to find the code. Jack joins her. JACK: What were they saying? NADIA: I couldn't make it out. (She tries the code) We’re in. Sloane took something from in here. When she and Jack enter the unit all they find are the things Sloane had stored for Nadia. JACK: Clothes? NADIA: Mine. These are my things. JACK: He was getting them for you. NADIA: I don't know what the rest of this is. JACK: Findings from clinical trials. NADIA: Trials for what? JACK: Studies from a facility in Barcelona. It appears that I've misjudged your father. ZURICH. Renee and Tom interrogate Moritz Koller. KOLLER: Help! Dear God, someone! Anyone! Help! TOM: Are you done yet? KOLLER: Please, I don't know what you want from me. RENEE: We want information about Anna Espinosa. KOLLER: I I... I can't help you. TOM: Yes, you can. We know she hired you to decode a message in this. KOLLER: I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. Anna who? Renée takes a Kn*fe and puts it on Koller’s neck. Tom approches him. TOM: I know you're trying to do right by your client. But you and I both know you are not cut out to withstand extended interrogation. You're just some unlucky bookworm who's in way over his head. KOLLER: Please, don't hurt me!. RENEE: Then stop screaming and talk! KOLLER: I have a meet set with Anna tomorrow... in Ghana. TOM: She knows what the message was? KOLLER: No. I want to get paid. RENEE: Why wouldn't she pay you? KOLLER: Anna doesn't like bad news. The document... it's a fake. Very well done, but...but a fake. LOS ANGELES APO. Sydney phones to Tom. SYDNEY: And you believe him? TOM: He has no reason to lie. He found a small amount of titanium dioxide in the pigment. SYDNEY: Well, that means the document can't be older than 10 years. TOM: Give or take a decade. How do you want to proceed? SYDNEY: We keep the meet. We can still use Moritz and the counterfeit page to bait Anna. TOM: Guess I'll see you in Ghana. And the real one where is it? LOS ANGELES. SLOANE’S HOUSE. Sloane opens his suitcase and takes out the real page 47. He starts to study it. When he hears the doorbell rings, he quickly hides the page underneath a mat. SLOANE: Nadia... NADIA: I'm sorry. I should have called. SLOANE: No, of course not. I...I thought you were staying at Sydney's. NADIA: Sydney went to Ghana. They're going after Anna. That's not the reason I'm here. I was hoping I could stay with you. Maybe we can take some time, get to know each other again, if it's okay. SLOANE: How could you even ask that? Come in, sweetheart. Nadia enters the house. Some time after, in the living room. NADIA: This is my favourite sweater. SLOANE: I remembered. (He gives a Chamomile to Nadia) NADIA: Thank you. Chamomile. You remembered that, too. SLOANE: I need to admit something to you. I didn't think you'd want to be with me at all. Especially not after what my actions caused for you. NADIA: I've been quite angry. SLOANE: Well, you have every right to be angry. Nadia, when I first met you, I didn't know how to be a father. I assumed it meant being needed. And then I saw you lying in the hospital in that bed, and I realized something. I realized that I need you more than you will ever need me. I'm sorry. I...I promised myself I wouldn't put any pressure on you. NADIA: It's no pressure. SLOANE: Dinner's almost ready. NADIA: You need some help? SLOANE: No. Sloane goes off, leaving her alone. She moves into his study, looking for scissors to cut her hospital bracelet. She spots a piece of old parchment on his desk. She pulls out Page 47 unable to believe it. He enters the room to see her with the page SLOANE: Let me explain. Nadia, you're going to have to trust me. NADIA: You said it was over. SLOANE: No, it's not what it looks like. NADIA: You've been lying all along. SLOANE: Look, I handed everything over to the D.S.R. except for that page. I couldn't part with it. I I'd spent so much time... NADIA : I don't want more excuses. Just talking about Rambaldi, your face, your voice it all changes. This obsession you have SLOANE: No, it's not an obsession. It's faith. NADIA: Do you have any idea what your faith cost me? What did you think, that I was sleeping peacefully? The last 12 months were an extended nap? I heard people talking. I felt tubes being shoved down my throat. I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't move. I couldn't scream. But I felt everything, so forgive me if I don't have much tolerance for your faith. SLOANE: Nadia, please! You have to understand. NADIA: I'm done trying to understand you! You have to make a choice. Either me or this. SLOANE: Please, don't make me choose between the two most important things in my life. NADIA: I suppose then you'll lose us both. Nadia throws the page into the f*re. SLOANE: No! Suddenly we see the sign of <O> on the page. SLOANE: My god, the message! I see it. NADIA: You're not getting it! SLOANE: Get out of my way! NADIA: No, you can't have it! I won't let you! Stop, please! Stop it! SLOANE: Nadia, move! He throws her to one side, picking the page out from the f*re. There is, at the same time, a crash as Nadia falls onto a glass coffee table. With the page in his hand, Sloane turns in horror to see Nadia dying. SLOANE: No. Sloane gets to Nadia. SLOANE: Nadia. A shard of glass deeply imbedded in her throat, causing her to bleed out… to death. LOS ANGELES. APO. Marshall explique le plan de la mission à Jack. MARSHALL: Okay, now this place crazy crowded. I'm not talking about mall crowded, I'm saying like people, cars, goats. JACK: That's why Anna chose it hard to survey. What's the plan? How are we apprehending her? MARSHALL : (Using Mitchell’s toys, he illustrates how they are going to catch Anna) Visual aids here. Courtesy of Mitchell. (He takes a car) Vrouumm vrouum… Okay, uh, well, we have Anna, who will be arriving on the main road right here. Now, uh, let's see. (He takes two little toys) Dixon and Rachel will be stationed right here. JACK : Are the exits secured? MARSHALL : Yeah. (He takes a truck) Tom will be cutting off the back, and... (He takes a playmobil) Sydney will... sorry, Syd...will be at the entrance. So here comes Anna... JACK : Okay, thank you. Notify me when they have her in custody. MARSHALL : Well, I wasn't done with the… JACK : It's fine. Thank you. MARSHALL: The car was... JACK : I get it. GHANA. On a marketplace full of people. Sydney is with Renee. SYDNEY: Everybody's getting set up. When you see Anna, you'll take her out with this. RENEE: government Issue. I never thought I'd have one of these. SYDNEY: Don't get too excited. It's only a tranq g*n. RENEE: That's too bad. SYDNEY: Have you give any more thought to my offer about APO? RENEE: Yeah, I work better on my own schedule. SYDNEY: When are you going to start trusting me? RENEE: I trust you. It's everyone else that's the problem. SYDNEY: Okay, go. Tom arrives in a truck. Renée gets on the roof with a sn*per r*fle. Rachel is inside the marketplace. JEWELLER: Beautiful jewellery for a beautiful lady. RACHEL: No cash, sorry. I'm a starving student. Dixon is in a restaurant and a waitress brings him food. Sydney walks inside the marketplace. Koller drinks something and Rachel comes to see him. He seems anxious. RACHEL: Is everything all right? KOLLER: Wonderful, considering I might get k*lled today. RACHEL: Relax. We've got you covered. Rachel observes Dixon who is behind. Renée gives some money to a guy and gets in a room upside. She looks at the windows. The position seems good. RENEE: This will be fine. Thank you. Renée prepares his g*n. She observes Koller with the lunette. Tom gets out of the truck. We see briefly Dixon, then Sydney. A green car arrives on the marketplace. SYDNEY (coms): Target approaching. RENEE (coms): Copy. (She sees the car). DIXON (coms): Copy that. A car arrives in front of the terrace and stops. Koller looks at it. RENEE (coms): What's going on? She's not getting out. DIXON (coms): Something's not right. SYDNEY (coms): Hold your positions. The car stArts again. DIXON (coms): They're retreating. The car terrorizes the market where the meet was to take place. RENEE (coms): I've lost visual. DIXON (coms): Don't let her escape! Repeat, Anna's cars headed toward the entrance! SYDNEY (coms): Rachel, follow the car. RACHEL (coms): Copy that. SYDNEY (coms): Renée, block off the back alleys. DIXON (coms): She knows it's an ambush! TOM (coms): Someone tipped her off. Sydney runs at the car and fires at the front glass. The car crashes inside a stand and stops. When the agents get to the car, Anna is not there. SYDNEY (coms): She's not here. Repeat Anna is not in the car. RENEE (coms): Copy. (Renée leaves her position). DIXON (coms): She must have gotten out. Let's search the perimeter. Renee does catch up with Sydney (with other clothes), but is in shock seeing her almost seconds after talking to her. RENEE: Sydney. Anna (Sydney’s clone) draws a Kn*fe and slashes Renee’s throat. SLOANE VOICE OVER: A few days ago, I was absolutely horrified that you would suggest I would turn against A.P.O., that I would k*ll my own daughter. I realize now that both were inevitable, that death is a necessary sacrifice, necessary to complete the final leg of this journey. I have been preparing for this my whole life. I knew it was coming. I have betrayed everyone I ever loved, but I was chosen... LOS ANGELES. APO. (During Sloane’s voiceover) Marshall tells Jack that Nadia is d*ad. By the time Sydney finds Renée, She finds her d*ad. Meanwhile Jack has found Nadia in Sloane’s home. He has a letter from Sloane explaining. AIRPORT. Sloane joins Ehrmann. EHRMANN: We appreciate what you've done. SLOANE: And this is my road to follow. EHRMANN: Welcome back. Both get in the prophet5’s jet. Sloane looks outside and boards a plane (painted black) and the door closes.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x13 - 30 Seconds"}

foreverdreaming

LOS ANGELES. During the burial of Nadia, Sydney makes a speech in the church in front of members of the APO and the CIA. SYDNEY: Today, we shouldn't focus on what we lost, but what we gained by having Nadia in our lives. I not only gained a sister, but a friend. When I think of the years of loneliness she had, (At the mortuary, a man opens the file of Renee and puts her body out of the box) no family to speak of, not knowing where she truly belonged, I am so grateful for the warmth and affection she was surrounded by in the end. She taught me the meaning of family. (During the autopsy, the man finds an element inside the body of Renee) That it goes deeper than blood...that it starts with friendship...and it comforts me to know that although she was taken far too soon, what she left me with will stay with me forever. (The man finds that this is a microchip. Sydney puts a flower on the body of Nadia. Sydney starts to speek with Dixon). How could I have trusted him again? After everything? DIXON: You thought he'd changed. SYDNEY: Nadia didn't. I convinced her that he deserved a second chance. I showed him compassion. I won't make that mistake again. ZURICH, headquarter of prophet5. PEYTON: Has he asked for anything? GUARD: No, just a pitcher of water. Peyton enters in Sloane’s room PEYTON: How's it coming? Page 47, have you decoded it yet? SLOANE: As I told you before, it's going to take time, more time if these interruptions continue. PEYTON: It's been almost a week already, Mr. Sloane. So when do you think we may see some results? This is isn't a crossword puzzle, Ms. Peyton. The key to Rambaldi's endgame is encoded within that manuscript where it has remained hidden for the past 500 years. I hardly think that a week is unreasonable. PEYTON: Perhaps you'd like to take a walk around the grounds, something to clear your mind, allow you to focus. SLOANE: And I'm sure the armed gentleman posted outside the door won't mind if I slip away for a bit of lunch. PEYTON: You're not a prisoner, if that's what you're asking. But given your fugitive status, you can understand our reservations about letting you walk around in public. SLOANE: Yes, of course. PEYTON: I know you've had to make some tough sacrifices. We all have. SLOANE: You think I'm having a crisis of conscience because I k*lled Nadia? Let me be clear. No one will stand between me and the fulfilment of Rambaldi's ultimate vision. No one. And unless you and your superiors know someone else who's familiar with 15th century cryptography, I'm sure you can wait a few more days. PEYTON: Of course. If there's anything we can do to expedite your work, you'll let me know. LOS ANGELES. APO. Inside Marshall’s Office. Thomas and Jack watch the microchip. THOMAS: Have you ever seen anything like that before? MARSHALL: It's basically a solid state memory chip. Cutting edge tech, at least it was back in the 70's, which I'm guessing is when this little guy was made. THOMAS: What was it doing inside Renee? MARSHALL: That's the million dollar question, isn't it? Basically, there's several hundred kilobytes of...data on this thing. Problem is, it's all encoded. JACK: I would have thought 30 year old encrypted algorithms wouldn't present a problem. MARSHALL: Well, they wouldn't if the code was complete, but half the data's missing, probably corrupted over time. Without it, I can't create a baseline for encryption analysis. JACK: And you can't extrapolate the missing data? MARSHALL: I'm trying to, but I'm not going to hold my breath. THOMAS: What about these markings? What are these? MARSHALL: It's probably nothing, Maybe just a serial number, maybe, or, the name of the company that desi... (Marshall observes the microchip under a microscope) wooo ! JACK: What is it? MARSHALL: Hold on a sec. I'll put it up on the monitor. (Jack and Thomas are surprised when they watch the picture). THOMAS: We should tell Sydney. JACK: I'll do that. In the meantime, Marshall, do whatever takes to break that encryption. (Unbeknownst to them, their conversation is being recorded by a man) I want to know what else is on this chip, and I want to know what it was doing inside Renee e. MAN: (calling someone) we just got a h*t on one of the hard lines. Contact Peyton. I'm sending it over now. LOS ANGELES. In Sydney's apartment. She tries to calm down her daughter. SYDNEY: Isabelle, will you please sleep? Sweetie... (Someone rings at the door) Hey, dad. JACK: Hey, sweetheart. Isn't this her nap time? SYDNEY: I wish. Apparently, this little girl doesn't need sleep anymore. We got a collective four hours last night. JACK: It must be genetic. You used to wake up at 4 am every day like clockwork. SYDNEY: I am sorry about that. Did Marshall finish his analysis of the chip? JACK: Actually, that's why I'm here. Marshall found data on it, all of it encrypted, but he also found something else. Vaughn's name was etched on the outside of the device, his real name... André Michaux. SYDNEY: Wait, what? JACK: Marshall believes the chip was placed inside Renée almost 30 years ago. SYDNEY: Vaughn and Renée didn't know each other 30 years ago. JACK: No, but their fathers did. Vaughn told you they were working together against Prophet5. SYDNEY: And you're thinking what, that one of them implanted the chip inside Renee? JACK: At this point, it's the most likely presumption. SYDNEY: Why? Why would they... JACK: I don't know, but someone left Vaughn's name on it intentionally, expecting it to be found. It's possible he may have some understanding of what the chip contains. SYDNEY: Dad, no. As far as Prophet5 is concerned, Vaughn is d*ad. Involving him at this point... JACK: A calculated risk, I know. He's still in recovery. SYDNEY: He is not field ready. JACK: I know. I'll do everything I can to protect him. We'll have an agent d*ad drop the chip to Vaughn. He'll never be seen. SYDNEY: Dad... JACK: Sydney, we don't have a choice. Sloane's decision to openly join Prophet5, suggests that they're close to their endgame. Right now this chip is our only lead. SYDNEY: OK, But if someone's going to take that chip to Vaughn, it's me. ZURICH, headquarter of prophet5. Inside a room, Peyton and Sloane listen to a recorded conversation between Dixon and Sloane. DIXON: Syd is en route to Nepal to see someone who may be able to decipher the chip. SLOANE: Who's the contact? DIXON: Someone who worked with Renee. That's all Jack told me. PEYTON: This contact Sydney's meeting in Nepal, do you have any idea who it is? SLOANE: No, I don't know of any assets in Nepal. So, I assume this means that you're going to take action on this. Are you sure that's wise? A.P.O. will want to know how you obtained the intel, which could prompt them to looking into the security leak. Whatever's on that chip, I certainly hope it's worth the risk. PEYTON: Thanks for the counsel. We're sending an agent to intercept the device. We'd like you to brief her before she leaves. SLOANE: Fine, although I'm not sure what further assistance I can provide. PEYTON: I think you'd be surprised. (Peyton gives a call) Send her in, please. (Anna Espinosa Sydney clone) enters the room) you remember Anna Espinosa. LOS ANGELES. APO, Tom decodes a message hidden in a magazine. RACHEL: Eh TOM: Eh RACHEL: You busy? THOMAS: Just trying to catch upon the latest tech. What's going on? RACHEL: When was the last time you went to a movie? THOMAS: The last movie? RACHEL: I used to go to movies all the time, and I haven't be in so long, because there's always something more important to do. THOMAS: This isn't about going to the movies, is it? When you were working at The Shed, did you ever see an agent buried? RACHEL: No THOMAS: It takes a while to get over it. RACHEL: What if I can't? What if I'm not cut out for this? First it was Gordon Dean, and now it's Sloane. They were right in front of met he whole time deceiving me, and I was oblivious. THOMAS: You're a good agent, Rachel. Listen...I would tell you if I didn't think you could handle this. RACHEL: Thanks. (She leaves Thomas’ office). Thomas phones to somebody. THOMAS: I'd like to place a classified ad in next week's edition. LOS ANGELES. APO, near a chimney, Sloane briefs Anna. SYDNEY (ANNA): A child? SLOANE: Yes, that's right. Sydney has a daughter. SYDNEY (ANNA): What's her name? SLOANE: Isabelle. SYDNEY (ANNA): I suppose Vaughn is the father or was the father, I should say. SLOANE: Yes, that's right. SYDNEY (ANNA): In this business, it's always the children who suffer. Arvin, it troubles you, doesn't it? Looking at me, seeing her look back at you. SLOANE: You're nothing like her. SYDNEY (ANNA): I suppose you know what I'm like. SLOANE: Of course I do. You're driven by anger. You crave power, which I assume was something you were deprived of in childhood. Sydney, on the other hand, is driven by a sense of duty, of loyalty to those she loves. That's where she gets her strength. It's also what makes her weak. SYDNEY (ANNA): Attachments are vulnerability, which are easily exploited. SLOANE: And yet, she somehow always manages to best you. And now a victory she's not even aware of. Tell me, I imagine you do your best to avoid mirrors... yes? SYDNEY (ANNA): And I suppose you believe you're driven by faith. Look where it's gotten you. Something tells me being Prophet5 newest pawn wasn't exactly your endgame. SLOANE: Unlike yourself, I know my place in the big picture. You, however, will continue to deceive yourself if you think you're anything more than dispensable. This...procedure that you've undergone... Surely there must be a reason why they want you to look like Sydney. And when that purpose is fulfilled, you will become unnecessary SYDNEY (ANNA): Lovely catching up. Sydney leaves the room. Nadia appears as a ghost. NADIA: The truth is you're no different than she is. You're dispensable, too. NEPAL. A plane lands. Through another plane passengers are getting out. Nabin approaches Anna because He thinks she is Sydney. NABIN: Miss Bristow...I'm Nabin. I'm afraid you must have overlooked me. (He shows his red scarf). SYDNEY (ANNA): Yes, I did. NABIN: It's no matter. You yourself are hard to overlook. In fact...You're just as lovely as Mr. Vaughn described. SYDNEY (ANNA): (surprised) Mr. Vaughn... NABIN: Don't tell him I told you. He talks about you all the time. Come, my car is just this way. The drive up to Tambor is only 20 minutes. SYDNEY (ANNA): How is Mr. Vaughn? NABIN: He's recovering very well. Nicely healed, I should think. Here we are. (He opens the jeep and places Anna suitcase) Can I help you with the bag? Another jeep arrives. Anna kills Nabin. A Nepalese joins her. SYDNEY (ANNA): Hurry! We don't have much time. His name's Nabin. Michael Vaughn sent him to pick up agent Bristow. MAN: Vaughn? Isn't he... SYDNEY (ANNA): Apparently not. MAN: I'll see you at the intercept point ion. SYDNEY (ANNA): Wait. Wear this. (She gives him a red scarf). Just after Anna leaves, Sydney appears and sees her contact. SYDNEY: Nabin ? MAN: Miss Bristow. Welcome to Nepal. SYDNEY: Thank you. MAN: Right this way. Mr. Vaughn is so eager to see you. LOS ANGELES. APO, Marshall is on the phone. MARSHALL: No, this is definitely not good, all right? WOMAN: Sorry, sir. MARSHALL: Answer me this: When will you have the one with the comfort grip in stock? WOMAN: I'll transfer you to customer service. MARSHALL: No! WOMAN: Ask for the manager. His name... MARSHALL: I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? I can't... WOMAN: Can you hear me? MARSHALL: No. It's just...There's like a clicking sound. Do you hear that clicking? WOMAN: No. But I'll have the manager give you a call. MARSHALL: Alright... Why don't you have him... call me? Thank you. WOMAN: Alright.. MARSHALL: Thank you for nothing. WOMAN: Thank you for calling. Marshall observes the phone after he hangs up, then He rushes inside Jack’s office. MARSHALL: We're out of coffee. JACK: Coffee? MARSHALL: Yeah...I know you might not...think that's important. A lot of people don't...don't drink coffee. (He catches Jack’s pen) Generally might...say that you should have some tea or...Some soda, which also has some...caffeine, but I'm telling you, it's not the same. (He writes something to Jack who is completely astonish) It's...important. Somewhere else. JACK: You're sure about this? MARSHALL: Positive. I noticed a glitch on the phone, so I checked the PBX controls. According to the records, Sloane logged on to the network, and he put the entire phone system on some sort of passive surveillance mode, which...I didn't even know was possible! JACK: How did he get access? All of his authorization codes were revoked four days ago. MARSHAL: I was thinking the same thing but, remember, Sloane installed most of the systems. He must have installed some sort of backdoor in the network. Listen, for the past 24 hours, Sloane and most likely Prophet5 have be enable to monitor every conversation inside A.P.O. JACK: We need to contact Sydney immediately. NEPAL. Jack calls Sydney when she is inside the jeep with the wrong Nabin. SYDNEY: Hello? JACK: Sydney? Listen to me very carefully. Are you with your contact? SYDNEY: Yeah, I am. JACK: There's been a security breach at A.P.O. It was Sloane. We have reason to believe you've been compromised. SYDNEY: No, we're right on time, actually. I'll call you once we arrive. (Sydney hangs up and observes the man). MAN: Cell phones. They are a miracle. In front of them, on the road, there is a broken truck. Near it a man makes signs to Sydney and Nabin. SYDNEY: Don't slow down. Just go around. MAN: You're in a hurry. I understand. But perhaps, shouldn't we stop to help? Sydney elbows him and tries to grab the wheel. The man on the road fires g*n at them and the jeep veers off the road and into a ravine. The false Nabin is k*lled. Sydney is knocked out and stuck inside the jeep when Anna arrives. SYDNEY (ANNA): Hello, Sydney (Sydney can’t believe seeing her double. Anna picks the microchip inside Sydney’s bag) Well, that was fairly easy. Of course, if I'd known it was in Renée, I would have saved us both the trouble and cut it out of her myself, when I slit her throat. SYDNEY: Wait...Anna... SYDNEY (ANNA): Sorry, Syd. Don't have time to chat. I've got a date. Now... I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with your boyfriend. But whatever it is, I'll have fun doing it. She throws her lighter in the jeep and leaves. Sydney tries to get out and short time after the jeep explodes. Anna arrives in Vaughn's hideout. She enters inside a very primitive house. She finds Vaughn who walks slowly with a cane. VAUGHN: Eh. SYDNEY (ANNA): Are you okay? VAUGHN: Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Actually, the doctor says I don't need this anymore. I think it looks debonair. SYDNEY (ANNA): It does. VAUGHN: God, I missed you. They kiss each other. VAUGHN: How is she? SYDNEY (ANNA): Isabelle. She's beautiful. VAUGHN: Just like her mother. Isabelle. Isabelle. You named her Isabelle? SYDNEY (ANNA): You like it? VAUGHN: Yeah, it was my idea, wasn't it? What is it you wanted? Clementine? Not a day's gone by that I didn't want to call you, talk to you. I had this fear I'd never see you again. Silly, huh? ANNA : Maybe a little. Sydney escapes in time and tries to walk up on the road. ZURICH, headquarter of prophet5. PEYTON: I'm assuming this is good news. Have you made any progress? SLOANE: No. Unfortunately, I've discovered an anomaly in the composition. Joseph Pinara's influence in Rambaldi's encryption. Pinara was a 14th century cleric who published... PEYTON: I'll skip the history lesson, if you don't mind. SLOANE: "Le Libraire". It's a private seller of used books in Geneva. They have a copy of the Pinara manuscript. I can't decipher Page 47 without it. PEYTON: Fine. Write down the address. I'll get it myself. SLOANE: Very well. (He writes the address and gives it to Peyton). Nadia appears again. NADIA: How long do you think you can deceive them? La Page 47 ... Eventually they're going to find out you already know what it says. You're stalling. You must have some plan. SLOANE: What do you want from me, Nadia? NADIA: I don't want anything. SLOANE: Why don't you understand, Nadia? Every sacrifice I've ever made has been for the greater good. NADIA: Yet every sacrifice you've made has come at someone else's expense. Or have you forgotten? SLOANE: Oh, no, I haven't forgotten. I play it over in my mind. The irony. All those years I was worried about your well being. And now I realize in the end, I had no choice. NADIA: You still believe that, don't you? That your actions are controlled by fate? That you were chosen? Why, dad? Surely you must ask yourself why would Rambaldi choose you? You're not a man of honour. You're not particularly courageous. You're charitable, but only when it serves your own interest, and last but not least, you m*rder the people you claim to love. SLOANE: What do you want from me, Nadia? NADIA: I don't want anything. SLOANE: Then why are you here NADIA: Dad...I'm here because you want me here. Now you can pursue Rambaldi and have your daughter at the same time. Isn't that what you said you wanted? Just before you k*lled me? SLOANE: No...Not like this. A guard opens the door. GUARD: Sir? Do you need anything? I thought I heard you talking. SLOANE: No. I'm fine. NEPAL. Inside Vaughn’s house. VAUGHN: I can't believe Renée's d*ad. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have known about Prophet5 or the truth of my father. None of it. Who k*lled her? SYDNEY (ANNA): Anna Espinosa. VAUGHN: Anna? She was in jail. SYDNEY (ANNA): Apparently Prophet5 arranged for her release. What do you think it is? VAUGHN: I don't know. Renée never mentioned it. Marshall couldn't decode it? SYDNEY (ANNA): He thought part of the code might be missing. Unless the data has been corrupted. He thinks it was in her body since she was a kid, maybe 30 years. VAUGHN: What is it? Where was it, exactly? SYDNEY (ANNA): What do you mean? VAUGHN: Inside Renée's body, where was it? SYDNEY (ANNA): I don't know. Why? VAUGHN: My father once told me a story that I had a bike accident when I was a kid, drove it right into a tree. And even though I have no recollection of it, I never questioned him, because it left me with this scar. (He shows a scar on his chest). Maybe the code isn't corrupted at all. Maybe there's another half. Anna starts a chirurgical operation. SYDNEY (ANNA): Okay, this might prevent infection, but it won't help with pain. VAUGHN: Yeah, well, you can handle childbirth, I can handle this. I'm in good hands. SYDNEY (ANNA): You need to sit very still. This is going to hurt. VAUGHN: Yeah, I know. You mentioned that. It's okay. I trust you. Sydney goes inside the jeep and calls her father. JACK: Hello. SYDNEY: Dad, it's me. JACK: Sydney, are you okay? SYDNEY: You were right. The mission's been compromised. Anna knows about Vaughn. JACK: Where are you? SYDNEY: Wait, dad, listen to me. It gets worse. I've been doubled. NEPAL. Inside Vaughn’s house. SYDNEY (ANNA): You need to stay still. Think about some things. VAUGHN: Yeah, well, give me something to think about. Tell me about Isabelle. SYDNEY (ANNA): Well, she has your eyes, the same... blue green. And her smile is... is like your smile. VAUGHN: Really? SYDNEY (ANNA): Yeah, but her chin is pointy. It's like mine. It's cute. VAUGHN: Oh, God, I can't wait to meet her! SYDNEY (ANNA): I got it. (She gets the micro chip). Apply pressure. VAUGHN: Same etchings? SYDNEY (ANNA): "Renée Goursaud." VAUGHN: Yeah, can I see that? (The two chips fit together) Perfect fit. GENEVA. PEYTON: I'm looking for a manuscript by Joseph Pinara. I called ahead. BOOKSELLER: Wait one moment. I've got it right over here. Your receipt is in the book. Nothing else? PEYTON: No, that'll be all. Thanks. After Peyton is gone, the bookseller gives a call. BOOKSELLER: I believe there is someone trying to contact you. No, it wasn't him. It was a woman, but she knew the protocol. NEPAL. Inside Vaughn’s house. Anna and Vaughn find the code with the two microchips. They watch a map on the computer screen. They see: "EVAKUIERUNGPLAN ALPHA 3 ". SYDNEY (ANNA): German. VAUGHN: Yeah. Looks like some sort of emergency evacuation plan. Continuity of government from the cold w*r. It's a nuclear fallout bunker. Hamburg, Germany, under Bergner park. SYDNEY (ANNA): You think there's something there? VAUGHN: Maybe. I'm going to go with you to find out. Look, I know what you're thinking. I'm not ready, but, Syd, you said it yourself. My father left this map. Chances are, when you get there, you may need my help. SYDNEY (ANNA): You're right. I'll call for transport. VAUGHN: Okay. Sydney arrives in Vaughn's hut to see the helicopter depart SYDNEY: No ! LOS ANGELES. APO, Jack leads a meeting. JACK: What I'm about to tell you is not to leave this room. Agent Vaughn is alive. MARSHALL: I knew it! I knew it! I knew he couldn't be... d*ad. Everybody is surprised. JACK: For the last several months, Vaughn's been kept in a secure location in Nepal pending his recovery. I hope you can all understand that secrecy was a necessary measure to ensure his safety. Unfortunately, those measures weren't sufficient. Through Sloane's tapping of our network, prophet5 learned of Sydney's trip to Nepal. They sent an agent to intercept herer. DIXON: Is she okay? JACK: She's fine. She made it to Vaughn's location, but Vaughn was no longer there. RACHEL: He was abducted. JACK: In a matter of speaking. We managed to pick up the trail. This was taken in the Hamburg international airport one hour ago. The woman in the photo is not Sydney. HAMBOURG. Anna and Vaughn stake out a jewellery store near the bunker. SYDNEY (ANNA): You sure you got the coordinates right? What happened to Bergner park? VAUGHN: A lot changes in 30 years, but those bunkers were steel reinforced concrete. It would be pretty tough to demolish something like that. My guess is that they're still under there. We just have to find a way in. SYDNEY (ANNA): You know, that diamond store over there it probably has some pretty expensive pieces. Chances are they're locked away every night. VAUGHN: In some sort of basement storage room, maybe? SYDNEY (ANNA): Worth a try. How do you want to handle this? VAUGHN: Like we did in Cartagena. SYDNEY (ANNA): I'll follow your lead. VAUGHN: Okay, let's go. ZURICH, headquarter of prophet5. Outside, Sloane gets a visit of the ghost of Nadia. NADIA: Do you really think you're going to get away with this? You're out of your league. They k*lled Vaughn. They k*lled Renée. They've probably k*lled Sydney by now. SLOANE: Stop, Nadia. Just stop. NAIDA: They're better than you, smarter. What makes you think you stand a chance? Peyton joins Sloane. PEYTON: This should solve all your problems. The Pinara manuscript. I hope it helps. (Sloane looks behind him but Nadia is not here). Well, with all the work that has to be done, I'll get out of your way. SLOANE: Unfortunately, I seem to be getting in my own way. PEYTON: How is that? SLOANE: The effects of losing a child cannot be underestimated. You're right. I am distracted. In order for me to concentrate on the future, I need to make peace with the past. HAMBOURG. Inside the jewellery store. SYDNEY (ANNA): Oh, baby, look at this one. (She points out a ring) VAUGHN: Really? SYDNEY (ANNA): Oh, it's gorgeous! VAUGHN: No, I'd prefer that one there. It's, you know... it's a little less big. SYDNEY (ANNA): No, no, no, no. JEWELLER: Is there anything you would like to see? SYDNEY (ANNA): Hi. Is this a princess cut? JEWELLER: Yes, it is. Your girlfriend has very good taste. VAUGHN: Yeah, for that price, she might as well be a princess JEWELLER: It costs nothing to try on Anna pretends to not be well. JEWELLER: A stone of that quality has this effect on some people. VAUGHN: No, she has seizures. Kelly, just breathe. It's okay. Could I get some help here, please? (He calls the guard). It's okay. Just relax. Vaughn gets the g*n of the guard and Anna hits him. Vaughn points the g*n on the jeweller. VAUGHN: How do I get access downstairs? JEWELLER: My keys... take my keys. VAUGHN: Watch him. Vaughn gets down but there is nothing than a room with no doors. SYDNEY (ANNA): I'm in Hamburg, Bromestrasse .I'll need an extraction. JEWELLER: Don't hurt me, please. I'll do whatever you ask. SYDNEY (ANNA): Then shut up. Thanks. (She kicks him). Vaughn breaks a wall and finds a room. Inside he finds a door with a numeric paddle. He manages to short-circuit the wire and to open the door. He lights the lamps and discovers a large room and a multitude of documents fixed on the walls. As he picks up a file, Anna arrives and points a g*n at Vaughn. SYDNEY (ANNA): I've got it from here. VAUGHN: Who are you? SYDNEY (ANNA): It's a pity you'll never know. (She pulls the trigger but Vaughn had taken out the clip). VAUGHN: Sydney and I never went to Cartagena. And just for the record, you're a terrible kisser. Anna throws her knee in Vaughn’s thorax, and then she puts his head through a window. SYDNEY (ANNA): I always said Sydney was too good for you. They fight again. Vaughn, weakened from his seclusion, falls first. Anna gets the g*n. SYDNEY (ANNA): Let's see if this one's loaded. As Anna is about to k*ll Vaughn, Sydney arrives and sh**t Anna d*ad. She gets quickly to see Vaughn. VAUGHN: Sydney. Sydney. SYDNEY: Are you all right? VAUGHN: Yeah, I'm fine. How did you... They finally embrace for real. Sloane goes to a church with a Prophet5 guard and leaves a matchbook by the candles. SLOANE: Okay, we can go now.. As he leaves, Sark arrives to pick up Sloane's message. HAMBOURG. Inside the bunker, Sydney and Vaughn investigate. SYDNEY: Project summaries, test subjects, names, dates it's all here. Your father's research of prophet5. VAUGHN: Most of these organizations still exist, Syd. SYDNEY: We can end it all. Anna’s cell phone rings. SYDNEY: Hang on... Go ahead PEYTON (In a car): I got your message. Did you get the chip? SYDNEY: (pretends to be Anna) Yes. I'm done here. PEYTON: Good. Bleichen and Bromestrasse. We should be there in five minutes. Sydney hangs up. SYDNEY: That was Peyton. She's coming to extract Anna. VAUGHN: Who's Peyton? SYDNEY: Sloane is part of this. He works with prophet five. He k*lled Nadia. This is my chance to stop him. VAUGHN: Sydney. SYDNEY: I know. You can't go back to A.P.O. There are moles within the government. We can't trust anyone. Contact my father. Explain the situation. VAUGHN: Okay, I will. Here, take this. (He separates the two microchips). It's useless to them without the other half. Take the tracking device in your phone and embed it in the chip before you hand it over. We'll be able to track your movements. SYDNEY: I have to go. VAUGHN: I know. Before Sydney leaves, she embraces Vaughn and says goodbye once again. VAUGHN: Be careful. He looks at her as she leaves the room. Sydney gets inside Peyton’s car. PEYTON: We were expecting to hear from you sooner. SYDNEY: I ran into a few complications. Nothing I couldn't handle. PEYTON: And Sydney? SYDNEY: She's d*ad. This is what they found inside Renée Rienne. PEYTON: Nice work. Well, if you were able to pull this off, the rest should be easy. Yeah.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x14 - I See d*ad People"}

foreverdreaming

LOS ANGELES. APO. JACK: (To Rachel) Langley can't know what Sydney's doing. We should continue to act on the assumption that Prophet Five has moles inside the C.I.A. Contact Michael Linz in Berlin. He'll send the body back. RACHEL: I'll get right on it. JACK: Come with me. Anna's d*ad. Sydney seized the opportunity to infiltrate Prophet5. DIXON: Sydney's presenting herself as Anna? Do you think that's wise? JACK: It was Sydney's call. I wasn't consulted. What's your status? (to Marshall) MARSHALL: We'll be up and running in a minute. JACK: Sydney embedded a tracker into the chip that Anna was tasked to retrieve. We'll be able to follow her from here. We suspect Prophet5 had intended for Anna to do some task only Sydney could perform. Learning what that is may be an opportunity to determine their endgame. DIXON: That's if they believe Sydney is Anna... JACK: I know. MARSHALL: Patching Vaughn through. JACK: Vaughn, can you hear me? VAUGHN: (Inside the bunker) you’re clear. DIXON: Where is he? JACK: Hamburg. He and Sydney uncovered a storeroom of information...material that Vaughn and Renée Rienne's fathers gathered during their investigation of Prophet5 .You'll join Vaughn. Transmit the documentation back here for analysis. DIXON: Vaughn, it's Dixon. It's good to hear your voice. VAUGHN: You, too. I'll see you soon. Marshall, how we doing? MARSHALL: I'm triangulating the coordinates. Just give me a sec. You know, I cried at your funeral. VAUGHN: Sorry about that. MARSHALL: No, no, thank you. I need a good cry now and again. Okay, tracker's hot. Got her. There she is. She's on...Tiergarten strasse. HAMBOURG. Inside a car. PEYTON (phone) : I have the chip in hand. Of course. We're en route now. (to Sydney) Our superiors were quite pleased with your performance. You seem surprised. SYDNEY: Not at all. PEYTON: Your reputation's well deserved. (She takes her glass to cheers with Anna) To the great Anna Espinosa. SYDNEY: "Great" seems a little strong, doesn't it? PEYTON: Don't tell me you're getting modest. SYDNEY: It's this body. I have this uncontrollable urge now to act like a girl scout all the time. PEYTON: Well, let's get you back to Zurich before you start trying to sell me cookies. SYDNEY: I'm sure our superiors are eager to get their hands on that. PEYTON: This? This is an inconvenience. (Peyton throws the chip it in the wine glass). Nothing more. LOS ANGELES. APO. The computers screens freeze. JACK: What just happened? MARSHALL: I'm not sure. I think the tracker crashed. VAUGHN (phone): Crashed? What does that mean, crashed? MARSHALL: We've lost Sydney. VAUGHN (phone): Marshall, find her! MARSHALL: I can't. I think it must've frizzed out. VAUGHN: Patch into a traffic cam. Do something! Just find her! MARSHALL: Don't worry, I'm on it. (Marshall searches on the traffic video. Vaughn gets quickly in his car) Okay, I got her. They're headed south on A7. VAUGHN: The airport. Marshall, I'm on Doverkamp, headed east. I need directions. MARSHALL: Wait, give me a sec. Left at the next intersection. You're closing in. VAUGHN: Marshall, I'm gonna need a green light in a hurry. (He arrives near a crossroad with a red traffic light). MARSHALL Easier said than done. It's all in German. Anschlag? JACK: Grün. Green. Vaughn arrives at the crossroad and nearly creates an accident. At the airport Vaughn arrives just behind Sydney and Peyton who pass the metal detector. It surreptitiously slips a cell phone into the hand of Sydney and leaves. ZURICH, headquarter of prophet5. MAN: (he holds the page47) Shall we? You finished the translation of page 47. SLOANE: "The circle will be complete," "when the chosen one finds the rose in San Cielo." MAN: Congratulations, Mr. Sloane. Thanks to your work, we're closer than we've ever been to comprehending Rambaldi's greatest mystery. You understand the meaning of the deciphered message? SLOANE: Enough to proceed. However, I do have one concern. Rambaldi's prophecies have always taken into account the smallest variables. This is a man who predicted events hundreds of years before we were born. The rose in question is indeed unique...as unique as Sydney herself. What is unclear, however, is whether Anna Espinosa, posing as Sydney, is able to complete the task. MAN: Well, then I guess you've got your work cut out for you. Peyton makes Sydney enter inside Sloane’s room. PEYTON: After you. SYDNEY: Sloane's here. PEYTON: Of course. You didn't think we'd dispose of him this soon, did you? SLOANE: I hear your mission was a success. I suppose I should offer you congratulations? SYDNEY: Thank you. SLOANE: Did you encounter any complications? Just one. But I've dealt with her once and for all. We should celebrate, Arvin. Sydney Bristow is d*ad. Alias Theme. SLOANE: Remarkable likeness, isn't it? SYDNEY: So this is why you needed her. Or should I say me? SLOANE: In his prophecies, Rambaldi referred to Sydney as "the chosen one." He foretold that she would bring forth his final works. SYDNEY: And you really believe that... that a man who lived 500 years ago had intentions for Sydney Bristow? SLOANE: Excuse me. I may be mistaken, but I always believed you to be a follower of Rambaldi's works. SYDNEY: Only when it suits my checkbook. I'm not someone who'd guide my life by some perverted sense of faith. But as long as I have to look like this, I might as well make some use of it. What does Rambaldi want me to do? SLOANE: Retrieve an artifact from San Cielo... A monastery outside Rome. SYDNEY: Monastery? That sounds fun. Do I get to wear a habit? SLOANE: I think I've told you all you need to know for now. We leave within the hour. SYDNEY: Does this mean you're sending me to my room? PEYTON: There's a change of clothes for you upstairs. Second door on the left. LOS ANGELES. APO, Marshall is with Tom and Rachel. THOMAS: Sadly, he did, yeah. Can you imagine what happened when they got home? MARSHALL (To Thomas): Could I steal you for a sec? The new encryption module for the comms... Think my math is wrong. THOMAS (To Rachel): Go ahead. I can handle this. MARSHALL: She'll be back in a second. RACHEL: Didn't Langley just convert all of our comms to... MARSAHLL: This isn't about the comms. RACHEL: Marshall, what's going on? MARSHALL: Last week, when Sloane infiltrated the network, I built a bot to monitor the servers, you know, flag any abnormal activity? This morning a message came through this office without any I.D. Tags. Intended for Allen Korman. RACHEL: Korman? You mean the guy that... MARSAHLL: Yeah, him. I mean, why would Tom be contacting a guy who k*lled his wife? So, I did some digging. Travel itinerary. Korman's flying into L.A. Tonight. RACHEL: This doesn't make any sense. Look, I talked to Tom myself. He said he came to Korman to confront him, but when he saw Korman with his family, he changed his mind. MARSHALL: Rachel, Korman doesn't have any family. I checked. Tom's been lying to you. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you first, but...I have to tell Mr. Bristow. RACHEL: No, you don't. MARSHALL: Yes Rachel, we have to. RACHEL: Look, you said it yourself...The contact is anonymous...Tom is not a bad guy! MARSHALL: How do you know that? RACHEL: Because I know. Look, just let me check into it first. Give me 24 hours. I promise, if we don't have an answer by then, we'll go to Jack together. MARSHALL: All right. 24 hours. Prophet5 headquarter. Sydney scans her bedroom with the cell phone and finds a microphone in a lamp. She puts a radio near it and calls her father. SYDNEY: Hey, it's me. I don't have much time. JACK: Where are you? SYDNEY: Zurich. An estate, highly secure. Sloane is here. JACK: What is he telling you? SYDNEY: That page 47 references San Cielo... A monastery outside Rome. We're going there. Where are you? JACK: Right now, in your kitchen, playing with Isabelle. SYDNEY: You are? How is she? JACK: Happy. SYDNEY: Dad, did she just... JACK: Giggle? Yeah. Apparently, I'm funny. SYDNEY: She hasn't done that before. That was a first. JACK: Of which there will be many. SYDNEY: I know. JACK: I'll notify Vaughn and Dixon about Rome. If you learn anything more... SYDNEY: (Someone knocks on the door). I have to go. Tell Isabelle I love her. PEYTON: Are you ready? SYDNEY: Yes. HAMBOURG. Vaughn scans all the documents of his father. Dixon joins him. DIXON: Hey. VAUGHN: Hey. DIXON: You're shorter than I remember. This is all regarding Prophet5? VAUGHN: This entire bunker contains evidence of... mysterious deaths, assassinations, car b*mb, all of them involving people who were investigating Prophet Five. They basically k*lled anyone who got too close. DIXON: But they didn't get you. VAUGHN: No. They might have, if not for Jack. When I was in the hospital, he convinced me that Prophet Five wouldn't rest until they k*lled me, and that I was in no condition to fight back. DIXON: How'd he manage it? VAUGHN: Sodium morphate. It slowed down my body functions to a point that mimicked death. Apparently, I spent four hours in a drawer at the morgue waiting for Jack's contact reach me to administer the antidote. Then a couple days of travelling before I made it to Nepal. You know, it's funny, it's the first time I ever felt Jack accepted me. DIXON: Or else, he manufactured a very elaborate scheme to postpone your wedding to his daughter. I have something for you. (He hands him a photo of his daughter). Fortunately, she looks more like her mother. VAUGHN: Yeah, she does. Dixon, thank you. (Phone rings) Yeah, Jack. Of course. We'll contact you when we arrive. (To Dixon) Jack's sending a team to box all this up. Sydney's en route with Sloane. We're gonna provide backup. DIXON: Where are they headed? VAUGHN: Rome. DIXON: Well... On a plane. SLOANE: Anna, well…. I made our arrangements. Your contact will be meeting you on the ground. He'll provide you with access to San Cielo. SYDNEY: No more than I need to know. SLOANE: Well, I am sure you have questions. So do I. Tell me...How did it happen? SYDNEY: How did I k*ll Sydney? SLOANE: Yes. SYDNEY: Why do you care? SLOANE: Sydney was a remarkable agent. I imagine it wasn't easy. SYDNEY: Sydney wasn't a martyr or a legend. She was just a person... who deserved nothing more than to be sh*t in the back... and so she was. The Chosen One. She died just as easy as anyone SLOANE: I see. Well, thank you. We'll be landing shortly. Sloane gets up and walks near Peyton. SLOANE: I know what you have planned for Anna after this mission is over. PEYTON: You have reservations? SLOANE: Oh, no. I want to be the one who kills her. ROME. Sydney discreetly chats with Vaughn at a newspaper stand. VAUGHN: You smell nice. So we looked into the monastery San Cielo. You're sure about that name? SYDNEY: Yeah, why? VAUGHN: Marshall couldn't find any record of it. SYDNEY: I'm meeting someone inside the O.T.B. He's supposed to brief me on the rest. VAUGHN: I saw a picture of Isabelle. I don't know how we do this anymore. SYDNEY: We do it the way we've always done it. It's the only way to keep her safe. We end this. VAUGHN: Okay. Dixon and I will have your back. If anything happens, we're gonna pull you out. So who's this contact? SYDNEY: Sloane said I'd know him when I saw him. VAUGHN: Syd, be careful. Sydney enters a betting parlour where she sees Sark. SARK: I wouldn't do that if I were you. If you want my advice, take Tokyo Rose in the third. It's a sure bet. SYDNEY: Julian, last time I saw you, it was at Venice... where, as I recall, you betrayed me to the C.I.A. They took me into custody. SARK: And yet, Anna, here you are. Looking better than ever. SYDNEY: (She slaps him) that’s, for a year spent in a federal holding facility. (She knocks his head on the bar) That’s all for now. I will let you know if I’m gonna h*t him again. SARK: Now what was that one for? SYDNEY: I'll get back to you. SARK: Right. So what are you drinking? LOS ANGELES. Tom meets Korman on a car park. TOM: Did you find him? KORMAN: The Cardinal? I wouldn't be here if I didn't. (He hands him a paper). Rachel, in her car, sees Tom and Korman talk. As soon as Korman leaves, she stops Tom. RACHEL: I'm gonna give you to "three" to start talking. TOM: Not here. Somebody might be watching. Not far under a bridge. TOM: I didn't lie to you. Korman k*lled my wife. But the order came from somebody else. The closest I've gotten is a name...The Cardinal. RACHEL: Well, you two seem to be pretty chummy. TOM: He works freelance. We did a job once...deep cover op. He doesn't even know my real name. Look, I've gotta find out why, Rachel. She was a school teacher. She wasn't a part of this life. If somebody wanted to hurt me, why didn't they just come after me? RACHEL: And Korman knows? TOM: He does now. He found The Cardinal. RACHEL: What does he want? Money? TOM: His car...it was seized when he turned himself in to witsec (Witness Security Program). RACHEL: You could've told me, tom. I would've kept it to myself. TOM: No, I couldn't have. I've spent 4 years, and this is as close as I've got to an answer. I couldn't trust anybody. RACHEL: If I hack into the federal database, I should be able to find the car. TOM: I couldn't ask you to do that. RACHEL: You didn't. ROME. Vaughn sits with Dixon on a bench. VAUGHN: It's Sark. DIXON: The contact? VAUGHN: Yep. DIXON: Better the enemy you know...She can handle Sark. In the betting parlor. SYDNEY: (swallows an alcohol) another? SARK: Perhaps you shouldn't. We're on the clock. SYDNEY: We are. Here I thought we were just catching up on old times. Well, in that case, maybe it's time you fill me in on the plan. SARK: What has Sloane told you? SYDNEY: Just that our target is San Cielo. SARK: Well, that's not entirely true. The rose that you're supposed to acquire, if you're to believe page 47, is being held in a facility known by Rambaldi as San Cielo. The rest of the world now refers to it as La Fossa maximum security prison. SYDNEY: We're breaking into a prison? SARK: According to Sloane, Milo Rambaldi, in the days leading up to his execution, was held there. He believes he hid the rose in the northwest isolation wing. The text specifies that only the Chosen One can obtain the item in question. I guess you'll have to do. (He makes a call in Italian) Operator. I need the police. Yes. There’s just been an expl*si*n. I don’t know. It’s the off-track betting place on Vittore Street. Please hurry. SYDNEY: An expl*si*n? SARK: I suggest you take cover. Sark hides so does Sydney. Sark then triggers an expl*si*n and pretends to rob the cashier. All the customers are afraid. The police arrive. SARK: (g*n in the hand) Nobody moves... and nobody gets hurt. No need for heroes. We just want the money. But take your time. We are in no rush. SYDNEY: Wait, this is your plan for getting us into La Fossa? SARK: Yes. Grazzie. (To the bookmaker) Follow my lead, will you? Outside the police determine the place. Dixon and Vaughn observe the scene, impotent. SARK: (He highs his hands with a g*n and the money.) It’s all over. We surrender. (Sydney puts her g*n down) My partner and I have seen the error of our ways. In the prison, Sydney is transferred to her cell. On the way she passes by an old man. LOS ANGELES. APO JACK: Have you been able to access the prison's internal network? MARSHALL: Not yet. Vaughn and Dixon are moving through the sewers now. Right here prison internet connection runs out through a junction box. It should be vulnerable. Jack and Marshall are at the APO. Vaughn and Dixon go underground to rewire La Fossa's internal surveillance network. VAUGHN: Merlin, you there? MARSHALL: Yeah, Vaughn, go ahead. VAUGHN: We're about 7 meters in. Still no sign of the junction box. MARSHALL: You're almost directly under the switch room. You should be close. DIXON: Got it. It's a standard IPX node. MARSHALL: Good. You should be able to splice the line and access the surveillance feeds. DIXON: Doing that now. JACK: Do it quickly. I don't like the idea Sydney being in a maximum security prison with Sark as her backup. ROME. Sark is placed inside a cell with another man. He starts to search something in his mouth. PRISONNER: You will be very popular here. Being my friend will make your time more pleasurable. SARK: Lucky for you, I won't be here for long. Otherwise, I'd pull out your tongue and choke you with it. (He swallows something and falls on the floor). PRISONNER: Help. Help. The beautiful man is dying. LOS ANGELES. Tom and Rachel enter secretly a federal car park. RACHEL: You realize we just broke about a half dozen federal laws. TOM: Unless they moved it, Korman's car should be right down this aisle. (Guards pass behind them) Look, just stay low, check for V.I.N. Numbers. You ready? Let's go. RACHEL: This is it. TOM: This shouldn't take long. RACHEL: Can I help? TOM: Yeah, just keep an eye out for the guard. RACHEL: Is there any particular reason you're connecting the carburettor to the intake tube? TOM: This is the carburettor? RACHEL: Yeah. TOM: Maybe, uh, I should keep an eye out for the guard. ROME. DIXON: All right. You should be tied in now. VAUGHN: Yeah, we're hot. You getting a picture? JACK: Copy. It's coming through. See if you can isolate the women's block. MARSHALL: Wait a minute. Was that...was that the women's showers? No, that's men. Definitely men. VAUGHN (watches on the video): There she is. MARSHALL: Wait a minute. She's in isolation. You think that's part of a plan? JACK: We have to hope so. Sark is taken along on a stretcher. NURSE: (Italian) He needs a sedative. (American) Hold him down. This is gonna hurt. Whereas the nurse was going to make him a puncture, Sark strikes the nurse and gets rid of two guards. He logs on the nearest computer and pirates the system. The video of the APO is scrambled and they lose visual. JACK: Marshall, what happened? Did we lose the signal? MARSHALL: I don't know. Everything just went wacky. We've been kicked out. Looks like somebody else is trying to hack into the system. JACK: Sark. VAUGHN: Is there any way to regain our tap? We have to keep track of her. MARSHALL: You could look for the alarm lines and then try to crosswind them and get a Von Eck signal. VAUGHN: Know what he's talking about? DIXON: 50%. Sark opens the cell door of Sydney. She runs through corridors but she is blocked at the next door. SYDNEY: This is it. Two guards arrive inside the corridor and in a few seconds Sydney will be caught. Unfortunately Sark gets caught by a guard. SYDNEY: Sark, where are you? After a short fight Sark manages to open the door, and Sydney enters without being seen. Sark as for him is caught by other guards. Sydney goes down from the staircases and arrives in a length and large wet corridor. It is a kind of old cell. She discovers inscriptions on the walls. An old man emerges behind her. OLD MAN: I've been waiting for you for a very long time. SYDNEY: I think you have me confused with someone else. OLD MAN: I can't imagine confusing you with anyone else. As difficult as this must be for you to understand... I know you. SYDNEY: We've never met. OLD MAN: No. We haven't. We don't have much time. Come with me. I'm not going anywhere with you unless you tell me who you are. "The circle will be complete when the chosen one finds the rose." I am the rose. (He shows his tattoo on his wrist which is a rose) Now...if you will come with me... Sloane meets the prison director. DIRECTOR: And, Mr. Harvey, how can I help you? SLOANE: You have two suspects in custody who are wanted fugitives from my country, and we would like to have them extradited with your permission, of course. DIRECTOR: Then I'm afraid we have a problem. SLOANE: Why is that, sir? DIRECTOR: These two have committed crimes on Italian land, and I cannot possibly release them before their first judicial hearing. SLOANE: But you could release them if you got the permission of the general prosecutor, Adriana Micelli. DIRECTOR: Well, yes, of course. But signora Micelli... SLOANE: Mrs. Micelli is expecting your call. The director calls the general prosecutor. Peyton intercepts the call. PEYTON: Pronto. DIRECTOR: Signora Micelli, Buongiorno. LOS ANGELES. In the federal car park RACHEL: Well...looks like we may be almost there. TOM: I was supposed to meet her. RACHEL: Who? TOM: My wife...night she died. It was our half year anniversary. I was gonna pick her up at work...take her out to dinner. But contact called. I never made it. I was working five investigations, and maybe I screwed up, got my stories confused. Or maybe somebody from my past...revenge. I don't know. RACHEL: You'll find out so enough. TOM: Thanks for doing this. RACHEL: Honestly... this is the closest thing I've had to a night out since I joined the C.I.A. You want to hop in and give me some gas? Tom starts the car and escapes with Rachel as the guards just arrived. ROME. In the prison, the man escorts Sydney inside his cell. In this dark room, there is a table and candles. She sees her face on the wall (same as page 47). SYDNEY: Who did this? OLD MAN: You don't need me to tell you. He told me you'd be coming. All I had to do was waiting. (He gives Sydney an amulet which was hidden inside the wall) This is yours for the time being. SYDNEY: What is it? OLD MAN: His greatest gift... and also his greatest curse. SYDNEY: Meaning? OLD MAN: What you hold in your hand is simply a defiance of the natural order... The end of nature itself. SYDNEY: Some very bad people want what's in this amulet. I can't stop them if you don't tell me what it is. OLD MAN: You don't understand. You can't stop them. SYDNEY: You don't know me very well. OLD MAN: You're more charming than I could have imagined. I used to believe as you do, that there were decisions to be made. But in the end, it's just fate. It's out of our hands. And now it's just a matter of time. SYDNEY: A matter of time until what? OLD MAN: Until the stars fall from the sky, until the end of light. You have gotten what you came for. The guards will be making rounds soon. You need to go. SYDNEY: Will you be all right? OLD MAN: I'm not a part of the battle to come. Go. Vaughn sees Sydney on the video. VAUGHN: Dixon, I got her. DIXON: I'll call you back. Looks like she's heading back to the women's block. VAUGHN: She must have got what she came for. Maybe she's headed for extraction. A guard escorts Sark to Peyton. GUARD: Good luck with this one. He's all yours. PEYTON: Thank you. (She gets rid of his bonds and takes him along). SARK: Where's Anna? PEYTON: Anna won't be joining us. Sydney runs back to her cell. Sloane was waiting for her. SLOANE: Were you successful? Tell me, Anna... Did you retrieve the rose? SYDNEY: There was nothing there. SLOANE: I don't believe you. (He electrocutes her and Vaughn observes the scene on the screen. Sloane recovers the amulet). Sydney deserved better than an anonymous b*llet. You didn't even have the courage to face her. At least I look you in the eye. (He starts to strangle her). VAUGHN: Marshall, talk to me! MARSHALL: There's a grate to the iso ward about 30 yards ahead of you. DIXON: He'll never make it in time. We need to distract Sloane! JACK: Marshall, the surveillance feed they're tapped into, can we use it to get into security controls? DIXON: Marshall, hurry! MARSHALL: Got it. An alarm rings and Syd pushes Sloane who was distracted away. SYDNEY: I don't die that easy. A guard arrives in the cell. GUARD: Sir, we've had a breach. You better get out of here. (Sloane leaves) Stay in your cell. Stay back! (Syd beats the first guard. Vaughn arrives to rescue her and kills the second guard who was about to h*t Sydney) VAUGHN: You okay? SYDNEY: Yeah, let's get out of here. (They leave the cell) LOS ANGELES. On a car park, Tom meets Korman, who retrieves diamonds from his car. KORMAN: Thank you. TOM: Why was the h*t ordered on my wife? KORMAN: If I tell you, you'll never let me walk away from here. TOM: You have my word. KORMAN: I don't believe you. (He points his w*apon on Tom). TOM: Go ahead. sh**t me. First, tell me why she had to die? KORMAN: Truth is, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. TOM: I don't understand. KORMAN: My information said you were picking her up at her job. I was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. You were supposed to be with her. It was a mistake. He died because I thought she was you. I'm going to disappear now. If you come after me, I'll know. And I'll do what I set out to do four years ago. (As Korman drives away, Tom presses a button on his watch and Korman's car explodes). LOS ANGELES. In Sydney's apartment, she and Vaughn watch Isabelle sleep. They kiss above the baby. VAUGHN: This is pretty amazing. SYDNEY: Have you ever seen anything so perfect? VAUGHN: No. You did good. SYDNEY: Thanks. VAUGHN: You're gonna be just like your mom, aren't you? SYDNEY: Oh, I hope not. I hope she's a doctor or a teacher or just anything that does not involve wearing a wig. VAUGHN: I don't know. I think she'd look pretty cute in a little pink wig. Maybe not. You okay? SYDNEY: Yeah, it just...I'm still a little sore, I guess. We came so close, Vaughn. VAUGHN: Syd… SYDNEY: Sloane and Prophet5... They're still out there. VAUGHN: Hey, I thought we agreed tonight it's just us, okay? (Isabelle gets sleep) Oh, my God. All right, the snoring... it kills me. Phone rings. SYDNEY: Hello? SLOANE: It was you, Sydney. Of course. How could I have ever thought otherwise? I saw it in you the first time we met. You're a survivor... just like me. And now thanks to you, I have everything I need…

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x15 - No Hard Feelings"}

foreverdreaming

Travelling of the Prophet5’s pictures from the bunker. SYDNEY VOICEOVER: The first time I learned of Prophet5, my fiancé was g*n down in front of me. It turns out, he wasn't the first. They k*lled anyone who got too close. They'd infiltrated the highest levels of governments and the inner sanctums of intelligence agencies. They appeared to control entire sectors of technology, finance, defence. We believed they were run by a group of Twelve...whose power was everywhere and nowhere. Because no one knew who they were... Until now. I've lived with secrets all my life. And I'm done. Using the collected Prophet Five documentation, the APO team spreads out across the globe to identify its members and prepare for a mass arrest… Sydney (Australia). Sydney dressed with a light dress style leopard goes to a very smart bar located in the hall of a hotel. BARMAN: I don't believe I've seen you here before. SYDNEY: Vodka martini, please. Dry. (She looks at a prophet5 member near here). I've got visual confirmation. JACK: (com) Copy that. I'm standing by. SYDNEY: (With a camera hidden in its lipstick she takes a photograph) (com) Got it. JACK: Understood. Good work. She was about to leave when she hears… WAITER: Mr. Kheel, Ms. McMullen, of course. Your party is waiting. Right this way. SYDNEY: (com) this is Phoenix, do you read? JACK: (com) go ahead. SYDNEY: Kheel and McMullen, I remember those names. They're in the Prophet5 archive. JACK: Pulling it up now. McMullen and Kheel, You're right. They're members of Prophet5. SYDNEY: (com) they’re here. JACK: (com) Can you get their picture? SYDNEY: (com) I think so. I'll have to improvise. JACK: (com) don’t risk bl*wing your cover. SYDNEY: (com) I won't. Rome. Dixon is in a taxi cab. He observes a woman on other side of the street. JACK: (com) Outrigger, what's your status? DIXON: (com) I'm in position. JACK: (com) Copy, any sign of your target? DIXON: (com) Standing by… Come on! Turn around. A GUY: I need to get across town fast. DIXON: Sorry I’m off duty. A GUY: Do me a favour, Will you? I just -- DIXON: -- Get out of here. (Angry the man walks away and Dixon takes a photo of the woman) Target acquired. I'm done here. Bangkok, Marshall is in a sauna with other men. MARSHALL: (To another man) I got a nasty skin condition. Trust me, you do not wanna see me without my shirt. It's not a...it's not a pretty, uh, a pretty sight. (A new man enters and Marshall takes a photograph) Ti flies in the old...steam room. Has it really been six minutes? It feels like...two. I'm gonna run. Nice talking with you. (With a friendly way, Marshall touches the shoulder of his neighbour) Sorry. Siberia, by night: A diplomatic car arrives near the control passage where Thomas stands. Tom is in the Russian army uniform. TOM: (com) Son of a bitch. Why do I always get the assignments that involve hypothermia? JACK: (com) 'Cause you're always late to briefings.. TOM: Papers. (He looks at the men and makes with his special pen a scan over ID picture and information) MAN: Problem? TOM: Yeah, there is. I’m freezing my ass off. London: Vaughn is in position on a roof to photograph someone in the street. A truck stops in front of him, which enables him to see the street. VAUGHN: Damn it! He moves fast down the street, masks quickly the camera under its coat and passes a hood on its head. He moves towards the man and discreetly takes it in photograph at the time when he passes by him. VAUGHN: Visuals acquired. Sydney (Australia). Sydney kicks the frappe a waitress in the kitchen. SYDNEY: I am really sorry... (She looks at the label) Debbie. JACK: Phoenix, do you copy? SYDNEY: Phoenix here. JACK: I need to sign off. Can you handle this without me? SYDNEY: I'm on it. Good luck, Dad. JACK: Likewise. Washington, Jack goes out the van and asks a woman to take a photo of him. JACK: Excuse me... Would you mind? It's for my granddaughter. (He gives his camera) WOMAN: Sure. JACK: Try to get the Capitol in the back. (There is a prophet5 member behind him) WOMAN: Smile! Sydney: Sydney is now disguised in waitress and she goes to the restaurant room. MANAGER: Excuse me? What do you think you're doing? SYDNEY: Hey, I'm covering for Debbie. She said she told you. Did she not clear it with you? MANAGER: No. SYDNEY: Okay, well, she said she did. She had some kind of family emergency. Her sister was like, sick. The gross kind or something. In the kitchen another waiter finds the corpse of Debbie. MANAGER: Well, it's good of you to fill in. SYDNEY: Thanks, I need the tips with rent and, it's expensive down under. The waiter calls the manager. MANAGER: Yes? WAITER: Mate, we've got a situation down here. MANAGER: Excuse me! How did you say you knew Debbie? Sydney kicks the manager and makes is way rapidly into the kitchen. She runs up the stairs and onto the roof. She leaves the building by jumping off attached to a wire. As she slides down, she takes a picture of McMullen. APO, Sydney enters and puts up the final three pictures to put with the names. SYDNEY: Now we know who we're fighting. Alias Theme. APO JACK: Now that we know who the Twelve are, we've been able to fill in details... none of which are reassuring. Between them, these people wield an enormous amount of power. Their global reach is well... global. THOMAS: Well, we know who they are now, Why don't we just take them in? JACK: Unfortunately, it's not that simple. When we make a move against Prophet5, it needs to be the right one. DIXON: We need to arrest them simultaneously to avoid tipping them off. JACK: Marshall, we need a program to track the movements. I want you to input the visuals and data we have on the twelve. Cross-reference everything with international databases. MARSHALL: Okay, sure, that should just take me a lifetime. I mean, that's really... No problem. I'll get right on that. SYDNEY: What about Sloane? JACK: As of now, we're operating under the assumption that he's working for the Twelve. We take them down, we get to him. Sloane's hideout. Sloane suggests to Sark and Peyton that they solidify their position in Prophet Five. SLOANE: The Twelve have been searching for this for a long time, since before you were born. PEYTON: Don't get too attached. They're expecting it to be turned over. I should get going. SLOANE: Tell me, have you ever considered what would happen if you did that? Once Prophet5 has the amulet, their use for you, for all of us, would be limited. Unless we find a way of solidifying our position, making ourselves less expendable. PEYTON: That's a very bold move, Arvin, trying to cut a side deal with one of their top assets. SLOANE: I'm well aware that you could walkout of here and tell them what I'm proposing. You might curry some favour, save your life, temporarily. SARK: But you won't. You're like me. You have good instincts for self-preservation. I can vouch for the fact that you will be well-compensated for your efforts. PEYTON: So does he come with the package? SLOANE: I assume that means you're interested? PEYTON: What do you have in mind? At Sydney’s home, Vaughn asleep and finds Sydney gone. He see’s her at her desk working on the manuscript. VAUGHN: Hey. SYDNEY: Oh, hey. VAUGHN: You know, Isabelle's gonna be up in like, two hours.. SYDNEY: Yeah, I can't sleep. VAUGHN: Yeah, I can see why. That stuff would give anyone nightmares. SYDNEY: The man that gave me the amulet told me that what was inside was the end of nature, and that stars would fall from the sky. And that no matter what I did, I couldn't stop it. VAUGHN: Well, consider the source, a prisoner in a maximum security prison... SYDNEY: He recognized me. He knew who I was. VAUGHN: Weird, yeah. Not really conclusive. SYDNEY: What if he's right? VAUGHN: He's not. SYDNEY: How can you say that with everything we've seen? VAUGHN: "This woman, without pretence..." That would be you. "Will have had her effect, "never having seen the beauty of my sky behind Mount Subasio. "I mean, wordy and wrong. All this talk about prophecy and fate, you've disproved it. You climbed Mount Subasio. You saw the sky. SYDNEY: It's not just that. VAUGHN: Sloane? SYDNEY: I keep thinking about all the people he's k*lled, I mean, including his own daughter. I know what it's like to grow up without a mom. I don't want that for Isabelle. She needs me. VAUGHN: Which is why we won't let that happen! SYDNEY: You promise? VAUGHN: I promise. Marshall’s Home. He is in bed with Carrie. MARSHALL: Hey. Your hair smells like fruit. CARRIE: Mmmm, Mitchell threw apple sauce at my head this afternoon. I didn't get a chance to wash it out. MARSHALL: Don't worry. I find it very attractive. CARRIE: You do realize I'm half asleep, right? MARSHALL: Perhaps I could inspire you to wake up. MITCHELL: (Talkie-Walkie) Daddy? CARRIE: Or perhaps you could go check on Mitchell? MARSHALL: Right. I'll be back. CARRIE: Turn off the light. MARSHALL: Got it. Rachel’s home. Tom arrives at Rachel’s home. RACHEL: Tom. THOMAS: I'm sorry. I didn't realize how late it was. RACHEL: No, that's okay. I was... I was up working. What's going on? THOMAS: Just in the neighborhood. I thought I'd see if you were awake. Which is ridiculous, because it's not true. I just... I wanted to talk to you. RACHEL: Come on in, please. Do you, want something to drink? THOMAS: What do you got? RACHEL: Coffee. THOMAS: You're not gonna give me some lecture about drinking on school night, are you? RACHEL: Not yet. You're thinking about her, aren't you? THOMAS: I wish I had done things differently. I could've saved her. But I didn't. RACHEL: What happened to your wife... it was a crime. Korman pulled the trigger, not you. THOMAS: Then why do I feel like I'm to blame? RACHEL: Because you're a good man. (He kisses her) THOMAS: Rachel, I'm sorry. RACHEL: No, it's okay. THOMAS: That's...That's not why I came here. RACHEL: No, I know. I know. It's not a big deal at all. I mean... THOMAS: No, you know what? I should go. RACHEL: No. Stay and we'll talk. Please. I'm gonna get us that coffee. THOMAS: OK. (When she leaves the room, Tom sits, reconsiders, and leaves.) Marshall’s Home. Carrie misses Marshall in bed and goes looking for him. CARRIE: What's taking you guys so long? (Marshall is not in the house and Mitchell is sound asleep. She finds an open window) Marshall? Rachel’s home. She comes back with the coffee but fins an empty room. RACHEL: About what happen... Rachel hears a knock on the door and thinking its Tom coming back, rushes to open it without checking first… RACHEL: Where did you go? It’s Sark. SARK: It's been a while, hasn't it? Sark chloroforms her. Sloane's hideout. Marshall is tied up and faces Peyton and Sloane. MARSHALL: Where's Mitchell? Where's my wife? SLOANE: Your family's fine. They're safe at home. Although I imagine they're sick with worry. MARSHALL: What do you want from me? SLOANE: Rambaldi described an underground cavern. He gave a very precise description of the stone formation inside. I want you to locate it for me. MARSHALL: What? SLOANE: You're familiar, of course, with the U.S. government's ground-penetrating satellite network? I need you to access the system. MARSHALL: You're...tasking me? What, you think you're still my boss? SLOANE: Marshall... MARSHALL: Whatever you're doing is bad, okay? I know that. It's like. End of the world bad. SLOANE: This is not a request. MARSHALL: I will not help you. SLOANE: (To Peyton) let me know when you persuade him. MARSHALL: What... are you doing? What is that? (Peyton opens a tool box) What is that? Take it easy, okay? Let's talk about this! (Peyton approaches with a grip) Please! (Peyton begins to t*rture him) Aaarrrggg! Marshall’s Home. Sydney takes Carrie in her arms. CARRIE: Thank you for coming. I'm so glad you're here. SYDNEY: How are you holding up? CARRIE: I sent Mitchell to my mother's. I didn't want him to see me like this. I mean, he wouldn't just leave. I mean, you know him, right? He wouldn't do that. JACK: No, he wouldn't. CARRIE: It just doesn't make sense. I mean, he's... a game designer. Why would somebody abduct him? (Jack looks at Sydney). SYDNEY: There's something you need to know. JACK: (his mobile phone rings) Excuse me. SYDNEY: Marshall doesn't work for a video game designer. Not far from Sydney, Jack speaks with Thomas. THOMAS: I'm at Rachel's place. I got worried when she didn't check in. Door was open. Wallet, keys, phone are still here. That can't be a coincidence. JACK: Get back to A.P.O. Alert the team. We'll meet you there ASAP. THOMAS: I'm on my way.. (He observes two cups, keys and a wallet on a table). CARRIE: But I worked for the C.I.A., the N.S.A. Why would he need to lie? SYDNEY: You have to understand, Carrie, he was ordered not to tell you. We all were. He was trying to protect you. JACK: We need to get back. There's another situation. CARRIE: I wanna go with you. JACK: That's not possible. CARRIE: Well, I can't just watch from the sidelines. And I bet that without Marshall, your technical support is severely compromised. I can help. Please. JACK: Okay. Grab your coat. Sloane's hideout. Sark meanwhile is about to t*rture Rachel with electricity. He puts some electrodes on the chest and face. SARK: ... I've thought a lot about you since the last time we saw each other. I was hoping we'd meet again. Of course, in my mind, it was... under much different circumstances. Rachel, don't make me do this. RACHEL: Is now the part where you tell me this is gonna hurt you a lot more than it hurts me? SARK: I wish that were true. (He turns on the electricity, which causes her to scream) APO. DIXON: Sloane did this. He knows where we live, where we work, how we work. JACK: But the question remains: why? DIXON: To...disable our technical capabilities, to distract us? JACK: Well, perhaps he needs some thing from them. DIXON: And Marshall and Rachel? You know he won't hesitate to k*ll them once he gets what he needs. JACK: I know. You were right about him. After Irina was extracted, I was taken into custody. I had to designate a guardian for Sydney. I chose Sloane. In spite of everything he's done, I believed that some part of him was still the friend I once trusted with my daughter. Clearly, I was wrong. Carrie sees Vaughn. CARRIE: Oh, my...I thought you were...I thought... Okay. I guess that was a lie too, right? SYDNEY: It's complicated. CARRIE: I...Anyway, what... can I do? VAUGHN: Marshall wrote a program to track the Twelve's moves, and I ran it through our standard decryption program, but he has so many security protocols... CARRIE: Can I? VAUGHN: Yeah, sure. CARRIE: You're in. (Elle arrive à se connecter) SYDNEY: What was it? CARRIE: "Moon glum of Elwhere." VAUGHN: Yeah, well, that was my next guess. CARRIE: He's rereading all his favorite books to get ready for when Mitchell starts reading. Anyway, so what else can I do? Sloane's hideout. SLOANE: Peyton, would you mind giving us a moment alone? So you want to see your family again, don't you? Don't be difficult. Think about your son. No, Marshall, you're not cut out for this. MARSHALL: You know, I never liked you. I tolerated you because I had to, you know, because you were my superior. And I was afraid of you. And I saw how...twisted...you were. But now, I see you for who you really are. You are a weak, pathetic man. You know, you're right. I'm not cut out for this. But I am thinking about my son. I want Mitchell to look up to me, to be proud of his dad. Which is why no matter what you do to me... I'll never help you. You know what? I got...a hangnail right there on my thumb. You mind working on that one next? In another room, Sloane is thoughtful, whereas the ghost of Nadia arrives. NADIA: Marshall's right about you. SLOANE: I'm doing what needs to be done. NADIA: Does that help you sleep at night? SLOANE: Eventually, Marshall or Rachel will do what I ask. NADIA: No. They won't. SLOANE: Why not? NADIA: Because they have something you don't. SLOANE: What? NADIA: Love, family, honour... take your pick. That's why you'll never break them. SLOANE: You're right. I need to find another way. Los Angeles. Car park. SYDNEY: (with Isabelle in her arms she phones to her dad) What about airports? JACK: We've notified the F.A.A., but I assume Sloane would have other means. SYDNEY: I'm taking Isabelle to the sitter's. I'll be back as soon as I can. (She sees Sloane). SLOANE: If you try anything, be advised, it will end badly. SYDNEY: What do you want? Talk to Marshall. He'll listen to you. SYDNEY: They didn't do what you wanted. SLOANE: You have an opportunity to save their lives. I suggest you take it. MARSHALL: (phone) Syd, oh, my God. Listen, find Carrie and Mitchell, make sure they're Ok. They're fine. Nothing is gonna happen... MARSHALL: If anything happened to me, tell Mitchell how strong I was...Make sure he's proud of his old man. Tell Carrie to move on, okay? And find someone else. It's totally fine. SYDNEY: Marshall, listen to me! Whatever Sloane is asking, I want you to do it. MARSHALL: What? Syd, no, I can't. SYDNEY: Whatever he asks. Your life is more important. Now before I hang up, is there anything you want me to tell Carrie? MARSHALL: Yeah, actually, I want you to tell Carrie that I love her, and that I'll finish reading "Littlest Fish" to Mitchell when I get... SLOANE: (Stops the conversation between Syd and Marshall) you did the right thing. (He gets in a car and drives away). Sloane's hideout. Sark brings Rachel in the room where Marshall is tied up. RACHEL: Why are we here? I told you I wouldn't help you. SARK: Yes, but he agreed to, and he needs your help. RACHEL: Marshall MARSHALL: Rachel RACHEL: Look, I know this is bad, but we cannot do this! MARSHALL: We have to. I spoke to Sydney. She understands. Listen, Rachel, I'm gonna do this, okay? And unless you help me leapfrog the system, it won't work. RACHEL: Leapfrog? MARSAHLL: We have to make sure we're not detected, or else they'll shut us out. RACHEL: We're gonna need to open a bunch of ports. I wouldn't stay on any of them or longer than 15 seconds each. MARSHALL: That's right. 15 seconds...that's a good idea. She's very bright. Terrific. SARK: Get to it. APO. VAUGHN: It was Sydney. She just got off the phone with Marshall. CARRIE: What? VAUGHN: He's fine. I'll explain later. But he passed on a message for you. He said he'd finish reading Mitchell "The Littlest Fish" when he got home. Rings any bell? CARRIE: We haven't read him that book in at least a year. VAUGHN: What's it about? CARRIE: It's about a goldfish and some boy who's his friend. Oh god, his name is Niles. No... Noah! N.O.A.A.: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They monitor weather patterns, ecosystems... VAUGHN: Using a state-of-the-art satellite network. Maybe Sloane's trying to get them to hack in. CARRIE: I can set up some trip wires to monitor the hack. . If I can detect them, I can pinpoint their location. VAUGHN: Well, whatever Sloane's making them do, it's happening now. CARRIE: I'll be fast. Sloane's hideout. SLOANE: Any progress? SARK: They're close. APO. CARRIE: The firewall's flagging an insane amount of network activity. Someone's sending out signatures. It's... It's Marshall. He's intentionally triggering the network security protocols. VAUGHN: Can you trace the location? Sloane's hideout. RACHEL: That's it. SLOANE: Where is that? RACHEL: Central Italy. Zoom out. SLOANE: I should have known. MARSHALL: What happens now? SLOANE: Good work, as usual. APO. CARRIE: I'm narrowing it down. Mexico. They're in Ixtapa. JACK: I'll assemble a rescue team immediately. Sloane's hideout. SLOANE: I've convened the Twelve. They're eagerly anticipating our arrival. PEYTON: The jet's waiting. We should get going. SARK: Perhaps we should reconsider our plans for the prisoners. PEYTON: Don't tell me you're getting sentimental. Or do you just have a thing for blondes? SARK: It simply seems unnecessary, that's all. SLOANE: This isn't open for discussion. Eliminate them. In another room. MARSHALL: Where are they? Do you think they just left? Oh, my god, Rachel, what's wrong? You having a heart att*ck? Exposure to electricity? Rachel... RACHEL: (She picks her handcuffs using a device) No, no, I'm not having a heart att*ck. MARSHALL: What are you doing? What is that, a garrotte? You carry a garrotte? RACHEL: It's an under wire. Sometimes it pays to be a girl. A guard comes in. MARSHALL: Hey! Listen, I have a family, okay, and a child. And I wanna have another one, maybe even a girl. La man takes his g*n. Rachel stands up quickly, catches his arm, takes the g*n and kills him. MARSHALL: Oh, my god, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Seriously, that was, like, "Empire Strikes Back" cool. RACHEL: Let's get out of here. MARSHALL: Yeah. They run into the arriving APO rescue team. SYDNEY: Get down! (She kills guards who were behind Rachel and Marshall) MARSHALL: Oh, my god, Syd, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. How did you find us? SYDNEY: Your wife, Marshall. Carrie found you. Any sign of Sloane? (Dixon and Vaughn joint hem) DIXON: We checked the entire facility. He's not here. APO. CARRIE: I think you should see this. (She gives a file to Jack) Marshall's program to track the Twelve was designed to notify him automatically should anything significant happen. That's pretty significant, if you ask me. JACK: They're gathering. (Phone rings) Bristow. SYDNEY: Hey, dad, Marshall and Rachel are good. JACK: (To Carrie) they got to them. Marshall's safe. CARRIE: Thank god. SYDNEY: But Sloane, Sark and Peyton... they're gone. JACK: They're going to Zurich. The Twelve are meeting there. Sloane must be presenting them with the information Marshall and Rachel acquired. SYDNEY: Is it what we've been waiting for? We can bring them all down. JACK: I know. I'll alert our contacts, have them assemble in Zurich. It's almost over. Sloane's hideout. MARSHALL: And then I told him that, you know,he better move to my thumb or hangnail. He didn't think Flinkman had it in him. Yeah, I mean, you know, he's such a jerk. TOM: I could think of some other words. SYDNEY: You said you were mapping caves in Italy. Do you have the coordinates? RACHEL: Yeah. MARSHALL: That's the other thing... we spent hours hacking into the system. And when he got what he wanted, he was all cryptic; you know..."I should've known." What is that about? SYDNEY: He should've known? MARSHALL: Yeah, that's what he said. Where in Italy? What region? RACHEL: Umbria. SYDNEY: Mount Subasio. (She looks at Vaughn) Dad's team will take care of the Twelve in Zurich, but if they go after something in Mount Subasio, I'll b*at them to it. VAUGHN: Sydney. SYDNEY: You were right, Vaughn. I can't give in to this idea that I'm powerless. I can bring them down. VAUGHN: I know. I was just gonna say I'll go with you. MOUNT SUBASIO. Syd and Vaughn trek to the snow-covered mountains of Mt. Subasio. They find the cave from the cliff above. SYDNEY: Vaughn, over here! You'll have to lower me. VAUGHN: You sure about this? SYDNEY: Yeah, I am. VAUGHN: I'll be tracking you. After kissing Vaughn, Syd is lowered down to the cave entrance. She slips quickly inside a narrow corridor and finds Sloane with the amulet in his hand. SLOANE: You came. (Sydney points her g*n) Oh, I wouldn't do that. The sound of one sh*t would trigger a cave-in. SYDNEY: You're coming with me. SLOANE: Remember when you were a little girl, and you came to live with Emily and me? SYDNEY: I try not to dwell on it. SLOANE: Oh, Sydney, you were so withdrawn. Of course, we understood. You had just lost your mother, and your father was taken into custody. Remember? We tried to reach out...but there was a time when that was impossible. So we lined the shelves of your room, all of them, with stuffed animals...hoping that that would comfort you. And every morning, I would come into your room to wake you up...there they were, buried underneath your blanket. (APO: we see Carrie kisses Marshall) You said there was a storm in the middle of the night, and it knocked them over, and they were drowning...So one by one, you rescued them. Even then, I wondered when you would learn...you can't rescue everyone. LOS ANGELES. Sark starts a b*mb in a subway tunnel. APO: JACK: I just received word from Zurich. The team's taking up positions outside the building. THOMAS: We'll be getting visuals soon. We got a problem. I was going through what we got from Sloane's safe house. Look at this... It's a schematic of the L.A. Subway system. MARSHALL: Wait a minute. Load-bearing data engineering analysis? RACHEL: He's mapping architectural weaknesses of the tunnels around our facility. Sloane's targeting A.P.O JACK: Clear the building. Tom, Dixon, organize a search team. Start sweeping the tunnels. I want all civilians evacuated from the subway. MARSHALL: How do we do that? JACK: Calling a b*mb thr*at. Sark takes the escalators. MOUNT SUBASIO SLOANE: I know when you talked to Marshall he gave you a message. But really, it didn't matter anymore, because I had accounted for everyone. SYDNEY: What do you mean by everyone? (At the same time, Sark walks in a park) SLOANE: Prophet5, A.P.O...I had to remove those obstacles. SYDNEY: If you so much as touch anyone else I love... SLAONE: The time for thr*at has passed, Sydney. Besides, even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop it now. ZURICH, In Zurich, Peyton appears at the Prophet Five gathering. PEYTON: (To the guard) Mr. Sloane couldn't make it. (The guard opens the door). He sent me instead. MONT SUBASIO SLOANE: I'm making sure that this is going to happen, that I'll see this through. You, above all, should understand that. There's no shying away from fate. SYDNEY: I don't believe in fate. SLAONE: Be that as it may, I'm very glad you're here, Sydney, because I wouldn't want you to be there when it happens. SYDNEY: What have you done? APO. People evacuate the office and clear out the subway while Tom and Dixon sweep the tunnels. Tom finds the b*mb. THOMAS: I found it. It’s big. MONT SUBASIO SLOANE: I never wanted you to suffer the way you did when you were a child. The way you suffered when you lost Danny, when you lost Vaughn. LOS ANGELES. Subway. Inside a wagon. THOMAS: How much longer till we're evacuated? DIXON: Rachel just radioed in. hey need more minutes to secure the area. Can you disable it? THOMAS: Not without triggering the fail-safe. But the timer...It's a quartz oscillator. I could slow it down, buy them the time. DIXON: Are you sure? THOMAS: I've got liquid nitrogen. I could freeze the mechanism. DIXON: Hitting it with nitro's only gonna buy you 20 seconds. THOMAS: Not if I stay here and keep hitting it. DIXON: All right, Tom, do what you can. But the second that timer dips below a minute, get the hell out of there. THOMAS: Will do. (He freezes it repeatedly in order to delay the expl*si*n. The countdown stops at 1’59). ZURICH. ONE OF THE TWELVE MEMBERS: I'm assuming you have the amulet. PEYTON: Of course. Instead of presenting them with the amulet, she sprays the room with g*n, k*lling all the Prophet Five members MONT SUBASIO SLOANE: Sydney, I'm offering you a chance...to walk. SYDNEY: You know I can't do that. SLAONE: The only person you can rescue is yourself. LOS ANGELES People still evacuate the area. THOMAS: (com) Jack, what's the status on the evac? JACK: (Outside. Com) The last of the civilians just made it out. THOMAS: (com) Good. JACK: (com) Don't lose your second window. Get up top now. THOMAS: (com) Okay. Will do. (Instead of leaving, Tom seats inside the wagon) Hey, listen...can you patch me through to Rachel? JACK: (com) Copy. RACHEL: (Outside. Com) Tom, you need to get out. THOMAS: Yeah, Rachel? I wish there were more time. I would've asked you out. RACHEL: I would've said yes. The b*mb explodes, k*lling Tom. Outside the expl*si*n creates a large crater MOUNT SUBASIO Vaughn sees the sun rises at the horizon. Sloane sees the light rises over the rim of the cave above him. SLOANE: The sky... Sloane holds the amulet against the light. We can see a projection of the Rambaldi sign on an ice wall. SLOANE: I'm sorry, Sydney, this isn't my choice. You're not allowed to see this. He sh**t the icy ground she is standing on. Syd falls through and is rendered unconscious a few meters below.

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x16 - Reprisal"}

foreverdreaming

Flash-back: Sydney is at the bottom of the crack and starts to dream. She reminds her Pre-school TEACHER: It looks like Austin is going with... an astronaut. And Kelly's drawing a police officer. I'm not sure "elephant" counts as a job, Laurence. What about you, Sydney? Are you having trouble getting started? That's okay. I can help you. I want you to close your eyes and tell me the very first thing that pops into your mind when I ask you this question: What do you want to be when you grow up? Sydney is still at the bottom of the crack inside the snow. LOS ANGELES: After the expl*si*n. JACK: (to Dixon) I just spoke with Zurich. Sloane h*t the twelve. They're all d*ad. DIXON: He's solidifying power. JACK: I must contact Sydney. Get Marshall and Rachel. We'll rendezvous at Mikro storage. Trust no one else. DIXON: (to Rachel) You will be all right. Rachel, we have to leave. We don't have time to mourn right now. Jack calls Sydney. MOUNT SUBASIO VAUGHN: (Coming down the crack) Syd, Syd, Sydney. Sydney, Syd. (He starts a cardiac massage) One, two... three. Come on! Come on! One, two, three...Come on! You're stronger than this! Flashback: Sydney is 6 years old and arrives in a room where his father speaks with an officer. JACK: (To a man) Excuse me. (To Sydney) Sydney, something’s happened. Your mother was in an accident. Her car skidded off the road, and...She's gone. Your mother...She's d*ad. Sydney, sweetheart, I need you to be strong right now. I need you to be... strong. It's okay. End of Flashback: Sydney gets conscious again. VAUGHN: You're okay. Everything's gonna be okay In a street, Sloane meets Sark and Peyton. SLOANE: I saw the news reports on Los Angeles. Good work. SARK: I'm not certain "good" is the proper word for it, but thank you. I've dispatched a team to the location you acquired at Mt. Subasio. SLOANE: I want to be airborne as soon as they find something. SARK: Understood. SLOANE: Were you able to make contact with our friend in Hong Kong? PEYTON: Yes. She sends her regards. (Sloane opens the box which contains the sphere of life) Should I tell her we have a deal? SLOANE: Yes. Let her know the transports will leave just as soon as they're ready. SARK: Am I to understand that we're still going through with this? SLOANE: Don't tell me you're having second thoughts. SARK: Of course not. It's just it's not every day one gets to be a part of global genocide. Sloane takes them to a storage facility where Sark and Peyton discover two trucks with nuclear m*ssile. LOS ANGELES. Inside a facility. JACK: (To Dixon) If I can get a signal down here, I maybe able to tap into Langley's network. I can spoof the origin. They won't be able to trace the hack. Sloane will try to seize control of Prophet5's operations as quickly as possible. We should look to identify any unusual activity in their holdings. (Telephone) Bristow! VAUGHN: It's me. We're in Siena. JACK: So Sydney is with you? VAUGHN: Yeah. We're both okay. JACK: Thank God. We've had a situation here. Home base has been compromised. Tom... didn't make it. Stay at the safe house. Once we gather some more information, we'll forward it to you there. VAUGHN: Got it. JACK: Vaughn, How is she? VAUGHN: She took a pretty big h*t, but she'll bounce back. Sydney is looking outside the window Flashback: Sydney (6 year old) looks at Irina’s photos. She plays with an odd set of blocks which are from Project Christmas. JACK: Sydney? SYDNEY: Dad? JACK: You did this? Can you show me how you did it? (He looks amazed when he sees his daughter assemble the puzzle alone) SYDNEY: What? JACK: It's a test; called an "indicator" People in my line of work use it to identify people with a highly developed sense of 3-dimensional reasoning. Very few people can do it. I can't do it. SYDNEY: You can't? JACK: Sydney, What it means, Sydney, is...You are a very special...girl. MOUNT SUBASIO: Inside the chalet. SYDNEY: Twelve hours ago, two intercontinental cruise m*ssile were stolen from a storage facility in Moscow VAUGHN: We think it's Sloane? SYDNEY: Whatever he's up to, he said it was too late to be stopped. VAUGHN: He also said that he'd wipe out everyone at A.P.O. He was wrong. SYDNEY: Still, how can we find him? It's impossible. We don't have a single lead.- We can't trust the C.I.A VAUGHN: Sydney, stop, alright? Let's not overlook the fact that you basically died today. You and I have gotten pretty good at impossible. I'm gonna have to deal with this wound. I don't have any anaesthetic. It's gonna hurt. (He looks after Sydney’s neck where there is a deep wound). Just hold still. SYDNEY: Sorry. Why would Sloane steal the m*ssile? VAUGHN: What? SYDNEY: He just wiped out the Twelve, right? Which means that he controls their assets? He wouldn't steal m*ssile. He'd just buy them on the black market. I think I know how to find him. SYDNEY VOICE OVER: We start with the money. If we can hack into the system, we can I.D. who the payoffs went to. View of Jack hacking a computer. View of Marshall hacking the Russian bank network. SYDNEY VOICE OVER: Then all we need are phone records. View of Rachel stealing a mobile phone in a man suit. SYDNEY VOICE OVER: If I'm right, they'll lead us right to Sloane... Or at least, someone he's been working with. Using phone records and satellite telemetry, someone locates Peyton. Vaughn and Dixon stop her when she is about to take a lift. Inside the facility, Sydney takes off the hood of Peyton’s head. SYDNEY: We know you're working with Arvin Sloane, and we know about the I.C.B.M. She's recently acquired. What we don't know is where they are or where they're headed. Now I'm well aware that you're tough, that you've been conditioned to withstand t*rture. But I have something you don't have. I have your former best friend. RACHEL: And I know what you're afraid of. A snake comes upon the right shoulder of Peyton, who looks scared. SYDNEY: If I were you, I would stay extremely still. Sydney goes outside the room. SYDNEY: (to Dixon, Vaughn and Jack) She has no idea where those m*ssile are. DIXON: Are you sure? SYDNEY: Positive. What she does know: Sloane is planning to target two cities with high civilian concentrations. JACK: He's not interested in the devastation. He plans to profit off the reconstruction. Sloane controls Prophet5's network, communications, pharmaceuticals, finance, he'll make billions. SYDNEY: It gets worse. Sloane is in Mongolia. MONGOLIA. Mountain landscape. A jeep arrives among some tents. A lots of men digs on an excavation site. A MAN: (To Sark) Good news. I think we found it. Sloane and Sark go out of their car and follow the man. They go inside a cave which has the mark of Rambaldi on the top. Flashback: Sydney is in the faculty with Francie. FRANCIE: Put on your dancing shoes. We are going out tonight. SYDNEY: I can't tonight. FRANCIE: "Can't" is not an option. Charlie got us passes for that new club in Silver lake. SYDNEY: That job fair is tonight. I really wanna go. FRANCIE: Job fair? What? Syd, you have four years to figure out what kind of job you want. SYDNEY: I just had a meeting with my advisor, and she yelled at me 'cause I haven't picked a major yet. FRANCIE: Education. Done. You can be a teacher like your mom. I mean, you always talked about how happy she was. SYDNEY: I thought about that, but I've always thought about teaching as my safety net. FRANCIE: Teaching's no safety net. You know how dangerous it is to be a teacher? Kids bring knives to school these days. SYDNEY: I hate the thought that I could make a decision now that would affect the rest of my life. FRANCIE: Well, I say go with education. Charlie is bringing a friend tonight, Danny something. We'll pick you up at... I'll see you later. SD6 AGENT: Sydney Bristow, I was hoping I might have a moment of your time. (He gives her a CIA card). In a facility. Sydney is training with a g*n. SYDNEY: Tell Dixon we'll touch base as soon as we cross into Mongolian airspace. RACHEL: Marshall and I are gonna hack into the N.R.O., see if we can use their optical satellites to locate the m*ssile. SYDNEY: Rachel, listen. Prophet5 is gone. Your family is no longer in danger. You don't have to do this anymore. RACHEL: People have given their lives for this. I'm not gonna bail on them now. I'm in this until it's over. Of course, if we don't find Sloane, that may not be very long from now… MONGOLIA: Sark and Sloane enter inside the cave. SARK: Did it have to be so filthy? I mean, really, if Rambaldi a prophesize the future, he might have advised me not to wear 500$ shoes. Structural imaging shows that there's a chamber about 200 feet below us. That's quite a climb. SLOANE: You needn't worry. The next step is for me alone. (Leaving Sark behind, Sloane descends to Rambaldi's burial chamber. He poses the lamp on the tomb and open the box) At last, after almost 30 years. NADIA: Is it everything you imagined? SLAONE: Nadia, I'm so glad you're here. If I didn't have someone to share this with, I may have doubted my own eyes. NADIA: You're talking to your d*ad daughter. This is an odd time to question your sanity. SLOANE: Perhaps. He places the Sphere atop Rambaldi's tomb between the two signs “<” and “>”. The sphere starts to spin and light. Above it appears the red hovering ball. Outside, Vaughn, Syd and Jack infiltrate the camp above Rambaldi's tomb. Syd sneaks into the underground chamber. Inside, Sloane looks at the red ball which flies above the sphere of life. The red ball empties itself in the sphere of life. NADIA: So that's it? All this time, that's what you wanted. SLOANE: This, sweetheart, this is what everybody has always wanted. And I've found it. Sydney arrives inside the room and holds Sloane at g*n. SYDNEY: It's over, Sloane. Outside, Vaughn kills a guard but Sark puts is g*n on his head. SARK: Correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Vaughn, but aren't you supposed to be d*ad? I suppose we'll have to rectify that. Jack arrives behind Sark. Unfortunately another guard just appears behind Jack. SARK: Well, then, it appears we have a predicament. Inside, Sydney moves near the tomb. SYDNEY: Don't move. Syd grabs the Sphere. SLOANE: No! Sydney, don't! The liquid from the hovering ball splatters. SYDNEY: What is this, Sloane? SLOANE: Sydney, please don't be rash. SYDNEY: Give me one reason why I shouldn't destroy this right now. SARK: Suppose I were to give you two good reasons? Sydney looks back to see that Sark has just arrived, holding Vaughn and Jack at hostage. In the facility. MARSHALL: (To Dixon) Rachel and I hacked into the N.R.O.'S global surveillance system to look for the m*ssile. We noticed some weird network activity on the E.W.S. RACHEL: Someone's trying to disable our defence satellites. They've released a virus. It's eating through our entire grid. DIXON: Sloane, he's gonna strike the U.S. Can you purge the virus? MARSHALL: No, not from here. But I did pinpoint the origin. Someone uploaded it from Hong Kong. DIXON: (To Peyton) Who's in Hong Kong? Who are you protecting? MARSHALL: Should I get the snake? PEYTON: Don't. Sloane had to call in a partner. He needed something he didn't have. DIXON: What's that? MONGOLIA. Inside the chamber. SLOANE: (holds Sydney at g*n) Hand me the sphere, Sydney. I'll let you all walk out of here. I won't insult you with pretence, Sydney. We know each other too well for that. Oh, I know you're trying to figure a way out. Just hand over the sphere, and I will let you all walk away. SYDNEY: If I give this to you, what's to guarantee you won't sh**t us anyway? SLOANE: Despite what you may think, I'm not heartless. Come on, take my offer. It appears that Vaughn is back. Go. Be a family. Frankly, I don't think you have any other option. SYDNEY: If you want this, we'll walk out of here together, and then we'll talk. SLOANE: Well, remember, Sydney, it's your choice. Sloane moves first, sh**ting Jack. Syd drops the sphere to go over to Jack while. SYDNEY: Dad!Dad! Arvin catches the sphere. Vaughn dispatches their captors. Syd sh**t Sloane. He tumbles into the red liquid on the tomb, d*ad. Sark makes off with the Sphere. Flashback: Sydney arrives at home. SYDNEY: Dad? Dad?Dad? Are you home? JACK: (phone) That's right, they're having problems with their tail rudder controls. Yeah. Okay, well, I'll get back to you. Hello, Sydney. (She gives him a file) What's this? SYDNEY: Open it. You've been paying my tuition. I thought I should at least help out. JACK: What'd you do, rob a bank? SYDNEY: Sort of. I got a job at a bank. It's just part-time for now, at least. It's...It's, a French bank. It's called Credit Dauphine. They have a very international clientele. JACK: Credit Dauphine? SYDNEY: Yeah, they have 12 branches around the world. JACK: You're already working there? SYDNEY: About a month. I wanted to make sure it would work out before I told you. JACK: A month. Good. It's not too late to quit. SYDNEY: What? JACK: Sydney, listen to me. SYDNEY: I'm not quitting this job. I like it. I'm good at it. JACK: I imagine you are. That's not the point. SYDNEY: What is the point? JACK: Sydney! SYDNEY: God, if mom were here, she... JACK: If your mother was here... If your mother was here, she would want you to focus on school, which is what you're going to do. SYDNEY: (nearly crying) I didn't come to ask your permission. I've already made my decision. JACK: This is not your decision to make. (Sydney leaves) Sydney, come back. MONGOLIA. Outside. Vaughn and Sydney lift Jack outside who's badly wounded. SYDNEY: OK. Right here. VAUGHN: All right, Syd. SYDNEY: You're okay, you're okay. JACK: It's okay. I'm gonna go call for help, okay? SYDNEY: Okay, just be still. Look, you're gonna be okay. VAUGHN: (call Dixon) We have a problem. Jack's been sh*t. DIXON: How bad? VAUGHN: It's critical. We need air support. DIXON: (To Marshall) Contact Salim Behari in Ulaanbaatar. Have him send a med vac unit. Tell them to hurry. SYDNEY: Dad, keep talking to me. JACK: I'm doing fine. It's...It's just...It's just a scratch. SYDNEY: I'm just gonna take a look. (She finds an horrible bleeding wound on his chest) You're gonna be okay. MARSHALL: (To Dixon) Chopper's on its way. Should be here in half-hour. DIXON: (To Vaughn) Did you hear that? VAUGHN: Yeah Listen. Sloane's d*ad, Sark got away. He's got the artifact. DIXON: I think we know where he's going. VAUGHN: Mede vac's on its way. How's he doing? SYDNEY: His heart rate's up. I think the b*llet penetrated his lung. He's not getting enough air. VAUGHN: Sloane has a partner. We know who's behind this. CHINA. Irina calls Sark. SARK: I have the artefact. I'm on my way. IRINA: Good. See that it gets here intact. MONGOLIA. Outside. Wait, Vaughn...Wait, Vaughn, wait! JACK: Irina! VAUGHN: He traded her the m*ssile. Marshall managed to access the launch protocol, but he can't shut them down. She's in Hong Kong, preparing to strike as we speak. JACK: Listen to me. We have to stop her. SYDNEY: Listen to me. Dad, you have been sh*t in the chest. The medical team is on their way. You...I can't risk moving you. Right? JACK: (To Vaughn) I can't... Vaughn, get the transport ready.. (Vaughn runs). SYDNEY: Wait, Vaughn... Wait, Vaughn, wait! Dad, what are you doing? You can't go anywhere. JACK: Sydney, Sydney, your mother's not the type to make empty thr*at. If she's acquired m*ssile, she intends to use them. SYDNEY: You can't even stand up straight. How do you expect to confront mom? JACK: I'm not coming with you. You have to go to Hong Kong. There's no other way. I am not leaving you here. You're the only one who can get to Irina in time. You're the only one who can b*at her. SYDNEY: I can't. JACK: Yes, you can. I never wanted this life for you, you know. I never wanted you to bear this kind of responsibility, but you...you were a very...difficult little girl...You were far too driven, far too strong to let someone like me stop you from becoming who you are. SYDNEY: Dad, the medical team is coming. If you'll just sit tight... JACK: Sydney, listen to me. There's no one in this world that can do the things that you can do. I can hold out until help arrives, but you have to go. You have to stop your mother SYDNEY: Okay...Just...Okay, good. Just...Keep applying pressure, please. You... you can't afford to lose more blood. JACK: Just get moving. SYDNEY: I love you, dad. JACK: I love you, Sydney. SYDNEY: (Crying) I don't want to leave you. JACK: Go. She reluctantly leaves her father. As the jeep is leaving, she looks her father who has just stand up. As soon the jeep is gone, Jack falls. Hong Kong. In a hotel room. IRINA: Did everything go according to plan? SARK: Your daughter arrived, mucked things up a bit. Sloane's d*ad, and we lost the tomb. IRINA: But the artefact's intact. SARK: There's a reason my fees are so high. IRINA: Sloane's death doesn't change our agenda. Contact controls. As soon as the satellites are down, launch the m*ssile strikes. SARK: Have you decided on the final targets? IRINA: Washington and London. SARK: Right away. In space, a satellite starts to burn and fall on the earth. Sark enters a control room. SARK: What's our status? VOICE: Mil-sat one just h*t atmosphere. The rest of the satellites are right behind it. SARK: Initiate the countdown. LOS ANGELES. Control room. MARSHALL: Oh, my God. They've started the launch. Hong Kong. In a hotel room. SYDNEY: So that's it. It's the Horizon, isn't it? You sh*t the man I loved. You betrayed my trust. You risked my daughter's life, all for that. IRINA: I don't expect you to understand. We're very different, Sydney. You still cling to naive ideals. I learned, at a very young age, the only currency worth anything in this world is power SYDNEY: And the Horizon gives you that? IRINA: You've never seen Rambaldi for what he is. You dismissed his work as the labour of a madman. You blind yourself to his true potential. I've spent a lifetime acquiring power. With this...And I'll never have to give it up. Rambaldi is life, Sydney. Through him, we can live forever. (We have a view of Sloane who rises with his mortal wounds healed). I offered you an out. I gave you your daughter. I was hoping you'd settle down, leave me to my affairs. SYDNEY: You don't know me very well, do you? IRINA: Sadly, I think I do. After all, I'm still your mother. SYDNEY: That doesn't mean anything. Not anymore. I am through being disappointed by you. IRINA: I hate that it's come to this. SYDNEY: I suppose it had to. IRINA: I've come too far to let anything get in my way. SYDNEY: Then you'll have to go through me first. Flashback: Sydney enters Sloane’s SD-6 office. SYDNEY: You wanted to see me, sir? SLOANE: I've been reviewing your evaluations since you arrived at SD-6.To a letter; they're nothing short of exemplary. I've upgraded your clearance, and I'm considering promoting you to field officer. SYDNEY: Really? SLOANE: Now, Sydney, I want to know that you have given this job its proper consideration. I realize that you have a romantic notion of the espionage trade, but this job...is more than just brush passes and d*ad drops. You will be facing life and death situations on a regular basis. Do you understand that? You will be forced to make decisions that will haunt you for the rest of your life. This job requires sacrifice, and you need to know that you are able to live with that. SYDNEY: I can, sir. For as long as I can remember, I have been searching...for what I'm supposed to do, for what I'm supposed to be. This is my purpose. It's in my blood. It's who I am. I have never been so sure of anything in my life. Hong Kong. In a hotel room. Sydney and Irina fight a ferocious battle. It ends when both of them pass through a glass window. They fall together on the roof, among all the pieces of glass. They’ve got a lot of wounds all over their bodies. As they try to regain their breath, they roll on their back and watch the sky. IRINA: Why are you fighting me on this? The defence satellites are destroyed. (Satellites ignite in the sky such as sh**ting stars). SYDNEY: «The stars will fall from the sky." IRINA: Even if you manage to b*at me on this rooftop, it's still too late to stop the launch. SYDNEY: You think I came here alone? Hong-Kong. Control room. VOICE: Sir, beginning final preparations.. SARK: Excellent. Proceed according to... Vaughn catches Sark and punches him hardly. VAUGHN: It appears we have a predicament. MONGOLIA. Inside the chamber. NADIA: You did it. You were right all along. SLOANE: I will never forget your sacrifice. I promise. The Horizon is gone. Your mother is probably dividing up my spoils as we speak. NADIA: Then we should get moving. We don't have to hurry anymore, Nadia. We have all the time in the world. Jack gets back in the chamber. Hong-Kong. Control room. VAUGHN: Give me the override codes. SARK: I don't have the codes, I swear. (Vaughn sh**t Sark in his leg) You sh*t me! VAUGHN: Yeah, and I'll keep sh**ting until you either give me the codes or bleed to death. Your choice. SARK: You know, I didn't want any of this. Mass extermination isn't exactly my passion, Michael. I'm a businessman. You know, I simply wanted to come out on the winning end. I'll give you the codes, but you have to let me go after I do. VAUGHN: Codes first, then we negotiate. LOS ANGELES. Control room. Marshall is on the phone with Vaughn. VAUGHN: ---alpha--tango---. 6 4 7. MARSHALL: (On the screen : LAUNCH ACTIVATED) Come on. Come on! (On the screen: LAUNCH ABORTED) Launch aborted! Hong-Kong. On the roof. IRINA: I'm afraid I can't allow you to be such a complication in my life any longer. Irina punches Sydney two times in her head. IRINA: For whatever it's worth, I truly do love you. Sydney kicks Irina onto a glass skylight just out of reach of the Sphere. We can hear cracks. MONGOLIA. In the chamber. JACK: I owe you an apology, Arvin. I never gave your faith in Rambaldi the credit it deserved. SLOANE: There's no need to apologize, Jack. You're a practical man. I'd always admired that in you. Jack, I didn't wanna sh**t you. Sydney forced my hand. JACK: Yes. She can be very... stubborn at times. SLOANE: You're dying. I can help you. JACK: I don't want your help, Arvin. You've...caused my daughter so much pain. I could have prevented it. I won't continue to make that mistake. SLOANE: I think you've overestimated your position, Jack. You can't hurt me anymore. JACK: True. But I can keep you down here with me. (Jack, show a strapped with expl*sives around him). SLOANE: What are you doing? JACK: You b*at death, Arvin. But you couldn't b*at me. Jack knows now that Sloane can't die, but as he wants to be sure that Sloane never makes it out of the cave, he triggers the expl*sives. Hong-Kong. On the roof. SYDNEY: The glass won't hold you. Mom, you need to come back. (Irina stretches for the Sphere without listening at Sydney who urges her to crawl back). Mom. You can make it. Give me your hand. IRINA: I'm sorry, Sydney. SYDNEY: Mom, come back! Tiny cracks spread through the glass. Irina falls through to her death. Sydney looks down and cries. Vaughn arrives and takes Sydney around his arms. A sh**ting star passes above them. MONGOLIA. In the chamber. In the cave, Sloane is buried in the rubble. Nadia's ghost appears. SLOANE: Nadia? I can't move. NADIA: I don't think there's anything I can do SLOANE: I can't move. NADIA: Well...as you've said, you have all the time in the world. Unfortunately, I think you'll have to spend it here. SLOANE: Well, at least you're here with me … (she fades away) No, Nadia, don't leave me here. Noooo…. He screams, alone in the darkness. House of Vaughn and Sydney. 5 years later. Isabelle plays in front of her beach home. ISABELLE: Daddy! (Vaughn appears and sees Dixon) Uncle Dixon! DIXON: Isabelle! How are you, sweetie? VAUGHN: Deputy Director. DIXON: Please, this far from Langley, you can just call me "sir." Good to see you. VAUGHN: Did you have a hard time finding this place? DIXON: What, are you kidding? I had an impossible time finding this place. VAUGHN: Well, I guess that's sort of the point, right? They walk to the house where Sydney waits them with a baby in her arm. SYDNEY: Hello, stranger. DIXON: Hello, Sydney. And this must be... SYDNEY: Jack. DIXON: Hello, Jack. Marshall sends his best. He wanted to tag along, but Carrie’s stuck at home on bed rest. SYDNEY: Another baby? Oh, God, I don't know how she does it. DIXON: This makes four. All boys. SYDNEY: Well, come on inside. You'll just have to pardon the mess. Inside the house. VAUGHN: (To Isabelle) Speaking of mess, didn't someone promise to finish unpacking her toys before dinner? Go on. SYDNEY: Go on, Isabelle. (To Dixon) Can I get you something to drink? Isabelle arrives in her room. SYDNEY: Why do I get the feeling this isn't a purely social call? DIXON: Truth be told, I could use some field assistance. A merc team h*t the national research facility in Paris yesterday. I need someone to intercept the seller and retrieve the hard drive. SYDNEY: Can't you put Rachel on it? DIXON: She's on deep cover assignment in Santiago. I can't risk pulling her. Besides, this job has...sentimental value. (He shows a file with a photo of Sark). VAUGHN: Sark. SYDNEY: Don't look at me. You're the one that let him go. Isabelle opens a box. DIXON: We've already prepared the mission specs. Low risk insertion, simple areas. Who knows, it could be fun. SYDNEY: That's what you say every time you show up on my doorstep. Then next, you know, I'm jumping over canals and tree and shield while Napalm explodes around me. DIXON: Yes. That's how I define "fun". VAUGHN: Why don't we finish this conversation over dinner? SYDNEY: And you haven't lived until you've seen our sunset. Isabelle, dad and I are going for a walk. Meanwhile, Isabelle finds the Project Christmas building blocks and effortlessly connects them. She breaks the puzzle and comes back to see her parents. SYDNEY: What have you been doing back there? ISABELLE: Nothing, mom. Together they walk on the beach. The final episode ends with this sentence: « Thank you for five incredible years. »

{"type": "series", "show": "Alias", "episode": "05x17 - All the Time in the World"}

foreverdreaming

Voice over: "Los Angeles. You see it at night and it shines. Like a beacon. People are drawn to it. People and other things. They come for all sorts of reasons. My reason? No surprise there. It started with a girl." Angel sits at a bar, playing with a glass sitting in front of him. He appears to be slightly drunk. Angel: "She was a really, really pretty girl. No she, she was a hottie girl. She, she had - I mean - her hair was... You know? - -You kind of remind me of her. Because, because – you know – the hair. I mean – the hair." He looks over at the guy sitting beside him. It is a burly black guy with a clean-shaven head. Angel turns his head and glances over his shoulder at a group of three guys and two girls playing pool behind him. One of the guys comes and leans on the bar next to Angel and says to bartender: "We want to cash out." Angel looks up at him with a drunken grin: "Girls are nice." Laughs. The guy gives him a disgusted look. Bartender: "Here you go." Guy to the others: "Okay, guys, let’s go. Let’s go find some real fun." The five pool players leave and Angel straightens up in his chair. After a b*at he gets up no longer laughing and follows them out. Cut to Alleyway beside the bar: Blond girl: "You guys really know the doorman? I mean you can get us into the Lido?" 1.Guy: "I don’t want to go clubbing anymore. I want to party, right here." Grabs the girl. 1.Girl: "Hey back off!" (pushes him away) 2.vamp grabs 2.girl. 1.vamp grabs 1.girl by the throat: "Shut up and die!" (vamps out) Angel walks up apparently drunk: "Excuse me. ‘scuse me. I’m sorry. But has anybody seen my car? It’s big , and it’s shiny." 1.vamp: "Piss off, pal!" Angel walks up to him and leans in to get a closer look at his face. 1.vamp growls at him. Angel leans back: "Uhh, breath mint?" 1.vamp throws the girl into some trashcans and swings at Angel. Angel blocks, knocks him down, spins around to knock the 2.vamp running up in the face, then kicks out at the first vamp just getting back up. 3.vamp tackles Angel to the ground, but Angel catapults him over his head and gets back up. Sees two vamps charging him from opposite sides. Triggers the stakes concealed in spring-loaded wrist sheathes under his sleeves and stakes both at the same time. They dust. 1.vamp comes up and hits him over the head with a trashcan. Angel drops to the ground. Angel (in vamp face): "You shouldn’t have done that." Gets up, hits 1.vamp in the stomach then throws him. 1.vamp spins in the air and lands on top of a car’s windshield cracking it. Cut to the two girls watching, looking scared. 1.girl is bleeding from a cut on her forehead. 1.girl: "Oh, my god! They were…" Angel with his back turned to them: "Go home." 1.girl steps closer: "Thank you." Angel spins around and she looks shocked at his vamp face. He stares at her bleeding cut. "Stay away from me." The girls back off. Angel stalks down the alley looking disgusted. Breaking a slat from a wooden crate he stakes the vamp still lying on the car’s hood without even looking. The girls watch him leave. Intro. Angel walks down a street. Enters an office Building. Walks down a couple steps and through one of the offices on the ground floor and gets into an elevator. Pulls the metal grating closed, the elevator goes down. Cut to angel getting out of the elevator, takes off his coat as he walks into the apartment. Undoes the empty wrist sheathes, steps over to a w*apon cabinet, takes off his shirt (has a black muscle shirt on under it, sorry ladies) and drops it over the back of a sofa. Then freezes and looks over his shoulder at: Doyle: "I like the place. I mean it’s not much with the view, but it has a nice bat-cave sort of an air to it." Angel: "Who are you?" Doyle playing with a deck of cards in his hands: "Doyle." Angel turns around: "You don’t smell human." Doyle: "Now that’s a bit rude. So happens that I am very much human." Sneezes and blue spikes pop out all over his face. "On my mother’s side." Shakes his head and the spikes disappear. Doyle walks past Angel: "Well, I come in uninvited, so you know I’m not a vampire like yourself." Angel: "What do you want?" Doyle: "I’ve been sent. – By the Powers That Be." Angel: "The powers that be what?" Doyle: "Let me tell you a little bedtime story." Angel: "But I’m not sleepy." Doyle: "Once upon a time there was a vampire. And he was the meanest vampire in all the land. (Flashback to Angel in vamp face biting Daniel, biting a girl) All the other vampires were afraid of him, he was such a - bastard. Then one day he’s cursed – by gypsies. (Flashback to old gypsy lady speaking the curse) They restore his human soul. And all of a sudden he is mad with guilt. You know: ‘What have I done?’ You know, he’s freaked." Angel sits down on the sofa: "Okay. Now I’m sleepy." Doyle: "Yeah, well, it’s a fairly dull tale. It needs a little sex, is my feeling. So sure enough: enter the girl. (Flash to scenes of Buffy) Pretty little blonde thing, (whistles) Vampire Slayer by trade. And our vampire falls madly in love with her. (Flash to Angel and Buffy kissing) Eventually the two of them, - well, they get fleshy with one another. Well, I guess the technical term is perfect happiness. But when our boy gets there, (Flash to dream sequence form Amends) he goes bad again. He kills again. It’s ugly. So when he gets his soul back for the second time, he figures hey, he can’t be any where near Miss young puppy eyes without endangering them both. So what does he do? He takes off. (Flash to Angel walking away in G2) Goes to LA. (Doyle picks up a Kn*fe) To fight evil - and atone for his crimes. He’s a shadow, - a faceless champion of the hapless human race. – Say you wouldn’t have a beer of any kind in here, would you?" Angel: "No." Doyle: "Come on, you must have something besides pig’s blood!" Angel get up off the sofa: "Okay. You’ve told me the story of my life, but since I was there, I already knew. So why aren’t I kicking you out?" Doyle looks into the refrigerator that holds two bags of blood: "Because now I’m going to tell you what happens next. You see this vampire, he thinks he’s helping. Fighting the demons. Staying away from the human’s so as not to be tempted. Doing penance in his little - cell. But he’s cut off. From every thing. From the people he’s trying to help." Angel: "I still save ‘em. Who cares if I don’t stop to chat." Doyle: "When was the last time you drank blood?" Angel whispers: "Buffy." Doyle: "Left you with a bit of a craving, didn’t it? Let me tell you something, pal, that craving is going to grow and one day soon one of those helpless victims that you don’t really care about is going to look way too appetizing to turn down. And you’ll figure hey! what’s one against all I’ve saved? Might as well eat them. I’m still ahead by the numbers!" Doyle: "You know I’m parched from all this yakking, man. Let’s go treat me to a Billy Dee." Cut to Angel and Doyle walking on the street. Doyle carrying a bottle in a brown paper bag: "It’s not all about fighting and gadgets and stuff. It’s about reaching out to people, showing them that there’s love and hope still left in the world." Homeless lady comes up and asks him for some change. Doyle (to lady): "Get a job, you lazy sow. (to Angel) It’s about letting them into your heart. It’s not about saving lives; it’s about saving souls. Hey, possibly your own in the process." Angel: "I want to know who sent you." Doyle: "I’m honestly not sure. They don’t speak to me direct. I get - visions. Which is to say great splitting migraines that come with pictures. A name – a face. I don’t know who sends them. I just know whoever sends them is more powerful than me or you, and their just trying to make things right." Angel: "Why me?" Doyle: "Because you’ve got potential. And the balance sheet isn’t exactly in your favor." Angel: "Well why you?" Doyle: "We all got something to atone for. (reaches into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper) Had a vision this morning. When the blinding pain stopped I wrote this down." Angel reads the paper-Tina Coffee Spot "Tina." Doyle: "Nice looking girl, needs help." Angel: "Help with what?" Doyle: "That’s your business. I just take the names." Angel: "I don’t get it. How am I supposed to know…" Doyle: "You’re supposed to get into her life, remember? Get involved. Look, High School’s over, boy. It’s time to make with the grown up talk." Angel: "Why would a woman I’ve never met even talk to me?" Doyle laughs: "Have you looked into a mirror lately? (hesitates) No, I guess you really haven’t, no." Angel: "I’m not good with people." Doyle: "Well that’s the whole point of this little exercise, isn’t it?" Doyle: "Are you game?" Cut to the Coffee Spot, Angel pulls up in his convertible. Cut to Angel is sitting at a table drinking coffee. A waitress is talking to the guy behind the counter. Guy: "Tina, I’ve got to do it by seniority. Everybody wants to work extra hours." Tina: "I know. It’s just - I just need... Well, I’m good for Saturday night. If people want to go out, I’ll double shift or what ever." Guy: "Well, you’re on the list, okay?" Tina: "Thanks." As Tina walks towards Angel’s table he leans forward looking at a white dog next to a table: "Sure is a cute little – (Tina walks by without even noticing him) – doggie?" Angel straightens back up. He tries again as Tina walks by him on her way back: "So, do you… How late are you open?" Tina: "Are you talking to …?" Turns around, knocking a full coffee cup off the table she is standing next to. Angel reaches out and catches it without spilling a drop. Tina: "Wow. Good reflexes." Angel set the cup back down. Tina: "Well, thanks, these come out of my paycheck." Angel stands next to her with his hands in his pockets: "So, you’re, are you – happy?" Tina looks up from clearing the table: "What?" Angel: "Well, you look sort off down." Tina: "You’ve been watching me?" Angel: "No! I was looking towards there – and you kind of walked through – there…" Tina: "You don’t h*t on girls very often, do you?" Angel: "No, it’s been a while. I’m sort off new in town." Tina: "Do yourself a favor: don’t stay." Angel: "You never answered my question." Tina: "Am I happy? Do you have three hours?" Angel: "Do I look busy?" Tina after a b*at: "I get off at ten." Cut to Angel leaning against the side of his convertible wearing a sweater and dark slacks. Tina comes out of the Coffee Spot wearing a black sleeveless evening dress. Angel: "Wow. I suddenly feel underdressed. Did you want to have a drink or something?" Tina pulls a bottle of mace out of her purse and aims it at Angel’s face: "I know who you are and what you’re doing here. Stay the hell away from me. And you tell Russell to leave me alone." Angel: "I don’t know anyone named Russell." Tina: "You’re lying." Angel: "No I’m not." Tina: "Then why were you watching me?" Angel: "Because you looked lonely. - And I figured that we have something in common." Tina looks at him a while longer then lowers her mace: "Oh. I’m sorry." Angel: "That’s okay." Tina: "No it’s not." Angel: "Who’s Russell?" Tina shakes her head and starts to walk past him. Angel: "I’d like to help." Tina: "The only help I need is a ticket home. - And that wasn’t me asking for money." Angel: "Where’s home." Tina: "Missoula, Montana. (Sees Angel’s face) You’ve been to Missoula?" Angel: "During the depression. - Ah, my depression. I-I was depressed there. - It’s pretty country though." Tina: "Lots of open land, lots of nothing else. - I came here to become a movie star. But they weren’t hiring. - Well, I have a fabulous Hollywood party to go to. Hence the glamour. The girl giving it owes my security deposit. - Well, it was nice thr*at you." Angel: "You need a lift?" Cut to the fabulous Hollywood party. Margo is walking around video taping the people there. Angel and Tina enter. Margo: "Tina! Smile for the camera. And who is this hunk of tall, dark and handsome?" Tina: "Just a friend. Margo, I really need to talk to you." Margo: "Uh, grab yourself a drink. I’ll be right there." Tina picks up a star shaped sandwich from the refreshment table: "Cute. Everyone’s a star." Angel: "Who’s Russell?" Tina: "He is someone I made the mistake of trusting." Margo: "Here I am." Tina: "This wont take long." Margo: "I would not leave that one unattended." The two girls leave and Angel wanders around the party looking lost. Oliver walks up to Angel: "You are a beautiful, beautiful man." Angel slightly rattled: "Thanks." Oliver: "You’re an actor." Angel: "No." Oliver hands him his business card: "I’m Oliver. Ask anyone about Oliver. I’m a fierce animal. I’m your agent as soon as you call me." Angel tries to give the card back to him: "I’m not an actor." Oliver: "Funny. I like that. I like the whole thing. Call me. This isn’t a come-on. I’m in a very serious relationship with a landscape architect." Walks off while Angel stares at his card with a frown. Cordelia off screen: "You know, they asked me to come back and read for a third time! I’m and actress. I don’t put up with things like that!" Angel spots her talking to two guys in business suits: "Cordelia?" Cordelia turns and sees him: "Oh, my god. Angel?" Angel: "Nice to see a familiar face." Cordelia: "I didn’t know you were in LA. Are you *living* here?" Angel: "Yeah. You?" Cordelia: "Malibu. A small condo on the beach. It’s not a private beach, but I’m young so I forbear." Angel: "You’re acting?" Cordelia: "Can you believe it? I mean I just started it to make some quick cash, and then boom, it was like my life! - So are you still (holds up her hands like claws and makes a face) – grrr?" Angel: "Yeah, there’s not actually - a cure for that." Cordelia: "Right. But you’re not evil, I mean your not here to bite people?" Angel: "No, I’m here with a friend." Cordelia: "Oh, good. Well, it was nice seeing you, but I've got to get mingly. I really should be talking to people that *are* somebody." Walks away. Angel to himself: "It’s nice that she’s grown as a person." Walks around, sees a black haired guy talking to Tina. Stacy: "Russell just wants to see you." Tina: "Leave me alone!" Walks over to Angel. Tina: "Of course she doesn’t have the money yet." Angel: "Who’s that?" Tina: "Stacy? He’s just a creep. Can we please go?" Angel: "Yeah." Cut to the elevator opening on the parking garage of the hotel. Angel and Tina step out. Three guys run up. One grabs Tina, the other two tackle Angel. They fall back into the elevator and the door closes just as Stacy steps out of the elevator next to it. Stacy: "Hey, hey. Okay, he just wants to see you, that’s all." Tina quits struggling: "Okay, no problem." They walk through the doors into the parking garage and Tina runs. The two guys soon catch her and they all get into a Mercedes Sedan. Angel comes out of the elevator, leaving the two guys behind unconscious. He runs into the parking garage, sees the Sedan. He enters his convertible in a heroic jump. The keys won’t fit. He looks around. An identical convertible is parked four spots further down. Angel: "Damn it!" Gets out of the car. Cut to Angel driving for a head-on collision with the Sedan. The driver of the sedan chickens out and rams into one of the parked cars instead. Angel gets out of the car and kicks the car door of the sedan to slam into the driver standing behind it, grabs his p*stol away from him. He aims the p*stol at Stacy who has gotten out of the back. Stacy holding his hands up: "Whoever you are, you don’t want to get involved here, trust me." Angel: "Tina, get in the car." She does. Stacy: "You know what? I don’t think you’re going to pull that trigger." Angel drops him with a hard left: "Good call." Drops the g*n and gets in his car. Tina: "Nice party, huh?" Angel: "A little too fabulous for me." Drives off. Cut to Cordelia’s apartment. It’s really poor. There are plaster patches on dirty yellow walls. She is hanging up her dress in a bare closet. Answering machine: "You have one new message." Agent on the machine. "Cordy, Joe at the Agency. No Luck, again. We’re having trouble booking auditions. The networks say they’ve seen enough of you. So, you know, no need to call. We’ll let you know if the situation changes. Bye." Cordelia takes out some of the star shaped sandwiches that she stashed away at the party with a sigh Answering machine: "You have no more messages." Cut to Angel’s apartment. Teakettle whistles. Tina is rummaging through her bag. Tina: "My Girl Scout training. I can live out of this bag for days if I have to." Angel in the kitchen: "I’ve made some tea." Tina: "Thanks." Angel: "Do you take milk and sugar?" Tina: "Yeah." Angel: "Because I don’t have those things. - I don’t get a lot of visitors." Tina looks at the w*apon hanging on the walls: "At least not ones you like." Angel hands her the tea mug: "I have relationship issues, too." Tina: "I guess this is the part were you comfort me? Not like you didn’t earn it." Angel: "No, this is the part where you have a safe place to stay while we figure things out." Tina: "You mean you don’t want…" Angel: "You have enough people taking advantage right now." Tina tries to keep from crying: "Boy, are you in the wrong town." Sits on the bed. Angel hands her a dishtowel to dry her tears and sit down next to her. Angel: "Russell have a last name?" Tina: "Yeah, but you don’t need to know it. You’ve done enough already." Tina: "He’s the kind of guy that can get away with m*rder." Angel: "Who did he m*rder?" Tina: "I don’t know. Maybe nobody. - He likes - he likes pain. I mean he really does. He talks about it like it was a friend. And you don’t leave him, he tells you when he’s had enough. I knew this girl, Denise, she tried to get away. She disappeared of the face of the earth. - He finds you." Angel: "Not anymore." Cut to Angel pulling up the blanket over a sleeping Tina. He takes her address book out of her purse and looks up Denise Perkins name. Cut to the library. Angel is running a search on three different computers. One brings up an article on a Denise with a picture of a rose tattoo on her left shoulder. Another is a crime report on other missing young women. Then there is a coroner's report with a close-up of a rose tattoo like the one the actress had. Cut to Angel walking through the sewers, subway noises in the background. He hears someone moaning. He quickly climbs up through a trap door just in front of the bed Tina is lying on. He grabs her and tries to wake her form her nightmare. She grabs a hold of him while he tries to calm her down. Tina: "He was here." Angel: "I’m here." Angel: "Did your friend Denise have a tattoo on her left shoulder?" Tina: "She had a rose." Angel: "I think she *was* m*rder. And there were others. He picks girls with no family, no one to care." Tina pulls away from him. Angel: "Look you don’t have to be afraid. Your safe here." Tina points over his shoulder at Doyle’s note laying on the sofa table: "Why do you have that? - You knew who I was when you walked in there last night?" Tina starts to pack her things. Angel stands up: "No, I didn’t. I just -I had your name that’s all, all right? Look. It’s complicated." Tina: "Yeah, I’m sure. Big complicated game that Russell’s playing with my head. How much is he paying you?" Angel: "He’s not." Tina: "You’re just like him. You stay away from me." She runs out of the apartment. She runs through the office to the doors leading out. Sun is shining through the windows in the doors. As she leaves the office Angel grabs her arm. Angel: "Please, listen…" She tries to get away and pulls him towards the doors. Direct sunlight hits his arm and it goes up in flame. As Tina stares in horror Angel vamps out. She runs out the doors. Angel moves to follow but stops when he starts smoking again in the sunlight. Cut to Tina’s apartment building. Tina is packing. She picks up a revolver from a drawer and spins around aiming it right at Russell. Tina: "Russell." Russell: "I’ve been looking everywhere for you. And here you are right under my nose. Oh, I own the building, most of the block. (smiles at her) Are you going to point that g*n at me all day?" Tina: "What did you do to Denise?" Russell: "Nothing." Tina: "I want the truth, Russell." Russell: "She wanted to go home, I bought her a ticket to Pensacola." Tina: "She’s d*ad." Russell: "What do you mean? She called me yesterday. She said she’s going back to school, she wanted me to pull some strings." Russell: "Look, we both know that I live outside of the box, but I don’t go around k*lling my friends! - If this about LA. If you need rent. You know I only want to help you." Takes the g*n from her. Russell: "Just tell me what you want." Tina looks down, crying: "I want to go home." Russell smiling: "Done." Strokes her cheek as she cries. Russell: "Poor thing. Who’s been spinning your head like this?" Tina: "I don’t know. I thought you hired him. He turned into something. It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever seen." Russell vamps out: "Well, you’re young." Tina gasps in shock and he leans in to bite her. Cut to Angel running up to her apartment. He opens the door and walks in to find her laying d*ad on the floor. He touches the bite marks on her neck then looks at the blood on his fingers. Cut to the Coroners zipping Tina up in a body bag. Camera pulls back to reveal Angel watching the scene from a neighboring roof. Cut to Angel steeping out of the elevator into his apartment. Angel: "The guy’ trying to take her at the party was called Stacy." Doyle: "First name or last?" Angel: "I don’t know. Professional muscle, probably done some time." Doyle: "I can ask around." Angel grabs a phone book: "Great. Start with the car. Grey ’87 Black Mercedes 300E, going to need some serious work on the bumper. Call the chop shops." Doyle: "I know a couple that ain’t in the book, too." Angel: "The guy in the car leads me to Stacy. Stacy leads me to Russell." Doyle: "You couldn’t have known she was going to run out on you like that." Angel: "Forget it. Let’s get to work." Doyle: "You can’t cut yourself off from…" Angel: "Doyle, I don’t want to share my feelings, I don’t want to open up. I want to find Russell and I want to look him in the eye." Doyle: "Then what?" Angel: "Then I’m going to share my feelings." Cut to Russell’s huge white Mansion. There are dark suited security guys patrolling the premises and uniformed maids in the halls. Russell is watching a video tape of Margo’s party while listening to his lawyer’s report. Lawyer: "Mr. Winter, the Eltron merger is a go. They caved on everything after you negotiated with their CFO. We’ll bring the papers by your office tomorrow." Russell is looking at pictures of Tina at the party: "She had something, didn’t she?" Tina smiles into the camera and waves. Russell: "I was sorry to k*ll her so soon." Lawyer: "Actually, you haven’t seen her in several week. (opens briefcase and takes out a paper) You were in a conference yesterday with your contract lawyers when the unfortunate incident occurred. And we’ve located a witness that is telling police that saw a dark complected man with blood on his hands fleeing the scene." Russell: "Impressive." Lawyer: "Wolfram&Hart is a full service law firm, Mr. Winters. It is our job - to see to it that our clients lives run more smoothly." Russell sees a picture of Cordelia: "Who is this? (gets up) A fresh face. - I think we should meet." Lawyer: "Should I alert the firm that this young lady may constitute another long-term investment?" Russell: "I don’t think so. I just want something to eat." Cut to Stacy’s Gym Supplies. Stacy is talking to a guy when the store window is shattered by a trashcan swung by angel. Cut to Angel pushing Stacy down on a weight bench. Angel: "Where does he live, how much security does he have?" Stacy: "Listen Hot sh*t. What ever she was to you, you better forget it. You have no idea who you’re dealing with here." Angel: "Russell? Let me guess. Not big on the daylight and the mirrors? Drinks a lot of V-8?" Stacy: "You get in his way, he’ll k*ll you. He’ll k*ll everyone you care about." Angel: "There is nobody left that I care about.’ Cut to Cordelia’s apartment she is sitting in the Lotus position with her eyes closed. Cordelia: "I am somebody. I matter. People will be drawn to my positive energy and help me to achieve my goals. I am right where I am supposed to be (she falls forward to the bed face down) and not dying for something to eat!" The telephone rings. Cordy jumps up and grabs it. Cordelia: "Hello, Cordelia Chase." Margo pouring herself a drink: "Cor, it’s Margo. You were such a h*t at my party last night." Cordelia: "Oh, thanks!" Margo: "Guess who saw my videotape of the party and guess who wants to meet with you." (pours out some pills) Cordelia: "A director? A manager? An assistant to an assistant who wants to spring for lunch?" Margo washing down the pills with her drink: "Russell winters." Cordelia: "The investment guy?" Margo: "Oh, oh, Cordelia. He is a lot more than that. He helps people get started in their careers. And he wants to meet you – tonight." Cordelia: "Tonight?" Margo: "He’ll send a Limo for you at 8." Cut to Angel’s apartment. Angel is filling up a black bag with w*apon. Doyle: "Wow, you’re really going to w*r here. - I guess you – ah - you’ve seen a few in your time, yeah?" Angel: "14, not including Vietnam. They never declared it." Cut to Cordelia riding in the Limo. Cordelia: "People will be attracted to my positive energy and help me achieve my goals. Oh, yeah!" Limo drives through a big metal gate onto the grounds of Russell’s mansion. Cut to Angel’s apartment. Doyle: "Well, listen, best of luck to you man. (slaps Angel’s shoulder) I’ve got some fairly large coin riding on the Vikings tonight, but I’ll be there with you in spirit, yeah?" Angel: "You’re driving." Doyle: "Now wait a minute. Nah-a, I’m not combat ready. I’m just the messenger!" Angel throws him the w*apon bag: "And I’m the message." Cut to Cordelia following a butler through Russell’s huge foyer. They enter one of the rooms. Russell get up to greet her: "I’m Russell. Thank you so much for coming. (to butler) that’ll be all Franklin. We’d like to be alone." Cordelia: "Wow, what a nice place. I love your curtains. Not afraid to emphasize the curtains." Russell: "Well, I have old fashioned tastes." Cordelia: "I grew up in a nice home. It wasn’t like this, but we did have a room or two that we didn’t even know what they were for. – Until the IRS got all huffy about my folks not paying taxes for, well, ever. They took it all." Russell: "Margo tells me you’re an actress. It’s going well?" Cordelia sits down: "Oh… Yeah, it’s great! I’ve had a lot of opportunities. The hands in the liquid-gel commercial were almost mine, by one or two girls. And well… - It’s not everything – I…" Cut to Angel’s convertible driving up to the gate. Angel gets out to talk to the guard throwing the keys to Doyle. Angel: "How’re you doing. I think we’re lost. We are looking for a Roscomere. What are you watching? Is that the game? (leans into the guard booth) The Vikings on?" Drops the guard with a hard right, then pulls the cable form the security camera pointing at the gate. Takes off his light jacket and shirt and throws them in the car. He’s dressed all in black now. Gets out his bag of w*apon. Angel: "Tie him up. I’m out in ten minutes or I’m not coming out." Cut to Cordelia. Cordelia: "I’ve tried really hard, you know. Usually when I set out to achieve something I succeed at it, right away. - but I… I don’t know anybody, and I don’t really have any friends here." Russell: "Now you know me. You don’t have to worry anymore." Cordelia looks down then back up at him: "What do you want me to do?" Russell steps closer: "Just tell me what you want." Cordelia: "Oh, god. I’m sorry! I’m getting all weepy in front of you. I probably look really scary. (gets up and looks around the room) I finally get invited to a nice place – with no mirrors, - and lots of curtains… hey, you’re a vampire!" Russell: "What? No, I’m not." Cordelia: "Are too!" Russell: "I don’t know what you’re talking about." Cordelia: "Hey, I’m from Sunnydale. We had our own Hellmouth! I think I know a vampire when I’m - alone with him… - in his fortress-like home. And you know, I think I’m just feeling a little light headed from hunger. I’m just wacky. And kidding! Ha, ha." Cut to Angel setting an expl*sive charge with a 30 second timer on the fuse box. Russell: "Truth is, I’m glad you know. It means we can skip the formalities." Russell vamps out and Cordelia turns to run. Cut to Angel throwing a grappling hook up to the balcony. Cut to him jumping over the balcony railing. Cut to Doyle sitting in the car, checking his watch. Cut to Cordelia running up the white marble stairs. Russell grabs her with a growl. Cut to the fuse box bl*wing. Cut to Russell looking up as the lights suddenly go out. He lets go of Cordy. Angel: "Russell Winters." Cordelia: "Angel?" Angel slowly steps out of the dark at the end of the open landing: "I have a message for you – from Tina." Russell: "You made a very big mistake coming here." Cordelia: "You don’t know who he is, do you? Oh, boy! You are about to get your ass kicked!" Angel pulls out a stake and att*cks Russell. They are pretty evenly matched. After some back and forth Russell manages to throw Angel down. Cordelia: "Angel?" Angel looks up and sees to bodyguards with drawn g*n charging up the stairs. He waits until they are all on the runner he is laying on the pulls it out form under all three of his opponents as he gets up. Russell: "k*ll them!" Angel takes a sh*t in the chest then turns to pick up Cordelia. While more b*ll*ts h*t him in the back he jumps over the banister to the floor below. Cordelia: "Angel! Ah!" They run out the front door. Cut to Doyle jumping in his seat as he hears the g*n. Doyle: "That’s it. I’m gone!" Backs out of the driveway and speeds down the road. Doyle hits the steering wheel: "Come on. Damn it!" Turns the car around and charges the gate, screaming and hitting the steering wheel. The car hits – and stops, the gate still closed. Doyle: "It’s - a good gate." Cut to Angel and Cordelia coming up to the car. Angel is hunched over; the front of the car is dented and steaming. Doyle: "You know, I’ve had a bit of an accident, but we’ll talk later…" Cordelia gets into the passenger seat while Angel falls into the back seat. Cut to Angel’s apartment. Doyle is digging the b*llet out of Angel’s chest. Doyle: "Got it!" Cordelia: "Finally! I thought I was going to faint while barfing! Okay. (she dabs at the wound with a piece of gauze and Angel flinches) Sorry. So, it’s over, right? We’re going to be okay. You put the fear of god into that Russell guy. (tapes a piece of gauze over the b*ll*ts hole) He’s not going to come looking for me, right?" They all just look at each other. Cut to Russell Winters big corporate building. Cut to his office. He is sitting at the head of the table with about ten other guys in suits sitting around it. Lawyer: "The Eltron mutual trust binder is ready for your signature. As to the intruder that broke into your home last night, local authorities have no information on him. However we have several top private investigators…(the doors burst open and Angel walks in) that are looking into his where-abouts." Russell: "I believe we’ve located him." Lawyer stand up and bars Angel’s way: "I’m with Wolfram&Hart. (hands him a business card) Mr. Winters has never been accused and shall never be convicted of any crime – ever. Should you continue to harass our client, we will be forced to bring you into the light of day. (Angel walks past him looking at Winters) I place, I’m told, that isn’t all that healthy for you." Russell: "Angel. - We do things a certain way here in LA." Angel: "Well, I’m new here." Russell: "But you’re a civilized man. We don’t have to go around attacking each other. Look at me: I pay my taxes. I keep my name out of the paper, and I don’t make waves. And in return I can so anything I want!" Angel puts one foot on the chair between Russell’s legs and leans forward: "Really. Hmm. Can you fly?" Pushes the chair backwards into the wall of windows behind Russell. Russell crashes through the window. He falls down screaming, catches f*re and turns to dust. Angel hears the scream cut off: "Hmm. I guess not." Walks out sticking the lawyer’s business card into the front pocket of his jacket. Cut to the empty chair and glass hitting the side walk. Lawyer pulls out his cell phone: "Set up an interoffice meeting for 4:00. Seems we have a new player in town. - No, no, there is any need to disturb the senior partners with this. Not yet." Cut to Angel sitting in his apartment staring at the phone. He picks it up and dials a number. Buffy’s voice on the phone: "Hello? Hello?" Angel hangs up the phone. Doyle walks in: "What happened to Russell?" Angel: "He went into the light." Doyle: "And yet you don’t seem to be in a celebrating mood." Angel: "I k*lled a vampire. I didn’t help anybody." Doyle: "Are you sure about that? Because there is a girl upstairs that’s as happy as can be." There is a scream. Both men jump up and rush upstairs. They burst into the office upstairs, Angel carefully avoiding the sun streaming in through the windows. Cordelia with a duster in her hand: "Ah! Look over there! A cockroach! In the corner. I think it’s a bantam weight!" Cordelia to Angel: "Okay, first thing. We need to call an exterminator – and a sign painter. We should have a name on the door!" Angel: "Okay. I’m confused." Cordelia: "Doyle filled me in on your little mission. So I was just saying, if we’re going to help people, maybe a small charge. You know, something to help pay the rent, and my salary. You need somebody to organize things, and you’re not exactly rolling in it Mr. I-was-alive-for-200-years-and-never-developed-an-investment-portfolio." Angel: "You want to charge people?" Cordelia: "Well, not everybody. But sooner or later we are going to have to help some rich people, right? Right?" Doyle: "Possibly, yeah." Cordelia (to Angel): "Hand me that box. So I think that we should charge based on a case-by-case analysis, but with me working for a flat fee. – I mean, um…that is, - if you think that you can use me?" After a moment angel hands her the box with a smile. Cordelia: "Of course this is just temporary - until my inevitable stardom takes affect." She takes the box from him and walks away with a smile. Doyle: "You’ve made a good choice. She’ll provide a connection to the world. She’s got a very – humanizing influence." Angel with a half smile: "You think she’s a Hottie." Doyle: "Yeah, she’s a stiffener alright, I can’t lie about that. But, you know, she could use a hand." Angel: "True." Doyle: "You know there’s a lot of people in this city that need helping." Angel: "Hmm. So I noticed." Doyle: "You game?" Cut to nighttime LA superimposed over their faces. Cut to Angel looking out over the city. Angel: "I’m game." BLACK OUT.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x01 - City of.."}

foreverdreaming

Angel sits alone in the dark in his office. Doyle comes in and turns the light on, causing Angel to blink form the sudden light. Doyle: "Hey, you know, maybe we should go over this thing again of you getting out in the world and involving yourself with people. It’s Friday night. It’s the most social night of the week! A couple of lookers like us should be out there enjoying the nightlife. Not sitting here in the dark like some kind of…" Angel: "… some kind of vampire?" Doyle: "Well, yeah. - I was going to say Slacker, but, yeah, to you, Mr. Obvious. - You got to come out, man!" Angel: "Why?" Doyle: "Because we deserve a night of fun, don’t you think? I mean, it breaks up those nights of death and mayhem. Plus we could toast the new business, you know, the three of us." (whistles tilting his head towards the outer office) Angel, getting up: "Yeah, Doyle, if you want to ask Cordelia out, just do it yourself." Doyle: "I don’t even know if she likes me, man, unless you put a word in for me, you know, just tell her what a great guy I am!" Angel: "I barely know you." Doyle: "Perfect. That should make it easier for you then." Cordelia, walking in the outer office: "Hello." Doyle: "You know, I am… when you’re talking me up to her, don’t let her in on that me being half demon. Because, you know, women can be a little funny about that." Cordelia, walking in: "They’re finally in." Doyle, to Angel: "There in." Doyle goes to stand next to Cordy. Angel: "Okay…?" Cordelia: "Your cards." Doyle: "The cards." Cordelia: "Your calling cards to leave with people so they know how to reach you." Doyle: "Great idea! Calling cards. It’s not like you have a signal folks can shine in the sky when ever they need help, you know?" Angel, taking a card: “Hey, look at that, there is our number. It’s right next to a... a um... a... a butterfly ?” Doyle, looking at Cordy’s face then back down at the card he is holding: "It’s obviously not a butterfly, you idiot. It’s a... a bird. No, no, wait, it’s an owl. A... a bird that hunts at night. Brilliant! It’s a... a..." Cordelia: "It’s an angel!" Angel: "An angel. Right. It’s an angel!" Doyle, to Cordy: "Brilliant. So obvious and so clever on so many levels... " Cordy: "Oh, shut up!" She hits Doyle in the chest with the back of her hand. Doyle, doubling over with pain: "Oh, jeez…" Cordy taken a back: "Come on, don’t be such a baby. I barely h*t you." Doyle moans and kicks the desk then falls back, throwing the cards up in the air. Angel, jumping to grab him: "He, hey, hey, Doyle!" (Flash to out of focus scenes of a dance club.) Angel: "Are you okay, man ?" Doyle: "Yeah, I’m okay." Angel: "What did you see ? What did you see ?" Doyle: "It’s a bar. Uh, I think I recognize it. It’s one of those terminally... stuck-in-the-eighties places." Angel: "Yeah, and ?" Doyle: "That’s it. No faces popped out at me, man. Just, just a feelin’" Cordy: "What feeling ?" Doyle: "Something’s gonna happen." Angel, after a b*at: "Looks like you got your wish. Looks like we’re going out after all." ***** Cut to the entrance of a nightclub named D’oblique. ***** A girl with long blond hair sits at the bar looking unhappy. A dark haired guy comes up to her and points at the empty stool next to her. Kevin: "May I ?" Sharon: "What ? Oh, sure, sure." Kevin: "Kevin." Sharon: "Sharon." Kevin: "God, I just hate places like this, don’t you ?" *Intro.* ***** Cut to the bar. ***** Kevin and Sharon have moved to a table. Kevin: "When I was a kid I thought: you grow up, you meet *her*, and everything sort of falls into place." Sharon: "Yeah, I had that... Only I had a him, where you had a her. Actually I just had a Ken and Barbie." Kevin: "Ken and Barbie had it easy. They never had to come to places like this. But you’ve got to try. I mean, what if she was here and you missed her because you were – I don’t know – too b*rned out to still believe ? - You know what I mean ?" Sharon, nodding: "I know exactly what you mean. You have to believe that someday you’re going to meet someone special." Kevin: "I think I have... Oh, god. I can’t believe I just said that! I mean, I think you’re special... but it just sounded so... " Sharon: "No, it sounded nice... Kevin." (Camera pans to Angel, Cordy and Doyle coming down the steps leading into the club.) Cordy: "Ooh, classy! - Okay, now what ?" Angel: "All right. Look, let’s split up. Look for someone that might be in trouble." Doyle: "Or for something that’s about to cause it." Cordelia hands Angel a couple of his new calling cards and they split up. Angel steps up to the bar. Bartender: "What can I get you ?" Angel: "Um, I’m just wondering, have you noticed anything unusual tonight ?" Bartender: "Unusual ?" Angel: "Yeah, you know,... out of the ordinary... possibly even... dangerous ?" Bartender: "Don’t worry. It’s early yet. The real hot women don’t mosey in until around 11:00." Cut to Cordelia walking up to a black guy and handing him a calling card. Cordelia: "Hi! If you’re in trouble, just call this number. We can help !" She moves on to a couple sitting at a table. Cordelia, handing a card to the girl: "Hi. Being harassed by someone or something ? Just dial us up, day or night. (to the guy) You look troubled. Are you troubled... or is that just your lazy eye ?... Anyway, call us, we are very discreet. (moving on to the next table) Hi, how are you ?" Doyle grabs her and pulls her away form them. Doyle: "Hey, hey, hey ! This isn’t a marketing seminar here, princess. You’ve got to stay a bit more below radar." Cordelia: "What radar ?" Doyle: "The police ? You know the service our friend Angel provides... might put some people in mind of the V-word." Cordelia: "Vampire ?" Doyle: "No, Vigilante. You know there are laws against this. You need to chat people up a little more casual like. You know, hi, what’s your name? How’s life treatin’ ye ? What’s that you say ? Minions from hell gettin’ you down ?" Cordelia: "I’m an actress, a student of the human animal. I don’t need to talk to people to know their story. (turning to point at guy dancing) You see jazz-hands over there ? Mama’s boy. Peter Pan complex. (pointing at a short haired blonde) Self-absorbed closet-dud, with a big ‘the world owes me’ chip on her shoulder. (pointing to Sharon leaving with Kevin) Check out Sarah-plain-and-tall. Has or comes from big money." Doyle: "How do you know all that ?" Cordelia: "Well, you’ve got to be rich to snag the Calvin Kline model she’s leaving with." Doyle: "Yeah, well, they’re all riveting insights and such, but we need to find someone that’s in trouble ?" Cordelia: "How’s Angel doing ?" Cut to Angel standing by the bar. A guy is walking away from him shaking his head. Angel: "No seriously, I wasn’t hitting on you !" He massages the bridge of his nose with a sigh and leans back against the bar. Blond girl sitting at the bar with a drink: "Are you okay ?" Angel: "What ?" Girl: "No, no, nothing... Sorry." Angel: "No. Am I okay ?" Girl: "Well you just looked... bad... Not that you look bad, you look very nice... I think I’m just going to have my drink." Angel: "Thanks." Girl: "For thinking you look bad, or thinking you look good ?" Angel: "You choose... I’m Angel." Girl: "I’m... I’m Kate." Kate: "So do you come here a lot ?" Angel: "First time. It’s really... " Kate: "Easy ? Yeah. I prefer those cool bars that are hard to get into, but I can’t get into them... Anyway, this is close to home... So, did you... did you just stop in ?" Angel: "I’m sort of looking for someone." Kate: "I’m sorry, if am I keeping you..." Angel: "No, no, no, I’m just looking for someone to... rescue ?... Are you maybe in need of some... rescuing ?" Kate, staring at him in disbelief: "Well that’s the strangest line I’m going to hear tonight." Angel: "No, it’s not a line. I’m..." Kate: "Oh, I didn’t mean... That was harsh." Angel: "No, hey, you know... I’m not very good at this... talking." Kate: "Well, I’m the expert. I’m sure you can see... Well, the answer is no, I don’t need rescuing... I gave up on the knight in shining armor concept a while ago... Anyway I don’t expect to find him here at the international house of posers." Angel: "People can surprise you." Kate: "I sound like a big hypocrite, don’t I ? Ragging on this place, I still come here most every night... How else are you going to meet somebody outside of work ? It’s either this, or sit at home alone in the dark." Angel, looking at the ceiling: "Hmm. Wouldn’t want that." Kate: "So... what do you do ?" Angel: "Do ?" Kate: "For a living.” Angel: "I... ah... well, basically I... um... I help... I’m a veterinarian." Kate: "Really... Well, I always say a man that loves animals, is a man you can trust." Cut to Cordelia and Doyle. Doyle: “So you got everyone figured out, huh ?” Cordelia: “Not everyone. I mean you I don’t get.” Doyle: “Me ?” Cordelia: “Yeah, I mean, what’s with those vision things of yours ?” Doyle: “They’re messages I get, you know from the higher powers, whoever they may be. You know, it’s my gift !” Cordelia: “If that was my gift, I’d return it. I mean you get those headaches, and you do this bleh thing with your face.” Doyle, downing a drink: “What thing with my face ?” Cordelia: “Plus, your visions are kind of lame. A bar ? That’s nice and vague ! I mean they should send you one of those self-destructing tapes, you know, that come with a dossier ?” Doyle: “Well, I’m sure to mention it...” Blond guy, coming up holding a calling card: “Hey, you’re the one handing out those cards ?” Cordelia: “Do you need help ?” Blond guy: “Well, I was wondering if that is really your number. Do you mind if I ring you up some time for a date ?” Doyle: “Yeah, she minds.” Cordelia, putting a hand on Doyle’s chest: “I can handle this, ok ? (to guy) Yes, I mind. This is a business card. We offer our services to people in need.” Blond guy: “Well, I might be in need of a little service. You charge by the hour ?” Cordelia: “Excuse me ?” Doyle: “Alright. Just everyone relax here a little bit. The Lady is with me, all right ?” Cordelia: “No, I’m not.” Blond guy: “Hey, nobody is talking to you, wipe.” Cut to Angel and Kate sitting at the bar. Kate: “I guess I just... I just have a hard time, you know... trusting people. Male people particularly. In a place like this, it’s not like anyone is just going to come up to you and show you who they really are. Every body is too busy to get,... I don’t know... what ever it is they are looking for.” Angel: “What are you looking for ?” Kate: “Depends on how many Daiquiris I’ve had. Oh, god, way to come off like a drunken slut. Slut’s better then a hypocrite though, right ? I’m moving up.” Angel: “Kind of hard on yourself.” Kate: “That’s me a self-flagellating-hypocrite-slut. What was your question ?” Angel: “What are you looking for ?” Kate: “I guess I’m just trying to make a connection. The more I come to places like this the harder it gets... What about you ?” Angel, with a sigh: “I honestly don’t know. But I’ll know it when I see it.” Kate: “Would you ?... I’m sorry. Forget it.” Angel: “What ?” Kate: “I was just going to ask you... if you would like to go some place... more quiet.” Angel: “Um, I can’t... I have got to stay here.” Kate: “Right.” Angel: “I would…” Kate: “No, that’s okay.” Cut to Doyle, Cordy and the blond guy. Doyle: “Listen, I don’t want any trouble, okay ?” Guy#2, coming up: “Hey, what’s the trouble ?” Doyle: “No, trouble. Did I not just get through saying that we don’t want any trouble? We are trouble-free, okay ?” Blond guy: “Turns out, she’s a hooker and her pimp here is giving me a hard time.” Cordelia: “That’s it !” Doyle: “Down, Cord…” Cordelia: “Did you hear what he just said about me ?” Doyle: “Everyone just simmer down here, okay ? v*olence isn’t going to solve a thing here. (steps forward and head-buts the blond guy) On the other hand it is kind of festive.” The three guys start fighting. Cordelia: “Oh, my gosh!” The bartender comes up to break up the fight and guy#2 hits him in the face. Cordelia: “Oh, my god!” Angel comes up and grabs the chair away from the blond guy as he gets ready to h*t Doyle with it. He uses the chair to block the blond guy’s punches, then throws him into the wall. Both guys go up against Angel but he holds them off easily. Then he and Doyle throw them into a pile and the bartender steps between them. Cordelia, pointing to the two guys: “Those two jerks started it !” When they start to protest the bartender cuts them off Bartender: “Not a word. Not a word ! Every time with you guys. Out ! Come on. Lets go !” As the bartender ushers the two guys out, a starry eyed princess-Leia-type-of-girl walks up to Angel and Doyle. Girl: “Wow, are you okay ?” Doyle, holding the side of his head: “Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.” The girl ignores him and smiles up at Angel. Angel, looking around for a moment: “Yeah,... ah... I’m... I'm okay... Are you okay ?” Girl, walking over to the bar with a smirk: “Well, now. That’s for you to find out.” Angel, following her after a b*at: “No, I... I mean, I’d really like to know. .. So how do you want to do this... twenty questions ?” Cut to Kate disappointedly watching Angel talk to the girl. Cut to Angel and the girl. She’s laughing. Angel: “So... Marcie from Barstow. That doesn’t even rhyme or anything.” Angel watches Kate leave. Girl: “It’s wild, us meeting over a bar fight. Isn’t it great when two people make a connection?” ***** Cut to Kevin's apartment. ***** Sharon and Kevin lay in bed next to each other. Sharon doesn’t look exactly happy. Sharon: “It’s late...” Kevin: “Yeah.” Sharon: “I should probably...” Kevin: “I know.” Sharon, sitting up: “Well...” Kevin, sitting up too and reaching for her: “Well, if you have to leave, I understand, but I’d just like to hold you.” Kevin wraps his arms around her form behind with a sigh. ***** Cut to the empty bar. ***** Angel, Doyle and Cordy sit around a table. Angel: “You know, I’m having a hard time believing that Doyle’s vision meant I was supposed to come here to break up a bar fight.” Doyle: “Yeah, well, if it was, I’m in for some serious workman’s comp.” Angel: “Alright think. Could either one of you sense that anyone here tonight need help?” Cordelia: “Yeah, everybody.” Angel: “This socializing thing is brutal. I mean, I was young once,... I used to go to bars. It wasn’t anything like this.” Doyle: “I used to go to taverns. Small towns, where everybody used to know each other.” Cordelia: “Yeah, like High-school. It was easy to date there. We all had so much in common. Being monster food every other week for instance.” Doyle: “Well, you’re in the big, bad city now, huh? Where everyone’s a stranger - hiding behind walls, keeping secrets.” Bartender, coming up to the table: “Sorry folks, got to kick you out now.” Cordelia: “Sure. (to Angel) I guess the single life’s particularly tough on you.” Angel: “Why ?” Cordelia: “Well, a couple of hundred years ago all you had to worry about was a hang over. Today, because of your curse thingy, - you can’t sleep with anyone... or else you might feel a moment of true happiness, lose your soul, become evil again, and... k*ll everyone.” Angel: “Thanks Cordelia, I always appreciate your perspective.” Cordelia: “No problem. Hey, the last thing I want is to show up at the office and find that I’m working for a homicidal monster.” They get up and leave. Cut to Sharon sitting on the edge of the bed. Kevin lays on the bed behind her, looking b*at-up and d*ad. Cut to Cordelia sitting in front of a computer, Doyle is looking through some news papers. Doyle: “This is completely whacked, man. I don’t even know what I’m looking for anymore.” Angel, coming to stand behind Cordelia: “You’re looking for any events in and around that bar.” Cordelia: “Okay, I’m in the news group search engine. Now what is the name of that place again ?” Angel: “D’oblique. Capital D, apostrophe, o-b-l-i…” Cordelia: “Not so fast. Okay, Capital D,... apostrophe, apostrophe, apostrophe,... oh, I got it. Okay... Now what’s after that again ?” Doyle, getting up and walking up the keyboard: “You know, I need a break. Let me... ah... let me get in here.” He turns the keyboard towards him and starts typing really fast. Angel: “How’d you pick up computer skills?” Cordelia: “Downloading pictures of naked women ?” Doyle: “Well, that’s more or less accurate. - Hello ! We’ve got two hits.” He clicks on the first one. Angel: “Look at that. Search continues for Heather Nolan. Missing since late last month the 24-year-old paralegal that vanished after leaving a downtown bar called D’oblique.” Cordelia: “Missing girl. That’s sounds a little more up your alley.” Angel: “What’s the second one say ?” Doyle: “Badly mutilated body found in the dumpster nearly three weeks ago, described by the coroner’s office as eviscerated, has been positively identified as that of 28-year-old Martin Haber, last seen with an unidentified female companion at D’oblique, a trendy singles establishment.” Angel: “That’s it then. Probably a lot more disappearances that the press hasn’t traced back to the bar yet.” Doyle: “So, we got a missing girl and a stiff.” Angel: “An eviscerated stiff. Go downstairs and use the library. Try to narrow down a list of eviscerating demons, ones that might have reasons to prey on young singles.” Cordelia: “Where are you going ?” Angel: “To the bar. To see if I can meet a k*ller.” ***** Cut to front of D'Oblique. ***** Angel walks up in front of the club, staring at the ground lost in his thoughts he runs into another person, literally. Angel: “Oh, excuse me.” Kate: “Well, hello.” Angel: “Hi,... Kate... Uh,... I’m glad to see you again.” Kate: “Really…” Angel: “Yeah,... I owe you an apology... for last night.” Kate: “You don’t owe me anything.” Angel: “No, it was rude." Kate: “Okay, then… maybe you can buy me a drink and we can start fresh.” Angel: “I’m not sure that you should go in there tonight.” Kate: “What do you mean ?” Angel: “I’m not sure it’s safe.” Kate: “What’s not safe ?” Angel: “I can’t really explain it.” Kate: “You know I’m having a problem trusting people... and surprise, you’re not making it any better.” Angel: “I’m just asking you not to go in there.” Kate: “And where are you going ?” Angel, after a b*at: “In there.” Kate: “Well, I’ll tell you what: I can go where ever I want and ah,... you can go to hell.” Angel, watching her walk into the bar: “Been there, done that.” ***** Cut to the inside of the bar. ***** Kate walks up to the bar and sits down next to a blond girl talking to a young man. Bartender: “The usual ?” Kate: “Yes.” He sets a tall glass with a straw in front of her. Angel walks in, looks at her back for a moment then blows out a deep breath and settles down at the bar further down. They look at each other for a moment across the people sitting between them, then Kate turns away. Kate, to the blonde sitting beside her: “You know, some guys have real problems.” The blonde turns around. It is Sharon. No longer Sarah-plain-and-tall, she has made herself up into a glamorous chick. Sharon, turning back to her date: “I’m sorry, you were saying ?” Kate: “Nothing. It’s just my job. It’s hard to meet people. Everyone is watching their own back. It’s difficult... to know who you can trust.” Sharon: “Still, I’m surprised. I would think that you would have your pick of girls.” Kate: “Yeah ? (Laughs.) Well, I... I don’t know. I was pretty much a spaz in High School. You know, a real ‘something is out there’ geek, you know with the g*ng of geek toy minions. - I couldn’t get a date to save my life.” Sharon: “Well, it’s a good thing High Schools over.” Cut to Kate looking at Angel. Cut to Angel sitting at the bar sipping a coke. A dark haired guy steps up to the bar next to him. Guy to the bartender: “Yo man, where is Kevin?” Bartender: “Hell if I know. Haven’t seen him in here tonight. Why ?” Guy: “Dude didn’t show up for work today. And he’s not answering his phone.” Bartender: “Pretty sure I seen him hook up with some girl last night. He’s probably sleeping it off.” Angel: “What girl ?” ***** Cut to Angel's office. ***** Cordy and Doyle sitting together looking through a bunch of books about demons. Doyle points at the picture of a demon. Doyle: “Here’s another one. Piasca. It’s a flesh-eating Indian demon that enters victims through the mouth and eviscerates from within. You’re going to put that one down ?” Cordelia: “Yeah. Ugh, demons. Is there anything more disgusting?” Doyle, after a b*at: “You think so ?” Cordelia, looking at him surprised: “Come on !... Okay, look at this one. (points to picture) This demon wears a wreath of intestines around its head. I mean honestly, what kind of a statement is this thing trying to make with that ?” Doyle: “Yeah, you know,... I mean, it really depends, doesn’t it ?... I mean some demons could actually be nice,... given the opportunity. I think, you’d have to get to know them, yeah ?” Cordelia: “I’ve met a lot of demons, and slime aside, not a whole lot going on there.” ***** Cut to the bar. ***** Bartender: “Sharon, Sharon. Her name is Sharon Kind of a regular.” Guy: “Sharon ? That dowdy chick ? Ah, Kevin, scraping the bottom of the barrel.” Angel: “Look, where can I find Sharon?” Bartender: “She’s in here tonight. No Kevin though. I guess it wasn’t true love after all. (looking over to where Sharon was sitting next to Kate but doesn’t see her) Ah, she was there just a minute ago, getting it on with some Screech.” Guy: “Yeah, that’s definitely more her level.” Angel: “Look, any idea where she lives ?” Bartender: “No.” Angel: “What about a last name?” Bartender: “Last name? Not a lot of last names in a place like this.” Guy: “It’s Richler.” Angel gets up to leave. Guy to the bartender: “Alright. I asked her out a couple times.” Cut to Angel looking Sharon up in a phone book. Through the window beside him we can see Kate watching him from her seat at the bar as he scans through the book. He finds her name, rips out the page and leaves. ***** Cut to Sharon's apartment. ***** Sharon and the Screech laying in bed staring up at the ceiling. Screech: "I’m sorry. I wanted this to go better. Maybe I was trying too hard. I just really like you. Next time, it’ll be better." Sharon, turning to him: "Roll over." Screech: "Okay." He rolls over and she cuddles up behind him. Cut to Angel running down the street. Cut to Sharon and the Screech cuddling. Screech: “This is nice. I think sometimes what we really need..." A strange looking reptile like worm suddenly emerges from Sharon’s chest, and starts burrowing teeth first into the Screech's back. (Screams.) Cut to Angel bursting through the apartment door. He looks surprised that he got in. It dawns on him what that means and he grimly scans the apartment. He walks over to an open door and sees Sharon laying on the bed looking like week-old corpse. He looks over and just sees the tail end of the burrower disappear into the Screech’s back, leaving no visible marks behind, as he pulls on a sweater. Screech, turning to look at Angel: “You’re not human.” Angel: “News flash, pal, you’re a bit of the evolutionary chart yourself. (Both of them looking over at Sharon laying on the bed.) This has to stop. You have to stop.” Screech: “I will, when I find the right one. The one I can stay with.” Angel: “The right body ? What’s wrong with this one ?” Screech: “Nothing,... yet. It’s new and different. It's great... But it won’t last. I already know it’s not the I can live in.” Angel: “Well, then it’ll have to be the one you die in.” They exchange some blows. The screech is at least as strong as Angel and not in the least bit phased by Angel’s blows. He manages to drop Angel with a punch to his back, then slides him head first into the wall. When Angel picks himself back up he is in vamp face. They go at it again, hitting and slamming each other into the walls. Then the Screech picks Angel up and throws him high through the air. Angel hits the corner of the room head down with his back to the wall and slides to the floor. The Screech takes off. Kate runs into the apartment. Angel manages to get back up. When he turns to her he once again looks human. Angel: “Kate, what are you doing here ? (Both looking over at the d*ad body on the bed.) Look, I know what this looks like.” Kate, aiming a cocked p*stol at his face and pulling out a police badge: “So do I. (putting her badge back away) LAPD. You have the right to…” Angel: “I waive it... How did you find me ?” Kate: “I’ve been tracking you since last night.” Angel: “Listen…” Kate: “Don’t move! Not a step. Back-up is on the way.” Angel: “We’re on the same side. I’m after this guy, too.” Kate: “You’re telling me you’re an investigator ?” Angel: “More or less.” Kate: “Where is your license ?” Angel: “That’s the less part.” Kate: “Right.” Angel: “Kate you don’t know, you didn’t see…” Kate: “What I see is the carving job of an impotent sicko. - It’s frustrating, isn’t it, not being able to connect, to love like other people? I mean, how do you get them to trust you, Angel ? Give them the big dark eyes, the ‘I’m not good with talk’ speech?” Angel: “He gives them what they are longing for.” Kate: “And that is?” Angel: “Hope. - That the loneliness is going to end, and he is going to do it again…” Kate: “Unless I let you go so you can stop him. - Save me the lines. I’ve heard them.” Angel: “And I’ve heard yours. Something about not being able to trust people?” Kate, getting out her handcuffs: “Turn around.” Angel turns and puts his hand up against the wall with a sigh. She slaps a cuff around his right wrist and pulls his arm down. Angel: “I’m sorry.” Kate: “Is that a confession ?” Angel: “I didn’t do that. I’m sorry for this !” He kicks back, knocks her down and sprints for the open window. She gets up and sh**t four times as he dives headfirst out the window to land on the hood of a car parked below, setting off its alarm. He rolls off and runs off down the street as Kate watches from the window. (The Camera pans down and shows the screech pressed against the wall below the window watching as well.) ***** Cut to Cordelia's apartment. ***** Doyle and Cordy walk into her apartment carrying a stack of old books. The place is a mess. Doyle, looking around: “Wow, this is... place is… I thought girls are supposed to like pretty things.” Cordelia: “Uh. Don’t start okay ? Angel told us to meet here, so we’re meeting here. That doesn’t mean that you can…” Doyle picks up a bra and holds it up to his chest. Cordelia, taking it away from him impatiently: “That is so High School ! Cordelia wears bras. Oh, she has girlie parts!” Doyle: “Take it easy. You’re being a tad defensive here. I think it’s refreshing seeing a woman living like this. You know, it means you’re not so up tight. Means you live for the moment.” He steps into a dirty cereal bowl sitting on the floor as a knock sounds. Doyle: “You’re disgusting.” Cordy, going to the door: “Who is it?” Angel: “It’s me.” Cordelia undoes the chain and opens the door. Angel stands there, he looks a bit beaten up. Cordelia: “Oh, my god. Are you okay?” Angel: “Look, I- I can’t, um…” Doyle: “Invite him in! As long as you’re alive, vampires, they can’t cross the threshold unless you…” Cordelia: “Oh, right, right. You promise you’ll stay good?” Angel: “Cordelia.” Cordelia: “I’m kidding. Come in.” He comes in and Cordy closes the door. Doyle: “What happened to you, man. You look wrecked!” Angel: “That woman that I was talking to at the bar last night, - you know Kate?” Cordelia: “She’s the k*ller?” Angel: “She’s a cop. Followed me to another body.” Doyle: “Now she thinks you’re the k*ller.” Angel: “Yeah. So we don’t have a lot of time to…” Looks around and notices the state of Cordy’s apartment for the first time. Looks at Cordy with a grin. Angel: “You actually live here?” Cordelia: “Yes, - okay? Is it my fault that maid service was interrupted? It was supposed to go, home, hotel, hotel, husband. Now can we move on?” Doyle: “Yeah, well, we put together that list of eviscerating demons that you asked for. We actually narrowed it down to 3 or 4.” Angel: “I saw it. It’s a burrower.” Cordelia: “It’s a donkey ? - Oh, we didn’t see any donkey demons.” The guys just look at her. Angel: “Burrower.” Cordelia: “Oh.” Angel: “It eviscerates its victims as it moves from body to body, and it may only be able to do it after some kind of a sex act, exchange of fluids kind of thing.” Cordelia: “Eww!” Doyle: “Lovely.” Angel: “Look I want you to find out anything you can about this thing. Weaknesses especially. It was amazingly strong while we were fighting. - It may be hard to k*ll.” Doyle: “We’re on it.” Angel: “Good. I’m going to get back to the bar, see if I can find this thing.” Cordelia: “What makes you think that it will show ? It knows that you’re after it.” Angel: “It’ll be out there. It’s got to keep trying to make a connection.” Cordelia: “Why ?” Angel: “Because that’s what lonely people do.” Cut to the screech talking to a gorgeous lady with long brown hair at the bar. Cut to Kate stepping into Angel’s office with her g*n drawn. Cut to her stepping into Angel’s apartment and looking around. Cut to Angel walking around scanning people sitting at dining tables. Cut to Kate looking into Angel’s (luckily empty) refrigerator. Cut to Angel searching. Cut to the screech and the girl laying together on a bed. He turns to her and the parasite moves from his body into her back. Cut to Kate looking at the w*apon decorating the wall of Angel’s place. Cut to the longhaired girl looking out a window. Cut to Angel walking down the street (it’s awfully bright, but according to Joss comment’s from the posting board it was supposed to be still pre-dawn, some mistake with lighting or post production or something). ("Touched" by Vast is playing through the previous montage.) ***** Cut to Cordelia's apartement. ***** Angel enters Cordy’s apartment. Doyle and Cordy are slumped on the sofa with books piled on their laps, asleep. They wake as Angel closes the door. Angel: "Morning." Doyle: "Hey, ah,... so, any luck yet ?" Angel: "No not yet. (sitting down in a chair) I know I can recognize this thing if I just saw it in another body." Doyle: "That shouldn’t be a problem then. That narrows it down to what ? 5 million suspects in the naked city ?" Angel, massaging the bridge of his nose: "How about you. Did you find anything ?" Cordelia: "Yeah, we found a name for this burrower guy. Ah, Tahlmer ? He’s been around forever. A dawn of time kind of dude." Angel: "Any weaknesses ?" Doyle: "Few and far between. This kid is strong like you said. Not to crazy about f*re though." Angel: "Something we have in common." Cordelia: "It’s a parasite. It moves from body to body. And when it leaves one for the next, not going to gag here, but the first one goes kaplooey pretty fast." Doyle: "Yep, curdles like cream on a hot day." Cordelia: "I believe I covered that with non dairy kaplooey ?" Angel, getting up from his chair: "I’m going to need help to find this thing." Doyle: "Well, who you’re calling ?" Angel: "Kate." Cordelia: "Cagney and Lacy Kate ? I thought we were hiding from her." Angel: "We were. But she’s been tracking this thing a lot longer than we have." Cut to the police station. Kate is sitting at her desk. The phone rings and she picks it up. Kate: "Lockley." Angel: "It’s me... I need you to help me find the k*ller." Kate: "That’s easy. I’m talking to him." Angel: "That would make things nice and clean now, wouldn’t it ? But it’s not true and I think some pat of you knows that... Look he’s still out there. We should be sharing information." Kate: "That’s not possible." Angel: "All I need is 5 minutes. You think I’m your man after that, arrest me. Meet me at the bar at 7:00." Kate: "Sure, that’s actually on my to-do list for this week: walk into a serial k*ller’s trap." Angel: "Look, I don’t care if you come armed, wired, and covered by sh**t. Do what ever it takes so you feel secure... I can help you Kate, but your just going to have to trust me." He hangs up the phone and looks at the others. ***** Cut to the bar. ***** Kate is sitting nervously at a table in the bar. The bartender comes up to her. Bartender: "Kate. The usual ?" Kate pulls out her badge and shows it to him. Bartender: "That’s not your usual." Kate: "Every now and then I’m in the mood for something different. Look, you remember that guy that was in here the other night ? He was tall, nice-looking, helped you out in the bar fight the other night ?" Bartender: "Sure, sure." Kate: "Let me know as soon as he comes in, okay ?" Bartender: "Yeah, you bet." (Walking off.) Kate: "Thanks." Guy, coming over to Kate’s table: "God I hate places like this, don’t you ?" Kate: "I do, but... um..." Guy, sitting down: "I kind of guessed that. You really don't look like you are in your element here. Which is a compliment, by the way." Kate: "Thanks. Um, Look I’d really love to chat, but actually I’m waiting for someone." Bartender: "That guy you you’re looking for ? I think he’s out in the alley." Kate: "What is he doing there ?" Bartender: "I as just taking out some trash and there he was. Looked like he was ready to rabbit." Kate, getting up: "Show me. (to the guy sitting at the table) Sorry, I guess you have to keep trolling." Cut to the door leading out of the back of the bar opening. Kate and the bartender step through. Kate has her g*n out. She pulls out a card and hands it back to the bartender without looking at him. Kate: "Call this number, tell the sergant that I need back... aahh !" The bartender has picked up a wine bottle and hits her over the head with it. She drops to the ground unconscious. He pulls up her jacket and after a quick look around rips her T-shirt down the middle. He holds her up in front of him. Suddenly the parasite appears in the middle of his chest and lunges towards Kate’s back. Before it can make contact the bartender is thrown back by a board to his head. He drops Kate and the parasite retracts. Leaving a mark behind on his chest. Angel, grabbing a hold of Kate’s shoulders: "Kate ! Kate ? Can you move ?... Move !" He pulls Kate out of the way just as the bartender slams a keg down on them. He kicks the bartender and slams his fist into it’s stomach. Stares at the flap of skin hanging lose from his forehead where it got h*t by the board. Angel: "I guess you’re done with that body." The bartender slams Angel face first into the fence. Angel: "You stop being a guy. You don’t get to finish you just come apart at the seams." Angel slams his head back in the others face, the holds on to the fence and swings up his legs and wraps them around the bartenders neck. Kate stares as he twists his body throwing the bartender to the floor. Getting up between Angel’s legs the bartender lifts him up and slams him into the wall, then tosses him through the door into a storage room. Angel catches the doorframe to keep from falling backwards down the stair behind him, but the bartender throws Kate into him. They tumble down the stairs, Angel trying to cushion Kate’s fall, as the bartender slams the door shut. Kate: "We can’t let him get away." Angel: "He’s not going to leave. He’s going to k*ll again, now." Kate: "You think so ?" Angel: "He has to." Cut to the bartender looking at himself in the bath room mirror. He tries to push the flap of lose skin back into place. Cut to the bartender walking up behind a young blonde in the bar trying to act cool. Bartender: "Hey, how’s it going ? Been noticing how gracefully you move and I was wondering would you like to dance or something ? Because I wish I could move like..." She looks at him, takes it his disheveled appearance and walks away in disgust. Cut to Angel throwing himself against the door. It doesn’t budge. Cut to the bartender walking up behind a girls sitting at the bar. Bartender: "Hey escuse me, that’s a beautiful dress you’re wearing. It really brings out the color of you skin." He wipes at his forehead dislodging a flap of skin. The girl looks at him in disgust and walks off. Cut to the storage room. Angel helps Kate back to her feet at the bottom of the steps and looks around the room. Kate: "Now what ?" Cut to the bartender walking up to another girl. Bartender: "Hey would you like a drink or something? Because I’m like the bartender here." The girl looks at him and hurries away. Bartender: "I just want to talk to somebody. Open up… I want to make a connection." Cut to Angel looking at a row of windows just under the ceiling. Angel: "We are going out that window." Kate: "It’s almost 30 feet up." Angel reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a grappling g*n. He aims it at a angled support beam next to the window. He triggers the release and the hook sh**t up and wraps itself around the beam. Kate: "Who are you ?" Angel give the rope a good pull and the beam comes crashing down. They look at each other then Kate bends down and pulls a hold-out g*n out of her boot. She sh**t the lock of the door and they hurry out. Cut to the bartender stumbling out of the front of the bar. He is looking worse all the time. Cut to Angel and Kate hurrying through the club. Cut to the bartender walking up behind a girl. Bartender: "Please I just want to hold you" The girl spins around and gasps at his horrid appearance. More skin is starting to peel back in patches from his face. The girl runs off while the bartender looks around. Cut to Angel and Kate running out of the bar. They split up. Cut to the bartender pulling a blond girl into an alley. The Camera pans past a couple bums standing around a burning barrel to show Angel come running. He runs into the alley and launches himself feet first at the bartender, knocking him away from the girl. Angel, to the girl: "Run !" She does. Angel flips the bartender over a crate and kicks him. They fight, but even though the guy is falling apart he is still stronger than Angel doesn’t even seem to feel it when Angel throws him into the wall. He grabs Angel and tries to force his head into the burning barrel. Angel manages to spin away and throw the bartender back into the alley. He gets right back up and they keep fighting. The bartender pretty much cleans the floor with Angel. He throw Angel again towards the burning barrel and runs to jump on top of Angel laying on the ground. Angel uses his foot to catapult him over his head. The bartender overturns the burning barrel and catches f*re. Now a living torch he stumbles towards an Angel that is desperately trying to move, but is to b*at to more then watch him coming. sh*ts ring out and the burning bartender stumbles back and falls to the ground. Angel sees Kate with her g*n out and allows himself to collapse. Cut to a f*re truck, an ambulance and a police car at the mouth of the alley. Paramedics wheel a gurney with a body bag over to the ambulance. Kate turns away from talking to a detective as Angel walks up to her. Kate: "It all seems to add up. The bartender was connected to everyone... I must have talked to him a dozen times. I never had a clue." Angel: "It’s hard to get to know people." Kate: "Yes it is. - I didn’t thank you... for saving my life." Angel: “I think saving mine is a start.” Kate: "I think you should know I searched your place,... illegally, no warrant." Angel: "Why are you telling me ?" Kate: "I don’t know. I guess so we can start fresh. No secrets... Some pretty weird stuff for a veterinarian." Angel looks down with a half smile then digs into his pocket and pulls out one of his calling cards. Angel, handing her the card: "Look, if you ever need me, or if I can help you in anyway..." Kate, taking the card and looking at it: "What is this, a lobster ?" Angel, taking it back from her: "Uh,... I’ll be around." From off screen: "Detective Lockley, can I talk to you for a minute ?" Kate, turning to him for a moment: "Yes sir." When she turns back Angel is nowhere to be seen. Kate, turning back to the guy after some looking around: "What’s up ?" ***** Cut to Angel walking down a road. ***** ***** Cut to Angel’s office. ***** Angel, pacing: "I know you guys have been working hard. I mean,... you’ve been cooped up inside a lot. And to show my appreciation I was thinking,... the night being, you know, young and all... that the three of us... could... well, should,... You know, maybe,... go out,... you know, for fun." Cordelia: "Or we can go home." Doyle: "And you can sit in the dark alone." They get up and start to leave. Angel, breathing a sigh of relief: "God, yes! Thank you." He goes to sit down at his desk and after a moment the light goes off as Doyle and Cordy walk out the door.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x02 - Lonely Hearts"}

foreverdreaming

Open to dark deserted back street. A blond girl is running past looking behind her occasionally before ducking into an alley. She looks back around the corner, then steps back on the street to continue only to be grabbed by the shoulders and thrown back into a trash container. Rachel: “Lenny… please… don’t.” Lenny: “You think I’m not going to find you,... after you humiliated me... again ?” Rachel: “I didn’t do anything ! I swear ! I’d never...” Lenny: “No ! I know what you do. I see. The men,... the lies,... this is the last time, damn it !” Rachel, stepping towards him with a smile: “What are you on, Baby ? You only get like this when you...” Lenny hits her with a growl. Rachel: “What are you going to do ? Pulverize me right here ? Someone is going to hear me scream.” Lenny, laughing: “In downtown LA at night ? Nobody is going to hear. Nobody who cares. Besides (pulls out a revolver and points it at her face) this will all be over fast. (cocks the g*n)” Rachel: “Lenny.. please... no !” Lenny: “I’m sorry. (Rachel cowers back from him) I just can’t take this anymore.” Angel grabs him from behind and makes him drop his g*n. Angel: “Poor Lenny. The burden of terrorizing your girlfriend too much for you ? (hits him) Lucky for you I can make it stop.” Lenny grabs a 2x4 and tried to h*t Angel. Angel ducks and cold cocks him. Angel: “Rachel, are you alright ?” Rachel: “Is he...” Angel: “It’s okay. He’s not getting up for a while.” Rachel, getting up: “I can’t believe you actually showed up.” Angel: “Well, that was the deal, right ?” (Camera pulls back to reveal Spike watching them from a rooftop above them.) Spike in high voice: “How can I thank you, you mysterious, black-clad hunk of a night thing ? (low voice) No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me. You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse defanged me. Now I’m just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth. (Rachel steps closer to Angel, and Angel steps back warding her off with his hands) No, not the hair! Never the hair! (high voice) But there must be someway I can show my appreciation. (low voice) No, helping those in need’s my job,... and working up a load of sexual tension, and prancing away like a magnificent poof is truly thanks enough ! (high voice) I understand. I have a nephew who is gay, so... (low voice) Say no more. Evil’s still afoot ! And I’m almost out of that Nancy-boy hair-gel that I like so much. Quickly, to the Angel-mobile, away !” Spike lights a cigarette while he watches Angel lead Rachel away. Spike: “Go on with you. Play the big, strapping hero while you can. You have a few surprises coming your way... The ring of Amarra... a visit from your old pal Spike,... and, oh yeah,... your gruesome, horrible death.” (He smiles.) *Intro.* ***** Cut to Oz driving his van through the night. ***** He pulls up in front of Angel’s apartment. Radio: “Another uninterrupted 40-minute-block. You are listening to LA’s only alternative KLA-Rock. It’s 11:05, do you know what your karma is ?” ***** Cut to Angel's office. ***** Cordelia is typing away on the computer. Doyle lounges in the background reading a newspaper. Cordelia: “This is so awesome. Our first walk-in client. Everything is going according to plan ! See girl in distress,... see Angel save girl from druggy/stalker boyfriend,... and see (pulls a paper out of the printer and holds it up) Invoice ! Ta-da !” She shows the invoice to Doyle who looks less then impressed. Cordelia: “What ?” Doyle: “Nothing. You’re doing a lovely job there. Looks very official.” Cordelia: “So why are you not rejoicing at out first paying client ?” Doyle, getting up and walking over to her desk: “Because that’s not money you’re holding in your hand there, darling, that’s mail. There’s a big difference between that and actually getting paid.” Cordelia: “But she has to pay !... Invoice ! That’s the rule of our whole, like, society !” Doyle, leaning on the desk: “Defaulting ? That’s another popular rule in our society... especially with the down-and-outs. Not that I’ve perpetrated said heinousness myself...” Cordelia: “So what are you saying. Why bother ?” Doyle: “All I’m saying is that if we’re ever going to take that cruise to the Bahamas together, we’re going to need a lot more clients of means.” Cordelia: “And an alternate reality in which you are Matthew McConaughey.” Oz, walking into the office: “Hello, LA.” Cordelia, getting up: “Oz ? Oh, my god. (walks around the desk) Oz. It’s so good to see you. (hugs him while Doyle watches askance) Good old Oz ! Oz. (turns to Doyle and points at Oz) Oz !” Doyle: “Let me just take a s*ab at it, you’d be Oz ?” Oz: “Good guess.” Cordelia: “This is so cool! I mean, here you are in LA, and you’re the total embodiment of all things Sunnydale.” Oz: “It’s a burden, but I manage.” Cordelia: “We have some serious catching up to do. How is everything ? How’s... how’s the bronze ?” Oz: “The same.” Cordelia: “And the g*ng ?” Oz: “They’re good.” Cordelia: “Good ?... Good !... Good.” They look at each other for a moment. Oz: “Are we done ?” Cordelia: “Completely.” (Doyle coughs.) Cordelia, going to sit down: “Oh, this is Doyle. He... works here.” Oz, reaching over and shaking Doyle’s hand: “Hey.” Oz, sticking his hands in his pockets: “So, I heard the rumors, but you guys can fill me in on the real deal here. So you guys are... like detectives ?” Cordelia: “No, I’m an actress !” Doyle: “And quite a captivating one at that.” Cordelia: “And between my many gigs, I sometimes choose to help Angel.” Doyle: “He’s the detective.” Oz: “Does he have a hat and g*n ?” Cordelia: “Just fangs.” Oz: “Well, that works... Where is he ?” ***** Cut to Angel's apartment. ***** Angel walks through his downstairs apartment, looking through a book as the three come down in the elevator. Angel, without looking up from his book: “Hey guys.” Angel, looking up: “Oz.” Oz: “Hey.” Angel: “Nice surprise.” Oz: “Thanks.” Angel: “Staying long ?” Oz: “Few days.” Doyle: “Are they always like this ?” Oz, to Doyle: “No, we’re usually laconic.” Angel: “Come on in. (they walk further into the apartment) So,... good to see you.” Oz: “I came primarily for a gig, but also to give you this.” (Holds out a ring to him.) Doyle, going to take a closer look: “Wait a minute, is that what I think it is ?” Angel, making no move to take it: “It’s the gem of Amarra.” Oz: “One and the same. (tries to hand it to Angel, who after a moment accepts it) Buffy wanted you to have it.” Cordelia: “Hey, Buffy. How is good old Buffy anyway ?” Oz: “She is...” Cordelia: “What ? Still the brave little Slayer or is she moping around in the dark like... (gets a look from Angel) like nobody around here. (holds up a hand and shakes her head) Hm-mm.” Angel turns and walks away form them looking at the ring in his hands. Oz: “She is good... She is Buffy.” Doyle, holding up a hand: “And I’m sure we’ll be interested in that later, but right now can we concentrate on the mother-load Angel just h*t ?” Angel leans on the table turning the ring in his hand and looking at it. Doyle: “What are you waiting for, man ? Put it on !” Cordelia: “Okay, you’re getting weird about this ring. Since when did you go all versace about accessorizing ?” Doyle: “Since the accessory is priceless and renders it’s wearer 100% unkillable if he’s a vampire.” Cordelia: “Unkillable ? Whew. You mean not even stakes ?” Doyle: “Not nothing. Not stakes, not f*re, and the best thing is not even sunlight. (to Angel) I mean just think of it man. Poolside tanning, bargain matinees,... plus I know a couple of strip clubs that have a fabulous luncheon buffet, I mean, it’s... I’ve heard.” Angel, still looking grave: “And it’s from Buffy.” Oz: “Yeah. Your buddy Spike dug up Sunnydale looking for it. He got a fist full of Buffy and left it behind. She wanted to be sure it was in good hands.” Angel, looking to the side: “So she sent you.” Oz: “I was heading this way.” Cordelia, to Oz: “And she didn’t even send a note ? Wow. That’s really... (Angel looks at her)... this is one of those times when I should just shy away from the topic, isn’t it ?” Doyle, walking over to Angel: “Come on I have something that will boost your spirits. (picks up a stake) Why don’t you put it on and I’ll stake you. It’ll be fun !” Angel, still playing with the ring in his hand and looking off to the side: “Maybe later.” Doyle: “What, are you out of your mind ?” Angel: “I said, maybe later.” Doyle: “Yeah...” Angel: “Doyle.” Doyle, walking towards the elevator: “Okay, you have it your way, man. But I’m still going to celebrate with a drink down at the pub.” Cordelia, to Oz: “He’d celebrate the opening of a mailbox with a drink at the pub. (waves at Angel as she follows Doyle) You coming, Oz ?” Oz, still watching Angel: “Yeah. I could eat something.” Angel: “Go ahead.” After a b*at Oz turns and follows the others. Angel keeps looking at the ring. Finally sticks it in his pocket and goes down in the sewers. He takes it out of his pocket and hides it under a loose brick next to a pipe. ***** Cut to the office, the next day. ***** Cordelia is getting a cup of water for Doyle from the water cooler and sits down at the desk across from him. Doyle, moaning: “Oh, god. You know what would feel really good right now ? One of those mind-numbing, head-cracking visions that I get from time to time, (he struggles to get some pills out of a bottle) because that would really k*ll me now. Is there some kind of trick to this ?” Cordelia, taking the bottle from him: “I think the trick is laying of the ale (pulls out the cotton wad out of the bottle and shakes some pills into her hand) before you start quoting Angela’s Ashes and weeping like a baby man.” Doyle, accepting the pills and washing them down: “Hey, that’s a good book.” Cordelia: “So I’ve heard. But I doubt that the main characters are Betty and Barney Rubble as you so vehemently insisted last night. Also I don’t think Oz appreciated being called my little Bam-bam all night.” ***** Cut to Angel's apartment. ***** Angel is doing some Tai-chi. The phone rings and he goes to pick it up after the second ring. Angel: “Hello ?... Hello.” Rachel: “Angel ?” Angel: “Rachel. Are you alright ?” Rachel: “They let Lenny out... The lawyer said something about a technicality.” Angel: “I’ll be right there.” ***** Cut to the underground garage.***** Angel walks up to his car. As he reaches for the door handle a beam smashes into his head sending him tumbling back against the wall. Spike in vamp face: “Angel. I believe you have something I’m looking for... a shiny, little bauble ?” Angel, picking himself up: “Might as well go home, Spike. The gem of Amarra stays with me.” Spike swings at Angel with the board. Angel catches it, hits Spike across the chin, in the stomach, then kicks him to the floor. Spike slowly getting back up, board in hand: “Why ? Because you are vampire detective now ? What’s next ? Vampire cowboy ? Vampire fireman ? Oh, vampire ballerina.” He charges Angel with the beam. Angel: “I do like to work with my legs.” He grabs an overhead pipe and swings both feet into Spike’s chest. Spike quickly picks himself back up and keeps s*ab at Angel with the beam, while Angel dances around him like a boxer, dodging the board. Spike tries to pin him onto the hood of the car but Angel kicks him off, taking the beam a way form him in the process. Angel, twirling the beam in his hands: “We duke it out, huh ? Is this your big strategy to get the ring back ?” Spike, attacking again: “Hey, I had a plan !” Angel, fending him off with the beam, then pinning him onto the car: “You ? A plan ?” Spike: “A good plan. Smart. Carefully laid out... But I got bored. (hits Angel and pins him up against the wall) All that watching, waiting,... my legs started to cramp. (throws Angel up against the door leading out) Enough with the h*t’n’quip. Just tell me were the damn ring is.” Angel, turning around in vamp face: “It wouldn’t go with your outfit.” He hits Spike around for a while and finally throws him against the wall just as Cordelia and Doyle run in behind Angel. Spike, slowly getting back to his feet: “Cordelia. You look smashing. Did you lose weight ?” Cordelia: “Yes, there is this great gym at... hey !” Spike, to Angel: “I’ll get that ring. This isn’t over until one of us is a pile of dust, mate.” (Runs off.) Cordelia, to Angel: “Are you okay ?” Angel walks off a ways from then (still in vamp face) then turns around. Doyle: “More importantly, how’s the ring ?” Angel: “It’s fine. (morphs into his human face) I can’t say the same for you two though. You better get out of sight until this thing is over. Spike is out for blood. (to Doyle) Take her to your place.” Cordelia: “His place ? Why can’t I just go home ?” Angel: “Because he knows you, Cordelia. If he wants to he’ll track you down.” Cordelia: “Yeah, but he’s not invited, right ? He can’t come in.” Doyle: “No, but he can burn the place to the ground.” Cordelia: “Okay then. Doyle’s place it is.” Doyle to Angel: “What about you, man. You know he’ll be coming back for you before long.” Angel: “I know.” Cordelia: “So what are you going to do ?” Angel: “Find him first.” Cordelia and Doyle: “Alright, let’s go.” They leave as Angel wipes at the blood at the corner of his mouth. ***** Cut to Doyle’s apartment. ***** He is talking on the phone, while Cordelia is pacing the floor. Doyle: “Not Spice, that’s the bird down on Broadway. Spike, like in railroads... Uhuh,... yeah, vampire, right... No ?... Okay, then. Thanks.” (Hangs up.) Doyle, marking his open address book: “Frankie Tripod ? A big no.” Cordelia: “Frankie Tripod ? Oh, I get it. Some kind of three-legged monster, right ?” Doyle: “No, he’s human.” Cordelia: Then why is his name... Oh...” Doyle, getting up: “Hey listen, why don’t you sit down. Get comfortable. Angel said I should go through every name in my book until I get a bead on where Spike is hiding out. Could be a while.” Cordelia: “Please. I couldn’t get comfortable in here if the floor was lined with mink. I mean, how can you live like this ?” Doyle: “Well, I didn’t until last week. Then I saw what you did with your place and I just had to call my decorator.” Cordelia: “No way. My apartment is nowhere near this yucky. (sits down on a chair. Paper rustles. She gets up brushes it of the chair and sits back down while Doyle picks some laundry of another chair) It smells like bong water in here.” Doyle: “Okay a couple of laundry might be a couple of days over due, but...” Telephone rings and Doyle goes to get it. Doyle: “Yeah ?... Hey, Kizzy. Yeah, vamp named Spike. No ? Okay. What, a “C” note ? I absolutely paid that back, man ! Hey, no, sorry, there goes my other line.” He slams the phone down. Doyle: “He was mistaken, but I didn’t have time to get into it, right ?... I’m on a mission here !... So what about this Spike ? Is he as bad as all that ? I mean should I be sweating ?” Cordelia: “He’s really not... (sighs)... sweat.” Doyle: “That’s what I figured.” ***** Cut to Rachel’s apartment. ***** Rachel: “You keep showing up like this and I’m going to think you’re a man of your word.” Angel: “Stranger things...” Rachel: “Not many.” Goes into the kitchen. Angel, following her, carefully skirting a patch of sun: “So we’ll get you out of here. There are places you can go, where you’ll be safe.” Rachel: “Like a shelter ?” Angel: “It’s a start. He won’t be able to find you, I swear.” Rachel: “No, it’s not the shelter it’s just... ah... Half the time, you how this whole thing starts up again, Lenny and me ?” Angel: “You call him.” Rachel: “I... I... I just start to jones for him. The way he jones for rock. And I call, or I find him in some dive, and I drag him home, - and it’s *good* for a while.” Angel, shaking his head: “But it doesn’t last. This last time he would have k*lled you.” Angel watches with a sigh as she tries not to cry. Rachel: “I’m scared, Angel, I’m more scared of me right now than I am of him.” Angel: “You’re at a crossroads, I know. It’s either go for the easy fix and wait for the consequences, or take the hard road and go with faith.” Rachel: “Oh, god. You’re not from that freaky church on Sunset, are you ?” She steps away from him. Angel: “In yourself. That kind of faith... What I’m saying is: if you leave Lenny for good, it’ll hurt. But eventually you’ll be stronger for it. And maybe you’ll find your way to the kind of love you deserve.” Rachel: “You mean the kind of love that comes without 911 calls ?” Angel: “That’s the general idea.” ***** Cut to Doyle’s apartment. ***** Cordelia, eating popcorn: “Oh, yeah, Spike’s nearly done Buffy in a few times. I mentioned that he’s k*lled two Slayers already ?” Doyle: “You did.” Cordelia: “Oh, and this one time he and Dru raised this demon that b*rned people from the inside. It was this whole weird thing with an arm in a box.” Doyle spellbound: “An arm in a box ?” Cordelia nods. The phone rings and Doyle picks it up. Doyle in a nasal voice: “House of Pies.” Angel in his apartment checking the mechanism of his wrist sheathes: “Doyle ? Is that you ?” Doyle: “Oh, sorry man. Just laying low. All those calls to past acquaintances stirred up a few, uh, old resentments.” Angel: “I hope it was worth it.” Doyle: “Yeah, well, listen Manny the Pig said he didn’t know anything about a vampire called Spike.” Angel: “So ?” Doyle: “So he said that before I mentioned anything about Spike. You’ll find him at a joint down on third called the Orbit Room.” Angel: “Okay. I’ll start with Manny the Pig then.” Doyle: “Work your way down.” Cut to Angel slamming a guy down on a table. Guy: “He left for the club.” Cut to Angel smashing a different guy up against the wall with his hand around his throat. Guy: “Try the game.” Cut to Angel slamming the Pig down on a poker table. Angel is grabbing him by the throat and getting right in his face. Three other guys there draw their g*n and point them at an unfazed Angel. Pig to the guys: “Put them down. (they lower the g*n. To Angel) He’ll k*ll me if I talk.” Angel: “How healthy do you think it’ll be to stay quiet ?” Pig: “He’s out back.” Cut to Angel coming out the back door. He sees Spike snacking on a girl. Angel: “Let her go !” Spike, looking up at him in vamp face: “Did anyone ever tell you you were a real buzz-k*ll, mate ?” Spike throws the girl into Angel and stalks off in disgust. Angel to girl: “Run.” Cut to Angel running after Spike. Spike comes up against a chain fence at the end of the alley. Spike, turning around says sounding bored: “Caught me fair and square, White Hat. (slowly lift his hands up over his head) I guess there is nothing to do now but to go quietly and pay my debt to society.” Angel, closing with him slowly: “You think you can come to *my* town and pull *this* crap ? You never learn, Spike.” Spike with a smile: “I maybe a slow learner...” Chains rattle behind and as Angel turns around a guy in white whips a chain around Angel’s neck and drags him to the ground. Spike, watching the guy hog tie Angel: “But eventually I learn.” ***** Cut to Doyle’s apartment. ***** Cordy is sitting by the phone, Doyle is pacing. Cordelia: “Angel should have called by now. (sighs) this is bad!” Doyle: “Maybe not. Maybe he did away with Spike in short order, and decided to give a go at surfing ?” Cordelia: “Right !... What am I worried about ? Angel has the ring, right ?” Doyle: “Right ! I bet he is out hanging 10 right about now, out on the sandy shore at. Wind in his hair...” Cut to Angel hanging in a couple of chains by his wrists in a warehouse. Doyle voice over as camera pans down Angel’s body: “Bikini babes a whistlin’” The white-clad guy form the alley puts on a classical LP the opens a trunk and takes out t*rture tools. Spike: “Marcus is an expert. Some say artist, but I’ve never been comfortable with labels... He’s a bloody king of t*rture, he is. Humans, demons,... politicians, makes no difference. (starts to circle Angel) Some say he invented several of the Classics,... but he won’t tell me which ones... beneath the cool exterior, you’ll find he is rather shy... Except with kids. (to Marcus) You like kids, don’t you Marcus ?... Well, likes to eat. (leans in close to Angel) and other nasty things.” Angel thrashes in his chains and Spike pulls back with a satisfied smile. Marcus puts on wire-rim glasses as he walks over to Angel. He rips his shirt open and stares at his chest. Marcus: “His skin...” Spike: “Annoying isn’t it ? Still attached.” Marcus: “Over 200 years of living and so little external damage... What about internal ?” Spike: “Do you two need to be alone, or can we go on to the ouchy part ?” Marcus, laying his hand on Angel’s heart: “He’s known love.” Spike: “Yeah, and with a Slayer no less. How is that for perversion ?” Marcus: “And he has a soul.” Spike bored: “Right, vampire with a soul. Cursy-cursed to walk the earth trying to do good. That’s not going to be a problem, is it ?” Marcus: “On the contrary. Creatures with souls have something to lose.” Spike: “Souls, fingers, toes… Let’s get chopping, will you ? I want my damn ring !” Marcus, to Angel: “What do you want, Angel ?” Angel: “Are you going to t*rture me, or just bore me to death ?” Marcus goes to pick up a poker that has been heating in a f*re-barrel and s*ab it clear through Angel’s lower right chest. Angel suppresses a scream. Marcus: “Probably a little of both.” Spike with a smile: “Someone’s having shish kabob.” Cut to later. Angel has several metal pokers sticking through different parts of his body. Marcus, playing with some pliers: “What do you want Angel ?” Angel, gasping: “A house in the country, a pair of good running shoes that you can also wear out to dinner.” Spike, pacing impatiently: “Why do you keep asking him that ? And why do you keep playing that bleeding Brahms ?” Marcus: “Actually it’s Mozart. Symphony 41. I find it very effective.” Spike: “Yeah ? Personally I prefer his older funnier symphonies myself... LOOK I WANT MY RING BACK ! (kicks a box, the breaks a wooden handle and aims the resulting stake at Angel’s chest) If I don’t get it pretty soon, I’m going to stake me old Sire right here and now !” Marcus: “Are you finished ? He knows you won’t k*ll him until you get the ring. He knows you’re lying.” Spike, dropping the stake, to Marcus: “*You* get it for me.” Marcus: “Soon he’ll want to tell me everything he knows... and then some... And he knows I’m not lying.” Spike, looking at Angel: “I believe he does.” Angel: “You’re an idiot, Spike.” Spike: “You think ? Because I’m not the one chained to the ceiling with hot pokers in my side.” Angel: “You hired a vampire. What do you think he is going to do with the rings when he finds it, huh ? Hand it over to you ?” Spike: “Oh, good Lord, why didn’t I think of... ? Oh, wait half a mo’, I did. I hired a guy who doesn’t care about the ring, or anything else on God’s green earth except taking blokes apart one piece at a time... It’s called addiction, Angel. We all have it... I believe yours is named Slutty the vampire Slayer. (music ends and Spike breathes a sigh of relief) Thank you !... Speaking of little Buff, I ran into her recently. Your name didn’t come up. Although she has been awful busy jumping the bones of the first lunk-head that came along. Good-looking fellow... used her shamelessly... She is cute when she is hurting, isn’t she ?” Angel: “I think she’s cuter when she’s kicking your ass.” Marcus starts the LP over and Spike sighs. Spike: “I think I will go get a bit of fresh air... leave you two kids to it. (Marcus sticks another hot poker through Angel’s thigh, who lets out a short scream) Now that is music !” ***** Cut to Angel’s apartment. ***** Spike comes up through the sewers and starts to tear the place up. Spike: “If I was a ring, where would I be ?... Well, this is fun... But it’s going to get old real fast.” ***** Cut to the warehouse. ***** Marcus is circling Angel holding a p*stol in his hands. Marcus: “Most things that live and breath hate the dark and love the light.” Marcus sh**t a hole in the ceiling and Angel flinches back from the beam of sunlight that streams in through the hole. Marcus: “We are different though, aren’t we ? We hate the light of day, and it hates us back in kind. (sh**t again)... You hid the ring Angel, or you could be walking in the light right now. So I have to wonder: what do you want if not the ring ? It’s through the pain that we find the truth of who we are. It strips us of our defenses. We are made innocent again like children. I like children, Angel... I’m here to help you find that innocence, Angel,... here... with the light. (sh**t again forcing Angel to strain away or burn)” ***** Cut to Angel's office. ***** Spike comes up into the office. Cordelia is waiting with a crossbow ready in her hands. Cordelia: “When you are done giving the place the Johnny Depp once-over... I hope you have the cash to pay for all of this.” Spike, slowly stepping closer: “Cordelia. Love the hair.” Cordelia: “Wish I could say the same.” Doyle, aiming a g*n at Spike: “That’s close enough.” Spike: “What is it with you good guys running in packs ? Who is this one then ?” Doyle: “More than meets the eye.” Spike: “Ooh, the Mick’s got spine ! Maybe I’ll snap it in two.” Cordelia: “Do you want me to use this ?” Spike: “You’ll be d*ad before that arrow leaves the bow. (Cordy lowers the bow slightly) Now where was I ? Bloody tired of looking for that ring. I think you two should take over now.” Doyle: “Where is Angel ?” Spike: “Angel, um... tall brooding guy, caveman brow ?... He’s having the living hell tortures out of him. And you know how stubborn he can be, he might die before he gives up the ring. Why don’t you two find it real fast and give it to me. I’ll let Angel go.” Cordelia: “I don’t trust you.” Spike: “To coin a popular Sunnydale phrase: ‘duh!’ But you have until sundown to save him. You’ll find me behind Peterson’s Fishery between Seward and Westminster. (walks off) Don’t be late.” ***** Cut to the warehouse. ***** Marcus: “You did terrible things when you were bad, didn’t you ? And now you are trying so *hard* to do good. But Angel, there is nothing either bad or good, but thinking makes it so. (Angel is fishing with his feet for the stake Spike dropped earlier while Marcus back is turned)... Now I can make the pain go away, (pulls out a poker, Angel screams) and as you know, (pulls out another poker) I can bring it back again. (as he walks back to the table Angel manages to get the stake between his shoes) What do you want, Angel ? I think I know, but I’d like to hear it from you. The truth. I’ll know if you’re lying.” Angel: “I want... forgiveness.” Marcus: “Yes. That’s the truth,... and you want to earn it. You’re not the type that takes the easy way out. Which is why I like you so much. In the end you won’t feel guilt... or remorse... or anything but pure darkness. In the end... the ring, the past... none of it will mean anything anymore. You’ll be free. I promise.” Angel: “And I promise (swings his legs up and drives the stake between his feet towards Marcus chest) to k*ll you.” Spike, catching Angel’s legs: “Now, now, staking the torturer is strictly prohibited." Marcus hits Angel. Spike, pulling Marcus back: “Easy, fella, still need that ring. (to angel) Now you’ve made him mad. Wouldn’t want to be in your chains.” Marcus: “Won’t be long now.” Spike: “Well, what’s say I’ll grab a pair of needle-nose pliers and give a hand ? ***** Cut to Angel's apartment. ***** Cordy and Doyle are rifling Angel’s apartment. Cordelia: “Drat !” Doyle: “What ?” Cordelia: “It’s not in the freezer and it’s not in the toilet t*nk. In the movies it’s always in one of those places.” Doyle: “It’s not here.” Cordelia: “We’ve looked everywhere !” Doyle: “Except...” Cordelia: “The rat infested sewer tunnels he uses to get around in the day time.” Cut to the sewers. Cordy and Doyle are searching, each holding a flashlight. Cordelia: “This is not a needle in a haystack, this is a needle in Kansas.” Doyle: “Yeah, I know, you’re right. We just got to keep looking.” Doyle lets Cordy get a ways ahead of him just watching her back, Suddenly blue spikes pop out all over his face. He sniffs the air, then the spikes disappear and he walks over to where Angel his the ring and picks it up. Doyle: “Here !” Cordelia, coming running back: “How did you do that ?” Doyle: “You got to get lucky sometimes.” Cordelia: “I could hug you ! (when Doyle spreads out his arms) You’re not that lucky. Now, come on we’ve got save Angel !” Doyle: “Right, by giving Spike exactly what he wants so he can k*ll us.” Cordelia: “Right !... No, we need a plan.” *****Cut to the Fishery. ***** Spike is waiting in the shadows behind the Fishery. Cordy and Doyle walk up. Spike: “So... where is my ring ?” Doyle: “Not on us.” Cordelia: “But we know where it is.” Spike: “And suddenly I’m so painfully bored. Time runs short, children. Give me that ring as if Angel’s life depended on it.” Cordelia: “Listen you little Cockney, take us to Angel now.” Doyle: “So if he’s still in one piece we tell you where you can find the ring.” Spike: “He is still alive I think. In one piece was never part of the deal.” ***** Cut to the warehouse. ***** Angel is slumped in his chains. Spike, Cordy and Doyle walk in. Spike: “Lucy, I’m home.” Cordelia, running towards Angel: “Angel !” Spike, holding her and Doyle back: “hey, hey ! A deal’s a deal.” Angel: “Cordelia.” Spike: “And our deal was for the ring. You’ve wasted quiet enough of my time, so I’d really like it... NOW !” Doyle: “You want the ring, you dog ? (pulls it out of his pocket and throws it past Angel) Go fetch !” Cordelia: “Okay. You’ve got the ring, we’ve got Angel. And now you’re going to leave us alone, and we’re going to leave.” Spike: “Come on. You don’t really thin that we’re going to do that, do you ?” (As Spike reaches for the ring you can hear tires squealing.) Cordelia: “Not really.” Doyle: “No.” Oz van bursts through the side of the warehouse, rams through some barrels and comes to a screeching halt behind Angel as Spike rolls out of its way. Oz pulls out two crossbows and aims them out of the driver’s side window while Cordy and Doyle free Angel and help him into the back of the van. Oz: “Spike.” As the van backs out of the warehouse, Spike looks around for the ring in vain. Spike: “Where is the ring ?... Bloody hell.” Cut to Marcus slowly walking out into the sun. He does not burn. Cut to Spike having a tantrum in the warehouse. Spike: “Son of a bitch !... I do the work,... I do the digging,... fight off a Slayer,... drive to LA, f*re the help,... and what do I get ?... ROYALLY SCREWWED, is what !... Well that cinches it. No more partners. From now on I’m my own man. A lone wolf. Sole survivor. Look out, here comes Spike! The baddest mother... (a beam of sunlight from one of the b*llet holes hits the back of his head and his hair ignites) Ahh ! (he ducks and puts his hair out with his hands) I really hope they k*ll each other.” ***** Cut to the beach. ***** Marcus is walking onto a pier in full sunlight. ***** Cut to Oz' van. ***** Oz: “How is he doing ?” Doyle: “He’ll live.” Cordelia: “Not without help. We need to get him to a hospital.” Oz: “I hear you. But which one ? They all tend to specialize in humans.” Doyle: “He’s right, too risky. Do you know any first aid ?” Oz: “Basic sixth grade, but I can improvise. If we can get him some place dark, maybe I can...” Angel: “Turn around!” Oz: “Angel.” Cordelia: “He’s delirious. Ignore him.” Angel: “Turn around!” Cordelia: “So you can do what ? It’s daylight and you’re ringless. Unless you’re changing the act to human torch, I don’t think so.” Doyle: “She’s right. You’re death on toast, man. You’re in no shape to be fighting a t*rture demon.” Angel pulls out the last poker still stuck in his side. Angel: “God !... Okay, he’s got a thing for children. Oz... turn around. He couldn’t have gone far.” Oz spins the van around. ***** Cut to the pier. ***** Marcus is looking at a group of scouts. Marcus: “Hello boys and girls.” Oz drives onto the pier and rams into him sending him flying. Cordelia gets out. Cordelia to scouts: “Run, now. Move your little scout legs. Now ! Go ! Come on !” Oz sh**t Marcus in the chest with a crossbow bolt. Marcus just pulls it back out and throws it away. Doyle: “Damn it. I’ll get him.” He and Marcus start to fight. Marcus knocks Doyle down. Cordelia: “Doyle !” Oz to Angel in the back of the van: “You’re sure about this ?” Angel: “Yeah.” Oz opens the side door and Angel launches himself out with a scream. He catches f*re as he runs to tackle Marcus. They crash through the railing and into the water below. Cordelia, looking over the railing: “Where is he ?” Cut to the dark area under the pier. Angel and Marcus stand up in the shallow water. They fight. Luckily for Angel Marcus isn’t the best fighter. They are pretty evenly matched. Marcus: “What were you planing to do ? k*ll me ?” Angel: “Well, after all, I promised.” They fight some more. Angel: “You never cracked me, Marcus... You tried, and you failed. Now that (Angel manages to impale Marcus on a board that’s sticking out) that’s got to be t*rture.” Angel pulls the ring off Marcus’ finger and he dusts with a scream. Angel slowly puts the ring on his hand and hesitantly steps out from under the pier blinking at the sun, looks around in wonder. Cordelia: “Are you all right ?” Angel: “Fine... (to Oz) Thanks for the help, man. You were key.” Oz: “You’re... incredibly pale.” Cordelia: “Look, you should lie down. We should take you home.” Doyle: “Just give him a minute.” Angel wanders out on the beach looking amazed. Oz: “He’s very pale. Paler than most people.” ***** Cut to the top of a skyscraper. ***** Angel is watching the sun set. Doyle: “So how long has it been between sunsets ?” Angel: “200 years, give or take.” Doyle: “Well you got to be feeling pretty damn good then, huh? I mean this ring – changes everything, don’t it ?... Yeah, it’s spectacular, I know. But I do promise that there will be another one exactly like it tomorrow.” Angel: “Not for me.” Doyle: “What are you saying ? That the city will be h*t by a meteor before tomorrow night or…” Angel: “No.” Doyle: “No. It’s to horrible to say the other. I can’t even bring myself to say the other.” Angel: “I’m not going to wear the ring.” Doyle: “That was the other... You got a real addiction to the brooding part of life. Anyone ever tell you that?” Angel: “Once or twice.” Doyle: “Care to explain ?... I mean this ring is your redemption. It’s what you’ve been waiting for.” Angel: “nah, it just looks like it.’ Doyle: “Angel, man, think what you’re saying.” Angel: “I have. I’ve thought of it from every angle, and what I figure is I did a lot of damage in my day, more than you can imagine." Doyle: “So what, you don’t get the ring because your period of self-flagellation isn’t over yet ? I mean think of all the daytime people you could help between 9 and 5.” Angel: “They have help. The whole world is designed for them, so much that they have no idea what goes on around them after dark. They don’t see the weak ones lost in the night,... or the things that prey on them. And if I join them, maybe I’d stop seeing, too.” Doyle: “And who’d look out for all the insomniacs?” Angel: “I was brought back for a reason, Doyle, and as much as I would like to kid myself, I don’t think it was for 18 holes at Rancho.” The sun sinks below the horizon. Angel takes off the ring, picks up a brick and smashes it. (Big green flash of light.) Doyle: “Oh, and that Rachel girl with the crazy boyfriend called. Said to say thanks, and that she found a little faith. Said you’d know what that means.” Angel: “I don’t know about you, but I had a nice day... You know, except for the bulk of it, where I was nearly tortured to death.” Doyle: “Yeah, well, you stood up.” Angel: “Oh, god. I was this close to telling him everything. I mean, one more hot poker and I was giving him the ring, your mom,... everything... How is your mom ?”

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x03 - In the Dark"}

foreverdreaming

***** Angel's office. ***** Cordelia is walking into the office carrying the mail. Cordelia: “Uh, look at all these bills: water... power... and my perennial favorite: the rent. What am I missing ?” Doyle: “Not a thing I can see.” Cordelia: “Doyle, try to pay attention.” Doyle: “I am paying attention princess. We just need the income to pay for the outgo around here.” Cordelia: “Exactly ! You know ? This is a business and we should be running it like one. We should be charging. I know Angel has been working day and night helping people fight their personal demons, but I need a raise !” Doyle: “A raise ? What, you’ve been working for him for like 20 minutes ?” Cordelia: “A month, and I have needs.” Doyle: “Needs.” Cordelia: “A person needs certain... designer... things.” Doyle: “Personally I don’t think you need much in the way of clothes. But you are right, and I do agree. Angel needs to start charging. He just hates bringing up the finances with the clients. He likes playing the hero... walking off into the dark with his long coat flowing behind him in a mysterious and attractive way.” Cordelia: “Is this a privet moment ? Because I can leave you alone.” Doyle: “No, no, I’m not saying *I’m* attracted. I’m just saying he’s projecting a certain kind of image and asking for money isn’t part of it. He’s sensitive about that.” Cordy (elevator opens), getting up: “Oh, here he comes. Ok, we’re going to stand up to him.” Doyle standing up: “Yup, we’re standing up.” Cordelia: “Just as soon as he’s had his coffee.” Doyle: “Right.” Angel, walking in: “Morning.” Doyle and Cordelia, standing and watching him: “Morning.” Angel pours himself a cup of coffee, drink and makes a face Angel: “What is this ?” Cordelia: “Last weeks coffee. Think of it as Espresso.” Angel: “I think my esophagus is melting.” Doyle: “Sure been making us proud these last few weeks fighting the evil and all that.” Cordelia: “Yeah, you been fantastic ! Saving people left and right...” Angel, interrupting not looking at them: “I’m not comfortable asking people for money.” Cordelia: “Then get over it ! (Angel looks at her) I mean that in a sensitive way.” Doyle: “Look, bud, I know it’s not your favorite thing, but you’ve got to do what’s right.” Angel: “You think it’s right to ask people in trouble for money.” Doyle: “No.” Angel: “So we agree.” Doyle: “No.” Angel: “We don’t agree.” Cordelia: “Make up your mind, will you ? (Doyle’s face scrunches up in pain and hunches over the table.) Doyle ? (Angel walks over to him) Oh-oh, vision fit approaching.” Cut to smeared images of an office and a brown haired woman with shoulder length hair. Doyle: “Pen.. Paper. (Cordy hands it to him) single malt scotch.” Angel, pouring him a sh*t: “What did you see ?” Doyle: “Melissa Burns, works at Pardell Paper products.” Cordelia flipping through the phone book: “Melissa Burns.” Angel: “How did she look ?” Doyle: “Better than me. (takes a swallow from the cup makes a face) This ain’t single malt... it’s... polymalt!” Cordelia: “Okay, Pardell Paper Products. 200 Wilshire Boulevard.” Angel grabbing his coat and throwing it on: “I guess I’m going to work.” Doyle watches him as he leaves the office (in slow motion) his coat flowing behind him. Cordelia looks over at Doyle. Doyle: “Maybe I’m a little attracted.” *Intro.* ***** Cut to Melissa’s office. ***** There is a cake on the table with “Happy Birthday Benji” written on it. Melissa: “I said Penny. I was very clear on the phone ! I even spelled it with letters... It’s okay. I’ll fix it. Here (hands the guy standing next to her a pack of candles) you do these.” Melissa wipes of the bottom bulge of the B with her finger while the other guy sticks some of the candles on the cake. Guy: “Ok, perfect.” Melissa: “Ok, light them.” Guy: “I’m lighting, I’m lighting ! (lights the candles) um, what about the ‘J’ ?” Penny, walking in: “What’s going on ?” Guy and Melissa together: “Happy Birthday !” Penny: “Oh, this is so sweet! (Looks at the writing) You’ve only been here a month and you already know four of the letters of my name.” Melissa: “It’s just...” Guy, with a half laugh: “Yeah !” Melissa: “Well, we think that you should be Penji from now on. We think it suits you better !” Guy: “Make a wish already !” Penny: “Okay, wait (blows out the candles).” Guy: “Yeah !” Melissa, handing a potted plant to Penny: “And I brought you this. I painted the pot myself so feel free to break it accidentally.” Penny, accepting it with a smile: “Oh, don’t be silly. Thanks !” A black guy comes in with a bouquet of white flowers. Melissa: “Oh, look at that ! Looks like my little philodendron just got upstaged.” Penny: “Oh, no way. I don’t know anyone with tastes that good !” Black guy, handing the card to Melissa: “And right you are. They are for Melissa.” Penny and guy: “Ooooh.” Melissa, accepting the card: “Who are they from ?” Black guy: “I don’t know. Delivery guy form Ned’s Flowers.” Melissa looks at the card and looks spooked. Black guy: “Something wrong ?” Melissa, looking up and shaking her head: “No.” (Walks away from the others.) Guy: “No one ever sends me flowers.” Melissa gets a bottle of pills out of her purse and hides it in her hands Melissa, to Penny: “Would you watch my phones ?” Penny: “Oh, sure, honey.” Cut to Melissa walking into the bathroom. She stares at herself in the mirror, shakes some pills out of the bottle and swallows them with some water. Cut to Melissa walking into the parking garage. Angel is waiting in the shadows by her car. Angel, stepping forward: “Melissa. (she spins around, then lets out a relieved sigh) I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Melissa, walking on to her car: “Oh, I thought you were someone else.” Angel, following her: “Are you all right ?” Melissa, stopping then walking on: “yes.” Angel: “My name is Angel. I’m in private security.” Melissa, turning to him: “Excuse me ?” Angel, pulling out a calling card and twists it in his hands: “It’s... it’s what I do. It’s my job.” Melissa: “And you are walking around in underground garages telling people this because...?” Angel, holding the card out to her: “I think you maybe in need of my services.” Melissa, looking at him for a moment then takes the card: “I don’t think I can afford private security.” Angel: “It’s not about money. You see, I just help people... sometimes when the police can’t ?” Melissa, getting in the car: “Out of the goodness of your heart ?” Angel: “I’m not explaining this very well.” Melissa: “No, but thanks.” Angel, as she gets ready to drive off: “If you need anything, just call that number !” ***** Cut to Angel’s office. ***** Angel: "I scared her." Doyle, sitting next to Cordelia: "Sounds to me like she was scared to begin with." Angel, pacing: "Am I intimidating ? I mean... do I put people off ?" Cordelia: "Well, as vampires go, you’re pretty cuddly. Maybe you might want to think about mixing up the black on black look." Angel to Cordelia: "Maybe you should talk to her. She’d feel safer." Cordelia: "When she hires us, I’ll get involved." Doyle: "Cordelia is right." Angel: "I don’t think so. I’ve got a bad feeling that we need get involved now. (walks over to them and leans on the table) This shouldn’t be about money." Doyle: "It isn’t." Cordelia: "Yeah, you should listen to... (looks hard at Doyle) It isn’t ?!" Doyle: "No, it’s about doing what’s best for the people you’ve helped (Angel straightens up) People get attached to a mysterious savior, and can you blame them ? But as long as you’re just a man who’s doing a job, and getting paid, they can feel like they’ve paid their debt to you and they can move on... independent like." Cordelia to Doyle: "You are a lot smarter than you look (Doyle looks at her)... Of course you look like a ret*rd." ***** Cut to the street. ***** Melissa walks up to an ATM. She tries to get money out, but her pin is invalid. Tries again. A tall guy in a nice suit with short gray hair and bald on top steps up next to her. Ronald: “it won’t work. (she recoils) I’ve changed your pin number. (smiles at her) I mean, Melissa, your birthday ? That’s the first thing a thief would try.” Melissa: “What are you doing here ?” Ronald, punching a number into the ATM: “I changed it to 3-5-99... The day we met.” Melissa: “You have to stop doing this.” Ronald: “Stop looking after you ? Why ?” Melissa: “I don’t know what you want.” Ronald: “Oh, I just want you to be happy and healthy, silly... Speaking of... are you losing weight ? I think it’s the tranquilizers. How many did you take in the bathroom at work today, 3 ?” Melissa: “How do you know what I did...” Ronald, interrupting her: “I’ve got to be honest. I don’t see them helping with the anxiety. Now I prescribed a Calcium-Selenium supplement Did you take it ?” Melissa: “I...” Ronald: “No, you threw it in the drawer the minute you got home. These things are for your own good." Melissa: “Why can’t you just leave me alone ?” Ronald, staring at her: “How can two people in love leave each other alone ?” Melissa: “In love ?!... Ronald, we had one date...” Ronald: “Honey, honey, don’t get upset !... I take commitment pretty seriously, and I know you do, too. Did you have a rough day at work ? Is that it ? (Pager goes off) Oh, (looks at the number) surgery. I have to run. (takes the money out of the ATM slot and hands it to her) Oh, don’t forget your money, sweetheart. (she takes the money hesitantly, but when he leans in to kiss her good-bye she recoils. He pulls back) I’ll see you tonight.” ***** Cut to Angel’s office. ***** The phone rings. Cordelia: “Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless. (looks up at Angel as she listens) Well, I’d say right a way. (hangs up phone) She’s coming in.” Angel, looking at his dark sweater: “I’ve got to change my shirt.” ***** Cut to Angel's office, later. ***** Melissa is sitting in the office, drinking coffee. Melissa: “It’s been going on for about 7 months now. It wasn’t so bad a t first.” Angel (wearing an off-white sweater): “What’s his name ?” Melissa: “Dr. Ronald Meltzer. He’s a neurosurgeon. I had an infected nerve... behind my right eye. He operated, saved my sight. Afterwards he asked me out. I didn’t really want to, but...” Cordelia (taking notes with a pad and pencil): “He helped you, you felt obligated. (Melissa nods)... Plus, a doctor.” Melissa: “So we had *one* drink, *one* time... and afterwards he started calling me, a lot. Then he started showing up at my work, my apartment... saying that we had something special, that we should get married.” Angel: “And then it got worse ?” Melissa: “I know it sounds stupid, but I can feel him watching me... all the time. Today at work, he knew I took my Xanitab when I was alone in the bathroom. I mean, how did he see that ? He is just everywhere. I don’t think I can take much more of this.” Angel: “Well, we’re going to help you.” Cordelia: “Big time... and for a reasonable fee.” (Gets a look from Angel and ducks her head.) Angel: “Doyle will make sure that you get home safely.” Melissa: “Thanks. You guy’s have been very kind, listening to me. (takes a sip of coffee) It’s terrible.” Doyle: “Yeah, we’re going to take care of that.” Melissa, setting down the cup and getting up to leave: “No, I mean the coffee. (turns before she reaches the door) Angel, how did you know that I needed help ?” Angel: “I have a friend in the police department.” Doyle, to Angel as he follows Melissa out: “I’ll see you later.” Cordelia: “Can you imagine ? A doctor... they examine your body... they know every inch of you. (shudders) ugh !” Angel: “How is he doing it ? How does he see her when she’s alone, in private ?... Is he invisible ?... Or some kind of ghost ?... Maybe he can astral project.” Cordelia: “Maybe he has an accomplice... or a hidden camera. Not everything has to be creepy and supernatural, you know.” Angel: “Not everything, but Doyle had a vision.” Cordelia: “Which last time led to a sex-changing-body-switching-tear-your-innards-out-demon, right. I guess they don’t call you for their every day cases.” Angel, sitting down thinking: “He sees her when he is nowhere around... How ?” Cordelia, turning to go: “Okay, flesh, anytime you want to stop crawling is okay with me.” Cut to Melissa drawing the curtains closed in her bedroom and brushing her hair in front of the mirror. Cut to Ronald sitting alone in the dark in his office sipping a scotch. There is a picture of Melissa in front of him on the desk. Cut to Melissa getting undressed. Cut to Ronald holding the bridge of his nose with one hand. Cut to Melissa opening the back of her slip. Cut to Ronald taking his hand down. His right eye-socket is empty. Cut to an eyeball floating in the air with a few nerve endings trailing behind. Camera pans around to show Melissa getting out of her slip, her back to the eyeball. ***** Cut to the police department. ***** Angel walks up to Kate’s desk. Angel: “Hello, Kate.” Kate, getting up and folding her arms in front of her: “Angel. Um, hi... It’s good to see you.” Angel: “You too.” Kate: “So judging by your uncomfortableness, I’d say you either about to ask me out on a date, or you need a favor. (Angel just looks at her) And I’m going to go with favor. (sits down) so ask, and I’ll see if I can do.” Angel, sitting down: “Girl... a client. She’s being stalked, and I think it could get ugly.” Kate: “She’s being stalked ? Then ugly it already is. What’s her name ?” ***** Cut to Melissa's work. ***** Doyle walks next to Melissa. Melissa: “You know you really don’t have to stay with me all day.” Doyle: “Protect and serve. It’s entirely my bag. As long as I’m not in the way.” Melissa: “Oh, no. I like it. As long as you’re not bored.” Doyle: “No, no. I’m good. I have a word jumble right here. That should keep me occupied, sadly, for most of the day.” Melissa, sitting down at her desk: “I do feel better having you all on the case. I guess Angel has handled a lot of cases like this.” Doyle: “Dozens. Hundreds. Dozens of hundreds.” Melissa: “Wow, it happens that often ?” Doyle: “Well, exactly like yours ? Not quite so many. But protecting young women such as yourself ? Yeah, there’ve been... ah... 4. And 3 of them are very much alive. (she gives him a shocked look and he quickly points at a picture on her desk) Is that you ?” Melissa: “Ah, yeah. Bungee jumping.” Doyle, picking up the picture: “I’ve always meant to do that, but I intensely don’t want to, so I haven’t gotten around to it yet.” Melissa: “It’s fun. Scary.” Doyle, replacing the picture and sitting down: “You don’t seem like the thrill seeker type.” Melissa, looking at the picture: “Well, I used to... You know, I used to do a lot of things... before...” Doyle: “Don’t you worry. When Angel is finished with this case I can guarantee you’ll be wanting to jump off a bridge again.” ***** Cut to the police department. ***** Kate comes to her desk with a file in her hand. Kate: “Your girl did file a report two months ago. The doctor responded and denied everything. (sits down) A lot of noise from his lawyers. Ouch..” Angel: “What ?” Kate: “His lawyers. Wolfram and Hart. You know the name ?” Angel: “I’ve heard it.” Kate: “Yeah. They’re the law firm that Johnny Cochran is too ethical to join. They actually filed a restraining order against *her*. Very cute. Still no record of v*olence for the doctor.” Angel: “Yet.” Kate: “You think he’s going to blow ?” Angel: “I do.” Kate: “I’ll put a uniform on her building. But I can probably not spare one for more than a day or two.” Angel: “Thanks. That’ll help.” Kate: “And your client, she’s holding up?” Angel: “She’s scared. He’s had her on the ropes for a while now.” Kate: “Then you better help her get mad, because that is the only way she’ll be able to fight him.” Angel: “Well, hopefully I’ll be doing the fighting. That’s why she hired me.” Kate: “That’s not what I mean. This guy could go to jail tomorrow, Angel, and still k*ll her in her dreams every night. I’ve put a few of these creeps away and the hardest thing is to know that he is still winning. She’s still afraid. He took her power away and no one can get it back for her but her.” ***** Cut to an unknown clinic. ***** Angel is walking down the hallway of the expensive clinic. He sneaks into Dr. Meltzer’s office and starts to look around. He hears the doctor consulting with a patient through a half open door. He checks his book shelf and pulls out a book called “Anything is Possible”. It has a personal dedication in the front. Dr. Meltzer, walking in: “What are you doing in my office ?” Angel with his back turned to the doctor sticks the book in the inside pocket of his jacket and while turning around pulls out a business card out of the same pocket and hands it to Dr. Meltzer. Angel: “Name’s Jensen. I need to talk to you.” Ronald, taking the card: “Then you make an appointment. You don’t just barge in here.” Angel: “I don’t have time for appointments. I’m told that you can do things no one else can.” Ronald, picking up the phone: “You’ll never find out. I’m calling security.” Angel: “My wife has a malignant tumor that’s pressing on her ocular cavity. She’ going to die unless someone has the nerve to operate.” Ronald, hanging up the phone: “What you are talking about is a very difficult and dangerous procedure. I could lose my license. Now, I understand your situation, but I can’t help you.” Angel, picking up Melissa’s picture from the desk and holding it up to Ronald: “What does she mean to you ?” Ronald: “What ?” Angel: “What is she, your wife, your girlfriend ? What ?” Ronald: “She’s my fiancée.” Angel: “Nice. Set a date ?” Ronald: “Uh... ah... we’re working that out.” Angel: “Did you know right away ?... That she was the one ?” Ronald: “I don’t see how this has anything...” Angel: “I tell you how. Do you know what it’s like to be so much a part of someone that you don’t know where they end and you begin ? (hold up Melissa’s picture) Would you die for her ?” Ronald: “Yes.” Angel: “Then you understand that I’m not willing to make any compromises. I’m not willing to watch her suffer and die while the law catches up with science. What I’m willing to do, is pay you what ever it takes... Think about it... Please.” ***** Cut to the Good Samaritan Hospital. ***** Cordy is interviewing a nurse. Nurse: “Another article about Meltzer.” Cordelia: “Well, our readers at the... uhm (glances down at some magazines) journal of diagnostic orthoped... etcetera seem endlessly fascinated with him.” Nurse: “He is fascinating. Before he became an ocular surgeon he specialized in orthopedics. He developed nerve and blood vessel accelerants that helped a lot of people.” Cordelia: “How ?” Nurse: “When you sever a limb there is only so much time to reattach before it atrophies.” Cordelia: “Yuck !” Nurse: “What ?” Cordelia, smiling: “Nothing, please go on.” Nurse: “Dr. Meltzer’s work extended that time significantly. Plus he's of one of the best at reattaching severed nerves.” Cordelia: “So he is good at the cutting and the sewing. Did he ever strike you as a big dangerous creep ?” Nurse: “What ? What kind of article are you writing ?” Cordelia: “I’ve got to be honest with you. It may not be a very nice one. I don’t like the way he treats women. I’ll keep your name out of it, but just between us... what’s the real dish on this guy ?” Nurse, looking around to make sure there is no one close: “He is not very generous. He doesn’t share his techniques with the medical community at large and a lot of what he claims to have done is pretty radical.” Cordelia: “Like what ?” ***** Cut to Angel's office. ***** Cordelia, pacing: “Like reattaching eyes for one thing. Apparently this guy can do anything with a Kn*fe. You so don’t want this guy fixated on you. What is stalking now a days... the third most popular sport among men ?” Angel, typing on the computer: “Fourth... after Luge.” Cordelia: “I don’t get it. This guy has a lot to lose. What is it about Melissa that got him to go all O.J. on her ?” Angel: “Nothing. It’s not about Melissa, it’s about rage. This guy is too messed up to deal with a real woman and he can’t stand that. So he creates a fantasy about a girl he barely knows. But eventually even she fails him. So he has to hurt her, because when he looks at her all he sees is how useless he is, how damaged...” Cordelia, interrupting him: “Uh, what a fun date you must have been in back in your bad vamp days. (sits down) On the other hand, it should give you some insight into the jerks of the world.” Angel: “I know how this guy thinks, I just don’t know how he’s doing it.” Cordelia: “Being everywhere at once ?” Angel, showing her the book he stole from the doctor’s office: “Vinpur Natpudan says that we are everywhere at once since we are all made up of the same molecules.” Cordelia: “I remember that guy. He made a big noise a few years ago on public television. Huh. Then had a big case of Joe Recluse.” Angel, looking at the computer: “What he had was a nervous breakdown. Not long after he conducted an exclusive retreat for a group of well known yogis and doctors.” Cordelia: “I’m guessing Dr. Stalker was at that retreat ? What are you doing ?” Angel: “Sending Joe Recluse an e-mail. I’d really like to talk to him.” Cordelia, reading what he is typing: “I hope you have the nerve to believe that I need help with Ronald Meltzer. (looks down and reads the dedication in the front of the book) hope you have the nerve to believe - did you steal this book ?” Angel: “Yeah.” Cordelia: “Good.” ***** Cut to Vinpur’s darkened room. ***** Angel is sitting in the room. Vinpur: “You said in your e-mail that Dr, Meltzer might hurt an innocent woman. What is it that you think I can do about that ?” Angel: “Help me understand him better. I don’t think he is like other people.” Vinpur: “No, he’s not... Of course no two people are alike. God in his infinite variety and wisdom likes to keep it interesting.” Angel: “How did you meet him ?” Vinpur: “He came to one of my lectures. My operating thesis at the time was that the mind is the single most powerful force in the universe. In any average human it regulates billions of cells, and that is with 80% of the brain still untapped.” Angel: “So what are the possibilities if a person could master all that power.” Vinpur: “I introduced Dr. Meltzer to psychic surgeons, Yogis that can shut down their somatic system for days a t a time. But he eclipsed us all. Until Dr. Meltzer my studies had been based on theories and hearsay, but he exploded that all. That’s when I stopped teaching.” Angel: “Because you stopped believing.” Vinpur: “No, because I began to believe... completely.” ***** Cut to Melissa’s house, at night. ***** Ronald is standing outside the rod iron fence staring in. Cut to Melissa sleeping in her bed. Cut to a police car pulling up to the curb. The Officer gets out. Officer: “All right, pal... why don’t you just turn around... nice and easy... put your hands in the air.” Ronald, turning around, his hands in his pockets: “I was just out for a walk.” Officer, pulling his g*n: “Hands, now !” Ronald pulls out his hands with a slight smile. His arms end in two stumps, no hands. Cut to a severed hand crawling up the side of Melissa’s bed. A second one follows. Cut to the officer holstering his g*n. Officer: “I’m sorry we got a report of someone... not you.” Ronald: “That’s quite all right, officer. Just doing your job. I understand.” (Walks off.) Cut to the hands slipping under Melissa’s blanket. She wakes, looks under the blanket and screams. Cut to the officer as he is calling in his report standing next to his car. He hears the scream and runs towards the house. He smashes in the glass of the door to open it from the inside and runs up the steps. Cut to Melissa frantically undoing the safety chain on her door. The officer steps in g*n drawn. Officer: “What’s wrong ?” Melissa: “Oh, he’s..” Officer: “Did someone break in ?... Lady I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. Now, did someone break in or are you just having a bad dream ?” Melissa, pointing to her bedroom: “In there !” The officer inspects the room and bathroom with his g*n drawn. There is no one there. He holsters his g*n. Officer: “Okay. Everything’s okay now. Look there is nobody in your bedroom, there is nobody in your bathroom. Now if you want to start from the beginning and just tell me..” One of the hands grabs him by the shoulder and pulls him back. Melissa screams. Officer: “Oh, god.” Cut to Ronald watching the house from outside with a smirk on his face. Cut to the upstairs hallway. The officer comes stumbling out into the hallway. Two disembodied hands are choking him. Melissa runs screaming past him down the stairs and out of the house and right into a guy. Angel, stopping her: “It’s me. It’s me.” Melissa: “He’s... he’s in there... His... his hands...” Angel: “I know, I know what he can do.” Melissa: “He k*lled a... Please don’t leave me alone ! Please don’t leave me !” Angel: “It’s all right. It’s all right. (Melissa buries her face against his chest and cries) I’m not going to let him near you. Shh !” As Melissa continues crying, the camera pans over to show us Ronald watching them from outside the fence. A hand crawls along the ground and up his leg then reattaches itself to the end of his arm. Ronald takes one last look at Angel holding Melissa then walks away. ***** Cut to the front of Melissa's house. ***** A bunch of people is crowing. he officer’s d*ad body is being wheeled out. Doyle is handing Melissa a cup of coffee. She is wrapped into a blanket. Doyle: “Here drink up, love. It’s over.” Cut to Angel and Kate walking up. Kate: “She is not making a lot of sense.” Angel: “She’s been living in terror for the last 5 months.” Kate: “You think it’s the doctor.” Angel: “I know it’s the doctor.” Kate, putting her hands on her hips: “How could he do it ? I mean, she’s got bars on her windows. The security cameras in the hallway show our officers going in and nobody suspicious all day. I mean, who is this guy, Houdini ?” Angel: “Something like that.” Kate: “I’ve pulled prints. If they match his, he’s going down.” Officer, from off screen: “Detective ? Can you sign the coroners release ?” Kate walks off and Angel walks towards Doyle and Melissa. Doyle sees him coming and meets him half way. Angel: “How’s she doing ?” Doyle: “Numb... Did they get any prints ?” Angel: “Yeah.” Doyle: “Good. So we can put him behind bars... for about 90 seconds, until he skitters through ‘em. (shakes his head) Not a lot of things that make me shudder, but this guy... crawling around under the covers... At least it was just his hands down there. Wish I hadn’t even thought that.” Angel: “He’s coming undone.” Doyle: “I’ll say.” Angel: “No, I mean he’s out of control. He’s k*lling now.” Doyle: “Anyone that comes between him and his obsession. (Looks over at Melissa) Don’t we stand between him and his obsession ? I’m not putting too cowardly a point on it... but if this guy can’t be contained and he can’t be k*lled, what are we going to do about it ?” Angel: “If his body parts go long enough without any blood and oxygen, they’re going to deteriorate, he’s not gonna be able to put himself back together no matter how much psychic surgery he knows.” Doyle: “So what are you saying ? Break him down and box him up ?” Angel: “Of course that’s just a theory.” Doyle: “Hmm. What do we do in the mean time ?” Angel, looking over at Melissa: “Protect her.” ***** Cut to Angel's apartment. ***** Doyle is putting a duct tape over a vent. Doyle: “It’s not good for the ventilation, but he’s not getting in here. (Cordy touches his collar and he jumps) What...” Cordelia: “I was just trying to fix your collar.” Doyle: “Yeah, well, what say we just leave it crooked until this thing’s resolved.” They walk into the other room where Angel and Melissa are sitting at a table. Melissa, sipping from a cup of tea: “I don’t see how this can... I mean this can’t be happening. What I saw... you must think I’m crazy.” Angel: “No, I believe you.” Melissa: “But it’s not possible. I mean, he can really...” Angel, noding: “Yes !... Remember I told you I sometimes handle things the police can’t ? (Melissa nods) This is one of those things... I’m going to take care of him. Doyle and Cordelia are going to stay here with you. I want you to try and get some rest.” Doyle flips the latch closed on the trap door to the sewers and secures it with a bolt. Cordelia offers Melissa a tissue. Melissa: “Thanks, but I’m not going to cry any more. At least I hope not. I’m tired of crying and being afraid.” Angel: “You don’t have to be afraid.” Melissa: “You’re just duct taping me in for fun ?” Angel: “You’ve survived a living hell these last few months and you’re still standing, while he’s coming unhinged at not being able to control you. He’s the weak one. You’re the strong one.” Cordelia: “You should listen to him, Melissa. He knows what he’s talking about. He’s stalked plenty of (Angel and Melissa look at her) books on the subject. (to Angel) Could I see you upstairs for a moment ?” Cut to Cordy and Angel going up in the elevator. Cordelia: “Okay Melissa stays here with us that makes sense, but the part about you taking care of the doctor... This guy is *really* dangerous.” Angel opens the elevator, walks over to the desk and starts flipping through the yellow pages. Cordelia: “What are you doing ?” Angel: “Seeing where I can get some steel boxes at this hour of the night.” Cordelia: “Steel boxes ? Why would you want... Oh. For packing up people parts... You know this job... Don’t get me wrong I’m grateful to have it. God knows it’s educational, but sometimes... (she jumps as the phone rings) God who’s calling at this... (looks down at the phone and sees the line 3 light blinking) It’s the special line.” Angel: “Answer it.” Cordelia: “Right, right. Okay. Now, who are we again ? Johnson International Holdings ?” Angel: “Jensen.” Cordelia: “Jensen. Good, got it. Jensen, now does that sound like an international name ?” Angel: “Cordelia.” Cordelia, picking up the phone: “Jensen International Holdings. How may I direct your call ?... Please hold. (puts him on hold) It’s him.” Angel takes a deep breath and picks up the phone on his desk. Angel: “Brian Jensen.” Ronald: “You’re working late.” Angel: “Down side of being global.” Ronald: “If you still want me to, I’ll operate on your wife.” Angel: “I do, thank you.” Ronald: “We’ll have to do it out of the country, and I need $100 000 in cash to get things rolling.” Angel: “Are you in your office ?” Ronald: “Yes.” Angel: “I’ll bring it to you tonight.” (Hangs up the phone.) Cordelia: “You’re going over there ? What if he comes apart on you ?” Angel: “If he comes apart on me, he’s going to stay that way.” (Gets up.) ***** Cut to Ronald's office. ***** Ronald is sitting in his office. Angel comes in carrying a steel box. Ronald: "That’s a big box. You didn’t have to bring it in small bills Mr. Jensen.” Angel, putting the box on the table: “Actually I didn’t bring..." Ronald: “Any money at all ? No, I didn’t think you would. Though the safety deposit box is a nice touch. I mean your name is not really Jensen. You don’t have a wife. What a tangled web, eh ?” Ronald reaches for something on the desk with his left hand, and while Angel’s attention is on his left hand, he lifts his right and sh**t Angel right into the neck with a tranquilizer dart. Ronald: “I developed this injector while working with animals. (Angel pulls out the dart and looks at it. It drops from his fingers) They don’t like their limbs cut off any more than we do and they can hurt you if you get to close. (Angel is gasping, his eyes wide) You’ll feel a slight sinking sensation... that’s your heart slowing down as the paralytic takes effect. Eventually it’ll stop all together. (Ronald stands up) I just can’t get over the audacity... to think that you could take her from me ? (Angel’s knees are sagging) I saw you. I saw you holding her. (Angel drops on all fours) Nobody can break the bond between us. Nobody. (Ronald picks up a scalpel from his desk) Clearly even she can’t accept that. If tried so hard to show her in so many ways. I’ve taken care of her... been there for her... even when she didn’t know it. (Angel rolls onto his back on the floor. Ronald’s voice becomes distorted) If that isn’t devotion. And what do I get for my trouble ?... She lies, she cheats. But no more. I won’t be made a fool of. She would have made a beautiful bride." As Angel finally passes out all together, Ronald leaves the office. ***** Cut to Angel's appartment. ***** Doyle is taping up yet another vent. Doyle, walking over towards the bedroom looking around: “I got everything, I think.” Cordelia: “Shh. She’s resting. (motions to Melissa sleeping on Angel’s bed) What did you put in her tea ?” Doyle, still looking for holes he might have missed: “Enough whiskey to drop my Aunt Tudy. That woman had some girth.” Cordelia, sighing: “What’s the point ?” Doyle: “Well, it tastes good and it relaxes you.” Cordelia: “No, I mean of ever going out with anyone.” Doyle: “Well, people need people. And people who need people (takes a step closer to Cordy) are the luckiest..” Cordelia, putting a hand on his chest and pushing him back: “Either you like them and they don’t like you. Or you can’t stand them which just guarantees that they’ll keep on hovering around and never go away.” Doyle: “Uh,... yeah, I just hate guys like that. (steps away with a sigh) I’ll just check on...” (Walks away.) Cordelia, folding her arms: “It’s just so unfair. I mean, here is this poor girl. She hooks up with a doctor. That’s supposed to be a good thing. I mean you should be able to call home and say: ‘Hey, mom, guess what, I’ve met a doctor ! Not, guess what, I met a psycho and he’s stalking me and oh, by the way, his hands and feet come off and he’s not even in the circus !” Camera pans over to a vent. Fingers are poking through the duct tape. Doyle: “Not every relationship leads to disaster.” Cordelia: “You ever had one ?” Doyle: “Not me personally. But I’ve read...” Cut to Melissa sleeping on the bed. Cordelia, checking her watch: “What if Angel doesn’t come back ?” Doyle, still putting more tape over something: “Ah, he’ll be back.” Cordelia: “What if Dr. Chopped Salad shows up before he does ?” Doyle, ripping off another piece of tape: “I have this place sewed up tighter than...” They hear a rattling noise. Cordelia: “What was that ?” Doyle gets up and slowly walks over towards the living room. He pulls two w*apon free from a brick wall as he passes it and hands one to Cordy. Doyle: “Just the wind.” The camera pans up to show them slowly advancing into the living room w*apon raised as a disembodied eye watches from behind a pipe. Doyle: “So, you want to play some cards – or you want to watch the tube.” Cordelia: “Sure, how about some... gin ? Penny a point ?” Doyle: “Yeah, you’ll owe me money.” Cordelia: “We’ll see about that.” The rattling starts again. It’s the trap door to the sewers. Doyle: “Cordelia.” Two fingers come up through a slit and start to work on pushing the bolt aside. Cut to another hand opening the door to the apartment. Ronald steps in and the eyeball floats up and back into its socket. Cut to Cordy and Doyle watching as the fingers push the bolt to the side. Doyle crouches down next the trap door, hatchet at the ready and flicks the latch back. He opens the trap door and peers into the tunnel below. Ronald puts a hand over Cordy’s mouth from behind, slams her into a wall and then out through the door, while the other hand pulls Doyle head first through the trap door, which slams shut behind him. Ronald shuts the door and turns around to look at Melissa who is sitting on the edge of the bed looking at him. She watches as his second hand comes over and melds back into place. Ronald, adjusting his tie: “Hi. Getting some rest ?” Melissa: “I... What are you ?” Ronald: “I’m more than meets the eye. But you never bothered to find out, did you ? You just took advantage of my kindness. (Pulls a surgeon’s scalpel out of his jacket) Led me on until you could find yourself a vacuous LA pretty boy.” Melissa tries to run past him and he cuts her off and corners her up against the wall. Ronald: “I’m very disappointed in you, Melissa.” Melissa, staring at the scalpel in his hand: “I know... I didn’t mean...” Ronald: “No, no, no. no. Stop now. You’re babbling.” Melissa: “I think... I think you disappoint yourself. I think you gave up on being loved a long time ago and now you’re just another creep who gets off on pain.” Ronald: “Now don’t try your little childish...” Melissa: “I think you know that I would be crazy to want to touch you, to wake up next to little pieces of what ever you are.” Ronald: “Shut up.” Melissa: “You turned yourself into a freak, Ronald, a vile, repulsive freak. And I’m done being afraid of you. You can cut me and you can k*ll me, but it still won’t change what you are. (his throat is bulging strangely) Angel was right. You’re weak !” Ronald: “I’m weak ? Then how was it I k*lled him ?” The door slides open behind him and he looks around. Angel: “Inefficiently.” Ronald: “You can’t be alive. You... you’re not human !” Melissa, backing away from him: “You should talk.” Ronald’s teeth fly out and bite Angel’s arm. Angel smashes them against a wall and Ronald claps his hand over his mouth in pain. As Angel advances on him he slams the scalpel into his shoulder. Melissa screams but it barely slows Angel. Ronald throws his right hand, which grips Angel’s throat and slams him back on the floor. Ronald turns towards Melissa. Angel rips the hand off and throws it away. It comes skittering back towards him and he pulls the scalpel from his shoulder and s*ab it with it, pinning it to the floor. Ronald, to Melissa: “We could have been so happy.” (One of his ears falls off.) Angel: “Ronald.” As Ronald turns around Angel hits his head with a pipe, sending the head flying across the room. Angel, stepping up to Melissa: “Are you all right ?” She just gasps and he holds her carefully. ***** Cut to Angel’s office, the next day. ***** Cordelia, making coffee: “Oh, goody, recycled coffee, my personal favorite.” She adds some fresh grounds to the ones already in the filter and starts the machine. Angel walks in wearing a dark blue shirt and hands her some papers. Cordelia: “Oh. That guy’s never going to put himself back together, right ?” Angel: “He’s in 12 steel boxes buried in 20 cubic feet of concrete in the floor of LA’s newest subway station.” Doyle: “That ought to bring in the tourists.” The door opens and Melissa walks in carrying a potted plant. Melissa, smiling: “Hey.” Angel and Cordy: “Hi.” Doyle: “Hi, how’s it going ?” Melissa, handing Angel the plant: “I brought this for you guys.” Angel: “Oh. I hope it doesn’t need light ?” Melissa: “I’m sure it’ll be fine in here.” Cordelia: “Can I offer you some coffee ?” Melissa: “Coffee, oh, no. I can only stay a minute. Places to go, people to see. (to Angel) Thanks to you.” Cordelia and Doyle start coughing. Angel: “Ah... there...” Melissa, looking wide at them coughing: “What ?” Angel: “There is... ah... there is a... bill ?” Melissa: “Bill who ?” Angel: “A bill for my services.” Melissa: “Oh, of course. That’s the other reason I came. (pulls out a check and hands holds it out towards Angel) Here.” Cordelia, darting forward and grabbing it: “I’ll take that, thank you.” Angel: “I mean,... I didn’t do it for money.” Melissa: “Oh, please you earned it. (reaches and shakes Angel’s hand) Well, hope I never see you again.” Angel: “Me too. Good luck.” Melissa leaves. Doyle: “Well, that didn't go so badly.” Cordelia: “See, you can save damsel and make decent money. Is this a great country or what ?!” Doyle: “Let’s march down to the bank and deposit this beauty.” Angel: “You guys go ahead. I think I’ll stay here and not burst into flames.” Doyle: “Oh, right, you’re pretty much the night deposit guy. Still, cause to celebrate.” Cordelia, patting him on the shoulder: “You think everything’s a cause to celebrate. (Picks up her purse) We could use more of these.” Doyle, as they are heading out the door: “And we’ll have more of these soon.” Cordelia: “We need more of these now. Have a vision.” Doyle: “I can’t just perform on demand.” Cordelia: “We need the clients. Have a vision.” Doyle: “That money has corrupted you.” Cordelia: “If I h*t you on the head, will you have a vision ?” Doyle: “Get away from me. You’re insane.” Cordelia: “Am not. Now will you have a vision ?” Angel walks into his office with a slight smile and sets the plant on his desk.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x04 - I Fall To Pieces"}

foreverdreaming

***** Angel’s office at night.***** Cordelia is holding up a torn white trash bag. Cordy: “I’ve had it with these cheap trash bags! They leak and break and end up costing us more !” She drops bag in front of Doyle who nods at her. Doyle: “I believe it!” Cordy: “Yeah, It was a great audition! I was all about things leaking. How could they not pick me?” Doyle: “They don’t know what they missed.” Telephone rings. Cordy: “They gave it to a blonde that showed up in a skintight leather cat suit. She is supposed to be a housewife. (Telephone continues to ring) She looked ridiculous. She looked like cat-woman taking out the cat-trash.” Doyle: “Are you going to answer the phone?” Angel: “Good question.” Cordy: “Oh, yeah, right. (Answering machine kick on) Oh, the machine got it.” Machine in Cordy’s voice: “Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless. If that’s you leave a message. (Beep)” Aura, leaving a message: “Hey, Cordy. It’s Aura. Just wanted to check in, you know (Angel looks up and walks away) see how you were doing. Oh, you would not believe what’s going on in Sunnydale!” Cordy just straightens stuff on her desk, makes no move to pick up the phone. Doyle: “You don’t want to talk to her?” Cordy: “No, not just yet. She is just going to ask me where I’m living and how the acting is going, and just not up to leading the parade of pain. I’ll do it when things get better.” Doyle: “Well, I don’t know if I can help with the acting, but about the apartment..” Cordy: “What?” Doyle: “Well, if you ever want to - I don’t know – stay a night away form the place... maybe give me a call.” Cordy: “Well, stranger things have happened. No wait, they really haven’t. (Gets up, picks up her jacket and purse and heads for the door) I’ll see you tomorrow. (yells) Bye, Angel, I’m taking off.” Cut to Angel's office. Angel is sitting behind his desk, reading in an old book. Doyle comes in sits down and puts his feet up on the table. Angel stares at his feet then looks at Doyle but doesn’t say anything. Doyle: “She’s really something, isn’t she? It’s like wrestling a tiger just to get to know her. (Angel keeps reading) Tell me stuff.” Angel: “What stuff?” Doyle: “About Cordelia.” Angel: “Well, I - I know she can’t type or file. Until today I had some hope regarding the phone.” Doyle: “Who’s Aura?” Angel: “I think... uh... I think she is one of Cordelia’s group. People called them the Cordettes. A bunch of girls from wealthy families. They ruled the high school. Decided what was in, who was popular. It was like the soviet secret police if they cared a lot about shoes.” Doyle: “And she was the richest one of all? Because the way she talks it sounds like she had servants made of solid gold or something.” Angel: “Pretty much. Until her parents lost it all. Riches to rags.” Doyle: “One hell of a come down.” Angel: “Yeah, but she’s doing all right.” ***** Cordy's apartment. ***** Cordelia opens the door to her apartment. The key sticks and when she finally gets it out she scratches up her arm in the process. Cordy: “Ouch! Damn it!” She turns on the light. It flickers before it finally stays on. Goes to the sink to get a drink of water. The water is a dingy brown and comes sh**ting out of the faucet, splattering all over her white shirt. Cordy: “Yeah, well, of course.” She goes to sit down on the couch and turns on the TV. There is a huge cockroach on the screen. Cordy, picking the phone up with a groan and dialing: “Hello? Hi, this is Cordelia Chase from apartment 4B. (There are now three cockroaches crawling over the TV screen.) I thought you were going to have the exterminator in here today?... Well, if he had don’t you think there would be... (putting her foot down and squashing another cockroach, looking down, the carpet is littered with d*ad bugs) Ah, oh god! Ahh! (slamming the phone down and picking up her address book) Doyle, Doyle,..” She finds his number and dials. ***** Doyle’s apartment. ***** The phone is ringing as he comes in. He hurries in and turns on the light. Dark brown skinned demon with spines along his jaw and along the sides of his hairless head: “Hello, Doyle.” *Intro.* Doyle: “I think you have the wrong place.” Demon: “You owe money.” Doyle: “It’s all about money. What about friendship and family all those things that are priceless, like they say in those credit card commercial? (Demon looking at him) Oh, yeah right. You’re a demon of focus. I can see that... I have your money right over here.” Doyle walks over to a dresser and reaches into the top drawer. The demon slams the drawer shut on his hand. Demon: “You’re not stupid enough to have a g*n in there,... right?” Doyle: “Who, me? No way, man! Look!” Doyle pulls the drawer out and hits the demon on the chin with it then runs out the door. ***** Angel’s apartment. ***** Beethoven’s ‘Ode to joy’ is playing on a phonograph and you can hear the shower running. Hard knocking on the door. Angel comes out of the bathroom all wet, wrapping a towel around his waist and goes to answer the door. Cordelia steps in pushing a couple of bags into Angel’s hands and walks past him into the apartment. Cordy: “Oh god, Angel! It’s so terrible! Oh, my gosh. (Turning around and holding up her hands) Don’t even look at me! I am such a mess. I am the lowest of the lowest. (Gesturing towards the open door) and you’re going to want to get my other suitcase out there in the hall.” Angel glances out the open door than back at her, still hunched around the bags in his arms. Angel: “What happened?” Cordy: “My apartment. It’s like the barrio... or the projects or whatever, and I live there! I’m the girl from the projects!” Angel, almost dropping one of the bags: “What? I don’t know about that.” Cordy: “Get this. I tried to call Doyle. I have sunk that low. And there was no answer. So, here I am. Not that you’re the last resort. It’s just that I have nowhere else left to go. (Going to sit down while Angel puts down one of her bags) Roaches. Live one, d*ad ones. All skinny feet and creepy antlers.” Angel: “Antlers?” Cordy: “Oh, my god! I wonder how many stowed away in that bag? (Angel looks down at the bag he is holding.) Also the water is all brown and spurty, and not hot! I am dying for a shower. (Angel puts down the other bag and holds on to his towel with both hands) I... actually smell! Smell me. I never smell. I didn’t know I could... I’m just going to have to stay here until I can find a decent place, however long that takes, and when I do you are completely invited over. Hey, you can just dump my stuff on the couch... or let me have the bed. What ever you feel good about. Also, my suitcase is still out in the hall. (Picking up one of her bags) Your shower is in here, right? You have mousse?... Of course you do.” Cordelia disappears into the bathroom while Angel stands there scratching his head. Cut to the next morning. Doyle unlocks the door to the office. As he checks his watch (it’s 10 am) we see a dark bruise on his right hand. Cut to... Cordelia is sitting at the table wearing a white bathrobe and trying to see her reflection in a metal vase. She is combing her wet hair with her fingers. Doyle, coming out of the elevator: “Angel, you around?” Cordy: “Hey, Doyle. (Angel comes walking into the kitchen wearing boxers and a short open bathrobe) You ever get that feeling that you just can’t shower enough? Like something’s happened and you’re never going to get clean?” Doyle, staring at her: “What?” Angel, coming up behind him, to Cordy holding up one hand: “You got peanut butter on the bed.” Cordy: “Really? (Angel looks at her) I don’t think so. (Angel shows her his hand) I’ll look.” Doyle: “No, no, no, no, no. Angel man, how could you?” Angel: “How what?” Doyle: “Man, you know I was crazy about her, and I was wearing her down, too. But no, handsome, brooding vampire guy has to swoop in, all sensitive mouth and overhanging forehead (Angel feels his forehead with a frown) How about leaving some scraps for the homely looking fellas who don’t turn evil when they get some?” Angel: “Cordelia stayed over because something’s wrong with her place. I was on the sofa.” Doyle, looking over at the sofa: "Oh. (Angel raises his eyebrows at him) That’s okay, I suppose." Cordy, walking back in from the bedroom now dressed: “Angel, at some point in the recent history *you* got peanut butter on your bed, and it’s gross. I think you’re gonna have to change the sheets.” Angel: "I don’t eat." Cordy: “Well then, I don’t even want to know how it got there.” Angel stalks off towards the bedroom. Cordy sits down at the table and begins to brush out her hair. Doyle: “Hey, Cordy, you look great by the way.” Cordy: “I wouldn’t know. The man doesn’t even have a mirror. Like it would k*ll him to not see himself?” Doyle, laughing then asking: “Listen, I was wondering if anybody called lately? Maybe asking about me or maybe wanting my address?” Cordy: “Oh, yeah. Yesterday your cousin called, with one of those names from your part of England.” Doyle: “My part of England?” Cordy: “Conner or Fergus... did he find you?” Doyle, sighing: “Yeah, he did, all right. But you see, a little ah... warning might have been nice, give a fella a chance to neat the place up, you know?” Cordy, staring at him: “Jeez, I just helped the guy as a favor to you. (Doyle just looks at her and she stands up) Maybe next time I won’t bother.” Doyle: “Well, it’s not like you even have to pick up the phone. You just let your friend Aura hang there.” Cordy: “Ok, here’s an idea: How about you make me a list of people you’re too good to talk to.” Angel, coming back in: “What going on?” Doyle: “Nothing, just..” Angel: “You got a bruise on your hand.” Doyle, looking at it: “Badminton.” Angel, picking up a towel from the chair: “And the reason there is a wet towel on my leather chair?” Cordelia gives him a big fake smile. Angel drops it back down with a sigh and leaves the room. Cut to later. Doyle, seing Cordy cutting up Angel’s vinyl floor: “What are you doing?” Cordy: “I just... I just wanted to see if he had hardwood floors under there, you know? I... I might be here a while!” Doyle, looking at some trophies on the mantel behind him: “Well, the things you learn! I had no idea Angel was Queen of the Winter Ball.” Cordy: “Those are mine. (Groaning as she keeps working on the floor) Though stuff!” Doyle, looking at Cordy’s diploma: “Hey, you high school diploma is all b*rned.” Cordy: “Yeah, it was a rough ceremony. (Getting up) Yup, there it is. My whole life... pre here. Five trophies with some of the shiny worn off.” Doyle: “It’s good though you can look back. I never look back.” Cordy: “Look back at what?” Angel, coming down the stairs dressed now: “Doyle,... you down here? Oh, there you are. There’s a big guy there to see you. I’ll tell him you’ll be right up.” Doyle: “Oh, that’s great.” Angel nods and heads back up the stairs. Doyle runs out the back door. Cut to Doyle coming out another door. Angel is there, waiting for him. Doyle: “You know it’s not nice to trick people!” Angel: “You’re going to tell me what’s going on?” Cut to Angel and Doyle talking in the office. Angel: “You don’t even know who this demon is collecting for.” Doyle: “All right, look, here’s how it works: I owe some people... other people owe me. I do a favor for some guy and the debt goes away. It’s a system of checks and balances.” Angel: “And some of your checks didn’t balance.” Doyle: “Well, it’ll work out. It just takes a little diplomacy... the kind of thing you’re so good at, actually. Say, maybe you wouldn’t mind taking a crack at it?” Angel, with a sigh: “We all have problems. It’s a matter of priorities. And at the moment I’ve got a bigger one then you do.” Doyle: “Bigger than a Kailiff demon?” Angel: “Much. I’m thinking you can help me with mine and maybe I can help you with yours.” Doyle: “I don’t know, man. I mean, what’s your problem, exactly? Because you know, vampire business is...” Cordy, clearing her throat: “Hi! (Smiling and waving) I was just wondering if you had any linoleum glue... for if it started curling up all over.” Angel: “I’ll be there in a minute.” Cordy, turning to go: “Ok.” Angel, to Doyle: “Find her an apartment and I’ll deal with your demon.” Cut to a guy showing an apartment to Cordy and Doyle. Doyle: “You know, I wish you would just let me call my guy.” Cordy, holding a newspaper: “I’m not going to get an apartment through “some guy”. He probably judges the property value on how far the bus ride is to the track.” Doyle, looking around: “Well, it can’t get any worse then this, can it?” Cordy: “You can’t tell anything from the hallway.” The apartment is tiny and totally mildewy. Doyle: “Hey, you’re right. You know what I smell in here? Potential.” Cordy: “The next one will be better.” Cut to a clean-cut guy leading them down some steps. He pulls a curtain aside to reveal a toilet and sink. Guy: “It’s like a community, you know? We share all the upkeep and chores.” Cordy, to Doyle: “Oh, my urination just hasn’t been public enough lately.” Guy: “Oh, we don’t believe in barriers. It’s the first rule of the great leader. Ah, you can come to the meetings if you want. Every morning at 5:00.” Cordy: “Okay, that’s just a touch too early for me.” Guy: “Oh, you’ll be up. The Chanting starts at 4:00.” Cut to Cordy standing in the doorway of a nice apartment. There is a big guy with a big gut standing next to her. Big guy: “So, you’re a single gal... going to be living here alone? Because I’m right across the hall and you can sleep easy knowing that I’m the only other soul in the world with a key to that door. (Smiling at her and tossing his keys in the air) You just think about that while you look, okay?” Cordy, looking a Doyle and taking a deep breath: “Okay, just out of curiosity, you said you know a guy?” Doyle: “Finally. What is it with you and Angel? You got to do everything the hard way.” Cut to Doyle's apartment. Angel is looking around the apartment. The Kailiff demon wraps an arm around his neck from behind. Cut to a lady in a suit letting Cordy and Doyle into a furnished apartment. Cordy: “Oh, my gosh. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” Doyle, looking at Cordy’s back: “No, never.” Cordy, looking around: “It’s perfect. Really, really, it’s just... perfect. (Looking in the bedroom) It’s amazing in there. (To Lady) What’s wrong with it?” Lady: “There’s nothing wrong with it. The previous tenant just broke their lease last week. I don’t know how you even heard about it. (Cordy smiles at Doyle) It’s quite a bargain, and the furniture comes with. Do you think you want it?” Cordy: “I... I used to have this. I... I was..” Lady: “I guess it’s your lucky day.” Cordy: “I used to have those, too.” Doyle: “She’ll take it.’ Lady, leaving: “I’ll fill out the rental forms.” Cordy, pointing at a wall: “First thing: hire someone to take out that wall.” Doyle: “I though you said it was perfect.” Cordy: “Yes, and part of being perfect is that there being one tiny flaw for me to fix.” Doyle: “Ah, must be why you find me so fascinating.” Cordy, laughing: “Oh my gosh, I love my apartment. Your guy found the perfect place. (Hugs Doyle) I love your guy!” Doyle: “Yeah, well, it’s a pretty good day’s work for us, I think. I take care of your problem; Angel takes care of mine. All in all things are pretty sweet.” Cordy, grabbing his arm and leading him out: “Yes! And I can move right in.” As they leave a face-like bulge appears on the wall Cordy wants to tear down. ***** Doyle's apartment. ***** The Kailiff demon throws Angel against the wall Angel turns around, grabs the demon and pushes his face in the wall. Angel in vamp face: “My name is Angel, what’s yours?” Demon: “Screw you.” Angel, smashing his face in the wall: “My name is Angel, what’s yours?” Demon growls and angel smashes his face in the wall again. Demon: “Griff.” Angel: “Good start. Who do you work for?” Griff: “He never gave me his card. (Angel throws him on the floor) I don’t know his name, he gets his orders to me.” Angel: “You can get a message back to him?” Griff: “Yeah.” Angel, back in human face, pulls the demon up. Griff: “You’re letting me go?” Angel: “No, I’m letting you up... You were sent to collect for Doyle?” Griff: “At first. But I’m not seeing any money. So now Doyle gets d*ad. A message to the others.” Angel: “And your boss never gets his money. Pretty expensive message when you add in whatever he is paying you.” Griff: “My fees are very competitive.” Angel: “I can get Doyle to pay you the money. You have my guarantee.” Griff: “I saw what I saw, right?... You’re a vampire... How come you’re helping some little demon half-breed?” Angel: “It’s a good offer. You should take it. On the other hand you’re making me want to fight some more. You get lucky you might last ten minutes. Really lucky and you’re unconscious for the last five.” Griff: “You get Doyle to pay, and he’s safe.” Angel: “Thanks... Good meeting.” ***** Cordy's new apartment. ***** She's sleeping in her bed. The radio on her dresser turns on and switches to 1400 AM. Radio music: “You always hurt the ones you love, the ones you shouldn’t hurt at all..” Some of the drawers on her dresser open and close. Voice, whispering: “What do you think you’re doing here? You never should have come.” Drawer slams shut and Cordy wakes up. ***** Angel’s apartment. ***** Doyle, pacing: “I have to pay? Man, I should have just handled this myself. I mean, I don’t have the money. And you can’t get blood out of a stone.” Angel: “They can get blood out of you... There’s a price on your head Doyle, they weren’t even looking for money any more.” Doyle, after a moment: “Thanks man... you probably saved my life.” Angel: “Can I ask you something?... Why do you live like this?” Doyle: “Why not live like this? I mean, what’s wrong with it? (Angel just looks at him and Doyle sighs) Yeah, well, I guess, it’s the kind of life that keeps your expectations from getting too high. Seems like you’d understand that.” Angel: “ I do.” Doyle: “Yeah.” Angel: “I just don’t know why that’s important to you... This kind of life... sort of picked me. You don’t have to do it this way. What happened?” Doyle: “Don’t worry about it, okay? And things aren’t all gloom in Doyle City... I mean there’s bright spots... like Cordelia... I mean, she loves that new place so much, man. She’s going to be grateful for a long, long time.” ***** Cordelia's new apartment. ***** She's sitting up in her bed, scared. She turns off the radio and tries to turn on the lamp beside her bed. It doesn’t work. She reaches for the glass of water on her nightstand and it begins to boil. Her bed is beginning to levitate. Cordy: “I just knew this was to good to be true. I just knew it! I’m from Sunnydale, you’re not scaring me, you know. No. You’re not scaring me. You’re not scaring me. Not one bit.” Cut to morning. Cordelia is still sitting up in her floating bed rocking back and forth hugging a pillow. Suddenly the bed drops to the floor. Cut to Cordy dressed looking at herself in the mirror. Cordy: “Bright, shiny morning - nothing bad here.” As she looks to the side the gray specter of an old lady appears in the mirror beside her reflection but Cordy never notices it. Cordy steps into the living room and pulls a chair out from the wall. The Chair slides back. Cordy pulls it out further and this time the chair smashes back into the wall and one of its legs break. Cordy back away from it and the curtain cord wraps itself around her arm. She jumps away with a scream. Cordy: “You know what? I get it. You’re a ghost. You’re d*ad. Big accomplishment! Move on! - You see a light anywhere? Go towards it, okay? (Wind starts to blow paper scraps in Cordy’s face) Uh, cold wind, scary! What are you going to do? Chap me to death? What else have you got?” There’s a knock on the door and Cordy jumps. Angel (from outside): “Cordelia, are you in there? (Cordy stares at the door)... Cordelia!” Cordy goes and hesitantly opens the door. Doyle and Angel are standing outside. Angel, holding up a small potted cactus: “Cactus... housewarming present.” Cordy: “Oh, hi... thanks.” Doyle tries to come in and Cordy stops him. Cordy: “Look I’m still getting it just the way I want. Maybe in a day or two, okay?” Doyle, pushing past her: “Place looks great. You worry too much. (Seing the broken chair) Don’t know what you had against that chair though.” Cordy, looking at Angel still standing outside the door: “Oh, that’s right you can’t come in. (Angel steps in) Wait! What about the rule?” Angel: “You said when you got a place I was completely invited over.” Cordy: “What? I didn’t even have a place then. These rules are getting all screwed up. (Seing Doyle pull on the curtain cord) Oh my god don’t touch that!” Doyle, pulling the curtain closed: “I’m just closing these so our boss doesn’t burst into flames, if that’s all right with you?” Cordy: “Yeah, I guess.” Angel, looking around the apartment: “This is nice... How about a tour?” Cordy, pointing in different directions: “Uh ha, this is the kitchen, living room, I’m going to knock out that wall. And that’s about it. Oh, and thanks for the cactus.” A pair of scissors flies into the air behind Angel’s back and Cordy catches it before anyone else notices. Angel: “I can’t believe you can afford this.” Cordy sets the cactus down on a little table and opens the drawer to drop the scissors in. Suddenly the top of it bulges up in the shape of a face for a moment. Cordy slams the drawer shut. Cordy, to Angel and Doyle as they turn at the sound: “I bet you two want lunch. There is this place down the street.. (One of the trophies on the mantel behind the guys flies at Doyle’s neck and angel catches it) That thing’s been doing that all morning. I think the... mantel is uneven.” Doyle: “That thing lunged at me!” Angel, looking around: “What’s going on?” Cordy: “Okay, you’re right. It’s not the mantel. It’s a very, *very* bad trophy.” There is a moaning sound and the word ‘Die’ appears on the wall behind Cordy as if blood was soaking through from the inside. Doyle: “Dear sweet..” Angel, to Cordy to come over to them: “Come on.” Cordy: “I am not giving up this apartment!” Angel: “It’s haunted.” Cordy: “It’s rent controlled!” Doyle: “Cordy, it says ‘die’!” Cordy: “Hey, maybe it’s not done. Maybe it’s ‘diet’. That’s friendly. A little judgmental, sure. (to Angel) I’m not giving it up. It’s perfect and beautiful. It’s so me. I need it!” Angel, trying to lead her out: “You don’t need this. It’s just a place. You’re more than that.” Cordy: “How? How am I more then that?” Doyle: “We can cleanse it... Well, we can try, can we? Put the ghost to rest?” Cordy, to Angel: “Can we?” Angel: “We can try. But we have to go now. We’ll figure it out at the office.” Cordy: “Okay. (As the guys try to push her out the door she turns and yells into the apartment) Listen good, Casper, you haven’t won a thing here! I’ll die before I give up the apartment, you hear me? I’ll die!” Angel and Doyle get her out and the door shuts. Friendly little old lady voice: “All right dear, if that is what you think is best.” ***** Cut to Angel’s office. ***** Doyle, on the computer: “Lots of stuff here about the building. Construction bids, city inspections.” Angel: “Tenants. We need people who lived there.’ Cordy pouring some coffee: “And died there. That’s the ingredients for ghosts, right?” Doyle: “Yeah, yeah. This isn’t easy, you know?” Angel, going to stand beside Cordy: “You know, this really is just a place to live.” Cordy: “No, It’s more. It’s beautiful,... and if it goes away it’s like..” Angel: “Like what?” Cordy, quietly: “Like I’m still getting punished.” Angel: “Punished. (Cordy nods) For what?” Cordy: “I don’t know. For what I was? For everything I said in High School just because I could get away with it? - And then it all ended, and I had to pay... Oh, but this apartment... I could be me again. Punishment over... welcome back to your life! Like, like I couldn’t be that awful if I get to have a place like that? - It’s just like you!” Angel, nodding: “Working for redemption.” Cordy, frowning confused: “I... I meant because you used to have that mansion.” Doyle: “Hey, I found something! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a death. (Angel and Cordy walk over to him) First person to ever live in your place... Mrs. Maude Pearson.” Angel: “How did you get that?” Doyle: “Name carved over the entrance of the building... Pearson Arms. I checked the obits for Pearson, we got lucky. Turns out Maude Pearson built the place and took a unit there, too. And in 1946 she dropped d*ad of a heart att*ck in Cordelia’s living room - at age – 57.” Cordy: “That’s it! That’s her.” Angel: “I don’t know. It’s not a violent death. I mean, ghosts usually..” Cordy: “It’s her, I know it. That place has that weird little old lady smell,... like... like violets and aspercreme.” Doyle: “No, they didn’t find the body for three weeks. So it wasn’t violets there at the end I’m thinking.” Cordy: “This is easy. Little old lady ghost, probably hanging around because she thinks she left the iron on. Let’s get a nice cleansing spell and do this thing!” Angel: “Well, this is not an easy spell. I mean, hawthorn berries and lungwort and bile. We need bile. I don’t know if we can get everything.” Doyle: “I can. I know this guy in koreatown, he does these spells all the time. I can get the stuff form him.” Cordy: “Oh, goody! Another one of Doyle’s guys. Tell me, is this the same guy that help me find my poltergeist-delicious apartment?” Angel: “Doyle, go! Get what you need. (Doyle leaves. To Cordy) I’m gonna try and get some more information. Maybe Kate can find something. You wait here.” Cordy, with a sigh: “Little old lady ghost. How come Patrick Swayze is never d*ad when you need him?” Cut to later. The phone rings in Angel’s office. Answering machine in Cordy’s voice: “Angel investigations, we help the hopeless, if that’s you, leave a message.” Angel voice: “Cordelia, are you there? Look, I think we can end this whole thing.” Cordy, picking up the phone: “I’m here. About time you called. You got something?” Angel: “Meet me at the apartment and we’ll figure out what to do.” Cordy: “Okay.” She hangs up the phone and leaves. Cut to Cordelia unlocking the door to her apartment. She looks around the dark and empty apartment. Angel’s voice: “Cordelia, I’m in the bedroom.” Cordy, stepping into the bedroom: “Angel?” She turns around and jumps back from the specter of Maude Pearson. Maude, in Angel’s voice: “You got my call.” Cordelia runs out of the bedroom. The apartment door won’t open. She flies backwards through the air. As she picks herself up Maude is standing there. Maude, in her own voice: “Poor thing. You just don’t fit in around here, do you? - Too bad you wouldn’t leave my son alone.” Cordy: “Your... your son?” ***** Police station. ***** Kate, sipping a cup of coffee in front of the computer: “I wish I could be more help.” Angel, pacing: “It’s okay. Just knowing the kind of things that didn’t happen is a help. You know, eliminating the possibilities.” Kate: “Now you’re talking like a detective.” Angel: “I am a detective.” Kate: “Well, you see the thing about detectives is that they have resumes and business licenses and last names. - Pop stars and popes, those are the one-name guys.” Angel: “You got me. I’m a pope.” Kate laughs then gets up as a guy come is to hand her a folder. Guy: “Here you go.” Kate, looking at the folder: “Davis you are beautiful! Thank you. (Guy leaves and she sits back down) Let’s take a look.” Angel: “Jeez, I wasn’t sure you had records that old.” Kate: “Neither was I. Let’s see. Maude Pearson. There was an investigation into the death... Okay, this guy, Detective Randall, he thought the death was suspicious. The M.E. called it a heart att*ck, but it seems there were problems with the son. He was... Dennis Pearson. He lived with her. They argued a lot.” Angel: “What about?” Kate: “A girl... His fiancé. His mom didn’t like her. And Dennis skips town with her the day that mom drops d*ad... what a co incidence. The cops never caught him.” Angel: “Unavenged m*rder.” Kate: “Sounds like.” Angel: “There haven’t been any deaths in the same apartment since then.” Kate: “You saw me check. No m*rder, not even domestic dispute calls.” Angel: “Not m*rder... suicides. (Kate stares at him) There’s a kind of... the kind of k*ller that does that.” Kate: “Makes it look like a su1c1de (After a moment she turns back to her computer and starts to type) You know there are always signs.” Angel, leaning over her shoulder and pointing at the screen: “There.” Kate: “Margo Dressner... 1959... and Jenny Kim 1965... Natalie Davis five years ago. All in the same apartment. This doesn’t make sense.” Angel: “I got to make a call.” Cut to Angel dialing on the payphone out in the hall. Cut to Angel’s office. The phone rings as Doyle walks in carrying a box full of stuff. Doyle, picking up the phone: “Ah... Angel Investigations. We hope you’re hopeless... No, wait, that’s...” Angel: “It’s me. Put Cordelia on.’ Doyle: “She’s not here. Hang on a sec, there’s a message.” He pushes the button on the machine... [(Angel voice): “Cordelia, are you there? Look, I think we can end this whole thing.” (Cordy voice): “I’m here. About time you called. You got something?” (Angel voice): “Meet me at the apartment and we’ll figure out what to do.”] Angel: “That’s not me.” ***** Cordelia's apartment. ***** She's standing in front of Maude. Cordy: “Who ever you think you’re talking to, it’s not me. My name is Cordelia.” Maude: “Oh, that’s the name of a cheap small-town tramp trying to sound better than she is... You’re not good enough for my boy... This will never be your home.” Cordy: “This is my home. My friends will come here.” Maude: “You don’t have any friends. Why would anybody care about you? Nobody really cares. You don’t *deserve* to live here. You don’t deserve *anything*.” Cut to Angel and Doyle driving down the road in his convertible. Angel: “You were right about the ghost. It’s the old woman, Mrs. Pearson. But she didn’t die of a heart att*ck her son k*lled her.” Doyle: “m*rder victim?” Angel: “Right. Filled with rage and confusion. That’s why she’s been k*lling people, she can’t rest until the truth comes out.” Doyle: “Pretty strong ghost. (Checking the stuff in the cardboard box on the back seat) Bile, we should have gotten more bile.” Cut to Cordy’s apartment. Cordy: “I will leave, Please.” Maude: “Oh, I don’t think so. (Chandelier crashes to the floor behind Cordy) You’re worthless. (Pushes Cordy back) You’ve never been kind. (A cable snakes out from where the chandelier used to hang and snakes around Cordy’s neck) You’ve never been smart. You’re a user. (The cord goes back up into the ceiling pulling Cordy up with it.) You’re nothing. Everyone would be glad if you were d*ad.” Cordy, trying to keep the cord from choking her: “No.” Maude: “Oh, come on. If anyone really cared about you, would you be here? People let you end up here because they were happy to see you fail.” Cordy goes limp and Maude disappears. The door breaks open and Angel and Doyle charge in. Angel lifts her up and Doyle gets the noose off her neck. Angel lays her on the sofa as she begins to cough. Cordy, panting: “The furniture and... and the wall and the blood, she’s doing it... she is doing it all... She’ll be back. She’s stronger than us. She knows me.” Angel: “We can stop her.” Cordy, crying: “No, no, we can’t stop her.” Angel: “She’s made a connection with you, right? She thinks you’re someone,... someone she blames for her m*rder. Cordelia, answer me.” Cordy: “I... I’m... I’m taking her son away. She thinks I’m taking her son.” Angel: “That’s good. Her son was the one that k*lled her. All right, you’re playing a role in her delusion, that gives you power. You’re the one that can stop her. (to Doyle) Start the binding circle, I’ll find the spell.” Cordy keeps crying while Doyle lays out a circle with the stuff from the box. There is paper and stuff flying around as Angel flips through an old book. Angel: “Bring the truth into the light. Let the villain be reveal that a soul can take its rightful place for eternity.” Doyle, as bigger stuff starts to fly around: “Here she comes. She knows what we’re doing.” Angel: “We need Cordelia now.” Doyle: “Cordy, get up!” Angel: “Adduce veritatum in lucem. Accipitat laura suam requiatam reposcant anima suum regnum... Cordelia, stand in the circle and strike at its center.” Cordy, sobbing: “What?” Angel, grabbing her by the shoulder: “Damn it. Do you know what it means? The ghost is in contact with you, she’s given you that.” Maude, whispering to Cordy: “They don’t care about you. They want to you to fail. They know you’re a tarted up little whore.” Angel hands the book to Doyle without looking away from Cordy Angel: “Doyle, chant.” Doyle, taking the book: “Oh, man, Latin. One of those d*ad languages you always mean to learn.” Angel, to Doyle: “V sounds like W say each vowel separately.” Maude is still whispering to Cordy. Angel, grabbing Cordy and shaking her: “You *do* know what to do. You can stop all this. Do it.” Cordy, pushing him away and crying: “I can’t.” Angel: “Look at you. Are you gonna let her *do* this to you? (Grabbing her again) Damn it. You’re Cordelia Chase. Are you just going to lie there like a weakling? Get off your ass and be tough!” Cordy, sobing: “I can’t... I can’t!” Angel: “You’re the biggest pain I have ever seen. Do it now!” Cordy keeps crying. Angel, looking around: “This isn’t going to work.” Doyle, interrupting his chanting: “And its getting dodgy in here.” Angel, as stuff keeps smashing into the walls: “We’ve got to get her out of here. This isn’t safe. Now. (He and Doyle grab Cordy and head for the door) Lets go.” The door opens and there are a human and two Kailiff demons pointing g*n at them. Griff: “No one’s going anywhere.” The three move into the apartment. The human looking at the destruction: “What’s going on?” Angel: “You were going to let him pay.” Griff: “I lied.” Maude, appearing behind the three thugs: “No more people!” Human: “What is this?” Griff, never taking his eyes off Angel: “Ignore her. It’s just a ghost.” Maude, from behind Cordy: “Get out!” Light bulbs are bl*wing up everywhere, stuff is flying through the air. Doyle pulls Cordy out of the way as the human sh**t at Maude. The b*llet goes through her and breaks a tile surrounding the fireplace. Maude: “You broke it!” Angel starts to fight Griff as the human turns and runs. The other demon pulls Doyle up and thr*at him with his g*n. Doyle: “Look I’ll pay. Really! I’ve got a fin in my wallet right here.” Maude: “This is my house!” The kitchen drawer opens and the butcher knives are starting to hover. Angel punches Griff and he goes down, he looks over and sees the knives. Angel: “Knives!” Doyle ducks and the knives bury themselves in the other demon’s front. Cordy is cowering against a wall. Griff gets back up and throws Angel over the sofa. Cordy goes flying backwards into the bedroom. The door slams shut on her. Doyle jumps on Griff’s back. Cut to the bedroom. Cordy, crying: “I’ll leave. I’m sorry your son k*lled you. You can have the apartment. Just let me go.” Maude: “It’s too late for that.” Cordy: “No.” Maude: “You know what happens next. Your friends are dirty. They ruined my nice home.” Cut to Angel kicking Griff’s butt. Cut to the bedroom. Maude: “I knew you were trouble right from the start. (Cordy drops to the floor and sobs) I’m surprised that my son didn’t smell the stench of poverty and failure on you... *I* can.” Cordy: “I’m sorry.” Maude: “You better be sorry, you stupid little bitch.” Cordy, stopping crying and looking slowly up at Maude: “I’m a bitch.” Maude: “Take off the bed sheets, make a noose. Go on. It’ll all be over soon.” Cordy, getting slowly up and looking Maude in the eye: “I’m not a sniveling whiny little Cry-Buffy. I’m the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history. - I take crap from no one.” Maude: “You are going to make yourself a noose and put it around..” Cordy: “Back off! Polygrip... You think *you’re* bad? Being all mean and haunty? Picking on poor pathetic Cordy? Well, get ready to haul your wrinkly translucent ass out of this place, because lady, the bitch is back.” Cut to Angel and Griff fighting. Cut to the bedroom. Maude: “Do you think that I’m going to take that from trash like you?” Cordy: “I tell you what I think. I think that you’re going to pack your little ghost bags and get the HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!” There is a flash and Maude gets thrown backwards through the wall. Cut to Angel dropping Griff for the count. All the stuff flying through the air suddenly falls down. In the resulting quiet Cordy comes out of the bedroom. Doyle: “What happened? You did it!” Cordy: “Yeah, well, she pissed me off.” Angel: “Or maybe you found her center.” Cordy looks up her eyes a glazed over all white. Doyle: “Cordy? What wrong?” Cordy picks up a metal lamp stand and begins to demolish the wall she has been wanting to take out all along. Angel: “Cordelia!” Cordy keeps hitting at it and finally manages to make a hole that reveals a skeleton bound around with ropes. Maude screams. Flash to the past. Maude is bricking up her son Dennis is the wall. The radio is playing “you always hurt the one’s you love”. Maude: “Look what you’re making me do, Dennis.” Dennis: “Mom, stop it.” Maude: “How are you going to leave now, huh? How are you going to marry that streetwalker now. You are a nothing without me.” Dennis: “Mom, don’t do this. Please. This is crazy.” Cut to Maude putting the plaster finish on. Dennis muffled: “Oh, god. Mom, I can’t breathe. Please. Mom, let me out. Please mom. I’ll be good. I promise. I won’t leave. Mom, please let me out. I can’t breathe. Let me out!” Maude hangs a picture on the finished wall: “This hurts me then it hurts you. Good bye, Dennis.” Maude gasps and collapses with a heart att*ck. Cut back to Maude's ghost staring at the skeleton of her son. A white light oozes out of the skeleton. Doyle: "Dennis, I presume and probably not too happy with his mom." Maude: "Dennis, it was for your own good. I had to do it. She would have made your life miserable. I'm sorry! (The white light coalesces and heads for mom) Please!... Please!" There is a great gust of wind and the white light obliterates Maude's specter. Cordy: "I knew I didn't like that wall!" ***** Doyle's apartment. ***** Angel is watching him adding an extra lock to his door. Doyle: "There. Safe as houses." Angel: "You're going to live like this?" Doyle: "I don't see adding a deadbolt having a huge effect on my lifestyle." Angel: "You know what I mean." Doyle: "Yeah, there might be... misunderstandings. That sort of thing." Angel: "You know I'll help you out." Doyle: "For which I'm grateful." Angel: "But... sooner or later I'm going to need to hear it." Doyle: "Hear what?" Angel: "The story of your life." Doyle, sighing: "And quite a tale it is, too. Full of ribald adventures and beautiful damsels with loose morals..." Angel: "Doyle." Doyle: "I will... Just... give me time. (sighs) The past, she don't let go, does she?" Angel: "Hmm, she never does." ***** Cordelia's apartment. ***** She's ensconced on the sofa in her new apartment. Cordy on the phone: "God, Aura. I can't believe I missed your calls! It’s that incompetent girl at work. But things are going great... Well, my new apartment for one thing. Celebrities are practically on top of me. Oh, Steve Paymer,... that's Dave Paymer's brother lives right down the hall. Oh, you'd know him if you saw him. And my view, it’s amazing!... Yeah, I have a room mate, but it's cool. I never see him. (Her can of diet root beer slides away from her on the sofa table and she puts her hand over the receiver) Hey, hey... Phantom Dennis, put that back. (Can slides back. To Aura) All in all its working out great. (The TV turns on and Cordy covers up the receiver again) Dennis, when I'm on the phone, that's quiet time. (TV turns off) Thanks. (To Aura) Sorry. So where were we? Tell me who's wearing what in Sunnydale... No! Well, she never did have any taste. (Laughing) She is so nasty."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x05 - Rm w/a Vu"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: (Form Lonely Hearts) Angel meets Kate in the Bar. Angel: "I'm Angel." Kate: "I'm Kate." Angel: "Are you maybe in need of some rescuing?" Angel burst into the Shirley's apartment and sees the d*ad body on the bed. Kate: "You're telling me you're an investigator?" Angel: "Look, I know what this looks like." Kate whips out her g*n and badge: "So do I." Kate slaps handcuffs on Angel: "I've been tracking you since last night." Angel throws her off and jumps out the window while Kate sh**t at him. Angel: "We're on the same side." Angel pulls Kate out of the way of the barrel that the bartender is trying to brain her with: "Move!" Angel: "You just have to trust me." Kate: "I didn't thank you - for saving my life." Kate looks around and Angel disappeared on her. Downtown LA at night. A guy dressed in a black leather jacket and carrying a duffel bag is being chased by a girl. He makes it to a parked car and as he opens the driver's side door he gets kicked in the back from behind, slams against the open door and falls on the ground. Kate standing over him: "Gosh, Spivey, sorry. - I guess I just have trouble expressing myself verbally. I've been struggling with that. (Guy tries to get up and she kicks him again) You stood me up. You were going to come to the station and answer a few questions for me remember?" Spivey: "I forgot?" Kate grabs him and slams him down on the trunk of the car: "Not something a girl likes to hear. I think we'll just skip the informal invitation and do the more formal thing. (Cuffs him) You have the right to remain silent - but I wouldn't recommend it." Cut to an interrogation room. Kate: "Look at the pictures." Spivey: "I looked at the pictures." Kate: "What's in the pictures." Spivey: "Me and Little Tony Papazian. I don't know where he is. Look how long are we going to do this?" Kate: "So you haven't seen him since the day this picture was taken? (Spivey sniffs and looks away) They day County Supervisor Caffrey - was found m*rder?" Spivey: "I heard it was a su1c1de." Kate: "Supervisor Caffrey sh*t himself.." Spivey: "It happens." Kate: "In the back of his head? He wrapped himself in plastic and he locked himself into the back of his car?" Spivey: "He'd been depressed." Kate: "Where is Little Tony?" Spivey: "Burbank, Stockholm, the Planet Mongol - I have no idea where he is! I'm losing patience with this crap." Kate: "I'm not. I'm just getting started. I had a big breakfast. I could do this all day." Camera pans through a one-way glass where a bunch of guys are watching the interrogation. Harlan: "Doesn't she ever have to pee?' Spivey gets up: "Fine, you want to play all day? Play with yourself! You charge me or get me gone, because I'm telling you - nothing." Kate: "Look at the pictures." Spivey: "Bite me." Kate grabs him by the throat and slams him up against the wall: "Where is he?" The guys from the other room come charging in and pull Kate off him. Spivey holds his throat coughing while Kate walks out of the room. Cut to Kate putting her hands on a banister Detective Harlan leans against it beside her. Kate: "Sorry." Detective: "Yeah, well, we should have gotten you out of there hours ago." Kate: "He's not gonna talk." Harlan: "Then Little Tony is good as gone. We can't find him, and I don't know anyone who can." Cut to Angel defending himself against some snake-like appendages with mouths at their ends that keep attacking him from above with a piece of pipe. Doyle and Cordy come running up. Angel: "It's about time." Doyle pulls a sword out of the bag he's carrying and tosses it to Angel: "Not a lot of enchanted sword smiths open on Sunday." Angel slices off one of the tentacles reaching for him then slices into the belly of the thing visible through a hole in the ceiling above him. Some clear green liquid splatters down. Angel: "Make sure you cut up all the limbs and both of its heads this time. Remember to bury the parts separately. (Tosses the sword back to Doyle as starts to walk off) I don't want this thing coming back to life again." Cordy: "That's it?" Angel: "I'm gonna go clean out the nest. I'll see you back at the office." Cordy watches him disappear around a corner: "OK, am I wrong in thinking that a "Please" and "Thank you" is generally considered good form when requesting a dismemberment?" Doyle: "I think he appreciates us - in his own - unappreciative way." Cordy gets a Kn*fe out of the bag: "You want to know what I think? I think he *uses* his tortured creature of the night status as a license to be rude and insensitive! (A tentacle wraps itself around Doyle's neck choking him Cordy never notices as she begins to slice up the monster) Sure, he is polite to the helpless and the downtrodden, but he ignores the people that are the closest to him. The people that matter the most, you know? (Doyle is still being choked) Can you say clueless?" Intro Cut to Angel's office the next day. Cordy and Doyle come in tired and covered with green g*n. Cordy to Doyle: "Do you think that tentacle spew comes out with dry cleaning?" Angel looking down at some papers he is carrying: "Ah, good, you're back. Cordelia, you need to.." Cordy: "No! (Angel looks at her) I don't care what horrible thing is about to happen. (Sits down and starts flipping through a magazine) Asteroids are hurtling towards earth. *Unspeakable* evil is rising the San Fernando Valley. Jar-Jar is getting his *own* talk show. Whatever - I don't want to hear about it. Not until you ask us how it went." Angel: "Call your mother back. She phoned saying she'd like to speak with you. - And what are you talking about?" Cordy: "You do remember leaving us in the sewer with a giant calamari?" Angel: "Yeah, and you're both here. So I assume it went okay, right?" Cordy: "Yeah, it went okay. Of course it went okay, okay? That's not the point." Angel: "So there is a point." Cordy: "*Being* that it is possible to brood *and* show a little interest in the feeling of others." Angel shakes his head and looks questioningly over at Doyle. Doyle: "Well, she thinks that you're insensitive, and not to bring up the irony, but consider the source." Angel: "So I'm a little reserved, that doesn't mean I don't care." Cordy: "It's like you don't have a pulse." Angel: "I don't." Cordy: "Well, spend a little time listening to how the living interact." Kate bursts into the office. Angel: "Kate." Kate: "Angel. - Got a minute?" Angel: "Sure. (They head towards his office) Coffee?" Kate: "I'm fine." Cordy watches the door close behind them: "Mr. and Mrs. Spock need to mind meld now. Cut to Angel looking at some photographs. Kate: "His name is Tony Papazian - street name Little Tony - he's a bad guy. We already got an inditement against him for the m*rder of a County Supervisor, just one problem - we don't know where to send the supoena." Angel: "You can't find him." Kate: "He's still in the city, we're pretty sure. But all my sources are dry." Angel: "Want me to look into it?" Kate: "I'll pay you for whatever you can get." Angel: "I already owe you favors you don't need to.." Kate: "This isn't a favor. It's a job. That's how we do it. (Hands him a piece of paper) This number is my direct line." Angel takes it: "All right." Kate: "Time is a factor. Tony is looking to skip town." Angel: "Got it.” Kate: "Find him, you call me. Nothing above nor beyond. You can not be involved in this." Angel: "You don't want to get a reputation for going outside the department." Kate: "I don't want to get a reputation for getting you k*lled." Cut to later. Cordy is looking through files, Doyle is searching on the computer. Angel: "Anything?" Doyle: "Plenty on Papazian - known acquaintances, hangouts - but you've got to figure the cops've already been over all of this." Angel: "Yeah, but we haven't." Doyle looks up at Angel then motions to Cordy with his head and raises his eyebrows at Angel. Angel awkwardly: "Cordelia, I wanted to, - you know, - thank you so much for - going through those coroner reports. Because I can imagine how not fun it is to read about, - you know- coroner stuff." Cordy without looking up: "Lame." Angel looks over at Doyle who just shakes his head. Angel: "What've you got?" Cordy: "The Weebies. This guy clearly has anger management issues. You've got victims and victim parts washing up all over the southern California coast." Angel picks up a file: "Long Beach, San Pedro, Carlsbad. (To Doyle) Pull up the tidal flow charts for the last 10 months. Match them to the dates of these m*rder.' Doyle: "Tides? What, you think this guy has some primary dumping ground? Maybe all these victims originate from the same spot?" Angel: "Somewhere Little Tony feels safe." Cut to the police station. White haired guy in uniform walks in. Kate: "Dad." Lockley: "Katie." Kate: "I saw you. Where you planning on saying hi?" Lockley: "I figured you're working. (Kate nods) I'm not here very long anyway (pulls out a manila folder) just dropping off some pension forms up in records. If you think you got a lot of red tape on the job, wait ‘til you retire." Kate: "Harlan says their throwing you a send-off at the Blue Bar." Lockley: "Just some guys trying to give me a hard time. Not a big deal." Kate: "Well, he said I should say something, you know - just a few words to mark the occasion, - seeing as you’re my father." Lockley: "That'll be fine. Don't got to any trouble." Kate: "It's no trouble really." Officer to Kate: "Detective, you got a call on 329." Kate to her father: "Thanks. - I guess I better.." Lockley walks away: "Yeah." Kate looks after him for a moment then goes to pick up the phone. Kate: "Lockley." Angel sitting in a car talking on a cell phone: "8843 Hyperion Way right off Pier 39. San Pedro." Kate: "You found him, you're sure?" Angel looks through some binoculars: "Max Salvage Depot. Northwest side. He's got some muscle on hand." Kate: "I'm on my way, just get out of there." Angel hangs up the phone. Picks up the binoculars again as he hears something. A yacht is coming in to pick up Little Tony. Angel: "Damn it." Tony: "And don't forget to water my plants." Muscle: "Sure thing." Tony: "Talk to them. They like that." Angel steps up next to Benny wearing a loud Hawaiian shirt and a white hat. Angle bouncing up and down on his feet: "Hi. - This is exciting, isn't it? I just love boat trips." Tony: "Who's the mook?" Angel reaches his hand out across Benny: "Herb Saunders, Baltimore." Benny to Tony: "It's Herb Saunders." Angel: "Cripes, the freeways you people have in this town. I've been driving around in circles all day. But the brochure did say the boat's leaving every two hours." Benny: "I think you're still lost." Angel points at the incoming yacht: "That's not the boat to Catalina?" Benny: "No." Angel: "Are you sure? I could have sworn the ticket said Pier 39. (Pats his pockets) It's here somewhere. I just had it." Benny: "Come on, get out of here." Tony: "Benny, I don't like that guy." Angel drops Benny with a hard left: "It's the hat, isn't it? I knew the hat was too much." The other muscle att*cks Angel and he drops him with a few punches. Tony runs, but is stopped by a bunch of police cars with their sirens blaring. Kate steps out of a car and aims her g*n at Tony: "Hi, Tony." Cut to later. Tony is sitting cuffed in the back of a police car. Kate to Angel: "Which part of 'Just get out of there' gave you the trouble?" Angel: "I had to do something. I mean, he was getting away." Kate: "So you decided to dress like a road flare (Angel takes off his hat and runs a hand through his hair) and put my ass and yours on the line. (Angle doesn't know what to say) Look, just go. I'll figure out something to say to my Lieutenant." Tony and Angel stare at each other as the police car drives off. Cut to the police station. Tony: "I want my phone call." Kate: "You've got to cancel your suit in Yerevan? You think you can still get your deposit back?" Tony: "You've – you’ve been running after me for a long time, haven't you sweetheart? If I'd know how bad you wanted me, I might have let you catch me a little sooner." Kate: "If I'd know how badly you needed the exercise, I might have let you run a little longer." Cut to a dark office. Phone rings. Receptionist: "Wolfram&Hart" Little Tony: "Give me Lee Mercer." Mercer pacing the office: "Yes Mr. Papazian, we are all ready well aware of the situation." Tony: "Are you aware that I got a certain thorn in my side?" Mercer: "Oh, yes, we understand the factors very clearly. And I think I can say with some confidence that ( A fax is printing) this thorn is about to be removed. (picks up the fax, it has a picture and information about Kate on it) Permanently." Cut to the police station. a stenographer is recording the conversation between Tony, his layer, Kate and her Lieutenant. Mercer: "And here is your copy of the court documents requesting the transfer of our client out of this precinct." Lieutenant: "What for?" Mercer: "For his own safety." Kate: "Aww, is he afraid to stay with us? (to Tony) You need a night light?" Tony: "You got a pretty mouth, Katie. Hate to see it get broken." Mercer: "I want this stricken from the record. Mr. Papazian is under tremendous stress ,due to the abuse suffered at the hands of *your* officers and an as yet un-named assailant we believe was in league with Detective Lockley at the time of the arrest." Kate: "I wouldn't know about that, Sir." Tony: "I saw you talking to him." Kate: "Yeah, was that before or after you m*rder supervisor Caffrey, you fat piece of.." Lieutenant: "That's enough." Mercer: "I want her verbal abuse entered into the record." Kate: "Thh.." Mercer: "That 'thh..' , too." Lieutenant: "All of Mr. Papazian's rights will be duly respected.." Mercer: "Mr. Papazian is a very important client at Wolfram&Hart. Any further violations of his rights and there *will* be serious repercussions." Kate: "And what exactly the hell does that mean?" Mercer: "It means that we will open this case to the court of public opinion. It means that we'll shine *light* into the darkest corners of this precinct and give the people a clear view of the brutality and callousness of this police force that will make Mark Fuhrman look like Gentle Ben." Tony: "Everybody should have a lawyer like this one." Cut to Cordy sitting at her desk in Angel's outer office. Cordy smiles up at Angel: "so how nice is it to finally have a simple 'find the Crime-Lord' case? Over and done with." Angel pours himself some coffee: "Yeah." Cordy gets up: "Wait you've got pensive face." Angel leans against the wall: "I've always got pensive face." Cordy: "Well, pensive-r face." Angel: "I'm not so sure this thing is so over and done with, that's all. There is something about Little Tony." Cordy: "What something?" Angel takes a sip: "Hmm, just a feeling I got." Cordy: "Ah-hmm!" Angel: "What?" Cordy: "Nothing. I just find it *endlessly* fascinating how your feelings are *so* attuned when it comes to boring old evil, but you have *yet* to make any mention about these new shoes." Points down at her orange sandals. Angel: "Look, Cordelia. Women's shoes.. Men..(Door opens and Doyle comes in) they just don't.." Doyle: "Great shoes! New? (To Angel) So, you were right, Papazian is planning something." Cordy hits Angel on the arm and walks away. Angel: "What did you hear?" Doyle: "That Papazian is planning something." Angel: "That's it?" Doyle: "Johnny Red says, quote: Papazian is planing something." Angel nods: "I thought he might be planning something." Doyle: "See, you were right." Cordy looks from one to the other and shakes her head. Cut to the Blue Bar. Kate is being greeted by several off-duty officers as she walks up to the bar. “Homerun, Lockley.” - "Way to go!" - "Nice work, Lockley." The bartender sets an open bottle of beer in front of her and Kate reaches for some money. Bartender: "No, no, your dad paid for the drink." Kate takes her drink and sits down at her dad's table. Lockley: "Tony Papazian, huh?" Kate: "Yeah." Lockley: "Well, congratulations." Kate: "Thanks." Lockley lifts his glass: "Here is hoping the bust doesn't fall apart before you finish filing the paperwork. Damn lawyers, huh?" Kate: "Yeah." Lockley sees a guy coming up to their table: "Harlan." Harlan drops a page of paper in front of Kate: "You see this?" Kate looks at it: "Sensitivity training?" Harlan: "Everyone's got to take it. Word is, it's because of what you did to Papazian." Kate: "What I did? - Oh, somebody is going to answer for this." Harlan: "Think they'll make us hug?" Kate hands the page back to him: "I'm not hugging you, sweat-boy." Lockley: "Glad I'm getting out. In my day we didn't need any damn sensitivity.' Cut to the sensitivity training session at the police station. Allen: "I'm guessing not too many of you want to be here right now. (Raises his hand) Quick show of hands, who actually *wants* to be here?" Camera pans over the officers sitting in the room. No one raises his or her hand. Allen sits down on the edge of his desk: "Well, I'm not gonna waste your time. What I'm going to do is give you some tools to help you experience the whole range of human emotions. Learning that won't just make you better people, it will help you defuse volatile situations in the field; it'll allow you to manage some of your aggression, so you won't feel so tired all the time. - In short, it'll make you better cops. - One of the tools - we use is (holds up a gnarly stick) this. It's called a talking stick. (Holds up a hand as some of the cops snicker) I know, it sounds silly. But it works - if you give it a chance. -It's our contract with each other. Who ever holds this has the right to express himself or herself completely, without judgment, within the confines of this room. (Holds out the stick) Heath?" Heath crosses his arms and sighs: "I don't think so." Allen: "Go ahead, give it a try. (Heath takes the stick) Now why don't you start by telling us something about your family. How you grew up. Any siblings?" Heath: "6 brothers." Allen: "And what was that like?" Heath: "I learned to h*t back pretty quick." Laughter around the room. Allen: "You're brothers went kind of hard on you, huh? - Where were your parents?" Heath: "It was just my mom. She did the best she could." Allen: "So you had to get tough, right out of the gate. Shut down your emotions? - It's okay! You have our permission to be honest. - Is there something that you always wanted to say to your mother, - but never could?" Kate: "Will you marry me?" The others laugh softly. Allen picks up the stick and offers it to Kate: "Kate, you’d like to share something? We'd like to hear it." Kate: "No, I don't, really." Allen dares her: "Afraid? (Kate takes the stick with half a laugh) Genuine emotion makes you uncomfortable. That's okay. Your inappropriate sarcasm masks anger. And you know what anger is, Kate? - It's just fear. - Fear of being hurt. Fear of loss. You've been hurt, haven't you, Kate. And you're afraid of being hurt again. Who're you afraid is gonna hurt you?" Cut to Angel and Doyle talking to Johnny Red on his exercise machine. Johnny: "Hell, if I know." Doyle: "Yeah, but you told me you heard something, right?" Johnny huffing: "Planning something, that's all I heard." Angel: "Who'd you hear it from?" Johnny: "Guys that work for Little Tony. They're in my Thursday night spinning class." Angel: "Well, what did they say exactly?" Johnny: "Oh, they weren't actually talking to me. They were talking to a couple of guys in Izzy Broncato's crew. I overheard on account they had to shout over the bikes." Doyle: "What and all those guys were in your gym?" Johnny: "Yeah." Doyle: "Why, you got some kind of thug rate special there?" Johnny: "No, but if you want to sign up, I get a discount for bringing you in." Angel: "Gguys, what was said?" Johnny: "Right. Izzy's boys, they said to Little Tony's crew, you know, now that LT is in the clink you get to look for new employment. But LT's guys say no, because no stupid bitch is going to get the best of LT." Angel to Doyle: "You know what that means?" Doyle: "LT stands for Little Tony, yeah?" Angel shakes his head: "It means he's going after Kate." Cut to the police station. Angel comes in. Kate: "Angel." Angel: "We need to talk." Kate: "I know. I want to apologize for the other night." Angel: "You don't need to do that." Kate: "That's not what my sensitivity trainer says. Well, that's pretty goof ball, right? Still, thanks for what you did." Angel: "You're welcome." Kate: "Listen what are you doing tomorrow night, around eightish? My father is having this retirement party thing, with a bunch of his old cop buddies. I’m supposed to say a few words. It would be nice if there was at least one person there who wasn't, you know, armed. It'd be a favor." Angel: "Sure." Kate: "Okay, that was easy. I'm relieved. - Something wrong?" Angel: "Kate, I think you may be in real danger." Kate: "Okay, the relief part is done." Angel: "I've heard some things. I don't know the specifics yet, but I think that Papazian's taking a contract out on you." Kate: "Wow." Angel: "I'm going to stay on this.." Kate: "He's really acting out, isn't he?" Angel: "Well, yeah! He wants you d*ad." Kate: "Oh, I get that. I'm just saying that he must be in some kind of pain to strike out at other's in that way." Angel: "Are you okay?" Kate: "Oh god, listen to me. Suddenly I'm Dr. Laura. Next thing you know I'll be talking about processing and my inner child. I'm sure I'll be back to my usual level of cynicism in no time." Angel just looks at her. Cut to a dark mansion. Allen: "I'm sensing some tension. I think you should tell me - what are you feeling?" Mercer: "Concerned. We went to great effort and expense to get you into that precinct. Is it working?" Allen: "Of course it's working. After tomorrow's session you'll see results. (He walks over and looks at an altar covered with in a red cloth and a lot of burning candles) Incredible results." Mercer: "That makes me feel all warm inside." Cut to the retirement party at the Blue Bar. There is a cake and a 'Happy Retirement Trevor' banner. The place is crawling with cops. Angel and Kate come in. Kate picking up a glass of champagne: "Boy, I'm scared - and excited. - And consumed with dread. - And glad you're here." Angel: "I doubt even one of Little Tony's hired g*n would try something in a room full of cops." Kate: "What? Oh, that, death thr*at hanging overhead. No I meant speaking in public." Angel: "Well, what's that old saw, about picturing your public in their underwear?" Kate looks at him: "Way ahead of you." Kate walks over to her father and kisses him on the cheek: "Happy retirement, Daddy." Lockley gesturing at Angel: "Who's this?" Kate: "Oh, this is Angel. He's a friend. Angel, this is my father." Angel shakes her father's hand: "Hello, Mr. Lockley. Congratulations." Lockley: "For what? All I did was live this long and not get sh*t." Kate: "Why do you do that?" Lockley: "Do what?" Kate shaking her head: "Pretend important things don't matter?" Lockley: "So, - Angel, - how long you been seeing Katie?" Angel: "We're, uhm, we're pretty new friends." Lockley: "Well, good to see her out with a man. I was starting to wonder if she didn't lean into another direction altogether." Lieutenant: "All right everyone, before we cut the cake the other officer Lockley, the good-looking one, would like to say a few words. Kate?" Applause while Kate sets down her glass and goes to stand at one end of the room. Kate: "Hello everybody. Welcome to the end of an era. Now the old man would *like* us to believe that he couldn't care less about all this attention and free booze. (Laughter) But I know him better than that. He put a lot of years in on the job, and he made a difference in a lot of lives. (Scattered cheers, her dad sits down) And now it's over. That's a huge deal, no matter what he says. In fact I'm not really sure if he knows what he's going to do with himself. He forgot how to be anything but a cop a long time ago. And maybe, - maybe that's why I became a cop too. - After mom died, you stopped , you know? It was like you couldn't stand the sight of me. Her face, her eyes looking up at you. - But big girls don't cry, right? You said, gone's gone, and there is no use wallowing. - Worms and dirt and nothing, forever. Not one word about a better place. You couldn't even tell a scared little girl a beautiful lie. (Sobs) God, I wanted to drink with you. I wanted you to laugh with me just once, the way you laughed with Jimmy here, or Frank." Lockley: "What the hell did they do to her in that class?" Angel looks over at her dad. Kate plays with her purse: "My best friend Joanne, her mom was soft, and she smelled like macaroni and cheese, and she'd pick me up on her lap and she would rock me. She said that she wanted to keep to herself. - She said that I was good and sweet. Everybody said I was. - Do you realize that you’ve never told me that I'm pretty? Not once in my life?" Harlan: "Keep going, Katie." Kate: "Well, I can't anymore, dad. I can't campaign for the office of your beloved daughter. You closed your heart after mom left us and that's it." Sobs. Harlan: "That was so damn brave." Lieutenant: "Are you kidding me? Her old man's party wasn't the forum." Harlan: "She can't worry about protecting him" Angel and Kate look around at the officer talking to each other. "Let it out, Dale. I always knew your mother was controlling." - "I'm passive- aggressive?" - "I'm hearing a lot of denial." Lieutenant to Harlan: "She abused the process. I'm going to tell her." Harlan: "With that breakthrough? You're completely blocked." Lieutenant: "Your need for catharsis is not the issue here." Harlan grabs him: "I'll give you catharsis!" Harlan slams the Lieutenant on a table and starts to b*at him. Angel pulls Harlan off and Lockley leads the Lieutenant out. The other cops are arguing, crying or fighting. Lockley: "Keep it together, will you Jimmy? Take him down to his precinct, let him sleep it off with the drunks. Do the same with the others." Angel leads Kate out: "Let's do likewise." Cut to Angel's office. It's still night. Cordelia come in. Cordy: "All right, I'm here. What's the big emergency? These middle of the night hours are really eating into my potential social life. (Walks into the back office) Why I ever thought it was a nifty idea to work for a vam (Sees Kate lolling on a chair) trilloquist. - Hi!" Kate: "Hi." Cordy looks around, Doyle shakes his head. Angel hands Kate a cup: "Here drink this." Kate looks up at Angel: "You have the most intense eyes. I see such an old soul." Doyle: "He gets that a lot, you know." Kate: "I thought that enigmatic thing was just an act to get women. The truth is, you don't have an insincere bone in your body, do you?" Angel: "Kate, I need you to tell me about the sensitivity training. Who's running it?" Kate: "You wanna go? It's pretty wonderful. (Puts a hand on her chest) It gets you where you live." Angel: "I need to know his name." Kate shakes her head: "We all need - so much." Cordy to Doyle: "What's her deal? Too much..(makes a drinking motion with her thumb pointing at her mouth)" Doyle: "Thumb sucking?" Cordy: "Alcohol! Dummy." Doyle: "Don't look at me like that. I'm not the one that needs to brush up on their finger pantomime. (Sighs) It's something to do with the training she had at work." Kate give the notice about the sensitivity training to Angel then gets up and walks over to Cordy and Doyle. Kate in a singsong voice: "Some one's got a crush." Doyle: "What?" Kate to Cordy: "It's right there, how he feels about you. And you don't know what to do about it." Cordy: "Please! We just joke around." Kate: "Where is the truth? Where is the truth? He is hiding behind Mr. Humor. I mean, look at – look at Doyle.. really look at him, what do you see?" Cordy: "A bad double-poly blend?" Kate: "That's defense, Cordelia. Maybe you should open your heart to a new possibility!" Doyle: "Hey, you know, she's starting to make some sense.." Cordy yells: "Angel!" Angel comes back in: "I've got his address. 322 Fletcher." Kate to Angel: "What are your secrets, Angel. What aren't you telling me?" Cordy: "I'm so glad I came down to watch 'Latenight' with creepy cop lady." Angel: "You came down here to stay with her while I find this guy. Don't let her out of your sight." Cut to Angel walking into the candle lit room with the altar that we saw earlier. He looks at the offerings on the altar. The talking stick is alying on top an open book. Allen: "What's going on here?" Angel: "That's a good question, Allen." Cut to Kate rocking on a chair hugging her knees. Cordy: "Can we get you some coffee or Valium, or both?" Kate: "He walked out on me. He just walked out." Cordy: "Oh, - he'll be back." Kate: "Not Angel, my father." Cordy: "Oh." Kate gets up and grabs her purse: "I have to find him." Doyle: "Maybe you should just hold off on that for the time being. Angel said to wait right here." Kate: "I hear what you're saying, but I have to go find my Daddy now." Doyle: "Detective Lockley, you're not exactly yourself at the moment. Why don't we all just.." Kate: "Help each other!" Doyle: "Right, by staying here together!" Kate: "Yeah, we could do that, but you see I have this.." Cordy: "Personal problem that you're going to share until dawn?" Kate pulls her g*n out of her purse and waves it around: "..g*n, and I don't want to come off as insensitive, but if either of you tries to stop me I'm gonna have to blow you the crap away, because I got to go find my Daddy." Cordy and Doyle let her go. Cut to Angel pacing in front of the altar. Angel: "Which demon do you worship, huh? Which one *gives* you your power?" Allen: "A whole bunch actually. I'm a polytheist." Angel: "I'm not here to play games." Allen backs away from Angel: "You have rage. I get that." Angel: "What did you do to Kate Lockley?" Allen: "Do you know what anger is? It is nothing but fear." Angel: "Yeah, well, I know what fear is. I can smell it right now." Allen: "That's good. Give yourself permission to open up. (Angel frowns at him) What were your parents like?" Angel ducks as Allen tries to h*t him with the talking stick. Angel: "My parents were great. (Grabs a hold of the stick, turns vamp and pushes Allen up against the wall with it) Tasted a lot like chicken. Why don't you talk, huh?" Cut to the police station. All the cops are being very sensitive (hugging, crying, yelling...) "Sorry I was insensitive, George!" - "Listen, I'm having an epiphany!" Heath gets some keys out of his pocket: "It's not right. All trapped together like this. The bigger ones picking on the weaker ones." Cut to a bunch of bored prisoners sitting in their cells, including Little Tony. Heath comes up looks through the bars into the cell clock: "It's not right Makes them more brutal then they were when they came in." Goes and hits the unlock buttons for the cells. The prisoners slowly get out of their cells. Heath unlocks the door into the cell block and walks in. Heath looking around at the prisoners: "Remember this, brothers. An act of kindness is just as manly as.." The prisoners jump him and b*at him to the ground. Cut to Kate running into the station (which is in utter chaos): "Dad? - Daddy!" Cut to a car crash. Cop talking to the two drivers: "You want to talk about whiplash? I'll tell you about whiplash. I've got emotional whiplash from having to deal with people like you day in and day out. If any one's the victim here, it's me. I've alienated my friends, my family, - my own children are afraid of me. I can't even make love to my wife." Cut to Angel running down the street past a cop, an old lady on a bench and a young guy. Cop: "I hear what you're saying, but I don't think that you are listening to your mugger's feelings at all." Cut to Angel running up to the entrance of the police station. Cordy: "Oh, boy.." Angel: "What are you two doing..." Doyle: "It's Kate we followed her here." Cordy: "She's totally lost it. She looked like she is ready to do some damage." Doyle: "And it's not just her by the looks of things." Cordy: "The whole place is going nuts! This is so not good." Angel smiles at them: "Okay, I think someone needs a hug." Doyle and Cordy: "Huh?" Angel pulls them both into a hug. Cordy: "Ack, eww? Eww!" Cordy and Doyle push Angel off them. Cordy: "Hey! What's your damage?" Doyle: "I think he's just found Mr. Sensitivity." Angel puts a hand on his heart: "He was right in here all the time, just waiting to come out. - Gosh, what our folks do to us, huh?" Cut to Kate talking on the phone: "Please daddy if you're there pick up. We need to talk." Cut to outside. Cordy to Angel: "He put the whammy on you! You stink with whammy!" Doyle: "She's right." Angel smiles and nods: "Talking stick, it's cursed all right." Cordy to Doyle: "There's a stick that talks?" Angel: "Cordelia, do you have *any* idea just how *precious* you are?" Doyle: "All right, let's talk just about this stick." Angel: "He uses it as a talisman. Anyone that touches the stick becomes infected. He admitted it to me after I (looks away from them and swallows) - thr*at him with v*olence." Cordy to Doyle: "What's his trip?" Angel: "Wolfram&Hart, the firm, hired this guy to neutralize the police, so Little Tony could make his escape. It'll wear off." Cordy: "Soon?" Doyle: "So there was never any contract on detective Lockley?" Angel: "No, Little Tony was planning all along just to k*ll her himself. *Poor* guy." Cordy: "Poor guy?" Angel: "Well, he's got issues." Doyle: "Angel, man, you've got to snap out of this!" Cordy: "Right now. It's time for you to get all vampy - grr! - Kate needs you." Angel shakes his head: "I don't want to. You both withdraw when I go vamp. I feel you judge me." Cordy: "We won't judge you, (to Doyle) will we? (To Angel) give it a try." Angel shakes his head: "Closeness is too important to me right now." Doyle: "Angel, man, Kate is in there." Cordy: "Along with k*ller guy." Doyle walks up to the door. It's locked. Cop through the door: "We're closed." Doyle: "You're the police! You can't close." Cop: "Why not? Haven't we done enough? It's always 'find this, rescue that' with you people. Well, see how you like it!" Cop pulls down the blind hard and rips it off. Cut to cop talking to a black prisoner. Cop: "I’d to apologize for having treated you so shabbily, so I wrote a poem about it. (Reads) 'I saw a leaf and I did cry..." Harlan walks up to Kate who is leaning on top of her desk: "It hurts, doesn't it? When people don't listen to you? When they reject you?" Kate looks up at him: "You know?" Harlan: "I ought to. For two years I've been saying to you with everything I have: love me, Kate. Need me the way I need you. But you never notice - never return my desire. You just sit at that desk, next to mine.. smelling the way you do.. taunting me." A g*n sh*t sounds. Cut to Little Tony f*ring a g*n in the air. Tony to some of the other prisoners he just armed: "You guys – you’re working for Little Tony now. You'll find I'm stern (sh**t a cop) but fair. - Now come on, lets k*ll us a Lady cop." Cut to an empty police office. Form outside: Cordy: "We need a rock." Angel: "I can't say that I'm comfortable with all this." Cordy: "Don't argue, this is the only way in." Doyle: "Here this one should do it." Rock hits the wall. Cordy: "Aim for the window!" Doyle: "I was." Cordy: "Give me that!" Rock flies through window. Doyle: "Nice arm!" Cordy: "Angel, now it's your turn, come on!" Angel pushes in the bars. Cut to Tony and his spooks walking down the corridor carrying g*n. Cut to Cordy, Doyle and Angel climbing in through the window. Cordy: "Come on! Lets go!" Angel points at the broken window: "Wow. That's vandalism." Doyle: "Ah, we'll take care of it later." Angel: "We should leave a note." Cordy: "Would you come on?" Angel: "What's the magic word?" Cordy: "Urgh!" Angel: "No, I don't think 'urgh' is the magic word, if one would *call* it a word. And even then it's certainly not a magic one." Cordy: "We don't have time for this!" Angel: "There is always time to be considerate of others, Cordelia." Cordy huffs: "Oh, please!" Angel: "See? That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Cut Tony walking into the main police station. Tony to Kate: "Thought you finally it over on me, huh? Thought you were smarter than Little Tony. Well, nobody beats me baby. Not even a stone bitch like you." Kate stands up: "I am not a bitch! I'm just protected." Tony: "No one protecting you now." Angel: "Hey! (Walks in slowly with Cordy and Doyle behind him) I'm feeling some serious negative energy in this room." Cordy: "Go on. Take care of him!" Tony with a smile to Angel: "Oh, I've been wanting to see you again." Kate: "I'm sure he'd say the same thing, but that g*n really makes you come off as hostile." Angel: "That and the body language. It's so closed." Kate: "Yeah." Doyle: "Angel, man, *fight*, don't talk." Cordy: "We are so d*ad." Angel pats a chair in front of Tony: "Now, why don't we all sit down together and process this?" Tony with a smile: "Seems that sensitivity training I paid for really took, huh, Nancy Boy?" Angel picks up the chair and smashes it in Tony's face, knocking the guy beside him down as well. Kate sh**t the third guy with her g*n. Kate: "How do you think that makes me feel?" Cordy steps on the second guys g*n as he tries to pick himself back up and Doyle kicks him in the face and picks up the g*n himself. Angel: "Okay, now I'm feeling unheard." Angel starts to b*at up on Tony. Angel: "You know, Anthony you could be a rainbow and not a (hits him over the head and drops him) painbow. (Kate stares at him) I mean, it really is all up to you." Kate shakes her head: "You." Angel turns towards her and smiles: "No, you." Kate opens her arms to him: "Come here." They hug. Cordy: "Ugh, - anyone for vomit?" Kate and Angel separate and look at Tony laying on the floor. Angel shakes his head with a sigh: "It's so sad, isn't it?" Kate shakes her head: "Some people just really need to live in the problem." Cut to Wolfram&Hart's firm. Mercer is listening to Tony on the phone. Tony: "What the hell am I paying you for? Where the hell are you? I want my limo here now." Mercer: "I'm afraid that's not possible Mr. Papazian." Tony: "What? What are you telling me?" Mercer: "You sh*t up a precinct and attempted to m*rder a police officer in full view of witnesses. We can't risk that kind of exposure." Tony: "You're the ones that set this thing up!" Mercer: "We opened the door for you. The point was for you to walk through it, not blast your way out. The senior partners feel that you have become a liability. We can't waste energy on you when there are more pressing issues at hand." Tony: "Pressing issues? (Mercer is looking at a tape of Angel confronting Tony at the precinct) What pressing issues?" Mercer: "Our relationship is terminated, as is this phone call." Tony slams the receiver back in it's cradle. Cut to the precinct the next day. Cop: "Morning." Other cop: "Yeah right." Angel to Kate: "How do you feel?" Kate: "Pretty foolish, you?" Angel: "I'm all right." Kate: "Internal affairs is investigating the Blue Bar. They think someone there spiked the punch. Seems like everybody there went a little crazy. I know I did with my Dad." Angel: "Well, maybe it helped." Kate: "Did I - did I say anything to you?" Angel: "I'm a little fuzzy myself." Kate: "Good. - Well, I should get back to work." Angel: "Yeah, me too." Walks off slowly. Kate stands there unsure for a moment, then sees her dad walking up to her. Kate: "Hi." Lockley: "Katie. (Angel hears them and turns in the doorway to watch and listen) Got your messages on my machine." Kate: "Yeah, that was kind of a bizarre night. I.." Lockley: "Katie.. - Don't - don't say anything. You make an idiot out of yourself, embarrass me in front of the guys. You don't bring that up ever again. As far as I'm concerned - it didn't happen." Kate watches as her dad turns and walks out. Angel watches Kate as she slowly sits down at her desk, then swallows, turns and walks away.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x06 - Sense and sensitivity"}

foreverdreaming

Angel's back office. Angel is sitting at his desk with his feet up reading a book while Doyle is pacing impatiently. Doyle: "So that's it then? That's your exciting plan for this evening? A book?" Angel: "I get enough excitement." Doyle: "Yeah - of the evil-fighting variety. How about a little off-duty fun?" Angel: "Such as?" Doyle pushes Angel's feet of the desk and sits down on the edge: "Two beautiful words: Sports Bar! (Angel gives him a look, turns his chair so he can put his feet back up on the other corner of the desk and goes back to reading his book) Come on! You know they have Trivia games on the Internet now? You can challenge against drunks around the world. Anything, please! I just can't sit around here while.." Cordelia comes into the office wearing a stunning black strapless sheath: "While I steal into the night with my incredibly-more-wealthy-then-you prince? Makes your little life seem a tad drab, doesn't it?" Doyle and Angel get up. Doyle: "Yeah, just because he has money, doesn't mean that he can make you happy." Cordelia: "I'll have you know that Pierce has a lot more than money. He has a house in Montecito, he has a Mercedes CLK 320 and a place in the hills with a lap pool." Doyle: "Since you put it that way." Knocking on door. Cordy turns to go answer it: "Well if I'm not here in the morning, you can just clear out my desk. I'll be moving on up." Cut to Pierce walking into the outer office, sees Cordy coming out of Angel's back office. Pierce: "Wow. You look amazing." Cordy with a brilliant smile: "Do I? (glances back towards Angel's office) Let's go." Angel: "What's your hurry? You didn't even introduce us." Cordy points to each in turn: "Angel, Doyle, Pierce. (takes Pierce's arm) Bye!" Angel as they are trying to leave: "You work, Pierce?" Pierce: "I trade - futures and options market." Angel: "Good. Good. - Out to dinner?" Pierce: "Le Petite Renard." Doyle: "Ah, right. Nice spot. Duck is dry." Angel to Cordy: "So, how late will you be?" Cordy: "Don't wait up. (To Pierce as she leads him out the door) Don't mind him.." Angel closes the door behind them. Doyle: "She's not going to fall for my ample but unpretentious charms, is she?" Angel: "Unless unpretentious means you don't like to brag about your family's old money." Doyle flipping through one of Angel's books: "Hey, the only money in my family is underneath the couch cushions. Not to mention the fact that half of them are demons. I'm sure if Cordy found out about *that* my chances would be *worse* then zero. (a picture of Buffy falls out of the book and Doyle picks it up) Wow. (whistles) She is something. This an old squeeze of yours?" Angel with a deep breath: "Yeah." Doyle: "Well, how does she feel about a man with an Irish accent? (sees Angel's face) Buffy." Angel folds his arms and swallows: "Yeah." Doyle: "I'm - I'm sorry.." Doyle puts his hand up to his head as he falls back onto the sofa in pain. Cut to blurry pictures of a guy hanging in some chains by his wrists. Doyle: "There is a young guy." Angel: "Where?" Doyle: "Vampires have a nest downtown. Poor kid's gonna be the entree." Angel: "Let's go. (pulls him off the sofa) Come on." Doyle: "Everybody's got dinner plans but us." Intro. Cut to the restaurant. Pierce: "See you have to study weather trends in order to make a good play in the agricultural market (Cordy is looking at him with a glazed look in her eyes) Once you do, you'll never look at soybeans the same way. God, listen to me! I'm not boring you, am I?" Cordy: "I don't mind." Pierce leans forward: "Like today, there *was* some heavy trading - lean hog options. The spread dropped about 1700 points. I mean in November they were trading at 6 cents. So, you know what I did? I sold at 6 and 1/8 of a cent! 6 and 1/8. Can you imagine anything more exciting then that?" Cut to Angel and Doyle fighting in the vampire nest downtown. Doyle gets thrown against a wall and his face goes demon spiky. Doyle shakes it off, morphs back to human: "Man, I hate that." A vampire is about to brain him with a beer keg when a piece of wood juts out of his chest and he dusts to reveal Angel standing behind it. Doyle: "I was about to do that." Angel: "I'd better get this guy home." Cut to Doyle and Angel walking out into the corridor. Angel has the guy’s arm draped over his shoulder and is half carrying the guy. Angel: "Doyle, you're stronger when your demon, right? So why did you shake it off?" Doyle: "I just don't like to fight like that." Angel: "This isn't a spelling bee. Nobody expects you to fight fair." Doyle: "It's just not my style, that's all. You want me to go with?" Angel: "I can handle it. Just head back." As they leave the hallway a burly vampire with a topknot steps around a corner behind them. Cut to the street in front of Angel Investigations. Doyle walks up the steps and through the door while the topknot vamp is watching him. Pierce's convertible Mercedes pulls up in front of the steps. Pierce: "I'm sorry you're not feeling well. I was hoping we could make a night of it." Cordy: "Me, too. I really wanted to hear the end of the story about the pigs and beans." Pierce: "Don't you want me to take you home?" Cordy gets out: "My car is here." Pierce gets out too: "Oh, wait, let me walk you. (takes Cordy's arm and turns her towards him) I'm - I'm not really sure about this neighborhood." Topknot in vamp face: "You're right, - it's crappy!" Cordy and Pierce scream. Topknot wraps his arm around Cordy's neck from behind. Pierce jumps into his car and burns rubber out of there. Cordy biting topknot's arm: "Help!" Topknot screams and lets Cordy go for a moment then grabs her by the hair. Doyle aiming a crossbow at topknot: "Hey! I'm the one you followed here. It's me you want." Topknot: "Stay close. You'll get your turn." Doyle has trouble finding a finding a place to aim without hitting Cordy. Finally he sh**t TopKnot in the left foot. Topknot screams and throws Cordy down on the street behind him, then pulls the bolt out of his shoe and lunges at Doyle with it. During their fight they roll down the steps and the bolt falls free. After more scuffling Doyle manages to grab it and stake topknot with it. Doyle looks at Cordy as they slowly get up: "Are you okay?" Cordy with a frown: "I'm fine. That was.. You're so - brave." Doyle: "You think you could say that again without so much shock in your voice? You're stepping on my moment of manliness here." Cordy still frowning: "I'm sorry. I'm just.." Doyle: "Surprised?" Cordy: "Grateful." Cut to Angel Investigations the next day. Angel is sitting at his desk looking at some papers. Cordy: "So, here I am at Le Petite Renard with Mr. Armani, who could keep me in blue boxes for the rest of my life.." Angel: "Blue boxes?" Cordy: "Tiffany's! God! And the whole night I was bored silly. All I could think about was: if this wimp ever saw a monster he'd probably throw a shoe at it and run like a weasel. Turns out the shoe part was giving him to much credit." Angel: "There aren't very many people that wouldn't run. It's just human nature." Cordy: "Yeah, - but all of a sudden rich and handsome isn't enough for me. Now I expect a guy to be all brave and interesting. And it's your fault! Both of you." Angel: "Well, maybe not. Maybe you’re changing. That could be a good thing." Cordy: "Disastrous. - And as if I wasn't confused enough, then Doyle comes along and rescues me like some - badly dressed superhero. (Sighs) He was really b*at up - but you know the first thing he asked? Are you okay? I mean, that's like - substance, right?" Angel: "Yeah, well, there is definitely more to Doyle then meets the eye." Cordy: "So, I've got to k*ll myself. I swore when I went that road with Xander Harris, I'd rather be d*ad then date a fixer-upper again. (sighs) Still, maybe you're right. Maybe Doyle does have - hidden depths. I mean, really, really hidden, - but depths. And I'm gonna have to buy him a moccachino to thank him for saving my life, don't you think?" Angel: "Well, I.." Cordy gets up to leave: "Me, too. We'll be back in a half. You watch the phones, okay?" Cut to Doyle reenacting last nights fight with a ruler: "I'm the one you followed. It's me that you want, huh? (stakes his imaginary opponent while Cordy walks in behind him) Fangs for the memories, vamp man!" (Stops and notices Cordy, who waves at him) Hey I was just.. That wasn't.." Cordy: "An incredible spaz att*ck? Good." Doyle puts the ruler down: "So you were... What can I do for you?" Cordy: "Well, ahm, - I was thinking - that, ah - maybe I haven't been - entirely fair to you. Maybe you don't actually have *zero* potential." Doyle with his arms folded: "Wow, Cordelia. Thanks." Cordy: "That's not.. (sighs) What I'm trying to say is that I really appreciate what you did last night. And, uhm, - I was thinking - maybe we could.. (blond Mariah Carrey type woman steps into the office and Doyle turns to look at her) If you're looking for Angel Investigations, this is it. But we are kind of in the middle of something. Could you just give us five minutes?" Blond woman to Doyle: "Hey, Francis." Doyle shifts and swallows: "Harry." Cordy: "Francis?" Doyle to Harry: "Uhm, - where've you been?" Harry: "Around. Uhm -Kiribati - Togo - Uzbekistan - a few spots that were a - little less touristy." Cordy: "Who's Francis?" Doyle: "That would be me. - Allen Francis Doyle. - Cordelia, this is Harry - my wife." Cordy's smile vanishes as she stares at Doyle. Harry comes in and closes the door: "I'm sorry about the surprise. I would've called first but I was afraid.." Doyle: "I'd run off? That's not my style, remember?" Harry: "But it's mine? Is that what you're saying? Do you want me to remind you who fired the starter p*stol? - No, let's not, okay? Let's just hug and be happy to see each other." They hug and Cordy looks away shaking her head. They separate and Doyle crosses his arms in front of him. Harry: "You look good." Doyle: "Yeah, you, too." Harry: "You're still living it up? You know that drinking's no good for you." Doyle: ""Yeah, you know me. I'm a fun-loving guy." Angel walks in: "What's going on?" Cordy: "Angel, come meet Doyle's wife." Cordy stares at him as Angel reaches out and shakes Harry's hand without any hesitation: "Nice to meet you." Harry: "Hi. Cool offices." Doyle: "Yeah, I'm a private investigator now. This is my company. (Gestures towards Angel and Cordy) These two, uhm, are my helpers." Cordy: "Ugh, that is.. (Angel hits her in the back with his elbow) ouch!" Angel clears his throat and Cordy sighs. Cordy: "You two were really married?" Harry: "Were and still - according to the paperwork." Cordy: "So, it was a green card thing." Harry looks at Doyle: "Nope, it was a 'madly in love couldn't live without each other' kind of thing. But I guess times change, because here we are, four years later and living just fine." Doyle: "So, shall we go on to why you're here exactly?" Harry: "Maybe we could talk alone?" Doyle: "Yeah." Door opens a guy sticks his head into the office. Harry: "Oh, I thought you were going to stay in the car?" Richard: "I know, but - (Comes in closing the door behind him) I admit it, curiosity got the better of me. (Goes and shakes Angel's hand) Hey, Richard Straley. I've heard so much about you. (To Harry) Say, you left out the part about him being such a handsome fellow." Angel: "I'm not.." Richard: "Oh, no, you are! Really." Angel: "I'm not Doyle. He is." Richard: "Oh, - that's more like it. (To Doyle) Not that you're not a very good-looking man." Harry: "Richard, just shake his hand." Richard: "Ah, forgive me, I'm not quite myself. What with the wedding only a few days off now." Doyle to Harry: "There's a wedding?" Richard: "I wasn't supposed to say that yet, was I?" Cordy sits down with a smile: "No, please, go on." Angel pulls her up off the couch and towards his office: "Cordelia, lets - lets go through those reports, hmm?" Cordy: "What? What reports? What?" Angel leads Cordy out. Richard to Harry: "I just.." Harry: "Hon bun? I think I should handle it from here." Richard: "I'm sorry. I just- I just want us all to be friends." Harry: "And we will be. But I need a moment alone with Francis." Richard leaves: "Sure, here, you got it." Doyle: "Hon bun?" Harry: "I didn't want you to hear it that way." Doyle: "You're - You're marrying that guy?" Harry: "I know it's wild, huh? I'm definitely the Ying to his Yang, but it works! He's got a good heart, Francis, just like you." Doyle: "Yeah, maybe, but the container, eh? - can I get a side of *bland* with that bland?" Harry: "I didn't come here for your approval." Doyle: "Then why? To see my face when I found out? To see if it would cut?" Harry: "Of course not. I would never.. - I just (Takes a folder out of her purse) I need you to sign these." Doyle looks at the paper inside: "Divorce papers." Harry: "It had to happen. I mean one of us.." Doyle: "Yeah, well, maybe I should get my people to look over these, before I go ahead. Make sure I'm not buying an ostrich farm." Harry: "Sure. - Tell 'your people' that I'll come back for them in a few days." Harry lays her hand on top of his put he pulls away. Harry turns as she reaches the door: "It's good to see you again, Francis." Doyle: "It's Doyle, now. It's just Doyle." Harry nods and leaves. Cut to Angel's apartment. Angel is setting two glasses on the table and pours a sh*t into the first one. As he tries to pour some for Doyle he puts his hand over the glass. Angel: "No?" Doyle picks up the glass and looks at it: "Harry is right. This stuff's does me no good." Angel sits down: "So, - you two hadn't been in touch at all since you split up?" Doyle: "Oh, the end was rough. - We weren't even twenty when we got married. - Crazy about each other. - And when things go wrong and you're young like that, you don't just say 'Hey, thanks for the blender, I wish you well'. You fight. - You tear each other apart until one of you can't take it. - She did the walking. But she had reason. I wasn't exactly the man she married. - I changed." Angel: "You shouldn't blame yourself. I mean, you were kids. It's only natural.." Doyle: "What, the sneeze and sprout demon face? That's decidedly *un*natural, my friend." Angel: "What, you didn't tell her before you got married?" Doyle: "I didn't know. I never met my dad. He was the demon. And my mom, well, she figured she'd wait to see if I'd got his genes before she got all confessional." Angel: "So your demon self didn't present.." Doyle: "Until I was 21 - and Harry and I - we were talking about having kids of our own. - Huh, put a damper on the discussion, you can imagine." Angel: "That's tough. - I'm sorry." Doyle: "It's probably best in the long run. (Sighs) I'm too much of a wild man to be the stay-at-home type anyway, - you know? Hey, this Richard, you know, he looks like he'd give her a good life." Angel: "Yeah." Doyle: "Seems like a nice - friendly fellow, don't you think?" Angel: "Definitely friendly, - only - he seemed a bit.." Doyle jumps up: "Exactly! I knew he was no good! And even though we're ex, I mean, it's still my duty to watch over her, right? But I can't go trailing after her intended myself. I mean, it just wouldn't look right. (Leans down on the table) Angel, you think you would.." Angel: "Yeah. Just don't tell Cordelia. - She'll wanna charge you." Doyle hits him on the back of his shoulder and takes Angel's drink and downs it. Cut to Richard walking along a dark street. The camera pans up to show a dark figure following on the rooftops, jumping from roof to roof. Richard crosses the street and leans into the window of a black car stopped at the corner. When he leans back he has a small square package under his arm. Looks around to make sure no one saw him and walks off as the car drives away. Angel watches as he goes down some steps and unlocks the door into a restaurant called Straley's Steakhouse. Cut to Richard putting the package into the back of the fridge in the restaurant kitchen. Cut to Harry walking through a door into the kitchen carrying a box with Richard following behind. Harry: "I can't wait for you to see what I bought." Richard: "What is it? For the honeymoon?" Harry: "Hmm, how small do you think a nighty would have to be to fit into one of these tiny boxes?" They both laugh. Richard: "Uh-huh. - Don't move. I'll be right back." Goes into the wine pantry and pours himself some wine. After he takes a sip of it, he morphs into a red-faced demon. Walks back towards the kitchen picking up a Kn*fe on the way. Harry trying to undo the straps binding the boxes shut: "What are you doing?" Richard: "Right there, pumpkin." As he walks up behind Harry with the Kn*fe in his hand Angel jumps in through a window and tackles him. Angel hits him in the face and stomach. Richard holds up his hands, but doesn't fight back. Harry grabs Angel's arm: "Angel, stop!" Angel: "He's a demon." Harry: "Well, yeah! (Helps Richard up) Honey." Angel: "You - you know? - But he was coming at you. He had a Kn*fe!" Richard: "That was for the box strings." Angel: "Well, what about the package, huh, from the man with the cigar." Harry: "You followed him?" Richard: "That was for the restaurant. We serve a lot of delicacies - frog legs, quail tongues, and such - which isn't - illegal, per se.." Harry: "You don't have to explain, Richard. Doyle put you put to this, right? - Man! Years go by, nothing changes. Doyle decides what I need.." Richard: "Now, now - it's understandable, honey. He can't help but want to make sure you'll be in good hands. (To Angel) I can assure you.." Harry to Angel: "Tell Doyle that I'm in the best hands. Richard and his family own this restaurant. They're Ano-movic demons. Peaceful clan. Totally assimilated into our culture." Richard massages Harry's shoulders: "Harry is an ethno-demonologist, and a damn fine one, too. We met while she was scouting clans in South America." Angel to Harry: "You study demons? That's your profession?" Harry: "Do you have a problem with that?" Angel: "No! It's just.. - Doyle said.." Harry: "That when he first went through his change I freaked. Which is true. But after I adjusted, I realized here is this whole, rich, interesting world just waiting to be explored." Angel: "But you didn't tell him that." Harry: "Of course I did! I even tried to get him to go out - meet other demons. At least go to one mixer, you know? But he couldn't accept himself, - or them. So then he was just angry, and pretty much a bitch to live with." Cut to Angel's apartment. Doyle: "He's a demon? And she's all signed on to be Mrs. Demon? Tell me again how ugly he is!" Angel points to a picture in a book: "Here it is - Ano-movic. Once a nomadic tribe. At one time they did have violent leanings.." Doyle: "There! I knew this nice guy routine was just an act. He's working a spell on her. She gonna sprout hubcaps from her head or something." Angel still reading: "But they gave up those orthodox teachings, - language, - around the turn of the century. (closes the book and puts it down) Now they own a number of restaurants with pretty expensive windows." Doyle snaps his fingers: "I fully intend to chip in on that. - You know all that time Harry would go on about what an amazing thing my demon half could be, the worlds that it opened up to us, I thought she was just trying to make me feel better. I thought that she was pitying me. - But it was true. (sighs) I just wasn't listening. - You know, Harry didn't leave because of the demon in me, - she left because of me." Doyle gets up and signs the divorce papers with a sigh. Blend over into Doyle handing the papers to Harry. Harry: "Thank you Doyle." Richard shakes Doyle's hand: "Yes, thank you. You don't know how much this means to me.. - or I guess you do - seeing as you were married once - and to Harry no less." Harry: "Do you have a copier? I could.." Doyle: "Yeah, there is one in Angel's office. Cordelia will help you." Harry leaves. Richard: "Harry is an amazing girl, isn't she? - Say Doyle, uhm - I'm glad we have some man to man talk." Cut to Harry: "This is perfect. Richard wanted a moment alone with Doyle to ask him to his bachelor party." Cordy: "Bachelor party? Why, is he afraid he ordered too much beer?" Harry: "Richard and his family wanted Doyle's blessing before he marries me. They're sweet demons. Very into good vibes all around." Cordy: "They do sound nice." Harry: "You know, his mom told me to invite friends to my shower, but - I've been pretty much hanging only with her. You're the first girl I've met in town under 370 years old. Do you think you'd want.." Cordy: "Love to." Cut to Richard: "It would mean a lot to me. But more than that, I think it would mean the world to Harry if you came to my party." Cut to a nice house in a residential neighborhood. Richard's family is sitting together at the dinner table. Richard: "Ugh, do we really have to have the Buffalo wings? I can get the guys in the kitchen, have them whip up a Foie Gras." Dad: "It's a bachelor party, Rich. You're supposed to eat bad and drink beer." Mom carries a bucket of KFC chicken to the table: "Don't forget the girl that's supposed to do the striptease. (Everyone stares at her) What? Like I don't know? (Laughter) Just make sure all she does is tease." Richard: "Mom, I don't even want.." Brother: "Sorry, Rich, it's your bachelor party and we're going to have fun, if you like it or not." Richard: "Well, I just hope this sort of high jinx doesn't create a bad impression with Doyle." Aunt: "Who's Doyle?" Cousin: "Harry's first husband. Richard invited him." Richard: "He's really very sweet. I think you're all going to enjoy him. - All right, fine, fine. Dancing girl. I submit. - Now, where were we?" Dad reads from list: "Ah, lets see.. First we greet the man of the hour. - Then we drink. (Yays around the table) We bring out the food. Then we drink. (Yays) Then comes the Stripper. (Yays) Darts, - then we have the ritual eating of the first husbands brains, and then charades." Brother looks up from his plate: "Wait! What was that? - Charades?" Cousin: "Yeah, I don't know about that." Richard: "Really? I think it'll be fun." Everyone: "Oh, all right." Cut to night. Doyle and Angel are walking into the restaurant for the bachelor party. All of Richard's male family is there. Richard goes to hug Doyle: "Hi, Francis!" Doyle: "Doyle." Richard: "Oh, sorry, sorry. (turns to the room one arm around Doyle's shoulder) Everybody, this is Doyle." Brother sitting at a table with Cousin: "And he brought someone." Richard: "Angel. Hey! This is a surprise." Angel: "Yeah, I thought I'd use the door this time." Doyle: "I asked him to come. I hope that's okay?" Richard: "Ah, sure it is. Now the party can really start, huh? (To the whole room) Everybody, this party is for Doyle as much as it is for me, more even. He's the real bachelor here." Doyle: "Yeah, and thanks for not rubbing that in, by the way." Richard: "Let’s set you up with a beverage?" Richard and Doyle walk over to the bar. Angel follows them slowly passing by the table where the brother and the cousin are sitting. Brother: "Indata mahouda menaka tant." Cousin: "Hlorwoip canano." Brother: "Hlorwoip?" Cousin: "Duh!" Angel looks at them and they give him a silly grin. Angel moves on with a slight nod. Richard is toasting with Doyle at the bar: "To Harry." Doyle: "Harry." Richard: "What was she like, Doyle?" Doyle: "Like?" Richard: "Back in the old days. The years you had her, the ones I missed. Tell me everything." Blend to Harry's shower. Harry: "It was a nightmare. Okay, maybe not at first. Initially, I really liked the way he took charge." Cordy: "Doyle?! Took charge." Harry: "It was sweet. But after a while, I mean, I know how to cut my own meat, thanks. Sometimes it felt like I was one of his students." Cordy: "That's funny, for a moment I thought you said one of Doyle's students?" Harry: "It wasn't fun being treated like a third grader, believe me." Cordy: "Grade third taught Doy.. (Waves her hand and tries again) Doyle taught third grade? The kind with children?" Harry: "Yeah." Cordy: "Are you sure he wasn't just held back and used that as his cover story?" Harry: "Francis got his teaching credentials before we even met at the food bank.." Cordy: "Okay, soup kitchen. Now that sounds like the Doyle I've come to know and revile. - And you're just about to tell me he ran it, aren't you?" Harry: "He was just a volunteer. - That's where he got the idea for the 'You Are The World' thing. (Cordy looks at her in shock) I'm kidding about that part." Aunt Martha: "Come on girls, it's p*rn pictionary time!" Harry to Cordy: "Their ways are *not* - our ways." Cut to the party. Angel is strolling around by himself while people are wondering about the stripper. "Where the hell is she?" - "She should be here any second, man!" - "Where is she?" - "Drink up man." - "Here's to Doyle!" (Boos and cheers) - "Doyle!" Angel is watching the brother and cousin at their table. Cut to later. Richard and Doyle drinking together at the bar. Richard: "I have a little confession to make. Ever since I learned that Harry was married before, I've felt like I've been living in your shadow." Doyle: "Really?" Richard: "You were something - I can never be for her - her first. She'll always love you, Francis. Always. - But she needs different things now. I know I can make her happy, - but I need you to be a part of it." Doyle: "Me?" Richard lays an hand on Doyle's shoulder: "I have to have your blessing, Doyle. Without it there won't be any marriage." Guy comes up and leads Richard away: "It's time, dude!" Richard: "Oh, fellas. (they set him on a chair in the middle of the room and the stripper comes up to him) Oh, god." Angel comes to stand next to Doyle as they watch the stripper teasing Richard. Angel to Doyle: "Are you okay?" Doyle: "Yeah." Angel sees the brother and the cousin leave the room and follows. He walks through a deserted kitchen and up some stairs into what looks like some type of attic. The Dad is standing in front of a candle burning beside a little pot, holding a curved Kn*fe in one hand. Dad: "Ino platbrata iko iko retvan el shak (Pulls the Kn*fe across the palm of his other hand. Some blood drips into the pot and f*re flares up) Ino platbrata iko iko retvan el shak" Cut to Cordy's cell-phone ringing at the bridal party. Cordy: "Hello?" Angel on a phone in another part of the attic: "It's Angel. Where are you?" Cordy: "In the netherworld known as the 818 area code. Why?" Angel: "Let me speak to Harry." Cordy: "Hang on. (Gets up and hands the phone to Harry) It's for you. It's Angel." Harry on the phone: "Hello?" Angel: "How is your Aratuscan?" Harry: "Rusty, considering it's a d*ad demonic language." Angel: "Guess again. I need a translation: 'Ino platbrata iko iko retvan el shak'." Harry: "What's going on, Angel?" Angel: "I don't know yet. Will you just look into it for me?" Harry: "I guess, uhm, I could check the family library." Angel: "Thanks." Hangs up the phone and turns around only to bump into the cousin. Cousin: "Hey, what's your problem?" Angel: "No problem." Cousin pushes Angel in the chest: "Are you disrespecting me?" Angel: "No." Cousin: "So, now I'm a liar?" Cousin hits Angel twice in the face before Angel comes back and retaliates in kind. Two more of them rush up and a brawl ensues. Cut to the stripper and Richard. Cut back to the fight. Now it’s four against one. They throw Angel headfirst into the wall. Cut back to the stripper. Cut back to the fight. The four of them grab Angel and throw him headfirst through some wooden ventilation slats. He rolls down the roof, bounces of the lid of a metal trash container and comes to rest unconscious on ground in front of it. Cousin: "Sad when a man can't hold his liquor." Cut to the stripper leaving and Richard getting up from his chair and walking back to Doyle by the bar. Richard: "I hope Harry doesn't hear about that." Doyle: "Not from me she won't." Richard pats him on the shoulder: "I know. You're a good half-man. - So, have you given any thought to what we discussed?" Doyle: "Yup, and I got to tell you, I've had a lot to regret in my life, but nothing more than the way things went with me and Harry. I should have made her happy, and I didn't. And now we both have a second chance. Her to be happy, and me - not to stand in the way. - I guess what I'm trying to say to you is - that I give you my blessing, Richard. (Sighs and pats Richard on the arm) God bless you. (When Richard reaches to hug him he wards him off) As long as we skip the hug thing." Richard to the room: "Hey, everyone, great news. Doyle gives his blessing. He consents." Cheering all around. Richard: "A toast to Doyle." More cheering. Dad and the other guys that b*at up Angel come into the room. All the guys surround Doyle and push him back. Doyle: "No hugs, now. We had an understanding." Guy: "Doyle, we have something for you." The push Doyle into a red box with a hole in the top and lock him in so that just his head sticks out. Doyle: "You know, this is great, but I can't reach the pretzels." Richard: "Doyle, I just want to say how incredibly moved I am by your sacrifice. I hope that doesn't make me less of a man in your eyes." Doyle: "Sacrifice? - Huh?" All the guys are morphing into their red demon faces. Doyle: "Okay, this *can't* be good. (A guy comes up and injects something in the side of Doyle's head) Ouch! - Hey, - my head's going numb." Richard as someone put a lobster bib on him: "Well, I should hope so! We wouldn't want you to suffer when we cut into your skull." Doyle watches them hand the curved Kn*fe to Richard. Cut to Cordy and Harry looking at some books. Harry: "That can't be right." Cordy: "What?" Harry: "Something about ingesting past love." Cordy: "Wouldn't Doyle be your past love?" The look at each other then Harry gets up to talk to the rest of the party. Harry: "Excuse me ladies." Mom: "What is it, honey?" Harry: "It's about the bachelor party. Richard said having the former husband present was some sort of tradition. I was just wondering.." Aunt Martha jokingly: "Well, they're certainly not going to eat your ex-husband's brains! (Harry and Cordy grab their things and hurry out) For instance." Cut to Angel laying motionless on the street. Doyle: "Oh, god, where is Angel? ANGEL!" Cut to Doyle in the box. A guy is marking a dotted line on his forehead. Richard in his lobster bib: "Apparently he started a fight. He had to be ejected. Can I get you anything?" Doyle: "How are you going to explain this to Harry, huh?" Richard: "Oh, Harry will understand. She loves and accepts our culture, just like loved and accepted yours." Dad picks up the little fork laying next to Doyle's head on the box: "Nick, what's this?" Nick: "You said, get a utensil." Dad: "This is a shrimp fork. He's going to eat the guy's brains with a shrimp fork?" Nick: "Well pardon me if our ancient ancestors didn't leave behind any former-husband-brain-eating forks." Dad: "Get a soup spoon, you moron." Richard to Doyle: "Bear with us. We're a little fuzzy on the etiquette. This ritual hasn't been performed in centuries. It's been so long since the last time one of the clan married a divorcee." Doyle: "Huh?" Dad: "The accursed books tell us all very plainly that ingesting a priorly married prospective bride's former primary mate's fresh brains will insure a happy second marriage. This way, Richie can incorporate all the love you and Harry shared, making their union whole. It's an Ano-movic thing, don't ask." Doyle: "Look, Richard as much as I like your family, and they're great, - honest, - I'd really prefer if they *didn't* cannibalize me." Richard: "Oh, no! You misunderstand." Doyle: "I do?" Richard: "Yeah. It'll just be me." Doyle: "Why don't I just give you that hug and we can call it even?" Richard: "You're not trying to back out, are you? Not after you gave your blessing." Doyle: "Yeah, yeah. I take it back!" Richard: "Oh. - Well. - I see. - Now I'm not so sure I even *want* to eat your brains!" Dad: "Don't be petulant, Richard. You'll eat his brains. He can't take back a blessing. Now, apologize to your friend." Richard: "He's right. That was rude. I'd be honored to eat your brains." Cut to Angel getting up. The bloody cut on his forehead disappears as he morphs into his vamp face. Cut to the party. Dad: "Well, I guess we're ready. (Hands Richard the Kn*fe) Richard, would you care to make the first cut?" As everyone watches Richard and Doyle in anticipation Angel busts the double doors off their hinges taking half the frame with it. Angel in vamp face: "The party is over." Nick: "You brought a *vampire* to my brother's bachelor party?" Angel is laying into the Ano-movics left and right. Seems he is stronger as demon as well, and *really* ticked off. Doyle's box on rollers keeps getting pushed back and forth through the scuffle. The lock snaps open. Doyle in spiky demon face: "Harry says I should mix with other demons, I'll mix!" Doyle joins the fray, and though he's not doing as well as Angel he manages to inflict some damage as well. Harry runs into the restaurant, followed by Cordy. Harry: "Stop it! Stop it right this instant!" Everyone stops. Angel looks up, back in human face. Doyle is painfully getting up in a booth. Richard looking up over the back of the booth he is laying in: "Hon bun? This is for guys only." Harry: "I know what you're up to Richard Howard Straley." Richard: "The stripper wasn't my idea, pook. I swear." Harry: "Not the stripper, Richard. There was a stripper?!" Richard: "You really shouldn't be here." Cordy: "Well, *you* shouldn't be trying to eat my friend's brains! You horrible, ugly demon people!" Doyle sits up on the bench next to Cordy. Cordy sees his demon face, picks up a silver tray and proceeds to bash him over the head, repeatedly. Angel runs up to stop her: "Easy, Cordelia. It's OK!" Cordy to Angel: "It is so not okay! (Doyle gets up behind her back in human face. Cordy spins around and sees the marks on his head) Doyle! Oh, look what they did to you!" Harry goes to stand in front to Richard, hands on hips: "I'm only going to ask you this once, Richard, and I expect a straight answer: were you or were you not intending to eat my ex-husband's brains?" Richard sheepishly: "In a way." Harry: "And when were you planning on telling me?" Richard: "I thought maybe I wouldn't have to." Harry: "You were going to start out our life together with deceit?" Doyle to Angel: "Sort of missing the point, isn't she?" Richard to Harry: "I was just trying to bless our marriage - like in the ancient teachings." Harry: "And since when does your family follow the ancient teachings?" Uncle: "We don't flaunt our beliefs, but they're very dear to us." Harry to Uncle: "Oh, *please* Uncle John! When is the last time you pried your self away from ESPN long enough to spill the blood of a she-goat?" Cousin: "Are you going to let her talk to Uncle John like that?" Harry to Richard: "You know how I feel about these barbaric Ano-movician customs!" Cousin: "r*cist! You're nothing but a r*cist!" Richard to Harry: "I should have told you. I'm sorry. But unless we complete the ritual my family will never consent to the marriage." There are murmurs of consent. Harry looks at Richard. Turns to look at Doyle and Angel, the turns back and takes Richard's hand in hers. Richard: "Hon bun?" Harry turns away and Richard looks at the engagement ring she just gave back to him. As she walks by Doyle and Angel, Doyle opens his mouth to say something. Harry: "*One* word, Francis, just one word and *I'll* eat your brains!" Angel and Doyle turn to follow her out. His brother and cousin step up to comfort Richard. Brother: "You don't need her anyway!" Cousin: "Yeah, who wants a wife whose knees only bend the one way?" Cut to Angel Investigations. Doyle is getting up from the computer and going to lay down on the sofa. Angel and Cordy are watching him through the louvered windows from his office. Cordy: "So, he spoke to her." Angel: "Yeah." Cordy: "Didn't go to well, huh?" Angel: "I think she just needs some time." Cordy: "He's still really hung up on her, isn't he?" Angel: "Hmm, - more then he knew, probably, yeah." Cordy: "Well, someone *has* to go out there and cheer him up." Angel looks over at Cordy then after a moment gets up. Cordy holds up a hand to stop him: "Oh, please. Someone with a heartbeat." Angel follows her to stand in the door to his office as Cordy walks over to Doyle. Cordy with a brilliant smile: "Hi, Doyle. Are you going to become loser-pining guy, like, full-time now? Because you know, we already have one of those around the office." Angel: "Hey!" Doyle: "Hey!" Cordy: "He can get away with it. He's tall and - and look at the way clothes hang on him. But you.." Angel: "Okay, I think you've cheered us up enough." Cordy: "You can't live in the past. You got to move on. Let it go. Forget it. Tomorrow is another day. (Doyle sits up on the couch) Did I mention letting it go?" Doyle: "Twice." Cordy sits down next to him with a sigh: "You'll get through this, Doyle. Nice guys don't always finish last." Doyle: "You think I'm a nice guy?" Cordy: "I think it, I say it. That's my way." Doyle: "Thanks." Cordy: "Feeling better?" Doyle: "Yeah." Cordy: "Yeah?" Suddenly Doyle doubles over with pain. Cordy jumps up from the sofa. Cordy pointing at Doyle: "Not my fault." Angel: "He's having a vision." Cordy: "At this hour?" Cut to blurry pictures of Buffy fighting two guys. Doyle looks up at Angel: "Oh." Angel: "What? - What did you see?" Doyle looks at him and swallows.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x07 - Bachelor Party"}

foreverdreaming

Opens with Angel winding up an old clock and setting it on the desk in his office. The clock says 8:53. He then checks the table's surface. Puts a pencil down at one end and watches it roll across his desk. Cordy and Doyle watch form the outer office. Cordy: "When did he get back?" Doyle: "Late last night." Cordy: "And?" Doyle: "Ah, he seemed fine." Cordy: "He saw Buffy. He was in Sunnydale for three days, tracking her and that thingymagiggy you saw in your vision. (Sighs as she looks at Angel trying to adjust his desk) Where is the crabby scowl, the morbid gloom? (Turns to Doyle) This just means that it cut deeper then usual. Batten down the hatches, here comes Hurricane Buffy." Doyle: "You think? (Cordy gives an exasperated sigh.) Maybe he's over her." Cordy pats Doyle on the shoulder: "You have so much to learn little Irish man." Cordy turns and sees Angel take a stake out of his desk drawer testing its tip with his finger. Cordy: "Oh, my God!" Cordy runs into the office with Doyle right behind: "Don't do it, Angel!" Doyle: "Listen to me, man, it's not worth it." Angel: "It's not?" Cordy: "No! You can't let her get to you like this. You'll meet someone else. Just give it some time." Doyle holds out a hand: "Why don't you let me have that?" Angel: "Because I need it to level my desk. (Bends down to stick the tip of it under one of the table's legs) The floor is uneven. (Straightens up with a smirk) You two thought.." Cordy: "Doyle did. You know how he jumps to conclusions, - 'cause you saw Buffy." Angel: "It wasn't a social call. I was there to protect her. I stayed out of sight. She didn't even know I was there." Cordy: "Really? (Angel nods) So you avoided her." Angel: "Look, Buffy will always going to be a part of me, and that's never going to change. But she's human and I'm (Frowns and looks down) - not. And that's also never going to change. We said our good-byes, no need to stir any of this up again." Cordy: "You don't want to 'stir', but if my ex came to town and was all stalking me in the shadows and then left and then didn't even say 'hello' I'd be.." Buffy from the open door: "A little upset. (Angel looks at her, his mouth dropping open) Wouldn’t you?" Intro. Cordy: "Buffy! - Buffy's here - in town. - What brings you to.." Buffy: "I came to see my father. (Looks over at Angel) Thought I'd stop by." Cordy with a fake laugh: "What a surprise!" Buffy: "Cordelia how are you?" Cordy: "Good. I'm good. You?" Buffy looks at Angel: "I've been better." Cordy: "Uh-huh. - Well, this is Doyle. And he gets visions of people in trouble." Doyle: "Nice to make your.." Cordy takes his arm and pulls him out of the office: "And this is us leaving you two alone." Buffy closes the door behind them then turns back to Angel, who's having trouble meeting her eyes. Angel: "Well, umm, it's good to.. Can I get you anything?" Buffy: "How about - an explanation? - Who do you think you are coming to my town and following me around behind my back?" Angel: "I'm sorry." Buffy: "What is this? Some new torment you cooked up just for me?" Angel: "No, I don't want to torment.." Buffy: "What is it? You can see me, but I can't see you? What are we playing here?" Angel: "We're not. I'm not playing anything. I wrestled with this decision.." Buffy: "Which you made without me." Angel: "I tried to do what I thought was right. It's complicated how this all happened, Buffy, you know? It's kind of a long story." Buffy: "You're new sidekick had a vision, I was in it, you came to Sunnydale?" Angel: "Okay, maybe not that long." Buffy: "You didn't feel that I was important enough to even tell me that you were there." Angel looks at her: "I'm trying to explain. It's because I felt that you're important that I didn't tell you." Buffy: "I'm a big girl now, Angel. I'm not in High School anymore. A lot has happened in my life since you left." Angel: "I know. I respect that." Buffy: "And I don't need you skulking around, trying to protect me. (Angel looks away, and Buffy looks down) Unless, of course, I'm in some gigantic fight to the death, which - I was last night. That was you, helping me, wasn't it?" Angel: "I was in the neighborhood - skulking." Cut to Doyle and Cordy in the outer office. Doyle: "So that's the Slayer." Cordy: "That's our Buffy." Doyle: "Well, she seemed a little.." Cordy: "Bulgarian in that outfit?" Doyle: "No, I was going to say hurt." Cordy: "Yeah, there's a lot of that when they're together. (Picks up her purse) Come on." Doyle: "Where are we going?" Cordy: "Oh, they'll be into this for a while. We still have time for a cappuccino and probably the director's cut of 'Titanic'." Cut to Angel and Buffy. Angel: "I'm sorry if I handled this wrong. I mean, what else was I supposed to do?" Buffy: "I don't know. - I just know that when you're around, whether I see you or not, - I feel you - inside - and it throws me." Angel: "Throws me, too." Buffy: "So let's just stick to the plan. We keep our distance until a lot of time has passed. Given enough time we should be able to.." Angel: "Forget?' Buffy: "Yeah. - So, I'm gonna go - start forgetting." As Buffy turns to go a green skinned Samurai demon with a curved sword and a red jewel in his forehead crashes through the window behind Angel and att*cks him. Angel barely avoids the first stroke of his sword by rolling across his desk. Buffy: "Angel!" Buffy kicks the demon back against the wall, Angel comes up and throws an ax at it. Cut to Cordy and Doyle about to leave the office. They hear the fight. Doyle: "Did you hear that?" Cordy dismissively: "Yeah, the Angel and Buffy show. First they talk out their differences, then they punch them out." Doyle: "Shouldn't we.." Cordy: "Stick our noses where they don't belong and get them flattened? No thank you." They leave. Cut to Buffy and Angel fighting the Samurai. Angel slides across the floor, picking up the demon's sword and s*ab it in the gut while it is still wrestling with Buffy. Some of its fluorescent green blood runs down the sword onto Angel's hand. The demon jumps back causing Buffy to land on top of Angel, pulls the sword out and jumps out of the window. Angel and Buffy stare at each other as they slowly untangle themselves and get up. Buffy: "Friend of yours?" Angel: "Never saw it before." Buffy: "It was rude. We should go k*ll it." Angel: "I'm free." Buffy: "Got somewhere I can change?" Cut to Angel and Buffy tracking it through the sewer tunnels. Angel: "It's heading towards the ocean." Buffy: "Are you sure?" Angel: "It's wounded. I can smell its blood." Buffy: "Oh. Great. - Handy skill. (Angel stops to look at her as she continues on) Maybe if your crack staff hadn't run off at the first sign of trouble they could have helped us with some research. Find out what this thing is and why it wants to k*ll us." Something rustles and Buffy spins around, stake in hand. Angel: "It's just a rat. - So, you can put that down. (She lowers the stake slowly) It's not a vampire. I don't know why you brought that anyway." Buffy: "Because I know how to use it. Besides it's a lot handier then your fighting ax." Angel: "Unless he chops it in two and maybe takes some of your hand with it." Buffy: "Look can we just get on with the hunting? I'd like to get this over with before dark." Angel: "I can handle this myself." Buffy: "You bailed me out last night. I'd like us to be even.' Angel walks past her: "We're keeping score now." Buffy looking around: "Are you getting anything? Because I sure smell sewer. (Angel touches a green spot on the wall of a tunnel junction, smells his fingers, then heads down that tunnel) Tunnel number one it is." Cut to Angel emerging out of the mouth of a tunnel. He's blinking his eyes, frowning. Buffy: "Angel? You okay?" Angel: "I feel weird.' Buffy with a sigh: "I know. I do, too. I mean, I only came to see you so I could tell you face-to-face not to see me - face-to-face anymore, - and I know there is a fly in the logic ointment here somewhere, but.. The next thing I knew we're being att*cked by this mutant ninja demon thing, and then we're on the floor on top of each other, and it's just really confusing being around you." Angel with a slight grimace: "No, I meant I felt weird from the demons blood. (Looks down at his hand) It's powerful." Buffy looks away: "Oh. Okay. (Turns to walk on quickly) Let's just rewind Buffy's little outburst and pretend it never happened." Angel: "No. I-It is confusing. And I.. When we're apart - it’s easier. (Buffy stares at him) It hurts - every day. But I live with it. (He slowly steps closer to her) And now you're - you're right here - and I can actually reach out.. and - it's more then confusing - it's unbearable." Buffy inches closer to him: "But we have to bear, right? I mean, what else can we do? It doesn't work with us. It can't." Angel: "No, I-I can't give you a life, or a future or anything a real girl would want." Buffy inching closer: "No matter how much we miss each other." Angel: "Or what we feel in the moment." Buffy: "If we let something happen here - we'd want more. - And nothing's changed. We'd only end up having to leave each other again." Angel: "And that's the best case scenario." Buffy: "Oh, boy. (Turns away) I was really jonesing for another heartbreaking sewer talk." Angel: "I’m sorry." Buffy turns back to him angry: "You know, I'm actually on the brink of something back home. I'm actually heading towards a pretty good life now that.." Angel: "I'm out of the picture. - That's why I left. I want you to have it." Buffy: "Could we just - find this thing and get this finished? (Sees rungs leading up) What if it went up?" Angel: "Into the day, where it knows I can't follow." Buffy gets ready to go up: "But I can." Angel: "Uh, I..(Reaches out to touch her then balls his hand up into a fist and pulls it back) I don't want you going after it alone." Buffy: "Look, it's best all around if we just split up. I can handle it." Angel after a b*at: "There's a dive on Second near Beach, The Lone Bar. Demons go there sometimes when they need to get patched up." Buffy starts to climb: "Got it." Angel: "Be careful." Cut to Angel walking in the dark tunnels. Two glowing green eyes watch him from behind. Suddenly the demon jumps out and att*cks him from behind slicing across the palm of Angel's right hand as he spins around. Angel looks at the blood on his hand then vamps out and att*cks. They fight. The demon slices off the head of Angel's battle-ax, and Angel manages to knock the sword out of the demon's hand. The demon pulls his short sword (about the same length as what's left of the ax handle) and they continue fighting. In the end Angel manages to grab the demon's sword hand and turns its hand to s*ab it in the heart with its own sword. The demon falls back as Angel stares at the glowing green blood that covers his cut right hand. The blood swirls around and sinks into his cut, which closes up in front of his eyes. A light races from his right hand through his whole body as Angel collapses with a strangled cry. Angel comes back up gasping for air while we hear the sound of a heart beating. Angel staring at his hand in disbelief: "I'm alive." Cut to Cordy and Doyle entering the office. Doyle sees the destruction in Angel's office: "Woah, when they fight.." Cordy runs past him: "Oh, my God!" Doyle: "What?" Cordy : "She k*lled him! (Picks up a handful of dust) Oops! My bad. (Brushes off her hands) It's just dust I forgot to sweep under the rug." Doyle: "What, are you trying to give me a heart att*ck?" Cordy: "Hey, don't blame me if he's too cheap to hire a Cleaning Lady!" The door opens and Angel walks into the outer office a dazed expression on his face. Cordy: "What's wrong? What happened? - Did you do it with Buffy? (Doyle steps closer to Angel staring at his chest) Watch it, Doyle, don't get too close. - Hey, you walked in the front door - from the street! You got.." Angel looking at Doyle: "Yeah." Cordy: "An umbrella!" Angel walks past them and stand in the sun streaming in through the window. Doyle: "He's alive, Cordelia." Cordy: "Alive?" Angel: "Buffy and I were att*cked by some kind of demon. I- I tracked it - and k*lled it (Holds out his right hand) A-and some of its blood mixed with mine." Doyle laying two fingers on his wrist: "And you wound up with a pulse?" Angel: "I want to find out what kind of a demon that was. Ow, my back. It hurts. Everything’s.." Doyle: "More real, now that you're real?" Angel: "Yeah. I'm mortal now. I have a mortal body. (Stares at where Cordy is standing) And I'm so - hungry!" Cordy jumps out of his way as he comes charging towards her: "Look out, he's gonna eat..(Angel grabs one of the donuts sitting on the little refrigerator behind where she was standing and stuffs it in his mouth) everything in sight!" Angel opens the fridge, takes a bite out of an apple: "Oh my God. Food. (Takes a bite out of something else) This is unbelievable. This is so.. (Smells the apple) You know, I forgot how good it all tastes when you're alive!" Cordy: "Yeah, and they didn't even have Cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip when you were alive." Angel: "Mmm, I want some! Can you get that?" Cordy: "It'll go straight to your thighs." Angel still trying bites of everything: "Uhm, chocolate! Oh, (Laughs) chocolate!" Doyle: "All right, all right, we need to focus here. We need to try and find out.." Angel talking with his mouth full: "I love chocolate! (Drinks out of a yogurt container and makes a face) Uh, but not, as it turns out, yogurt. Urgh!" Doyle: "Orsen! We're in a situation here." Angel: "Right. (Takes a deep breath and closes the fridge) I know. You're right. Let me think - and now my stomach's k*lling me. - Cordelia, find Buffy. She' in Santa Monica near the Lone Star. Tell her I k*lled the demon." Cordy turns to go: "Okay." Angel: "Oh, wait! Don't tell her what's happened to me. Not until I know what it means." Cordy: "All right." Cut to a woodcut of the demon in a book. Angel: "That's it." Doyle: "It's called a Mohra demon. They're pretty powerful assassins, soldiers of darkness kind of thing. They take out warriors for our side, like you and Buffy. (Quotes from book) 'Needs vast amounts of salt to live'." Angel: "It was heading towards salt water." Doyle quoting: "'Veins run with the blood of eternity.' There it is. Its blood has regenerative properties." Angel staring fascinated at his reflection in a window: "Which explains what happened to me. But it doesn't explain why." Doyle closes the book: "Hey, what difference does it make, man? The demon's d*ad, you're alive! It's happy fun time." Angel spins to confront Doyle: "What's going on here, Doyle?" Doyle: "I don't know. I thought the only way for you to be made mortal was if the Powers-That-Be stepped in." Angel: "What, they could have done this? How come I keep getting the feeling that you're not telling me everything." Doyle: "Because I'm not. We're both on a need to know basis here." Angel pacing: "I need to know about this. Is this permanent? Am I - am I normal Joe now? Can I have a normal life? I want to speak to the Powers-That-Be." Doyle: "Woah, woah, woah! That's easier said then done, bud. The Powers-That-Be don't live in our reality. You have to approach them through channels. Dangerous channels." Angel: "Yeah, you know what? Start approaching!" Doyle: "All right. All right. Maybe we can try the Oracles. But hey, if they turn you into a toad - don't say I didn't warn you." Cut to Angel and Doyle in some underground chamber. There is a white stone arc in one wall. Angel reading the foreign inscription above it: "'The Gateway for Lost Souls' (Turns to Doyle) is under the post office?" Doyle: "It makes sense if you think about it. Now listen, the Oracles are finicky and unpredictable. You do get in, don't dilly-dally. Ask your questions, get out." Angel: "Aren't you coming?" Doyle: "Not allowed. I'm just a lowly messenger, you're a warrior.. if your heart is pure - and I do this right.. (Puts some herbs in an urn) 'We beseech access to the knowing ones..' We may just survive. (Put a lighter to the urn and it fills with high flames. The arc glows and fills with light) You're in." Angel steps through the light into a white marble chamber. Two glittery figures confront him. Man: "Come before us, lower being." Woman: "What have you brought us?" Angel: "Was I supposed to.." Man: "You call us forth and bring us no offering?" Angel takes off his wristwatch: "I brought you this." Woman holds out her hand and the watch flies to her: "I like Time. There is so little and so much of it." Man: "Well?" Angel: "What's happened to me?" Woman steps to one side of Angel: "It's true then, brother." Man on Angel's other side: "He is no longer a warrior." Angel: "It was the demon's blood. It wasn't the Powers-That-Be that did this?" Man: "The Powers-That-Be? Did you save humanity? Avert the Apocalypse?" Woman: "You faced a Mohra demon. Life goes on." Angel: "My life as a human. I'm not poisoned or under some spell?" Woman looks up, after a b*at: "The Auguries say no. If it has happened it was meant to be." Man: "From this day, you will live and die as any mortal man." Woman: "Privy to all the attendant pains - and pleasures." Man: "That which we serve is no longer that which you serve. You are released from your fealty." The woman and man walk away form him. Angel: "That's it? I'm free?" Man holds up his hand and Angel goes flying backwards out of the arc to land on top of Doyle. Doyle helps him up: "Angel, it didn't work?" Angel: "Yes, it did." Doyle: "You just went in this instant." Angel staring at the arc: "What?" Doyle: "Look at your watch." Angel: "I can't do that, Doyle. Next time remind me to bring a gift?" Doyle: "I knew I forgot something. So, what happened? What did they say?" Angel: "They're a little confusing, but.. - the gist of it is - it's real. - I'm free." Doyle: "I can't believe this." Angel: "Me either. I mean, what do I do now? - I have this whole new life spread before me. I don't know where to begin." Doyle: "Right. It's overwhelming. You can pretty much do what ever you want now. The question is, what do you want?" Cut to Buffy walking in a park overlooking the beach. She feels something and turns around to see Angel stepping through a shadowed arch in a hedge. She watches as he walks out into the sun towards her and they kiss. Cut to the Clock on Angel desk. It's five o'clock. Cordy fussing over a sickly plant: "This plant was thriving just this morning. Now look at it. I'm telling you where she leads, dark forces follow." Doyle: "Buffy gave it mites?" Cordy sits down on the couch beside him: "How else do you explain it?" Doyle: "Jealousy?" Cordy: "I'm jealous of her? Oh, please!" Doyle: "It's just a theory." Cordy: "Jealous or not, our lives are about to kaleidoscope." Doyle: "How do you figure. Angel's only been human a day." Cordy: "The last 2 1/2 hours of which they've spent down there in his apartment - together." Doyle: "So? Don't they deserve a little happiness after all they've been through?" Cordy sighs: "Let me explain the lore here, okay? They suffer, they fight. That's business as usual. They get groiny with each other, the world as we know it falls apart." Doyle: "Well, he's not cursed anymore. And anyway, you can't be sure that they're.." Cordy: "Oh, please! They've got the forbidden love of all time. They have been apart for months. Now he's suddenly human? I'm sure they are down there just having tea and crackers." Cut to Angel and Buffy sitting at opposite sides of his kitchen table. Angel pours some tea: "Would you like some more?" Buffy: "No, thank you." Angel: "I'm really sorry I kissed you like that." Buffy: "You are?" Angel: "Well, not for the kiss itself.." Buffy sighs: "Good. I mean, 'cause - as far as kisses go I thought it was well above average." Angel: "It was incredible. I just - I-I think, maybe we'd be asking for trouble rushing back into things. (Buffy looks at him) Not that I don't want to - rush. Believe me, I do." Buffy: "Right. You spoke to the Oracles and they said you were cured for good. But how do we know that they really speak for the Powers? I mean they could be - pranksters." Angel: "Or there could be another loophole." Buffy: "Exactly. And then the two of us would be in even deeper and it’s 'grr' all over again." Angel: "It would be smart to wait a while. See if this mortal thing takes." Buffy: "Exactly. And even if it does, it's still complicated." Angel: "You're still the Slayer. And I'm not sure what I am now. I don't know what my purpose is. I can't just wedge myself into your life back in Sunnydale. It wouldn't be good for either of us. Not to mention the fact that you just started college. And what about slaying. I mean, if you had me to worry about, you might not be as focused." Buffy: "Are you going to pull out a pie chart on me now? Because I get it, it's not necessary." Angel gets up with a sigh and moves to the chair next to her: "I'm not saying I don't want you. You know how much.. I'm just saying it's worth the wait to be sure this is right. I need to be sure you won't get hurt again." Buffy gets up: "You know it's a good thing I didn't fantasize about you turning human only about 10 zillion times, because today would have been a real let down. - So how does the mature plan go? You call me? I call you? What?" Angel gets up and steps over to her: "We stay in touch - just not.." Buffy: "Literally. - Funny. (They stare at each other, then Buffy walks past him) Okay, I'd better.." Angel turns to look after her: "Right. Remove the temptation." Buffy spins back towards him: "So, we'll - talk soon." Buffy puts her hand on top of his on the counter. They both stare down at their hands. Angel turns his hand to grab hers then reaches out and pulls her into a kiss. They stumble up against the fridge and Buffy jumps up to wrap her legs around his waist. Still kissing, Angel carries her over to the kitchen table, sweeps the stuff on it on the floor and lays her down on it. Cut to later. Buffy yells: "Peanut butter, preferably crunchy!" Angel's head pops up above the door of the fridge: "I got it." His arms piled with food he makes his way back to the bedroom with some strategically placed props all that's preserving his dignity. He dumps the stuff on the bed and slips under the sheet. Buffy wearing a black robe smiles at him: "The perfect yum. (Angel feeds her a spoon of ice cream) Mmm, this is a dream. You're human for like a minute and already there is Cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip in the fridge." Angel: "God, I love food." Buffy feeds him some ice cream on a chocolate waffle: "Food is good." They kiss. Angel: "Why didn't you ever tell me about chocolate and peanut butter?" Buffy: "Well, I figured if your vamp taste buds couldn't really savor it, then it would only hurt you, you know? By the way, I'm over the whole needing to be mature thing. That time you just spent in the kitchen? That was enough time apart." Angel with a smile: "Too much." They kiss and some ice cream drips from his spoon on his chest. Angel: "Okay, mortal coordination leaving something to be desired." Buffy: "Wrong. It's just right." Angel laughs as she licks up the ice cream then pulls her down into a kiss. Cut to Doyle and Cordy drinking at a bar. Cordy: "Well, this is working out nicely! I'm out of a job." Doyle: "Hey! It's not just you, you know?" Cordy: "Oh, please. Who are *you* kidding? You're glad it happened." Doyle: "Hey, I'm glad for Angel, but if that means I'm off the hook with the Powers-That-Be as well, all the better. I'm finally free to go out in the world and make me own mark in the world." Cordy: "We had a cat that used to do that. (Puts her head down on the bar) Oh god, what am I going to do? I'm good for exactly two things: International Superstardom, or helping a vampire with a soul to rid the world of evil. That makes for a short but - colorful resume." Doyle: "Well, what ever happens form here on out, at least I will be able to say good-bye to them bone-crushing, head-wrenching, mind-numbing visions." His head hits the bar as we cut to blurred pictures of the Mohra demon attacking Angel. Cordy: "What do you see?" Doyle: "We got trouble." Cut to Angel and Buffy lying peacefully in bed. Buffy with her head on Angel's chest: "It's a good sound. Thump-thump. Thump-thump." Angel smiles: "It feels pretty amazing." Buffy: "I'm so glad we didn't logic ourselves out of this. We'll make it work, right?" Angel: "We will." Buffy: "Oh, I'm so sleepy, - but I still want.." Angel: "What? You couldn't possibly.. Not that I wouldn't.." Buffy: "No, no. I'm spent. Pleasantly numb even. You?" Angel smiles: "For now." Buffy: "No, I - want to stay awake - so this day can keep happening." Angel kisses her on the forehead: "Sleep. We'll make another one like it tomorrow." Buffy sleepy: "Angel? This is the first time I ever really felt this way." Angel: "What way?" Buffy: "Just like I've always wanted to. Like a normal girl, falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend. It's perfect." Angel kisses the top of her head as she falls asleep. Cut to later. Angel is watching Buffy sleep. He hears the door open and gets up, careful not to wake Buffy. Cut to Angel coming out of the bedroom shrugging into a robe as Doyle comes down the stairs. Doyle: "Hey, that (Angel holds up his hand for him to keep his voice down and Doyle continues more softly) Mohra demon regenerated more then just you." Angel: "What?" Doyle: "I had a vision. It regenerated itself." Angel: "Where?" Doyle: "In the tunnel where you fought it. Then it was in some sort of factory. I thought I tasted salt. Could have been the margarita." Angel pacing: "No, it needs a lot of salt to live." Doyle: "Well, it was very much alive in this vision, and angry if I might mention." Angel: "I'll have to k*ll it again." Doyle: "Yeah, but you're human now. They released you." Angel pulling on some pants: "You want to let that thing roam free? You saw it in a factory. There is a saline plant in Redondo, We'll start there." Doyle: "Yeah, but if it can regenerate itself, how can you k*ll it?" Angel: "We'll figure it out. Just grab the book of Kelsor. You’ll read, I'll drive. (When Doyle stays silent) Doyle?" Doyle looks at Buffy sleeping on Angel's bed: "I think we should bring someone a little - supernatural?" Angel pulls a sweater over his head and looks where Doyle is looking. Doyle: "Don't you want to wake the girl?" Angel: "Not for the world." Cut to the saline plant. Doyle reading in book: "Okay. This is not good. It doesn't just come back - it comes back bigger and stronger. I think we should go back and get Buffy." Angel: "I know what I'm doing." Doyle: "This isn't your average demon we're fighting here. It nearly licked you before and now your mortal." Angel: "If this thing with me and Buffy is going to work, I need to be able do this on my own. I can't keep risking her life every time some minion of hell.. Just tell me how to k*ll it." Doyle reads from book: "Uh, 'It regenerates until the dark future it envisions is upon us.' Oh, 'to k*ll the beast one must bring darkness to 1000 eyes'." Angel: "Funny, I only saw two." Doyle: "Keep up the glib. It makes me feel like we have a chance. (Angel sees two corpses and gags from the smell) Take it easy, mate." Angel coughing: "The blood." Doyle supporting him: "It's never an easy sight. It's part of being human now." Angel: "I'm going to k*ll that thing." Doyle: "Just remember that it's brutal, deadly, and (looks up) here!" The Mohra jumps down on them from above and they start fighting it. They're clearly overmatched and Doyle gets knocked out pretty early. Angel keeps getting back up, but the thing is pretty much wiping the floor with him and he finally turns to run. Cut to Cordy putting sticky notes on things in the office. Buffy comes in: "Angel? - Cordelia." Cordy hold up and ornate ax: "Is this antique?" Buffy: "Byzantine." Cordy puts it down: "Mmm." Buffy: "Where is Angel?" Cordy shrugs: "I've decided not to feel sorry for myself. I'm taking matters into my own hands, organizing a little 'going out of business' sale to subsidize the severance package Angel never bothered setting up for me." Buffy: "Did he leave a message about where he went?" Cordy: "You know I'm in real pain here and all you can do is talk about Angel. Has it even occurred to you how this whole turning human thing might affect me?" Buffy: "Regrettably - no. Look, if you know where he is, just tell me?" Cordy with a sigh: "He told me not to tell you." Buffy: "Is he in trouble? (Cordy makes a face) Cordelia, what are we, in second grade here? Tell me!" Cordy: "Oh, you want to talk about being mature? Maybe it's time that *you* grew up and realized that you can't have everything. You can't have Angel and save the world. And anyway, it's your fault that he went to fight that thing by himself without.." Buffy: "What thing?" Cut to Angel just trying to stay alive as the Mohra demon keeps coming after him. Angel climbs on the lid of a salt silo and when the demon jumps up and hits him they both crash through. Mohra putting a foot on Angel's neck: "The end of days has g*n and can’t be stopped. For anyone of us that falls, *ten* shall rise." As the Mohra lifts his sword to s*ab Angel Buffy jumps down on it from above, knocking it off Angel. Buffy got the demon's sword: "You hurt my boyfriend." Mohra: "A great darkness is coming." Buffy: "You got that right." They fight. Mohra manages to wrap its morgenstern around Buffy's sword and pull it from her hand. Buffy kicks it into the wall. Buffy: "Come on, this is the great warrior of darkness?" They fight some more. Buffy manages to step on the chain of its morgenstern and kick the demon so it has to let go of it. It picks her up and throws her into the wall. Mohra: "Together you were powerful. Alone, you are d*ad. (Picks her up by her throat) What do you think of the great warrior now?" Angel picks up a handful of salt: "Little bland. (Throws it in the demon's eyes and it drops Buffy) Needs salt." Angel tries to help Buffy up, but the Mohra grabs him and throws him across the silo. Buffy and the demon keep fighting. Angel looks up at the demon: "The light of a thousand eyes.. The jewel in its forehead! You have to smash the jewel." Buffy picks up the morgenstern and does just that. Mohra: "No!" The demon vanishes in a bright light. Buffy runs over to Angel and takes his head in her lap. Angel: "Buffy, are you all.." Buffy: "Shh, you're all right. That's all that matters. Shh, you're all right. (Kisses the top of his head) And it's over. And we're together." Cut to the Oracles. Man: "You again." Woman: "What have you brought me?" Angel: "Famille Rose vase. (Throws her a black vase) Ching dynasty. Circa 1811." Woman: "Lovely." Man: "Why are you here, lower being?" Angel: "The Mohra demon said the end of days had g*n. That others were coming, soldiers of darkness. I need to know if he was telling the truth." Man: "As far as such things can be told." Angel: "What happens to the Slayer when these soldiers come?" Woman: "What happens to all mortal beings. Albeit sooner in her case." Angel: "She'll die? - Then I'm here to beg for her life." The Oracles turn and walk away: "It is not our place to grant life or death." Angel: "And I ask you to take mine back. (The oracles stop walking and turn back to him) Look I can't protect her or anyone this way, not as a man." Woman: "You're asking to be what you were, a demon with a soul, because of the Slayer?" Man turns to leave again: "Oh, this is a matter of love. It does not concern us." Angel: "Yes, it does. The Mohra demon came to take a warrior from your cause - and it succeeded. I'm no good to you like this. I know you have it in your power to make this right. Please." Man: "What is done can not be undone." Woman: "What is not yet done can be avoided." Man: "Temporal folds are not to indulge at - the whims of lower beings." Woman: "You are wrong. This one is willing to sacrifice every drop of human happiness and love he has ever known for another. He is not a lower being." Man: "There is one way. But it is not to be undertaken lightly." Woman: "We swallow this day, as though it had never happened. Twenty-four hours from the moment the demon first att*cked you, we take it back." Angel licks his lips: "Then none of this happened and Buffy and I.. What - what'll stop us from doing the exact same thing again?" Woman: "You. You alone will carry the memory of this day. - Can you carry that burden?" Cut to the clock on Angel's desk. It's 8:56. Buffy wearing a long flowery dress is pacing Angel's apartment. Angel comes down the steps to his apartment. Buffy: "I'm guessing that expression isn't because they were all out of fresh OJ at the deli. - What happened?" Angel: "Nothing happened. - I just.." Buffy: "Where have you been?" Angel: "I went to see the Oracles. I asked them to turn me back." Buffy: "What? - Why?" Angel: "Because more then ever I know how much I love you." Buffy backs away from him: "No. No, you didn't." Angel follows her: "And if I stayed mortal one of us would wind up d*ad, maybe both of us. You heard what Mohra said." Buffy: "Mohra is d*ad. We k*lled him." Angel: "He said others would come." Buffy: "They always come. And they always will. But that's my problem now, not yours, remember?" Angel: "No, I won't just stand by and let you fight, maybe die, alone." Buffy: "Then we fight together." Angel: "You saw what happened last night. If anything I'm a liability to you. You take chances to protect me, and that's not just bad for you, it's bad for the people we were meant to help." Buffy: "So what? You just took a whole 24 hours to weigh the ups and downs of being a regular Joe and decided it was more fun being a superhero?" Angel: "You know that's not it. How can we be together if the cost is your life, or the lives of others? (Buffy just stares at him and after a moment he takes her into his arms) I know. I couldn't tell you. I wasn't sure - if I could do it if I woke up with you one more morning." Buffy sniffling: "I understand. - So, what happens now?' Angel: "The Oracles are giving us back the day, turning back time, so I can k*ll Mohra before his blood makes me mortal." Buffy: "When?" Angel looks over at the clock (it's 9:00): "Another minute." Buffy crying: "A minute? No. No, it's not enough time!" Angel: "We don't have a choice. It's done." Buffy: "How am I supposed to go on with my life knowing what we had? What we could have had?" Angel: "You won't. No one will know but me." Buffy: "Everything we did." Angel: "It never happened." Buffy shakes her head: "It did. It did. I know it did! (Puts her hand on his heart) I felt your heart b*at." Angel: "Buffy.." They kiss. Buffy looks over at the clock. The minute is almost up. Buffy: "No! Oh God. It's not enough time." Angel is crying too now: "Shh, please. Please." The hold each other tightly both crying. Angel: "Please, please." Buffy: "No. I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget." White flash dissolves to Angel's office the previous day. Angel is leaning against his desk blinking, looking around. Buffy is standing next to the door. Buffy: "So, then let's just stick to the plan. Keep our distance until a lot of time has passed, and given enough time - we should be able to.." Angel stares at her and swallows hard: "Forget." Buffy: "Yeah. - So - I'm gonna go - start forgetting." The Mohra crashes through the window behind Angel with a scream. Angel just turns, grabs the clock from his desk and coolly smashes the Mohra's jewel with it. The Mohra goes up in a flash of light. Buffy slightly stunned: "That was unreal. - How did you know how to k*ll it?" Angel: "It's a Mohra demon. I - I had a lot of time to catch up on my reading." Buffy nods slowly: "Yeah. Okay. - So I guess we've covered it, right?" Angel: "I guess we did." Buffy: "And that's all there really is to say." Angel takes a deep breath and looks down on the smashed clock. It stopped at 9:02. When he turns back Buffy is already leaving the outer office. Angel: "Yeah. - That's it."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x08 - I Will Remember You"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Buffy lays her hand on Angel's chest: "I felt your heart b*at. I'll never forget. I'll never forget." Angel fighting the Mohra demon. Angel: "The Mohra demon said that the end of days had g*n that others were coming, soldiers of darkness?" Doyle looking after Cordy. Doyle: "She's really something, isn't she?" Angel: "You want to ask Cordelia out, just do it yourself." Doyle: "What ever you do, don't let her in on me being half demon." Doyle sneezing, and going demon face. Cordy: "Ugh! Demons, is there anything more disgusting? - Maybe your right. Maybe he has hidden depths, I mean really, really hidden." Angel: "There's definitely more to Doyle then meets the eye." Doyle: "We all have something to atone for." Cordy: "Nice guys don't always finish last." Doyle: "You think I'm a nice guy?" Cut to LA at night. Cordy voice over: "Okay, we fade up on an aerial sh*t, downtown, skyscrapers, lights, yada, yada, yada. We hear a narrator, preferably famous - maybe that bald Star Trek guy or one of the cheaper Baldwins, and he says: 'it's a big, bad city out there.' Cut to a woman walking down a dark, spooky street - alone. We'll cast some beautiful, young actress, maybe an up-and-coming starlet whose carrier is on the verge of taking off (we see Cordy walking down a dark street). Anyway, she's all nervous, right? Mucho vulnerable. The voice guy says: 'danger lurks around every corner.' Boom! She's att*cked by a big, ugly goon, with a Kn*fe. She screams: 'help! Is there no one to help me?' 'Well now there is someone to answer your call. (We see a dark figure in a long trench coat) He'll protect you, (dark guy beats up big, ugly goon), catch you when you fall! You can count on it. (Camera pulls in on Angel's face and he says:) And you can count on me, because I'm the Dark Avenger." Cut to Angel sitting behind his desk looking up at Cordy who's holding a video camera in her hands. Angel: " I'm the what?" Cordy: "The Dark Avenger." Angel: "I'm the Dark Avenger." Cordy: "I know, it's perfect! We can do it ourselves on High 8. I'll charm a post-production house into doing the effects and... (Angel gets up and walks off) Look, I know a little something about self-promotion, Angel, and I'm telling you one commercial like this could get us out of the red - or the black - or which ever one means we're broke, because that's us. (Angel steps into the elevator and closes the grate) So what? Buffy blows into to town and puts you into a permanent funk (Elevator goes down) and I'm just supposed to stand by and watch our business go belly up?" Doyle: "He's not entirely wrong, you know? (Cordy walks past him) Look, all I'm saying is advertising a superhero that can't really go out in the daylight might raise vampire suspicions, not to mention our pesky lack of an investigator's license." Cordy: "And who needs a license when we have no clients?" Doyle: "We'll manage, princess. We always do." Cordy: "We will if we project the right image. And now I'm suddenly thinking that Angel is all wrong for this commercial! He is a larger-than-life character, way to Braveheart for Joe-Couch-potato to relate to. We need someone who's - average, (looks Doyle up and down), run of the mill, ordinary. (Smiles) You're perfect." Doyle: "While I appreciate the compliment, it’s just..." Cordy: "Come over here into the light, and let's see if we can create some cheekbones." Doyle: "Cordelia, I'm not the photogenic type. Plus I get dry mouth.' Cordy grabs him by his shirtfront: "Excuse me? This is not a negotiation. This is a necessity. Our boss is in a funk. You *know* that he's only happy when he's fighting evil. Now let's drum up some!" Doyle: "I don't know what we need evil for when we got you right here." Cordy: "I heard that!" Intro Cut to Doyle seen through the viewfinder of the video camera. Doyle: "If you need help. Then look no further. Angel Investigations is the best! - Our rats are low." Cordy: "Our rates!" Doyle points to the papers taped on the windows behind her: "It says 'rats'. - Our rates are low, but our standards are high. When the chips are down, and you're at the end of your rope you need someone that you can count on. And that's what you'll find here - someone that will go all the way, no matter what. So don't lose hope. Come on over to our offices and you'll see that there's still heroes in this world. (Clears throat) Is that it? Am I done?" Cordy stops camera: "I don't know. I'm not getting every man, I'm getting - weasel. We don't want weasel?" Doyle: "I don't know. I think people will be pouring in as soon as they hear about our low rats. - I could take another crack at it." Cordy takes down the cue cards: "I don't think so." Doyle: "Weasel factor, huh?" Cordy: "Doyle, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. I'm just... I feel kind of hopeless with him down there doing the non-profit brooding. It's not like he has a heart. How could it be so broken?" Doyle: "I guess seeing Buffy again just got him where he lives." Cordy: "That's all very sad, but we live here too." Doyle: "I'll talk to him." Cordy: "Maybe if we get him a costume!" Doyle: "A costume?" Cordy: "Well, the guy is a bona fide hero, would it k*ll him to put on some tights and a cape and garner us some free publicity?" Doyle: "I don't see Angel putting on some tights... (Takes a deep breath and shakes his head) Ah, now I do, and it's really disturbing." Cut to Angel working out against a punching bag. Doyle: "Hey. Is this a private catharsis or can anyone watch?" Angel still punching the bag: "What do you want?" Doyle: "Well, there's a girl upstairs who's not quite sad enough to cry in may arms, but keep up the dark cloud. I might get lucky." Angel punching: "I just need some time." Doyle: "Believe me I know. Last time I saw my ex, she was around for five minutes and I was a wreck for days. Amazing how they can do that to you." Angel quits punching: "Buffy was here for more then five minutes." Doyle: "Okay, 10, but who's counting?" Angel sits down on the sofa: "Actually she was here for a whole day and night." Doyle: "Alright. One of us has been drinking and I’m sad to say, it's not me." Angel wipes his face with a towel and gets back up: "Who are the Oracles, Doyle? Why didn't you tell me about them before?" Doyle: "The Oracles? Who told you about the Oracles?" Angel: "The first time the Mohra demon att*cked it got away." Doyle: "What first time?" Angel: "Look, I tracked it, I k*lled it, some of its blood mixed with mine. It made me mortal. That's when you took me to see the Oracles to find out what it meant." Doyle: "No, see, I'm going remember a trip to the netherworld of eternal watching. That's just not something that happens every day." Angel sits down in a chair: "The Oracles told me that I was released from my duty. Buffy and I were together until - we realized it couldn't be. - We don't belong to ourselves. We belong to the world, fighting. - So, I went back to the Oracles and I asked them to turn back the clock... as though that day had never happened." Doyle: "Human. You were a real live flesh-and-blood human - and you and Buffy... You had the one thing in your unnaturally long life and you gave it back?!" Angel: "Maybe I was wrong?" Doyle: "Or maybe Cordelia was right about you being the real deal in the hero department. See, I would have chosen the pleasures of the flesh over duty and honor any day of the week. I just don't have that strength.' Angel: "You never know your strength until you're tested." Doyle: "Come on, you lived and loved and lost and fought and vanquished inside a day, and I'm still trying to work up the courage to ask Cordy out for dinner, not to mention the part about telling her that I'm half demon. - That should probably come first, huh?" Angel: "Well, the Oracles said something bad is coming. 'Soldier of Darkness ushering in the end of days' kind of bad." Doyle: "So much for the security of long-term savings bonds, huh?" Angel: "I feel something coming, Doyle. I don't know what, but I know we're a part of it." Doyle: "Well, if it's a fight they want - can't someone else give it to them? (Angel smiles) It seems unfair, you know? You gotta save all the helpless types around here and now you've got to fight the apocalypse as well?" Angel gets up: "It's all the same thing. Fight the good fight - whichever way you can." Doyle: "Tell you what, you fight - and I’ll keep score." Cut Cordy and Doyle sitting on the steps in the lobby. Cordy: "Angel started the day over knowing he'd remember everything that happened?" Doyle: "That's pretty amazing, huh?" Cordy: "Uh, amazing that he didn't check the stock quotes or the lotto numbers. Angel should have told us what happened. We can't keep secrets from each other." Doyle: "No we can't - You know I've been doing a lot of thinking about secrets and what not. I know my marriage would have stood a better chance if me and Harriet really just - talked more, really let each other in." Cordy: "So how is she? You two keeping in touch?" Doyle: "She's decided to stay in LA." Cordy: "Oh. So, you'll probably be seeing a lot of each other then." Doyle: "Well, not right away. We both need to get on with our lives." Cordy: "Getting on is good." Doyle: "Yeah, because if I want a relationship that's going to last, I need to put a few cards on the table." Cordy: "Such as...?" Doyle: "The thing of it is, - I'm a little bit more then meets the... (Presses a hand to his head as he gets h*t by a vision). Ow!" Cordy as a girl walks by: "Oh, Uh, I know this one! Ah, mask - mask head, ah, the man with two brains!" Cut to blurred pictures of a brick building and some people huddled together. Cordy: "What ever you saw just now - did they look like they could afford to pay?" Cut to a little demon girl running down a street at night. There is a sound of heavy boot treads in the background. The girl drops the box she is carrying, and quickly gathers the stuff back up, clearly afraid. As she turns to continue her flight a hand covers her mouth. A demon boy pulls her down some steps and they huddle watching as a bunch of army boots jog by. Cut to Angel and Doyle searching the old brick building for the people Doyle saw in his vision. The place is deserted and really run down. There are a holes in the walls. Doyle: "Pretty low rent, even by demon standards." Angel: "You said they were hiding. It's a good place for it." They enter a room with a meal still sitting on the table. Angel: "Doyle." Doyle: "Signs of life." Angel: "I smell something." Doyle tastes the food: "Still warm. They left in a hurry." Angel: "Not food. (Throws a carpet aside revealing a trap door) Fear." They open the trap door and shine their flashlights into it revealing a huddled mass of demons of all ages. Angel: "Don't be afraid. It's okay. We're here to help." Cut to all of them sitting in the room. Demon man: "We gave all out money to a man who promised to get us passports and safe passage on a ship. We didn't know. It was stupid of us. He disappeared with our money and the ship never came." Angel: "Where were you going?" Demon: "Briole. Small island off the coast of Equador. Others of our kind have found sanctuary there." Angel: "Sanctuary from whom?" The two demon kids form the street come rushing in. Boy: "They're close. They almost got us. We lost half of our supplies." Elder demon puts a hand on the boy's shoulder: "Rieff, we have a guest. It’s the promised one." Rieff: "Terrific." Angel clears his throat: "I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding?" Elder: "Oh, I don't think so. Many of our prophecies are cryptic, but on one thing they are all clear: In the final days of this century the promised one will appear and save us from the Scourge." Angel: "The Scourge." Rieff: "He doesn't even know who they are. How's he supposed to protect us from them?" Elder: Rieff..." Rieff: "They're coming and no matter how many promised guys you throw at them, they're not going to stop until every last one of us is d*ad. - You're going to get us all k*lled." Walks out. Elder to Angel: "He's young. I'm sorry. Excuse me." Cut to Doyle staring out the window. Angel to Doyle: "We need to deal with this. They think I'm some promised savior. - What?" Doyle: "The Scourge." Angel: "You know them. What are they?" Doyle: "Death." Cut to a younger Doyle walking into his apartment. He locks the door, drops his jacket then takes the cigarette out of his mouth and picks up a baseball bat. Doyle: "Who's there?" Lukas: "A friend.' Doyle: "I don't have any friends." Lukas: "All right. Maybe I'm more of a relative (steps into the light to show Doyle his spiky demon face) who's in trouble and needs help." Doyle: "What the hell are you talking about? And who the hell are you?" Lucas: "My name is Lucas. I'm a Brachen demon, like yourself. My clan is from Oregon. We've been living in the woods there, safe – until - they came. Not all of us escaped." Doyle: "I don't know what you think I can do. I've got problems of my own." Lucas: "They know we're here. They're coming for us." Doyle: "What are you talking about? Who's coming for you?" Lucas: "The Scourge." Doyle: "Who the hell is that? (Blend to Doyle talking to Angel) An army of pureblooded demons. They have a big hate-on for us mixed heritage types. Very into pedigree. They hunt us down like animals." Angel: "No one fights back?" Doyle: "Sure they do. All the time. You can k*ll them, but these guys believe in what they're doing. They're ready to die for the cause." Angel: "Hard to fight fanatics." Doyle: "More like impossible." Cut back to the past. Lucas: "I'm not asking you to fight, just help us hide until we can get out of town.' Doyle: "You got the wrong guy, pal. You want to set up a little off-track betting then I've got the know-how. But demon-hiding? It's not my line." Lucas: "You're one of us." Doyle: "No, I'm not. I was raised human. I'm not looking to explore me roots.' Lucas: "We don't have anyone else to turn to." Doyle sits down: "Look, I don't know what to tell you, man. You're up against something real big here. Anybody that helps you – They’re taking a chance. And I'm not dying to take chances." Lucas: "Doyle, if you don't believe that we share a common family, believe that we share a common enemy. Doesn't that mean anything to you? (Doyle stays quiet and Lucas turns to leave) Guess not." Cut back to Angel and Doyle. Doyle: "I punked out. I'd only just found out about my demon side. I didn't know what it meant. The idea of having family obligations with guys that looked like big blue pin cushions, it was just a little bit too much to take right then." Angel: "And what happened?" Cut to the past. Doyle is tossing on his bed, fully dressed. Cut to Doyle sitting, smoking a cigarette. There's a knock on the door. Doyle gets up: "Damn it." He gets h*t by a vision of Lucas and his clan getting k*lled. Lucas: "Believe we share a common enemy." Cut to angel and Doyle. Doyle: "When I got the visions for the first time, I thought I was having a stroke. I didn't know what the images meant. But I had to know if what they showed me was a dream - or real." Cut to the younger Doyle walking into a building and finding the corpses of Lucas and his clan. (Beautiful piece of score music, btw) Doyle to Angel: "It wasn't a dream." Angel: "You couldn't have known." Doyle: "These people are going to need more then their mythic promised one. The contractually-obligated 500 might be a start. You can't fight the Scourge, Angel." Angel: "It won't come to that, because we're going to get them out of here." Cut to a truck pulling up outside the building. Cut to Cordy walking in the hallway of the building. Cordy: "Hello? - Angel? - Hello? (Cordy gasps as some of the demons step into the hallway and pulls out a little spray bottle) While this may look like a - popular brand of breath freshener (Looks at it and quickly pulls the cap off) it really a cunningly disguised demon repellent!" Sprays the air in front of them. Demon sniffing: "Wintergreen." Doyle pushes through the demons: "Cordy, it's okay. We're here to help them." Cordy puts the spray away: "Oh. Oh, (Smiles at them) hi! (Turns to Doyle) Where's Angel?" Doyle: "He's trying to secure documents to get them out of the country. Did you get the truck?" Cordy: "Yes! It's out front. Hey, Doyle, you did notice that these folks are demons." Doyle: "Yeah, I know that. That doesn't make them bad people." Cordy to the demons: "Excuse us a sec? (Pulls Doyle around a corner) Mission statement check: aren't we supposed to be battling the forces of darkness?" Doyle: "They're not forces of darkness. They're half-human, and they're in trouble. Now, we don't have a lot of time. Angel wants you to go down to the LA harbor, pier 12, slip 4, the Quintessa. Use Angel's name. He knows the Captain." Cordy: "So, we're booking them on a cruise?" Doyle: "Basically, yeah." Cordy: "I'm guessing not Carnival." Doyle: "The guy runs a freighter. He owes Angel some money. He does this, they're even." Cordy: "Ho, ho, hang on! This guy owes Angel money? Why aren't we collecting it?" Doyle: "Cordy, oppressed demon people here, not getting any safer!" Cordy: " So, we're sending them on a cruise, and we're paying for it?" Doyle: "Please. Just do it? We need to know the ship is ready before we can move everyone." Cordy: "Bad things are coming aren't they?" Doyle: "Very bad things." Cordy sighs: "I'm on it." Doyle: "Just give me a call on the cell the minute it’s done." Cordy: "Okay." Cut to the office of the harbormaster. Harbormaster: "I could get into a hell of a lot over trouble over this." Angel: "Not as much as if you don't." Harbor Master: "Big Randy is my brother. I look the other way once in a while on some of *his* shipments. It's because he's family. It's not because of the money." Angel: "Family is important." Harbor Master: "You're not going to pay, are you?" Angel: "I'm not going to pay." Harbor Master: "So this is just extortion." Angel: "Big Randy told you about me, right? You know what I am." Harbor Master: "He said you bit him?" Angel pacing around the guy: "No, I never bit him." HarborMaster relieved: "So you don't..." Angel: "I wasn't hungry." Harbor Master: "So, what do you want the documents to say?" Angel: "Certify that the ship is carrying an inspected cargo of medical waste. No one looks inside that ship or stops it from leaving harbor. - If they do, - I'm going to feel that it's your fault. Then look for me to get a little bit peckish." The HarborMaster stares at him wide-eyed for a moment, then quickly finishes the document and hands it to Angel. HarborMaster leaving in a hurry: "Have a nice trip." Cut to the demons building. Demon: "We don't have time for this. What's wrong with that boy?" Doyle: "What is it?" Demon: "Rieff. He took off. He does this every time. He'll be back." Girl: "No he won't. He says there isn't any promised one. He wasn't going to stay here and get k*lled with the rest of us. We're not going to get k*lled, are we?" Doyle: "No, no one's going to get k*lled. (Turns to the demon and gives him the cell phone) Cordelia is going to call. When she does, clear out and go to the ship. If you're not here when I get back, I'll bring the boy to you there. (To the little girl) Hey, - do you know where he went?" Cut to Rieff walking down the street. Doyle comes running: "Rieff! Wait. Wait. (Catches up with him) You're fast." Rieff: "I'm walking. You're just old." Doyle: "Yeah, okay. You know what, we ought to go. Angel's got a way out, a ship." Rieff: "Great. Have fun. Take some Dramamine." Doyle: "You're not coming with?" Rieff: "You can't make me." Doyle: "You're right. You're old enough. It's your choice." Rieff: "Right. A choice. Where do I want to be hated? You wouldn't get it. You're passing. My mother was the same way. You can walk down the street. She took me out with her one day. I was so excited. Just out in the neighborhood with all the other kids. Guess what day it was? (Doyle sighs) What day was it?" Doyle: "It was Halloween." Rieff: "So that's my choice: I can be hated by humans because their scared of me, or by pure-bloods who want to k*ll me. It's so easy, it's not much of a choice." Doyle: "Seems to me your family is one place where you know you belong. (Rieff walks off) Hey, I bet you that little girl is going to miss you." Rieff: "Yeah, well, she's d*ad by now. - Or might as well be. They're coming again. I can feel it." Doyle: "It's going to be different this time." Rieff: "Why? Because your friend is the promised one? (Doyle sighs) So you know it's not true." Doyle: "No, I don't. I don't know anything about your people's myths and legends. But I do know Angel, and he's the genuine article." Rieff sarcastic: "My hero." Doyle: "Yeah, that's exactly what he is. And your people can call him 'the promised one' or the 'dark avenger', what does it matter?" Rieff: "It matters because it's a lie!" Doyle: "They put their faith in something, Rieff. You don't have to if you don't want to. Maybe Angel doesn't know what he's doing. It's possible. But the other option: losing yourself somewhere, hoping it all goes away, I *know* that never works. (Rieff swallows) How about we go find your family?" Cut to the ship. Cordy: "Well, it's not exactly the Love Boat, is it?" Captain: "Sorry. We don't haul people. We haul cargo. It's never complained." First mate: "We could bring in some blankets or something. How many are we talking?" Cordy: "Oh, - about 20? Some are short people, you know, children?" Captain: "It won't be the most comfortable thing in the world, but we'll get them where they're going." Cordy pulls out her phone with a sigh: "We'll take it." Cut to Doyle and the boy walking. Rieff: "Hey. This way." Doyle: "Huh?" Rieff: "I thought all Brachen demons had a good sense of direction." Doyle: "Yeah and we're all pretty good at basketball, too." Rieff: "What? (We hear soldiers marching) They're here." Doyle: "Come on, let's go!" They run down a street the soldier not too far behind. Doyle points at a building: "In here." They watch from a window as the Scourge search the neighborhood. Doyle: "Sit tight." Soldier: "Destroy it all!" They smash windows, kick trashcans, set a car on f*re. One of the soldiers comes towards their building. Rieff: "Doyle." Doyle: "Stay here. You understand?" Doyle goes demon-faced and runs out the door knocking the soldier out of his way, then leads the Scourge down the road. A hand reaches out and pulls him into another building as he runs by. Doyle: "They're coming." Angel: "Good." Cut to the Scourge walking into the demons' hideout. Soldier: “They were here, Sir, recently." Commander: "And when the lights go out, where do the vermin go? (Kicks the carpet aside. A soldier pulls the trap door open. It's empty) Keep looking." Angel in vamp face: "For what? (Pulls Doyle around a corner) For this? (As some soldier hurry towards him) Back off! It's my k*ll." Commander: "Vampires don't feed on demon blood." Angel: "Oh please! I wouldn't eat this. He reeks of humanity." Commander: "You're one to talk, vampire. Yours is the lowest of all the half-breeds." Angel: "You think I don't know that? You think I don't smell the humanity inside me day and night - polluting me?" Doyle: "Please, please don't!" Angel breaks his neck and drops him: "Shut up!" Soldier: "A half-breed who m*rder other half-breeds. Always charming." Angel: "I know who you are. I want to join you." Commander: "Join us? You wish to die?" Angel: "I need to be cleansed and only you can show me the way. (Steps closer) You can k*ll me if you want you'd only be freeing me. But I can k*ll half-breeds for you and believe me I can do it faster and better then anyone you got. I know their minds, where they hide, how they think. I can help you." Commander: "Maybe you can." He gestures towards some soldiers and they grab Angel and hustle him out of the room, while he's laughing. Cut to Rieff watching the Scourge come out of the building with Angel in their middle. Soldier: "Clear the area. Bring him. Faster! Move!" Cut to Rieff finding Doyle's body. He kneels down beside him, then jumps back when Doyle blinks his eye. With a groan Doyle wrenches his neck back into place. Doyle: "I think I hated that plan." Rieff: "Can all Brachen demons do that?" Doyle shakes off his demon face: "We're stronger in demon form. But I generally prefer to pass as human." Rieff: "Where is everyone?" Doyle: "Right where they're supposed to be, I hope." Cut to the demons boarding the freighter. Captain: "Look, I've got my clearance from the Harbor Master. We have to go now. I have a schedule to keep." Cordy: "I'm sure they'll be here, Captain. Just a few more minutes." Captain: "Angel said he'd cut my debt in half if I do him this favor, right?" Cordy: "Yep, half, that's what he said. Big whopping 50% - quite a deal." Captain: "He takes 60% off, then I'll wait." Cordy: "You drive a hard bargain." Captain walks away and one of the demons walks up to Cordy. Demon: "I can't thank you and your friends enough. I'm sure Rieff is in safe hands." Cordy: "Doyle will get him here." Demon: "Yea, he is a good one. He understands our suffering." Cordy: "We both do." Demon: "I apologize. I didn't mean to say that you didn't. It's just more familiar to Doyle. He has to live with a certain amount of persecution. You always do when you're half demon." Cordy: "Demon?" Cut to a Scourge meeting. Angel in vamp face with his hair slicked down to the side is standing with the other soldier wearing a gray uniform. Commander: "The other day I was asked: 'Why hunt the mongrel? Doesn't its very inferiority guarantee that it poses no thr*at? Won't it die of it's own innate mortal stupidity? - Let me tell you, even the smallest of vermin need be addressed. Half-breeds. Worse. They keep crossbreeding. Forever diluting our precious demon blood with *their* weak simpering humanity." Soldiers: "Yeah!" Commander: "If we allow this to happen, it's as good as giving up the call to evil altogether. It's as good as becoming human ourselves. Well, I say NEVER! (Soldiers cheering.) I say we will not stop until each and every half-breed is erased and our purity rules this planet! (More cheers) We will not stop because the Higher Order demands it! (Cheers) Now, - this very evening we take a giant step towards our goal. Tonight the half-breeds that have eluded us will be destroyed. And we know just where to find them, thanks to this good man (gestures to a human being led forward) first mate on the ship they think means salvation, not annihilation. He comes to us for money, but he is a brother to our cause, and we invite him - to witness the power of the beacon." Two soldiers open a door behind the Commander and roll out what looks like a giant, crystal-shaped light suspended in a metal frame. The flick some switches on top of it and it begins to cycle up. Commander: "Tonight the Lister half-breeds will..." Soldier standing next to Angel: "Incredible, isn't it? He makes it all so clear." Angel: "Yes, things are very clear." Commander Tiernan: "The Listers, along with any creature contaminated by human blood, will perish the moment the cleansing light touches them. When the beacon reaches critical mass and detonates its reach will extend a quarter mile in every direction. (To the First Mate) Want to see how it works? (The light reaches him and he goes up in a scream) A fitting end for a sorry mutation. (Muttering from the soldiers) Go now and deliver this, our message! Our victory depends on it!" Cheering. The soldiers run down the hallway. Angel steps out of their midst, and into a side room where he kicks down one of the demons and steals its motorcycle. Cut to Cordy and the Captain pacing the freighter impatiently. Doyle and Rieff come running up. Cordy: "Someone's coming." Demon to Rieff: "Do you have any idea what you put us through? We got to get out of here!" Rieff: "I'm sorry." Demon: "lets get you down with the others." Rieff slaps Doyle's hand: "Thanks." Doyle looks at Cordy: "What?" Cordy: "You're alive!" Doyle: "And you're not happy?" Cordy: "We were worried." Doyle: "Oh. Well, its all going to be okay. (Cordy slaps him) What was that for?" Cordy: "Why didn't you tell me that you were half demon? I thought we agreed that secrets are bad!" Doyle: "I wanted to tell you. I was afraid. I thought if I did, you'd reject me." Cordy: "I've rejected you way before now! So, you're half demon. Big Whoop! I can't believe you'd think I'd care about that. I mean, I work for a vampire! Hello?" Doyle: "It's true. I just..." Cordy: "What do you think I am, superficial? - So you're half demon. That's so far down the list, way under 'short' and 'poor'! - Is there anything else I should know?" Doyle: "The half demons thing is pretty much my big secret." Cordy: "Good. That's out. It's done. - Would you ask me out to dinner already?" Doyle: "Yeah? (Cordy smiles at him) Cordelia. Would you like..." Cordy looks past him: "It's Angel!" Angel in human face drives up on his motorcycle, gets off and runs up the gangplank. Angel: "We have to shove off now." Cordy: "What's going on?" Captain: "I can't! I can't find my first mate!" Angel: "You won't. We're going. Get to the bridge." Doyle: "Angel, they're here." The Scourge is pulling up on the pier in trucks and on motorcycles. Doyle: "Angel." Angel: "Get below. Lock the doors." Doyle: "What?" Angel: "Move! Now! Stay with the others." Cut to Doyle yelling into the hold: "Lock the doors. The Scourge is here. We're shoving off. We're gonna make it." Cut to Angel waiting for the soldiers that run up the gangplank while the freighter pulls away from the pier. Commander: "You lied to us, half-breed." Angel: "You catch on quick, football-head." Tiernan: "k*ll him, painfully." The soldiers tackle Angel and they fight, but Angel is able to take out the four soldiers in pretty quick order. Tiernan att*cks him and they are a bit more evenly matched. They burst through a door and fall down some stairs in the cargo hold. As Cordy and the others watch they fall over the railing and land side by side on a lower catwalk. As Angel gets up he sees the beacon, already lit, being lowered into the hold on a chain. Angel: "It's going to detonate. Get out! Everybody out!" The Lister demons scramble to comply while Tiernan grabs Angel and tries to choke him. Tiernan: "Welcome to a cleaner world. Soon only the pure bloods will be left standing." Angel: "Actually, pure boy (He breaks Tiernan's grip) You'll be on your ass (breaks his neck and drops him)." Doyle tries to open a door: "Ahh! They're locked from the outside. We're trapped!" Doyle and Cordy climb up a ladder to the same level that Angel is on and they all meet on a platform level with the beacon. Doyle: "What does that thing do?" Angel: "Its light kills anything with human blood." Doyle: "Well, it's getting brighter and that doohickey - it's fully armed, isn't it?" Angel: "Almost. If I pull the cable, I think I can still shut it off." Doyle: "How're you gonna do that without touching the light?" Cordy: "Angel, that's su1c1de." Doyle: "There's got to be another way." Angel looks at the demons in the hold then at Cordy: "It's all right." Cordy: "No!" Angel puts a hand on Doyle's shoulder. Doyle puts his hand on Angel's arm: "The good fight, yeah? - You never know until you've been tested. - I get that now." Doyle hauls back and hits Angel with a hard right to the chin, knocking him down into the cargo hold. Doyle turns to Cordy and they kiss. There is a strange blue light between their lips just before they part. Not sure if it’s from the beacon shining behind them or if it means something else. Doyle steps back: "Too bad we'll never know (Morphs into his demons face) if this is a face you could learn to love." Angel picks himself up of the floor of the cargo hold, runs over to the ladder and climbs back up. Angel: "Doyle. Doyle. Doyle! Doyle! NO!" Doyle jumps over to the beacon just before Angel reaches the platform. He grabs a hold of its metal frame, turns his head and smiles at Angel and Cordy. Angel: "No!" Doyle morphs back to human and tries to pull the cable connection apart as the light gets brighter and starts to melt the skin off his face. Everybody watches spellbound as Doyle manages to pull the cable apart just before he burns up. The beacon goes dark. All the Lister demons stare at the fading beacon in shock. Cordy starts crying and Angel pulls her into a hug, teary-eyed himself. Cut to Angel and Cordy watching the videotape of the commercial Doyle did at the beginning of the episode. Doyle: "If you need help. Then look no further. Angel Investigations is the best! Our rats are low." Cordy: "Rates!" Doyle points to the papers taped on the windows behind her: "It says 'rats'. - Our rates are low, but our standards are high. When the chips are down, and you're at the end of your rope you need someone that you can count on. And that's what you'll find here - someone that will go all the way, no matter what. So don't lose hope. Come on over to our offices and you'll see that there's still heroes in this world. (Clears his throat) Is that it? Am I done?"

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x09 - Hero"}

foreverdreaming

Doyle: “You had the one thing in your unnaturally long life and you gave it back?” Angel: “You never know your strength until you’re tested.” Cordy: “I mean what’s with those vision things of yours?” Doyle: “Well, they’re messages I get from the Higher Powers, you know, it’s my gift.” Cordy: “If that was my gift, I’d return it.” Angel: “If I pull the cables, I think I can still shut it off.” Cordy: “Angel, that’s su1c1de!” Doyle: “The good fight, yeah? You never know until you’ve been tested, I get that now. (knocks Angel of the platform, a blue light glows between their lips as he kisses Cordy, goes demon face) Too bad we’ll never know if this is a face you could learn to love.” Doyle jumps over to pull the lights apart on the light b*mb while the flesh starts to melt off his body. He screams and disappears in a flash off light just as he manages to pull the cables apart, shutting down the b*mb. Cut to the Oracle room. Man: “you try our patience. What is done…” Angel: “Can not be undone, you keep saying that. But I need Doyle. You can fold time, you’ve done it before. Bring him back.” Woman: “To what end? To nullify his noble death? To leave his atonement unfulfilled?” Angel: “If it means he lives.” Man: “He doesn’t so that you may.” Woman: “You do so that others will.” Angel: “He’s my friend.” Woman: “If that is so, then so shall it ever be.” Man: “But it is of no consequence.” Woman: “The w*r rages on.” Man: “Do not come to us again on so self serving a matter.” Angel: “There is one consequence, even by your generous standards: Doyle was my sole contact to the Powers That Be. Without his visions – I’m fighting blind.” Woman: “All will soon be made clear. For every door that closes, another opens.” Man: “And for everyone that opens…” He lifts his arm and they disappear in a flash of light. Cut to a demon with two horn buds on each temple running down an alley. A guy on a motorcycle, clad all in black leather is pursuing him. Credits. Cut to Angel’s office. Cordelia is examining the coffee cup sitting by the coffee maker one by one. Angel: “What are you looking for?” Cordy: “Nothing. - Doyle’s special coffee mug.” Angel: “Doyle didn’t have a special mug.” Cordy: “Don’t you think he should have? (Goes to sit down) I don’t know, I guess I thought it would make me feel better if I could hold something tangible that he left behind. Some evidence he was here? But there is nothing. Almost like – like he never…” Angel: “Cordelia, get out.” Cordy: “What?” Angel: “I-I mean, of the office. Take the day off. Go live your life a little bit. I can manage here.” Cordy gets up: “ Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, Angel.” Angel: “What am I doing?” Cordy: “You’re trying to push me away, close yourself off.” Angel: “That’s not what…” Cordy: “Well, I got news for you, broody boy. We’re all we’ve got now. You may not like sharing your grief with others, but that’s the normal, healthy way people deal with loss. I’m not going anywhere, so get used to it. I’m staying right here! (the alarm on her watch goes off) Oops! Got to go. Commercial audition. If it wasn’t a national I’d blow it off.” Angel: “Well, if you don’t feel up to it then don’t go. Stay here.” Cordy: “Reverse psychology, very cute, don’t worry. I’m going.” Angel: “I’m not…” Cordy: “But don’t get any ideas. I’m coming back!” Angel: “Right.” Cordy opens the door just as the demon from the alley is about to knock and lets out a scream. Barney: “You scared the heck out of me!” Cordy: “I scared you? Look in the mirror lately?” Barney: “Every chance I get! (Points at Angel as he walks past Cordy) You’re him – right? You’re the guy, the – the – the vampire with a soul?” Angel: “I’m Angel.” Barney: “Yeah. You got to help me! Please. I-I mean that’s what you do, right? You help the helpless? You protect the, what do you call them? The, the – helpless?” Angel: “Something like that.” Barney: “Yeah.” Cordy: “You want me to stay?” Angel: “It’s okay” Barney to Cordy: “Break a leg.” Cordy: “Excuse me?” Barney: “I’m sensing a little performance anxiety here. Little trick, picture everybody…” Cordy: “In their underwear.” Barney: “I was going to say d*ad, but hey, if that underwear thing works for you…” Cordy leaves closing the door. Angel: “So (walks into his office and sits down behind his desk) what’s the problem?” Barney: “Call me Barney. First off you should know right away before there is any misunderstanding: I’m a demon.” Angel: “I appreciate the candor.” Barney: “Secondly, I just realized it’s 3:45 in the afternoon. If you’re a vampire, why aren’t you in your coffin?” Angel takes a deep breath: “Coffin. I hate that stereotype. You’re a demon and you don’t know anything about vampires?” Barney: “Only what I’ve learned from TV.” Angel: “Vampires don’t sleep in coffins. It’s a misconception made popular by hack writers and ignorant media. (Gets up) In fact you know, we can and do move around during the day, as long as we avoid direct sunlight. Got it?” Barney sits down: “Got it. Sorry. I didn’t wan to push any sore spots.” Cut to Cordy at the audition. She looks very nervous. Man: “Okay. Let’s try this whenever you’re ready.” Woman: “Action.” 2. Man: “Just look at the wine stain on my shirt! I can’t meet your folks looking like this!” Cordy holding up a white shirt: “Don’t worry honey, it’s no problem with extra strength stain-be-gone.” 2. Man: “Extra strength stain-be-gone?” Cordy: “Yup. Now stain-be-gone is more effective at melting away (takes a deep breath) stubborn (forces a smile) blood – wine - even grass stains. See, just spray it on - and rub it in (starts to sob) and in minutes the stain is gone! (Cries) It’s completely gone.” The three people at the table look at each other. Man: “Okay, that was…” 2. Man: “Good. That was good. Good.” Woman: “Very nice.” Man: “But I think what we’re going for here is more of a…” Woman: “Happy.” Man: “Yeah, happy. More of an up feeling that the stain is gone.” 2. Man: “Yeah, because obviously stains are, you know…” Woman: “Not good.” Man: “Exactly.” 2. Man: “Yeah. Right.” Cordy: “I’m sorry.” 2. Man: “I’m sorry.” Man: “It’s an interesting choice.” Cordy wipes her tears away. Man: “Let’s try it again. Let’s go from…” 2. Man: “Stain-be gone is more effective.” Man: “Yeah.” They stare in amazement as Cordy hops up and down a in front off the camera, then smiles and starts again. Cordy: “Now stain-be-go-ugh! (She gets h*t with one of Doyle’s visions but tries desperately to continue with the commercial besides the intense pain and disorientation) is - more – effective (stamps her foot and yells) grass stains!” There is a stunned silence for a moment. Man: “Okay. Nice adjustment.” 2. Man: “Nice.” Woman: “Thank you.” Cut to the motorcycle guy riding down a street in Korea town. Cut to Angel’s office. Angel: “Who’s hunting you?” Barney: “I don’t know. But who ever he is, he’s unstoppable. Like a machine. Been on my tail for a few states, ever since Phoenix. Pull out all the stops to shake him – but he keeps on coming.” Angel: “What makes you think he means you harm?” Barney: “I don’t think he’s tracking me down to tell me that I’ve won the Publishers’ Clearing House. He’s an assassin.” Cut to the guy in leather getting off his motorcycle. Angel: “Is he a demon?” Barney: “He could be. He knows all the haunts and hangouts. It seems wherever I go he’s just a step or two behind. You know, it’s a miracle that I’ve eluded him this long.” Cut the motorcycle guy looking through a black bag holding swords, stakes and other w*apon. He takes out a crossbow. Angel: “Why you?” Barney: “What do you mean?” Angel: “Who are you?” Barney: “That’s what I’m saying. I’m nothing. I’m a nobody. I’m just a guy trying to get by in this world. No different from anybody else!” Angel: “In my experience, when one is being pursued that tenaciously, it’s generally because the pursuer has a strong grievance against the pursued.” Barney: “Uh, hey, man, I never said I was a Boy Scout. I’m an empath demon. I can read emotions. It gives me a slight advantage at cards. You know, Black Jack, Poker. Ooh, it’s also good for the fights.” Angel: “So you’re a cheat.” Barney: “I chose to think of it as going with my strengths. Look, whatever. I’m a demon. I’m evil. But I’m not, you know Evil!” Cut to the motorcycle guy examining some yellow slime coating the corner of a building. Angel: “And you can’t think of anyone that’s got a beef with you.” Barney: “No one! But like my old man always said: you can’t please everybody. So you’re gonna help me?” Cut to Cordy inching her way through the door into the office. Angel looks up from what he’s writing: “Hi. (Cordy walks towards him with a strange look on her face) Everything okay?” Cordy put one arm around his neck and kisses him. Angel: “Mmm – mmp (pushes her away) okay, um, Cordelia, that was, uh –You know, I think that you’re acting out of grief and you’re confusing our friendship with something more…” Cordy: “I didn’t feel anything. - Did you feel anything?” Angel: “No! You see that’s what I’m trying to…” Cordy: “Urgh! That means I still have it! Damn, I can’t believe he did this to me!” Angel: “Who did what?” Cordy: “Doyle! I thought our kiss meant something, and instead he - he used that moment to pass it on to me! (Angel wipes his lips and looks at his fingers) Why couldn’t it have been mono or herpes!” Angel: “C-Cordelia…” Cordy: “I didn’t ask for this responsibility, unlike some people, who shall remain lifeless! I don’t have anything to atone for. If they know what’s good for them, the PTB better just stay out of my head.” Angel: “The Powers That Be. You had a vision.” Cordy: “Boy! Howdy. And guess what, you know how they look painful? Well, they feel a whole lot worse!” Angel sits down: “Another door opens. You’re my link to – the Powers, now.” Cordy: “I’m nobody’s link to anybody. I lost control of my entire nervous system getting that stupid vision – and I’m not certain, but I think I may have – drooled a little – at the first audition I’ve had in weeks.” Angel gets up: “What was it?” Cordy: “Ah, stain-be-gone, it was a national no less. They probably never call me again.” Angel hits the table and snaps his fingers: “The vision! What was the vision?” Cordy: “Oh. Pfft! Who knows. It was a thing!” Angel: “A thing?” Cordy: “An ugly, gray, blobby thing. What difference does it make?” Angel: “The difference is if you saw it in a vision it could be an ugly, gray, blobby, dangerous thing!” Cordy: “I don’t care, I want it out of me! And if kissing is the only way to get rid of it I will smooch every damn frog in this kingdom!” Barney come out of a door buttoning his sleeves: “Oh, sorry. I thought I heard voices.” Angel: “Uh, Barney you remember my associate Cor-(Cordy goes up and kisses Barney)-delia?” Cordy: “Maybe not every frog.” Barney: “Boy! I got to say I like the way you people treat your clients!” Cordy: “Excuse me (Barney goes into the outer office, and Cordy keeps spitting then asks Angel in a whisper) He’s a client?” Angel: “Apparently someone or something is after him.” Cordy: “That ugly, gray blobby thing?” Angel: “You tell me. (Hands her paper and pen) Try sketching it. In the mean time, Barney would probably feel safer down stairs. Baby-sit him until I get back.’ Cordy: “Where are you going?” Angel: “To check out his apartment. He thinks whatever is chasing him knows where he lives. (Turns around on his way out) Hey, and behave yourself. I don’t want to find you two necking on the couch when I get back.” Cut to a brick building at night. The camera pans over to show a motorcycle parked across the street. Cut to Angel stepping out of an elevator into a hallway with one of the lights on the fritz. Cut to the boots of the motorcycle guy walking up the stairs. Cut to Angel walking up to a door. The camera shows the silhouette of the motorcycle guy, holding a crossbow by his side illuminated momentarily by the blinking light next to the elevator. Angel touches the door frame and examines his fingers, then spins around as the door opposite opens. It’s a maid pulling a cleaning cart. She smiles at Angel and he smiles back, then opens the apartment door, only to get pushed into it from behind. He turns around to find a crossbow aimed at him by a dark figure. The guy in black leather steps forward and we see that it’s Wesley. Wesley: “Hello, Angel.” Angel with his hands in his pockets: “Wesley.” Wesley: “I wager you thought, you’d never see me again.” Angel: “To tell you the truth I hadn’t given it much thought one way or the other. What are you…” Wesley still pointing the crossbow at Angel’s face: “Hup-up-up! I’m the one asking the questions here. I think it only fair to warn you, any sudden movement and I’d be forced to… (Angel casually bats the crossbow out of his hand) Right. You had a question?” Angel suppresses a smile and walks around Wesley: “Interesting look for you. Motorcycle. The Watchers Council trying out a new image?” Wesley walks further into the apartment: “In point of fact I no longer work for the Council. I came to the conclusion that I was of greater value to the cause working autonomously.” Wesley stumbles over something and catches himself on the edge of the bed. Angel: “They fired you.” Wesley: “Hardly. With Buffy unwilling to follow Council orders there was simply no opportunity to function as Watcher. And that’s why I became a rouge demon hunter.” Angel: “You’re a demon hunter?” Wesley: “*Rogue* demon hunter! And I’m on the trail of a particularly nasty bugger right now. So, I suggest you stay out of my way.” Angel: “Easy, tiger. I think you might be making a mistake. If we’re talking about the same demon here, he seems pretty harmless to me.” Wesley: “He’s left a trail of corpses, human and demon, all mutilated.” Angel: “Mutilated?” Wesley: “Each of the victims possessed some unique power – telepathy, poison tongues, healing hands. Whatever the physical source of their power it was ripped, gouged, torn from their corpses.” Angel: “He’s collecting powers.” Wesley: “For what purpose I can only guess. The fiend has cut a swath across half the continent. I almost caught up with it in Phoenix. Got a pretty fair look, too.” Angel: “Kind of short, ruddy complexion?” Wesley: “Short? No, on the contrary, quite enormous – and powerful. More of a yellow-green. And it seems lately to be secreting some sort of viscous, yellow fluid.” Angel looks at a yellow blob on Wesley’s jacket: “Like that?” Another blob lands beside it and they both look up. The demon that had been clinging to the ceiling drops down to land on his face between them. It hits Wesley and throws him across the room. Angel and the demon are a bit more evenly matched, but after a short exchange of blows it knocks Angel to the ground as it turns around Wesley hits it in the chest with a crossbow bolt. The demon screams and jumps out of the window. Angel and Wesley watch it run away. Cut to Angel’s apartment. Cordelia is sketching the thing she saw. Barney: “I hear that drawing can be very therapeutic during the grieving period.” Cordy looks up: “What?” Barney: “I’m – I’m sorry. I couldn’t help sensing your pain. You lost someone close to you, didn’t you?” Cordy: “Angel told you?” Barney shakes his head: “I’m empathic. I feel your feelings when you feel them. It’s a gift my kind is blessed with.” Cordy: “Really. Well, my kind thinks that some things are private. So maybe you shouldn’t be nosing around other peoples feelings without asking them.” Barney: “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to make conversation.” Cordy: “Wait. Barney, I’m sorry. I’m just going through a difficult time right now. I’m just – uhm…” Barney: “Missing your friend. (Cordy nods) Why don’t you tell me about him?” Cordy: “Doyle? Well, he drank too much and his taste in clothing was like a Greek tragedy. (Barney chuckles) And he could be really sweet sometimes. (Cordy swallows hard) You’ll like this: he was half demon. A secret he kept from me for – like- ever. I guess that’s the reason he sometimes smelled weird? You know, you remind me a little of him.” Barney with a laugh: “I take that as a compliment.” Angel and Wesley come down the stairs. Barney sees Wesley: “That’s him!” Angel: “Look, Barney…” Barney gets ready to run: “That’s the guy that’s after me!” Angel goes after Barney: “It’s okay! (To Wesley) The books are over there.” Wesley: “Good Lord. Cordelia? (Cordy gets up and walks up to him) Angel never mentioned… Well, this is nice – (Cordy reaches up and kisses him. Wesley pulls her close and kisses her back. After a moment Cordy pulls away.) – surprise.” Cordy shakes herself: “It didn’t work!” Wesley: “No? Hmm. I thought it went considerably better than last time.” Cordy: “No, it was just a kind of experiment. I was trying to… (Really looks at him for the first time) Wesley? What are you doing here? Are you working with Angel?” Wesley: “A lone wolf, such as myself, never works with anyone. I’m merely allowing Angel to assist me.” Cordy: “Oh, wow.” Wesley: “I’m a rogue demon hunter now.” Cordy: “Oh, wow. - What’s a rogue demon?” Barney and Angel come back into the apartment and Wesley goes over to look at the books. Barney: “So what you’re telling me is that all this time your friend wasn’t hunting me, he was hunting something else that was hunting me?” Angel: “That’s about the size of it.” Barney: “And that something else was after me because…” Angel: “It wants to steal your empathic ability.” Cordy: “The feeling feelings thing? What kind of demon would do that to another demon?” Wesley comes back carrying an open book: “A Kungai.” Barney: “A Kungai?” Wesley: “The description matches. It’s of Asian origin, very deadly. A powerful race of demon’s, the Kungai possess a Tak horn, capable of consuming its opponents life force. - We’re lucky to have escaped with our lives.” Barney: “I know theses Kungais. They – they’re K*llers. They’re relentless. (to Angel) You got to take this thing out before it finds me.” Angel: “I’m working on it. I have to find it first.” Angel tries to take the book from Wesley, who doesn’t want to let go of it. They have a little tug-of-w*r, with Angel as the victor. Wesley: “Hang on. It’s of Asian origin. Earlier today I tracked it through an Asian district just north of here.” Cordy: “That’s Koreatown.” Wesley: “It’s very likely it’s hiding there.” Angel closes the book: “Then that’s where I start looking.” Wesley: “Don’t you mean we?” Angel gets his coat: “I work alone, Wesley.” Wesley: “The hell you say. This demon is mine! (Angel walks past him) Angel. I know how to track him. You’re not catch him without me by your side.” Angel turns to look at him: “I had someone by my side. He’s d*ad now. I won’t let that happen again. I *work alone*.” Wesley: “You don’t even know where to begin to look.” Angel going up the stairs: “I have a pretty good idea.” Wesley puts the book down on the stairs: “Yes. Well. (Gets ready to sit down, but changes his mind with a grimace of pain) Ahh.” Cordy: “Are you alright, Wesley?” Wesley: “No. These pants, they tend to chafe one’s (looks at Cordy) – legs.” Cut to the Lotus Spa. The following conversation is in Korean. Soon: “Kungai? You must be joking, Angel. They scare away the regulars.” Angel: “You don’t mind if I take a look around, do you, Soon?” Soon: “You can’t come in here, disturbing our customers like this.” Angel pulls out some money: “Forgive me. I respect you have a business to run.” Soon accepts the folded bill: “He’s in the back.” Angel: “Show me.” Angel is walking through the spa. There are curtained of cubicles with steam rising from behind them. Angel uses his fighting axe to push one of the curtains a little aside and look behind it. He’s almost at the end of the hallway when one of the curtains behind him is suddenly pushed aside. Angel spins around, axe ready as an ugly green, horned demon with a white towel wrapped around his waist steps out. Demon: “Hey, do you know where they do the Shiatsu massage?” Angel blinks a couple times and walks on. Cut to Angel’s apartment. Cordy has finished her drawing. Barney: “Hey, that’s kind of nice. What is it?” Cordy: “I don’t know. I don’t know! (Rips the page off, crumples it up and throws it on the floor.) I don’t know.” Barney: “You’re frustrated.” Cordy: “That’s one spooky talent you got there. You can just look at me grinding my teeth, sighing, grunting and *sense* that I’m frustrated? Amazing!” Barney: “It’s pretty good at sensing sarcasm, too. Can I help?” Cordy: “Not unless you can explain to me why I have to suffer head-splitting migraines, getting visions so vague, they require close captioning.” Barney: “What do you mean, um, visions?” Cordy: “That friend of mine, Doyle? He used to get these brain flashes. Messages from the PTB. (Barney shakes his head in question) The Powers That Be. Visions of all sorts of stuff: people in trouble, things about to cause trouble, places trouble is happening in. Barney: “And you’re friend left you with that little inheritance?” Cordy: “I’m never going to forgive him for doing this to me.” Barney: “What? Choosing you? Trusting you with an enormous responsibility? Believing that you where the only one worthy of such a rare and important gift?” Cordy: “Did I mention the drooling?” Barney: “I get the impression that Doyle didn’t have much by way of possessions?” Cordy: “No. No he didn’t.” Barney: “Seems like he gave you the most valuable thing he had.” Cut to Angel walking into a back room in the spa. The Kungai is laying on a table with an old lady wiping its brow. Lady (in Korean): “He’s dying.” Cut to Angel’s apartment. Cordy looks in Angel’s fridge: “I hope you like your coffee black, because the only lightener the boss has in his refrigerator is O positive.” Barney: “Black is great.” As Cordy makes the coffee Barney walks a ways away, and pulls out a small cell phone. Barney: “”It’s me. Of course I got the Kungai horn. It’s in a safe place. But listen (turns to look at Cordy in the kitchen) I think I just found something even better. Cordy pours the coffee and takes the cups over to the table. Cordy: “It’s kind of strong and a little clumpy. Never could brew the old fashioned way. I’m more the auto-drip girl. Sorry.” Barney grinning: “Yes, you are.” Cordy: “What?” Barney: “Sorry. Pathetic, really.” Cordy: “Well, thanks for that insight, Mr. Emotional Radar.” Barney: “How old are you?” Cordy: “That is none of your…” Barney: “Twenty-something? Hmm? With your head all up in the clouds and your feet in –hmm - shoes you can’t afford? All self-absorbed, full of regret. Poor, poor you. Poor little Cordelia with her delusions of an acting career.” Cordy: “Delusions?” Barney: “You don’t possibly think you’ll succeed, do you? You’re a terrible actress.” Cordy: “You have never seen me. How could you possibly know?” Barney: “Because you know. You feel it. Your entire being is whispering it to me right now. Me, on the other hand, you got to admit, I’m a pretty fine actor. Fooled you!” Cordy tries to run, but Barney cuts her off. Barney: “You don’t like to hear the truth. No wonder your friend never told you about his demon half.” Cordy: “You don’t know anything about me or Doyle.” Barney: “I know you let him die.” Cordy: “That is not true.” Barney: “No. But it feels true, doesn’t it? Mixed in with all the pain and the grief, oh, a healthy dollop of guilt. A nagging thought that – that maybe some how you could have saved him. If only you’d have been nicer to him. If only you’d let your walls down. If only for ONE freaking second you gave a damn about anyone besides yourself.” He grabs Cordy by her arms. Cordy: “let me…” Barney shakes her: “Oh, shut up! So, you hate your gift, the visions? You probably would love to rip those pretty little eyes right out of your head. I know I would.” Throws her against the table. Cut to the spa. Angel picks up the crossbow bolt and smells it. The Kungai grabs his arm and tries to tell him something. Angel: “I don’t know your language.” Wesley (wearing a white suit instead of the black leather): “I do. At least I think I recognize the dialect.” Angel: “Well, then it’s a good thing you happened by.” Wesley: “I wouldn’t have thought the wound I gave him was fatal.” Angel: “It wasn’t the arrow. Look at his head. His Tak horn’s been broken off.” Wesley leans over the Kungai and tries to translate: “Not stick. No, horn. (To Angel) I think he’s trying to tell us that his horn was taken.” Angel: “We got that. The question is by whom.” Cut to Cordy laying face down on the table as Barney ties her hands. Barney: “Good, terror! I’m feeling it. You have no idea what a rush it is! Keep it coming. Wesley: “The horn was taken. (To Angel) He said his horn was taken for something, the Klu-(click)-ka. I’m not familiar with that word. (Turns back to the Kungai) Yes. Fish. Fish will die. Not Fish. More. (To Angel) He says more will die.” Angel: “Yeah, okay. How? Who’d doing this?” Wesley: “No good losing patience. He’s dying and I’m not exactly fluent.” Cordy: “Wait! Ahh! A vision! I’m having a vision. (Barney pulls her up form the table) A demon, a creepy, little – you! It’s definitely you! In great, great…” Barney: “Danger?” Cordy knees him between the legs: “Pain!” She runs but Barney catches her before she can get as far as the stairs. Barney: “I really don’t want to hurt you. Bruises bring down the price.” Cordy screams: “Help!” Barney hits her and she falls down. Barney: “But not by much.” Wesley: “Bit to the cherry? Slam the cherry? Oh, no, oh dear. Stop. Stop the demon? Red – heart. Reader.” The Kungai sinks back d*ad. Wesley: “He was trying to describe his k*ller. Demon, heart, reader.” Angel: “Empath demon. Barney.” Cut to Cordy laying bound and gagged in some storage room. She opens her eyes and sees the gray blob (a sculpture) that she has been trying to draw. There are all kinds of labeled body parts, including a still beating heart under a glass cover. Hank: “That’s too much trouble! How about we just pop out the eyes, and we’ll dump the body?” Barney: “We get at least an extra thousand if the seer’s eyes are intact, so drop it. - Shouldn’t you be cataloguing gypsy flesh?” Hank: “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Cut to Angel and Wesley running down the stairs in Angel’s apartment. Angel: “Cordelia! - Cordelia!” Wesley: “This is all my fault.” Angel: “We both left her here. Neither of us knew.” Wesley: “I should have. All this time I’ve been tracking the wrong demon. If anything happens to Cordelia because of me…” Angel: “Nothing is going to happen to Cordelia. I won’t let it. - In case you’re wondering, this is me looking for a clue. Feel free to join in any time you want.” Wesley: “I’m a fool. The Council was right to sack me. - Yes, I was fired. I had two, two! Slayers in my care. One turns evil and now vegetates in a coma, the other is a renegade. f*re me? I’m surprised they didn’t cut my head off. (Angel finds Cordy’s crumpled drawing) I’m useless. - A fool. A sniveling great, big…” Angel: “Ugly, gray blobby thing.” Wesley: “Ugly, gray, blobby thing. –What?” Angel: “I know this. It’s a sculpture by Van Gieson, Maiden with Urn. (Shows it to Wesley) Cordelia saw this in a vision. It could be telling us where Barney took her.” Wesley: “So, we ascertain the sculptures whereabouts, Cordelia’s whereabouts – then you can go rescue her.” Angel: “*We* can go rescue her. I need your help, Wesley. The Kungai said Barney wanted the horn for something.” Wesley: “Klu(click)ka.” Angel: “You’re the only one in this room who could translate that. Are you with me? (Wesley gets up and nods) Good.” Cut to a computer screen with a picture of the sculpture on it. Angel: “Van Gieson’s Maiden with Urn was sold to the Ramsey Hotel Chain in ‘82. There are twelve hotels between here and San Diego, it’s got to be in one of them.” Wesley lays down an open book on the table: “I keep running up against a translation for Klu(click)kla, which translates as Caller Sale – Caller - Caller Sale – Yes, of course! I know what Klu(click)ka is.” Angel: “What?” Wesley: “Auction.” Cut to the auction. There are all kinds of demons and humans on the floor, including a sleek businesswoman with Wolfram&Hart on her briefcase. Barney: “Sold! For 20,000 to number 118, the dapper gentleman in the center isle. Well-done, sir. You are now the proud owner of an authentic Tak horn. s*ab your enemies with it, heck, s*ab your wife, it’ll drain the life right out of them. The power to drain a life force is an investment in peace of mind.” Hank takes the red cushion with the horn on it way. Barney: “Next up lot 32. We’re very lucky to have this here today. It’s a rare, and beautiful find.” Hank hands the cushion to a guy, who just lead Cordy in. Hank takes off her gag. Cordy: “I’m really not a seer. I only had a vision once, and I’m pretty sure it was just something I ate!” Hank puts his hand over her mouth. Barney as Hank leads Cordy on stage: “The magnificent eyes of a seer. Your very own pipeline to the Powers That Be, folks. The possibilities are endless. Keep the girl as a sl*ve, remove the head as a trophy, or simply harvest the eyes, in any case a unique party icebreaker. It doesn’t get any better than this. Let’s start the bidding at 2,000. Do I hear 2,000? – Ah, 2,000. Do I hear 2,000 and five? 2,000 and five, do I hear three?” Barney: “8,000, do I hear nine? Come on, I don’t have to tell some of you what a rare find this is. – 9,000. Nine gets me ten. 10,000. 10,000, do I hear 10? Ah, 10! Do I have 11? 11,000. 11,000 form the gentleman in the back! Do we have 12? - Seer’s eyes going at 11,000, do I hear 12?” Cut to Angel hanging up the phone while Wesley tapes a Kn*fe to his leg. Angel: “Hotel Ramsey in LA recently redecorated. The Van Gieson sculpture used to be in the lobby.” Barney: “11,000 it is. 11,000 once, twice…” Cordy: “Hey, you know you pay twice that for cataracts. These eyes are flawless even without the stupid visions! That’s the best you can do?” Barney: “12,000. I have 12,000 from the gentleman. 13,000? 13,000? Going for 12,000…” Cordy: “You know what these eyes can do? They can see stuff – like danger, and – and evil and locations buried treasure!” Barney: “13,000, do I hear 13?” Cordy: “Come on, have some huevoes, guy! Whity here is stepping all over you. You’re going to take that form his kind?” The white faced guy looks at the white haired guy sitting next to him and lifts his paddle. Barney: “13. (The white haired guy lifts his paddle) Uh, 14. – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18…” The lady from Wolfram&Hart listens to a voice on her cell phone: “You decide.” Barney: “19 (the white faced guy hits the other guy over the head and lifts his paddle with a smile) 20,000 form the gentleman in the center isle, going once, going twice…” The woman from Wolfram&Hart: “30,000.” Barney: “Huh, sold for 30,000 to the lovely lawyer form Wolfram&Hart.” Cut to people picking up their stuff in the storage room. Barney: “I’m sure your people will be happy with their purchase.” Woman: “We won’t be needing the body. My employers have requested that the eyes be extracted.” Barney: “Well, an extraction is a very delicate process. We run the risk of damaging the gift. It’s going to cast you an extra thou.” Woman: “Please! Extraction is always included in the price.” Barney: “Not with seer’s eyes.” Woman: “Never hear do of such a thing.” Barney: “There’s never been such a thing like this on the market. - An extra thousand or you take it as is.” Woman: “Go ahead.” Barney: “All righty then. (Rubs his hands together. To Hank) Give me the extractor.” Hank: “But -I want to do it. You know that. I’ve been begging you…” Barney: “Hank! You’re embarrassing yourself. Hand it over.” Hank reluctantly hand him what looks like a pair of salad tongues. Cordy, once again gagged, whimpers. Angel at the top of some stairs: “Convention halls?” They usher points down the stairs and he and Wesley head down. Angel to another employee: “We’re late. Where is the auction?” Man: “I’m sorry we don’t have any auctions here.” Angel vamps out and grabs him by his lapels: “Where is it?” Man: “It’s – it’s in the Tulip room. That way.” Hank pushes Cordy down in a chair. Cordy: “No!” Barney hits her while the lawyer watches impassively. Barney: “Now, be a good girl and hold still. This will only hurt a lot.” Wesley and Angel (still in vamp-face) run into the auction room. Angel: “The sculpture is not here.” Wesley: “As usual, one step behind.” A guy walks out from behind a curtain: “Have you got a number?” Cut to the storage room. The guy comes sailing in through the door, distracting Barney. Angel and Wesley burst in. Barney: “Hank. Stakes.” Angel starts to b*at up on the security people there while Wesley hops on one foot trying to free the Kn*fe he taped to his leg. He falls down and a guy headed for Angel falls over him. Angel, being held by two guys while kicking the stake out of the hand of a third sees Wesley lying on the floor, still trying to get his Kn*fe. Angel: “Get Cordelia!” Wesley crawls over to where she is tied to the chair. Wesley: “Are you alright? Oh.” (Pulls the gag from her mouth) Cordy: “I’m so far not!” Wesley: “Right. Wrists!” Cordy: “Wesley, come on!” Tries one more time to get the Kn*fe free, then picks up a claw laying on the floor and saws through the ropes with it. Cordy: “Okay. Let’s get out of here.” Wesley runs after Cordy: “Follow me!” Barney hits Wesley with a right. Wesley fights back and actually doesn’t do too bad. Wesley: “You! Butcher and innocent girl, will you? (Pushes his glasses up on his nose) I’m going to thrash you to within a inch of your life – and then I’m going to take that inch!” Lawyer walking up the hotel steps talking on her cell phone: “Our merchandise was just taken off the market. 3 guesses by whom.” Angel is fighting the security guys, Wesley is pounding Barney against the floor. Barney rolls over and gets on top of Wesley. Cordy picks up a horn laying on the table and s*ab him in the back with it. Cordy: “Feel this feeling creepo!” Barney gets off Wesley. Tries to grab Cordy but collapses face down on the floor. His body turns gray and crackles, then turns black and slowly deflates. Angel comes running up and Cordy gives him a quick hug. Cordy: “I never doubted for a minute that you’d find me.” Angel: “Well, I was lucky. I had a rogue demon hunter on my side.” Wesley: “Glad I could be of service.” Cut to Angel’s apartment. Cordy is ironing her wrinkled drawing. Cordy: “Not that he didn’t have it coming. He was a horrible, evil monster.” Angel cooking at the stove: “Hmm, he did k*ll a lot of people.” Wesley packing his bag: “Viciously mutilated their corpses.” Cordy putting the picture in a frame: “Plus he started the bidding on me at a paltry 2,000 dollars. (To Angel) This, I frame for saving my life, and as a reminder that something of Doyle’s in our office.” Wesley: “Well, I’ll be off then. Angel. Who knows when our paths will cross again.” Angel shakes his hand then reaches into the fridge: “Wesley.” Wesley puts his jacket on. Cordy: “Do you even know where you’re headed?” Wesley: “us rogue demon hunters rarely do. Wherever evil lurks, wherever the forces of darkness thr*at humanity, that’s where I’ll be.” Angel is setting the table and pouring a glass of orange juice for Cordy. Cordy: “Well, okay. Keep in touch.” Wesley: “Yes. Yes, I will. (Picks up his bag) But now the evil lurking everywhere bids me onwards. (Looks back at Angel cooking and Cordy drinking her juice) So – I go.” Cordy turns around: “Take care.” Wesley: “Yes.” Wesley slowly disappears around the corner to go up the steps. But after a moment strolls back into the room. Wesley: “No rest for the wicked fighters. Through storm and rain – heat – famine (looks at Angel putting some scrambled eggs on a plate) deep, painful, gnawing hunger – I go.” Angel looks over at him: “Breakfast?” Wesley quickly puts down his bag and takes off his jacket: “Ooh – (eagerly hurries to the table) I suppose so.” Cordy to Wesley: “One of the perks of the job. After an all-nighter of fighting the lurking evil – we get eggs.” Angel sets a plate of eggs down in front of Wesley: “Toast?” Wesley: “Please!” Cordy: “I’m famished. He’s a good cook for someone on a liquid diet.” Wesley: “Astonishing, really. Mhm-mm. (To Angel) Did you say something about toast?” Angel sets a plate of toasted bread on the table, and both Cordy and Wesley grab a slice.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x10 - Parting Gifts"}

foreverdreaming

Angel: “You had a vision.” Cordy: “Boy! Howdy!” Cordy: “Doyle kissed me just before he died and he passed it on to me!” Angel: “You’re my link to the Powers now.” Wesley on his motorcycle. Angel (voice over): “What’s hunting you?” Barney (voice over): “He’s unstoppable. Like a machine. He’s an assassin.” Wesley aiming crossbow: “Hello, Angel.” Cordy and Wesley in Angel’s apartment. Cordy: “Wesley?!? What are you doing here? Are you working with Angel?” Wesley: “I’m a rogue demon hunter now.” Cordy: “What’s a rogue demon?” Night. A girl is running for her life, terrified of whatever is chasing her. Rounds a corner and runs right into a man. He grabs her, lays a metal tipped finger against her lips. We get a glimpse of fangs. He draws a mark on her cheek, bites and drains her. Camera pans overhead as her lifeless body slips to the ground. There are police sirens in the background. The vampire looks up at the camera, and its Angel in vamp face. We get a close up of his face as he morphs back into human face and we see him gasping for breath. He’s sitting up on his bed fully dressed and clearly wigged. Cut to Kate driving up to a crime scene in a police car. Kate: “Where?” Officer: “Over there detective.” Kate bends down to look at the victim. It’s the girl from Angel’s dream. There are bite marks on her neck and a cross has been scratched on her left cheek. Kate: “It’s the same guy. This makes three. He’s just getting started.” Intro. Cordy sitting behind her desk in Angel’s office. Cordy: “I believe in Los Angeles. It’s the city of dreams, a mystical oasis, built from a dessert. (Gets up and plays with the blinds) But even sunny blond LA has its trashy dark roots, and you’ve learned that the hard way, haven’t you? (Walks around her desk and leans over an empty chair) You’ve taken your problem to the police, they can’t help you, so you’ve come to us.” Office door opens to admit Wesley carrying a newspaper and some letters in his hand. Wesley: “I think it’s about to speak.” Cordy straightens up: “Nobody likes a smart-ass, rogue demon hunter. What do you want, Wesley?” Wesley comes in: “Just thought I’d pop round so we might compare battle plans from our respective fronts.” Cordy: “Oh, I thought you worked alone?” Wesley: “Well, even a solitary soldier, such as myself, recognizes that a free exchange of intelligence benefits the common struggle. - Also, I brought in your mail and newspaper.” Cordy takes it: “Oh, thanks. So what have you got?” Wesley: “Got?” Cordy: “You wanted to compare skinnies on the current ‘evil happenings’.” Wesley: “Yes. Skinnies. Precisely. - Uh, right, well... Everything *seems* quiet.” Cordy: “Okay. Well, - thanks for stopping by.” Wesley sits down across form Cordy’s desk: “And you? - How go things on your end of the good fight?” Cordy: “I’ve been giving the hard sell to an empty chair. What do you think?” Wesley: “Quiet all around then. (Cordy looks at the paper and mail he brought in) Well, I’ll keep myself available. The situation can only escalate. We made a most effective team, I felt. Vanquishing that empathy demon in such short order.” Cordy: “Yeah, well, nobody gauged out my eyes, so I’m happy.” Wesley: “Yes, most effective. Your cryptic visions, Angel’s brawn, my *highly* developed powers of deduction rounding out...” Cordy hands the mail back to him: “This isn’t our mail.” Wesley: “Sorry?” Cordy points to one of the letters: “See here? The dentist office - next door.” Wesley takes the bundle: “Oh, I see. I didn’t... (Sees something on the front page of the paper) realize...” Cordy: “Something wrong? You stopped yammering.” Wesley takes a deep breath and gets up: “I, ah, I suppose I should return these items to their proper owner.” Wesley leaves just as Angel comes out of the elevator, slamming the grate open, and walks into the office. Angel: “Who were you talking to?” Cordy frowns at him: “Nobody. And Wesley. Uhm, so, you remember that license plate we got on that runaway case?” Angel pouring himself some coffee: “I remember *you* were going to follow up on it.” Cordy: “No go. The BMV is totally stalker-phobic. And wow! You look half-d*ad. (Angel looks at her) Which for someone, who’s completely d*ad, would be - kind of neat?” Angel walks over to her desk and holds out a hand: “License plate, Cordelia.” Cordy hands him the paper: “Uh, right. I thought maybe you could have police woman run it for us on the Q.T.?” Angel: “Kate.” Cordy: “Are you sure you’re okay? I mean for a guy who’s 200 plus, you’re not usually (points at her eyes) with the bags.” Angel walks towards the door: “I’ll do this now.” Cordy stares after him: “Hey...” Angel looks back, irritated: “Look, I’m fine Cordelia. All right?” Cordy: “All right.” Angel walks out the door and right into a patch of sunlight. Jerks back, hissing with pain and turns back into the office. Angel: “I’ll take the tunnels.” Cordy gets up and shuts the office door. Camera pans over to show Wesley lurking in the foyer, mail still in hand. He looks at the closed door than sneaks towards the exit. Cut to the police station. Kate walks in with Angel following her. Kate: “You know I’m not supposed to release that kind of information to a civilian, Angel.” Angel: “I know.” Kate: “If it were anyone else...” Angel: “I appreciate it, Kate.” Kate sits down at her desk: “I know you do. So I don’t mind. I’ll run it myself, have it for you by morning.” Angel: “No rush. Late afternoon, evening will be fine, actually.” Kate: “To be honest, I won’t mind getting my head out of this case. Even for a minute.” Angel: “Tough one?” Kate looks down at a picture of an older man: “The first victim, Reggie Sparks, volunteered as a crossing-guard. (Pulls over another photo as Angel walks around to look over her shoulder) Jinny Markem, she just started the tenth grade, and Jessica Halpren, 25, worked as a waitress. (Looks up at Angel) And do you know what they all have in common? - What he did to them. That’s all.” Angel: “That’s not all. They have you.” Officer hands a folder to Kate: “Here are the crime scene photos you wanted.” Kate: “Thanks. (Opens the folder to look at the photos) Look, why don’t you stop by tomorrow? By then I’ll have inv*de a citizen’s right to privacy for you, and you can... (Looks up at Angel, who’s staring at the photos. Flash to the scene from his dream.) Yeah, it’s pretty grim, isn’t it? I’ve spent the last 48 hours putting together a suspect profile, and believe me, being inside this guy’s head hasn’t been a whole lot of fun. - The tabloids are calling him ‘the pope’. Probably thinks he’s doing God’s work.” Angel still staring: “No. Just the opposite. This is about mocking God. (Sees her looking at him) That’s my guess.” Officer to Kate: “Detective? They’re ready for you now.” Kate: “Yeah, okay. Looks like it’s show... (She looks back at Angel and sees that he is halfway out of the office already) ...time.” Cut to the police briefing. Kate: “Our suspect will be a white male. To the observer he will not seem a monster. His victims put up little or no struggle, so it’s likely that he is charming, attractive, (blends into footage of Angel walking down a crowded street at night) but at his core he is a loner. Possibly a dual personality, who once the crime has been committed, retains no memory of the act. (Blend back to Kate giving the briefing) He will not view his victims as subhuman, rather it’s himself that he views as something other than human, more than human, a superior species. (Blend to Angel) Stalking his prey, getting to know them. (Back to Kate) It’s unlikely that he’ll be married though he may have recently come off a long-term relationship that ended badly. We look for a precipitating event in cases such as this, and a painful breakup is always at the top of the list. (Blend back to Angel. He spots a blonde talking to some friends, her back to him) Prior to failing this relationship may have marked an inactive period in our suspects life. He would have regarded it as a lifeline, his salvation, (The blonde turns and it’s not Buffy. Angel walks on.) but once ended, it resulted in his recidivism. - What is not in question is his experience. He’s been doing this for a very long time, (blend back to Kate) and he will do it again.” Cut to Cordy getting ready to leave the office. She opens the door and Wesley is just outside. They both gasp. Cordy: “Jeez, Wesley! Hover much?” Wesley comes in and closes the door: “Where is he? Where is Angel?” Cordy: “Not here. (Sees the stake in Wesley’s hand) What is that?” Wesley: “Just what it looks like.” Cordy: “Kind of rude coming into a vampire’s place of business with one of those things, don’t you think? Could be misinterpreted?” Wesley puts down his bag and pulls out a newspaper clipping: “You recall earlier this morning that mix-up with the dentists mail and newspaper? (Shows her the clipping) That’s when I saw this.” Cordy looks at it: “Oh, my God! You cut up Dr. Folger’s newspaper? You’re going to get us kicked out of this building.” Wesley: “What? No, Cordelia, the clipping!” Cordy takes it: “Third body found in alley. So? Not exactly front-page news.” Wesley: “Actually that is the front-page, but still, note the modus operandi? The mutilation of the corpse with a religious icon?” Cordy: “I’m against it?” Wesley sighs and takes the clipping back: “I think you better sit down. (Cordy goes to sit on the couch with a big sigh) While executing my duties as Watcher in Sunnydale, (pulls a folder out of his bag) I did extensive research. Specifically on Angel, given his uncomfortable proximity to the Slayer.” Cordy: “He looked pretty comfortable to me.” Wesley shows her the folder: “When I saw this story today it rang chillingly familiar. So I reacquainted myself with certain facts, confirming, I’m sorry to say, my grim suspicions. In the late 1700s it was Angelus’ custom to ‘sign’ his victims by carving a Christian cross into their left cheek. (Cordy flips through the folder) He liked to let people know he’d been there.” Cordy hands the folder back to him: “Okay, you get to leave now. - You’re not gonna come in here and accuse Angel like this.” Wesley: “Cordelia.” Cordy gets up: “No! I don’t care how many files you have on all the horrible things he did back in the powdered wig days! - He is good now. And he’s my friend. And nothing you or anyone else can say will make me turn on a friend!” Angel: “Cordelia. (Wesley spins around) He’s right.” Cordy to Wesley: “You’ll stake him and I’ll cut his head off.” Angel walks forward and Wesley thr*at him with a cross: “Come no closer!” Angel turns his head away from the cross: “I’m not going to hurt you.” Cordy: “Oh, is that what you told Miss ‘third body found in alley’?” Wesley: “Why should we believe a word you say?” Angel laughs, grabs Wesley’s arm and spins him around to grab him by the neck: “Because this is how fast I could take you if I wanted to.” Wesley: “All right. We’re listening.” Angel pushes him away. Angel: “I have no memory of doing any of these things.” Cordy: “Not exactly the confidence inspiring denial I was looking for.” Angel goes to sit on the edge of the desk: “I’ve been having dreams.” Wesley: “Dreams?” Angel: “k*lling dreams. Always the same. (Swallows) I-I stalk them, toy with them, mark them while they are still alive. And before they can die from their fear, I feed on them.” Cordy: “Okay. So you’ve been having nightmares, it doesn’t mean you...” Angel: “They’re not nightmares. I’ve enjoyed them.” Cordy: “Oh.” Wesley: “And you fear that these may be more than just dreams, that you are acting them out in some sort of hypnogogic state.” Cordy: “Hypnowhatic?” Wesley: “Sleepwalking.” Cordy: “Vampires can’t sleepwalk. He’d take one step out of the front door and his p.j.s would burst into flame!” Wesley: “Unless it were happening in the pre-dawn hours. - Which is when all these m*rder took place.” Angel: “There is only one way to be sure.” Cut to Wesley and Cordy shackling Angel to his bed. Wesley to Cordy: “You’ve got to make it tight.” Cordy huffs: “Like I need instructions from you. - My glamorous LA life, I get to make the coffee and chain the boss to the bed. I’ve got to join a union.” Angel: “Cordelia, I think that’s tight enough.” Cordy pulls on the chain one more time: “And if it turns out that we’re back on the liquid lunch, better safe than cocktails!” Angel sighs. Wesley: “Well, all we can do now is wait.” Cordy sighs: “Yeah. And no offense Angel, but maybe you are committing those horrible crimes just in your dreams, but even so, I don’t want to stick around for your nocturnal commissions.” Angel: “I understand.” Cordy: “Okay. Well, pleasant... ah, I mean, sleep tight.” Angel: “That’s pretty much a given.” Cut to a girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes and a white bonnet running down a cobble street at night. She knocks on a locked door. A guy grabs her and lays a metal tipped finger on her lips. He marks her left cheek with a cross, then feeds off her. She falls d*ad to the ground. Cut to Angel with shoulder length hair, wearing old-fashioned clothes, looking down. Angel: “There now, isn’t that better?” Cut to Angel waking up with a gasp, still chained to the bed. Cordelia comes in carrying a newspaper: “Wakie, wakie!” Wesley gets up from a chair at the foot of Angel’s bed: “We made it.” Cordy: “Great news, sport’s fans, there has been another k*lling. Well, maybe not so great news for the - you know, d*ad person, but at least now we know that Mr. ‘I’m so tortured’ didn’t do it.” Wesley beds down to undo Angel’s shackles, but stops when Angel says: “Yes, I did.” Break Cut to the past. The Girl’s is laying d*ad on the ground. Angel’s looking down: “There now, isn’t that better?” Blond vampire straightens up: “Better.” Morphs into human face. Angel: “First k*ll. Aptly done.” Penn smiles: “It’s strange. She was my sister.” Angelus: “And yet you feel nothing.” Penn: “No, I feel hungry.” Angelus: “Ah, you do learn very quickly.” Penn: “My father would disagree.” Angelus: “Ah, then perhaps it’s time you shared with him just what a fine student you’ve become.” Penn: “My father, yes. - They’ll all be sitting down to dinner now.” Angelus: “A feast. Excellent. When they invite you in, savor it, Penn. You’ll not recapture the moment. Family blood is always the sweetest.” Cut to Penn looking at the latest newspaper article. He has a short goat-tee, short hair, styled somewhat like Angel’s, and is wearing glasses. Newspaper clippings are stuck on one wall. He adds the new clipping. Cut to Angel’s apartment. Angel goes to sit down on a chair. Angel: “I taught him well.” Cordy: “A real psycho-wan-kenobi.” Wesley: “200 years practice. I imagine he has it down by now.” Cordy: “No lie. Gallagher’s changed his act more often than this dude has in the last two centuries. Why do you think he’s still doing the same old schtick?” Wesley: “Well, I mean, it’s a classic, isn’t it? (Smiles) Every time he smashes that watermelon with a sledgehammer I just...” Angel and Cordy look at him. Angel: “I don’t know why.” Wesley: “You don’t suppose it’s his way of trying to draw you out? That he knows you’re here. That might explain the dreams.” Angel: “No. I used to have a connection with those I sired. It just means he’s close, that’s all.” Cordy: “Neat. We can’t find him and the cops stand absolutely zero chance of stopping him.” Angel gets up to leave: “Kate.” Wesley: “What are you doing?” Angel: “She doesn’t know what she’s dealing with, what she’s up against.” Wesley: “And you’re not going to tell her. - Think about it. You can’t walk into a police precinct with intimate knowledge about these m*rder and claim a 200 year-old Puritan is responsible. - You’d be locked up faster than Lady Hamilton’s virtue! (Looks over at Cordy) My apologies.” Cordy: “That’s okay. I-I don’t know what that meant.” Angel: “She’s a good cop. She has resources we don’t. Eventually she *will* find him.” Cordy: “Bad for her then.” Angel after a b*at: “Or good for us.” Cut to Angel walking into the police station playing with a piece of paper in his hands. Kate sees him: “Hey. I have the info on your license plate. (He swallows and looks around) Angel, are you okay? Not that the ‘brooding man of mystery’ thing isn’t working for you. I mean it is. A lot.” Angel: “Can we talk somewhere in private?” Kate: “Sure, of course.” She leads him into the briefing room. Kate: “What is it?” Angel: “Ah... (Closes the door and goes to look at the crime photos pinned on a cork board) How’s the investigation?” Kate: “It’s nowhere. (Pulls out her necklace and plays with the cross on it) Some of your more inconsiderate serial K*llers often fail to leave us any clues. (Angel stares at the pictures) Angel?” Angel looks from picture to picture, matching them up to flashes of Penn’s d*ad family. Angel: “He’s reliving it.” Kate: “What’s going on?” Angel turns around and sees the cross held between her fingers. Angel: “It’s complicated.” Kate: “So make it simple.” Angel: “Kate, do you trust me?” Kate: “You know I do.” Angel unfolds the paper in his hands and pins the drawing of a face to the corkboard. Angel: “Trust me when I tell you - this is the man you’re looking for.” Kate: “Where did you get that? How could you possibly...” Angel: “Do you trust me?” Kate: “I don’t understand. Are you protecting a source? (Angel just looks at her) Yes, I trust you.” Angel: “His next victim will be a white male, adolescent. He’ll take him off the streets in a low rent neighborhood. Probably near a bar or liquor store and he’ll k*ll him just like he did these others. Unless you use every resource this department has to make sure he is not successful this time.” Cut to Angel walking through the police garage to his car. Wesley is sitting in the passenger seat. Wesley looks at his watch: “So, I take it you told her everything.” Angel: “Just enough to get her k*lled.” Wesley: “Well, we’ll just have to see that doesn’t happen.” Angel: “Exactly. (Hands him a police scanner) Once you hook this up, she finds something, we’ll know about it.” Wesley: “Where did you get the police radio?” Angel: “Police car.” Wesley: “Oh dear!” Cut to Kate briefing her officers with the help of a city map. Kate: “ So lets set up patrols here and here. Anything matching the profile gets reported.” Cut to a young kid accosting people in front of a liquor store. Kid: “Excuse me, Sir, could you buy me some beer. I left my I.D at home and I can’t... (Man ignores him and enters the store) Wipe.” Sees a woman heading towards the store: “Ma’am, ma’am, could you possibly pick me up some beer? It’s for my mother, she needs...” Woman ignores him, and the kid turns away frustrated to spot a guy watching him: “Hey dude, are you old enough to buy beer?” Penn smiles at him. Cut to a cop car pulling up. They have a copy of Angel’s drawing and watch as Penn leads the kid away. Cut to Penn and the kid walking down a deserted street. Kid: “Are you sure about this man? I don’t think there is any discount liquor store over here.” Penn: “You know you remind me of a brother I once had.” Kid: “Yeah, whatever. I think we’re going nowhere here.” Penn: “Good point.” Kid turns around and Penn, in vamp face grabs and bites him, just as a bunch of police cars are closing in from all sides. Penn looks up, blood on his mouth. Officer: “You! Right there, hold it!” Penn drops the kid, runs and jumps through the boarded up second story window into a warehouse, while the cop stares in disbelief. Cut to Angel’s car. Police scanner: “All units. Backup requested at 3336 Channel Avenue. Use caution. Multiple homicide suspect believed to be on the location.” They pull up to the scene. Officer talking to Kate: “Search teams are on their way now. He went in through there. We’ve sealed the exits. The place is big, but we’ll find him.” The kid is being wheeled away on a stretcher, shaken but alive. Kate pulls her g*n: “I’m going in.” Angel spots a drain pipe on the side of the building and backs up to park the car. He and Wesley get out. Angel: “Meet you back here.” He takes a hold of the pipe and scales up it as if it were nothing. Cut to the inside of the warehouse. Kate is slowly walking up some stairs, enters a big room. She hears footsteps and aims her g*n at Penn who is coming down some wooden steps. Kate: “Don’t move! – Do not move, I will f*re!” Penn keeps walking and she sh**t him three times in the chest. He falls to land motionless at the bottom of the stairs. Kate slowly walks over to him, her g*n trained on his chest, and reaches down one hand to check for a pulse. When she doesn’t find one she holsters her g*n and takes out her radio to report in. Penn reaches up and grabs her by the front of her shirt. Penn: “Ouch.” He throws her across the room. She tries to pick herself up as he slowly saunters towards her. Suddenly a figure drops through the floor above to land between them in a cloud of dust. Angel briefly looks to make sure Kate is all right then turns to face Penn. Penn: “Angelus? (Laughs) Angelus! (Claps him on the arms) My God! It’s been a life time!” Angel: “At least.” Penn: “We were to meet in Italy, remember?” Angel: “I remember.” Penn smiling: “Well, I waited. (Kate crawls towards her radio) Hell, I waited until the 19th century. What happened?” Angel: “Got held up in Romania.” Penn: “Romania. What’s in Romania?” Angel: “Gypsies.” Kate quietly to the radio: “Request assistance. Full tactical units. Second floor, southwest corner.” Penn claps Angel on the shoulder and motions towards Kate: “Hmm. Join me for a drink.” Angel: “That’s not why I’m here.” Kate to radio: “Request assistance, suspect sighted...” Penn: “Yeah, why are you here?” Angel morphs into vamp face as Kate stares in disbelief: “To k*ll you.” They fight, both in vamp face, and it is one doozy of a fight. Kate scoots back against the wall while they throw each other around, watching speechless. Angel throws Penn through a plaster wall and turns to yell at Kate: “Go, Kate! Get out of here! - Kate, go!” Penn comes sh**ting back through the hole and tackles Angel. Both roll quickly back to their feet. Penn: “You know its name? Angelus, what happened to you?” Angel swings at Penn, but he ducks, grabs Angel’s arm and twists it behind his back. Angel: “People change.” Penn: “We’re not people!” Penn throws Angel into Kate, who has her g*n aimed at them. By the time Angel gets back up, Penn has disappeared. Kate stares up at his vamp face. Radio: “Lockley. Lockley, where are you?” Cut to later. Angel is back in human face. There are officers combing the warehouse. Kate: “I sh*t him three times. I know I did. And he got up. (Angel steps towards her and she pulls her g*n and aims it point blank at his chest) If I pull this trigger, are you going to get up, too? (Angel just looks at her) What are you?” Angel: “You already know the answer, Kate. (She slowly puts her g*n down and Angel walks past her) Details have been left out of the press reports. Something you held back. Isn’t that right?” Kate: “What do you know about it?” Angel: “Puncture wounds. The victims have all been drained of their blood, haven’t they?” Kate: “And should I trust you more, or less because you happen to know that?” Angel: “You’re not going to stop him, Kate, not like this.” Kate: “What do you mean?” Angel: “It’s going to take direct sunlight, decapitation, - or a stake through the heart.” Kate turns away: “You’re telling me children’s stories.” Angel: “I’m telling you the truth.” Kate spins back: “No. I don’t believe you.” Angel: “I know you don’t. Even after what you saw you won’t let yourself, which is why you’ll lose.” Kate: “I’ve heard enough.” Angel closes his fist around the cross dangling from her necklace and she gasps at the sound of his flesh sizzling: “No, you haven’t heard a word, and you won’t. Not now, not yet. (She looks down at the smoke rising from his fist) Because there are some things in this world you’re just not ready to face.” Angel walks off and she stares after him. Cut to Kate sitting in the briefing room, staring at the picture on the wall. An officer brings in some old records. Officer: “Here is everything with that MO dating back as far as I could find. So, you think this guy is a copy-cat and a history buff?” Kate: “Something like that.” Kate looks at some old newspaper headlines. One of them reads ‘Vampire k*ller Strikes Again in Garment District’. Cut to Cordy getting up from behind her desk. Cordy: “So, you’ve discovered the seamy underbelly of the candy coated America, have you? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Here at Angel Investigations we won’t judge, but we will charge. Now, if you only tell me how you heard of us.” Penn: “From the police actually.” Cordy: “Really?” Penn: “Yeah. The Detective I spoke with was very enthusiastic. For the truly human touch, she said, (Gets up from his chair) I should come to you.” Cordy: “Oh good. (Frowns as she sees the dark overcoat hanging over the back of his chair) Is it cold out there?” Penn: “I’m trying to remember her name. What – what was it? She is about yea tall, attractive, natural blonde?” Cordy: “Oh yeah, Kate! Detective Lockley.” Penn: “Lockley. - Yes, that’s it.” Cordy: “Yeah, she and Angel are totally tight.” Penn: “So, she is more than just a professional relationship then. He cares for her.” Cordy: “Oh, yeah. More than he knows. But that’s our Angel, dour, sure, but not afraid to get personally involved in his work. And you’re totally pumping me for information, aren’t you?” Penn: “Yeah.” Cordy: “Oh crap. You’re him. He. The guy. Apt pupil boy.” Penn: “You realize you’ll never make it to the exit before I...” Cordy pulls up the blinds and Penn has to dodge away from the direct sunlight streaming in: “Go up like a match?” Angel walks in and sees Penn, but he is separated from him by the swath of sun shining in through the window. Penn: “Well. (Laughs) Look who’s back from his ‘up with people’ meeting.” Angel not looking away from Penn: “Give me a stake.” Cordy: “It’s like 8 in the morning. - Oh, you mean like (makes a s*ab motion), okay.” Cordy leaves to get a stake. Penn: “What? You don’t drink, so now no one gets to?” Angel: “I don’t expect you to understand.” Penn: “Oh, I – I understand. I was a Puritan, remember?” Angel: “It’s gotta end.” Penn: “Why? - Because you say so? And how does that work exactly? You just wake up one morning and decide ‘Okay, now I’m good!’ (Laughs) No, Angelus, it doesn’t end. It never, ever ends. It just goes on and on.” Cordy comes back with a stake: “That’s not the only thing that goes on and on. (Hands the stake to Angel) Here, dust him.” Angel: “I’m sorry for what I did to you, Penn, for what I turned you into.” Penn: “First class k*ller? An Artist? A bold re-interpreter of the form?” Angel: “Try cheesy hack. Look at you. You’ve been getting back at your father for over 200 years. It’s pathetic and cliched. Probably got a k*ller shrine on your wall, huh? News clippings, magazine articles, maybe a few candles? Oh, you are so prosaic.” Penn slowly retreats towards the door when it opens and Wesley walks in not seeing Penn. Wesley: “Nothing on the streets about a new vampire in town.” Cordy tries to warn him, but Penn has already grabbed Wesley from behind. Angel steps forward, but is again stopped by the sunlight streaming in through the window. Wesley in a choked voice: “Which is maybe because he’s here – and has me by the throat.” Angel: “Let him go!” Penn: “You’re right Angelus, my work was getting stale. I appreciate the critique. So look for something new, innovative, something shockingly original. Just think of the worst possible thing you can imagine, and I’ll see you there.” Penn throws Wesley at Angel, grabs his coat, covers his head with it and runs out. Cut to a bookstore called the “Ancient Eye”. Kate is looking through the shelves. Blend into Angel walking the streets at night. Blend into Penn sitting in his apartment contemplating his next move. Blend to Kate taking notes. We keep changing from one to the other. (Very Batman-like music in the background) Cut to Kate at home, still taking notes while reading through books. There is a knock on the door. Angel: “Hi. Can I come in?” Kate: “Oh, that’s right. You have to be invited in, don’t you?” Angel: “You’ve been doing your homework.” Kate: “Want to quiz me? I’m just full of fun facts. For instance, I learned that your friend has been in LA before, did you know that? Yeah, at least twice. Once in 1929 and again in 1963. Oh and there is something in Boston in 1908. I think he was there, too.” Angel: “So you believe me?” Kate: “Yes, I believe you.” Angel: “Good, because he is planning something...” Kate: “Angelus. Isn’t that what he called you? Angelus? I looked it up. It’s all right there. The demon with the face of an angel. A particularly brutal bastard by all accounts. Oh, and no, you can’t come in.” Angel: “I can’t make up for the past, Kate, I know that.” Kate: “No you can’t. In fact all of this what’s happening now, is really because of you. You made him, didn’t you?” Angel quietly: “Let me help end it, please?” Kate: “Please. Now there is a word I imagine you heard quite a lot in your time. Please... no... don’t? Thanks for the offer, but I don’t *need* your help. I know what to do. Drive a stake right through the son of a bitch’s heart. And when that happens I suggest you don’t be there. Because the next time we meet I’ll do the same to you.” Slams the door in his face. Cut to Angel’s office. Cordy is looking stuff up on the computer. Cordy: “Ha, here it is! Los Angeles Globe, 1929. ‘The Regent Gardens Hotel manager said, that the suspect seemed like a quiet, normal type. The search is ongoing.’ No kidding. What are we looking for exactly?” Angel: “I don’t know yet.” Wesley reading from an old newspaper book: “In 1963 the police tracked the k*ller to a residential hotel called the Clover Wood Apartments. By the time they made their move, he’d already fled. (He shows them the picture in the paper) They never caught him.” Cordy looks from the picture on the computer to the picture in the book: “It’s the same place. New name and a face lift. Not the first time that’s happened in this town.” Angel: “Huh, good old predictable Penn.” Cut to Angel and Wesley entering Penn’s Hotel room. Wesley jumps in with a stake in his hand while Angel just walks in. Wesley: “Oh, I invite you in.” Angel: “Relax. That’s only for humans. Breaking and entering another vampire’s lair isn’t a problem.” Wesley: “Oh. Right.” Angel looks around: “He’s not here.” Wesley sighs: “So what then, we wait? Raid the icebox and try to think of the worst possible thing we can imagine?” Angel picks up some photos of a school bus from the table: “Stop imagining.” Wesley comes over, sees the photos, the bus route traced on a map and a Parker Middle School Fall Bus schedule laying on the table. Wesley: “Good Lord. All those school children.” Angel: “He’s finally changing his act.” Cut to the briefing room at the precinct. Kate: “All right, listen up. (Holds up a copy of Angel’s drawing of Penn) You’ve all received one of these in your briefing packets. This is the man that we’re looking for. (Holds up two pictures of Angel taking by the security cameras during Sense and Sensitivity). And this man is how we’re going to find him. He’s the way to our k*ller. His name is Angel and he’s a local private detective. We have reason to believe that our suspect will make an attempt to contact Angel, possibly as his next target.” Detective: “So we are going to stake out Angel’s place? How many men do you want?” Kate: “Lots. We’ll be working in rotating teams...” Penn: “This is a terrible likeness of me. (Kate stares as he walks into the room) Uh, the mouth, it’s all wrong!” Two detective jump him, as Kate yells “No!”. Penn throws the two men across the room as if they were puppets. Kate scrambles to get a stake out of her purse while we see just how much faster a vampire’s reactions are than those of regular people. Penn sweeps through the room easily taking out two cops on his way towards Kate. Kate’s stake drops useless on the floor as he grabs her and leaves the room using her as a shield. Cut to Wesley driving Angel’s car into the underground garage of the police station. The place is humming with activity. Wesley: “We’re in.” Angel throws aside the blanket he was hiding under. Wesley: “I don’t understand. What about the school children? Shouldn’t we be...” A cop slaps his hand on the hood of their car: “Hold it right there!” Then waves some police cars on to drive past them. Angel putting aside a yellow blanket: “He’s here.” Gets out of the car. Police scanner: “Dragnet in progress. Suspect is believed to be in the vicinity of the 12th street station. Secure area. Use caution.” Angel runs in between the police cars to a sewer cover that’s partially open. Cut to Penn dragging Kate through the sewer tunnels. Kate: “What are you going to do?” Penn: “Well, first I thought I’d stop everything and tell you my plan. Or better yet (throws her against a wall) why don’t I just show you? (Morphs into his vamp face, saunters up to her, grabs her by the neck and sniffs her cheek) Ah, smell that fear. (Laughs) Makes the blood sweeter. You know who taught me that?” Kate: “I’m not afraid to die.” Penn: “Oh, I’m not going to k*ll you. But when I’m finished, Angel will.” Angel: “Bus full of school children, Penn? You really thought I was gonna fall for that?” Kate reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls out a glass bottle as Penn’s attention is on Angel. Penn: “Well, you could have.” Angel: “Nah, - too original.” Kate splashes some Holy Water into Penn’s face. He screams and throws her to the side. The left side of his face is a mass of angry red burns. Penn: “Well, you were right about one thing, Angelus. The last 200 years has been about me sticking it to my father. But I’ve come to realize something – it’s you! (He jumps up and kicks Angel in the stomach) You made me! (Kicks him in the face, then double fists him a couple of times) You taught me! (Angel drops to the floor and Penn jumps on his back) You approved of me in ways my mortal father never did! You are my real father, Angelus.” Angel gets up, holding Penn up above his head: “Fine! (Slams him into the ground) You’re grounded.” They fight on (and there are some nifty moves going on) while Kate looks around for a w*apon to use. She picks up a broken board, but Penn kicks it out of her hand, then hits her in the face. Before he can do more, Angel pulls him off Kate. They continue fighting, while Kate reclaims her piece of wood. Penn walks up one wall with Angel holding him from behind, flips over Angel’s head and lands behind him, holding him in a double nelson. Penn: “You forget your own lessons, old teacher: Never give up the advantage, remember?” Angel looks at Kate standing in front of them with a long piece of wood in her hands. Penn: “Living among them has made you *weak*! (Angel keeps looking at Kate, not even trying to break free) It sickens me to think that there was a time where you would have done whatever was necessary.” We get a close up of Angel’s face, a close up of the tip of the piece of wood, panning up to Kate’s face, close up of Angel’s eyes, close on Kate’s face, back on Angel’s eyes. Then we see Kate ram the piece of wood through Angel’s stomach and up into Penn’s heart. Angel gasps in pain while Penn turns to dust. Angel gasping and staring at the half of the board still sticking out of his stomach: “You missed.” Kate wide eyed: “No I didn’t.” She grabs the board and pulls it back out and Angel collapses cradling his stomach and gasping from the pain. Kate sinks down to the floor a few feet away from him. Cut to Angel sitting on the roof of their building looking out over the lights of the city. Cordy walks up to him wearing a wool poncho and leans on the embrasure next to him. Cordy: “If your wondering why this vein on my temple is doing the cha-cha, it’s because I just had one of those bone-crunching, mind-splitting vision headaches. (Angel looks at her then back away. Cordy hands him a piece of paper) New job.” Angel takes it: “I was just thinking about how much this place is like where I grew up.” Cordy looks out on the city: “Right. - Yeah. I could see that, except for the cars, and the buildings and the, you know, everything else.” Angel: “It’s not so different. People moving through their lives. I wonder if anything ever really changes.” Cordy: “Sure it does. - They do. (Looks over at him) You have. - They were just dreams, Angel. They weren’t even your dreams. They didn’t mean anything.” Angel: “But I enjoyed it.” Cordy: “It’d probably be okay if you never mentioned that part ever again.” Angel: “It’s still in me, Cordelia.” Cordy: “Sure it’s in you. We all have *something*. But it’s not the only thing that’s in you. You’re not him, Angel. Not anymore. The name I got in my vision, the message didn’t come for Angelus, it came for you. Angel. And you have to trust that whoever that The Powers That Be be, - are, - is.. anyway, - they know the difference.” Angel: “Yeah.” Cordy: “People really *do* change.” Angel: “Yes they do. (Gets off the embrasure and stands next to Cordy) And sometimes they change back. - If the day ever comes that I...” Cordy: “Oh, I’ll k*ll you d*ad!” Angel blinks: “Thanks.” Cordy turns to go: “What are friends for?” Angel follows her a half-smile on his face.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x11 - Somnambulist"}

foreverdreaming

Angel: “You’ve had vision.” Cordy: “Boy! Howdy! – Doyle kissed me just before he died and he passed it on to me!” Cordy in her new apartment.. Cordy: “I’m not giving up this apartment!” Angel: “It’s haunted!” Cordy: “It’s rent controlled!” Cordy talking to Aura in the phone: “Yeah, I have a room-mate, but it’s cool. I never see him. (Her can of rootbeer slides across the end-table and Cordy covers up the receiver) Hey! Phantom Dennis, put that back!” Night, the office. Cordelia is putting on some lipstick using one of the lobby windows as a mirror. Angel: “You look nice.” Cordy jumps and spins around, then looks back at her reflection in the window. There is a streak of lipstick from the corner of her mouth halfway up her cheek. Cordy pulls out a tissue: “And now I look like the Joker.” Angel: “Sorry.” Cordy fixes her lipstick: “Hopefully I’m still too young and carefree for a heart att*ck. Would it k*ll you to hum a little tune when sneaking up on people?” Angel looking at a file: “I don’t hum. I’m confused here. Why is Mrs. Bensen filed under ‘P’?” Cordy: “That’s not a ‘P’ that’s an ‘F’. Or is it an ‘R’?” Angel: “I don’t know. Maybe we can be a little less - young and carefree with the filing?” Cordy: “Oh, it’s an ‘F’. I remember now.” Angel blinks and scratches his neck: “All right, so... (Chuckles) Why is it Mrs. Bensen is filed under ‘F’?” Cordy: “Because she is from France. – Remember what a pain she was?” Angel: “Yeah. It made me what to drink a lot.” Cordy: “Well, that’s the French for you.” Wesley walks into the office: “Hello. I was just in the neighborhood, patrolling with my new Bavarian fighting axe (Holds up an axe), when I suddenly thought ‘perhaps Cordelia has had a vision’, perhaps you need my help in the battle against evil.” Angel: “We seem to be evil free at the moment.” Wesley: “I also packed along a ‘Word Puzzle 3-D’ if either of you has the nerve to take me on.” Cordy: “Gee, Wesley, I’d love to, but unlike you, I’m not in my 80s quite yet.” Wesley: “If shaking your booty at the latest trendy hot spot is your idea of a life, then call me... (Two glamorous girls walk in) ...sick with envy.” Sarina to Wesley: “Hi. I’m Sarina. Nice axe.” Wesley laughs: “Uh, ah, no, this old thing...” Wesley swings the axe around and embeds it in the wall beside him. Angel looks at him, then over at Sarina, but doesn’t say anything. Sarina to Cordy: “We’re late. Wilson practically had to have phone sex with the manager at Lounge La Brea to get us in.” Cordy turns around: “Okay, okay. How do I look?” Sarina: “Like you always do. Wilson won’t be able to take his eyes off of you.” Angel: “Who’s Wilson?” Sarina: “Christopher.” Angel looking at Cordy who turns away: “Christopher Wilson.” Emily: “Wilson Christopher.” Wesley: “No. The ethno-archeologist from Brandies?” Sarina: “The fashion photographer from LA who’s been seeing Cordelia. Third times the charm. (Turns towards Wesley) And that Hugh Grant thing is really starting to work for me.” Angel walks over to Cordy: “So, ahem (chuckles) You’ve been seeing someone. How come I didn’t know?” Cordy: “Because I’m ashamed of you. Not to mention how you’d embarrass me by giving him the third degree.” Emily: “Your boss could give me the third degree anytime.” Sarina to Emily: “You’re a sucker.” Cordelia puts a hand to her forehead and drops to the floor behind the desk. Angel quickly knocks some letters to the floor: “Ah, Cordelia, grab that file. Sorry.” Wesley runs over and starts to gather the letters: “Oh, not to worry. Heh, heh, whoopsie.” Angel turns to the two girls standing between them and the desk: “So, La Brea. Sounds like that could be an evening (Wesley straightens up and stands next to Angel) with all sorts of evening type... I - I heard the bands there are...” Sarina: “They don’t have any bands.” Angel: “Which I like. Because if it’s too loud...” Emily amused: “Want to come?” Angel: “Oh, I think I may be busy.” Cut to Cordy writhing on the floor. We get a flash of her vision. Angel: “Beside, ah, I, uhm, I don’t lounge all that well.” Wesley laughs: “Good one! Oh, yes. No, he’s ah, he’s no lounger (puts an arm around Angel) this one.” Sarina to Emily: “The good ones are always gay. (Wesley lets go of Angel) Cor, tick, tock.” Cordelia pulls herself back to her feet and Angel turns towards her. Angel: “So, that client I’m supposed to be meeting tonight, what’s he like again?” Cordy: “Like a big baby (flash to her vision) hatching from a big egg with really large hands, in need of a manicure. (Writes an address on a piece of paper and hands it to Angel) You’re meeting him here. Okay.” Sarina as the three girls leave the office: “Are my girls ready to party?” Wesley as Angel goes to get his coat: “I don’t suppose you need any help, slaying the big baby creature, do you? Not that an evening alone with word puzzle isn’t plenty exhilarating in it’s own right. (Angel passes him and hands him the address. Wesley looks at it a big grin spreading over his face) Right.” Wesley hurries after Angel then turns back to sling his bag over his shoulder and try to pull the axe from the wall. Angel watches from the lobby through one of the windows as Wesley pulls the axe free, falling to the floor in the process. Cut to Wesley looking at the address on the paper, 23 Cabrillo. He lowers the paper to reveal a mail box with that address. Angel pulls out a sword and Wesley has the axe in his right hand and a loaded crossbow in his left as they walk up the steps to the door. Angel nods at him. Wesley kicks in the door and jumps through it w*apon held at the ready. Angel tries to follow but bounces off an invisible wall. Wesley to an older couple sitting watching TV: “Don’t move a muscle. – Demon spawn! (The man blinks at him) Cowards, don’t make me thrash it out of you. Where do you lay your eggs? In the cellar?” Angel looks over at the neighboring house and sees the thing from Cordy’s vision hatching through one of the windows: “Wesley...” Wesley: “In the bedroom?” Angel: “Yeah, that’s right, termites lay their eggs anywhere, such as next door.” Angel motions to the next house. Wesley backs up and looks out through the door, w*apon still trained on the older couple, who are just sitting there looking at him. Wesley lowers his w*apon: “Oh.” Angel: “And we fight termites, where ever they may roam.” Angel and Wesley leave, then Wesley turns back to the older couple: “Sorry about the door.” Intro. We see the bedroom window from the outside. There is orange slime spattered on the glass. We hear the demon baby scream and the sounds of Angel’s sword and Wesley’s axe. We see shadows of Wesley and Angel fighting the thing. One of them gets thrown against the wall next to the window and the plaster on the outside breaks. Camera pans over to the closed door and we see Wesley flying through it with a scream. He picks himself up, axe still in hand and runs up the stairs and back in through the broken door. Wesley: “You’ll pay for that.” More sounds of fighting, then Angel steps through the door spattered with gore, sword in one hand, sheath in the other. Wesley follows him, looking disheveled, and also spattered with gore. Wesley: “That was bracing.” Angel wipes his sword off on his sleeve: “Yeah. Baby just hatched. Wouldn’t want to run into him when he grows up and gets his drivers license.” Wesley laughs: “And thank you very much, Cordelia, for sending us to the wrong house. Another five minutes and that thing would have been loose in the world.” Angel sheathes his sword: “Huh, well, it all worked out.” Wesley: “This time. (Looks back at the broken door) Maybe we should clean up...(turns back to Angel) You think a Tahval demon leaves a hefty security deposit?” Angel turns to go: “I’m sure of it.” Wesley: “Well, it’s not my place, Cordelia works for you, but she doesn’t seem to be paying attention to her duties lately.” Angel: “She’s had a lot to deal with. I mean, Doyle’s death, inheriting his visions, she’s young. She’s still trying to find her way in the world.” Wesley: “But we’re not in the world. Demon hunters like us have a higher calling.” Angel motions with a finger to his cheek: “You, uh...” Wesley mirrors his motion and wipes some gook of his cheek: “Thanks. I mean, no one is more fond about Cordelia than I, but if she wants to go gad-abouting with those doxies...” Angel walks past him with a smile: “I think they liked you.” Wesley follows him: “Really! I – I didn’t mean doxy in the sexual promiscuous sense, exactly. I – I... You don’t think sticking the axe in the wall put them off?” Angel as they walk by a lady in a bathrobe with curlers in her hair: “That was charming.” Wesley: “What about the fact that they thought we were gay?” Angel: “Adds mystery.” Cut to the La Brea Lounge. Bartender hands Sarina a drink: “Here you go.” Sarina: “Thanks.” Bartender: “Don’t mention it.” Sarina: “I won’t. But I’ll tip for it. (Turns to a guy) Jason, mullah.” Jason smiles at her and hands her a bill. Sarina hands it to the bartender. Jason: “I’m not saying it was worthy of a kiss.” Sarina kissed Jason as Emily comes over. Emily: “I’m bored.” Sarina: “Emily, do you know what it takes to get in here?” Emily: “Still bored.” Sarina: “Well, Cordy’s not.” Camera pans to show Cordy and Wilson sitting on a couch talking. Wilson: “So you left Sunnydale and came to LA. What was that like?” Cordy: “Like skydiving without a parachute (Wilson chuckles) except for the smashing your body to bits part. - Actually, no, it was like that, too. Oh, and that guy that was supposed to be here when you arrive...” Wilson: “The guy?” Cordy: “With the big bag of fame and fortune.” Wilson: “Oh, that guy.” Cordy: “So, what happened to him?” Wilson: “He comes and goes. He’s sort of fleeting that way.” Cordy: “Well, if you see him will you tell him to fleet my way?” Wilson laughs and nods: “Thank you.” Cordy: “For what?” Wilson: “For making me *not* hate dating. – Sarina is really something. I’m going to send her flowers (Cordy looks at him) for introducing you to me.” Cordy: “I knew that. (Laughs) God, for the first time I like LA. In high school I knew my place and, okay, it was a haughty place, and may be I was a *tad* shallow.” Wilson: “Oh, hey, nobody feels like they belong here. I mean that’s the point of LA to make you feel as insecure as possible.” Cordy: “You don’t feel that way.” Wilson: “Sure I do.” Cordy: “Right. You’re doing what you came to LA to do. You’re photographing all these gorgeous, famous people. Where is the insecure?” Wilson: “In the pictures, which are further proof that everybody is having a real life, except me. I’m the guy behind the camera, watching and recording life, not – living it - each and every moment – like you.” Cordy: “Wow, I’m living life? Look at me.” Wilson: “Look at you.” Cut to Cordy unlocking the door to her apartment. Cordy: “Well, here we are. (Turns around in the open door) Thank you for the club, and for driving me home, and listening to my entire life’s story. I think I may have left out a couple of weeks in early 1987, but...” Wilson: “I had a great time, and you didn’t talk too much. I want to know everything about you.” Cordy: “Me, too. I mean, about you, not... because I already know (Wilson steps over the threshold) about me...” Cordy trails off as he kisses her. Wilson: “Call you tomorrow?” Cordy: “Uhm, you don’t have to...” Wilson laughs: “Call you?” Cordy: “Go home? I mean, right away? It’s still early (Wilson looks at his watch) in Australia. (They laugh) Will you come in?” Wilson walks in and looks around: “Nice.” Cordy closes the door and dims the lights: “Yeah, compared to my old apartment, it’s Buckingham Place.” Wilson: “You live alone, right?” The lights go bright again. Cordy goes to turn them back down: “In the sense that I’m the only one living here that’s actually alive.” Wilson: “That was a yes, I think.” Cordy as the lights brighten again: “Wiring. Old buildings.” Wilson: “Well, no worries. Besides I – I like looking at you.” Cordy: “Look the truth is that my dating game skills are kind of rusty. You’re the first person I’ve had over in a long... well, - ever. (They laugh) So, I’m open to suggestions.” Wilson: “Music?” Cordy: “Right. Music.” She turns the radio on but it switches from the mellow music that was playing to some rousing Polka. Wilson: “That’s some jaunty Polka.” Cordy laughs as she reaches back to turn the radio back off. Wilson: “Oh, I know, I know, the wiring.” Cordy laughs: “How about some tea?” Wilson: “That be great.” Cordy: “Okay.” Cordy once she gets into the kitchen: “All right, Dennis, *knock it off*! This is the one guy, I’ve actually liked in a long time, and if you keep k*lling the mood, I’ll k*ll *you*! (Gets the teakettle) All right, empty thr*at, you being a ghost and already d*ad and all. (Fills the kettle with water and sets it on the stove) But I’ll do something *worse*! I’ll play ‘Evita’ around the clock. (Puts her hands on her hips) The one with *Madonna*!” Wilson walks up behind her: “Who are you talking to?” Cordy spins around: “Uhm...my ghost. I have a ghost. He’s jealous. (Grimaces and laughs) Kidding. The apartment’s great, but things are always breaking and, uhm, and I have no one to complain to, so sometimes *just* to keep myself company I talk to myself.” Wilson leans forward and kisses her. When he pulls back Cordy stares at him for a moment then leans in and kisses him. Cut to the darkened bedroom and more kissing. Then they are laying on the bed and we get still more kissing and a glimpse of a bare back. Cut to Cordy waking up the next morning. Cordy turns around: “Wilson?” The bed beside her is empty and she reaches for the alarm clock. It’s 10:47 am. Cordy pushing herself up: “Uh-oh, somebody is going to be late for work.” She pushes the blanket aside and stares at her hugely pregnant belly. Cut to Cordy sitting up dressed in bed. Cut to Angel and Wesley walking up to Cordy’s door (they are under some kind of roof, so no direct sunlight). Angel: “What time is it?” Wesley: “Quarter past noon.” Angel: “I left two messages, she should have called back. (Bangs his fist on her door) Cordelia!” Wesley: “Maybe she unplugged her phone. Or she slept somewhere else. (Wesley turns to go) Well, I guess we should... (Angel turns the knob, breaking the lock and walks in) break down her door and trespass.” Angel looks around the apartment: “Cordelia? -I’m getting a bad feeling here.” Wesley closes the door: “I thought it was just me.” Angel: “This isn’t like her.” Wesley: “Avoiding her responsibilities? Lately it seems quite like her. (Angel opens the bedroom door) I’m sure it’ll all work out once we...(The door swings open and we see them stare at Cordy sitting up in bed) Mother of God.” Cordy not looking at them: “Angel?” Angel comes in: “It’s alright. We’re here.” Cordy: “I’m ready to wake up now. I - I don’t seem to be - waking up. - Help me.” Angel sits down on the edge of the bed: “We’re going to. What do you remember?” Cordy close to crying: “Well, we went to the club. And Wilson and I just sort of hid out on this couch and we talked and talked and then he drove me home and I asked him in. – He was really nice. And we ah, - you know? - It was normal. He was normal and it was safe, it was - it was all really safe!” Angel: “Shh, shh. It’s okay. Have you talked to Wilson?” Cordy: “No. I haven’t talked to anyone. What would I say to him? ‘I had a really great time. I think you left something at my place’? I don’t think this is right.” Angel reaches for her cordless phone and holds it out to her: “What ever is happening to you, he may have some answers.” Cordy: “I can’t.” Angel: “Just dial his number and I’ll talk to him.” Cordy takes the phone and dials: “Oh, God. I’m being punished.” Wesley: “You’re certainly not being punished. This is... We’ll get to the bottom of it.” Angel takes the phone and hears: “The number you have reached has been disconnected, there is no new number at this time.” Angel hangs up: “He’s not answering right now. I want you to rest, and we’re going to handle this. Hey! You’re not alone.” Cordy looking at her belly: “That’s sort of the problem, isn’t it? (Angel and Wesley look at each other) Could you - just leave me alone for now?” Angel gets up: “We’re going to be right outside.” He and Wesley leave and close the door. The box of tissues floats up from the night stand and one of the tissues floats over to Cordy who takes it, blows her nose and blots at her eyes. The blanket moves up to her neck and Cordy sighs. Cut to Angel hanging up the phone: “Thanks.” Wesley: “Any luck with your contact?” Angel: “Wilson’s home and business phones have been disconnected, no unlisted numbers, no forwarding addresses, no criminal record.” Wesley: “Well, that’s something.” Angel sighs: “I’m guessing it’s some kind of procrea-parasitic demon.” Wesley: “Hmm, a demon who can only reproduce by implanting a human woman with its seed. Yes, I’ve heard of such entities. - The human mothers...” Angel: “Rarely survive labor, and the ones that do, wish they hadn’t.” Wesley: “If she’s that pregnant in one night, she could give birth at any moment.” Angel: “We have to move fast. You’re gonna have to see what’s inside her.” Wesley shocked: “I beg your pardon?” Angel with a smile: “Pre-natal exam, Wesley.” Wesley: “Oh, of course. And what about you?” Angel: “I’m going to find Daddy.” Cut to the La Brea Lounge. Angel walks up to the bar and clears his throat. Bartender: “I didn’t see you.” Angel: “I get that a lot.” Bartender: “What can I get you?” Angel: “I need some help.” Bartender: “I’m kind busy.” Angel: “Yeah, I know. I won’t take much of your time. A friend of mine was here last night. Her name is Cordelia. Big smile, really pretty?” Bartender: “Yeah, we get a lot of that.” Angel pulls out some money and lays it on the bar. Bartender: “What’s this?” Angel looks down at the bill under his hand then back up at the guy: “Probably an insult. I’m guessing that you’re serving drinks day and night to jerks that think that they can buy anything.” Bartender comes around the bar: “Yeah, that be a good guess.” Angel: “One of those jerks hurt my friend. I need to find him, fast.” Bartender: “Who was it?” Angel: “Wilson Christopher. (Bartender nods) Look, I want to know who his friends are, where they hang...” Bartender: “Pretty much where ever Sarina tells them to.” Angel: “Sarina.’ Bartender: “Yeah. You know her?” Angel: “Yeah.” Bartender: “They travel in packs. The guys have the money, the girls have the pretty. The girls decide what club’s the flavor of the month and Sarina rules the girls.” Angel turns to go: “Thanks.” Bartender: “So, you’re her boyfriend?” Angel: “No. I’m family.” Cut to a hospital by Pershing Square. Cut to the waiting room. Pregnant woman to Cordy: “Do you know what it is? (Cordy looks at her in shock) Boy or girl?” Wesley comes to sit down next to Cordy: “Shouldn’t be long. (Leans forward and whispers) I told them that it was rather urgent.” Woman: “You’re carrying low. I bet it’s...” She reaches over towards Cordy and Cordy jumps in her chair freaked: “Shut up! Don’t touch me!” Cut to the doctor examining Cordy: “You’re what, eight and a half months along?” Wesley aside to Cordy: “Feels like only yesterday, doesn’t it?” Doctor: “Well, I see you left a lot of blanks on the patient information form. It would help to have the name of your previous doctor.” Cordy: “You’re the only doctor we’ve been to...” Wesley jumps in: “in California. We just moved here from England.” Doctor: “Lovely country. So, how are you feeling?” Cordy: “I’m as big as a house, everything hurts, I...” Doctor: “That’s all normal at this stage. And once your little one comes out, which will probably be in no time, you’ll feel a lot better.” Cordy: “God, it’s a nightmare.” The doctor and the nurse stare at Cordy. Wesley takes Cordy’s hand: “Hold on.” Doctor: “All right, Mrs. Penborn, why don’t you lie back and see what’s baking in the oven?” Cordy lies back with a sigh and the doctor and the nurse start the ultra sound. Doctor: “Have you folks settled on a name yet? It’s the hardest part for a lot of people. (Wesley standing next to Cordy giving her a reassuring smile. Doctor looks at the monitor) Hmm, looks like somebody is having twins.” Cordy and Wesley: “Twins?!?” Doctor still looking at the screen: “No, there is a third heartbeat.” Nurse stares: “There is another one.” Wesley goes to look over the doctor’s shoulder. Doctor: “Five... six (Cordy stares at her belly and shakes her head) oh, my God!” Cordy: “What is it? What’s wrong?” Doctor: “I – I’m sure it’s nothing. But I - I’d like to withdraw - a little of the amniotic fluid just, just to make sure that everything is, ah... shipshape. (Cordy narrows her eyes at him) So, nurse, if you would prep Mrs. Penborn right away?” Wesley stares at the screen then looks over at Cordy. Cut to Angel stepping out of an elevator in to a dimly lit hallway. He walks up to a door and knocks. Angel: “Sarina?” Sarina: “Just leave it outside.” Angel: “Sarina, it’s Angel, Cordelia’s friend. Can I come in?” Sarina: “Okay.” Angel walks in and looks around: “Sarina?” The apartment is dark lit only by some candles. Angel walks further and sees Sarina with her back to him lighting another candle. Angel: “Sarina?” Sarina still with her back to him: “The light hurts my eyes lately.” Angel: “I know the feeling.” Sarina: “I thought you were the liquor store. (Lifts a bottle to her lips) I’m almost dry. (Drinks) I know what you’re thinking. I shouldn’t, right? (Turns around. She is as pregnant as Cordy) It’ll hurt the baby? (Looks at her belly) I hope!” Cut to the clinic. Doctor syringe in hand: “I need to tell you that there is a point 5% chance of miscarriage from the procedure. Now, it’s a very small risk...” Cordy: “I’ll take it.” Doctor: “Now, you’ll feel a pinch. Just count backwards from five, and we’ll be done.” Cordy: “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 1 – 1 – 1!” The doctor withdraws the needle and stares at the fluid: “All done. (Hands it to the nurse) Now, that wasn’t too bad, was it? Now we’ll just run a few tests...” The nurse turns back around staring at the syringe in horror: “Dr. Wasserman?” The syringe cracks and the nurse drops it and jumps back with a scream. Doctor looks at the syringe on the floor as the fluid starts to eat through the floor: “This is, uhm... (he and the nurse leave the room) Excuse me.” Wesley bends down to get a closer look at the hole in the floor then looks over at Cordy, his mouth hanging open. Cordy: “You saw what’s inside of me?” Wesley: “I think we should find Angel.” Cordy: “Wesley, please just tell me!” Wesley doesn’t look at her: “Cordelia...” Cordy: “Do they look healthy?” Wesley stares at her. Cut to Angel and Sarina. Sarina: “It’s like it’s not real, but it is. Right? It’s really happening?” Angel blinks: “It’s real. It’s happening to Cordelia, too.” Sarina: “Oh, God. - I can’t reach Jason. He’s gone.” Angel: “So is Wilson.” Sarina sits down on a couch: “I didn’t know this would happen.” Angel: “But you knew something.” Sarina: “Yeah, I knew, I knew, I knew the guys, - Jason and Nick, and then Wilson wanted to meet Cordelia. I don’t know. (Sighs) I knew something wasn’t right. Their money...” Angel: “What about their money?” Sarina: “It’s stupid. It kind of - smelled. (Sighs) I mean, *really* smelled. And sometimes the guys were like - jumpy. But this town, - you know? Everything is fake. Things are weird and you stop asking questions. - You sure this is really happening?” Angel sits down on the edge of the table in front of her: “Do you have someone you can call?” Sarina: “I Call?” Angel: “Family.” Sarina shakes her head: “No. No one. The guys seemed like they liked that. Wilson asked about Cordelia and I told him that she didn’t have anybody either.” Angel: “Sarina, where can I find...” Sarina bends forward and screams. Blends into Cordy leaning forward and screaming. Wesley holds her as they ride down in the elevator to Angel’s apartment. Wesley leads her out: “It’s all going to work out. You’ll see, everything’s going to be just fine.” Cordy: “I know it will be.” Wesley leads her into Angel’s bedroom: “There’s a brave girl. I’m sure Angel won’t mind if you rest in here. Just relax, get comfortable, well, ah, ha ,ha, as comfortable as is possible at any rate. (He covers her up with a blanket) Should you need anything, anything at *all*... I’ll just...” Cordy looks hard at him: “You’re afraid.” Wesley: “What?” Cordy: “You’re afraid of what’s inside of me. You think it’s horrible. You think that I won’t be able to handle it. That if I find out, I’ll do something - bad.” Wesley: “Cordelia, the truth is I haven’t yet formulated a theory. I need time to analyze the ultrasound and weigh the data, and - and the moment there is anything concrete to report...” Cordy rubbing her belly: “There is 7 of them. There is 7 of his children – growing inside of me. They are talking to me. They’re talking all at once. (To her belly) I can’t understand.” Wesley sits down on the edge of the bed: “Cordelia, I know how difficult this must be for you...” Cordy: “No! You don’t know.” Wesley: “All right.” Cordy whispers: “You don’t know what it’s like to be a partner in creation.” Wesley: “I - I – I just meant...” Cordy: “Wesley...” Wesley: “Yes?” Cordy whispers: “They’re not human.” Wesley whispers: “I imagine that’s true.” Cordy: “But, I mean... that could be okay, right? I mean, look at Angel. He’s not human. And Doyle, he wasn’t either...” Wesley: “Shh. Shh.” Cordy: “I mean, not totally. (Whispers) He was good.” Wesley blots her forehead with a handkerchief: “Shh. Shh.” Cordy sinks back into the cushions and closes her eyes with a sigh. Wesley pulls the blanket up to her chin, looks at her for a moment. He turns away to find Angel standing in the door to the bedroom. They look at each other for a moment then Wesley follows Angel into the main apartment. Wesley: “Any luck locating Wilson?” Angel: “Not yet. But I did find Cordelia’s friend Sarina. She’s a victim, too. As big as Cordelia. Wilson’s rich buddies are in on it. (Starts flipping through a phone book) Four of them, maybe more, I don’t know how many women they’ve impregnated.” Wesley shows him a piece of paper: “And it’s worse than you know. The ultra sound results. Seven heartbeats, at least, maybe more. And with multiple pregnancies…” Angel: “Someone is raising an army.” Wesley: “An army of what?” Angel: “Good question. We need to find the demon fathers.” Wesley sees what section of the yellow pages Angel is looking at: “g*n clubs? g*n can k*ll them? Well, I say, that makes it easier.” Angel: “Sarina said Wilson and his buddies hang out at some private g*n club. g*n and Cigars. She doesn’t know where exactly. While I find them you should be narrowing down the species. Maybe we can figure out a way to terminate this without hurting her.” Wesley: “And if we can’t?” Angel rips out a page and sighs: “Then we need to know what to do once they’re born.” Wesley follows Angel out of the living room: “Yes, well, it mustn’t come to that. The odds of her even surviving are...” They stop as the enter the kitchen area and see Cordy standing in front of the open refrigerator gulping down blood out of a clear container. Some of it runs down her chin. Angel swallows: “I don’t think I ever realized just how disgusting that was. Get her back to bed.” Wesley: “Yes.” Angel: “Maybe order her a pizza or something.” Wesley: “Good idea.” Angel: “Uh...” Cordy puts the half-empty container back in the fridge, wipes the blood on her mouth on her sleeve and walks past them. Cordy: “I was hungry.” Cut to Wilson sh**ting a p*stol at the g*n club. He takes his ear protection off and turns to find Angel standing behind him. Wilson takes off the safety glasses: “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that in here. (Drops out the empty magazine and puts in a new one) That’s how accidents happen.” Angel: “Speaking of accidents. I’m a friend of Cordelia Chase.” Wilson: “This is a private club. Featured word – ‘private’.” Angel: “You don’t talk to me, I’ll kick your ass. Featured word - ‘ass’.” Wilson: “Angel, right? Her boss? (Turns and points his g*n at Angel’s neck) She told me all about you, man.” Angel grabs his g*n hand, making him drop the g*n, then twists him around and wraps one arm around his throat: “Yeah, well, somehow, I doubt that. (Angel throws him against the wall) You’re human. Then you can’t be the father. (Wilson tries to get past Angel) So you and your friends are just a link. (grabs Wilson by the front of his shirt and pushes him up against a pillar) Huh? How does it work? Those things come to term, she’ll die. You do know that?” Wilson: “So? I’m not telling you anything.” Angel: “Was so hoping you’d say that.” Angel hauls back and hits Wilson with a hard right. Wilson hits back, Angel blocks and hits him again, knees him in the stomach, then drops him on the floor with a left hook. Wilson’s buddies come in just as Angel gets down to pull Wilson up and h*t him again. Nick: “Hey! Uhmm, - someone’s mommy didn’t teach him to play nice.” Wilson picks himself up: “You have no idea what you’re dealing with.” Cut to Wesley comparing the picture from the ultra sound to some engravings of a demon in one of Angel’s books using a magnifying glass. Wesley: “Eeesh!” He jumps when he looks up to see Cordy standing next to him. Cordy looking at the engraving: “That’s him, isn’t it?” She picks up the book to get a closer look. Wesley: “I ask that you not overreact. Keep in mind that oft times these 16th century engravers tended to exaggerate. (Looks worriedly at Cordy’s face) Cordelia? I - I know it seems dire, but now that we’ve identified the species, there is every chance that we will be able to stop what’s happening to you. (Cordy looks at him) That’s right. We mustn’t lose hope.” Cordy closes the book and slams it against the side of Wesley’s head. He staggers against the table. Cordy: “ You’re not going to hurt my babies. (She hits him again and he drops to the floor) No one is going to hurt *my* babies.” Cut to Angel and Wilson’s buddies at the g*n club. Angel: “You know, I’m starting to get the big picture here. You guys proxy for big daddy demon, he imbues you with his life force or whatever it is you’re implanting in these women.” Jason: “He’s trouble finding his own dates. We just - help him out a little, that’s all.” Wilson: “Shut up, Jason.” Angel: “And you get what in return, fame, money, success? That’s it, isn’t it? How else would losers like you get ahead? I mean, you’d have to become procreative surrogates for a vile demonic entity.” Jason with a smirk: “Well, mostly, I do it for the sex.” Wilson: “Welcome to Los Angeles. There are worse things to be in business with.” Angel gets right into Wilson’s face: “Where is he? Where is this demon you worship?” Wilson smiles as Nick pulls a g*n from under his sweater: “Even if we did tell you where to find him, it wouldn’t matter, since you’re about to have an accident.” Wilson pushes Angel back, catches the g*n Nick throws him and sh**t Angel three times in the chest. Angel doubles over groaning. The guys’ smirks disappear when Angel straightens up in vamp face. Angel kicking the g*n out of Wilson’s hand: “I really don’t like it when people sh**t me.” Angel proceeds to b*at the crap out of the four guys. At the end he kicks Wilson backward through a glass door then steps through after him and puts his foot on his face. Angel: “Now you’re going to tell me what I need to know.” Cut to Cordy walking into a deserted warehouse. The other pregnant girls are coming as well. They look at each other while we hear the sounds of their babies talking to them. Cut to a phone booth. Cut to the phone ringing in Angel’s apartment. Wesley pushes himself up off the floor holding his head. Cut to Angel in the phone booth digging b*ll*ts out of his chest with his fingers while he is waiting for some one to answer the phone. Cut to Wesley picking up the phone. Wesley: “Hello?” Angel: “Yeah, Wesley, it’s Angel.” Wesley picks his glasses off the floor: “Oh, Angel, thank God.” Angel: “I found Wilson. Whatever it is Cordelia is carrying around inside her, he’s not the father.” Wesley: “I know. It’s a Hacksaw beast, an inner earth demon. Oh, this is all my fault.” Angel: “How is that your fault?” Wesley: “Cordelia ran off. I tried to stop her. She became insanely protective when I identified the Hacksaw as the father of her – her, ah, (picks up the open book) I fear she may have gone off to rendezvous with it.” Angel: “She has. Miliken Industrial Park in Reseda.” Wesley: “What?” Angel: “That’s where Wilson and his friends built their shrine.” Wesley flipping through the book: “How does Cordelia know that?” Angel: “She’s telepathically linked to its unborn. That’s how it’s controlling Cordelia.” Wesley: “Of course, a psychic umbilical cord. The Hacksaw’s telepathic connection is what’s sustaining its unborn spawn.” Angel: “So, all we have to do is cut the cord.” Wesley: “We slay this demon and poof! No more evil pregnancies. Well, this is good news. We can end this without harming the women. There is just one tiny problem.” Angel: “What’s that?” Wesley reading through book: “Well, I don’t wish to use the words ‘impossible to k*ll’, but f*re won’t k*ll it, decapitation won’t, - and it’s really huge.” Angel: “Wesley, can you sh**t straight?” Wesley: “Beg your pardon?” Cut to the girls changing into white robes. Led by Cordy they walk up some steps, then down into a big vat filled with some yellow-brown liquid. Wesley steps around a corner and sees them: “Cordelia!” He walks up to the edge of the vat: “Come out of there this instant! (Looks at the other women) All of you please!” Cordy: “We don’t expect you to understand.” Wesley: “I understand. (Walks up the steps to stand on the wide concrete rim of the vat, and crouches down beside Cordy) You’ll die unless you come with me, and that is the most vile smelling filth I’ve ever had the displeasure of inhaling. Now don’t make me come in there after you.” Cordy: “We serve our master.” Wesley: “Please come before...” The ground begins to shake with thundering footsteps. They all look at the huge Hacksaw demon stepping through a hole in the wall. Demon: “Who is the interloper to think you could disturb the birth of my children? Who are you?” Wesley stands up: “Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, rogue demon hunter. (Puts up his fists) And I’m here to fight you, Sir, to the death, - preferably yours.” Demon: “You?” Wesley: “As a heathen I wouldn’t expect you to be familiar with the biblical story of David and Goliath. But I assure you it’s of particular relevance to this situation.” Demon: “You said you came here to do battle, then lets fight and be done.” Wesley looks around then slowly inches closer to the demon on the rim of the vat: “Yes, well, - as a point of courtesy, - I like to get to know my opponents, before I engage them in mortal combat. Do you, ah – do you have any hobbies?” Demon: “Enough talk. I’ll come to you.” Angel rolls a gas t*nk down a ramp drawing everyone’s attention. Angel walking down the ramp: “Sorry I’m late to the baby shower. Brought a little gift.” Angel picks up the t*nk, spins and throws it like a discus up at the Hacksaw, who catches it easily out of the air. We see a label ‘Liquid Nitrogen’ on the front of the t*nk. Wesley pulls out a g*n and sh**t a hole in the t*nk. The Hacksaw drops the t*nk and a stream of liquid nitrogen sh**t out of the hole up at him. The demon screams in the fog. The women in the vat scream, their bellies slowly deflating. Wesley and Angel stare as the demon turns into a Popsicle. The girls stop screaming. Cordy looks around then walks up the steps out of the vat. She walks up to Wesley, who backs a couple steps away from her, then grabs a big pulley hanging on a rope and swings it into the Hacksaw demon, shattering its frozen body. Cordy: “I really hate dating.” Cut to Angel’s office. Wesley is dusting Cordy’s desk and computer. The board above the coffee machine has ‘Welcome back Cordelia’ written on it. Angel walks in and drops some magazines on her desk. Angel: “She likes magazines. I got a few, you know, for when she comes back.” Wesley picks them back up: “Excuse me, I did just neaten this up for her.” The door opens and Cordy come in. Angel: “Cordelia. Hi. You look great.” Wesley: “Marvelous!” Angel: “I mean it’s only been two days. You didn’t have to come in so soon.” Wesley: “Yes, if you need more time, Angel can manage. I’ve been helping out a little... (Angel rolls his eyes up as Wesley bends over the coffee machine) ..Someone forgot to close the filter again.” Angel leans towards Cordy: “Of course if you’re ready to come back...” Cordy smiles: “I’m fine. I had this great audition today for Max Crax, you know, the little crackers?” Angel: “That’s terrific.” Wesley: “Yes.” Angel: “Because, you know, a cr*cker is something everyone can..” Wesley: “Eat.” Angel: “Eat.” Cordy with a big smile: “This producer was so nice. He said that I’m his first choice. - We’re going out to dinner tonight.” The guys look at each other. Angel: “Uh-huh, tonight?” Cordy nods without looking up from her desk. Wesley: “Well, best to get back on the horse, I suppose. If he seems...” Cordy gushing: “He is so sweet. He says that all I have to do is let him impregnate me with his demon master’s seed, and I’ve got the part. (Looks back over her shoulder and smiles at the guys, who look at each other then back at her) Guys, I appreciate all the concern, but I’m *okay*. I mean, it was an ordeal, but I got through it, - and I’m a lot stronger than those loser demon surrogates thought.” Angel: “I’m starting to learn that.” Cordy: “I learned something, too. I learned, uhm, - men are evil? Oh, wait, - I knew that. I learned that LA is full of self-serving phonies. No, - had that one down, too. Uh... sex is bad?” Angel with a smile: “We all knew that.” Cordy: “Okay. I learned that I have two people I trust absolutely with my life. - And that part’s new.” Wesley takes a deep breath, then looks away dabbing his handkerchief at his eye: “Uh, some, uh – allergies.” Cordy smiles at Angel, who looks back at her trying not to laugh.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x12 - Expecting"}

foreverdreaming

Cordy: “I am not giving up this apartment.” Angel: “It’s haunted.” Cordelia: “It’s rent controlled!” Cordelia: “I have a roommate, but it’s cool I never see him. – Phantom Dennis, put that back!” Cordelia: “Are you working with Angel?” Wesley: “I’m a roue demon hunter, now.” Cordelia: “What’s a rogue demon?” Cordelia is having a party at her place. There are a lot of people there, including Wesley, who is dancing by himself. Cordy: “Hi, Diego, - Laura.” Diego hands her a bag of ice: “Let the consumption of cold things begin.” Cordy: “Excellent. Now, are you going to behave yourself?” Diego: “Have you ever seen me at a party?” Cordy walks up to Angel: “Hi! Are you having fun?” Angel: “Sure. - This is, ah...” Cordy: “Your idea of hell?” Angel: “Actually in hell you tend to know a lot of the people. – No, I-I’m having a great time.” Cordy putting some of the ice into a bowl on the table Angel is leaning against: “Yeah? Can I get you some blood or anything?” Angel: “I’m good.” Cordy: “Okay. – Steve Paymer came, can you believe it? - David Paymer’s brother, - Steve? (Angel just looks at her. Cordy thrust the half-empty bag of ice at him and walks off) Steve!” Angel sees Wesley overbalance doing one of his dance moves and fall. Wesley picks himself back up and dances over to Angel. He grabs some of the ice out of the bowl on the table. Wesley: “I need to cool off. (Puts the ice on his forehead) Cordelia certainly knows how to throw a do. (Point to an entrée in his hand) These Mini-Reubens - with a little sauerkraut and a little swiss inside, - what mad genius brought these into the world? (Eats one) Mmm. What say a couple of brooding demon hunters start chatting up some of the fillies?” Girls walks up to them: “Hey. (Wesley chokes on his Reuben and starts coughing) Nice sweater. Hand knit?” Wesley: “Certainly not by me.” Girl: “I didn’t mean – I mean it’s a great sweater.” Wesley: “Oh, well, I-I’ll pass that on then – to the person who knit it. – I-I mean, I would, if I knew who did – but I don’t. - So I won’t pass it on to anyone, will I?” Girl: “Oh.” Walks away. Cordy: “Diego, pants on!” Laura to Angel: “So with my Masters degree in Fine Arts, I was able to launch my very own business – selling sandwiches downtown from a little cart.” Angel: “Huh.” Laura: “Yeah. I-I do see a lot of stuff on the job. – So I tell myself that I’m honing my eye.” Angel smiling: “Makes sense.” A different song comes on and Laura sets down her drink. Laura starting to make dance moves and wearing a big smile: “Oh, I *love* this. (Angel looks around) Would you - like to dance?” Camera zooms in on Angel’s eye. Flash to white, then to Angel doing some exaggerated wild dancing and making faces while Laura is staring at him with her mouth hanging open. Flash back to white and to Angel’s face. Angel: “I don’t dance.” Laura walks off with a shrug and Angel goes into Cordy’s kitchen, which is empty and leans back against the doorframe. The chair by the table moves out by itself. Angel sits down: “Hi Dennis. - How are you doing? (A can of beer floats out of the bowl of ice on the kitchen table) Hmm, still d*ad? (Can pops open and slides into Angel’s hand. He picks it up and takes a drink) I know the feeling.” Cut to a guy picking an open can of beer out of a box filled with ice and taking a drink. He looks at a coffin-like box. The label on the side says Danger – Hazardous material – Do not open. He finishes his beer as he walks out of the cooler through some strip of plastic. As he smashes the empty can he hears a strange noise coming from the direction of the cooler. It’s coming from the coffin-like box. He picks up a crow bar and opens it. There is steam and light coming from it as he looks down into it. Guy: “Holy God.” Intro Cut to Angel’s office the next morning. Cordy to Angel: “Hi.” Angel steps out of the elevator: “Good morning. Is there coffee?” Cordy: “They’re still in bean form. I - thought I ordered the ground. (Hands him a silver coffee bag) Maybe you could crush the beans with your vampire strength? Just mush the bag. (Angel looks from the bag to Cordy then back at the bag in his hands) Mush it.” Angel puts the bag down with a slight grimace: “Really, ah, fun party last night. Cordy: “I’m so glad you came. You know how parties are. You’re always worried that no one is going to suck the energy out of the room like a giant black hole of boring despair. But there you where - in the clinch!” Angel: “I didn’t... – Boring?” Cordy: “You used to be a person! Did you never party? Did people not gather in olden times?” Angel: “I talked to people. - Laura.” Cordy: “Laura thought you hated her. I had to tell her you were challenged.” Angel: “I don’t hate her. I-I got to modes with people: bite and avoid. Hard to shift. Plus, I can’t get to close. I mean, with women...” Cordy: “You can be nice. I mean, it’s not like Laura is going to throw you down on the living room floor and tear off all of your... - Well, actually, Laura...” Angel: “I’ll try harder. - Still, I mean, the quiet, reserved – thing, don’t you think it makes me kind of – I don’t know, cool?” Cordy points at Wesley as he walks into the office: “He was cooler.” Wesley: “Good morning.” Angel sits down on the couch with a sigh: “Now I’m depressed.” Wesley: “I feel rather chipper myself. *That* was quite a soiree last night.” Cordy: “Glad someone enjoyed it.” Angel: “I enjoyed it!” Wesley: “A gala event. In particular the tiny Reubens and the shrimp puffs. Don’t supposed there is any leftovers laying about? Any - abandoned shrimp puffs?” Angel gets up: “You’re broke, aren’t you?” Wesley: “Angel, - a man’s finances are his own business.” Angel: “You want a job?” Wesley: “Oh, yes, please!” Angel: “Look, I don’t have much, but as long as you make yourself useful around here, you’re entitled to a cut.” Wesley: “I-I don’t know what to say.” Cordy: “Well, this is great! Now we’re really... (To Angel) Do I have to take a pay-cut? (Angel shakes his head and Cordy turns back to Wesley) a team!” Wesley tires to hug Angel, but he wards him off with a slight grimace. Wesley: “You won’t be disappointed. (Turns away and looks down) There is, ah, something in my eye.” Angel pulls the handkerchief out of Wesley’s front pocket and hands it to him. Cordy: “Oh, don’t go getting all sappy. (To Angel) Hold me.” Angel to Cordy: “Look, why don’t we just...” Cordy: “No! Hold me!” Angel barely catches her as she gets h*t by a vision. Flash to the guy and the box from earlier. He screams, his face starts to blister and his eyeballs explode. Cordy: “Gross! Oh, - *eww* is all. Ugh!” Wesley: “What did you see?” Cordy: “I don’t just see, I feel, okay? Thank you Doyle.” Angel: “Is someone in trouble?” Wesley gets a pad and pencil: “I’m, ah, I’m at the ready.” Cordy: “You’re going to the ice factory - on Fifth, downtown.” Angel: “What are we looking for?” Cordy: “A corpse.” Wesley looking at a map: “I don’t think there is access through the tunnels.” Angel: “I’m driving then.” Wesley: “I’m coming with you. I intend to earn my keep. Oh, and in terms of this keep, by the by...” Angel: “There is no dental.” Wesley: “Right, well, I’ll floss.” Angel: “Lets go.” Cordy holding a glass full of ice to her head: “Hey, be careful. The guy was burnt to death in an ice factory. The thing that did that could still be there.” Angel: “You didn’t get a look at it?” Cordy shakes her head: “All I felt was his fear – then the exploding eyeballs. Did I mention that I hate this gig?” Angel: “We’ll be in touch.” Wesley opens the door for Angel: “After you, sir.” Wesley drives Angel’s car up past the Southwestern Bag Company and pulls into the shadow in front of the ice factory. Wesley: “Here we are. Jerico Ice Factory. (Angel gets out of the passenger side) Boss, why don’t I...” Angel: “Stay put.” Wesley: “Uhm, stay here and wait for you.” Angel walks in and crouches down next to the burnt body. He pulls out the guy’s wallet and finds a business card for Peter Wilkers – Private Security. He keeps the card and puts the wallet back. Angel walks into the cooler and sees the open box. It is half full of ice. Cut to Wesley standing next to the car fiddling with the ax in his hand. Cut to Angel in the cooler. Angel turns around as someone runs past on the other side of the plastic strips hanging in the doorway. Angel slowly walks out. Cut to guy with a ridge of small spines running up the middle of his forehead reaching for a crowbar. Angel putting one foot on the bar: “Captain Inferno I presume? (The demon straightens up and Angel steps on the piece of the crow bar sticking out over the edge of the box to flip it into his hand, and pushes it up against the other guys chest) Close enough. I don’t do well near an open flame. (Notices a rip in the guys sleeve and pushes it open using the crowbar to reveal burnt skin) Only – you didn’t burn him, did you? (Moves the crowbar back against the guy’s chest) Who are you? - - I’m not a big talker. I usually let others carry the conversation. I am pretty good at putting *these* (Motions with the crowbar) through heads though.” Guy: “I am called Tay. I’m not from your dimension.” Angel: “Sort of guessing that.” Tay: “I was sent by my people to stop it. That is my cause here.” Angel: “Stop what?” Tay: “The bringer of chaos.” Angel: “What is it? Demon?” Tay: “More than a mere demon. It is a vessel of pure rage. It has almost destroyed my world and now it is lose in yours.” After a moment Angel lowers the crowbar: “How can I k*ll it?” Tay: “You won’t be able to. It’s stronger than one man. (Edges away from Angel) If you and your people wish to live – stay away.” Cut to Angel handing Wesley a finished drawing of Tay’s face back at his office. Angel: “He said his name was Tay. Seemed pretty shook up. Said this thing brings chaos and destruction to his world.” Wesley: “Tay. Hmm. Could be a Kovitch demon from the Caucasus.” Angel: “He’s not from our dimension.” Wesley: “Ah, they must come to ours via portals.” Cordy: “Portals? There are portals now? When did they put in portals? - Don’t we have enough on our hands without burning monster fiends coming here?” Wesley to Angel: “We’ll figure out who he is, where he comes from, - boss, - you can count on it.” Cordy looks at Wesley: “Wesley, stop kissing butt. It’s not like we get overtime. (Angel looks at her) Oh, but I’ll get right on it.” Angel: “I also want to know if there have been any other...” Cordy: “Killings by incineration lately? - See? On it.” Wesley to Angel: “Uh, where are you headed?” Angel: “Victim’s office. He’s in private security. I’d like to know who hired him.” Cordy: “Okay.” Cut to Angel pulling up in front of a big brick building. He tries a door with 635 above it, but it is locked. He walks around to the side of the building, pulls out to grappling hooks, sh**t them up over the edge of the building and walks up the side of the wall with their help. Jumps onto a metal ladder beside an open window and scales it up to the roof. Cut to Angel walking into Peter Wilkers office (205). In a locked drawer he finds a shipping order from Jerico Ice stuck in an envelope with a bunch of twenties. He puts the money back but keeps the invoice. He looks up as he hears a noise. The next moment he’s flying across the room, smoke rising from a singed arm. We get a glimpse of a woman with a black tattoo crossing her left eye. Jhiera: “What are you doing here?” Angel: “I could ask you the same question.” Jhiera: “Working for *them*, is that it? How much do they pay you to hunt us?” Angel straightens up: “I work for myself and I’m here because I’m looking for his k*ller. Hard to forget, huh? (Puts a hand on the back of the chair next to him) Burnt alive. Know anyone who does that kind of thing?” Jhiera charges him and he picks up the chair to hold her off. She ducks underneath it and hits him in the chest, sending him crashing through the door. Telephone rings. Jhiera pulls out a cell phone: “Yes. Where? How soon?” Closes the phone and leaves. Cut to her walking up to a car parked beside the building. As she drives off we see Angel drop down from the building behind the car. Cut to Angel tailing her in his car. He takes out a cell phone and dials. Hears ‘We’re sorry, your call did not go through as dialed, please hang up and dial again.’ Tries again. The low battery alarm goes off. He fumbles a cable out of the glove box and plugs the phone into the cigarette lighter with it. Almost runs into another car as he makes a last minute right to follow Jhiera. Cut to the phone ringing at the office. Cordy to phone: “Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless.” Angel: “I hate the cell phone that you gave me. Any luck?” Cordy: “We’re stymied on the demon guy, *but* we did find four similar killings in the last 11 months. All guys, all b*rned from the inside out. Did you find it?” Angel: “Yeah. It’s not an ‘it’ it’s a ‘she.’” Cordy: “A chick that burns? Are you okay? (Connection is breaking up) Did sh- care- ” Angel: “Did she care about me?” Cordy: “Did she ‘Carrie’ you! Carrie, the movie, you know?” Angel: “I can’t hear you. Hello? Cord- “ Cordy sighs: “You must be going through a canyon.” Angel: “Cordelia, can you hear me?” Cordy: “I can hear you now. Are you back?” Angel: “Yeah, I can hear you. You know, these things were definitely cooked up by a bored warlock. I want you two to keep trying to find that demon Tay. He knows a lot more than he is telling. I think she is here on some kind of mission. I think he may be the key to all this.” Wesley makes a circular motion in front of his face to Cordy. Cordy to phone: “What - what does she look like?” Angel: “Ah, two raised ridges running down either cheek, violet eyes, uhm, she seemed intelligent. She was very – attractive, - for a demon.” Cordy: “A hottie, huh? I guess she’s that all right. What with the sizzle.” Angel braking up again: “Sizzler?” Cordy: “The sizzle factor? - Angel?” Angel: “I can’t hear you. (Cordy is really breaking up now) Cordelia?” He closes the cell phone and throws it in the back seat. Jhiera parks her car and walks up to what looks like a museum. Angel tails her. Jhiera walks up to a security guard inside: “Excuse me sir, I need your help.” Officer: “What is it?” Jhiera: “There is a man following me. I’m afraid he may want to hurt me.” Officer looks around: “What man, where is he?” Jhiera points Angel out to him: “There in the black coat.” Officer walks after Angel talking into the com-link strapped to his shoulder: “We have a code three in the front gallery.” Com-link: “Roger.” Angel takes off his coat as he parallels Jhiera through the crowd. Three security men step out of a door almost running into Jhiera as she walks towards it. Officer: “Excuse ma’am.” Angel sees the three officers almost on top of him and points at a picture hanging on the wall next to him and starts to play tour guide to the people standing in front of it. Angel: “And this brings us to Monet’s incomparable ‘La Music Aux Tuileries.’ First exhibited in 1863...” Cut to Jhiera walking down a dimly lit corridor. She walks into a room with Art Restoration marked on the door and looks up at a row of windows. Angel pointing at the painting while watching the security guards searching for him: “On the left one spies the painter himself. In the middle distance is the French poet and critic Baudelaire, a friend of the artist. Now, Baudelaire – interesting fellow. In his poem ‘Le Vampire’ he wrote: ‘Thou who abruptly as a Kn*fe didst come into my heart.’ - He, ah, strongly believed that evil forces surrounded mankind. And some even speculated that the poem was about a real vampire. (Laughs) Oh and, ah, Baudelaire was actually a little taller and a lot drunker than he is depicted here." He sees the officers moving off and walks off towards the door Jhiera went through as the people in front of the painting applaud him. Cut to the office. Cordy is asleep on her desk. Open books are stacked everywhere. Wesley looking at a book: “Aha!” Cordy jerks awake: “That better be an ‘Aha!’ of triumph. I was dreaming there was a going out of business sale at Neimans!” Wesley: “I think I’ve located them. The Vigories of Oden Tal.” Cordy: “The what of whatee?” Wesley: “Of Oden Tal. The men are called Vigories. They have four distinct ridges on their foreheads, are said to be fierce warriors, and their women live enslaved to them.” Cordy hits him on the arm: “Way to go, Wes! Angel said this Tay guy could be the key. Any way to find them here in town?” Wesley scans the page: “Ah, it says that the men are herbivores. They eat a thick stew made from rotting plants and flowers, and they need to consume half their body weight a day.” Cordy: “Whoa. - So, we’re looking like – for the biggest compost heap in LA?” Cut to Jhiera standing with her hand held out in front of her. She puts her hands on her hips and turns around as the door opens. Jhiera: “You. How? A human would have been unconscious for hours.” Angel: “I’ll answer your questions if you’ll answer mine.” Jhiera steps closer: “You’re a - vampire.” Angel: “Among other things. Who’s Tay? What does he want?” Jhiera: “I don’t have time for this.” Angel: “If you didn’t k*ll the guy in the ice company, who did? Somebody like you?” Jhiera: “Why do you think I would speak to you and not hurt you?” Angel: “Gotta risk it. Call me old-fashioned, but I can’t allow tourists to go around torching locals.” Jhiera looks back at the row of windows then back at Angel: “Leave – now! I’m warning you.” Angel: “Why? What’s going to happen?” A circular distortion form in the air in front of one of the windows. A bright white light emanates from it. Angel and Jhiera go over to look up at it. Jhiera once again holds out her hands in front of her. The naked body of a girl falls out of the portal. Jhiera crouched over the girl to Angel: “Stay back! (To girl) We must go.” Angel pulls a wall-hanging down and throws it over the naked girl as Jhiera helps her up. Angel: “What are you running from?” Jhiera: “It is not your concern. You’re not one of us.” The door opens and Tay steps in accompanied by more of his kind. Angel: “No, but I think I’ll stick around anyway.” Tay: “It’s right. This is not your concern. The traitor it and the other are ours. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t...” Angel kicks him in the face: “Do that?” Tay and two other guys hurry Gi out the back door while she screams for help. But Jhiera and Angel are busy fighting the rest of them. They finish just in time to see a car pull away through the open back door. Angel: “They got her. What’ll happen to her?” Jhiera: “She will be unmade.” Cut to Tay’s g*ons dragging the screaming girl through a flour warehouse. Gi: “No! - Please, please! - You don’t have to do this to me!” Tay: “Watch its hands.” Gi: “No! No! I’ll be good. I’ll be good, I’ll promise! You don’t have to do this to me.” Tay: “Why does it speak when no one listens.” Cut to them leading her into a backroom of the warehouse. Tay: “It has been recovered.” Gi: “No. No. Please. Please! No. Let me go!” One of the others hands Tay a pair of strange looking pliers. Tay getting ready to clip off the ridges protruding along her neck and upper back: “It will now be restored.” Gi: “You bastards. No!” Tay: “You’ll feel *so* much better after this.” Tay clips off the first ridge and Gi screams. Cut to the outside of Angel’s office in daylight. Cut to Jhiera taking her coat off and looking around Angel’s apartment. Angel: “You should dress that. (Motions at the cut on her upper left arm) Your wound.” Jhiera: “Why are you doing this. I thought vampires were K*llers.” Angel: “They are. I was cursed by gypsies.” Jhiera: “Cursed to help people?” Angel: “Yeah. - Gypsies they have a strange sense of - humor. (He lays a napkin and some bandages on the chair between them and takes a step back. She takes one of the bandages and applies it to her wound) Want to tell me what’s going on?” Jhiera: “The girl is a runaway. I was trying to help her escape from our homeland. If you hadn’t distract...” Angel walks past her: “If I hadn’t helped you, you’d both be with them right now.” Jhiera: “Perhaps.” Angel: “Why was the girl running away? Jhiera: “She was going to be unmade.” Angel: “They were going to k*ll her?” Jhiera: “In a fashion. You wouldn’t understand.” Angel slowly steps closer to her: “Try me.” Jhiera: “In Oden Tal – what you call personality – our passions – those impulses - sit in an area of the body we call the Ko.” She puts her hands up on her shoulders, takes a step closer and turns around to show him the ridges on her upper back and neck. Angel leans in closer. Angel: “And your pursuers they want to take this from you?” Jhiera turns back around to face him: “From the women, yes. When the females come of age, Ko controls our physical and sexual power. – It even signals when we are (Looks down) aroused and have met desirable mates. But when it’s removed...” Angel: “You’re more easily controlled.” Jhiera looks up at him, then circles him slowly: “We marry who they command, - serve without questioning. - We leave behind dreaming.” Angel: “But you escaped.” Jhiera: “I was the first. I am Jhiera. - Jhiera of Oden Tal. My family rules the dimension.” Angel: “I’m guessing the royal family isn’t loving the - portal-jumping, refugee-saving duties you’ve assigned yourself.” Jhiera: “They tell people I’m d*ad. But the women know. - Here we have a name. We have a chance to become, but it is difficult. When the Ko first matures the girls can’t manage it – our physical energy. We come to your world in a fever.” Angel: “That’s why – the ice.” Jhiera: “Yes. When I first arrived – alone – I thought I would die from the heat - under my skin. (Jhiera is standing very close in front of Angel and as the camera pans around we see that her ridges are glowing a fiery red. She is breathing hard. They start to pivot around each other) And your people – the men? Some respond to the Ko involuntarily. They tried to force themselves – it wasn’t safe for me – until I found the frozen water. (Jhiera sits down on the chair. Angel licks his lips and looks down) As long as I could stay cool... The worst of it passed in a few months time. (Looks up at Angel) then I started to learn to control my power.” Angel: “Like last night, when you b*rned me.” Jhiera gets up to stand in front of him again: “I *intended* to hurt you. I thought you were my enemy.” Angel: “What about the guard? Who b*rned him?” Jhiera: “He tried to touch one of my girls. It was his own fault.” Angel: “From what you’re saying he probably didn’t mean to hurt her.” Jhiera: “And the girl couldn’t help k*lling him! It was an accident.” Angel: “What about the other four guys who died the same way in the last year? Your girls k*ll them, too?” Jhiera backs away from him: “How do you know about this? Have you been...” Angel: “No, I haven’t been following you. But you incinerate a few guys someone is going to start asking questions. I understand what you’re trying to do; and I’ll help you if I can. But you can’t go around hurting men in my world.” Jhiera: “I am the daughter to a King, sir. A king who promised happiness and a better life for everyone. I didn’t denounce him and escape for my good alone. I did it to see his promise come true for all the women of Oden Tal. If a few have to die to protect my people...” Angel steps towards her: “They are *my* people who are dying; and it’s *my* promise to protect them.” Jhiera: “Then tell them to stay out of my way.” Jhiera starts to walk out but Angel cuts her off. Angel: “Wait.” Jhiera holds her left hand inches away from his chest. It is glowing a fiery red. She is breathing hard. Leans her head against him for a moment then moves back, lowers her hand, and straightens up. Jhiera: “And you, too. I don’t need your help.” She leaves Angel standing there and walks out. Cut to Wesley and Cordy in the California Flower Mart. Cordy whispers: “I’m not sure about coming out here all by ourselves. Maybe we should have waited for Angel.” Wesley whispers: “Cordelia, now that I am officially in Angel’s employ, I feel it’s doubly important to show initiative and drive. We can’t just dally about... (Points at some roses) Look! Nancy’s Petticoat. Oh. They’re quite rare. They were named for Nancy Mitford, the author. (Sniffs the roses) Because of her love for... (Sees Cordy’s look) Right. Shoving off.” Cordy: “I wonder how we find were they keep the compost.” Wesley: “I’d say we follow our noses.” Cordy: “Wait!” Cut to them sneaking into the dimly lit back room of the Flower Mart. Cordy whispers: “Wait. Okay, now I’m sure we shouldn’t have come here. It smells like flower poop!” They hear Tay speak and duck behind some barrels. Tay: “The portal will open soon, and only for a short while. When the proper coordinates align we must move to the entry point immediately. (Camera pans over a cement wall to show Tay, two other Vigories, and Gi.) You will escort it there, ensure its quick return (Wesley climbs up to peek over the wall) and rejoin us. We have a lot of work to do in this dimension. (Camera shows Gi’s back and the open wounds where the spine ridges used to be) It can go home now. (To Gi) Would it like that? Would it like to go home?” Gi: “It is *happy* to go – as soon as you say.” Tay steps closer to her: “And don’t you feel better now?” Gi nods slowly. One Vigory leads Gi away and Cordy pulls frantically on Wesley’s shirt to make him get down behind the barrels. Vigory to Tay: “We’ve recovered two this month. We should...” Tay: “It means nothing! This won’t stop until we find Jhiera.” Cut to the Palm Ridge Spa outside of the city. Cut to a guy contemplating a Japanese sand garden. Jhiera walks in. Guy: “Jhiera. Excellent. Just when I need the artistic eye of a goddess.” Jhiera: “Where are the girls?” Guy: “And na maz de to you too. They are right were you left them. (Jhiera walks off) Are you okay? You look spun.” Cut to Jhiera walking into a room with several scantily girls laying on steaming beds of ice. Jhiera: “How are they doing?” Guy: “They’re chilling. - The little sisters are fine. Rem-ing. - Tell me what’s up.” Jhiera: “They took the girl I went to meet.” Guy: “Man, that’s lame!” Jhiera: “They will find us before too long. We have to go from here, as soon as possible.” Guy: “The girls aren’t ready. They need serious isolation and temperature adjustment before they mellow out enough to deal with the world.” Jhiera: “Then I’ll move them some place else.” Guy: “My shaman has a place in the dessert. He never could turn away scantily clad women in distress - from any dimension. - You know, I wish you would let me work on your mirth chakra.” Jhiera: “If he’s as trustworthy as you are, we’ll go to him.” Guy: “He’s good people.” Jhiera: “Then call him. If he accepts us we’ll leave first thing in the morning.” The guy nods and Jhiera picks up some ice and rubs it against her throat and neck. Cut to Wesley and Cordy cowering behind the barrels by the cement wall in the Flower Mart. We can hear the Vigories talking. Vigory: “This food source will only keep us supplied for a few more days. At that point we must relocate.” Wesley holding a cell phone to his ear whispers to Cordy: “Still no answer.” Cordy whispers: “I bet he forgot to turn that thing on again! You’d think a guy that knows how to use an ancient Scythian short bow could figure out how to use a cell phone! (Sighs) So, what now?” Wesley: “I suppose we head back and try to find Angel.” Cordy: “Okay. Lead the way - *low* and *slow*.” Wesley nods and heads off but Cordy pulls him back as one of the Vigories walks in. Cordy: “No, hide. Hide. Hide.” Vigory to Tay: “Sir! I believe we’ve found them.” Tay: “Where?” Vigory: “A worker at an ice plant tells me he recently started shipping two tons of ice a week (Hands Tay a paper) to this address.” Tay: “Gather the men. They need to be prepared to capture the princess and cut them all quickly.” Cut to Cordy and Wesley running down the stairs into Angel’s apartment. Angel is just wearing his pants and toweling off his hair. Cordy: “What are you doing? We nearly got b*rned from the inside out and you’re here getting all April fresh?” Angel: “Hello?” Wesley: “I believe she is especially agitated because we *tried* to call you in the midst of a situation.” Angel looks off to the side: “I had to take a shower. (Wesley and Cordy look at each other) What’s up?” Cordy: “What’s up is that those creepy demons said that they found what they were looking for, and they seemed *very* interested in cutting someone they called the princess, which I can only imagine is not a happy thing!” Angel pulling on a sweater: “Well, you’d be right on that one. We gotta find her first.” Cordy: “The demon guy said something about a lot of ice being delivered somewhere. No one said where.” Angel: “Ice.” Cordy: “Yeah.” Angel pulls a paper out of his coat hanging on a hat stand: “Shipping order. We’ve got an address. We’re heading out.” Wesley: “That’s it? They seemed... There were quite a few of them. Perhaps we need a plan.” Angel: “Here is the plan: we go in, I start hitting people hard in the face – see where it takes us.” They head out. Night. Angel pulls the convertible up in front of the Spa, with Wesley in the backseat. Angel to Wesley: “Ah, you wait here. I want a warning when the demons show.” Wesley: “All right.” He tries to jump out over the passenger side door, but his foot gets caught and he tumbles out rather inelegantly. Cordy: “Wesley!” Wesley pops right back up and slaps the side of the car with a grimace. Cut to the interior of the spa. Guy walks up to Angel: “Welcome, bro.” Angel: “I need to see Jhiera. Now!” Guy: “I’m sorry, no Jhiera here, but I already see I can help *you*. First lets talk about the clothes vibe.” Angel grabs him by the lapels: “She’s in trouble. There are men coming for her.” Guy: “And which dimension are you from, brother?” Angel: “You don’t want to know.” The guy motions with his head; and Angel walks off. Cut to the room with the iced girls. Jhiera to Angel: “What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear...” Angel: “They’re coming.” Jhiera: “I know all about it. We’re leaving in the morning.” Angel: “Not soon enough.” Jhiera: “What are you talking about?” Angel: “They’re on their way. They’ll be here...” Cordy running into the room followed by Wesley: “Now. That would be now.” Angel to Wesley: “Help get the girls out. (To the spa guy) You go back out front. Stall them as long as you can. (Guy nods and leaves. Angel to Jhiera) I’m gonna help you whether you like it or not.” Wesley helps one of the girls out of the tub of ice and leads her out. Wesley: “Oh my. You are a... Allow me to introduce myself.” Cordy kicks him in the back from behind: “Wesley...” Cut to the spa guy held up in Tay’s hand by his lapels. Guy: “How about a red clay massage. We have hands that heal, brother.” Tay hits him and the guy drops to the floor unconscious. The six Vigories move on into the dark and empty tub room. Suddenly Angel swings down from the ceiling kicking two of them in the face. He and Jhiera fight the six Vigories. Jhiera using her f*re-hands to send them flying, Angel using his fists and feet. Wesley as he is about to close the top on one of the girls laying down in a box with ice: “That outfit – it quite becomes you, you know.” Cordy: “Wesley, get a grip! They’re not going to be able to hold them off all day.” Wesley closes the lid and helps another girl into the next one. Wesley breathing a bit fast: “My, what a grip. Very - healthy. Surprisingly firm myself under the jacket. Have a feel.” Cordy: “You are pathetic! And about to get your eyeballs fried!” Cordy gets the girl to lay down and gets ready to close the lid. Wesley: “I know, but – ah -just one kiss good-bye?” Cut to Angel and Jhiera fighting the Vigories. Wesley and Cordy run in and join the fray, but are quickly taken hostage. Angel sees them being held and quits fighting. Tay: “Jhiera and the runaways are ours.” Angel: “No they’re not.” Tay: “Give them back or the humans die.” Angel looks over at Jhiera. Jhiera to Tay: “Then they die.” Everyone looks after her as she walks out. Cordy and Wesley elbow the Vigories holding them into the stomach and the fight resumes. It is over quickly since most of the Vigories run out to follow Jhiera. Cut to Jhiera walking up to the truck with the girls loaded on the back. A Vigory grabs her, restraining her hands. Tay pliers in hand: “Hold it. - Hold it still. - Time to go home.” Jhiera can’t get free and Tay is about to close the pliers on the top ridge when Angel wraps his arm around his neck and pulls him off Jhiera. Angel to the Vigory holding Jhiera: “Unless you want to see your leader d*ad, you let her go. (The Vigory lets Jhiera go and she stares at Angel) Go. GO!” Jhiera gets in the truck and drives off. Angel waits until she is well under way then pushes Tay towards the other Vigory. Angel: “I don’t want you bringing your w*r here again.” Tay to Angel: “I have no choice! If this enemy persists our whole society crumbles.” Angel: “And if it persists on *my* turf you’re going to have another enemy!” Tay: “You don’t understand our ways, human.” Angel: “No, I don’t. (Morphs into vamp face) And I’m not human. - Now, if I were you, I’d grab the next portal out of here. Got it?” Day. Angel’s office. Angel picks up the bag of coffee beans looking around, then tries to crush the beans. The bag bursts open, spilling beans all over the floor, just as the door opens and Wesley and Cordy walk in. Angel: “Watch out...” Wesley: “Angel...” Wesley slips on the beans, landing on his butt. Angel: “Sorry. I-I had a little...” Cordy to Angel: “Mushing didn’t work out so great, huh?” Wesley from the floor: “Not to worry. My fault I’m sure, really. (Starts sweeping up the beans in his hands) Cagey little brutes, aren’t they? I’ll wash them if you’d like. Individually. They’ll be just as good as new. Better.” Angel lays a hand on Wesley’s arm: “Wesley. Stop.” Cordy to Wesley: “Wow. Groveling isn’t just a way of life for you, it’s an art.” Wesley to Cordy: “I do not grovel. (To Angel) Please don’t f*re me. What happened yesterday was an anomaly. I’m very *rarely* taken hostage.” Angel: “That’s good to know. And you’re not fired.” Wesley: “I’m not?” Angel: “No. It wasn’t your fault. (Claps Wesley on the shoulder) And you know what? You handled yourself *very* well.” Wesley: “Well, that’s... I can’t tell you... (Takes a breath) I am your faithful servant, Angel.” Cordy to Angel: “Like I said, an art. (Jhiera walks in) Oh! Look who’s here. (To Jhiera) Can I get you something? Kn*fe to our throat so you can run away?” There is a moment’s silence then Cordy walks off. Angel to Jhiera: “Come on in.” She walks into the back office and Angel closes the door behind her. Jhiera: “The girls are safe – outside the city.” Angel: “I’m glad. But you nearly got Cordelia and Wesley k*lled.” Jhiera: “I had no choice.” Angel: “Yes, you did. If you vowed to protect the innocent it shouldn’t matter which dimension they’re from.” Jhiera sighs and turns away: “An easy sentiment when your people are free.” Angel: “I’m not saying you shouldn’t fight. Just know that I will be there to stop you – if you cross the line.” Jhiera walks up close to him: “I don’t need an extra conscience. I’ll do what I think is right.” Angel: “And I’ll do the same.” Jhiera after a b*at: “Fine. I think we understand each other then. (They stare at each other for a moment then Jhiera looks down) I have to go.” As she walks out Angel sees that the ridges visible above her jacket are glowing a bright, fiery red. During the end credits we get a reprise of Wesley and Angel dancing at Cordy’s party.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x13 - She"}

foreverdreaming

Wesley: “I’m a fraud. The Council was right to sack me. I’m surprised they didn’t cut my head off!” Angel: “Kate, do you trust me?” Kate: “You know I do.” Angel and Penn fighting. Angel looking down at Kate in his vamp face. Angel: “Because there’s just some things in this world you’re just not ready to face. Angel inspects a Kn*fe that Wesley has laid on the kitchen table in front of him. Angel: “The mark of Kekfadlorem. (Puts the Kn*fe back down) I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never seen it.” Wesley: “A Kn*fe with that mark is the only thing that will k*ll a Kek demon. Could be very useful.” Angel: “Especially if Kek demons weren’t extinct.” Wesley: “They are? (Sinks down into a chair across from Angel) Oh dear. Well, - perhaps there is one out there hibernating, eh? – Ready to wake at any moment and embark on a grisly rampage.” Angel: “I’ll keep my fingers crossed.” Timer buzzes. Cordelia comes into the kitchen: “They’re done! Nobody touch.” Angel (to Wesley): “She’s making brownies.” Wesley: “Oh, is that what I smell? (Quietly to Angel) I thought I tracked something in.” Cordy takes the pan out of the oven: “The recipe was handed down to me by my mother, who got it from her housekeeper. Plus, I improvised a little. (To Wesley) You’re gonna love them.” Wesley: “Me? Doesn’t Angel - have to – get to try any?” Cordy cutting at the brownies: “They are brownies full of nutty goodness, not red blood cells.” Wesley: “Oh, I wasn’t thinking. (Aside to Angel) More of a drinker than an eater, I suppose.” Cordy is having trouble cutting the brownies: “Maybe if he’d branch out into the solids, he’d keep a decent Kn*fe around.” Cordy picks up the demon dagger still laying on the table and starts to cut the brownies with it. Wesley jumps up: “That is not appropriate! It’s for k*lling extinct demons! Angel, make her stop.” Angel smiling: “Cordelia...” Wesley: “That blade is very old. Who knows what kind of corrosive effect your cooking may have on it!” Cordy waves the Kn*fe at Wesley: “Corrosive effect?” Angel: “Cordelia, just put down the very sharp Kn*fe.” Wesley (to Cordy): “Well, they don’t smell right.” Cordy puts the Kn*fe on the table (to Wesley): “I think Mr. Too-much-cologne is the pot calling the kettle stinky.” Angel: “Cordelia, Doyle! (Wesley and Cordy turn to look at him) I mean, uhm – Wesley. (Long pause) Wesley. (Angel looks up but the others won’t meet his eye) Let’s just, uhm (Gets up) no more fighting, alright?” Angel leaves the kitchen and Cordy sits down at the table with a sigh. Cut to a house with a white picket fence. Ryan: “Where is it, Stephanie?” Stephanie: “What are you talking about? I didn’t take anything! Give me that. Stop it!” Cut to two blond kids fighting inside the house. There are cardboard boxes stacked against some of the walls. Ryan: “You took one of my cards.” Stephanie: “I didn’t touch your stupid cards.” Ryan: “What did you do with it?” Stephanie: “Stop it! MOM!” Mom comes in: “ Okay, that’s it.” Ryan: “She took one of my cards.” Stephanie: “I did not!” Ryan: “You did too! (Holds up a card) I had five of this one and now I only have four.” Mom: “Well, there are children in India who only have three. Come on. It’s time for bed anyway.” Both kids: “Oh, mom, no!” Father from the door: “You heard your mother. (Stands behind his wife and looks at the kids) It’s time for bed. Cut to the mother tucking Stephanie into bed. She closes the bedroom door and leans her head against it. Then turns to look up at her husband. Paige: “Do we have to?” Paige looks over at a door with Ryan’s name on it. Camera pans down to show that it is padlocked shut. Paige steps to the side and Dad padlocks Stephanie’s door. Intro. Cut to Cordy slowly stepping into Angel’s office. He’s sitting behind his desk, reading. Cordy: “Pretend to read any good books lately?” Angel: “Cordelia. I thought you went home.” Cordy walks slowly into the office and sits down across from Angel with a sigh. Cordy: “You called him Doyle.” Angel: “It just - happened. - I hope Wesley is okay with it.” Cordy: “Oh, who cares about him! This is about Doyle. You-you never say his name!” Angel: “I say it.” Cordy: “No, you don’t. - Look you don’t have to be* Joe Stoic* about his dying. I mean, I know that you have this unflappable vibe working for you, but... you don’t have to do that for me.” Angel: “I’m not unflappable.” Cordy: “Great. So – flap.” Angel gets up with a sigh, moves around for a while, Cordy watches him silently. Angel: “I miss him.” Cordy: “Me, too.” Angel: “I’ve been around death before – a lot! - I’ve lost people. I’ve k*lled people.” Cordy: “And you *are* d*ad. (Angel looks at her) Sorry.” Angel: “It shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t have let it happen!” Cordy: “Angel, it wasn’t your fault. - It hurts.” Angel: “Yeah.” Cordy puts a hand up to her head: “No it-it really - really (Throws herself back in her chair) really!” Flash to a blurred vision of the two kids and their father – house number 1256. Angel goes to hold her: “Easy, easy. (Cordy comes out of her vision with a gasp) – What did you see?” Blend over into Angel and Wesley pulling up in front of the house in the convertible. Angel: “1256 – that’s the house.” Wesley: “Angel?” Angel turns to see Ryan in his pajamas walking towards the street. Ryan is about to get run over by a car coming down the street. Angel jumps out, runs across the street and tackles the boy off the street just in time. The car drives by, honking. Angel (to Ryan): “You’re all right?” Ryan: “Yeah. (Sees that Angel the coat over his shoulder) You’re bleeding. Are you going to cry?” Angel looks at his shoulder then back at the boy: “I don’t think so. (Looks at his shoulder then away with a smile) I don’t know. - Huh, - let me think. (Seriously) Ah, no – yeah – uh, no (smiles) not gonna cry. (Ryan smiles back) What’s your name?” Ryan: “Ryan.” Angel: “Ryan, you want to tell me what you were doing outside?” Angel and Ryan get up as the father comes running out off the house. Dad: “Ryan! (Grabs him by the shoulders) Son, you know better than this! (Glances up at Angel) Say ‘thank you’ to the nice man. You come inside!” Paige comes running, wearing a white bathrobe: “Ryan! (Hugs him) Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What happened?” Dad: “He was in the street. He almost got h*t. Paige - he’s fine.” Paige hugs Ryan hard: “God, my baby.” Dad: “It’s cold. Let’s just - get him inside.” Paige (to Angel): “You saved him. Thank God you were here.” Angel and the Dad look at each other. Dad: “Yeah. - Thank you.” Angel: “It’s okay. (Laughs and tousles Ryan’s hair) Ha, scamp, isn’t he?” Paige notices his shoulder: “Oh, you’re hurt. Your shoulder. (The all look at Angel’s shoulder) You come inside.” Paige leads the way still hugging Ryan. Angel follows after a look at the Dad. The dad gives a sigh and brings up the rear. Cut to Paige cleaning Angel’s cut and bloody shoulder. Paige: “Are you sure you don’t want to drive you to the emergency room? I think you may need some stitches.” Angel: “I’ll be fine, really. - I’m not a big bleeder.” Paige nods with a smile: “We just moved in. (Looks around) Still a little bit jumbled. It doesn’t get any easier, you know. Every new place you have to start over. Finding friends – people to talk to.” Dad slowly walks in: “Ryan’s asleep. He’s - out like a light.” Angel takes the rag from Paige and holds it over his shoulder. Angel looking up at the dad: “Hmm, he seems like a nice boy.” Paige nods and smiles: “He is. Thank you so much! (Laughs, while the dad sits down on the couch behind her, not looking too happy) That must have been about the millionth time I said that! (Angel smiles back at her) Really, thank you. If there is anything we can do for you. Money? Or (Points to her husband on the couch) Seth’s an investment advisor. Do you need some advice?” Angel shakes his head: “No, nothing. But thank you.” Seth with a smile: “Paige, honey, he probably just wants to go home and get cleaned up.” Paige nods slowly. Angel: “So how do you think Ryan got out into the street?” Seth: “Climbed out the window.” Paige after a b*at: “We have burglar bars – but he must be able to fit between. We didn’t think of that, didn’t even bother checking.” Angel: “So where do you think he was going?” Seth: “Going? He wasn’t going anywhere.” Angel: “So you think he was trying to get away from something.” Seth: “What would he have to get away from in his own house?” Cut to Wesley inspecting the contents of a yellow trashcan sitting against the house, holding a flashlight and poking around in it with a stick. He pokes a doll and jumps when it says ‘Mom,’ dropping the flashlight on the ground. He lets out a sigh. As he crouches down to pick up the flashlight he notices that it is illuminating some streaks of yellow slime on the foundation. Wesley: “Oh dear.” Cut to Angel sitting in the sofa chair, while Seth lights a cigarette. Seth: “This bother you?” Angel shakes his head: “No.” Seth leaning back: “A lot of health nuts these days, you know? Like anyone needs to live forever.” Angel with a slight smile: “No one needs that.” Seth takes a drag from his cigarette as the two men just look at each other. Seth: “She’ll be right back with the bandages and - then you can go.” Angel: “Right. - Uhm – Paige was telling me that you were new in town. (Paige comes in to put a bandage on Angel’s shoulder) Where did you – ah...” Paige: “What? (She stares at Angel’s shoulder. It’s almost completely healed.) This was *much* worse.” Angel: “Uh, it’s just a scratch. Uh, Seth was telling me where you lived before.” Paige puts the bandage on: “Akron, uh – one winter there was enough.” Seth: “You know what? It strikes me, you never told us your name.” Angel: “Angel. - Jones. Angel Jones.” Paige: “Angel.” Seth: “Honey.” Paige pulls two ceramic angels out of a box and shows them to Angel. Seth rolls his eyes up. Paige (to Angel): “See?” Angel: “Angels?” Paige nods with a smile: “I collect them! I think the angels are around us all the time, don’t you?” Angel looks at the angels he’s holding: “I-I think, uhm – there are – beings.” Paige: “It’s a nice thought. Like someone’s looking out for us, keeping us out of danger. (Seth shakes his head) And tonight you really were our angel, weren’t you?” Angel: “I think I was just in the right place.” Seth: “It’s getting late.” Angel hands the angels back to Paige as Seth gets up from the couch. Paige to Angel as he gets up and puts on his coat: “Come to dinner.” Seth: “Paige.” Paige: “Tomorrow night. Say you will. Let us pay you back for looking after us.” Seth: “We’ve taken up too much of Angel’s time already.” Angel looks at Seth, then Paige then back at Seth: “Can I bring something?” Seth doesn’t say anything as Paige smiles up at Angel. Cut to Angel getting into the car. Wesley is sitting in the passenger seat. Angel: “Something is wrong in that house. – The wife wants to talk, but the husband keeps getting in her way. – I’m going to come back tomorrow night.” Wesley: “Be careful.” Angel: “I always am.” Wesley holds up a vial filled with glowing yellow mucus: “Be *especially* careful.” Angel takes it: “Plakticine.” Wesley: “I found it all around the foundation of the house.” Angel: “So now we know.” Wesley: “Someone in that house is possessed by a demon.” Angel hands the vial back to Wesley and starts the car. Stephanie watches them drive away from one of the windows. Cut to Angel’s office. Wesley is closing the blinds as Angel walks in. Cordy (to phone): “Thanks for your help. (Hangs up the phone) Well, mama is telling the truth about Akron, and before *that* Miami and Baton Rouge, all within the last three years.” Angel holds up the glowing vial: “Let me guess – couldn’t lose the black cloud.” He sets the vial on Cordy’s desk and folds his arms. Cordy looks at the vial: “Like it was fitted with chin straps. Everywhere they go, there’ve been reports of disturbances and – yuck! –animal death? In Akron, a friend of the family – went missing. – He’s still missing! (They all look at each other, then Cordy picks up the vial) What is this stuff anyway? Kind of pretty!” Wesley: “Uh, it’s the bodily excretion of an Ethros demon.” Cordy puts the vial down and folds her hands: “No one could have said – demon poo - *before* I touched it.” Wesley: “Oh, it can’t hurt you. Only the demon itself is dangerous.” Cordy: “How dangerous?” Wesley: “Tends to go in for mass m*rder. - You’ve heard of Lizzie Borden? She k*lled her parents with an axe?” Cordy: “I remember the children’s rhyme. And how come they’re all full of death and cradles falling, and mice getting tails cut off? (Angel chuckles) Anyway, the whole thing needs a ratings system, don’t you think?” Wesley: “Yes, well – what the rhyme doesn’t say is that she was possessed by an Ethros.” Angel: “An adolescent Ethros. (Picks up the vial) With this amount of Plakticine, we’ve got ourselves a grown-up demon.” Cordy: “So someone in that family has got a squatter in their head. What do *we* do about it?” Angel throws the vial at Wesley: “Evict him.” Wesley catches it: “Exorcism. (Angel nods) I’ll look into finding someone who can perform one. Not too many priest go in for it much these days.” Cordy: “But who do we exorcise? Which one is the demon?” Angel: “The father seemed kind of off. They were afraid of him.” Wesley: “A father doesn’t have to be possessed to terrorize his children. He just has to... (Takes a deep breath) We’ll find out soon enough. The first step in confronting the demon is getting him to show himself. A little psylis eucalipsis powder ingested by the host...” Cordy: “And what? Dad goes ‘grrr.’ Head spins around?” Wesley: “Essentially.” Angel: “Okay, so how do I get someone to eat - eucalipsis powder?” Cut to Paige opening the door for Angel. He’s holding a plate covered with plastic wrap. Angel: “I made brownies.” Cut to the family and Angel sitting around the table. Paige: “More Brussels sprouts, Angel?” Angel: “No! Thank you, I’m – full. Everything was – very good.” Paige smiles as she clears off the plates. Seth: “The roast was a little dry.” Angel: “No. It was full of – roasty goodness.” Paige: “I think we’re ready to try your brownies, Angel.” Seth picking up his and Angel’s plate: “I’ll get the coffee.” Both parents leave for the kitchen. Ryan quietly to Angel: “I didn’t like the Brussels sprouts. They’re gross.” Angel to Stephanie: “You seemed to like yours.” Stephanie folds back her napkin, revealing a Brussels sprout hidden in it. Angel laughs and she hides it again. Angel leans forward and whispers: “I buried one in my mashed potatoes, too.” The kids laugh. Seth: “What are you laughing at?” Stephanie: “Angel’s funny.” Seth pours the coffee: “Yeah? He hides it well.” Paige puts the plate with the brownies on the table: “Look kids. See what Angel made for us?” Everyone except for Angel takes a brownie. Stephanie takes one bite, makes a face and hides it in her napkin. Ryan eats his without making a face. Angel looks over at Seth as he holds the brownie posed in front of his mouth looking back at Angel. Paige puts her brownie down after the first taste: “Hmm, it’s uhm – what’s your secret, Angel?” Angel: “I use – uhm, chocolate. That’s why they’re brown – which gives them their name – brownies.” Seth: “No hot chocolate for you kids tonight. *This* is your treat tonight.” Ryan: “Dad.” Stephanie: “That’s not fair.” Paige: “Kids. Shh. Company.” Angel looks over out of the corner of his eye at Seth, who has finally taken a bite. Seth begins to choke and Stephanie screams. She is staring at her brother, who is growling and whose face is turning into a demon face. Cut to Ryan’s head jerking around, then dropping onto the table. Paige jumps up and hugs him. Paige: “Oh God, Ryan, what’s wrong?” Angel gets up: “You’re son is possessed by a demon.” Stephanie: “Ryan’s bad. Ryan’s always been bad.” Seth: “Stephanie.” Stephanie gets up and leaves. Paige: “Baby, - can you hear me?” Angel walks over to her: “Paige, listen to me – he’s okay.” Paige: “What do you mean, he’s okay?” Angel: “I had to get the demon to show itself first.” Paige: “You did this to him?” Angel: “The demon was already there, I just used the brownies to...” Paige: “You put something in our food. You poisoned him? (Angel looks over at Seth, who just looks back) What were you thinking? I thought you were here to help us. You are *not* an angel.” Seth: “Paige, it’s okay.” Paige: “Seth, he did this to Ryan.” Seth: “We both know that that is not true. What was wrong with Ryan has been wrong for a long time. (Gets up) Now you say you know how to help my son? (Angel just looks at him) Alright. What do you need?” Angel: “A phone.” Cut to Paige huddled on the sofa with Ryan on her lap. Seth is sitting next to them stroking Ryan’s back. Angel (to phone): “I found our demon. It’s in the boy.” Wesley on the phone in the office: “We’re not ready. I found the name of a priest, but we’re having a spot of trouble running him to ground.” Angel: “I need for you to put together a binding powder. Everything you need is in the pantry. We can contain him until we get the priest. We’re coming to you.” Angel and Wesley hang up as Seth gets off the sofa. Angel to Seth: “How is she?” Seth: “She’s just – (sighs) It’s been so long.” Angel: “This isn’t gonna be easy.” Seth: “For the last three years - it’s been *all* I can do to hold this family together. – Now you come here and tell me there may be a *reason* for all the terror and confusion, and a way to end it? - Maybe you are an angel.” Angel: “Can you get someone to come and stay with your daughter?” Seth: “Yes. Why?” Angel: “The rest of you are coming with me.” Cut to Wesley sliding the grate of the elevator open. He takes Ryan from Angel and carries him over to Angel’s bed. Angel (to Seth and Paige): “These are my assistants.” Cordy: “Hi, I’m Cordelia. (Shakes Paige’s hand) Sorry about the possession and everything.” Seth: “Ah - Hello.” Wesley covers Ryan with a blanket as Cordy picks up a big glass bottle and starts to draw a circle around the bed with the yellow sand that’s in it. Cordy: “Oh, I wonder if I should put plastic down. Angel, are you expecting any big vomiting here? Because – I saw the movie.” Seth and Paige look at Angel, who just raises his eyebrows at her. Cordy makes a face and gets back to drawing the circle. Wesley: “The binding powder will keep the demon under control – while Angel and I go to find the priest.” Paige: “He doesn’t need a priest.” Angel puts a hand on her shoulder: “Paige – listen to me. – The only way through this is to let us help. - Look, your son is possessed. - Deep down you know this is true. - You know it.” Wesley: “Cordelia will stay with you. We’ll be back as soon as we can.” Angel: “Do not break the circle. It’s important. He’ll try and get you to come to him. Don’t do it. Don’t touch him. - He’s been exposed, and he’s angry. - He’ll k*ll you if he gets a chance, you got that?” Cordy: “Jeez, we got it! Circle, angry, k*ll, k*ll, k*ll. Go to church already.” Angel and Wesley leave. Seth puts a hand on Paige’s shoulder and she covers it with one of her own as the both look at Ryan laying unconscious on the bed. Blend into Wesley and Angel walking into a church. Angel trails a bit behind Wesley taking a deep breath as he looks up at the crucifix above the altar. The church is empty except for an old nun praying in the front pew. Wesley: “Ah, sister? Good evening. Sorry to disturb your prayers. I hope we didn’t make you lose your place.” Angel leans one hand on the end of the pew occasionally glancing up at the crucifix. Nun gets up (to Wesley): “Not at all. How can I... (Looks over at Angel) – You would come in to a place of worship?” Angel: “I’m not what you think.” Nun: “No?” She tries to brush the cross on her rosary against Angel’s hand and he quickly pulls his hand away. Angel: “Okay. (Swallows) Yeah, I am. – But I’m trying to help someone. A child. He’s possessed by an Ethros demon.” Wesley: “Which is why we need to find father Fredricks. I’m afraid it’s rather urgent.” Nun: “He’s out behind the church.” Wesley: “Thank you! (To Angel) Progress at last.” Nun: “The last grave on the left.” Angel: “He’s – the father’s d*ad.” Nun walking up towards a side altar: “Six months ago a family came to father Fredricks. Their daughter was possessed with a demon. (Reaches to light some votive candles) A very powerful demon. - Father Fredricks saved the young woman – but he couldn’t save himself.” Wesley: “It, uhm, it was an Ethros demon?” Nun: “If the child you are trying to save really is possessed with an Ethros (Looks at Wesley) my prayers are with you (Looks at Angel) both of you. Because what you are dealing with is – very, very smart – and very dangerous. (Lifts her eyebrows at Angel) Even more dangerous than you.” Ryan: “Mommy? Where are you? Mommy, I’m scared. - I need you. - Are you there?” Ryan is sitting up on Angel’s bed. Paige is sitting at the kitchen table with Seth. Cordy is pouring them some tea. Paige to Seth: “Couldn’t I just take him his toys, please?” Seth: “You heard what Angel said, Paige. We have to wait.” Paige: “But why do we have to wait? Things were going really well this time, weren’t they? - Couldn’t we just keep on like it was?” Seth: “Paige, no. Not after Ohio.” Cordy: “Ohio?” Seth after a b*at: “A friend of ours – the kids used to call him Uncle Frank, died in a f*re.” Paige with a sob: “That was an accident. It wasn’t Ryan!” Ryan: “Mommy, I’m scared. It’s so cold in here. Mommy?” Paige tries to get up, but Seth grabs her arm. Seth: “And *that* isn’t Ryan either. - Paige?” Paige settles back down: “I’m not going to him, okay? I’m playing by the stupid rules.” Cordy: “Good! We can watch TV or play cards. You’ll get caught up, you won’t even hear your son’s pain.” Ryan: “Mommy, I need you. I’m so scared. Come here.” Paige to Seth: “This is just too cruel.” Cordy to Paige: “It’s almost over. And Angel is good at this kind of thing, and Wesley... – Well, I’m sure they’ll be right back with the priest. Cut to Wesley filling a glass bottle with water from the baptismal fountain. Angel: “You can’t do it.” Wesley: “I know the ritual and we have the supplies.” Angel: “You’ve never done this before. Look, it takes tremendous strength – mental strength.” Wesley: “Resistance to suggestion. Yes, I understand that. - I like to think of myself as possessing a certain...” Angel: “Wesley, you don’t even have sales resistance. (Wesley looks up at him) How many thighmasters do you own?” Wesley: “The second one was a free gift with my ‘Buns of Steel.’” Angel: “Father Fredricks was an expert. A demon just like this k*lled him.” Wesley: “You’re saying I can’t do it.” Angel: “That’s right.” Wesley looks away: “So our only option is (picks up a cross and tosses it to Angel) you do it.” Angel instinctively catches it. It burns his hand and he hisses and tosses it like a hot potato. Angel sighs and exhales: “That was vulgar.” Wesley: “But I believe I made my point.” Angel: “All right. You’ll do it. But I’m going to be right there with you.” Cut to the yellow circle around Angel’s bed. Paige standing in the door with Seth: “See, honey? Mommy’s right here. I’m not going anywhere. Nobody is going to hurt you, sweetie. It’s going to be okay.” Cordy: “Paige, come away.” Seth: “You wanted to see him, there he is – and he’s gonna be fine.” Paige: “He’s not fine! Look at him, Seth. Look at him. He needs me.” Ryan is laying huddled on his side under the blanket, still wearing the gray demon face. Ryan: “Mamma? I can’t see. Something is wrong with my eyes and it hurts. (Paige looks up at her husband then back at Ryan) Why won’t you help me?” Paige: “I’m here, baby. I’m right here.” Ryan begins to growl and tosses on the bed. Paige strains to go to him, but Cordy and Seth manage to restrain her. Cut to Angel and Wesley walking into the upstairs office. Wesley looking at an open book in his hands: “The standard Latin seems to be the ritual of choice for an Ethros.” Angel: “Good. Come on. (Wesley stops and Angel turns back to him) What?” Wesley: “I believe I know how the priest was k*lled. - When an Ethros is cast out it immediately seeks another body to inhabit. The Demon is expelled with such force that the newly inhabited rarely survives.” Angel: “That’s a problem.” Wesley quietly: “I dare say.” They hear the commotion as Cordy and Seth try to hold Paige back and hurry into the elevator. Cut to Cordy turning from Paige as she hears the elevator. Cordy: “They’re here. They’re coming.” Ryan: “Mommy!” Seth and Cordy watch the elevator come down while Paige takes advantage of their distraction to run to Ryan. Angel sees her: “No!” Seth: “Paige!” He and Cordy run after her, but the door slams shut in their faces and won’t open. Angel tries to get out of the elevator, but the outside door won’t slide aside. Cordy: “Angel!” Cut to Ryan stroking his mother’s face as she leans over him. Ryan: “Mommy. I’m so glad you’re here. (Takes her by the throat and starts to choke her) So glad.” Cut to Paige struggling against Ryan. Seth and Cordy manage to get the doors open and Seth tries to break Ryan’s hold on his mom. Seth: “Ryan, no! Ryan, stop it!” Cordy running back out: “Angel! (The elevator is back upstairs and she bangs on the button a couple of times) Hurry!” Angel and Wesley come running down the stairs. Seth: “Ryan, no. Let her go. Ryan, stop it! Stop it! Let her go!” Wesley runs in and holds a cross in Ryan’s face, while Angel helps Seth to pull Paige away. Wesley: “Omnis spiritus in munde. In nomine dei!” Ryan screams and falls back on the bed. Seth cradles his wife in his arms. Wesley: “It’s retreated back into the boy.” Angel: “It’s gone deeper.” Wesley: “That’s likely.” Angel (to Paige): “Look, from now on you do exactly as I’m telling you, understood?” Paige nods, her hands wrapped around her throat. Cut to Wesley redrawing the circle with the yellow powder. Angel comes in, hands him a little black book then slowly backs back out and closes the doors. Seth is sitting on the edge of the daybed, where his wife is drinking a cup of tea. Angel walks up behind Cordy, who is sitting on the sofa looking through a book. Angel: “Anything?” Cordy hands him the open book: “Ethros demon – Ethros box.” Angel looks at the picture of a box in the book: “Hmm, this is what’s used to trap it.” Cordy gets up and points out a passage to him: “It says right here the demon goes all dingy when it’s forced out. Bad sense of direction or something. If you have one of these boxes, it’ll go right into it.” Angel reads: “There to be confined for a thousand years.” Cordy: “Which ought to do it, right? Of course without one of these...” Angel: “The demon will try to make the jump to the nearest warm body.” Cordy: “Right. - So you’re safe anyway. (Angel looks at her) Maybe we can build one of these.” Angel looks back at the book: “Ah, an authentic Ethros box is made of 600 species of virgin woods and handcrafted by blind Tibetan monks.” Cordy thinks for a moment: “Nope. Don’t know any.” Angel writes an address on a piece of paper and hands it to Cordy. Angel: “Melrose and Robertson, between the yogurt shop and the Doggy Dunk.” Cordy: “Blind virgin monks?” Angel: “No, Rick’s Magic ‘n’ Stuff. If anyone in LA will have an Ethros box, it’ll be Rick. (They look around as the light begin to flicker) Better hurry.” Cordy leaves: “Okay.” Paige runs up to Angel: “What’s happening?” Cut to Wesley doing the exorcism. Wesley: “Omnis spiritus in munde. In nomine dei. Omnis spiritus in...” Ryan sits up on the bed looking at Wesley. Ryan in deep demon voice: “Your Latin sucks.” Wesley splashes some Holy Water on Ryan then goes to pick up the book. Wesley: “I know your tricks. – You’ll not deter *me* from what must be done.” Ryan (in demon voice): “*You* do something? What makes you think you can do anything?” Wesley: “In odorem suavitatis. Tu autem effugare, diabole. Appropinquabit enim judicium dei.” Ryan (demon voice): “You couldn’t even ‘watch!’ (Wesley stares at Ryan) Everyone knows you got fired because you couldn’t do anything right. Nothing is going to make him proud of you.” Wesley: “Skimming the surface of my mind – *very* good. But a mere parlor trick. Here’s one for you (Puts down the bottle of Holy Water and thrusts a cross into Ryan’s face) How many crosses am I holding up? Omnis spiritus immunde. In nomine dei.” Ryan in Wesley’s voice: “All those hours locked up under the stairs and you still weren’t good enough. Not good enough for Daddy, not good enough for the Council.” Wesley blinks then looks back at the book: “Omnis spiritus – (Starts to flip the pages) Uh, that is to say.” Ryan in demon voice: “Lose your place? What makes you think these people want you around any more than the others did?” Angel coming through the door: “Because I invited him here.” Ryan in demon voice to Angel: “Then you’re stupider than he is.” Angel and Wesley look at each other then Wesley takes a deep breath, holds up the cross and starts again. Wesley: “Tu autem..” Ryan in demon voice: “Go ahead, Wesley, tell him why he’s a fool to trust you.” Wesley: “Effugare, diabole.” Ryan in Angel’s voice: “Tell him how you plan to k*ll him.” Wesley to Angel: “That’s not true.” Ryan in demon voice: “Oh, no? He’s more afraid of you than he is of me.” Wesley lunges towards Ryan with the cross held high, scuffing the circle with his foot. Wesley: “I’ll show you fear!” Ryan holds up his hand and the cross in Wesley’s hand buries itself in the side of Wesley’s neck. Wesley falls back, screaming and Angel runs over to him. Angel pulls out the cross and tosses it away, shaking his hand from the pain of the cross burning him, while Ryan looks on and laughs. Cut to Rick’s Majick ‘n’ Stuff. Cordy is looking over some wooden boxes sitting on shelves around the store. Rick crosses his hands and bows: “Blessed be.” Cordy: “Uh-huh. I need an Ethros box.” Rick: “A lady who knows what she wants. Commendable.” Cordy: “Yes, I’m great. Just pop it in a bag and I’m out of here.” Rick: “I don’t have one.” Cordy: “You don’t have one. (Rick shakes his head) Well, (Cordy looks around then points at a box on a shelf behind Rick) what’s that?” Rick: “Good eye. That’s a Shorshack box.” Cordy: “What’s the diff?” Rick takes the box down: “About 20 Dollars, and it’s not available in a mahogany finish.” Cordy: “Looks the same. Handcrafted by blind Tibetan monks?” Rick opens the box: “Pieced together by mute Chinese nuns. Now that’s craftsmanship.” Cordy: “Look, I have an Ethros demon and I need a place to put it. Will this work?” Rick: “Hmm, probably. Shorshack demon is a little smaller than your average Ethros, might be tight across the shoulders.” Cordy: “Well, how big could the demon be? I mean, it’s in a little bitty boy! - I’ll take it.” Rick: “A wise choice. I think you are going to enjoy this item. It’s a quality item. Shall I have it gift-wrapped?” Cut to Paige putting a bandage on Wesley’s neck in the kitchen. Angel: “That was too close.” Wesley: “I let my guard down. It won’t happen again.” Angel: “You’re not going back in there.” Wesley: “Angel!” Angel: “It’s too dangerous. He could’ve k*lled you, Wesley.” Seth: “And my son? What about him?” The kitchen table begins to shake and the marbles roll out of their bag and spell out ‘Save Me.’ Wesley: “Angel, we don’t have a choice.” Doyle’s voice comes from the bedroom: “The good fight, yeah?” The doors to the bedroom spring open and Ryan sits on the bed, laughing. Ryan in demon voice: “Guess who’s here, Angel. He’s talking to me right now. Doyle wants to ask why you couldn’t protect him.” Angel rips a strip off one of the kitchen towels, wraps it around his hand then picks up the cross laying on the table. Seth: “What are you doing?” Angel walking towards the bedroom: “Ending this.” Cordy walks in holding the box: “They only had...” Angel: “Get it ready.” Angel stalks through the bedroom door with Seth right behind him, while Cordy and Wesley hold the box open between them. Ryan in demon voice to Angel: “You let him die. Just like he’s gonna let me die. (In Ryan’s voice to Seth) Aren’t you, Daddy? (Seth looks down and sees some smoke rising from Angel’s hand despite the insulation of the towel) Two great protectors.” Angel to Seth: “Get back.” Seth backs away as Angel steps up to the bed and lays the cross on Ryan’s chest. Angel: “Abrenuntias satanae?” Wesley and Cordy stand in the doorway with the open box. Wesley: “Do you renounce Satan?” Angel: “Et omnibus operibus eus?” Wesley: “And all of his works?” Angel: “Omnibus pompis eus?” Angel’s hand is smoking pretty good by now, but he doesn’t budge. Wesley: “And all his pomps?” Angel: “Exorcie te. Omnis spiritus immunde. Adaperiae! (Morphs into vamp face) Now get the hell out!” Angel steps back as Ryan writhes on the bed. Ryan begins to glow, the light hits the open box and shatters it. Cordy and Wesley turn as a wind races up the stairs. Ryan is laying on the bed, back in his human face. Paige runs in and hugs her son. Paige: “Ryan?” Seth runs after and hugs both his wife and Ryan at the same time. Angel, Cordy and Wesley stare down at the broken box on the floor. Cordy to Angel: “Oh-oh.” Cut to Wesley scraping up some yellow slime with a tongue depressor upstairs in the office. Wesley: “Plakticine! - Clearly it came up the elevator shaft.” Cordy: “So it’s up here somewhere?” Angel: “No. Long gone by now.” Cordy: “And good riddance to it.” Angel: “No, not good riddance. It’ll possess again.” Wesley: “Maybe we shouldn’t have been so quick to send the Andersons back home. It might attempt to repossess the boy.” Angel: “I don’t think so. Not right away.” Wesley to Angel: “What are you thinking?” Angel: “Well, it had to expel a lot of energy to escape like this. - It’ll need time to recharge.” Wesley: “You’re thinking the demon has taken on corporeal form.” Angel picks up some w*apon: “That’s my guess. It can only absorb the elements it needs if it manifests itself physically. Which means, if we can find it in time (Throws Wesley one of the w*apon) we can k*ll it. He’ll be looking for a hostile environment – somewhere damp. Probably returning to primordial volcanic basalt for his regeneration.” Cordy: “Huh?” Wesley: “Sea caves!” Cordy: “Why didn’t he just say that?” Angel and Wesley leave. Cut to Angel and Wesley walking down a sea cave. Angel finds some mucus on the wall. Angel: “We’re close. Come on.” Wesley: “Angel – before we go any further – I just wanted to reassure you – in as much as we will be fighting side by side – what that demons said before..” Angel: “I know you’re not planning to k*ll me, Wesley. - But you’re willing to – and that’s good. Now come on.” They walk further down the cave tunnels and find the Ethros. Ethros: “You.” Angel: “Didn’t think this was over, did you?” Ethros: “You are a fool. You think to destroy me? You’re dealing with forces beyond your comprehension.” Angel, twirling his axe: “Yeah? Well, it’s a hobby of mine.” Wesley: “You great – putrescent – bully! Pick on an innocent child! You think you’re impressive?” Ethros: “I am Ethros. I corrupted the spirits of men before they had speech to name me. - The child was but the last among tens of thousands, one more pure heart to corrupt, one more soul to suck dry.” Wesley: “Well, chalk up one exciting failure. You didn’t get that boy’s soul.” Ethros: “Hmpf, what soul?” Cut to Paige setting a cup of hot cocoa in front of Stephanie and Ryan. Ryan: “She has nine marshmallows, and I only have seven.” Paige: “Well, we’ll just have to write the Nestle bunny about that. (Kisses Ryan on the cheek) Drink up. It’s way past bedtime.” Ethros lowering its hood: “Do you know what the most frightening thing in the world is? - Nothing! That’s what I found in the boy (Cut to Ryan staring at Stephanie as she drinks her hot cocoa) no conscience, no fear, no humanity, just a black void. I couldn’t control him. (Back to the Ethros) I couldn’t get out. I never even manifested until you brought me forth. I just sat there and watched as he destroyed everything around him. Not from a belief in evil, not for any reason at all.” Cut to Paige leaning up against Seth with a smile: “He doesn’t seem to remember any of it.” Seth: “Good.” Ethros: “That boy’s mind was the blackest hell I’ve ever known.” Angel: “The marbles, that was you.” Ethros nods: “When he slept, I could whisper in him. I tried to get him to end his life, even if it meant ending mine.” Angel: “You sleepwalked him in front of the car.” Ethros: “I had given up – hope. - I know you bring death. I do not fear it. The only thing I have ever feared is in that house.” Wesley: “Angel, he’s with his family. We have to hurry.” Ethros: “Yes, you do.” Angel lifts his axe and we hear a scream as we cut away to Paige tucking Ryan in bed. Paige: “Good night, sweetheart.” Cut to the outside of the house. Blend into Seth and Paige sleeping in bed. Ryan walks in and picks up the matches laying next to a pack of cigarettes on Seth’s nightstand. Seth stirs as Ryan closed the door. Seth: “Ryan?” Ryan drives a wedge under the door to keep it from being opened. Paige sitting up: “What is going on?” Seth trying to get the door open: “I don’t know.” Ryan takes the phone of the hook and picks up a can of gasoline. Seth: “Ryan, open the door!” Paige: “Ryan - Stephanie?” We can hear the parents trying to talk to him in the background as he walks into Stephanie’s bedroom. Seth keeps throwing himself again the door, trying to break it open, screaming at Ryan. Ryan pours gasoline on the floor in Stephanie’s room. He sets the can down and lights a match. After a moment he drops the lit match and the gasoline goes up in a wall of flame with Stephanie’s bed on the other side. Stephanie wakes up and screams as the smoke detector goes off. Ryan just stands there watching the flames. Seth and Paige come up behind him, see the wall of flame. Seth: “Stephanie!” Stephanie: “Mom, dad! Help!” Angel bursts in through the window and picks Stephanie up off the bed as Wesley appears behind the Andersons. Wesley: “Everybody out! Lets go! Go! Go!” Wesley picks up Ryan and pushes the parents down the hallway. Angel turns with Stephanie in his arms and jumps back out through the window. Cut to the outside of the house. There are firemen on the roof and an Ambulance and a couple police cars in the driveway. Kate shuts the back door of a police car. Ryan is sitting in the back seat. She walks over to where Angel and Seth are standing. Kate to Seth: “Social services will take over from here. They’ll want to speak to your son alone first.” Seth: “When will we get to see him?” Kate: “Not until tomorrow.” Seth: “Well, what’s gonna happen to him?” Kate: “We won’t know until after the evaluation.” Angel to Kate: “Thanks for coming by, Kate.” She just looks at him for a moment, then nods and walks away. Seth watching as Ryan is driven away: “I won’t be able to cover for him anymore. They’re gonna want to know about Ohio – and everything. - I wanted to protect him.” Angel: “I know.” Seth looks over at Angel: “I was just trying to hold my family together.” Angel looks over at where Paige and Stephanie stand together wrapped in a blanket and Seth looks over as well. Angel: “I think you did.” Seth nods slightly at Angel then goes over and picks Stephanie up in his arms. The camera pans up as we watch Angel walk over to where Cordy and Wesley are waiting next to his car.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x14 - I've Got You Under My Skin"}

foreverdreaming

Trevor Lockley: “Who’s this?” Kate: “This is Angel. He’s a friend. Angel, this is my father.” Kate: “My daddy forgot how to be anything but a cop a long time ago. Maybe that’s - that’s why I became a cop, too.” Angel: “Kate, do you trust me?” Kate: “You know I do.” Angel dropping through the ceiling to fight Penn. Angel in vamp face looking down at Kate. Kate pulling a g*n on Angel. Kate: “What are you?” Angel: “You already know the answer, Kate.” Kate running Angel through the stomach with a 2x4 dusting Penn through him. Angel: “You missed.” Kate: “No, I didn’t.” Sunrise in Galway, Ireland 1753. A maid servant is filling a pitcher with water at a well. Angel is leaning against the wall of the house in the shadow looking disheveled. Angel: “Anna.” Anna: “Master Liam?” Angel: “Anna, come closer.” Anna: “Master Liam, your father...” Angel: “Will be off to church by now, repenting of his sins, and well he should. Closer, Anna.” Anna: “Why do you keep to the shadows, sir? Are you not well?” Angel: “The light. It bothers my eyes just now.” Angel’s dad: “And I know the reason why. (Pushes Angel out into the sunlight of the courtyard) Up again all night, is it? Drinking and whoring. I smell the stink of it on you.” Angel picks himself up: “And a good morning to you, father.” Dad: “You’re a disgrace.” Angel: “If you say so, father.” Dad: “Oh, I do. I do say so. Have you not had enough debauchery for one night? Must you corrupt the servants as well?” Angel: “Servant, father. We have *one* servant. Anyway, - everyone gets corrupted, - but I find some forms of corruption - are more pleasant...” His Dad hits Angel hard across the face, making him spin around. Dad: “I am ashamed to call you my son. You’re a lay-about and a scoundrel and you’ll never amount to anything more than that.” Cut from the Angel of 1753 wiping the blood off his lip to the Angel of today wiping blood of his split lip. He is fighting a demon in a subway tunnel in front of a stopped subway car. Cut to Kate and an officer walking on the subway station platform. Officer: “Crazy homeless guy got on at Central Street Station. Went nuts. Started tearing up the car, thr*at some passengers. It was one of them that pulled the emergency brake. They’re all still pretty shook up.” Kate: “What about the suspect?” Officer: “Gone.” Kate: “The call said it was a hostage situation.” Officer: “It was.” Kate: “The suspect escaped?” Officer: “Well, we’re still trying to get the story, but it’s a little unclear.” Kate: “Unclear? You have two dozen witnesses!” Officer: “I know, and they are all saying the same thing.” Kate: “Which is?” Officer: “That the suspect went out through the top vent while the train was still moving.” Kate: “He climbed out of the moving train.” Officer: “They’re saying he was pulled out.” Kate: “Pulled out by what? (Officer just looks at her) Get statements.” She walks down towards the stopped cars. Cut to Angel and the demon fighting. The demon collapses to the ground just as Kate comes running up with a flashlight in her hand. Sees Angel, sees that the thing on the ground is not human. Kate: “Well, I guess I can forget about reading him his rights.” Intro. Kate: “It’s uhm – it’s not a person, is it?” Angel: “No. Demon.” Kate: “Is it...” Angel: “d*ad? Yeah, Kate, it-it’s d*ad.” Kate: “So they – so they die then.” Angel: “Yeah.” Kate lets out a big sigh. Kate: “Sorry, I guess I’m still having a little trouble with this otherworldly stuff.” Angel: “Right. - Although demons aren’t technically otherworldly. I mean, in fact they were here (Kate looks at him and walks back towards the station) – first.” Cut to them walking back into the station. Kate: “So, do I call the coroner or hazardous materials?” Angel: “My advice? Don’t call anyone. I’ll see it gets taken care of.” Kate: “And what do I put in my report?” Angel: “Just do what you would normally do in a case like this.” Kate: “There is no normal in a case like this.” Angel: “Los Angeles, Kate, you’ve seen this kind of thing before, probably a lot. You just didn’t have a name for it, that’s all.” Kate: “No, I think I’d remember.” Angel: “Yeah, well, people have a way of seeing what they need to.” Delivery guy to officer taking his statement: “No, nothing really stood out, -except maybe the smell. Just your average Joe stink homeless guy.” Kate walks over the pair. Officer hands her a pad: “That’s what we got.” Kate reads: “Average height, average weight, average build. (To witness) That’s the best you can do? You’re the one that pulled the emergency brake?” Delivery guy: “Yeah. The guy came right at me.” Kate: “Why?” Delivery guy: “He didn’t say.” Kate: “No. Why did you pull the emergency brake?” Delivery guy with a slight frown: “It was an emergency?” Kate turns around to look back at Angel, then hands the pad back to the officer. Kate: “Well, lets get this description circulated. We want to find this guy, right?” Officer: “Right. We’ll do our best.” Delivery guy: “Can I go?” Kate: “Yeah, you can go.” Angel walks up to Kate: “What’s your father doing here?” Kate sees her father talking to an officer. Officer: “Nah, not much to go on.” Kate looks at Angel than walks over to her dad. Kate: “Daddy, what are you doing down here?” Trevor: “In the neighborhood.” Kate: “You’ve been sitting in your apartment listening to the police scanner again, haven’t you.” Trevor: “Nothing on cable anyway. I heard you had a hostage situation. Looks like I missed all the action.” Kate: “35 years on the force, don’t you think you’ve seen enough action? – Did you also happen to hear I was the lead officer on scene?” Trevor: “You look like you’re doing okay. Let you get back to it.” As Trevor walks off Angel steps up next to Kate. Angel: “What’s he up to?” Kate looking after her dad: “I think he’s actually checking up on me.” Angel: “You sound surprised.” Kate turns to look at Angel: “No, you don’t get to do that.” Angel: “What?” Kate: “k*ll a demon in front of me and then act like we’re going to have a cappuccino together. It doesn’t work that way.” Angel: “How’s it work?” Kate: “I’m not convinced it does. - Look, no offence. I think you’re probably a pretty decent guy for a – You know, what you are, but lets keep this strictly business, all right? We don’t get personal. I’m not your girlfriend.” Cut to Darla watching Angel in a tavern fight. Darla to maid: “Who is he?” Maid: “Who, that one?” Angel takes a drink from his mug of ale and goes back to fighting. Darla: “Yes. - He’s magnificent.” Maid: “Oh, yeah, God’s gift, alright.” Darla: “Really? I’ve never known God to be so generous.” Maid: “Oh, his lies sound pretty when the stars are out. - But he forgets every promise he’s made when the sun comes up again.” Darla as Angel smiles at her: “That wouldn’t really be a problem for me actually.” Angel starts walking towards Darla when someone brakes a bottle over his head. Cut to close up of Angel now. Cordy: “Pay attention! All we have to do is decide what the code will be.” Angel: “Code.” Cordy holds up a brochure: “For the security system we just had installed. Hello? What have we been talking about anyway?” Angel: “I don’t...” Cordy: “Come on. The installation guy said it should be something easy to remember, like - my birthday.” Angel: “I don’t know your birthday.” Cordy: “Yeah, tell me something that you don’t know that I *don’t* know. But after 11 and ½ months of punching it into this, you won’t have any excuses.” Wesley comes in carrying to open books. Angel getting up: “Did you identify it?” Wesley: “I-I believe so. (Shows him a picture) Uh, would *that* be the demon you encountered this morning?” Angel: “Yeah, that’s him.” Wesley: “Her, actually. It’s a Kwaini. They’re always female.” Angel: “Okay, what’s it say about disposal methods?” Wesley: “Well, it should be relatively standard. Burial on virgin soil, simple Latinate incantation – however...” Angel: “What?” Wesley: “Well, it’s curious. According to everything I could find a Kwaini is a peaceful, balancing demon. Non-violent.” Angel: “Non-violent. No. Ha. This thing was a fighter.” Wesley: “Not if it’s a Kwaini is wasn’t, at least not a fighter by nature. They’re incredibly articulate, gentle creatures not even capable of the kind of power and strength you described.” Cordy: “Maybe it was just having a bad skanky-rag day.” Angel sits down with a sigh: “Oh, something set it off. That’s for sure.” Wesley: “Clearly.” Angel: “Alright. So forgetting for the moment whether this thing should have been able to fight as well as it did, what would make a peaceful, balancing demon att*ck a train-full of LA commuters in the first place?” Wesley: “Something on the train, perhaps?” Angel: “Or someone.” Cut to Angel standing in the door to Kate’s office at the police station. Kate sees him: “Angel.” Angel: “Hi. Can we talk?” Kate: “What’s up?” Angel: “It’s about that demon from this morning.” Kate: “Look if you insist on... (Hurries over to shut the door) talking about this stuff, could you please don’t say that word? It makes me (Closes the blinds on the window in the door) it makes me, I don’t know, just - uncomfortable. Just say – ‘evil thing’, okay?” Angel: “Sure. Yeah. I understand.” Kate: “Thanks. Anyway, I thought you were going to take care of it.” Angel: “It’s being taken care of. It’s just that the ah, evil thing - turns out it wasn’t an *evil* thing.” Kate: “The evil thing wasn’t an evil thing?” Angel: “Well, it was an evil thing in terms of that word. It just wasn’t an evil evil thing.” Kate: “There are not evil evil things?” Angel: “Well – yeah.” Kate: “Right. Sorry. Hey, anyway, how did you get in here? It’s like the middle of the day. Don’t you have to...” Angel: “Sewer system leads up to the parking garage.” Kate: “Ah, right. Of course. I remember.” Angel: “Listen, Kate, I need the names of the passengers on that train.” Kate: “Why?” Angel: “I think that the demon uh, - I think that the *train* may have been targeted for a reason.” Kate: “An evil thing needs a reason?” Angel: “I think it’s after something or someone.” Kate: “There was nothing on that train. We searched it.” Angel: “Passengers.” Kate: “All checked out.” Angel: “I want to look into them anyway. And I think we should start with that delivery guy, uh, the man who pulled the emergency brake. He said that that thing was coming right...” Kate: “It’s still d*ad, right?” Angel: “Yeah.” Kate: “Good. You told me to forget about it. I’d like to.” Angel: “I think the...” Kate: “Angel. There is nothing here. Your not evil evil thing was just evil. Okay? Now can’t we just leave it at that?” Wesley on Phone: “I suppose one can hardly blame her for being skittish on the topic.” Angel sitting in his car: “I guess so. I don’t know. Ever since she ran me through with a 2x4 things have been different.” Wesley walking in the subway tunnel: “Well, she’ll come around. I think you’ll find that most people require some period of adjustment after being confronted with the dark forces, which surround us. Women in particular...” Cordy crouched over the d*ad demon waving a hacksaw: “Found it!” Wesley watches Cordy sawing into the demon: “Struggle with it.” Angel: “Maybe. I’m just afraid if she keeps struggling with the bigger picture – she’ll lose the details.” Wesley: “Details?” Angel watches the delivery guy coming out of his truck: “Yeah, like why a guy who drives a delivery van would be on a commuter train during his shift.” Wesley putting on some gloves: “Good question. Anyway, it appears we’ve located the Kwaini’s body.” Angel: “Okay. You’ll run the tests?” Wesley: “Yes.” Angel: “Good. I’ll see you back at the office.” The delivery guys cell phone rings and he answers it. He gets in his van and drives off. Angel follows in his car. The guy walks into an apartment building. He knocks on a door. Angel watches as Kate’s dad hands the guy a package wrapped in brown paper. The guy sticks it in his delivery bag and leaves. Cut to Trevor grabbing a cup of tea in his apartment. He goes to answer a knock on his door. Angel: “Mr. Lockley?” Trevor: “Yeah?” Angel: “I’m Angel. We met at your retirement party? - I’m a friend of your daughter’s.” Trevor: “Katie? Did something...” Angel: “She’s fine.” Trevor: “She with you?” Angel: “No. She doesn’t know I’m here either. Though you can bet she’d be interested to know who else was just here visiting you. – You know she actually thought that you were at the crime scene today because you were worried about her?” Trevor: “What do you want?” Angel: “I want to know what was in that package. The one you gave that delivery guy.” Trevor: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Angel: “You removed something from the crime scene today. Something somebody didn’t want the police to find. (Trevor gets ready to shut the door) Who do you work for, Mr. Lockley?” Trevor: “I don’t work for anybody. I’m retired. You were at the party, remember?” Angel: “I will find out what’s going on, sir. I’m just telling you that now out of respect for Kate.” Trevor: “Are you thr*at me, son?” Angel: “No. I’m trying to protect your daughter.” Trevor: “Protect my daughter. From what?” Angel: “From finding out the reason you were there today wasn’t because you cared about her.” Trevor: “You got any kids, Angel?” Angel: “No.” Trevor: “Right. Then don’t think you know how a father feels, or why he does the things he does.” Slams the door in Angel’s face. Cut to Angel of the past stumbling up to his mother and little sister in his home. His father from behind him: “Liam! You’ll do as I say.” Angel to his little sister: “Sweet Kathy. No tears. We’ll meet again.” Dad: “Defy me now, you won’t. - Not as long as I live.” Angel: “You’ll want to move away from the door now, father.” Dad: “Go through it, but don’t ever expect to come back.” Angel: “As you wish, father. Always, *just* as you wish.” Dad: “It’s a son I wished for – a man – instead God gave me you! A terrible disappointment.” Angel: “Disappointment? A more dutiful son you couldn’t have asked for. My whole life you’ve told me in word, in glance, what it is you required of me, and I’ve lived down to your every expectations, now haven’t I?” Dad: “That’s madness!” Angel: “No. The madness is that I couldn’t fail enough for you. But we’ll fix that now, won’t we?” Dad: “I fear for you, lad.” Angel: “And is that the only thing you can find in your heart for me now, father?” Dad: “Who’ll take you in, huh? No one!” Angel: “I’ll not lack for a place to sleep, I can tell you that. Out of my way.” Dad: “I was never in your way, boy.” Angel opens the door and storms out. Dad: “If you’ll go courting trouble, you’re sure to find it!” Slams the door. Cut to the barmaid at the tavern smiling as Angel picks her up. Cut to Darla scratching her chest to make it bleed. Cut to the barmaid. Cut to Darla in the alley. Cut to the Barmaid feeding Angel some grapes. Darla voice over: “You know what to do. Darling boy.” Cut to Angel following Darla into the alley. Darla voice over: “I could show you – things you’ve never seen.” Darla bites him and his eyes pop open. He’s knees give out and Darla pushes his mouth on top of the bloody scratch on her chest. Kate to her Dad: “So why the sudden urge to have lunch?” Trevor: “Lunchtime, isn’t it?” Kate: “Right. So you drive all the way out here for a hotdog?” Trevor: “Not just a hotdog. One of Manny’s. Best there is.” He sits down on the edge of a planter. Kate: “Alright. I’ll let you and Manny catch up then.” Trevor: “And I thought I could spend a little time with my daughter.” Kate sits down. Trevor: “So, you’ve been good?” Kate: “Yeah. Yeah, good.” Trevor: “And, uh, - how’s Angel?” Kate: “Pardon me?” Trevor: “Tall, good-looking fellow you brought to my retirement party.” Kate: “Yeah, I know who you mean.” Trevor: “That ain’t a Mexican name, is it? Angel?” Kate: “I don’t think so.” Trevor: “You two still seeing each other?” Kate: “We were never – seeing each other, dad.” Trevor: “What’s wrong with him?” Kate: “Nothing!” Trevor: “Must be something wrong with him. He married?” Kate: “No.” Trevor: “West Hollywood?” Kate: “Daddy, no! - Angel’s just - not my type. Or I’m not his type. There is definitely a type involved and it’s the wrong one.” Trevor: “He’s got a job.” Kate: “Yeah, he’s a P.I.” Trevor: “Private Investigator. He any good?” Kate: “Yeah, he’s good. – Very good. - He doesn’t mind working nights.” Trevor: “That’s good. - That’s good that he’s good.” Kate: “You came all the way down here to talk about a guy you saw me out with once?” Trevor: “Well, - he made an impression.” Kate: “You like him?” Trevor: “No, not really.” Kate: “Oh. Then what’s this all about?” Trevor: “Nothing, just – just, uh, (sighs) It’s not good to be alone, Katie.” Cut to Wesley dressed like a doctor examining some meat on a silver tray in Angel’s apartment. Wesley: “Well, the vivisection confirms it. This is most certainly a Kwaini.” Angel: “So the species has evolved. It’s become violent.” Wesley: “No, I don’t think so. My tests detected something else.” Angel: “What is it?” Wesley holding up a piece of meat: “Think of it as the creatures adrenal gland. Normally it would be the size of a walnut.” Angel: “What happened to it?” Wesley: “I believe the inflammation was caused by this substance. (Hold up a little bottle) I found traces of it through out the Kwaini’s system.” Angel takes the bottle: “Any idea what it is?” Wesley: “Well, it’s difficult to say under these primitive conditions, - but what I *can* tell you is it’s synthetic. It seems to contain properties not unlike street PCP, though more metaphysical in nature of course. I did identify Eye of Newt as one of the ingredients, but one suspects added chiefly for taste, rather than kick.” Angel: “So, you’re saying that the thing was on drugs.” Wesley: “Yes.” Angel: “That’s why it att*cked the subway train. The delivery guy was probably carrying it.” Wesley: “I think that it would be a fair intuitive leap to assume that the Kwaini was jonesing to get well. Yes.” Angel: “So not only did this stuff turn the Kwaini violent – it enhances innate strength.” Wesley: “Times 20, I would say.” Angel: “Hmm. What would happen if this drug were given to an already powerful battle-demon?” Wesley: “I shudder to think.” Cordy comes down the stairs wearing a short blond wig and sunglasses. Cordy: “Hey guys? Security system, remember? What is the point of having it, if you never turn it on? I could have been anyone or anything! (Motions to the stuff on the table) Move your – entrails.” Angel and Wesley clear off the table. Angel: “So, you’re back.” Cordy: “Very good Mr. I-can’t-trail-the-suspect-during-the-day-because-I’ll-burst-into-flames Private Eye.” Angel: “What did you find out?” Cordy: “First off, I hate following detail.” Wesley: “The voyeuristic aspect is rather unseemly.” Cordy: “Uh, can I mention traffic? And parking or the complete lack of it?” Angel: “Not like in the movies, is it?” Cordy: “No! But fortunately I am. (Flips the screen out on the camcorder she is holding and shows them a row of still sh*ts) So it turns out delivery guy really is a delivery guy.” Angel: “None of this looks like the package I saw him pick up from Kate’s father.” Cordy: “But this is where he spent his lunch and he was in there for like ever. (sh*t of a warehouse with Kel’s Exotic Auto on it, the guy sticks two brown packages into his bag) I don’t know what they were serving, but sure are a lot of leftovers in there, huh?” Angel: “That’s it. That’s the source. That’s where it’s all coming from.” Cut to Trevor in an auto shop. Trevor: “The guy’s name is Angel. He’s a Private Investigator. From what I hear he’s good.” Suit guy: “Any idea on why he’s looking into our operation?” Trevor: “I don’t know. He’s got his reasons I guess. - What was in the package?” Suit guy: “Mr. Lockley, we agreed...” Trevor: “We agreed that I’d use my department connections to facilitate movement of your untariffed auto-parts. We didn’t agree that I’d be removing evidence form crime scenes, or - pumping my own daughter for information.” Suit guy: “We understand the extra lengths to which you’ve gone. (Pulls out a thick brown envelope and lays it on the table) Don’t think that we are not appreciative.” Trevor lets out a deep breath and takes it with a grimace. Trevor: “My advice to you guys? Whatever it is you’re moving in your little brown packages, (Starts to walk out) dial it down for a while.” Suit guy: “Sound advice, Mr. Lockley, thank you very much.” The door closes behind Trevor and suit guy turns around to one big ugly demon stepping out of the shadows. Suit guy: “Any instructions on how we should deal with this Angel person, sir?” Demon: “k*ll him.” Suit guy: “Sure that would be wise, Sir? Lockley appears to be growing uncomfortable with our arrangement as it is. Sudden death of this private investigator could turn him...” Demon: “k*ll Lockley, too. (Turns to go) God, do I have to think of everything around here? Someone give me an adrenal gland!” Cut to Angel’s funeral in 1753. Angel’s mom and sister are crying while his dad stands looking straight ahead. Priest: “Taken too soon from the bosom of his family, a man of just 20 years and 6, Liam was well-loved by everyone he met. (?) Receive this your humble servant. We pray that you may take his eternal soul into your care, Father.” Cut to the grave being filled in. The only mourner still standing beside the grave is his father, still staring straight ahead. Cut to the grave stone. 1727 – 1753 Beloved Son. Cut to Darla walking up to Angel’s fresh grave that night. A hand breaks through the earth, Angel slowly claws his way out as Darla waits with a smile. (Really nice background music) Darla helps Angel to his feet: “Welcome to my world. It hurts, I know, but not for long. Birth is always painful.” Angel breathing hard: “I could feel them – above me – as I slept in the earth. - Their heartbeats – their blood - coursing - through their veins.” Darla smiles: “Yes.” Angel: “Was it a dream?” Darla: “A dream for you. Soon – their nightmare.” Groundskeeper comes up holding a lantern. Groundskeeper: “You there! (Sees the disturbed grave) What have you done? - Grave robbers!” Angel slowly walks towards him, looks back at Darla who nods at him. Darla: “You know what to do.” Angel turns back and morphs into vamp face. Groundskeeper: “Our Father, who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, give us this day our daily...” Screams as Angel bites him. After a moment Angel breaks off to look at Darla again, then finishes draining the guy and drops him. He takes a couple deep breaths then turns back to Darla in human face. Darla: “It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?” Angel: “Perfect sense.” Darla: “You can do anything, have anyone in the village. Who will it be?” Angel: “Any one? (Darla nods) I thought I’d take the village.” Cut to Cordy putting in the security code. Cordy: “0-5-2-2 –there, see?” Wesley reading from flyer: “Right. So now we should be protected by state of the art home and workplace security designed to attractively complement any room, home or office, tm.” Cordy: “Exactly! Which means no lurky minions form hell get in here without us knowing about it first.” Angel steps in: “Sun’ll be down soon. I’m going to head out to this exotic car warehouse. See what I can find out.” Wesley: “You’ll want backup.” Angel: “No, not this time. This is strictly recon. I need to know exactly what we’re dealing with before we make any moves.” Wesley: “Right you are. A deliberate cautious approach would be the most sensible plan. Fools rush in...” Cordy: “No, he wants you to stay here.” Kate walks in: “Hi.” Cordy takes the flyer away from Wesley: “Give me that!” Kate: “Am I interrupting anything?” Angel: “No. It’s alright. Come on in.” Cut to Angel and Kate in his office. Kate hands Angel a sheet of paper: “Here.” Angel takes it: “What’s this?” Kate: “The list of those names you asked for – passengers on the train?” Angel sits down on the edge of his desk and unfold the paper to look at the names. Angel: “Right. - Thank you. (Folds the paper back up) What made you change your mind?” Kate: “Something my father said, actually.” Angel: “Your father?” Kate: “Yeah, he asked if you were good.” Angel: “Good?” Kate: “At what you do. I said you were.” Angel: “Thanks.” Kate: “No matter how uncomfortable I am with certain – circumstances – I can’t let myself ignore your instincts. If you think there is something more going on here then there probably is.” Angel: “I appreciate that.” Kate: “And I’d like to be involved.” Angel: “What?” Kate: “With the case. You find something, you bring me in, okay?” Angel: “Are you – are you sure about that?” Kate: “Got to face those demons sometime, right?” Angel: “Right.” Cut to later. Angel is getting ready to leave searching the whole office for something. Wesley: “Isn’t this going above and beyond the call of duty – and friendship for that matter?” Angel: “I have to at least try, Wesley.” Wesley: “Angel, I understand, you want to protect detective Lockley from learning about her fathers questionable associations, but you’ve already warned him once, and frankly even that may have been too much!” Angel: “Look I already warned him about me, Wesley. But now he needs to understand the real nature of what he’s working for.” Wesley: “If he doesn’t already know.” Angel starts searching through Cordy’s desk: “He doesn’t know. He can’t!” Wesley: “Perhaps. Still. At the very least he must realize that he is in league with someone who if not criminal is most certainly unethical. It’s his choice!” Angel: “Yeah, I know all about it, Wesley, believe me. But sometimes the price we end up paying for one bad choice isn’t commensurate with the offence.” Cordy holds out the car keys to Angel: “You go talk some sense into him then.” Angel: “Thank you.” Angel leaves for the garage while Cordy arms the security system. Wesley: “I hope he knows what he’s doing.” Cordy: “Have a little Faith, Wesley.” A Kwai demon burst in through the door. Security system: “Door is open.” Cordy: “Yeah. Thanks.” The Kwai heads for Cordy, but Wesley tackles it. Alarm: “Bathroom window is ajar.” A second demon comes out of the bathroom as the first one pushes Wesley down and Cordy breaks a vase over its head. The second demon grabs Wesley as he gets back up, but he flips it over his back to the ground. Cordy throws some books at the first one then topples the bookcase on it. Wesley and the second Kwai wrestle on the floor, while the first one throws Cordy against the wall. Angel: “Hey! (Holds the bottle Wesley found with the first demon up) Bet you would like some of this.” The Kwai demons leave off the others. Angel throws the bottle into his office and the Kwai dive after it. Angel grabs one and throws it out through the window. Alarm: “Window is open.” Angel slams the other Kwai down on his desk Cordy: “I’m unplugging it!” Angel to Kwai: “All right. I know you can, so talk!” Cut to Angel walking out to his car. Angel to cell phone: “Kate, it’s Angel. Pick up if you’re there. If you get this message, get your father. Get him out of his house. He’s in danger.” Cut to Trevor opening the door to the suit guys from the auto place. Suit guy: “Mr. Lockley. May we come in?” Trevor: “What do you want?” Suit guy: “It’d be better if we discussed it inside. It concerns your daughter.” Cut to Angel getting in the car. Angel to phone: “He doesn’t know what they are, Kate. He won’t understand. I’m on my way there now.” Cut to Angel’s father nailing up his window from the inside. Angel: “You’re no different from the rest of them, - are you, father? (His father spins around and stares at him) Cowering in their houses – boarding up the windows – smearing that foul herb in the doorways. You’d think something evil – and vile – and monstrous - had taken to terrorizing this village –and everyone in it.” Dad: “Be gone, unclean thing! A demon can not enter a home where it’s not welcome. He must be invited!” Angel: “That’s true. - But I was invited.” Angel looks to the doorway. His father turns and sees little Kathy slumped against the wall. Dad: “Och!” Angel: “She thought I returned to her – an angel.” Dad spins around and charges Angel with the hammer in his hand. Dad: “m*rder!” Angel easily pushes the att*ck aside, making his dad fall to the ground. Angel: “Strange. - Somehow you seemed taller when I was alive.” Dad flattens himself up against the wall: “Lord, bind this demon now.” Angel: “To think I ever let such a tiny, trembling thing make me feel the way you did.” Dad crosses himself: “I pray ye, give me your protection, Father.” Angel: “You told me I wasn’t a man. (Slowly stalks closer to his dad) You told me I was nothing. – and I believed you. You said I’d never amount to anything. (His dad stares at him with wide-open eyes) Well, you were wrong. (Angel morphs into vamp face) You see, father? - I have made something out of myself after all.” Angel puts a hand over his father’s face and bites him. They slowly slide down the wall and out of the picture. Cut to Trevor’s apartment. Trevor: “You boys like a drink?” Suit guy: “We’ll wait.” Trevor: “Okay. So. You said this was about Katie.” Suit guy: “Yes. Just a question, actually. You haven’t by any chance mentioned to her, even casually, your association with us, have you?” Trevor pouring himself a drink: “She doesn’t know a thing. - Why?” Suit guy: “Well, we were concerned, had you confided in her that she might not share your – pragmatism – given her position and youth.” Trevor: “You mean you were afraid she wasn’t crooked like her old man. She’s not! And she’ll never have to be, I’ve seen to it!” Suit guy: “Ahh, providing for her future of course, very noble. Glad we could help with that.” Trevor takes the bottle back to the shelf: “Yeah. - I’ll be sure and thank you (He opens a door to reveal more bottles and a g*n) when I pick up my father of the year award. Anything else?” Suit guy walks towards Trevor: “Just one more thing.” They are interrupted by a knock on the door. Trevor leaves the g*n and goes to open the door. Angel: “Mr. Lockley, I need you to invite me in.” Trevor quietly: “What? Get out of here.” Angel sees the suit guys behind him tries to walk in but can’t. Angel: “Invite me in. Do it now.” Trevor: “Son, you really need to go.” Angel strains against the barrier: “Invite me in. (The two suit guys morph into vamp face) Invite me in! (One of them grabs Trevor and throws him across the room) No. No!” Suit guy to Angel: “Looks like you’re not welcome here, bro.” Angel: “He dies, the very instant his soul leaves his body, I’m through this door and I’ll k*ll you both!” Angel has to watch helplessly as they drain Kate’s father. They drop him and Angel charges in, kicks a chair to break off a leg, hits the bigger vamp and stakes it. The other vamp runs out of the room, almost colliding with Kate as she runs in. Kate falls on top of her dad: “Oh! Daddy! No, dad.” She sees the bite marks on his neck and breaks down crying. Angel: “Kate – he invited them in. He didn’t know.” Kate crying: “But you did. You knew!” Angel: “I wanted to save him. He – he wouldn’t’ let me. - Look, he was involved in something, Kate, in something he couldn’t have understood.” Kate: “Get out. Get out! Get out! Get out. Get out. Get out. (Angel slowly back towards the door) Please, get out. Please, get out.” Cut to Angel arming himself to the teeth. Throwing star, Kn*fe at his waist, Kn*fe at his ankle, arm sheath stakes. Wesley: “What happened to calmly, cautiously, and deliberately investigating before rushing in?” Angel: “That was plan A. We’ve since moved on to plan B.” Wesley: “And plan B is?” Angel turns around twirling a big fighting ax in his hand: “Do I really have to explain it to you, Wesley?” Wesley: “No.” Cut to Kate huddled against the wall beside her father’s body. She spots a manila envelope with a bunch of hundreds in it laying open on the floor and crawls over to it. She finds a business card from Kel’s Exotic Auto. Cut to three suited guys gathered around another guy sitting behind a desk at Exotic Auto. Kate walks in and sh**t three of them. Kate: “My father may not have known what you are, but I do. I know.” Suit guy: “Do you?” Kate: “Oh, yeah.” Suit guy walks towards her: “I see.” Kate sh**t him in the shoulder and he growls. Kate: “I know it won’t k*ll you. (Pulls a stake out of her back pocket and stakes him) But this will. (He bursts into dust) I told you I knew.” Head demon walks in: “What do you think you know? Do you know what walks this city?” Kate sh**t him four times in the chest and he barely even jerks. There are vamps closing in behind her. Demon: “You have no comprehension! You do not understand what stand sbefore you!” Angel walks in behind Kate twirling his ax: “A big, ugly drug-running demon, who thinks he is a lot scarier than he is, maybe? (Everyone looks at him) Yeah. She knows.” Kate and Angel start fighting the vampires while the big demon just watches. Kate goes down beneath a vamp, but Angel reclaims his axe from another vamp, pulls the vamp off Kate and pushes the blade of his ax up against the big demon’s throat. Angel: “We walk out of here now, you don’t lose your head.” Big demon grunts and motions for the other vamps to back off. Angel to Kate: “Lets go.” The big demon takes a step after them. One of the vamps grabs Kate, but she throws him over her hip and stakes him. Angel throws his ax straight up into the air and stakes the tow vamps on either side of him with his spring loaded wrist sheathes, then calmly catches the ax as it comes back down (very cool move!). Demon to Angel: “You’re d*ad!” Angel: “I’m already d*ad. (Swings around and beheads the demon) Welcome to the club.” Angel slowly walks over to where Kate is still crouched over the place she dusted that vamp. Angel: “You okay? (Kate is trying not to cry) - Never trust and evil evil thing. - Kate, I know that what happened with your father..” Kate spins to look at him: “My father was human (Gets up) and you don’t know anything about that.” She walks past him without another word and he watches her go. Darla: “This contest is ended, is it?” Angel has his feet up on the table playing with his father’s pipe. His family lies d*ad around him. Angel: “Now I’ve won.” Darla: “You’re sure?” Angel puts his feet down and picks up a mug of ale: “Of course. I proved who had the power here.” Darla: “You think?” Angel: “What?” Darla: “You’re victory over him took but moments.” Angel looks over at the body of his father and gets up: “Yes?” Darla: “But his defeat of you will last life times.” Angel: “What are you talking about? He can’t defeat me now.” Darla: “Nor can he ever approve of you – in this world or any other. - What we once were informs all that we have become. (Angel looks at his father’s body) The same love will infect our hearts – even if they no longer b*at. (Angel looks at his mother’s and his sister’s body) Simple death won’t change that.” Angel: “Love? - Is this the work of love?” Darla steps closer and smiles up at him: “Darling boy. - So young. Still so very young.” (Again beautiful score music through this whole scene) Cut to Kate standing in the sun in front of her dad’s grave marker. She puts some flowers on his grave then walks away while Angel watches her from the shadows of some crypt a ways away. Cut to the grave marker: Trevor Lockley born 1938 at rest 2000 Beloved Father.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x15 - The Prodigal"}

foreverdreaming

Cordelia is sitting in front of her computer at Angel Investigations checking out a new computer program. Cordy: “Demons, Demons, Demons. Wow! They put a lot of thought into *that* title.” Wesley: “It’s a demon database. What would you call it?” Cordy: “I don’t know. How about – Demon Database?” Wesley: “Ahh! A name rife with single entendre.” Cordy: “Why isn’t Wolfram&Hart in here?” Wesley: “Because they are lawyers, not demons?” Cordy: “Fine line, if you ask me. Yeesh. They have a lot of entries! Did you know that there is a dozen species indigenous to LA County alone?” Wesley: “Do they have the Vigories of Oden Tal?” Cordy: “Nope.” Wesley: “Hmm. (Picks up a book) So - there is still a place in this world for traditional research.” Cordy: “There are some ugly critters in here. Someone ought to create an intra-demon dating base. You know, like archfiend.org, where the lonely and the slimy connect. (Wesley looks at her) I was just joking Mr. Grouchy Pants. When was the last time you had a dating base?” Wesley: “For your information – I lead a rich and varied social life.” Cordy: “Oh, I know. Every night it’s Jeopardy, followed by Wheel of Fortune and a cup of hot cocoa. Look out girls, this one can’t be tamed!” Wesley: “I’ll admit it may not be as intoxicating as a life erected on high fashion pumps and a push-up bra.” Cordy gets up: “Hey, if anyone is wearing a push-up bra around here it’s (Sees Angel coming in) - Angel.” Angel: “Did you two need to see a counselor?” Cordy with a smile: “No, I’m way too single entendre - to benefit from therapy!” Wesley: “I don’t know why you take everything so personally.” Cordy: “Me? Oh this is rich coming from Mr. ‘Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my *flagon* of oat-bran’ in the morning.” Door opens a guy with a b*at-up face in a suit walks in. Angel: “Children, we have company.” Darin: “Is one of you Angel?” Angel: “I’m Angel.” Darin: “I’m Darin Macnamara, I uh, - checked around. You have a reputation for handling unusual problems.” Wesley: “A richly deserved reputation.” Darin sways and Angel and Wesley run up and catch him before he collapses. Angel: “Hey, are you all right?” They help Darin over to the couch. Darin: “Yeah, I think I’m going to pass out. I’m-I’m sorry it’s just that – my brother - Jack. He-he was kidnapped last night. (He offers Angel a small white jewelry box) I found this in my mailbox today.” Angel opens the box to reveal a severed finger. Angel: “Do you know the people who did this?” Darin: “Well, that’s why I came to you. - They weren’t people.” Intro Angel is looking at some photographs of a blond guy. Darin: “That’s my brother Jack. - My brother and I haven’t been exactly – close – since we grew up. I made something of my life and Jack - didn’t. (Cordy hand him a drink) Thanks. I don’t know what they want. There was no calls, no note, just...” Angel: “But you were there when he was taken.” Darin: “Jack called me last night, asked me to come over. – He’s got a gambling problem. He said he was in over his head with one of his bookies.” Cordy: “Do you know which one?” Darin: “Ernie Nellins. He works at a Sports Bar in Silverlake called sh*ts. I paid this Nellins before. I told Jack this time to go to hell. I wanted him to suffer the consequences of his actions. - I didn’t know something like this was gonna happen.” Wesley: “You couldn’t. It’s not your fault.” Darin: “I felt guilty. So I went over there and there were these – I don’t know – creatures. They were dragging him away. I-I tried to stop them, but...” Angel: “And you haven’t heard from anyone?” Darin: “No. I’ll pay anything to get him back. He’s family. He’s my little brother.” Angel: “Look, my colleagues will - start looking into whoever or whatever kidnapped your brother and uhm, (Hands him a pad and paper) in the meantime write down everything you saw.” Darin: “Okay. Thank you! What about the bookie?” Angel: “I thought we could have a little chat.” Cut to a bunch of guys playing poker. A guy is setting down drinks in Styrofoam containers. Bookie: “This is wheat-grass. I ordered the kiwi cooler.” Guy: “Give me that.” Bookie: “How do you drink this swill! (Lays down two cards) Give me two.” Angel walks in: “Mind if I play, Ernie?” Bookie: “Game’s invitation only, pal.” Angel: “Then invite me. It’s been a while since I’ve played so I might be a little rusty on the rules (Pulls out the photographs of Jack and drops them on the table) but I think my Jacks – b*at your pair. (Bookie pulls out a g*n and Angel grabs his hand and casually gets the g*n away form him) No, I’m not looking for a fight – just for him.” Bookie gets up and walks out. Angel picks up the pictures and follows him. Cut to the alley outside. Angel: “You should try that wheat-grass. It’s good for the digestion.” Bookie: “Who the hell are you?” Angel: “Friend of Jack’s.” Bookie: “Jack doesn’t have any friends – just people he doesn’t owe.” Angel: “His brother will make good on all his debts.” Bookie: “Ooh, out of my hands hot-sh*t. It’s not about the money anymore. It’s about making Jack an example.” Angel: “Piece by piece?” Bookie: “Makes an impression on the newcomers.” Angel: “Where is he, Ernie?” Bookie: “He didn’t tell me. I didn’t ask.” Angel: “Which doesn’t mean you don’t know.” Bookie: “Yep.” He puts a cigarette in his mouth. Angel seems to be lighting a match for him but when the guy bends down he sees the Angel is actually holding up a folded hundred-dollar bill shielded by his hand instead of a match. The bookie glances up at Angel, then both ways down the deserted alley. He touches his cigarette to the bill and palms it with his other hand. Bookie: “There is a place – in Beechwood Canyon. - Well, not exactly in Beechwood Canyon – under it actually.” Cordy at her computer: “Okay, I’m in. What did Darin write down about the demon that took his brother?” Wesley reads: “Bald – ultra white skin – slime.” Cordy: “There is always slime. This is why I don’t gamble. You make a small wager one day, a bigger one the next, and before you know it – Beetlejuicy albino comes a knocking! Claws or hands?” Wesley: “He wrote claw-like hands.” Cordy: “Could be a mixed breed. Smell?” Wesley: “Sulfuric.” Cordy: “Add a Porsche and hair-plugs and I’ve dated this guy – a lot. Other distinguishing characteristics?” Wesley: “An eerie high-pitched howl or wail. I’m assuming that’s when it’s preparing to fight or mate.” Cordy: “Okay, first I say ‘yuck’ and then I h*t search.” Wesley: “You know, by the time you get done entering all this in your fancy-shmancy database (picks up a book) I could have located it just...” Cordy: “Got it.” Wesley looks at the screen: “A Howler demon.” Cut to Angel climbing down a ladder into a sewer. He shines his flashlight on some bloody human parts floating in some opaque goo in a square hole in the floor. Two Howler demons att*ck him, shrieking as they go. After a bit of a fight, Angel knows one of them out with his flashlight, then presses the other one up against the wall. Angel: “Where is Jack Macnamara?” Howler: “Not here.” Angel: “Where is he?!” Howler: “We sold him.” Angel: “Okay. Who did we sell him to?” A sports convertible pulls up in a rundown neighborhood. Angel sees couples in fancy dress lined up to have their tickets checked to get into one of the buildings. Bouncer: “Next please? Tickets? Name?” Angel sees a barred basement window. He tests the strength of the bars with his hands looks around, then breaks in. Cut to the inside of the club. A good-looking, dark-haired lady picks up her drink from the bar and pushes her ticket laying next to it over the edge. Angel catches it. Lady: “You’re quick.” Angel looks at the ticket. It says Amount $5000 to win Cribb XXI 255459. Lady pulls it out of his hand with a smile: “Thank you.” Angel: “No problem.” Angel walks into another room. People stand cheering around a pit in which two demons are fighting against each other. One demon manages to know the other down so it doesn’t get back up. Crowd chanting: “k*lling blow. k*lling blow.” One of the men standing beside some doors in the pit throws the demon still standing a Kn*fe. He catches it and cuts the downed demon’s throat to cheers and applause. Announcer into microphone hanging in the middle of the pit: “Winner, Ladies and Gentlemen, Tom Cribb, official time 6 minutes 22 seconds. (Fight pays out 2 5 ?) If you are keeping track that was Cribb’s seventh career k*ll. Our next contest features one of the more popular fighter’s we’ve had the pleasure of presenting, a rare find. Hailing from the barren wastelands of (Treshok ?) (Doors in the pit open and a new demon walks in) A true champion that has it all: skill, speed and strength! Let’s give it up for the menace of (Venice?) the titan of terror, the (?) of agony, the one, the only – Val Trepkos!” Angel sees a blond guy being lead through the crowd by some guys and matches him up to the pictures of Jack. He follows them down a corridor. Jack: “You made it. (A blinding light comes on and Angel flinches and puts up a hand to shield his eyes) Most don’t.” Darin: “Careful with this one, Jack. You should have seen what he did to the Howlers. Ouch!” Angel: “You set me up.” Darin: “It was a group effort. Jack: “Open up. Let’s get a look at those teeth. Teeth tell a lot about the bones.” Jack tries to grab Angel’s face. Angel takes a hold of his wrist and throws him into another guy behind him. Some more guys stick Angel with a bunch of heavy-duty cattle prods until he falls down unconscious. Darin: “I told you to be careful, Jack.” Jack picking himself back up: “So, this one’s got some attitude. That’s good. He’ll be a crowd pleaser.” Camera pans down a brick building and sinks down through the street to show some demons in metal cages. There is a thick red line marking off an area of the free space in front of the cages. Angel wakes up and notices that there is a thick silver bracelet around his left wrist bearing a XXI. Angel to the demon sharing his cage: “I asked for a room with a view. (The demon just looks at him) I’m guessing English is not your native tongue. Hablo Espanol? (Tries again in Russian, then Italian with no success) Yeah, we’ll have so much to talk about during those long winter nights.” Jack walks in: “Listen up, slaves. There is only one rule here (Hits a button and the cell doors slide open) and it’s real simple, so you demons can remember it. (Angel walks towards Jack) Tsk, tsk. (Points down at the thick red line) Stay inside the red. That wristband will make sure you do. I know what you’re thinking. You want to tear my throat out. - But you won’t. Because there is only one way out of here: When that band comes off. And the only way that band comes off, is after your 21st k*ll.” Angel: “I’m not k*lling anyone.” Jack: “Then you’ll be k*lled. Either way, fan’s will get their money’s worth.” Wesley to phone: “Well, please let us know if you hear from him. Thank you.” Cordy playing nervously with her necklace: “Cop-lady hasn’t talked to him?” Wesley: “No, and she seemed like she didn’t much *care* either.” Cordy: “We should put out a missing persons.” Wesley gets up: “He’s only been gone one night.” Cordy: “One *long* night, during which he was supposed to check in with us and didn’t. And – he’s not someone who tans well.” Wesley: “He’s probably just holed up in a tunnel somewhere, waiting for nightfall.” Cordy: “Maybe. - Still something is *very* wrong. Our client, who should be waiting by the phone, is nowhere to be found!” Wesley puts on his jacket: “Right. Keep trying to track him down.” Cordy: “What are you going to do?” Wesley: “Follow in Angel’s footsteps.” Cordy: “You’re going to the bookie?” Wesley: “That’s the last place we know Angel went.” Cordy: “The bookie who may get his jollies cutting off people’s extremities?” Wesley opens a drawer: “That’s why I’m taking this. (He pulls out a tangle of w*apon, scattering them across the floor) Along with a few other things.” Cut to the demon barracks. A guard is dishing out a brown slop and sliding the bowls and a piece of bread on trays across the red line on the floor. The demons are sitting around the table eating. Angel sits down. He doesn’t have a bowl. Angel: “Looks like good gruel.” Lizard demon: “Who the hell are you?” Angel: “I’m Angel.” Lizard: “What you are, is a soon to be d*ad sl*ve. - Shut up!” The demon across from the Lizard is about to take a bite out of his piece of bread when the Lizards tongue sh**t out and snags it. Malish: “Cribb, that’s mine.” Cribb takes the other demon’s bowl of gruel: “And now it’s mine.” Angel without looking at Cribb: “Give it back to him.” Cribb: “You open your mouth again, I’ll close it for good.” Cribb lifts the bowl to his mouth. Angel: “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Cribb puts the bowl down and gets up to lean across the table: “Angel, guess how many vampires I’ve k*lled.” Angel looks up at Cribb. A couple guards come closer, charging up their cattle prods. Angel reaches over and slides the bowl back in front of Malish. Cribb to Angel: “Catch you later.” Later the demon with the bowl walks up to Angel. Malish: “Why did you do that?” Angel: “You’re welcome.” Malish: “I can fight my own battles. I got two wins already.” Angel: “So all you need is what? Another 19 and you’re out of here?” Malish: “Yeah, that’s right. You think I can’t cut it? You want a piece of me?” Angel: “No. Not really.” Malish: “What’s wrong with you? Don’t be rocking the boat. This is life and death in here.” Jack: “Alright, girls, listen up. Here is tonight’s card. Vlasovik, you’re fighting Baker.” Darin: “Trepkos, you’re the main event. It’ll go against Malish.” Malish drops his bowl. Cribb: “That’s not a match-up, that’s an execution.” Jack: “Shut your trap, sl*ve. No one’s talking to you.” Darin whispers to Jack: “After he kills Malish we’ll put him up against Kafka for Saturday’s fight.” Malish to Trepkos: “I’m walking out of there tonight. (Trepkos gets up and looks at him) You better know that.” Suddenly one of the demons launches himself across the room. Angel charges to intercept him crying “No! Don’t!” But the demon flies across the red line and disintegrates. Jack looks down as the bracelet falls to the ground. Jack: “Damn it! We paid good money for that one.” Darin picks up the bracelet: “It’s alright. It’s an object lesson for the others. We’ll have to find a replacement for his bout.” Jack looking at Angel: “How about Captain America here?” Cut to Ernie the bookie beating up a guy being held by to others. He dips his fist into a bowl of ice held by a third guy. Bookie: “Ice. Helps keep the swelling down. You got a hard head there, boy.” Wesley as Ernie gets ready to punch the guy again: “Stop that.” Ernie turns around with a laugh: “Who’s this?” Wesley: “I’m Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. And I’m looking for my employer. He came here to question you about Jack Macnamara.” Ernie: “Maybe you didn’t notice. I’m kind of busy here.” Wesley: “Where is he?” Ernie: “Your boss – gave me 200 Dollars to answer his questions. I’m a businessman. Make an offer.” Wesley: “You should understand, the man I work for means a great deal to me. And I will not give you a single red cent. What I will do, Sir, is b*at it out of you if I have to.” The guys in the room break out into laughter. Ernie: “You’re from another country, right? (Wesley pulls a crossbow from behind his back) What are you, Robin Hood?” Ernie pulls out a g*n, put Wesley sh**t the g*n out of his hand, the metal dart pinning Ernie’s hand to the wall. The g*n slides across the floor and Wesley picks it up and aims it at the rest of the men as they are going for their g*n. Wesley: “Please drop those.” The guys drop their g*n, and Wesley puts down the crossbow, keeping the g*n trained on the three g*ons. Wesley to the guy that was getting b*at up: “You can go now.” They man runs out and Wesley, keeping the three g*ons covered, goes and starts to twiddle the dart stuck in Ernie’s hand. Ernie moans in pain. Wesley: “And where is my employer?” Cut to the announcer in the pit: “Ladies and Gentlemen the Macnamara brothers welcome you to another night of high stakes, high voltage entertainment.” The dark-haired Lady from the bar is talking to Darin. Lady: “I heard something interesting.” Darin: “What’s that?” Lady: “I heard the vampire has a soul.” Darin: “Well, I wouldn’t know about that.” Lady: “When he’s fighting, do you think that would be a plus – or a minus?” Darin playing with one of the bracelets: “Probably depends on what he’s fighting for.” Lady: “Does that mean you’ll give me odds on him to win?” Darin: “It means I’ll give you even money.” Lady: “I’ll take that bet.” Darin laughs and walks away. Cut to Angel leaning against a wall, brooding, as the other demons warm up. Malish to Angel: “You shouldn’t go out there cold. Look, you did me one. Baker’s fast, but his left eye got messed up two fights ago. Stay on his left. Tie him up, you can drive his head right into the wall. You can get the k*ll.” Angel: “I’m not going to k*ll anyone.” Malish: “You on drugs? It’s not like you have a choice.” Jack walks in: “Alright, girls, show time!” Cut to Angel walking into the ring. Announcer: “Baker’s challenger makes his ring debut tonight. He’s a highly skilled fighter with a taste for blood. Let’s welcome – Angel!” The bell rings and Baker spin-kicks Angel. Angel is thrown against the wall. He bounces back and just blocks or ducks Baker’s kicks and punches without any attempt at fighting back. Cribb watching from the demon barracks: “That vampire is not even fighting!” Cut to Cordy in a fake fur coat and Wesley in a white suit walking up outside of the club. Cordy sees a couple getting out of a car: “Those two are perfect.” Wesley: “Did you bring the badge?” Cordy: “No.” Wesley: “You said you had...” Cordy to the couple: “Sir, madam, I’m detective Andrews and this is detective Yelsew. - Show them your badge. (Wesley takes a wallet out of his inside pocket and waves it through the air without letting them get a look at it) and write down their license plate number four three niner, Peter, Charley, Edward.” Man: “What are you doing? Why are you writing down...” Cordy: “Sir, if you could just calm down and give us your name?” Man: “My name is Mathew Winslow, as in Winslow Multimedia? And I happen to be a personal friend of your boss – Chief Tyler?” Cordy: “We’ll give him your best. Could I see your tickets please?” Winslow hands her his tickets: “You’ll be hearing from my lawyer tonight.” Cordy: “Are you aware that you’ve purchased tickets to an unlicensed sporting event?” Wesley: “Answer the detective.” Winslow: “Well, if it’s illegal, what are all these people doing here?” Cordy: “We’re trying to do you a favor, Mr. Winslow.” Wesley: “Something is going down tonight. Something with the man.” Cordy kicks him. Winslow: “A raid?” Cordy: “We’re not at liberty to say.” Winslow: “But we could just - go on home?” Cordy: “I think that would be a wise thing to do, Sir.” Winslow mouths ‘thank you’ and he and his lady get back into the car. Cordy elbows Wesley as they walk off. Wesley: “What?” Cordy: “You almost blew it!” Wesley: “I save it!” Cordy: “Urgh! Something is going down with the man? You idiot!” Cut to Angel being pummeled by Baker. Cribb watching: “Idiot! He thinks he can get out of this by pulling a Ghandi!” The crowd is jeering and yelling for Angel to fight back, but he only block or ducks the punches. Cordy and Wesley walk in. Cordy spots Darin, who is still playing with the bracelet. Cordy: “I think we found our missing client.” They make their way closer to the pit. Cordy: “Oh my God! What is this?” Wesley: “These Octavian matches date back to the Roman Empire. I’d heard rumors of a revival.” Cordy: “Couldn’t they have just done Westside Story? What’s with the bracelets?” Wesley: “If they cross the red line while wearing one – they disintegrate.” Cordy: “Oh.” Darin puts the bracelet down on top of the barrier and motions to the guard standing next to him. The Guard pulls out a short Kn*fe and drops it in the pit. Baker picks it up and slices Angel across the left upper arm with it. Angel morphs into vamp face. The Crowd starts to chant: “k*lling blow. k*lling blow.” Angel fends off a couple more swipes by Baker then grabs a hold of his Kn*fe hand and twists it into Baker’s own chest. Crowd chants: “Angel! Angel!” Baker drops and Angel looks down at the blood on his hand. Announcer: “Official time: 7 minutes 33 seconds. This marks the first of what promises to be many more k*lled by the vampire! Angel!” Wesley and Cordy look on as Angel turns and walks out through the doors. Cut to Malish looking up as Angel (back in human face) walks back into the barracks. Jack: “Trepkos and Malish, show time!” Angel to Trepkos as they pass each other: “Wait. No one fights, no one dies.” Cribb: “Oh, quit moping! You’re alive.” Angel: “But Baker isn’t.” Cribb: “One lucky k*ll don’t make you an expert.” Angel looks over at Cribb: “That wasn’t the first life I’ve taken - or the 21st.” Jack snaps his fingers: “Trepkos, Malish. Lets go!” Angel to Trepkos: “Look, we can fight them, but only if we stop fighting each other.” Jack: “Now!” Angel: “I’m giving you another way out.” Trepkos: “I’ll k*ll him quick.” A guard hustles Malish up the ramp to the pit. Jack smiles at Angel. Announcer: “And now Ladies and Gentlemen, let’s give it up for one of our favorite fighters: Val Trepkos!” Trepkos just stands there as Malish hits him in the head, then grabs Malish’s arm, twists it, grabs his neck with his other hand and breaks it. Cut to Cordy and Wesley walking outside of the club. Cordy: “We’ve got to call the police.” Wesley: “Ah, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Cordy: “Why?” Wesley: “If by some miracle they’re not already in on this, the Macnamara would destroy the evidence the moment they showed.” Cordy: “He’d k*ll the fighters. We’ve got to get Angel out of there!” Wesley: “I know. And to do that we have to get him out of those wrist-cuffs. No mean feat. They were forged by ancient sorcerers.” Cordy: “So get an ancient key!” Wesley: “I might be able to make one myself – if I could get my hands on one of those cuffs. Which isn’t going to be easy (Cordy pulls a cuff out of her pocket and holds it up) unless you happened to procure one while I wasn’t looking. (They smile at each other) Well done!” Cordy: “Thank you.” Cut to dinner in the barracks. Jack: “Well, that was the most exciting match I’ve ever seen. My favorite part was when you stuck Baker with the Kn*fe. (Angel gets up and walks right up to the red line. Jack is just across from it) Kind of put a damper on the brotherhood spiel. What did you expect? You’re a demon, just like the rest of them. Difference is they know their place.” Angel: “Someone needs to put you in yours. You – and your brother.” Jack laughs: “Someone may – some day. But not you – and not today.” Angel: “Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?” Angel’s left hand sh**t out and grabs Jack by the throat. Energy is crackling all along Angel’s left arm, but he doesn’t disintegrate since the bracelet is only over but not on the other side of the red line. He pulls Jack across and holds him in front of him as a shield, one arm wrapped around his throat. Angel to the guard: “Any closer and you’re working for a d*ad man. (To Jack) I’ll give you enough air to tell me how to get this off. How does it open? Is there some kind of a key? Where is the key, Jack? (To the demons) Check his pockets. Cribb, Trepkos, any of you. A little help would be nice. (None of them move) Or I can just do it myself.” Jack: “What did I tell you , huh? Now you’re really alone.” Angel: “I got you. (To the guards) Get his brother! (To the demons) Look at him, huh? Is this who you are all so afraid of going up against? How does it feel, Jack? Tell them how it feels to be in here. Come on! How does it feel to be a sl*ve? Tell them!” Darin flanked by two guys with charged cattle prods: “Let him go.” Angel: “As soon as you let us go.” Darin: “Who do you think you are? Moses?” Angel: “Someone you’ll listen to if you want your brother back alive.” Darin: “Last chance.” Angel: “Come on Darin! We both know there is only one way to let this play out. So let’s just get it done. He’s your brother.” Darin pulls a g*n and sh**t Jack three times. One of the b*ll*ts hits Angel in the right shoulder and he let’s go of Jack. Darin: “Now he’s my d*ad brother.” The two guards run up to Angel and stick him with the cattle prods until he is once again knocked out. Cut to Angel waking up in a leather chair in a nice office with the dark-haired lady from the bar watching him. Lady: “How do you feel?” Angel: “Like I was h*t by lightning after the truck ran me over. - I remember you.” Lady brings him a glass of champagne: “We didn’t get a chance to meet. I’m Lilah Morgan.” Angel: “You’re a fight fan. (Looks at her bookshelves) And a lawyer. Let me guess – Wolfram and Hart.” Lilah: “I’m an associate here. It took some arm-twisting, but I convinced the Macnamara to sell your contract to the partners. - I told them that keeping you around would be more trouble than it was worth. (Lifts her glass) Congratulations. You’re free.” Angel: “As long as I pretend it never happened – that Macnamara and his circus don’t exist. - That is the deal, isn’t it?” Lilah: “It’s a big city, Angel. A lot of people need your help.” Angel: “So you’re really a good Samaritan and this whole pact-with-the-devil business is just an act.” Lilah: “Sometimes you have to – compromise.” Angel: “Look the other way you mean – when Wolfram and Hart are involved?” Lilah: “I prefer to think of it - as picking the battles you can win. There is not one reason why we can’t work together.” Angel gets up with a big sigh. Angel: “You’re right. (He takes a sip from his glass of champagne as Lilah smiles at him) There are about a thousand.” Lilah leans in close to him: “I saw what you did to Baker – so I know you want to survive. This is your only chance. Take it.” Angel: “Thanks for the champagne.” The two guards stick their charged cattle prods into his face. Angel: “Relax. Take me back.” Cut to Wesley working on the bracelet. Cordy: “You’d think people get enough gratuitous v*olence watching Jerry Springer.” Wesley: “Cordelia, do you mind? - I’m trying to concentrate.” Cordy: “You’ve been concentrating all night.” Wesley: “Yes! It’s taken this long to translate the text. I need something that conducts electricity, but not too much of it. This cuff is half magic, half – medieval technology. If I read the alchemist correctly - all I need is..” He touches a wire to the cuff. There is an expl*si*n of sparks and Wesley is thrown backwards onto the floor. Cordy runs over to him. Cordy: “Ouch! Are you okay?” Wesley sitting back up: “Perhaps – something that conducts a little less electricity.” Cut to Angel walking back into the demon barracks. Trepkos to Cribb: “He was free.” Cribb: “Bloodsucker is crazier than I thought.” Darin to Angel: “You think you’re proving something special by coming back here? (Angel crosses the red line and holds out his left wrist. Darin locks a bracelet around it) They didn’t help you before, they’re not going to help you now. Every one of them knows the only way out of here is by himself. But you find that out soon enough yourself because tonight – you’re going to fight Trepkos. Smart money says he’s walking out the front door. You’re his 21st k*ll.” Darin walks out and Angel and Trepkos look at each other. Cut to the bracelet in the vise on Angel’s table. A hand holding a pair of pliers slowly touches the stick held with them down on the bracelet. Nothing happens. Wesley’s head peeks up above the edge of the table. Wesley: “Too thick.” Cordy’s head peeks out from behind a pillar. Cordy: “Oh. Tick-tick, Wesley!” Wesley: “I don’t know what else to try. We need something supple enough to thread the locking mechanism, but strong enough to spring the release.” Cordy: “Horsehair.” Wesley: “Horsehair?” Cordy fiddles with her bracelet: “From Keanu, my palomino, before the IRS took him away.” Wesley takes a strand of hair and puts it between the pliers: “Horsehair.” Cordy: “Well, we tried just about everything else.” Wesley ducks back down below the table and Cordy runs back behind her pillar. Wesley touches the horsehair to the XXI on the cuff. There is a short zap and it springs open. Cut to the arena. The sign says ‘Grador vs Siru’ and ‘Angel vs Trepkos’. Man at betting counter: “Next please.” Lilah: “10 000 on Trepkos.” Cut to the pit. Announcer: “Tonight’s match features a new favorite in the ring – a vampire. Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome for the second night in a row, and still fresh from his first k*ll – Angel!” Doors open and Angel walks into the ring. Announcer: “His opponent is a fan favorite who needs no introduction (Angel looks up at Lilah in the stands) This marks his 21st and final fight. Let’s give a special welcome to a true champion: Val Trepkos!” Trepkos enters the ring and he and Angel confront each other. Angel: “Is this how you want to pay for your freedom? With 21 bodies? You’ll always be their sl*ve - even if they take that off your wrist.” Trepkos: “I’ll k*ll you quick.” Angel: “I won’t let you.” Trepkos steps back and they begin to fight. Angel is again just fighting defensively. Cribb watching from the barracks: “Vampire is going to get his head ripped off – maybe his heart torn out. – What a loser.” Angel, bleeding from the corner of his mouth, falls facedown to the floor, but gets back up. Cut to Cordy walking down a dirty hallway and up to a guard. Cordy: “Can you help me? I’m a little lost. (She draws the guard away from the corridor opening he was standing in front off) I’m looking for the Ladies room. (Wesley dart out around the corner and past the guard) They said it was this way – or is - is that back up one level?” Cut to Trepkos beating up on Angel. Cut to Cribb walking away from the window to the pit. Wesley walks up to a barred window in the fencing around the prisoner’s area. Wesley to Cribb: “Excuse me. Psst. Come here. Yes, you. (Cribb walks a little closer) I need to see Angel. Tall fellow – prominent brow.” Cribb: “Yeah, he’s d*ad.” Wesley: “d*ad.” Cribb: “In about 20 seconds he will be. He’s fighting Trepkos. And who the hell are you?” Wesley: “Uh, I’m a friend. Perhaps we can help each other. I have a key.” Cribb: “A key?” Wesley holds up a stick with a piece of horsehair mounted to the end. Wesley: “This unlocks the cuffs. Help me save Angel and I’ll get you out. All of you. If we band together..” Cribb’s tongue sh**t out and rips the stick out of Wesley’s hand. Wesley: “What are you – give that back! – Hey!” Cut to Angel and Trepkos fighting. Darin to a guard: “Alright. Let’s make it more interesting.” The guard drops two pointed wooden staffs into the pit. Trepkos catches one out of the air, the other drops to the ground. As he charges Angel with it Angel vaults out of the way, picking up the other stick as he rolls back to his feet and the fight continues. (Nice moves here.) The crowd is getting excited and we see Wesley walk into the area above the pit, looking for Cordy. Cordy: “Wesley, what happened?” Wesley: “One of them took my key.” Cordy: “Angel can’t last much longer. We have to do something now.” Wesley spots Darin: “We will.” Angel has lost his staff and Trepkos has him in a bind. Angel manages to throw Trepkos against the wall, but Trepkos bounces back, s*ab Angel through the gut with his staff. Angel hits the staff breaking it in two (one half still stuck through his side) catches Trepkos wrist as he tries to h*t Angel with the remaining piece and kicks his feet out from under Trepkos. Trepkos lands hard on his back. Angel pulls out the piece stuck in his side and presses the pointy end against Trepkos’ throat. Cut to Cribb unlocking his cuff. He hears the crowd chanting Angel’s name and goes to look. Sees Angel getting off Trepkos, throw the stick away and walks off as the crowd boos. Trepkos gets back up and kicks Angel in the back. The crowd chants “k*lling blow. k*lling blow.” As Trepkos beats up on Angel, who’s not even trying to block any of the blows any more. Wesley pulls Cordy over towards Darin. Trepkos pulls back his fist to h*t Angel again (who’s in pretty bad shape by now) and they stare at each other. The crowd keeps chanting “k*lling blow. k*lling blow.” Trepkos lowers his fist and stares up into the stands. The crowd falls quiet. Trepkos looks back at Angel then turns away and Angel collapses to the ground. Trepkos scans the crowd. Darin to the guard in the pit: “Both of them.” The guards raise their cattle prods. Wesley holding a g*n on Darin: “Call them off.” Some of the spectators start to leave as Wesley cocks his g*n. Darin: “Screw you.” The doors to the pit burst open and Cribb and the other demons storm the arena. Darin grabs Wesley’s g*n hand as he is distracted and the tow of them start to struggle. The demons are beating up the guards as the crowd runs for the exits. Cribb bends over Angel with the key: “Give me your wrist. (Unlocks the cuff) Loser.” Lilah is one of the last to leave. The demons have k*lled all the guards and most of them run back out through the doors in the pit. Darin manages to get the g*n away from Wesley and push him down. As he aims to sh**t him Cordy pushes him over the railing into the pit with a metal stand. Cribb is supporting Angel. Darin points the g*n at Trepkos. Darin: “You stupid sl*ve. You had your 21! But you had to go and ruin it for everybody else.” Trepkos pivots so Darin’s back is to Angel and Cribb. Angel pulls Darin’s hand down as he sh**t, and Cribb locks a cuff around Darin’s left wrist. Cribb throws Darin at Trepkos: “Trepkos, - catch.” Trepkos throws Darin up into the stands and he disintegrates as he passes the red line around the pit. The bracelet lands on the floor between Cordy and Wesley, who are the only one’s left up there. Cribb unlocks Trepkos cuff. Angel’s knees give as he tries to walk out and Trepkos catches him. Trepkos: “Easy.” Angel: “Thanks. Thanks.” Trepkos: “It was a good fight.” Angel: “Yeah.” The three of them walk out. Angel sways, and Trepkos catches him again before he falls. Angel: “I could have taken you.” Cut to Wesley and Cordy supporting Angel between them as they walk out of the club. Cordy: “Angel you don’t look so – well, it’s a good thing that you heal fast.” Angel: “Yeah. It’s also a good thing you found me in time.” Cordy: “We weren’t going to let anything happen to you.” Wesley: “No.” Cordy: “Well, I mean, beyond the sl*very and the severe beatings and stuff. Wesley came up with the key!” Wesley: “But Cordelia came up with the key to the key! In a clinch moment.” Angel: “You both did great. And - I think we did a - good thing here tonight.” Wesley looking after the departing demons: “Yes. We set the c*ptive free.” Cordy: “Well, actually, didn’t we set – a bunch of - demons free?” Wesley: “Oh. Well. Technically – yes.”

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x16 - The Ring"}

foreverdreaming

Close-ups of Angel’s and Wesley’s faces. Angel: “Maybe we can make a break for it.” Wesley: “Impossible.” Angel: “Front exit?” Wesley: “We’d be spotted instantly.” Angel: “Back door?” Wesley: “Blocked.” Angel: “That’s it then – we’re trapped.” Wesley: “We might try shouting ‘f*re.’ (Camera pulls back to reveal that they are sitting in an almost empty theater) Not technically a crowed theater.” Cut to Cordy on stage, wearing an old-fashioned dress. Cordy: “One day, I might, yes, many years from now – when I’ve lost my looks a little. Do not laugh.” Wesley looking at his watch: “Only another hour.” Cordy: “I mean, of course a time will come when Torvald is not – is not – (turns to back of stage) Line!” Prompter: “is not as devoted to me” Wesley: “Perhaps two.” Cordy: “What?” Prompter: “is not as devoted to me” Cordy: “Right, right. (turns back around) When Torvald is not as devoted to me (give a dramatic sob then turns her head back towards the prompter).” Angel: “And I thought I knew eternity.” Credits Angel and Wesley are walking down the street at night with Cordy between them. Cordy: “So? What did you think?” Angel and Wesley exchange a look. Wesley: “Well, your - projection was excellent.” Angel: “Yeah. I could hear every word and we were way in the back.” Cordy: “Okay, so I was loud. But was I any good?” Wesley: “You – took the role and made it your own.” Cordy: “Really? Thanks. Angel, was I good?” Angel: “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t think so.” Cordy: “Thanks. – You didn’t say it.” Angel: “I didn’t?” Cordy spots something across the street. Cordy: “I don’t believe it!” Angel: “Hey, you know, it was a night in the theater I’ll never forget.” Cordy: “That’s Oliver Simon!” Wesley: “Who?” Cordy: “Only one of the most important talent managers in this town! I was at a party with him. (To Angel) You were there!” Angel: “Right. - He gave me his card.” Cordy: “What?! I was working him all night and he gave *you* his card?” Angel: “He thought I had a quality.” Cordy: “Look who he’s with! - Rebecca Lowell.” Wesley: “Who?” Cordy: “Raven! - She played Raven in ‘On Your Own?’ Big h*t television show that was only on for like 9 ½ years? Do either of you even own a television?” Wesley: “I..” Angel: “No.” Cordy: “It was a seminal show. Canceled by the idiot network. (Angel sees a car pulling away from the curb) I was going to picket them but I didn’t have any comfortable shoes...” Cordy trails off as Angel walks over the hood of the car parked next to them and pushes Rebecca out of the way of the oncoming car. Rebecca rolls clear, but Angel hits the windshield (breaking the glass) then rolls over top of it and down the street to come to rest in front of another parked car. Oliver: “Oh, my god, Rebecca! (Hurries over to her as Rebecca watches Angel get up) Are you alright darling?” Wesley and Cordy hurry over to Angel. Cordy: “Oh my god! What was she like?” Rebecca to Angel: “Excuse me – are you alright?” Cordy: “Oh, he’s fine. It was such an honor to save your life, Ms. Lowell.” Rebecca: “Thank you. (To Angel) I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.” Cordy: “Cordelia Chase. I’m so glad you weren’t – oh. (motions towards Angel) He doesn’t eve know who you are.” Rebecca to Angel: “You don’t know me?” Oliver: “Sure he doesn’t. I’m sure he’ll accept a small reward anyway. (Pulls out his wallet)” Angel: “No thanks.” Oliver: “We’re not gonna be held up here.” Rebecca: “Oliver, down. He doesn’t know who I am.” Cordy: “He’s culturally ret*rd that way.” Rebecca holds out her hand: “I’m Rebecca.” Angel takes it: “Angel.” Rebecca: “So – you make a habit of this sort of thing, Angel?” Cordy: “Oh, it’s only like his purpose in life! Angel is the Dark Avenger – only not too dark – happy dark! I have a card in here somewhere.” Wesley: “Cordelia.” Cordy: “What?” Rebecca seeing press and cameras: “Oh god. Who called ET?” Wesley: “Emma Thompson?” Cordy: “Entertainment Tonight, doofus.” Oliver: “They’re here for the party.” Rebecca: “Oliver?” Oliver: “This will be all over the tabs come morning, Bec. We might as well just put our own spin on it first, right?” Rebecca: “Look, I’d like to apologize... (looks around, but Angel is gone)” Cordy: “Oh, he does that. Here is our card. If you ever need rescuing, or want to pal around or something – call us! (Wesley grabs a hold of her arms and drags her off) Let go!” Wesley: “Come along.” Rebecca looks around and catches a glimpse of Angel as he disappears around the corner of the next street. Cut to the office, day. Angel is standing by the open file cabinet as Cordy comes in carrying a newspaper. Cordy: “I made the papers. Last night is all over the front-page of the Calendar section!” Wesley: “Really. There was a reviewer form the Times at your play?” Cordy: “What? No! Like a reviewer needs to see some hundred-year-old play! The thing with Rebecca Lowell – I’m in the picture.” Wesley: “Where?” Cordy: “Right there.” Wesley: “Where?” Cordy: “Right there! Next to Rebecca. That’s my elbow.” Angel: “Guys. Can we just forget about Rebecca Lowell? I mean, we ran into an actor. It’s Hollywood. It happens. (Looks over Wesley’s shoulder at the paper) We have a nice photo of Cordelia’s – elbow and an article about me saving a TV-star. (Walks towards his office) Just because the papers want to make it...” Wesley: “There is no mention of you.” Angel comes back to look at the paper: “What?” Wesley: “Nothing.” Angel: “Oh. – Well, - that’s good, right? I mean this whole high-profile thing really isn’t our deal anyway.” Cordy: “What are you talking about? First off, Rebecca Lowell hasn’t had a series since ‘On Your Own’ was canceled, and that was almost a season and a half ago!” Wesley: “And they say there are no seasons in Los Angeles.” Cordy: “We have to use this now before she’s just another E! True Hollywood Story! When word gets out that you’re protector to the stars, they’re going to be lining up at the door!” Rebecca walks in with tow bodyguards: “Glad I b*at the crowd then.” Cordy: “Oh, my god. No! (turns around to face Rebecca) I didn’t mean – uhm – coffee? Tea? We don’t have anything good here – uh, but our (motions at Wesley) intern would be happy to get you something, Ms. Lowell.” Rebecca to Angel: “Can we talk?” Angel: “Sure. Right in here.” Rebecca to the bodyguards: “Stay.” Angel to Cordy: “Stay.” Inside Angel’s back office Rebecca takes in the closed blinds. Rebecca: “You’re not fond of sunshine.” Angel: “I’m a night person.” Rebecca: “Me too. - It uh – makes it easier to hide.” Angel: “Seems like you’re in the wrong business if you want to hide.” Rebecca: “So – you never really saw even one single episode of ‘On Your Own.’” Angel: “No.” Rebecca: “Huh. – Well, stop by. I’ll give you a private screening of the episode I - didn’t win the Emmy for.” Angel moves to put his desk between them: “Thanks for the invitation but - um...” Rebecca: “Look. I’ve been famous since I was 14. It’s - refreshing to meet someone who doesn’t care.” Angel sits down: “Seems like you’re surrounded by people who care about you.” Rebecca: “They work for me. They’re paid to care.” Angel: “So. How can I help you?” Rebecca puts some letters on the table in front of him: “I have a - stack of these at home. All the same – written in blood. He also has my private telephone number.” (Angel looks at the letter: Rebecca – I will make you love me. You will see me but I won’t speak to you unless you SEE ME. There is no OTHER WAY! We will be together – it will be SOON. I will be-) Rebecca: “Scary calls in the middle of the night. Most of my devoted fans are harmless but these...” Angel: “It’s not blood.” Rebecca: “Are you sure?” Angel: “Have you tried the police?” Rebecca: “Oliver has been after me to but - then I’d just be hand-feeding the story to the Enquirer. No, thanks.” Angel: “How do you know I won’t do the same?” Rebecca: “I don’t. But I do know that you came out of nowhere and saved my life last night. I know that you didn’t ask for anything in return. And I know – I feel safer in this office than I do in my own home. - I’m up for a new series. One of those make-or-break gigs for Rebecca’s career part two. - I need – peace of mind.” Angel: “The car that ran you down was a green, freshly painted ’76 Chevy Nova. I caught the plates, ran the vehicle ID. It was stolen. (Hands Rebecca the paper with the information) And I’m sorry, but – I can’t take your case.” Cordy yells through the closed door: “Are you insane?” then quickly turns away pretending to sneeze. Rebecca: “I don’t understand.” Angel: “Give that information to your people. They’ll find the guy. You don’t need me.” Cut to Angel still sitting behind his desk, Wesley leaning in the door and Cordy pacing the floor. Cordy: “My first big connection to Hollywood and you practically throw her out of the office. Haven’t you ever heard of networking?” Wesley: “Cordelia.” Cordy: “No! He can fight off Donkey-Demons, who rip peoples - guts out, but he can’t help one defenseless actress from a psycho? (To Angel) What is your thing?” Wesley: “He likes her. He’s afraid of getting close.” Cordy to Wesley: “Cause of his curse? (To Angel) You’d have to get awfully close to her for that to kick in. And in the mean time you could be helping me.” Wesley: “The person who needs help here – is Ms Lowell.” Cordy: “Right. He could be helping us both! (To Angel) Think of the Karma!” Wesley leans on Angel’s desk: “This may not be the right case for you. Maybe we can find somebody else to help her.” Cordy puts a hand to her forehead and hunches over: “Oh no! Not now! God! What’s this I see in my vision? Oh. It’s a figure – a woman. It’s Rebecca. She’s in danger. Teeerrible danger. (The guys are not impressed and Cordy gives up her act) Great! Just – great. Because Mr. Distance has intimacy issues, I lose my brush with fame!” Angel: “Oh, jeez. Cordelia, she is just a person.” Cordy: “Spoke like a true non-person! - Just knowing a star makes your life better. I’d do anything to live in her world!” Cut to Rebecca lying on a lounger beside a pool. Girl: “They make this incision behind the jaw and under both eyes and suction out the fat. You have to be proactive with deterioration.” Rebecca: “Right.” Girl: “Christiana had it done at 24.” Blend into the pool at night. Pull in on the house behind it. Rebecca is giving a fabulous Hollywood party. One scene blends into the next with less and less people until Rebecca is the only one left. She walks up the stairs, then hears a noise and comes back down. A figure crashes through a glass door. It’s Angel. He charges past her to kick a guy in a black ski mask coming up behind her. They exchange a few blows then the guy pulls a shelving unit down on top of Angel and runs out through the broken door. Angel crawls out from under the shelf and gets up. Rebecca runs over to him. Rebecca: “Are you...” Her eyes go past him to the huge mirror behind her sofa. She is alone in the reflection. Angel sees the mirror. They look at each other, then there is a banging on the door. Bodyguard through door: “Ms. Lowell, are you alright in there? I’m gonna call the police.” Rebecca looks towards the door, when she looks back, Angel is gone. Rebecca: “Yes, Oliver, I am sure. I’d rather be alone tonight.” Oliver: “Alone though? After all this? Don’t you at least want someone in the house?” Rebecca: “Half the LAPD is camped out on my front lawn. He won’t be back tonight.” Oliver: “All right. I should probably go deal with the press.” Rebecca: “You do that Oliver.” Oliver pulls her into a hug: “I love you kiddo. (Steps back) You know that.” Rebecca: “I know.” Cut to Rebecca locking the door after Oliver and the last of the police have left. Rebecca: “I know you’re still here.” Angel slowly comes out of hiding: “I’m not what you think.” Rebecca: “You’re not? Because – no reflection, - dark, private office, instantly knowing those letters weren’t written in blood, I guess what I would think is - vampire.” Angel: “Then again...” Rebecca: “Which is impossible. Bela Lugosi, Gary Oldman, they’re vampires.” Angel: “Frank Langella was the only performance I believed but...” Rebecca: “This is real. - You’re real. – Do you drink blood?” Angel: “Yeah. But not people.” Rebecca: “You’re not a k*ller.” Angel: “I gave that up.” Rebecca: “Well, there is a support group for everything in this town, I guess.” Angel: “It’s a long story.” Rebecca: “How long? - A hundred years?” Angel: “Two – hundred, and some change.” Rebecca: “200 years – but you look... If I touch you, will you be cold? (She reaches out a hand to touch Angel’s cheek) I’ve felt colder.” Angel: “You’re really not afraid.” Rebecca: “No.” Angel: “Most people who saw what you saw...” Rebecca: “I’m not most people. - I lied to Oliver. I don’t - really want to be alone tonight.” Cut to Wesley sitting behind a desk in the office, day. Cordy: “He took the case?” Wesley: “Yes. He phoned early this morning. We’re to follow up on the stolen vehicle.” Cordy: “What made him change his mind?” Wesley: “Apparently he didn’t. He was quietly keeping tabs on her all along.” Cordy: “And he called you early this morning?” Wesley: “Yes. Uh, isn’t this what you were lobbying for?” Cordy: “How early? Did he spend the night?” Wesley: “One assumes.” Cordy: “Oh, great. He spent the night with the fantasy of millions. - All alone, ‘protecting’ her.” Wesley: “You’re worried about the curse. (Cordy huffs) I wouldn’t be.” Cordy: “Hey, you weren’t around the last time Angel went mental. I, on the other hand, was on the first wave of the clean-up crew. - He knows perfect happiness, he goes evil. So don’t tell me not to worry.” Wesley: “Angel’s moment of true happiness occurred because he was with Buffy. You realize how rare that is – true happiness? - And what are the odds he’s find that with an actress.” Cordy: “What’s that supposed to mean?” Wesley: “I was – I meant TV-actress.” Cordy: “Save it. Angel spent the night at Rebecca’s. I owe it to that poor girl - to see if he wound up chowing down on my one link to fame.” Cut to Angel walking down the stairs in Rebecca’s house, as there is a knock on the door. Angel: “Cordelia, - you’re here – and you brought a cross.” Cordy carefully staying in the sun shining in through the door: “Along with three double half-caf, non-fat, skinny lattes.” Angel: “And a cross.” Cordy: “Well, judging by the outfit, I guess it’s safe to come in. Evil Angel never would have worn those pants. - Where is Rebecca?” Angel: “She had a lunch to go to.” Cordy: “Lunch? It’s still noon. Shouldn’t that be more of a brunch for her?” Angel: “Well, actually she was up before dawn, working out.” Cordy: “So she went to lunch and just left you here to rummage through her things?” Angel: “No, I - told her that I was a vampire, and that daytime patio dining was out.” Cordy: “Did you just make a joke?” Angel: “I really told her.” Cordy: “Wow. So do you think she’d still set me up with her manager?” Cut to Rebecca meeting Oliver at a restaurant table. Oliver: “You look terrific.” Rebecca: “They canceled, didn’t they?” Oliver: “Not canceled – postponed. That’s all. Scheduling conflicts – it’s nothing.” Rebecca: “Oliver you said I had this part.” Oliver: “Yes. They want you to come into their offices and read.” Rebecca: “Read?” Cut to Rebecca’s house. Rebecca: “Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had to read for anything? Season and a half off the air, and suddenly - I’m nobody again.” Angel picks up some tabloids: “Not according to these.” Rebecca: “According to those, I’ve slept with Ernest Borgnine, and I’m bulimic.” Angel: “I hear Borgnine is a very skilled lover.” Rebecca: “Listen to me. Poor little rich girl.” Angel: “We all got problems.” Rebecca: “Yeah, well, right now my problem involves getting this fright-night guy off my back long enough to win this part. I’ve been so distracted lately I haven’t had enough time to play the game. And now I’m afraid I’m losing.” Rebecca goes to answer a knock on the door while Angel looks at the tabloid. Maid: “Here you are, Ms. Lowell.” Rebecca: “Thanks Maria. (Accepts a garment bag and closes the door) You’re what? – a 44 long?” Angel: “Why” Rebecca: “I’ve got a premier tonight. (Holds out the garment bag) Can’t go without my bodyguard, can I?” Cut to Angel getting out of the limousine as cameras snap and the crowd yells ‘Raven.’ He turns and helps Rebecca out as the crowd breaks into applause. Angel scans the crowd as Rebecca smiles for the cameras. Rebecca: “Raven. They think that I’m the character I play.” As they walk up the red carpet, the camera shows a guy among the spectators with a g*n stuck in the waistband of his black suit. Cut to Angel pushing open a door into an alley for Rebecca. Angel: “They’re showing the movie in the alleyway.” Rebecca: “Oh, no. I just come to these things for the photo-op. My driver knows to meet me out back. God, if I had to sit through everyone of these, I’m sure boredom would k*ll me.” Angel sees the man from the crowd on the landing of stairs going up between the buildings above them pulling out his g*n and pushes Rebecca to the side. Angel: “Rebecca.” Angel jumps straight up onto the landing and grabs the guys g*n hand, while he’s f*ring his g*n at Rebecca. Angel: “Rebecca, get down!” Angel knock the guys hand down on the railing, making him drop his g*n. During the ensuing fight they roll down the stairs together. After a few more hits, Angel knocks the other guy out, then hurries over to pull Rebecca into his arms. Angel: “It’s okay. I’m here. Shh. Shh.” Cut to the police taking Angel’s statement. Officer: “I just want to go over your statement one more time, sir. You arrived here...” Oliver comes up to Rebecca: “Rebecca, not again. Are you alright? I came as soon as I heard.” Rebecca: “And when was that exactly?” Oliver: “What do you mean?” Rebecca: “I know the stalker. I’ve seen him.” Oliver: “At your house.” Rebecca: “Mmm. He’s a stuntman. You used to represent him.” Oliver: “Oh, I – I didn’t get a good look.” Rebecca: “Oh, come on, Oliver. My private phone number, how to get into my house, that I skip the movie at a premier – only you know all that.” Oliver: “I never would have let you get hurt, you must believe that. - I thought the publicity might help you get the series. I did it out of love.” Rebecca: “I don’t - pay you to love me.” Oliver: “No. That you get for free.” Rebecca: “I didn’t get the part, did I?” Oliver: “I was gonna tell you tonight. The network suddenly feels that you’re too mature for the role. I know it may not seem that way now, but once we get a little distance between you and Raven...” Rebecca: “Oliver. The series is in syndication. She’ll always be there.” Oliver: “Beck...” Rebecca: “Looking younger and better and sweeter than me – forever.” Oliver: “Sweetie, your life is not over at 24.” Rebecca: “I’m not 24. I’m twenty...” Oliver: “Shh, shh!” Rebecca: “Raven is 22. She will always be 22.” Oliver: “All right, so she’ll always be 22. She’s not you, and we’re gonna have to face it – that nobody stays young forever.” Raven looks over at Angel still talking to the cops. Angel’s office, day, Angel is sitting behind his desk. Wesley: “I thought you might like to know I got the preliminary forensics report from the theater. The b*ll*ts were...” Angel: “Blanks.” Wesley: “No, I’m afraid they were blanks.” Angel: “The sh*ts never connected. I went back. There were no holes in the wall, no chipped paint, nothing.” Wesley: “Since when does a k*ller use blanks?” Angel: “When he’s not a k*ller. When it’s a fake.” Wesley: “Ms. Lowell?” Angel: “I don’t think she knows and I don’t know how to tell her.” Wesley: “Well, this is good news, isn’t it?” Angel: “Depends on what’s going to bother her more, being stalked, or not being stalked.” Wesley: “Actresses.” Angel: “Tell me about it.” Cut to Cordy and Rebecca walking down a street carrying shopping bags. Rebecca: “Thanks for coming. I’m sure glad that you could find the time.” Cordy laughs out loud: “Oh, you were being serious? Because big, important stars ask me out for lunch and a shopping spree like all the time – in my dreams! Ha, ha.” Rebecca: “I’m just an actress. Like you.” Cordy: “You’re an actress. I’m someone who auditions and auditions and...” Rebecca: “That’s what happens when you first start out. I’m sure you’re going to make it really big.” Cordy: “Yee-hee-hee! – Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to squeal like that in public. Anyway thank you for calling. You must have a ton of friends you could have asked.” Rebecca: “Yeah, but - none of them would know what to buy a 200 year-old vampire as a thank-you gift.” Cordy: “Oh god! He’s impossible to buy for. What on earth does he need? More socks?” Rebecca: “So, what’s his story anyway? How did he become what he is.” Cordy: “Oh, god. You got 8 hours?” Rebecca: “I got all day.” Cordy: “Yee-ha-hum! Ah, I won’t do that again.” Cut to night, Angel’s Apartment. Angel is about to leave when Rebecca comes down the stairs. Angel: “I was just coming to see you.” Rebecca: “There was no one upstairs. So I just came down. I hope that’s okay?” Angel: “Uh, sure. Come on in.” Rebecca: “I went shopping with Cordelia to - pick out a thank-you gift for you, but what do you get the guy who has already seen everything? So I figured what’s better than Dom? (Holds up a bottle of champagne) You can – I mean, you do...” Angel: “I can drink other – liquids, yeah.” Rebecca: “Good. - Have you got glasses?” Angel: “Yeah. Yeah. Please – sit down.” Angel goes to open the bottle and get some glasses from the kitchen, while Rebecca settles down on the sofa, looking around. Rebecca: “Wow. It’s sort of what you’d expect – and (sees Angel’s bed) sort of not.” Angel pouring the champagne: “Well, there is no coffin.” Rebecca: “You know, that hadn’t even crossed my mind.” Angel: “Rebecca – there is something I have to tell you. Your stalker, he’s not really...” Rebecca: “Oh, - that. I already know.” Angel: “You do?” Rebecca: “It turns out we share representation.” Angel: “Oliver.” Rebecca: “He set the whole thing up to - revive my flagging career. Didn’t work. I didn’t get the part.” Angel: “I’m sorry.” Rebecca: “Yeah.” Angel hands her one of the glasses of champagne and sits down on the armrest on the other end of the sofa from her. Rebecca: “Have you ever (laughs) oh, this is so dumb. Have you ever - done that thing where you link arms and sip champagne? It’s sort of a good luck thing.” Angel moves off the arm of the sofa and sits beside her and they proceed to do just that. At the end Rebecca laughs and spills most of her drink on Angel’s shirt. Angel grins. Rebecca: “Your shirt! I’m so...” Angel: “It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s kind of fun. Cold – but fun. I’ll – I’ll be right back.” Angel sets down his glass and goes to change his shirt. Rebecca takes a pouch of powder out of her purse and dumps it in Angel’s glass. Rebecca: “You know the next time I try something so corny, I promise not to ruin your wardrobe in the process.” She pours some more Champagne in Angel’s glass and offers it to him as he comes back wearing a fresh shirt. Rebecca: “Lets try this again.” Angel takes the glass and sits down next to her. Rebecca: “A toast – to the end of an ending and the beginning of a beginning.” They clink glasses and drink. Cut to Cordy answering a knock on the door of her apartment. Cordy: “Oh, Wesley.” Wesley: “I got your pages. What’s happening?” Cordy: “I think I may have done something terrible. - I went shopping with Rebecca.” Wesley: “And that was terrible.” Cordy: “Huh? No! That was fantastic! You know they close of stores for her? Oh, and lunch at Mirabelle’s. I had the most to-die-for veal filet with a light truffle marinade, and...” Wesley: “Cordelia.” Cordy: “Sorry. Anyway the whole time Rebecca is real gabby, asking questions about Angel.” Wesley: “Well, what sort of questions?” Cordy: “Oh, you know, where does Angel hail from, what’s his favorite color, what kind of after-shave he wears, the exact specific details on how someone could make themselves into a vampire.” Wesley: “Surely you don’t think...” Cordy: “What? - That she’d try to maneuver Angel into an exchange of bodily fluids in order to make herself eternally young and beautiful, thus saving her failing career? Gee, now that you mention it.”

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x17 - Eternity"}

foreverdreaming

Dennis' face bulges through the wall. Wilson: "Who are you talking to?" Cordy: "My ghost. I-I have a ghost." Lindsey offering his business card to Angel in Russell's office. Lindsey: "Should you continue to harass our client then we will be forced to bring you into the light of day. I place that I'm told is not all that healthy for you." Russell bursting through the window, screaming. Angel turning away with a smile. Lindsey on the phone: "Seems there is a new player in town." Buffy and Faith pulling out their stakes as they enter the vampire lair in "Bad Girls" Wesley (in the library): "Ah! This is perhaps Faith." Faith: "New Watcher?" Buffy and Giles in unison: "New Watcher." Faith k*lling the book-demon. Buffy voice over: "Being the Slayer is not the same as being a k*ller." Faith hitting a police officer as she runs away from Buffy in "This Years Girl" Faith s*ab Finch. Buffy: "You k*lled a man!" Faith: "I don't care." Faith admiring the Kn*fe the Mayor gifted her with in "Choices" Angel: "You can't imagine the price for true evil. - If you can trust us Faith, this can all change." Wesley storming in with a big wooden cross, his flunkies beating Angel up with crowbars. Wesley to Faith: "I'm exercising my authority and removing you to England - where you will accept the judgement of the disciplinary committee." Faith busting out of the truck. Giles voice over: "We have a rogue Slayer on our hands. I can't think of anything more dangerous." Buffy: "I don't she's coming back." Riley: "Guess she's had her fun." Night. Marquez walks up to some guys huddled around a f*re burning in a trashcan under a bridge. Marquez: "Yo ese! What the hell you're burning there man? Smells like... Yo, you're hanging in the wrong place man! (Close up of a g*n held by one of the guys) My boys ain't gonna be too happy when they get here and see what kind of a mess you made, man." The figure holding the g*n gets up. It's a demon holding the dismembered human arm that holding the g*n. It drops it into the f*re. Marquez stares at their disfigured faces than turns and runs. The three demons give chase. Marquez pulls out a g*n and fires at his pursuers, but they never even slow. Angel's convertible, driven by Wesley squeals around a corner behind them. As they pass the three demons, Angel leans out and beheads one of the demons with a sword. Wesley passes Marquez and turns to cut him off, bringing the car to a halt. Angel jumps out. Angel: "Your name Marquez? (Marquez nods) Good. I hate saving the wrong guy." Angel turns and beheads a demon coming up behind him, splattering Wesley and the car with gore in the process. Angel: "Never know who you're gonna meet in this part of town. You want a ride?" Cut to a Greyhound-like bus pulling up. The door opens and the passengers step out. We follow a pair of black platform shoes, pan up to show it’s a girl with a duffel. Cut to a guy lighting a cigarette. Back to the girl. As she steps into the cone of the streetlight, we see that it is Faith, not looking too good. Guy as Faith is about to pass him: "New in town, right? (He falls in beside Faith as she keeps walking) You got that new in town look. This is a dangerous part of town this time of night for a young lady, you know? Lot of people down here try and take advantage of a situation like that. - Especially if you don't have any money - place to stay. - I might be able to help." Faith stops and turns to him: "I'm cold." Guy takes off his leather jacket: "Oh, yeah? Warm is my middle name." Faith hits him in the stomach, the face, keeps hitting and kicking him into unconsciousness. Leans down and takes his keys and wallet out of his jacket. Faith: "Now I got money - and a place to stay. (Pulls off his jacket and puts it on) I think I'm gonna like it here." Credits Borsa, Romania 1898 Darla follows a blindfolded Angelus into a house. Angelus: "Can I take off this blindfold yet?" Darla: "No." Angelus grabs Darla around the waist: "Can I take off something else?" Darla: "After I give you your present." (They kiss) You can never have enough of those. Come on." She leads him into another room, then takes his blindfold off. We see a f*re burning in a fireplace. The camera pans down to show a bound and gagged girl lying in front of it. Darla: "Happy birthday, Angelus." Angelus: "She is a gypsy." Darla: "I looked everywhere." Angelus: "What would I do without you?" Darla: "Whither and die. (They kiss) She is not just for you - I get to watch." Angelus goes and leans down over the girl. He pushes her skirt up while she squirms, then vamps out and bites her thigh while Darla watches. Cut to Angel slamming Marquez into a chair in his office. Angel: "The only way you're gonna keep from getting k*lled is to do the right thing." Marquez: "Right thing for who?" Angel grabs his shirt front and leans into him: "Next time they come after you I'm not gonna be there. And your friends aren't gonna be there either. Not after being cut up and incinerated." Cut to Cordy in the outer office: "This guy is never gonna do it. What a waste of a good vision." She walks over to where Wesley is laying curled up under his jacket on the couch, trying to sleep. Wesley: "It's going that badly?" Cordy: "I knew it when you brought him in here yesterday. Someone with that much body art is gonna have a different definition of civic duty." Wesley: "After we saved his life?" Cordy: "When was the last time *you* wrote a thank-you card?" Wesley sits up: "Well, I have faith in Angel. If anyone can convince him to testify..." Cordy: "Wesley, you don't change a guy like that. In fact - generally speaking - you don't change a guy. What you see is what you get. Scratch the surface and what do you find? More surface." Wesley puts on his glasses and gets up: "One could have said that about Angel." Cordy: "Oh, please! He was cursed by gypsies. What's Angel gonna do? Drag a bunch of them in here to shove a soul down this guy's throat?" Wesley: "He may be a ruffian, but he's already got a soul, and therefore - deep down inside - an urge to do what's right." Marquez bursting into the outer office: "No way. I'm gone." Angel grabs him by the collar and pulls him back slamming the door. Angel: "Shut up and sit down." Cordy: "I guess you're right, Wesley. He's just like the Dalai Lama." Angel: "You don't even know what you're up against, do you? You're gonna have to face your demons sometime." Marquez: "What if I don't want to face my demons?" Angel: "Then you'll have to face mine." Cut to the outside of a bar at night and a small crowd on the steps. Cut to people dancing inside. One of them is Faith, dancing, drifting from guy to guy. She dances up to a girl, then takes the arms of the guy the girl was dancing with and wraps them around her waist. The girl stops and stares while Faith rubs herself against the guy. Girl: "Excuse me!" Faith: "Okay, you're excused." Girl: "That's my boyfriend!" Faith: "Really? (Looks down inside the front of the guy's shirt) You have your name on him? Because I don't see it - anywhere." Girl: "Billy! Do something!" Faith: "Yeah, Billy, do something - like this!" Faith elbows the girl in the face. Billy tries to h*t Faith, but she deflects him and he stumbles into a guy behind her. A fight ensues and slowly spreads to others, during which Faith keeps dancing to the music, while throwing the occasional punch or kick. Cut to a courtroom, day. Lindsey: "While the arguments that the district attorney here has presented are somewhat entertaining, this case hinges on the testimony of witnesses that they have been unable to produce." Attorney: "Your honor, we can produce them if Wolfram & Hart will stop tampering with the witness." Lindsey: "Witness tampering is a serious allegation, councilor. And I will be filing a grievance for this remark with the A.B.A this afternoon. They have no witness. They have no case. I request a dismissal of all charges (the door in the back opens and Marquez walks in, followed by Angel) against my client, whose reputation has been irreparably damaged by these proceedings. He is a law abiding and upstanding (turns and see Angel and Marquez) - citizen." Angel: "Your client really is - except for that pesky drug-dealing and m*rder stuff." Attorney: "Your honor, the state calls Mr. Marquez." Angel and Lindsey stare at each other while Marquez gets sworn in. Cut to Lindsey talking into the headset of a wireless phone. Lindsey: "No sir. I accept full responsibility. I thought - - I thought we had done everything possible. However, I'd not foreseen the intervention (Door opens and Lindsey McDonald waves to Lee Mercer to come in). Yes sir. Angel. I don't disagree. He's proven to be a costly liability. - I can, absolutely, I can do that. Yes, sir. Good-bye. (Takes off the phone and tosses it on his desk) I hate failure when there is no one else to blame it on." Lee holds out some papers: "I think I've found the solution to our problem." Lindsey takes the papers and looks at them. Cut to Lilah Morgan walking through the lobby. Lilah to Lee a ways in front of her: "Lee! I've been looking for you. (To the guy next to her) You call them back and tell them that's our drop-d*ad offer, and you make sure that they understand we mean literally not figuratively. (To Lee as the other guy leaves with a nod) How are you doing?" Lee: "Good! You?" Lilah: "Great. I heard you came up with a good idea. How to deal with our friendly neighborhood vampire?" Lee: "No, I came up with a great idea. How do you find out these things so fast?" Lilah: "Part of my job. How did you find out there was a rogue Slayer in town?" Lee: "Part of *my* job. I've been reading, ah, the police reports. She's been a - busy little beaver." Lilah: "But you don't know where she is." Lee: "I will soon enough." Lilah opens a folder: "I already do. - Uh, I'll make the contact." Lee: "I don't think so. It’s my deal - I’ll make the contact." Lilah: "Let me think about it... - No." Lee: "Why not?" Lilah: "It's your people skills - you don't have any." Lee: "You bitch." Lilah chuckles: "See? If you behave I'll let you ride in the Limo." Cut to Cordy on the phone: "Unfortunately we - don't really do divorce cases. - No, it's not about the money. - Oh, - it’s about that much money! How soon can we meet? (Angel and Wesley come up out of the elevator) Yeah, I know where that is. - Okay, we'll see you there tomorrow. Thanks for calling. Bye! (Hangs up) How'd it go?" Wesley: "We won." Cordy: "g*ng-guy testified?" Angel: "Stood up and told the truth." Cordy to Wesley: "What did I tell you?" Wesley: "That he never would." Cordy: "Well, more good news. I may have landed a new client, and here is a twist: he can afford to pay!" Wesley: "What's the case?" Cordy: "I'm still in - information gathering phase. But - ah - we're meeting him for lunch tomorrow. (To Angel) So, are you happy with the way things turned out? (To Wesley as an aside) You can always tell when he's happy. His scowl - is slightly less scowly." Wesley to Angel: "That young man is very lucky he ran into you." Angel: "He just needed a little guidance - a push in the right direction." Wesley: "I wonder how Wolfram & Hart are going to push back." Cut to Lilah and Faith walking out of a bar at night. Faith: "I guess we could go somewhere and talk, but I'm not much of a talker. I'm more of a doer." Lilah: "I think you might have misunderstood my intentions." Faith: "No, I think you misunderstood mine. I like that watch. Diamonds, right?' Lilah: "Faith." Faith: "How do you know my name? I don't think I told you." Lilah: "We are well aware of who you are - and what you do. We know you have been experiencing some - difficulties. We think we can help bring some order back to your life." Faith: "We do, do we? Who is we, and why do they know me when I don't know Jack about you?" Lilah: "Green - is my favorite color. I look good in diamonds - and I love riding in limousines." Faith turns around as Lee opens the back door of a black limousine from the inside. Lee: "Faith - can we talk?" Faith to Lilah: "I like black." Faith gets into the limo, Lilah follows. Cut to Darla entering the house she and Angelus are apparently living in. Darla: "Angelus? - Are you here? - Angelus?" She walks into the other room. Angel is huddled up against a wall. Angel: "Not everyone screams." Darla: "What?" Angel: "When you k*ll them. Some - just stand there, - frozen... While others..." Darla: "What are you doing? Are we playing a game?" Angel: "The children - they usually scream." Darla smiling: "Hmm, yes. They sound just like little pigs. Have you brought me some? - What you don't think I’ll share? I can't believe that you would think I'm that insensitive." Angel turns away from the wall. He looks pretty ragged. Angel: "We've drunk and k*lled for who long now? 140-odd years. We've drunk them all up and they're all d*ad." Darla tries to take his face into her hands: "Where have you been?" Angel pushes her away: "Don't." Darla: "What is this? Have you met someone else?" Angel takes a hold of her shoulders and leans against her. Darla: "No. -Let go. (Pushes him away) Let go of me! What happened to you? Angelus, what happened?" Angel: "That gypsy girl you brought me - her people found out. They did something to me." Darla: "A spell?" Angel: "Funny. You would think with all the - people I've maimed - and k*lled I wouldn't be able to remember every - single - one. (Darla walks up to him) Help me." Darla lays a hand against the side of his face: "The spell - they gave you a soul. A filthy soul! No! (Scratches his cheek) You're disgusting!" Angel: "Darla." Darla picks up a wooden chair to ward him off: "No, get away from me." Angel: "You brought her here." Darla smashes the chair and picks up one of the legs and tries to stake Angel. Angel avoids the swing: "I am like you." Darla still holding the stake ready: "You're not like anything. Get away from me. Get out! (Angel stumbles out of the house) I'll k*ll you!" Cut to Angel walking away from the house. He looks back once to see Darla in the door, stake raised. Darla watches him go, slowly lowering her stake. Cut to an office of Wolfram & Hart's, where Faith is pacing the floor. Lindsey: "A felony arrest warrant from Sunnydale was issued in your name - - physical description is quite accurate. The photograph, however, is - not flattering. - There is a lot of personal stuff that is of no interest to me, but what they do fail to mention is that you are a Slayer." Lilah: "Which is why we found you so appealing." Lindsey: "You have a problem. We have a problem. I just had a perfectly good m*rder case go up in smoke and you seem to - have a certain expertise in that area. So to make a long story - less long - I think if a service is rendered - we can get you off." Faith: "You don't know how many man have promised me that." Lilah: "I'm certain you won't be disappointed in our performance." Faith: "Who am I supposed to k*ll?" Lindsey: "Please understand that we would never advocate the k*lling of another human being. - His name is Angel. - He's somewhat of a private..." Faith: "No problem." Lee: "Don't you want to know anything more?" Faith: "Yeah. Besides getting me off, how much are you going to pay?" Lee: "It might behoove you to know more about your intended. So, before we discuss remuneration..." Faith: "Huh?" Lee: "Payment. I want to make sure you understand that this firm is in no way connected to - anything you do. - It's my ass on the line here. I don't want you to make me look bad." Faith grabs him by the neck and slams his face on the table. Faith: "How do you look now?" Faith keeps pounding his face on the table. Lilah to Lindsey with a smile: "She shows initiative." Lindsey to the intercom: "Jesse, I think you better make it 3 for dinner instead of 4." Cut to Angel, Cordy and Wesley stepping out of an elevator. Cordy: "And he is kind of a busy man, so lunch was the only time he had. It's not the kind of case I'd normally go after, but we've got to consider the bottom line." Angel: "What kind of demons are we dealing with." Cordy: "Well, it's not exactly a demon thing." Wesley: "What kind of - thing is it?" Cordy: "It's a kind of - husband and wife break-up thing." Wesley: "A divorce case?" Angel: "You're kidding." Cordy: "What's wrong with a divorce case?" Angel: "That's not what we do." Cordy: "According to the husband the wife is a real witch.' Wesley: "Seems a bit on the seedy side." Cordy: "This is not seedy! He's in government. - Just talk to him. Oh, and we should pick up the tab for lunch. Nothing says success less than splitting the bill." Angel: "I didn't bring any money with me." Cordy: "Okay, Elvis. When you are a big star you can get away with not carrying any cash. And while we're on the subject - I think one of us should apply for a small business loan. (We see Faith standing a ways behind Angel) Just to get us through the rough spots. (The camera pulls to an overhead sh*t, showing Faith aiming her crossbow at Angel's back and pulling the trigger) I meant what's a thirty year loan to you?" Angel turns as Faith sh**t and catches the quarrel just in front of his chest. Faith: "That was so cool! This is gonna be fun!" The turns and runs out through a door and into the sunshine. Wesley: "Oh my God. Faith." Angel: "I thought she was in a coma." Cordy: "Pretty lively coma." Cut to Angel hanging up the phone in his office. Angel: "Giles said she left Sunnydale about a week ago. He described her mental state as borderline psychotic." Cordy: "That explains her outfit." Wesley: "This isn't right." Cordy: "When a whacked-out Slayer tries to k*ll your boss - it's very wrong." Wesley: "I meant Giles. Why didn't he give me the heads-up? I was Faith's Watcher. When she came out of the coma, Giles should have contacted me immediately." Cordy: "Maybe he was busy trying to keep her form - I don't know - k*ll everybody?" Angel: "He didn't know she was coming after me. He was worried about Buffy." Cordy: "Is she okay?" Angel: "Yeah." Cordy: "What can we do?" Angel: "Help me track her down. I want you two to check police reports - beatings, killings - anything within the last week, possibly near bus stations and bars. And then you make yourselves scarce. I don't want to give her any free targets." Wesley: "You've been targeted by a psychotic! I'm certainly not going to run and hide." Cordy: "I like the plan where I'm scarce." Wesley: "We've got to band together. Strength in numbers." Cordy: "Two is a number." Angel stands up: "She coming for me. I've got a fight coming up. I don't want you to get in the way." Wesley: "I thought we were a team." Angel: "We're not a team. I'm your boss. You go where I tell you and I tell you to lay low," Wesley: "Seems you're taking this personally." Angel: "Well, you know, she tried to sh**t my own personal back, so yeah." Wesley: "Did she do something to Buffy?" Angel: "Giles just said it was rough." Wesley: "I'm sorry. But if you let emotion control you right now, one of you will certainly end up d*ad." Angel: "Yeah, that's what the lady wants." Wesley: "That's not good enough! She's not a demon, Angel. She is a sick, sick girl. If there is even a chance she can be reasoned with..." Angel: "There was. Last year I had a sh*t at saving her. I was pulling her back from the brink when some British guy kidnapped her and made damn sure she'd never trust a living soul." Cordy: "Angel, it's not Wesley's fault that *some* British guy ruined your... - oh. Wait (to Wesley) that was you. (To Angel) Go on." Wesley: "You don't need to." Angel: "Let's just get to work." Cut to Angel looking through his w*apon cabinet when he hears some noise upstairs. Angel walks slowly up into the office. Someone opens the blinds in the outer office as Angel walks towards it, flooding it with sunlight Faith: "Hey, baby! Come give us a hug." Angel in the door leading from his office: "I was hoping you'd stop by. Always good to see old friends. (Faith pulls out a revolver and cocks it) What's this? Wooden b*ll*ts?" Faith: "Ooh, good idea! But no, this is for you. You know - I'm going to k*ll you slowly and inventively, so I'm gonna give you one chance to..." Faith tossed him the g*n. Angel catches it and sh**t at her right leg. Faith laughs. Angel: "Blanks. (Tosses the g*n back to her) Nice." Faith: "You didn't sh**t to k*ll. We're gonna have to up the stakes, get you in the game a little." Angel: "What's the game exactly, Faith? Boredom? Revenge?" Faith: "Dude, I'm getting paid. They hate you almost as much as I do." Angel: "Ever occurred to you this might be more fun for me?" Faith: "You think? Because what if you k*ll me - and you experience that one true moment of pleasure? Oops! I'd get off on that. Go ahead. Do me. Let's take that hell ride together. Come on, Angel, I'm all yours! I'm giving you an open invitation. - Jeez, you're pathetic! You and your little tortured soul, got to think everything through. Well, think fast, lover. You don’t' do me, you know I'm gonna do you!" Aims her g*n at Angel and pulls the trigger. Angel staggers back under the impact as the b*llet hits his chest, gasping with pain. Faith: "Gosh. That one wasn't a blank. - Let the games begin." Faith jumps out through the window, shattering the glass. Cut to the offices of Wolfram & Hart, night. Lindsey and another lawyer step out of an elevator. Lindsey: "I'm telling you, it's a - situation we are handling " Lawyer: "I read the file. It needs to be handled! I've got to jump." They part. The camera pans to show Angel strolling in through the front door, in dark suit and tie, carrying a brief case. Lawyer points at him: "You!" Angel turns to look at him. The are right in front of the security desk. Lawyer: "We're in the Gruber meeting." Angel: "Right." Lawyer: "What the hell is going on with those people?" Angel: "I know, it's..." Lawyer: "I mean is this a negotiation or a cotillion?" Angel: "That's exactly what I was trying to tell Frank." Lawyer: "Who's Frank?" Angel: "Works with Louise in contracts." Lawyer: "Contracts - the problem is not contracts!" Angel: "That's what I was trying to tell..." Lawyer's cell phone rings and he waves Angel quiet while he answers it. Lawyer to phone: "Go. Yes. - Yes. - No, no. Thursday! (Hangs up) We have to close Gruber now, before the soft offer becomes hard and the stock goes..." Angel: "Through the ceiling!" Lawyer: "In the toilet!" Angel: "Right." Lawyer: "Keep me in the loop, will you? I want to know the instant that they fold. - They are folding? (Angel makes a face and the lawyer checks his watch) Look, I've got to jump. E-mail me. Good to see you." Angel: "You too." They part. Cut to Angel entering Lindsey McDonalds office. He sits down at the desk and look through the papers. The door opens and Lindsey walks in. He smiles and shakes his head when he sees Angel. Lindsey: "Don't you have any respect for the law?" Angel: "Nice office. Good view. (Gets up) Where is Faith?" Lindsey: "Should I know what you're talking about?" Angel: "Your new employee." Lindsey: "It's a big firm. Tell you what I can do. I can give you the number for Personnel, though. I'm sure they'd be glad to handle your problem." Angel: "You'd remember this one. Pretty, dark hair, kills things?" Lindsey: "I assure you that we have strict hiring practices." Angel: "So how does it work for a guy like you? - Successful lawyer in a big law firm, - company car, - nice office, bonus: - can hire a k*lling when ever you want. Kind of got it made, right?" Lindsey: "Well, we'll just add slander to breaking and entering. While we're on the subject, I remember you throwing one of my clients through a window. k*lled him if I'm not mistaken." Angel: "Yes. I seem to remember. (Turns to point at the window) The window was just about that size. Hmm. Too bad the body b*rned up before it h*t the ground. I might have needed a good lawyer." Lindsey: "I'm sorry, we only handle a certain class of clientele." Angel: "Oh, I'm sure that I've k*lled enough people to qualify. Where is she?" Lindsey: "You know a vampire can't walk in here without us knowing it. We have a highly sophisticated security system, spent a fortune on mystical barriers and such. Nice to know our investment paid off." Angel grabs the security guard coming at him with his g*n drawn and slams him down on the table, knocking him out. Angel: "I think it was a waste of money myself." Lindsey: "Well, one down. More on the way. And the police have been called. And this whole encounter has been visually recorded on hi-def. So, - despite the fact that I'm sure it would make an entertaining evening watching you fight for your life, - not to mention the fortune I could make off the video - I do have a dinner." Angel picks up his briefcase: "Good to see you again, Lindsey. - We'll do this real soon." Lindsey as Angel walks out: "You know, just when I think I got you figured out, you show up in a suit." Wesley is reading from a report as he and Cordy walk up to her apartment, night. Wesley: "There is another as*ault just two blocks away. A fight in a bar, several arrests made, and a woman fitting Faith's description was involved, - however not arrested." Cordy: "She charm her way out?" Wesley: "Apparently she managed to break a policeman's jaw with his own handcuffs before she disappeared into the night." Cordy: "Hmm. For Faith, that is charm." She unlocks the door and opens it, but it slams back shut. Looks at Wesley. Tries again - same thing. Cordy: "Phantom Dennis, let us in. It's all right. It's only Wesley." She tries again, this time the door stays open. They enter and Cordy turns on the light. Wesley: "Dennis, your ghost, I presume?" Cordy: "Yes. He's jealous. (To the air) Don't worry. Hell will freeze over before I have sex with him." Wesley: "Thank goodness for small favors. - I'm going to try calling Angel again." Cordy: "Okay. I'm going to pack a bag." Wesley dialing: "Cordelia, please, just a few things. We're not going on safari." Faith: "I've got a little problem. - I don't feel Angel's in the game. But, somehow, I feel you guys are the key. (Wesley hangs up the phone) Now what can I do to *really* make him hate me?" Wesley: "Faith." Faith: "Shut up, Wesley." Wesley: "It's not too late." Faith: "For cappuccino? 'cause it just keeps me up." Wesley: "It's not too late to let me help you." Cordy: "Yes. We want to help you." Wesley: "I realize there have been failures, on both sides. - But I also believe in my heart that you are not a bad person." Faith elbows Cordy in the face dropping her. Faith: "What do you believe in your heart now?" Wesley hits her with a right cross. Faith comes back up holding her lip: "Alright, Wes! - My turn." She kicks him across the room. Cut to Angel walking along a street in Borsa at night. A woman and three men come out of an inn. Angel: "Mia foame. (I am hungry)" Man: "Get away!" Woman: "Leave him alone. He is just a beggar." Man throws a coin at Angel: "Here have a pint on us." Angel picks the money off the ground and throws it back at the man: "I don't want your money!" Man: "How dare you!" Angel in vamp face: "I want her." Woman: "He is a monster! He is a monster!" Angel as the three guys drag him into the alley: "I am a monster! I am a monster!" We hear the sounds of fighting. One of the men comes flying through the air past the woman. Woman into the alley: "Rudolph? Are you all right? Rudolph?" Angel comes out of the alley, grabs the woman and drags her into the alley. He pushes her up against a wall and sinks his teeth into her neck. Cut to Angel entering Cordy's apartment. He hear moaning and runs over to where Cordy is just coming to (he is no longer wearing the suit but his normal clothes and long leather coat). Angel: "Cordelia." Cordy: "She was already here. I didn't know. I made - Wesley come with me, - just to get a couple of things. She was like an animal. - She said that you weren't in the game. There was nothing - we could do." Angel: "Take it easy." Cordy: "I'm sorry. (Takes a deep breath) What about Wesley, is he okay?" Angel: "He's not here." Cut to Wesley sitting gagged and bound to chair in the middle of a fairly nice apartment. He looks beaten up. Faith is slowly pacing in front of him, then suddenly jumps onto his lap. Wesley lets out a muffled scream. Faith licks two fingers and rubs the swelling under Wesley's right eye. Faith: "All these little cuts and bruises - just bring out the mother in me. (She takes his face between her hands and slaps his cheek) Come on. Now, now, don't poop out on me, damn it! Otherwise this all just going to be over too fast, and you'll be d*ad and I'll be - bored. - Come on, Wesley! Where is that stiff upper lip? (Get off him) Now, we've only done one of the five basic t*rture groups. We've done blunt - but that still leaves sharp, cold, hot and loud. Have a preference? (Wesley looks at her and nods. Faith pulls the gag out of his mouth) Well, that great! It's always better with audience participation. - May I take your order please?" Wesley spits on the floor to one side of her. Wesley: "I was your Watcher, Faith. - I know the real you - and eve if you k*ll me, there is just one thing I want you to remember." Faith: "What's that, love?" Wesley: "You - are a piece of sh.." Faith interrupts him, stuffing the gag back into his mouth: "You should talk, huh? I guess I'll just have to try a little harder." She walks over to a picture frame, smashes it on the table and picks up one of the glass shards. Faith: "We'll switch to sharp for a while." Cut to Cordy and Angel sitting in her apartment looking at a map of LA. Cordy: "On Monday, - a guy was beaten up here, his wallet and car were stolen. He's still in the hospital. Four blocks over - is a restaurant where they had a major knock down drag out on Tuesday. Then here another guy ran into something he referred to as 'the bitch from hell,' who sent him home with paramedics. - That was on Wednesday." Angel: "This was the first. Took his wallet and keys. Is he still in the hospital?" Cordy: "Yeah. We were just gonna go down and talk to him." Angel: "Where does he live?" Cut to Faith sitting in the open window of the apartment looking at the bloodstained piece of glass in her hands. She lets it drop and listens to it shatter. Sighs. Cut to Wesley still tied to the chair. Faith gets off the windowsill and comes over rubbing her hands together. Faith: "That's refreshing. But I'm feeling a little cold. (Pats Wesley on the cheek) What do you say we warm the place up?" We see that there are several bloodstains now on Wesley's shirt. Faith goes into the kitchen and picks up a lighter. Faith: "Did you ever wonder if things would have been different - if we'd never met. What if you'd had Buffy - and Giles would have been my Watcher? You think you'd still be here right now? Or would Giles be sitting in that chair? - Or is it just like fate. You know, there is no choice. You were gonna be here no matter what. - (Picks up a spray can) You think about that stuff? - Fate - and destiny. (Walks over to Wesley) I don't. (Depresses the top of the spray can and holds the lighter flame into the spray igniting it where Wesley can get a good look at the resulting flame sh**ting forth) Not that any of this is your own fault. (Flames again) Since this may be - the last chance we will have to unload on each other, I feel that it is kind of my duty to tell you that if you'd been a better Watcher, I might have been a more positive role model! (Flames again) - Face it, Wesley, you really were a jerk. Always walking around as if you had some great big stake rammed up your - English Channel. (Frowns and takes the gag out) - I think I want to hear you scream." Wesley: "You never will." Faith: "Admit it, Wesley, didn't you always kind of have the hots for me?" Faith flames again as the door burst form its hinges and Angel slowly walks in. Faith drops the can and lighter, pulls a Kn*fe and holds it against Wesley's throat. Faith: "About time, soul-boy. Ready to play now?" Angel: "I'm ready." Cut to Angel stumbling out of the alley in Borsa. Angel: "I can't. Oh god, I can't." The woman steps up to the corner of the alley breathing hard and leaning against the wall. As she watches him go she fingers the bite mark on her neck. Angel stumbles against a wall gasping, looking desperate, then moves on. Cut to Faith: "Okay, you showed. But how do I know you are really in this? I mean if I k*ll him, would that help, or just be really funny?" Angel: "You don't think I know what you're after? I do." Faith: "You I have to k*ll. Wesley is just for the hell of it." Angel is slowly walking so Faith has to turn to keep facing him, which puts her beside Wesley instead of behind him. Angel: "This isn't about Wesley. This is about you and me." Faith: "No, baby, he's payback." Angel: "For what? I thought you were happy with the way you are. By the way you never told me how much I'm worth dusted, just out of curiosity." Faith: "15 000 plus expenses." Angel: "You're kidding." Faith: "Hey, I'm young, willing to work my way up." Angel: "You feel young, - do you, Faith? - You're looking pretty worn out to me." Wesley throws himself back, toppling his chair and Angel instantly kicks Faith away from him. Wesley sees that Faith's Kn*fe is sticking point down in the wooden floor beside him. Faith picks up a piece of wood and att*cks Angel. The slam each other around and Angel manages to get the impromptu stake away from Faith, tossing her onto the sofa, and breaks it over his knee. Faith: "Is that all you got, vampire? Get in the game." She kicks the glass topped sofa table at his face and broken glass flies everywhere. She jumps him, wrapping her legs around his waist and slamming him against the wall. She keeps hitting him, and they both fall to the floor with Faith sitting on top. Faith: "Come on, Angel! I thought you were bad!" He takes a hold of one of her wrists and tosses her off him. Faith tries to h*t him with a floor lamp, but he avoids the h*t, so she instead sweeps the feet out from under him as he gets up then catapults him over the sofa and across the room. She jumps over the sofa after him. Smashes a vase over his back then slams him into the ceiling. Wesley has shimmied around and is trying to cut his bonds using the Kn*fe stuck in the floor. Faith swings at Angel but he keeps ducking them, so instead she kicks him in the gut. Angel come back and hits her, she hits back then tosses him back over the sofa. Faith: "You can't take me! No one can take me!" Faith jumps to kick him again as he gets up, but Angel intercepts her kick with a piece of furniture. Faith sends him flying across the room again, then smashes up a glass-shelving unit when Angel ducks her next kick. Angel slams Faith down on the floor then slides her headfirst across the room into a wall. Faith comes up with another piece of wood in her hand. Faith: "Come on!" Angel tackles her and they both burst through the window, falling two stories to land on a trash-container lid. They roll off of it and Faith again throws Angel around. Faith: "You're gonna die!" Wesley is almost done sawing through his ropes. Faith keeps hitting and kicking Angel. Halfway through this it starts to first rain then pour. Faith: "You hear me? - You don't know what evil is! - I'm bad! - Fight back!" Wesley has freed his hands and is untying the other ropes. Faith keeps whaling on Angel, sometimes he ducks, sometimes the hits connect. Angel grabs a hold of her: "Nice try, Faith." He tosses her away from him. Then walks after her. Angel: "I know what you want." She hits him and he hits back dropping her. She comes back up hitting and screaming, but not making much of a dent. Wesley leans out of the window and sees Faith beating up on Angel. He goes into the kitchen and grabs a butcher Kn*fe, then heads for the door. Angel as he dodges another h*t: "I'm not gonna make it easy for you." Faith throws herself against Angel screaming: "I'm evil! I'm bad! I'm evil! Do you hear me? I'm bad! Angel, I'm bad! (She begins to sob, grabbing a hold of Angel's shirt and shaking him) I'm ba-ad. Do you hear me? I'm bad! I'm bad! I'm bad. Please. Angel, please, just do it." Wesley comes running out of the house. Faith sobbing: "Angel please, just do it. Just do it. Just k*ll me. Just k*ll me." Angel wraps his arms around her shoulders and pulls her against him. She over balances them and they sink to their knees, Angel still holding her as she cries. Angel: "Shh. It's all right. It's okay. I'm here. I'm right here. Shh." The camera shows the Kn*fe dropping from Wesley's hand as he stands in the pouring rain, staring at them, while Faith cries and thunder rumbles overhead.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x18 - Five by Five"}

foreverdreaming

Wesley: "This is perhaps Faith?" Faith: "New Watcher?" Buffy and Giles: "New Watcher." Buffy: "You k*lled a man!" Faith: "I don't care!" Angel: "You can't imagine the price for true evil. You don't have to disappear into the darkness." Buffy: "It doesn't have to be like this, you know?" Faith: "You took my life B. Payback's a bitch!" Giles: "The Watchers Council sent a retrieval team to capture Faith. A special operations unit - they handle the Council's - trickier jobs." Collins: "They've ordered the k*ll." Giles: "We have a rogue Slayer on our hands. I can't think of anything more dangerous." Faith: "Who am I supposed to k*ll?" Lindsey: "His name is Angel." Faith: "No problem." Lee: "I don't want you to make me look bad." Faith smashes his face into the table: "How do you look now?" Angel catches the quarrel Faith sh*t at his back. Faith: "This is going to be fun!" Faith: "And if you'd been a better Watcher, I might have been a more positive role model!" Angel burst through the door. Angel and Faith fall through the window. Faith: "I'm bad. I'm bad! I'm evil! Please just do it. Just k*ll me. Just k*ll me." A wet and slightly beaten up Faith and Angel ride down the elevator to his apartment. Angel: "Faith. - Come on." Angel leads her over to his bed and Faith sits down, arms wrapped around herself. Angel: "It's okay. - Rest here." Angel wraps a towel around her shoulders. Faith slowly lies down and Angel covers her with a blanket. Angel: "You rest now." He picks up Faith's backpack and puts it on a chair next to the bed. Angel: "I'll put your stuff here. - I'll be close." He turns and starts to leave. Faith: "Angel." Angel turns back: "Yeah" We flash from Angel's face to a short scene of Faith attacking Angel all out with a butcher Kn*fe, cut to a sh*t of Faith's face, lying on the bed, then back on Angel. Faith: "Nothing." Angel leaves. Credits. Cordelia is in the office looking through some files when Wesley walks in. Wesley inspects Cordy's a huge black eye. Wesley: "Bitch. (Cordy gives him a look.) Not you - obviously. (sighs) I can't tell you how sorry I am that I allowed this to happen." Cordy sighs: "I believe it was Faith who allowed her elbow to collide with my face. - Not your fault." Wesley: "At least you only got the elbow." Cordy: "Well, if it's any consolation it really does look like you were - tortured by a much larger woman." Wesley smiles a little. Wesley: "She's still here, I assume." Cordy: "He gave her his bed!" Angel walks in: "Wesley." Wesley: "Angel." Angel: "I didn't expect to see you in today. - How are you feeling?" Wesley: "As well as can be expected." Angel: "Good. - Good. (To Cordy) Doughnuts?" Cordy points and Angel opens the box. Wesley: "Developed a sweet fang, have you?" Angel to Cordy: "You got jelly?" Cordy: "Whole selection." Wesley: "Won't she find it difficult - enjoying delicious, jelly-filled doughnuts, if she is - one assumes - bound and gagged?" Angel: "Wesley, - we went through all this last night." Wesley: "Yes, you were right. The police would be ill equipped to hold a Slayer against her will. I understand why you chose not to turn her over to them. - I do not, however, understand why the woman who brutally tortured me last night - this morning - gets pastries!" Angel: "I don't really have anything else downstairs. - What do you want to do, Wesley? Let her starve?" Wesley: "Certainly not. There are far more humane ways to deal with a rabid animal." Angel: "She is not an animal." Wesley: "No?" Angel: "She's a person. In case you've forgotten - we're not in the business of giving up on people." Wesley: "Don't you dare take the moral high ground with me after what she did. I believe in helping people. I do *not* believe in coddling m*rder!" Angel: "It wasn't too long ago that you were the one making the case for her rehabilitation." Wesley: "It wasn't too long ago I had full feeling in my right arm!" Angel: "She wants to change." Wesley: "There is evil in that girl, Angel. It doesn't matter what she wants, or says she wants - you set her free - she'll k*ll again." When Angel doesn't answer, Wesley picks up his jacket and leaves. Angel: "He'll come around." Cordy: "Wesley? - Sure! - People always get a little funny right after they've been sadistically tortured. - Well, you'd know. (Puts a book of business checks on top of the box of doughnuts Angel is holding) I need you to sign these." Angel with a sigh: "You understand why we have to help Faith, don't you?" Cordy: "Totally. (Points at the book) And here." Angel: "We can't just arbitrarily decide whose soul is worth saving and whose isn't." Cordy: "Oh, I know! And this one? (Rips out the page of checks) Thanks." Angel looks at the copies of the checks. Angel: "Wait. Those were all made out to you." Cordy: "Yeah." Angel checks the book: "Paid vacation." Cordy, putting on her jacket: "Like I'm gonna stick around while psycho case is roaming lose downstairs with three tons of medieval w*apon? - Not! - Oh - and I'm thinking - sugar high? Maybe not a great idea." Leaves. The police are inspecting the damage Angel and Faith did to the cigarette guy's apartment in their fight last night. Detective: "See if the neighbors heard anything." Officer: "Right." Detective sees Kate next to the overturned chair that Wesley was bound to and sighs. Detective: "Kate. What are you doing here?" Kate: "I'm a detective, Kendrick. See? (Holds up a plastic bag with stuff in it) I'm detecting. - Heard we have a fugitive." Kendrick: "Yeah. (Kate hands him a piece of paper) Felony arrest warrant form a place up north called Sunnydale. I've seen it." Kate: "So do we think she is the one who threw the party here?" Kendrick: "The guy who lives here identifies her as the woman who mugged him. Put him in the hospital, stole his keys, his wallet. - We're lifting prints now. My bet is - we get a match." Kate: "Anything else?" Kendrick: "That's it. You mind telling me why you're here examining a crime scene that wasn't assigned to you?" Kate: "It looked interesting." Kendrick: "Right. You've heard the rumors, haven't you?" Kate: "What rumors?" Kendrick: "You know what I'm talking about. This girl supposedly has some kind of supernatural powers?" Kate: "Really." Kendrick: "Come on, Kate. Everybody knows you've gone all Scully. - Anytime one of these weird cases crosses anyone's desk - you're always there. What's going on with you?" Kate: "Scully is the skeptic." Kendrick: "Huh?" Kate: "Mulder is the believer. Scully is the skeptic." Kendrick scratches his head: "Scully is the chick, right?" Kate: "Yes. - But she's not the one that wants to believe." Kendrick: "And you wanna believe." Kate: "Oh, I already believe. - That's the problem." Angel comes down with the box of doughnuts to see that his bed is empty and made. Looks around. Angel: "Faith?" Sees her leaning against the wall leading into the kitchen. Angel: "Faith. - I have doughnuts." When Faith doesn't react he puts the box down on a chair and slowly walks closer. Angel: "I understand what you're going through - and I want to help... but there are a few things you have to do. - First - I need you to give me that Kn*fe." Angel holds out his hand. Faith looks down at her hand. She is holding a big butcher Kn*fe. She slowly lifts it, hesitates for a moment, then hands it to Angel hilt first. Angel: "You should be resting." Faith: "I've been asleep for eight months. - You rest." Lilah walks into Lindsay's office. Lilah: "We found her." Lindsay: "Where?" Lilah: "She's with him." Lindsay: "Is he d*ad?" Lilah: "Well, he is a vampire - so technically, yes, he is d*ad. But not by her hand. She is his house guest." Lindsay: "What?" Lilah: "That's right. The reason our little assassin hasn't made good on her contract is she's roaming with the mark." Lindsay: "We hired her to k*ll him." Lilah: "I believe I covered that with the assassin part." Lindsay: "And he ends up inviting her to spend the night." Lilah: "I told you he wouldn't be easy. He can't be bought, and apparently he can't be k*lled - even by a vampire Slayer. - Rumor has it he used to actually date one." Lindsay: "Who else knows about this?" Lilah: "No one outside of this room. - Not yet anyway." Lindsay: "When word gets back to the senior partners this won't go well. We conspired with her, - paid her half up front, - and now she makes us look like fools. - So - question is - how are we gonna fix it?" Lee, wearing a neck brace and his face swollen and black and blue: "I say we k*ll her." Faith is sitting on Angel's bed. Buffy's voice echoes: "Faith no!" Flash to a picture of Faith staking Finch, then back to Faith's face. Flash on Finch's face, back to Faith. Flash to Finch's blood covered hands, and him staring up at Faith. "You k*lled a man." Back to Faith. "I don't care." Faith gets up and packs her backpack. Angel comes in: "Faith." Faith just looks at him then goes back to packing. Angel: "You're in no condition to leave here. You walk out that door now and you'll be running for the rest of your life - and my bet is - it'll be a pretty short run." Faith walks past him: " You know what? It doesn't matter." Angel steps between her and the door: "It does matter. It matters to me." Faith: "Why are you doing this? Why are you being nice to me? Just - stop it. - You're gonna step aside or do we throw down? I mean, am I your prisoner here?" Angel: "No. You're not my prisoner." Faith: "So I'm free." Angel: "I don't know about that (slides the door behind him open) but the door is open." Faith walks past him. Angel: "Where are you gonna go? Back out in that darkness? (Faith hesitates then keeps walking) I once told you that you didn't have to go out in that darkness. (Faith slowly comes to a stop her back to Angel) Remember? That it was your choice. Well, you chose. - You thought that you could just touch it. (Walks slowly closer) That you'd be okay. - 5x5, right, Faith? - But it swallowed you whole. - So tell me -(comes to stand behind her) - how did you like it?" Faith turns and slugs him - hard. He doesn't retaliate, just slowly turns back to look at her. Faith stares for a moment then looks anywhere but at him. Faith hesitantly: "Help me?" Angel: "Yeah." Night. Wesley is in a pub, drinking a beer and playing darts by himself. As he goes up to get his darts a dart flies close by his head to h*t the bull's eye. Wesley turns and sees Weatherby sitting in his chair miming throwing the next dart at him. Collins and Smith (the other two members of the retrieval team the Council sent after Faith) come to stand next to his chair and Weatherby picks up Wesley's beer to mime a toast to Wesley. Collins: "Hello Wesley." Wesley and the Council g*ons are sitting in a booth as waitress brings them more beer. Collins: "So, Los Angeles." He gets ready to light a cigarette. Wesley looks at a no-smoking sign on the wall next to Collins. Collins looks at it as well then at Wesley. Wesley: "California." Collins lights his cigarette. Collins: "Who would have predicted this is where you'd end up." Wesley: "Well, it seemed as good a place as any to - re-evaluate my situation after being asked to resign my position with the Council. - And the weather - I find it - dry." Weatherby: "Wouldn't cough up the dosh for the airfare home, would they?" Wesley: "No, they wouldn't." Smith: "All those alchemists on the board of directors and they still make us fly coach. Miserly bastards." Collins: "A frugal lot, to be sure, but not stupid. And I think you'll find, willing to admit when they've made a mistake." Wesley: "Made a mistake?" Collins: "How would you like to come home, Wesley? - Back to England with us." Wesley: "Home." Collins: "The Council is willing to reinstate you - return you to your rightful position as Watcher. - That was a nasty business back in Sunnydale, but - nobody blames you." Wesley: "Really. Because I rather got the impression they did when they sacked me." Collins: "As I said - mistake. (Nods at Smith, who hands Wesley an envelope) One that can now be corrected - with your help." Wesley opens the envelope and pulls out a picture of Faith. Collins: "We know where she is - and we know you have access to her." Wesley closes the envelope back up and lays it down. Wesley: "No. I couldn't possibly." Weatherby: "Loyalty to a vampire now, is it?" Collins gives Weatherby a look. Collins: "It's alright. That's not why we're here. - A rogue Slayer, Wesley. Far more dangerous than any single vampire. Surely *you* understand that." Wesley: "All too well." Collins: "Then you'll help us?" Wesley: "Why come to me? You know where she is, why not take her yourselves? (The three g*ons refuse to look at Wesley) You three are the best - the Council's elite - - she cleaned your clocks, didn't she?" Collins: "She's betrayed our calling - Council - you. She has power and the willingness to use that power for evil. - She must be stopped." Faith is leaning on the Microwave in Angel's kitchen. The box of doughnuts is sitting on top of it still closed. Angel comes in. Faith: "So, how does this - work?" Angel: "There is no real simple answer to that. - I won't lie to you and tell you that it'll be easy - because it won't be. - Just because you've decided to change doesn't mean that the world is ready for you to. - The truth is - no matter how much you suffer, no matter how many good deeds you do to try to make up for the past - you may never balance out the cosmic scale. - The only thing I can promise you is that you'll probably be haunted - and may be for the rest of your life." Faith indicates the Microwave: "So how does *this* work?" Angel blinks a couple times, then walks over to program it: "Uh - power level, time, start. - Sure that popcorn is gonna be enough for you?" Faith: "Yeah. I can - live off the stuff. - Tell Cordelia I'll pay her back." Angel: "Actually I think it belonged to Wesley." Faith: "Oh, maybe we - just don't mention it then." Angel: "Maybe we do." Faith: "Are you saying I got to apologize?" Angel: "Think you can?" Faith: "I don’t' know. - How do you say 'Gee, I'm really sorry tortured you I nearly to death?'" Angel: "Well, first off I think I'd leave off the 'Gee.' And secondly I think you have to ask yourself: are you?" Faith: "What?" Angel: "Sorry." Faith: "And what if I *can't* say it? There are some things you can't just take back, no matter how sorry you *are*, right?" Angel: "Yeah, there are. I've got some experience in that area." Faith: "Right. And you've been doing this for a hundred years! I'm not gonna make it through the next ten minutes." Angel: "So make it through the next five, the next minute." Faith: "I don't think I can." Angel: "Yes, you can." Faith walks away: "God, it hurts. I hate that it hurts like this." Angel follows her: "Oh well, it's supposed to hurt. All that pain, all that suffering you caused is coming back on you. Feel it! Deal with it! Then maybe you've got a sh*t at being free." Faith lets out something between a laugh and a sob: "I've got to be the first Slayer in history sponsored by a vampire." Angel: "Yeah, well, I've got some experience in that area, too." Faith: "Oh god. B - how am I ever going to make things right with her?" Angel: "Faith, this isn't about Buffy." Faith: "All my life there was only one person that tried to be my friend, - went out of her way when I had no right or reason to expect her to - and I screwed her. Not to mention her boyfriend, only - him literally." Angel: "Faith, you and I never actually..." Faith: "No, not you. The new one. (Angel stares for a moment then looks down) Oh, my god. - Angel, I'm so sorry I..." Angel: "No, there. You *can* say it. - That's good. (Turns away to leave) Good." Lilah is pouring coffee in Lindsay's office. Lindsay: "We'd like to thank you for coming down on such short notice." Lilah: "We trust we can rely on your professionalism." Lee: "We’ve had some trouble with freelancers in the past." Lilah: "Do you take cream? - No. All right." Lindsay holds out a picture of Faith: "Here is the target." Lee: "Don't let the picture fool you. She is tougher than she looks." Lindsay: "We're not talking about anything elaborate - no slow - or painful death." Lee: "Well, some pain would be good." Lindsay: "The point is - do we want her d*ad?" Lee: "Yes. d*ad - a lot." Lilah brings the tray she's been fixing over to the table. Lilah: "Just so we're clear - we won't be putting any of this down on paper. This is strictly - a handshake deal." She sets a round silver bowl filled with gruel on the table. Lindsay: "Not that it is necessary for you to have hands for us to do business with you." Lilah: "That was species-ist of me. I apologize if I -(The creature sticks its head into the gruel and starts slurping it up with a growl) have offended you - in any way." The creature looks up. It has scraggily black hair, blue skin, a mouthful of fangs and four eyes. Collins pushes a folded napkin across the table to Wesley. Opens it to show a syringe laying on it. Wesley reaches to inspect it. Collins: "Careful now. The sedative contained in that syringe is powerful enough to bring down a man twice your size - or a Slayer." Wesley: "How's it work?" Weatherby: "How do you think? You *jab* her with it, don't you?" Collins sighs and takes the cap of the syringe: "Just a little pressure on the flesh - in moments she'll feel the effects." Wesley: "So you intend to take her alive then." Collins: "Of course. She'll be out long enough for us to secure her for transport back to England. There she'll begin her rehabilitation." Wesley: "Does the Council *really* believe she can be rehabilitated?" Collins: "We have every confidence. - You'll signal us as soon as it's done - and we come in and take care of the rest." Waitress sets more beer on the table and Wesley covers the syringe with his hands. Collins to waitress: "Thanks." Wesley: "I have some conditions of my own. - Just one actually. - No harm must come to the vampire." Weatherby: "Oh, don't be a ponce!" Wesley pushes the syringe away: "That's it. Unless you agree to that you won't get any help from me." Collins looks at Weatherby as he pushes the syringe back: "We have no quarrel with the vampire." Weatherby: "Unless you count the fact that he *is* a vampire!" Wesley: "He's a special case. He is reformed. - He has a soul. (The three g*ons look away from Wesley) In point of fact I've confronted more evil - slayed more demons (notices the waitress coming by and lowers his voice) slayed more demons - in short, done more good while working with Angel than I *ever* did while in the *Council's* employ." Collins: "We'll make every effort." Wesley: "No. Not every effort - no harm. I must have your word." Collins holds out his hand after a moment's hesitation: "Done." They shake. Faith is eating popcorn while flicking through the channels on Angel's TV. Some thing scampers by behind her unnoticed. A wet and steaming Angel sticks his head out of the bathroom. Angel: "Is everything okay in there?" Faith: "It was touch and go for the four minutes you left me alone, but somehow I got through it." Angel goes into his bedroom to finish dressing while the thing skitters along the ceiling above Faith. She changes the channel to a police report. Announcer: "Los Angeles police in conjunction with Federal authorities are looking for this woman tonight, (Picture of Faith on the TV) a felony suspect from the California town of Sunnydale. (Faith reaches for her drink and spills it) The young woman..." Angel hears the glass fall as he is putting on his shirt. Angel: "Faith?" Announcer: "...has fled to Los Angeles in recent days." Angel coming into the living room: "Faith." Announcer: "Eyewitnesses identified her..." Angel: "What is it?" Announcer: "...as being involved in several recent as*ault. Police want your help in finding her." Angel sees Faith's picture on the TV and crouches down beside her chair. Angel: "Faith, it's ok, alright? We knew about this." Announcer: "A press conference was held earlier." Angel: "Nothing's changed, alright? Nothing's..." Kate on the TV: "Anyone with any information about the whereabouts of this subject should get in touch with law enforcement immediately. (Angel looks over at the TV) Do not approach her. She is violent and unpredictable. I'll take a few questions." Angel hits the power button on the remote. Angel: "Listen to me Faith. You're safe here. You hear me? You're safe." The thing hanging on the ceiling picks that moment to drop down on top of them. It throws Angel off Faith, then tosses Faith onto the sofa, over turning it, when Angel comes right back at it. The thing tosses Angel towards Faith and he pushes her into the kitchen to get her out of harms way then takes a hold of an overhead beam and swings both feet into the things face. In the kitchen Faith grabs a hold of the big butcher Kn*fe and hurries back to the fight. Angel comes sliding past the opening to the kitchen. The thing is charging a slightly dazed Angel as Faith comes up behind it and s*ab it with the butcher Kn*fe. A few blows later the thing lies dying in the floor. Faith is staring at the bloody Kn*fe in her hand as Angel picks himself up. Faith: "No." She drops the Kn*fe and stares at her hands, gasping and shaking her head. Angel: "Hey. Hey. Hey. Shh. Hey. (Leads her over to the day bed) Sit down. Shh. It's- it's okay. (Faith wraps her arms around Angel's neck, careful not to touch him with her bloody hands) Hey. It's gonna be okay. Okay? (Angel holds her) Shh. Alright." Angel looks over as he hears someone come down the stairs. It's Buffy. Angel gets up: "Buffy. (Buttoning his shirt) I didn't know you..." Buffy: "What..." Buffy looks from him to Faith still sitting on the day bed staring at her bloody hands, then back to Angel. Buffy: "How... What are you doing?" Angel: "She - we were att*cked." Buffy: "We? - You and..." Angel: "Faith." Buffy: "You and Faith." Angel: "Oh, it's not what you think." Buffy: "You actually think that I can form a thought right now? - Giles heard that - that she tried to k*ll you." Angel: "That's true." Buffy: "So you decided to punish her with a severe cuddling." Angel: "Is that why you're here? To punish her?" Buffy: "I was worried about you." Faith: "Buffy. (Buffy looks at her) Oh, god." Buffy walks closer to Faith who is cringing away form her. Buffy: "You didn't think I was going to find you, did you?" Angel: "Buffy, let's talk." Buffy: "Oh, I don't think talk is in order right now." Angel: "She needs help." Buffy whips around to face Angel: "Help? Do you have any idea what she did to me?" Angel: "Yes." Buffy: "Do you care?" Angel: "She wants to change. She has a chance to..." Buffy: "No. No chance. Jail." Faith slowly gets up. Angel: "You think that'll help?" Faith: "Buffy... (Buffy whips around to face her) I'm sor..." Buffy: "Apologize to me and I will b*at you to death." Faith quietly: "Go ahead." Angel steps in front of Faith: "This is not gonna happen." Buffy: "You're gonna stop me? Because you're gonna have to." Faith shakes her head: "Don't - so this." Angel: "Faith, go upstairs - now." Buffy: "You think I'm gonna let her out of my sight?" Angel: "Buffy, just back off." Buffy: "There is no way I'm letting her out of my sight." Angel: "Faith, go!" Faith goes up the stairs and Buffy moves to stop her. Buffy: "Don't you move a..." Angel catches her arm and she turns to punch him full in the face. She hauls back to h*t him again, but Angel blocks her fist and hits her across the face in return. Angel steps back as Buffy stares at him with a hand over her mouth. Angel: "I'm sorry. - I'm sorry." Faith opens the upstairs door and steps into Angel's office. Wesley comes in from the outer office as Faith stares down the stairs. Wesley: "Faith? (Faith turns to look at him) Going somewhere?" Faith turns to stare back down the stairs: "No. Just wanted to be alone." Wesley comes closer: "Angel downstairs?" Faith: "Yeah." Wesley: "Right." Lindsay is pacing in an office at Wolfram and Harts with Lee sitting at the table. Lilah comes in. Lee gets up: "Well?" Lilah: "Strike two." Lee: "This is getting ridiculous. The first assassin kills the second assassin - sent to k*ll the first assassin, - who didn't assassinate anyone until we hired - the second assassin to assassinate the first assassin." Lindsay: "Alright. This obviously isn't working." Lilah: "You think?" Lindsay: "We've gone about this all wrong." Lee: "Meaning?" Lindsay: "We're lawyers. It's a mistake for us to try to work outside the law." Lilah: "He's being ironic." Lindsay: "Not at all. It's time we moved this fight to our own turf. - I know what to do. - I'll take care of it." Angel: "She's not gonna run, Buffy." Buffy: "Well, why would she? When she has her brave knight to protect her? - Got you. - Does she cry? - Pouty lips - heaving bosom? - I thought you needed help." Angel: "You think I wanted this to happen? Buffy: "You h*t me." Angel: "Not to go all schoolyard on you, but you h*t me first. In case you've forgotten - you're a little bit stronger than I am." Buffy: "You did it for *her*." Angel: "You were about three seconds - from making her run - you know that. She's at a crucial stage." Buffy: "She's playing you. She tried to k*ll you!" Angel: "That was just - that was just a cry for help." Buffy: "A cry for help is when you say 'help' in a loud voice." Angel: "I know Faith did some bad things to you." Buffy: "You can't possibly know." Angel: "And you can't possibly know what she's going through." Buffy: "And of course, you do? - I'm sorry. I can't be in your club. I never m*rder anybody." Footsteps coming down the stairs. Angel: "Faith, I told you..." Wesley pushing Faith down the stairs in front of him: "Slight change of plan. (To Faith) Get your coat." Angel: "Wesley, what's going on?" Wesley: "In about twenty minutes the Council's operations team is coming in here. They'll expect to find you gone (holds up the syringe) and her drugged." Angel: "How many?" Wesley: "Three. Hello Buffy. I'm afraid you've come at a bad time." Buffy: "I'm feeling that." Angel: "Why did you bring them here?" Wesley: "Couldn't shake them. Had to pretend I was helping them." Angel: "Why aren't you?" Buffy: "I know these guys. They're K*llers." Wesley: "They've surrounded the building." Angel: "I'll check the sewers, if they're clear we all head out. Faith?" They turn to look for her but she is gone. Wesley: "She must have slipped out." Angel: "She'd head for the roof. (Buffy turns to go, Angel moves to go after her) They may have it covered." Wesley stops him: "We need a plan. Buffy can protect Faith." Angel turns towards the sewer entrance: "I'm not sure that's her agenda." Wesley follows him: "The sewers are still our best route." Angel: "If they don't know about our access." Wesley: "Angel, it wasn't for her." Angel: "I know." Wesley: "It's because I trust you. (Angel drops down into the sewers, Wesley follows) Well, more than three g*n-toting maniacs at any rate." Cut to the police department. Kate: "Why should I listen to anything you have to say? I despise you - you and everything you represent. And when I say 'represent' and 'thing' - I *do* mean your clients." Lindsay: "Well, be that as it may - I believe that I have some information that will be of interest to you. Because -while it is true that we differ on a great many issues - we do have one thing in common." Kate: "Ah, our bodies are both 80% water?" Lindsay lays a picture of Angel onto the table: "An enemy." Kate: "I don't know what you're talking about." Lindsay: "No, of course you don't. And we can't be completely clear because - the law isn't clear on these matters, is it? I mean take for example - those creatures that m*rder your father. - They could never have been brought to any kind of traditional justice, even if the *had* survived. - And personally - I feel that you were totally justified in taking whatever - extra legal - measures you found necessary." Kate: "What do you want?" Lindsay: "There are beings, detective. Beings that aren't governed by the laws and strictures that we as humans have devised. (Points at Angel's picture) This man is such a being. He feels he is above the law - which is why he - gives aid and comfort to a know m*rder. (Gets ready to leave) The woman you're looking for? - She's with him." Buffy comes out on the roof to see Faith standing there. We can hear a helicopter flying in the background. Buffy: "You're not gonna run, Faith." Faith: "What do you wanna do? You're gonna throw me off the roof -again?" Buffy: "Any reason why I shouldn't?" Faith turns to look at Buffy: "There is nothing I can do for you, B. I can't ever make it right." Buffy: "So you're just going to take off again. Leave us to clean up yet another one of your messes." Faith: "It would make things easier for you." Buffy: "Till you got bored with the whole guilt thing - decided to come back to shake things up?" Faith: "That's not gonna happen." Buffy: "You're right. It's not." Faith: "Angel said there was no way you were gonna give me a chance." Buffy: "I gave you every chance! I tried so hard to help you, and you spat on me. My life was just something for you to play with. Angel - Riley - anything that you could take from me - you took. I've lost battles before - but nobody else has -ever- made me a victim." Faith: "And you can't stand that. You're all about control. You have no idea what it's like on the other side! Where nothing's in control, nothing makes sense! There is just pain and hate and nothing you do means anything. You can't even.." Buffy: "Shut up!" Faith: "Just tell me how to make it better." The door to the roof bursts open and Collins steps through, g*n in hand. Buffy tackles Faith to safety as Collins opens f*re. Angel and Wesley, standing next to the sewer entrance in his apartment, hear the sh*ts. Angel: "That's coming from the roof." Just then Weatherby comes in sh**ting at them with his machine g*n. Angel and Wesley take cover. Wesley: "I didn't give you the signal." Weatherby: "Shut it. (Smiles at Angel as he lifts a loaded crossbow) Vampire." Buffy: "I think we can make it to the other building." Faith: "Go." Buffy: "Now." They run but before they reach the edge a black helicopter comes to hover in front of them. Smith is in the open door, g*n in hand. Buffy and Faith run to hide behind a skylight. Collins has to reload and Buffy and Faith change skylights. Wesley: "Weatherby, listen to reason." Weatherby: "Reason. A Watcher working for a vampire. It's perversion." Buffy: "I have to take this guy out. The guy with the g*n up there will go for me. You stay here." Faith: "Okay." Buffy lunges over the skylight and tackles Collins. They fight with Smith unable to sh**t without hitting Collins. Smith to pilot: "Try and keep her steady." Wesley: "Weatherby..." Weatherby: "Do the sacred oaths you swore as a Watcher mean nothing to you now?" Wesley: "As a matter of fact they do. I swore to protect the innocent. (To Angel) Get to the roof. Help them." Angel: "What?" Wesley: "Now!" Angel runs for the stairs while Weatherby drops the crossbow and sh**t at Wesley as he runs for the cover of another pillar. Wealtherby: "Bastard!" Buffy is fighting Collins. Wesley takes the cap from the syringe and throws it like a dart. It hits Weatherby in the side of the neck and he drops his g*n. Wesley with a smile: "180." Weatherby pulls the needle out. While he stands there swaying Wesley walks up to him and knocks him out with a right cross. Wesley: "That's for calling me a ponce." Angel is running up the stairs to the roof. Buffy and Collins are still fighting. Angel sees the helicopters spotlight through the milky Skylight above the top landing. Buffy knocks Collins down and turns to face the helicopter just as Angel comes sh**ting through the skylight, catching it's left rung with his arms. He reaches up and pulls Smith out of the door. Smith lands at Buffy's feet, while Angel climbs up to stand on the rung. Angel, in vamp face to the pilot: "Down! Take it down." Buffy watches the helicopter leave then turns around. Buffy: "Faith.'" But Faith is nowhere to be seen. A bunch of police cars drive up with lights and sirens as the helicopter sets down. Kate: "Where is she? - You got one sh*t here Angel, where is she?" Angel just looks at her. Kate: "Arrest him. Start with aiding and abetting a wanted felon." The cops cuff Angel and lead him away. Wesley and Buffy arrive at the police station in Angel's car. Kate: "I think you're gonna like the cell we have for you, Angel. It faces east. It'll give you a great view of the sunrise in about four hours." Buffy walking behind them: "What?" Angel: "It's okay." Buffy: "You know what he is." Kate: "Who are you?" Angel: "She is nobody." Buffy steps between Angel and Kate as the reach they reach her desk. Buffy: "Wait. This is m*rder." Angel: "Buffy, it's alright." Buffy: "It is *not* alright." Kate: "Get her out of here!" Buffy pushes the cop off her: "You are not taking the fall for her, Angel." Kate: "OUT!" Angel looks over and sees Faith sitting at another desk with her back to them. Angel: "Buffy." Everyone in their group turns to look. A cop tries to pull Angel away and Buffy pushes his arm away. Faith looks over her shoulder at them and slowly stands up as Kate walks over to her. Faith: "I'd like to make a confession." Buffy and Angel are standing alone in the hallway of the police station. Buffy: "You should have told me what was going on." Angel: "I didn't - I didn't think it was your business." Buffy: "Not my business?" Angel: "I needed more time with Faith. I'm not sure.." Buffy: "You needed - Do you have any - idea what it was like for me to see you with her? That you went behind my back..." Angel: "Buffy, this wasn't about you! This was about saving somebody's soul. That's what I do here, and you're not a part of it. - That was your idea, remember? We stay away from each other." Buffy: "I came here because you were in danger." Angel: "I'm in danger every day. You came because of Faith. You were looking for vengeance." Buffy: "I have a right to it." Angel: "Not in my city." Buffy turns away for a moment then turns back. Buffy: "I have someone in my life now. (Angel looks away from her but otherwise doesn't move) That I love. (Angel swallows hard) It's not what you and I had. - It's very new. (She steps closer) You know what makes it new? - I trust him. - I know him." Angel lets out a sharp breath: "That's great. - It's nice - you moved on. - I can't. You found someone new. - I'm not allowed to, remember? I see you again it cuts me up inside and the person I share that with is me! You don't know me anymore. So don't come down here with your great new life and *expect* me to do things your way. - Go home!" Buffy looks at him for a moment then goes to pick up her jacket, while Angel walks over to the wall and braces his hands against it. Buffy: "See? - Faith wins again." Angel without looking at her: "Go." Buffy goes. After a moment Angel slams his hands against the wall and sighs. Wesley: "You all right?' Angel: "For a taciturn, shadowy guy - I've got a big mouth." Wesley: "Did you want to go after her?" Angel: "Yes." Wesley: "I don't know how much my opinion counts for, but - I think you did the right thing." Angel: "Yelling at Buffy?" Wesley: "No. - The other thing." Angel shakes his head: "I didn't do it. - Faith did." We see Faith sitting alone in a jail cell, leaning back against the wall. Wesley voice over: "I hope she is strong enough to make it. - Peace is not an easy thing to find." Blend into a close-up of Faith's face. Angel v.o.: "She has a chance." Faith closes her eyes.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x19 - Sanctuary"}

foreverdreaming

A black teenaged girl is walking down an alley in a bad part of town looking scared. She looks over her shoulder from time to time as she speeds up. She is being pursued by three vampires. She comes to a d*ad end and turns to face the vampires. Steps and the sound of a car sound behind the vampires. One of them turns. Vampire: "You." Camera pans up from a pair of black shoes, black pants, a sword, long black coat, to the face of a black teenaged boy wearing a black bandana. g*n: "You expecting somebody else?" A pick-up truck with more armed teenagers pulls up behind him and another teenager with a loaded crossbow steps up beside him. Credits. Cordelia, Wesley and Angel walk into a big Hollywood party going on at someone's house. Cordelia: "Oh, I miss that smell!" Wesley: "Camembert, I believe." Cordelia: "What? No - money - I like the smell of a little money once in a while." Angel: "She's not just saying that. Hide some in the office sometime to watch her. It's uncanny." Cordelia: "Oh, there he is." Points to a guy in a plaid shirt, sitting by himself. Cordelia: "Mr. Nabbit, hi!" Nabbit gets up: "Hi." Cordelia as they shake hands: "Hi." Nabbit: "Glad you could come." Cordy: "Thanks." Angel: "Thanks for having us." Nabbit: "It's a pleasure. - Who are you?" Cordy: "Oh. I'm Cordelia Chase? We spoke on the phone?" Nabbit holds out his hand to shake again: "Oh! Right! (They shake again) So - so you - you must be - Angel." Angel shakes his hand: "Yes. Pleased to meet you. And this is Wesley, my associate." Wesley: "Lovely party." Nabbit: "Isn't it nice?" Cordelia: "Oh my god, is that Welling Harding?" Nabbit: "I - I - I have no idea. I don't know most of - these people. I - I don't even talk to them. They come to the party. I - I think they have fun. (Offers them some appetizers) These are crab." Angel: "If this is a bad time we..." Nabbit: "Oh, uhm, Miss Chase said that you could - only meet at night." Angel: "Yeah, it's more convenient..." Nabbit: "And - and that we'd be less conspicuous during the party. (Angel looks at Cordy and she gives him a big grin and shrug before turning away) I mean, I think it's good! We probably won't be interrupted. - Well, I-I've always said that I would make a billion dollars in the Software market and, uh, learn to talk to girls. - Still working on step two." Angel: "So, why don't you tell us about your case?" Nabbit: "Oh. (They sit down on the sofa) Ah, my case. - It, uh, somewhat has to do with - black - mail." Angel: "Go on." Nabbit: "Are you familiar with Dungeons and Dragons?" Angel: "Yeah. I've seen a few." Wesley: "You mean the - ah, role playing game." Angel looks up at Wesley: "Oh - game. - Right." Nabbit: "Well, I used to play a lot in High School. You know, it was pretty cool. You get to be someone else for a while, a wizard, a warrior, you know, the whole world is magic, and fighting Troglodytes and romancing exotic - demon princesses and - you know, it's a rush!" Cordelia: "Did someone find out you were a big nerd?" Nabbit chuckling: "No that's - ah, that's actually public record. But - ah - some of us got *really* into it. Uh - specially the demon romance part. And then we heard about this place - where - the real... The guys were joking about getting some tail." Wesley: "You went to Madam Dorion's." Nabbit: "J-j-just once." Angel looks up at Wesley. Wesley: "It's a demon brothel." Nabbit: "Or twice." Wesley: "In Bel Air, I believe. The Watchers Council is *ripe* with stories about it." Angel: "Ah - and how many..." Nabbit: "Twelve - times." Angel: "...people knew about you going?" Nabbit: "Oh - ah, just my-my friends, but ah - (hands Angel a picture) but my security guys already identified the guy with the - pictures. That's Lenny Edwards but - I just can't find him." Angel puts the picture of a smoking bald guy in jacket and gets up. Angel: "Well, we'll see if we can do better." Nabbit: "If - if my stockholders see these pictures..." Angel: "They won't." Cordy: "Don't worry. We are incredibly discreet. We'll - ah mingle here for a few hours, so no one suspects." Girl as she walks by: "Hey, David." Nabbit: "Oh, hey. Nice-nice seeing you again. Yeah. (Shrugs to the guys) I have no idea. - When I moved to LA I thought it was all glamour and valet parking - but there is a *whole* world here that no one ever sees." Angel: "More than one." Back in that d*ad end alley the group of teens are fighting the vampires, and actually doing some damage by the stint of sheer numbers and co-operation. One vamp gets nailed by a stake g*n mounted on the pick-up truck as he is about to k*ll one of the boys. Another one, fighting against five teens, gets beheaded by g*n. The guy with the stake g*n nails another vamp that is lunges at him in mid air, then starts kicking the g*n (jammed?). A vamp breaks one of the boys necks then runs, while a fifth gets staked behind him. The vamp jumps on the truck and kicks the g*n as Alonna yells a warning. Alonna: "Bobby! Bobby!" The vamp and Bobby fight, as the vamp is about to k*ll the boy Alonna att*cks him with her pike. g*n comes running, too, and the vamp takes off, with others (not sure if they are vamps or teens) running after. One of the teens aims a crossbow after them, but g*n pushes it down. g*n: "No, no, no. (points after the vamp) Dog him." Alonna is trying to lift Bobby, who is hanging head down over the side of the truck. Alonna: "g*n, come on. Come on." g*n helps her and they get Bobby into the bed of the truck. g*n to the driver: "Go!" Truck drives off. They stop in front of a deserted building. Alonna and g*n help Bobby inside while the others cover the truck with a tarp then follow. g*n: "Alright. Here you go. I got you. Alright, you're gonna make it, man. Come on - two more. Easy - easy." Alonna: "Right down here." They ease Bobby to the ground. Bobby: "Hey, g*n." g*n: "Right here man." Bobby: "He picked me up like I was a baby." g*n: "He's dust, Bobby, forget about him." Bobby: "I'm not a baby." Alonna: "He needs a doctor." Bobby stops moving. g*n: "Not any more." g*n gets up: "James - how are we fixed for tonight?" James: "Beck and me lifted some canned stuff. Wasn't much in the bins behind Mel's - and we got that (motions towards three other teens) I told them we don't take squatters." g*n: "Everybody eats." Angel is walking in to Madam Dorion's. There are all types of demon girls sitting with customers (one of them looks like one of Jhiera's girls). Madam Dorion intercepts Angel as he walks deeper into the establishment. Madam: "We don't do vampires. Sorry." Angel: "I just came to talk." Madam: "We don't do that either." Angel shows her the picture: "His name is Lenny Edwards. You know him?" Madam leading Angel towards the exit: "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Angel: "You're discreet. That's good." Madam: "Essential in my line of work." Angel: "How discreet would you say it is for one of your clients to be secretly photographed here - and then blackmailed?" Madam: What?" Angel: "Bad for business, I guess. You tell me where I can find Lenny Edwards and maybe I just might stop this before word hits the street." Madam: "Who is the girl?" Angel: "I don't know. But the clients name is David Nabbit." Madam: "Lina! (A girl with quills for hair comes over) Talk to Lina." Lina runs a hand over Angel's chest: "Oh, he's a pretty one." Madam: "He's a vampire, Lina." Lina: "Really? Well, we can make an exception. Just don't do - that face thing, and we'll get along great. (She turns around to face Madam Dorian holding up her hands) Look, ma, no hands!" Angel looks down, lets out a breath and catches the girls tail in one hand. Madam: "That's not why he's here, Lina." Angel sighs and holds out the picture: "I'm looking for him? (Lina sighs) - I think your boss here would like you to co-operate." Lina looks at her boss then back at Angel. Lina: "Vampires." The kids hideout. Alonna crouches down beside a guy. Alonna: "See my brother?" Guy points to where g*n is coming down the stairs. Alonna: "g*n, we need to talk." g*n: "Yeah, what of?" Alonna: "What happened to Bobby..." g*n: "No! No. We don't talk about that. That's done." Alonna: "We're dying here, g*n." g*n: "Everybody dies. I'm just trying to make sure that when we die, we stay d*ad." Alonna: "It shouldn't have gone down the way it did. You're getting reckless." g*n: "I do what I got to do." Alonna: "No, you do more than you got to do. Three weeks, G. Three weeks and no teeth and you had to ring the dinner bell like that? You just couldn't go another day without getting a little death in, could you?" g*n: "You think I like this?" Alonna: "No, I think you love it. And you won't quit until you get as close to death as you possibly can." g*n: "You're wrong." Alonna: "I hope so. - Because I don't want to lose you, too." g*n takes her hand: "Hey. That's not gonna happen little sister. - All right? It's never gonna happen." Kisses her on the forehead. g*n sees two guys come down the stairs. g*n: "Yo, Chain! You found them?" Chain: "d*ad boy led me right to its nest. It's close - practically right around the corner." g*n: "Nice." Chain: "Four blocks - right next to the old Blue Jean factory." g*n shakes his hand: "All right. Cool. Now we got a chance to do some real damage." Guy hurries down the stairs, loaded crossbow in hand. Guy: "Incoming! Moving this way fast. Jumping roof top to roof top." g*n to Chain: "You were followed?" Chain: "No way." g*n: "Let's check it out." They all head up the stairs. Lenny is about to get in his car when Angel comes up behind him. Lenny: "What do you want?" Angel: "Big question. What do I want? (Thinks) Love - family - a place on this planet I can call my own - but you know what?" Lenny: "What?" Angel: "I'm never going to have any of those things. - And unless these next few minutes go exactly the way I want them to, neither are you. - Where are the pictures of David Nabbit?" Lenny: "Never heard of him." Angel: "Oh-ho, you only get one lie. I probably should have mentioned that first." Lenny pats Angel on the shoulder: "Look, pal, you obviously not form around here. (g*n and his g*ng come up to watch from behind some iron bars) But trust me - you do *not* want to see my bad side." Angel: "You show me yours (vamps out) I show you mine. (Grabs Lenny and pushes him up against the car) Okay, so now I'm from around here. In fact, I'm moving in. Taking over, you understand me? I will dog you every night for the rest of your very short life until you bring me what I want. Are we clear? (Lenny nods frantically) Yeah. See you tomorrow." Angel gives Lenny a last shove. Lenny turns to unlock his car door, then looks back. Angel is gone. Lenny gets in the car and drives off. Chain: "Vampire is moving in, huh?" g*n nods: "Yeah. Well, he ain't gonna stay too long." Wesley and Cordelia are standing in front of David Nabbit while he writes out a check. Nabbit: "Ah. This should take care of your expenses to date. I want you to know I really appreciate what you did at the party." Wesley: "At the party? (Nabbit nods and Wesley and Cordy look at each other) What we did at the party?" Cordy: "It was a wonderful party." Nabbit: "We talked. We had some good times. It meant a lot to me." Cordy: "Oh." Wesley: "Yes, but - you were paying us to be there." Nabbit: "I do that all the time. But you guys actually hung with me. It was - it was special." He holds the check out to Wesley, but Cordy grabs it. Cordy: "I'm in charge of the..." She sees the amount of the check and, speechless, shows it to Wesley. Wesley: "Good Lord. I think there must be some mistake." Cordy: "I'm sure Mr. Nabbit knows how to write a check." Nabbit: "No, there is no mistake. I just - believe in rewarding good work." Wesley: "This is amazingly generous, Mr. Nabbit, but - we are really not finished with the job." Nabbit: "It's only money, and I got sack-fulls, and it's - it's David. You guys call me David, okay?" Cordy: "I like David. It's such a - strong, masculine name. (Nabbit grins at her) It just feels - good in your mouth." Wesley: "Well, - David, you won't be disappointed. We'll earn every cent of your generous confidence in our firm." Cordy: "Bye." Nabbit: "Bye." Wesley as he leads Cordy out: "Feels good in your mouth?" Cordy: "I was flustered!" Lenny is sitting on the hood of his car holding a brown manila envelope in his hands, looking around. Suddenly Angel is there. Lenny: "You're a sneaky son of a bitch, aren't you?" Angel: "You brought the photographs?" Lenny holds up the envelope: "Of course I brought them - and a little something extra." A gray skinned demon appears next to Angel and hits him hard enough that he flies a few feet backwards through the air. Lenny: "Love that." Angel and the demon fight. The demon is at least as strong as Angel. Lenny: "What ever he's paying you isn't enough, is it, big fellow?" During the fight Angel crashes into Lenny, making him drop the envelope. Angel picks it up and puts it inside his coat, then swings around a lamp post and continues to fight the demon. At the end he manages to break the demon's neck. While Angel catches himself on the ground, coughing, trying to recover from the fight, Lenny runs off. A stake impales Angel through his left shoulder, poking out the front. Grabbing a hold of it Angel looks back to see g*n's g*ng with their pick-up truck and stake g*n. He gets up, pulling out the stake and runs with the truck in close pursuit. g*n: "Get him!" Angel keeps zigzagging and tossing trashcans and other stuff in front of the truck to make it swerve and mess up the g*n aim as he runs down the street. He rolls underneath a partially open warehouse door and gets up to lean against it, panting. The wooden rams mounted on the hood of the truck come through the door, just missing him. Angel runs deeper into the warehouse stumbling against some boxes. He steps on a plate on the floor. A pallet with stakes mounted to the bottom drops from the ceiling and Angel rolls to avoid getting impaled. A guy with a stake in hand jumps him from behind. Angel grabs his up raised hands and after a short struggle tosses him over his head onto the floor in front of him. The guy sees the stake coming for his own heart and freezes in fear. Angel takes a breath, drops the stake and runs on, the guy staring after him in surprise. Angel runs through a trip wire and triggers some crossbows as he runs down a hallway but Angel manages to dodge the quarrels. The g*ng att*cks him from all sides and after tossing a couple around Angel grabs a hold of Alonna and uses her as a shield. g*n: "Alonna! - Don't sh**t." Angel: "What are you people playing at?" g*n: "We're not playing." Angel: "You're gonna get yourselves k*lled." g*n: "We're gonna get *you* k*lled first!" Chain: "Let's dust him." Angel looks at them for a moment then tosses Alonna aside. Alonna falls into a trip-cord and a crossbow goes off. Angel reaches out and intercepts the quarrel headed for Alonna with the palm of his hand. Everybody stares. Angel: "Ow! - You know, for some reason I'm getting the impression you don't like me too much! (Pulls the quarrel out of his hand) Maybe I'm just over-reacting." g*n: "What? You're gonna pretend that you're different from the rest of them?" Angel: "Yeah. And then I just pretend that I just saved her life. - You put a lot of work into this. Some clever stuff really. I'm impressed - but I have a few suggestions." g*n: "I don't think we're interested." Angel: "Yeah. You should be. Who do you think that would have k*lled? We are fighting on the same side." Chain: "The same side of what?" Angel: "I didn't come here to k*ll you." g*n lowers his crossbow and steps closer: "It don't matter why you're here, or what you are. If you ever show your face down here again, don't count on any long good-byes." The g*ng leaves and Angel sinks down on top of a barrel, wincing from the pain in his side. Wesley is taking the pictures the Angel recovered over to where Cordy is bandaging Angel's shoulder and middle. Wesley: "That's very nice work. I'm sure Nabbit will be greatly relieved to get these back. (Sits down next to Angel on the edge of the desk, looking at one of the pictures) Oh my." Angel: "It's upside down." Wesley turns the picture around and they both look at it as Cordy puts the last piece of tape in place. Wesley: "Certainly not something one would want framed." Cordy: "How does it feel?" Wesley: "I can't possibly imagine it's pleasant." Angel: "Ew." Cordy: "I'm talking to Angel." Angel and Wesley look at her. Wesley: "Oh, right. Sorry." Angel gets up: "It feels (Winces as he pulls on his shirt) it feels better." Cordy: "You should rest. You look like..." Angel: "Like I've been beaten and s*ab?" Cordy: "Want to see the check again?" Angel: "I want to find those kids. I don't think any of them have homes. They're probably living together somewhere." Wesley: "How many are there?" Angel: "I'm not sure. 6, 7, maybe more? A couple of them couldn't have been more than 16." Cordy: "God. 20 minutes ride from billionaires and crab puffs - kids going to w*r." Angel: "This isn't something they just started doing. I mean, they were ready. They've been pushed to this." Wesley: "In which case I can certainly understand their - stake first and ask questions later state of mind. It's how they survive." Cordy: "And the idea of a - vampire in a white hat probably seems a little - give me a breaky?" Angel: "They're in over their heads. They're going to get themselves k*lled. If they're hunting vampires there has to be a nest in the area. Wesley, I want you to find out where those kids live." Wesley: "Consider it done." Angel: "I'm gonna find that nest - before they do. - It'll have to be close - probably in a 10 block area (winces in pain as he pulls on his coat) and it'll have to be a building with sewer access. (Steps into the elevator, still clearly hurting. Turns back) Can I just see that check again?" Cut to the vampire nest and their balding lead-vamp talking. Knox: "Street trash - that's what they are. Just stupid, human street trash. For 70 years we ruled this neighborhood. It was our neighborhood. Used to be decent people lived here - working people. And now? - You can't even finish one without wanting to puke! - And whose fault is it? Hmm? Theirs? - I don't think so. - It's our fault. We let this happen. We got lazy. We dropped our guard. (Turns to the vamp that ran from g*n's g*ng) Ty, you've been lured into an ambush before? (Ty shakes his head) Of course not. - Ty has been around for almost as long as me. He's survived, like me, because he's smart. (Claps Ty on the shoulder) But they did this to him - and that means that they could do it to any-one of us. And why? Because this street trash (pulls out a stake) ain't afraid to go for the heart. (Dusts Ty) And now that's what we're gonna do. No more picking them off one by one. We concentrate on the heart. Take the heart and the rest will fall." Cut to the kids hide-out. Chain: "I don't want to hear this." Alonna: "I'm saying he could be useful." Chain: "g*n, don't even listen to her." Alonna: "You know there is something different about him. I'm just saying, he knows stuff that we don't and he didn't have to do what he did." Chain: "And if he hadn't, he would have been d*ad." g*n: "Maybe." Chain: "No maybe. We would have k*lled him." g*n: "The guy bugs me, Alonna.' Alonna: "Everybody bugs you." g*n: "You bug me the most." Alonna: "What? - I'm trying to keep you alive. I'm not saying, trust him." g*n: "It just don't play. I mean, if he's not looking to k*ll, what's he want? And why the hell would he come to a place like this?" Angel is walking into the deserted vampire nest, carrying a stake in his right hand. There is a vampire hiding on the pipes running along the ceiling. The vampire drops down, but Angel just casually steps to one side then pulls the vamp up off the floor and slams him against the wall. Angel: "Where are they?" Alonna is walking up to g*n, who is working on some type of machinery. Alonna: "Hey. I got some food." g*n: "I'm not hungry." Alonna: "Not hungry? When's the last time you ate?" g*n: "Oh, seems like just yesterday." Alonna: "Well, Poe went to the market." g*n: "Alone?" Alonna: "No, Jason had his back. They got away clean." g*n: "Oh, yeah, like last time?" Alonna: "No, no cops this time, no chase. (Offers him some bread) Come on, you eat this. (g*n shakes his head) Well, they got some other stuff. They got - ah, hamburger, and some apples and lots of other stuff. (g*n stops working to listen to something) Looks like we're gonna have a home cooked meal tonight. (Notices g*n's attention is off her) What?" g*n gets up: "Get everybody out." Alonna: "What is it?" g*n: "Just do it! Now!" Alonna starts to yell at the others to get going as g*n picks up a sword and a smoke grenade flies through a narrow window under the ceiling. g*n: "Get everybody outside - into the daylight. Do it." Guy: "They are coming in? Don’t they have to be invited?" g*n: "Chain!" Chain comes to stand beside him: "Cops?" g*n: "I don't know." Chain: "Are they in? - Where are they?" Alonna to the kids running up the stairs: "Go! Go! Go!" Chain: "I don't see nothing. - There is nothing." g*n: "Oh god. - Alonna!" They run up the stairs after the others. g*n: "Alonna!" As Alonna drops over the railing to the floor of the alley a van pulls up. A heavily swaddled guy wearing a gas mask jumps out and grabs her. g*n: "Alonna!" Alonna: "No! Help! Help! No. g*n!" Alonna is dragged into the back of the van and the doors slammed shut just as g*n gets there. He runs after the van as it drives off and jumps onto the back bumper. He gets a view of two vampires snacking on his screaming sister in the back of the van. One of the vamps looks up and puts his fist through the back window, knocking g*n of the van. Wesley and Cordelia are cruising the neighborhood in Angel's convertible. Cordy: "You know - there is nothing like riding in a convertible - with the top down to make you see the sun and the sand (Wesley stops the car and scans the area through a pair of binoculars) Mmm - smell that salt air!" Wesley: "That's not salt." Cordy: "I don't think it's *air* either, - but reality is a choice, Wesley. You see what you wanna see and I see what I wanna see." Wesley: "A man exiting an alley pushing a shopping cart." Cordy leaning back with her eyes closed: "No - I see a very tan life-guard type with large..." Wesley: "No, over there. (Cordy looks) These kids must have got electricity into their building. They might have tapped into one of the power lines and run it illegally. If I could spot the tap, that would tell us where their hide-out is. You go ask this gentleman if he's seen anyone that fits the description of our young vampire K*llers, while I check the power line for any taps." Cordy: "Uh, why don't you ask him and I check for taps?" Wesley: "Because - you can imagine him as a scantily clad, buff, young stud, while I am stuck with the naked truth." Angel grabs one of the kids on guard (James) in a hallway to their hideout. Angel: "Ask me in." The g*ng is gearing up for a fight. Angel comes in pushing James into the room in front of him. Angel: "You are going to get a lot of people k*lled.' g*n looks at the kid that was on guard. James: "I suck, okay?" g*n to Angel: "You don't want to be here." Angel: "Going after them is what they expect you to do." g*n: "I don't need advice from some middle- class white dude, that's d*ad! You don't know what my life is. You have no idea what it's like down here." Angel: "Some of you will die, maybe all of you." Chain with a flame-thrower strapped to his back: "People die all the time - some just for talking too much." g*n: "We're done." Angel: "Look, I can help you. Unless, of course, death is what you’re after - then you're on your own." g*n: "I'm always on my own." Angel: "It doesn't have to be that way. Why can't we do this together?" g*n pulls a rope attached to the tarp covering the window, and while Angel shies away from the direct sunlight he pushes Angel into an old meat locker. g*n: "You figure it out." He slams the door shut. Angel bangs against it but it doesn't budge. g*n to the other kids: "Let's go." It's dark by the time the truck pulls up in front of the vampire nest. g*n: "Hold up. Give me 10 minutes to check it out." Chain: "What if you're not back in 10?" g*n: "Come on down and k*ll anything that moves." g*n slowly walks down into the lair, stake held in his right hand. He stops in the middle of a big room as he hears Alonna humming. g*n: "Alonna?" Alonna: "Hey, big brother. (g*n lets out a relieved sigh as Alonna comes out) What took you so long?" g*n walks up to her smiling: "You're not... (Stares at her unblemished neck and starts to frown) d*ad." Alonna: "Well..." g*n shakes his head: "No." Alonna: "Shh! Don't be sad. - I'm not." g*n: "They k*lled you." Alonna: "Do I look d*ad to you? - I am stronger, faster and better than ever. - Wanna see?" Laughs as she pushes against his chest sending him sailing through the air. Angel is still banging in vain against the door of the meat locker. He switches to the wall beside the door and after a while manages to punch a hole in it. Alonna: "We were on the right track - just on the wrong team. All that rage and hatred we got? We get to keep all that, only on this side there is no guilt, no grief - just the hunt and the k*ll - and the fun! And come on, how often did we go out in the daylight anyway?" g*n: "Alonna, I can't do this!" Alonna: "You were made for this. - Oh, and all that misery and moping gone, I promise you." g*n: "I was never gonna let anything happen to you. I was supposed to protect you. You were my sister." Alonna: "I still am. (g*n shakes his head) So why don't you k*ll me? - Why *don't* you? (Spread her arms wide - g*n just looks at her) Ah! *You* can't! Because you got the guilt - and I got the greatest guilt cure ever. I can free you! We can be together - our family can stay together - forever.” Angel sticks his hand through the hole but can't reach the handle. A hand reaches past his bruised and bleeding knuckles and opens the door. Cordy: "Trying to open that? (Angel leans against the doorjamb, looking at Cordy and Wesley) They locked you in, huh?" Angel: "No. I just love old meat lockers." Wesley: "You should've tried to call us on your cell phone. - You probably forgot you had it." Angel takes his cell phone out and looks at it. Angel: "These things hardly ever work. Besides it was a lot easier and quicker to just (mimes punching a hole and grimaces, shaking his hand) - Look, I'm the boss here, I say when we use the cell phones and people are gonna die and - I have to go." Leaves. Cordy yells after him: "You're welcome!" Alonna: "Remember when we were kids - in that shelter on Plummer Street, hmm? (g*n nods) Second floor was all rotted out. - You used to dare kids to cross, and of *course* you were the best at it, because you were the - you were the bravest. I wanted to be like you so bad, so I went up, and the floor gave out. I would have broken my neck, but - you'd been watching me the whole time. You were standing right below - and you caught me. - Ever since I can remember you've been looking out for me. - But you don't have to any more, because I'm good, and it's my turn to look out for you now." g*n: "How?" Alonna: "Look at you. You're running and hiding, cold and hungry. You call that living? (g*n looks down) You're the one that's falling now. Let me catch you. - Don’t you want to stop falling? (g*n nods slightly) I'm gonna fix it. (Morphs into her vamp-face) Oh, say goodbye to everything you ever knew." She wraps one arm around his neck and stretches up to bite him. g*n: "Good-bye." He pushes the stake into her chest as she stares at him shaking her head. The dust settles to reveal Angel standing a little ways away. Angel: "Let's get out of here." The door behind g*n opens and the rest of the g*ng charges in as g*n lets the stake drop from his hand. Chain: "Dude! What are you waiting on? (Sees Angel and moves towards him) How did he get out?" g*n holds him back: "Yo, don't. We're leaving." Chain: "Leaving?" Vampires step out all around them. Knox: "I don't think so. - She was so sweet (steps up to g*n) your sister - so smooth going down, if you know what I mean. - You wanted a w*r? Well, this is it." Angel: "Here is the deal: you can go.' Knox turns to stare at Angel: "What?" Angel: "*If* you go now - and I don't ever see any of you again, you get to live." Knox chuckles and walks towards Angel: "Are you high?" Angel: "LA is my territory, you want to stay out of it for the rest of your eternal lives. These kids, my town, off limits form now on." Knox: "Who the hell are you? You know who you're talking to, you fool?" Angel: "The name's Angelus. (Stakes Knox) And I wasn't actually talking to you. (Looks at the other vamps) So - do we have a truce? Or do you wanna die?" The vamps look at each other shifting uncomfortably. Chain: "Truce? (To g*n) We can take them." Angel: "Not without them taking a couple of you." Chain: "g*n, you came all this way, you're not gonna k*ll any vamps?" g*n, still looking at Angel: "I already did." He turns to go and the g*ng and the vamps one by one follow his example and just leave. Wesley stares at the whipped cream mounded on top of the cup he receives from a street vendor. Wesley: "I asked for a coffee. I know it must be in here someplace. (To Cordy) Are you alright? You haven't said two words since we left the office." Cordy: "Oh, I was just thinking about those kids." Wesley: "Yes. That place was pretty awful." Cordy: "And I thought my first apartment was bad. Can you believe people actually live there?" They sit down on a park bench. Wesley: "Well, it certainly gives one a sense of perspective, doesn't it?" Cordy: "Yes, it does. - And I think, prespectively speaking, I might want to - prost*tute myself to billionaire David Nabbit." Wesley chokes on his coffee. Wesley: "Cordelia." Cordy: "What I mean is - he's a nice guy who wants companionship. I could use some security. So when I say 'prost*tute' what I mean is.." Wesley: "prost*tute." Cordy: "For instance." Wesley: "Do you think you really could?" Cordy: "I don't know. - I could probably learn to love him. Looks aren't everything - or chemistry - personality, that's important. And except for a lot of other - It's not what's on the outside that - Yeah. Never mind. - I'm *fine* here. - Poor - alone." Camera zooms up from behind on g*n, looking out at night time LA. Angel comes up beside him. g*n: "What are you doing here?" Angel: "Skulking - professionally." g*n: "Look, I'm glad for what you did, okay? But I don't need no Guardian Angel, and I don't need no talking to. It's not gonna change the way things are down here, man. They're gonna keep coming, and we're gonna keep fighting." Angel: "I know." g*n: "That's it? You ain't gonna talk *at* me, - be all daddy-figure?" Angel: "What am I gonna tell you - that you haven't already learned?" g*n: "I k*lled her." Angel: "You didn't." g*n: "Near enough. - She was the reason, man. - How come you do it? How come you're out here?" Angel: "What else are we gonna do? - I'll be around." g*n: "I don't need no help." Angel: "I might." After a moment g*n looks over at Angel, but he's gone.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x20 - w*r Zone"}

foreverdreaming

Lindsey: "I'm with Wolfram and Hart. Should you continue to harass our client, then we will be forced to bring you into the light of day." Faith: "So who am I supposed to k*ll?" Lindsey: "His name is Angel." Angel: "So how does it work for a guy like you?" Lindsey: "We only handle a certain class of clientele." Angel: "I'm sure I've k*lled enough people to qualify." Lindsey: "You know just when I think I've got you figured out - you show up in a suit." Angel: "I'll be around." g*n: "I don't need no help." Angel: "I might." Ty: "You." g*n: "You expecting somebody else?" Two toy soldiers are crawling on the sidewalk. Man: "Only two left. I'll cut you a deal. They're real collector's items. - You won't be sorry. (Blind woman tapping the way ahead of her with a cane is coming down the sidewalk towards them) You just turn them on and you let them go." Two young boys pool their money and give it to the man. Boy: "Here you go." Man: "Nice doing business with you. (Sees the blind woman) Wait, Miss. (Woman stops and he moves some toy trucks out of her way) Okay." The woman continues past him, tapping as she goes. A vampire comes flying over some bales in a warehouse. Angel raises a stake but before he can dust the first vamp he is jumped by another from behind, and the stake drops from his hand. He fights the two of them (nice stunt work and fight choreography here), dusts one, gets kicked in the face by the other. Wraps a chain around the neck of the remaining vampire, hoists him up and slides him, along an overhead track, into a piece of wood protruding from some stacked pallets, dusting him. As Angel is about to leave he hears a man groaning. It's a black middle aged man, holding his stomach, who stumbles into the factory and slides down the wall next to a doorway. Angel goes to check whether he is still alive, hears something and straightens up. The blind woman grabs him by the throat and throws him against the wall. Angel comes back swinging, but the woman anticipates his every strike and avoids them easily. She is doing some type of eastern self defense routine, and Angel can't land a single h*t, though he manages to knock her glasses off, showing that her eyes are all white - she really is blind. She throws him across the room and is gone by the time Angel gets back up. Intro. Angel Investigations, Day. Wesley closes a book: "Demons with one eye, demons with twelve eyes, some with double vision, - but no blind demons. - Perhaps Angel's discovered a new species." Cordy in front of the computer: "What? Helen Kellerus h*m*?" Wesley gets up: "Of course it's possible she is not a demon at all." Cordy: "You think?" Wesley: "Perhaps she's simply learned to hone her senses around her disability. Angel said it was as if she anticipated his actions before he carried them out." Cordy: "A handy skill - in fight or - on a date." Wesley: "Unusual to be certain, but not necessarily demonic." Cordy: "Someone like that kind of stands out in a crowd - for an assassin, I mean." Wesley: "Decidedly." Cordy: "Maybe even have a record." On the computer Cordy typed a search of 'blind woman m*rder' into the Police Crime and Criminals Database and found one match: Vanessa Brewer, Date of Birth: July 18, 1967, Place of Birth: San Francisco, Citizenship: United States, Gender: Female, Hair: Brown, Eyes: Blind, Height: 5'6", Weight: 122, Misc: Blind eyes, no visible iris, Known Associates: None, Arrests: 1 misdemeanor, 0 convictions, 2 Felony, 0 Convictions. Wesley: "One assumes she has done this sort of thing before. Based on Angel's description..." Cordy: "Vanessa Brewer." Wesley: "What? You found her?" Cordy: "Our first stop doesn't always have to be world of the weird, you know? Sometimes actual human people can be just - awful." Wesley reading from monitor: "First arrest in 1993." Cordy: "She was fleeing the scene of a homicide. No charges were brought. Arrested again in 95. Charged with aggravated as*ault. That one never went to trial. And finally arrested in 99 as a suspect in a double homicide, for which she is currently on trial." Wesley: "She was on bail when Angel encountered her." Cordy: "But that's not the real whammy. Look who's defending her." Vanessa, without her dark sunglasses is sitting on a court bench. Lindsey: "Your honor, we request the courts compassion in this obviously mishandled affair. - The district attorney's attempt to link my client, Miss Brewer, with this brutal crime would be laughable if it weren't so sad. To think that my client, with her particular disability, could physically commit such a m*rder (Angel walks into the court room) is beyond the realm of believability." Angel throws something at Vanessa from behind. Her hand sh**t up and she catches it. The court room erupts into noise, the judge bangs his gavel, Lindsey looks around to see Angel free himself from the bailiffs grip and run out. Vanessa puts on her dark glasses that Angel just threw her as the judge bangs the gavel for order. Wesley: "She obviously doesn't see the way we do - but she can see." Angel steps out of the elevator and goes to his desk. Wesley: "In a sense. The human eye is only capable of registering a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, but if Brewer was somehow equipped to see outside that range..." Cordy: "She'd be Superman. What's the diff' in how she sees, anyway? So she can get a look at the bars of her cell. Why are we still talking about this?" Angel: "Because Wolfram and Hart is representing her pro bono, - which means - she's probably still working for them." Wolfram and Hart, Attorneys at Law, Day. Lindsey is watching a group of older men talk to Vanessa looking into an office through an open door. Holland: "We are very pleased with the outcome, Vanessa. It's a pleasure doing business." Lee steps up behind Lindsey. Lee: "I can't believe you got her off on all charges. Not since Ostrosky versus California have I seen such devious legal maneuvering. And now the big brass are smiling upon you. - You're the man of the hour." Lindsey: "Is there something you want?" Lee grins: "Is it me or is there something kind of - hot about her? (Lindsey looks at him) Well, I'm just saying, I wouldn't say 'no.' I'd be too scared to." Vanessa turns and smiles in their direction and Holland waves. Holland: "Lindsey, come say hello." Lee: "I think she likes you." Lee pats Lindsey on the back and walks off as Lindsey walks over to the group around Vanessa. Holland: "Ah, Bill, Chuck, you remember Lindsey McDonald, our point man on Miss Brewers case?" Lindsey shakes hands with the two older men standing behind Vanessa. Holland to Lindsey: "You did an excellent job." Vanessa catches Lindsey's hand and holds it in both of hers. Vanessa: "Thank you, Lindsey." Lindsey: "You're welcome." Vanessa: "It's nice to see you again." Lindsey: "You too." Vanessa leaves with Bill and Chuck. Holland: "Bye. (To Lindsey) Got a sec?" Lindsey walks into the office and Holland closes the doors. Holland: "Does she unnerve you?" Lindsey looking out the window: "A little." Holland: "Two minutes alone with that woman and I feel like my spines been fused. Still, one has to admire her talent - and her work ethic. - Everything all right? You look a little stressed." Lindsey: "I've been putting in the hours, but..." Holland: "Ah. Well, that's a big part - the perspiration. - But the other part - the inspiration - you've had kind of a rough year on that end." Lindsey: "I've made -uh - some bad choices." Holland: "Well, I'll say." Lindsey: "Sending the rogue Slayer after the vampire?" Holland: "Among other things. But you've had a nice success in court. You're starting to pull out of it. I'm fond of you, Lindsey. I'd like to see you moving up here." Lindsey: "I'm glad to hear that, sir." Holland: "Not everybody will. - This is kind of our - Harvest - time of year - where we separate the winners from the - uh - d*ad weight. - Now I have to say, you don't seem that happy lately. - Could I take a wild s*ab as to what I think that might be?" Lindsey: "Sure." Holland: "It's your age. You're a young man. You've hitched your wagon to our star. Oh, and it's a bright star. - But now you're starting to feel a little 'Is that all there is?" Lindsey: "Sometimes you question things, but I mean it's no big..." Holland: "Yeah, I did a lot of crazy things when I was your age - searching and all. - Took me a while to realize how the world was put together and where I belonged in it. - And actually the world isn't that complicated. - It's designed for those who know how to use it." Lindsey: "Yes, sir." Holland: "Don't give me that 'yes, sir' crap. I want you to think about these things. - You're not going to be happy until you find your place in the scheme of things. - Okay, enough of the old guy's lecture. Now, down to business. I don't think she had a happy childhood." Lindsey: "Sir?" Holland: "Our blind friend, Vanessa. I think she was terribly abused growing up. I think the details of that are tragic and shockingly specific, and I think you should create them, sooner rather than later." Lindsey: "She is going to do something else that may require a strong defense." Holland: "Strong defense - alibis - creative alternatives to incarceration. - She is an invaluable tool to some of our most valuable clients and we can't risk losing her." Lindsey: "What's she gonna do?" Holland: "There is some children arriving. They pose a thr*at." Lindsey: "Some children." Holland: "Is this too shocking for you?" Lindsey: "I'm just thinking it might be for a jury." Holland: "Which is why I'm thinking her terrible, terrible childhood drove her to it. - Not guilty by reason of insanity. Of course the odds of her getting caught again are pretty slim." Lindsey: "Who- who are these children?" Holland: "It's best we know only what we need to - without forgetting the important part we play in the greater whole. (Pats him on the shoulder and leaves) I'm sure you're gonna want to get right on it." Angel picks up his phone and throws it against the wall. Wesley and Cordy hesitantly open the door to his office. Angel: "They acquitted her. Hung jury." Wesley: "I'm sorry, Angel." Angel: "How am I supposed to fight evil if they won't even put it behind bars?" Cordy: "It's not your fault." Angel: "No, it's not my fault. - I-I didn't cause it, and I can't fix it. I can't do anything about it. - Well, she's guilty. - She's guilty and- and they let her go. She m*rder a man right in front of me and I can't even testify to that fact in a court of law." Cordy: "Well, maybe in night court you could..." Angel: "It's their court room, not mine." Cordy: "Whose?" Angel: "Their rules, their game." Cordy: "Oh, you mean the Wolfram and Hart types." Angel shakes his head: "I have no place in their world at all." Wesley: "Angel." Angel: "How am I expected to do battle if I can't even get into the ring?" Wesley: "You have a place, Angel. Our battle will be fought elsewhere." Angel: "It's still their world, Wesley. Structured for power - not truth. - It's their system, and it's one that works. - It works because - there is no guilt - there is no torment, no consequences. - It's pure. - I remember what that was like. - Sometimes I miss that clarity." Cordy: "But not the trying to k*ll your friends and family part, right? - Just checking!" Angel: "Nothing ever changes." Angel sits down with a sigh rubbing his face with his hands. Lindsey walks in through the outer office. Lindsey: "I need your help." Angel looks at him: "What do you mean?" Lindsey: "I want out." The door to Angel's office closes, leaving him and Lindsey alone. Lindsey: "You probably think this is some kind of trick." Angel: "Are you afraid of me, Lindsey? - You think maybe I might k*ll you?" Lindsey: "No." Angel: "I'm smelling a whole lot of fear - big - stinky - mortal - terror. So, no, I don't think this is a trick - I think it's a big joke.' Lindsey: "Hey, I don't want to be here anymore than you want to see me. But I don't have a choice." Angel: "You always have a choice. I mean, you sold your soul for a fifth-floor office and a company car." Lindsey: "You think you've got me all figured out? You think you know everything about me?" Angel: "Everything I need to know." Lindsey: "What was your father? He was a merchant, right? Linen and silk? Did pretty well? Had a couple of servants until you k*lled them?" Angel: "Just the one." Lindsey: "Well, our files aren't 100 percent, - but I guess it's fair to say that - you've never seen anything like real poverty. I'm talking dirt poor - no shoes - no toilet. Six of us kids in a room, and come flue season it was down to four. - I was seven when they took the house. They just came right in and took it. - And my daddy is being nice, you know? Joking with the bastards while he signs the deed. Yeah, so we had a choice. Either you got stepped on or you got to stepping and I swore to myself that I was not going to be the guy standing there with the stupid grin on my face - while my life got dribbled out..." Angel: "I'm sorry. I nodded off. Did you get to the part where you're evil?" Lindsey: "I found out about a job. The blind woman. Vanessa Brewer. Your friend from court." Angel: "That you got off." Lindsey: "There is a new contract." Angel: "Why don't we just save the lawyer talk?" Lindsey: "She's gonna k*ll some kids. - I've worked some pretty hairy deals, comes with the turf, but this..." Angel: "What do you know?" Lindsey: "Almost nothing. Some kids from overseas, job's in a couple of days." Angel: "I need more." Lindsey: "There's some files. They'd be at the firm, probably in the vault." Angel: "Then I'll guess you'll get them out." Lindsey: "I can't go back in there. Do you understand what that place is?" Angel: "I'm not sensing a whole lot of resolve here." Lindsey: "They are constantly watching you. Other companies have drug testing - they have mind-readers. I go back there, they're gonna k*ll me." Angel: "That's what we call an acceptable risk. You're panicking right now. You can't believe how bad you let things get. - That's not change. - You have to make a decision to change. That's something you do by yourself. Most people - they never do." Lindsey: "If I get myself k*lled, that'll convince you that I've changed." Angel: "It's a start." Outer office, day, Lindsey, Angel, Wesley and Cordy are planning the break-in. Lindsey: "Vault's at sub-lever two. Hall's outside the boiler room." Angel: "Sewer access?" Lindsey: "You'd have to burn your way in." Cordy: "Why are you going in at all? I thought born-again boy was gonna do it." Angel: "It's a two men job. How do I access the vault?" Lindsey: "My pass. I'll need it to get in. They're getting pretty tight with security. But I can leave it downstairs for you. Gets you right into the vault." Cordy: "Again I say..." Lindsey: "It's guarded. Demon. Doesn't go in for unauthorized visits. There is no way I can take it." Angel: "What kind of demon?" Lindsey: "Preggothian. I think." Wesley: "I'll get you a battle profile - weaknesses and such." Angel: "Right." Lindsey: "I'll do what I can with the security monitors, but you'll have to move fast because the moment - oh, damn it." Wesley: "What?" Lindsey: "The threshold. They have shamans. They can sense the moment a vampire crosses the threshold." Angel: "That's not going to be a problem." Cordy: "Well, then. Seems pretty simple, except for the 'you'll definitely get caught' factor." Lindsey: "The righteous shall walk a thorny path." Angel is talking to g*n standing behind the stake g*n mounted on the kids pickup truck, night. g*n: "Yeah, I can get a hold of one. But why would I want to?" Angel: "In the interest of justice - and maybe doing the right thing?" g*n: "Not really interested in some rich guy's heartbreak." g*n aims the stake g*n at a mattress leaning up against a wall. Angel: "You're low. (g*n looks at him. Angel looks towards the mattress) Just my opinion." g*n raises the g*n a little and fires. The stake hits the mattress at heart level. g*n: "Give me one good reason." Angel: "It'll be extremely dangerous." g*n nods with a smile: "Okay." Lindsey walks into the offices of Wolfram and Hart, day. Clips on his security badge (which has an 8 on it, while Holland's had a 7), waves to the security people. Angel is lighting a blow torch and cutting a circle into the roof of the sewer. Lindsey steps out of an elevator. Voice: "Entering sublevel 3. Priority clearance required." Walks down a deserted hallway. A Door opens as he is about to pass it and Lilah Morgan almost runs into him. Lindsey: "Lilah." Lilah: "You scared me." Lindsey: "Me too." Lilah: "I'm sorry. I'm always in too much of a hurry." Lindsey: "I think we all are." Lilah: "Hmm." Cocks her head towards the room behind her. Lindsey starts to go in: "Oh, yeah. You're doing some research?" Lilah: "Only when I want it done right." Lindsey: "I know what you mean. I don't mind making myself look like an idiot, but I hate it when some clerk does." Lilah: "I was under the impression that you never touch a book anymore." Lindsey: "Little secret between you and me: if the amoebas find out you're willing to read, they lose all respect for you." Closes the door to the back-records room in her face. After a moment Lilah walks off. Lindsey opens the door and checks that she's gone then sticks his pass to the bottom of a case holding a f*re extinguisher. Angel has finished cutting the circle, takes his goggles off and checks his watch, then attaches two magnetic clamps to the circle and pulls it open. Lindsey is back upstairs. Angel takes off his overall, revealing a business suit underneath and checks his watch again. Security guy sees Lindsey coming to his office on one of his monitors. Voice: "Personnel approaching security office." Howard: "Hello, Mr. McDonald." Lindsey: "Hey, Howard. You got a minute?" Howard: "Sure." Lindsey looks at a huddled figure in a red robe behind Howard then comes in and shuts the door. Lindsey: "I checked the series 7500 video surveillance system you suggested. Do I really need cellular override and direct digital link to the office? I mean, it seems a little overkill." Howard: "Better safe than sorry." Lindsey checks his watch then looks at one of the monitors, where g*n is walking in through the front door into the lobby. g*n: "Whoo-whoo! My god! They told me it was true, but I didn't believe them. Damn, here it is! Evil white folks really do have a Mecca. (Holds up a hand to the security guards stepping out from behind their desk) Now, now, girls, don't get all riled up." Quick cut to Angel in the sewers - Lindsey up in the security office. g*n: "OW! Did you just step on my foot? (The nearest guard is still at least 8 feet away from him) Is that my foot you just stepped on? Are you as*ault me - up in this haven of justice?" Angel checks his watch. g*n: "Somebody get me a lawyer - because my civil rights have seriously been violated. - Oh, I get it, I get it. You all can cater to the demon, cater to the d*ad man, but what about the black man!" Angel checks his watch. g*n checks his watch. g*n: "I'd love to stay and chat, but - yo, fellows!" He turns to look at the door where two of the kids are carrying in a body-sized bundle. At the same time Angel climbs up through the hole and the red robed shaman (ugly fellow, definitely not human) lifts its head with a squeal. Lindsey looks at the kids on the monitor. Howard picks up the phone. Howard: "We got a vampire on the premises. Repeat, vampire on the premises." g*n cuts the cord securing the bundle, smiling at the security guards, then he and his buddies walk out while the wrapping falls back to reveal a vampire in full vamp face.Angel walks through a door into the hallway on sublevel 3. Lindsey watches him pick up the security pass, then switches the camera to a different view. Lindsey: "Well, looks like you got your hands full, so..." Howard nods as Lindsey leaves. The security guards are chasing the vampire. One of them pushes a button on his nightstick and a wooden stake protrudes from the end of it. After a short fight, the vamp gets dusted. Angel runs Lindsey's card through a lock and punches in a number. A door slides open as Angel clips the card to his lapel. He hears some growling noises behind him and turns to punch an ugly looking demon in the face, Throwing him against the wall. When the demon gets back up and comes at him again, Angel opens his hand and blows some powder into the demons face. It freezes in place. Angel puts one finger against the demons forehead and gives it a slight push, toppling it backward. He dusts his hands off with a smile. Angel: "Thank you, Wesley." Picks up his attaché case and enters the vault. There are all types of w*apon and artifacts mounted along the walls as well as some file drawers recessed into one wall. Lindsey steps out of an elevator. Angel checks the drawers. Lee comes up beside Lindsey. Lee: "Hey, what's all the excitement? A vampire in the lobby? Did I hear that right?" Lindsey: "Never a dull moment." Lee walks off with a laugh. Angel is putting some CD cases labeled Wolfram and Hart - Restricted Access into his briefcase. On his way out he sees a round metal tube covered with symbols. He hesitates, then walks over to stare at it. He glances at the open door and the unconscious demon on the other side, then opens his briefcase and takes the tube (looks a bit like a Tibetan incense holder). An alarm goes off as soon as he moves the tube and a grate slides down to block the door, while all kinds of alarms go off up in the security office. Angel drops the tube in his briefcase and slides headfirst under the gate, which closes behind him. Lindsey's cell phone rings. Angel: "We're done. Get out. Now." Angel drops back down into the sewer. Lindsey sees two security guards and changes direction, but there are guards everywhere herding people along the hallways. Lilah: "Can you believe this? It's a sweep. (Checks Lindsey's watch) Oh, I'll never make my lunch." Lee sees Holland lead to black ladies into an office. Lee: "What is it?" Lindsey: "Mind readers." Five or six lawyers line up against one wall of Holland's office. Lee: "Shouldn't we've been memoed or something?" Lilah: "That's why they call them random mind readings. (To her cell phone) Yeah, it's Lilah. It looks like I won't be able to make the 1 o'clock. - Great." The two mind readers slowly work their way down the line. Then step aside to talk to Holland. Holland glances at the lawyers than turns to face them. Holland: "Well, I have to say, this is a shame. It's just a shame. Whenever I hear of disloyalty it - ah, hurts me. - Hurts me personally. (Looks over at a bald security guard, which then steps behind the row of lawyers) But this sort of thing (goes to stand in front of Lindsey) must be dealt with quickly and cleanly (Lindsey and Holland look at each other, then Holland steps over to stand in front of Lee) and unambiguously. - I'm sorry, Lee, I truly am." Lee: "What? - No." Holland: "You've been in secret talks with Klein and Gabler." Lee: "They approached me." Holland: "You planned on taking clients with you when you left to join them." Lee: "You don't understand. They misread me. (Holland nods to the security guard, Phil) I just wanted Klein and Gabler to think..." Phil puts a b*llet into the back of Lee's head splattering the side of Lindsey's face with blood. Holland: "Terminating an employee is never pleasant. - That's all. (As everyone leaves for the door) Oh, Lindsey - why don't you hang on for a minute." Angel comes up the elevator in to his office. Angel: "Lindsey?" Wesley: "He's not with you?" Angel: "No." Cordy: "That can't be good." Wesley: "Something must have happened." Cordy: "You're not going back for him?" Angel: "If he made it out then he'll be here. If he didn't then there is no reason to go back for him. We have work to do." Wesley: "So you got the files then." Angel takes out the files and sets them on Cordy's desk. Angel: "Right here." Cordy: "Which one is it?" Angel: "I don't know. We'll have to go through them until we find it." Wesley takes the metal tube out of the open briefcase. Wesley: "Angel, what's this?" Angel: "I'm not sure." Wesley pulls a roll of parchment out of the tube and unrolls it part way. Wesley: "Ancient Aramaic, if I'm not mistaken." Cordy puts a disk into the zip drive. Angel: "Yeah?" Wesley: "Was there a reason you took this?" Angel: "Yeah." Wesley: "And that would be..." Angel: "I - I don't really know." Wesley: "Well - I'll get to work translating them." Cordy: "Ah, guys? Might want to translate this first." Wesley: "It's encrypted." Cordy: "What do you want to bet the rest of these are, too." Angel: "Great." A guard drags Lee's body out by his feet, leaving a dark smear on the carpet. Holland: "What a pity. You can't get that out of the carpet. - Believe me, we've tried. (Sits down across from Lindsey) Are you afraid? (Lindsey nods slightly) Well, that's understandable. You betrayed this firm by allaying yourself with someone who - has given us a great deal of grief. - You've stolen important documents form our vault. - Tried to sabotaged an extremely important case. - And in the course of this egregious behavior - you lied to us - more importantly, to me. - Did I leave anything out?" Lindsey: "No, sir." Holland: "Did you actually believe I wouldn't learn everything?" Lindsey: "I..." Holland: "Lindsey, this is a delicate moment. - I nod to Phil behind me - and he's gonna put a b*llet in your head." Lindsey: "I-I didn't want to lie to you. I didn't - want to betray you. I just wanted out." Holland: "Hm. Well, then you're in a crisis, son - crisis of faith. - Do you believe in love? - I'm not speaking romantically. - I'm talking about that sharp, clear sense of self a man gains - once he's truly found his place in the world. - It's no mean feat, since most men are cowards and just move with the crowd. Very few make their own destinies. They have the courage of their convictions, and they know how to behave in a crisis." Lindsey: "Like now?" Holland: "Like now. You have everything it takes to go all the way here - drive, ambition, - excellence - but you don't know where you belong. And until you do - I guess we both have some important questions to answer. - Now, my first one is - do I nod - to my friend behind me? - No, - I don't. Because I know you, and I know a little something about character. - I think what you actually need is a few days off to think about it. And I'm sure once you have - you're gonna do the right thing." Lindsey: "I can - I can go." Holland: "You can go. (Lindsey slowly gets up) Lindsey - I believe in you. - Look deep enough inside yourself - you'll find that love." Cordy on the phone: "Okay, I'm back to the desktop, Willow. What do I do now? - Okay, done that. - Back to life list. - Yeah. - Yeah." Angel is massaging the bridge of his nose as Wesley sets down a cup carrier holding three coffees. Wesley: "Any luck?" Angel: "She's been on the phone for an hour and 45 minutes." Cordy: "Hey, guess what they've been doing all day?" Wesley: "Uh - saving the world?" Cordy: "Well, yeah. But they've been breaking encrypted computer files, too!" Angel: "What are the odds, huh?" Cordy: "I know. What? Oh, no one, just Wesley." Angel: "Cordelia, can she get us in?" Cordy holds up a finger: "Uh huh. - Uh huh. - Uh huh. (She clicks and the computer beeps. Angel and Wesley lean forward in anticipation) Willow says hey." Angel and Wesley together as they slump back into their seats: "Hey." Cordy: "Okay. Yeah, I see it. - Tag file. Okay. - Left click. (Computer beeps, no reaction from Wes and Angel this time) There it is. Back door. We're in. Thanks, Will." Cordy hangs up as Angel and Wesley step around the desk to have a look. Wesley: "Personnel file, Vanessa Brewer. - She wasn't born blind. She lost her sight when she was 21." Cordy: "On purpose. She did this to herself." Wesley: "Oh, dear." Angel: "And she spent five years in Pajaur, studying the Nanjin. That explains her power." Cordy: "It does?" Wesley: "Yes, the order of the Nanjin, cave dwelling monks. They believe enlightenment is seeing with the heart, not the mind." Cordy: "Are you telling me - self-mutilating, psycho assassin chick reached enlightenment?" Wesley: "Of a kind. She'd be more sensitive to her surroundings than even a sighted person, which is what would make her an unstoppable foe." Angel: "No one's unstoppable. What is her current job?" Wesley: "Here it is. Lindsey was right. Children. Three of them. Seers. They were each found in different remote locations, brought together here for the first time." Cordy: "They're blind, too. Together the children have the power to see into the heart of things." Wesley: "A holy triumvirate. As they mature, so does their power." Lindsey: "Which makes them a real thr*at to Wolfram and Hart. - Sorry I'm late. I hope I didn't worry anyone." Cordy: "We just figured you were d*ad." Angel: "So you made it out okay." Lindsey: "Yeah, but it's only a matter of time before they find out which files have gone missing. We have to move fast. When are the children getting into the country?" Wesley: "According to this, they arrived this morning. They're being kept at a safe house with a guardian until their mentor arrives. He's coming in from the East tonight." Angel: "Not safe. There is an address. I want you two to intercept this mentor guy. Keep him away from that house. We'll bring the kids to him." And older man is setting a try of hot chocolate and sandwiches in front of three blind children sitting on the floor. They reach for the cups with a smile. The guy walks away, right into Vanessa's cane and drops to the floor d*ad. Vanessa walks over to stand in front of the children. As she gets ready to s*ab the first kid Angel pulls her away. Angel to Lindsey: "Get the kids out of here!" Vanessa throws Angel to the floor then ignores him to kick Lindsey in the stomach. (We get a flash of how she sees, which looks a little like infrared) Angel gets back up and we get a flash of how she sees him (he shows up even brighter than Lindsey) while she pummels him. Lindsey crawls over towards the children. Angel goes down again, but instead of going after him, she beats up on Lindsey again. Angel catches Lindsey as she throws him towards a wall. While they disentangled themselves she turns towards the three children. They look pretty dim in her vision, sitting there motionless. Angel comes up behind her and she s*ab behind her catching him in the chest. Angel blocks some of her hits then gets thrown against the wall again. This time when he lands he stays perfectly still, watching her. Vanessa scans the room, but is apparently unable to see him. Angel jumps to his feet once her back is turned. She looks at him but we see his bright shape disappear from her vision as he freezes again. Vanessa makes some s*ab and cutting motions in his general direction, but doesn't even connect. Suddenly her vision explodes into bright color as Angel drops her with a hard face punch. By the time she rolls back up to her feet, Angel has frozen in place again and she looks for him in vain. There is a bright flash in her vision as Angel moves to her side, then freezes again, his fist cocked ready to strike. Angel keeps repeating the same maneuver several times more. In the end Vanessa is right in front of him. As she gets ready to take a s*ab in his direction, he grabs her cane and diverts it into her own body then lets her drop to the ground. Lindsey holding on to the three children: "It's alright. You're alright." Angel is sitting in his office at night. Wesley comes in carrying the roll of parchment. Wesley: "The children are with their mentor. They're safe." Angel: "Good." Wesley: "They have an important role to play. (Lays the parchment on the desk and sits down) I believe this is how Wolfram and Hart knew of their coming." Angel picks up the parchment: "You know what it is?" Wesley: "If I'm right, the Prophecies of Aberjian - for centuries thought lost. I translated some of the text. As I said, it mentions the children you saved today. - But that's not all. I - I also believe I know why you were drawn to it. - There is an entire passage - about you. - It doesn't call you by name - but it tells of a vampire with a soul. - This doesn't surprise you?" Angel: "No." Wesley: "But you said you didn't know what it was." Angel: "I didn't, but - " Wesley: "Somehow you did?" Angel: "Yeah." Wesley: "There is a design, Angel. Hidden in the chaos as it may be, but - it's there - and you have your place in it." Lindsey walks into Holland's office carrying the disk Angel stole. Holland is putting his stuff into a box. Lindsey: "Holland." Holland: "Hello, Lindsey." Lindsey: "I'm sorry. I did what I had to." Holland: "You saved the children. That's very noble." Lindsey puts the disk on the table: "I brought the disks back." Holland: "Of course you made copies." Lindsey: "A few things. Just enough to keep me safe." Holland: "What does safe mean to you?" Lindsey: "Not being at w*r with Wolfram and Hart - having my own life." Holland: "Lindsey, - haven't you learned anything? No one has their own life. We're all part of something larger." Lindsey: "Like Wolfram and Hart." Holland: "I handpicked you when you were a h*m* at Hastings - not because you were smart - not because you were a poor kid who had to do better than anyone else - but because you had potential - potential for seeing things as they are. It's not about good or evil - it's about who wields the most power. And we wield a lot of it here, and you know what? I think the world is better for it." Lindsey: "Look, I didn't come back..." Holland: "Why did you come back? To return some disks? Take a moral stand? - I don't think so. You walked in that door and called me by my first name. - You never did that before. You wouldn't have had the nerve. - But you're different now. You stood up to us and won. - Do you know how many people have that much nerve? - I can count them on one hand. - I need people like that working for us." Lindsey after a b*at: "You're offering me my job back?' Holland: "Oh, no. I'm offering you a new job. - A permanent one, with a thundering raise and ungodly benefits. In fact, I'm offering you this very office. I'm going upstairs. - What I'm offering you, Lindsey, is the world. Now I know you pretty well, and I'm betting that you're gonna take it." Holland picks up the box with his stuff and walks towards the door. Lindsey: "You may not know me as well as you think you do." Holland: "As I've been trying to tell you, that's a decision that each person has to make for himself. - If you want it it's yours. If you don't - walk out this door. - I'm going upstairs now." Holland leaves. Lindsey leans back on the edge of the desk. After a moment he gets up and walks towards the doors - and slowly closes them. He looks around the office. Sits down in the chair. Feels the desk. Takes the phone off the hook. After a moment he turns the chair to look out over the city lights below. Blend into Angel standing looking out over the city lights as well.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x21 - Blind Date"}

foreverdreaming

Kate voice over: "Angelus. A particularly brutal bastard by all accounts." Darla: "They gave you a soul, a filthy soul! NO!" Angel: "Darla." Darla: "You're disgusting!" Kate: "What are you?" Angel: "There are some things in this world you are just not ready to face." Lindsey: "If you continue to harass our client then - we will be forced to bring you into the light of day. A place I'm told is not all that healthy for you." Lindsey: "I need your help. I want out." Lindsey: "If I get myself k*lled - that will convince you I've changed." Angel: "It's a start." Holland: "What I'm offering you, Lindsey, is the world." Angel steals the scroll from the vault. Wesley: "Is there a reason you took this?" Angel: "I don't really know." Wesley: "The prophecies of Aberjian. - - There is an entire passage - about you." Wesley is researching while Angel is reading a book and Cordy is reading the paper. Wesley: "Shanshu. - Shanshu. - Or maybe it's shushan." Cordy: "Are you still trying to figure out that word? What's taking so long?" Wesley: "Gee, I don't know, Cordelia. The prophecies of Aberjian were only written over the last 4000 years, in a dozen different languages, some of which aren't even human! Why don't we just get a Falanjoid demon in here, suck the brain out of my skull. Maybe that would speed things up." Cordy: "He sure gets testy when he's translating." Wesley: "This word is pivotal to what it prophesies about the vampire with a soul." Cordy: "Well, hurry up and figure out what it says about Angel, because - I wanna know what it says about me. If there is torrid romance in my future - massive wealth? If I have to I'll settle for enviable fame." Wesley: "This is an ancient sacred text, not a magic eight ball." Cordy: "Nobody gets my humor." Angel: "I thought it was funny." Cordy: "Hmm." The camera pans by a sign out in the entrance to Angel's building: Directory: Casas Manufacturing 101 - Angel Investigations 103 - John Folger, DDS 104 - Herbert Stein 105. A figure wearing a hooded cape moves past. Cordy: "Hey guys? Remember born-again lawyer-boy who wanted out of Wolfram & Hart so bad?" Angel: "Lindsey?" Cordy: "They just promoted him. - Junior partner." Wesley: "After all you did for him - he sells his soul for thirty pieces of silver." Cordy: "Actually he sold it for a six-figure salary and a full benefits package." Wesley: "It's disappointing. He had an opportunity to change." Angel goes back to reading his book: "He didn't take it." Angel freezes then looks up. Wesley: "What?" Angel: "Little late for visitors." Angel gets up and goes out into the outer office. Cordy and Wesley follow. Cut to the hooded figure shown form behind. Angel taps it on the back with his battle ax and it cowers down letting out a scream. Angel: "Mr. Nabbit?" Cordy: "David?" Nabbit: "Heart - heart - heart my throat." Angel: "I'm sorry. I didn't - I didn't mean to..." Nabbit: "No, that was awesome. Can we do it again?" Wesley: "Are you - do you need help?" Nabbit: "Me? No. I just popped by to hang. I blew off my board of directors 'cause tonight's my turn to be dungeon master. What do you think of my cape?" Cordy: "Shiny." Nabbit: "You guys wanna hang? (Looks past Angel into the office) Oh, wow. Wow, wow. (Enters the office and gives a whistle) This is where it all happens. They're helpless - in agony - they have no one to turn to so they - come here to you. - Drink that coffee - sit on this couch. (sits down) - Unspeakable fiends from hell hot on their heels. (Everyone looks at him silently) Ah, what did I do? Spun off my digital pager network, made a few more million. (Everyone just stares) Alright, several. - Big whoop! What does that mean?" Cordy: "No more shopping in the Pennysaver?" Nabbit: "It's just you guys, - your lives are so meaningful - so exciting. You fight demons! At any moment one could walk right through that very door! (Everyone looks over at the door then they turn back to look at Nabbit) - - You guys seen any cool demons lately?" Cut to two monks chanting and a white circle between some trees. Chanting: "This hallowed ground is made ready. His time is at hand. For as it is written he of pure darkness shall come into the light." The ground trembles, the circle flames up high. Through the flames we see a face, covered down to its mouth by a bronze-colored mask and framed by the hood of a cloak. He steps from the circle and walks past the two monks to where Lindsey, Lilah and Holland are waiting in front of their office building. Holland: "Welcome to Wolfram & Hart. I hope you had a pleasant journey?" The demon walks past them without a word and the three lawyers follow. Intro Back to where we left Angel and Co. standing silently in front of Nabbit sitting on the couch. Nabbit: "You guys - I, - never know what's going to happen around here. That’s... (Gets up abruptly and walks out) Okay. Good to see you." Angel: "You too." Cordy: "It was fun." Wesley: "Drop by again." Nabbit: "We'll hang soon." Wesley after a b*at: "I think I know what it means." Cordy: "A very wealthy man with just - no life at all?" Wesley: "No. The word in the scroll." He goes into Angel's office and the others follow. Cordy: "That shoe shine thing?" Wesley: "Shanshu." Angel sits down and resumes reading his book. Wesley: "If it isn't Phygian but instead descends from the ancient Magyar's then its root is proto-Ugaric. In which case it would mean..." Cordy: "What?" Wesley at his book: "Death." Cordy: "But you said it was all about the vampire with the soul. (Wesley looks at her then they both look at Angel, who is reading his book as if he hadn't even heard Wesley) Angel's going to die?" Angel glances up: "Oh. Anything else?" Cordy: "He certainly took that well. - Is this that opportune time to talk about my raise?" Wesley: "It's probably years off - ah, after the coming battles." Cordy: "My raise?" Wesley: "Apocalyptic prophecies aren't exactly a science. And-and I could be way off the mark, so - no reason to be concerned." Angel never looking up from his book: "Hmm." Wesley: "So it's good you're not concerned. - Not - even remotely concerned." Angel glances from Wesley to Cordy then jumps up to catch her as she has a vision of a blurry lady being att*cked. Angel: "Easy, easy, easy." Cordy: "Pain - k*ller." Wesley: "Painful k*ller-demon." Cordy: "Painkiller!" Wesley: "Oh." Cordy: "A woman, judging by the plastic bag on her head I'm guessing homeless, versus a slime demon." Angel: "Where?" Cordy: "I smelled something awful - that would be the slime demon - Yuck! - who lives behind a waste treatment plant in El g*n." Angel turns to leave: "Got it!" Wesley: "Do you need...?" Angel: "Nope. Stay here and take care of her." Cordy: "Enough with the scratch-and-sniff visions!" Wesley hands her some pain pills: "Here we are." Cordy: "Ah, thanks. I ever meet these Powers That Be - I'm gonna punch'm in the nose! (Wesley tries to suppress a smile)- Do you think they have a nose?" Cut to Wolfram and Hart. Vocah: "You lost the scroll of Aberjian?" Holland: "The scroll was stolen from our vault." Vocah: "The raising can not be performed without the scroll." Lilah: "We understand." Lindsey steps forward: "It was my mistake. I'll rectify it." Vocah: "You will do nothing. I will retrieve the scroll myself. Who stole it?" Holland: "Angel." Vocah: "Angel! I am summoned for the raising - the very thing that was to bring this creature down to us -tear him from the Powers That Be - and he - has the scroll." Lilah: "We're not unaware of the irony." Vocah: "He is in the possession of the scroll. His connection to the Powers That Be is complete." Lilah: "He hasn't had time to make a full study of the text." Vocah: "No, and he won't. All avenues to the Powers shall be cut off from him and the scroll returned to us." Lindsey: "What can we do to help?" Vocah: "You can leave it to me." Vocah and the two monks leave the room. Holland: "Well - end of discussion?" Two police officers watch as a police car drives up with lights and siren going. Kate Lockley gets out of the car. 1.Officer: "Told you she'd show. She listens to the nut-calls on her scanner." 2.Officer: "Sure she doesn’t pick up the radio waves on her brain chip?" Kate steps up to them. 1.Officer: "Detective. According to the report there was a lot of, quote, otherworldly howling and wailing." 2.Officer: "The call said something about something slimy dragging a homeless woman away." Kate: "I heard the call. Stay here." 1.Officer: "Don't you want some backup, detective?" 2.Officer: "Or a Ouija board?" Kate gives them a look but proceeds into the alley without a word. She hears a woman moaning and a man talking, and puts her hand on her g*n. Angel and the homeless woman come around a corner. Woman: "See what they do? You turn your back and they come for you." Angel: "You're safe now." Woman: "Yeah, you k*lled him. Sliced him up real good. (Kate takes her hand off her g*n and fold her arms in front of her as they come up to her.) He saved me from one of their spies. And by the way - I don't appreciate the dental association watching me like that." Woman walks past Kate and keeps on going while Angel stops. Angel: "Hi." Kate: "What was it?" Angel: "It's okay. It won't hurt anyone else." Kate: "What was it?" Angel: "Slime demon." Kate: "Gee, this town has everything, doesn't it? Demons, fiends, vampires..." Angel: "Look, I know this hasn't been easy for you. It's okay most people can't handle what's really out here, Kate. Maybe you should think about..." Kate laughs. Kate: "Sorry. It's just someone who's not even a person lecturing me on 'most people,' it's kind of funny. - I can handle it fine. - And I don't care about most people and what they think of me. - What I do care about it ridding this city of your kind." Angel: "My kind." Kate: "Your kind. The kind that k*lled my father? Did you think I would just forget about that? - I don't forget anything." Kate turns and walks back the way she came. Angel looks after her for a moment then turns and leaves as well. Next day. Wesley is sitting in front of Angel's desk in the office and closes the book in front of him. Wesley: "Death. (He gets up and walks into the outer office to sit down across from Cordelia) Every source says it's death." Cordy: "Well, it's just a prophecy. It's not like it came from on high." Wesley: "That's what a prophecy is, Cordelia." Cordy: "Alright. Yeah, but Angel faces death all the time - just like a normal guy faces waffles and French-fries. It's something he faces every day like - lunch. - Are you hungry?" She gets up to get a doughnut. Wesley: "The fact that his death is prophesied - which isn't good news - doesn't concern me nearly as much as the way he took that news." Cordy: "What? He didn't scream like a girl as some of us would have? (Sits back down) Angel's cool." Wesley: "Angel's cut off. Death doesn't bother him because - there is nothing in life he wants! It's our desires that make us human." Cordy eating her doughnut: "Angel is kind of human. - He's got a soul." Cordy goes for another doughnut. Wesley: "He's got a soul - but he's not a part of the world. (Gets up) He-he can never be part of the world." Cordy: "Because he doesn't want stuff? - That's ridiculous. (Wesley takes her doughnut away from her) Hey! I want that!" Wesley: "What connects us to life?" Cordy: "Right now? I'm going with doughnuts." Wesley: "What connects us to life is the simple truth that we are part of it. - We live, we grow, we change. - But Angel..." Cordy: "Can't do any of those things. - Well, what are you saying, Wesley? - That Angel has nothing to look forward to? That he's going to go on forever, the same, in the world, but always cut off from it?" Wesley: "Yes." Cordy: "Well, that sucks! We've got to do something. We've got to help him." Wesley: "I'm not sure we can." Cordy: "What is your deal? You go around boring everyone with your musty scrolls and then you say there is nothing we can do?" Wesley: "He is what he is." Cordy: "He's Angel. He's good. And he helps the helpless and now - he's one of them. - Well, he's gonna have to start wanting things from life, whether he wants to or not!" Angel comes up the elevator and Cordy and Wesley go into his office to greet him. Angel: "Morning." Cordy: "Morning. - Want some coffee?" Angel: "No, thanks." Cordy: "How about a doughnut? Chocolate..." Angel looking through a book: "No." Cordy: "Creamy fillings?" Angel laughs a little as he looks at her: "No. I don't want anything. (Cordelia makes a sound and looks at Wesley) Am I supposed to know what this is about?" Wesley: "We - were just discussing how - you don't - want that many things." Cordy: "You're cut off from life. But don't worry, I'm gonna help you with that." Angel: "Oh. Good." Cordy: "We'll start small. Keep it simple. - How would you like a puppy? (Angel just looks at her) Right. - A Ficus? They're low maintenance. - Ant farm?" Wesley: "I have to go." Angel: "Where are you going?" Wesley: "Rare book shops. I need references to translate the - prophecy. - Probably not a good idea to take the scroll with me." Angel: "No. I'll lock it up downstairs in the w*apon cabinet." Wesley: "Angel - I hope I'm wrong about all this but - it might be a good time to consult the Oracles." Angel: "I don't need to see the Oracles about this." Wesley: "Well, think about it." Wesley leaves. Cordy: "Oracles. - Get out of the house. - Could be fun." Angel turns and goes back down the elevator. Cut to the chamber of the Oracles. Woman: "How dare you enter this sacred space." Man: "Who do you think you are?" Woman: "We do not appreciate being summoned by a lower being." Man: "Who knows no better than to come here on a whim." Vocah: "I'm not here on a whim." Woman: "We do not council your kind. The powers of darkness are not allowed to cross this threshold. How did you get in?" Vocah: "The old order passes away and the new order's come. He that was first shall now be last and he that was d*ad shall now arise." Woman: "Yes, and he that is trespassing shall now depart." Vocah puts a hand behind his back. Man: "We shall speak no more." A battle scythe grows in Vocah's hand. Vocah: "Yes - I know." Cordy is walking through an open market. Picks up a set of paints. Woman: "Do you paint?" Cordy: "Oh, no. I was just looking for something for a friend. I thought maybe if he had a hobby... - He's a little detached from things." Woman: "Well, they say art is the best therapy for that." Cordy: "Really?" Woman: "Sure, they use it in mental institutions all the time. You get the patients drawing and working with clay - helps them to get back in touch." Cordy: "Well, he is not crazy or anything. He's - just different?" Woman: "Depressed." Cordy: "Well, he wears a lot of black. - How much are these pastels?" Woman: "Oh, these are on special. You get the entire set, the large one, and some drawing paper and little pop-up easel..." Her voice fades as the camera moves away into the crowd - to show Vocah walking by himself. (Close Captioning has: Woman: "...all for thirty four bucks." Cordy: "Awesome!" Woman: "Yeah." Cordy: "Okay. Oh, like this? This... Is this the pop-up?" Woman: "Uh-huh.") Woman hands Cordy two big bags. Woman: "I think you have everything he'll need and then some. You made my day. Thanks." Cordy: "You're welcome. Woman: "You must be really good friends." Cordy: "Yeah. Thank you." Woman: "Take care." Cordy: "Bye." As Cordy walks away Vocah passes her from behind his hand brushing lightly against hers. Cordy looks around but doesn't see anything. She starts to walk on when she get h*t by a short vision. She pulls out her cell phone, but before she can dial out she gets h*t by another stronger vision. This one doesn't end, and she falls to the ground screaming. The art lady comes over and crouches down beside her and screams for someone to dial 911. Cut to Angel's building - night. Vocah walks into Angel Investigations. Cut to Angel walking down the steps to his apartment, studying the scroll. He rolls it up and locks it into the w*apon cabinet. Senses something and turns back to the cabinet when the phone rings. Angel: "Hello? - Yeah, what happened to her? - I'm her employer. - She doesn't have any family in town. What happened? - I'm on my way." Hangs up the phone and hurries out, snagging his coat on the way. Vocah walks in, breaks open the w*apon cabinet, takes the scroll, puts something in its place, and closes it again. Cut to Angel running down a hospital corridor. Stops at the nurse's station. Angel: "I'm looking for Cordelia Chase." Nurse: "She is ah, the doctor is with her. If you'll just have a seat over there... (Angel hears Cordy scream and hurries on) Wait! You have to let the doctor handle this!" Cordelia is convulsing on a bed. Doctor: "Try another five mil of Ativan." Angel comes in the room. Doctor: "Hey, you can't be in here." Angel: "What happened?" Doctor: "Are you family?" Angel: "Yes!" Doctor: "They brought her in a few hours ago. I'm not sure what happened." We get a flash of the vision Cordy is seeing. Doctor: "Does she have a history of mental illness?" Angel: "No." Doctor: "Does she use drugs?" Angel: "No." Doctor: "Well, she is having a psychotic episode. We've done a CAT scan. There is no organic damage that we can see, but we can't seem to sedate her." Angel: "Cordelia, can you hear me? - Cordelia! (More vision flashes) Cordelia!" Doctor: "We're trying a number of different drug therapies. Do you know if she has any allergies?" Angel: "I don't think so. Drugs won't help her." Doctor: "Well, something better. I need to inform you, if we don't find a way to stop it..." Angel looks from the convulsing Cordy to the doctor and back. Cut to Wesley walking into the office carrying books. He goes downstairs and sees the broken lock on the w*apon cabinet. He puts the books down and opens it slowly, then starts to back away. Angel pulls up across the street and gets out of his car. When he is halfway across, a fiery blast coming form the lower story lifts him into the air. He lands in a heap on the road while flames engulf the building and car alarms start blaring all along the street. Angel runs into his burning apartment form the parking garage. Angel: "Wesley! - Wesley! - Wesley! Wes! Wes!" He sees Wesley laying on the stairs leading up. He checks for a pulse. Angel: "Wes. Wesley." He slings Wesley over his shoulder and heads out. Cut to f*re engines and police in front of the building. Wesley, wearing an oxygen mask is being wheeled over to an ambulance with Angel walking beside him. He watches as they load him up, the starts for his car. Kate: "Never a dull moment with you around, is there." Angel: "I have to go." Kate: "Who the hell do you think you are? You are a major witness to a major crime scene. You are not going anywhere." Angel: "You want to try and stop me, Kate?" Kate: "I'm glad we are not playing friends anymore. And I'm real sick and tired of your attitude. There is a thing called the law!" Angel: "This isn't about the law, this is about a little thing - called life. Now I'm sorry about your father. But I didn't k*ll your father. And I'm sick and tired of you blaming me - for everything you can't handle! You want to be enemies? Try me." Angel hurries past her to his car while she looks after him. Cut to a nurse trying to restart a patient's heart with electro-shock. Nurse: "Clear! - Okay, I got him back." The camera pans over to another bed and an unconscious and battered Wesley. His heart monitor is beeping regularly. The camera pans to show Angel standing beside his bed watching him. After a moment Angel turns and the camera shows him walking into another wing and to Cordelia's bed. Cordelia is sedated, so she is no longer convulsing, but she still has permanent visions. Angel takes hold of her left hand and leans on the bed. Angel: "Cordelia - I'm gonna fix this. - Promise. - I'm gonna get you back. - I need you back." He looks as he lets go of her hand and notices a black symbol on the back of it. Cut to Angel holding a piece of paper with the symbol on it as he does the spell to get to the Oracles. Angel: "I come before the Oracles for guidance and direction. I beseech access to the knowing ones." The doorway opens with a blinding flash of light. Angel stumbles into the chamber of the Oracles, blinking his eyes and sees the Oracles lying on the floor, d*ad, Vocah's bloody scythe still buried in the woman's body. A ghostly image of the woman appears beside him. Woman: "It's unfortunate. Things are unraveling. The dark ones broach our temples now." Angel: "Can you help me?" Woman: "I can't stay long. I've been d*ad a while. So far I don't like it." Angel: "My friend who gets the visions..." Woman: "Is in trouble. It's his mark, the one who did this." Angel: "Who? Who did this?" Woman: "Vocah. Warrior of the underworld. He wants you weak. So he opened her mind to all the ones who cry out in pain and need. She doesn't have long either." Angel: "How can I stop it?" Woman: "The sacred scroll of Aberjian is now in Vocah's possession. The scroll is what you need." Angel as she fades: "Wait." Woman: "Find the scroll. The words of Anatole, only they can remove the mark and save your friend." Angel: "Tell me where to find him. I'll repay him for what he did here." Woman: "He is here for the raising." Angel: "The raising?" Woman: "Like so many of them he hides behind man's law. Stop him." She fades. Angel: "I will." Angel grabs the scythe and leaves. Cut to Milano's Italian Kitchen, outside, night. g*n and some of his g*ng are loading boxes of leftovers into the back of their truck. g*n: "This is good. A lot of hungry people are going to appreciate this. You are doing god's work here. If god was a busboy he'd look just like you Jesus. Toss it up, brother. Alright!" We hear car tires screeching. g*n: "Yo, yo, heads up!" He and his g*ng scramble for their w*apon. Angel's convertible come to a screeching stop. g*n: "Put them down. I know this fool. (Jumps off the truck and walks to meet Angel) That was entertaining. What you got under that hood." Angel: "I need your help." g*n: "Yeah, well, I figured you didn't roar in here to ask me after my health. It's pretty good, by the way. - You getting enough iron? You look a little pale. - Okay, it's traditional in the human world to humor people who've done favors for you in the past." Angel: "Your about to do me another one." g*n: "Yeah, well, if it's tossing a vampire in with them lawyers, I'm in. Because that was my idea of a good time." Angel: "My people, they are in the hospital. St. Matthews. One's in ICU, one's in the neuro-psychiatric Unit. They need protection while I hunt down the guy who put them there." g*n: "He's gonna come after them himself or is he gonna send someone?" Angel: "However he comes, he's not gonna get them. These people mean a lot to me." g*n: "I'm getting that." Cut to a crypt. Five vampires are chained to a box sitting in the middle of a five pointed star inside a star laid into the floor. The two monks enter followed by Vocah. Monks: "We have prepared a holy place in the darkness and anointed it with oil. We have taken of the blood of the living and gathered together the living d*ad." Vocah: "As it was written they shall prepare the way and the very gate of hell shall open. That which is above shall tremble (earth trembles) for that which is below shall arise. And the world shall know the beast shall know the world." A group of people is walking down the steps in front of Wolfram and Hart. Lilah: "Aren't we going to be late?" Holland: "You never want to be on time for a ritual, the chanting, the blood rites, they go on forever." We see Angel peek out from behind a pillar as Lindsey motions to two guys standing in front of a moving van. Lindsey: "You guys follow us." Holland to Lindsey: "I know you've covered all the bases here." Lindsey: "Yes, sir." Holland: "Senior partners are keeping a close watch on us. We don't want let them down." Lindsey: "We won't." Holland gets into the Limo but Lilah turns to Lindsey for a moment before following him. Lilah to Lindsey: "Remember when Robert Price let the senior partners down and they made him eat his liver? - I don't know what made me think of that." After a moment Lindsey follows the other two into the back of the limo. Angel watches them drive off, followed by the movers. He gets into his car and trails them. Cut to Vocah doing the ritual, walking from one point of the star to the next. Vocah: "Five are without breath." Monks: "Yet they live." Vocah: "Five are without time." Monks: "Yet they live." The party from Wolfram and Hart enters the crypt. Vocah: "Five are without soul." Monks: "Yet they live." Holland: "They haven't even gotten to the Latin yet." Vocah: "Five are without sun." Monks: "Yet they live." Vocah looks up, then lays the scroll down on top of the crate and walks to face some steps leading down into the crypt. Lilah: "What is it?" Holland: "I don't know." Vocah produces another scythe. A moment later Angel burst through the door at the top of the stairs and the two of them get into a battle of the scythes. Holland: "Lindsey?" Lindsey watches the fight between Vocah and Angel for a moment then steps forward into the circle and picks up the scroll. Lindsey: "Five are d*ad. - Say it!" Monks: "Yet they live." Lindsey speaking Latin. Translation according to RayneFire from the Buffy sh**ting Script Website: Lindsey: "Et illi quinque sacrificum est et illi que est mortuus vivet." Translation: "And the five shall be a sacrifice... and the one who is d*ad shall live..." Holland (to Lilah): "Get the movers in here." Lilah: "Yes, sir." Lindsey: "Dum vita et mors non duas res sed unas sunt. In tenebris lux est, in luge tenebrae sunt. Serge! Serge! Serge! Serge! Serge! Serge! Translation: "Even as life and death are not two things but one... in darkness is the light, in light is the darkness. Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise! Arise!" The five vampires turn to dust and bones as the earth shakes and a whirlwind begins to spin around the box. The whirlwind sucks the vampire dust and bones into the box, then a ring of light explodes outward throwing Lindsey against the wall. He lands in an unconscious heap on the floor. Angel and Vocah are fighting on as if nothing had happened. The movers rush in. Holland: "Get it out of here." The movers push the box out. Holland throws a quick glance at the unmoving Lindsey then follows the others out of the crypt. Angel and Vocah are still fighting. Lindsey slowly comes to. He still has the scroll. Angel finally gets the scythe away from Vocah and pins him up against the wall. He knocks the mask of Vocah's face to reveal a maggot filled hole where his nose should be. Angel: "Nice." Angel drives the blade of the scythe into Vocah's chest, k*lling him. Behind him Lindsey has made it to his feet and grabs a hold of post topped by a cross and brandishes it in Angel's direction. Angel slowly walks towards him, bloody scythe held loosely in his right hand. Angel: "Lindsey, give me the scroll." Lindsey: "That's not gonna happen. It belongs to us." Angel: "Us. You put your faith in Wolfram and Hart." Lindsey: "You said I had to make a choice." Angel: "And you did." Lindsey: "Yeah. I had a crisis - and I want to thank you for your help with that - but I see things more clearly now." Angel: "You don't see anything. You don't know what faith is." Lindsey holds up the scroll: "I see that what happened here tonight was foretold - that doesn't bode well for you. - I see that you are either the one with the power - or you're powerless." Angel: "Uh-huh. You see what I'm gonna do to you if you don't give me that scroll?" Lindsey: "You need the words of Anatole to cure your friend. She is your connection to the Powers That Be. And since it's foretold that we sever all your connections (holds the scroll into the flames burning in the urn beside him) well..." Angel throws the scythe, cutting off Lindsey's hand at the wrist. Lindsey drops the cross and screams as he drops to the ground. He is cradling his bleeding stump against his chest, as Angel goes to retrieve the scroll from the floor beside him. Angel: "Don't believe everything you're foretold." Lindsey tries to suppress his screams as Angel walks out. Cut to Cordelia lying on the hospital bed. Wesley is sitting in a wheelchair beside it with Angel leaning over her bed on the other side. Wesley: "And if the beast shalt find thee, and touch thee, thou shalt be wounded in they soul - and thou shalt know madness. - The beast shalt att*ck and cripple thee and thou shalt know neither friend nor family. - But thou shalt undo the beast. Thou shalt find the sacred words of Anatole and thou shalt be restored. - Three times shalt thou say these words: unbind - unbind - unbind." (Close Captioning gives a different text from what Wesley actually says: "The sins of man shall inflame the earth and bring a great scourge. A fighting beast from hell will arise. The beast shalt att*ck and cripple thee and shalt poison thee, mind and body, with its mark. But thou shalt undo the beast. Thou shalt take refuge in the holy words of Anatole as handed down to him by the elders. And thou shalt be restored whole. Three times shalt thou say these words: Unbind. Unbind. Unbind.") Cut to the nurses walking down the corridor. A white flash comes from Cordelia's room and she hurries towards it. Cordelia blinks her eyes. Angel looks down at her hand. The mark is gone. Cordy looks up at Angel and he smiles at her. Angel: "Hey." Cordy: "Angel?" Angel: "Welcome back." Cordy looks over at Wesley. Nurse: "I'll get Dr. Evans." Leaves. Cordy looks back at Angel: "I saw them all. There is so much pain. - We have to help them." Angel: "We will. (Strokes her cheek) We will." Cut to a sh*t of Angel's hand gripping hers tightly. Cordelia's apartment - day. Cordelia is in the kitchen fixing a sandwich. Goes to the fridge. Pan to Wesley sitting at the living room table, the scroll and books spread out around him. Angel is sitting on a chest against the wall. Wesley: "Here is something." Angel: "What is it?" Wesley: "The beast of Amalfie, a razor toothed six-eyed harbinger of death. No, wait, that's due to arise in 2003 in Reseda." Angel: "I would have guessed Tarzana." Cordy set the sandwich and a glass of milk on the table in front of Wesley. Wesley: "Better cross-reference that." Cordy goes back into the kitchen and gets a plastic cup filled with blood. Wesley: "I'm sorry, I don't know what they raised in that box. - I'll keep looking." Cordy: "You've been looking for two days. You need to relax and charge the brain cells. (Hands him the plate with the sandwich) Here. Eat." Wesley accepts it and looks over at Angel. Cordy hands Angel the cup with the blood: "You too. (Angel looks up at her) Don't be embarrassed. We're family." Angel accepts the cup. Cordy notices Wesley staring at her. Cordy: "What?" Wesley: "It's just I... - I'm not used to..." Angel: "He is not used to the new you." Cordy: "I know what's out there now. We have a lot of evil to fight, a lot of people to help. - I just hope skin and bones here can figure out what those lawyers raised *sometime* before the prophecy kicks in and - you croak. - That was the old me, wasn't it?" Angel: "I like them both." Wesley looking at his books: "Ah - oops. - I may have made a tiny mistake. (Angel sets the cup of blood down and gets up) The word Shanshu that I said meant you were going to die? Actually I think it means that you are going to live." Cordy: "Okay, as tiny mistakes go - that's not one!" Wesley: "Shanshu has roots in so many different languages. The most ancient source is the Proto-Bantu and they consider life and death the same thing, part of a cycle, only a thing that's not alive never dies. It's- it's saying - that you get to live until you die. - It's saying - it's saying you become human." Cordy: "That's the prophecy?" Wesley: "Ah, the vampire with a soul, once he fulfills his destiny, will Shanshu. Become human. - It's his reward." Cordy: "Wow. Angel, human." Angel: "That'd be nice." Cordy: "Wait. What's that thing about him having to fulfill his destiny first?" Wesley: "Well, it's saying that it won't happen tomorrow or the next day. He has to survive the coming darkness, the apocalyptic battles, a few plagues, and some - uh, several, - not that many - fiends that will be unleashed." Angel: "So don't break out the champagne just yet." Cordy: "Yeah, break out the champagne, Pinocchio. This is a big deal!" Angel: "I guess it is." Cordy: "Typical. I hook up with the only person in history who ever came to LA to get older." Cut to Wolfram and heart - day. Lilah, Holland and Lindsey are entering the vault where the box from the ritual is stored. Lindsey's right arm is in a sling. Holland: "The senior partners were very impressed with your sacrifice. (Lindsey looks at him) Trust me, we'll even the score with them." Lindsey: "Yes, we will." Holland: "Beginning with what's in that box." Lilah leaning to look in through the bars running along the top of the box: "We are all very pleased you're here. - I know it's a bit confusing - but it's going to be better soon - a lot better, (Camera pans to show a naked woman crouched in one corner of the box) Darla."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "01x22 - To Shanshu In L.A."}

foreverdreaming

Close up of a green-faced, horned demon with red eyes - who starts to sing into a microphone. "First I was afraid. I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. But then I spent so many nights thinking how you done me wrong, and I grew strong. And I learned how to get along." Demon speaking: "Oh, you know what I'm talking about. In this city you better learn to get along. Because LA's got it all: The glamour and the grit, the big breaks and the heartaches, the sweet young lovers and the nasty, ugly, hairy fiends that suck out your brain through your face. It's all part of the big wacky variety show we call - Los Angeles. You never know what's coming next. And lets admit it folks: Isn't that why we love it? (Starts to sing again) I'll survive. I will survive! Hey, hey!" Cordy: "But why, Johnny? Why?" Johnny sighs: "Because it's over." Cordy: "No I love you! I gave you everything. Didn't I?" Johnny picking up a bag: "Yea, and now it's time to move on." Cordy: "No. You can't. You're everything to me. I'm nothing without you baby. - Nothing." Cordy slaps Johnny in the face. Johnny: "Ow. Hey - ow - she h*t me!" Cordy: "I threw that in myself. She seems so spineless. Begging this creep not to dump her." Johnny goes and looks through the script book. Acting coach: "That was just amazing! You were Eleanor - body and soul." Johnny: "Hey, where does it say that she hits me?" Coach: "You're on f*re, Cordelia. This is exciting work. Lets take it again. And put the focus on how conflicted you... (Cordy's beeper goes off - 911) Cordelia..." Cordy picks up her bag to leave: "Sorry. Duty calls." Wesley is playing darts in a bar against two other guys while a pretty blonde looks on admiringly. Wesley: "Sorry lads. I'll give you a rematch (his beeper goes off - 911) but it'll have to be another time." Wesley picks up a wad of cash from the table and looks over at the smiling blonde. Throws a dart in the general direction of the board without looking. Man off screen: "Ow!" The smile fading from his face, Wesley leaves. Angel, Wesley and Cordy stride into a big gym. Attendant: "Can I help you?" Angel and Co. never break stride, and the guy follows them through the gym. Attendant: "I'm sorry this club is for members and their guests only." Angel: "Yeah, well, I'm thinking of joining." Attendant: "Excuse me! But you can't come in here without a membership or a guest pass!" Cordy: "Are you sure we're in the right place?" Wesley: "This is a tad public for a Praetorian sacrifice." Angel: "The quadrants match. It's a Carnyss demon and they love muscles and mirrors." They come to a stop the attendant still behind them. Attendant: "Hey, listen! I'm not fooling around. I will call the pol..." Notices that Angel doesn't reflect in the wall of mirrors before which they are standing. Angel glances back at him: "Huh. No reflection. I'll fix that." Angel kicks in the mirror and steps through surprising a red robbed human and a demon with sword raised to sacrifice two bound and gagged humans. Angel vamping out: "Stop that." Angel bats the charging human against a wall and begins to fight the demon with the sword. Wesley ducks or deflects a couple punches from the human, then hits him with a right cross, knees him in the stomach and drops him on the floor. Nods to Cordelia, who drops a round metal weight on the guy's head, knocking him out. Angel manages to take the sword away from the demon and s*ab it through the heart with it. The attendant slowly walks closer to the broken mirror and looks into the room beyond it. Angel and Co are freeing the sacrifices then they walk back out into the gym. Attendant staring: "That guy has horns." Angel (back in human face) as they walk past: "Steroids. Not good for you." Intro Inside Cordelia's apartment the camera pans across a whiteboard with 'cases,' 'leads,' 'progress' and 'status' written across the top. The first line under that reads (as best as I can make it out) Zaroh (crossed out), first seen 10/7 k*lled 2 police officers, beheaded - reborn - torched, closed. Also listed are Vocah, Sloth, Khee Shak, an Ethros, Vartite, Konsoo and the Carnyss demon from the night before. Wesley: "I'm beginning to think it was the sloth demon." Cordy writing on board: "Sloth demons don't sacrifice adolescents, Wesley. It was a Carnyss. You I.D. it." Wesley: "No, I don't mean the demon we k*lled last night. I mean the one we..." Angel playing with some glass figurines Cordy has sitting on a shelf: "That was a nice gym." Wesley: "...incinerated a month ago. I think that's what Wolfram and Hart raised in that box when Angel was fighting Vocah." Angel: "The thing about a gym is that you're not alone. You've got people around. That encourages you to work out." Cordy takes the glass figure away from him and sets it back on the shelf. Cordy: "You don't have to work out. You're eternal." Angel: "I may not always be." Cordy: "It was the Vartite monster. (Angel picks up a glass unicorn as Cordy turns back to arguing with Wesley) It took two days to k*ll that thing! It's got Wolfram and Hart written all over it." Angel: "You got your steam. You got your sauna. You got fresh towels. I mean, how bad could it be?" Cordy: "You shower with a lot of men." Angel: "I'll always be a loner." Cordy holds up a finger and scrunches up her face. Angel drops the figurine and hurries to catch her. Angel and Wesley: "Vision." Cordelia sneezes as the guys hover around her. Cordy: "Just a sneeze." Angel and Wesley turn away: "Oh." Cordy: "Oh?!" Angel: "I mean, bless you. (Turns to the broken figurine on the floor) Sorry about this." Cordy: "Why can't we work out of Wes's?" Angel: "We're getting a new office. I just haven't..." Cordy holds up a finger and scrunches up her face again: "Sneeze. (Sneezes) - Followed by vision." Angel and Wesley jump to her side and catch her. After the vision of a blurry gray monster face is over she is sitting on the sofa, Angel kneeling in front of her. Angel: "Are you alright?" Cordy: "I'll survive." Wesley at the whiteboard: "What have we got?" Cordy: "A nasty looking demon. Didn't recognize it." Wesley writes 'N. D. U. O.' "Nasty Demon, Unknown Origin." Angel: "There's an awful lot of that in this town. I'm sure he'll feel right at home here." Cut to Wolfram and Hart. Lilah to cell phone as she walks the corridor: "You have every right to review the contract. I encourage it. We'll talk on Monday. - Of course if you don't sign we'll sue your ass off and k*ll your children. - Just kidding, Donald. No one wants a law suit." Closes the phone and enters a dark room. Lilah: "Wow. It's nice and gloomy in here. (Lindsey is having trouble opening a CD case with his new prosthetic hand - drops it) You're not handicapped - you're handi-capable." Lindsey: "She likes Chopin and Brahms. She's not too fond of the Russians." Lilah turns to where Darla is inspecting an old-fashioned globe. Lilah: "Hello, Darla. How are you doing today? Feeling any better? It's a beautiful day outside." Lindsey: "Lilah, shut up. She's not a child. She's 400 years old." Darla hums along with the music: "Hmm, the prelude." Lindsey inhales: "In C-minor. The preludes and the nocturnes." Darla: "So much better than the waltzes. - He had consumption." Lindsey: "And died way too soon. A lot of that going around." Darla breathes deeply: "Hm. He's here." Lilah: "Chopin?" Lindsey: "Angel. He's here in town. You can feel him." Darla: "Always could." Lindsey: "He hasn't been much of a help to us." Darla: "He k*lled me. (Laughs) I remember now - with a soul in his heart." Lindsey: "He's taken from both of us - so when you feel ready - we'll start thinking about giving a little back." Darla: "Angel - it's been a long time. - I'd love to see that boy." Angel is sketching the demon from Cordy's vision. Cordy: "The eyes are a little further apart. (Angel adjusts the drawing) They look right through you. I-I don't think this guy is afraid of much." Angel: "Wes, I'm thinking northern Pakistan, Hindu Kush..." Wesley: "Right. Or maybe the Tien Shenin in Kazakhstan. Which means I need Suleman's Compendium." As he walks towards the books, one of them flies up and hits him. Wesley lets out a surprised yell. Cordy: "Don't yell like that! You'll scare him." Wesley: "Scare *him*?" Cordy: "Dennis is very sensitive. He's just trying to help! He's more a person than a g-h-o-s-t." Wesley to Angel: "We have to get an office." Wesley flips some pages, and Cordy lets out a scream, startling another yell out of Wes. Cordy points at a picture in the book: "There! There!" Wesley: "Prio Motu demon. It's a k*ller." Angel taking the book: "Ancient Ofga-beast, bred to maim and m*ssacre." Cordy: "Oh, goody. A pit bull." Angel gets up: "Okay. (Starts to write on the whiteboard) Now we know what we're dealing with." Wesley: "Prio Motu." Angel: "Now we need to find it. Right now we got to narrow it down to somewhere." Wesley: "I may be able to help us with that. I've been broadening our contact base. Reaching out to the underlife. I may have someone who can help." Angel: "Who?" Wesley: "A parasite demon named Merl." Cordy: "Maybe it's time we pay your stoolie a little visit. Make with the chin-music (raises her fist) until he canaries. (Angel and Wes look at her) I've been watching a little noir festival on Bravo." Wes: "There is a place he hangs out. A safe haven for demons. I've been meaning to take you there. I think it may be of use to us - but..." Angel: "But what?" Wes: "It's a little outside the box." Demon (think Cribb from the Ring) singing: "I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it. I like it. Tonight's the night we're gonna make it happen. " Camera pans across the floor showing both demon and human customers sitting at tables. A sign reads 'no v*olence or w*apon.' A guy steps through a metal detector (which beeps) and a bouncer takes a w*apon away from him before making step through it again. Demon: "Tonight we put all other things aside. Give in this time and show me some affection. (The green, horned demon from the teaser circulates among the customers) We're going for those pleasures in the night. (One of the Earshot demons steps through the detector, followed by Wesley, Cordy and Angel.) I want to love you, feel you, wrap myself around you. I want to squeeze you, please you. I just can't get enough and if you move real slow, I'll let it go! I'm so excited..." Cordy: "Your stool pigeon feels safe in a Karaoke bar?" Wes: "In this one he does. It's a sanctuary." The green demon goes up on the stage and finishes the song together with the lizard demon. The crowd applauds. Host: "Well, move over Pointer Sisters! That was cooking! I'm about to lose control and I think I like it. Well, I'm gonna have a word with Liz here. Don't go anywhere! Coming right up, Mordar the Bentback will be callin' the tune with a personal favorite of mine. Make him feel welcome!" A furry, horned creature takes the mike and starts crooning, while the host leads Liz over to the side. Host: "Well, I can see someone is feeling pretty zippy. Liz, I know it's hatching time and you're looking forward to that. But there is more to life than eating your young! Now let me tell you what I see in your aura..." Ugly, gray, bald demon is sitting at a table. Wesley sits down next to him. Wes: "Hello, Merl." Cordy: "Cat got your tongue, Merl?" Merl: "I don't have a tongue." Cordy: "Oh." Angel leans down next to him. Merl: "And, uh, keep the bloodsucker away from me." Wes: "He can't hurt you in here." Merl: "I know his rep, okay? He eats his own kind. Beating on demons wherever he finds 'em." Angel: "Especially when they waste my time." Wesley slides an envelope with money across the table. Wes: "We're looking for the Prio Motu." Merl looks at the money: "Woah, woah, woah! You've obviously never seen one up close. I mean Prios are stone cold K*llers. They've got these teeth that'll, uhm... You gotta sweeten this - a whole lot. And keep my name..." Wesley puts some more money on top of the envelope. Merl takes it. Merl: "This Prio you're looking for, he don't like it above ground. So he'll be traveling in one of those sub-tunnels of the Rodondo line. (Angel starts to leave) Prios are nasty. Not some big mosquito like you, turns to dust whenever you stake it. Best of luck, though." Angel turns to leave. Almost runs into the host. Host: "Love the coat. It's all about the coat. Welcome to Caritas. You know what that means?" Angel: "It's Latin for mercy." Host: "Smart and cute. How about gracing us with a number?" Angel: "I don't sing." Host: "Neither does Mordar the Bentback! That cat's a foghorn on two legs." Cordy to Wes: "Who is this guy?" Wes: "He's, uh, anagogic." Cordy: "Really? He looks like he's eating enough." Wes: "Psychic. He's connected to the mystic. When you sing you bare you soul. He sees into it." Host: "This isn't about your pipes, bro. It's about your spirit. I can't read you unless you sing!" Angel: "I don't sing." Cordy: "Come on, Angel. I wanna hear you sing." Angel: "No." Wes: "It would be for a good cause. We might learn something." Angel: "Who's the boss here?" Host: "I know you're feeling smooth, in the groove. Isn't that the thing that comes before a fall?" Angel as they all look at him: "There are three things I don't do: Tan, date - and sing in public!" Angel walks out. Host: "See you around. - How fabulous would I look in that coat?" Angel is walking through some tunnels. Hears a noise and moves against the corner to an intersecting tunnel. A pregnant woman hurries down the tunnel, holding one hand over her belly. Angel steps out and she gasps in shock. Angel: "Hey. It's okay. I won't hurt you. Are you alright?" She just looks up at him. The Prio comes charging around a corner with a growl, and Angel pushes the woman aside. Angel: "Look out!" A fight ensues with the woman watching from the sidelines. They are pretty evenly matched. In the end Angel gets the Prio in a chokehold and breaks its neck. Angel: "It's all right. He's d*ad." Woman walks over to the d*ad demon: "What did you do? Oh my God! (Strokes the d*ad demon's face) What have you done?" The woman closes the d*ad demon's eyes, sobbing quietly. Angel: "I didn't... I thought he was gonna hurt you!" Woman: "He was my protector! (Angel tries to help her as she gets up) Stay away from me!" Angel: "I'm sorry. I was sent here to... I'm not exactly sure, but..." Woman: "You were sent here?" Angel: "By the Powers That - it's a long story. - I help people." Woman: "You're joking, right? (Walks off, holding her belly, sobbing) God, I hate this town!" Angel follows her: "I'm really... What was he protecting you from?" Woman: "Things you couldn't handle!" Angel: "Like what?" Woman: "Like the Tribunal. - Look. I don't know who you are - or what your deal is. And I don't care! He was my protector. I had one friend in this world and you k*lled him! Now, you stay the hell away from me." Angel watches her leave. Wesley: "He was good?" Angel nods slowly: "Yeah." Cordy: "And you - (makes a cracking sound)." Angel looks at her: "Yeah." Cordy: "Ooh. Well. That's bad. (Angel looks away) Which of course you already... Right." Angel gets up: "He was a demon. I just assumed..." Wesley: "Well, why wouldn't you? Cordelia said he was a nasty demon." Cordy: "Well, he *looked* nasty! I didn't say he was a k*ller, you did!" Wesley: "That's what Prio Motus are! They hunt. They k*ll. What, we're supposed to think a creature like that can suddenly change its modus operandi overnight? Turn into some noble protector and...(looks at Angel, who's standing with his back to them) defender of... Oh, God." Cordy: "I didn't feel any fear when I saw him. Angel was probably supposed to help him not... (sighs) Thanks for the obscure visions! We're doing great with that." Angel shaking his head: "I k*lled an innocent being. He was a soldier like me. Whatever his mission is it's mine now." Angel goes to put on his coat. Cordy: "Well, that's a start! You said he was protecting a pregnant woman." Angel: "From something called the Tribunal. I want you two to find out what that is." Wes: "We will. (As Angel is about to leave) Angel! (Angel stops but doesn't turn around) You didn't know." Angel: "I'm thinking somebody did." Merl, the stoolie, smashes against a chain-link fence. Angel: "You're not on protected ground tonight, Merl." Merl: "What do you want?" Angel: "The truth." Merl: "I told you where to find him!" Angel: "Not a whole lot of time tonight! Why'd you lie about the Prio?" Merl: "There is a price on the woman." Angel: "The woman or the baby?" Merl: "Yeah, the kid. A daughter. She's supposed to be some powerful, benevolent... I don't know! The dark ones they want her out of the picture. So it's two for one with the mom! The local brokers, they're offering hard cash. But no one can get close enough with that Prio around. You know, now that he is out of the picture you and I could..." Angel smashed Merl into the fence again. Angel: "Where is she?" Merl: "Look, if I knew, would I be hanging around here, getting strangled by you?" Angel: "Put the word out. No one touches the woman." Merl: "It's a too little late for that. You know how many beast are out there after her by now?" Angel: "Where did the Prio live?" Merl: "I don't know. I don't know exactly. Boyle Heights. Somewhere underground, near the water and power. (Angel throws him into the fence again and leaves) Kind of an iffy part of town, if you know what I'm saying?" Four young men (two with their hoods up) walk around a corner as a guy gets ready to get into his nice car. He sees them and starts to run off. Man: "Just take the car!" The four men run after him. Leader: "Hey, look out!" Man looks back. As he turns back around he runs right into a vampire. The vampire is about to bite him, when the lead guy pushes back his hood and pulls out a stake. It's g*n. He knocks the vampire off the guy and quickly stakes him. Man points at where the vamp just turned to dust unable to get a whole word out. g*n: "You should probably go home now." Man looks at g*n, who motions with his eyes back to where his car is parked. After a b*at the guy takes off full speed. g*n: "Ah, you're welcome?" Angel: "People now a days. Would it k*ll him to say thank you?" g*n puts the stake away: "Angel." Angel: "Been a while. You well?" g*n: "Picture of health and harmony. - Look at you, dog! You haven't aged a bit!" Angel: "I got a situation." g*n: "So much for the small talk. (to the other three) Sweep Olympic up to Broadway and I'll hook up with y'all back at the crib." Angel walking beside g*n: "Where is home nowadays?" g*n: "Friendly landlord off eighth. We keep the block safe for democracy, he hooks us up with the rent." Angel: "You ever hear of a Prio Motu?" g*n: "Is that like a '62 Chevy with the big cam? (Angel looks at him) Alright. I could have just said no." Angel: "It's a warrior demon. He was living down here." g*n: "Well, isn't that nice? I thought all we had to dodge was roaches and vampires! What is this demon up to?" Angel: "Not much. He's d*ad. But I wanna find out where he was living. It'd be underground somewhere near the D.W.P." g*n: "Well, I know all the pockets. And I'm getting the sense that you wanna do this now." Angel: "It's kind of urgent." Angel and g*n are walking through some tunnels. Angel: "How deep are these?" g*n: "Pretty deep, bro. We cleaned a vampire nest out of here last year. We've been patrolling it on occasion ever since. This Prio Motu guy, what was he up to?" Angel: "He was protecting a young pregnant woman." g*n: "He was on our side?" Angel: "Yeah." g*n: "Well, did you find the scumbag that k*lled him?" Angel: "I'm the scumbag that k*lled him." g*n: "Oh. (Notices a vent in the wall) Oh, look. Hold on. That wasn't there before." They walk over to it. g*n: "You feel any air coming out of this vent? - I don't feel no air." g*n finds a latch at the side and pulls it open. They walk in, closing it behind them. g*n: "The guy kept a neat house." Angel picks up a book: "Kamal." g*n: "What's that?" Angel: "That was his name. g*n..." Angel goes to open a carved box. Closes it again and lays his hands against its sides. g*n: "We supposed to be looking for something? (Angel pulls open a hidden drawer and takes out a round metal disk.) Like that?" Angel: "I hate to ask, but..." g*n: "Night's still young. What you need?" Angel hands him his business card: "I work with a couple people at this address. The one on the back. (g*n takes the card. Angel holds out the disk) I need them to see this right away. Tell them it might have something to do with the Tribunal." g*n: "The Tribunal. Got it. - What, you're gonna hang here and soak up the guilt?" Angel: "Something like that." g*n leaves. Angel walks around picking up a mortar. Flash to the fight. Back to Angel. Sees a Buddha statue. Flash to the fight. He replaces the candle in front of it with a new one and lights it. He hears a noise. Picks up a sword. The door opens and Angel jumps out pointing his sword straight at - the pregnant woman coming down the steps. Angel: "You're safe. (Looks at his sword and puts it down) That's good." Woman, walking down the steps: "You shouldn't be here. You don't have the right." Angel: "Oh, I know. It's - not really my choice, either. Kamal's mission is mine now." Woman: "You sound just like him! You guys with your missions, and ancient laws, and medieval codes of honor! Well, I'm not interested. I'm just trying to protect my baby." Angel: "I understand." Woman: "How could you? I don't even understand it! - I mean, six months ago I'm working the register at Costco. I did my time as a stock-girl and I was moving up. I was gonna be able to provide for my baby. Now all I wanna do is make sure she gets born." Angel: "Well, I want that too." Woman: "Right. Right. Because she is some seer, or leader or Joan of Arc. Well, you know what she is to me? - My daughter. Not someone's holy mission." Angel: "It's not exactly that - it's - sort of my job." Woman: "Your job?" Angel: "Yeah. Look! I got cards - and an office. Well, the office kind of blew up, but we're working out of this other apartment in Silverlake, temporarily. (Woman takes a card and looks at it) - Let me help you. - Let me help your daughter." Woman: "We need to find the coat of arms. Kamal said I needed to present it to the Tribunal and maybe if I do they call this whole thing... What?" Angel: "It wouldn't be a round bronze talisman. Oh, say, about this big?" Woman: "Yes." Angel: "Heh. I already found it." Woman smiling: "Yeah? Where is it? (Her smile fades as she looks at Angel) What?" Angel: "Well, I don't exactly have it right here on my person. I though it was best to (she walks past him and up the steps) I know where it is. I-I can take you there. (Angel follows her) The address on the back of the card..." Woman: "Do me a favor? - Stop helping!" She opens the door and there is a demon there waiting to take a swipe at her. Angel and the demon fight. Angel to woman: "Get back! - (Between fighting moves) I can k*ll this thing, right?" Woman: "Yes!" Angel: "You're sure? You don't - think - he might - be good?" Woman: "k*ll it!" Angel does by throwing it into the doorway and slamming the door into it. We hear more growling. Angel: "I think we should - run." Wes and Cordy are researching at her apartment. There is a knock on the door. Cordy gets up: "Who is it?" g*n: "g*n." Wesley gets up: "What was that?" Cordy: "Something about a g*n. What if it's a demon with a g*n?" Wesley: "Listen up, whoever you are, we are well armed and we know how to do battle, so if you know what's good for you..." g*n through the door: "My name is g*n. Angel sent me." Cordy opens the door: "Well, this is a little embarrassing. Please, come in. Come in. (g*n walks in.) Wesley, you've heard Angel talk about g*n. He's a great guy with a really fly street tag." Wes: "What's he fly?" Cordy: "It's how they know you on the street, dorko. g*n. It really lets them know you mean business." g*n: "It's my name. Charles g*n. Two 'n.'" Cordy: "Oh, lord, will no one shut me up?" Wesley offers his hand: "Uh, I'm Wesley Wyndam (g*n turns away and looks at the whiteboard) Price and this is Cordelia Chase." Cordy: "It's nice to finally meet." g*n: "I've seen you before." Cordy: "Really? The Tan'n'screen commercials!" g*n: " I saw you in bed." Cordy: "What?" Wesley: "Ah, I-I can see this is none of my business..." g*n: "You, too." Wesley: "Now, just a moment!" g*n: "In the hospital - after Angel's building blew? He sent me there to keep an eye on you two." Cordy: "Right." g*n: "I'm just messing with y'all. I was hoping for some demon fighting tonight, but I wound up with a delivery job instead. (Hands the talisman to Wesley) Angel said it might have something to do with the tribunal." Wesley: "Well, this could be an emblem, or - some sort of protective amulet." g*n points at the board: "These all the cases y'all got going? Isn't this the well oiled machine." Cordy: "We set them up, we knock them down. Or we did, until Angel knocked down the wrong... I'm sure he is getting on top of it now." Angel is leading the woman through the sewers. He stops and looks around. Woman: "What?" Angel: "This way." They come up through a grate into the basement of a building. Woman: "Where are we?" Angel: "Come on." The walk up the stairs into what looks like a deserted hotel lobby, the furniture covered with sheets. Woman, watching Angel look around: "You've been here before. - Uh! It feels creepy." Angel: "Yeah. What's the Tribunal?" Woman: "Some kind of otherworldly court. Supposedly they can save me and my daughter. You - you go before them, you got to have that charm... I don't know how it works. Kamal said that he was gonna be my champion. - You know what? Screw this! I'm getting out of town!" Angel: "No!" Woman: "Try and stop me." Angel: "They'll find you wherever you go. You have to stay with me." Woman: "You? You can't protect me!" Angel: "Yes, I can. We're gonna go to my friend's house. We're gonna get that charm and I'm gonna make this right, I promise. There is a gate in the back... (Hears some noise) go to the address I gave you. Go!" The woman runs as Angel is att*cked by two demons. Angel walks into Cordelia's apartment. Cordy and Wesley jump up from the table. Cordy: "Angel! Are you all right? (Takes in his appearance) What happened?" Angel: "Is she here?" Cordy: "The pregnant woman? No. - g*n, brought us the talisman, but..." Angel looks at Wesley. Wesley goes back to his books: "Working on it." Angel: "I told her to come here. - She doesn't trust me. - Why should she?" Angel hits the whiteboard. Cordy: "You can't see everything. You're just a vampire like everyone else... That didn't come out right." Angel: "I thought I was out of the tunnel." Angel slumps down on the sofa. Cordy: "Sure you did... because the tunnel is - you know, it's something we all... Are we talking real tunnel or symbolic? Just give me that much." Angel: "I-I saw the light at the end of the tunnel - that some day I might become human. - - That light was so bright, I thought I was already out." Cordy sits down beside him with a sigh: "Yeah. We all got a little cocky, didn't we? - It's gonna be a long while - until you work your way out - but I know you well enough to know you *will*. - And I'll be with you until you do." Angel: "What about your inevitable stardom?" Cordy: "I'm not saying I won't have a day job." Wesley: "I think we got something. It's medieval. A small badge or coat of arms, to be presented when going before the Cahair Binse. Roughly translated that's chair of judgement." Angel: "The Tribunal." Wes: "Right. An ancient court to settle grievances." Cordy: "You mean- with like lawyers and stuff." Wes: "This is a little more primitive. It's a fight to the death." Angel: "That's why she needed a champion. Where would this Tribunal take place?" Wes: "There is no way to tell. They're mystical events, they could rise up in our reality whenever they please." Angel: "Look, we got to find her right away - whatever it takes. - There's only one way." Angel singing: "Oh, Mandy. Well you came and you gave without taking, but I sent you away, oh Mandy. Well, you kissed me and stopped me from shaking. (The green, horned host is watching him sing) and I need you today, oh Mandy. (Angel looks around at the demons in the audience and his singing gets a lot worse) Well, you came and you gave.." Cordy sitting beside Wesley at a table: "That man will do anything to save a life." Finally the host goes up and takes the mike away from Angel as the song ends. Host: "Hey, how 'bout that. A performer. Why don't we just call him Angel, the vampire with soul. I'm gonna have a chat with Mr. Tall Dark and Rockin' and meanwhile, Durthock, the child-eater, is gonna open up to y'all. He's searching for the gorrishyn mage that stole his power and he's feeling just a little bit country. So, lets give him a hand." Host leads Angel off the stage. Host: "Well. You're just the hot ticket. One night only, two seats left, partially obstructed view." They sit down at a table. Angel: "What can you tell me?" Host: "I can tell you're all business." Angel: "She's in danger." Host: "And you're feeling pretty guilty about that. Hey, you made an honest mistake. You k*lled her protector. A lot of guys would have done the same. Of course now she's gonna have to face the judgement with no champion and that's looking grim for her and the baby." Angel: "Tell me where they are." Host: "Well. Who's a little curt? Who's a little curt Jurgens in 'The Enemy Below?' The Tribunal will be wherever she is. She can't escape it." Angel: "Where is she?" Host: "My question first. And answer true, because you know I'll know. Why Mandy?" Angel: "Well, I-I know the words - (leans in closer) - I kind of think it's pretty." Host smiling: "And it is, you great, big sap! There is not a destroyer of worlds that can argue with Manilow and good for you for fessin' up. She'll be at Forth and Spring. The trial will be there." Angel: "Trial? How does it work?" Host: "I can only tell you what I tell you. The rest is up to you." Angel gets up to leave. Angel: "Can I save her?" Host: "Try - and find out." The pregnant woman is hurrying down an almost empty street at night, one hand on her belly. Suddenly three stone thrones occupied by dark robbed figures rise out of the ground behind her. A horse whinnies and a knight in armor rides up the street towards them. The knight throws down a bronze disk. Judge: "Where is your champion?" Woman: "He's-he's d*ad." Judge: "You have no coat of arms and no champion?" Woman: "I ask for asylum." Judge: "Asylum is not ours to give. Two are chosen to meet in combat. One can save your life. One can take it. This is the ancient law. Your life is forfeit. You have no champion." The knight pulls his sword as the woman backs away. A bronze disk lands on top of the other one. Angel: "Yes, she does." Judge: "The trial by combat will begin." Woman walking beside Angel: "I really appreciate you coming through for us like this. But you know how you're not really good at anything? You sure you can do this?" Angel: "I grew up around horses." Woman: "How long has it been since you've ridden one?" Angel: "It's been a while. Don't worry. It's not something you forget. I can do this." The woman walks over to the side as Angel steps up close to the horse. Angel: "Nice horse. Try not to make me look stupid out there, okay? - Alright." Angel mounts the horse and take up the shield and lance. The middle judge drops a red cloth and the knight charges. Angel: "I guess that means go." They charge, clash, but though the demon gets knocked back he stays in the saddle. They turn and charge at each other again. Angel gets knocked clear off his horse and lands flat on his back on the street. Angel picks himself up and hurries to his horse to get his sword and mace while the other knight drops his lance pulls his sword and rides at him. Angel knocks him out of the saddle with one blow and they continue fighting on foot, sword to sword. After some fast and furious exchanges the demon knight turns Angel's sword so it s*ab Angel through the gut. Angel drops down onto his knees and one hand, the other clutching the sword. The demon knight turns towards the Tribunal. Judge: "The champion is defeated. She and all her issue are yours." The demon draws a Kn*fe and moves to slit the woman's throat as Angel gets up, pulling the sword from his body. Angel: "I move to appeal that ruling." He beheads the demon with one clean sweep. Then drops the sword and stands there, panting. Angel: "She's safe now, right?" Judge: "You have won. She is under our protection, as is her daughter until she comes of age." With that the Tribunal vanishes as if had never been. The woman: "You okay?" Angel straightens up, still panting, and limps off the street. Angel: "Yeah." Woman walking beside him: "You sure seem to bleed a lot." Angel: "It's part of the job." At Cordy's apartment Angel takes down the whiteboard. Wesley: "Good idea. Start over with a fresh slate." Angel: "Actually, we're starting over with no slate." Wesley: "Of course. We shouldn't be keeping score. We're not running a race - we're doing a job - one soul at a time." Angel: "You guys hold the fort. I've somewhere to be." Angel picks up the phone at a prison visitor booth. Angel: "Hey." Faith: "Hey." Angel: "How you doing?" Faith: "Pretty good, I guess. I did sign up for this." Angel: "Regretting the choice?" Faith: "Bad day. One of the girls in the yard tried to build a rep by throwing down with me. She had low self esteem, and a home-made Kn*fe, so.." Angel: "Oh. - Is she - you know - alive?" Faith: "She lives to tell the tale. Took the Kn*fe away - and I can't say much for the wrist it came in." Angel: "So you didn't k*ll her." Faith: "I really wanted to. - Took a big beating from the guards, too." Angel: "Sorry." Faith: "Earned worse. Guys like us kind of got it coming." Angel: "I had to sing Barry Manilow." Faith: "You're kidding." Angel: "In front of people." Faith trying not to laugh: "And here I am talking about my petty little problems." Angel: "Just wanted to give you a little perspective." Faith: "Copa cabana?" Angel: "Mandy. I don't wanna dwell on it." Faith: "The road to redemption is a rocky path." Angel: "That it is." Faith: "You think we might make it?" Angel: "We might. - - Food getting any better?" Faith: "You know, it's not that different from what I grew up on. It's a little one note. Eating the same thing every day." Angel: "I wonder what that's like." Faith: "Right.."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x01 - Judgement"}

foreverdreaming

Inside Cordelia's apartment. Wesley is holding a black and white photograph of a 1920's hotel building. Wesley: "The Hyperion Hotel. It appears to be abandoned." Angel: "68 rooms, 68 vacancies." Wesley hands the picture to Angel: "California Spanish, deco influence - I'd say built in the late 1920's" Angel: "That'd be my guess. It's just west of here in what used to be the heart of Hollywood. No telling how long it's been empty." Cordelia comes out of her kitchen carrying a tray with two cups and a tall glass on it and sets it down on the table. Wesley: "From the look of it - years." Angel: "Hmm." Cordy hands Wesley a cup: "English breakfast tea. (sets the other cup on the table) Coffee. (hands the tall glass to Angel) O-pos." Wesley sits down: "Do we suspect it's current condition is due to more than just the tourist trade drying up?" Angel: "Yeah." Angel looks at the dark liquid in his glass. Cordy: "Something the matter?" Angel: "I - uhm, I-I think its gone bad. It's starting to coagulate." Angel sets the glass down. Cordy: "Huh? (Cordy picks it up to take a closer look at it.) No. That's cinnamon. (Hands it back to Angel, who gives her a look.) What, I can't try something?" Wesley: "Uh, what's the interest?" Angel: "I need you two to look into the history of it. Find out who owns it now and why they are letting it stay empty like that." Wesley: "Who's the client." Angel: "There is no client. (Starts to leave) I'll check back with you later to see what you found out." Cordy sits down: "Cryptic much?" Wesley: "Angel, this is more than just a sudden interest in real estate." Angel putting on his jacket: "You'll have to access police files. Focus on cold cases, homicides, unsolved missing persons. Start at the beginning, take it up to the present day." Wesley: "You believe whatever made this place its home did so for some time." Angel: "Probably right up to the end." Cordy and Wesley look at each other as Angel walks out the door. Cut to a black and white sh*t of the hotel behind a fence with a sign reading "Melman Realty & Development 555-0157." The camera pulls closer, passing through the fence. Two old style cars drive down the street in front of the hotel as color slowly fades back into everything. Blend into a bellhop opening the door of the hotel - people walking through the lobby - pan over to the hotel's desk and the manager sorting through some envelopes while a bellhop leans on the counter beside him. Manager: "Returned mail from 315. Mr. Ferris really must stop writing to his mother postage-due. (The bellhop picks up the letters from the counter while the manager takes a bottle out of his jacket pocket) Mrs. Miggin's breakfast from Val's liquors. (Hands it to the bellhop) Make sure she makes this one last. They've cut off her credit... And (hands the bellhop a silver tray with a piece of paper on it) the weekly bill for 217." Bellhop: "W-w-why me? I did it the last time! (The manager is unmoved) Guy gives me the heebie-jeebies. - How about instead of this bill I deliver an eviction notice?" Manager: "We can not evict residents on the grounds of the heebie-jeebies. Now, if we did - we'd have to shut down, wouldn't we?" Bellhop: "Ever look into his eyes? - There's nothing there." The manager laughs at him and the bellhop reluctantly gets going. We see the elevator arrive and open on the second floor. The bellhop just stares down the dingy hallway until the door is about to close on him. Puts his hand between the doors, then takes a deep breath and holding the platter out in front of him slowly marches down the hall to 217. Takes another deep breath and knocks on the door ever so softly. Bellhop in low voice: "Hello. Bellman. Anybody home? - Okay, I guess you've gone out, so... (Hears a slight noise from inside the room and quickly sets the tray on the floor in front of the door) I'll just leave this, you know, outside your door, and you can pick it up when its, what you call, more convenient." Quickly heads back to the elevator, gets inside and repeatedly pushes on of its buttons. Bellhop: "Come on, come on, come on." The door of 217 opens and the bellhop glances around the closing doors as we see a hand pick up the bill. The camera pans up a pair of dark slacks to a red shirt hanging open over a white T-shirt and up to the man's face. It's Angel, with his hair slicked to the side. Intro. We see the outside of the abandoned Hyperion hotel during the day, then cut to the deserted lobby inside. It's the same place Angel found at the end of the last episode. Angel comes up out of the basement and looks around. We hear a tinny sounding voice, like from an old-style radio or television. Voice: " ...that I have to teach this committee the basic principles of Americanism..." Gavel bangs and another voice interrupts: "That's not the question! That's not the question. The question is: are you know or have you ever been a member of the communist party?" First voice as we go back in time to people watching the McCarthy hearings on television in the hotel lobby: "I'm framing my answer in the only way that an American citizen can frame his answer to this question..." Interrogator: "Then you don't deny..." First voice continuing: "...which is completely invasive..." Man waves dismissively and walks away from the others still watching. A guy runs after a young blonde storming across the lobby. Guy: "Ah, come on, honey! How do you think Lana Turner got started?" She keeps going - past Angel as he picks up a newspaper as he passes a table and glances through it while he walks across the lobby in the other direction. Bellhop as Angel passes him: "Uh, no messages for 217." Angel ignores him. The bellhop steps behind the counter as the manager rings the bell and hands something to a bellhop to take to 515 then returns to speak to someone standing in front of the counter. Manager: "Yes, I understand what the sign says, but it's wrong. We really have no vacancies at the moment." The camera pans around to reveal that he is talking to a well-dressed family of blacks. Father: "You're kidding. The sign is wrong. Sure it is. Come on" Camera pans past them to show us Angel stepping into the elevator, carrying the newspaper and a brown paper bag. He steps out of the elevator. There is a man in a suit standing in the hallway. Angel walks past him and takes out his keys as a door further down opens and two men step out. One fully dressed the other in a housecoat (looking vaguely like Rock Hudson), both of them laughing. Actor: "Oh, wait, wait. (Straightens the others jacket) There we go. You look awesome Larry. (They see Angel looking at them and they step apart and shake hands) Good night." Larry walks down the hall and Angel and Actor look at each other for a moment before they both step into their rooms. Angel drops his keys and newspaper onto a table and takes a bottle of blood out of the brown bag and sets it beside them. Goes to fill the ice-bucket out in the hallway. Sees a salesman standing in the hallway, talking to someone hidden around a corner. Salesman: "Yes. - Yes. - Yes. - I understand. - Of course. (We hear some overlapping whispering voices) I am." Angel fills his bucket and looks down the hall to see a guy banging on a door, when he looks back the Salesman is gone. Angel walks past the man, still standing in front of the closed door and enters his room. Locks the door, sticks the bottled blood into the bucket. Senses another presence in the room with him, and puts the lid on the bucket before turning around. A dark-haired young lady wearing a light floral dress steps out of the bathroom. Judy: "I'll be finished here in just two shakes, sir." Goes over to the bed to straighten the sheets. Angel: "You're not the maid." Judy: "I-I don't know what you mean." Angel: "You're not a maid in this hotel. There is no cleaning trolley outside the door. Those sheets are dirty. (Steps closer to her and she quits fiddling with the sheets) and you're the wrong color." Judy turns to face him: "I'm sorry. - Uhm, the door was open, and I was just... I-I didn't mean..." Angel: "I've got nothing here to steal." Judy: "No. I wasn't trying to steal from you. Honest. I can explain." Angel: "Not interested. Just go." Judy: "Uhm - I can't." Angel takes a hold of her arm and drags her towards the door: "I'll help you." Judy: "Uhm - uhm - my-my boyfriend, he's kind of the jealous type..." Angel: "Maybe you shouldn't go wandering into other men's rooms." Judy: "Wait, please! He can't find me." There is a scratching noise and Angel looks at the door. The lock is slowly turning. Angel pushes Judy against the wall so she'll be behind the door and opens it. The guy that was banging on the door in the hallway is kneeling on the floor a lock-pick in his hands. PI gets up: "Where is she? (Angel just looks at him) Look pal, this really isn't something you want to get involved in." Angel: "That's true. Which is why you're gonna turn around and go away." PI: "Sorry, I can't do that, partner. Because I know you're hiding her in there." Angel: "I'm not hiding anybody." PI: "No? - Then why don't you send her on out here. That way I don't have to come in there and get her." Angel: "You're not coming in here." PI gives a short laugh and takes off his hat. PI: "You won't mind if I just come in and take a look around then." PI pulls his jacket aside revealing a g*n in a holster. Angel looks at it, then back at the PI, finally he lets go of the door. The PI puts his hat back on and saunters into the room - only to have Angel slam the door against his face. The PI stumbles back holding his nose, groaning in pain. Angel: "Gee, I guess I do mind," The PI tries to go for his g*n, but Angel twists his arm up and takes a hold of his ear and escorts him down the hall to the elevator. The elevator opens just as they get there, revealing the bellhop and a cart of luggage. Angel throws the PI into the elevator. Angel: "He's going down." The bellhop, without saying a word pushes the down button as Angel walks back to his room and Judy standing just outside of it. Judy: "Gosh. I mean that was - Gosh. Listen. I know we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Judy." Angel walks past her and slams his door shut. Blend into the present day hallway and Angel looking at the door of the room he used to stay in. Wesley: "The hotel officially closed its doors on December 16th 1979. On that morning the concierge, Roland Meeks, made his morning wake-up calls with a twelve gauge g*n, room to room. It's been empty ever since." He sits down at the table in Cordy's apartment, next to Cordy who is sitting in front of a laptop. Cordy: "According to city records it was declared a protect historical landmark. The Property Management Company that owns it has been trying to unload it for ten years - no buyers." Wesley: "Mmm, no wonder. Even a cursory inspection of these records indicates a storied legacy of m*rder of mayhem dating back to the hotel's construction in '28, when a roofer leapt to his death taking two coworkers with him." Cordy: "Yeah that's all really interesting. What are we doing?" Wesley: "Doing?" Cordy: "Yes! You did notice that Angel neglected to tell us the, for instance, point of all this." Wesley: "Ah- well - I mean, clearly he has us compiling incidents - ah, arranging data, organizing information in such a way that (Cordy raises her eyebrows at him) yes, I-I did notice that, the no point thing. Frankly I haven't the slightest idea what to do with all this. (Cordy is looking through some old photographs and notices something on one of them.) We could make a collage - or a mobile." Cordy: "Wesley! (Shows him the photo) Look who was staying here in '52." Wesley spots Angel in the background of the picture. Wesley: "Well. Now we know one thing for certain." Cordy: "Yup. It's not that vampires don't photograph, it's just that they don't photograph *well*." Wesley: "I mean - that Angel had a personal connection to this place." Cordy: "So, why didn't he just tell us?" Wesley after a b*at: "Perhaps he was ashamed to." Back in '52 Angel is lighting a cigarette in his hotel room, and looks over towards the adjoining room where a jaunty song is playing. Singer: "Whoop-de-do, whoop-de-do, I hear a polka and my troubles are through..." Camera moves through the wall into the next room. Singer: "Whoop-de-do, whoop-de-do, this kind of music is like heaven to me, whoop-de-do, whoop-de-do, it's got me higher than a kite..." We hear some whispering voices as the salesman from earlier turns down the volume on the turntable. Singer: "Hand me down my soup and fish, I am gonna to get my wish..." Salesman straightens up: "Yes? (half heard whispering) Yes, I did. - Yes, I do." The salesman walks over to the table, lays his hat on it and picks up a g*n and inspects it. Cut to Angel pouring himself a glass of blood. Cut to the salesman sitting down on the edge of his bed. Singer: "...lead me to the floor and hear me yell for more, because I'm a whoop-de-doin' kind of guy..." The Salesman picks up a pillow then slowly slides down the side of the bed to sit on the floor. Chorus: "Whoop-de-do, whoop-de-do, I hear a polka and my troubles are through..." The salesman presses the pillow up against the side of his head. Cut to Angel about to take a drink from his glass when he hears a g*n coming from the next room, and the record gets stuck repeating 'got me higher than a kite' over and over. After only the slightest hesitation Angel sips his blood, no apparent emotion visible on his face. Break Angel walks down the hallway in the present. Pan to blend into the bellhop and the manager walking down the same corridor in '52 going the other direction. Bellhop: "She just started cleaning the rooms on this floor when she found him." Manager: "Did she touch anything?" Bellhop: "Consuela? Does she ever?" They enter the room of the salesman and see him lying by the bed. Manager: "Oh my goodness. This is the third one in as many months. Why can't they ever do it in their own homes, for god's sake?" Bellhop, chewing gum, steps closer, his hands in his pockets, to look down at the body. Bellhop: "I should have seen it coming. The guy did seem pretty depressed." Manager: "Oh, really? How could you tell?" Bellhop: "Kind of cheap, though. The death-wishers usually tip better. Like they know they're not gonna take it with them anyway? (The manager hears an indistinct whisper and steps closer to the camera as the bellhop continues in the background) See, if you look at the way this body is laid down - you can tell a lot about..." The whispering becomes clearer as the manager starts to listen to it. Demonic voice: "Three in three months. They'll shut you down." Manager: "Yes. They will." Bellhop: "So, who do you want me to call first - carpet cleaners or the cops?" Manger: "What?" Bellhop stepping closer: "Who do you want me to call first - carpet cleaners or the cops?" Manager: "Don't be mad. No one is calling anyone. They'll shut us down." Bellhop: "What about him?" Manager: "What about him? He's d*ad." Bellhop: "Well, we can't just leave him here." Manager on his way out the door: "No, of course not. We'll - ah, - we'll store him in the meat locker." Bellhop: "Store him? (the door closes behind the manager) We're gonna store him?" Guest talking to each other down in the lobby. Scriptwriter: "The candle salesman in 215 - sh*t himself." Actor: "Really. su1c1de?" Actress: "Right here in this hotel. And I hear they're not even going to report it." Actor: "That's terrible!" Writer: "What's so terrible? The guy punched his own ticket, why get outside parties involved?" Actor: "Are all screenwriters this crass?" Writer: "Are all actors this naïve? - Do you want the cops nosing around here asking questions, or the press?" Actor: "Well, nothing wrong with discretion, I suppose." Actress: "That's always been my moto." Camera pans over to an older man sitting on one of the sofas as we hear that whispering again. Demonic voice: "Maybe this wasn't a su1c1de. Are you sure you're safe here?" Cut to an observatory at night with people walking towards its doors. Judy walks down to where Angel is standing, smoking a cigarette, looking out over the valley below. Judy: "World ends in ten minutes. (Angel glances in her direction then ignores her) I saw you over here. I hope you don't mind. I thought I'd say hello. (Angel keeps looking out and she keeps talking to his back.) Hello. (laughs) Have you seen the show? (Angel takes a drag from his cigarette) - You should. It makes whatever - problems we have seem insignificant in comparison. - I mean, the entire universe explodes." Angel still with his back turned: "Sounds exciting." Judy shrugs: "Well, it's air-conditioned - and it's cheaper than going to the pictures. (Takes a deep breath) I had to get out of the hotel, after what happened." Angel: "He come back?" Judy: "Come back?" Angel: "Your boyfriend." Judy: "Oh - no. I-I mean the guy in 215. - You know he k*lled himself." Angel: "Yeah, I guess he did." Judy: "Can you imagine that wallpaper being the *last* thing you see before you go?" Angel: "Maybe it was the wallpaper that drove him to it." Judy: "Yeah. I sort of hate it there. - Well, - I-I guess it's nicer than - some places." Angel: "It's a place." Judy steps closer to him: "Listen, - uh - I know you didn't want to before, but - you helped me. You did. And - I-I needed to thank you for that." Angel looks down that turns to look back at her over his shoulder for the first time. Angel: "You're gonna miss the end of the world." Judy as Angel turns back away from her: "Right." After a b*at she turns and walks towards the observatory. Stops and turns back. Judy: "I'll see you around." Then she leaves for good. Angel looks after her: "Yeah." Cut to a series of black and white photos of the bellhop being led away in handcuffs. The last photo identical to the one accompanying a newspaper clipping held by Wesley with the heading of "Bellhop arrested for m*rder." Wesley: "Frank Gillnitz. He worked as a Bellman the year that Angel was in residence, we put him in '52." Cordy and Wesley are sitting on the floor in front of a bunch of folders laid out by year. Cordy: "But he wasn't ex*cuted until '54. Shouldn't we put him there?" Wesley: "He wasn't ex*cuted until '54, *but* the crime that he committed, the m*rder of the salesman and the storing of the body in the hotel meat locker *that* occurred in '52." Cordy: "It's kind of like a puzzle. The 'who died horribly because Angel screwed up 50 years ago' game?" Cut back to the residents discussing the salesman in the hotel lobby. Guy from the sofa: "So, we're sitting there having a drink, and the guy says to me 'do they serve peanuts at this bar.'" Actor: "So?" Actress: "So, the guy is supposedly suicidal and he's thinking about peanuts?" Actor: "Maybe he's craving something salty." Actress to writer sitting beside her: "He doesn't get it." Writer: "This wasn't a su1c1de." Actor: "I thought they found him with the g*n still in his hand and the door locked." Writer: "Exactly!" Actress: "It's *too* perfect." Writer: "Locked door mystery. I've written it a hundred times." Camera pans over to show Angel walking up the stairs behind them. Cut to Angel walking to his room. He's about to go in when a door a little ways down opens and Judy leans out. Judy: "Hey. Can you come in here for a second?" Angel steps into her room and she closes the door behind him. Judy: "Did you hear?" Angel: "Hear what?" Judy getting herself a cigarette: "The guy in 215 - it wasn't a su1c1de. He was m*rder." Angel: "I don't think so." Judy: "No, it's true. Which means there is going to be *police* - and-and questions, and-and I though that you'd want to know, in case, maybe (laughs) I'm not implying that *you've* got something to hide but..." Angel: "Everyone here's got something to hide." Judy: "Yeah. I just figured that I owed you a heads up, on account of what you did for me before. So..." Angel: "Thanks." Judy tries to light her cigarette but the match won't light, she gives up when it breaks. Judy with her back to Angel: "I guess if we left now it would look, I don't know, bad, huh?" Angel: "That all depends. This have anything to do with that *PI* I tossed out of here?" Judy turns to look up at Angel: "You knew he wasn't my boyfriend." Angel flicks his lighter for her and she lights her cigarette on it. Angel: "I had a hunch." Judy: "I'm pretty sure he works for my former employers, the City Trust Bank of Salina, Kansas. I was a teller there. (She goes over to the bed and pulls out a satchel from under it) I think maybe they want this back." She opens it and Angel takes a look inside. It's full of rolled bank notes, 1000 marked on each of the wrappers we can see. Judy: "I haven't spent any of it. Not a dime. I-I can't even bring myself to touch it." Angel: "Why take it?" Judy: "I don't know. I was angry - and I-I guess I panicked. I mean, things were going so well! I-I loved this job, and I loved this guy. - We were going to get married, and they found out about me at the bank, and so they fired me. And then Peter found out why and he broke it off and I just couldn't go back to where I came from. I just couldn't. So I took this and I-I just ran. (When Angel doesn't say anything) Aren't gonna ask me why they fired me?" Angel: "Why'd they f*re you?" Judy: "Because I'm not what I say I am. I've been passing since I was 15 years old." Angel: "Passing?" Judy nods: "For white. My mother was colored, my father - I didn't even know him! My blood isn't pure. - It's tainted." Angel steps closer with a slight smile: "It's just blood - Judy. - It-it's all just blood." Judy: "Nobody believes that! Not even my *mother's family*. I'm not one thing or the other. I'm nothing." Angel: "I know what that's like." Judy gets quite then puts a hand on her stomach: "Yes. Yes, I am. - I *am* something. (She sinks down in a chair and looks up at Angel) I'm a thief! (Gasps) I've never stolen anything before in my life. It's just - god, the things that they called me." Angel: "Fear makes people do stupid things." Judy: "It was stupid. And I wish I'd never done it." Angel: "I didn't mean you. I meant your former employers. They were afraid. That's why they fired you." Judy: "What am I going to do? I'm trapped!" Angel shakes his head: "You're not trapped." He walks over to the bag of money. Judy getting up: "I am! Look, if I leave now it'll look too suspicious, but if I stay here and the cops find this..." Angel: "They're not gonna find it. (Judy stares at him) 'Cause I'm gonna help you." Angel puts a hand on her back and leads her out of the room, the bag of money in his other hand. Cordy holding another newspaper clipping: "So where do we put her?" Wesley: "When did she die?" Cordy: "Uhm, it doesn't say. Just that she was being tracked by federal authorities for bank robbery, she checked into the Hyperion in '52 and was never heard form again." Wesley: "'52?" Cordy: "'52." Wesley puts the news clipping down on the 1952 folder. Its headline reads 'Search Called Off - Fugitive Woman Believed d*ad" next to a picture of Judy. Break Back in the past Angel is leading Judy down into the basement. Judy: "I guess I'll be okay down here. It's only for a few days. Just until the cops are gone." Angel: "Judy, there are no cops." Judy: "Well, not yet. Oh god, - I can't go to prison. It's just - I can't. Just the thought of being confined, trapped. It would be like death. No. No. It would be something worse than death. It'd be (while Judy paces and babbles, Angel hides the bag on top of some big round pipes running along the ceiling) it'd be - like - like being buried alive!" Angel hears the demonic whispering. Angel: "I want you to go back to your room and stay there. (Judy looks at him as he takes a few steps deeper into the basement) There is something in this hotel - something that's making people crazy." Judy: "Hey, do you think that if -if somehow - the money ended up on the banks doorstep, and they saw that I didn't spend any of it, you think they'd call off that detective? Maybe I could be free of this whole thing." Angel still looking around and hearing the whispering: "Maybe." Judy: "I mean, there is such a thing as forgiveness, right?" Angel looks at her. Blend to Angel in the present, down in the basement. He pulls over a chair, steps on it and pulls an extremely dusty moneybag down from the where he hid it in '52. All the money is still in it, untouched. Suddenly we hear the same whispering start that we heard in the past. Wesley: "I can sense it. There is a pattern here. - Some force was residing at the Hyperion over the last decades, affecting staff and residents. - I just fear there is no real way to..." Cordy stepping up next to him: "A Thesulac (Wesley stares at her) paranoia demon. Whispers to its victims, feeds on their innate insecurities. (Wesley is speechless. Cordy pulls out the cordless from behind her back and holds it out to him) Angel wants to talk to you." Wesley makes a face and takes the phone. Cordy turns away with a big grin on her face. Wesley: "Hello?" Cut to Angel in the hotel lobby, phone scrunched between ear and shoulder working on the open fuse box. Angel: "A Thesulac demon claimed this place even before they started building it. (Some electrical sparks fly) I thought if I had you trace the events we could track it and find out where it went, but it's still here. (more sparks fly - then the lights come on) Alright, I want you and Cordy down here asap. And page g*n, we're gonna need all the muscle we can get when we raise this thing." Wesley: "Raise it?" Angel: "We have to force it to become corporeal in order to k*ll it." Wesley: "Right. Thesulac. You'll want me to research the raising ritual." Angel: "Already done it." Cut back to the past, downtown Hollywood, night. A bookstore owner is sitting listening to a radio program with a laugh-track. Denver: "They keep calling her a zany redhead. Could be a brunette for all *I* can tell. I guess I'll just have to take their word for it." He looks up and there is Angel standing on the other side of the counter. Angel: "You Denver?" Denver: "No other cat but me. What can I do you for?" Angel: "I need information on demons." Denver gets up and walks around the counter: "Do you now, daddy?" Angel: "Everything you got on possessing entities, demonic suggestions, exorcisms, cleansing rituals." Denver: "Try this one." Denver picks up a book and tosses it to Angel. As Angel catches it, smoke begins to rise from his hands. It's a Holy Bible. Angel drops it and stares at Denver wearing his vamp-face. Denver quickly pulls out a cross and a wooden stake out of one of the bookshelves and hurries through the apparently empty store to the open front door. Denver: "That's right. Run coward of the night! And tell your buddies I'm thinking very seriously about putting down my bedroll right here, so you bastards can't just walk in here uninvited! You got any idea who you're dealing with?" As some passers by stare at him, Angel comes up behind him and grabs him in a neck lock. Angel: "I know you got a reputation, that's why I'm here. Now, it’s been a long time since I've opened a vein, but I'll do it you pull any more of this van Helsing jr. crap with me. Are we clear? I want the books in the back." With that he lets the guy go. Cut to the hotel manager reading the Los Angeles Times. The bellhop comes in. Manager: "What took you so long?" Bellhop: "He wouldn't fit." Manager drops his newspaper and gets up: "What?! What did you do with him?" Bellhop: "Well, he's in there. I just had to sorta, what you call, make him fit. No chance I'd get in trouble for that, is there?" Manager: "Don't be paranoid." Camera starts to focus on the guest still arguing in the lobby. Writer: "You had more reason to m*rder him than anyone else here." Actor: "What? I didn't even know the man!" Writer: "That's what you say, but maybe he saw you with one of your little trysts! Maybe he thr*at to tell the studio. Expose perhaps your little peccadilloes to the press?" Actor: "Don't you dare use alliteration with me, you hack! You're just mad because the studio won't take your phone call, comrade!" Writer: "Pansy!" Actor: "Red!" Manager coming up to them: "What seems to be the trouble?" Actress: "There is a m*rder in this hotel." Old guy: "And we're gonna find out who." Cut to Judy sitting in her room with a book. She starts to hear whispering and closes the book. Demonic voice: "They know about you. They'll turn you in. (Judy gets up) You'll go to prison. How long do you think someone like you would last in prison?" Judy closes the window and we hear no more words but the whisper is still there. Cut to Denver and Angel in his back room, filled with books. Denver: "So you were what, about my age when you where made?" Angel: "I don't know. How old are you?" Denver: "Just north of thirty." Angel: "No! - This Thesulac demon, how do I k*ll it?" Denver: "You don't. You run away from it." Angel: "There's got to be a way to k*ll it." Denver: "Well, - first you got to make it fat - corporeal. But that only happens after it's had a nice big feed - or if you raise it, but *that's* tricky and dangerous." Angel: "How?" Denver: "The incantation's there in the book, but you're gonna need an orb of Ramjarin. Now I have one I can let you have for cheap." Angel: "For free." Denver goes to get it: "For free. (Sets the orb next to Angel) Uh, you'll also need (adds them to the orb) sacred herbs - divining powder (adds that) and - something really big to h*t it with." Angel: "And that'll k*ll it?" Denver looking around his shelves: "Well, it might. Wouldn't hurt to have a lightning strike, you know, finger of heaven kind of thing. But short of that (pulls out a fighting ax) I'd go with something big and heavy." Angle takes the ax: "Pack it up." Denver as he bags the supplies: "A vampire wanting to slay a demon in order to help some grubby humans? I just don't get it." Angel grabbing the bag: "To be honest, I'm not sure I do either." Manager: "Right! You once asked me where you could purchase a g*n." Actress: "That was for protection." Actor: "Protection perhaps from a salesman who was ready to turn you in for solicitation?" Bellhop to the manager: "He sh*t himself, remember?" Manager: "Did he? Where you there?" Bellhop: "It was Consuela! She's the one that found him!" Old man: "Yeah, she could have found him and then sh*t him." They all argue as once. Voice yelling: "Hey!" They all fall quiet and turn to the door where the guy Angel threw out (his nose taped up) his holding up a badge. PI: "The name's C. Mulvihill, P.I." Writer: "He looks suspicious." PI holds up a picture of Judy: "I'm looking for this woman." Angel enters the hotel carrying the ax and a paper bag. He notices that the lobby is deserted. A door closes and he looks around at the door - where (back in the present) Wesley, Cordy and g*n just walked into the lobby. Angel: "Lets do this." Cordy sprinkles some powder on a landing of the steps leading up. Wesley: "We call thee forth, Thesulac of the netherworld, we command you, leave our minds and join us on this, the physical plane." Wesley holds out a hand to where g*n is fiddling with a backpack and snaps his fingers. Wesley: "Orb of Ramjerin." g*n: "Orb of Ramjerin please, makes it happen." Wesley drops his hands: "Please! And do be careful. Ancient conjuring orbs are notoriously fragile." g*n tosses the orb to Wesley and Wesley has to drop the book and crouch down to catch it. Wesley: "Angel!" Angel: "Guys, don't listen to it, alright? What ever it's whispering to you, just ignore it." Cordy: "They were like this - all the way over here in the car." Angel: "Oh." Wesley holding up the now glowing orb: "We invoke the by the power of the orb of priests of Ramjerin. What was once in our thoughts, be now in our midst." The air above the stair landing begins to shiver and bulge. Cut to Angel stepping out of the elevator back in '52. The far hallway is full of angry people clustered around Judy. Old man: "What gives you the right to hide out up here?" Judy trying to wiggle free of their grip: "Please stop it, you're hurting me." Actress: "We're gonna do more than that if you don't start telling us everything." Actor: "We know about you, missy." Manager: "The name you registered under is a fake! We have proof!" Angel slowly walks towards them passing two guys leaning against the walls of the hallway. Actress: "Who knows what else she's lied about, the little slut!" Judy: "I didn't mean anything, please, I'm sorry!" Old man: "Now you're sorry! I thought you didn't have anything to be sorry for!" Angel drops the ax and the bag and starts walking faster as the commotion escalates. Actress: "Stop lying!" Manager: "Come on!" Judy: "It wasn't me! It wasn't me! (She sees Angel and breaks free of their grip, tears streaming down her face she takes a couple of running steps towards him.) It was him! (Angel stops d*ad) Look in his room! Go ahead, look! He's got blood! He's a monster!" Everyone falls silent, staring at Angel. The bellhop, holding Angel's paper bag, and the PI holding the dropped ax come up behind him. PI: "What kind of maniac are you?" As Angel turns around to look at him, the PI hits Angel in the chin with the handle of the ax, then smashes it into his back, knocking him down. Everyone jumps on the downed Angel, hitting and screaming, while Judy stands staring, her face wet with tears. Angel makes no attempt to fight back, just looks at Judy, whose form slowly blurs before his eyes as the mob continues to b*at on him. Break. The mob, still in a frenzy, is dragging Angel out onto the open hallway above the back of the lobby, pushing him up against the railing. The bellhop hurries halfway down the steps to get a better view. Manager: "Get him over there!" Bellhop: "Ha-ha, we got you now! (Slaps the banister) Come on! String him up! String him up!" Somebody throws a rope over a rafter and slips the noose at one end of it around Angel's neck while the other is being tied to the railing, with the whole crowd screaming encouragement. Angel looks over at Judy, who is still sobbing as the others yell and scream for his death. They set him on top of the railing. Bellhop from the stairs: "Good. Push him. Come on! Push him out! Push him out!" The PI and the old man push Angel of the banister and he drops until he hits the end of the rope. Judy lets out a scream while the mob cheers and the bellhop laughs. Suddenly they all fall silent, staring. You can hear Judy sob. Bellhop: "Yeah! Swing, you freak! Yea, that's right, you had that coming, ha ha ha!" The crowd silently and quickly melts away as the rope with Angel, eyes closed, at the end of it slowly stops swinging. Manager leaning on the railing: "Oh, my lord. What have we done?" Bellhop still chewing his ever-present gum: "What?" Judy turns and walks away, still sobbing. Bellhop hurries up the stairs: "What's wrong?! - I don't get it. Come on! (Comes to stand next to the manager, who's still staring down at Angel hanging there) Where is everybody going? Come on! (Looks down at Angel as the manager walks off) It's just a - what do you call... (looks around sees that he's now alone and runs off)." As soon as he is gone Angel's eyes snap open. He takes a hold of the rope above his head and pulls himself up, pulls the noose from around his neck and drops down to the lobby floor, catching himself on his hands. As he straightens up the air on the stairs begins to shiver and bulge and the Thesulac becomes corporeal. Ugly gray faced demon in a long hooded cape with tentacles sticking out form under it like a fringe. Thesulac: "Well, I don't know about you (laughs) but I'm stuffed! God I love people! - Don’t' you? (Laughs) they feed me their worst and I kind of serve it right back to them, and the fear and prejudice turns to certainty and hate, and I take another bite and mmm-mmm-mmm! (Laughs) What a beautiful, beautiful dance! (Moves down from the landing towards Angel) Oh, you got your feelings hurt, didn't you? See now what happens when you stick your neck out for them? They throw a rope around it! (Angel starts to walk towards the door) And you thought you'd made a friend. News flash! You *had*! (Angel stops but doesn't turn around) That's what made her the *yummiest* morsel of all. (Laughs) You reached her, buddy! Restored her faith in people. Without you she would have been just another appetizer. But you plumped her up good! Now, she's a meal that's gonna last me a lifetime! (Laughs then drifts closer towards Angel's back) Hey, you know what? There is an entire hotel here just full of tortured souls that could really use your help. - What do you say?" We hear some indistinct whispering, then nothing but the sound of the demons tentacles whipping back and forth as it waits for Angel's answer. Angel without turning around: "Take them all." The demon begins to laugh and repeats Angel's 'take them all,' while Angel walks out the front of the hotel. Flash cut to the demon in the present, manifesting before Wesley and the others with a scream. Angel: "Watch his tentacles." Cordy: "Excuse me?" Wesley: "Tentacles!" Cordy: "Oh." Thesulac to Angel: "I don't remember ordering take-out, but I like what you brung me. Not as delectable as the last one perhaps but full of tasty paranoia just the same. (laughs then indicate Wesley) especially *that* one!" Wesley looks over at Angel and Cordy: "What did he mean by that?' Angel: "You had your last meal here a long time ago. You should have gotten out when you had the chance." Thesulac drifts closer to Angel: "Got out? Now, why would I wanna do that? When the room service in this hotel is *still* excellent. Has been for 50 years. Paranoia here - is like fine wine." Angel quietly: "It gets better with age. (demon grins in his face) You're still feeding. g*n!" g*n aims his crossbow and pins one of Thesulac's tentacles to the banister of the stairs. The Thesulac wraps one of his other tentacles around g*n's hand holding the crossbow and tosses him against the wall. g*n drops to the floor and looks back up at the demon. Cordy and Wesley run in different directions and while the demon is distracted Angel jumps into a forward roll, grabbing a hold of one of the demon's other tentacles. Angel as he rolls back to his feet with it in his grip: "The kitchen is closed." He shoves the end of the tentacle against the exposed wires in the fuse box. There is an expl*si*n of sparks and blue electricity runs up the tentacle and wraps around the demon. All four of the stand and stare as the Thesulac hangs in the air, screaming after a while there is an expl*si*n of white light and the Thesulac is gone. Wesley: "What did he mean, especially *that* one?" Angel heads up the stairs as the others watch from below. He enters Judy's old room and finds her (now and old woman) sitting in a chair. Angel: "Judy." Judy: "I don't hear them anymore. - Are they gone?" Angel comes to stand in front of her: "Yeah." He gets down on one knee in front of her and slowly reaches for her hand. Judy smiling at him: "It's you." Angel smiles back her ever so slightly: "Yeah, Judy. It's me." Judy reaches up to touch his face: "You look the same." Angel: "I'm not." Judy: "They k*lled you - because of *me*. (Angel shakes his head at her) I k*lled you." Angel shaking his head: "No. No. No." Judy: "He kept them from the door. He told me I'd be safe. - Am I safe?" Angel: "You're safe." Judy: "Can I go out now?" Angel: "Yeah. You can go out." Judy gives him a big smile and starts to get up from her chair. Angel helps her up. Angel: "Let me help you." Judy as Angel helps her over to her bed: "I just - I need to take a little rest first. Just a little rest." Angel: "Easy." He lowers her onto the bed. Judy holding on to his hands: "I'm so sorry I k*lled you. Can you forgive me?" Angel looks down at her: "Of course." Judy: "I'm just going to rest. Just for a minute - and then - I'm going to go out." Judy closes her eyes and dies. Wesley, Cordy and g*n are sitting around at the bottom of the stairs waiting for Angel. Wesley: "I've been accused of a great many things in my time, but *paranoid* has never been one of them." g*n shakes his head and looks over at Cordelia. Wesley: "Unless people been saying it behind my back." Angel comes down the stairs. g*n: "You all right, man?" Angel: "Yeah." Cordy: "We finished?" Angel: "I think so." Cordy: "Good. Because I for one will be *glad* to see the last of this place. Gives me the heebie-jeebies." g*n: "No lie. Plus it kind of got an odor to it. You notice that?" Cordy: "70 years of v*olence, mayhem and paranoia - bad vibes." Angel: "We're moving in." Cordy: "I mean, a few throw pillows what's not to love?" Wesley: "Angel, surely you more than anyone must appreciate, how for the better part of the last century this place has been host not only to a malevolent demonic presence, but the very worst faces of humanity! - This is a house of evil." Angel still looking around the hotel: "Not anymore." Wesley takes a look around himself then leans in closer to Angel. Wesley: "Angel - you don't - find me - especially paranoid, do you?" Angel: "Not especially." Wesley: "Oh, thank god! - I was worried."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x02 - Are You Now Or Have"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: g*n to vampire: "You expecting somebody else?" Angel: "We're fighting on the same side. Why can't we do this together?" g*n: "I'm always on my own." Alonna: "You won't be happy until you get as close to death as you possibly can." g*n: "It's not gonna happen little sister." Alonna morphing into vamp-face and reaching up to bite and turn g*n. g*n saying "Good-bye, Alonna" as he stakes her. Vamp.Alonna dusting. g*n to Angel: "I k*lled her. She was the reason, man." Dennis face bulging out the wall in Cordy's apartment. Angel: "It's haunted." Cordelia: "It's rent controlled!" Cordy: "I have a roommate, but it's cool. I never see him. (covers the phone) Hey, Hey! Phantom Dennis, put that back!" The light expl*si*n after the vampire dust gets sucked into the box during the raising ritual. Holland to Lindsey: "We'll even the score with him - beginning with what's in that box." Lilah: "We're all very pleased you're here - Darla." Darla: "He's here." Lindsey: "Angel." Darla: "I'd love to see that boy." Karaoke host to Angel: "Uh, 'Send In the Clowns' and 'Tears of a Clown' both in one night. What a treat." Angel: "Well, I was sort of going for a, you know, medley kind of thing." Host: "Yeah, yeah. Well, more of a duo-dley, really, wasn't it?" Angel: "I-I couldn't come up with a third." Host: "Still, I've never seen you open up like that. Now, tell the truth. You've been practicing, haven't you?" Angel: "A little." Host: "Probably not in front of the mirror." Angel: "In the shower." Host: "And it so shows." Angel: "You think?" Host: "Yeah. You really put your heart into it. Question is - what happens to it now?" Angel: "It?" Host: "Your heart, you big softie. - It may not be beating but it can still break." Angel: "What do you mean?" Host: "Just that you've come to a *bend* in your own personal uphill road, bro. Whether or not that slows you down... Well, that's up to you. (The host turns away from Angel as we hear the noises of the bar for the first time and music starts to play) Because (starts singing ) there are hills and mountains between us always something to get over. (Angel wanders away from the side of the stage, preoccupied) If I had my way, surely you would be closer. (Angel looks up and stops as he sees Darla smiling at him from where she stands by the bar) Oh, I need you closer. You can windsurf into my life, (Angel walks over to Darla) take me up on a carpet ride..." Angel puts his hands on Darla's waist and pulls her closer. Angel: "Darla. (slight laugh) I was afraid you weren't coming." Darla: "Mmm, don't be silly, silly! I've been here the whole time." Angel: "You have?" Darla: "Ah-mm, just waiting for you. (Angel smiles) Aren't you going to ask me to dance?" After a b*at Angel leads her out onto the floor with a smile. Host singing: "I don't care how you get here, just get here if you can." He continues to sing as Angel and Darla slow dance in the suddenly deserted bar. Host: "I need you, right here, right now, right by my side, ye-ah, ye-ah." Angel his forehead leaning against Darla's: "I still can't believe you're here. I mean - I k*lled you." Darla: "I'm over that. - You haven't told anyone else about these dates of ours, have you?" Angel pulling back a little: "No. I want you all for myself." Darla: "I know how you feel." Angel: "It's so strange." Darla: "But good." Angel: "But good." They kiss as the song ends. Host: "Somebody get these two love-vamps a room!" And we go from Angel and Darla kissing to Angel asleep in his bed with a dreamy smile on his face. He wakes, blinking his eyes and looking around. Puts a hand to his forehead, and swallows. Intro. The Hyperion. Cordelia is dusting by the stairs. Wesley is behind the receiving desk. Cordy: "Oh, this place is never gonna get clean." Wesley: "Buck up. It's just a little dust." Cordy: "This isn't mere dust. This is 'son of dust.' This is the kind of dust that spawns countless generations of little baby dust. - I give up." Wesley: "Very well. We'll just move our offices back to your living room." Cordy: "And I'm dusting." Front door opens. g*n: "Where's Angel?" Cordy: "I believe the word is 'hello?'" g*n: "Yeah? 'cause I thought 'where is Angel' summed it up. We got work to do." Cordy: "He's still sleeping." g*n: "Sleeping? It's 3:30 in the afternoon. I've been up since dawn!" Cordy coming to stand next to Wesley: "Sort of missing the whole 'creature of the night' angle, isn't he?" g*n: "I knew I said 4 o'clock." Wesley: "You had an appointment?" g*n: "He didn't brief you? - Angel promised to back me up. We're meeting a snitch downtown. This guy has a line on Deevak." Wesley: "Deevak?" g*n: "Demon. He set up camp in my neighborhood. He put to of my men in the hospital last night. So could one of you go in there and knock on his coffin?" Cordy: "He doesn't use a coffin. And maybe you've never heard the expression 'let sleeping vampires lie?' - He'll rise on his own. He always does. - Maybe we can help?" g*n: "You two? I find Deevak I'm gonna need more than C3po and 'stick figure Barbie' backing me up. No offence." Wesley: "Very little taken." g*n: "Deevak is a bad-ass. I'm gonna need the serious muscle." The door opens and Nabbit steps in, wearing his blue silk cape and swinging a sword. Nabbit: "Demons of the underworld be ware - your time on the surface is drawing nigh!" Cordy smiling: "David, hi!" Nabbit runs up to them: "I got here as quick as I could." Cordy: "We paged you two days ago." Nabbit: "I was in Kuala Lumpur. Hostile take-over. (Whips his sword up at g*n) Ah, identify yourself, traveler. Are you also a fellow demon k*ller?" g*n bats the sword away: "Who is this guy?" Wesley: "David Nabbit, meet Charles g*n. g*n, Nabbit." Nabbit: "Ha, pleasure's all mine. - So, - where is Angel?" Cordy: "Actually, he's still kind of sleeping." Nabbit: "At 3:30? I've been up since dawn!" Angel comes down the stairs: "Sorry I'm late." Nabbit sword back in hand: "Ah! I stand ready to fight the good fight, sir! What do you need?" Angel: "Financial advice." Nabbit blinks: "Okay. Good." Angel: "We're making this hotel our new base of operations. Right now we're leasing it for six months with an option to buy." Nabbit: "And how much are you willing to put down?" Cordy: "'Nothing' - would be good." Nabbit shrugs: "Oh. That's easy. You could look into seller financing, take over the owner's payments and skip the bank completely, or you could make a play for a preservation grant. Offer to restore the original décor and get the city and the feds to give you a tax break and a loan at a sweetheart rate. Or you could apply for an FHA and get a PMI in lieu of a down payment." Cordy: "Is anybody else getting warm? (Nabbit looks at her) Do that 'tax breaks,' FHA and PMI part again." Nabbit looks form Cordy to Angel a couple times. g*n to Angel: "I-I'll have my money guy run up some numbers for you." Angel: "Thanks." Nabbit nods then runs up the stairs to the doors. Stops and turns with a big smile on his face. Nabbit: "Is this demon fighting cool or what, huh?" Leaves. g*n as Angel goes to pour himself a cup of coffee: "What are you doing, man? We need to move on this." Angel: "Relax. We'll make it." g*n: "Relax? Every time you ask me for a favor I'm right there. First time a need your help, you snoozing the afternoon away. What's up with that?" Angel hands Cordy his car keys: "Cordy, you're driving." Cordy: "Me? Drive your car? (Angel nods) So cool." Angel: "Wesley, we're gonna need some bribe money, some cash in the box." g*n: "Hey, wait a minute." Angel: "I thought you wanna move on this?" g*n: "Which is why we're not taking these two. They'll slow us up." Angel grabbing his coat: "We go up against Deevak we're gonna need the entire team. (to Cordy) Pick me up in the back, in the shade." g*n stands there shaking his head as Angel walks out the back and Cordy and Wesley head for the front doors. Wesley: "g*n." Angel's car pulls up in a parking garage and Cordy and Wesley get out, followed by Angel and g*n. g*n looking around: "We're too late. He split." Cordy: "Maybe he heard what a pleasant person you were to be around." Angel looking around: "There." A short black kid slowly peeks out from behind a van. Jameel: "One of you g*n?" g*n: "That's me. You Jameel?" Jameel come out from behind the van. Angel throws an envelope at him and he catches it. Angel: "Here's the money." Jameel throws it at g*n's feet: "Keep it. I changed my mind." g*n picks up the money: "You don't want this - your choice. But you're gonna tell me where to find Deevak." Jameel: "Hey, man, the only reason why I showed is 'cause I know you got a rep, and I aint looking to make no new enemies. But on this Deevak situation I just can't help you. He'll know it was me. Demon's got eyes and ears all over the place, not to mention teeth! There's a good chance that he had some vamps tail me over." g*n looks around: "I don't see none." Jameel: "Good. I'm just here to pay my respects and be off the streets before sundown like my momma taught me." g*n: "You want to make it home at all you're gonna start telling me what you know." Jameel: "Look man, I'm sorry. But Deevak scares me a lot more than you do." g*n hands the envelope to Angel then whips around and knocks Jameel down. Cordy: "g*n!" Angel: "Hey!" g*n kicks the fallen Jameel: "Are you scared of me now?" Angel steps between them: "What are you doing?" g*n: "What I got to do. I got people dying!" Jameel: "Man, I didn't do anything!" g*n pushes past Angel and pulls Jameel up. g*n: "You think I care? Survival of the fittest, bro. And right now you ain't looking too fit." g*n pulls his fist back to h*t a cowering Jameel, but Angel catches it. Angel: "Easy." g*n: "Let go man. This is my case." Angel: "It was. Now it's mine." They stare at each other, when a door opens and some vamps rush in. Wesley: "Angel!" Jameel: "Oh, man. See I told you I was being watched!" Jameel pulls himself free and disappears, the others turn to confront the vampires. The three guys take one vampire each while Cordy dances around with stake in hand swinging at the backs of the fighting vamps. On her second try she stakes Wesley's vamp just as it is about to jump on a downed Wesley then gives him a hand up. Angel and g*n continue to fight their vamps, both doing about equally well. Blend to show the stake lying between three piles of dust and our four heroes sitting with their back leaned against Angel's car. Cordy: "I'm so sick of dust." Angel: "I can't lift my arm all the way." g*n: "That vamp did a number on my ribs." Wesley: "I'm afraid I threw my back out again. (Pulls a smashed pager out of his back pocket) Ach, lovely!" Drops it. Cordy: "Ach! Grease stains! All over my new outfit. (Angel and g*n look at her) Okay, so maybe my pain isn't physical, but do you have any idea of the dry cleaning bill I'm looking at?" g*n: "We're still no closer to finding Deevak." Wesley: "Probably for the best." g*n: "How you figure?" Wesley: "Well, we're hardly prepared to face a demon of Deevak's caliber in our current condition." g*n: "You ready to pack it in? Only reason I called you was because you all supposed to be the demon experts." Angel: "Wesley's right. Three vamps, we should have been able to take them all a lot easier and faster than we did. We need to regroup." g*n gets up: "Maybe the rest of you need a little down time. I'm gonna track down Jameel and make him talk." Cordy: "When you do find him, you may wanna be a little more Guy Pierce in L.A Confidential and less Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs?" g*n: "I haven't bothered to see a movie since Denzel was robbed at the Oscars for Malcom X. - Later." g*n leaves. Wesley: "That was quite a performance." Cordy: "I know! Talk about being wound up to tight." Wesley: "No. I-I mean Denzel." Cordy: "Oh. Well, he is always great." Wesley to Angel: "What about you?" Angel: "Who doesn't love Denzel?" Wesley: "No! I mean - what you said before. It's true. I've never seen you have so much trouble with a simple vampire before." Angel: "Off day. Lets go." Night. The Hyperion. Cordy pulls up with Angel beside her in the convertible (top now down). Cordy: "Home sweet hotel." Angel: "Just bring the car back tomorrow." Cordy: "You sure you gonna be okay?" Angel: "Yeah, I'll be fine. I just need to get some sleep." Cordy as Angel gets out: "That seems to be all you've been doing lately. Not that I'm judging!" Angel: "Good night." Cordy calls after him: "Sleep tight! (adds quietly) don't let the bed bugs bite." Cordy walks into her living room carrying a book and a cup. Cordy: "Jeez, Dennis, it's like a meat locker in here. Don't tell me you turned down the thermostat again." The thermostat moves from 50 to 75. Cordy curls up in a chair: "Thank you. - What is it with ghosts and cold rooms?" She gets h*t by a vision. Cordy: "Oh, what... Oh, no!" She gets h*t by the second part of it, and this time we see a blurry picture of g*n fighting something we can't see. Cordelia drops to the floor holds up one hand. Cordy: "Dennis, phone!" The cordless jumps into her hand. Angel lies curled up in bed as the phone laying on the nightstand rings. Angel: "What's that ringing?" He and Darla are lying out in the 'moon' in a couple of lawn chairs, wearing bathing suits and sunglasses. Darla: "Nothing, darling. It'll stop." Angel: "Where is it coming from?" Darla: "Ignore it." She takes a piece of ice out of her drink and draws a line with it down the middle of Angel's chest. He starts to laugh. Angel: "Why are you so good to me - after everything I did?' Darla: "Because - you and I are one. (she draws the ice cube across Angel's lips. The phone stops ringing) See? I told you it would stop." She leans down and they kiss. Cordy to phone as she paces: "Wesley? Where are you? Are you there? Wesley? Ugh! Where are you guys? God. I don't know what I should do. I had a vision. It's g*n. He's in trouble. I-I think it's bad. Oh, god, where are you guys? I don't know what to... Okay, I'm going over there. When you get this message, get Angel and meet me at g*n's, okay?" Hangs up the phone and grabs her purse, heads for the door, stops. Cordy: "I need a w*apon. (Takes an axe out of the closet and shoves it in her purse) Okay. I'm gonna die. (Heads for the door) I'm gonna die." Angel's convertible pulls up in front of g*n's place. Cordy jumps out and runs in. Axe in hand, she heads down a dimly lit corridor. Cordy: "g*n?" She hears the sound of w*apon clashing coming from the laundry room. Sees g*n fighting someone with quarterstaffs through the window in the door. Runs in and hits the other guy over the head from behind with the axe. Guy holds his head: "Ow!" g*n rips the axe out of Cordy's hand: "Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing?" Cordy: "Saving you from a k*ller demon!" There is the sound of laughter. Cordy turns around and sees the rest of g*n's g*ng sitting there watching. Cordy: "Not a demon?" g*n shakes his head. Cordy: "I didn't just save your life?" Back to Angel sleeping. He comes up behind Darla and wraps his arms around her. Angel: "What are you thinking about?" We hear a soft knocking in the background. Darla: "You. - Us." Angel: "You seem sad." Darla: "It's just - I have to go." Angel: "Where?" Darla: "Away." Angel: "I'll go with you." Darla: "You can't. I'm in danger." Angel: "I'll protect you." She turns around in his arms as the knocking becomes the sound of hammering. Darla: "You're too busy protecting everyone else." They almost kiss, but the hammering gets louder and they look over to see Wesley putting a nail into an upright coffin. Angel: "Wesley? - Stop it!" Angel looks around for Darla, but she is gone. He turns back to find himself face to face with Wesley. He grabs him by the throat and throws him backwards on the floor - in reality. Angel: "You made her go away." Wesley in choked voice: "Angel, it's me!" Angel: "What are you doing here?" Wesley: "g*n's in trouble. Can't breathe." Angel: "g*n can't breathe?" Wesley: "I can't breathe." Angel jumps off him: "Oh, sorry." Wesley leans back taking deep breaths: "Oh, it's quite alright. (Looks up at Angel) Now about the naked thing..." Angel looks down at himself: "I'll get dressed." Wesley: "Much appreciated." Angel offers his hand to help Wesley up. Wesley: "Uh, no, no." Gets up without help. Cut to Cordy bandaging the head of the guy she just att*cked. Cordy: "Okay. There you go. Good as new." Guy: "I think you cracked my skull." Cordy: "Well, that's new, right?" g*n heads towards the door. Cordy: "Hey wait a minute. Where are you going?" g*n: "Walking you to your car. You're going home." Cordy picks up her axe and purse and hurries after him. Cordy: "You know you can't just dismiss me like that. I know what I'm talking about." g*n: "Oh, you mean like you knew Joey was a demon?" Cordy: "That was an honest mistake. I was just trying to help you." g*n: "Thanks for the help. Always enhances a guy's rep when some skinny white beauty queen comes to his rescue - in front of his crew!" Cordy: "Whether you wanna believe it or not, you are in big time danger. I'm vision girl. I saw you. You were at the end of your world, fighting for your life. You were so scared!" g*n: "See, now I know you're tripping, 'cause I don't get scared." Cordy: "Well, I do! The things I've seen, sometimes they get downright terrifying. And right now, I am scared for *you*!" g*n: "Hey, be scared for me all you want, just do it back at your place." Cordy: "I'm not leaving your side until I know you're safe." They step out through the door of the building. g*n: "I'm not in the market for a sidekick, so hightail it back on home." Cordy: "No." g*n: "Thanks for coming. Buckle up. Drive safe. - So where's your car?" Cut to Wesley and Angel standing outside the hotel. Wesley: "So - where is your car?" Cut to Cordy and g*n in g*n's pickup. Cordy: "Angel is not gonna be happy. Do you know what he's gonna do to me when he finds out I let his car get stolen? What are the chances that a vampire has full insurance with a low deductible?" g*n: "I'll find the car." Cordy: "And how exactly are you gonna do that?" g*n: "I know a couple of guys in this part of town that jack vintage cars. We'll run down the list until we find Angel's ride." Cordy: "And then what? You're just gonna ask them to give it back?" g*n: "I'll say please." Cordy: "Ooh! I forgot. You'll use your famous charm. Like you did this afternoon with that pigeon stool." g*n: "It's stool pigeon. - And you don't have clue why I do the things I do!" Cordy: "Paging Mr. Rationalization!" g*n: "Paging Ms. About-to-be-thrown-out-of-a-moving-vehicle." Cordy: "Be as rude as you want. I'm not going anywhere until I know you're safe!" g*n: "Me rude? You're the one that showed up at my place, att*cked my boy, then decided to highjack my life. The way I figure it, I find your car for you, you give me my freedom back." Cordy: "That's not the way it works! You need protection!" g*n: "And how exactly do you plan on protecting me? With some weak-ass lady-smith battle axe?" Cordy: "Ask Joey and his cracked skull just how weak-ass it is. (g*n mouths something silently. Cordy digs in her purse) Besides - I've also got this! (holds up a red bottle) Mace!" g*n: "Mace?" Cordy: "Little squirt, squirt, right in the eye?" g*n: "You're expecting me to be jumped by a couple of purse-snatching demons?" Cordy: "Well, it'll just have to so because - I'm your protector whether you like it or not." g*n: "Well, something better att*ck me soon 'cause I know I can't take much more of this." Wesley get on his motorcycle, looks over at Angel. Wesley: "Come on. What are you waiting for?" Angel holds up a pink motorcycle helmet. Angel: "I-I-I really don't think it's gonna fit." Wesley: "Of course it will. Put it on." Angel: "You know, I-I don't need a helmet for protection." Wesley: "Angel. It's the law in California. You want us to get pulled over?" Angel: "No." Wesley: "Then what's the problem?" Angel: "Well, it-it's just, you know - the whole - visibility issue, not to mention the whole hat-head thing and if you really think about it, how come I have to wear the ladies helmet?" Wesley: "Stop being such a w*nk*r and put it on!" Angel looks like he wants to protest some more but Wesley just looks at him. Angel puts the helmet on and looks at Wesley. Wesley suppresses a smile while he puts his own (black) helmet on: "Good. Hop on board, gorgeous." Angel: "You'll pay for this." Gets on behind Wesley. g*n and Cordy walk into a car yard. Cordy: "It isn't here." g*n: "They wouldn't keep it here on the lot. New acquisitions are in the garage." Cordy: "Getting the full make-over I bet." A door opens behind them and a guy comes out. Henry: "What are you looking for?" g*n: "'67 Plymouth convertible." Henry: "Give me a few days. I'll see what I can do." g*n: "Cordelia, meet Henry." Henry: "New to the neighborhood?" Cordy: "Someone stole my friends car tonight." g*n: "'67 Plymouth?" Henry: "Wasn't me. Convertible you said?" g*n: "Yeah." Henry: "Desmond's your man. He can't pass up old convertibles. You should talk to him." g*n to Cordy: "Come on." Henry: "You won't find him at his shop. Tito's having a party. Everyone's invited. Desmond'll be there." g*n: "Where'd you jack these cars from?" Henry: "Around." g*n: "They look like neighborhood cars to me." Henry: "Oh, I help you out and now you want to start something." g*n: "Look, I told you, you wanna jack beemers in Brentwood, be my guest. But leave the neighborhood cars alone." Henry: "Yeah, well business is business. You should think about minding your own." g*n: "Things don't change I might have to put you out of business. - Lets go." He and Cordy leave. Once they're gone a big ugly demon comes up behind Henry. Deevak: "I'm surprised you didn't wet yourself." Henry: "Him? He's nothing, Deevak. Name's g*n. He's under the false impression that he runs this town." Deevak: "I know who he is - the trouble he's caused. Tonight - it ends." Angel and Wesley riding on the motorcycle. Three guys walkout of a house with rap playing in the background. Middle guy: "g*n. What are you doing here?" g*n: "I was about to ask you the same thing." Guy to his buds: "I-I'll catch up with you guys later." They leave. g*n: "You're supposed to be cruising the garment district." Guy: "Things were d*ad down there, man." g*n: "Oh, so you figured you earned yourself a little party?" Guy: "Come on -It's just a little fun." g*n: "No, it's *you* not obeying orders. We got two men down, you want to make it a third? Get the hell back home. I've got a few things to take care of in here, then you and I are gonna have a little chat. Go!" He goes. Cordy: "Jeez, short enough leash or do you just go all warm and tingly on the whole power-trip thing?" g*n: "Some people need discipline to survive. Now when we get inside, shut up and stick close to me." Cordy: "Hold on there, generalissimo. I'm not one of your toy soldiers you can just boss around!" g*n: "I don't even want you here." Cordy: "Too bad! I am here. And I don't take orders. Well, except from Angel, and at least he usually asks nicely. And besides I don't need you to tell me how to behave at a party. Trust me, I know how to blend!" Cut to the party in the house. Cordy: "Okay, not exactly blending. Maybe I just shut up and stick close to you." A girl spots g*n. Veronica: "Hey, stranger!" g*n: "Hey, girl. You're looking good, Veronica." Veronica: "I've missed you down at the store lately. Works so boring when you don't stop by." g*n: "I've just been kind of busy, you know?" Veronica: "Who's your friend?" Cordy: "Who me? I'm no friend. I mean I'm just here on business. I'm a working girl. - That came out wrong. I mean, obviously I'm not a "working girl." Not that I couldn't be if I wanted to, of course I could. - God that sounded stuck up, didn't it? I didn't mean to imply that I could be a working girl and you couldn't. Far from it. You'd make a great... Could you just point me to the hor d'oeuvers?" g*n: "This is Cordelia. We're looking for Desmond. You seen him?" Veronica: "Oh. He's around here somewhere." g*n: "Cool. Thanks. I'll catch you later." Veronica: "You better. I don't want you forgetting about us down here." g*n: "Never." Cordy follows g*n deeper into the house. g*n greets some guys on the way. Cordy: "Are you friends with like every criminal in town?" g*n: "See, there you go assuming those brothers are criminals." Cordy: "Aren't they?" g*n: "You mean like your friend David Nabbit? You think he became a billionaire by being a good citizen?" Cordy: "Actually he did. He made his first millions developing software that lets blind people surf the web. Plus, he set up a foundation that donates 20 billion a year to countless charitable causes." g*n: "Well, you let me know when some of that coin trickles down to these parts. - There he is." Cordy: "Who? Car-thief guy?" g*n: "One and the same. Desmond!" Desmond: "G-man. Can I get you a brew?" g*n: "You can give me the '67 Plymouth you stole from my place tonight." Desmond: "What makes you think I'm the guy?" g*n: "Don't play with me and I won't play with you." Desmond: "Hey, I had no idea..." g*n turns at the sound of glass breaking and girls screaming. Some vampires have crashed the party, hitting their way through the crowd towards g*n. Cordy tries to h*t one with her axe, but the other just bats her aside. Two vamps are holding g*n while the other punches him in the ribs. Cordy smashes a popcorn bowl on the hitter's head, but again just gets batted out of the way. Veronica rushes to help g*n, but a vampire throws her into some glass shelves. She lands on the floor and pulls a piece of glass out of the side of her neck. The other guys at the party start in on the vamps while Cordelia tries to help Veronica. Veronica: "What's happening?" Cordy: "Uhm - you're bleeding. I'm gonna take care of you. Just try to relax, okay? " Cordy goes to get a towel and presses it against the neck wound. Cordy: "Okay. Try to sit up, okay? Come on. Easy." Cordy helps Veronica to sit up leaning against the sofa behind her, ignoring the fight still going on. Cordy: "Here we go. Okay. You're gonna be okay, okay? (looks at the bloody towel) You're gonna be okay." The last vampire finally jumps headfirst out the window and we hear a car squealing away. g*n turns and sees Cordy and Veronica. Cordy to g*n: "She needs a doctor (mouthes silently) now!" g*n kicks the door to the emergency room open, carrying Veronica, with Cordy still pressing the towel against her neck. g*n: "She needs a doctor! Where is a doctor?" Nurse: "This way. - Dr. Thomas!" Dr. Thomas: "What happened?" They put Veronica on a gurney. Cordy: "A piece of broken glass went into her neck. She pulled it out before I could stop her. It looked like it may have clipped her artery. I applied pressure to the wound, slowed the bleeding. Her pulse has been weakening. She passed out on the way over here." g*n: "She gonna be alright?" Dr. Thomas: "Please step outside and let us take care of her." g*n: "Is she gonna be alright!" Dr. Thomas: "You're friend probably saved her life (g*n looks down at Cordy's hand still pressed over the wound), but we still got some work to do, so let us do it please." The doctor puts her hand on the towel and Cordy takes hers away, takes a hold of g*n's arm. Cordy: "Come on, g*n, she's in good hands. g*n." He lets her lead him out, never taking his eyes for Veronica's bloody neck. Cordelia is rolling up her bloodstained sleeves and walks down a hospital corridor looking for g*n. Sees him standing alone in a waiting room with his head resting against the wall. He hits the wall and begins to pace, sees Cordy. g*n: "She almost died." Cordy: "But she didn't." g*n: "No thanks to me." Cordy: "It's not your fault." g*n: "I let my guard down and she's the one - (hits the wall hard) the vamps was coming after me not her!" Cordy: "Take it easy." g*n: "I can't take it easy. I can never take it easy. Not for one second, alright? The minute I forget that someone like Alonna pays the price." Cordy: "Alonna?" g*n looks at her, then shakes his head and continues to pace: "Veronica. - I can't stop. I can't ever stop." Cordy looks at him as Desmond tries to sneak into the elevator in the corridor behind her. Cordy points a finger at him without turning around: "Don't you move a muscle! (Goes to confront him) Where - is *my* car?" Wesley and Angel pull up between two police cars sitting in front of Tito's house. Wesley and Angel look at each other as Angel puts the pink helmet on the back of the bike then runs a hand through his hair. Wesley stops a black girls coming down the steps from the house. Wesley: "Excuse me Miss, do you by any chance know a Charles g*n? One of his associates suggested that we might be able to find him here." Girl still headed away from the house: "Huh? No. I don't know. Maybe he was one of the ones that got hurt." Wesley turns to look around for someone else, but Angel stays close to the girl keeping one hand on her back. Angel: "Looks like you're hurt." Girl: "Huh? No. I-I'm fine." Angel: "What happened here?" Girl: "I'm not sure. It just all happened so fast. We were partying. I don't know who they were looking for, but they were strong. It was like they were on something." By now all three of them are behind an ambulance. Girl: "I just - I just need to lie down." Wesley: "Ah, if you've suffered some sort of head injury.." Girl: "No. I'm okay. Really. I was lucky compared to some of the others." She turns to go, but Angel takes a hold of her shoulders. Angel: "Are you sure you're okay?" Girl: "Yeah. Thanks." Angel: "Good." Head-buts her hard in the face, and she reveals her vamp face. Angel: "Now start talking, huh?" Cordy and g*n walk into a garage. Angel's car is there. Cordy: "There is a god! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" g*n: "Great. You drive it out of here I follow you home." Cordy: "Just as soon as I find the keys." g*n: "You don't have the keys?" Cordy: "Well, I-I kind of left them in the car when I went in to save you. I thought you were in danger. Every second counted." g*n: "You know, I got to tell you, you are one high-maintenance chick." Cordy: "The keys are here. (Starts looking through the car) Somewhere." g*n: "You are k*lling me!" Cordy: "Can't you - you know - hot wire it?" g*n: "Just because I know some car thieves don't mean I am one." Cordy: "Hey instead of being high-moral-ground boy, why don't you help me find them?" Deevak rattling some keys: "Looking for these?" g*n to Cordy: "Go." Cordy: "Not a chance." g*n: "Go!" Cordy: "I'm not leaving you!" Deevak: "How touching. A woman willing to die with her man." Cordy: "Oh, no. He's not my man. He-he's just a friend. And - about the 'willing to die' part..." g*n: "You must be Deevak. They told me you was ugly but - damn." Deevak: "And you're the big bad g*n." g*n stretches his hand back towards Cordy, but she only bats it away. Deevak: "Heard you were looking for me." Deevak grabs g*n by the throat and lifts him up. Cordy: "Hey!" Deevak: "You found me." Cordy pulls out her axe and hits Deevak, but he catches her wrist in his other hand. Deevak: "How does it feel to finally meet up with someone even nastier than you? Uh, not good by the sound of it." Cordy: "Stop it! You're k*lling him!" Deevak morphs into Jameel. Jameel: "Survival of the fittest, bro, and right now you're not looking too fit." Cordelia digs the mace out of her purse and sprays it in Jameel's eyes. Jameel lets got of them. Cordy: "g*n." Jameel morphs back into Deevak. Cordy: "Oh my god." Cordy and g*n get up and back away as Angel and Wesley on their motorcycle come sliding in sideways under the garage door, knocking one of the vampires down. The vamp picks himself back up and grins as he sees Angel take off the pink helmet. Angel looks at the helmet in his hands, back at the vamp. Grins and smashes the helmet in its face. Angel and Wes are fighting the vamps, g*n is trying to fight Deevak, but Deevak blocks every punch he throws. Cordy tries to h*t one of the vamps with her ax, but gets pinned up against the side of a car by it. Wesley comes in to stake the vampire holding her, then pulls her out of the way of another vamp trying to bash her head in with a crowbar. Deevak is now attacking g*n, and g*n barely manages to avoid the demon's wild swings. One of Deevak's hands connects, knocking g*n down. Angel seeing this yells "Cordy, Axe!" She throws him the axe and he catches it as he jumps off a car's hood into a summersault, burying the axe in Deevak's forehead on the way down. Deevak drops like a tree trunk next to g*n. Angel reaches out a hand and pulls g*n to his feet. Angel is pushing the car out of the garage, then jumps into it trying to start it by poping the clutch when Wesley runs out after him. Wesley: "Angel! Angel look. I found your keys. (holds up the g*n up keys) Unfortunately this substances doesn't appear to be coming off." Angel looks at it: "What's that?" Wesley: "Demon blood, or demon puss, or possibly both." Tries to get Angel to take the keys of the pen that he is holding them up with but Angel backs away. Angel: "Easy. Anyone know hot to hot wire a car?" g*n walks up past Cordy rubbing his throat. g*n: "Hey." Cordy: "Hey." g*n: "Well, you finally saved my life. I guess I should say thanks." Cordy: "Yes, you should, and no - I didn't." g*n: "What?" Cordy: "Deevak wasn't the danger my vision was warning me about." g*n: "He wasn't?" Cordy: "No." g*n: "Then what was?" Cordy: "I'm looking at it. It's you, Charles. You're the danger." g*n: "Excuse me?" Cordy: "It's how you life your life. You don't just face danger, you create it. You're on a self destruct mission - unless you get some help." g*n laughs: "I ain't buying none of this Dionne Warwick crap." Cordy: "You know it's true. You need some serious saving. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me." g*n: "Oh, is that right?" Cordy: "Well, yeah. Better just plan on having me I your life for a while. At least until you find some peace." g*n: "Could be a while." Cordy: "That's okay. Helping people that's what me and my friends do." g*n opens the door to his pickup: "Well, lucky me." Cordy: "Hey. How about that thank you?" g*n looks at her, Cordy raises her eyebrows at him, g*n gives her a slightly sheepish smile and Cordy smiles back. He closes the door and drives off. Angel and Wesley come to stand next to Cordy. Angel walks into the hotel lobby looking b*at. Darla: "Honey, you're home." Angel: "Hi." Darla: "You look b*at. What's wrong?" Angel: "Nothing." Darla walking over to him: "Save any lives today?" Angel drops his coat: "A few. Yeah." Darla: "Did any of your friends say thank you?" Angel: "Not exactly." Darla: "Hmm, typical. You know, next time you see them I'm really going to say something to them." Angel: "It's okay." Darla: "No. It isn't. (Puts her hands on his arms) You give and you give and you give." Angel: "I'm used to it." Darla: "Always the protector, never the protected." Angel: "I have so many things to make up for." Darla: "And you have. You take care of so many people. - But who takes care of you?" Angel looks down at her and starts to smile: "You do." Darla coos: "That's right. I do. (Pulls him towards a red couch by the front of his sweater) Come on. (Pushes him and he drops bonelessly into one corner of it) Lean back. (Crawls on top of him) Now, you just relax and let Darla take care of you." She kisses him and we blend over into Angel's smiling face as he lies sleeping. In his dream Darla is pulling Angel's sweater off. Darla: "How's that?" Angel: "Good." Darla: "I'm just getting started, baby. (She starts kissing her way down his bare chest.) I know how to please you." Back to Angel laying on his back in bed, fast asleep. A hand crawls up his bare chest, followed by a just as bare Darla. Darla: "All you have to do is let me." Darla kisses his chest, his neck, his mouth, mirroring the dream action in real life without Angel showing any sign of waking. Darla looks down at his sleeping face: "Mmm, I could just eat you up." Darla leans down and kisses the side of his neck.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x03 - First Impressions"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: From "The Ring" Lilah: "I'm Lilah Morgan" Angel: "Wolfram & Hart" Lilah: "I'm an associate here." From "To Shanshu in L.A." Lilah: "We're all very please you're here - Darla." From "First Impressions" Angel: "I still can't believe you're here." Darla: "And let Darla take care of you." Darla: "All you have to do is let me." Lilah sneaks into Lindsey's dark office at Wolfram & Hart and starts to look through the papers on his desk. Darla: "Exciting, isn't it?" Lilah jumps and drops the papers she was holding. Lilah: "Darla. - I didn't see you." Darla: "Going through their things, all the little pieces of themselves locked away, given you a naughty little thrill of control." Lilah: "I just like to keep abreast of his latest project. He's probably in my office right now trying to find out about mine. That's just how it works at our firm." Darla sits on the edge of Lindsey's desk and pours some dark blue powder into the palm of her left hand. Darla: "Hmm, all you busy little worker bees, plotting your little schemes. Lilah looks at powder: "Calynthia powder? Is that how you keep Angel sleeping - when he's with you?" Darla: "There is nothing so lovely as dreams. Everything is in them, everything hidden. Open those chambers and you can truly understand someone - and control them." Lilah with a slight smile: "And what's hidden in Angel's secret chambers?" Darla: "Horrors." Cut to Angel waking up in his bed at night. Cut to Angel walking down the stairs, buttoning up his shirt. We hear Wesley and Cordy's conversation drifting up from the hotel lobby. Wesley: "That's so typical of your kind." Cordy: "At least I'm not a sheep like you." Wesley: "I am not a sheep!" Cordy: "You're such a sheep! You've never had an opinion that you didn't read in a book." Wesley: "At least I've opened a book." Cordy: "Oh, don't even try with the snooty, wooly boy. I was top 10% of my class!" Wesley: "What class? Advanced bosoms?" Cordy: "Oh!" Angel: "Hey! - What the hell is going on here?" Cordy: "We were just discussing whether or not we should offer to pay g*n." Angel looks at them for a b*at. Shakes his head. Angel: "No you weren't." Wesley: "Well, our discussions tend to go about three minutes, then it's strictly name calling and hair pulling." Cordy: "Ebeneezer here doesn't want to share the wealth." Wesley: "I didn't say that. I merely said g*n might be insulted by the offer. He's a - proud sort of fellow." Cordy: "He's been doing for us. He should pull in a check." Angel: "I'll think about asking him, alright?" Cordy: "No think. Pay. That's an order." Angel: "Hey! How about we pretend that you work for me?" Cordy: "You are really unpleasant when you…" Angel: "Then why don't we pretend that you don't." Cordy: "You can't f*re me. I'm vision girl." Sticks her tongue out at him. Angel sticks his hands into his pockets and tries not to smile. Angel: "All right. I'll think about asking him, alright? Maybe - on a case by case." Cordy gives him a big smile: "My hero." Wesley: "I was going to suggest that." Cordy: "Ah-huh." Angel: "I-is there coffee?" Cordy: "There was - in the morning. It's ten o'clock at night." Angel: "Oh. Huh. Just a little disoriented. I've been sleeping weird." Wesley: "Weird how?" Angel: "I don't know." Wesley: "I mean, it's been going on for a bit hasn't it? You sleep more, you're less rested. - Are you dreaming?" Cordelia starts to pant and lifts a hand to her brow. Angel runs and catches her as she sways under the impact of an incoming vision. Cordy, face scrunched up in pain: "Well, boys, I think we have a customer…" She gets thrown back in Angel's grip and we get a blurry sh*t of a girl screaming. Cordy: "Okay - a girl (blurry vision of girl running from someone) she's in an alley - Hollywood and Wilcox (blurry sh*t of a guy's face and the girls screaming) Oh, she's so scared!" Wesley to Angel: "Go." Angel runs out as Wesley takes over supporting Cordy. Cordy: "Oh god, he's gonna be too late." We see a sobbing girl running from two guys. One of them gets a hold of her shoulder and throws her to the ground. Bearded Guy: "What you making us run around for?" Bald guy heads towards the down girl but bearded guy stops him. Mustache guy: "Hey, I get it first. Think I want your seconds? You pig. (To girl) Guy's a pig." He pulls out a Kn*fe. The girl continues to sob, and suddenly a full dumpster slides across the alley and squashes the two guys against the opposite building. The girl takes a deep breath and cries even harder. Intro There is an ambulance sitting at the entrance to the alley. Angel walks past it as two people wheel a gurney with a covered body towards it. He ducks under the yellow police tape, picks up a cup of coffee sitting on the hood of a police cruiser and stops a step ahead of a young police officer noting something down on a pad of paper. Angel looking at the crime scene: "So, what have we got here?" Officer: "Uh - you're not…" Angel looking past the officer: "Hey, you wanna get behind the tape? You wanna gawk, go home and watch a high speed chase on Fox. (To the officer) You want to think about keeping the tourists off my crime scene?" Officer: "But I-I'm…" Angel walks towards the crime scene: "I'm out of vice three weeks, I've seen enough amateur night crap to fill a mini-series. (Turns back towards the officer and gestures with his cup of coffee) You wanna pretend that's not a cub scouts uniform and tell me about d*ad people?" Officer: "Uh, well, detective, what happened is we had to scrape them off the wall. (Angel takes a sip of the coffee and makes a face.) Guys got pinned by a two ton dumpster." Angel: "It fell on them." Officer: "Ah, no. They were actually pinned to the wall. Looks like somebody might have shoved the dumpster from the side." Angel walks further down the alley, reaching his cup back towards the officer, who hurries to take it from him. Angel: "Have to be somebody pretty strong." Officer: "Yeah. You're telling me. (Points at some blood on the ground) Splashed those guys all the way up here." Angel crouches down and looks at the blood. Angel: "It's not their blood." Officer: "Excuse me?" Angel stands back up: "You seen a girl tonight? - Maybe a little scared - b*at-up?" Officer: "Huh-uh. Nobody but our Mr. Bills. (Angel looks at him) You know (high pitched voice) 'Oh no, Mr. Bill' - krech!" Angel turns away: "Right." Angel walks further down the alley, looking around as a guy in a suit comes up behind the officer. He opens his jacket to show the shield clipped to his belt. Detective: "So, what have we got here?" Officer looks at him, then back the way Angel went. Angel finds an unlocked door and enters an empty warehouse. He walks past some sacks of cement and pieces of re-bar, spots the girl form the alley, sitting on some stuff on the far side of the warehouse. Angel: "Hey." Bethany gets up: "What do you want?" Angel slowly steps closer. Lifts a hand to touch his right temple. Angel: "You're bleeding." Bethany: "Just stay away from me." Angel: "I just want to ask you a few questions, that's all." Bethany: "You don't understand. I'm - I'm really uh, upset right now. I think it's best if you just…" Angel: "You were in that alley, weren't you?" Bethany: "No! - I mean - what alley? (Walks towards the door) I'm going." Angel moves to intercept her. Angel: "Hold on a second." Bethany lets out a whimper and suddenly a piece of re-bar jumps into the air and impales Angel through his right shoulder. Angel drops to his knees with a groan. Bethany stares at him in horror. Bethany: "Oh god. I told you. I tried to tell you." She runs towards the door. Angel: "Please wait." Bethany spins around and stares as Angel gets up braces himself and pulls the re-bar out. Bethany: "W-what are you?" Angel: "I've come to help you. My name is Angel." Bethany with a hysterical laugh: "Great. I've s*ab an angel. Now I'm really never getting into heaven." Angel: "I'm not an angel. It's just a name." Bethany: "But - how did you…" Angel looks down at his pierced shoulder: "Well, I'm different from most people - like you are. - Those men in they alley - they tried to hurt you, didn't they? (Bethany nods and looks away) But you stopped them." Bethany: "I didn't mean to. They followed me from the club. It wasn't…" Angel: "It's okay." Bethany: "Yeah, it's just great!" Angel: "You're not from L.A., are you? (Bethany shakes her head) Got family in town? - Me neither. - Town kind of attracts loners, don't you think?" Bethany: "You can't make me go anywhere with you." Angel looks down at his pierced shoulder again: "I think that message got through. (Gives her a smile, then turns serious again) And I would never try. (Bethany turns to leave) Wait. Take this. (Offers her one of his business cards) If you need anything - a place to stay…" Bethany: "I'm staying with a friend." Angel: "Someone to talk to. - Think about it. - I won't hurt you - and you can't hurt me. - You may need that." After a b*at, Bethany snatches the card from his hand and hurries out. Angel grimaces in pain as his knees give out and he falls to the floor clutching at his shoulder. Angel: "Ah. Oh. Okay, maybe she can hurt me a little." Bethany enters an apartment building, climbs some stairs and fumbles with some keys as the door in front of her is opened to reveal Lilah Morgan standing there. Lilah: "Bethany." Bethany: "Hi! Sorry I'm late." Lilah: "I was starting to get worried." Bethany gives her a smile and walks past her into the apartment. Lilah walks over to where Bethany is sitting on the sofa, carrying a laundry basket. Lilah: "So, how was the club? You have any fun?" Bethany: "It was okay." Lilah sits down beside her and begins to fold the laundry. Lilah: "Any cute boys? (Bethany shakes her head) I'm sorry I couldn't make it. But work just got insane, and our new clients are monsters." Bethany reaches for the laundry: "Here. Let me." Lilah: "Oh, I like folding. It's like a Zen exercise for me. It levels me out after work." Bethany: "You got to let me help. I gotta at least… It's enough you letting me stay here." Lilah: "Didn't we vow you were gonna stop that? Didn't we make a blood oath? (smiles) I *love* having you here." Bethany: "You know, when you came and spoke at our school, I was so… There was someone who got out, who made it by themselves. I-I'm saying it wrong." Lilah: "No. You're not." Bethany: "I couldn't believe you even talked to me." Lilah smiles at her: "See? You have no idea. You're special, Bethany. - In the old, non-ret*rd sense of the word. You think I tour high schools across America, saying 'look me up' to everyone I meet? (Shakes her head) You have a power about you. (Bethany looks away) Other people are gonna start to know that." Bethany: "I guess I'm getting kind of sleepy." Lilah: "I bet you are. I'm still kind of wired. I might stare at the TV for a while." Bethany gets up: "Good night, Lilah." Lilah as Bethany walks up the stairs: "Sweet dreams." Cordy and Wesley are taping up Angel's shoulder. Cordy: "I can't get this bandage to… Stop moving!" Angel: "I'm not." Cordy: "Well, then stop breathing." Angel: "I don't breathe." Cordy: "Then stop flexing your manly boob-muscles or whatever." Wesley: "That's an ugly looking wound." Angel: "It doesn't feel pretty either." Wesley: "We should definitely approach this girl with caution. - I guess you already figured that out." Angel: "She's very powerful. We got to find out everything we can about her." Cordy buttoning up Angel's shirt: "Like - oh, say, her name?" Angel: "I was impaled at the time." Cordy pats his knee: "Of course. Perfectly understandable." Angel: "You know how hard it is to think straight with a re-bar through your torso?" Cordy: "Actually, I do. Benefits of a Sunnydale education. No address or anything?" Angel: "She said she was staying with a friend." Cordy: "Well, that narrows it down to people with friends. (To Wesley) Where do we keep that list?" Angel: "She's not local. Traces of an accent. North-east - maybe Ohio… and everything about her tells me she is on the run, so…" Cordy: "So look into runaways from the north-east." Angel: "And cross-reference it with supernatural occurrences. The way she went off tonight, I doubt she's been able to stay low profile." Wesley: "Angel, you're sure this isn't a demon of some kind?" Angel: "She's just a girl." Cordy sitting down at her laptop: "Just a girl that can k*ll your ass by blinking." Angel: "She needs help. She's out of control. She's just - lost. (Goes to stand next to Wesley) What do we know about telekinesis?" Wesley: "Ah. Yes. The power of moving things with one's mind. (Takes a deep breath) That's pretty much it. The power of - moving… I-I'm better with demons, really." Angel: "Time to broaden your horizons." g*n walks into the lobby. g*n: "You call, I come. Loaded for bear, ready for battle, and something else that starts with B." Wesley: "What is that?" g*n holds up an axe which looks like it's blade might at one time have been a hubcap. g*n: "Ah, isn't that thing? Some of the kids at my camp put it together for me. Thought I might get the chance to stick it in something now." Cordy: "Men are all alike." g*n: "Fair Cordelia - you still saving my life?" Cordelia without looking up from her screen: "Every minute." g*n: "How's that working out?" Cordy looks at him: "You're alive, aren't you?" g*n: "So, what kind of scaly Pus-monster you all want me to slay this time?" Angel: "Actually we were hoping you could do some leg-work for us." g*n: "Leg-work? That kind of leaves me high and dry with my cool new ax." Angel: "I'm trying to find a girl. (Cordy slaps his arm and rubs her fingers together as if she was counting money. Angel pushes her hand down and keeps right on talking) She smashed a couple of would-be rapists with a dumpster." g*n: "Must have been a hefty kind of girl." Angel: "We think she did it psychically." Wesley: "Telekinesis, the power of moving things with..." g*n: "Yeah, I have heard the word. So, what you all need me to do?" Angel: "I'm interested in the guys. The got..." Cordelia: "Smushed?" Angel: "Not far from your neighborhood, around Hollywood and Wilcox. You think you could find out who they are?" g*n: "You got it. (Starts to leave) But if I come back here on the end of a spatula, I'm expecting some serious workman's comp!" Cordy hits Angel's arm: "See? Workman's comp - he wants to get paid!" Angel: "Cordelia..." Cordy: "The poor man can't even afford a real ax!" Angel: "Okay. Okay. I'll bring it up. (Cordy grins at him and Angel walks towards the stairs) I'm going to bed. - It's been a long day." Cordy: "You've been up for three hours." Angel stops but doesn't turn around. Angel: "Cordelia - find the girl." Cordy and Wesley watch him leave then look at each other. Angel walks over to his bed, a bloodstained bandage half covering his tattoo. He sits down on the edge of it, taking some quick deep breaths and frowning. Bethany lies in her bed with her eyes open. Angel lays his head on his pillow, blinking his eyes rapidly. Bethany looks around, then her eyes slowly drift shut. We see a little girl standing in an attic, staring towards the bright square of the window at one end of it. A man comes up the ladder into the attic. Lilah walks into Bethany's room and watches as the tosses her head and whimpers in her sleep. Things on the nightstand begin to rattle around. Lilah smiles. Man steps closer to the girl in the attic. Man: "Shh, rabbit. (Takes a hold of one of her arms) Let's go downstairs - just you and me." The things on Bethany's nightstand rattle harder. The man leads the girl towards the ladder as a jar of pennies in the foreground begins to rattle around. Man: "Don't make a fuss, rabbit." They climb down the ladder. The lamp on the nightstand flies into the air and hits Lilah in the head. Bethany sits up in Bed and sees what has happened. Bethany: "No. No. No. (She gets out of bed and grabs a jacket) Oh my god." Lilah from the floor: "Bethany..." Bethany: "I'm so sorry! I'm sorry." Bethany hurries out of the room. Lilah: "Don't - don't go!" Lilah tries to get up but can't. Bethany runs through the streets. Darla pushes Angelus down in front of a fireplace. They kiss, then Angel pushes them back up. They smile at each other. Darla arcs backward and comes back wearing her vamp-face. They kiss again and when they break apart Angelus is in vamp-face as well. Darla is leaning over a sleeping Angel, caressing his shoulder. Darla: "Remember Rumania (?), in front of the f*re, with the gypsy girl - all bound and gagged. You took her right there. You sucked her blood until she was dry." (Close caption here has instead: "You've been in a f*re... with a gypsy girl - all bound and gagged. You took her right there. You sucked her blood until she was drained.") Angelus bites Darla's neck. Darla smiles, then after a moment sinks her own teeth into Angelus' neck. Angel wakes up, touching his neck where the Darla in his dream just bit him. Looks around, disoriented. Day. Wesley is reading a book. Angel walks into the lobby, rubbing his eyes, and leans on the counter looking at Cordy sitting in front of the laptop. Angel: "Well?" Cordy: "Top of the middle of the day to you, too. And no, no leads worth mentioning. Of course we lost a little time during my 45 minutes of sleep. Good thing I left some clothes here, or you would be smelling me even now." Angel: "g*n check in?" Cordy: "Huh-uh." Angel to Wesley: "How about you? How's it coming?" Wesley: "Well, most of my reading suggests that telekinesis is a psychic phenomenon that occurrs during periods of extreme emotional stress." Angel: "Well, that tracks. (Rubs at his eyes) We got to find her." Cordy: "Well, I think I may have a lead." When the guys look at her she motions towards the door, where Bethany stands in her nightgown and jacket. Angel: "Hey. How are you?" Bethany: "Bethany. (Takes a deep breath) Bethany Chaulk. - You said I couldn't hurt you. - That if I needed anything..." Angel: "You're safe here." Wesley: "We're all - safe people." Angel: "This is uhm - Wesley and Cordelia." Bethany still standing just inside the door: "So, it's a family business, huh?" Angel: "Friends. Come on in." Bethany walks down the stairs with a sigh. Her knees sag and Angel catches her. She immediately pushes free. Bethany: "Sorry. (Cordy looks her up and down) I'm just - so tired." Angel: "Would you like some tea?" Bethany: "Yeah. Please." Angel leaves. Cordy: "You shouldn't worry. Angel does this kind of thing all the time." Bethany: "Makes tea?" Cordy: "Helps people. You know, he helps people with problems." Bethany: "So what's wrong with you?" Wesley: "Where to begin?" Wolfram and Hart's office complex. Holland: "Wow. That little girl gave you one heck of a shiner, didn't she? You think the alley scenario was too much?" Lilah: "I assure you, sir, I have the utmost confidence..." Holland: "Oh, don't utmost confidence me. You know, some people might say that you lost control over this girl. If this is how she is now, what happens when you pull the trigger? - She's got the profile, but an assassin's no good if it can't be controlled. (Stands up) But do you know what I say? - Nonsense! I say, Lilah Morgan found this girl, Lilah Morgan recruited this girl for a reason, and Lilah Morgan is gonna bring this girl into the welcoming arms of Wolfram and Hart." Lilah: "I *will* find her." Her cell phone rings and she answers it. Lilah: "Hello. - Bethany. (She raises her eyebrows at Holland and he smiles in return) No I'm so glad you called. - No, I was worried. - No, I'm fine. - Where are you?" Angel leans against a pillar with his arms crossed. He turns around as Bethany walks out through a glass door, now dressed. Bethany: "They're Cordy's. Feel kinda funny." Angel: "You look nice. Did you get a hold of your friend? (Bethany nods) Is she okay?" Bethany: "She says she's fine - worried about me. How do you explain... She'd just think I'm crazy." Angel: "Are you?" Bethany: "What?" Angel: "Well, if you are, you know, crazy, I just think that things will go - smoother if I know up front." Bethany gives a laugh: "I probably am. (Sighs and comes down the steps) I - I don't wanna - I don't wanna talk about me and share, or whatever. We-we can talk about stuff, but... I don't know. You're the expert, right?" Angel: "I wouldn't exactly say that. I just - have some experience in dealing with the kind of power - that needs to be controlled." Bethany: "I don't want to control it. I want it gone." Cordelia is standing behind the counter watching them through the glass doors. Cordy: "What is she doing?" Wesley is sitting behind her, reading. Wesley: "They're talking, yes?" Cordy: "There is something. She's got a vibe. I'm getting a vibe. She's viby." Wesley: "I didn't notice a vibe." Cordy: "Well, all evidence to the contrary, Wes, but you're not a woman. Women and sex, it's not like you guys, we see more levels. (Wesley looks up then looks back at the previous page of his book) Are you even listening?" Bethany: "It's like - there is a flash - like - something pops in my brain, and then I'm - it's like - uhm, there's an undertow. Like there is no gravity and by body is being pulled in different directions, but inside, you know?" Angel sits down beside her on the garden bench in the shadow of the hotel's veranda. Angel: "Does it hurt?" Bethany: "Yes. No - It's just for a second, then I'm back." Angel: "And you only feel it when you make things move." Bethany: "I don't make them move. I go into this and when I come back things aren't where I left them." Angel: "You've never done it on purpose?" Bethany: "Of course not." Angel: "You never thought 'man, the remote is too far away and I'd have to get up'" Bethany gets up off the bench. Bethany: "It's not a parlor trick! It's - It's a disease!" Angel: "Look. We don't know what it is yet. We're just getting started. I just want to know about you." Bethany: "Well, don’t start asking me a bunch of stupid questions. Like when were you potty trained and name all your pets... - Do you like hide-n-seek." Angel: "None of those were on my list." Bethany: "You don't even know what I'm going through! I shouldn't even be here!" Wesley: "I agree. (Bethany spins around as Wesley walks down the steps into the garden court) It's clear this girl doesn't want our help. I don't think we should be wasting our time with her. " Angel: "Wesley..." Wesley: "I'm sorry, but there are people out there who need us. People with much more serious problems than impulse-control issues." Angel stands up: "Look, that's enough." Wesley: "Why doesn't she go back to her friend's, toss the furniture about. (Steps closer to Bethany) Or maybe we should send you home to your father." Bethany gasps and Wesley flies back against the wall. Angel steps towards her, she sees it and he goes flying back out into the sun of the courtyard. He quickly scrambles back under the protection of the veranda, smoking ever so slightly and watches Bethany as she looks around at what she just did. Cordy folds some ice into a napkin and holds it against the back of Wesley's head. Cordy: "You're sure nothing's broken?" Wesley: "I'm sure." Cordy: "Nothing at all? Say, your brain? (sighs) What happened to approach her with caution?" Wesley: "If I'd given her time to get her defenses up..." Cordy: "She wouldn't be crying, you wouldn't be bruised and Angel wouldn't have had a near Melba-toast experience! What did you say to her?" Wesley: "I mentioned her father." Cordy: "Well, who's her father?" Wesley: "No, it's... The sort of trauma that can produce this level of psychic power usually involves abuse of some kind - very early on. You'd mentioned a sexual vibe, she made that crack about family business. Statistically speaking, the father was the best guess." Cordy: "There's not enough yuck in the world." Angel walks in. Cordy: "How is she?" Angel: "Settling. (To Wesley) You're gone." Cordy: "You can't f*re Wesley. I'll quit, too! - Unless you're firm!" Angel: "I'm not f*ring anyone." Wesley: "I understand. My being here wouldn't exactly help *her* to feel trusting. I'll be at my flat. Call me if..." He walks past Angel. Angel: "It helps that we know." Wesley: "I hope so." He leaves. Angel to Cordy: "You should stay at your own place tonight in case she..." Cordy: "Be careful." Angel: "I don't think she'll go off again." Cordy is about to say something, but then just leaves. Angel enters the corner room on the top floor of the hotel to find Bethany sitting with her back against a box-spring mattress propped up against a wall. The doors to the balcony next to her are standing open. Angel: "There you are." Bethany: "I came up here. I feel safe up here." Angel survey's the room: "Yeah, and you did pick the one room in the house that may collapse to feel safe in." Bethany: "I'm really embarrassed... And that just makes me - all these horrible things have happened - been done to me, guys have died - and I'm freaking because I'm so embarrassed. - People are pathetic." Angel: "I don't know. - I like 'em. (He crouches down next to her) The time I've lived - I've seen some horrors - scary behavior, and a couple fashion trends I constantly pray to forget, but - I see people try. - I see them try to be better." Bethany: "You sound like an old guy." Angel smiles: "Well, you know, I'm very well preserved." Bethany sighs: "I'd like that - to see people the way you do." Angelus and Darla, both in vamp-face, are biting each other again in front of the fireplace. Angel lies sleeping in his bed. Angelus looks up from Darla's neck, pants, then pulls her off his neck. She smiles at him. They look over at a bound and gagged girl (somewhat resembling Bethany, though she is wearing period dress). Angel tosses his head on his pillow. Bethany walks down the hall, rubbing her arms. Angel wakes up. Angel: "Darla?" Bethany: "It's just me." Angel works himself up higher on his pillow. Angel: "What's up? What... what's - Is there trouble?" Bethany: "I just didn't want to sleep. (Sits down on the edge of his bed) I heard a voice in here and thought maybe you were awake." Angel: "No - I was having a nightmare." Bethany: "It looked like a pretty happy dream - or maybe the covers were just rumpled. - I figured I'd come in here. (Looks around) It's nicer than my room." Angel: "Is there something, uh, something you want to talk about?" Bethany: "No. - I figured we'd have fun. You can do stuff to me and - you know - we'll have some fun." Angel: "That's not gonna happen Bethany." Bethany: "What, you think I'm some frightened little mouse? I've done stuff. I can make you happy." Angel: "You wouldn't like me when I'm happy." Bethany slides one of her hands up his leg on top of the covers: "Come on. (As Angel looks at her he suddenly sees Darla instead of Bethany there) It doesn't mean anything." Angel grabs her hand as she slides it under the covers and pulls it off him: "I said stop it!" Bethany pulls away screaming "Get off me!" as the bed rattles around for a moment. Angel: "You wanna make love, but you don't wanna be touched?" Bethany gives a short laugh: "Make love? What are you, from the eighteenth century? - I was just... I just wanted..." Angel: "What'd you want?" Bethany: "Are you shocked I'm a great big slut?" Angel: "You find that I'm not easily shocked, Bethany." Bethany sits down on the chest at the end of Angel's bed. Bethany: "Everyone thinks I'm so fragile and innocent. Men love it." Angel: "Do you?" Bethany: "Do I love it? - Who cares. - I'm - I'm - like the chambermaid. I just leave. When a guy's on me, I... I made up the room, I showed him in - and I leave till he's gone. - Come back and - clean up the mess." Angel: "An the men?" Bethany: "What, you think they'd notice or care I'm not there? - Would you?" Angel: "I don't think everyone's as bad as you'd have them be." Bethany: "Oh, right. You love the people. (Gets up) Love them so much, you got a hundred rooms to be all alone in. - I'm thinking maybe you're not exactly qualified to help me with my problem." Angel: "Maybe I'm the only one who is. - Try to get some sleep." Bethany: "Who's Darla?" Angel: "Good night, Bethany." Bethany sighs and walks out through the open doors of his bedroom. As she passes through the living-room-kitchenette area we see Darla peek out from behind a wall and look towards Angel's bedroom. Wolfram and Harts offices, day. Holland: "He's not sleeping. You understand how this puts a crimp in Lindsey's project." Lilah: "Yes, sir, but..." Holland: "You know, Lindsey's a guy who understands the big picture. All his efforts go towards realizing that picture - and your little girl is currently finger-painting all over his efforts." Lilah: "I understand, sir." Holland: "I know you do. - Get her out, Lilah. - And not just for the sake of the big picture - for yours." Smiles at her. Bethany: "I feel funny. Sweaty-funny, I think." Angel: "Just try it. You can stop at any time." Bethany: "What if it blows up or something?" Angel holding a silk scarf: "I'll buy Cordelia a new one." Bethany takes a deep breath: "Okay. Just - drop it on the floor." Angel drops the scarf. Bethany's eyes kind of widen. Cordy, on the phone behind the counter watches as one end of the scarf rises to slide up Angel's body. Angel smiles at her: "See? (The scarf drapes itself around Angel's neck) You can control it." Bethany gives a short laugh. Cordy hangs up the phone and walks over to them. Cordy to Angel: "Nice look. (Angel pulls the scarf off, and she hands him a piece of paper) That was g*n. He wants you to meet him at this address." Angel: "Brentwood?" Cordy: "I'll look after Bethany. We can h*t the Plaza shops." Bethany: "Um, sure. Sounds like fun." Angel hands Cordy her scarf while looking at Bethany: "I'll be back soon." Cordy holds out the scarf as he leaves: "You're not gonna wear this?" The door to a dark apartment breaks open to reveal Angel and g*n in the hallway outside of it. g*n walking in: "Knock, knock. See, this works great. You break and I enter." Angel: "As long as this guy is still alive I can't enter." g*n: "The guy is on the critical list. Your girl must be pretty scary. (Looks around the apartment) You see what I'm seeing here?" Angel craning his neck to see as much as he can through the open door: "Doesn't exactly fit the thug-in-the-alley profile." g*n: "No, word on this guy was muscle-for-hire. Not cheap neither." Angel: "So he was *sent* after Bethany." g*n: "Somebody wanted her hurt." Angel: "Or wanted to know what would happen if somebody tried. (Leans against the invisible barrier) Hey, look for an address book. You know, checks, statements." g*n: "I'm still dealing with this man's ugly-ass livingroom-set. Some people just shouldn't have money." Angel: "On the subject of money. How would you feel, maybe, you know, on a - case by case basis?" g*n: "Are you offering to pay me for helping you?" Angel: "Yeah." g*n: "Cool." Angel blinks, still leaning against the barrier. Suddenly the barrier vanishes and Angel's lands full length on the floor of the apartment. g*n smiling: "You're a very graceful man, have I ever mentioned that?" Angel getting up: "I guess someone is off the critical list." g*n: "r*pist-for-hire, see me crying?" Angel looks through some papers on the desk. Hits the redial button on the speakerphone. After the second ring it's picked up. "Wolfram and Hart - how may I direct your call?" Angel and g*n look at each other. Night. We see and old fashioned carousel, Cordy and Bethany holding drinks. Bethany: "You're right. This is great!" Cordy: "It's the vanilla that makes the mocha less latte-y." Bethany: "Yeah. Where I'm from, you know, they still just have coffee. Everything else is that L.A. stuff." Cordy: "Yeah. Don't bone my boss." Bethany: "What?" Cordy: "Angel. He's strictly a no-bone." Bethany: "I wasn't... (Cordy raises her eyebrows at her) Cordelia, I don't wanna sleep with Angel." Cordy: "The thing about Angel, he's old-fashioned - *old* fashioned - like the age of chivalry. He sees you as, pretty much, the damsel in distress. - I think it's a little more complicated than that." Bethany: "W-why are you... I never..." Cordy: "I think you're kind of dangerous. - I'm not being mean. I like you. I do. But - you come on all helpless and... I mean, people that have thought that you were helpless before - have died." Bethany: "Those men in the alley - that was the only... They were gonna hurt me." Cordy: "You could have floated them away - or-or spun them until they puked. I don't know. You squashed them." Bethany sits down on a little wall. Bethany: "You don't know how scary it was." Cordy sits down beside her: "Yes, I do. - I had a vision of you. That's how Angel found you. I felt everything. And those guys are better off squashed, I truly think, but - somewhere in that moment of panic a decision got made and I *don't* want something like that to happen to my friends - or, and I can't stress this enough, me. - No matter what, sex complicates the equation - even more than you think." Bethany: "I get it. You don't have to worry." Cordy: "Good." They get up and start walking again. Bethany: "So, are you and Angel...?" Cordy: "Oh, no! I like my men less broody and more spendy." Bethany: "He is kind of earnest. He always seems to..." A man pushes between them, injecting something into Bethany's neck as he passes. Cordy: "Hey! - What a jerk! (Bethany is swaying and Cordy rescues her cup of coffee) You're about to drop your..." Two men grab Bethany's arms and pull her along between them. Cordy: "Hey! Stop! *Police*!" As they guys torn back towards her she throws a cup of coffee into each of their faces. They let go of Bethany, blinded by the hot coffee and Cordy catches her around the waist and leads her away. Cordy: "Stay with me. Stay with me. Oh god. (They almost get h*t by a van as they cross the street) Bethany. Come on!" The back doors of the van pop open and men dressed all in white jumps out, push Cordy aside and drag Bethany into the van. Cordy: "No! Bethany! You can squash *those* guys!" The back doors of the van get pulled closed and the van speeds away - just as Angel and g*n pull up beside Cordelia in his convertible. Angel: "Cordelia." Cordelia points: "Tan van. Fetch!" Angel speeds off in pursuit with Cordy looking after them. Angel tires to cut the van off, but there are too many cars coming the other direction. Angel to g*n: "Take the wheel." g*n slides over into the driver's seat while Angel jumps over the windshield onto the hood of his car. Angel: "Closer!" Angel jumps onto the back of the van grabbing a hold of its top rack. He pulls one of the back doors open and reaches in. Bethany tries to sit up to see what is happening as we hear some hits and screams. Then we see two white-clad men being tossed out of the back of the van. g*n swerves to avoid running them over. Lilah into her cell phone: "Shut up! Just shut up! One more excuse from you and I'm gonna bury you alive next to my house so I can hear you screaming. (Sighs) He took her to the hotel? Great. He wants to play with little Miss Time-b*mb, I say we let him. Pull the trigger." Bethany bursts into the ruined upstairs corner room of the hotel, followed by Angel. Angel: "Bethany!" Bethany: "It's not true! It's someone else." Angel: "Bethany, I'm sorry. I know Lilah, she's not what she pretends to be." Bethany: "She's my friend!" The open balcony doors slam shut. Cordy: "Angel..." Bethany: "It's not her! You're making it up. You're playing with me! Why does everyone wanna play with me? (Huddles down) I don't wanna play!" Angel crouches down in front of her: "Bethany, you have to control yourself." Bethany: "Don't touch me!" The door behind Cordy slams shut. Cordy: "Maybe she just needs a time-out." Angel: "Bethany..." Bethany: "I don't have to listen." Angel: "Bethany, stop. You *can* control this." Bethany: "NO!" Angel: "Listen to me! Nobody is controlling you. (He absently bats a can of paint flying at him away) You have the power here. You're gonna k*ll us, you're gonna die?! Then they win. Don't let them. - Don't let them touch you." Bethany slowly stands up and walks past Angel and Cordy towards the door. Just as she reaches it, it opens - revealing her father standing there. Father: "Hello, rabbit." And in an outside sh*t we see all the windows of the corner suite blow out as the whole building shakes for a moment. The camera pans from an unconscious Angel up to show Bethany standing in front of her father. Bethany: "Daddy." Father: "God, Bethany, I've been so worried. (Angel stirs a bit) I wouldn't have known were to find you except... You're friend Lilah and I only wanna help you, sweetheart." Plaster begins to rain from the ceiling and walls and a nail works itself out of some wood trim and flies to pierce Cordy's arm. Cordy winces, but doesn't scream. Father: "I know what you can do, Bethany." Cordy pulls the nail out of her arm. Father walking around Bethany into the room: "And I know you don't mean to hurt anyone. (Angel opens his eyes and looks around) You're a good girl. I know that. (Bethany stares at him, eyes wide) No more worries, all right? You're coming back with me, we're gonna be a family again. (More plaster shakes lose, but the father stands untouched) Wouldn't you like that? To stop running all the time? To come back to where people know you, love you? (The walls shake harder) I promise it'll be just like it was before. - I've missed you so much. (Bethany looks like she might start to cry) Shh, rabbit." Bethany's eyes roll back in her head for a moment and everything goes quiet. Angel gets up: "Bethany..." He gets pinned against the wall, silenced. Father: "There you go. (Reaches a hand towards her) Now why don't we go downstairs? Just you and me." Bethany's face hardens and her father slides back from her. Angel comes free from the wall. Her father starts to float up off the floor. Father: "Bethany, what are you doing? Stop it. Put me down." He reaches for his throat as if he is trying to pull a noose free from around it. Father: "I can't - breathe. (To Angel) Help me. Please. Stop her." Angel: "Bethany. You got the power. Use it. Finish it." Father still clutching at his throat: "Hurts. Make it stop." Bethany: "Good-bye." The father flies backwards out of the window with a scream. Angel looks towards Bethany's calm face. The father plummets, slows, and stops to hang a few feet above the sidewalk. Angel watches Bethany. The father drops the rest of the way and Bethany blinks, shakes herself and looks from Angel over at Cordy. Lilah: "You-you think that's it? Poof, you're cured and all you're nightmares are gone?" Bethany is in Lilah's apartment packing her things. Bethany: "I'm not an idiot, Lilah, and I'm not a child." Lilah: "Yes you are, and you need us. Sooner or later your powers are gonna get out of control, and you're gonna need a friend." Bethany: "My friends don't hire men to r*pe or kidnap me - at least not my close one's anyway." Lilah: "I was trying to make you stronger." Bethany looks Lilah in the eye then stretches a hand out behind her. Lilah stares as the suit case on the bed closes itself and flies into Bethany's hand. Bethany: "Good job." Bethany walks past Lilah. Lilah: "Look, Bethany. Bethany, wait! You could have been someone important!" Angel standing outside the open door of Lilah's apartment: "You got to learn to lose, sweetie." Lilah: "Did I mention you're not invited in?" Bethany standing next to Angel: "Don't try to find me Lilah. I mean it." Lilah: "Our-our firm doesn't want to lose a... you're not... (Points at Angel) He is a vampire, you know." Bethany looks at Angel: "Weird." She leaves. Angel: "Looks like you're gonna have to find someone else's brain to play with." Lilah smiles: "Yeah, we have someone in mind." Angel: "Good night, Lilah." Lilah steps out into the hall to watch Angel open the outside door at the bottom to the steps for Bethany. Lilah: "Sweet dreams." She goes back in slamming the door shut behind her.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x04 - Untouched"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Kate from "TSILA": "I'm glad we're not playing friends anymore." sh*t of Angel morphing into vamp face from "Somnambulist." Angel from "TSILA": "I didn't k*ll your father (sh*t of Kate crying as she sees the bits marks on her father's body, from "The Prodigal") and I'm sick and tired of you blaming me for everything you can't handle." From "TSILA" Holland to Lindsey: "Senior partners were very impressed with your sacrifice. (sh*t of Angel severing Lindsey's hand to save the scroll) We'll even the score with him." From Judgement Darla: "He k*lled me." Lindsey: "He's taken from both of us. So when you feel ready (sh*t of Darla crawling all over Angel in his dream) we start thinking about giving a little back." From "FI" Angel: "Why are you so good to me after everything I did to you." Darla: "Because you and I are one." sh*t of Angel sleeping. Wesley is behind the counter with a big, old book in front of him. Cordelia is looking at some papers. Angel comes in and plops down on the sofa. Wesley: "We made you some tea." Angel: "Great." Cordy: "It's on the table right there in front of you." Angel: "Table seems far." Cordy: "Ahhh, you must be all worn out from sleeping for the last three days. (To Wesley) It's like living with the world's oldest teenager - he can't be having a growth spurt at two hundred and forty-eight, could he?" Angel: "Two hundred and forty-seven." Cordy to Wesley: "According to my figures, if we are frugal and garner some paying clientele soon, we're financially sound through last Wednesday." Wesley: "What? Where's it all going?" Cordy: "Well, there's the fixed costs - the mortgage on the giant hotel, my salary - there's lots of other..." Wesley: "What about my salary? That's fixed, too." Cordy: "What if - every time you identified the demon in one of your big old books, we gave you ten bucks - or a chicken pot pie." Wesley: "Oh wait, I have another idea. - No! Get a vision." Cordy: "It's not like you just h*t me in the head and WHAM it happens." Wesley: "What if (lifts up his book) we test that theory with one of my big old books?" Angel: "Children, quit bickering. Something will turn up. - Something always does." Suddenly, Cordy is h*t with a vision. Angel leaps to his feet, catching her. Angel: "Like that." We get a blurry sh*t of a bunch of robed guys fighting with fists and w*apon. A green, slimy monster seemingly growing out of a wall. Wesley is looking through some old books laid out on Angel's desk, while Cordy is pacing with Angel hovering over her. Angel: "Are you all right? You're sure you don't want to sit down?" Cordy rubs her head: "If I sit I throw up in my head." Wesley points to a picture in his books: "Did it look like this?" Cordy: "No, more mushy and more moldy - It was growing right out of the wall!" Angel plops back down on the couch: "Maybe I'll just…" Cordy: "Mush monster's not going anywhere, it's the place we've got to find - its disciples are human, they're k*lling each other. I think the fight is over how to worship it." Angel: "This is why personally I rarely go to church. (Wesley and Cordy ignore him) I thought it was funny." Darla: "So did I." Suddenly Darla is sitting on Angel's lap, nuzzling and kissing him, while Wesley and Cordy go on with their research as if she wasn't there. Darla: "God I miss you…" Wesley: "Well, what did the place look like?" Angel jumping up with a shout (there is no Darla), making Cordy and Wes turn to look at him Angel: "Ah. Didn't doze off - here I am - where were we?" Wesley: "Trying to ascertain the location in Cordelia's vision." Angel pacing: "Ascertaining, here we go." Cordy: "You're so weird lately. - It felt sacred - in a twisted demonic kind of way, it's-it's underground, like in a t*nk or something… full of pillars." Angel: "Like a water t*nk." Cordy: "Could be." Angel: "Saint Bridget's, in Fremont. A convent, built on native burial grounds. The land's cursed, they had eight m*rder in two years before the whole place b*rned to the ground - which is nothing compared to what happened at Our Lady of Lochenbee... (They give him a look) I have a thing for convents. Anyway the state bought Saint Bridget's and dug a water t*nk there. We're gonna need some muscle. Call g*n, he's on the payroll now." Wesley: "Right - but not in a fixed way like me. He's more an outside contractor - do you think we can really afford..." Angel: "Wesley." Wesley reaches for phone: "Calling g*n." Night. Angel, g*n, Cordy and Wesley are coming down a long stairway into a huge cavernous chamber full of long slender pillars. They stop at the bottom looking over where people in black robes are fighting others wearing red in front of the slimy thing from Cordy's vision, spanning the space between two pillars. g*n: "You are not paying me enough for this. - My uncle Theo always said never buy a dull plow and never get in the middle of a religious w*r." Cordy: "You really have an Uncle Theo?" g*n: "No, but it's still good advice." Angel to Wesley: "So, what do you think, a thrall demon?" Wesley: "Yeah." Angel: "So k*ll the Big Ugly, it un-thralls the groupies and they stop killin' each other." Wesley: "Absolutely. Yes. That's the theory. Thrall demons can be tricky." Cordy: "Well, at least they're k*lling each other and not..." Just then the slimy demon spots them. Turfog: "Intruders!" Both black and red robes turn from fighting each other to stare at Angel's group. Cordy: "...us." The thrall demons groupies charge them, screaming. A big fight ensues. Angel gets knocked down from behind by one of the red robes. He rolls back up and starts waling on the guy (much like Faith did on that vamp in FHT), oblivious to everything else. g*n: "Angel, I'll try to get fat head - watch my back. (Nothing from Angel) Or just keep beatin' on that big guy." Cordy runs up ax raised to clobber Turfog, but is hauled back by one of the disciples. Wesley hits the guy holding Cordy over the head, freeing her. g*n makes his way through the fight and sinks his homemade ax into Turfog's head and all the fighting stops - except for Angel still waling on the guy laying on the floor. Wesley: "Angel, it's over. (Pulls him off) Stop!" Wesley walks back over to the others as Angel looks down at his victim and wipes a hand across his forehead. Night. Angel's group and the now peaceful disciples are coming out of a little building housing the head of the stairs. g*n to Angel: "So this whole teamwork deal, that's a thing of the past now?" Angel: "Job got done. (Angel tosses his car keys to Cordy) Take the car, I need to..." He heads off as the others stand and watch. Wesley: "He's just - he hasn't been sleeping well lately." Cordy: "He's off his game." g*n: "Since when is it a game?" Angel walks down the promenade at night. There is a juggler, clowns making balloon animals, street vendors, musicians, lots of passers-by. Suddenly Angel looks up and sees a blonde in a striking red dress. We flash to a sh*t from Angel's recent dream, as Angel recognizes her as Darla. Intro. Angelus is walking down a street filled with people in regency clothing and horse-drawn carriages. He's about to pass the mouth of an alley when he stops and turns down into it. He holds out his hand, and a woman takes it and lets him help her up. Angelus: "I thought we were meeting in the Square." Darla: "I ran into Lord Nichols - horrid little man. (She looks over at a body with bite marks on his neck lying on the ground) He was propositioning a streetwalker and dickering over the price - can you imagine? I told him I'd do him for nothing." Angelus: "You're very charitable." Darla delicately dabbing at her mouth with a handkerchief: "I so loathe cheap royalty." He leans in, half-kisses half-licks her mouth. Angelus: "They all taste the same to me." Darla: "Mmmmmm - my boy does have the touch." Angelus: "Darla." Darla: "Yes?" Angelus: "Why'd you k*ll the streetwalker?" Next to the man lies a d*ad woman. Darla: "Oh - I just liked her. - Guess what's next?" Darla and Angelus exit the alley and walk along the street. Angelus: "What is it?" Darla: "Surprise. You have to guess." Angelus scans the street. Finally spots a family with three young daughters coming out of a building. Angelus: "The three daughters - all virgins." Darla: "Close." Angelus: "The one in the middle has something delicate and unique… Did you find me a Saint?" Darla: "Better than that - she has the sight." The girl in the middle turns. It's Drusilla. She looks straight into Angelus' eyes. Angelus: "Visions. She sees the future. (Angelus, Darla clinging to his arm, starts walking towards Dru) She is pure innocence, yet she sees what's coming, she knows what I'm going to do to her. I'll really have to come up to snuff for this one." Dru turns away from them and herds her sisters away. Darla puts a hand on Angelus chest to stop him from following further. Darla: "Down boy, let the plum ripen." Angelus: "You always come up something new." Darla: "Keeps me young." Back on the promenade present day Darla is passing between two clowns making balloon animals and a guy dress up like a giant hot dog. Angel tries to catch up to her, but a group of people blocks his view of her for a moment and after they pass, Darla is nowhere to be seen, no matter how hard Angel looks around. Hotel lobby day. Harold Jeakins is sitting on the couch across from Cordy and Wesley, nervously playing with one of Angel's business cards. Harold: "I really need some help. They say he handles things - you know, unusual things. I'd like to see him right away." Cordy: "And he wants to see you - just as soon as he returns from an important case. Why don't I take a preliminary report and give you a list of convenient payment plans." Wesley hands Harold a list. Harold: "Well, it's my wife, Claire, she's really a lovely..." Wesley: "Go on, it's all right." Harold: "She gets abducted by aliens, on a regular basis." Wesley: "Aliens." Cordy: "From outer space?" Harold: " It's more common than people realize - one minute she's there and the next - she always comes back in a day or so." Wesley: "What is it you'd like us to do, Mr. Jeakins?" Harold: "I trust Claire - but I found this receipt from the Franklin Hotel (produces receipt) weekend before last when she was supposed to be in - the Trifid Nebula!" Cordy takes the receipt, looks at Wesley. Cordy: "I'm sure we can get to the bottom of this." Behind them Angel comes up from the basement looking as if he'd been out walking all night. Harold: "I mean if it's not aliens... (sees Angel) Is that?" Wesley nods. Cordy: "Mr. Jeakins, say hello to your new best friend." Harold gets up: "Do you think my wife's cheating on me?" Angel keeps walking towards his office: "Probably." Cordy: "Oh, he-he really likes you, he's jumping right in." Harold: "He's taking the...? He didn't seem that..." Wesley walks Harold towards door; Cordy heads to Angel's office. Wesley: "Oh he's eccentric, all the great are. Sherlock Holmes, Phillip Marlowe..." Harold: "Those are fictional characters." Wesley: "Right you are! Which gives Angel rather a leg up when you come to think it." Wesley walks out with Harold. Cordy to Angel as she sits down to enter information into the computer: "That's a terrific way to treat our customers - especially since we so many of them." Angel moves up behind her. Cordy: "See his file? (Angel leans down as if to get a better look at the screen but instead starts smelling Cordy's hair) He has Visa, MasterCard and a problem - he's our target audience. But if you want to be rude, I guess it's your shop - Angel? (Angel is touching her hair) What are you…? What are you... personal bubble. (she jumps off her chair and heads away from Angel) Personal bubble!" Wesley comes back in at this moment. Wesley rolling up his sleeves: "I need to speak to you, man to man. Cordelia, you may not want to be here for this. - Was it something I did?" Cordy: "He was feeling my hair." Wesley: "What?" Angel: "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to - I-I've been so out of it - lately, because of her. - I saw her - here in town. Last night." Cordy: "Oh no, not again. Look, I like Buffy as much as the next..." Angel: "Not Buffy, Darla." Wesley: "Darla, the vampire? Your sire?" Angel: "I've been dreaming about her like crazy. And the dreams have been so - I thought I was losing my (laughs) my mind. But she's back, she's alive." Wesley: "What you're saying is impossible. You staked her to dust three half years ago." Angel: "I know that. I also know it was her." Wesley: "Vampires don't come back from the d*ad." Angel: "I did. And I saw her. I'm not crazy!" Wesley: "Where?" Angel: "Right between the clowns the big, talking hot dog. (They just look at him) Walking on the promenade." Wesley: "You said yourself you've been dreams. Maybe it's guilt over k*lling your sire..." Cordy: "Right, guilt. Who loves guilt like you love guilt? You know what you need? You need to go to work. We just got an exciting new case: could be aliens could be adultery. It's a corker!" Angel, not really listening: "Maybe I'm dreaming about her because she's here..." Wesley: "And maybe you think she's here because you're dreaming about her." Darla stands by the desk in Lindsey's darkened office as he watches her. Darla "He's falling apart." Lindsey: "That's wonderful. Unhinging a man with all his particular and weaknesses takes a lot of work." Darla: "I created a lot of those strengths and weaknesses. I think I have a pretty good handle on them." Lindsey: "We're counting on that. You've given us more information on Angel than we had when he first got here. Nobody knows him (drops a manila envelope on his desk) better than you do. - Especially the side we're interested in." Darla steps closer to him: "So, what is the plan exactly? - I tease him to death?" Lindsey: "We don't want him d*ad. We want him dark. And there is no better way to a man's dark side than to awaken his - nastier urges, is there?" Darla looks at Lindsey's artificial hand: "He did that to you. What's it feel like?" Lindsey: "Doesn't feel like anything." Darla motions towards his hand: "Can I?" She reaches out and strokes his fake hand. Darla: "It's very smooth. - You don't feel anything." Lindsey: "Not in my hand. (Darla smiles and takes a step back from him) How is it - seeing him again?" Darla turns away from him: "It's strange." Lindsey: "He betrayed you." Darla playing with the scales on a statue of Justice: " Everyone betrays you, that's not what eats you in the long winter's night..." Lindsey: "Yeah? What does?" Darla: "Missed opportunities. - He got a soul and it sickened me.- All that power wasted on a whiny mopey do-gooder. God, I could eat his eyeballs." Lindsey: " Our plans for Angel are a little more long term than that - but if you can't help yourself, then, by all means, be my guest." Darla: "You're fun for a human." Lindsey picks up the manila envelope: "I have a particular interest in this guy - a lot of people do. Kate sits behind a desk as a detective approaches it carrying a manila envelope. Police scanner: "...four-thirteen in progress at the corner of Yucca and Ivar - unit six is responding..." Kate: "Jack, what brings you to Siberia?" Jack: "Hello Kate." Kate: "You been sick?" Jack: "No." Kate: "Busy then - too busy to pick up a phone and say hi?" Jack: "Ah." Kate: "We were friends. - I thought you were different." Jack: "Hey, I went to bat for you - I stuck my neck out when they decided to move you out of downtown. But you don't like mainstream work, you've got the scanner (points to scanner) going day and night, chasing the bizarre and grotesque, what, did you think they'd promote you? (Drops the envelope on her desk) A - friend of a friend thought you might want this." She opens the envelope. Inside is a picture of the Hyperion Hotel and a new business card of Angel's, with new address and phone number on it. Also a note that reads: He's moved. Kate: "Thanks." Jack: "Stay out of trouble." Cordy, wearing a skimpy yellow waitress uniform picks up some empty glasses from a table at an up-scale hotel. Walks past a blonde and a guy wearing the uniform of a repairman. Man: "You sure about this, right in the middle of the day?" Cordy slides some napkins with a tiny microphone hidden between them along the top of the bar so it is aimed at them. Claire: "Marty, the aliens abduct me when the mood hits and the mood h*t pretty hard this morning right about the time Harold left for work." Man: "No kiddin', yeah?" Angel hidden behind a planter is listening to Claire via an earwig: "Of course if you're not in the mood..." Man: "No, no, I'm in the mood, (Wesley sitting reading a newspaper lifts a tiny camera to his eye and snaps a picture of the couple) I'm deep in the mood. I'm going to abduct you right now and conduct my own probe. (Claire laughs) - It's just I still got a lota repairs..." Angel looks down at the small tape recorder in his hand. Claire: "Well, I hope nothing important is broken." Man: "No, no. It all works." Claire getting up from the bar: "So lets go upstairs." Angel shakes his head and comes out from behind the planter and heads to intercept them. As he passes by Wesley (snapping more pictures) he pulls the camera out of his hand. Angel: "Claire, hold on." Claire stops, startled: "Do I - know you?" Cordy comes to stand behind Wesley staring at Angel. Angel: "I've been listening. I'm over here behind some plant with this machine (takes the earwig out) recording you two, while my associates here (gestures towards them. Cordy waves at them, while Wesley retreats behind his newspaper.) been tailing you around all day taking pictures. I don't like doing this. It's crass. Your husband knows. Go home. Tell him the truth. Work it out or - leave. I don't care. But this..." He throws the camera at them and the guy catches it. After a short look at each other he and Claire leave in opposite directions. Angel moves off, Cordy and Wes fall into step with him. Cordy: " What was that? We had a paying client." Angel: "Not everything is worth getting paid for." Cordy: "Easy to say when you don't need food to survive." Angel slaps his recording equipment against Wesley's chest as he spots Darla, getting up from a chair across the lobby of the hotel. Angel: "That's her." He steps in front of her as she walks out while looking through her purse and she bumps into him. Darla: "Oh, I'm sorry..." Angel: "I guess you didn't take that whole "dusk to dusk" thing to heart, huh? (Grabs her wallet and flips it open to reveal several credit cards stuck in its pockets) What are you trying to do - pass as human?" Darla grabs the wallet and stuffs it into her purse: "Excuse me." Angel: "I know your voice, Darla. I can smell you." Cordy: "Uh-oh." Darla: "I don't know what you're talking about. Now just leave me alone?" She tries to pass him but he grabs a hold of her arm. Angel: "I don't know what kind of game you're trying to play, but you're not gonna win." Wesley: "Angel, I really think..." Hotel security guy: " Is everything all right?" Darla: "No. This man, he's trying to - my name is DeEtta Kramer. My husband is outside right now getting our car right now. I don't know anyone named Darla." Angel: "I know it's you. And I know you're not going out into that sun anytime soon." The security guard tries to pull Angel away, but Angel throws him off. Darla runs screaming away from him. Darla: "Stephen! Stephen!" Wesley puts a hand on Angel's arm: "Angel..." Angel shakes off his hand, never taking his eyes of Darla as she runs towards the sunny patch in front of the doors. A guy comes running and catches her in his arms. Stephen: "Are you okay?" Darla nods, looking back towards Angel, who stares at Darla standing there, unaffected by the sun shining in on her. Angel, Cordy and Wesley enter the Hyperion's hotel lobby. Cordy: "That was really fun, the humiliation, running from the hotel security staff - and the nifty little outfit, which seemed to tell so many conventioneers "pet me, I'm a whore." Angel moves to hotel desk, rifling through a big phone book. Wesley: "It wasn't pleasant but at there's a silver lining." Cordy: "What silver lining?" Wesley: "The woman walked into direct sunlight - obviously she's not a vampire, obviously Angel - made a mistake." Cordy: "Ya' think?" Wesley: "We'll just put our heads and help him come to grips with this thing. (to Angel) You're among friends, we're not going to condemn you." Cordy: "Right. (to Angel) You're crazy, you need professional help." Angel: "It was Darla. She's back - and she's human now - but I know her scent." Wesley: "Angel - you can't just - sniff a person and know..." Angel leans ever so slightly closer to Wes, inhales. Angel: "You had sex last night, with a bleached blonde." Wesley: "Good Lord, how'd you…?" Cordy: "That's unbelievable. (to Wesley) I didn't think you ever had sex." Angel closes the phone book: "She's not in the book." Cordy: "Who, Darla?" Angel: "DeEtta Kramer, the person she's pretending to be. Run a title deed search, see if you can find an address for a DeEtta and Stephen Kramer. I'm gonna try some other avenues." Cordy: "Okaay." Angel on his way out turns back: "Wesley, you got any money? I'll need a few bucks for the cover charge." Wesley: "Cover charge - you're going to..." Angel: "Do whatever it takes." We see Angel at the Karaoke bar singing "Everybody have fun tonight - everybody Wang Chung-fun tonight, everybody Wang Chung tonight, everybody have fun tonight, everybody..." A demon, sitting in the audience looks at the blonde beside him and shakes his head. The host, carrying a drink, slowly walks over to a table and sits down - never taking his eyes off Angel. Angel abruptly hits the off button. Angel into mike: "I'm very sorry." He steps from the stage and makes a beeline to where the Host is sitting. Angel: "Tell me about Darla." Host: "Woah. Give me a sec. You are sending out some family-sized vibes. My fillings are still humming. (Holds his glass up, still never taking his eyes off Angel) Hey, Rico! Top off my sea-breeze, earn my everlasting devotion, huh? - I saw lots of things. You are at a crucial junction, big guy." Angel: "So talk." Host: "So, no." Angel: "What do you mean 'no.' You won't tell me anything?" Host: "I tell you you're headed into trouble with a capital 'troub.' Let her go, bro. That way lies badness." Angel: "What do you care? You got m*rder demons in here. You give them free advice, but you won't help me." Host: "Hey, I set people on their paths, okay? And this is way off your path, sweetie. Go home." Angel leaning in closer: "Tell me where Darla is." Host: "I *know* you're not gonna start anything in here. You're a good boy. (Gets up) Have a drink before you go. It's on me." The telephone rings at the Hyperion and Cordy goes to answer it. Cordy: " Angel Investigations, we solve big problems for small prices." Angel: "It's me. Did you get an address?" Cordy to Wes: "It's him. (into phone) Angel, Wesley and I think you really need to..." Angel: "Cordelia, address, now." Cordy: "DeEtta and Stephen Kramer own a home at fourteen oh nine Galloway in Studio City." Angel: "Got it." He hangs up the phone and sees a horned demon sitting at the bar looking at him. Angel: "What are you looking at?" Demon quickly turns back to his drink. Cordy: "He hung up." Wesley opening a drawer: "You *really* stood up to him. (mimics Cordy) "Next time I talk to him, I won't weenie out like you, Wesley." Cordy: "Don't start with me - and if sound like that, sh**t me." Wesley removes a large p*stol from the drawer. Cordy: "She joked!" Wesley: "It's not for you. It's a tranquilizer g*n." Cordy: "You mean if Angel really does go off his rocker like he's done before? - You think that'll do it?" Wesley: "I better call g*n." Cordy pushes the phone over towards him and he picks up the receiver. Night. We see a nice little suburban home. Angel walks closer to it looking at its lit windows. Sees Darla come in and give Stephen a kiss, then they both walk into the next room. Inside the dinning room Stephen holds Darla's chair for her. Darla: " Thank you." Stephen: "Of course, sweetheart. (smiles, sits) Was that too much? I mean we're supposed to be married, would I still be holding your chair for you if we were married?" Darla: "That was fine. Now just eat." Angel walks around to where he can watch them having dinner through another window. Stephen: "When I was at the actor's studio we always struggled to find truth in the moment. -Truthfully I don't think I'd be holding your chair -- mmm, this linguini smells so, you know, true. (The camera pans to show a security guard, hidden (from the windows) in the shadows, earwig his ear.) I'm just gonna mime eating it, gotta watch the figure. (Glances around) So is he, you know, watching us right now?" Darla: "Just nod and smile pleasantly, Stephen." Stephen: "What'd this guy do to you anyway? You're going to an awful lot of trouble to teach him a lesson - not that I mind, work is work, last year I was this puppet theatre of the absurd believe me..." Darla's hand slips out of sight beneath the table cloth in the general region of his crotch. Stephen: "Ow-oh!" Darla: "If you don't shut up I'm going to k*ll you." Stephen: "Okay." Darla: "Okay." Stephen: "Okay." Darla brushes her hair back and we see that she has an earwig in her ear as well. Darla: "Lindsey, can you hear me?" Lindsey in his office turns the volume up on his speakerphone. Lindsey: "I can hear you. How's the linguini?" Darla: "He's here. I can feel him." Angel watches the tableau - Darla's still looking the happy housewife. Lindsey: "We know. - I need a few more minutes to set things in motion." Darla: "Hurry up." Stephen: "Who're you talking to? (she looks at him) I'm shutting up." In the hotel lobby g*n stares at tranquilizer g*n and chains. Wesley: "This is all just precautionary. When push comes to shove, Angel's our - we trust him." g*n picks up the p*stol: "I see." Cordy: "It's not like he turns evil every time he gets this cranky." g*n: "He turns evil?" Wesley: "Well, there are forces that can make Angel revert to Angelus, the vampire he was before he got a soul." g*n: "And as evil, blood-suck vampires go, how would you rate Angelus?" Wesley: "Historically as bad as they come. Especially when he was with his sire, Darla." Cordy: "We're researching her now to see if maybe she has some kind of resurrection powers. Maybe she was a vampire cat with nine lives or something." g*n: "So he and Darla together, bad combo." Wesley: "They rampaged through half the known world - until Angel got his soul." Cordy: "Imagine Bonnie and Clyde if they'd had a hundred and fifty years to get it right." g*n: "So he thinks his party girl is back. - If he gets up to his old tricks, how bad can it get?" The camera pans form the a colored glass window with picture of a saint past some candles sitting in wall sconces to Angelus sitting on the edge of a table staring at something. Darla enters the room behind him. Angelus without turning: "Hello love." Darla wraps her arms around his shoulders: "We made quite a mess out there. Blood and habits everywhere." Angelus: "Convents - they're just a great big cookie jar." They kiss. Dru: "Black sky. It wants a little wormy me." Angelus and Darla break apart and look over at a sobbing Dru. Dru: "No. No. Make it stop!" Darla: "What is she doing here? I thought you k*lled her." Angelus: "No. Just her family." He pushes Darla down on the floor and rolls on top of her. Dru scooting back towards the wall: "Eyes like arrows - like-like needles." Angelus looks over at her: "This one's special. I have big plans for her." He leans down to kiss Darla. Dru watching them: "Snake in the woodshed. Snake in the woodshed. Snake in the woodshed! Snake in the woodshed!" Darla rolls them over so she's now on top. Darla: "So are we going to k*ll her during, or after?" Angelus sits up, startling her: "Neither. We turn her into one of us. - k*lling is so merciful at the end, isn't it? The pain has ended." Darla: "But to make her one of us? She's a lunatic." Angelus: "Eternal torment. (Grabs a hold of Darla's arms and rolls them so he is back on top with her under him on the floor) Am I learning?" Angelus starts to kiss Darla while Dru first laughs then cries. Angel watches as Darla and Stephen carry dinner dishes out of his line of view. Darla passes the security guard standing hidden from the dining room in the kitchen and drops her plate in the trash. Darla: "Lindsey, I'm waiting." Lindsey: "You're on. Have fun." Darla picks up a phone, dials 911. Operator: "This is 911, what is your emergency?" Darla: "My name is DeEtta Kramer, I at fourteen oh nine Galloway - there's a man outside. I told to go away - oh my god, he's breaking in, he's going to k*ll us - Help me! HELP ME!" Stephen: "Whoah, whoah, whoah, what was that? I didn't sign up for..." Darla ignores him, turns to her guard. Darla: "Do it. And make it look real." Stephen: "That was illegal." Darla's guard morphs into a vamp. Stephen stumbles back with a scream. The guard back hands Darla - hard. Angel hears dishes crashing, Stephen screaming, sounds of a terrible as*ault and Darla's voice yelling: "Help me! Somebody help me! Let him go - please - OH GOD!" The front door of the house bursts open, Angel comes flying in. Darla is huddled over Stephen, crying, a big bruise on her cheek. Darla: "Somebody help me!" She sees Angel and scrambles back against the wall. Darla: "Don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me!" Angel looks at Stephen with blood on his throat, very d*ad. Lindsey listens to Darla on his speaker phone: "Why did you… he was my husband…!" Lindsey: "Woman should have her own series." Angel stares at Darla and Stephen's body as we hear sirens outside. Darla: "No, please don't hurt me!" Two cops run in with their g*n drawn aiming them at Angel. Darla throws herself back on top of Stephen, sobbing: "What did you do - WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Darla is still sobbing. Cop to Angel: "Turn and face the wall, (Angel turns around his, hands up where they can see them) drop to your knees. Do it!" Angel to Darla: "You'll pay for this." Suddenly Angel takes off. Both cops f*re. He takes a couple of hits, jumps straight up and through an attic access door in the ceiling. Cop: "He's in the attic - stay with him." More cops come in. Darla is still wailing over Stephen's body. Cop to the newcomers: "Seal the house, I want SWAT, NOW!" Officer: "Got it!" Cop: "He's on the roof!" Suddenly a dark shape falls past a side window. Cop: "There he is!" The run outside in pursuit and Darla looks up with a slight smile on her face. Kate walks beside Darla outside of the house. We can hear sirens going Darla: "I don't understand. They sh*t him… how'd he get away?" Kate: "Adrenaline. They chased him for sixteen blocks. - Don't worry, he's long gone, he can't hurt you now. - One of my officers told me you recognized this man, that his name was Angel..." Darla: "That-that's what he called himself. He-he started following me a few weeks ago. He-he said he helped the helpless. I told him I didn't need any help. He-he kept calling me - Darla. - He-he said he knew me - or this Darla - from a long time ago. Today we were having lunch at the Franklin Hotel and he showed up again. He came here. I told him to j-just stay out - that I was calling the police, but he j-just broke in! And - this is gonna sound crazy, but there is something wrong with his face. And he-he-he was - was biting..." Kate: "It is not crazy. And I want you to know: I will find him and he will pay for what he did." Darla looks at Kate through tearful eyes. Darla: "Thank you, Detective." Kate takes a few steps to the cops nearby. Kate: "I want you to get in touch with Security at the Franklin Hotel (In the foreground a hand swoops down from above, clamps over Darla's mouth. An arm wraps around her waist and she is lifted straight up into the tree above) see if they have any tape on the incident with Mrs. Kramer there today. And I want you to make sure that the coroner treads lightly in there. I want this scene preserved." g*n is pacing while Cordy and Wesley are researching. Cordy to g*n: "You alright?" g*n: "Yeah. I'm just adjusting to the idea that this good guy vampire I work for can go bad.'" Wesley: "It takes a little time. We've all been through it." Cordy: "99% of the time he's good. And he's done a lot for us." g*n: "There's nothing I respect more than loyalty." Wesley: "That's good to hear." g*n: "But if the bad Angel walks through that door I will k*ll him in two seconds flat." Just then the door bursts open. g*n pulls out a stake, but it is a swat team and Kate, and g*n sticks his stake into his back pocket. Kate: "Where is he?" Cordy: "He's not here." Kate to cops: "Basement, attic, every room. He's extremely dangerous, b*ll*ts won't necessarily do the trick. Everyone's on channel two, you see him, you call me." Several cops run up both sides of the stairs. A couple head into the garden, a couple head for the cellar stairs. Wesley: "I don't suppose you have a warrant to go along with this little search?" Kate: "Seeing as how he just m*rder Stephen Kramer - and kidnapped his wife, I think I've got probable cause." Cordy: "He wouldn't… Angel could never do a thing like..." Wesley: "He's not the type of person who'd..." Kate: "In fact he's not a person at all, is he? - You guys want to help yourselves out here - or go down with the boss?" Cordy and Wesley's only reaction is to fold their arms up in front of them. Kate: "So be it. (Looks at g*n) New player?" Cordy: "He's a friend." Kate: "What's your friend's name?" g*n: "Charles g*n." Kate: "Let's see some I.D., Charles." He hands her his drivers' license. Kate: "Got any priors?" g*n: "I forget." Kate holds the license up: "Montgomery, run the sheet." Wesley: "Listen, whatever you think Angel did, I'm sure there's a..." Kate: "Who's Darla?" Angel manhandles Darla down the long stairwell and a good ways into the giant empty water t*nk. Angel: " So you're what Wolfram and Hart brought back in that box. And they brought you back as a human - they think I won't k*ll one. - You want to know what I think? - I think - they don't know me that well." Darla tries to make a run for it, but Angel cuts her off and she stops. Angel: "You feel what this place was before they excavated it? The convent - you remember how much I like convents." She looks at him, makes the sign of the cross. Angel laughs: " Come on Darla, you and I are too old to play games. - I need to talk to the real you." He morphs into vamp face and charges her, pushes her up against a pillar. Angel: "It's been a long time since I said this to anyone (He rips her jacket off her shoulder and bares her neck) but you can scream all you want." Angel lowers his mouth to her bared shoulder and scrapes his teeth up along her neck, scratching it. As he begins to nuzzle her neck Darla begins to smile. Darla breathing hard: "Oh. Oh - I'm not gonna scream." She turns her face against his neck. He pulls back and kisses her and she responds. After a moment they break apart and Darla smiles at him. Darla: "There's my boy." She puts a hand around his neck and they kiss again, harder. In the hotel lobby Wesley sits with a book while Kate comes in with g*n's rap sheet. Kate: "Hey, looky here. Disturbing the peace, resisting arrest, G.T.A. as*ault - (looks at him) you've lead a rich full life, haven't you Charles?" g*n: "I get around." Cordy: "Hey, I know this guy, he helps people. I bet this stuff you're dredging up all happened a long time ago, didn't it." Kate: "Some of it when he was a minor." Cordy: "Uh-huh." Kate: "And some of it in the last two weeks." Cordy: "Oh." Kate: "Word to the wise, Charles, hanging out with these two and their creature-of-the-night boss won't be good for the resume." g*n: "I can see you're looking out for me, detective." Cordy: "Okay, okay, lets not get off track here. We want to find Angel as much as you do." Kate: "No you don't. You want to protect him even though he's lost it: he stalked that woman because he thought she was this Darla from his past; she begged him to stay out and he knocked down the door and k*lled her husband. I've read about him, too, I know he is and I know he hasn't changed." g*n: "No he hasn't, he's still a vampire." Cordy: "g*n - not helping." g*n: "So, how'd he get in the house? She invite him in?" Kate: "Of course she didn't invite..." Cordy: "The only way Angel could get in that house uninvited is if the real owners were d*ad. It's what he was saying all along; she isn't DeEtta Kramer!" Kate: "You're grasping at straws." Wesley: "Are we? (He shows his book to Kate) This is a daguerreotype of Darla, taken over a hundred years ago. That woman who said she was DeEtta Kramer - look familiar?" The picture is Darla, wearing period clothing. Back to Darla and Angel, still in vamp, face kissing. After a moment, Angel pulls her off. Angel: "That's enough." He walks away and she follows him. Darla: "I pretty familiar with the international sign for enough, and you've got a ways to go!" She pushes him up against a pillar, nuzzling close. Angel grabs a hold of her arm and holds her away from him. Darla: "You're hurting me. - I like it." Angel flings her away, takes a deep breath and morphs back into his human face. He pushes off the pillar and confronts her. Angel: "What's the play, Darla? - What kind of game are you running?" Darla: "Just having a little fun. I've been out of commission to long. You know how that feels." Angel: "Wolfram and Hart didn't bring you back for fun. The Dreams, the frame job - what's the big plan, huh? Get me so screwed up I go bad again?" Darla: "Kind of trite, I know. What do you expect? They're only human." Angel smiles at her: "You better embrace that mediocrity, honey. You're talking about your own kind now." Darla walks towards him with a smile: "But I'm still me. (Presses herself up against him) And I remember everything, Angel. Everything we did. Everything we can do." Angel smiles at her and runs a hand though her hair: "Yeah. But the bitch is (gets serious and pushes her away with one finger) you have a soul now. (Darla backs up a few steps, smile gone) Pretty soon those memories are gonna start eating away at you. (Angel walks past her) No matter how hard you try - you won't be able to escape the truth of what you were. Believe me, I know." Darla walks up to him and wraps herself around him. Darla: "But you can escape. You can escape it all. Remember what it was like to get lost, huh? Every thought a million miles away, every part of you being alive! All you have to do is let me give you one little moment of happiness." Angel: "You took me places, showed me things, huh? You blew the top off my head. But you never made me happy." Darla backs away from him: "But that - that cheerleader did? We were together 150 years! We shared everything. You're saying - never?" Angel: "You couldn't understand." Darla: "I understand alright. (Walks away from him) Guy gets taste of something fresh and he thinks he's touching god." Angel: "It wasn't about..." Darla: "Oh, you bet your ass it was! There was a time, in the early years, when you would have said I was the definition of bliss! - Buffy wasn't happiness. - She was just new!" Angel starts to laugh: "You know - you are getting awfully bent over this, Darla. (Slowly walks towards her) I couldn't feel that with you, because I didn't have a soul. - But then I got a second chance - just like you have." Darla: "What a poster child for soulfulness you are. (Walks up and presses herself against him) This is no life Angel! Before you got neutered you weren't just any vampire, you were a legend! Nobody could keep up with you - not even me. You don't learn that kind of darkness. It's innate. It was in you before we ever met. - You said you can smell me? Well, I can smell you, too. My boy is still in there and he wants out!" Angel stands immobile, not looking at her. At the Hyperion hotel the cops come down the stairs into the lobby. Cop to Kate: "He's nowhere to be found." Kate: " Leave some officers on the perimeter in case he shows. (The cops file out. To Cordy and co.) I'll be sure and mention your cooperation in the report." Cordy: "Hey, we did more than cooperate, we solved the damn case. Find out who did away with the owners of that house, you'll find your k*ller." Kate: "You don't get it, do you?" g*n: "What, the fact that Angel's innocent?" Kate: "The fact that while you're fighting your big battles of good and evil the innocent are the ones who get caught in the crossfire. Those are the ones I care about, like that man tonight, like the real owners of that house if what you say is true. And those are the ones I chalk up to your boss." Wesley: "You can't blame Angel for - he's trying to do what's right!" Kate: "That's right, he's good, I keep forgetting. I'm sorry, and why'd he kidnap that woman again?" No one says anything and Kate leaves. Angel's car, top down is parked in front of the little building housing the head of the stairs down into the water t*nk. The sun is shining. Inside the sun is shining down through the open door onto the stairs leading down. Angel and Darla are standing in the shadows between the pillars, facing in different directions. Both look close to exhausted. Angel: "You're gonna feel it, you know. - What you did - that man you got k*lled." Darla: "Please! He was an actor." Angel walks closer to her: "I'm serious." Darla: "Yeah, like a heart att*ck (turns to look at him) and just about as much fun." Angel: "Darla, you hurt anyone else and I'll k*ll you." Darla: "Will you? Isn't that against your cub-scout code?" Angel: "I'll make and exception." Darla steps close to him with a smile: "You're gonna miss those dreams, honey. You should have heard those things you said in your sleep. Nasty things, Angel. Things like..." Angel's hand sh**t out and he grabs her by the throat: "Stop!" Darla pulls out a cross and presses it against his chest: "No, you stop!" We can hear the cross burn into Angel's chest, but he refuses to budge. Darla: "See? No matter how good a boy you are - God doesn't want you!" Angel lets go of her and throws himself back away form her cross. They look at each other breathing hard. Darla: "But I still do." After a moment she drops the cross and hurries into the sun and up the stairs. Angel makes no move to stop her. Darla turns around on the stairs: "What? No good-by kiss?" Slowly climbs up the remaining steps, safe in the sunlight. Angel watches her leave. Night, the Hyperion hotel. Angel is sitting in a chair in his dimly lit room, staring straight ahead. There is a knock on the door. Angel looks towards the door. Cordy's voice: "It's us." After a b*at, Angel gets up and opens the door. Cordy, hands hidden behind her back, and Wes, hands buried in his pockets are standing there. Cordy: "We didn't see you all day, we were just wondering if everything was, you know, copacetic." Angel: "I didn't go bad, Cordelia." Cordy: "I was never worried about that, boss. (She pushes something into Wesley's hands) Of course Mr. Fussy Pants here always imagines the worst." Wesley lifts up his hand revealing the tranquilizer p*stol: "What? I didn't... I never..." Angel: "Is there anything else?" Cordy: "Nope. Can't think of a thing." Angel is about to close the door when Wesley speaks up: "Angel - be careful." Angel: "What do you mean?" Wesley: "Well, it's just -with Darla back, in league with Wolfram and Hart there are a lot of forces arrayed against you. - There's going to be trouble." Angel laughs: "Yeah. There's gonna be a lot of trouble - and I say bring it on."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x05 - Dear Boy"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel to Darla: "So you're what Wolfram and Hart brought back in that box." Darla to Lindsey: "What *is* the plan exactly?" Lindsey: "We don't want him d*ad. We want him dark." Angel grabs Darla by the throat: "Stop!" Darla presses a cross against his chest: "You stop! - God doesn't want you (they break apart) but I still do." Wesley walks around the lobby counter looking at an open file in his hand. Tries to open the top drawer of the file cabinet. When it sticks, he gives it a good yank and the drawer flies completely out, scattering papers on the floor. With a grimace, Wesley swings the drawer by its handle so it comes to rest on the counter top then crouches down to retrieve the papers. A guy steps up to the counter. Guy: "Hello." Wesley straightens up and bangs his head on the file drawer sticking out past the counter. Wesley: "Didn't hear you come in. Uh, how can I help you?" Guy: "Where is he?" Wesley: "Angel? He's rather - out at the moment. Is there something I can do for you? I'm his associate." Guy: "Yeah. You could tell me where the boss is. It's kinda urgent." Wesley: "Oh, we specialize in urgent. Life and death, is it?" Guy: "It could get rough. I need someone with his special abilities." Wesley: "I understand perfectly. Why don't you fill me in and as soon as we find..." Guy: "What about you? You got any special abilities?" Wesley: "A few, I dare say." Guy: "Are you a creature of the night?" Wesley: "No. But I was a rogue demon hunter so - I know how to handle myself when things get rough." Wesley slips on the papers on the floor and lands on his butt. Guy: "Yeah. You're scary." Wesley gets back up: "I'm sure he'll be back soon." Guy: "Might want to tell the boss, he wants to run a business he shouldn't be foisting clients off on his secretary." The guy turns away and walks out. Wesley: "That's associate." Wesley goes back to gathering up papers as Cordy hurries down the stairs. Cordy: "What are you doing?" Wesley: "Ah. Knocking things over, driving away business - you know, the usual." Cordy: "Well, I found him and we have to stop him before it's too late we have to change our (looks down at the dress she is holding in her right hand) Do you have any clothes a man would wear?" Wolfram and Hart, day, a guard checks one of the corridors in the basement. After he walks on, a grate in the floor is pushed open and Angel climbs out of it, followed by g*n. Angel sees a guy and a woman arguing a little ways down the hallway branching off to their right. Angel to g*n: "Don't make eye contact. Keep going." The two of them walk across the hallway and step into the elevator. The doors are almost closed, when someone sticks a briefcase between them. The doors slide back open. It's the pair from the hallway, and they are Wesley and Cordy, dressed in lawyer garb. Angel grabs them and pulls them into the elevator. Angel pushing a floor button: "What are you two doing in here?" Cordelia pushing the door open button: "Um, I'm thinking risking our lives to save yours..." g*n: "How'd you get in?" Wesley: "We used the door." g*n: "And they just let you in?" Cordelia: "Hello. Lawyer! (Angel pushes up, Cordy pushes open) You're not going up there." Angel pushes up: "No, no. I need to do this. I have to find her... where they have her..." Cordelia pushes open: "Still with the Darla of it?" Wesley to g*n: "Did you encourage this?" g*n: "I'm just going along for the ride." Angel pushes up. Cordelia pushes open: "Gonna be a pretty short ride. They have vampire detectors!" g*n: "We know. It's cool. He's got a plan." Wesley: "A plan?" Angel: "Yeah. (Pushes up) I get to the offices before they stop me." g*n: "See? (Whips his head around to stare at Angel) What? *That's* the plan? Walking real quick was the "plan"?" Cordelia pushes open: "Angel, this is crazy. Listen to yourself. You're all insane and angry and (Angel pushes up) insane! You need help!" Angel: "I'm not insane and I'm not angry" Cordy pushes open, and this time there is a security guard there, triggering the stake concealed in his nightstick. Angel grabs a hold of it and s*ab him through the foot with it. Wesley: "Euugh!" g*n: "Man, that's nasty." The guard is trying to pull out the stick but it went all the way through his shoe and is wedged tightly into the crack between the elevator and hallway. Angel walking past the guard: "Maybe I'm a little angry." The other give the struggling guard one last look then follow him out. Cordy: "Maybe?" Intro On the stage of the Karaoke bar two Japanese men are singing "I got you babe," Wesley, Cordy and g*n are sitting at a table, watching. g*n: "Okay, what I want to know is (sees a horned demon light a cigarette on a candle) how'd I live in L.A. all my life and not notice weird-ass stuff was going on?" Cordelia: "Oh, the ass is even weirder than you think." Wesley: "The Host, the fellow talking to Angel over there? He helps demons, reads their souls, senses their futures..." Cordelia: "Yes, but he can only do it when they sing Karaoke." Angel and the host are leaning on the bar counter. Host: "I thought maybe I'd seen you walk away for the last time. You doing okay?" Angel: "Yeah, yeah." Host: "Once more with less feeling." Angel: "I guess I'm a little, ah, uhm - rocky." Host: You're Rocky and Rocky II and half of the one with Mister T. Tell me about it." Angel: "I just... I-I feel this... like - I have to do something - and if I don't let it out I'll explode, and then - when I do something - it feels, ah - I-I think, maybe - this - this is it. I... (hangs his head) I'll sing if I have to." g*n: "Wait. Are you saying... Is he gonna sing? Oh God, is Angel gonna sing?" Host: "You don't have to sing. A break for you, a break for me, and a break for Mr. Manilow." The host pulls out a notepad and scribbles something on it. Angel: "Okay. Uh. If you're sure." Host: "Poor Angelito. Here." Angel takes the paper: "What's this?" Host: "An address in Ojai. A friend of mine, even though, does he ever call? Does he ever write? Good guy, though. You ever hear of the T'ish Magev?" Young man comes by and hands the host a drink. Host: "Thank you, Ramone. I was just thinking I'd rather be drinking. (to Angel) He's a treasure." Angel: "The T'ish Magev... he's like... a swami, sort of, right? Very powerful... This is his address." Host: "I'm sending you to him. You need more than I can do for you. This guy... he'll shock your chakras, fillet your soul... whatever you need. Go to him." The two Japanese guys finish their song and the host gets up. Host: "Lovely! That was Cher-riffic, boys!" Angel to the trio at the table: "We're going. I don't have to sing." Cordelia: "Oh thank God! (Angel looks at her) I - I mean for your sake, 'cause you don't like to do that." sh*t of Angel driving along a deserted freeway. Cordy and Wesley are in Angel's office tidying up some papers. Cordelia: "I figure he'll be back pretty quick. This swami guy sounds kinda magic, he'll probably just do a spell and zap this obsession out of Angel's head." Wesley: "Intriguing notion. Psychiatry through magic. Instant cures for phobias, compulsions, identity crises." Cordy sits down in the big chair behind Angel's desk. Cordy spins the chair in circles: "Hey, look at me. I'm Angel!" Wesley: "He doesn't generally spin that much." Cordy: "Right. Right. This is Angel. (Picks up a book, opens it and pretends to read it, leaning her head in one hand.) Oh, no. I can't do anything fun tonight. I have to count my past sins, then alphabetize them. Oh, by the way, I'm thinking of snapping on Friday. (Wesley suppresses a smile and Cordy gives him a big grin.) - You know, I love Angel and everything, but right now, I'm so glad he's headed the other way." Angel walks up onto the porch of a log cabin situated next to a lake and knocks on the door. The door is opened by a burly guy wearing a blue, plaid shirt over a gray T-shirt. Magev: "Yeah." Angel after a b*at: "I'm looking for the T'ish Magev?" Magev: "Well, you found him." Angel looks him up and down: "Really. - You're the swami?" Magev: "You're the - vampire with a soul?" Angel: "Yeah." Magev steps away from the open door: "Well, in or out? You're letting in the bugs." Cordy walks into the hotel lobby and is grabbed around the neck by a guy from behind. Benny: "Where is Angel?" Cordy: "He's not here." Benny: "You're lying. Give me Angel." Cordy tugs on his arm: "I-I can't. Let go! (He does and Cordy turns to face him) It's about time you..." Benny pulls out a g*n and points it at her. Wesley overhears Benny as he walks towards the lobby. Benny: "My boss needs your boss. So I can not leave here without him. So you are gonna get him for me now, or I'm gonna blow your head off." Cordy: "No! I-I - I-I can't..." Wesley quickly heads back into Angel's office. Cordy: "...I-I-I don't know where he is. I swear." Benny cocking his g*n: "Too bad." Cordy: "Wait! Wait! Listen, I-I... (We see someone in a long, dark coat walks towards them.) Please wait." Wesley wearing Angel's coat: "I'm Angel. (He almost slips on something but catches himself before Benny spins around to confront him.)You looking for me?" At the cabin Angel is sitting across from the Magev, who is tying a new hook on his fishing rod. Magev: "Nice ride." Angel: "Sorry?" Magev: "The car. Very slick." Angel: "Thanks." Magev: "What kind of mileage do you get with that thing?" Angel: "I don't know. 12 in the city, maybe." Magev nods: "Gas hog. Still, probably a chick magnet, right?" Angel: "What? (Magev looks at him) No." Magev: "If you say so." Angel after a moment: "I though we were gonna talk about my problems." Magev: "That car is your problem, pal. Says everything about you." Angel: "The car." Magev: "Yes, the car. You live in L.A. It's all about the car you drive." Angel: "I really don't think..." Magev: "Vampire, living in a city known for its sun - driving a convertible. - Why do you hate yourself?" Angel: "I don't. I mean, I got a deal." Magev: "You got a deal. - Why not a personalized license plate that says 'irony'?" Angel: "Top goes up." Magev: "Appearances. Very important to you." Angel: "That's not true." Magev: "Sure it is. So important that you're willing to put your eternal life at risk every time you hop into that thing. Top up or not." Angel: "It's just a car." Magev: "Oh. So why all the layers, all the black? You know it's been about 80 degrees in the shade lately." Angel: "No reason. I-I don't have a body temperature so..." Magev: "So it's for the look." Angel: "No. - It's just this way I don't have to worry about matching. - I don't have a reflection so..." Magev: "Sure you do." Angel: "I do?" Magev: "You're reflected in the people around you. The way *they* see you. - What do you think they see?" Benny now has his g*n pointed at Wesley's chest. Wesley: "That - that - that won't k*ll me." Benny: "Fine. Let's go. (Lowers his g*n and walks towards the door) Follow me." Wesley: "You just expect me to follow you. I don't see why I should. (Turns away from Benny and takes a step towards Cordy) Ah, you know the g*n won't k*ll me." Benny: "Oh yeah? (Points the g*n at Cordy) What's it gonna do to her? (Wesley spins around) Come on." Wesley, hands up in a placating gesture: "Yes. Alright. (Benny lowers his g*n, and Wesley folds his arms across his chest) but, ah, I shan't be cooperative." We see a fancy house with robed guards at the entrance. Benny walks in, followed by Wesley. Benny without turning around: "I invite you in." Wesley quickly jumps back across the threshold, then enters again as Benny turns to motion him to enter. Wesley: "Thank you. Considerate." Two men come walking into the entrance hall. Bryce: "Sounds like you're saying it was my intention." Paul: "I'm not saying it was on purpose. It's just obviously some gives your drivers their instructions." Bryce: "And your drivers? One little overreaction - you never know what *that's* gonna lead to." Paul: "Hmm, it's good then that you and I got together, you and I. Cleared it all up. No misunderstandings." Bryce: "I think you understand me perfectly, Paul." After a b*at, Paul turns away. Paul throws a look at Wesley before walking out the door. Benny to Bryce: "This is Angel." Bryce: "Angel. (Shakes Wesley's hand) Sorry to make you wait - business thing. Come on in. (He leads the way into a room) I'm pleased to meet you, Angel. My name is Magnus Bryce. Benny, get him a drink." Wesley: "Mr. Bryce, I know who you are. I read the business pages. I don't know why you want me here, but this is not the way to get my cooperation. Your man abducted me tonight!" Bryce: "I understand you're frustrated. But I'm a desperate man. You help people. I need help - protection for someone very dear to me. Now, relax, let me explain." Benny hands Wesley a glass: "Cheers." Wesley looks at it: "Blood. I don't usually - drink in front of humans." Bryce: "Don't insult me. Go on. (Wesley takes the glass) It's fresh." Wesley swallows hard, lifts the glass and takes a drink. Lowers the glass, his lips pressed firmly together. Wesley: "Dear god! That's - nummy." Lifts a hand to cover his mouth. Bryce: "You've heard about the software, the cable network, - that's all a front. The money comes from wizardry. My great-grandfather created our first spell in his garage, (Puts a hand to his stomach, the lifts it back to his mouth to cover a burp) a simple - tallness illusion. Now it's all custom designed work for people with the right money." Wesley: "Really?" Bryce turns to pick something up off the table the same time Benny turns to look at something on one of the side tables. Bryce: "You see someone in this town with looks and talent..." Wesley notices he's unobserved for the moment and quickly pours the rest of the blood into a flower vase on a table just behind him. Then notices that it's a clear glass vase and steps in front of it as Benny and Bryce turn back to face him. Bryce: "...chances are - we provided one of them. It's like they say: the goddess Yeska does not give with both hands. It's not a nice business. I have a lot of enemies - industry rivals." Wesley: "Like the man in the hall?" Bryce: "Paul Lanier? His firm's in wish-granting. Scary little euro-creep. And there are others." Wesley: "Lanier is thr*at you?" Bryce: "Someone - is thr*at my daughter. My only family. Maybe it's Lanier, maybe it's Briggs over at consolidated curses. There are letters and calls. Twice we have caught intruders inside the house." Wesley: "But you're a powerful wizard. Certainly you must know dozens of protection spells." Bryce: "Hundreds. Used them all. These guys are in the business, they know all the tricks." Wesley: "You want me to say I'll act as her bodyguard." Bryce: "No. You don't really get to say anything. I'm gonna pay you a lot of money to protect her. You'll do it - and get paid - and we'll both be very happy." Magev: "There are *two* yous." The two of them are standing in the main room of the cabin. Angel: "To mes." Magev: "The image you work so hard to create and the real you." After a b*at Angel takes off his black leather jacket and drops it on a chair. Angel: "Well, maybe my persona *is* a little - affected." Magev: "A little affected? Come on. How many warriors slated for the coming apocalypse do you think are gonna be using that hair gel? (Angel runs a hand through his hair) Don't get me wrong - you're out there fighting the ultimate evil (Takes to wood staffs off the wall) you're gonna want something with hold. - But how do you expect to triumph over the soldiers of darkness when you're still fighting yourself?" Angel: "You think I'm fighting myself?" Magev throws him one of the staffs and Angel catches it. Magev: "Let's find out." Virginia is lounging on her bed, reading, when Bryce comes in followed by Wesley and Benny. Bryce: "Honey, we have a guest." Virginia: "Oh, look. The vampire's here." Wesley: "Uh, yes. Hello." Virginia sits up: "Well, daddy knows how to send out for just about anything." Bryce: "Virginia, play nice. Angel's gone out of his way to help us." Virginia: "No he hasn't. You probably brought him here at g*n point." Wesley chuckles, saunters further into the room, checks over his looks in her vanity mirror, then jumps back with a yell. Bryce: "What? What's wrong?" Wesley: "Cover that mirror!" Virginia: "Why? We know you're a vampire." Wesley: "Do it!" Virginia gets up and covers it. Wesley: "I'm terribly sorry. It's just strategy. If the att*ck - were to happen here... If I were to fight here I - wouldn't want my opponents to know too soon - what I really am." Bryce: "Good man." Virginia: "Yeah, great! He's already anticipating letting kidnappers into my room." Wesley: "Mr. Bryce, may I speak to Virginia alone?" Bryce: "I'll be right outside." He and Benny step out and close the door. Wesley: "You were right. I didn't want to be here." Virginia: "I knew it. He thinks he owns everyone." Wesley: "But there are thr*at. It's dangerous. You need to be protected. (Virginia just shrugs) You have a lot of books. You must spend some time in here." Virginia: "Well, there have been thr*at for a long time. Every time there is a new one - I buy a book shelf." Wesley: "Virginia, we're both stuck here. So it seems to me - I might as well do what he wants me to do - and do my best to protect you." Virginia: "You think you're the vampire for the job?" Wesley: "Well, I wanna try. - You gonna fight me?" After a b*at Virginia gets up from her chair: "Let's go shopping." Wesley: "What? Now? It's the middle of the night! Wouldn't you rather wait till morning - when I can't reasonably leave the house. Yes, as your bodyguard I insist we go at once." He opens the door and tells Bryce as they walk past him: "We're going shopping." g*n: "At g*n point?" Cordy: "Yes! The point of a g*n. He just walked Wesley right out of here. And this whole "I'm Angel" thing is a very, very bad idea. I mean, if I thought *that* would work, *I* could've been Angel, because, guess what, pretty much a girly name." g*n: "Were'd they go?" Cordy: "I don't know. I tried to follow them, but I lost them." g*n: "So what's the plan?" Cordy: "The plan is, you go get Angel from the Swami place, I track down Wesley. This guy that took him, pretty distinctive, maybe I can find a criminal record, known associates - uh! Mug sh*ts!" g*n: "I better get started. It's gonna take me a long time to find this place." Cordy: "g*n - this thug-guy is bad news. I really hate to think where Wesley may be right now." Wesley and Virginia walk into a fancy store. There is champagne in an ice bucket sitting on a table and soft classical music is playing in the background. Wesley looking around: " I say, this place is extraordinary. Wizard supplies. - It's a little exposed, though isn't it? I mean - are you really safe here?" Virginia: "You tell me." Wesley: "Oh, yes. My job exactly. To make it safe. Well, I shall certainly do my best." Virginia: "We all do our best for Daddy. Makes shopping for him a real pain." Wesley: "Ah, we're looking for a *gift* are we?" Virginia: "For his birthday. Number fifty. That's why he's so twitchy lately. Big party makes security dodgy, plus I think there's a whole mid-life thing going on." Wesley: "You're looking at talismans?" Virginia: "Images of the goddess Yeska, his favorite creepy deity. - What do you think of the gold one?" Wesley: " Attractive, but it isn't real gold -it couldn't be, one good spell would melt it. I'd go with the iron one." Virginia: "You sound like dad. - He really gets into all this stuff. He loves it all, the rituals - magic..." Wesley: "You don't love it." Virginia: "I used to - when I was little. It's been just him and me for a long time. He used to sit me next to him at his desk and teach me about runic incantations or enchanted armor." Wesley: "But not any more?" Virginia: "No. I mean, *he* still loves this stuff. - Guy's gotta love something." Wesley puts his hand on top of a helmet sitting on the counter their leaning on. Wesley: " Your father obviously loves you, too. He's gone to some trouble to protect you." Virginia: "He has his car insured, too. (Looks at Wesley's hand) Doesn't that hurt?" Wesley looks over and sees that the helmet is topped by a cross, quickly pulls his hand away, pretending to be burnt. Wesley: "Ow, hot, hot. (Sticks his hand into the ice bucket, but after a moment he pulls it back out) cold! Cold." Two guys come up on either side of Virginia. 1. Guy: "Virginia, we're gonna go now." 2. Guy: "Say good bye to the pretty guy." Wesley: "Wait!" Virginia: "Angel!" 1. guy: "You're Angel? The vampire?" The guys let go of Virginia. Wesley: "Yes - I am. I'm - Angel (pulls his glasses off and tosses them onto the counter) the vampire with a soul - fighting for my redemption with - with - with k*lling evil demons. That's right. Scourge of the demon world. (The guys exchange a quick look) don't worry, boys, I don't k*ll humans - unless I'm angry!" Virginia hurries to away from them to stand behind Wesley, and the first thug lifts his hands in a placating gesture. 1. Guy: "We're just doing what he told us." Wesley: "Who - Lanier? (Guy nods) Fine. You're going to leave now. Then you're gonna to tell Lanier (he reaches to adjust his missing glasses and the thugs back away a step) - forget about the girl. Now go!" They leave Wesley picks up his glasses and puts them back on. Wesley to Virginia: "We better get you back home. It's not safe here. - I think if we give them a next time, it could get a lot rougher." Angel and Magev are staff fighting on a covered bridge. Magev: "You're holding back. What are you afraid off?" Angel: "Nothing." Magev: "You're whimping. This isn't River Dance. Fight!" Angel: "I am fighting!" Magev: "Yourself. You're fighting yourself. Fight me! Why are you holding back? Why can't you let go?" Angel: "Because." Magev: "Why?" Angel over their locked staffs: "If I let it, it'll k*ll you." Magev: "It?" Angel disengages and steps back: "The demon." Magev: "Ha! But the demon is you!" Angel: "No." Magev: "Yes! That's the thing you spend so much energy trying to conceal!" Angel shakes his head: "No, I just - I can't let it control me." Magev nods: "Ah. I see. (Hits Angel's knee hard then hooks the staff behind his legs to drop him onto his back) You *don't* think it controls you?" Magev is talking on the phone holding an ice bag to the back of his head. Magev: "I don't know how long I can keep up this Yoda gag. Son-of-a-bitch is strong. Plus something we didn't think about - you know the guy can smell blood." Lanier: "What are you talking about?" Magev: "He's a vampire! It's only a matter of time before he sniffs out where I stashed the real Magev's body. I know you want me to keep him up here for the whole weekend, but..." Lanier: "Stop, stop, stop. Angel's there?" Magev: " Yeah he's here. He's right outside. He's brooding. He came up here right after he spoke to the Host, just like Ramone said he would. Why?" Lanier: "The vampire is with you? - Then who the hell is the English guy?" Cordy is looking at mug sh*ts of criminals on her laptop, eyes the magazine lying beside it, finally picks it up and starts to flip through it. Cordy: "Celeb photos - celeb photos page 46." She comes across a photo of Bryce and Virginia with Benny standing behind them. Cordy: "It's him!" Wesley is walking Virginia back to her room. Wesley: "I hope you weren't too frightened." Virginia: "No, more angry, you know?" Wesley: "Well, they were trying to intimidate you." Virginia: "Not at them. At the whole thing, at the fact that I have to live like this." Wesley: "It's a bad situation." Virginia: "It's a bad situation? It's a waste of a life! I keep waiting for my life to start and it never does. There is just - more locks, and surveillance cameras and (turns down the hallway and sees two robed guards posted by her door) guards?! Okay, what is this now - bedroom guards? You go back and you tell my dad..." One of the robed figures grabs a hold of her. Wesley takes his glasses off: "Stop it!" The other stretches his hand, holding a sparkling f*re, towards Wesley. Guard: "Let your flesh be weakened..." Wesley: "Pipe that down..." Wesley grabs a hold of the guys hand and folds it closed over the f*re as he kicks him. Wesley: "...I've had it with your.." Slams the guard holding Virginia in the face, then tosses the first guy over his shoulder. As he stands there, breathing hard, the two guys scramble up and away. Virginia: "You were amazing." Wesley with a smile: "I was a bit." Virginia: "Your face - you don't go all (crinkles up her face) like a regular vampire." Wesley: "Ah. I suppose I'm not like a regular vampire." Angel and Magev are sitting at the lake, fishing. Angel: "Not a vampire at all, really. I mean, not any more. They brought her back as a human." Magev: "This Darla girl - why'd they do that?" Angel: "I don't know. But seeing her again... it's just..." Magev: "It started the inner struggle." Angel: "Yeah." Magev: "She's not even the one that did this to you." Angel: "No. It-it's still her, it's still Darla. It's - kinda hard to explain." Magev: "What hard? You're obsessed." Angel: "I guess I am, a little, yeah." Magev: "You blame her." Angel: "I suppose I do." Magev: "You want to punish her." Angel: "A bit..." Magev: "At the same time you want to thank her." Angel: "Thank her?" Magev: "For the gift she's given you." Angel: "Gift?" Magev: "You're deeply ambivalent." Angel: "Yeah, well, I am and I'm not." Magev: "You need to get over her. - Okay, what does she look like?" Angel: "She's beautiful. - Small, blonde..." Magev: "Right. So here's what you do. You go out and find yourself some small, blonde thing. You bed her, you love her, you treat her like crap, you break her heart. You and your inner demon will thank me, I promise." Angel: "Uhm..." Virginia is sitting on her bed. Wesley: "Are you alright? (Sits down beside her) I mean, two close calls like that..." Virginia: "I guess so. I don't know. Are we safe now?" Wesley: "I don't know." Virginia: "Sometimes I think about running away. Isn't that ridiculous, a 24 year old runaway?" Wesley: "We all want to escape our lives sometimes." Virginia: "I think about - getting my own place - a little apartment. A job, something - silly like - uhm, a perfume sprayer - or working at a tire store." They both laugh. Wesley: "A tire store?" Virginia: "I told you it was ridiculous." Wesley: "No, no. It sounds wonderful! Rotating tires and inflating - things... Your father would not allow it I'd imagine." Virginia: "Oh, no. It's too dangerous. He says they would grab me in a second and use me to get to him. - If you think about it, he's saying that if I moved out - it would k*ll him. - I'd be responsible." Wesley: "That's a huge burden to put on you." Virginia: "I just - (she leans her head onto his shoulder) I just want out." She looks up at him then leans in and lightly kisses him on the lips. Wesley: "Virginia..." The kiss again, just as lightly, but longer. Virginia while still kissing him: "I'm sorry - I know we can't." Wesley: "Yeah. - Why?" Virginia: "Well, you're a pretty famous guy, Angel. I hear the guards talk sometimes. I know." Wesley: "Know?" Virginia: "About the curse." Wesley: "Ah. - The curse." Laughs and shakes his head, not looking at her. Magev: "Curse?" Angel: "Yeah. I thought you knew." Magev: "Well, they don't tell me everything. So you really can't - at all?" Angel: "Well, that's part of what makes me special, right?" Magev: "Right. No, that's real special. - So, it's a sex thing this curse?" Angel: "Well, no, not specifically." Magev: "Well, then, what specifically?" Wesley: "Perfect happiness. Yes, of course. Mustn't... (He leans in and kisses her) Mustn't - mustn't let oneself (Virginia pulls off his glasses) let oneself forget (she nibbles at his ear) diabolical consequences - I should... You know this whole curse thing has been *widely* misinterpreted." Virginia: "Really?" Wesley: "Oh, yes! Yes, it's less of a curse and more of a hex, actually (she continues to kiss him) Barely that (he kisses her back) a recommendation..." Virginia pulls back: "Are you - sure you're telling the truth?" Wesley: "Virginia, I wanna be honest with you. I wanna tell you everything. I'm not (She kisses him) actually... (the rest becomes muffled by her kisses)" Next day. g*n's pickup pulls up beside Angel's car in front of the cabin, and g*n gets out. g*n: "Yo, yo! Anybody home?" Magev: "Morning traveler. Do you seek enlightenment?" g*n: "I seek Angel. He with you?" Magev: "Well, he was until the sun came up, then... You see that pile of dust over there? (Laughs) I'm just joking! He's inside. Come on." g*n as he walks towards the house: "Joking. Great. We got ourselves a funny zen master." Magev suddenly hits him hard on the head from behind, then across the chin, knocking him unconscious. As he bends down to pull the body away, Angel's voice comes from the shadowed porch. Angel: "Which lesson was that exactly?" Magev straightens up: "He was not your friend. I sensed danger..." Angel: "Where is the real T'ish Magev? Did you k*ll him? Did you put him in the lake?" Magev with a grin: "Something like that. But you know what? Somehow I'm not that worried about you right now, seeing as you can't get any closer. (Spreads his arms and laughs) Ah, wonderful sunshine! Wish you were here." As Magev turns his back on Angel with a laugh, Angel picks up a fishing rod and hooks the Magev then quickly reels him in hand over hand. Magev: "Ouch! Ow! What are you doing?" Angel, now in vamp face, grabs Magev by the front of his shirt and pulls him even closer. Angel: "Getting in touch with my inner demon." Wesley's is lying in Bed next to Virginia, watching her sleep. Wesley, dressed, steps out of Virginia's room and looks down the hallway. He turns back to Virginia standing in the door and kisses her, then he turns away to quietly walks down the hall only to run into Cordelia. Cordy: "There you are! I found you!" Wesley: "Cordelia. How did you get in here?" Cordy: "Well, I told them that I worked for Angel and they sent me right in. You got everybody scared around here, I'll tell you that. It's like they don't even know you're a chimp. (Virginia comes up behind Wesley and Cordy holds out her hand) Oh. Hey, you're Virginia Bryce!" Virginia: "Who are you?" Wesley: "This is Cordelia Chase. She works for me. (Virginia nods at Cordy, who nods back) Virginia, I left my coat..." Virginia: "I'll get it." As soon as Virginia turns her back Cordy grabs a hold of Wesley's arm. Cordy: "Good move. Now let's scuttle our butts out of here." Wesley: "Cordelia, I'm not going with you." Cordy: "What? I'm rescuing you! Key ingredient? We leave!" Wesley: "I understand, but I have to stay. I have a job to do." Cordy: "What is wrong with you? You've got like delusions of Angel! You're not him. You can't do stuff on your own. (Sees Bryce and two robbed guards come up behind Wesley) Oh, crud. (Once they come close enough, she reaches out and shakes Bryce hand) Oh, hey, Mr. Bryce, I've seen your picture, (sees Benny behind Bryce) and I remember you from the armed abduction." Wesley: "I had Ms. Chase testing your defensive perimeter and I must say... Did you know your guards just let her in?" Bryce: "Because I told them to. I wanted my daughter to hear someone call you by your real name." Wesley: "Wait." Virginia steps up beside Wesley: "What's going on? What real name?" Bryce: "I got a call, from an anonymous friend with some information. This guy - isn't Angel." Benny grabs Wesley's shoulder and pulls him backwards towards a window. Wesley: "I am so Angel!" Cordy: "Yeah, yeah!" Wesley: "Oh, no, no, not the sun! For I am a vampire. Oh, oh oh! It burns! Oh." He cowers away from the sun, as Cordy makes a face and Virginia stares at him, finally gives up the pretense. Virginia: "You're not Angel." Wesley: "My name is Wesley Wyndham-Price." Virginia: "I talked to you. I trusted you. - You lied to me. - Come to think of it, you actually put my life in danger. I was walking around thinking I had vampire protection. - Here's the funny part: I finally thought I had a friend." She holds out Angel's coat to him, and after a moment's hesitation he takes it and watches her turn away and walk into her room. Cordy comes to stand beside Wesley: "Well - you kind of screwed her over, huh?" Bryce: "You're gonna get out of my house now, loser. Take the piece with you." One of the robed guards pushes them down the hall. Cordy: "The Piece? Was that supposed to be me? Get off me!" Benny: "You should have let me k*ll them. You're just gonna let them go?" Bryce grabs him and throws him up against the wall. Bryce: "Never tell me what to do. Never! You brought me the wrong guy. You risked the whole sacrifice, you understand? - But I'm not gonna k*ll you. Because I need you now, Benny. (Walks over to some ugly rock step sculpture) It's only a few hours until the sacrifice. You understand the need for security in this? This is the party of my life (picks up a manacle and chain attached to the rock) obviously Virginia's too." Cordy sits down next to Wesley on the lobby steps inside the Hyperion. Cordy: "Well, that was pretty humiliating, huh?" Angel comes in leading a dazed g*n. Cordy gets up: "Angel, g*n, what happened?" Angel: "He got h*t." Cordy: "By who? The swami? Swamies don't h*t. Swamies swam." Angel sees Wesley sitting on the steps: "Why is Wesley wearing my coat?" g*n to Cordy: "That was a whole lot of swami." Wesley: "The T'ish Magev h*t him?" Angel: "He was a fake. Someone must have found out that I was going up there. They hired this guy to get me out of the way. He took out the real Magev. Set up the whole thing." Wesley: "Did you find out who hired him?" Angel: "He wouldn't say. (Wesley gets up and starts to pace) That is my coat, right?" Wesley: "It has to be Paul Lanier. He thought that would keep Virginia unprotected. Then when his men couldn't take me out, he tipped off Bryce that I wasn't Angel. He hoped Bryce would get me out of the way." Angel: "What's going on? - Where you in Virginia?" Wesley: "That's beside the point." Cordy: "He was posing as you. Protecting a girl named Virginia. This guy Lanier is trying to k*ll her, or abduct her, or something." Wesley: "She's probably in danger right now. She's at the big party." g*n: "What party?" Wesley: "Her father's birthday. Big wizard event, cake, ice cream, tributes to the goddess Yeska." Angel: "Yeska? Wait a minute, I know Yeska. She's no goddess." Cordy: "What do you mean?" Angel: "She's a Davric demon." Wesley: "Davric? They don't serve humans - well, unless the humans make a sacrifice." g*n: "Sacrifice?" Wesley: "Davric demons eat live sacrifices, generally girls. They grant huge power to the person that offers a sacrifice on their 50 - oh, dear lord, on their 50's birthday. - Bryce is gonna sacrifice his own daughter." Cordy: "So why was Lanier trying to abduct her?" Angel: "Bryce is going to get a lot of power off that sacrifice." Wesley: "We have to go. Angel you take g*n, go to the front of the house. Cordelia, we'll to to the back." As he is about to walk past Angel puts out a hand to stop him. Wesley: "Alright. You know this sort of thing best. How should we proceed?" Angel looks around, stands up: "Uhm, well, g*n and I could - take the back?" Wesley walks on: "Very good. Lets go." Angel following: "Uh, Wesley, can I get my coat back?" Benny is trailing Virginia around her dad's party. She sees the stone sculpture, decorated with lit candles. Virginia: "What is this horrible thing? - I hope a girl isn't gonna jump out of it or something." Benny: "Not really." Bryce taps the side of his glass with a spoon to get everyone's attention. Bryce: "Thank you. I wanna thank all of you for being here on this special occasion. My feelings (chokes up) my feelings run almost too deep for words. But I'll try to do this, and do it right." Virginia: "What is he talking about?" Bryce lights a candle: "Yeska, of the razor eyes and stone heart, take this offering. I cast my most precious emerald into the ocean on the moment of my birth plus 50 years." Virginia: "Daddy, what are you doing? (Benny grabs her wrist and pulls her towards the sculpture) Daddy? Hey! Hey. Daddy stop them!" Bryce: "Take this gift..." Benny shackles Virginia with the attached chains. Virginia to Benny: "Stop - stop now!" Bryce: "Let her death return tenfold onto me my power." Virginia: "Make them stop!" Bryce: "Be a good girl now. This is hard enough already." Benny to Virginia: "He's really torn about it." Virginia to the party guests: "Help! Somebody help me!" Bryce comes to stand in front of her. Virginia: "Daddy?" But he only dips his thumb into a basin of water sitting on the sculpture and marks her forehead with it, before backing away again. Wesley, Cordy, Angel, who's wearing his coat again, and g*n stride into the party room through the open double doors. Wesley: "Release her or die." Angel: "Don't I say that?" Bryce: "Guards!" The party goers scatter as Wesley gets knocked down by the firs charging guard. He gets back up and does about as well as Angel and g*n against the guards. Cordy gets into the fray as well, knocking one of them over the head with a champagne bottle from behind, as he is trying to strangle g*n. Wesley hurries towards Virginia, knocking Benny out along the way, and starts to unchain her while the others fight on. Wesley: "I'll get you out of here." Bryce cowering beside a table: "The hour approaches Yeska. Do not be blind to my plea. Yeska I beseech thee. (A wind starts to blow inside the room, distracting the fighters) Appear!" Yeska, and ugly gray skinned demoness with a blonde afro appears with a flicker of lightning in front of Virginia. Yeska with a grin: "The Sacrifice (Virginia stares at her wide eyed and Yeska's grin vanishes) is impure!" And with that Yeska vanishes herself the same way she appeared. g*n: "What's going on?" Wesley to Virginia: "Let's go." Virginia: "Why did you come back?" Wesley: "I said I'd protect you." Virginia gives a short laugh and lets him help her up. Bryce: "She's impure? - She-she's not a virgin? (Starts towards Wesley) You..." g*n: "Woah! That's what impure meant?" Cordy: "She slept with him?" Bryce: "You were supposed to be Angel. This wouldn't have happened. That's why I hired him. He's a eunuch." Cordy: "You slept with her." Angel: "Eunuch?" Wesley to Bryce: "Things happen. Two young people, danger..." Virginia: "What are you talking about?" Bryce: "She was a virgin before you got here." Virginia: "I was *not* a virgin!" Bryce: "What?" Wesley: "Oh, thank goodness." g*n: "I could have told you she was no virgin." Angel: "I'm not a eunuch." Cordy: "One day as Angel, one day! - and he's getting some." Bryce: "What? How could you. I kept you away from all men!" Angel: "I mean, the curse isn't even all that clear. Virginia: "Daddy, you remember that chauffeur from when I was 16? And the one at 18? I haven't been a virgin for a *very* long time. - I even dated Rick." Bryce turns to look at one of the robed guards, who hurriedly and quietly makes his way from the room. Bryce: "Ginny, don't do this! Don't make me angry!" Virginia: "Right. Because then you might do something bad. - *You* were going to *k*ll* me! (She hauls back and hits her dad with a hard left, knocking him to the ground) You are not my father anymore." Cordelia smiles at her as Virginia walks out of the room. Angel to Bryce still on the floor: "I'm not a eunuch." Hyperion Hotel, day. Cordy comes into Angel's office holding out a magazine article to him. Cordy: "Look!" Angel takes it and reads: "Virginia Bryce squired by Mr. Wesley Wyndham-Price, private detective and bodyguard to the stars. -Hah. Squired - who says squired?" Cordy points at the picture: "Look at him all over her!" Angel: "Cordelia, you're just jealous that he's getting some attention." Cordy: "Damned skippy! He's getting famous off this! Reflected glory - that's my thing!" Angel: "Get a little perspective. (Cordy stalks out and Angel returns to reading the article) 'Bodyguard to the stars.' Yeah, right! - There is no Wyndham-Price Agency." FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x06 - Guise Will Be Guise"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel re: Darla: "That's her!" Angel: "So you're what Wolfram and Hart brought back in that box - and they brought you back as human." Lindsey to Darla: "We don't want him d*ad - we want him dark." Wesley to g*n: "There are forces that can make Angel revert to Angelus." Cordy: "He knows perfect happiness, he goes evil." Darla to Angel: "We were together 150 years!" Angelus spotting Dru: "The one in the middle." Darla: "She has the sight." Angelus: "She is pure innocence. We turn her into one of us." Darla to Angel: "The gypsies gave you a soul - a filthy soul! No!" Darla in the water t*nk: "I remember everything, Angel" Angel: "You have a soul now. Pretty soon those memories are gonna start eating away at you. Believe me, I know." Angel is sitting alone in his room sketching a portrait of Darla. Wesley hesitantly steps up to the open door behind Angel and looks in. Angel without looking up from his sketch: "What is it, Wesley?" Wesley: "It? - There is no it. - It's nothing, really. - Just popping around, seeing if everything's all right." Angel, still sketching: "Fine." Wesley: "Oh, good. Good. - You're certain?" Angel: "Uh-huh. Good night." Wesley: "Good night." Angel: "You're still here." Wesley hesitantly comes into the room: "Apparently. So, you're sure there is - nothing on your mind? - That is to say nothing you'd like to - perhaps (sees what Angel is drawing) - share?" Angel looks up at him for a moment: "No." Wesley: "Really." Angel looks up at him, then at what Wesley is looking at. The floor of the room is littered with papers, some crumpled up, others not, showing earlier attempts at drawing Darla. Darla is sitting slumped in a chair, moaning softly. Lindsey opens the door, takes his sunglasses off, walks in and looks around the room. The floor is littered with shards of the mirrors that used grace the walls. Darla: "Hello, Lindsey." Lindsey crouches down in front of her and looks at the cuts on her hands and wrists. Lindsey: "You're bleeding." Darla: "I guess I am." Lindsey: "Something happened?" Darla: "God, yes. So many things. I remember them all. Which one were you thinking of?" Lindsey: "It's too soon. (Pulls out a handkerchief to blot at her hands) We shouldn't have sent you to him. We should have waited." Darla reaches to brush the hair out of his face. Darla: "Lindsey. You never talk about yourself, Lindsey. You have a girlfriend? - Boyfriend? - Someone special?" Lindsey: "There is no one." Darla: "No. No, there really isn't, is there? You can be with someone for 150 years - think you know them. Still - doesn't work out. Angelus - why, you should have seen us together." Lindsey: "He was a different person then." Darla: "And so was I. - Now do you know what we've become?" Lindsey: "Enemies." Darla: "Oh no. - *Much* worse. - Now we're soul *mates*." Darla starts to laugh as Lindsey stares at her. Intro 1609, the Virginia Colony. The sun is shining on Darla as she is lying in bed. There are two veiled sisters standing at the foot of her bed watching as a doctor takes a leech from her arm. Darla: "Someone close the shutters. (One of the sisters does so) Seems wrong that I should die while the sun is still so bright." A hooded priest enters the room. Priest: "You'll not see it again. Before it sets, you will have left this life." Darla: "I didn't ask for a priest. Who invited him here?" Priest: "You did. You cried out for me last night in your delirium." Darla: "I don't remember. Do you even *know* what I am?" Man walks into the room: "A woman of some property. No husband, no inheritance. Yes. I know what you are." Darla: "I'm a whore." Priest: "Well, yes, that too. You should have asked for a priest long ago, child. Your life may have been the better for it." Darla: "And you should have paid me a visit before today, father. Your life may have been more interesting because of it." Priest: "Are you prepared now to renounce Satan and beg God his forgiveness?" Darla: "God never did anything for me." Priest to the others: "Leave us." The two sisters leave. Priest to the doctor still sitting at her bedside: "You can't save her life - perhaps I can still save her soul." The doctor gets up and leaves. Darla: "My soul is well past saving. Let the devil take me if he'll have me. Either way - I die." Priest: "No (The priest steps closer and pulls his hood back to reveal - the Master) you will not die. (Darla looks up at his inhuman face without flinching) You will be reborn." Darla: "I know you." The Master leans down and takes one of Darla's hands in his. Master: "I came to you last night. I sang to you from that window." Darla: "Hmm, I remember now. You're death?" Master: "No." Darla: "What then?" Master: "I'm you're savior. God never did anything for you - but I will." With that he leans down and sinks his fangs into her neck. Angel is sitting behind his desk at the Hyperion. Wesley and Cordy are sitting in a couple of chairs on the other side of it, while g*n is hovering in the background. Cordy: "Am I the only one that thinks that this is just a really bad idea?" Angel: "We can't just sit here waiting for Wolfram and Hart to make a move. It's time we go ahead in the game." Cordy: "This won't involve kidnapping again, will it?" Angel: "All we gonna do is find her." Cordy: "And this would be the same woman you didn't notice was in your bedroom every night for like three weeks straight?" Angel: "That was different." Cordy: "Different in the sitting right on top of you sense, yeah." Wesley: "Cordelia has a point." Cordy: "Finally!" Wesley: "The last time Darla emerged she wanted to be found. Now she is out there among six million other people." Cordy: "She could be sitting on top of anybody." Angel: "Come on guys. We are a detective agency. We investigate things. That's what we're good at." Cordy: "That's what we suck at. Let's face it, unless there's a website called Oh-By-the-way-we-have-Darla-stashed-here.com, we're pretty much out of luck." Wesley: "It's not gonna be easy." Cordy gets up: "Before he said he could smell her. How about - we cruise around with the top down - and you take big whiffs? (No one says anything) Well, we'll wait until after the sun sets obviously." g*n: "It's a big law firm. They've got to have housing for the out-of-towers, right?" Wesley: "Out-of-towners? It's not as if they flew her in from Miami. She was raised from the very depths of hell by an ancient and dangerous ritual." g*n: "Yeah and? They still got to put her up, don't they? That's an expense. (Everyone stares at him) You're telling me these lawyers haven't figured out a way to write that off?" Cordy looks at Wesley, then turns to go. Cordy: "I'm gonna start digging into Wolfram and Hart's real estate acquisitions." Wesley following her: "Not just primary holdings, but subsidiary as well." Angel calls after them: "She'd want something with a view. (To himself) Darla always loved something with a view." 1760, London. Angelus is standing in front of the Master seated on a big carved chair. Master: "Angelus - the Latinate for Angel. (Laughs) It's marvelous." Darla, standing beside the Master: "His name would already be legend in his home village - had he left anyone alive there to tell the tale." Master, caressing Darla's hand: "Ah, you had a nice trip. I'm so glad." Darla: "On the way back we cut a bloody swath through South Wales and northern England. He was magnificent." Angelus: "Hmm, Yorkshire men - tough as leather. (The Master and Angelus both laugh at that remark) So, Darla here tells me you're some sort of Master." Darla: "The* Master. He commands out order." Master: "*The order of Aurelius. We are the select - the elite." Angelus folds his arms and surveys their surroundings. Angelus: "And you live in the sewers, do you?" The Master gives Darla's hand a pat and stands up. Master: "We live below, giving tribute to the old ones. Awaiting that promised day when we will arise -Arise! - and lay *waste* to the world above us." The Master laughs. Angelus: "Why'd you want to do that?" Master: "Huh?" Angelus: "Well, I mean, have you *been* above lately? It's quite nice. Me - I could never live in a rat infested stink hole - like this, if you'll pardon me for saying so. I got to have meself a proper bed or I'm a terror. (To Darla) Isn't that right love?" Darla to the Master: "He's young." Angelus: "And this one, down in the goose feathers, and the finest silks and linens and a view (Angelus comes around to Darla) she's always got to have the view (leans in close to her) don't you, my lamb?." Darla to Master: "We fed very recently. The blood is still hot in his veins." Angel in Darla's ear: "You noticed that, did you?" Master: "We stalk the surface to feed and grow our ranks. We do not live amongst the human pestilence!" Angelus: "I'll be honest, you really couldn't with that face, now could you?" Darla slaps his face: "Angelus!" Angelus laughs and drops into the Masters chair, left leg dangling over one of the armrests and takes a bit of snuff. Angelus: "It's not stuck like that now is it?" The Master leans in on him with a growl. Darla: "The Master has grown past the curse of human features." Angelus: "I'm not gonna get a bat-nose like that, huh? Am I?" Master: "Very few vampires are cunning enough to have lived as long as I have - which you've now (The Master grabs Angelus by the front of his coat and throws him across the room) demonstrated." Darla flinches as Angelus slides down the wall. Laughing, he gets back up, and keeps talking to Darla as if the Master wasn't even there. Angelus: "Naples, you and me Darla. What do you say?" The Master hits him with a hard right throwing him back against the wall. Darla: "Angelus..." Angelus just pushes himself off the wall and goes on as if nothing had happened: "This is no place for you - bound to the likes of him." Master: "You should show (Master hits Angelus over the head, dropping him to the ground) the proper respect." Angelus, now on all fours and breathing hard, still ignores the Master and talks only to Darla. Angelus: "You belong by my side - out in the world - feeding as we like - taking what we need. I'll give you that view you crave, darling. I'll give you everything." The Master knocks Angelus over onto his back. Angelus coughs than laughs again. Lifts his head to look at Darla. Angelus: "Tell the truth - whose face do you want to look at for eternity? (Rolls over on his side) His - or mine?" Master smiles down at Angelus: "You idiot. I *made* her." Darla smiles at Angelus and he smiles back at her. The Master's smile fades and he turns to look at Darla. Master: "You're leaving with the stallion, aren't you?" Darla walks over to Angelus and helps him up. Angelus puts an arm around her shoulders and pulls her close and the two of them turn to leave. One of the Master's minions growls and blocks their path. Master with his back to them: "No. Let them go. (He lets them pass) He won't last. I give it a century - tops." Angel reading from a book: "Darla, Anglo-Saxon derivation, meaning 'dear one' - huh, didn't come into common usage until more than a 100 years after she was born. (Closes the book) He must have given it to her. - I didn't even know her real name. (To Wesley) Any luck?" Wesley: "No yet, no. Working on it." Angel rubs his eyes: "Something will come up." Wesley: "Yes. That's my fear. - Angel, you must admit that your record when it comes to Darla has been - spotty at best." Angel: "I k*lled her Wesley. - And she came back. - They brought her back and now I need to know why. I mean why like this? Why human?" Wesley: "Perhaps human was the only way Wolfram and Hart could bring her back and hope to control her with any degree of success. - Angel, I don't supposed it occurred to you that *this* might be why they brought her back? You have all your attention focused on finding this one woman." Angel: "So you think Wolfram and Hart went to all this trouble just to keep me distracted? Take me out of the game?" Wesley: "It is possible. And if that's the case..." Angel: "It's working." Lindsey ushers Darla, huddled into her jacket, into his office. Lindsey: "You hungry? (Drops his coat and pushes a button on a remote to open the curtains) I can run down the hall and grab some sandwiches from the vending machine if you want. It's not exactly gourmet cuisine, but..." He trails off as Holland enters the office. Holland: "Lindsey." Lindsey: "Holland." Holland: "Darla. How are you?" Darla: "I'm fine, Holland. Good to see you." Holland: "Always a pleasure. Lindsey, a word. (To Darla) You'll excuse us." Holland steps back out of the office and Lindsey follows him. Lindsey to Darla as he's about to close the door: "I'll be right outside." Holland: "I thought we were *very* clear on this matter. Now that she's made contact it's not - prudent to have her on the premises." Lindsey: "I know. I just... I didn't feel I could leave her alone. - I think there may be a problem, sir. She seems to be displaying post traumatic..." Holland: "She's cracking up." Lindsey: "No. I wouldn't say that." Holland: "She is way ahead of schedule." Lindsey: "What?" Holland: "We'll have to accelerate matters. But, I think we're ready. (Claps Lindsey on the arm) Lindsey, you did the right thing. Good work. (Turns to go) Don't let her leave the building. (Turns back) Oh, and letter openers, staple g*n, even ball point pens, anything with a sharp edge, you may want to remove so sorts of items from your office. Just in case." Break 1880, London. Darla looking at a d*ad sailor lying on a street corner. Darla: "So beautiful. Not a blemish, not a freckle. Perhaps we should have preserved that beauty for eternity." Angelus: "Still he won't now age." Darla: "No, but he'll rot. Seems a pity." Dru: "I could hop into him, like I did the ocean." Darla: "Of course you could." Dru: "I'm full and warm - yet all alone." Angelus: "That's not true, precious. You've got us." Dru: "Not in the least. You won't even have me just a little bit." Darla: "All you have to do is ask." Dru: "No. He's head's too full of you, grandmother." Darla: "Stop calling me that." She hits a chuckling Angelus and pulls him down the street. Dru following: "Don't be cross. I could be your mummy." Angelus: "Well, if you're lonely, Dru, why don't you make yourself a playmate?" Dru: "I could. I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land - and make him mine forever with a kiss." Just then a crying William bumps into them, dropping his notebook. He bends down to pick it up then stumbles on. William: "You - watch where you're going!" Darla looking after him: "Or you could just take the first drooling idiot that comes along." Angelus laughing: "You think she'll find a good one?" The walk on but Dru keeps looking after William. Darla: "I found you." Angel: "Based on *this* we think that the search is over? The property is owned by Wolfram and Hart?" Wesley: "Annapolis Olive Oil Import Export, a corporate client of Wolfram and Hart." Angel: "That's pretty slim." Cordy: "It has a view." Angel: "That's not enough." Cordy: "And Berber carpeting." Angel: "Nah, we need to narrow it down further. Keep looking." Cordy: "And my sister is living in unit 319." Angel walking out of the room: "You don't have a sister." Cordy: "Sure I do. My older - way older - like 400 years older - blonde sister Darla, no last name. I've been desperately trying to find (Angel slowly comes back into the room) her because - mom and dad are in the coma. Sue, the property manager was - very helpful. (Cordy looks over at Wesley with a smile) She even cried." Angel rips the page with the address off the notebook and walks towards the door. Angel: "Let's go." Wesley blocks his path: "Perhaps it would be best if you let me contact g*n and he and I can check this out. (Tries to take the paper with the address, but Angel won't let go) We could do the reconnaissance, give you a full report and we can *all* decide how to proceed - as a team." Cordy: "Probably a good idea - since it's 1 o'clock in the afternoon and that address is in Sun Valley." Angel lets go of the paper and Wesley walks out. Angel: "Right. (Laughs) Sun." Cordy: "Actually I was thinking Valley. I mean why go *there* if you don't have to." Darla is staring out the window in Lindsey's office. Lindsey walks in. Lindsey: "Darla." Darla: "Say that again?" Lindsey: "I just - ah, - I said your name - Darla." Darla: "It sounds so odd, doesn't it?" Lindsey: "I don't know what you mean." Darla: "It wasn't my name when I was human. - The first time when I was human, I mean." Lindsey: "What was your name?" Darla: "Hmm - I don't remember. (Shakes her head) I'm not her, whoever she was. I was Darla for so long - then I wasn't. I - I wasn't anything. I just stopped. - He k*lled me. I was done. (Turns to look at Lindsey) Then you brought be back." Lindsey: "Yes." Darla steps closer: "What did you bring back, Lindsey? What am I? Did you bring back that girl, whose name I can't remember? - Or did you bring back something else? - The other thing." Lindsey: "Both. - Neither. - You're just you. Whatever that is." Darla: "Why haven't you kissed me? - You've been dying for it, haven't you?" Lindsey: "I didn't know if you wanted me to." Darla: "Why should that matter? - Do you think I ever hesitated when I wanted something? Life's too short. Believe me, I know. - 400 years and still too short." Lindsey steps forward and kisses her softly. Darla: "Mmm, that's how humans get what *they* want. I remember that much." Lindsey kisses her again. Lindsey: "Do you like it?" Darla: "It's nice. - But it's not me you want to screw." Lindsey pulling back to look at her: "What?" Darla: "It's him. You all think you can use me to get to Angel." Lindsey looks at her for a moment: "Maybe." He kisses her hard, pushing her up against the table. Darla: "What am I?" Lindsey: "I don't know - and I don't care." They kiss and suddenly Darla bites the side of Lindsey's neck, hard and he pulls away. They break apart. Darla: "Now do you care?" Lindsey: "No." Darla: "That's how vampires get what they want. What am I?" Lindsey steps close to her again: "Darla..." Darla: "Is that it? Am I Darla?" Lindsey: "Yes." Darla: "Careful. Darla would snap you in half. - Is that who I am?" She pushes away from him and leans her head against the window. Lindsey reaches one hand up to cover the side of his neck. Lindsey: "I understand what you're going through." Darla shakes her head and pushes away from the glass: "No. Nobody understands. Nobody *can* understand. - I can feel this body dying, Lindsey. I can feel it decaying moment by moment. It's being eaten away by this thing inside of it. - It's a cancer, this soul!" 1898, Romania. A ragged Angel stumbles up a hill. Darla is standing in front of an elder of the gypsies. Darla: "You took him from me. You stole him away. - You gave him a soul." Gypsy: "He must suffer - as all of his victims have suffered." Darla: "That is no justice. Whatever pain he caused to your daughter was momentary - over in an instant - or an hour. But what you've done to him will force him to suffer for the rest of eternity! Remove that filthy soul so my boy might return to me." Dru: "Angelus is gone on away. Where is he?" Darla grabs a hold of the Gypsy's neck: "Drusilla, the camp - go on - k*ll things!" Dru: "He shall be very cross if he finds we had a lovely mass slaughter without him." Darla closes her eyes for a moment: "He'll join us soon. Now do as you're told." Dru licks one of her fingers and nods: "Okay." Walks off. Darla: "In that wagon is your family. Your wife and daughters will die tonight without my protection. (Strokes the man's cheek) but if you'll do as I say, your family can live." Spike, in vamp face, blood on his chin, steps out of the wagon and burps. Darla looks at him. Spike: "What?" Darla closes her eyes, turns back to the gypsy and snaps his neck. Dru swaying by the f*re: "Pretty music, pretty, pretty music. (Spike comes up to her and she pulls him into her dance) They cry out for mercy. They cry out for mercy." Darla walking away: "Show none." Angel and Cordy are at Angel's desk, looking at some video footage of Darla's trashed apartment. Cordy: "What happened? Did someone break in?" g*n is sitting on a sofa in the lobby, eating a sandwich. g*n: "Well, us." Cordy: "You guys did this? Real mature!" Wesley: "No. This is the way we found it. No evidence of a forced entry." g*n, talking around a bite of food: "Well, not before we got there anyway." Wesley: "It appears she did this herself." Angel: "She smashed all the mirrors." Cordy: "Why?" Angel: "Isn't it obvious?" Wesley: "Angel, I don't think anything is obvious." Angel: "The weight of her soul, she's feeling it." Wesley: "We don't know that for certain." Angel: "It makes sense. She was a vampire, now she has a soul." Cordy: "That makes sense? So why don't you go around smashing mirrors?" Angel: "Because I don't have to look at *myself* in them. (The phone rings and Cordy goes to answer it) Look, if she's in trouble we have to find her." Wesley: "Angel..." Angel: "She needs help." Wesley: "That might very well be. It might also be what somebody would *like* you to think." Cordy: "Angel..." Angel: "Cordy, just take a message. (To Wesley) So you think this is a setup." Wesley: "We mustn't rule it out." Cordy: "Angel!" Angel: "Cordy, please, I'm talking." Cordy to phone: "Hi Darla. He can't talk right now. He'll call you back once he's found it (Angel runs over to Cordy reaching for the phone) Yeah, bye-bye." Angel grabs the phone before she can hang it up. Angel: "Darla?" Darla: "My boy. My darling boy." Angel: "Where are you?" Darla: "I have question. Where was I? I don't remember anything. It's a great big nothing. Could it be there is no hell?" Angel: "There is a hell. A few of them. I've been to one." Darla: "I told him no one could understand, but I was wrong wasn't I? My boy knows." Angel: "Yeah, I know." Darla: "You said you'd give me everything. Do you remember that? - I believed it then. I still do." Angel: "I'll do whatever I can." Darla: "It's been four centuries since I've had to be afraid of anything. And now I'm sick with it." Angel: "I know." Darla: "Angel..." Lindsey from the door of his office: "Darla. What are you doing." Darla quietly to phone: "Help me!" Angel can hear Lindsey over the phone saying: "Just put down the phone." Angel: "Darla." Lindsey: "Hang up the phone. (Darla turns to look at him) It's okay." Angel: "Darla?" At the office we can dimly hear Angel's voice coming from the phone: "Darla!" Lindsey: "It's okay. All right? Just put it down." A security guard steps through the office door. Guard: "Mr. McDonalds, is everything okay in there?" Lindsey: "Yes, we're fine." Guard: "Mr. Manners said you might need some help with her." Lindsey: "No. - Leave." Darla still clutching the phone to her breast: "I have to go to him, Lindsey." Lindsey: "Don't say that. - Don't say that." Angel can not only hear the whole conversation over the phone, he can also hear Darla's heart beating. Darla: "He's the only one. He can help me." Lindsey: "No. I can help you too." Darla shakes her head and the security guard steps a little closer. Darla: "No. No you can't. You don't have it in you. - Sorry." Guard: "Why don't we all take a walk down to Mr. Manners office." Lindsey to guard: "I can handle this, alright? Go!" Guard: "She's not leaving the building." Lindsey: "I said go!" Darla hits Lindsey with the phone and tries to run past the guard. Angel to phone: "Darla." He can hear a struggle, followed by a g*n. Angel: "Darla!" Lindsey sits in his office watching a video of the surveillance tape showing the struggle in his office and the guard getting h*t by his own g*n when Darla runs into him. On tape: Guard: "She's not leaving the building." Lindsey: "I said go!" Holland is standing there watching Lindsey. The Lindsey on the tape takes a hold of Darla: "Come on. Lets go. You're gonna come with me." Holland stops the tape. Holland: "You not only allowed her to escape - you facilitated it." Lindsey: "Things were confusing." Holland: "Things are often confusing for you, aren't they, Lindsey? - Especially, it seems, when it comes to this woman. - You allowed yourself to be ruled by your emotions." Lindsey after a b*at: "What about the guard?" Holland: "Family's been notified, Police have a suspect in custody. It's handled. (Holland turns to leave) You're off this project, Lindsey." Lindsey: "I can find her!" Holland: "You don't have to find her. We picked her up two blocks from here." Lindsey: "She's safe?" Holland: "We won't discuss it any further." Lindsey gets up: "If you're thinking about handing this project..." Holland: "This situation has gotten too far out of control. I'm terminating the project." Lindsey: "Terminating?" Holland: "Go home, Lindsey. Get some rest. - We start fresh tomorrow." Angel is putting on his coat in the hotel lobby. g*n: "You want me to come with you?" Angel: "No. This is something I have to do on my own. (Cordy hands him his car keys) Thanks." Wesley: "Angel..." Angel: "I know, Wesley, I could be walking into a trap. I get that." Wesley: "I'm not convinced you do." Angel: "Look, she asked for my help. I can't turn my back." Wesley: "No, you shouldn't. Not for one moment. You know better than anyone what she was." Angel: "What we were. And I also know what she's going through. And unlike me, maybe she won't have to go through it alone." Cordy: "You're not alone." Wesley: "You may be right. She may be experiencing all of this exactly as *you* did. But Angel, you yourself wandered for a hundred years without ever seeking redemption." Angel: "That's right. I sought her." 1900, China, night. Buildings on f*re, complete chaos in the streets. Darla is in a house, carrying a cloth wrapped package. A filthy Angel grabs the sides of her face from behind. Angel: "You're so warm. You just fed." Darla: "You found me." Angel: "You can never resist a religious w*r - and you always talked about China. I just followed the bodies. You never used to be so careless." Darla: "Maybe I wanted to be found." Angel: "Spike and Dru?" Darla: "They're here. Probably out in the riots (she loosens something from the package) maybe starting a new one." Angel lets go of her and she spins around, pushes him up against the wall, holding a Kn*fe against his throat. Darla: "I should k*ll you right now." Angel: "Go ahead." Darla: "Is that why you've come all this way? Too much of a coward to end your own existence, you want me to do it for you? Release that filthy soul?" Angel: "If you'd like." Darla: "I can still smell it, you know. And that's not all. You reek of vermin! - Is that what you've been living off of?" Angel grabs a hold of her hand: "Come on, huh? This should be nothing for you. Go ahead, Darla. Make sure you cut clear to the bone. Put the blade in the wall. Hmm?" Darla stares at him for a moment then pulls away from him. Darla with her back to him: "What do you want?" Angel: "A second chance." Darla: "What?" Angel: "I want things to be like they were. - You and me - together - Darla. - I miss the view." Darla shakes her head, still with her back to him: "That's impossible." Angel: "It's not impossible." Darla: "You still have a soul." Angel: "I'm still a vampire." Darla turns around: "You're not. - Look at you. I don't know what you are anymore." Angel: "You know what I am. You *made* me. Darla. I'm Angelus." Darla: "Not anymore." Angel slowly stepping closer: "I can be again. Just give me a chance to prove it to you." Darla: "You almost made me believe you." Angel: "Believe it. - We can have the whirlwind back." Darla looks up at him: "We can do this." Angel with a slight smile: "Yes, we can." Darla: "We can do anything." Angel pulls her close: "Anything we like." They kiss. Lindsey is walking to his car in the parking garage, dialing a number on his cell phone. He stands beside his car, listening to the phone ring, when Angel wraps a cable around his neck. Angel: "Where is she?" Lindsey holds up his phone: "I was..." Angel tightens the noose, pulling up so Lindsey's feet barely touch the ground anymore Angel: "No, you get just enough breath to tell me where she is. My advice? Don't waste it." We hear Cordy's voice from the phone: "Angel Investigations, we help the helpless. (Angel looks at the phone) How can we help you? (Angel lets Lindsey drop back to his feet) Hello? Hello?" Lindsey closes the phone: "I was trying to call you. They're gonna k*ll her. You got to stop it. Hey, she needs you. Please." Angel pulls up on the noose again: "You're a liar." Lindsey: "It's true!" Angel lets him back down: "Where?" Lindsey: "In an abandoned bank on Figaro and Ninth. Wolfram and Hart own the property. I'm pretty sure that's where they're gonna take her." Angel pulls up on the noose again: "You think you're pretty sure." Lindsey: "I'm not exactly in the loop on this! (Angel lets him back down) Alright, that's where they do this sort of stuff. It'll be underground where the vaults used to be." Angel pulls up again, forcing Lindsey back to the tip of his toes. Angel: "If this is a trick, just know that I'll be coming back for you. (Angel lets go of the cable and Lindsey drops against the trunk of his car) Hell, I just might be coming back for you anyway." Angel is walking through the riots back in China. Angel: "Darla? - Darla! - Darla. - Darla?!" He enters an alley to see a missionary family huddled against one of the walls, holding a basket with a crying baby between them. A Chinese swinging a sword att*cks Angel from behind and he slaps him aside, headfirst into the wall, then turns back to stare at the family. Slowly backs away from them. He hears Darla calling for him and quickly leaves the alley. Darla: "Angelus? (She bumps into his chest, smiles at him) The whirlwind, Angelus." They kiss, then Darla tries to peer past him into the alley. Darla: "Hmm, what's over here?" Angel doesn't let go of her: "Nothing. - Bodies. Let's find something warm." Darla: "Yes. Some missionaries. We'll drain the piety right out of them." They move down the street and meet Dru and a roughed up and bleeding Spike. Darla: "So, where have you two been?" Dru: "Will I tell?" Spike: "No need to be humble." Dru: "My little Spike just k*lled himself a Slayer." Darla to Angel: "Did you hear that?" Angel to Spike: "Congratulations. - I guess that makes you one of us." Spike: "Don't be so glum, eh? The way you tell it, one Slayer snuffs another one rises. I figure, there is a new chosen one getting all chosen even as we speak. I tell you what, when and if this new bird shows up, I'll give you first crack at it!" Dru steps past Angel in the direction of the alley. Dru: "Hmm, I smell fear." Angel: "This whole place reeks of it." Spike wraps his arms around Dru from behind. Dru: "It's intoxicating." Angel: "Let's get out of here. This rebellion is starting to bore me." Darla watches as Angel walks past Dru, giggling in Spike's arms, then follows him. Nice, slow motion sh*t of the four of them walking down the street with the burning buildings and riot all around. Spike steps on a bundle in his path and leaps high into the air. Angel is walking down the street, grim-faced leading the way, with Darla just a step behind him. Spike is carrying Dru in his arms, kissing her. Darla is watching Angel. Darla in an echoing voice over: "Are you with me Angel? (Fade to white.) Why aren't you with me?" Darla gets tossed out of the back of a van by three white-clad guys. One of them pulls out a g*n and aims it at her. Guy: "Sorry, lady. It's just us." Angel walks into Darla's house in china. Darla: "Where have you been?" Angel: "Darla." Darla: "Answer me!" Angel: "Just out. Why?" Darla: "Feeding?" Angel: "Yeah." Darla: "On vermin?" Angel after a b*at: "No." Darla: "Don't lie to me." Angel: "Look I've k*lled men. You've seen it!" Darla, wearing a kimono, gets up form her seat against the wall and walks towards him. Darla: "Rapists and m*rder, thieves and scoundrels. Did you think I wouldn't notice? - Only evildoers, that's all you hunt now. (Angel looks down) You swore to me. You said, if I took you back you'd prove yourself." Angel: "And I will." Darla: "Good. (Pulls the blanket of a basket sitting between them, revealing the missionaries' baby) Now is your chance." Angel looks down at the baby, shifts restlessly. Darla looking down at the baby: "I went back before dawn. They were still cowering there. Praying to their god for a salvation. (Looks at Angel, who's staring down at the baby) They didn't know that their only savior was at the waterfront - dining on rats. I won't be made a fool, Angelus. (He looks at her) Not by you. Not by anyone." Angel looks down: "I didn't mean..." Darla: "While Spike - Spike! - was out k*lling a Slayer you were saving missionaries! Form me!" Angel: "I'm sorry..." Darla: "No. No more words. (She takes a step back and Angel looks down at the baby) Act!" Darla is lying on the ground in front of the three guys, g*n pointing at her, when Angel pulls up in his convertible and jumps put over the windshield. One of them grabs Darla as Angel kicks the g*n out of the first guys hand. Darla gets thrown against a wall, while Angel makes quick work of the three men, throwing the last one into the back of the van. Angel walks over to where Darla is slumped against the wall and crouches down in front of her. Angel: "Darla?" Lindsey walks past the receptionist desk of Wolfram and Hart, looks back and sees Holland and another man shaking hands. Flash back to earlier. Guard: "Mr. McDonald, is everything okay in there?" Flash back to the guy shaking Holland's hand. It's the same guard. Lindsey remembers Holland saying: "The family's been notified." As we hear a g*n and see the guard drop to the floor of Lindsey's office on the videotape. Holland, in the lobby looks over and sees Lindsey looking at him. Lindsey enters his office, leaving the door open and Holland steps in and closes the door. Lindsey: "Should we notify his family?" Holland: "Lindsey..." Lindsey: "You played me. You played her." Holland: "We had to make you believe it Lindsey." Lindsey: "Why?" Holland: "Because she has to believe it, because Angel has to. - The Crisis needed to be real." Lindsey: "You think now that you've driven her back to him she's gonna give him that perfect moment of happiness? He's gonna come on our side? Won't happen. He's noble. He'll never take advantage of her - not in this state, not now." Holland: "Lindsey, you don't understand our friend at all. We know there is no prospect for physical intimacy here. - So you needn't t*rture yourself." Lindsey steps closer: "Then what do you expect him to do?" Holland: "What he will do. What he must do. Save her soul." Darla is lying with her eyes closed on a sofa in the hotel lobby with Angel crouched in front of it and Wesley, Cordy and g*n standing around it. Angel: "She's gonna be okay." Cordy: "Maybe we should get her a doctor." Darla opening her eyes: "No. No doctors. (Looks at Angel and smiles) Angelus." Cordy: "Uhm. Sorry, I know you're concussion girl and all, but around here it's Angel - just Angel, okay?" Angel: "Guys, do you mind? - Just give us a minute?" Wesley leaving: "Yeah, of course." g*n leaving: "No problem." Cordy follows them with a last look at Darla and Angel. Darla: "I thought I was d*ad." Angel: "You're not d*ad." Darla: "I'm not sure how I feel about that." Angel gives her a small smile: "I know what you mean." Darla puts her hand on his: "I'm so lucky - to have someone who understands - who knows. It's something you never had, is it?" Angel: "It wasn't your fault." Darla pulls her self up into a sitting position: "No. No, but there is so much that is." Angel: "It's gonna be okay." Darla gives him a smile: "I knew you'd help me. Now if I could only get to you. - Funny. That's why they brought me back - to get to you. - Now I find I need you, just as I've always needed you. - You'll make the pain stop, won't you?" Angel: "Takes time." Darla: "Takes moments. (Shakes her hair back and exposes her throat) Do it - now." Angel stares at her throat, stands up and backs away from her. Angel: "What?" Darla follows him and grabs him by the front of his shirt. Darla: "Make me what I was again!" Angel: "Darla..." Darla: "You said you'd help me!" Angel backs away but she won't let go of him. Angel: "I will. - I want to - but - not like this." Darla: "Turn me back. God! I can't bear this pounding in my chest for another instant!" Angel quietly: "It's gift. - Too feel that heart b*at - to know, really and for once, that you're alive. - You're human again, Darla. You know what that means?" Darla: "Of course I do. It means pain and suffering - and disease and death. - Look, I released you from this world once, I gave you eternal life. Now it's time for you to return the favor." Angel backs away a step, just looking at her: "Favor - is that what you think? - You think you did me a favor? - You damned me." Darla after a b*at: "Fine. Fine then, if it's such a punishment, take out your revenge, pay me back! (Angel just looks at her) - Please." Angel swallows and shakes his head ever so slightly: "I can't." Darla closes her eyes. Angel is looking down at the baby in the basket. Darla: "What do you mean you can't? You won't!" Angel: "I can't seem to be able to uhm, I'm sorry." Darla shakes her head ever so slightly: "You disgust me." Angel grabs a hold of the baby and runs out on Darla, crashing through some glass doors. Darla in the present is running away from Angel. Angel: "Darla, wait!" Darla stops in front of the doors and spins around to face him. Darla: "No! Don't look for me again." She turns and rushes out the door and a he makes no move to stop her. Fade to black.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x07 - Darla"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Kate to Angel: "What are you?" Angel: "You already know the answer, Kate." Kate: "I'm glad we're not playing friends anymore." sh*t of the vampire bite on the side of her dad's neck. Angel: "I'm sick and tired of you blaming me for everything you can't handle!" Angel: "That's her! That's Darla. They brought her back." Darla: "This is no life, Angel! My boy is still in there and he wants out!" White cop: "I'm telling you this creep knows what happened. He's playing us." Black cop: "Maybe. He's got mental problems." White cop: "I don't care about that. We got one body already - and if *she* dies..." Black cop: "If she dies, he's all yours." They walk back into the interrogation room. There is a dark haired man, wearing a dark jacket sitting slumped over at the table, his face buried in one arm lying on the table. Black cop: "We can help you. Tell us what you know and we send you back down to holding. (The man doesn't move) Stay quiet and my partner here will dent your skull." White cop bangs his hands on the table: "Hey! You listening?" Black cop: "My guess is you got yourself involved in something a little bigger than you expected. You got scared, you panicked, and in the end there was an officer on the floor. (Still nothing) Not to mention the body without a head. - Do yourself a favor and..." The Guy finally straightens up and bangs a fist on the table. It's Wesley. Wesley: "She shouldn't have been there. She didn't know! - I had to warn him. He didn't know what he was getting into. None of them did. If they'd known of them wouldn't... (Looks at the black cop) You didn't bring it here, did you? (Looks to the side, then gives a relieved smile) No. No, then it'd be too late for all of us. (Looks down at the table) He grabbed her hard - very hard. (Looks at the black cop) I'm quite good with the ladies myself, you know." Black cop: "Just tell us what happened." Wesley: "It all went horribly wrong." Blend into a blonde body slipping to the floor, released by a vamp-faced Angel with blood on his lips, blinking his eyes rapidly. Intro. Back on Wesley staring straight ahead. Wesley: "None of us knew the effect it would have - until it was too late. - I tried to stop him - but I got h*t... and I fell... and when I looked up - he had her. He was holding her, then - she was on the floor. - If we'd found out sooner, I would have stopped him. I would have." Black cop leans into Wesley's face: "Stopped who?" Wesley: "He should never have *been* there! Of all people he should never... You don't tell *him* what to do. He's the boss." White cop: "The boss?" Wesley: "He helps people, you know? - When he's not in trouble himself. Cordy and I tried to get him out of there. She was with me. (Looks up) Oh God. - Cordelia?" The Hyperion lobby. Wesley: "What happened to your hair?" Cordy touches her now shoulder-length. black hair: "Excuse me?" Wesley: "Your hair. It's new... - it's great! (Cordy smiles) When did this happen?" Cordy, smile gone: "Ten days ago." Wesley: "Of course! I didn't want to embarrass you by..." Cordy: "...noticing? - Nice suit." Wesley: "I was just on my way out to..." Cordy: "...yet another glamorous, celebrity filled gala with Miss Virginia Bryce? (Pretends to yawn)" Wesley: "Have you seen Angel? I thought I might check on him. He doesn't seem to be doing much with his time lately." Cordy: "Au contraire. His day is packed. Brood about Darla. Brood about Darla. Lunch! -followed by a little Darla brooding." Wesley: "Right. Enough is enough. (Moves towards the stairs) I'm gonna march up there and tell him just that." Wesley stops, staring at the stairs. Cordy: "Nice posturing!" Wesley: "Thank you!" Cordy: "Anyway he's not there. g*n's cousin got involved in something pretty big. Big meaning illegal. So Angel and g*n went to see if they could help." Wesley: "That's good! He's getting out. Something I'm gonna do myself right now." Cordy: "A-huh, time to traipse off to your shallow, soul-sucking Hollywood party?" Wesley: "Premier, actually. And - I happen to have an extra ticket..." Cordy with a smile: "Who does shallow better than me?" Puts her hand on his arm as they leave together. g*n and Angel are leaning against the hood of Angel's convertible looking at the black kid standing in front of them. Lester: "He's cool, right?" g*n: "He's cool." Lester: "You know, not that I'm prejudiced. I just hate vampires." Angel: "You're enlightened, I can tell." Lester: "See? See how they do? See man? They-they mess with your mind, man! That's the whole reason I called you, G..." g*n: "...is 'cause you got a vampire problem, and Angel has a little experience in that area. (Lester stares at Angel) Yo, spill it! We ain't got all night." Lester: "I-I sort of said I'd take this job drivin..." g*n: "A-huh." Lester: "...for that big time crew. I never met them but E. J. vouched for me, and now I'm thinking..." g*n: "...you'd like to stay out of prison." Lester: "Well, yeah, there is that. Then-then I heard they were bringin' in this-this psycho vampire from Vegas. And like I said, man..." Angel: "What's the job?" Lester: "Takin' off some museum. Don't know which one." Angel: "What are they after?" Lester: "Something big. Supernatural. It's going down later this week, but I'm supposed to meet the head honcho tonight, and if I don't show... E. J. said if they don't hunt me down and k*ll me he will!" g*n: "Where's the meet?" Lester looks around then pulls out a piece of paper. Both g*n and Angel reach for it, but g*n is the one that gets it. Angel: "Psycho vampire got a name?" Lester: "Yeah, uh, E.J. said it-it's something like, uh, Jee-don, or Joe-don..." Angel: "Jay-don." Lester: "Yeah, that's it. Yeah, yeah, he's comin' here for the meetin' tonight. They're picking him up." Angel: "Where?" Lester: "Downtown bus, midnight. (To g*n) Hey, what am I gonna do?" g*n: "Take the meeting. I'll get you out before the crime goes down." Lester hugs g*n: "I owe you big time, cous. Hey, man! (To Angel) *Nice* to meet you. (Laughs. To g*n) See you!" Hurries off. g*n looking at the paper: "You know this Jay-don bloodsucker?" Angel: "I know of him." g*n: "And?" Angel: "And he's a player, big on the nightlife and way too dangerous for you. I'll take it from here." g*n: "You'll what? - That's my cousin's life we're talking about." Angel takes the paper away from g*n and reads it: "Which I don't want you jumping in this thing, g*n-a-blazing." g*n: "Since when do I take orders from you?" Angel: "Since I'm paying you." g*n: "This ain't no paying gig. I brought it to you." Angel: "And I'm taking it from here. If I can shut it down, great. If not, I'll protect him." g*n: "And what am I supposed to do? Sit home and knit?" Angel: "I could use a sweater. - Something dark." Angel gets into his car and drives off as g*n shakes his head. Angel's car pulls up in front of the Hyperion. A blonde walks through Angel's dimly lit suite. Angel walks in, sees her back. Angel: "Darla?" Kate: "You expecting her? Because that would really cut down on my legwork." Angel: "What are you doing here?" Kate: "Well, there is that little thing about a m*rder she was involved in? You remember, a few weeks ago a guy got his throat ripped out? I'm sure you're gonna tell me she's innocent." Angel just walks past her, not answering. Kate: "Maybe not. I don't suppose you'd testify against her in a blindingly sunny court of law?" Angel: "I don't suppose you have a search warrant?" Kate pulls out a wooden cross, the end of it's long beam sharpened into a stake. Kate: "Well, I knew I forgot something." Angel: "Darla's not here. I don't know where she is." Kate: "I will find her, Angel, you can be sure of that. And when I do, she's toast." Angel: "She's human now, remember?" Kate: "Toast with life in prison." Angel: "Listen, Kate, (He steps closer, she holds her cross up, and he gives a chuckle) there are forces at work here that you know nothing about." Kate: "Gathering storm, is it?" Angel: "Which you don't want to get caught in." Kate: "You afraid I'll get hurt?" Angel: "No. I'm afraid you'll get k*lled. - I'm just telling you this so you won't." Kate: "Me d*ad. - I guess I'd kind of be like you then, wouldn't I? - You think I'm gonna stand by while you and your playmate finish the game?" Angel: "Lets try this one more time, huh? (Sends her cross flying (it sticks in the wall) and grabs a hold of her) You get stuck between me and Darla, it'll be the last thing you ever do." Kate: "Let go of me!" He does. They look at each other for a moment then she turns and walks out. Cordy, a big red stain down the front of her white blouse, walks into the lobby, followed by Wesley. Wesley: "Really, the stain - it's hardly noticeable!" Angel sees Cordy: "What happened?" Cordy: "It's not blood it's cocktail sauce, courtesy of Mr. Star-schmoozer here." Angel: "I mean to your head. Your - your hair. (She gives him a look) It looks great. (Chuckles) When did this happen?" Wesley: "Ten days ago! Pay attention." Cordy looks at Wesley, gives a short laugh then steps around the reception counter. Angel: "Why doesn't anybody tell me any of this stuff..." Wesley: "We had a little mishap. With the little shrimp - and the sauce - and her dress." Angel: "You were at a party." Cordy popping her head up from under the counter: "You know, party, soiree, night of a thousand humiliations..." Wesley: "I spilled it on her in front of Mr. Fat Chow - Chow..." Cordy pops up above the counter: "Chow Yun Fat!" then ducks back under it. Angel: "What, you met Chow Yun Fat?!" Wesley: "How did it go with g*n's cousin?" Angel: "Fine. A group of... (looks towards the counter) Cordelia?" Cordy: "Listening." Angel: "Uh, a group of thieves is planning to steal something from a local museum. Probably something with mystical power, which means something we really don't want them to have." Wesley: "Indeed! Do you know which museum they will be targeting?" Angel: "No. g*n's cousin didn't know. He's just the driver." Wesley: "We should find out which museums in the area have recent acquisitions. This is wonderful! (Gives a big grin) You're - You're on a case! You're back." Angel blinks his eyes as Cordy pops back up from under the counter, now wearing a black top. Cordy: "Yeah! It'll be just like old times, right Angel? Meeting evil, face to face - kicking evil's booty! Wes and I'll crank up the research machine and you'll... - What will you do again?" Angel: "They're bringing a vampire in from Las Vegas tonight. His name is Jay-don. He's got a rep. If he's involved it's a big heist." Wesley: "I've heard of him. Isn't he a..." Cordy: "...deadly k*ller?" Wesley: "Well, that, of course. I was about to say a loud, flashy sort of character." Angel: "Well, he ran with the whole Sinatra rat-pack thing. Never got over it. You know, I think I'll meet his bus." Cordy: "And take his place? (Claps him on the shoulder) Great plan, boss! (Angel turns to look at her and she steps back to stand beside Wesley) What better way to get your mind off... things we don't even need to... (To Wesley) How loud and flashy?" Wesley: "I believe he is quite the extrovert." They turn together to look at Angel. Cordy: "Hmm..." Angel after a b*at: "What?" Wesley: "Oh, I-I'm sure you can pull it off. You're - colorful." Bus pulls into the downtown station. A guy wearing dark pants and a red jacket dust himself off and adjusts his sunglasses. Angel laughing, comes up behind him. Angel: "This is such an honor! I'm a big fan, you know? (Bounces up and down) When the boss said that Jay-don was coming in I was just like "Whoa, wow!" Hey, can I see the glasses?" Angel reaches for them, but Jay-don wards him off. Jay-don: "No one touches the glasses or the hair, doll." Angel laughs: "Yeah, right, doll! You got it. That's cool. Oh, oh, I'm supposed to ask you something (bounces up and down) Oh, what is it? (Hits his forehead with one hand) Oh, god, what is it? (Pulls his hand down) Oh, yeah. (Looks around and licks his lips and crunches up his face) What's the password, huh?" Jay-don: "There is no password." Angel: "Oh, (stretches his right hand straight down, triggering the stake hidden up his sleeve and stakes Jay-don while taking the glasses off his face and putting them on) Just checking." A bus driver checks to make sure the bus is secured. After he leaves a demon with long black hair and an ugly white face with red lesions steps up and crouches down to check the door to the busses cargo compartment. Demon: "Jay-don." Angel, wearing a puke-green shirt, blue jacket and Jay-don's sunglasses comes up behind him and answers with a fake New York accent: "What, you think I'm traveling luggage? Hey, how you doing? You look sharp. That plastic surgeon, he give you a big rebate?" Demon: "Let's go. The car is over here." Angel: "Yeah, you know, the trip was fabo. (Pats the side of the bus) I love flying coach. (Sees the car and takes off his glasses) And what is that piece of junk?" We see an old, somewhat b*at up station wagon. Demon: "You're funny, vampire." Angel: "Whoa, whoa, we need to talk, bro. Two things bringin' in the chicks (puts on his glasses) the do' (adjusts his jacket) and the ride." Demon: "Get in." Angel: "I hope I don't see anybody I know." The station wagon pulls up in front of a garage. A spiny demon looks out of the little window at Angel and Ugly getting out of the car. Spiny motions to a human wearing a security guard uniform: "He's got him!" Guard looks out: "Ah, vampires wig me." Spiny: "You feel like a meal?" Ugly slides the door open and Angel steps in, taking off his glasses. Angel to Guard: "Don't tell me you must be (Indicates his nametag) Bob, the security guard. (Steps up to Spiny) and you're a great big - monster, aren't you?" Ugly slides the door shut: "This is Jay-don. - He talks too much." Angel: "I'm a people person. (To Spiny) I like the shirt. Where'd you get that, at Ed's big and spiny?" Spiny: "He's funny. You're funny. You'll be even funnier when I crush your head." Angel: "Funny 'ha, ha' or funny peculiar?" Ugly: "Shut up, all of you!" Bob: "Hey, I wasn't talking." Ugly looks around: "Where is Lester?" Angel: "Yeah, where is Lester? We can't get the ball rolling without Lester! Who's Lester?" Bob: "The driver?" Ugly: "He should've already been here. I don't like this." Bob: "Hey, he's E. J.'s guy. He'll show." Angel: "I hate waiting. (Eyes Bob) You got anybody to eat around here?" Bob backs away from him. A car door slams outside. Ugly: "Finally." Angel: "What kind of name is Lester anyways, huh? Norwegian? Finnish?" Ugly slides open the door as g*n comes up to it. Ugly: "What took you so long?" g*n: "What took me so long is I'm a professional. (Angel turns to look at him) I had to case the neighborhood, make sure no cops followed me. (Sees Angel) Looks like I'm the last one at the party." Ugly, Spiny and Bob are standing around a table. Angel and g*n are leaning against something a little ways away. Angel quietly: "I told you I'd handle this." g*n: "And I told you I don't take orders." Ugly looks over at them: "Something wrong?" g*n: "Depends. (Motions at Angel) Do we all got to wear these ugly ass shirts? (Angel looks at his shirt) Is this, you know, a team thing? Because, you know, I got my pride. (Steps up to the table) So what are we looking for? Ming-somethings? Egyptian-somethings?" Ugly: "The Shroud of Rahmon. Worth about 2 million on the black market. - Do you want to pay attention now?" Angel and g*n glance at each other. g*n to Ugly: "You got my undivided." Ugly points to a map lying on the table. Ugly: "This is the access door. Bob turns off the alarm at 2:40. We enter, take this hall to the elevator, where we meet Bob at 2:45. We all go down together. - This is the vault where they keep it. The vault has a lock code known only by the curator. That means we have to blow it. Now, the door *has* no alarm, but the vault itself has its own system - a thermal sensor." Bob: "Any change in temperature will set off the alarm." Angel: "Guess that's where I come in, huh?" g*n: "Oh, no body heat. I guess that comes with the no soul thing, huh?" Ugly: "Jay-don enters, he goes to the control box in the back and disarms it. - Then we're in." Angel: "How big is the case?" Ugly: "Big. (Opens a book and points to an illustration) It's made of consecrated wood, the edges are sealed with gold. Inside the box is lined with lead. It weighs about a ton. It's gonna take all of us just to lift it." Spiny: "I can handle my end. I'm not so sure about him." Bob: "Hey, I can handle my side." g*n: "Yeah, maybe with a forklift." Bob: "You want a piece of me, huh?" Bob lunges across the table at g*n but Angel pushes him back. Angel: "Hey, hey, take it easy, huh? (Points at g*n) This guy here is a troublemaker. Alright, I know a Vajnu demon, professional driver, never opens up his mouth." g*n: "Yeah, and I know a vampire that better shut his!" Ugly watches Angel and g*n Angel: "Hey, guys, I apologize. This is something (hits g*n and grabs him) that I should just take outside!" Ugly pulls out to g*n and aims them at Angel and g*n: "I've got a problem with that." Spiny: "So do I." Angel lets go of g*n: "You expect me to spend the rest of this week with this clown?" Ugly: "No, just the rest of the night. We're not waiting. We're doing this now." g*n: "Tonight?" Ugly: "And no one leaves my sight until it's over. - Anybody tries, they get a b*llet from me or (motions towards Spiny) a stake from him." Cordy is surfing the net. Cordy: "Museums, museums. Okay, we've got the Moca. We've got the Lacma. Uh, the Gene Autry! (Wesley gives her a look) Well, it could be a magical stuffed horse!" Wesley: "Let's assume not, and try Natural History." Cordy: "Okay, here we go. Site map - membership - museum shop... don't they have a section like - things you might want to steal?" Wesley: "Click on recent acquisitions. Right there. There!" Cordy: "I got it! Jeez, back seat surfer!" Wesley: "Angel should've been back by now." Cordy: "Maybe the meeting ran late. (Points at screen) Could it be a collection of Chelicerate arthropods?" Wesley: "Keep going. - Hold it. 'On the third of this month, museum research department received the Shroud of Rahmon from a tomb recently unearthed by University of New Mexico archeologists.'" Cordy: "Okay. Two words I don't like right off the bat: tomb and unearthed. People, you've got to leave your tombs earthed!" Wesley: "Shroud of Rahmon. Have you ever heard of it?" Cordy: "I'm not big on shrouds. They're an after you die outfit." Wesley: "Get everything you can from the museum database, I'll h*t the books." A big white van with 'Rehak Moving and Storage' stenciled on the side backs up to the dock at the back of the museum. g*n and Ugly get out of the cab and Spiny and Angel get out of the back. Angel: "The driver should stay with the truck. Just in case somebody shows up." Ugly pulls a door open, revealing that the latch has been taped over with masking tape to keep it from locking. Ugly: "We need him inside." Spiny follows Ugly inside. g*n taps Angel on the arm. g*n: "Hey, don't h*t me again." Angel takes off his glasses, quietly: "I was trying to protect you." g*n: "And I appreciate that. (Hits Angel with a hard right) Don't do it again." g*n walks in and Angel follows, putting his glasses back on. They meet up with Bob and ride the elevator down. Bob: "We have one minute before Earl makes his rounds. (To Spiny) You don't have to h*t him hard." Spiny smiles. Angel looks over at g*n, who meets his eyes for a moment then looks straight ahead. They walk down the hallway. Spiny darts ahead into an alcove. Bob swipes his card through a security scanner. Earl comes up around a corner of the hallway, whistling, and Ugly pulls his g*n and grabs Bob from behind. Bob: "They got me, Earl!" Before Earl can react, Spine come up behind him and throws him into the wall. As he steps up to h*t him again Angel catches his arm. Angel: "You k*ll him, cops will be all over us. We have to do this clean." Spiny pulls free and stares at Angel, but makes no move towards Earl. Ugly throws a roll of duct tape towards Bob, who catches it. Ugly: "Tape him. (To the others) Let's go." They come up to the vault door and Ugly lays one hand against it. Spiny: "Come on! Come on. Hurry up and blow it!" Ugly is drilling a hole in the door, while Angel sprays water to cool the drill. g*n is assembling the trigger. He and Angel stare at each other. A police cruiser pulls up in front of a police station. White cop points at a picture lying in front of him on the desk: "This one is a security guard at the Southern California Museum of Natural History. His name is Robert Skale. He's got a record. Small-timer. The other one (points at Ugly standing in the picture beside Bob) may or may not be one M. James Menlo, who likes to crack bank vaults. Our guess is they're putting together a heist, probably at the museum. (Pulls out another photograph) And we picked up this one earlier tonight. We couldn't make this guy until we ran him past Carlson. He said you knew him. (The picture shows Ugly picking up Angel at the bus station.) He's out of the scope of our investigation, but, uh, Carlson said you might be interested." The camera pans up from the hands holding the photo to Kate's face. Kate: "I'm interested." Ugly is taking a small glass bottle filled with yellow liquid out of a padded box, his hand shaking a little, and moves to insert it into the hole drilled into the door. Spiny: "You're taking too long!" Everyone jumps. g*n: "Spine-man, chill. All right? This is nitro. The last thing I want is my body parts mixed up with yours!" Spiny: "We should have been in the vault by now." Ugly turns to yell at him: "Shut up! (The nitro slips from his fingers) No!" Angel stretches out his foot and softly catches the bottle so it comes to rest on top of his boot. Angel: "Allow me." Balancing on one foot he slowly reaches down, takes the bottle and inserts it into the door. With all of them standing around the corner of the corridor, Ugly blows the lock out of the door. Wesley walks into the lobby reading from a book. Wesley: "The shroud was woven by the head priest, said to have been driven mad by the demon himself. Once Rahmon was defeated the priest dyed the shroud with the blood of seven virgin women sacrificed on the first full moon. Then laid it upon Rahmon's body in order to prevent his resurrection." Cordy: "Why is it always virgin women who have to do the sacrificing?" Wesley: "For purity, I suppose." Cordy: "This has nothing to do with purity. This is all about dominance, buddy. You can bet if someone ordered a male body part for religious sacrifice the world would be atheist (snaps her fingers) like that." Wesley: "The shroud supposedly absorbed Rahmon's power." Cordy: "So, he who has the shroud has the power. You said Rahmon was a drive-you-mad kind of fella?" Wesley reading: "Mmmm..." Cordy: "I hate it when you do that." Wesley: "Once in 1803 the shroud was removed from its casing." Cordy: "And yuckiness ensued?" Wesley: "Well, yes. The entire population of El Encanto went insane, mothers and children hacking one another to pieces, men roaming the streets like rabid dogs..." He turns the page to continue but Cordy stops him. Cordy: "I get the picture. - So in order to take his mind off the torment that is Darla, we sent Angel after a box that makes you crazy." Wesley: "Worst case scenario, we warn Angel off it before they steal the shroud." Cordy: "Just as soon as he comes back - unless of course - they're stealing it right now." They look at each other, then run for the door. Angel enters the vault with Ugly closing the door again behind him. The big box from the book is sitting in the middle of it. As Angel passes it we hear some low whispering and see something come over Angel. He takes a deep breath and turns towards the box, eyes wide open. For a moment his eyes turn yellow as if he was about to change, but Angel shakes it off with some effort and his eyes turn brown again. Spiny is pacing outside the vault while everyone stares at the door. Bob: "This shroud is gonna make us rich! I can feel it. Can you feel it? This is gonna be amazing!" Angel looks past the coffin towards the control box, then down at the coffin. Steps closer to look down into it through a square glass window over the place where the demon's face has imprinted itself onto the shroud. He morphs into his vamp face. g*n calling through the door: "How's it going in there?" Angel morphs back to human and stares straight in front of him. Angel: "Everything's fine." Angel walks to the control box and yanks out some wires. A light outside the vault goes off and Ugly comes in wearing a smile. The others follow. g*n: "I feel something weird in here." Spiny: "Humans always got to *feel* something about everything. And they always got to tell you about it. 'I'm so happy - I'm so sad - I'm so scared.' Makes me sick." Angel: "Oh, now, I like it when they're scared! Makes them taste kind of - salty." Spiny gets right into Angel's face: "Did I ask for your opinion, you overgrown leech?" Angel squirms away from him: "Oh, please! Altoids, aisle 4!" Ugly: "We don't have time for this! - Let's get it and go." We hear the indistinct whispering in the background as g*n stares down at the image of the demon through the glass square. g*n: "When are they gonna start making some pretty demons?" Ugly: "On the count of three - 1..." They all take a hold of the box and g*n notices that Angel's eyes have gone yellow again. g*n: "You about to turn or something?" Angel: "No." Ugly: "2" g*n quietly: "You don't look like 'no.'" Angel: "Shut up and lift, Lester!" g*n: "Don't give me orders, Elvis!" Ugly: "3." They all strain and lift the box up together. Wesley pulls open the taped backdoor and he and Cordy enter. Wesley: "So it is tonight. They must be somewhere (some wave rolls over them) inside. Oh, I'm sorry - I'm - I'm feeling a little..." Cordy: "Me too. I think it's the altitude." Wesley: "Right. The altitude here at sea level." They both crack up laughing. Wesley: "Let's - let's not lose focus." Cordy: "Maybe we should split up." Wesley: "Ah, no, too dangerous. We - we better stick together." Cordy: "Right." And with that they both go their separate ways. A slick silver car pulls up to the back of the museum. Kate: "This is detective Lockley requesting backup. Got a possible 4-5-9 in progress at the museum of natural history." Kate gets out of her car, pulls her g*n and walks up to the museum. The group is carrying the heavy coffin down the corridor. Angel: "Try holding up your corner, Les." g*n: "Who died and made you corner monitor?" Spiny: "Are you two gonna get married or what?" g*n: "Same old story. Vampires always pushing people around. Think the world is theirs." Ugly: "From what I've seen of this world they can have it." Bob: "Well, I visited Topkapi once." g*n is staring at Angel, who's staring back at him. g*n: "Nothing but take, take, take - take your blood, take your sister!" Spiny: "Somebody shut that human up!" g*n: "You want to take somebody, huh? (Lets go of his corner of the coffin) Lets see you take me!" Bob: "It's slipping!" Ugly: "Don't drop it!" Spiny: "Hold it! Hold it!" g*n tackles Angel and the box drops to the ground. The glass cracks and a purple mist seeps out. Bob: "Oops." Angel had g*n by the throat and is pushing him up against the wall. Angel: "You know I'm getting pretty tired of this 'vampires k*lled my sister so now I'm all entitled' song. Don't you know anything else, like say MacArthur Park?" g*n: "Get your hands off my throat." Again there is an indistinct whispering in the background. Angel: "Ah, ah, ah! You're gonna play nice? - Huh?" g*n: "Cool." Angel lets go of g*n and he drops back to his feet. Ugly: "We can't leave it here, we have to move it! Someone else will come along! Lets move it!" g*n pulls out a stake and att*cks Angel from behind. Angel bats the stake aside and kicks him into the wall. Spiny: "k*ll him. k*ll the human! k*ll it!" Angel cocks back his fist to strike g*n again, but hears Ugly cock his g*n and freezes, then takes a step back. Ugly lays the g*n on the coffin. Ugly: "Case." Bob pulls a rope out of Ugly's bag. The whispering is still going on. Bob: "All righty, partners, it's roping time! Tonight I will be playing the part of the poor defenseless calf. Who gets to be the cowboy?" Ugly takes the rope and starts to tie the guys hands behind his back. Bob: "Just make it tight. Okay, cowboy? It's got to be tight. It's got to look real. Ha, ha, ha! I'm not the bad guy, I'm the good guy!" Angel: "I'm the good guy - no wait - the bad guy!" Ugly moves towards the coffin: "Pick it up!" Bob: "No, wait. You've got to h*t me. - Look, somebody's gotta h*t me! Come on, man, you got to h*t me. Do it. Come on, make it real!" Spiny walks over to him and twists his head right off, making g*n flinch. Spiny to Bob's head: "Looks real to me." He drops the head and moves back to his end of the coffin. Kate comes down some steps in the museum, g*n in hand. A shadow flies across and she aims her g*n at it while continuing down the steps. The shadow flies across above her, she spins around, f*ring in the air and knocking Wesley to the ground in the process. Kate: "Where is Angel?" Wesley: "Angel? - Right. (Picks himself up and looks around) That's why I'm here - to warn Angel about - something (points at Kate and takes a deep breath) important! - Your hair!" Kate: "You're here to warn Angel about my hair." Wesley: "It's blonde!" There is a whoosh and he reaches up to his head in pain. Wesley: "The shroud! He's got to know about the shroud! It will make everybody - it makes everybody - act differently!" Cordy is admiring her reflection in a glass case. Cordy: "My teeth are so - big! I - am - pleasant." Wesley: "We have to hurry before it's to late." There is a whooshing sound again and Kate spins around, then grabs the bridge of her nose. Wesley: "I noticed your hair right away." Taking a deep breath Kate drops her hand and turns back to him. She looks around but he is nowhere to be seen. Cordy sees a gray puppet wearing a Native American costume. Cordy: "Oh. Hello, plastic person. You're all by you're lonesome in here. (Sees its necklace) So, (Whispers) I guess you won't be needing this." She takes the necklace off then puts it around her own neck. Angel, g*n, Ugly and Spiny carry the heavy coffin out of the elevator. Ugly: "Fingerprints!" Angel: "What are you doing?" Ugly: "We left fingerprints!" Angel: "What are you doing?!" Ugly lets go of his corner snatches up a rag from his bag and starts to frantically wipe at the walls of the elevator. Ugly: "They'll find us. They'll take it away!" Angel: "Forget him. Keep going." Ugly: "No fingerprints!" The move a little ways further down the hall. g*n: "I got to put it down." Spiny: "Huh?" g*n: "I got to put it down!" Spiny: "See? Stinking humans, good for nothing!" Angel: "Try to keep going." g*n: "I can't. I can't. My head - it's full of flies!" g*n sets his corner down, grabs his head and backs against the wall. g*n: "Get away from it. Get away from it!" Spiny moves to the side of the box: "I don't need any of you." Angel to g*n: "What's wrong now - son, huh? Getting a little tired? Little backache? A little toothache? (The whispering gets louder, Angel's eyes go yellow again, and he lifts a hand to his head) What...?" Wesley comes stumbling along the wall of the corridor. Wesley: "Angel? Thank God I found you (Angel turns to look at him, eyes still yellow) in time. Is it in time?" Angel: "Wesley?" Wesley: "Yes! I had a message for you. And the message was... (hits his hand with his fist) the shroud! The shroud, very dangerous. It makes people - bad! Although it's amazing how good I feel!" Angel grabs him by the front of his shirt and pushes him down the corridor. Angel: "Wesley, get out!" Wesley: "Is that g*n? What's he doing here? I never thought of him as the museum type." Angel: "Wesley - Wesley..." Kate whips around the corner aiming her g*n at them: "Police! Nobody move!" Angel squints at her with his yellow eyes. Angel: "Wow! - Look at you - rushing in here all by yourself! You're the best cop ever." Spiny: "Too many humans." Angel: "Excuse me that is *my* girl." Kate aiming her g*n at Angel: "Stay back." Angel: "Whoo! Okay. (Laughs) You got me. My life of crime is over. (Spiny watches as Angel, hands up in the air slowly steps closer to Kate) I'm going down. But first - a little impression. (Laughs) I'm a cop- with a mission to protect the innocent and rain on everybody's parade and obsessed about my father's death and bother people who are about to steal things!" Wesley: "Angel..." Angel spins around, knocking Wesley into the wall, then turns back to Kate. Angel: "Oh - Katie - what are you so afraid of? - Is it this? (Morphs into vamp face) Is it the part where I'm gonna k*ll you? Because I got to tell you I love that in a woman!" Kate sh**t at him, but he rushes her, grabs her, pointing her g*n up at the ceiling and sinks his fangs into the side of her neck. The swat team Kate called in for back up enters the museum through the taped backdoor, g*n at the ready, and spread out to search the museum. Two of them find Wesley crouched over a motionless Kate. Swat: "Don't move! Police!" Wesley: "Oh, I-I didn't..." Swat: "*Don't* move. Stay where you are." The swat guy leans in closer and sees the bite mark on the side of Kate's neck. Swat: "Oh my God!" Wesley: "Kate, come on. Wake up!" Swat to walkie-talkie: "We have an officer down." The other swat guy pulls Wesley off of Kate rather roughly. The moving van crashes into one of the cars parked in the lot in front of the garage. g*n, Angel, Ugly and Spiny carry in the coffin with Angel chuckling maniacally. They set it down. g*n to Angel: "You drank her. - Animal! You drank that cop!" Spiny: "What now?" Ugly: "Open it." Angel: "Oh, that's genius! Good thing we didn't think about that back at the ol' museum and miss out on all this *swell* heavy lifting!" Ugly: "Open it! There is a catch." Ugly runs his hands along the coffin's lid, but Spiny just punches his fist through the glass window, rips the lid right off and throws it aside. g*n: "That works too." The whispering gets louder and is now joined by some laughter and a soft whooshing sound as the four of them step closer to the coffin and look at the shroud wrapped body inside. Angel looks slightly wigged, g*n is smiling. Ugly is shaking and reaches for the shroud. Ugly: "I got it! I got it!" Spiny pushes him away from the coffin: "No! No! You don't know what this means. You have no idea what this is about. It belongs to my people. (Hits himself on the chest) MY people." g*n: "Your people? I didn't see none of your people when we was hauling this thing!" Angel: "Hey, fellas! Fellas! - Cool your jets, alright? There is plenty here for all of (he hesitates and we hear that whooshing sound) me!" Each of them grabs a hold of one corner of the shroud and tries to pull it away from the others. Angel: "Okay, how does this work, huh? Huh? The person with the biggest piece gets their wish?" Ugly: "No!" Spiny: "Don't hurt it!" Angel: "What about you, Lester? All of a sudden you want it too?" g*n: "I get this, I'll k*ll you." Angel: "Yeah, too bad, kid. Tell your wishes it won't come true." Ugly pulls out his g*n and sh**t Angel. Spiny hits Ugly with a hard right, sending him to the floor. His g*n goes off again and g*n ducks down beside the coffin. Spiny grabs the shroud pulls it away from Angel, almost pulling him into the coffin. Angel catches himself with his face only inches away from the skull of the demon. Spiny runs towards the door. Angel tackles him in one incredible leap before he reaches it and gets the shroud away from him. g*n snags the other end of the shroud and tries to pull it out of Angel's hands. They stare at each other as they work their way hand over hand towards the middle. Spiny jumps back up. Spiny: "It's mine!" He runs towards them, but Ugly gets off one last sh*t in their direction, hitting Spiny in the forehead. Spiny's body drops onto the shroud held between g*n and Angel, and all three of them topple tot he ground with g*n at the bottom and Angel on top. g*n still clutching the shroud with all his might: "Got it. Got it. Got it!" Angel: "Wait! Wait. g*n, I remember. You have to - trust me. I know what to do with this. Have faith, kid." g*n lets go of the shroud. Angel stumbles out of the door of the garage carrying the shroud and Bob's bottle of Whiskey. He drops the shroud and pours the whiskey over it. We can hear the whispering and laughter again as Angel stares down on the image of the demon's face on the shroud. He pulls out a lighter, and flicks it. Stares at the flame, looks down at the shroud. The lighter tumbles from his hand in slow motion. Angel watches the flames, breathing hard. We still hear the whispering. Angel slowly takes a step back. Suddenly there is a soundless expl*si*n, the flames sh**t straight up, Angel flies through the air and against a stack of cement bags behind him, then lands in a heap. The whispering has stopped. The flames die back down and Angel lies there, barely lifting his head of the ground, watching the shroud burn. White cop: "You want us to believe - that a magic sheet..." Wesley: "A shroud! A shroud." Black cop: "Right. Right. Right. It turns people into super strong lunatics, right? (Wesley sighs) So, one rips the head off a guard and another viciously att*cked Detective Lockley. That about it?" Wesley: "I know how it sounds..." Black cop quietly: "I really don't think you do." White Cop gets up and steps towards Wesley. Wesley: "What are you doing?" White cop grabs him under the arms from behind and pulls Wesley up out of his chair. White Cop: "Arresting you." Black Cop: "For the m*rder of the guard and the attempted..." The door opens and Kate steps in. She locks eyes with Wesley. Kate: "Let him go." The camera pans over Kate's desk and a picture of her father sitting there then up to show Kate standing in front of the window beside her desk looking out at the night through the open blinds. Angel's bite mark is clearly visible on the right side of her neck. She covers it with one hand and we flash back to Angel grabbing her, divert her sh*ts towards the ceiling and sinking his teeth into her neck. We hear him drink, then he turns so she can see over his shoulder that Ugly has his g*n trained on her. Angel whispering in her ear: "Stay down or they'll k*ll you." Angel lets go of her and she drops to the floor. She looks up at his bloody vamp-face for a moment then her eyes slide shut as Angel turns to look around and chuckles as Ugly lowers his g*n. Kate's head rolls to the side and the picture fades into a negative image then back to Kate slowly taking her hand away form her neck and turning around. Wesley paces in front of the stairs in the Hyperion's lobby with his hands buried in the pockets of his gray sweat pants. He goes to sit down on the sofa beside Cordy, who has changed her clothes as well, but is still wearing the Native American necklace she out around her neck at the museum. Wesley: "I don't think he's coming down." Cordy: "Hmm." Wesley: "I don't think recent events did him a lot of good." Cordy: "Again a hearty - hmm." Wesley: "We had every good *intention* of course." Cordy: "Right. Sending him into the path of a crazy-making, one-way-ticket-to-evil-town death cloth. - Good plan." Wesley: "It's not the shrouds effects on him that worry me as much as..." Cordy: "As what? (Wesley looks over at her and she looks back at him with big eyes) My stealing? I returned everything. I swear." Wesley frowns slightly: "Angel drank human blood, from a living person. - Something he hasn't done in a *very* long time." Cordy: "So, on top of everything else we may have reawakened his bloodlust?" Wesley: "Yes." Cordy: "Hmm. - Full days work then." Wesley: "I think so." They both get up at the same time and leave, turning off the lights. Angel sitting in a chair in his dimly lit suite - leans back his head with a sigh. He closes his eyes and we blend into a sh*t of him sinking his teeth into Kate's neck. We hear Kate pant as he drinks, and see his pale hand flex as he holds on to her shoulder. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x08 - The Shroud Of Rahmon"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Host to Angel: "Welcome to Caritas. How about gracing us with a number?" Wesley to g*n: "The Host, he helps demons, reads their souls, senses their futures." Cordy: "Yes, but he can only do it when they sing Karaoke." Angel: "Darla. That's her!" Angel to Darla: "So you are what Wolfram and Hart brought back in that box." Darla: "I remember everything Angel." Angel: "You have a soul now. Pretty soon - those memories are gonna start eating away at you." Darla to Lindsey: "What did you bring back, Lindsey? What am I?" Holland to Lindsey: "You not only allowed her to escape, you facilitated it." Angel to Wesley: "She asked for my help." Wesley: "You know better than anyone what she was." Angel: "What we were." Darla to Angel: "Turn me back! I can bear this pounding in my chest for another second!" Angel: "I can't." Angel: "Darla, wait!" Darla: "No. Don't look for me again." Cordy and Wesley are hovering around the closed door leading down into the Hyperion's basement. Cordy: "Don't you think we should check on him? - He's been in that cellar a long time." Wesley: "I keep hearing a 'chucka-chuka' sound. - What's he doing down there?" Cordy: "How should I know? He barely says 'good morning' and 'get me a glass of blood' anymore." Wesley: "I know. He's just so distraught about..." Cordy: "Don't say Darla! I'm sick and tired hearing about Darla. If I hear the name Darla one more time! And he is not distraught, he is obsessed! And I thought you were gonna be a man and talk to him about this!" Wesley: "I was a man! I said - things." Cordy: "Like what?" Wesley: "Like - did he prefer milk or sugar in his tea. It's how men talk about things in England." Cordy: "Shh! Listen. It stopped." Wesley: "He's coming!" Both of them run away from the basement door. Cordy hops onto a stool behind the counter, looks down at some papers. Behind her Wesley picks up a file and pretends to be reading as the door opens and Angel comes out carrying an armful of clothes. Angel: "Hi, guys. What's up?" Cordy: "Nothing. - So, you were - doing your laundry?" Angel folding his laundry: "Yeah. There is an old washer and dryer in the cellar. (Holds one piece up to his face) Hmm, don't you just love it when they're still warm from the dryer? (Shakes it out and looks at it) Wrinkle free - right, after you iron it for about 15 minutes!" Wesley: "It's good to see you taking a domestic tack." Cordy: "Yeah, you seem all calm and homey. - Are you on drugs?" Angel: "I know I've caused you a lot of grief about his whole Darla situation - and I apologize. Darla may never need my help. All I can do is be there for her if and when she decides to come around. - But I can't do it for her, and I know that now." Wesley smiles at Cordy: "We had tea." Angel: "In the mean time, there is nothing I can do but - let go." g*n burst in holding a file: "I found Darla. (Angel walks over to look through what he's got.) It wasn't easy, but you said to keep looking and my wide ranging knowledge of L.A.'s low-rent hotels finally paid off." Cordy to Angel: "You lied to us!" Angel looking at some pictures: "I did. I know." Wesley: "Why?" Angel: "I figured you'd nag. (Cordy and Wesley exchange a look) The Royal Viking Motel." g*n: "Conveniently located mere steps from scenic skid row. I guess she's not living off Wolfram and Hart no more." Angel: "They'll be looking for her, too." g*n: "What do you think they'll do if they find her?" Angel: "Well, lets get there first and not find out." Angel grabs his coat and walks towards the door, g*n following. Cordy: "Listen up, Mister! If you expect us to go with you on some wild goose chase, then guess again! (as they walk out the door) We're not going to enable you in your addiction!" Wesley: "Didn't we learn anything from the tea?" Darla takes off her cross necklace and puts it on the dresser. She puts on some bright red lipstick, then hesitates, looking at her reflection. Picks up a tissue and wipes it back off as a know sounds on her door. Darla stares at herself in the mirror. A key jangles in the lock and the door opens. Darla turns and sees Lindsey handing the Motel manager some money before closing the door behind him, never taking his eyes off her. Lindsey: "You're a hard one to find." Intro. Darla sits in a chair in Lindsey's office there are a couple security guards in the background. Lindsey clears his throat and sits on the edge of his desk. Lindsey: "Thanks for coming in." Darla: "Did I ever have a choice?" Holland comes in carrying some files, nods at the guard, who leaves, closing the door. Holland: "Of course. - We would never force you to do anything against your will, Darla." Darla: "It wasn't my will to be here in the first place. I never asked for this life." Holland sits down in a chair next to hers: "Well, - no one ever does. God doesn't give us a say in these matters." Darla: "God wasn't there one who brought me back." Holland: "True." Darla: "So, what do you want me to do for you now? Go back to him? I won't matter even if I did. There is nothing between us anymore." Darla looks down at her hands while Holland glances over at Lindsey. Holland: "You misunderstand. We didn't invite you here to discuss Angel." Lindsey: "This is about you." Darla looks up at Lindsey. Holland: "You are not our prisoner, Darla. - You are, however our *moral* responsibility." He hands her the files in his hand and Darla looks through them. Holland: "No doubt you remember very little of your first few weeks with us. - No one eve really remembers their first days of life, but that's when these were initiated." Darla shakes her head slightly and looks up at Lindsey: "Did-did you know anything about this?" Lindsey just looks at her and Darla looks back down at the papers in her lap. Holland: "Now, we're prepared to deal with this situation anyway you see fit. - It's up to you. - We just thought you should know. At the Viking Motel g*n walks into Darla's room. Angel is standing in the open doorway. g*n: "She ain't here, bro." Angel: "No. But she was, not long ago. (Sniffs) Scent's still fresh. A lot of fear." g*n: "Don't envy you that particular talent. Not based on what I'm getting with just my standard issue human smeller. (Looks around the room. Behind him Angel enters) Man, not even for free cable, you know what I'm sayin'?" Angel: "She chose this neighborhood for a reason." g*n looks from Angel to the door and back. g*n: "Bro, how'd you..?" Angel: "Oh, Motel, public accommodation. She didn't live here." g*n: "Yeah? I wouldn't call it living, either. Hey, looks like maybe she was expecting company (Picks up Darla's cross from the dresser) in the form of you." Angel looks around the room: "No blood. Nothing new, anyway." g*n: "You smellin' that, too?" Angel: "This room's seen a lot of it." g*n: "No doubt. Big step down from her last digs, that's for sure." Angel: "When you're desperate - you do what you have to do." France 1765, night. A horse carrying two riders trots into a barn. Angelus and Darla dismount. Angelus: "This is outrages! Don't these people know who we are?" Darla: "I think they do. Which would explain the lynch mob. Look, we should all rest. It'll be dawn in a few hours and she won't last another mile, not carrying us both." Angelus closing the barn door: "Right. I hate the French. We should go some place like Romania." Darla: "In Italy you said we should go some place like France." Angelus: "At least in Romania they really know how to treat a creature of the night." Darla: "You were craving rich food, that's what you said, something - French." Darla lights a lantern while Angelus looks out at the dark countryside. Angelus: "The valley seems quiet." Darla: "I told you we lost them back in Arles. I'm sure of it." Angelus: "This man, Holtz, how does he keep finding us?" Darla: "Well, we stay in the best hotels, order room service, eat the waiters - people talk." Angelus: "Holtz is no mere mortal, I tell you that." Darla: "Of course he is. He's just a man, a vampire hunter." Angelus: "Yeah. Good enough to have driven us into a stinking barn like animals." Darla with a smile: "All right then, let's *be* animals, at least for tonight. (Walks over to a pile of hey and reclines on it) Unless, of course, you're too tired." Angelus: "Shouldn't we be keeping watch?" Darla: "I can see the window, and we'll hear hoof beats should anyone approach." Angelus walks over to her, smiling: "You always make the best of it, don't you?" Darla: "Come now you have to admit that the chase can be exhilarating (Angelus drops to his knees beside her) especially with the proper companion." Angelus leans down to kiss her and a flaming stake whizzes by where his head was moments before and stick in a wooden post. Angelus: "Bastards!" Darla is sitting at a table in a real dive, across form her sits a vampire showing off his vamp face. Darla: "That's great. (Smiles) Really - very thr*at." Vampire laughs: "It's getting to you, isn't it? You know, when I was a-a human, I didn't have much luck with the women." Darla takes a drink: "Hard to believe." Vampire: "I had kind of a skin condition. But now - it's something about the teeth I guess. (Bares his fangs) Chicks go crazy for it." Darla: "You got girlfriends everywhere I imagine." Vampire: "Well, mostly I just k*ll 'em. Dump the bodies." Darla: "That must be very lonely for you." Vampire: "We're a lonely sort, we - creatures of the night. Doomed to walk the earth, that kind of deal." Darla: "Ah, how long have you been..." Vampire: "Oh, an eternal child of the darkness? Since, ah - '92." Darla: "19 - 92?" Vampire chuckles: "I know. It's hard to believe it's already the last century." Darla: "And in all this - time you've never considered making yourself a - mate?" Vampire: "How do you mean?" Darla: "Well, isn't it true that some vampires choose a mortal, someone they can sire, someone who, too, can walk those lonely nights, hunting with them, feeding with them, (puts her hand on his) joining with them?" Vampire looks down at her hands covering his then gives a laugh. Vampire: "No! That'd just be weird." Darla: "Weird? - It's mythic!" Vampire shakes his finger at her: "No, you been reading too much Anne Rice lately! You've got no idea how this thing works!" Darla: "Then teach me." Vampire: "Oh, what, you want me to make you?" Darla: "Why do you think I came into this bar, for the snacks?" Vampire: "Sweetheart, in this bar, you are the snacks." Darla smiles at him: "I live nearby. We can go back to my place, you can do it there." Vampire: "Y-you're serious about this. (Darla nods slightly) So what? I make you and then you'd be like my immortal babe?" Darla: "Yes." Vampire: "Ah, well, that kind of sounds like commitment to me." Darla: "Then use me for as long as you like, anyway you like, then discard me. - No strings." Vampire after a b*at: "There is an alley out back." Darla gets up, grabs a hold of his hand and drags him out. Alley behind the bar, Darla is still dragging the guy. Vampire: "How do you know I won't just k*ll you here, drain you and leave your body?" Darla puts her purse down on the hood of a car and gives him a hard kiss, then steps back. Vampire's eyes popped open wide. Darla: "I'll take my chances." Vampire: "I - I- I should probably mention that I... - I'm not real clear on how this thing works." Darla: "What?" Vampire: "Well, ah, I never actually did it, ah, to anybody before - and I was kind of out when it happened to me." Darla taking a deep breath: "I'll walk you through it. (Steps closer) Drink. (Exposes her neck) When you feel my heart start to slow stop." Vampire leans in while Darla closes her eyes. He's about to sink his fangs into her neck when he dissolves into a cloud of dust revealing Angel. Darla: "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Angel: "Saving you." Darla: "I wasn't *in* any danger, Angelus. Believe me, I picked a stupid one. I always pick the stupid ones, didn't you know that? - I can take care of myself." Angel: "I didn't mean from him. I was saving you from yourself." Darla: "Who asked you?" Angel: "This isn't the answer." Darla: "You don't even know what the question is. Why can't you leave me alone." She tires to walk past him but he stops her, leaning close into her face. Angel: "You do this thing and I won't be able to leave you alone, don't you get that? I'll never be able to leave you alone. (Holds up the stake) Next time it'll be you on the end of this stake. - I'm sorry, but I don't want that, not again." Darla: "Don't worry. I wouldn't let it happen twice." Darla walks past him. Angel: "Where are you going?" Darla: "Not back in there, everyone saw me leave with the Mullet. Try something on the westside, I guess." Angel: "Another dive, another looser?" Darla turns back to him: "What do you care?" Angel steps closer: "This isn't you, Darla." Darla: "You know, just because we had a thing for 150 years, don't presume you know me!" Angel: "So you really want to be made by some creep in some filthy alley?" Darla: "I wanted you to do it." Angel: "That'll never happen." Darla turns to go: "So I do what I have to do. Anyway, you were made in an alley, if I recall." Angel: "That's not the point." Darla spins back around: "Yeah, well, what is the point, Angelus?" Angel: "The point is, you were undead for 400 years, you've only been human again for a few months. Why not give it some time." Darla: "I don't have time." Angel: "You do. You've been given a second chance. Don't throw that away before you have the opportunity to..." Darla closing her eyes: "I'm dying." Angel: "What?" Darla looks at him: "Yeah. And not some time. Not later. Now. Right now. They showed me the medical files, all the tests said the same thing: I have about two months left, three at the most. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm in sort of a hurry." She turns to go and Angel stares after her. Back in France in the past the barn is on f*re and surrounded by screaming peasants, carrying torches. Angelus: "How many men do you supposed he has with him?" Darla: "I can't die. Not like this." Angelus: "Well, we can try to flee to the hills to the south." Darla: "We'll never make it before the sun rises, not by foot." Angelus: "We'll not make it easy for 'em, I can tell you that. They're men - mortals. Between the two of us we can go out with a reputation. (Looks outside through a crack) Even death with the right companion..." As he turns back towards Darla she hits him across the face with a 2x4, knocking him down. While slowly picks himself back up, she hurriedly mounts the horse. Darla: "I hope you survive this, Angelus. If you do, maybe we meet again in Vienna." With that she rides out of the barn. Hyperion, night. Cordy hears someone open the doors and turns to Wesley, who's reading a newspaper. Cordy in a whisper: "Angel's back (Wesley glances up) and he has *Darla* with him!" Wesley gets up and he and Cordy walk around the counter to confront Angel and Darla. Cordy: "Hi. (Sees the bag Darla is carrying) You're - planning on sleeping over?" Darla puts down the bag: "I'm dying." Cordy: "So just for the one night then." Wesley: "Dying?" Darla: "He doesn't believe it." Wesley: "Angel, what's going on?" Angel: "Wolfram and Hart showed her some medical files supposedly proving that she's only got a few months left to live." Cordy: "So maybe *more* than the one night." Wesley: "And you believe it's some kind of trick." Angel: "We're talking about Wolfram and Hart! Of course it's a trick. They're trying to play some kind of mind game." Wesley: "To what end?" Angel: "I don't know, but we're not gonna take the bait." Darla: "No, you just don't wanna believe it, that's all." Angel: "I don't wanna believe anything from them." Wesley: "It's true. They can't really be trusted." Darla: "I don't trust them, but I know a thing or two about mind games. (To Angel) So do you. We played them together for over a century." Cordy: "Yes, but you were just soulless bloodsucking demons, they're lawyers." Angel: "She's right. We were amateurs." Darla: "And if you're wrong?" Angel after a b*at: "I'm not. And I'm gonna prove it to you. (Steps closer to Wes and Cordy) Can you guys just watch over her for a while? I'll be back soon." Wesley: "Of course." Cordy: "Don't worry about a thing." Angel turns to leave: "Thanks." Darla: "You can't force me to stay here." Angel: "You're not a prisoner." Darla: "I've been hearing that a lot lately." Angel: "Just give me a chance. - Okay?" After a moment Angel turns and leaves. Cordy: "So, first up - you're a prisoner." Wesley: "I'd have to concur with that, yes." Cordy: "See, you've got our friend - all - in knots." Wesley: "Can't say we like you much." Cordy: "So, sorry about the dying, but if you try to escape - we *will* h*t you." Wesley: "On the head." Cordy: "With very large and heavy objects. - Okay?" Lindsey is sitting in his dimly lit apartment, drinking. Suddenly the door burst inward and Angel is standing in the corridor. Angel: "I may not be able to come in, Lindsey, but..." Lindsey taking another sip: "Wipe your feet." Angel: "What?" Lindsey gets up: "Wipe your feet. You can come in." Angel just stands there. Lindsey: "Jeez. I invite you in already." Lindsey goes to pour himself another drink. Angel grabs him by the throat and slams the back of his head on to the counter top. Lindsey: "Does it really look like you have to throttle me for information?" Angel: "Need to?" Angel pulls Lindsey back up and pushes him away from him. Lindsey: "Yes, she's dying. Yes, those medical reports you saw are real. You want a second opinion? (Picks up some files and throws them at Angel) Here. How about a thrid? Hmm? How about a thenth? I used every connection Wolfram and Hart had. (Points at the file Angel is looking at) That's my own personal doctor. They all say the same thing: syphilitic heart condition - terminal. (Refills his glass) Looks like our Darla was a working girl in the New World. Syphilis was what she was dying from when she was human. - Now she's human again. Kind of picking up where she left off. Of course, today something like that could be cleared up with a few antibiotics - if you catch it in time. We're about a month and - what? 400 years too late?" Angel looks up from the files he'd been reading: "So you didn't believe them either. (Lindsey drops his eyes to his glass) - So it's true." Lindsey: "I had to be sure." Angel: "Why?" Lindsey: "Why? Because I don't want her to die anymore than you do." Angel looks him up and down for a moment. Angel: "Do you love her, Lindsey? (Lindsey looks down) Is that what this is? Heh - look at you. A few short months with her and you go all schoolboy. I was with her for *150* years." Lindsey: "But you never loved her." Angel after a short b*at: "I wasn't capable of it and neither are you." Lindsey: "Maybe not. - But I'd save her if I could. And you can. And you won't. (Gets up) So you got s choice pal: waste the last two months of her life searching for a cure that doesn't exist, watch her wither away and die - or you can use the only real power you got. You can make this disease go away today if you wanted to." Angel: "By k*lling her again." Lindsey: "By giving her life! Eternal life." Angel: "And then what, Lindsey? You and her can be together? If I were to do it - if I turned her, how long do think it would be before she hunted you down and had you for breakfast? - I've got to say, I mean, that thought alone almost makes it worth it. But - there is another way, and I'll find it." Angel throws the medical files at Lindsey and walks out. Darla is outside in the garden court at the Hyperion. Cordy and Wes are in the lobby, holding cups of tea. Cordy: "I mean, not only is she putting *his* life at stake, but ours! I'm sorry, but after 400 hundred years of death and destruction, seems to me, you get voted off the island. Am I right?" They notice Angel standing in the lobby, hands buried in his pocket's staring straight ahead. Cordy: "You're back." Angel doesn't move. Wesley: "Was it - good news?" They look where he's staring and see Darla through the glass doors, smelling a flower out in the court. Angel: "Just give me a minute, will you, guys?" Angel slowly walks out into the court. Darla: "Hmm, Jasmine. It blooms at night. I remember what that was like. (Looks over at Angel. Gets up) I told you. I told you it was the truth." Angel: "Darla..." Darla: "No, I have to go." She tries to walk past him, but Angel blocks her way. Angel: "We'll find a cure. We'll do something." Darla: "You'll do something! Now, I've been around long enough to know when something is a lost cause - unless..." Angel: "That's exactly what they want us to do, Darla. We'd be playing right into their hands." Darla: "I don't care. I don't wanna die." Angel: "I can't give you what you want." Darla: "It's what I need." Angel: "No, it's not what you need, Darla. Really it's not. I don't know what you need. I wish I did." Darla turns away: "I don't know either." Angel after a moment: "No. You do. You're the only one that could. You just can't see it that's all. You need a little help." Darla sits on the stage at Caritas while Angel stands beside the Host at the bar. Darla singing: "Blow, ill wind, blow away. Let me rest today. You're bl*wing me no good..." Host watching her: "Ooh!" Angel: "What is that? What does that mean, ooh?" Host: "It means 'ooh, ground control to major Tom' we may not be able to save this bird." Angel: "I'm gonna save her and you're gonna help me." Host looks at Angel: "I sense pain and anger. Are you still testy from the last time?" Angel: "When you sent me to that swami who was d*ad, and his imposter tried to k*ll me? Why would I be testy about that?" Host: "That was painful. (Goes to sit at a table) I'm still reeling." Angel, sits down next to him: "Yeah, I feel your pain, what with him trying to k*ll me and all." Host: "People try to k*ll *you* everyday. I'm talking about Ramone. Over heard us, betrayed me. The man was a world-class bartender. He made a sea breeze that took you to Tahiti. Mmm. He's off the menu now." Angel: "Can we get back to Darla?" Host: "If you shush up and listen to the bridge." Darla singing: "You're only misleading the sunshine I'm needing. Ain't that a shame? It's so hard to keep up with troubles that creep up from out of nowhere (the Host is watching Angel watch Darla) when love..." Angel: "Aren't you supposed to be reading her?" Host: "I'm a channel surfer. Look, you're a big hunk of hero sandwich. You wanna save the girl. I can see why. But you're missing the crucial point here. Things fall apart. Not everything can be put back together, no matter how much you want it." Angel: "She's not gonna die." Host: "Why do you care *so* much? She had more than most of us, already 400 plus years." Angel: "As a vampire. Before that she was... She... She never had a chance." Darla finishes her song to big applause. Host: "Someone get my heart. That girl's ripped it right out. - Okay, I know I'm probably going to regret this. In fact, being prescient, I'm actually sure of it. There is one way. It-it's a bit of a quest - and - it will probably k*ll you." Angel: "I'll take it." Host writes down an address: "Alright, big fella, you asked for it. You're about to face the hell and the high water. - Go to this address." Angel: "What is it?" Host: "It's were we find out if you're really ready to take the plunge." Angel and Darla walk up to a pool. Angel laughing: "Well, here we are." Darla: "I don't think this is right." Angel: "Well, he said I had to take the plunge." Darla: "Into an empty pool?" Angel: "Sure. 'cause if you had water, you'd get all wet and miss out on all that skull crushing." Darla: "Maybe he meant another pool." Angel: "Something in a Koi pond. They're were Zen. Nah, he's must testing me. It's that whole leap of faith thing." Angel walks up onto the diving board. Darla: "Then don't do it. Angel, some green horned lounge singer asks you to do something and you just do it? - Why?" Angel just looks at her. Angel taking a deep breath: "I'm either coming back with a cure - or you're about to see something kinda funny." Takes a running step, bounces off the end of the board and takes a header into the empty pool. But instead of hitting the bottom he disappears through it with a blue crackle, and tucks and rolls back to his feet in a dungeon like chamber. Jeeves: "Well, we certainly have faith. Now we'll test your valor." Angel turns to see a guy looking like a butler in a black suit and tie standing there. Jeeves: "I shall be assisting you with the trials, sir." Angel looks to the side and there is Darla. Angel: "Darla. Why is she here?" Jeeves: "You wish to save her life?" Angel: "Yes." Jeeves: "She is your collateral then. Should you complete all three trials, she will be made - whole." Angel: "What happens if I don't complete the trials?" Jeeves: "She dies instantly. - In the mean time, Darla, you can relax with an iced beverage in our - antechamber." Darla suddenly disappears. Angel: "No." Jeeves: "Oh, it's better this way, sir. I a few moments no living thing will be safe in here." Angel: "You can't. Nobody said that she would..." Jeeves: "Oh, I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding, but *life* is the bargain here, you have place hers in the balance (We hear a growl and Angel glance at the gate in the wall behind him) along with your own, of course. Anyway, you best get ready now, sir. This is no time to be dwelling on the negative." Jeeves: "Your trials will consist of three separate challenges. I'll need your shirt and shoes." Angel takes off his coat and shirt and throws them at Jeeves. Angel: "Unarmed combat?" Jeeves: "Well - you'll be unarmed, yes." Angel: "Okay. Three challenges. - What are they?" Jeeves: "That's for you to discover, sir. - Uhm, shoes and socks, please." Angel takes them off and hands them to Jeeves. Angel: "I'm thinking you've seen this play before. Give me something I can work with." Jeeves: "I've never given information to a challenger before." Angel: "How many of them have asked?" Jeeves: "Well, in theory, the first test is child's play. Once that gate opens, all you have to do is walk through it." Angel: "That's it? What's the catch?" Jeeves: "Yes, well, uhm, that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Angel: "Okay, that's one. What's two and three?" Jeeves: "Oh, I really wouldn't know about the last tow tests, sir. I've never seen anyone survive the first one. - Best of luck." Jeeves disappears the way Darla did earlier. The gate rises and an ugly yellow demon, armed with a sword and two chains with sharp hooks at the ends walks in. Angel: "You must be the catch." The demon swings the chains around trying to hook Angel, but he manages to avoid them. Then Angel runs up the wall and around the outside of one of the arced doorways ringing the chamber (very cool stunt this) trying to get by the demon and reach the door. But the demon hooks one of Angel's thighs and drags him across the floor towards him. Standing next to Darla in the ante-chamber, Jeeves is looking at his pocket watch. Jeeves: "Seventeen seconds. Already twice the time most others have lasted." Darla: "Call this off." Jeeves: "Impossible. Once the tests have started they can't be stopped." Darla: "I need to see what's happening - now." Jeeves: "If you insist. But please remember - you did ask." He touches Darla's forehead and there is a short flash of light. Angel's head rocks back as the demon hits him and Darla's head moves as well as she flinches. We cut back between Darla and Angel getting h*t and it looks like Darla feels every h*t connecting. The demon hits Angel a few more times then kicks him in the side. The demon lets go of the chain hooked into Angel's thigh and pulls out his sword. Angel pulls the hook out and catches the sword on the chain then scrambles to his feet. He runs through one of the arced doorways into the narrow corridor circling the chamber. The demon runs after him, but Angel has disappeared. As the demon stops, Angel drops down behind him (he had wedged himself between the walls above him) and hits him with a hard right then turns and runs back into the chamber. The demon runs through another arc, but Angel is waiting just inside the chamber beside it and rips the sword from his grip and cuts him across the waist. The two halves fall to the ground and Angel breathes a sigh of relief. As does Darla. She shakes her head and smiles at Jeeves, who only raises his eyebrows at her. Angel limps over to the gate, but it stays closed. Angel strains against it. Angel: "Hey! I defeated him! Open up!" He hears a growl and turns to see the top half of the demon hand-walk over to his legs and pull them against his cut as if he was putting on a pair of pants. While Angel (and Darla in the chamber) watch in horror, the two halves merge. Darla flinches as the Demon comes at Angel swinging both hooks, but Angel quickly manages to cut him in half again. He hooks the bottom half, drags it to the wall and loops the chain over a light fixture. Drags the chain wrapped top half to the opposite wall and hangs it off another light fixture. The demon growls and twitches but can't free his hands from the chains. The Gate rises and Angel limps through it. In the antechamber Darla is breathing heavily, as Jeeves checks his watch again. Darla: "Is this how a guy like you gets his rocks off?" Jeeves: "Oh, I have no feelings about this contest one way or another, miss. - Do you?" The gate comes back down behind Angel, leaving him facing a long dark corridor. The ceiling opens to let the moonlight in and Angel sees that the floor and walls of it are covered with crosses in all shapes and sizes. About half way down there is a basin on a pedestal and a door at the other end of it. Jeeves is eating a cookie. Darla: "Why don't you just k*ll him if you want him d*ad." Jeeves: "We don't *want* anything, miss. In this place, the journey is all. Where it may lead is not our concern." Angel takes a deep breath and runs as fast as he can with his skewered thigh along the corridor. Hisses of steam rise with each of his steps as the crosses burn his bare feet. He passes the basin, gives it a passing glance, stumbles and lands full length on the floor, screaming as the crosses burn his bare skin. He pushes himself up, burning his hands. Darla flinches, wide-eyed. Angel makes it to the door, but it's locked. He turns, limps back to the basin. It's filled with water and there is a key at the bottom of it. Darla: "Holy Water!" Angel plunges his right hand into the water, screaming as the water boils around his arm, fishes the key out. His arm and hand holding it look like raw meat. He makes it back to the door and unlocks it. Jeeves is checking his watch again. Jeeves: "He's quite remarkable." Darla: "Yes - he is." Angel limps into the next chamber, grimacing with the pain. Chains sh**t out and manacles clamp around his wrists and ankles then pull tight leaving him spread-eagled. Jeeves enters clapping his hands. Jeeves: "Well played! You fielded our strokes from end to end. My hat's off to you, sir. Of course there is one final challenge." Jeeves turns to look at the wall facing Angel as rows upon rows of stakes poke out of it. Angel: "What is this?" Jeeves: "I think you know, sir." Angel, breathing hard, is staring at the stakes. Darla, breathing hard, closes her eyes. Angel: "Stakes? You call this (starts coughing) a test? The only way this can work is you k*ll me, huh?" Jeeves: "Exactly. You do understand - this third test has no catch, as you out it. Death is the final challenge. - We can't restore one life without taking another. You see? In order for Darla to live, you must die." Jeeves: "I apologize for any discomfort this may be causing. I really - can't imagine the pain." Angel: "How about we switch places and we won't have to, huh?" Jeeves: "Oh, my death wouldn't balance a thing, sir. Yours on the other hand..." Angel: "I die, Darla lives." Jeeves: "Yes. I'm unaware of any deities the vampire worships, but if you'd like to pray (pulls a lever and the stakes pull back, spring-loaded into place) now would be the time." Darla shakes her head: "Don't do this." Angel staring at the stakes: "What are you waiting for?" Jeeves: "For you, sir. I can't proceed without your permission. You've earned a choice. Accept your death so she may live or..." Angel yelling: "Or what?!" Jeeves: "Leave. - Refuse the challenge and walk away. No one will stop you. Our doors are all open to you. You've done that yourself." Angel: "What about Darla?" Jeeves: "Oh, she dies." Angel: "No deal." Jeeves: "I expected as much. A pity. I'm beginning to like you." Angel: "Spare me." Jeeves: "I'd very much like to. (Steps closer) Do you mind if I ask you a question? - Isn't the world a better place with you in it? You can save so many people. It seems - she can barely save herself." Angel doesn't answer. Darla has a tear in her eye. Jeeves: "You know better than anyone he world can be a very bad place. Take yourself out, put her in - how long will it be before she stumbles, before she falls?" Angel: "I don't know." Jeeves: "No - you don't. Are you still ready to give her life when she can promise you - nothing?" Angel looks him straight in the eye: "Yes." Darla licks her lips and swallows. Jeeves: "As you wish." Darla shakes her head: "No." Angel takes a deep breath: "Do it." Jeeves releases the stakes and they hurtle towards Angel. Darla flinches and screams: "No!" She squirms, her eyes closed. She opens them to see Angel in front of her, once again fully dressed but panting, hunched over, barely able to stand. Darla: "Angel!" Jeeves: "Congratulations. You've passed the third test - by accepting death. - I'm told no one's ever gone that far before - in terms of sacrifice. - Kudos." Angel: "Pay up." Jeeves: "Of course. (To Darla) You're a lucky woman, and soon you'll have your whole life ahead. - Use it wisely." Angel: "Hey, Jeeves, unless this fortune cookie crap is some new kind of t*rture, what you say we get on with it, huh?" Jeeves turns to Darla and motions for her to come closer: "This way, miss." He puts his hands on the sides of her head and they both close their eyes as Angel tries to straighten up so he can get a better view. Jeeves opens his eyes and lets his hands drop. Jeeves: "Oh." Darla: "What?" Angel: "What is it?" Jeeves: "This is - very embarrassing." Angel: "What is?" Jeeves: "Not to mention unprecedented. She's - she's been given new life once before - by supernatural means, yes?" Darla nods slightly: "They brought me back." Angel: "What are you saying?" Jeeves: "I can't help you." Angel: "We had a bargain. She's earned a second chance." Jeeves: "She's living her second chance. (The wall shivers and a set of stairs leading up appears) But you played the game magnificently. (Angel gives him a dark look and Jeeves adjusts his cuffs) Perhaps you should have told us that she was brought to life - before this all started. I truly *am* sorry, sir. The fact of the matter is (Steps back and dissolves) there is nothing I can do." Angel doesn't move. Darla: "Angel..." Suddenly Angel over turns the table with the refreshments. A demon guard tries to stop him and Angel hits him hard enough to send him flying into a wall, another guard comes up and Angel hits him, making him fall back onto the steps, then picks him up and throws him across the room. He picks up an urn and smashes it, then sweeps all the candles and stuff off a side table, then starts hitting his fist over and over against a stone pillar. The hits come slower and slower. Darla walks towards him as we see stone dust puff out from where he keeps hitting the pillar. Angel's knees give way and he slides down the pillar, resting his head against it. (Beautiful music btw.) Angel and Darla are sitting in her dingy motel room, Darla on the bed, Angel on a chair by the door. Angel: "Maybe it would be different. - We don't know. - Maybe, uh... because, you know, I have a soul - if-if I did bite you..." Darla: "No." Angel: "We don't know what it would do to you." Darla: "Angel, I've seen it now - everything you're going through, everything you've gone through. - I felt it. I felt how you care. The way no one's ever cared before - not for me. (Gives him a tiny smile) - That's all I need from you." Angel: "That's not enough." Darla: "It is." Angel: "How could the powers allow you to be brought back and dangle a second chance and take it away like this?" Darla: "Maybe this is my second chance." Angel: "To die?" Darla: "Yes. To die - the way I was supposed to die in the first place." They look at each other for a moment before Darla turns away drawing a shaky breath. Angel gets up and, still limping slightly, goes to sit next to her. Angel: "I'm not gonna leave you (Darla looks at him trying not to cry) every moment you have left - I'm gonna be by your side. - You're never gonna be alone again." He drapes his, still b*rned looking, right hand around her shoulder and pulls her close as she begins to cry. Suddenly the door bursts open, and a dark clad guy presses a sparking tazer against Angel's side, dropping him to the floor, while two other ones grab a hold of Darla. The first guy keeps tazering Angel, while a fourth tapes his hands behind his back. Lindsey walks in, grabs a hold of Angel's hair and pulls his head up. Lindsey: "How did you think this would end?" Drusilla wearing a low cut, red dress, glides into the room and over to where the two guys are holding Darla. Darla struggles but can't get free. Angel watches helplessly as Dru morphs into vamp face, brushes the hair away from Darla's neck and bites her. As Lindsey watches, Darla slides down onto the bed and Dru sits down next to her. Looking at Angel, Dru scratches a bloody line across her breast then picks Darla up and presses her mouth over it, holding her like a suckling babe,as Angel watches, unable to do anything. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x09 - The Trial"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel: "There are forces at work here that you know nothing about." Kate: "You think I'm gonna stand by while you and your playmate finish the game?" Kate: "Police. Nobody move." Kate sh**t at Angel, Angel bites her, Kate see Menlo's g*n pointed at her. Angel whispers: "Stay down or they'll k*ll you." Kate slides to the floor and after a moment her eyes drift shut. Kate puts her hand over the bite mark as she looks out the window next to her desk. Holland: "Darla. How are you?" Darla: "I'm fine, Holland." Angel: "They brought her back and now I need to know why. Why like this? Why human?" Angel: "You've been given a second chance. Don't throw that away before you have the opportunity..." Darla: "I'm dying." Lindsey: "Syphilitic heart condition. Terminal." Angel: "I'm not gonna leave you. Every moment you have left, I'm gonna be by your side. You're never gonna be alone again." Lindsey and his g*ons burst in, taser Angel, restrain Darla. Lindsey: "How did you think this would end?" Dru walks in and vamps Darla while Angel watches, unable to prevent it. g*n walks into the Hyperion's lobby supporting Angel. Through the doors to the garden court we can see that it is bright day outside. g*n: "We're almost there. We're almost there. Yo! Anybody home?" Cordy hurrying down the steps: "Oh my God! Angel!" Wesley: "What happened?" g*n: "I don't know. He's been kind of in and out. I only got half the story. The half that didn't make sense." Wesley: "Angel?" He walks Angel over to the sofa, with Wesley helping on Angel's other side. Angel: "It's no, it's no time. No, no time." Wesley: "Okay. Okay. Let's sit him down here." They drop Angel onto the sofa. Cordy: "Where was he?" g*n: "Coming from the motel." Cordy: "*Darla's* motel?" Angel: "Should have heard them." g*n: "I managed to get him to the truck without him bursting into flames or anything." Wesley: "He's hurt." g*n: "Place was a wreck. Something went down there, something not good." Wesley: "Angel?" Angel: "I was just so - so tired." Cordy: "Where is Darla?" g*n: "I don't know. She wasn't there." Cordy: "I knew it. She did this to him. I knew she couldn't be trusted!" Angel: "She's d*ad." Cordy: "What?!" Angel: "I should have stopped them. They made her drink." Wesley: "Angel?" Angel: "She didn't want to. You think - that you can resist, but then it's-it's-it's too late." Wesley: "Someone made Darla drink?" Angel: "It was her." Cordy: "Okay, way too many pronouns here. Who's 'her'?" Angel pushes himself up off the couch: "Drusilla." Cordy: "Drusilla's here?" Wesley: "Good Lord." They follow Angel into the office. g*n: "Who's Drusilla?" Angel starts to look through his desk for something. Wesley: "Angel? - Angel..." g*n: "Am I right in guessing this Drusilla got a set of teeth on her?" Wesley: "Yes. She's a vampire." g*n: "I think I'm starting to get the picture now." Angel slams the drawer of his desk shut. Cordy winces. Wesley to Angel: "Perhaps you should sit down." Angel: "I have to find her." Cordy: "Drusilla?" Angel starts to search through a cabinet behind the desk. g*n: "She probably ain't in *there*." Cordy: "He's delirious." Angel: "I can save her." Wesley: "Save whom?" Angel: "Darla." Wesley crouches down beside him while Angel continues to frantically search through the cabinet. Wesley: "Angel, if what you've been saying is so there's no saving Darla. It's too late." Angel: "It's not too late!" Wesley puts a hand on Angel's shoulder: "It is! She's d*ad already and come nightfall she will rise again." Angel: "She won't. (He stands up spinning a big wood stake in his hand) I can save her from that." Intro. g*n is pacing while Wesley is working on the laptop. g*n: "Okay. I'm still trying to get this family tree straight. - Darla sired Angel." Wesley: "Correct." g*n: "And Angel sired this Drusilla?" Wesley: "Back when he and Darla were together, yes." g*n: "But before Angel got his soul back, right?" Wesley looking up: "Certainly." g*n: "Now these lawyers, they brought Darla back as human. Now this Drusilla-vamp goes and bites Darla?" Wesley: "So it would seem." g*n: "Making her a vampire again." Wesley sitting back: "That's the cosmological upshot, yes. Darla's human self has died and sometime before dawn, unless Angel can stop it, she will rise again, a soulless demon." g*n: "So that means..." Wesley goes back to typing: "The clock is ticking." g*n: "No, no, what I'm saying is, that means the granddaughter remade the grandmother." Wesley: "Oh... - yes." g*n: "Man, somehow that weirds me out more than the whole bloodsucking thing." Angel walks in, grabs a clear container of blood out of the small office fridge. Wesley: "How do you feel?" Angel takes a drink: "What do you got?" Wesley: "Uhm, sunset is at 5:47 P.M. which is (looks at his watch) *was* six minutes ago, and sunrise is at 6:15 A.M." Angel has almost finished the blood in the container. Angel: "It could happen anytime before then. (To Cordy) Anything?" Cordy gets up from behind the desk she has been sitting at and comes over. Cordy: "Lindsey McDonald's assistant says he *is* in the office, but he's in a meeting. Has been all day." Angel: "Right." Angel sets the unfinished container of blood on the table next to Wesley and goes to put on his coat, while g*n looks down at the blood. Wesley: "Angel, you realize you can't go into those offices undetected." Angel: "And I'm not going to. That's what they want me to do." Wesley: "You don't believe you'd find him there anyway." Angel: "I was at the only meeting Lindsey McDonald had today." Cordy: "So where are you going then?" Angel turning to go: "To his home." g*n: "I'll go with you." Wesley gets up: "Yes. We all will." Angel: "No. You're all staying here." Cordy: "You can't go in uninvited, remember? You need *us*!" Angel: "Not this time." Cordy: "So, what's the plan? Stand outside his door and make remarks?" Angel: "He already invited me in once. This time when I kick that door down, I go through it - alone." The three of them watch Angel leave. Lindsey's apartment high-rise, night. Angel kicks in Lindsey's door and stands in the doorway surveying a completely cleaned-out apartment. Slowly walks in, looking around, shaking his head, moistening his lips and swallows. Behind him a woman appears in the open door to the hall. Woman: "Excuse me. The open house isn't until Saturday." Angel: "The man who was living here, do you know where he went?" Woman walks in: "Moved." Angel: "When?" Woman: "Ah, the truck was here yesterday." Angel: "Did he leave a forwarding address?" Woman: "Well, I really - can't give out..." Angel: "This is an emergency. It's regarding a - a mutual friend who's in need of some immediate - medical attention." Woman: "Well, he's asked that I - forward everything to his place of employment. - Do you know where that is?" Angel: "Yeah. (Starts to leave) - Thanks." Woman: "This is about the - cousin, isn't it?" Angel turns back: "Cousin?" Woman: "That sweet, but very odd English girl who was visiting him?" Angel: "Yeah. Yes, it is." Woman: "I knew that pregnancy was in trouble the moment she told me about it. Thin as a rail. Couldn't be healthy - for the baby." Angel: "She said she was having a baby?" Woman: "She was very excited about getting the nursery ready for the birth. I offered to show her some two-bedroom..." Angel (to himself): "Of course. Dru would want the ritual." Woman: "...but she wasn't interested. I-I think she wanted something on the west side anyway. She insisted that her daughter would be born near the stars." Angel: "Stars." Woman: "Well, she's foreign. I explained to her you can live your whole life in Los Angeles and never even see a star." Dru pushes open an overhead window with a long rod, looking straight up into the camera. Dru: "I can hear them singing to me." We get a sh*t of the starry night sky then see Lindsey looking at Darla's body laid out on top of a greenhouse table. Lindsey: "So this place works for you?" Dru: "Oh, yeah. (She moves one hand in a circular motion above Darla's body) Grandmother is very pleased with it. - I can tell. - Aren't you, Grandmother? (Leans down over Darla) My daughter." Lindsey: "Can she hear you?" Dru turns to him: "She's *d*ad.*" Lindsey: "Oh - of course." Dru: "Shh, just for now." Lilah walks in, followed by Holland. Lilah leaning in close to Lindsey: "Think maybe *now* you've got a sh*t with her?" Lindsey: "Lilah..." Lilah: "Don't let me interrupt you." Holland: "Drusilla, you are positively glowing." Dru: "I'm going to be a mummy." Holland: "Yes. Yes, you are. Is there anything you need? Anything at all?" Dru: "No." Holland: "Well if you find you do, you know how to get in touch with us. Now we would all *love* to - stay for the birth, but we have a previous engagement we must prepare for." Dru: "I have preparations to make myself." Holland: "Of course you do, and we'll leave you to it then." Holland leaves, gathering Lilah up with a look, then notices that Lindsey, instead of following, is just standing there looking down at Darla. Holland: "Lindsey?" Lindsey: "Ah, maybe I should stay." Holland: "This is a *family* matter, Lindsey. We best leave it that way." Lindsey hesitates for a moment as Dru starts to sing to Darla, then follows Holland out. Dru: "Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch." Dru looks down at Darla and starts to giggle. Cordy hands Angel some sheets of paper. Cordy: "Okay, here's the list of local cemeteries, funeral homes and mausoleums." g*n: "You telling me we got to go to every one of these places and start digging up fresh graves?" Angel: "Drusilla will want to put the body in the ground." Wesley: "Angel, are you certain about this? A burial isn't necessary for a newly made vampire to..." Angel: "It would be for Drusilla. She's a classicist." Cordy: "She's a loony." Angel: "Forget mausoleums. Stick with cemeteries, something with a view of the night sky." Cordy: "So, just outside cemeteries then." Angel turning away: "Yeah." g*n: "Doesn't narrow it down much." Wesley: "If it's just a burial she's after - one doesn't need a cemetery for that, I'm afraid, just - *dirt* really." Cordy: "Still not narrowing. Whole planet? Pretty much made up of dirt." Angel: "Maybe I'm looking at this wrong. - Dru doesn't see this thing as a death - but as a birth. She talked about getting the nursery ready." Wesley: "Angel, I fear you may be looking for a logical pattern in the rantings of someone who doesn't think logically." Angel: "Soil. - Soil near the stars. She said she wanted to be near the stars. She used to - talk to the stars. She spent *hours* in my garden in Sunnydale, communing with the night sky." g*n: "Maybe she didn't mean baby nursery. - Well you said she liked the garden. Plant nursery's got the dirt - the view - and it's more of a birthplace than a death place. Maybe if we look for one up high that'll be it." Cordy: "Maybe look for one that has a relationship with Wolfram and Hart." Wesley: "Large firm like theirs, they may do business with a corporate supplier. We get an outside sh*t of Dru's greenhouse, sitting on top of a building. Angel drops down onto the roof and walks towards it. Inside he finds a large seedbed table filled with dirt. He runs his hands over the surface of the dirt then carefully starts to brush some of it aside at one end of the table, revealing the head of a shroud-wrapped body. He carefully pulls the thin shroud back to reveal Darla's face. He stands there, looking down at her for a moment, then pulls a stake out of his pocket. He slowly raises it with both hands, never taking his eyes off Darla. Hesitates for a moment, then raises his hands over his head and s*ab down - just as Dru hits him over the head from behind with a shovel throwing him down across the seed-table. Angel turns to look who's attacking him and gets h*t again, dropping him to the ground. Dru: "That's not a fitting gift at all for our newborn grandmummy." Angel tries to get up and she hits him over the head again, sending him back on all fours groaning. Dru: "I saw you coming, my lovely. The moon showed me. It told me to come into the twentieth century." Angel slowly getting up: "It's the Twenty-first century, Dru." Dru: "Hmm, I'm still lagging." She kicks the shovel up under his chin, throwing him back against the wall, just as Darla wakes with a gasp. Angel and Dru fight, and Angel is finally giving as good as he gets, while Darla is sitting up behind them, gasping and staring around the room. Angel breaks the shovel handle off in Dru's hand, knocks her down and rushes over to the table with the broken wooden handle raised, ready to stake Darla, only to see the empty indentation of her body in the dirt. He looks around for her, when he's suddenly grabbed by his throat and lifted about a foot off the ground - by Darla. He tries to remove her hand from his throat but can't budge it. Dru: "Now everybody's home." Break. Angel is still dangling in the air. Dru: "Baby's up from her little nap." Darla looks around at Dru and Angel chops down on her extended elbow, breaking her grip on him, and throws her headfirst into some planters. He quickly picks up his stake and heads for Darla, but Dru tackles him and gets the stake away from him. He kicks her off and jumps back to his feet. Dru throws him on top of one of the tables and tries to stake him with the broken shovel handle, while he rolls his upper body from side to side to avoid her s*ab. Angel kicks Dru off and just manages to grab a hold of Darla before she runs out of the greenhouse. He pulls her back, and Darla turns his own motion against him, crashing them both into the table. The two of them sh**t up, smashing the glass in the ceiling with their heads, then Darla tosses Angel across the room. Dru: "Grandmum." Dru puts a hand on Darla's shoulder, but Darla just tosses her away. Darla sees Angel getting back up and runs towards him and tackles him backwards through the glass wall of the greenhouse, landing them both outside on the roof. Dru jumps out through the hole and Darla, now in vamp face, tackles her to the ground and shakes her while Dru just laughs. Angel pulls Darla off Dru and tosses her across the roof, bends to pick up a stake, then goes to stake Darla. But he hesitates when he sees her, back in human face, looking around herself in confusion then up at him. Darla: "Angel?" Angel pulls his arm back to stake her, but again Dru tackles him, throws him back against the greehouse. Darla gets up and runs to the edge of the roof, looks over, gets up on the edge and steps off just as Angel is getting back up. Angel runs to the edge and looks down to the street (about four to five stories below?) but there is no sign of Darla anywhere. Angel looks around the roof for Dru, but she has vanished as well. Angel comes hurrying back into the lobby where the others are waiting for his return. Cordy: "How'd it go?" Angel: "Everyone gear up. Grab something sharp. We need to move fast." Cordy: "I'm gonna guess not great?" Angel: "They're out there, both of them." Wesley: "So you did find them, then? Where are they now?" Angel: "I don't know." Angel hands a w*apon to g*n. Cordy: "But you know where they're going to be?" Angel: "Not exactly." Angel throws a crossbow towards Wesley who just catches it. Wesley: "But yet you have your suspicions?" Angel: "Actually, I don't." Cordy: "So it's more like a hunch." Angel: "Wouldn't say hunch." Angel hands Cordy a stake. Cordy: "Would you say inkling? Please tell me you could at least say inkling." Angel: "For the moment anyway, they're separated. If we can find one of them before they join up again, we have a good chance of stopping something very ugly before it starts." Angel sheathes a sword and takes it with him as he walks towards the exit. Wesley: "Yes, but Angel, I don't think the four of us in one car patrolling a city of ten million people is going to yield results." Angel turns back around: "You're right. Which is why we're going to follow the one solid lead we have - we're going to Wolfram and Hart." Angel turns to go but Cordy stops him. Cordy: "Hitting the pause button. Wolfram and Hart, as in vampire detectors, crack security system and armed guards? Nice plan, General Custer." Angel: "Drusilla's insane, deadly, not in a good mood. Darla - she needs to feed soon, okay? And once she does she's gonna be that much stronger. Now we got two options: either we go back to the people who brought them both here in the first place, or we sit around, waiting for the bodies to start piling up. - I decided not to wait. Anyone wants to join me - my car's outside. If not, that's fine too." g*n after a b*at: "You had *me* at 'everyone gear up.'" Angel: "Let's go." Angel turns to go with g*n right behind him. Cordy looks at Wesley, then the two of them follow them out as well. At Wolfram and Hart, Holland walks into Lindsey's darkened office. Holland: "Lindsey - my wife wants to know if you're bringing a date - to the party this evening. Something about how many crab cakes to order." Lindsey: "No, I don't have a date." Holland takes a step closer to him: "You've been doing stellar work, Lindsey. Don't think the Senior Partners haven't noticed." Lindsey: "Well, I'm happy to hear that, sir." Holland: "But your hard work isn't all they notice. It's also important to have - healthy attachments - outside of the office. Now I know our roles here don't allow much time to socialize. - Find the time." Lindsey: "Yes, sir." Holland: "Now. Don't be late this evening. I'm uncorking a case of 1928 Chateau Latour." Lindsey with a smile: "I wouldn't miss it." Holland: "We've all worked very hard. Nothing wrong with appreciating our success." Holland turns to go but stops in his tracks when Dru steps out of the shadows, carrying a doll with her. Dru: "I drank Chateau Latour once. (Holland looks over at Lindsey) It tasted like lion's blood." Holland to Dru, who shrugs slightly: "Drusilla. I apologize (looking at Lindsey) I didn't realize you were here. (To Dru) I trust everything went as well as you hoped." Dru: "I'm very worried about Grandmum. - The building was quite tall - you know?" Lindsey: "Darla's a survivor." Dru: "Angelus wasn't happy in the least." Holland: "*Angel* found you? (Looks at Lindsey) Well, not unexpected. How did he fare?" Dru has her eyes closed and is swaying in a circle: "Angelus is on his way here now. (Lindsey and Holland look at each other. Dru gasps and smiles) He's *very* cross." Holland: "Well, I wouldn't worry too much about that. We've taken precautions. (He walks over to Dru, who is sitting down, cradling her doll in her lap) The important thing is that we reunite you with your baby." The phone rings and Lindsey picks it up. Lindsey: "Yes? (Listens and hangs the phone back up) General alert. (Heads for the door) There's an untagged vampire in the building." Holland: "Perhaps we should take our guest to security." Lindsey opens the door and Darla is standing in front of it, breathing hard. Lindsey with a slight smile: "Darla." Darla steps up to him, smells his neck and puts her hands on the sides of his face. Holland: "Lindsey, no sudden movement." Darla: "Warm." Suddenly she tosses Lindsey across the room. Dru smiles and holds out her arms to her. Darla grabs a hold of her hand and runs back out of the room, dragging Dru behind. Holland to the phone: "Let them leave the building without incident." Lindsey picks himself back up, pushing his desk chair off him. Holland: "*Healthy* attachments, Lindsey." Lindsey stares after him as he leaves. Angel, driving his convertible, g*n in the passenger seat, is speeding through the streets of L.A. tossing Cordy and Wes around in the back seat. Wesley: "There's no good to be done if we don't get there in one piece." Angel: "We don't have much time." Cordy suddenly gets h*t by a vision. Wesley: "Angel, pull over." Angel: "I'll slow down, all right?" Wesley: "No! Pull over. She's having a vision." Angel looks back at Cordy. g*n, eyes on the road: "Tell me it ain't us she's seeing, wrapped around a lamppost." We get blurry flashes of a guy holding a g*n. Cordy: "It's in the other direction. Turn around." Angel: "We're almost there!" Wesley: "Angel!" Angel: "She should have done this before we left the hotel." Wesley and g*n: "Angel!" Angel: "Maybe it's a false alarm." Cordy gives him a mean look, pulls out a stake, holds it up, aimed at him, then puts it back down. Angel spins the car around on the street and heads in the other direction. Darla and Dru are heading down a crowed sidewalk with Darla tossing Dru around. Dru: "Did I do something to displease you?" Darla tosses Dru on the sidewalk. A guy tries to help Dru up, but Darla tosses him aside, then grabs a hold of Dru and tosses her over a parked car onto the road. Dru stands up, only to get h*t by a honking car. Dru rolls down the street a ways and a blonde woman gets out of the car and hurries towards her as Dru slowly gets back up. The woman takes one look at Dru and runs off as Darla comes and slams Dru down on the hood of the car. Dru: "Grandmother, what?" Darla hits her, making her stumble into the path of another car that manages to swerve around her, tires screeching. Darla grabs a hold of Dru again. Dru: "Don't be angry." Darla slams her up against the side of the car. Darla: "Why?" Dru: "For you. All for you. I thought it was what you wanted - to be saved." Darla looks at Dru (a guy in red pickup truck keeps honking his horn to get them to move out of the road) and slowly takes a step back, letting her hands drop from Dru's shoulders. Dru crying: "All alone. All alone in the dirt. - We've lost our way and the little worm won't dance if he's told to. (Starts to sob) No. No." Darla pushes Dru's hair out of her face, then slowly takes her in her arms to comfort her, softly stroking her hair and letting Dru cry. The guy gets out of the pickup. Guy: "You two wanna move it out of the street? (Dru and Darla turn to look at him, pulling slightly apart) Yeah, that's right, sweetheart. Why don't you and your girlfriend take the make-out session on home. (Darla walks up to him) The rest of us have lives." Darla looks him up and down, shakes her head and vamps. Darla: "Not for long." She grabs him and feeds, drops him to the ground and turns back to Dru with a smile, back in human face. Dru: "You're all new again." Darla: "Let's go shopping, hmm?" She takes a hold of Dru's hand and the two of them walk off down the road, giggling. Break A boombox is playing loud heavy metal music. There is a patched together poster covering the wall and candles, a turtle shell and other paraphernalia set out on the workbench in front of it. The guy from Cordy's vision is sitting before it cradling a g*n. Guy: "Morgog - I worship you. - Ruler of the universe, I will throw out my worthless life to you - Morgog... (Angel and Co. walk in and he spins his chair around to face them) What do you want?" Wesley: "We're here to help." Guy: "No! I-I have to do this. Morgog commands me. (Angel throws at look a Cordy and shakes his head) His will be done. Morgog... (As Angel walks towards the boombox, sitting on top of a barrel) Don't! (Angel stops) Stay back." Cordy to Angel: "Easy, Boss. This kid's ready to snap, crackle *and* pop. I felt it in my vision. We've really got to handle this one with care. You know, delicate... (Angel throws the boombox at the altar, causing the guy to dive off his chair and ending the music) ...ly." Guy comes up on his knees: "Jeez! Oh, jeez!" Angel grabs the g*n and twists it from his hand. Angel: "Listen I'm not here to hurt you, kid, okay? And Morgog's not the way. (Dumps the b*ll*ts out of the g*n into his hand) Morgog couldn't find his way to his hairy spine-hump without a roadmap! So, don't go k*lling yourself, he's not worth it. And you've got, you know (looks around the garage) a million - reasons - to live - I bet. Okay? (Tosses the g*n into a barrel of used oil) Got it? Good." Cordy crouches down by the guy, cradling his right hand while Angel walks away. Wesley steps in front of him. Wesley: "Angel, we're not done here." Angel: "I am." Wesley: "The Powers That Be must have had a good reason for sending us here." Angel: "I don't have time to figure that out." g*n: "Maybe that's the plan. Maybe they're trying to keep you from going on this mission." Wesley: "In any case *that* young man still clearly needs our help!" Angel: "Go help him. I got more important things to do, okay?" Wesley looks at g*n as Angel walks out. Dru is giggling, walking her fingers down a clothes rack in the Panache Boutique. She picks a black, sheer piece and turns to Darla. Dru: "Can I have it? Can I?" Darla: "Of course, dear, but a little color would bring out your eyes more. Such pretty eyes." Dru: "Men are drawn to them." Darla: "Aren't they, though? Oh. (Hands Dru a hat) Here." Dru puts it on and we hear a phone ringing. Dru: "Oh. I'm ringing. - Do you hear it? (Starts to dance in place) I'm ringing - all - over! (Darla watches her for a moment then reaches down into the front of Dru's dress and pulls out a cell phone.) Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." Darla opens the phone: "Hello, Holland." Holland: "Darla. (We see that he is in Lindsey's office and Lilah and Lindsey are there as well) Feeling better I trust?" Darla: "Like my old self again." Holland: "Splendid. I understand you girls have been on a little spree." Darla: "Hmm, is that a problem?" Holland: "Oh, on the contrary (We see Darla looking down at the drained body of a woman) As a matter of fact, I was just thinking - why settle for a spree, when you could have - a - say - a m*ssacre?" Darla: "A m*ssacre?" Dru licks her lips and smiles at Darla: "Ooh, I like the sound of that." Holland: "Now, of course you'd have the full weight and support of Wolfram and Hart squarely behind you." Darla: "I appreciate that Holland." Holland: "Oh, not at all, Darla. That's what we're here for." Darla hangs up the phone as Dru poses in a red coat with a thick fur trim. Dru: "Do you like it? Am I pretty then?" Darla: "As a picture. Now if we could only get some shoes to go with it. Oh, excuse me, Miss? (Steps over the d*ad body and looks down at a whimpering woman who is pulling herself along across the floor) Any shoe suggestions for my friend's ensemble? (The woman just keeps crying) I said, excuse me-customer with a question here!" When the woman still just keeps sobbing and crawling, Darla puts her bare foot on her back and reaches down and snaps her neck. Darla: "Service in this place is really unacceptable." Dru plays with her hair then bends to examine a necklace, while Darla goes back to looking at dresses. Lindsey's office. Lilah: "Those two should keep Angel busy for some time." Lindsey: "Yeah, until he kills them." Holland: "Oh, I think he'll find that course of action more difficult than even *he* realizes. - Regardless, Lilah's correct. We won't have to worry about Angel anymore." At that moment Angel, holding on to a rope, crashes through the window into Lindsey's office, scattering glass everywhere, then jumps to grab a hold of Lindsey. Angel: "Dru and Darla, where are they?" Holland: "Angel! I don't believe we've had the pleasure. (Offers his hand) Holland Manners." Angel: "I'd be careful who you offer that hand to, Mr. Manners. You might just lose it. Isn't that right, Lindsey?" Lindsey: "There's worse things to lose, aren't there?" Angel pushes Lindsey away and turns to Holland. Angel: "So you're the one pulling the strings around here?" Holland: "A few of them. I am division head of Special Projects." Angel: "Special projects like Darla." Holland: "Oh, Darla's just a tool. Means to an end. (Angel steps closer to Holland as the door opens and a bunch of security guards file in and surround Angel) You're the project." Angel quietly: "I can crush the life out of you before they even lift a finger." Holland: "Oh, I'm sure you can. Just as sure as I am that you won't." Angel: "Won't I?" Holland: "You don't k*ll humans." Angel: "You don't qualify. You set things in motion, play your little games up here in your glass and chrome tower, and people die - innocent people." Holland: "And yet I just can't seem to care. (Angel stares at him and Holland smiles ever so slightly) But you do. And while you're making thr*at, wasting time, crashing through windows, your girls are out painting the town red, red, red." Angel: "Where?" Holland: "Well, that would be telling. In any case you may want to hurry. So many lives hanging in the balance, waiting for their champion to save them." Angel glances around him at the guards holding Tasers and stakes at the ready. Angel: "Hm-mm. As if you're just gonna let me walk out of here, huh?" Holland: "As a matter of fact, I am. You misunderstand us, Angel. We don't want you d*ad - yet. If we did - you wouldn't be standing here. (to the guards) Would you please escort our guest out of the building. (to Angel) I would - walk you out myself, but I'm running a little late for a wine tasting at my home, and - just so we're clear on the matter - you're not invited." Holland walks out. Angel tenses as the guards push him towards the door but then lets them lead him out. The guards and Lindsey escort Angel out the front door of Wolfram and Hart. Lindsey: "I'll send you a bill for the window and the shirt." Angel: "Yeah, you do that, and after I stop Darla and Dru (two cops come up and handcuff Angel's hands behind him) I might come back to pay you in person." Lindsey: "Yeah, go do your little champion of justice thing and then come back and see me - if you make bail. Give him a nice holding cell, officers. With a window - southern exposure preferred. - The firm may not want you d*ad, but I'm cool with it." The cops push Angel into the back of an unmarked cop car - with Kate sitting in the back seat. Angel: "Perfect. (The car pulls into traffic) - So, how do you want to do this? Should I escape now or wait till you transfer me to another holding cell, because I'm really not..." Kate: "Two people were just m*rder in a clothing store at Fifth and Hill. Preliminary reports say that two women were spotted leaving the scene. One of them matches the description of your pal Darla. - They're not done, are they?" Angel after a b*at: "No. - Why are you telling me this?" Kate: "Because I don't think I can stop them. - Maybe you can. (To driver) Pull over." She pulls out a key and Angel twists so she can unlock his cuffs. The car stops and Angel looks at Kate for a moment, then gets out. The doorbell rings at the Manners mansion and Catherine goes to answer it. Catherine: "Lindsey, welcome!" Lindsey hands her some flowers: "Good evening, Catherine." Catherine: "Thanks. Come on. Holland's downstairs lording it over his wine cellar. (They both laugh) These are lovely. Thank you." Holland holding a glass of wine is surrounded by men and women in business suits scattered around a nicely appointed room. Holland: "And the Senior Partners have informed me that they are very, very pleased - with the work our division has been doing. (Lindsey enters and a wine steward hands him a glass) Things have been progressing nicely - and ahead of schedule - I might add. I would be remiss without extending well-earned praise to the two members of our team who have made it possible (holds up his glass): Lilah Morgan and Lindsey McDonald." Everyone drinks and some also say a soft "Hear, hear." Lilah: "Thank you, Holland." Lindsey sets his empty glass on the wine steward's tray. Holland: "Now it's no secret that our work is but one small element in a much larger, greater plan - one which the Senior Partners hope t..." We hear footsteps and Holland looks over at the open door. Everyone turns to look as well and sees Dru and Darla, dressed in their newly acquired clothes, walking in. Holland with a forced smile: "Ladies. How..." Darla: "Your wife was kind enough to invite us in, Holland." Holland: "Ah." Dru: "Very sweet she was - like clover (licks a bit of blood from the corner of her lips) and honey." Holland's smile disappears. Darla: "Just think of it as our way of giving you what you want." Holland: "What would I..." Darla: "I believe you said something about - (Darla looks over at Dru and they both go vamp face) - a m*ssacre." Break Angel walks up the sidewalk to the yellow tape roping off Dru and Darla's shopping spree. He passes between the cop cars parked in front of it and one of the plainclothes detectives gives him a hard look as he walks by. In the store there is a person taking crime scene photos and a black cop gathering up a broken necklace from the floor into an evidence bag. He straightens up and scans the store behind him in the mirrors right in front of him. No one is there but as he bends back down to his work we see that Angel is actually standing right behind him. Angel looks around for a moment, then moves on. In Holland's wine cellar, vamp faced Darla and Dru survey the gathering. Dru: "Pretty lawyers all in a row." Holland: "I'm glad you're alive Darla. I'm glad we were able to save you." Darla: "Are you? I guess you really care about me as a person. I guess I owe all of you. - The *whole* team." Darla chuckles. Dru is walking up to Lilah, who is sitting on a chair a pace away from Lindsey. Dru running her hand along Lilah's jaw: "You have beautiful skin." Lilah: "I moisturize." Dru bends down so her face is level with Lilah's: "That was very thoughtful of you." Darla steps up close to Holland: "You - brought me back as human - a dying one at that. Let me wallow with a soul, then sent me crawling back to Angel, begging him to restore me." Holland: "Which he should have done right away. - But I miscalculated, I - I thought he cared more than he did." Darla: "Like you do." Darla giggles. Dru: "Grandmum won't eat (lifts both hands up besides her head and opens and closes them a couple of times) the double speak." Darla: "No. No, she won't eat *that.*" Angel walks through a curtain into the hall with the store's fitting rooms. He carefully opens one of the doors to reveal a woman crouching in one corner, her hands pressed over her ears. She gasps at the sight of him. Angel: "It's okay. It's okay. It's all over. They're gone now." Woman not looking at Angel: "They k*lled those people." Angel: "I know. The police are here now. They're gonna take care of you. - You were in here the entire time." Woman, nodding slightly: "I needed a new dress for the office party. This one was too expensive, but - I couldn't make up my mind and then... I kept thinking they were gonna come in here to k*ll me, too." Angel: "I know. - Did you see or hear any of it?" Woman: "I mostly heard. - I guess I was lucky 'cause of the party." Angel: "You'll be okay. You'll make your party." Woman: "No. Their party. They were in a hurry to get to it." Angel: "They said something about a party?" Woman nods slightly: "A tasting." Angel after a b*at: "Why don't you just, uhm, go on outside and find an officer. - You'll be okay." He holds out a hand to her and she slowly gets up and lets him help her past him. Woman: "Thank you." She looks down at the store's dress she is still wearing as she walks past him. Woman: "It was just too much." Dru: "I hear the sirens. (sniffs) They don't know if the world will be there in the morning." Lilah quietly to Lindsey: "Do you hear the sirens? Are-are the police coming?" Lindsey looks back at her and shakes his head slightly: "No. - She senses what this place was built for." Holland: "Ah, yes. Drusilla, you're quite right. This was originally a b*mb shelter in the fifties. We had it converted. Wine has always been *my* - passion." Darla giggles. Dru: "People - huddled together, crouching in fear." Holland: "Yes, yes. I imagine that's what it would have been like in a w*r." Darla: "No. Now. - She means now." Holland: "Aha. (Chuckles) I guess I stepped into that one. - Listen Darla - I am *sorry* that you had to suffer, but look at what's come out of it. - You've been restored. You're a superior being. You can have anything you want. And there's not a person in this room who won't work (looks at the lawyers then back at Darla) round the clock - to see that you get it." Darla: "Hmm. g*n-ho, are they? Because all I'm sensing right now is big, stinky fear. (Smiles in Holland's face then turns to Lindsey) But not from you. (Walks over to him) Do you know what I'm getting from you, Lindsey? (Leans in close to his neck, exposing her fangs as if to bite him, then pulls back) Nothing. Why aren't you afraid?" Lindsey: "I don't know." Darla: "You could die here. Chances are you will." Lindsey: "I know." Darla: "And you don't care." Lindsey: "I care. - I guess I just don't mind." Holland with a forced laugh: "No one's going to die here. This is just a friendly get-together amongst colleagues. (Dru is dancing around Holland's back) We're all on the same - side." Darla with a sigh: "I love this room. Dru, honey, in our new digs (goes over to Dru to put one arm around her and another around Holland) we *have* to put in a people cellar." Holland smiles, but the smile fades quickly. Angel walks up to the open front door of the Manners mansion and sees a blood trail on the beige carpet, leading to where Catherine is lying on the floor. Catherine lifts her head a little: "Help us." Dru: "Daddy's home." Angel walks down the steps to the cellar, stops outside the open door to the former b*mb shelter. Darla: "Angelus. - Here for the tasting?" Dru: "Look what we have for you. (Angel doesn't react) It's not Daddy. It's never Daddy. (Hisses at him) It's the Angel-beast." Darla: "Come to punish us?" Dru: "Yeah, yeah. (Lifts her hands as if they were tied above her head) Spank us till Tuesday (growls) We promise to be bad if you do." Holland: "Angel..." Angel to Darla: "I'm sorry I didn't get to you in time." Darla: "I'm not." Dru caressing the side of her face: "He's soul-sick. Not even thinking about his own family. (Pulls one of the men over by his hair) Only thinking about them." Darla takes a step towards Angel: "Come on, love. I never did get that good-bye kiss." Angel: "You will. - But not tonight." Lilah getting up: "For god's sake, help us." Holland: "Angel - please. - People are going to die." Angel: "And yet, somehow, I just can't seem to care." Holland watches wide-eyed as Angel shuts the double doors on them. Darla turns to caress Holland with a big smile on her face. Holland: "Angel? P-please we can negotiate. We..." Angel slides the lock on the door shut. Dru takes a step forward: "Daddy." Lindsey has a slight smile creasing his face. Darla pulls Holland down and bites him. Angel unhurriedly walks up the steps from the cellar, ignoring the screams and sounds of fighting coming from the cellar. Angel is sitting behind his desk with Wesley, g*n and Cordy sitting on the other side of it. Wesley: "And you - just walked away?" Angel: "No, I walked to my car and then I drove away." g*n: "You didn't do *anything*?" Wesley: "You allowed Darla and Drusilla to have free reign." Angel: "I didn't bring either one of them into this. They did." Wesley: "You could have stopped them." Angel: "And I will." Cordy: "When? After they've finished off all the people you don't like?" Wesley: "Angel, while it's certainly true that these lawyers brought this on themselves - what you did is..." Cordy: "...is wrong." g*n: "You went too far." Wesley after a moment: "We've all been worried about you, and I guess it's fair to say we all share some of the blame. - We should have spoken up sooner." g*n: "And louder." Cordy: "You have to change the way you've been doing things. - Don't you see where this is taking you?" Wesley: "Listen to her! Right now the three of us are all that's standing between you and real darkness." g*n: "Best believe that, man." Angel quietly after a b*at: "I do. - You're all fired." Angel gets up and walks away while the other three sit there like frozen statues. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x10 - Reunion"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Host: "How about gracing us with a number?" Wesley: "The Host, he helps people. Reads their souls, senses their futures." Cordy: "But he can only do it when they sing Karaoke." Angel: "They brought her back. Now I need to know why. Why like this? Why human?" Angel holds Darla at the end of "The Trial", Lindsey burst in and Dru vamps Darla. Dru and Darla at the wine cellar ("Reunion"). Darla: "I believe you said something about - a m*ssacre." Lilah to Angel: "For God's sake. Help us." Holland: "People are going to die." Angel, closing the doors: "I just can't seem to care." Darla bits Holland. Angel locks the doors. Wesley: "What you did..." Cordy: "...was wrong." g*n: "You went too far." Wesley: "Right now the three of us are all that's standing between you and real darkness." Angel: "You're all fired." Cordy and Wesley, each carrying a box, and g*n with his hands in his pockets walk out the door of the Hyperion. Cordy: "What just happened? (Turns around to face the other two) Can someone explain to me - what just happened here?" Wesley: "I believe we were fired." g*n: "Canned." Wesley: "Let go." g*n: "Axed." Wesley: "Shown the door." g*n: "Booted." Cordy: "Alright! I get it! - But - wh-what just *happened*? - Fired? Angel *fired* us?" Wesley: "Looks that way." Cordy sets her box down: "Uh. I can't believe this." Wesley: "Let's keep a level head, shall we? - Angel's not been himself lately. Perhaps he'll change his mind." g*n: "He locked twenty lawyers into a room with a couple of psychotic vampires. I'd say his mind is changed enough." Cordy: "Darla. It's all about Darla. One thing you can say about Angel at least he's consistent. It's always some little blonde driving him over the edge. - (sighs) What are we supposed to do now?" g*n: "I think I'll grab a burrito before I had home. (Cordy and Wes look at him) What?" Wesley: "No, no. By all means, if you're hungry." g*n: "Hey, this was just a side gig for me, alright? The extra cash was nice while it lasted, but - Angel wants to go all commando? Hm-mm. No skin off my nose." Cordy: "Well, my nose skin is angry - and hurt! And..." Wesley: "..disappointed?" Cordy nods. Wesley: "I won't pretend to understand Angel's reasons - but maybe he needs to be alone right now. - And the best thing that we can do for him - is to let him be." Cordy: "Alone." Wesley nods. After a moment Cordy picks up her box and the three of them head off in different directions. Angel is moving boxes around in the basement. As he sets one down the top flips off. Angel picks the box up and looks at its contents. The topmost paper inside of it is a portrait sketch of Darla. He takes the box over to the incinerator, opens the door to reveal the f*re burning inside it. He picks up the stack of sketches, looks at Darla's picture for a moment, then tosses the stack into the flames and shuts the door. Intro. The basement of the Hyperion. Angel is doing pull-ups on the pipes. Then we blend into him doing assorted other exercises. Angel voice-over: "I'm not ready yet. Too many years spent sleeping in soft beds - living in a world where I don't belong. - I can't fight them. Not yet. - But soon." Holland's wine cellar. The camera pans over a mass of corpses littering the floor. Finds Lindsey, half buried under other bodies. His eyes open, and after a moment he struggles to free himself from the mass. Flash cut to Lindsey sitting in a chair in the cellar. Paramedic: "You've just been through a very traumatic experience. Really, sir, you should be in a hospital." Lindsey: "She saved me." Paramedic as he is taking Lindsey's pulse, while others are putting the corpses into bodybags in the background. Paramedic: "That maybe true, sir, but you should still be checked out by a doctor." Lindsey: "There has to be a reason - why I'm the only one left alive." Paramedic: "You're in shock. You need to see a doctor." Lindsey with a slight smile: "I'm the only one left." Man in the background: "Hey, we got a live one here." Lindsey: "We do?" Lindsey gets up and sees to paramedics help Lilah to her feet. Lindsey: "Lilah." Virginia is sitting on the bed in Wesley's apartment. Virginia: "You got to be kidding me. He fired you? He can't f*re you! You're on a mission to protect the innocent. You can't f*re someone on a mission. What did he say, exactly?' Wesley taking off his jacket: "You're fired." Virginia: "Oh. Well, can you file a grievance with the union?" Wesley starts to put the stuff in the box away. Wesley: "Virginia, I'm not in a union. I'm a... - I don't even know what the name of my job is! - Was." Virginia: "You're a renowned specialist in, in supernatural aid and rescue." Wesley: "No, I'm just... - renowned?" Virginia: "Well, to me you are. You saved my life. - Although you should be in a union. My father always used union conjurers." Wesley: "I didn't know that." Virginia: "Oh, the wizard community is very progressive." Wesley: "Your father tired to sacrifice you to the goddess Yeska." Virginia: "Yeah, one of the many reasons why I'll never talk to him again. Although I'm healing, thanks to a lot of therapy - and a gigantic trust-fund. - Hey, you know what it is? He's jealous!" Wesley: "Your father?" Virginia: "No. Angel. You had to impersonate him to rescue me and you're too good an Angel." Wesley: "I don't think so. He fired Cordy and g*n, too." Virginia: "All of you? Why?" Wesley: "It has to do with - Darla being made a vampire again and hooking up with Drusilla and... The three of them have a very tangled past. - My guess is, he'll be hunting them down and he doesn't want anyone in his way." Virginia gets up: "Well, his loss it the worlds gain. You'll get another job just like that! (Snaps her fingers) What else can you do?" Virginia smiles at him while Wesley thinks. Wesley: "Not much." Angel is in the basement, practicing with a sword. Angel voice-over: "When Wolfram and Hart take a life - they do it at a distance. - I don't have that luxury." He s*ab the sword down into the floor and kicks the punching bag of its chain. Angel voice-over: "It's time." Angel, wearing his coat, leaves his apartment, takes one last look around and closes the door. He walks down the stairs, across the lobby and, turning the lobby lights off, goes down into the basement. Angel voice-over: "I'm not on their level." Opens the trap door into the sewer. Angel voice-over: "But I can get there." Descends into the sewer, then walks along its tunnels. Voice-over: "And when I do, I'll be right up close. I'll bring the fight to them." Break. Wolfram and Hart's office building. Day. Lindsey leaning on the reception desk: "No messages? No messages, are you sure? Check...(He breaks off and straightens up as Lilah comes walking up) Thanks." Lindsey turns to go and Lilah falls in step with him. Lilah: "You're getting the big freeze-out, too?" Lindsey: "Lilah." Lilah: "Oh, what's wrong, Lindsey? You bitter because your girlfriend didn't slit my throat?" Lindsey: "That might be overstating it. More like bummed." Lilah: "Sorry to disappoint. I take it I'm not the only one feeling the lack of empathy around here." A vampire, walking next to a lawyer, stares at Lindsey's bruised face. Lindsey: "What are you looking at?" Lilah: "No phone calls, no flowers. If I were the nervous type, I'd be nervous. But as it is, I'm just pissed." Lindsey: "What do you expect, Lilah? We're the only survivors of the m*ssacre, it's natural that we're under suspicion." Lilah: "Yeah, you know what I don't like about suspicion? The part where they find us two weeks from now, d*ad in some freak accident." Lindsey: "We did nothing wrong." Lilah: "I'm sorry, have we met? Because I work for Wolfram and Hart. Responsibility has nothing to do with it. If they are looking for a scapegoat we might as well grow horns and start eating garbage." Lindsey: "Scapegoat. Scapegoat, Lilah?! They're the one..." Lilah puts a hand on his chest and Lindsey falls silent and glares at another lawyer, walking past them in the hallway. Lindsey, more quietly: "They're the ones who wanted Drusilla brought in. I was following orders." Lilah: "And you *honestly* think that matters? - Fine. Indulge your denial. Don't doubt for a minute someone's gonna pay, Lindsey, and we're the only ones left." Lindsey opens the door to his dark office and the two of them stop just inside the door. Lindsey: "Not the only ones." Dru is sitting in the chair behind Lindsey's desk, while Darla is sitting on the edge of it. Darla: "Lindsey. I've missed you. Close the door. (Neither Lindsey nor Lilah move) Sweetpea, if we wanted you d*ad, you'd have never have made it out of the wine cellar. - Now close the door." Lindsey closes the door. Dru: "He's got cow eyes. Big and black. - Moo..." Lindsey walks closer to Darla: "You spared me. - Why'd you spare me, Darla?" Darla walks the rest of the way to him: "Do you really have to ask? (She leans in close to smell him) Hmm. I'm in love with you." They look at each other for a few moments, then Darla burst out laughing. Lindsey jerks his head a little. Dru and Lilah join Darla's laughter. Darla: "Shut up, Lilah." Dru: "Shh!" Darla: "Well, look at you two, such pretty scars." Lindsey: "You've put us in a difficult position, Darla." Darla: "Hmm, have I? - Smart young lawyers, (runs a hand up Lindsey's arm) hungry for their big break and whoops - boss gets eaten. Someone has to step in. Someone promising, pretty, with questionable ethics and twelve-hundred dollar suits that look good on the six o'clock news." Lilah: "You think they'll promote him?" Darla to Lilah: "Or you. (Walks back to the desk) In any case, that's why you're here. I've decided to - keep the line of communication open between us and Wolfram and Hart." Lindsey: "What for?" Darla: "I believe we can help each other." Lindsey: "I don't think I understand. What is it exactly that you want, Darla?" Darla: "Power. See, Lindsey, during my stint as Wolfram and Hart's puppet, something occurred to me. I *loathe* being used. If I recall I sent you a fifteen-body-memo to that effect. We plan on being big players in this town, Dru and I. - And while you can't give me what I want, you have the things I need to get it. Money. Connections." Lilah: "We're no good to you d*ad, Darla. The Senior Partners are looking for someone to blame for your m*ssacre." Darla: "But surely they wouldn't k*ll both of you. Seems like such a waste. - Well, I guess, whoever's left standing will be our liaison." Lindsey: "Liaison to what?" Darla: "To the world above of course. In the meantime, we'll focus on the world below." Lindsey steps closer to Darla: "This power - that you want - does it have a target? - You going after Angel?" Darla jumps off the desk: "Don't say that! - Not *everything* is about Angel, Lindsey. I just want to have some fun." Lindsey: "Well, you see, I'm surprised. Because I though that you would make him your top priority." Darla: "I spent two-hundred and fifty years without Angel. You think just because I went through a little human phase I'd go all gooey?" Lindsey: "No. - No, I thought you'd k*ll him." Darla: "All in good time, my love. All in good time." The camera pans around a deserted intersection of two sewer tunnels, than up to reveal Angel crouched on some of the overhead pipes. A group of four vampires comes down one of the tunnels. Vampire, laughing: "They were just waiting for us. All crouched and hiding in that little backroom. Generally I don't like to h*t the fast food places. The people are all - greasy. But this was like - Christmas!" Angel drops down onto the bragging lead-vamp, which manages to kick him off. Angel charges back in and proceeds to take all four of them on at once. Stakes one. Kicks another one and sends it flying up against the wall. Triggers his wrist stake and dust a second. The lead-vamp grabs Angel and pushes him against the wall, but when it tries to throw him against the opposing wall, Angel runs up the side of it. Using the vampire's hold as a pivot he lands behind it and drives his wrist stake into its heart. The last vamp tries to run off, but Angel tackles him to the ground, then pulls out his sword and beheads the vampire. Angel voice-over: "I'm ready." He drops the bloody sword and starts to walk down the tunnel, taking off his coat and throwing it to the ground. Voice-over: "I've got the moves. Now I need to know what theirs are." At the Caritas bar the Host is singing 'Voulez-vous coucher avec moi,ce soir?' Wesley steps up to the bar: "A bloody Mary, please." Bartender: "You want real blood with that?" Wesley: "Ah, no... bloodless, thanks." Wesley watches as the Host finishes his song to a lot of applause. Host: "Thank you. Thank you. Okay, we'll take a little break and see who wants to come up and sing next." Wesley to himself: "Steady on, Wesley. - Perhaps something by - Cat Stevens." Bartender: "Your drink, sir." Wesley: "Ah, thank you." He turns from the bar just as a woman in a dark coat walks past. Wesley: "Gahh!" The woman spins around. It's Cordy. Cordy: "Wesley." Wesley: "Cordelia. How... odd to see you." Cordy: "Wh-what are you doing here?" Wesley: "Me? Oh, I just... came in for a drink." Cordy: "Ah. Because only demon Karaoke bars - have those. (Gives him a push) You were gonna sing." Wesley: "Sing? Oh, dear lord, no. No. - Uh, I merely... - what are *you* doing here?" Cordy: "Oh. Ah, well... I was, uhm... in the neighborhood?" Wesley: "You live fifteen miles away." Cordy: "Yeah, well, you know L.A. It's all one really - big neighborhood." Wesley with a slight smile: "I see." Cordy huffs and they sit down at the bar. Wesley: "Come to find your destiny, have you? - And who's gonna help you with that?" Cordy: "Shanaia Twain or Madonna. I hadn't decided." Wesley nods: "I suppose we're both rather at lose ends now that Angel has..." Cordy: "...pulled a total wig?" Wesley: "Quite. - I must admit, I'm somewhat embarrassed." g*n from behind them: "How do you think *I* feel?" Cordy: "g*n. What are you... (g*n looks at the floor) What happened to 'this was just a side gig?'" g*n: "Hey, I got a rep to maintain, alright? I can't have you all seeing through my brusque and macho exterior." Cordy: "Oh, heavens forfend!" Wesley: "So, I'll assume it's not Madonna, but what song were you going to sing?" g*n pats Wes on the shoulder: "You wouldn't know it." Cordy: "Well, I for one, would just like to point out the patheticness that is us. - This is all Angel's fault. I hope he's happy now. All alone in his demon world with no one to talk to." Merl (stoolie demon from Judgement) is suspended by a rope, head down, from a sewer pipe above a pool of water, and being dipped into it. Merl: "I'll talk!" Angel pulls him back up, waiting. Merl: "But I'm telling you man, I don't know where..." Dip. Merl: "Is that how you get your rock off, you sick..." Dip. Merl: "All right, all right. Alright. I heard about your girls, Godzilla, Darcilla, whatever. Uh... they've been hitting all the underground hot spots. Looking for demons to join some, ah, crew they're running. That's all I know, man, I swear." Dip. Merl: "Okay! Okay. Okay. You didn't hear this from me. But you know that little Bar-and-bite club on La Cienega and Washington? - Ah, that's the only demon haunt they ain't been to. Okay? Okay?" Angel ties the rope off to a pipe along the wall. Merl: "Hey, alright? Hey, hey, hey, you're gonna cut me down, right? (Angel walks off down the tunnel) You're not just gonna leave me hanging here, man? Hey! Hey! I'm spinning here, man. - Freaking vampires." At the bar and bite club. A fight is taking place between a green demon and a vampire, ringed by a crowd of demons watching and cheering. The demon dances around the vampire, hitting him. Finally grabs the vampire in a choke-hold (trying to rip his head off?). The vampire slaps the floor with his hand and the demon releases him. Rhythmic clapping interrupts the cheers for the winner. The crowd parts to reveal Darla, followed by Dru walking into the middle of the circle. Darla: "Wow. That was something. But v*olence without victims, see, that's where you lose me." Demon: "Who the hell are you?" Darla: "My name's Darla and this is Drusilla. We're new in town though some of you know us by reputation." Demon: "I never heard of you before." Drusilla reaches up from behind him and casually rips off his ears. The demon drops to the floor with a scream, hands pressed to the sides of his head. Darla: "Now you never will. I trust we have everyone's attention? - Good. We've come with a little proposition." From under the shadow of the hood of his gray sweatshirt a vamp-faced Angel glances over the shoulders of the demons in front of him at Darla. Break. Darla: "Me and my girl, we're not just the new thing in town - we're the only thing in town. And we're in the market for some... Well, one doesn't really want to use the term 'muscular slaves...' - Actually, one does. Unfortunately for most, we're only looking for the best. Those creatures who not only excel at devastation, but revel in it. Our crusade is one of malevolent joy." Angel moves through the demon crowd, head down. Dru gasps as he slips past the demons standing behind her. Dru: "Eyes like needles." Darla: "Dru, I'm working here?" Dru: "He sees you. Sees what you were. (Gasps and takes a step closer to Darla) You'll never be alone again." Darla: "Stop! - J-just don't." Dru: "He's watching you, my sweet, right now." Darla spins around and looks at the crowd of demons. Darla: "Angel." Darla pushes into the crowd. Dru: "He wants to punish us. He thinks we've been naughty. - He remembers when you were warm." Darla spins around to face Dru: "Shut up, Drusilla!" Dru turns away and Darla gives herself a little shake. Darla speaking hurriedly: "Now, as I was saying, if you think you have what it takes to join us, auditions are tonight, here (pulls a business card out of her cleavage) at this address. Winners will have the opportunity to foment mass-destruction, losers will be gutted and left for d*ad. (Drops the card on the floor) Have a nice night. (Grabs a hold of Dru's arm and hustles her towards the door) Come on." Angel is standing in the alley behind the bar. Morphs into his human face and pulls he hood off. Leans his head back against a post. Angel voice-over: "I'm not ready." Flash to Darla in the club saying his name and looking around for him. Voice-over: "I can still feel her. - Her pain. - Her need. - Her hope." Angel takes a deep breath and walks off. Voice-over: "I'm too close. - Too close to fight her." Wolfram and Hart's offices, night. Lindsey is getting ready to leave for the night. He picks up his coat and turns only to find Lilah standing in the open door. Lindsey: "Lilah. (Sees the look on her face) Something happened?" Lilah: "I can't do it anymore, Lindsey." Lilah slowly walks in. Lindsey drops his stuff and closes the door. Lindsey: "Do what?" Lilah: "The waiting. - I'm sitting in my office and - every time there is a noise or the phone rings... One of us is gonna die, Lindsey." Lindsey: "Everybody dies, Lilah." Lilah: "But not everybody ends up in a dog-food processing plant in San Pedro." Lindsey: "May not happen to you, Lilah. You got a fifty fifty chance of surviving this thing, just like me." Lilah: "That's not good enough. - There is a way out of this." Lindsey: "How?" Lilah: "We don't wait for them to chose - one of us, we - chose each other instead. If we stick together we can b*at them. We could leave (reaches out to caress Lindsey's tie) you and me, tonight. They'd have no choice..." Lindsey: "No choice but to hunt us down, which they would." Lilah: "No. Not if we took files, as insurance." Lindsey: "Take files?" Lilah: "Yes. (Takes a step closer) - Look. I've heard the rumors. We both know - that it worked for you once before. You knew - just what to take. And this time you won't have to assume any of the risk. You just tell me which files to steal and I'll get them. And then - we can get out of here. End this mess - together. - Are you in?" Lindsey strokes the side of Lilah's face and leans in as if to kiss her, while his hand slips down into her blouse and pulls out - a wire. Lindsey speaking into the tiny microphone: "But Lilah, I would never steal files from my employer. I'm shocked at the suggestion." With a snort of laughter Lindsey retrieves his jacket, portfolio and keys. Lindsey: "Forget about the frame job, sweetheart. They're gonna k*ll who they're gonna k*ll. (Opens the door) Just take it like a man." Lindsey blows her a kiss and leaves. Cordy, Wes and g*n are sitting around a table at Caritas. Cordy, voice slightly slurred: "But see, that's what I'm saying. If Wesley hadn't been all shaking his finger..." Wesley: "No, no, no." Cordy: "...and no, no, no, this *whole* Darla-thing would have just, you know, blown over." g*n: "What?!" Wesley: "Blown over? Angel is obsessed with Darla. Obsessions don't just blow over." g*n: "Right." Cordy: "Well, you certainly didn't help by making him feel *guilty* about it. You shamed him into f*ring us!" Wesley: "You blaming this on me?" Cordy: "I'm not blaming... - Yes. I'm blaming you. *You* get the blame." g*n: "I don't know. If I'd had to listen to you two day in day out snipe, snipe, snipe, bitch, bitch, bitch. - I figure you all got of easy, because I would have k*lled you." Cordy: "Ha. That's rich coming from Mr. 'I don't take orders - now where do I stick my ax?'" g*n: "What is that supposed to mean?" Wesley: "Well, g*n. You've never been very supportive of Angel's leadership role. I remember a certain shroud." g*n: "Hold up. Hold on, are you trying to tell me this is my fault?" Wesley: "Well, how is the man supposed to run a business if his employees won't follow directives?" g*n: "Was one of his directives 'hire pansy-assed British guys?'" Cordy suppresses a laugh. Wesley: "My ass is not pansy." Host: "Could I have someone bring you kids another round?" All three: "Yes." g*n: "What about her? Maybe if she'd had a couple more *visions* Angel would have been too distracted to think about this Darla-chick, huh?" Wesley and g*n clink drinks. Cordy: "Earth to ret*rd: you have an obsession you pretty much squeeze it into your schedule, no matter what!" Wesley: "Aha! So you admit it's an obsession." Cordy: "No. - I mean, yes. But no." Wesley: "Hypocrite." Cordy: "Ass-pansy." Wesley: "Don't call me that!" g*n: "You two are driving me buggy. All you talk about is 'this is his fault, this is her fault...' You two wouldn't last ten seconds on the street..." All three talk at once. Cut to the three of them arm in arm on the stage singing "We Are the Champions" by Queen. Cut to the three of them sitting around a table, the only ones left in the bar. Cordy: "Vampires, sloth demons - you what's really, really evil? - Tequila." Wesley pushes some glasses to the side, making a face. Wesley: "I need to be d*ad now." Host: "Well, well, I can see the maudlin segment of tonight's binge is in full swing. (Takes off his jacket) Now, don't be blue. (Walks around the table) I was *very* impressed with your musical recitation of pain earlier. And when I say pain, I mean mine. (Comes to stand behind Cordy) Although props for singing your little hearts out." Cordy: "Yeah. Our hearts were out. You, Mr. Big - Mojo-guy, are supposed to, uhm, give us guidance now." Wesley: "She's right. We came, we sang, we... fought the urge to regurgitate." Cordy: "So spill already. (To Wesley) Not you. - What are we supposed to do with our lives? (Makes a strange face, like she's about to yawn) Where do we go from here?" Host folds his jacket into a pillow. Host: "Oh - I'd love to tell you, sweetie. But - when the big guys talk, I shut my yap. (Holds his folded jacket behind Cordy's head) And they're about to get *real* chatty." Cordy throws her head back with a scream as she gets h*t by a vision. Wesley: "Cordy?" Blurred flashes of a green demon and a girl. Wesley: "Are you alright?" Cordy: "No!" g*n: "What'd you see?" Cordy: "Ooh. Alley. Not too far from here. A demon is dragging a girl... She's hurt - bleeding..." Wesley gets up: "Let's go." Angel is in his basement, checking his wrist stakes and filling a gym bag with assorted w*apon. The phone rings in the lobby. Angel walks towards the reception desk to reach - past the ringing phone to pick up an ax. He turns and heads out, ignoring the phone. g*n, Wes and Cordy hurry down a dark alley. Cordy: "I don't get it? Are we late? We didn't feel late in my head." g*n pointing: "Over here." There are splashes of blood on the ground. Cordy: "It's hers. It's got to be hers. But where is she?" g*n: "If we had Angel, we could track her." Cordy: "He's also k*ll the big, spiny demon that took her. Did I mention that its teeth are about three inches long?" g*n: "And us with no w*apon? Man, I wish Angel was here." Wesley: "Well, he's not! (They turn to stare at Wes) Angel's walked away from his duty. We're not going to." Cordy: "So how do we find her?" Wesley: "We start with basics. (Walks over and crouches down by the blood) First we examine the area for any tell tale signs for a particular kind of ...eew." g*n: "There's different kinds of yuuch?" Wesley pulls his hand away form where he had used it brace himself against the wall. It's covered with blood. Wesley: "No, look." There is a streak of blood going up the wall next to a drainpipe, leading to a busted window. g*n: "He took her up there." Cordy: "But the building is abandoned. The front door was all chained up. How are we supposed to..." They all look at the drain pipe, then up at the window. Darla and Dru are coming out of a demon bar. Dru: "I didn't like that barkeeper. Hmm, can't get his eyes of my fingers." Dru licks her fingers. Darla: "That was the last one. It's nearly midnight now. We should get to the factory." Dru: "My little bird is anxious." Darla: "Yeah, well, recruiting a legion of demons is stressful, Dru." Dru: "He won't leave, you know." Darla: "I don't wanna hear this." Dru: "We could have a thousand soldiers and still he'll come, galloping, galloping, still he'll come." Darla: "Why is everybody trying to make this about Angel?! I mean, for God's sake, can't a woman wreak a little havoc without there being a man involved?" Dru: "You miss him, like a heartbeat." Darla: "I don't miss my heartbeat, Dru. It was a symptom of a disease I've since been cured off. - You know, in a perfect world, Angel would be here right now, helping me burn this city to the ground. This is his job I'm doing. But where is he? Probably flogging himself in a church somewhere." Dru: "Ooh, flogging! Eew, churches." Darla: "In a perfect world we'd be slaughtering the innocent. Laughing as we rain destruction on this whole miserable town." Dru: "I see such pretty f*re." Darla: "f*re. Conflagration. In a perfect world there'd be nothing left here but ashes." Dru laughing: "And pain. So much suffering. (Begins to sway) The flames are lovely. They dance, and the f*re licks like a cat. And the screams, oh, it's like star music." Darla: "That's nice, Dru. Now hurry up. We can't be late." Angel walks up to an abandoned building. Slides a big garage door to the side to reveal an assortment of different demons waiting inside. Angel's w*apon bag drops in slow motion to the ground and he twist the ax in his hand. g*n is helping Cordy climb into the building through the window. Cordy: "Uh, it's always the same. A smelly, old, abandoned building. Are there no demon hideouts in Beverly Hills?" Wesley watching the room: "Several in matter of fact... Look. Over there." We see a body lying motionless on the floor. Cordy: "That's her. But where is the..." Cordy screams as the demon of her vision drops down from overhead, right in front of them. Break. The demon knocks Wesley to the floor then jumps on g*n. Wesley to Cordy: "Get her out of here." Wesley picks up a 2x4 and knocks the demon off of g*n. Cordy to girl: "Come on, we got to get you..." The demon turns towards her, and g*n jumps on its back. The demon throw itself back against the wall, smashing g*n in between, and Wesley takes the chance to h*t in the stomach. The demon retaliates with a hard right to Wesley's jaw, then throws g*n over its head into the opposite wall. Wesley whacks it across the back, dropping it to the ground. The demon pulls Wesley's leg out from under him, then jumps on his back and sinks it's teeth into Wesley's right shoulder. Wesley lets out a scream of pain. g*n gets back up, grabs a chair and knocks the demon off Wesley with it, shattering the chair in the process. g*n picks up one of the splintered chair legs and rams it into the back of the demon's head, k*lling it. Wesley picks himself back up and looks over at Cordy and the other girl. Wesley: "We need to get her to a hospital." Cordy: "Yeah." g*n: "What about you?" Wesley: "I'm fine it's just... (he looks at the hole in his shoulder) We should go before I pass out, or possibly during." g*n: "This thing nearly ripped us to shreds." Cordy: "Yeah, but out of everybody here, which one of us is the d*ad one?" Darla and Dru are walking up to the abandoned building where Angel met all those demons. Darla: "I want to make this quick, alright? We get in there, weed out the losers, and get out. I've got precious little patience left." Dru looks at the building: "Oh, it's beautiful! Dank and dark. It reeks of death." Darla with a smile: "That's motor oil, Dru." Dru: "Can we buy it? It could be our castle." Darla: "There's no view. Plus we're broke. Though I suppose Lindsey could help out in that respect, if they haven't k*lled him yet." Dru: "I like the girl. She's wicked." Darla: "They're sweet kids. Naïve, but they're only human. I doubt they even know what Wolfram and Hart's true plan for Angel is. - But I have to say, my curiosity is peeked." Dru puts her hand on the handle of the door. Dru: "Ten little soldiers, all in a line. A sh*t rings out (slaps her hands together to make the sound of a sh*t) down to nine." Darla: "Ten? I'd be happy if we could find three who can hack it." Darla slides the door open and they walk in to see the floor littered with demon corpses and severed limbs and a pile of dust between them. Dru: "d*ad already? Bad soldiers!" Darla looks around and sees Angel leaning against the hood of a dusty car, smoking a cigarette. Darla with a slight smile: "I should have known." Dru shakes her head: "A shadow." Dru lifts her hand as if she is trying to wipe away a cobweb in front of her face, never taking her eyes off Angel. Darla: "Why so far away, my love? Why don't you come over here and... stake me? (No reaction from Angel) Angel?" Angel, looking pretty b*at up, continues to smoke his cigarette. Darla: "Angelus?" Angel throws down his cigarette butt. It ignites a trail of gasoline. Darla and Dru look down at the flames, see them racing towards them in slow motion, and ignite the puddle of gasoline they're standing in. They scream as they begin to burn. Angel turns around to pick up his bag of w*apon, revealing a can of gasoline sitting on the hood behind him, and walks out without looking back. Darla picks up a sledgehammer, leaning next to the door, runs outside and knocks the top of a f*re hydrant off. She and Dru stand under the spray of water, letting it extinguish the flames, then sink down to sit on the edge of the sidewalk under it, with Darla holding Dru. Dru: "I'm burning. Make it stop, please." Darla: "Shh. Shh. That wasn't Angel." Dru: "He's gone. He's all gone. Oh - it hurts! It hurts!" Darla: "Wasn't Angelus either." Dru: "Darla, help me. Help me, please! Please. Please." Darla: "Who was that?" Wolfram and Hart. Day. Lilah is coming up some stairs and falls in with Lindsey who is walking along the hallway at the top. Lilah: "Heard about the f*re?" Lindsey: "They're still alive." Lilah: "Undead." Lindsey: "Whatever." Lilah: "Heard it was Angel." Lindsey: "So?" Lilah: "k*lled a dozen demons, lit up Darla and Drusilla like a Christmas tree." Lindsey: "What is your point Lilah?" Lilah: "Little grimmer than usual, don't you think?" Lindsey: "Holland's vision lives on." Lilah: "Screw his vision. Anybody's going down in here, it's gonna be you." Lindsey: "If that's what it takes." They walk through some glass doors into a conference room. There is a man in a suit sitting at the table, with an open book in front of him. Two dark-clad men standing like guards against the wall behind him. Hunt: "Sit down." Lilah and Lindsey take some chairs further down the table. Hunt: "I suppose you know why you're here. The Senior Partners have decided - that this should be a time of grief and reflection. We will never be able to replace Holland Manners. He was a man of extraordinary talents. - The bottom line is this leaves us with an opening in our roster. We need an executive vice-president of Special Projects. (Stands up) Mr. McDonald - (takes a couple steps closer to the two of them. The guards move with him) - your conduct with this firm had proved spotty at best. You've stolen files, co-operated with our enemy, disobeyed orders time and again. (Lilah smiles) Mrs. Morgan - when you drove away the telekinetic Bethany Chaulk, you lost for us a powerful potential assassin. Not to mention the fact that both of you have been extremely negligent about informing us of visits form certain - ladies - who, lest we forget, *ate* the majority of our contracts department. - The truth is that neither one of you are particularly qualified to run the special projects division. As for your relationship to one another: your competition has been - vicious, destructive and - healthy. We think you keep each other on your toes. Which is why we have decided to appoint you both - as joint acting co-vice-presidents until such time as we see fit to - narrow it down. - Congratulations. This is a big step. The Senior Partners - will be watching you." He picks up his book and walks out. Lindsey and Lilah look at each other. Angel is in the basement of the Hyperion, throwing knives at a target, and hitting the bullseye every time. He retrieves the knives and gets ready to do it again as Wesley appears on the basement steps. Wesley: "I thought you might like to know we're keeping the agency open - with or without you." Angel stands with his back to Wesley, facing the target, silent. Wesley: "You may have turned your back on your mission, but we haven't." There is still no reaction from Angel, so Wesley turns to walk back up the stairs. Wesley: "Someone has to fight the good fight." Angel throws the Kn*fe and barely hits the target. He blinks his eyes, then closes them. Angel voice-over: "Let them fight the good fight. - Someone has to fight the w*r." He opens his eyes, throws - Bullseye. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x11 - Redefinition"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Lindsey is about to light the Scroll of Aberjian on f*re and Angel throws the scythe and cuts off Lindsey's hand before the scroll can catch on f*re. (From "To Shanshu In LA") Lilah in Holland's wine cellar: "For god's sake help us." Holland: "People are going to die." Angel closing the door: "I just can't seem to care." Cut's of the pile of corpses littering the floor of the wine cellar and of Darla biting Holland. ("Reunion") Lindsey: "Holland Manners is d*ad." Angel leaning against the hood of a dirty car, smoking a cigarette. Darla: "Angel?" Angel throws down the cigarette butt, lighting a trail of gasoline leading to the puddle of it that Darla and Dru are standing in. Darla and Dru scream as they catch f*re. Angel picks up his bag and walks out. Darla knocks the top off the f*re hydrant with a sledgehammer and the vamp girls let the water put out their burning clothes and skin. ("Redefinition") Wesley: "What you did..." Cordy: "...was wrong." g*n: "You went to far." Wesley: "Right now the three of us are all that's standing between you and real darkness." Angel: "You're all fired." ("Reunion") Cordy's apartment, night. Close on Wesley: "You think I don't have what it takes?" Close on g*n, staring back: "I *know* you don't have what it takes." Wesley: "I guess we'll just have to find out." They straighten up slowly, never taking their eyes off each other. g*n glances down at Wesley's right hand. g*n: "Go on, English, make your move - because it'll be your last." Both Wesley and g*n raise their right fists, blow into them, then, simultaneously, cast their dice on the table on which we see a game board set up between them. Wesley slumps in defeat. g*n doing a little dance: "And now I rule Europe, Australia and South America!" Wesley: "I still got Kamchakta." g*n: "Three fifths of the world covered in water, the rest covered in me!" Wesley: "Shut up." g*n: "Who's your ruler, baby? What's my name? Come on, English, say it: g*n." Cordy comes in, wearing a house robe. Cordy: "Fun as it is having you guys over day and night, it's getting kind of late." Wesley: "It's only seven thirty." Cordy: "Really? Oh. In that case: get out!" Wesley and g*n exchange a glance. Wesley: "What if you have a vision?" Cordy: "I'll call you." g*n: "What if Angel..." Cordy and Wesley turn to look at him. Cordy: "I thought we weren't going to say the 'A' word." g*n: "Yeah, let's not say the 'A' word. Lets just spend our lives sitting around waiting for him to call." Wesley: "We're not waiting for him to call. The man fired us. We're on our own now. Separate unit. Fighting the good fight." g*n: "Yeah, right! With no plan, or office, or business cards of our own." Wesley quietly: "He's not going to call, is he? (g*n shakes his head) Right. I tell you the first thing we're scrapping. (Holds up one of Angel Investigations Business cards) These stupid calling cards." Cordy: "They're not stupid. I designed them. That's an Angel!" Wesley: "The universal symbol of the one thing we don't have." g*n takes the card and looks at it. g*n: "That's a Angel? Looks like a - a lobster with a - growth or... We'll make our own logo." Wesley: "Yes. Something sleek, but edgy." g*n: "Something that says: you need help, we're there." Wesley: "Exactly. Danger is our business. (Cordy put a hand to her forehead and begins to stagger) We'll catch you when you fall." Cordy falls downs down in throws of a vision and the guys don't even notice. g*n: "Uh, I like that!" Cordy from the floor: "Guys..." Wesley and g*n rush over to her. Wesley: "Easy. Breathe... breathe..." g*n: "What is it? What you're getting." Cordy breathing hard: "It - it has two heads. And it breathes f*re. - It's gigantic. (The guys help her up) And it's rising up in the sewers, beneath Kenyard School for Girls." The guys rush out the door. Cordy calls after them: "You shouldn't go alone!" Angel is walking down a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood at night. Bumps into a blonde girl, carrying a big box coming the other way and knocks the box out of her hands, spilling clothes onto the ground. Angel: "Oh, jeez..." Anne: "Oh!" Angel starts to gather up the clothes: "I'm sorry." Anne, putting down her purse, starts to help: "No, it was me. I didn't hurt you, did I?" Angel, putting clothes back in the box, looks at her: "Fine." Anne: "I just... I couldn't see over the box. I was rushing. I'm late for work." Angel holds up a cloth with big bright spots on it: "You do clown work?" Anne laughs: "No. Just some old clothes that got donated. Angel: "East Hills Teen Center." Anne stares at him. Angel: "It's on the box." Anne looks at the box: "Oh. Right." Angel straightens, holding the box. Angel: "You missed one." Anne picking it up: "Thanks. (Sees her purse on the ground) Oh. Oops. Hold on. (Picks it up, then accepts the box form Angel) Okay. I think I'm good. I'm really sorry." Angel: "No problem." Anne: "They're for the kids. We close in a couple of hours and there is always a feeding frenzy when a new batch comes in." Angel: "You work with runaways?" Anne: "Some of them. Some are from around here, just don't have anywhere to go. We, um, give 'em food, clothes, somewhere to stay if they need it." Angel: "That's good... It's good that someone's... It's - it's good to do." Angel gives her a slight smile. Anne: "Well, I'm late." Angel: "Right." Anne turns to go with a smile: "See you around." Angel: "Uh-huh." Angel enters his apartment. Takes a wallet out of his jacket pocket and drops it on the table - open to reveal a drivers license with a picture of the girl he just bumped into. Angel looks from the drivers license up to a collection of photographs off Anne in different places and with different people until his eyes come to rest on one of her and Lindsey. Intro Wesley and g*n, each carrying an ax, creep along a sewer tunnel. g*n: "So it's big." Wesley: "Big." g*n: "And f*re breathing." Wesley: "Breathing." g*n: "Big, two-headed, f*re-breathing..." Wesley: "I think we all have the picture, g*n. It's not a teddy bear and it probably shouldn't be attending the Kenyard School for Girls." g*n: "You know, right about now I wouldn't mind..." Wesley: "Don't say it! We don't have him and it's not going to do any good wishing we did!" g*n: "I was gonna say some dynamite." Wesley: "Oh. - Dynamite. - Maybe it's not to late to go back and..." There is a deep, low roar. Wesley and g*n look at each other than inch towards the end of the tunnel and lean forward to look around it. Their eyes track upwards as their mouths slowly drop open. They pull back and look at each other. Wesley: "Oh god." g*n: "The tunnel is almost twenty feet tall. It was crouching." Wesley swallows: "Uh, well. We'll take another look and then we'll..." g*n: "...die!" The lean forward to take another look and g*n gets ready to charge, but Wesley holds him back. Wesley: "No, no, wait. Wait. Wait until its back is turned. - Now!" They jump out into the main tunnel only to flinch back from a jet of flame. Wesley waves a hand in front of his face. g*n: "I thought she said he *breathed* f*re!" Both of them charge out of the tunnel with a loud battle cry. Merl gets ready to leave his lair when the door slams into his face to reveal Angel standing there. Angel: "Evening, Merl." Merl: "What do you want, man? I ain't inviting you in." Angel steps over the threshold: "Demon lairs. No invitation necessary." Merl: "Yeah, but it's polite..." Angel: "Are you avoiding me, Merl? (Merl shakes his head once) I ask you for a favor and you're avoiding me. - *That's* impolite." Merl: "Well, nearly drowning me and leaving me hanging in the sewer ain't exactly Emily Post either." Angel: "Okay. So we're both rude. You know what? I can live with that. Now, do you have the information I need, or do I have to see what the inside of your head looks like?" Merl: "Fine! (Sits down) Um, I check out the girl. She's clean. Changed her name a couple of times, but no record." Angel: "What's her connection to Wolfram and Hart?" Merl: "Easy. She runs a shelter over on Crenshaw. Couple of months ago, they almost lost the lease on the place. Wolfram and Hart step in and clear it all up pro bono, and there you go." Angel: "But she's still working for them." Merl: "Well, you know so much, what do you need me for, huh? Come to think of it, why *do* you need me? What happened to that hot chick that was working for you?" Angel: "Pro bono. There's got to be an angle." Merl: "There always is. But as far as I can tell - the shelter itself is strictly legit." Angel turns to go: "Okay." Merl: "Hey! Hey, what about my hundred bucks!" Angel: "You know what? I'll owe you. (Looks around the place) Just make sure you use it for some new furniture. - Bean bag chairs? (Shakes his head) Merl." East Hills Teen Shelter, night. Girl: "What am I supposed to do? He's gonna want to come in." Anne: "Then you tell him no! Benny knows the rules. He's not coming in here drunk. You turn him out. Don't even listen to him." The girl leaves and Anne notices Angel standing a little ways away, holding a brown paper bag. Anne smiling: "Hey! Guy I ran over." Angel: "Hey. Girl who ran over me." Anne: "You can call me Anne. It's shorter." They shake hands. Angel: "Angel. Um, I brought some... I don't know if they're any good." Anne takes the bag: "That's great! Uh, we can take them over here. (They walk over to a table) Whoa. Now lets see. What have you got? (Pulls out a flowered blouse) Well, that's - not what I expected. What's the matter, it doesn't fit you anymore?" Angel: "Cuts me across the bust. A friend - left her clothes at my place. I won't be seeing her anytime soon, so I figured..." Anne: "Girlfriend?" Angel: "God, no. (Anne gives him a look) Uh, I mean just..." Anne: "Well, I really appreciate... *we* really appreciate this. Every little bit helps, you know?" Angel: "I just wish I could do more." Anne: "Well, if you're - not in a hurry. You up for a tour?" Anne steps into her office: "And here is the vibrant nerve center of our massive corporation." Angel: "Wow. It's uh..." Anne: "Small. But I'm hardly ever in here." Angel looks over at a cot: "You just come in for naps?" Anne: "Oh, the bed... No, it's just sometimes I'm here so late it's just easier than going home. - So, what do you think?" Angel: "Amazing. - You said it runs on donations?" Anne: "Every last penny." Angel: "Got to be tough - trying to stay ahead." Anne: "It is. Thankfully we have a guardian angel." Angel: "Guardian angel?" Anne: "Wolfram and Hart. Uh, it's a law firm. They've been a godsend in the last couple of months. Bailed us out of an eviction, defended a couple of our kids." Angel: "They sound like saints." Anne: "As far as I'm concerned. They're the ones that came up with the idea for the big hold up." Angel: "Hold up?" Anne: "Charity ball. It's a fundraiser for the center. Big TV-celebrities go around and pretend to rob the guests of their donations. Wild West theme. It's gonna be big." Angel: "And Wolfram and Hart's picking up the tab." Anne: "They're donating everything, from the music to the food - plus they have connections to all the TV stars." Angel: "That's not surprising." Anne: "It's good for their image, I guess. And it's a pretty dorky theme - but hey, whatever it takes, right?" Angel: "Right." Merl gets ready to leave his lair and the door slams into his face, knocking him down, as a big blue demon steps in. Merl: "Does anybody knock?" Boone: "You Merl?" Merl takes in his visitor: "Ah, Merl? Um... Merl who? Ah, the name's Ed, uh, Silverman?" Boone: "You're Angel's lackey." Merl: "No. No, I'm not... (Boone steps on Merl's hand) Ow! Independent contractor. Independent contractor!" Boone: "And what do you do for him?" Merl: "Ouch! Pictures! Ow! I-I take..." Boone: "Pictures." Boone steps off Merl's hand. Merl inspects his hand: "Ow. Surveillance, you know? Pick up dirt. Check people out for him. Not that he appreciates it. - Who the hell are you anyway? IRS?" Boone: "Angel and I have a history. An unfinished history." Merl: "Yeah? That's nice. What, did you guys go to college together?" Boone: "These people you check out. Who are they? - Friends? Enemies? - What does Angel care about?" Merl: "I ah, I - I don't know. Last thing he had me do was follow some chick. Did charity work." Boone: "Why?" Merl gets up: "Well, between you and me - ain't abou the girl. It's Wolfram and Hart." Boone: "What's a Wolfram and Hart?" Merl: "A law firm, technically. Uh, more like, uh - Evil Incorporated. -You know lately, Angel, he's been g*n for them. Especially these two lawyers." Boone grabs Merl by the throat, choking him: "Tell me about the lawyers." Lilah is walking towards her car in the parking garage. Unlocks it with the remote button on her key chain and gets in. Starts the car and adjusts the rearview mirror, then turns around to back out of her parking space only to find Angel sitting in the back seat. Jumps, and gasps with shock. Angel: "Lilah. - I just had to drop by and congratulate you on your big promotion. Co-vice-president Special Projects. - Wow. That's super. You deserve it. Yeah. That - and *so* much more." Lilah: "Angel..." Angel: "But you know what the real special part is? To *think* that maybe, in my small way, I helped make it happen for you. (Smiles) That makes me feel all good inside." Lilah tires to open her door, but Angel's hand sh**t out and stops her. Lilah: "Angel - I can assure you, now that Lindsey and I are in a - position to affect policy, things'll change." Angel: "Change? (Lilah nods) Well, yeah! Because I get it now." Lilah: "It?" Angel: "The game. - It's actually kind of fun when you know the rules. I mean, when you know - that there aren't any. (Taps her shoulder with his finger) You screw with me, and you screw with me, and... you screw with me. And now - I get to screw with you." Lilah: "Uh..." Angel: "That's gonna be great!" Lilah: "Angel, please..." Angel leans in real close: "No. No. No. No. The begging - that comes later." Lilah closes her eyes and swallows and Angel is suddenly gone. Wolfram and Hart, day, Lindsey's office. Lilah pacing: "He was in my car." Lindsey sitting on his desk: "And yet here you are. Still alive. - He was just trying to spook you." Lilah: "Yeah, well, it worked." Lindsey: "Relax. He doesn't k*ll humans, at least - not with his own hands." Lilah: "He's not playing by the old rules any more." Intercom: "Mr. McDonald? Your ten o'clock is here." Lindsey pushes a button: "I don't have a ten o'clock." Intercom: "I'm not gonna tell him that." Lindsey gets up with a sigh and goes to open the door. Lindsey: "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'm all..." Boone walks in: "Shut the door." Lindsey repeats quietly to himself 'Shut the door' as he shuts it. Lindsey: "Why don't you come in, Mr..." Boone: "Call me Boone. (To Lilah) Are you the - better half of this team?" Lilah with a smile: "I like to think so. We run the Special Projects division. Did you have a special project?" Boone: "More like a grudge - with a fellow named - Angel." Break. Boone: "I've known Angel since Juarez in the twenties. We had a little disagreement over a senorita. I called him out. We fought for three and a half hours." Lindsey: "Obviously both of you survived." Boone: "Well, I'd been working on a three day drunk at the time. I wasn't at my peak." Lilah: "How did it end?" Boone: "The sun came up - I let him go." Lilah: "You let him go. - Why?" Boone: "The sun came up. - Would have been too easy? - You people know anything about honor? - Anyway, life is long, when you're eternal. Always knew I'd cross his path again. And low and behold, I'm in a Karaoke bar downtown when I get wind of this lizard demon, Merl, who sometimes does favors for the vampire with a soul. I find Merl - and he tells me - that Angel's planning on bringing you two down." Lindsey: "Did he happen to mention how?" Boone: "Don't know. Don't care. All I do know is, when Angel come for you, he's gonna find me instead." Lindsey: "I like it. I like it and I'll tell you why: because of the finding you instead part. How much do you charge?" Boone: "This isn't about money. This is about knowing." Lilah: "Knowing what?" Boone: "Who's better. Him - or me." Lilah: "If you're talking about k*lling Angel, I'm afraid we can't help you." Lindsey: "Mr. Boone, would you excuse me and my associate for a moment, please?" Boone: "Of course." Lindsey: "Thank you." Lindsey leads Lilah into another room. Lindsey: "I'm using my discretionary fund. Bring him on board." Lilah: "Aren't you forgetting something? The senior partners want Angel alive." Lindsey: "So?" Lilah: "So - what if this guy is actually as good as he says and actually kills Angel?" Lindsey: "Boo-hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with my plastic hand!" Lilah: "Hey, Napoleon, we are *Co* vice-presidents. This plan of yours explodes and we both end up in tiny pieces." Lindsey: "Want Angel hitching another ride in your back seat? So to speak. Beside, if he's not gonna play by the old rules, why should we?" Lindsey leaves Lilah standing and walks back into his main office. g*n and Wesley are sitting next to Cordy on her couch. Wesley: "It's the biggest thing you've ever seen." g*n: "And me and English here are just getting stomped, just ducking flames." Wesley: "It hurls me into the outflow drain..." g*n: "And then you come crawling back, stinking, screaming curses. The mouth on this boy!" Wesley: "And g*n hits him form behind, yelling 'look at us when we k*ll you!' and both its heads turn..." g*n gets up and makes a swinging motion: "Then 'shronk!' Wes buries his ax in the head number one." Wesley: "And g*n is running him through, pulling out intestines the size of your leg!" g*n high fives Wes: "We turned him inside out!" They laugh. Cordy: "You weren't scared?" Wesley: "Oh, mother in heaven." g*n: "Pants wetting, praising the lord to save me kind of scared. All right?" Cordy smiles: "But you did it." g*n: "No. We did it. (Picks up some cans and hands each of them one) All of us." Wesley raises his drink: "All of us together." g*n proposing a toast: "To us." They clink their cans together. Wesley: "To us." Cordy: "To us." They drink. Cordy: "Um, I did something. I hope you guys don't mind. - I started looking for an office, you know, for our new agency." Wesley smiling: "Our new agency?" g*n clinking cans: "Our new agency." Cordy: "There is this little place, not that far from here? It's not much, but..." g*n: "So why we're still here?" Wesley: "Lets go!" They all get up g*n: "Our new agency." Wesley: "Wyndham-Price Agency." Cordy and g*n: "The what?" Wesley: "You don't like it? - It's classy." Cordy: "It's stuffy. - The Chase Agency! *That* has the right ring." Wesley: "Why?" Cordy: "Because it's my name." g*n: "Uh, Wes, Ms. Chase, alright, there is only one player here with a name that strikes dread in the demon heart." Points at himself. Cordy: "g*n?" g*n: "Uh-huh." Cordy: "Oh, yeah, that is so original. (Starts to dance and sing) I got a g*n and my name is g*n..." Starts to laugh. Wesley: "Wyndham-Price is everything you need to..." Cordy and g*n: "Shut up!" Angel looks at the pictures of Anne and Lindsey then at her drivers license (Anne Steele -5632 Willoughby Ave - Los Angles CA 98881 - Sex: F - Hair: BLM - Ht: 5-88 - Wt: 118 - Rstr: none). Sighs and takes down the pictures. Merl enters his lair carrying takeout Chinese food. He is grabbed and pushed headfirst against the wall. Merl: "Jeez, you got to be kidding me! Swear I didn't rat on you, Angel. I said nothing to that guy! (Gets slammed against the wall again) Ow!" Lilah: "Shut up, Merl." The W&H flunky holding Merl pulls him around to face Lilah and lets go of him. Merl: "Well, jeez. Does everyone know where I live? - Got to get myself a new lair." Lilah: "Merl? Lilah. Now that we're past the pleasantries, we've heard you do favors for Angel. We'd like to know what those favors are." Merl: "hey, I don't go selling out one of my pals. How much you're gonna pay?" Lilah: "I think you'll find our offer (One of the flunkies hits Merl in the nose) competitive." Merl: "Ow. I would have taken a credit card." Lilah: "Merl." The flunky thr*at to h*t Merl again. Merl: "Okay, okay, okay. Down Fluffy! Jeez. - Last couple of days I've been following this girl." Lilah: "What girl?" Anne sits at her desk at the shelter writing in a book. Hears a sound and goes to investigate it. Anne: "Hello? - Is anybody out here?" Angel: "Anne." Anne: "You startled me. What are you doing here?" Angel: "I have to talk to you." Anne: "Oh boy. You're not - stalking me, are you?" Angel: "Actually, I am." Anne: "Excuse me?" Angel pulls the pictures out of a manila envelope and drops them onto the little table between them. Angel: "These are pictures - I've taken of you. Surveillance photos. (Anne looks down at a picture of her and Lindsey) This is your wallet. I stole it when we 'accidentally' ran into each other last night. (Drops it on the table) Wasn't an accident." Anne: "I'm calling the police." Angel: "Wait. I'm not gonna hurt you. I just couldn't stand lying to you anymore." Anne: "Lying about what? That you're a psycho?" Angel: "I've been following you, that's true. But not for the reasons you think." Anne: "There is a good reason?" Angel: "Wolfram and Hart. They're not saints, Anne. They don't care about you or your shelter." Anne: "You're following me because..." Angel: "I checked it out. They'll use your charity for good publicity. Offer to throw you a big fund raiser, money starts rolling in... but wait! You're not the one counting it. So who knows how much they're keeping back right from the start. Next they'll give you a list of expenses, all very proper and necessary, but what do you know? After a certain number of miscellaneous, untraceable fees, you're left with five percent, tops." Anne: "You follow me. Take my pictures. Steal my wallet. - What makes you think I'll believe anything you say?" Angel: "Wolfram and Hart are not what they say they are. They show the world one face but it's not the truth. - I can prove it. Everything they say is a lie." Anne: "Guess you have something in common, huh?" Lindsey walks into the shelter. Anne: "Lindsey!" Lindsey: "Are you alright?" Anne: "Fine. I..." Lindsey: "He didn't hurt you, did he? (Comes to stand next to Anne) Believe me, if I'd known this man was in contact with you, I'd come sooner. (Faces Angel with a smile) I'm just thankful that I got here in time." Angel smiles back: "Little over the top. Maybe if you worked on that look of concern." Lindsey aside to Anne: "He's unbalanced. Very dangerous." Angel takes a step closer to Lindsey: "You haven't seen anything yet." Lindsey: "Neither have you." The door opens again and Angel looks over his shoulder to see Boone. Boone: "It's been a long time." Lindsey to Anne: "I brought some protection." Angel: "Boone. Working for Wolfram and Hart. I thought you had integrity." Boone: "I do. Here's fair warning." Boone stretches his hands down and a metal coil wraps itself around them, then jumps at Angel. Angel ducks, and hits then kicks Boone as he gets back up. Boone hits Angel in the stomach then the back dropping him to the ground, then throws him across the room. Anne and Lindsey watch as they continue to fight. Boone seems at least as strong and as fast as Angel and after some more fighting Angel runs out of the shelter. Lindsey intercepts Boone as he tries to follow. Lindsey: "Wait." Boone: "He's getting away!" Lindsey: "That's fine as long as he's not thr*at my client. (Then adds in a whisper) Soon. But not here. (Regular voice) Go out to the car. I'll meet you there. I don't think he's gonna be back tonight." Boone stalks out and Lindsey turns to Anne. Lindsey: "It's okay. Angel's gone. You're safe." Anne looks from Lindsey to the door Boone just left through then back at Lindsey. Break Anne: "That - guy who b*at up Angel, he wasn't human." Lindsey: "No. You see, Anne, there is a different world..." Anne: "Lindsey, I'm not naïve." Lindsey: "Oh. Well, Angel's not human either. He's a vampire. He's a sick, deranged..." Anne: "He says you're planning to steal most of the money from the fund raiser." Lindsey: "Well, he's lying. - I mean, there are - expenses... You know how this works, with any charity event, especially one this big. But we don't steal." Anne: "He says he has proof." Lindsey after a b*at: "He's lying about that, too. I mean, who're you gonna trust, Anne? You're gonna trust a ment*lly unstable vampire? Or you're gonna trust people that have worked night and day to put this fundraiser together for your kids? (Anne shifts but doesn't say anything) I would hate to see them lose out because you made the wrong decision." Anne: "So he doesn't have proof." Lindsey after a b*at: "He can't have proof." Lilah and Lindsey are walking down the sidewalk together at night. Lilah: "He's got proof?" Lindsey: "Maybe." Lilah: "That's what she said. Angel's got proof." Lindsey: "Everything is gonna be okay." Lilah: "Sure it is. I mean, all we did was to oversee a scheme to steal two million dollars from a teen homeless shelter. How did this happen?" Lindsey: "If he's got proof it came from you." Lilah: "Me?!" Lindsey: "Yeah, you. You opened your mouth to someone, and now he's got it on tape, probably." Lilah: "No, you're the one with the sporadic professional death wish. How do I know you're not on one of your Kamikaze missions, with me as your co-pilot." Lindsey: "Because the only person I ever talked to about it was you. Always in my office, which is swept for bugs three times a day! I never discussed stealing the money in public." Lilah folds her arms and looks around. There are people walking by. Lilah: "Until now. - He's got us. The bastard just got us on tape. What's he gonna do with it?" Lindsey: "What do you think? He's gonna use it to humiliate us." Lilah: "The news. He's gonna send it to the news, isn't he? National coverage..." Lindsey: "No. It's not personal enough for him." Lilah: "What? What's he..." Lindsey: "He's got to be there." Lilah: "What? Why?" Lindsey: "To see us swing, that's why - with the bosses there watching. (Pulls out his cell phone) It's me. I want security at the charity ball doubled and I want you to make sure there's a vampire detector there." Anne is sorting stuff in her office when Angel slowly walks in. Anne: "I sort of thought you'd show up again." Angel: "You alright?" Anne: "I didn't have a big monster pounding my face into the floor, so I figure I'm better than you." Angel: "What did Lindsey say about me?" Anne continuing to fold clothes: "That you were a bad man." Angel: "Bad man." Anne: "A psychotic vampire who cut of his hand, harassed his firm and - is borderline schizophrenic. - I was giving you the short version." Angel: "Do you believe that?" Anne: "Well, I'd say for sure you're a vampire. Human being would be in the hospital, the beating you took." Angel: "And that doesn't frighten you." Anne: "A few years ago it would have been a big turn on. I thought vampires were the coolest." Angel: "What happened?" Anne: "I met one." Angel: "You're not afraid of me." Anne: "Well, I've seen worse things since. A fourteen-year-old girl sitting in her own blood after a rough trick and dozens of people just walking right by, so no, vampires, demons, even lawyers pretty much don't impress me. Maybe you had a good reason for cutting off Lindsey's hand. I don't care. - I care about the shelter. If an evil law firm is gonna help me raise two million dollars..." Angel: "Of which you'll probably see only five percent of." Anne: "Yeah, well, I did the math. Five percent of two million is a hundred thousand dollars. That's more money than this shelter could raise in two years." Angel: "What about the other ninety five percent? You don't care where that's going, who that could be hurting?" Anne after a b*at: "I can't." Angel: "There is blood on that money, Anne. Are you the person who can ignore that? Have you become that yet? I don't think you have." Anne: "You don't know what it takes to run a shelter..." Angel: "Help me. Get me into the party. (Pulls out 8mm video tape) I put this on, the world sees a whole new side of Wolfram and Hart." Anne: "Why should I?" Angel: "Because it's right. In the long run, it's better." Anne: "Most of my kids don't have a long run. - No. I'm saying no." Wolfram and Hart's Highway Robbery Ball. Holland Manners is up on a big screen, wearing a shirt, but no tie and a knit cardigan over it, sitting on a park bench. Holland: "The world can be a dangerous place, especially for our most vulnerable citizens, our children. (Pets the collie sitting at his feet then gets up) Far away from home with little money and even less hope, too many runaways find themselves on the streets, over their heads and under societies radar." Anne looks around then sips from the fluted glass in her hand. Holland up on the screen comes up next to a disheveled kid sitting on another park bench. Holland: "But there is a place, right here in Los Angeles that can help these troubled kids - the East Hills Teen Center. (Holds out a hand to the kid and helps it up) It's a terrific refuge that we at Wolfram and Hart support one hundred percent." A bald guy wearing thick rimmed glasses walks up to Lilah. Nathan: "Lilah." Lilah: "Good evening, sir." Nathan: "Things progressing nicely?" Lilah: "Well, it's a pretty simple formula. Rich people pay to touch famous people. Cameras catch all the not quite prostitutional action. Pretty profitable and it all goes into the public consciousness as a good deed courtesy of Wolfram and Hart. It's really true - charity gives you this - warm glow, you know? (Sees Anne and beckons to her) Anne. I'd like you to meet one of my bosses at Wolfram and Hart, Nathan Reed. Mister Reed this is Anne." Nathan shakes Anne's hand: "So this is the young woman whose dedication and hard work brings us together tonight." Anne: "Well, I - try to help - where I can. Thank you for everything, sir." Nathan: "I like to think of my job as underlining the 'heart' in Wolfram and Hart." Lilah: "Remember, save some time for interviews tonight. Now, whether you like it or not, you are the public face of this charity." Nathan: "And what a face it is." Lilah: "Yes. Never underestimate the power of positive publicity." Lindsey is checking with the security guys up on the second level. Lindsey: "He stays up here. Are we forgetting anything?" Guard: "No, sir. My men are stationed at every possible entry point everyone is in constant radio contact. (Behind them a dark robbed vampire detector looks up, showing his pale face) And if this vampire of yours gets within a hundred feet, Zorn will let us know." Lindsey: "The moment he senses anything you alert Boone." Holland on the screen now in suit and tie standing in front of his desk: "Can we really change the world? At Wolfram and Hart - we're counting on it." As the applause comes up Holland's name and 1951 - 2000 are superimposed over his smiling image. Lilah on the podium and on screen (transmitted from one of the many cameramen circulating in the crowd): "Holland Manners is gone, but I feel he's looking down on us tonight. Don't you feel it? The truth is, Holland had a vision of the future most of us can't imagine. Let's make it come true, together." Applause. Lilah: "Now lets get started, but not with a plea for money. No, no. No, we're not here to ask you for money, we're here to take at g*n. (Laughter) Please welcome our celebrity bandits, from the h*t show 'Life Lessons' Serena Tate, Holden Rayne, C.J. McCard, and Jordan Johns!" Applause as the celebrity bandits rush into the crowd, wielding g*n and carpet bags to collect the donations. A cowboy, with a scantily clad saloon girl with a carpetbag beside him, puts his g*n against the chest of a guy in a tux. Cowboy: "Hellooo, that's some pretty nice duds there, fello'. What you say we see some of that cash you got stowed in them silk pockets?" Jenkins: "Hey, hey, cowboy, don't hurt me now!" Smiles at his date as he pulls out a brown envelope with "Highway Robbery Ball - Donor: Mr. And Mrs. Jenkins - Gift amount: $ 25,000 cash" written on it and drops it into the bag. Jenkins: "My daughter from my first marriage, she is a huge fan of your show." Cowboy: "Yeee-haw." A security guard strolls through the crowd listening to others report that everything is clear in their area. A Blonde is undoing her necklace while talking to one of the stars. Woman: "Serena, I have to know, this thing with making your character gay, (Drops the necklace into her husbands fundraiser envelope) is that like all about ratings? Because I don't get it." The stars drop the full bags off at a table were some W&H employees are taking out the envelopes while Lindsey and Lilah watch. Guard to Lindsey: "No sign of your friend yet." The camera pans up to the robed and hooded vampire detector. He pulls back his hood to reveal that it's Angel. Angel takes off the robe and turns to find himself face to face with Boone. Boone: "Angel. I was afraid you weren't going to show. You *are* ready to finish this." Break The employees at the table are putting the cash they removed from the envelopes into one bag. Lilah: "Once again I'd like to thank our wonderful stars from 'Life Lessons' for giving so generously of their time." Applause sounds as the stars smile and wave. Cowboy to Serena: "I'm going to k*ll my agent." Lilah: "And to you, our benefactors, let me just say that we really *can* change the world. With your support we can make it a safer place for all our children." Applause, which gives way to talk as everyone's attention is drawn to Angel and Boone fighting on the open upper level. Screams ring out, as Boone and Angel topple over the low wall and land a little ways beside the table with the money. Cowboy to Serena: "What, they're doing stunts now? (Looks at his watch) It's gonna take forever!" Angel and Boone continue their fight where they landed and Boone sends Angel sliding over the table with the cash, knocking some of it off. Serena looking at Boone: "I'm not buying the makeup." Two guards grab a hold of Angel as he gets back up and Lindsey starts to pat him down. Lindsey: "Did you really think we weren't gonna be ready for you? Where is the tape? (Can't feel it in any of Angel's pockets) Where is it? Where is the tape." Boone pats Lindsey's arm as he comes to stand next to Angel: "He doesn't have it. (To Angel) Are you okay? I tried to cushion the fall." Angel shrugs his jacket straight: "I'll be fine." Lindsey: "What the hell are you talking about?" Angel to Boone: "Thanks for getting me in. (To Lindsey) This place is like a fortress." Lilah: "What's going on?" Lindsey: "They're in it together." Angel: "Me, I'm just here for the show." Angel turns to look at the screen. Lilah: "The tape. The tape. She's got the tape." Anne is walking towards the video equipment, pulling a 8mm video tape out of her purse. Lindsey and Lilah start to push their way through the crowd, for all to see up on the big screen thanks to a diligent cameraman capturing all the action. Lilah: "Excuse me!" Anne inserts the tape and we see a pair of black shoes walking up on the big screen and hear Wesley's voice. Wesley: "How do you turn this thing on?" Lindsey and Lilah stop d*ad, watching the screen. Cordy as the picture jerks like crazy: "Just give it to me!" Wesley: "Ah, it's not a toy! It's an expensive piece of equipment. It's for gathering evidence." The camera now show Cordy's beige boots. Cordy: "Let go." Wesley: "You're just gonna play with it, aren't you?" Lindsey and Lilah exchange a look. Cordy talking to a coat rack: "I gave you two children, Bill, and you leave me for a man? No! Don't speak! Don't say anything! What is there to say? You said it all..." Serena to Cowboy: "Interesting choice." Cowboy: "I sort of believe the coat rack more." Cordy slaps the coat rack, knocking it over. Cordy, drinking a tall glass of milk: "Hmm, milk." Lindsey and Lilah exchange another look, while Anne's eyes remain riveted to the screen. Nathan Reed makes a face. Cordy says 'hmm, milk' in different ways, trying to convey different emotions. Then: "I don't get it. How am I not working?" Screen goes to snow for a moment. Lilah: "What's happening?" Now it's Wesley dancing up on the big screen, snapping his fingers. Angel comes to stand next to Anne: "Looks to me like you two were acting like a couple of crazy people - on camera, too. - Ouch." Wesley into the camera: "Price. Wesley Wyndham-Price." Serena: "Isn't that the guy that's dating Virginia Bryce?" Cowboy scoffs. The crowd starts to laugh as Wesley launches into a striptease dance. Nathan looks over at Lindsey and Lilah, not laughing. Lindsey: "You don't have us on tape, do you?" Angel smiling: "I got nothing. Do you know how hard it is to secretly record someone as paranoid as you two?" Lindsey: "This whole thing was a setup." Lilah: "You hired Boone." On screen, Wesley apparently hears someone coming into the office and jumps towards the camera, putting his hand over the lens as he drops down with it. Angel: "No. You did. For a whole lot of money, too." Lindsey turns to look towards the tables: "The money." He and Lilah run back through the crowd, pushing people aside and yelling 'look out' and 'move,' running past Nathan Reed, to find the employees knocked unconscious and the money gone. Lindsey: "Damn!" Nathan: "What happened?" Lilah: "He stole the money." Nathan: "Who?" Lindsey: "The cowboy." Angel is walking out of the hotel when Anne comes up behind him, puts a hand on his arm to turn him around then slaps him full in the face. Anne: "How dare you? I risked everything in there. I risked my kids. You never even planned to expose the scheme." Angel: "They would have covered it up. I just wanted to shake them up a bit. - It's not much, but it's a start." Anne: "And the money?" Angel: "The money was tainted." Anne: "I don't even care about..." Angel: "Yes, you do. That's the difference between us. - You still care." After looking at her a moment longer, Angel turns as walks off. Wolfram and Hart, night, Lindsey's office. Nathan: "You embarrassed us all. - You allowed two million dollars earmarked for this firm to be lost. And worst of all, you violated company policy to hire an assassin to k*ll Angel. An assassin who was in fact, in league with Angel." Lilah: "I'm very sorry, sir." Nathan: "Sorry isn't acceptable. - Holland Manners was a brilliant lawyer - had a tremendous mind - but I think he had a soft spot for the two of you, which I believe clouded his judgement. - I won't make that mistake." Lilah: "Understood." Nathan: "My advice to both of you, start piling up wins. Fast." Lilah: "Yes, sir." Lindsey: "How-how do you expect us to - succeed when you handcuff us with these idiotic rules protecting Angel?" Lilah casually edges a couple of steps away from Lindsey. Nathan: "I'm sorry. Did you say something?" Lindsey: "Angel is an obstacle to everything that we do. Give me one good reason why we can't just k*ll him!" Nathan steps up close to Lindsey: "Because Angel - is a major player." Lilah: "In business?" Nathan: "In the apocalypse." Lilah: "Oh. That." Nathan: "The prophecies all agree that when the final battle is waged, he plays a key role." Lindsey: "Good for him." Nathan: "Which side he's on is the gray area, and we're gonna continue making it as gray as possible." Lilah: "Works for me." Nathan: "Until then - his growing obsession with the two of you, the increasing possibility that to scratch that itch, he'll go so far as to k*ll you... - Well, that could actually play in the firm's favor. (Lilah stares at him wiht a frown) It would be a sign that Angel is on the path to joining our team. And as hard as it is to lose good attorneys, well the truth is - you are both expendable. (Smiles at them - then turns d*ad serious) Angel - isn't." Angel is looking at a picture of Anne and Lindsey back in his office at the Hyperion, then drops it into the trashcan on his way into the lobby. He walks up the steps to his apartment, but stops on the first landing. Angel without turning around: "I thought you'd be halfway to Brazil by now." Angel turns and we see Boone standing on the landing in front of the entrance. Boone: "No, you didn't." Angel: "No, I didn't." Boone lifts up the carpetbag in his hand and throws it down into the lobby. Money and jewelry spill out. Angel: "How much did it come to?" Boone: "With jewelry? North of two and a half million, I'd say." Angel: "That's a lot to lay on the line." Boone: "Yeah. But I got to know." Boone stretches his hands down and the steel coils wrap around his hands. We get a close up of Boone's hand. A close up on Angel's eyes, one on Boone's eyes. Then the two launch at each other across the lobby. Smash cut to the bag with the money dropping on Anne's desk. Angel: "All of it. Little bit more than five percent." Anne reaches in and takes out some of the bundles of money. We see that Angel's face is badly bruised and he has a split lip. Angel turning to go: "Wolfram and Hart find out that you have that money..." Anne: "I can find a way to hide it. (She fingers the money than looks at the dark liquid coming off onto her fingers) What's this?" Angel: "Blood." Anne looks at him, looks down, hesitates for a moment, then: "It'll wash." Goes back to removing the money form the bag. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x12 - Blood Money"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel to Darla: "You're never gonna be alone again." Door burst open, Dru walks in. Lindsey: "How did you think this would end?" Dru bites Darla. Lilah: "For God's sake, help us!" Holland: "People are gonna die." Angel, closing the door: "I just can't seem to care." Darla bites Holland. Wesley: "Right now the three of us are all that are standing between you and real darkness." Angel: "You're all fired." Angel throws down his cigarette and flames engulf Darla and Dru. Darla and Dru sit underneath the water spray from the f*re hydrant. Darla: "Who was that?" Los Angeles, Hyperion Hotel, night. Angel steps up to the glass doors leading to a balcony and looks out over the lights of the city. Cordy takes down a box of papers from a shelf. Wesley is kneeling on the floor of their new office looking through another stack of papers. The place is a mess. There are papers strewn everywhere. Wesley: "When they went out of business they just left these here?" Cordy: "Yup. Also the desk. We'll share." Wesley: "And when we go out of business we can just leave our stuff for the next guy." Cordy: "Hey, hey, negative energy boy, with all of our money pooled together we can stay here a long time." Wesley: "Hmm. 20 minutes." Cordy: "At least." Wesley: "Angel Investigations without the angel. - You think we can do it?" Cordy: "Well, we better. I mean, what else can we do? And I still have the visions. That'll keep us busy sometimes." Wesley: "We're gonna need a lot more than that. A steady, outside clientele." Cordy: "It'll happen. This is our future, you know? And, personally, I think it is pretty bright. Ow! (Hits her head on a planter hanging from the ceiling) d*ad plant! - *Not* symbolizing our future. Really!" g*n comes in: "Okay, everyone parked within ten blocks has a flyer on their windshield. We just slightly irritated almost a hundred people. (Wrinkles his nose) Does it smell funky in here to you?" Cordy: "It'll air out. And good job with the flyers. Now we can just sit back and let the calls roll in." g*n trying the phone: "They better roll in through a bull horn. We've got no dial tone." Cordy: "What?" Wesley: "Perhaps it's the wires." Wesley crawls under the desk while Cordy checks the phone. Cordy: "They said it would be on by now!" g*n: "One desk? We're sharing?" Wesley from under the desk: "Aha! Things are looking up. I think I found the right wire. Ah!" All the lights go out. g*n: "I'm so glad I met you guys. It's entertaining. Really." Angel lies down in his bed - and wakes up to the sounds of someone singing the star-spangled-banner. He frowns, then gets up. Comes down the stairs into the lobby of the Hyperion, stops on the landing, crossing his arms. The Host sees him and interrupts his song. Host: "Hey, big fella. You're gotta be singing all the time in here, am I right? Come on, with these acoustics? (sings) 'and the rockets red glare!' - Do you hear that resonance?" Angel: "What I hear, and maybe, hopefully, I'm still dreaming, is the star-spangled-banner being belted out by a loud green demon." Host: "We're all brothers under the skin, mi amigo. Although the garden hue and the horns have kept me out of some key public performances. Just once I'd love to ring in a Lakers game with our national anthem. Is that so much to ask?" Angel: "Yes! Is there a reason you're here?" Host: "There is. What's today? Thursday? Tomorrow night - the world's going to end. I thought you might want to know." Intro Angel: "So the world's gonna end." Host: "Brings you right down, doesn't it? - Don't feel the need to offer your guest a frothy cappuccino or a hot cinnamon roll." Angel sitting down in a chair with his arms crossed: "I don't." Host: "Man, you just get darker and darker. And the weird thing is, your aura? Beige." Angel: "I don't have coffee." Host runs a finger across the top of a desk: "Or a duster, buster. I don't know why you fired those three plucky kids. They were good company. Not to mention, Cordelia? Uh! Hot-o-rama! In the 'oh my sizzling loins' sense of the word, if you know what I mean. And the British boy? He's gonna be playing a *huge* - well. " Angel: "Are you gonna get to the world ending or are you just gonna chat until it does?" Host: "All right, all right! Although my buoyant good will falling on your deaf ears is something we'll need to look at in the future. The world ending? Huh, it's kind of a funny story. I'm at the club last night. Fairly typical Wednesday crowd. A Torto demon and his parasite were *m*rder* the Everly Brothers..." We see the scene the host is describing. There is a horned demon singing a duet of 'Bye, bye Love' with the head sticking out of his belly for a crowd of assorted demons. At one table sits a young human male, with curly brown hair and glasses. The Host is accepting a drink from the bartender. Host: "...which is nothing compared to what Elian had done to my sea-breeze!" We see the host take a sip and grimace. Host to bartender: "Is this a difficult concept? Were we absent the day they taught sea-breeze in bartender school? Vodka, cranberry, *fresh* grapefruit juice. Which requires a real live grapefruit. One you must cut and squeeze, not pour from a can." Host: "...Oh. The man is *such* a moron. You have no idea how I'm suffering since Ramone left." Angel: "Oh, I have an idea. Can you just get to the point already?" Host: "Yes, I can, if you'd let me get a word in edgewise, Mr. Get-to-the-point-y-pants. - So this guy I've never seen before - gets up to sing. Usually I love it. You know, they sing, I read their futures, their auras, I see into their souls..." Angel: "So this guy..." Host: "The thing that was remarkable about him was there was absolutely nothing remarkable about him..." The human gets up and goes up to the mike: "This is a song that I like, because..." Host: "...Just your average Joe about to mangle a tune and bore me with some bland vision of his bland future..." Gene sings 'All By Myself' up on the stage, not outstanding, but not bad either. Host: "...But when he started singing - man, he knocked me out!" Angel: "He was good?" Host laughs: "No, Angel-face, he knocked me *out*." We see the host dropping to the floor in front of the bar. Host: "...When I came to he was gone." Angel: "He didn't wait to hear what you saw on him?" Host: "Nope-ah." Angel: "So what knocked you out?" Host: "I looked into this guy and I saw - he has no future after ten o'clock tomorrow night - and neither does anybody else." Angel gets up from his chair, arms still crossed: "Let's say I do believe you." Host: "Oh, honey, let's say a lot more than that. We've got to find this guy. This is the big blackout we're talking about. This guy is gonna do something between now and tomorrow night. I don't know what, but it's gonna cancel *everybody's* summer plans. We got to find him and stop him." Angel: "Why'd you come to me?" Host: "Isn't it obvious? You're a champion. A unique force for good in a troubled world. - Also, all the other champions I know are currently out of town or - d*ad. Why? You don't want to work with me? - Is this because I sent you on a couple of missions that turned out to be a little..." Angel: "Pointless and deadly?" Host: "As for example. But I sent you on those missions in good faith. And we interrupt this broadcast to inform you: world ending? Kind of an emergency situation here. You might want to get on board." Angel: "So why did this guy leave the club before you had a chance to tell him what you saw?" Host: "People get scared. They come in for a reading, then they don't wanna know. Especially when the psychic faints and, uh! - a teeny bit of vomit... Lets-lets *not* dwell." Angel: "Maybe he's just a guy who likes to sing Karaoke. Maybe he doesn't know anything about you." Host: "That'd make more sense. - So what we should do is to start with the other local Karaoke bars, see if we can get a lead on him. That is if you're not to busy getting lawyers k*lled and setting girls on f*re. Outside of a college or university campus, day. Gene is standing in front of a dry erase board contemplating some equations written on it. Two students watch him through a glass window from above. Mike: "Someone forgot to wind time-boy." Val: "He's thinking. Something *you* ought to try." Mike: "Very funny. He's really not that much smarter than the rest of us." Val: "I guess that's why *his* work on the time paradox earned Professor Orfalla a Nobel nomination and your work on carpet mold was promptly forgotten by everyone?" Mike: "You know what you are?" Val: "Yes. I do, Mike. And if you say it I'll put your face in liquid nitrogen." Val gets up and knocks on the glass door leading down into Gene's lab. Gene turns around and goes up the steps to open the door for her. Val: "Hey. What's the good word?" Gene: "Entanglement." Val following him down the stairs: "How's that again?" Gene: "In Newton's world space and time are separate entities, in Einstein's their entwined." Val: "Einstein's entwined. Can you say that ten times really fast?" Gene staring at his equations: "So how is it that altering one particle of an entangled pair causes the other particle to be affected - without any communication between the two." Val: "Because space and time are one." Gene: "So how do you separate an entwined pair? You don't. You can't. In fact you probably shouldn't even try." Val: "I never do." Gene: "What you should do is carve out - one (writes another equation on board) instant - at a time." Val: "Look, I like the theory of freezing time as much as the next Star Trek nerd..." Gene: "It's not freezing time, although that is what it would look like to an outside observer. I'm talking about removing one infinitesimal space-time aggregate of from all that surrounds it." Val: "A tiny event horizon." Gene: "Sort of. And then growing that event into something measurable and controllable. Your dog and his favorite bone preserved forever - in his own impenetrable little bubble." Val: "And who's gonna clean up that bubble?" Gene: "If I could just get the math right, I should be able to prove it (walks over to some other equipment) by generating a focal point with the accelerator's beams here and passing liquid mercury - through that point." Val: "Suspending the mercury. Snatching it out of our time-space continuum - and freezing the moment." Gene: "Forever." A red head enters the lab. Val: "Denise. Thank god you're here. Your boyfriend was just coming on to me with the old Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlation." Denise smiles: "That's what got me - out of physics and into theater." Gene: "Hi, sweetie." Denise: "Hi." Gene: "How are you?" Denise: "Good. You?" Gene: "Good. So, what's new? (Denise shrugs) - I guess we're on for tomorrow night." Denise: "Uh-huh, we are." Gene: "Big night." Denise: "Yeah. One year anniversary and all." All three stand around for a moment. Denise: "Well, we-we should, ah..." Gene: "Oh, you guys are gonna take off?" Denise: "Yeah." Gene: "Okay. Well, I guess I - I'll see you tomorrow night then." Leans in to give her a quick kiss. Denise: "Don't work all night." Val: "You know he will." The Host and Angel enter a dingy bar. One of the customers is slumped asleep at a table, wrapped around a bottle. A boy is singing 'Greensleeves.' Angel: "Nice." Host: "Hmm, it's not that bad. Nothing a couple bottles of lysol can't cure." They walk over to the bar. Host watching the singer: "Interesting choice. Too bad about the cuisine art tomorrow. You know, if we stop the world from ending tomorrow the scar won't even be that noticeable. (Angel looks at him) Sorry. Occupational hazard." Angel: "Is he here?" Host: "Nope." Angel drops down on a barstool and rubs his forehead. Angel: "Seventeen Karaoke bars. You know, I need to lie down and scrub out the inside of my head." Host: "Well, maybe we're wrong. Sniffing a cold trail." Bartender: "We don't get your kind much." Host: "Excuse me?" Bartender: "Demons. We get a couple now and then but they're usually vampires passing for human." Host: "Well, I never pass on anything, mister, especially when it comes with a little umbrella in the glass." Angel: "You worked here long?" Bartender: "Eleven years now. It used to be a regular bar. But then they put in one of these Karaoke machines. Thought it would bring in the customers. It drove most of them away. We got a few steadies that make up for it." Angel: "Steadies?" Bartender: "A lot of students. They're grad students." Host: "Fits the descrip." Angel: "We're looking for a guy, early twenties, medium build, maybe one of your steadies, sings sad songs like 'All By Myself.'" Bartender: "Sounds like the kid." Angel: "Name?" Bartender: "I don't know his name but he comes in every few weeks. Runs with the whole broken heart songbook. First time I thought somebody died. But after a couple of weeks I figured he was just one of those manic depressants." Host: "Hey, Goliath, you got a good picture of this grad student in your head? (Bartender shrugs) Well, how about singing a few bars of 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow', hmm?" Bartender looks over at Angel. Angel: "Oh, you know, he's a demon. You better do what he says or he might - talk your ears off." Bartender: "For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow..." Host: "Yeah, it's him. It's our boy. Fabulous tone by the way, really nice vibrato. And you keep plugging away on that novel, F. Scott. Art is its own reward. (Aside to Angel) Got to give the people hope. (To bartender) Now this grad student, which university would that be?" Cut to the university at night. We scan past his desk and a picture of Gene and Denise together to find Gene still working on his equations. Gene: "Nine to the eleventh where 'P' is invariant. X, y and z are zero and time is orthogonal to the other three axis. Given 'A' and 'A' slash zero - equals momentum and mass energy... (goes over to enter some stuff on his laptop) and the conservation of p-x, p-y... and p-z - here goes nothing." He watches as his machine forms a field where the four emitted beams intersect. Watches the mercury droplet fall - through the field. Turns the machine off. Gene: "There went nothing. (Throws something small at the dry erase board) This is never gonna work." Walks up the steps and out of his lab. A gray skinned, pointy-eared, raccoon-eyed demon comes out from behind some barrels and speaks in some foreign language. Demon (subtitles): "He's the one. He doesn't know it yet, but he's the one. (Walks over to the dry erase board) From nothingness the human pestilence came, into nothingness it goes." The demon causes the crystal on top of his staff to glow red. The red glow shines on a part of Gene's equation and changes it. Break Cordy is setting out armfuls of candles in their dark office. Cordy: "There. See? We'll work without the harsh glare of flourescents, or all that distracting computer information." g*n and Wesley are sitting next to each other behind the desk, not moving. g*n: "Cordelia - stop trying." Cordy: "Really?" Wesley: "Join us." Cordy sits down beside g*n with a sigh. Wesley: "Sometimes you need to wallow. Just let the depression settle in - silently." The door opens and Virginia walks in carrying a gift basket and a bottle of champagne. Virginia: "Hey! Wow. This place is great. I brought champagne. You guys must be so excited (takes in their looks) in that really dry, suicidal way." Wesley gets up and greets her with a quick kiss. Wesley: "Sorry, sweetheart. You just caught us in a moment of... Well..." Cordy taking the bottle of champagne from Virginia: "Reality." Virginia: "Oh - that. I avoid that." g*n: "How do you avoid reality?" Virginia: "Money. It cures everything but boredom (holds up the basket) and food cures boredom, so there you go. Imported chips and packets of cheese." g*n: "Thanks." Wesley: "We'll enjoy them huddled around our pathetic candles." Cordy: "We'll make pathetic nachos." Cordy pops the cork and takes a sip from the bottle. Virginia: "You guys are really down." g*n: "Yeah. And don't try to tell us there is no way to go but up, because the truth is - there is always more down." Virginia: "Oh! And that was very well said by the way. But I found a case for you. A client. A rich one." Wesley: "Really?" Cordy: "And this isn't the first thing you say when you come in the room?" Virginia: "Well, I got distracted by your waves of desperation. But it's true. My friend Patricia, her family, they've got like this big guy that's been harassing them, hanging around the house getting scary, and they'd be really grateful if someone got rid of him." g*n: "That sounds easy." Cordy: "Uh, wait. By 'big guy' do you mean demon?" Virginia: "Yeah. And by 'house' I mean palatial estate, and by 'grateful' I mean they'll give you big tubs of cash. Really rich family. They invented, uhm, I don't know, like - chairs, or something." Cordy: "We'll do it! We'll do anything." Virginia: "Oh, that's so sad. Anyway, he's a Wainakay demon, and he got the eldest son already." Cordy: "So there's been a death? (Virginia nods) You just let these facts kind of dribble out, don't you?" Virginia: "I'll call Patty and tell her you'll take the job." Wesley: "Uh, sweetie, no phone." Cordy: "Also no lights." g*n: "And there's a funky smell." The three of them start to leave the office. Virginia: "I wasn't gonna say anything." The university, day. Gene enters his lab, sees the equation on the board. Gene: "Nine to the seventeenth. Where C squared and E squared are obtained by differentiating them... four velocity! Four velocity termination?" Quickly takes off his jacket and enters the changes in his laptop. Turns to watch as the mercury drops into the field and - remains suspended within it. Gene: "I did it. - Oh, this is a yee-ha moment. I - I definitely think this is a yee-ha moment!" Runs out of the lab. Gene: "Yee-ha-ha!" Gene runs across the campus past the Reynolds Library. Angel and the host enter the library through a door with a 'basement access' sign on it. Angel: "Where did you learn how to drive?" Host: "Just now in your car. Not bad for a beginner, huh?" Angel: "What? You nearly got us k*lled - four times." Host: "Someone had to drive. You weren't exactly qualified, huddled under a blanket in back, hiding from the sun. (Turns to face the shelves as a student passes them) I better stick to the shadows and think of something to say should we happen upon a comely co-ed." Angel: "Tell her you’re the new school mascot. Wait here." The host pulls out a book and opens it to hide most of his face behind it as he watches Angel walk up to the information desk. A girl walks by, glancing at the host and he quickly raises the book to duck behind it completely. Comes back up to see the guy behind the desk handing Angel a stack of books. Angel hands half the stack to the host. Angel: "Student yearbook/faculty publications going back past five years. Lets see if we can't find your little madman bent on destroying the universe." Host: "I like to think of him as *our* little madman. That's just me, team player, you know?" As the host puts the book back on the shelf and turns to follow Angel, we see one of the raccoon-eyed demons standing on the other side of the stack. Denise and the girl from the physics lab are sitting outside on a bench. Val: "You alright girl?" Denise: "Huh? - Yeah. Fine. I'm good. You know, I'm - not - perfect. Oh, god." Val: "Come on, spit it out. You're among friends." The camera pans past the banister behind the bench they're sitting on to show Gene coming up the steps behind them. Gene hears Denise voice and slows to a stop. Denise: "This has to stay among friends. You can't repeat this to anybody." Val: "I won't." Denise: "I just - I just don't think that it's gonna work out with me and Gene." Gene freezes behind them on the steps. Val: "Oh. And tonight is your guy's one year anniversary!" Denise: "You think I don't know that?" Gene just kind of sags. Val: "Oh, honey." Denise: "I mean, Gene's a wonderful guy." Val: "Yeah?" Denise: "But he's just sort of - hollow, or something. When I'm with him I feel - I feel lonely." Val: "Maybe that's because *he* is. You know I love him, but he *is* an energy sucker." Denise: "I have to break up with him." Val: "Uh. Not to be a massive bitch or anything, but couldn't you figure that out *before* the big anniversary do?" Denise: "He's got the whole thing planned. He's making me dinner at his place." Val: "What are you gonna do? (Denise just looks down) Oh, my god. You're gonna give him the sympathy bone, aren't you? It's gonna be dinner, sympathy bone, and adios Gene. I'm totally right, aren't I?" Denise: "Well, we've been together for a year. I can't just - walk out on him! It just wouldn't be right. Not after all we've..." Val: "No, you're right. The post-sympathy-bone-walk-out is you're only escape hatch now." Denise: "It was really sweet there for a while. Really sweet. But it's just - it's just not the kind of love that lasts." Gene turns around and walks back down the steps. The host and Angel are looking through the yearbooks at a table at the library. Angel: "This him?" Host: "It is not." Angel drops his book and picks up another one. Host: "Oh, got him. - He's a physicist - and a pretty good one according to this." Angel grabs the book from him: "I'll find out where the lab is." Angel shows the picture in the book to the guy behind the information desk. Angel: "Hi. I'm just trying to get a hold of - Gene Rainy? He's a grad student in physics." Guy: "Oh, yeah. He's our own Stephen Hawking. Ah, what do you want with him?" Angel closes the book and shakes the guys hand. Angel: "I'm sorry. Leonard Taubman from the Taubman Foundation. We just freed up some new grant money. I was hoping to earmark it for Gene." Guy: "Wish I was a genius. He's got his own lab in the physics department. (Picks up a campus map) Uh, it's about a quarter of a mile from here. You just stay on this path, go past Kelton hall... (sees something behind Angel) What is that?" Angel without turning around: "Don't worry. School mascot." Angel drops onto the desk as one of the raccoon-eyed demons buries a strangely shaped ax in his back then turns to where the host is sitting. Gene enters his lab and looks at a photo of him and Denise together, smiling. Turns to look at the dorps of mercury hanging suspended in the air inside the field. Gene: "So I'll give her the kind of love that lasts." Break The raccoon-eyed Lubber demon is trying to free his ax from the back of a computer monitor. The host stands and watches as it and Angel fight. The host says something in demon, then picks up a book and throws it. The Lubber demon leans to the side and the book hits Angel, knocking him back onto the stairs. Host: "Sorry." Angel ducks another h*t with the ax then kicks the Lubber over the railing of the stairs. The lubber picks up a chair, says something to Angel in demon, then throws the chair at him. Angel bats the chair aside and watches the demon run off. Angel to host: "What did you say to it?" Host: "I said we come in peace. I don't think he believed me." Angel: "And what did he say to me?" Host: "He said 'you shall not stop the golden child, the one for whom we have waited.' Lubber demons, they have a way with words." Angel: "What's a Lubber demon?" Host: "Fanatical sect, awaiting a messiah who will usher in the end of all human life. A lot of your demons don't yak about it in mixed company, but it is a pretty popular theology in the underworld." Angel: "So this mad scientist has these demons worshipping and protecting him while he blows up the planet... or what? - What's he gonna do?" Host: "Lets get to his lab pronto and find out. It's pretty clear we're dealing with a criminal mastermind." Gene is singing 'All By Myself' while setting up his equipment in the basement of his apartment complex. Angel and the host are entering Gene's lab where Mike is examining what is left from Gene's setup. Angel: "Hey, we're looking for Gene Rainy?" Mike: "So am I. Somebody took his equipment?" Angel: "What equipment?" Mike: "Particle accelerators, propulsion batteries... (sees the host) What's that?" Angel: "Don't worry. It's just the new school mascot." Mike: "For the Buccaneers?" Host: "Not your school, silly." Angel: "Do you know what Gene Rainy was working on?" Mike: "Ah. Time paradox. Accelerate specific particles out of our continuum into their own excised universe." Angel: "Come again?" Host: "Stopping time." Mike: "Which is impossible by the way. No one can do the math. Does anybody listen to me? No. He gets the grants I get carpet mold." We see Gene continuing to set up his equipment, setting up the mirror panels around his bed and putting the switch onto the night stand. Angel (voice over): "Alright. Lets say he could do it. Lets say he could stop time. How would it work?" Mike (voice over): "Well, you know, according to his speculations you focus the accelerators on a specific point, and if you can generate the correct velocity, whatever is in that field would just be removed." Angel (voice over): "Removed." Mike (voice over): "From our reality." Gene is straightening his bedspread and sets a red rose down on it. Host (v.o.): "What happens to it?" Mike (v.o.): "Nothing. In the absolute sense of that word. Whatever is in the field would stand still forever in its own private universe." Host: "Say, someone, just for fun, were to crank this into overdrive." Mike: "If the field were improperly contained it would spill out. Keep growing, stop everything (the host and Angel look at each other) - kind of wiggy, huh?" Angel: "Who has the keys to this place?" Mike: "Only Gene. Even the maintenance guys can only come in when he's here." Host: "No forced entry." Mike: "Why would Gene take his own equipment?" Angel: "The question is *where* would Gene take his own equipment." Gene is lighting the candles on the table set for a romantic dinner. Angel and the host are driving down the street in Angel's convertible. Host: "So there is another gear after that number two thingy? (Angel gives him a look) Oh, relax. I'll pay for a tune-up. Unless the world ends, then I'm off the hook." Angel: "Well, if it saves you some money, then I guess it's a good thing." Host: "Oh, this whole sour p*ssy mode of yours, it's starting to grate. You know what your problem is? - Are you listening?" Angel: "Do I have a choice?" Host: "Your heart isn't in it anymore." Angel: "I don't have a pulse so technically I don't have a heart." Host: "Technically, someone puts a stake through it you don't have anything anymore. So, Bubba, your heart counts." Angel: "I have no idea what you're babbling about." Host: "Yes, you do. If the world were to end tonight, would it really, in your heart of hearts, be such a terrible thing? (Angel doesn't answer) Now- now, sweetie, is that a fun place to be?" Angel: "I think you should shut up now." Host: " I'm the host. Have you met me? I never shut up. You pushed your friends away. You went from helping the helpless to hunting down the guilty. Blood vengeance is a luxury of the lesser beings. You're a champion, Angel. I mean - you were, at least." Angel: "What do you want me to tell you?" Host: "Everything. What's in your heart, why you stopped caring. You know, the whole ball of wax, so I can help you get back on your path. No need to rush, we got time. You know - not a *lot*." Gene is setting a bowl of salad and a little wrapped jewelry box on the table, then checks his watch. He host is singing to himself while Angel looks over at him from time to time. Host: "La la la li, du du dum..." Angel: "You want to know what my problem is? I'm screwed. That's my problem. I can't win. I'm trying to atone for a hundred years of unthinkable evil. News flash! I never can! Never going to be enough. Now I got Wolfram and Hart dogging me, it's too much! Two hundred highly intelligent law-school graduates working fulltime driving me crazy. Why the hell is everyone so surprised that it's working? But no, it's 'Angel, why you're so cranky?' 'Angel, you should lighten up. You should smile. You should wear a nice plaid.'" Host: "Oh. Not this season, honey." Angel: "Redemption. Darla had a sh*t at redemption. They took it from her. Now I have to hunt her down and k*ll her. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna k*ll her, and then I'm gonna burn that law firm to the ground. My crew - they couldn't handle that. That's good. It means that they're still human. It means their better off fired." Host: "You kind of left them in the cold." Angel: "It's a lot colder in here." Host: "It's not always gonna be this way. The song changes. Unless, of course, we don't get there on time, in which case - you'll be frozen in this *crappy* mood forever. I shudder to think." Angel looks over at the host: "We'll get there." Host: "Look out!" Angel looks back around to see a figure standing in the middle of the road. The car hits it and sends it flying over the car as Angel hits the brakes, bring the car to a stop. Angel and the host get out to check on who they just h*t, but when they turn the body over it turns out to have been a Lubber demon. Angel and the host straighten up to see more Lubber demons converge on them from all sides, carrying more of their strangely shaped axes. There is a knock on Gene's door. He checks his hair in the mirror real quick then opens it to let Denise in. Gene: "Hi." Denise: "Hi." Gene: "You look, uh... - Well, happy anniversary." Break g*n pulls his ax out of the back of a horned demon lying on the floor in Patty's house. Patty's dad pats him on the back: "Good job, man. We're very grateful." Wesley is examining one of the demon's legs. Wesley: "Oh, yes. We found the k*ller (lets the leg drop) just not the m*rder." As Wesley gets up we can see the whole family sitting in on a couch and chairs in the background. Aunt: "What's he talking about?" Wesley: "This demon was a puppet. Acting under the control of someone else. Someone in this room." Cordy eyes a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Cordy: "Are these for everyone?" Wesley: "What do we know? We know that when we arrived yesterday there was a noticeable scent of foxglove and hellebore. (Cordy is eating the hors d'oeuvres) Not to keep this demon out, as one might suspect, but rather to keep him *in* so he could carry out the m*rder's clever plan. (Wesley turns to look at the father) Such a plan would require the skills of a master wizard." Dad: "I don't do that stuff anymore." Wesley: "Then we have the footprints in the soft soil under the widow outside the solarium - far too small and not webbed to belong to this demon." Aunt: "But Kevin told you, those were his." Dad: "He snuck in late last night." Wesley: "Loudly, so we all could hear. Supposedly from seeing that shop girl in town. But we all know that Kevin is impotent, so why put on the show? (Everyone turns to look at Kevin) Perhaps to cover for the real k*ller - unless Kevin in fact *is* the real k*ller. With Derek gone, the family inheritance falls to you, the younger brother and black sheep of the family. - Unfortunately you had neither the opportunity nor the intelligence to perpetrate this crime. - Sorry about the impotent remark. - So if Kevin was to have control of the money, who would have control of Kevin?" Cordy pointing at the empty tray: "Are there any more of these little..." Wesley clears his throat. Cordy: "Sorry." Wesley: "His sister? His mother? - Both powerful forces in his life, both with their own agendas. But only one person knew the secret that would allow them to blackmail Kevin for the rest of his life. Only one person took pains to hide their muddy shoes. Only one person reeked of foxglove and hellebore. Only one person was responsible for the death of Derek Bointon - his own sweet, doting Aunt Helen!" All the Bointons gasp. Dad: "Helen!" Aunt Helen jumps up from her chair and runs for the door only to have Cordy block her way. Cordy: "Not so fast, sister." g*n to Wesley: "*That* was cool." Wesley: "It wasn't that difficult. You just - have to keep sifting the evidence until the truth finally hits you." Angel is fighting the Lubber demons fast and furious, while the host stands on the sidelines, watching as if it was a boxing match. Two of the Lubbers decide to go for the host. The host lets out a loud high note, causing them to drop their axes and cover their ears in pain as we hear some glass shatter, then kicks one between the legs and hits the other across the chin, dropping them both, before going back to watching Angel. Gene and Denise sit at the dinner table. Gene: "So how was scene class?" Denise: "Well, you know - Jack - thinks he can't play it without a goatee." Gene: "The footstool would have a goatee?" Denise: "Well, you know Jack. (She lifts the necklace hanging around her neck) Thank you for the, ah... It's really pretty." Gene: "It made me think of you. (Denise looks down at the food on her plate) - Are you all done?" Denise: "Yeah. I'm not that hungry. - It was good. It was really good." Angel knocks down another Lubber demon. Host: "Hurry!" Angel runs over to his car and jumps back in the driver's seat. Denise picks up the rose on Gene bed and smells it. Denise: "That's sweet." Gene: "I'm sorry about the clutter." Denise with a smile: "It wouldn't be you without it." She slowly takes off her blouse and lets her hair down. Angel's car is speeding down the road. Gene and Denise are in bed under the sheets, kissing. Gene: "I love you." Angel's car pulls up in front of Gene's building, and he and the host get out. Angel: "Okay. If I had a machine to stop time, where would I put it?" Host: "Probably were the demons can guard it." The host points at a Lubber demon. Gene is on top of Denise in bed. He reaches over to the nightstand and flicks the switch that turns on the machine down in the basement. A beam sh**t straight up from it, bounces off a mirror in Gene's bedroom to another one. The time field begins to form above the bed and to slowly spread to cover first Gene then Denise, who freeze in place. Down in the basement a Lubber demon is entering new control functions on Gene's laptop. The machine revs up and the field starts to grow. The Lubber demon nods to himself, then turns as another of its kind comes crashing down through the window, followed by Angel. The field is growing down from the top apartment. It engulfs and freezes a guy sitting down pouring himself a beer. Angel is fighting the two Lubbers in the basement. Knocks one of them down, then smashes its head in the open door of a dryer sitting there knocking it out. The other Lubber hits Angel from behind, then hits him hard enough to send Angel flying to the top of the basement stairs. The Lubber charges up the stairs after him. Angel rolls onto his back and uses his feet to catapult the Lubber into the wall, then jumps down to the basement floor. The Lubber launches himself into the air to stop Angel before he can reach the machinery, but the time bubble spreading down through the ceiling freezes it in mid air. Ducking low, Angel scrambles over to the machine and pulls out some wires. The bubble shrinks and the Lubber lands on the hard ground instead of on Angel. Angel picks up its dropped ax and buries it in its back. The bubble continues to shrink, unfreezing the guy pouring his beer, unfreezing Denise and Gene and vanishes. Angel, breathing hard, looks around the basement. Denise is sitting on the edge of the bed with the sheet wrapped around her, her back to Gene, lying back on the bed, covered by a blanket. Denise: "Gene, we have to talk." Gene: "I can't believe this." Gene is sitting at his table with Angel and the Host, fully dressed. Gene: "Listen, I am - really, really sorry. I had no idea I was putting the whole world in jeopardy or - or there were all these demons. - Although the idea of aliens among us is consistent with Murdoch's multi-verse. I just - I just didn't want her to leave." The host looks at Angel and motions with his head towards Gene. Angel glances back and forth between the host and Gene, then takes a deep breath. Angel: "Well, you know - love (lets out his breath) it's a f*re." Gene: "You been there." Angel: "It burns you. - Alive. (Gene frowns at him) Down to the bone. And then it turns the bone to ash..." Host: "I-I think what my chipper friend is trying to say here, Gene, is the wheel keeps turning. You can't stop it. Sometimes things get worse, sometimes they get better." Gene: "I want the wheel to stop - which probably explains the whole time in a box disaster. I can't emphasize enough how sorry I am about that." Host: "It just don't work, Gene-y. It's like a song. Now, I can hold a note for a long time (laughs) actually I can hold a note forever. But eventually that's just noise. It's the change we're listening for. The note coming after, and the one after that. That's what makes it music." Gene: "I guess. - - You guys like beer?" Angel: "Beer sounds great." Gene gets up: "I'm glad you guys, ah..." Leaves the room. Host to Angel: "You're connecting to a human. That's a start. Although I'd go easy on the bone and ash metaphors for a while." Angel: "Well, the guy is a disaster at love, and nearly destroyed the world. I can relate. - Yeah, I guess I did kind of leave 'em in the cold." Host: "What, your buddies? By f*ring them?" Angel: "Yeah. - Yeah, I guess I made it pretty hard for 'em." Cut to Cordy, Wes and g*n dancing. There is music playing and their candlelit office is filled with people. The camera changes to give us a look in through the window in the door from outside. Cordy looks towards the window and stops dancing, pats Wes on the shoulder and walks towards the door. A human, middle aged male is walking in through it. Cordy: "Hi." Wesley: "How are you?" Man: "Uhm..." g*n: "You alright?" Man: "I just - I need help. Is this Angel Investigations?" Wesley: "Uh, yeah, you're in the right place. Ah. Sorry about the confusion." Cordy: "We're just having a little celebration. A new beginning kind of thing." Man: "Oh, well, maybe I should..." Wesley: "No!" g*n: "No, no. You need help, you're in the right place. We can talk in back. Come on in." Man: "Which one of you is Angel?" The three of them exchange a glance. Wesley: "It's just a name." FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x13 - Happy Anniversary"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel to cellphone: "Kate, it's Angel. Pick up if you're there. If you get this message get a hold of you father. Get him out of his house. He's in danger." Kate's father getting k*lled by a vampire. Kate: "Oh, dad. Oh, no, dad!" Kate standing in front of her father's grave, Angel watching from the shadows. Cordy to Angel: "Nice plan, General Custer! You can't go in uninvited, remember? You need us." Anne holding up Cordy's blouse: "This is not what I expected. What's the matter, doesn't fit you anymore?" Angel throwing down the cigarette and setting Darla and Dru on f*re. g*n: "You went to far." Wesley: "Right now the three of us are all that's standing between you and real darkness." Angel: "You're fired." Lilah: "For God's sake, help us." Holland: "People are gonna die." Angel closing the doors: "I just can't seem to care." Night. Angel's convertible pulls up in front of the Hyperion. Angel slowly crosses the hotel lobby, looking around. Looks down at the books and papers on the counter, pushes them off. Turns around to survey the lobby, crosses his arms and looks down as the camera pulls up then through a black wall to show us Wesley holding the door to their new office open, looking out. Wesley: "What I wouldn't give for a roving band of Prekian demons right now." g*n and Cordy, sitting by the desk, give him a look. Wesley: "Without the ritualistic slayings of course." Cordy: "Of course." Wesley picks up the newspaper and closes the door. Wesley: "Something to fight. Good to be done. A little action." Cordy: "Maybe we could by one of those star maps, find out where Steven Segal lives. (g*n and Wes give her a look) You're telling me he got to be a movie star without a little demonic assistance?" g*n looking at the newspaper: "Look, I say if things are quiet, let them be quiet." Wesley goes to sit down: "Quiet maybe good for mankind - but bad for business. We need to make a name for ourselves." g*n: "We can't even agree on a new name yet. Unless, of course you guys have come around to the idea of..." Wesley: "I don't think so." Cordy: "Give it up already." Wesley gets back up: "New name or not we need to be on the streets, plying our trade. Generating a little word of mouth. We can't expect evil to just walk through the door." The front door opens and a woman ushers in a young girl. Cordy getting up: "Can we help you?" Francine: "I'm, ah, looking for Wesley Wyndham Price." Wesley: "I'm Wesley." Francine: "Ah. I'm Francine Sharp, my daughter Stephanie. I'm a friend of Virginia's from the club." Wesley: "Oh, right, the country club." Cordy: "One of Virginia's *rich* friends? (Wesley, Stephanie and Francine give her a look.) You certainly came to the fight place, ha, ha." Francine: "Virginia said you specialize in, uh, strange phenomenon?" Cordy: "The stranger the better as far as we're concerned. Please, have s seat. - Tell us what the problem is. (Francine leads her daughter over to a chair) Trust me, we specialize in strange. There is nothing we haven't see... (Trails off as she sees an eye blinking up at her as Stephanie sits down. Turns to Wes and whispers) There's an eye in the back of her head!" Wesley and g*n come over to take a look. Wesley moves his finger in front of the eye and the eyes tracks it. Francine: "Something grabbed her on the way home from swim practice and bit her. When she woke up this morning that was there." Wesley crouches down next to Stephanie's chair: "Did you see who or what did this to you?" Stephanie looks over at her mom. Francine: "It was dark. She doesn't remember much. She's been in a state of shock since it happened. - I'll pay you whatever it takes. Can you make it go away?" Wesley: "Yes, absolutely. Consider us already on the job." Cordy: "I knew you came to the right place." Francine: "Who would do this?" Wesley: "We're going to find out, but it - it'll take a little time. You'd be surprised how many nasty things are on the streets these days. Two teenagers are running down a dark street, dart around a corner and lean against the wall. The boy glances back around the corner. Boy: "He's right behind us." Girl: "Oh god." Boy: "We got to move. Now." They run on while we see a big shadow on the opposite wall slowly moving closer. The East Hills Teen Shelter, night. Anne hands a stack of blankets to a black girl. Anne: "Here you go. Pass these out first. And then get Eva to go to the storage room. I bought a bunch of new sleeping bags last week, just in case we got crowded." Anne surveys the packed shelter with a sigh, then goes to answer the front door as someone pounds on it. The two teens we saw running from the shadow are standing outside. Boy: "Open up! Please, open up. (Anne opens the doors) Anne, look, I know it's past curfew, but we got to come in." Anne: "Sorry, Kenny. Ten o'clock. You know the rules." Kenny: "I know, I know, but - you can't leave us out here, okay? There's something - (looks back over his shoulder) - we gotta come in." Anne: "We're already packed to the ceiling! There is no room, even if I did let you in. No more beds." Girl: "Please. We'll sleep on the floor." Kenny: "Anne, don't make us go back out there." Anne steps aside and the two teens hurry inside. Anne takes a look up and down the street then pulls the door closed and locks it. We a see a human figure move in the shadows across the street, the light briefly glinting off a silver badge on its chest and the shiny rim of the cap it is wearing. Intro Merl is in his lair packing his stuff into boxes. Turns around and almost runs into Angel standing there. Angel: "Hey, Merl." Merl: "Jesus, man! I mean, can't you, you know, knock?" Angel: "You don't make that funny expression when I knock, or if you do I don't see it. - What are you doing?" Merl: "Packing." Angel: "You're not going anywhere." Merl: "Oh, yes I am, as in far, as in now." Angel: "Who's gonna tell me all the fun facts about my friends?" Merl: "Big meeting tomorrow night, some top-level Wolfram and Hart brass. I think it's a new demon account. 9:30, Diaghilev, that concludes my career as a professional informant. All right? Consider it a - a freebie. Just like every other bit of information I've ever given you." Angel: "Nine thirty." Merl: "Tomorrow night. Best of luck. Hope you bust that evil law firm wide open." Angel: "Well, why the rush to relocate?" Merl: "Well, lets see, there is, uhm, *you* and then there is every other crook and monstro in this town that thinks they can just waltz in here and pound me until they get information, without paying for it either. I mean at least that British guy understood what a working relationship was, had some respect. *You* don't care about anyone but yourself." Angel: "I really don't think that you're in a position to judge..." Merl: "How is old Wesley, huh? - Or the other two you fired? They doing alright? Oh, gee, let me guess. You never even bothered to check." Angel: "This had better pan out." Merl: "Nine thirty at Diaghilev. Pleasure doing business with you." Day, the East Hills Teen Shelter, Anne is talking to a black guy carrying a clipboard and pen. Anne: "And make sure you get full names, no tags, no nicknames. I've seen at least a dozen new faces, and I don't want anyone slipping through the cracks. (Sees the guy that came in late) Kenny. Can I talk to you for a sec? How 've you been? We haven't seen you in a while." Kenny: "Fine. Crashing different places. You know me and shelters, man. Too many rules. I've got to have my freedom." Anne: "Hm-mm. So why'd you come in last night?" Kenny: "I don't know. It was cold out there. I was getting frostbit." Anne: "It was sixty five degrees outside." Kenny: "So? I'm from Florida. Sixty five degrees is like the Arctic Circle." Anne: "Kenny - why'd you come in?" Kenny: "Cops." Anne: "What?" Kenny: "Cops. They've been hassling everybody lately. Which, hey, what else is new, right? But these guys... Last night me and Les where hanging down on thirty ninth." Anne: "Panhandling?" Kenny: "No. Washing my Mercedes. All of a sudden this cop comes up out of nowhere and just wham! h*t me so hard I thought my teeth were coming out." Anne: "He h*t you? What were you doing?" Kenny: "Nothing, I swear to god. And then after he punched me he threw Les against the wall, about near broke her arm. Next thing I know he's reaching for his nightstick, so I just grabbed Les and booked." Anne: "You mean he wasn't trying to arrest you..." Kenny: "I'm telling you. He just walked up, said 'no loitering,' slugged me in the mouth, and then chased us for a couple blocks before we made it here." Anne: "We got a big problem." Kenny: "Yeah. Good luck solving it. I mean, who you're gonna call? The cops?" Anne: "I think I know someone who might help." Anne walks into the new Angel Investigations. g*n smiles: "Annie! What's up, girl? I haven't seen you in a minute. Come here! (Anne smiles back and they hug) So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?" Anne: "Well, I just thought I'd see how the other half lives (looks around) and strangely enough, it's not that different." g*n turns her towards Wes and Cordy. Cordy: "We like to think of it as early American dilapidation. (Shakes Anne's hand.) Hi. I'm Cordelia." Anne: "Anne." Wesley: "Wesley Wyndham-Price. Nice to meet you." g*n: "Anne here runs a teen shelter over on Crenshaw, not too far from my hood." Anne: "Oh g*n, all this time and you still remember!" g*n: "Alright, alright, I get it. But I've been busy. I've been working." Anne: "Well, if you're not too busy, mind if I run something by you?" Blend to later that evening. Anne is sitting holding a cup of coffee. Anne: "Kenny is not the only one. I've talked to some of the others and they *all* say the same thing. No provocation, no reason, the police are just terrorizing them." g*n: "Renegade cops. Not exactly my usual." Anne: "Oh, that's right. You used to hunt..." Looks over at Wes and Cordy, still researching at the desk. g*n: "Oh, it's cool. It's cool. They know what's what." Cordy: "What?" g*n: "I still hunt vampires, but if this job has taught me anything, it's that there's things a lot worse out there than a set of teeth. " Anne: "Like a bunch of overzealous cops beating on my kids. - Speaking of which... I should really get back. The shelter's been getting jammed after sunset, and somebody's got to keep them reined in." g*n: "I'll go with you. I don't think it's safe for you being out there by yourself. (To Cordy and Wes) I'm gonna head over to the teen center. See if I can figure this thing out." Cordy: "Oh, gee, and miss out on this exciting case we're working on? (Anne looks at her) One of Wesley's wealthy acquaintances got bit by a demon." Anne: "Are they okay?" Wesley: "Uh, for the most part." Cordy: "Except for where she grew another eye in the back of her head." Anne: "Oh, that sounds... handy. What kind of demon does that?" Wesley: "That's what we're trying to figure out. Once we know we should be able to deoculate her. I mean, just the one in back." Cordy: "Oh, yes, Angel Investigations, home of the wicked high creep factor." Anne: "Angel?" g*n: "Oh, our company. It's named after our former boss. We're planning, uh, on changing it to the g*n Agency..." Cordy and Wes: "No, we're not." g*n: "As soon as these two narcissists come to their senses." Anne: "But Angel, that... this isn't the guy in the long, black trench coat, is it?" g*n: "You know him?" Anne: "Yeah. He tried to help me out a few weeks ago." g*n looks over at Cordy and Wesley. The two of them get up from the desk. Cordy: "He did?" Wesley: "Really?" Cordy walks closer to Anne. Anne: "But it turned out it was just a scam to screw this law firm." Cordy, brightly: "Well, he hasn't changed a bit." Turns around and goes back to the table. She and Wesley go back to their books. g*n to Anne: "Come on." We see g*n and Anne coming out of the office looking down from overhead. g*n: "So, tell me more about this situation." Angel is watching them from the roof of the building opposite and trails them along the edge as they walk away. East Hills Teen Shelter, night. A van pulls up in front of it and Anne and g*n get out. Anne: "Thanks for coming by, g*n." g*n: "You know I've got your back. I haven't seen this place in forever." Anne: "Yeah, it's been a while." Angel watches from the corner as they enter the building. Inside the shelter, g*n and Anne are sitting on a sofa talking to a group of kids sitting on another one across from them. Ray: "Look, the cops are tripping, G." g*n: "Define tripping for me." Girl: "Out for blood. Les got her arm busted up." Ray: "The cops stopped me the other night. He went for his g*n, looking to put a cap in my ass, man!" Anne: "It's outrageous. These cops are gonna k*ll someone. We have to do something about this." g*n: "Anne, you think you could give us a minute?" Anne looks at g*n then gets up. Anne: "Yeah. I have some paperwork I could do." g*n waits till she's gone. g*n: "You guys try to play her?" Girl: "What?" Ray: "No way, G." g*n: "Anne's no fool, but she's got a blind spot. She wants to trust you all. Now, if I find out you're taking advantage of that..." Ray: "This ain't no scam, G. We're the victims, man!" g*n: "Victims. Right. So what was you doing when this cop pulled his piece on you?" Ray: "Absolutely nothing." g*n: "Oh, so I haven't seen you on Normandy and Fifth dealing? You telling me that wasn't you I seen?" Ray: "That's ancient history, man. I gave that up." g*n: "Well, do the cops know that? 'cause maybe they didn't get your e-mail." Girl: "Hey, we're not talking about some street sweep the PD does to shut up the moms. Okay, this is w*r, and everyone's a target." Ray: "She speaks true, G. A hundred percent true." Angel steps away from the window where he's apparently been watching and listening and turns to walk down the sidewalk. Cop: "Keep your hands where I can see them." Angel turns and spreads his hands: "I'm sorry, officer, have I done something wrong?" Cop pulls his nightstick: "Turn around. Face the fence. Place your hands on your head." Angel: "This is a mistake." The cop hits Angel across the jaw with his nightstick and slams him up against the fence. Cop: "You're under arrest." Angel: "Believe me, you don't wanna do this." Pushes the cop off him, but the cop rebounds of a parked car and comes right back, swinging his stick. Cop, calmly: "You have the right to remain silent." Angel blocks the swing and pushes the cop off him again. The cop rebounds off the fence and comes back swinging. Cop: "Anything you say can..." Angel kicks him in the chest, pushing him back into the fence. Again the cop rebounds swinging his stick. Cop: "...and will be used against you in a court of law." Angel punches the cop in the stomach, then the back of his head. The Cop drops against the car, then crumbles to the ground and doesn't move. Angel continues down the sidewalk, but hasn't taken more than a couple steps before the cop pops back up and continues dispassionately. Cop: "You have the right to an attorney." Angel stops and turns, blocking another swing from the cop and punching him in the gut again. Cop: "Should you be unable to afford an attorney (Swings at Angel, who blocks it) one will be appointed to you." The cop swings again, again Angel blocks. The cop staggers back. Angel turns and kicks the cop's head right off his neck. The head bounces off the windshield, Angel staring after it. Decapitated and decayed looking head: "Do you understand your rights as I have..." The words slow and stop. Angel looks down at the LAPD badge on the chest of the now equally decayed looking corpse. Break East Hills Shelter, night, two black teens walks up to where g*n and Anne are sitting and one of them slaps g*n on the back. George: "Well, if it isn't Charles g*n, brother at large." g*n and Anne get up. g*n: "Anne, meet Rondell and George." Anne: "Hi." George: "Greetings. Brought the camcorder. What do you need?" g*n: "Alright, I've got this little neighborhood problem I promised Anne we'd look into." Rondell: "This got something to do with the police cracking skulls?" g*n: "You know about that?" George: "Who doesn't?" g*n: "I didn't till today. Somebody could have filled me in." Rondell: "You ain't been around to tell nothing to." George: "You've been moving on up, dog, - playing demon detective with your new family." Rondell: "Deluxe apartment in the sky." George: "When I got the call I figured it must be Christmas or something." g*n: "Maybe I shouldn't have called at all. In fact, you know what? You're all free to go." George: "We already made the trip, might as well go all the way." g*n: "Don't do me no favors." George: "I'm not. The favor's for these kids. - Now you got a plan or don't you?" g*n after a b*at: "All right, look, the plan is simple. I want you to roll the camcorder and wait for the cops to hassle us." Anne: "How do you know they will?" g*n: "'cause we'll be the ones walking while black. (George laughs) Come on." g*n, Rondell and George leave. LAPD headquarters, night. Kate walks across the office reading a file to find Angel sitting on the edge of her desk. Kate: "Haven't seen you in a while." Angel: "I've been busy." Kate: "Yeah, me too." Kate walks past him and gets another file out of a drawer. Kate: "A couple of open cases I've been working. Two women k*lled in a clothing store. Thirteen lawyers from Wolfram and Hart slaughtered in a wine cellar." Angel: "Real tragedy." Kate: "Yeah, you seem real broken up by the loss. Anyway, we're still looking into this one." Angel: "Good luck with that." Kate: "I guess you never caught up with your vampire friends in time." Angel: "I did track them down later and set them on f*re." Kate: "Sounds like you enjoyed it. But then again - the whole m*rder and mayhem thing's always been right up your alley." Angel: "If that's how you feel, I guess this isn't the best time to tell you - I just k*lled a cop." Kate: "I wouldn't make a joke about that in this building, no matter how immortal you think you are." Angel: "Of course, this is the kind of cop that keeps talking even after he's been decapitated. (Pulls out the cops badge (number 4226) and shows it to Kate.) Bet they don't teach you that at the academy. Want to tell me who that badge belongs to?" Kate takes the badge and looks at it. Kate is pulling up the file on the badge. Angel: "That's him." Kate: "Officer Peter Harkes." Angel: "You know him?" Kate: "Well enough to be at his funeral six months ago." Angel: "You want to take a ride?" Cordy on the office phone: "Of course we can handle this eye thing without you. That's not the point. - Just that maybe we should back you up on this. - Because I don't want you to get hurt. - Of course I do, *but*... Hello? (Hangs up the phone with a sigh.) Okay, g*n's about to do a really stupid thing." Wesley reading his book: "What did he say?" Cordy: "Just that in order to find out if the police have been brutalizing and k*lling people in Anne's neighborhood, he's going to videotape the cops trying to brutalize and k*ll him." Wesley looks up: "You can't be serious." Cordy: "Nothing says 'Aha, I'm no to you' like being on the receiving end of a vicious police beating." Wesley: "You couldn't stop him?" Cordy: "Hello! g*n, stubborn, synonyms." Wesley: "That can't be his plan, can it? I mean, it's - really a dumb plan." Cordy: "Hey, g*n graduated with a major in dumb planning from Angel University. He sat at the feet of the master and learned well how to plan dumbly." Wesley: "We'll just gonna have to let him do this." Cordy: "Oh. I'm sure he'll be fine." Wesley: "He wants our help, he knows where to call us." Cordy: "We'll work our gig, g*n can work his." Wesley: "Right. Lets get down there and save him from himself." Cordy: "It's not like that third eye is really going anywhere." Angel and Kate are walking up to the grave of Peter Harkes. Kate: "That one. Never saw the guy who sh*t him." Angel: "Catch the k*ller?" Kate: "Oh, yeah. Not exactly a criminal genius. He's up for the death penalty." Angel: "You said his funeral was six months ago." Kate: "Around then. Why?" Angel: "This ground's been disturbed in the past few weeks. Someone's done some digging." Kate: "How do you know?" Angel just looks at her. Angel: "A lot of cops buried here?" Kate: "Yeah." Angel walks over to another grave. Angel: "How about him?" Kate: "Kevin worked vice. (Angel nods to himself.) What is going on here?" Angel: "I think someone is unearthing d*ad cops and putting them back on the streets." Kate: "What? How is that?" Angel: "Zombies. - Magically reanimated corpses. They walk they talk, but somebody else is pulling their strings." Kate looks down at the grave then runs off to another one, Angel following. Kate: "Is it... my dad, is he..." Angel: "No. His ground's undisturbed." Kate: "Are you sure?" Angel: "I'm sure." Kate puts a hand over her mouth and does her best not to break down crying. Angel: "You okay?" Kate: "Who's doing this?" Anne is coming down the crowded steps at the shelter carrying a stack of blankets. Anne to teen: "Could you give Emma a hand in the kitchen?" There is a pounding on the front door and Anne goes to answer it. Anne: "Sorry, no more... (Sees that it's Cordy and Wes) Hi, what..." Cordy: "Is g*n still here?" Anne: "No, he left with his friends a little while ago. Why?" Wesley: "Did he say where he was going?" Anne: "Forty fifth street, I think." Wesley turns to go: "I'll start there. I'm on my cell phone if you hear from him." Cordy: "Check in with me." Wesley: "Right." Cordy looks inside the shelter. Cordy: "Huh, looks like you could use some help." Anne: "All of my regular staffers are too scared to come in tonight." Cordy: "Where do you want me to start?" Anne hands her the blankets: "How are your laundry folding skills?" Cordy: "I'm an actress. I can - fake it." Cordy turns and sees a girl wearing the blouse Angel donated to the shelter in "Blood Money" coming down the stairs. Cordy: "Hey! That's my... (The girl looks at her) Sorry. - I have a shirt just like that. (To Anne) The crook at the store said it was one of a kind! Big fibber!" Anne turns to shut the door but a but black guy wearing a black leather jacket jumps up the steps from the street, blocking the door. Anne: "I'm sorry, I'm all out of beds." Jackson: "Oh, come on now, sweet thing. You know it's not save for man or beast out here." Anne tires to shut the door again: "I'm very sorry, but I really don't have any (they guy steps in) free beds." Jackson: "Oh, you don't have to worry about me. I'm sure I can find someone willing to share. (Watches two girls walking up the steps) Oh, yes. Plenty of candidates." Cordy throws the stack of blankets to the side and takes a step closer to the guy. Anne: "I really think it would be best if you left." Cordy: "You should probably go." Jackson: "This is a shelter, right? Well, it just so happens - I'm in need of a little shelter tonight." Pushes Cordy out of the way and walks deeper into the shelter. Cordy: "Hey! Hey." Cordy is about to go after the guy but Anne stops her. Anne: "Let him go. I don't want any trouble." Black leather guy bumps into the retired drug dealer kid g*n was talking with earlier. Ray: "Oh, watch out man... Jackson." Jackson: "Lookee here. You been ducking me lately, Ray? Hmm?" Ray: "No." Jackson: "No?" Ray: "No." Jackson: "You don't still think I'm pissed at you, do you?" Ray: "I don't know." Jackson: "Why you're shaking, Ray? What you got to be nervous about? - You don't think I'm gonna k*ll you or something, do you? - Huh?" Ray: "No." Jackson laughs and claps Ray on the shoulder. Jackson: "I'd never k*ll you here, Ray. Not in front of all the pretty ladies. You know I'd never k*ll you *here*, hmm?" Laughs and walks away. g*n and his two buddies are walking down a dark street. George: "All right, look, all I'm saying is you got to let me set up so they don't see me with this. Cops see me with this, ain't no way we can Rodney King them." g*n: "Yeah, that's if we ever find any. I never had to look so hard to find trouble before." George points at a street sign. George: "Hey, check it. Forty fifth street, man." g*n: "So?" Rondell: " You're kidding me. This is g*ng ground. They catch us rolling up in here they'll take us out." George: "That's why we ain't seen no cops. They don't even come around here." g*n: "I said you was free to go." George: "Hey, man, I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it." g*n looks at the deserted street. g*n: "Damn. Someone having an apocalypse and forget to invite us?" A cop comes walking up the street behind them tapping his nightstick against the wall of the building and the three turn to face him. Cop: "What are you doing?" g*n: "Doing? Nothing, man, just taking a walk." Cop: "Put your hands on the wall, step back and spread your feet apart." g*n: "You arresting us?" g*n looks back to make sure that George is getting it all with the camcorder peeking from his coat. Camcorder picture shows g*n and the cop with a little REC in the upper left corner. Cop: "Do as you're instructed." g*n: "Officer, I'd just like to know if we're being arrested." Officer: "Turn around and face the wall. Now." g*n: "Hey, I'm not trying to argue with you, but - I'd like to know what we did wrong. You know, what law we broke? Because if we broke one, I think we should know what it was so we don't make the same mistake twice." Cop lifts his stick: "I'm not gonna say it again." Wesley comes running up the street behind the cop. Wesley: "Wait! Officer, wait! This man is a friend of mine, a very good friend. I'm sure he hasn't committed any..." The cop spins around and sh**t Wesley in the belly. Wesley staggers from the impact, looks at the cop in disbelief then sinks down against the wall of the building. Break g*n: "Wesley!" g*n tackles the cop, knocking the g*n from his hand. Rondell darts in and picks up the g*n. The cop hits g*n and reaches down to his ankle. George: "He's got another g*n!" The cop pulls out his hideout g*n and Rondell sh**t him twice, dropping him to the ground. Rondell: "Oh man! Oh man!" George: "Lets get the hell out of here." g*n: "Help me get Wesley." As g*n hurries over to Wesley, Rondell drops the g*n, staring at it. Wesley to g*n: "Is anyone else cold?" g*n: "It's okay now. We're gonna take you some place warm. Help me pick him up! Come on! Come on!" g*n and George pick Wesley up while Rondell stares at the d*ad cop. Rondell: "I sh*t him! I sh*t a cop!" g*n: "Not a lot of choice." George: "We got to move." Rondell: "I k*lled a police officer. Look at him. He's d*ad!" Which is when the police officer sits back up. g*n: "Don't look *that* d*ad." George: "Lets go!" The four of them run as best they can with Wesley supported between g*n and George. The cop reaches up to the radio clipped to his shoulder. Cop: "We have a situation." Radio: "Are there any loose ends?" Cop: "We have witnesses. I need back up." g*n and the others hurry down a street. g*n: "Hold up. Hold up. I got to try and stop this bleeding." Points to a hole in a chain link fence, and they slip through it, then around the corner of the building. g*n: "Around here. - Put him down. Easy! Take it easy!." Wesley: "Nine one one. You've got to call 911." Rondell: "Screw the cops! They're the ones that did this to you!" g*n: "An ambulance." Rondell: "Oh." Wesley pulls out his cell. g*n: "Alright. (To Rondell) Go down and keep watch." Rondell hurries back to the hole in the fence, while g*n dials the phone. George: "Tell them no siren." Phone: "911 What is your emergency?" Kate and Angel enter the office of a police precinct. Kate: "It's pretty quiet in here." The office is deserted. Angel hits the bell on the counter and a door in the back opens and an officer comes out. Officer: "Can I help you folks?" Kate shows her badge: "Yeah. I'm investigating some complaints about the way some officers are handling things in this precinct." Officer: "Isn't that more a job for internal affairs?" Kate: "Well, I'm taking a personal interest." The captain passes behind the officer and disappears into the back office. Kate: "Where is everyone?" Officer: "Oh, only a few of us riding the desk tonight." Angel: "Not a lot going on?" Officer: "Crime is way down in this precinct. We're doing things right." Angel: "Who takes credit for that?" Officer: "It's a team effort. But, the captain's the one who really got the ball rolling." Angel: "Can we talk to him?" Officer: "He's not here. But you're free to try again later though." Kate: "This captain of yours, he's running things by the book?" Officer looks from Angel to Kate: "I don't have to tell you who used to rule these streets, detective. The scumbags did. Hell, I-I was afraid to drive to work myself." Kate: "Oh, really?" Officer: "We got a tougher policy now." g*n is pressing a rag to Wesley's wound as Rondell comes running back. Rondell: "Ambulance ain't gonna come down here." George: "Shut up before they hear you." Rondell hurries back to his post as g*n takes off his coat to cover Wesley. Wesley: "I don't think I'm doing very well." g*n: "Hey, you're gonna be fine, man, alright? Getting sh*t like this... Yeah, I've seen a lot of people been sh*t worse than this never even slowed them down." Rondell comes hurrying back: "It's here!" g*n: "Come on, hurry, move!" Wesley is being loaded into the ambulance by a white and a black paramedic. g*n to George and Rondell: "Meet me back at the shelter, all right? Watch your backs!" George and Rondell run off. g*n as the white paramedic is about the close the back doors: "Hey, hey! I'm with him." g*n gets into the back of the ambulance and it drives off. g*n: "It's alright, Wesley, hang on. We're almost there, okay?" As the ambulance nears the end of the alley two cop cars with flashing lights block its exit. Driver: "Something is going on up here. I'll go see what it is." g*n gets up to look out through the front windshield to see the driver talking to the cops. Driver: "Hey you guys, you got to let us through. We got..." g*n: "No! Don't!" Driver: "...a wounded man in the back. We got to get him..." g*n darts out the back and into the driver's seat as the cops open f*re on the driver, riddling him with b*ll*ts. g*n: "Hang on!" g*n backs up the ambulance, until his way is blocked by another cop car. Turns the ambulance and rams it through the fence they slipped through earlier. Three cops run after them, f*ring their g*n at the back of the ambulance. g*n makes it out of the alley and starts to speed down the road. The ambulance pulls up outside the shelter. g*n opens the back doors and starts to unstrap Wesley. Black paramedic: "We're stopping? What are you doing?" g*n: "Trying to survive. Help me get him inside. Come on, Wes. Come on, man." g*n gets Wesley up while the paramedic grabs the IV bag off the hook and hands it to g*n. Paramedic: "Here take this." g*n holds out his arms to Wesley as he teeters at the doors of the ambulance. g*n: "Come on, man. I got you." Anne goes to answer the pounding on the front door of the shelter. g*n: "Annie! Open up. It's G. Open up! Hurry!" Anne opens the door. Anne: "Oh my god! What happened?" g*n: "They sh*t him." Anne: "Who did?" g*n: "The cops. They're not human." Anne stares for a moment then goes to close the door. Outside a police car pulls up on the other side of the street. The driver reaches for his radio. Cop: "All passengers are on board, sir." The police captain is listening to the report on his radio. Cop: "We have full containment." Captain: "Wait for back up. Secure the entire section. - Clean house." The paramedic is taking Wesley's blood pressure while Wesley is clinging to one of g*n's hands. Wesley: "He had no right." g*n: "I know man, shh." Cordy comes hurrying up to the sofa. Cordy: "Wesley, I...(to paramedic) What can I do?" The paramedic hands her a pad: "Apply pressure to the wound." Cordy to Wesley: "Okay. I got it. Hang in there. It's okay." g*n goes to look out a window. Anne: "Are we safe here?" g*n: "Safer than out there. But we need to lock all the doors, alright? And keep everyone away from the windows!" Anne: "You heard him! Lets go! Come on!" Jackson sees Wesley's wound as everyone clears out to do as told. Jackson: "Oh! - Damn. Now that looks nasty." g*n: "Jackson? What the hell are you doing here?" Anne in the background: "How are we gonna keep the cops out?" Jackson: "I say let 'em come, bro. I know how to handle cops." Pulls up his shirt to reveal a g*n stuck in the waist of his pants. g*n: "That life style working out for you?" Jackson: "Don't get all high and mighty with me, player. I know where you come from." g*n: "Where I come from you don't bring down a community. You try and make it better." Jackson: "I'm just doing my thing, man. Why - why don't you go on and get out of my face." g*n: "Your thing hurts everybody! Why do you think nobody cares they're clamping down on this neighborhood?" Jackson: "'cause they're a bunch of r*cist pigs." g*n: "There is that. And there's people like you - tch! A thug with a g*n, keeping the cycle going." Jackson: "Not my problem." g*n: "No! See, it's my problem, all right? 'cause they sh*t my friend over there." Jackson: "Oh. - Yeah. White man dying. Not exactly losing sleep on it." g*n pushes Jackson up against the wall but Anne come hurrying up. Anne: "Hey. We can't afford this. Not now." The police captain is listening to the radio. Cop on radio: "All units are in place." Captain: "Go. And keep it quiet. No g*n." Paramedic: "He's going south." Cordy: "No. Come on." g*n still holding Jackson up against the wall turns his head to look at the paramedic. g*n: "What?" Paramedic: "I think there's internal bleeding, but we can't help him here. We've got to get him to St. John's, fast." g*n lets of Jackson and goes over to the sofa: "Look we can't go back out there, all right? You saw what they did to him." Cordy: "He's going to die. We're taking him to a hospital, now. I don't care who's out there!" g*n: "Alright. Get the door." Cordy hurries off as g*n drapes one of Wesley's arms over his shoulder trying to get him up. g*n: "Come on." Wesley: "Where are we going?" g*n: "To the hospital." Wesley: "That sounds sensible to me." Cordy opens the door just as two cop cars pull up. Closes it again and hurries over to g*n. Cordy: "They're here." Break Cops are getting out of the cars and head for the shelter. Inside the kids are attempting to barricade the windows and doors. g*n: "Take this bat. I want you to use it, all right? - Come on. Everything against the windows! Move! Move. Do this quick." More cops coming closer. Anne and another guy slip a bar in place over a door. Anne: "Okay. Nail this shut. (moves off, sees another kid) Check the kitchen door." The Police captain puts down his radio and sits down behind his desk as the door opens and Angel steps in. Captain: "Can I help you?" Angel just walks in and looks over some things on one of the desks. Captain: "Excuse me, what are you doing?" Angel: "Looking around." Captain: "Who are you?" Angel picking up an open medal case: "Angel." Captain takes the case from him: "Well, Angel, if you need something I'm sure someone downstairs would be willing to help you." Angel: "Actually I need to talk to you." Captain: "About what?" Angel: "About some of your more - d*ad cops?" The captain chuckles and gets up. Captain: "Maybe we should talk about you instead." Pulls his g*n and fires two b*ll*ts into Angel's torso. Angel curls up around the wounds for a moment then come back up in vamp face. Angel: "How do I stop them?" The captain points his g*n again, but Angel grips his hand and tosses him across the room. Grabs him by the throat and pushes him up against the wall. Angel: "I'll repeat the question." The cops are stepping up to the windows of the shelter. g*n: "Move, people, move." Four cops are trying to open the front door. Telephone voice: "All circuits are busy. Please hang up and try your call again." Cordy to cell phone: "This is no time for circuits busy! So, don't tell me circuits are busy. If the circuits are busy - get some new circuits now!" The cops are pulling off the bars across the lower parts of the windows. g*n to the kids moving the furniture: "Come on, push them up there." Cops are battering against the front door, climbing up on the windowsills, battering against the back door. Angel: "How do I stop them?" Captain: "These are good cops. They pout their lives on the line. They died on the streets." Angel: "You should have left them that way." Captain: "I won't betray them!" Knocks Angel's hand from his throat and flees towards the back of his office, pushes a file cabinet aside and slips through a hidden door behind it. Angel darts after him. The kids are pushing bookshelves up against the windows. The cops are breaking the glass and one of them reaches in and pulls one of the kids moving the shelf out through the window. g*n: "Alright. Get the kids in the back." Anne: "Get them upstairs." The cops are trying to come in through the windows and the kids are beating them back with their baseball bats. Anne goes to check another door and one of the cops reaches in through the bottom of the window beside her and grabs her foot, trying to drag her outside. Screaming Anne lays into him with her bat. Cordy, carrying a hammer, comes over and hammers the hand holding Anne, getting it to let go. Anne scrambles up and they pull a chair in front of the window, only to have the cop stick his arm through the window above it. Cordy gives it a couple good whacks before they run. Jackson is heading for one of the side doors, pulling out his g*n he opens it, only to be clubbed down by a cop lying in wait on the other side of the door. g*n comes over and hits the cop a couple of times with his bat, knocking him back out the door, then slams the door shut and locks it again. g*n holds out a hand towards Jackson, who takes it, and pulls himself up. Cordy: "g*n! g*n! Help." She and Anne are trying to hold the front door shut. g*n and Jackson hurry over to help. The police captain is in a back room lit with candles sitting on shelves along the walls in front of pictures of numerous police officers. He is frantically digging through a trunk, pulling out a cross and some other stuff when Angel burst in. Angel: "How are you controlling them, hmm? (Goes to inspect the stuff on the table, pulls some stuff out of a bowl) The entrails?" Lets them drop when the Captain doesn't react. Two of the kids freak, abandon the back door and the cops break through. Other doors (including the front door) break open and cops come in through the windows. One cop pushes g*n up against the wall, another grabs Cordy. Angel spots a statue: "Here we go. It's the idol of Granath. The Zombie god." Picks the idol up as the captain charges him with a scream, cross raised high to strike. Angel smashes the idol on the captain's head and as he drops to the floor, covered in its pieces, so do the zombie cops at the shelter, turning into decaying corpses. Anne hurries towards the stairs: "The kids." Cordy: "Wesley!" She runs over to the sofa and g*n and Jackson follow. g*n to the paramedic: "Get the ambulance ready. (To Jackson) Help me pick him up." Jackson: "Hm-mm. Sorry. Looks like the streets just got a lot safer for me. - Time to go to work." Jackson leaves. Cordy moves to help g*n with Wesley: "Lets go." Cordy as they pick Wesley up: "Come on, sweetie." g*n: "Here we go." Cordy: "Okay." Police headquarters, Angel walks up to Kate's desk and sits down. Angel: "Hi. - I thought you might want to know I took care of our little cop problem." Kate hands Angel a file: "Crime reports from that precinct. - Up until three months ago there was a m*rder every two weeks, a r*pe every two days, a robbery every hour and a half. And that's what we just gave back to the people of that community." Angel: "I can live with that." Kate: "You learn to live with a lot of things, don't you?" Angel hands the file back to her: "Yeah." Kate: "This job is making me crazy." Angel: "I know the feeling." A woman hands Kate a file: "For you, detective." Kate: "Thanks. (Looks at the file) Wyndham-Price, isn't that the guy that works for you?" Wesley is lying on a hospital bed with g*n sitting in a chair beside him. Slowly Wesley's eyes open. g*n leans in closer. g*n: "Hey." Wesley slowly looks over at him. Wesley: "Hey." g*n: "How're you doing?" Wesley: "Oh, I feel I should be in a great deal of pain." g*n: "Getting gut-sh*t will do that to you." Wesley: "And yet... (Looks at the IV on his left hand) Is this morphine? (g*n nods) Well, it's bloody lovely!" Giggles. g*n smiles and grabs a hold of Wesley's hand for a moment before sitting back in his chair with a sigh. The camera pulls back through the window into Wesley's room, into the corridor to reveal Angel standing by the nurses' desk, watching. Angel turns to leave only to find Cordy standing right behind him. Cordy: "What are you doing here?" Angel: "I heard about Wesley." Cordy: "Well, that's great. Too bad it takes a g*n wound to make you give a crap. - Wesley doesn't need you right now. *We* don't need you. - You walked away. Do us a favor and just stay away." After a b*at Cordy walks past Angel into Wesley's room. Angel watches as she hands a cup of coffee to g*n them leans down to brush Wesley's hair. Then turns and walks away down the corridor. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x14 - The Thin d*ad Line"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel: "You Denver?" Denver: "No other cat but me." Denver: "A vampire wanting to slay a demon in order to help some grubby humans? I just don't get it." Thesulac: "There is an entire hotel here full of tortured souls who could really use your help." Angel: "Take them all." Angel: "I'm trying to atone for a hundred years of unthinkable evil. News flash! I never can. Never gonna be enough. Now I have Wolfram and Hart dogging me. It's too much!" Holland: "You've been doing stellar work Lindsey. Don't think the Senior Partners haven't noticed." Angel: "Darla had a sh*t at redemption, but they took it from her." Lilah: "For god's sake, help us." Holland: "People are gonna die." Angel: "I just can't seem to care." Angel closes the doors. Darla bites Holland. A sh*t of the pile of bodies left in the cellar. Wesley runs up behind the Cop in "The Thin d*ad Line." Wesley: "Wait! Officer, wait!" The cop sh**t Wesley. Kate: "You learn to live with a lot of things, don't you? This job is making me crazy." Angel: "I know the feeling." We see some dark, deserted corridors littered with trash and hear some strange, low screams. Angel comes around a corner, looking for the source of the sounds. He opens a door, steps into the room and pulls the chain of the light bulb dangling from the ceiling to reveal that the room is stuffed full of goats. Sees a door at the other side of the room. Angel opens the door to see two men preparing to sacrifice the goats. 1.Man: "What's next?" 2.Man reading from a booklet: "Make sure all troths are securely fastened and sacrifices tilted as shown in diagram F-12 to ensure full drainage into sacred offering bowl." 1.Man: "Yes, yes, and?" 2.Man: "Using a clean, diagonal motion slit throat of sacrifice with the pre-blessed ceremonial dagger provided. - I didn't see that in the box." 1.Man: "Look under the packing. Hurry up!" 2.Man digging through box: "It's not in here." Goes to look through another box. 1.Man reaches for the booklet: "Just-just gimme-gimme this..." Angel playing with the dagger: "You know... (The two men spin to face him) I've (chuckles) well, I really couldn't help but notice the goats. - Yeah - a lot of goats. (Saunters closer) Goats - many. Those are goats, guys!" 2.Man: "Hey, that's our pre-blessed... (Angel slams the dagger into the wall and bends it over) ceremonial dagger?" Angel: "So sue me. Or better yet, have your bosses do it. This building is owned by Wolfram and Hart, right?" 1.Man: "What, what do you want?" Angel: "I want to know what they're having you worship." 1.Man: "That's none of your business. Who are you?" Angel smiles: "Me?" Angel flashes across the room and pins the two guys against the wall by their throats. Angel in vamp face: "Well, I'm just the type of guy who hates to see good blood go to waste." 1.Man: "Look, man, we just get paid to do the slaughtering and say the prayer." Angel: "What are you praying to?" 2.Man: "We don't know!" Angel: "How can you not know?" 1.Man: "The ritual - it's, it's all in Latin. They said - we should just - sort of, you know, sound it out." Angel: "They?" 1.Man: "Like you said, Wolfram and Hart." 2.Man: "All we know is that the sacrifice got to be done by midnight or something out there will be real pissed off!" Angel looks from one to the other: "Good." Lets them go and begins to trash the place as the two men flee for the door. Intro g*n is checking the back of Stephanie's head. g*n: "I don't see anything." Wesley sitting in a wheelchair next to them: "Not a trace." Cordy to Francine: "When she goes back to school the other kids will never even notice that there was a third eye growing back there. (Pats Stephanie's head) And this should come back in before you know it." Francine: "What?" Cordy: "The hair? The... I meant the hair - that was in- in the back - there... Not the third eye! Because that won't come back. (Aside to Wesley) Right?" Wesley: "No reason it should. (Hands Stephanie a sucker) The curative charm seems to have worked - like a charm, really." Francine: "We can't thank you." Wesley: "Oh, don't give it another thought." g*n: "It's what we do." Cordy: "Kind of a mission." Francine: "No, I mean, we *can't* thank you - and we can't pay you either. (Holds up a piece of paper) This bill is ridiculous." Cordy takes it: "What do you mean? We didn't even charge you for the mandrake." Francine: "My husband says it's outrageous." Wesley: "Does he? And just what would your husband consider to be a fair price for the removal of the third eye from the back of your child's head, Mrs. Sharp?" Francine: "Well - nothing. - Steve says that since it's impossible to be bitten by a demon and have a - third eye grow in the back of one's head, that obviously you people are running some sort of scam, and you won't squeeze one red cent out of us. (Grabs her daughter's hand) Come on, Stephanie." Cordy: "Scam? The back of your kid's head was blinking!" Wesley: "No, let her go. Clearly it's easier for the Sharps to cast us as con artists rather than to accept the grim reality that Skilosh spawn nearly hatched full grown out of their child's skull." g*n: "Gee, wonder why?" Cordy: "Great. So while they're indulging their denial, we have bills to pay!" g*n: "You know she's right." g*n goes and grabs his coat. Wesley: "Perhaps, given time, the Sharps will come 'round." g*n: "Right! Because that's what people do. The come round." Cordy: "Where are you going?" g*n: "I think I'll see what's happening in the neighborhood. Got a feeling I do more good *there* than sitting around here with you two." Wesley: "Things'll pick up. They're bound to." Cordy: "Yeah. It's LA. The evil's probably just tied up in traffic or something." g*n: "Well, you let me know when it get here, right?" The office corridors at Wolfram and Hart are bustling with people. Some elevator doors open and Lilah steps out, walks down the hallway. Lilah: "Lindsey, I've been looking everywhere for you. (Lindsey keeps walking and she falls in beside him) Where're you going?" Lindsey: "Lunch." Lilah: "Lunch? You really think now's the time for lunch?" Lindsey: "You mean lunch time?" Lilah: "The review is in two days." Lindsey: "I'm aware of that." Lilah: "So is everyone else. Look at them. It's like they've had the fear of... well, 'god' would probably be the wrong word." Lindsey: "They're just running scared." Lilah hands Lindsey a manila envelope. Lilah: "They should be. I dug up everything I could find on the last seventy-five year review. It's all in there. Makes the Christmas purge of sixty-eight look like fun old times. Nearly half of mid-management was sacked. And Lindsey, they use actual sacks." Lindsey: "I'll read it, Lilah." Lilah: "You better, because it's not just your ass on the line. It's mine, too. We're supposed to be running this division together, remember?" Lindsey: "Right." Lilah: "I've included some suggestions on how we could plump up our portfolio before Friday." Lindsey: "Look, either we pass the review, or we won't. You really think that a few last minute dark rites and rituals are gonna make a difference now?" Lilah: "Everybody else seems to think so. I heard Henderson actually pulled her firstborn out of company daycare to offer it up to... Brown noser. My mother was right. I should have had children." Lindsey: "We'll stand on our records. It's the only thing we've got." Lilah: "Then we're d*ad! Do I have to remind you of our collective screw-ups?! Two of which are still out there somewhere. - You haven't heard anything, have you? You would tell me if they contacted you." Lindsey: "He set them on f*re, Lilah. Even vampires as strong as Darla and Drusilla need time to recover from something like that." Lilah: "Well, it would be just like them to pop up now!" Lindsey: "I wouldn't worry." Lilah: "Someone's got to! We don't get a second sh*t at this, Lindsey. Nothing can happen between now and Friday to screw this up." Angel is talking while following Kate around the police office. Angel: "Blood sacrifices, black masses, totems... I don't know what it means, but it's happening all over town. I mean, it could be a raising, but, you know... I - I really don't know. I mean the prayers, the rituals, I think they're too generic for that, you know, boilerplate. They could be preparing the way for something." Kate: "Maybe they're just trying to make it rain. Why is this *so* important to you?" Angel follows her back to her desk. Angel: "Because it's important to them." Kate: "Oh right! And therefore it *must* be stopped." Angel: "Kate, look, I need your help. I don't have the resources..." Kate: "My help? You need *my* help?" Angel: "Yeah. - (Sighs) - At the very least they're butchering animals without a permit. You can get them on that." Kate: "No, I can't. I can't get them on anything, Angel. I'm on desk duty pending a hearing on Friday." Angel: "Hearing?" Kate: "You remember Atkinson? The captain at the two-three? He's blaming me for granting access to some lunatic who broke into his office and b*at the ever holy crap out of him. He's filed a formal complaint." Angel: "He was raising zombie cops and setting them loose on the streets." Kate laughs: "And I'm sure once I explain that to Internal Affairs this will all just go away. - And they've just been *looking* for an excuse... And you know what they say about *me*. I am a cop. That is all I've ever... I can't take a suspension... I would just..." Angel watches her pace for a moment. Angel quietly: "I'm sorry." Kate: "Are you? (Opens a drawer and pulls out a file) Because they might just want to know about this, too." She drops one picture after another onto the desk. All of the corpses in the wine cellar. Angel: "You had nothing to do with that." Kate: "Didn't I?" Angel: "No." Kate: "Hmm, so it's funny how these d*ad people were thr*at by an intruder at their offices. An intruder *I* picked up and released on the street three hours before the complainants were found massacred." Angel: "You know who's responsible for that." Kate: "Yeah. But I can't figure out though is why forensics is now telling me that it looks like the suspect or suspects *didn't* break in. - They had to brake out. - The victims were locked in that wine cellar with their attackers and I think I am *done* helping you now." Walks off. Lindsey enters his dimly lit apartment. Lindsey: "Sorry I'm late. I would have come home for lunch but - everything's crazy at the office with the review coming up." He sets his attaché case on a chair, holding a bottle in a brown paper bag he goes to sit down on the edge of the sofa. Lindsey: "And I would have called, but I didn't want you to have to get up to answer the phone. How do you feel?" Darla is lying on the sofa wrapped in a light blue afghan, fading burn scars still visible on her face, looking weak. Darla: "Stronger today, I guess." Lindsey: "Good. You're getting stronger everyday." Darla: "Only because you saved me. - I'd still be in that sewer if you hadn't found me. - I don't know how you did." Lindsey: "Drusilla. - She came to me. Remember I told you?" Darla: "She's gone." Lindsey: "Yeah, she'll be back." Darla lifts her head a little: "No. - You're the only one who hasn't abandoned me." Lindsey: "And I never will." Darla strokes the side of his face. Lindsey pulls the bottle out of the bag and hands it to her. Lindsey: "Here." Darla opens the bottle. Darla: "It's cold." Lindsey: "Yeah. It's the only way to keep it fresh." Darla: "Not the only way. (Smells it and smiles) Hmm, at least it's human." Lindsey gets up: "I'm gonna take a shower." Darla: "You always take a shower when you come back from that place. Don't know why. You're never dirty." Lindsey unbuttoning his shirt: "I'm always dirty." Darla rolls her eyes, then as Lindsey closes the door to the bathroom behind him, she pushes the blanket aside and gets up. Stretches. Sets the bottle down and as the shower begins to run she starts to go through Lindsey's briefcase. Finds Lilah's envelope and looks through it while sipping the blood. Angel is walking into Caritas, where the host is talking to the bartender. Host: "Substitute it with something. I don't care. Be creative. I know you can. (To Angel as he sits down next to the host) Can you believe this? Not even ten o'clock and we've already run out of yak's bile." Angel: "We need to talk." Host: "And you should have booked in advance. I don't think we can get you on stage tonight." Angel: "I'm not here to sing." Host: "Oh, is that what we're calling it now?" Angel: "Something's coming." Host: "Really? I thought it was just the complimentary nachos bringing in the morally ambiguous crowd." Angel turns as sees that the place is packed with humans in business attire. Angel: "Lawyers." Host: "Easy, big fella. I know what you're thinking. And the throwing yourself across six tables and twisting their necks off part? Not a good idea." Angel: "You've read them. You've seen it. You know what's coming." Host: "Now, Angel-cakes, you wouldn't appreciate it if I were to blab your personal stuff to every Tom, Dick and vampire that walked in the door, would you?" Angel: "Is it bad?" Host: "Oy. - But I really can't divulge to you what I read in another being. - But I can tell you what I overheard in the men's restroom. It's coming Friday. And it's got all their legal briefs in a twist about it." Angel: "What?" Host: "Well, every seventy-five years your friends over at Wolfram and Hart have this review. I think the general angst isn't so much about the review, but more about the reviewer. And let's just say it ain't Rex Reed." Angel: "What is it?" Host: "It's evil. - It's dark. - It's merciless. - Actually, now that I say it out loud it sounds an awful lot like Rex, doesn't it?" Angel: "Maybe you could just tell me in one word what it is." Host: "Not likely. But I *can* tell you in two. Senior - Partner." Break Two lawyers are singing a duet of "Reunited" on stage at Caritas. Angel walks over to the table where the host is sitting watching the stage and sits down next to him. Angel: "I need more." Host: "Well, we all need more, darlin'." Angel: "More information." Host: "What you need more of is tether. Because you're about at the end of yours." Angel: "Look, I get how this works. I'm not asking you to rat out their destinies. I don't care about that. But getting to the Senior Partners, that's *my* destiny." Host: "Is it? Because I haven't actually featured a destiny with you in it lately. It's all kind of murky. - Look, all these messy rites and rituals you've been crashing all over town? They don't *mean* anything. Nervous children. Trying to score as many brownie points as they can before daddy gets home. I got news. Daddy? Not impressed. Anyhow, stopping them won't prevent 'it' from passing into our world on Friday." Angel: "What is 'it' and how do I stop it?" Host: "I don't know and you don't." Angel: "Can it be k*lled?" Host: "Most anything that can manifest in order to move in this dimension can be k*lled. Kinda the down side of being here. That and the so-called 'musicals' of Andrew Lloyd Webber." The host takes a sip from his drink while Angel just keeps staring at him. Host with a sigh: "The band of Blacknil. Don't ask me what it means. I don't know. I shouldn't even be giving you that much." Angel: "Thanks." Host: "Sure." Angel starts to get up, but the host puts a hand on his arm to stop him. Host: "Hey, Home office. I picked it up from half a dozen of them tonight." Angel: "What does it mean?" Host: "Could be the source. Who knows. Now stop pestering me." Angel gets up and starts walks away. Host calls after him: "Oh, and I am picking up one other thing. (Angel turns to look back) They'd *really* like to see you d*ad." Angel turns his head to see a bunch of lawyers giving him hostile stares. Angel is searching through his books at the Hyperion. Scratching his head he walks over to the almost empty bookshelf, checks the few books there, dropping them on the ground, then looks around with a sigh. Angel opens the door and walks into the new Angel Investigations office, not bothering to close the door behind him. Wesley: "Good Lord." Cordy: "Angel." Wesley: "May we - help you?" Not even looking at them, Angel walks to the bookshelf behind the desk and starts looking at the books there. Wesley: "Excuse me, that - that area is for employees only!" Angel: "Yeah. You took all the books." Cordy: "Yeah, well, you got the waffle iron." Angel takes a book and starts to leave but Cordy snatches it our of his hand. Cordy: "Hey! No! You can't take this, I-I-I'm in the middle of it. (Puts the book back on the shelf and shoves a phonebook at him) Here, take this one." Angel takes the phonebook, throws it to the side and leans in close to Cordy, who refuses to move our from between him and the bookshelf. Angel: "Don't make me move you." Wesley: "Give him the book, Cordelia." When Cordy only keeps looking at Angel, Wesley pushes himself up out of his wheelchair and to his feet. Wesley: "Just give him the damn thing! Let him get the hell out." Cordy looks over at Wesley, then pushes Angel a step back, turns, takes the book and shoves it at him. Angel takes it and walks towards the door. Cordy: "Here. I don't even know what you are anymore." Angel: "I'm a vampire. Look it up." Angel slams the door closed behind him and Wesley slowly collapses back into his chair. Cordy: "What a jerk." Wesley: "Cordelia..." Cordy: "I mean if it was anybody else I would just say 'get laid already!'" Wesley: "Cordelia..." Cordy pacing: "But - no, not him. One decent boff and he switches to evil psycho vamp. (Huffs) Which, in a way, would be better for everyone. Better for him because he'd get some, and better for us because then we could (makes a staking motion) stake him afterwards." Wesley: "Cordelia, ambulance?" Cordy looks in horror at the spreading stain of blood on Wesley's shirt. Cordy: "Oh my god." LAPD headquarters, day. Man: "If you have anything to offer in your defense, Detective Lockley, anything at all, now would be the time." Kate remains silent. Lieu: "For god's sakes, Kate, say something." Kate: "What am I supposed to say, Lieu? They've dredged out every ugly detail of the last eight months. Spill it out on the table as if nothing had a context and I'm supposed to explain? - I was doing my job." Man: "Actually what it appears you've been doing, detective, is isolating yourself. You've withdrawn from the s*ab influence of your fellow officers, developed this morbid fascination for cases of a bizarre and macabre nature, and even you can't seem to give an explanation to why. - Now your father, he was a respected veteran of this department. And you were the one that discovered his body after he was m*rder, is that right?" Kate: "Yes." Man: "And the case was never solved?" Kate: "No arrests have ever been made." Woman: "That must be very frustrating for you." Kate: "I dealt with it." Woman: "Did you? You took no personal time off after his death. You went right back on the job." Kate: "That is none of your business." Man: "It becomes our business when it affects performance." Woman: "It is *very* important when you suffer a loss of this nature to take the proper time to grieve. So, we understand. We want you to know, we're not judging you." Kate: "No, you're only f*ring me." Man: "You stopped being a part of the force a long time ago." Kate: "What am I supposed to do?" Woman: "We will of course make available to you psychological counseling at the city's expense as part of your severance." Kate takes a deep breath and lets it out. Kate: "You people have no idea what's going on in this city." Man: "Is this the part where you start to talk about monsters? (Kate doesn't answer) We'll need your g*n and your badge." Kate swallows, takes her g*n and badge from her briefcase and closes it. Gets up and goes to lay her g*n and badge on the table in front of the man. Lieu watches her. Lieu as Kate slowly walks to the door: "I'm just glad your father's not around to see this." And old man wearing glasses sits in a bookshop watching TV. Angel: "You Denver?" Denver looks up: "I don't believe it." Angel and Denver are looking through books in the back room. Denver: "You know you changed my life that day. I mean, a vampire comes into my place looking to k*ll a demon to save human beings? I figured if something like *that* could happen there really must be good in the world." Angel: "Right. So you never heard of that term before 'home office?'" Denver: "Hey, how'd that go anyway? It was a Thesulac, paranoia demon, if I recall." Angel: "Yeah. I don't know. I think he k*lled everyone." Denver: "Oh. - Well, point is, you tried." Angel: "Actually, I pretty much walked out and let the demon have the place and everyone in it. So we can't be sure where this home office is, but you think this Senior Partner is a Kleynach demon?" Denver stops staring at Angel and looks down at his book. Denver: "Right. Kleynach. A lot of dark entities use the form of a Kleynach to manifest because the Kleynach doesn't have to rely on being conjured or brought forth. They can come and go as they please with that ring." Angel: "Tell me about the ring." Denver points at an illustration. Denver: "The band of Blacknil. Simple thing, plain. You wouldn't give it a second glance in a pawnshop, but it's the source of its power to move between the dimensions, and that's what it'll use to get here... and get back." Angel: "Get back?" Denver: "Well, sure." Angel: "Well, can anyone use this ring?" Denver: "How do you mean?" Angel: "Will it get me back to the home office or where ever it came from?" Denver: "Might... if you're insane! - You realize what this home office probably is?" Angel: "I think I have a pretty good idea." Denver: "Hell! Why the heck do you wanna go to hell? (Angel doesn't answer) You're gonna try and go down there and destroy the whole lot of them, aren't you? Well, that'd certainly make up for the time that... (Angel looks up at him and Denver trails off) Still, not a terrific idea. It's su1c1de, really." Angel: "Look, will the ring get me there or not?" Denver: "Well, you got to get it first. And to get the ring you've got to k*ll the Kleynach." Angel: "How?" Denver: "You happen to be looking at the one guy who can tell you how." Angel: "How?!" Denver: "To k*ll the Kleynach and get the ring you need the glove." Denver goes and takes another book from a shelf. Angel: "Okay, now you're making this up." Denver carrying an open book: "Legend says that the Kleynach rose up from their demon world, r*ped and pillaged the villages of man and all who fought against them were incinerated, whether they struck with fist or sword. But one brave and worthy knight - he had a glove. (Drops the book in front of Angel, displaying a rendition of the glove) Fashioned and blessed by all the powers of light. And whoever wore this glove could k*ll the Kleynach just by grabbing it at the throat." Denver walks into another part of his store and comes back carrying a mailed glove. Denver: "Picked up in seventy-five in a yard sale in Covina. Been using it as an oven mitt. Now, I give it to you. No charge. 'cause the truth is you did change my life. And I got a feeling this time things are gonna go..." Denver's eyes suddenly pop open and blood spills from his mouth. Angel looks down to see the tip of a bloody sword protruding from Denver's belly. He reaches out to catch Denver as he begins to fall and someone drives the sword through Denver and into Angel. Darla straightens up behind Denver. Darla: "That's right, Angelus, go towards the bleeding mortal, because that's smart." Angel collapses backwards to the floor and Darla picks up the glove. Darla: "The ring's not about vengeance, Angelus, it's about power. (Kicks Angel in the face) We'll get to the vengeance part soon." With that Darla walks out while Angel pulls his body slowly off the sword. He looks in the direction where Darla just disappeared, then just lies there gasping." Break. Wesley is sitting on the sofa in his apartment wearing a bathrobe. Wesley: "And that's the important thing." Virginia: "But you couldn't have done it metaphorically? You know, in with a stern word? You had to do it in the actual I'm-standing-up-now-and-popping-six-stitches way?" Virginia sets a tea tray on the table as she sits down on the sofa and begins to pour them some tea. Virginia: "I guess - before all this happened I never really considered just how dangerous your work was." Wesley: "Well, of course what I do is dangerous. You forgetting how we met? You were strapped to a sacrificial altar while the goddess Yeska was called forth from the nether regions to consume you." Virginia: "But I grew up with all that sort of stuff. Creepy crawlies and scary monsters I can handle. - But g*n? Kind of makes it all a little too real, you know?" Wesley: "The g*n was fired by a zombie, if it makes you feel any better." Virginia: "You know, strangely, it doesn't." Virginia carefully scoots closer and lays her head on Wesley's chest. Wesley kisses the top of her head and strokes her hair. Virginia: "Does it always seem like it's a battle worth fighting?" Wesley: "Some less than others." Virginia: "Collectively I mean. Most people, they don't even acknowledge the evil, let alone try to fight it. And they don't have to wrap themselves in bandages to keep their insides from falling out." Wesley: "That's true." Virginia: "I don't suppose you'd ever consider - maybe giving it up - for something else?" Wesley: "Could you be with someone who would?" Virginia: "I don't know. - But sometimes I feel like I should be wrapped in bandages - to keep *my* insides from falling out." Wesley swallows: "This is difficult for you, isn't it?" Virginia: "I just don't like to see you hurt." Wesley: "No. - I mean - I mean breaking up with me." Virginia looks up at Wesley, but doesn't say anything. Kate walks into her apartment carrying a box with the stuff from her desk. Puts the box down, takes off her jacket and pours herself a stiff drink. Sees the shelves holding her trophies and plaques and goes to knock them off while trying to hold back tears. Picks up a photo of her dad and starts to cry. A black car pulls up in front of Wolfram and Hart's office building at night and Lilah and two bodyguards get out. Lilah: "You two stick close." As they near the front doors, Angel jumps out behind the trio and knocks both guards unconscious before they ever even know he's there. Lilah: "Crap! (Kicks one of the unconscious guards) I knew you guys were a waste of money." Angel: "I noticed you're not parking in the underground lot anymore Lilah." Lilah: "It's not safe. What do you want?" Angel: "I want the same thing from you that I took from Lindsey." With that he takes a hold of her right hand. We see Lilah press her right thumb to a scanner in the secure elevator. Voice: "Good evening Miss Morgan. What floor please?" Lilah: "Fifteen. - You know of course you'll lead security where ever you go the moment you step inside." Angel: "I'm counting on it." Angel winces a little in pain and Lilah notices him lifting a hand towards his middle where Darla s*ab him earlier. The phone rings at the new Angel Investigations and Cordy picks it up. Cordy: "Good evening. Angphlel Investigations, we help the helpless, how can we help you?" Wesley on phone: "What in god's name is Angphlel?" Cordy: "Oh, there are just some names I'm not saying at the moment. Well, what is it, Wesley?" Wesley: "It's just... I'm not really feeling that great." Cordy: "Oh, well, your guts opened up." Wesley: "Uh, I'm thinking maybe I'm not coming in tomorrow." Cordy: "No big deal. It's not like they're beating down the door. No, you should stay home, spend time with Virginia." Wesley after a b*at: "Yes. - Uh, and you. You should get out yourself. You're young, single. It's a Friday night in the city of... Angphleles? There must be someone you can call." Cordy: "Ah, no, because then I'd actually have to have some friends. I don't." Wesley swallows: "That's not true." Cordy after a b*at: "You don't count." Wesley: "Thank you." Cordy: "You know what I mean." Wesley: "Things are gonna get better Cordelia... for all of us. You'll see." Cordy: "I'll call you tomorrow. See how you're feeling." Wesley: "That'd be nice." Cordy: "Good night, Wesley." Hangs up the phone. Wesley: "Night." Cordy is on her way out the door when the phone rings again. Cordy turning back around: "Oh, geez, Wesley. Zippity duh-dah, alright?" Picks up the phone: "Hello?" Francine is twirling her hair with one hand while holding the phone with the other. Francine: "Ms. Chase?" Cordy: "Oh. Mrs. Sharp!" Francine: "We were hoping you were still in the office." Cordy: "The back of your daughter's head is still okay, right? Because, it's not like we offer a money back guarantee. But then, you never paid us, did you? - You do? Right now? - No, that's great! Uhm, you're on my way home, give or take - thirty miles. - Personal check, uhh... normally not, but-but but fine. Uhm, will you give me the address again?" Turns on the desk light and scribbles the address down on the pad lying there. Cordy: "Uh-huh - okay. Great, I'll see you soon." Francine hangs up the phone and turns around to look up at an ugly, white skinned demon. Francine: "Uhm, one of them - is on their way here now." The demon reaches out to stroke Francine's hair and she looks away. The demon puts his other hand on her chin and breaks her neck with a quick snap. Back to Wolfram and Hart. Some robed figures are pacing around a pentagram painted on the floor swinging incense burners. The room is filled with lawyers. Lindsey checks his watch. Reed steps up next to him. Reed: "I don't see your co-vice-president here, Lindsey. It doesn't look good." Lindsey: "Yes, sir." A man comes and whispers something in Reed's ear. Reed: "Well, find it. Deal with it!" The man leaves. Lindsey: "Is there a problem?" Reed: "Someone just let a vampire onto this floor." Lindsey scans the crowded room and sees Lilah coming in with Angel herding her. Lindsey points: "There!" Lilah elbows Angel in the gut and runs off. Angel forces himself after her, still hunched over. Lindsey hurries across the room, pushing people out of his way. Reed: "Security." Security men start moving, listening to their ear pieces. Angel reappears in another part of the room and scans the crowd. Pulls out a bottle of water, and, popping the top off, wades into the crowd. Grabs a hold of the long black hair of a small woman and pulls it off to reveal blonde hair underneath. Throws the water into Darla's face as she turns and vamps out. Angel: "Vampire!" As the crowd mills around them Angel tries to pull the glove off Darla's hand. Darla knocks in the head sending him flying back. Two Security guards tackle her with stakes, but she bats them away and heads for Angel. Lindsey stares at them fighting. Reed sinks to his knees behind one of the robed figures as the air above the pentagram begins to shiver and a red robbed demon materializes. Angel finally gets the glove off Darla's hand and kicks her to the side. Security converges on the downed Darla with stakes while Angel pulls on the glove. Lilah: "Stake the bitch!" Lindsey knocks Lilah across the chin and heads for Darla, knocking the last security guard off her. The red robbed Kleynach turns around and Angel launches himself at it from across the room, grabbing it by the throat with the glove. As soon as the glove touches it, the Kleynach begins to dissolve with a scream, while it and Angel are falling backwards through the window. Lindsey helps Darla up and towards the door. She turns to look at him for a moment, then hurries out. Lilah, the corner of her lip bloody, looks at the broken window. Angel is plummeting the fifteen stories to the ground, and lands, still clutching the robe, in a shower of glass. The ring lands beside him with a metallic clink. Groaning a little Angel grabs it and forces himself to his feet. There is a homeless man sitting on a planter in the background, watching. Angel: "Okay. Home office. (He slides on the ring.) Let's finish this." The ding of an arriving elevator sounds and Angel turns to see the doors of it open on the outside wall of the office building behind him. Break Holland is standing in the open doors of the elevator slowly clapping his hands. Angel walks slowly closer. Holland: "Congratulations. Great victory." Angel: "You're..." Holland: "Holland Manners." Angel: "...not alive." Holland: "Oh, no. I'm quite d*ad. Unfortunately my contract with Wolfram and Hart extends well beyond that. (Gives Angel a big smile, then motions his head) Hop on in. You certainly earned it." Angel slowly steps in, looking at Holland, who laughs. Holland: "No. Not a ghost here. No, it's just me. d*ad me. (Pulls the collar of his shirt aside to show Angel Darla's bite marks, then reaches for the elevator buttons) See? - Home office, wasn't it? I should mention the trip is one way." Angel stands in the elevator looking out, not saying anything. We see a homeless person pushing a loaded down shopping cart across the plaza in front of the elevator. Holland: "Well, if there are no objections, I suggest we get going. It is rather a long ride." Holland pushes the 'down' button. The doors close and we see the elevator descending down the elevator shaft. Angel and Holland are standing side by side in the elevator as the lights from the floors it is passing flash by and typically annoying elevator music plays in the background. Holland: "Well, this is exciting, isn't it? (Smiles) Going straight to the source. - So, what's the big plan, Angel? Destroy the Senior Partners, smash Wolfram and Hart once and for all?" Angel: "Something like that." Holland: "Hm-mm, now tell me just what do you think that would accomplish? In the end, I mean." Angel: "It'll be - the end." Holland: "Well, the end of you, certainly. But I meant in the larger sense." Angel: "In the larger sense I really don't give a crap." Holland: "Now I don't think that's true. - Be honest. - You got the tiniest bit of 'give a crap' left. Otherwise you wouldn't be going on this Kamikaze mission. Now let me see, there was something - in a sacred prophecy, some oblique reference to you. Something you're supposed to prevent. Now what was that?" Angel: "The apocalypse." Holland: "Yes, the apocalypse, of course. - Another one of those. Well, it's true. We do have one scheduled. And I imagine if you were to prevent it you would save a great many people. Well, you should do that then. Absolutely. I wasn't thinking. - Of course all those people you save from that apocalypse would then have the next one to look forward to, but, hey, it's always something, isn't it?" The elevator shaft and cable dissolve as the elevator continues to plummet into a hellish red glow. Angel: "You're not gonna win." Holland: "Well - *no*. Of course we aren't. We have no intention of doing anything so prosaic as 'winning.'" Holland laughs and for the first time Angel turns his head to glance in Holland's general direction. Angel: "Then why?" Holland: "Hmm? I'm sorry? Why what?" Angel: "Why fight?" Holland: "That's really the question you should be asking yourself, isn't it? See, for us, there is no fight. Which is why winning doesn't enter into it. We - go on - no matter what. Our firm has always been here. In one form or another. The Inquisition. The Khmer Rouge. We were there when the very first cave man clubbed his neighbor. See, we're in the hearts and minds of every single living being. And *that* - friend - is what's making things so difficult for you. - See, the world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. - It works with us. - It works because of us." And with that the elevator comes to a screeching halt. The doors open and Angel looks out to see a homeless person pushing a loaded shopping cart across the plaza in front of the Wolfram and Hart Office building in LA. Holland: "Welcome to the home office." Angel: "This isn't..." Holland: "Well, you know it is. - You know *that* better than anyone. Things you've seen. Things you've, well - done. You see, if there wasn't evil in every single one of them out there (Angel watches as some people in the plaza start yelling at each other) why, they wouldn't be people. - They'd all be angels." The glove drops from Angel's right to land on the floor of the elevator and Angel slowly shuffles out of it. Holland calling after him as the doors close: "Have a nice day." Angel slowly walks the streets of LA, seeing a prost*tute and a potential customer having a verbal disagreement, a woman yell at a girl. Kate opens the door to her bathroom cabinet and takes out a bottle of pills. Angel slowly walks down the street passing a homeless man with a brown-bagged bottle under his arm, a young man standing by a lamp post that has a passing resemblance to Gene from "Happy Anniversary." Wesley is lying in the dark on the sofa in his apartment, staring at nothing. Cordy is getting ready to leave the office. Angel enters the Hyperion Hotel just as the answering machine goes off. Cordy's voice: "Hi, you've reached Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless. Leave a message and we'll get right back to you. (beep)." Kate's voice: "You did it, didn't you? You bastard..." Kate is sitting on the floor of her apartment her head leaning back on the seat of a chair, holding the phone so she can speak into it but with the other end resting on top of her forehead instead of against her ear. There is an empty bottle of booze sitting next to the phone, and the bottle of pills is lying beside it. White pills are spilled out on the floor. Kate: "You made me trust you. - You made me believe. - No, it wasn't you. (Lies back on the floor, knocking over the bottle) It was me, right? I couldn't take the heat..." Angel walks over to where the answering machine is sitting on the counter. Kate's voice: "That's what they're gonna say. Then you're gonna feel all bad - or you won't care. But then, then I won't care either. I won't feel a thing." Leaning on the counter, Angel turns down the volume on the machine, then turns towards the stairs. Angel enters his apartment, stops a few steps in. Angel: "What do you want, Darla? (Holds up the ring and looks over his shoulder) You want this?" Angel drops the ring on the floor and Darla hurries over to pick it up. Before she can, Angel grabs her arm and sends her stumbling towards the wall. Angel: "Or maybe what you really want is this! (Pushes her up against the wall and gently brushes the hair back from her face) That may be - what you really want, isn't it?" Kisses her softly, then, when she doesn't react, a little harder. Darla pushes him away. Darla: "Don't play games with me." Angel: "I'm not playing. I just wanna feel something besides the cold." Pushes her back onto a table, lowers himself on top of her and kisses her again. Darla reaches up and pushes his jacket off his shoulders, kissing him back. Angel strips off his jacket with her help, still kissing her. Suddenly Darla begins to laugh and Angel pulls back the same time she pushes him and gets up. Angel: "Why're you laughing?" Darla continues to laugh, not answering him, and Angel hits her, sending her crashing through the glass doors leading to his bedroom. Angel slowly walks after her as she rolls over and looks up at him. Angel: "Don't you feel the cold?" Angel grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her up. Darla: "What're you doing?" Angel: "It doesn't matter. (Strokes the side of her face) None of it matters." He kisses her again and she responds. They fall back onto the bed and strip off each other's clothes. The camera pans form the curtains in the open window, billowing in the wind of the thunderstorm outside, over some books dropped on the floor, over their discarded clothes and up to the bed. Angel and Darla are lying on the bed asleep, Angel on his back, Darla on her side with her back to him. A loud crack of thunder rings out and Angel suddenly sits up with a gasp. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x15 - Reprise Pt. 1"}

foreverdreaming

There wasn't a 'previously on Angel' segment as such, just something like a promortional recap of the whole arc to date with a narrator bridging some of the gaps between the cuts used in it (some of which were even from later on in *this* episode, not from prior episodes at all). I've decided to include the dialogue of it, but I'm not sure if this was actually put together by the staff or was something the WB did to promote the whole story. Lindsey: "We don't want him d*ad. We want him dark." Wesley: "There are forces that can make Angel revert to Angelus, the vampire he was before he got a soul." We see a part of the dream sequence between Buffy and Angel from "Amends" ending with him vamping out. Narrator: "He turned his back on humanity to seek revenge on the one that damned him into eternal darkness." We see Angel drop the cigarette to light the gasoline, the flame racing towards Dru and Darla. Then a picture of Darla in the alley just before turning Liam into a vampire. Lilah: "For god's sake, help us!" Holland: "People are gonna die." Angel closing doors: "I just can't seem to care." Kate: "The victims were locked in that wine cellar with their attackers and I think I am *done* helping you now." Wesley: "What you did..." Cordy: "...was wrong." Wesley: "Right now the three of us are all that's standing between you and real darkness." Angel: "You're all fired." Narrator: "With no allegiance to good or evil, he deserted his trusted allies." Wesley gets sh*t. Angel looks at Wesley lying on the bed in the hospital through the window from the corridor. Cordy: "Wesley doesn't need you right now. *We* don't need you." Narrator: "He falls further and further from grace." Holland: "The world doesn't work in spite of evil. It works because of us." Darla: "What are you doing?" Angel: "It doesn't matter. None of it matters." As Darla and Angel go at it we get a voice over form Wesley: "There are forces that can make Angel revert to Angelus." Narrator: "And now - an all new Angel." The camera pans form the curtains in the open window, billowing in the wind of the thunderstorm outside, over some books dropped on the floor, over their discarded clothes and up to the bed. Angel and Darla are lying on the bed asleep, Angel on his back, Darla on her side with her back to him. A loud crack of thunder rings out and Angel suddenly sits up with a gasp. Angel, barefoot, wearing his pants, his shirt only half on, staggers out into the rain through the open balcony doors and drops to all fours. Looks up as lightning crashes overhead. Darla sits up in bed. Angel, still on all fours is shrugging on his shirt. Angel: "Oh god." Darla: "Don't fight it my love." Angel's head snaps up as Darla, wrapped in a sheet appears in the open door behind him wearing a slight smile. Darla: "Just let it happen. It'll only hurt for a minute." Intro Angel: "Oh god. Oh god." Darla: "Yes. Yes, I know. It was the same for me. The soul is gone but it leaves a bitterness. It'll pass." Angel looks up over his shoulder at Darla. Climbs to his feet and staggers a step back from Darla, staring at her. Darla: "What you need is a fresh k*ll. Hot human blood will wash away the foul memory of it. I promise." Darla reaches up to touch the side of Angel's face, but Angel's hand sh**t up and catches her wrist, arresting the motion, while he stares at her. Darla: "What? - What is it?" Angel: "You saved me." Darla: "Yes. - But I *was* going to k*ll you tonight. Take you out of this world the same way I brought you into it. But I didn't have to. You gave yourself over so completely, Angelus. I felt you surrender." Angel shaking his head slightly: "I gave you everything I had left." Darla with a smile: "Yes." Angel: "I am - so sorry." Darla: "You don't have to be." Angel: "But I am. (Takes her hand and lifts to lay against the side of his face) I am sorry." Darla shaking her head slightly: "What?" Angel: "I am sorry, Darla." Darla shaking her head harder: "No..." Angel: "You saved me. Sorry I couldn't do the same for you." Darla: "Let go of me! (Pulls her hand free and backs away) You still have a soul." Darla runs back into the room and sees the rumpled bed. Turns back to Angel, who slowly followed her in. Darla: "But we..." Angel: "Yeah." Angel sits down on the foot of the bed and begins to put on his shoes. Darla: "And you..." Angel: "I know." Darla: "Then I..." Angel: "Three times." Darla: "You're not evil. I-I don't understand. - Was I... Was it... not good? (Lets out a short laugh) Well, I don't accept that. You can not tell me that wasn't perfect. Not only have I been around for four hundred years, but I used to do this professionally. And *that* was perfect. (Grabs his arm and tries to drag him back to bed) We'll go again." Angel pulls free and gets up, backing away. Angel: "No. No. We can't. You know we can't. - We're finished." Darla: "Finished? Why? What, because you suddenly decide? You know an hour ago you wanted this. You weren't tricked into anything. I didn't seduce you. You *wanted* it!" Angel: "Yeah. And it *was* perfect, Darla. - It was perfect despair." Darla just stares at him. Angel, no longer looking at her: "And you were the reason. You've always been the reason. You were the thing that made me what I am, and - I thought - if I could save you, I'd somehow - save myself, but - but I was wrong. And when I failed..." Darla: "Stop it!" Angel: "When I *failed*, you saved me. And I have to thank you for that. There is nothing I can do for you now, Darla. I can't even hate you." Darla: "You knew this would happen, didn't you? You made me trust you! - You made me believe!" As Darla says the words they echo in Angel's head in Kate's voice as she talks on the phone: "You made me trust you. You made me believe." Angel turning to go: "We're done. Let yourself out." Darla hurries after him, picking up a piece of wood like a stake. Darla: "Where are you going?" Angel turns and catches her wrist on the down swing. Angel: "You did me a favor tonight. Now I'm gonna do one for you. Get dressed and get out. Because the next time I see you I will have to k*ll you." Angel turns and walks out as Darla stares after him. Angel bangs on the door to Kate's apartment. Angel: "Kate. Kate! Kate, open the door! Kate!" Kate is lying on the floor, unconscious. A steady beeping is coming from the phone lying next to the empty whisky bottle and scattered pills and pill containers. Angel kicks in the door and rushes to her side. Angel: "Kate." Angel touches his fingers to the side of her neck, moves his hand in front of her nose and mouth, reaches to pick her up. Angel is turning on the shower. He is standing in the shower, holding Kate (both fully dressed) under the spray of water. After a few moments Kate begins to cough. Angel: "All right. Cough. All right. That's it. Come on." Holds her against him as she coughs, resting his face against the top of her head for a moment. Kate, dressed in dry clothes, but hair still wet, looks at herself in the bathroom mirror, then turns to face Angel, standing behind her in the open door. Kate: "Thanks. - Now get out." Walks past him. Angel just stands there for a moment. Lindsey enters his apartment. Turns on the light and sees Darla standing next to the window, looking out over the city. Lindsey: "Darla... I've been calling here all night. Why haven't you answered?" He drops his stuff and walks over to the window drawing the curtains closed. Lindsey: "Get away from the window. It's not safe." Stands close behind her. Lindsey: "They called an emergency meeting tonight - after what happened. - The official order on you is to stake on sight." Darla walks past him. Sits down on a chair and looks at something in her hands. Lindsey: "You should have told me what you had planned. I would have talked you out of it - helped you. I don't know." Lindsey closes the rest of the curtains, walks over to Darla. Lindsey: "Things are getting complicated for us now." Darla: "Yes. Yes, I believe they are." Lindsey: "We should probably clear your stuff out of here. Move in my bedroom. I just think it'd be best for us..." Darla is still looking at her hands, twisting the big ring Angel k*lled the Senior Partner for between her fingers. Lindsey: "Darla, what's wrong? (Sees the ring) What is this? (Takes it from her) Where did you get this?" Darla shrugs: "What's the difference? Doesn't work anyway." Lindsey: "No, of course it doesn't work, because after Angel stole it there was a disenchanting ceremony. It took half the meeting. How did you get this?" Darla after a b*at: "It was my payment." Lindsey swallows: "Your payment? What are you talking about?" Darla: "What do you *think* I'm talking about, Lindsey?" Lindsey: "I don't know!" She just looks at him and after a b*at he turns away. Stares down at the ring then back at her with a frown. Lindsey: "What happened?" Darla: "Nothing. - Nothing happened. - My god, nothing at all." Lindsey: "Tell me. I have to know." Darla: "You want details, Lindsey? Is that what you want?" Lindsey: "Yes. I want details. - I need to know everything. All of it. - What did he do to you?" The Caritas bar, deserted, chairs up on the tables. Someone is ringing the buzzer, repeatedly. The host, wearing a golden house robe, walks over to the bar. Host: "Alright, alright. - Alright, already!" Pushes a button which apparently opens the door to the person still ringing the buzzer. Host: "I'm not deaf, you know? Jeez, keep your pants on!" Angel walks in. Host: "Well, I see we're a little late with *that* advice." Angel sits at a table as the host is fixing some drinks at the bar. Angel: "I probably should have k*lled her." Host: "Eh, k*ll her, give her cab fare, whatever. The point is, you've turned a corner. (Comes walking over tot he table, carrying two drinks) Well, yay you. Zuzu's petals. It's about time. And between you and me, if it had taken you much longer to h*t your bottom, I was gonna kick it." Host sets the drinks on the table and sits down across from Angel. Angel: "I'm still not sure I understand what happened." Host: "What's to understand? You think you're the first guy who ever rolled over, saw what was lying next to him and went 'Guyeah!' And you're not. Believe me. - It's called a moment of clarity, my lamb. And you've just had one. Sort of appalling, ain't it? To see just exactly where you've gotten yourself?" Angel: "I don't know how to get back." Host: "Well, that's just the thing. You don't. You go on to the new place. Whatever that is." Angel after a b*at: "I don't know if I can. - I-I've done - things. - Questionable things." Host: "Yes, you have. But-but you didn't k*ll those lawyers, Angel. That was slated to happen with or without you. The Powers were just trying to work it so it'd be without you, that's all. You weren't much help in that department were you, Sparky?" Angel: "I wasn't much help? If they wanted me to stay away, why didn't they just tell me?" Host: "Would you have listened? - Besides, what makes you think they didn't? Over and over and, as for example, over?" Angel: "Well, they could've been a little bit more specific!" Host clears his throat: "Isn't this just the sort of 'tude that got you where you are now? I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say if all you're gonna do is switch back to brood mode, we'd rather have you evil. Then at least - leather pants." Angel shakes his head: "What now?" Host: "What do you mean?" Angel: "Well, how do I fix this. I mean, what do the Powers want me to do?" Host: "Does it *look* like I'm hearing voices? Because I'm not. I'm not your link with the Powers, Angel. I never was. You got rid of that when you fired your crew. - Yeah, that's gonna be the hardest part of all of this, you know." Angel: "Yeah." Host: "And there is a chance, a *good* chance you won't be able to put this back together. It just... well, it depends, really." Angel: "Yeah, whether they'll even talk to me." Host: "No, actually it depends on whether they live through the night. And I got to tell you, at the moment, the odds? Not good." A taxi pulls up in front of the Sharp's house and Cordy gets out. Cordy sees that the house is completely dark and stops on the sidewalk. Looks at the taxi pulling away, back at the house. The door to the house is partly ajar and after some knocking Cordy peeks into the house. Cordy: "Hello? Mrs. Sharp? (Inches her way in) Anybody home? Cordelia Chase here. - Uhm, I hope you haven't gone to bed already. - Took me a little longer to get here than I expected. - Hope that doesn't mean you changed your mind about paying your bill, which I - I just happened to bring along with me. - Hello?" Takes a few steps deeper into the house and looks in through the doorway into the kitchen to see the Sharp's bodies lying on the floor there. Cordy ups a hand to her head as she gets a blurry vision of her trying to leave the house but encountering a Skilosh demon instead. Cordy, takes a deep breath, gets up and hurries to the door only to recoil from the sight of a Skilosh demon standing right there, blocking her way. Cordy: "That was helpful!" The Skilosh growls at it jumps at her. Break Cordy, sitting back against the wall in the Sharp's house, slowly comes to. Touching the back of her head she gets on all fours. Skilosh: "Human." Cordy lets out a startled yell and looks up. Skilosh: "Destroyer of our Spawn." Cordy: "Destroyer of your... Have we met?" Skilosh: "The others. You will make them come to us." Cordy: "Huh? What others?" Skilosh: "Three are responsible. Three must pay." Cordy: "Look, I think you must have me confused with someone else. I haven't destroyed anyone's spawn. Promise." Two more Skilosh come in and speak to the first one in Skilosh. As the first Skilosh turns around, Cordy gets to see the back of its head for the first time. Cordy: " Hey! You've got a third eye in the back of your head just like that little girl did -before - we - destroyed your spawn." Skilosh to Cordy: "We've located the wheel-ed one. Where is the other?" Cordy: "Wheel-ed one?" Wesley rolls around his apartment in his wheelchair. Takes the stack of books off his lap and sets it on a side table, not noticing the demon outside his window watching him with the third eye on the back of its head. Wesley picks up some dishes and puts them on his lap. Stops as he hears some banging followed by an indistinct but rather upset voice talking. Continues his way towards the kitchen. Again there is banging and the voice gets a bit louder, though no more understandable. Wesley rolls his chair back against the wall, ignoring the dishes spilling form his lap in the process. Looks around, sees the demon outside his window just ducking away. Wesley rolls over to a walk-in closet and after some trouble gets the door open and wheels inside. Can't quite reach the shelf above his hanging clothes. Tries to stand up, but sinks back with a groan. Grabs the broom and uses its handle to move the g*n resting on the top shelf. It falls off the shelf, hitting him in the process but he manages to hold onto it. He cracks it open to find that it is not loaded. Looks at the box of shells up on the shelf. He manages to knock them down using the broom, but the box lands on the floor spilling shells everywhere. Wesley pushes two shells into the double barrel and closes the g*n. Rolls back out of the closet. Stops with his back to the door to the hall and aims the g*n first at the window, then at the doorways leading to the other rooms in turn, then back at the window. The door behind him crashes open and Wesley spins around, g*n aimed one handed, to find Angel standing in the hallway. Wesley: "Angel!" Angel is looking past Wesley, shifting on his feet, but doesn't come in. Angel: "Invite me in! I've never been here before, Wesley, you have to invite me in!" Wesley lowering his g*n: "Well, perhaps if you'd shown a bit of interest..." Angel still looking past Wesley: "Wesley..." Wesley turns to look over his shoulder just as one of the Skilosh crashes in through his window. Wesley: "Yes. No. Absolutely. I invite you in. *In* I invite you!" Angel rushes past Wesley, spinning his chair around in the process and engages the two Skilosh demons. Angel: "Do you know what these things are?" Wesley: "I believe the third eye indicates adult Skilosh, though this is the first time I've had occasion to..." Having temporarily knocked both demons across the room, Angel leans down on Wesley's chair. Angel: "How do I k*ll them?" Wesley: "Well, uhm, there are a number of ways..." One of the Skilosh tackles Angel away from Wesley and knocks him into the wall. Angel: "Wesley!" Wesley: "Yeah, right, yes, uh, ah, (the other Skilosh grabs Wesley by the neck) hack it to pieces!" Angel grabs an ax mounted on one of Wesley's walls, kicks his Skilosh away and knocks the other away from Wesley with the ax. Then follows it where it landed behind the sofa and hacks it to pieces, splattering the wall with thick yellow gore. The other Skilosh launches itself at Wesley, and he brings up his g*n and fires. Yellow gore spatters Wesley's face as the demon is thrown back by the blast. Wesley looks at it lying on the floor, steaming slightly, with plaster from the ceiling raining down on it. Wesley: "I think I got it." Angel is getting up, having finished his demon. Wesley takes off his glasses and squints up at the ceiling. Wesley: "I can only pray Mrs. Starns isn't at home." Wesley and Angel look at each other. A smile starts to spread over Wesley's face but disappears into a frown as Wesley looks away. Wesley putting his glasses back on: "What are you doing here." Angel straightens up, the slight smile on his face vanishing with a sigh. Lindsey and Darla are sitting at opposite ends of his couch, not looking at each other. Lindsey gets up and takes off his jacket. After a moment Darla glances in the direction he left. Lindsey comes back, throws his jacket down and drops a set of keys on the table. Stares at Darla, who's looking down, for a moment then goes to open a closet. In it there are some of Darla's clothes on hangers, next to his own. He digs down into the back of the closet and pulls out some cowboy boots. Rips off his tie, picks up the boots and slams the closet door shut. Wesley is sitting in the passenger seat of Angel's convertible, holding a cell phone to his ear. Wesley: "She's not picking up." Angel: "She wasn't at home before either. (Wesley turns to him with a frown) I-I stopped by there - before I went to your place." Wesley: "Oh. Did you. Just keep going straight." Angel: "So, ah, I guess you're probably wondering why I'm, you know, (slight laugh) back?" Wesley: "It hadn't really occurred to me. You're gonna want to take a right turn shortly." Angel: "I know how to get to your offices, Wesley." Wesley: "Oh yeah, of course. You did pop by. - Stole a book." Angel doesn't say anything. The car hits a bump in the road and Wesley winces. Angel: "I'll try to avoid the bumps." Wesley: "I appreciate that." Angel: "Actually, it's kind of funny. I-I recently got a - a gut wound myself. (Wesley stares at him with a frown) Not - not a g*n wound like you got there. But, uh, it's kind of a - antique - sword (Wesley just keeps staring at him) is what it was. (Wesley turns back to watch the road) Went deep. - Yes, it did. - Hey, guess who s*ab me?" Wesley: "Darla?" Angel: "Yeah. - Actually kind of a funny story. The whole reason I had - this epiphany... (Looks over at Wesley staring straight ahead) Alright, so why don't you just tell me about these Skilosh demons." Wesley: "Very well. We at Angel Investigations were recently contracted by a family to investigate the sudden appearance of a mysterious third eye on the back of their young daughter's head." Angel: "Oh, really? You kept the name." Wesley after a b*at: "Pardon?" Angel with a slight smile: "You kept the name: Angel Investigations." Wesley: "We're gonna change it." Angel's smile melts away: "Go on." Wesley: "In any event, I diagnosed the girl's condition as infection by a Skilosh." Angel: "With your books." Wesley: "Yes." Angel: "Yeah, you were always so good with your books. Made it looks so easy. When it isn't." Wesley: "Skilosh, a notoriously violent, asexual, self-replicating species of demon, has the distasteful habit of injecting its demon spawn into the cranium of a human host. One of the key diagnostic symptoms being the tell-tale third eye on the back of the host's head. If this condition is not arrested in time a newborn Skilosh will erupt, fully grown, from the skull of its human host." Angel: "But you guys, you saved the little girl." Wesley: "Yes, we did." Angel: "You did a good thing." Wesley after a b*at: "Thank you." Angel: "Welcome." The Skilosh at the Sharp's house is talking to some others and Cordy makes an attempt to back away while its back is turned, only to have it spin around and growl at her. Cordy: "I'm guessing 'hey! Look behind you!' is really not gonna work, is it?" Skilosh: "Two more have been destroyed." Cordy: "What? Oh, no! Wesley, g*n, you - you k*lled them? - You horrible, ugly, three-eyed..." Skilosh: "Three must pay." Cordy: "Oh! Two of *you* have been destroyed. (Relieved breath) Okay... (Frowns) Oh. That's bad... (The Skilosh stare at her) I'm sorry?" Skilosh: "More must rise." Two Skilosh grab a hold of Cordy. Cordy: "Oh. Oh, no. Hey! Hey, hey. Wait a second. Guys!" Skilosh: "More must rise!" Cordy: "No, no. No more must rise. Honest. Listen, I've been impregnated by demon spawn before. Let's just say, didn't really work out." An ugly, three pronged tongue starts to protrude out of the demon's mouth as he leans closer to Cordelia. Cordy: "Oh, god. Please don't do this. Please, no. Ah!" The other two demons turn Cordy around and hold her head down. Cordy: "No! Let go! Please. Ah! No. Let go!" The pronged tongue connects with the back of Cordy's head and she screams. The door of Angel Investigations with the hours Mon - Thur 10 - 6, Fri 10 -9, Sat 9-9, Sun closed, stenciled on it. Wesley, sitting in his wheelchair looks at the window as a car drives by. Angel comes out of the back of the offices. Angel: "She's not here." Wesley: "That doesn't bode well." Wesley looks back out of the window as car lights pass it again. Wesley: "That's the third time that truck's passed by." Angel: "Well, maybe she's just out on a date or with her friends or something." Wesley: "That's unlikely." Angel: "It's Friday night, Wesley." Wesley: "So?" Angel: "So, we are talking about the same Cordelia Chase, right?" Wesley turns to face Angel: "That's correct." Angel: "Knowing her..." Wesley: "But you don't. You don't know her at all. For months now you haven't cared to. Otherwise you might have realized that our Cordelia has become a very solitary girl. She's not the vain, carefree creature she once was... Well, certainly not carefree. - It's the visions, you see. The visions that were meant to guide you. You could turn away from them. She doesn't have that luxury. She knows and experiences the pain in this city, and because of who she is, she feels compelled to do something about it. - It's left her little time for anything else. - You'd have known that - if you hadn't had you head firmly up your... place that isn't on top of your neck." Angel quietly after a b*at: "We have to find her." Wesley: "Yes, we agree on that. She could be in grave danger." Angel: "And even if she's not..." Wesley looks at Angel, but Angel's attention is on something else. Angel: "Something's coming." Wesley: "Turn off the lights. The Skilosh may have followed us here." Angel turns off the lights and picks up the ax he pulled off Wesley's wall earlier. Both of them back against the walls. We hear footsteps coming closer. A shadow falls across the open door to the street and two legs walk into frame. Wesley turns on the light and g*n spins around to face him. Wesley: "g*n! - What are you doing here?" g*n: "I was passing by. Saw the lights was on. Besides, I work here." Wesley: "But - I thought you'd gone." g*n: "Gone? Well, yeah, gone, but that don't mean I wasn't coming back! (Looks at Angel) What, you didn't think I was gonna abandon you like this guy, did you?" Angel looks down. Wesley, smiling: "No. Certainly not." g*n and Wesley exchange an elaborate handshake ritual. g*n: "Come on, English! You know you my man!" Angel: "So, ah, I see you guys have bonded." g*n: "Happens when you fight shoulder to shoulder." Wesley: "Or rather hip to shoulder these days." g*n: "This man took a b*llet for me!" Wesley: "Ah, it was nothing!" They do the handshake ritual again. g*n: "So, what's he doing here?" Angel: "Went and saw the host of Caritas. He said my friends were in danger." g*n to Wesley: "So, what's he doing here?" Wesley: "He had an epiphany." g*n: "Aaah. Well, I saw you turn off the lights and hiding. What's up with that?" Wesley: "There was a demon att*ck, at my home." Angel: "I saved him." Wesley: "We thought perhaps we'd been followed." g*n: "Demon att*ck?" Wesley: "Skilosh, I'm afraid." g*n: "As in the back-of-the-head type demon? I thought we got rid of that." Wesley: "We did. Which is why I believe we are being targeted for retribution by the tribe." g*n: "Where's Cordy?" Wesley: "We don't know. Not here." g*n: "You checked her pad?" Angel: "I stopped by there earlier." g*n: "You enjoying your visit to nineteen seventy three? (Picks up a memo pad) I meant her message pad." Angel: "Oh, right. That's a good idea. (Angel picks up a pencil) Oh, here, use this. You can make a rubbing of the impressions she left. See what the last thing was that she wrote." g*n: "Or we could just read the carbon." Angel drops the pencil back on the desk: "Or you can do that." g*n: "Directions." Wesley: "Let me see." g*n pushes Angel out of the way and brushes past him to hand the pad to Wesley. Wesley: "Yes, I know that address. It's the Sharps. (To Angel) The family, whose daughter we treated." g*n: "Looks like she wrote that down tonight. (To Wesley) You think she went there?" Wesley: "Why else would she take the original?" g*n: "What do you think they'd do?" Wesley: "While I hate to imagine, we better be prepared. (Rips the carbon off the pad) The de-oculation powder is in my desk. Get it." g*n: "Alright." Angel: "Guys - guys, d-does it make sense that sh-she would go there in the middle of the night without calling either one of you?" g*n and Wesley: "They owe us money." Angel: "Lets go." Cordy is waking up on the floor of the Sharps house. Looks around and winces, but pushes herself up on all fours. Looks straight at us and stops as we see the Skilosh standing at a window behind her. Cordy: "Oh god. You're still here. You're not leaving, are you? And no one's coming for me. No one's expecting me any place. No-no one's gonna miss me! - And how come I can see you? (Reaches her hands to the back of her head) Oh. Oh, no! Oh..." Gets up to look at herself in a mirror than turns around and pulls her hair away from the blinking eye in the back of her head. Cordy: "Oh, no." Angel is driving down the road. Checking his side mirror form time to time. g*n is sitting in the passenger seat, Wesley in the back. Wesley: "What is it?" Angel: "I don't know. Nothing I guess." g*n: "So, you had an *epiphany*, did you?" Angel: "Yeah." g*n: "So, what you just wake up and bang?" Angel: "Well, it was sort of the other way around." Gives g*n a smile. g*n: "Well, that's good, you know. That's real good that you can have one of those. Ain't that good, Wes? 'cause you know, epiphanies, they handy. - When do you think you might be having another one?" Wesley: "g*n..." g*n: "No. No. I'm interested. You know, 'cause they could strike at any time. Could be the next time you see one of them lawyers, you get all epiphanied off right back at 'em." Angel: "No." g*n: "No? You don't think so? - Well I hope you don't go having another one before we get to Cordelia, because if something happens to her... I mean, something bad, I just might have *me* and epiphany." A Skilosh demon drops out of a tree into the car and grabs Wesley. g*n jumps up in his seat and kicks it off Wesley. The demon rolls off the back of the car and Angel swerves the car and stops in the middle of the road. g*n to Wesley: "You okay?" Wesley: "Yes." Angel stares into the side mirror as the Skilosh slowly picks itself back up and is joined by two more of its kind. Wesley: "Angel? (Looks back and sees the demons) We should probably go." Angel keeps staring in the mirror. g*n: "Yo, Angel!" Angel gets out of the car: "You guys go ahead." Wesley: "What?" Angel: "Just go! I'll handle this. If we don't take them out they'll flank us once we get to the house." Pulls Wesley's ax out from the back seat. Angel: "And then I'll meet you there. (g*n and Wes exchange a look) I'll *be* there. Just get to Cordelia. That's all that matters. Wesley taps g*n's shoulder and he jumps into the drivers seat. The car peels out of there as Angel goes to meet the three Skilosh, who after a b*at run off in different directions. Angel hears a car engine roaring behind him and turns just in time to see an old red pickup run over him full speed. The pickup stops as Angel tries to pick himself back up. Angel: "Jeez..." And artificial hand slams the pickup into reverse and Lindsey looks back over his shoulder as he g*n the truck, running over Angel again, just as he makes it to his feet. Break g*n peers into the window of the Sharp's house and sees Cordy sitting on a chair and a Skilosh standing in front of her. Wesley is trying to wheel up beside g*n, but one of his wheels keeps spinning without traction. Taps g*n on the arm and points down, spinning the wheel. g*n reaches over and pulls the wheelchair up beside him. Wesley: "Thank you. What do you see?" g*n: "She's in there." Wesley: "Is she..." g*n: "Yeah, she's alive." Wesley: "Are you sure?" g*n: "Yeah. Her eyes are open. All three of them." Wesley: "Oh dear." g*n: "Wait a minute, three more!" Wesley: "Eyes?" g*n: "Demons." Wesley: "Oh. The tribe's gathering. The gestation maybe nearly complete. We haven't much time. Where is he?" Lindsey's pickup slams into Angel, knocking him down. Lindsey puts it back into drive as Angel staggers to his feet again, and drives the truck in a tight circle around Angel. Angel hurriedly limps towards the side of the street, begins to run, but Lindsey runs into him again, sending him flying onto the sidewalk. g*n: "Man, that's gotta hurt." Wesley: "Well, it's gonna hurt a lot more when the thing that's gestating inside of her hatches, I can assure you." g*n: "Try not to say the word 'gestating' anymore. And how long are we gonna wait for Angel?" Wesley: "We're not." g*n: "Good." Wesley: "Well, why should we?" g*n: "We shouldn't." Wesley: "We've been doing fine without him, haven't we?" g*n: "I'd say so." Wesley: "Right. So he suddenly reappears, orders us to sit and wait and we just do it?" g*n: "Hell, no!" Wesley: "No. For all we know he had another change of heart." g*n: "That's true." Wesley pushes himself up out of his wheelchair. Wesley: "We're not going to sit idly by, we're going in there (groans) and we're - saving our friend." g*n: "I say lets do this." Wesley: "One more thing." g*n: "What's that?" Wesley: "I'm toppling over." g*n catches a hold of his jacket and pulls Wesley back up right. The pickup comes to a squealing stop and Lindsey gets out, wearing jeans, a thick, plaid flannel shirt and his cowboy boots, watching Angel crawling along the side of the road. Lindsey reaches inside the cab and takes out a sledgehammer. Walks over to Angel. Lindsey: "You're gonna tell me everything." Hits Angel with the sledge to the chin, rolling him over onto his back Lindsey: "Everything you do with her." Hits Angel again. Lindsey: "All of it." Kicks Angel. Lindsey: "You're gonna tell me." Angel: "Why?" Lindsey: "Because I wanna hear it from you." Hauls back with the sledge and slams it down into Angel's gut. Angel curls up around his gut with a groan then rolls onto all four in an effort to get back up. Lindsey slams the sledge down on his back, dropping him back to the ground. Lindsey: "Tell me!" Hits him again. Lindsey: "Tell me! - Tell me!" Angel: "No." Lindsey swings the sledge one handed like a polo mallet and hits Angel under the chin. Angel spins onto his back and ceases to move. Lindsey walks back to his truck, reaches into its bed and picks up a stake. Turns to find Angel standing right behind him. Angel: "I'm sorry Lindsey." Angel hits Lindsey with a hard right, and the sledge and stake go flying. Lindsey pushes himself back up using the side of the truck for support. Angel: "I really am." Hits Lindsey in the kidneys, then turns him around. Angel: "I'm sorry she'll never love you." Knees him in the stomach, then pulls him back up against the side of the truck. Angel: "I'm sorry you're gonna have to live with that." Hits him with a left hook. Picks him back up. Angel: "I'm sorry I didn't try harder to help you when you came to me." Smacks him against the side of the truck. Angel: "I'm sorry you made the wrong choice." Hits him with a right hook, dropping Lindsey to the ground. Lindsey sees the stake lying on the ground and reaches for it. Angel picks up the sledge and brings it down in an overhead arc, smashing Lindsey's plastic hand to pieces. Lindsey freezes, staring at his shattered hand. Glances up at Angel. Angel dropping the sledge: "Could have been the other one. Just be glad I had an epiphany." Lindsey stares up at him with a frown. Angel: "Mind if I borrow your truck?" Kicks Lindsey across the chin, knocking him out. Cordy is sitting in the sharps house rubbing her temples as the Skilosh speak to each other in demon speak. Suddenly straightens up. Cordy: "g*n!" Wesley's head pops through the door behind her. Cordy: "Wesley!" Wesley with a smile: "We came to rescue you." Cordy: "I knew you would!" A Skilosh pushes each of them into the room and we can see that their hands are tied behind their backs. g*n: "But then they caught us coming in the back door." The Skilosh lets go of Wesley and he almost topples over. The demon catches a hold of him and pulls him back up right. Wesley: "Thank you." Lindsey's old pick up is speeding down the road. Skilosh: "More must rise." It's pronged tongue starts to protrude from its mouth. g*n to Cordy: "This gonna hurt?" Cordy: "A lot." Lindsey's pickup races down the street, onto the front lawn, and right at the Sharp's house. The Skilosh turns and steps towards the window as the truck lights shine into it. A sh*t of Angel behind the wheel, then the truck smashes through the wall of the living room, and into the lead Skilosh, sending it flying out the window across the room. The other Skilosh let go of their prisoners and converge on the truck. Angel slams the door open into the first one then goes after them with Lindsey's sledgehammer. g*n pulls a folding Kn*fe out of his boot and uses it to cut the ropes around Wesley's wrists. Wesley returns the favor while Angel keeps whaling away at the Skilosh. Wesley helps Cordy to sit up, and sprinkles some powder onto the back of her head while saying something in Latin. The powder rains down on the blinking eye, which shivers, closes and disappears. Cordy touches the back of her head just as Angel, having dispatched the last of the demons, hurries over and kneels down in front of her. He looks pretty beaten up, and has some blood dripping from his nose, but he's smiling at her. Cordy: "Angel... Hi." Angel: "Hi. - You okay?" Cordy: "No." Angel's smile melts away into worry: "You're not?" Cordy: "No. - You really hurt my feelings." g*n and Wesley help Cordy up, and Angel watches as the three of them walk away. We get a sh*t of the license plate on Lindsey's truck (Oklahoma T-42633) in bright daylight. The camera pans up to look in the drivers window and out through the cracked windshield to show us Lindsey, still in his cowboy gear, and looking slightly b*at up, walking up to the front of it. He pulls a piece of paper out from under the windshield wiper. All it says is 'Thanks.' Lindsey enters his apartment. Lindsey: "Darla?" Sees that she has cleaned out all her stuff. Night. Kate and Angel are sitting side by side outside in the garden court of the Hyperion. Kate: "I feel like such an idiot." Angel: "A lot of that going around." Kate: "I just couldn't... - My whole life has been about being a cop. If I'm not part of the force it's like nothing I do means anything." Angel, still looking pretty b*at up: "It doesn't." Kate: "Doesn't what?" Angel: "Mean anything. In the greater scheme or the big picture, nothing we do matters. There's no grand plan, no big win." Kate: "You seem kind of chipper about that." Angel: "Well, I guess I kinda - worked it out. If there is no great glorious end to all this, if - nothing we do matters, - then all that matters is what we do. 'cause that's all there is. What we do, now, today. - I fought for so long. For redemption, for a reward - finally just to b*at the other guy, but... I never got it." Kate: "And now you do?" Angel: "Not all of it. All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because - I don't think people should suffer, as they do. Because, if there is no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness - is the greatest thing in the world." Kate: "Yikes. It sounds like you had an epiphany." Angel: "I keep saying that. But nobody's listening." Kate: "Well, I'm pretty much convinced, since I'm alive to be convinced." Angel: "You know you don't have to be a cop to be..." Kate: "I'm okay. - Anyway, I'm *not* headed towards another pillathon. - I'm very grateful. - I never thought you'd come for me, but... I got cut a huge break and I believe... - I don't know what I believe, but I - have - faith. - I think maybe we're not alone in this." Angel: "Why?" Kate: "Because I never invited you in." Wesley is sitting behind the desk at the new Angel Investigations. The phone rings and Cordy comes over to answer it while Wesley hands her the memo pad. Cordy: "Angel Investigations. We help the helpless. How can we..." She looks up and sees Angel, still looking b*at up, slowly edging his way in through the front door. Cordy: "...help you? - Check is in the mail." Hangs up, as g*n comes up behind her and all three of them stare at Angel standing there. Angel: "I'm sorry." Wesley grabs a hold of a walking stick and pushes himself up out of his chair and comes around to stand in front of Angel. Wesley: "Before you say any more I think I should tell you, we've all discussed this, and none of us are ready just yet..." Angel: "It's okay, Wesley. I don't want you to come back and work for me." Wesley: "Oh. I see." Angel: "I wanna work for you." g*n: "You wanna work for us?" Angel: "Yeah. I do." Wesley: "Why?" Angel: "Because I think I can help." Cordy: "How do we know we can trust you?" Angel: "I guess I'll just have to earn that." Cordy: "No." g*n and Wesley turn to look at her. Cordy: "No. No. No! Ahh." Cordy reaches up to her head as she is h*t with a vision. Cordy: "The usual big scary rising up in a housing project in Topanga, and - why is it that I am not on the floor this time?" Camera pulls back to reveal that Angel is standing behind her. Angel: "I got you." Cordy looks back at him, then back at g*n and Wesley. Cordy: "Maybe *he* should drive?" Wesley after a b*at, with a slight smile: "Let's go." He and g*n turn to head out the door. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x16 - Epiphany Pt. 2"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: sh*t of Angel closing the cellar doors and Darla biting Holland. Angel voice over: "I've done - things. Questionable things." sh*t of the pile of bodies left in the cellar. Angel: "You're all fired." Cop confronting g*n. Wesley: "Officer, wait!" Wesley gets sh*t. Angel drops the cigarette onto the gasoline trail. f*re races towards Darla and Dru and engulfs them. Cordy pushes the book Angel came to get against his chest. Cordy: "Here. I don't even know what you are anymore." Angel: "I'm a vampire." Angel wakes up beside Darla. Host voice over: "It's called a moment of clarity, my lamb. And you've just had one." Angel dropping to all fours on the balcony in the rain. Host: "And there's a chance you won't be able to put this back together." Cordy: "Angel." Angel: "Are you okay?" Cordy: "No." Angel: "I'm sorry. I wanna work for you." Cordy: "How do we know we can trust you?" Hyperion, day. Wesley: "This won't be easy for any of us, Angel. You're going to have to change your behavior. Engage your co-workers from time to time." Angel is sitting behind his desk, looking up at Wesley who is pacing in front of it while lecturing him. Wesley: "Be sensitive to their feelings, their opinions, especially before you take some action one might construe as - oh, let's just call it insane. It goes a long way to show you - appreciate and respect them." Wesley drops out of his lecturing tone for a moment: "This is t*rture for you, isn't it." Angel: "Yes." Wesley: "Good. - I think that's all for now." Angel: "Okay. Well, you know, I think I'll - I'll just, you know, sit and absorb it all." Wesley looks at him then glances around the office then back at Angel. Angel glances around the office then spreads his hands and gets up out of the chair. Angel: "Somewhere else. Not here. I mean, this is - your office - now. Yeah, I just, uhm, I'll get out of your hair." Angel walks towards the door without looking at Wesley. Wesley: "You're sure about this." Angel: "Absolutely. (Angel turns to face Wesley) You know what? I work for you. (Slides the doors behind him apart) I just need to find a place for me to..." Angel turns and sees Cordy adding a few pencil to the cup sitting on top of a little folding table next to her desk. Wesley: "I took the liberty of providing you with a new working space." Angel: "Great." Wesley: "And I'd love a cup of coffee." Angel with a laugh: "That's, that's very funny." Wesley slides the doors to his new office shut in Angel's face. Angel turns around to look at Cordy and g*n. Cordy: "Two sugars in mine." g*n: "Mocha cappuccino here." Both of them walk off, leaving Angel standing there alone. Angel: "Man. Atonement's a bitch." Intro A park at night. Two teenagers are sitting in a parked car, listening to music, talking and kissing. A hooded figure watches them from the bushes, then walks closer. The girl breaks away from the guy with a scream as the hooded figure smashes the driver's side window in. g*n slaps a mace into the palm of his hand, then drops it into a box full of w*apon. He picks the box up and walks away as Wesley comes up from behind the counter and drops some ring-binders on it. Cordy walks by in the background, carrying a box of papers. Angel comes down the stairs. Wesley looks at him and Angel slows, looks around. Wesley cocks his head towards Cordy. Angel shifts his feet then moves towards Cordy while Wesley looks back down with a slight smile. Angel walks over towards Cordy. Angel: "Uh..." Cordy, looking through the papers in her box, her back to Angel: "Don't." Angel: "Don't?" Cordy: "You're gonna start trying to make small talk, get all stammery. Don't. You might strain yourself." Angel looks over towards Wesley, who looks back at him over his shoulder. Angel turns back towards Cordy. Angel: "I just wanted to know how you were. Are. I mean, we really haven't had a chance..." Cordy picks up the box and Angel reaches for it. Angel: "Here let me get that for you." Cordy: "It's okay." Angel: "Nah, I'd be glad to." Cordy holds the box away from him: "I've got it." Angel throws an other look at Wesley, but Wesley's back remains turned towards them. Angel: "Okay." He steps back, shifting from foot to foot, and looks around. Cordy sets the box down and comes to stand in front of him. Cordy: "You wanna know how I am? Tired mostly - with sweaty running a close second. I'm also jazzed. Can't wait to get our business up and sputtering again - ready to help those helpless. - But, just so we understand each other - you and I? - We're not friends." Wesley throws a glance over his shoulder in their direction. Angel looks down, doesn't try to help Cordy as she picks the box up again. He tries to meet her eyes as she is about to walk past him. Suddenly her face scrunches up as she is h*t by a vision. Letting the box drop, Angel grabs a hold of her arms and eases her down onto a chair. Angel: "Wesley." Blurry vision of the two kids being dragged out through the shattered car windows. Wesley is leaning over Cordy, with Angel hovering just behind him and g*n leaning on the other side of Cordy's desk. Cordy: "Okay, she's screaming. They're pulling her from a car. Guys in robes. Blue robes." More blurry vision flashes. Cordy: "They're taking - people and, and, whoa, big bird." g*n: "Big bird?" Cordy: "Not the muppet, you dumb ass." Wesley: "Where's the car, Cordelia?" Cordy: "Ah... Lafayette Park, near the fountain." Wesley: "Right. Let's move." Wesley and g*n head out as Angel leans in closer to Cordy. Angel: "Are you, uh..." Cordy leans away, holding up a hand: "Fine." Angel: "You should, ah, take off. (Reaches for his jacket) I mean, ah, for the rest of the night. (Backs away from her to follow Wes and g*n) Go home." Backs into one of the pillars, stumbles, then hurries towards the door. Angel: "Order - order Chinese." Cordy watches Angel run out. Cordy is turning off the lights on her way to leave the hotel. Slows and starts to look around the deserted lobby. Cordy in a small voice: "Hello? (louder) Hello?" She turns around and lets out a scream when she finds Harmony standing only a few steps behind her on the landing to the entrance. Harmony: "That's the way you greet an old friend?" Cordy screams again in a different tone. Cordy: "Harmony?" Harmony hurries down to her and they embrace. Cordy: "Harmony! I don't believe it!" Harmony laughing: "Yup. It's me." They break apart. Cordy: "Wow. I haven't seen you since..." Harmony: "Our high school blew up." Cordy: "Right. Right. Seems like a lifetime ago." Harmony nods: "Oh! For me, too, totally." Cordy: "Wow. Look at you. You look - different." Harmony: "Hey, I'm not the same person I was back at Sunnydale High. - And you - you - you cut your hair!" Cordy touches her hair: "Yeah." Harmony: "Well, I think it looks adorable off your neck." Cordy: "Thanks. I - was just, you know, looking for a change." Harmony: "Sure. Change. (Laughs) Change is good - sometimes. (Walks past Cordy towards the counter) So, this is where you do - whatever it is you do?" Cordy: "Detective Agency." Harmony: "Right. But - you're not a detective..." Cordy: "Uh, well, not me - technically, I'm... - Mostly, I manage things. The office." Harmony: "Huh. Sounds - rewarding." Cordy: "So, what are you doing here in town? Business?" Harmony: "No. No business. Play, play, play. - Uhm, I just broke up with someone. Real smothering relationship. You know, the kind where they just can't live without you?" Cordy: "Oh, sure. That one. - Hate that." Harmony: "I thought it would be a good time to come check out the L.A. nightlife, look up certain old friends." Cordy: "You got a place to stay?" Harmony: "You offering?" Cordy: "Do I have to say it?" Harmony: "Yeah." Cordy: "Okay, you're coming home with me. (Hugs her) I hope you don't mind the couch." g*n, Angel and Wesley run up to the teenagers' car, see the doors hanging open, and the blood on the broken windows, but otherwise there is no one in sight. They stop, Wesley breathing hard and holding his side. g*n looking around: "Now what?" Wesley: "We fan out. g*n, search the area near the fountain. I'll take this path towards the picnic area. Angel, you..." We can hear some faint screaming. Angel: "Follow the screaming woman?" They take of in the direction of the screams. A woman is struggling against a figure wearing a hooded green robe. Green Robe sees g*n, Angel and Wes running towards them. Picks up the woman and tosses her towards them. Angel catches the woman, while g*n tackles Green Robe. g*n pulls the hood back to reveal the rigged features of a vampire. g*n: "Now see? What you want to go hiding such a pretty face for?" g*n ducks under the vampire's swing then, holding on to the robe, hits the vampire with a hard right. The vampire struggles out of his robe and turns to run only to find himself face to face with Angel, stake at the ready. The vampire disappears in a cloud of dust. Angel looks at g*n, but g*n only lifts the robe as to wipe his face then lowers it again with a frown and walks over to where Wes is trying to calm down the woman. Wesley: "It's alright. It's over now. You'll be safe here." g*n: "Cordelia said 'blue robes' didn't she?" Wesley: "It was dark. Perhaps she was mistaken." Angel: "Hey, I think we should give her the benefit of the doubt before just condemning her like that, don't - you?" Trails off as the other two look at him. g*n to Wesley: "I'll do another quick sweep. See if those blue boys are still around." Wesley notices a symbol sown onto the robe. A triangle with a snake forming the number two inside of it. Wesley showing it to Angel: "Religious sect?" Angel: "I don't know." Wesley pulls out his cell phone. Wesley: "I'll put Cordelia on to it." Angel: "Uhm, - I-I gave her the night off." Wesley: "Did you?" Angel: "Well, I though, you know, she looked so tired and - I mean, the vision took a lot out of her. Do-do you think, maybe, that I should - send her something? Some flowers maybe?" Wesley: "Flowers." Angel: "Yeah, uh, to say, you know, 'thanks.' Uhm. 'Sorry about the migraines.' Uhm, you know, '-II appreciate you?'" Wesley: "Yes, by all means. And uh, while you're at it pick me up one of those 'sorry you were sh*t in the gut' bouquets." Angel: "Right. Sorry." Wesley: "You can't buy back her trust, Angel, - or her affections." Angel: "She said, uh - she said we're not friends." Wesley: "I know. - There is only one thing you can give her, Angel. And that's time. Cordelia has a lot of pain to work through." Cut to Cordy laughing her head off. She and Harmony are sitting on the couch in her apartment wearing house robes, their heads wrapped up in towels. Harmony laughing: "The cackle." Cordy: "Remember in ninth grade remedial Spanish - Donnie something." Harmony: "Oh! Donnie Ray, yes." Cordy: "That's him. He followed me everywhere." There is a half-empty bottle of red wine on the table and both of them have wine glasses in their hands. Harmony: "Oh, oh, and he wrote that love song to you. How did it go?" Cordy and Harmony singing: "Oh, Cordeeelia, how I long to feel ya!" They break into laughter. Cordy: "Eww!" Harmony: "Oh, god. We totally ruled." They clink glasses. Cordy: "Yup, that we did." Harmony: "We were powerful, rich, popular." Cordy: "None of that's changed for me - apart from the powerful, rich and popular. - But I tell you one thing: I am happier now than I was then." Harmony: "Get out." Cordy: "It's hard to explain. I'm telling you. It's like - I don't know. I had these air pockets inside of me, and the work I'm doing, uh, we're doing, it's-it's like the pockets keep getting filled and I'm becoming me and... (Harmony laughs) me has had *way* too much to drink and me shut up. (Pushes Harmony with her foot) You now. You barely told me anything." Harmony: "Uhm, well, uh, what can I say? Things are faboo. I'm having a ball and a half. I mean, I did just get out of that *really* unhealthy relationship. And just, you know, feeling really good about me in general." Cordy after a b*at: "Well, good for you - in general. Well, you must be doing something right, because you look (sees Harmony making a face) - crampy. Are you okay?" Harmony: "Yeah. Just (takes a deep breath and looks over at Cordy's neck) hungry - I guess." Cordy: "Got the cure for that. - Pizza!" Laughs and leans across Harmony to reach for the phone on the side table. Harmony is suddenly in vamp-face, but by the time Cordy sits back, phone in hand, she is back in her human face. Cordy: "I know just the place to call. It's my favorite. Thin crust, heavy on the sauce. Do you like pineapple and Tandori Chicken?" Harmony: "Oh, yeah. It's all good." Break Cordy is lying asleep in bed. The door opens slowly to reveal - two feet in fuzzy pink slippers. The camera pans up past long legs to show us Harmony standing in the door wearing a white negligee, staring at Cordy's neck and licking her lips. She walks over to the bed and slowly sits down on its edge. Suddenly the door slams shut and Cordy startles awake. Harmony: "I didn't do that." Cordy: "Harmony? (Turns on the bedside lamp and rubs her eyes) I have a ghost. - What - What are you doing in my..." Harmony: "Nothing!" Cordy: "Harmony." Harmony: "I'm sorry. - I thought I could control myself. I thought I could control these urges." Cordy sitting up: "Urges?" Harmony: "You have *no* idea how hard it is to stay away from you. I mean, seeing you there looking so - so luscious." Cordy: "Oh. - Oh! You're a..." Harmony: "I should have told you. I was - scared. Scared that if you found out what I was - you'd k*ll me." Cordy: "Oh. No, Harmony - god, you really think I'm *that* narrow-minded? - I don't care about that!" Harmony: "You don't?" Cordy: "No! Not as long as you're happy." Harmony: "Happy. What's that? The last time I remember being truly happy was being back in school with you. Now here I am taking advantage of you?" Cordy: "No. It's - it's just... It's just that I had no idea - that you, you know - thought of me *that* way." Harmony: "I don't! I swear. It's just, - well, I haven't had any for a while and... (Sees Cordy's look and gets up) Oh, forget it. This is stupid. I'll just go back to the couch. I'm *really* sorry." Cordy: "Don't be. If you wanna stay and talk..." Harmony: "No, I'd better... You know, I'd appreciate it if you didn't - mention this to anyone." Cordy: "It's our secret." Cordy's apartment, day. Cordy is on the phone. Cordy: "How come you guys didn't tell me about Harmony. Sunnydale is that far away you couldn't afford a little phone call?" Willow is sitting on her bed at the dorm, phone to her ear, brushing her teeth. Willow: "Harmony? (Takes the toothbrush out of her mouth and swallows) Wha-what about Harmony?" Cordy: "She's here - in L.A." Willow: "Yikes. Big yikes. Uh. What happened? Did she come after you?" Cordy: "Yeah! She practically att*cked me in my bedroom last night." Willow: "Your bedroom. How did she..." Cordy: "Came in while I was sleeping. Good thing I woke up, too. She was ready to jump me right there! But I think she got the message that I don’t' go for that sort of stuff when I sh*t her down." Willow: "You wounded her?" Cordy: "She'll get over it. I never should have invited her to stay with me." Willow: "Say what?" Cordy: "Yeah, I know. Awkward much?" Willow: "Cordelia! Okay. We're all clear on the fact that Harmony is a vampire, right?" Cordy: "Oh. Harmony is a vampire? - That's why she - oh, my god, I'm so embarrassed! (Giggles) All this time I thought she was a great big lesbo! - Oh, yeah? Really? - Well, that's great! Good for you." Willow: "Thanks for the affirmation. Cordelia, Harmony is *very* dangerous. You have to get out of there!" Cordy: "Okay. Yeah. (Behind her Harmony appears in the doorway) I'll call you when I get somewhere safe." Harmony: "Where are you going?" Cordy puts the phone down and turns to see Harmony watching her. Wesley is looking through some old book while Angel paces behind him, holding the green robe in his hands. Angel: "There is a label on here. Maybe I can locate the manufacturer." Wesley: "Already looked into it. The name's a fake. No listing anywhere." Angel: "Okay. I should go out, see if I can pick up any information on the street." Wesley: "You mean the street bathed in morning sunlight? - Relax. I already got g*n contacting his sources." Angel: "Any suggestions on what I can do?" Phone rings. Wesley: "You can answer that." Angel goes to pick up the phone. Angel: "Angel Investig... Willow? Willow. What's... - Slow down. What's - hold on." The door of Cordy's apartment burst open and Wes and Angel run in, stake and crossbow at the ready. Wesley aiming his crossbow at Harmony: "Get away from her (realizes that Harmony is painting Cordy's toenails) foot!" Cordy: "What do you think you're doing?" Angel: "We're... Willow called. She said that you were in trouble." Wesley: "You're friend Harmony here is a..." Cordy: "Vampire. Yeah, I know." Wesley: "An *evil* vampire." Harmony: "Yeah, we covered that, too." Angel: "So..." Cordy: "So you thought you just bust into my house and k*ll my friend without giving her a chance to explain herself." Angel and Wesley exchange a look. Wesley: "Yeah." Angel: "Pretty much." Wesley: "That was our plan." Cordy: "Well, holster your g*n, boys. She came to me for help. - That's what we do, right? Help?" With a sigh Angel puts his stake away, but Wes takes a step closer, crossbow still aimed squarely at Harmony. Wesley: "That is not your friend. That thing may have your friend's memories and her appearance, but it's just a filthy demon, an unholy monster. Uh, no offence." Harmony: "About what?" Wes gets ready to sh**t Harmony, but Angel pushes the crossbow down. Angel: "Wes, you can't. If Cordelia here feels that her friend doesn't pose a thr*at then I think that we should respect her wishes." Wes stares at Angel, while Cordy gives Angel a strange look. Then Wes takes a step back and aims his crossbow at Angel. Angel: "I'm just saying..." Cordy is still squinting at Angel. Wesley: "Cordelia, we need you at the office." Cordy looks from Harmony to the guys then gets up off the couch. Cordy: "Let me get my coat." Wesley: "So, uhm, you're just going to leave her here? - A vampire, alone in your home, risking your neighbors lives." Cordy: "Hey, I told you, Harmony is my friend and I trust her completely." Harmony smiles up at Wesley from the couch. Cordy: "Harmony can stay here." Harmony: "I don't wanna stay alone here with the ghost." Everyone turns to look at her. Wesley is flipping through the pages of an old book lying on the counter in the Hyperion's lobby, while Cordy is looking for information with the computer. Wesley: "The triangle evokes pyramidal imagery but there is nothing with both the serpent and the pyramid as a symbol." Harmony comes over and climbs up on a stool next to Wesley, loudly chewing some gum. Wesley: "Doesn't appear to be either hieroglyphic or... (Harmony pops a bubble) Do you mind?" Harmony: "Well, I'm kinda bored, but - go ahead." Wesley stares at her for a moment then walks over to Cordy's desk. Angel: "Yeah, well, look, the red bird you saw in your vision, was it, ah, you know, an eagle, a hawk, a falcon?" Cordy: "What am I? The bird lady of Alcatraz? It had wings and a beak. For all I know it was a duck. A big - red duck." Wesley: "Perhaps it's an idol or a totem the cult uses in its rituals, or..." Wesley looks over towards Harmony, chewing her gum - loudly, and tapping a pencil on the counter top. Harmony laughing: "Duck worshippers?" Angel: "It could also be a landmark of some kind, telling us their hiding place." Wesley: "Well, I'm unaware of any red bird statuary in downtown Los Angeles, so unless you are I suggest.. (Harmony's popping another bubble) *someone* put a *stake* through that woman's heart if she persists in popping her bloody chewing gum!" Cordy gets up from her desk. Cordy: "Harmony, do me a favor, lose the gum." Harmony: "Okay, okay! Sorry. I thought it would help with the cravings." Rips a page out of the book Wesley was looking at earlier and spits her gum into it at the others stare at her. Harmony: "I mean, you'd think I'd get a thank you for not biting any of you." Wesley Pulls the book off the counter and snatches the crumpled up page from her hand. Wesley: "*What* are you doing!?! This book is twelve centuries old!" Harmony: "Okay. So it's not like I messed up a new one." Wesley puts the book down on Cordy's desk. Cordy: "Wes, it's not like she did it on purpose." Harmony: "That's right. And I could have. Because, you know, I *am* evil." Wesley pulls a stake out of Cordy's desk and lunges at Harmony. Cordy jumps on him from behind, wrapping her arms around him. Cordy: "Wesley! Wesley!" Angel grabs a hold of Harmony's arm and pulls her to the side. Angel: "Harmony, there is blood in the refrigerator. Why don't we get you some and let everyone get back to work?" Angel opens the fridge, takes out a container of blood and pours some into a cup for Harmony. Angel: "Here we go. That's it. Drink up." Harmony takes the cup and starts to drink. Harmony: "Eww! Yech! It tastes funky." Angel: "It's pig's blood." Harmony: "Ugh, well, that's gonna go straight to my hips. (Sighs) How do you stand this?" Angel: "You get used to it." Harmony: "I mean how do you stand everything? Being what you are, how can you deprive yourself of the taste? The sensation of rich, warm, human blood - flowing into your mouth - bathing your tongue - caressing your throat with its sweet, sticky..." g*n: "I'm back!" Angel turning away from Harmony: "Me too." g*n walks down into the lobby while Angel drops onto a stool and leans onto the counter. g*n: "Oh, I see we have company." Waves at Harmony and smiles. Harmony gives him a wink and a smile while pouring sugar into her cup of pig's blood. Cordy slaps her hand on the counter in front of g*n to get his attention. Cordy: "That is Harmony. She's visiting for a couple of days." Wesley: "It's alright to speak freely in front of her. She's a vampire." Wes gives Cordy a look. g*n, no longer smiling: "Don't we k*ll 'em any more?" Angel: "What did you find out?" g*n: "Alright. Robed vampires been grabbing people off the street for a while now, almost a month." Cordy: "A month? How come we didn't know about it?" Angel: "Well, we've all been a little distracted lately." g*n: "Yeah. Or maybe we haven't heard because not a lot of bodies been turning up." Angel: "They're not feeding. They're turning them." Cordy: "Into vampires?" Wesley: "Someone's recruiting, building an army." g*n: "Question is, for what?" Doug: "The time is here. The time is now." The camera pans over a gathering of vampires all clothed in different colored robes in what looks to be a run down theater. Doug: "The question is: are you ready?" Some scattered 'yeahs' from the crowd. Doug: "Are you ready!?!" Crowd yells louder. On the stage a vampire puts back the hood of his light blue robe and faces the crowd. Doug: "Because it's time. Everybody, take a seat. (they sit) It's time to actualize your potential. Time to maximize your personal input and get the most out of your afterlife. To those in here for the first time I just want to say - hi. (Some in the crowd answer) Hi. You're special. You each have it in you to be the best vampire. Not just any vampire, but a master! How? I'll show you. (Points at a poster with a multilevel pyramid on it) Through my personally devised, multi-level, exponential flow cooperative. Yeah, I know what some of you are saying. 'Hey, Doug, speak English, man!' Okay, don't stake me, guys, alright? (scattered laughter) This is how it works." He flicks a button on the remote he is holding and two diagrams of a multilevel pyramid appear on the big screen behind him, flanking the picture of the serpent-two inside the triangle emblem embroidered on all of their robes. The tip of it is light blue and has one person in it. The next level is yellow and holds two figures. Doug: "One vampire turns two humans into vampires. (flicks a switch to the next slide showing the next level down) they each turn to more humans into vampires (flicks to the next slide) and they turn to more into vampires(flick) and so on (flick) and so on. And all it takes for each new vampire to buy their way into our co-op is one, you heard me, *one* human - to be deposited here in our very own food bank." The lights on stage change, revealing a cage full of humans. The audience gets to their feet and starts applauding. Doug: "How about that, huh? You turn two into vampires, and you bring one for the food bank. You turn two, and the rest is food. Let me hear it. Turn two, the rest is food." The crowd starts to say it with him. "Turn two, the rest is food." Wesley is pushing pins into a map, while Angel sits on the edge of a desk in the background with his arms crossed, watching. Wesley: "Next?" g*n: "Two USC students grabbed in a parking garage. Fourth and Figueroa." Wesley: "Got it. Next." g*n: "Guy was snatched to blocks over on sixth." Wesley: "Really? When was this?" g*n: "Last night. Heard about it from one of my guys." Cordy is sitting in front of the computer with Harmony sitting on the edge of her desk watching her. Cordy: "What?" Harmony: "Nothing. It's just - I can't believe this is what you do now. We always said we were going to do something cool with our lives. Now look at us. You're an office manager and I'm d*ad." Cordy: "Yeah, well, life takes some funny turns sometimes. - Maybe I'm not where I though I would be, but it's still... Ho! Hey! Hello! Guys? Found something." Wesley, g*n and Angel come to look at what she's found. Cordy: "And there is nothing mystical about this. Department of Justice website. It's a logo for a defunct pyramid scheme." g*n: "Vamps running money scams now? That's low." Cordy: "This particular one was run by a motivational speaker and - ugh, lord help me - self-described 'life-coach' named Doug Sanders. Held meetings all over the city until the feds caught up with him." Angel: "He was arrested?" Cordy: "According to this he disappeared. Still at large." Wesley: "Sounds like he has the makings of a cult leader." Cordy: "Oh, hold on. Here is something: a list of his known meeting sites - and a picture!" g*n: "Now we're talking!" Harmony: "Oh, let me see!" Harmony, cup of pig's blood in hand, leans over to get a look at it. The blood spills all over the keyboard and screen, causing it to spark and fizzle and the screen to fade out. Cordy jumps and lets out a squeak while Harmony gives her an apologetic smile. Harmony: "Okay, that was my fault." Wesley: "Get her out of here. Now." Cordy: "Come on, Harm." Wesley: "Such a fitting nickname." Picks up the keyboard and holds it sideways to let the blood drip out. Wesley: "Oh, bloody hell." Harmony goes to sit on one of the chairs in the lobby. Harmony: "This was a mistake. I should never have come here. I'm just getting in the way. Messing up, like always." Cordy sits down next to her. Cordy: "Don't talk like that." Harmony: "Easy for you to say. You've got friends. - I don't have anyone who understands what I'm going through." Cordy looks over at the three guys clustered around her desk then back at Harmony. Cordy: "I know someone who understands a little something about pain. (Yells to the guys) We're going out!" Harmony is sitting on stage singing "Memories." Harmony: "Memories may be beautiful and yet, what's to painful to remember we choose to forget..." Cordy is sitting at a table with the Host. Cordy: "So, ah, - what do you think?" Host: "I think your friend should reconsider the name Harmony." Harmony: "...the way we were. The way we were." Harmony laughs and holds out her hands and there is some sporadic clapping as she comes over to Cordy's table and sits down. Harmony: "That was so - fun! I can't believe I did that!" Host: "Well, color us incredulous." Cordy: "Harmony is looking for a little guidance." Host: "Yeah, I picking up on the 'betwixed and between, got to find my corner of the sky' vibe loud and clear, kitten." Harmony: "So you can help me." Host: "No. (Cordy and Harmony stare at him) But I *can* treat you to a complimentary carafe of plasma. The AB-negative here is superb - or so I'm told." Cordy: "Wait a minute. That's it?" Harmony: "Yeah. You're supposed to do some mind mojo, show me my path." Host: "You're already on it my little cacophony. Only I'm not your travel agent for this trip. (Inclines his head towards Cordy) Brown eyes here is. Stick with her and let your pal be your guide." The Host blows Harmony a kiss as he gets up and leaves. Harmony: "Cacophony. That's pretty. What's it mean?" Wesley, g*n and Angel walk into the bar. Wesley: "Cordy." Cordy gets up and goes over to them. Wesley: "I realize you have, ah, other concerns at the moment, but we need you." Cordy: "Why?" g*n: "Most of the att*cks been taking place within a ten blocks radius. Now we figure the cult's headquarters must be somewhere near the center." Angel: "And look, we want to drive around the area. Maybe you can pick up some - vibe from you vision or see something?" Cordy: "Like a red bird." Angel: "For instance." Cordy: "Okay. (Goes back to the table) Harmony. I have to go. Work stuff. Uh, you're okay here?" Harmony: "You kidding? Free blood, potato skins. Hey, I'm thinking about doing another number. Now what do you think: Candle in the Wind or the Princess Diana Candle in the Wind?" The guys shift impatiently. Cordy: "Go nuts. Do 'em both." Harmony smiling: "Ooo. Yeah. Okay. Like the green guy said: you’re my guide." Cordy walks back over to the guys. g*n: "Hey, hold up. Just so we're on the same page. When we find this vampire cult, we are gonna k*ll 'em, right?" Wesley: "Let's do it." Cut to the g*ng walking, shoulder to shoulder, down the sidewalk outside of Caritas. The camera pans across from a serious and focused Wesley, to g*n, to Angel, to Cordelia and on to - a grinning Harmony. Cordy does a double take when she suddenly notices Harmony walking beside her. Cordy: "Harmony?" They all stop and look at her. Harmony: "I just got it. He said, stick with you. I understand now where my place is." Angel looks over at g*n and Wesley. Cordy: "Where?" Harmony steps between Cordy and Angel and puts an arm around each of their shoulders, smiling. Harmony: "With you! I'm one of the good guys now." Angel looks over at Wesley. Break. Harmony is sitting in the back of Angel's convertible between Cordy and g*n as they're all driving down the street. Harmony: "Who-hoo! This is gonna be great! I am an evil fighter! That's why I suck at being evil. I was meant to fight evil! It's so clear to me now. (Turns to Cordy) Is this what it feels like to have a purpose? I mean, wow! Look at us. We're working together. I've never had a job before. We can meet at the water cooler and gossip." Cordy: "Harm, I'm trying to concentrate." Harmony: "Oh. Sorry. (Turns to g*n) So. How long have you been fighting evil? I mean, I just started but, you know, I've got some moves." Wesley as Harm keeps talking: "Angel!" Angel: "It's your place to tell her." Wesley: "She won't listen to me." Angel: "Welcome to *my* world." Harmony: "That would be *so* funny. Oh - do we get paid vacations?" Cordy: "Stop! Stop the car. Pull over here." Angel pulls the car over and they all squint up at a sculpted phoenix decoration above a theater marquee with the words 'closed for repairs' on it. Angel: "Is that..?" Cordy: "I don't... I'm not sure." All of them get out of the car. Wesley: "The bird you saw was red." Cordy: "It is. I mean, it was." g*n: "Looks more like a puke green." Harmony: "And nothing like a duck." Cordy: "There's just - something familiar." Angel looks over at Cordy then walks towards the building. g*n: "Well, we passed this place before. Maybe that's all it is." Wesley: "Cordelia?" Cordy: "No. No, I guess it isn't it." Wesley: "Right. Back in the car. We'll keep... (Looks around) Where's Angel?" Suddenly a red neon arrow sign comes to life, throwing a red glow over the bird. Angel: "Electronics store forgot to turn on its lights." Cordy smiles at the others: "Ha, I told you this was it!" Wesley: "Right. (Wes and g*n grab some w*apon out of the trunk) Angel, Cordelia, cover the front. g*n and I will go around the building, see if there's another way in." Harmony: "What about me? What's my job?" Wesley: "Uhm... Guard the car." Harmony: "You got it, boss! (Sits on the edge of the hood) Anyone comes near this car, I will rips his throat out." Wesley: "No. No k*lling." Harmony: "Oh. Okay, maiming only." Wes and Cordy together: "No!" g*n: "Hey. Can we yell a little louder? I'm not sure the crazed cult of vampires heard us sneaking up on them." Cordy: "Just go. I'll talk to her." Wes and g*n move off. Cordy moves towards Harmony, but Angel takes a hold of her elbow and pulls her a little ways away. Cordy: "Hey! Touching! With the hands." Angel lets go of her. Angel: "You know, I've tried not to say anything. (Takes a deep breath) Tried to take a step back and just let things sort themselves out, but - Harmony can not work with us." Cordy: "I know. It's just temporary. I mean, look at her. She's really loving this. Giving her a reason to go on." Angel: "I don't want her to go on. Neither should you. - She's the enemy." Cordy: "Now you sound like Wesley." Angel: "Because he's right. - Harmony will turn on you." Cordy looks over to where Harmony is still leaning against the hood of the car. Cordy: "Why? Because *you* did?" Angel: "Because it's her nature. She's a vampire." Cordy: "So are you." Angel: "She doesn't have a soul." Cordy: "Oh. That's it, is it? You're better than her because you have a soul?" Angel: "Well, yeah." Cordy: "I noticed yours didn't get in the way of betraying the people who worked with you, who cared about you." Angel: "I never..." Cordy: "*And* you know, you didn't just betray me, Angel. You didn't just hurt me. You gave away my clothes." Angel: "To the needy." Cordy: "I *am* the needy! - Do you know how scared I was you were on you're way to becoming Angelus *again*? Imagine what could have happened if you'd gone nuts and slept with Darla." Angel, not meeting her eyes: "You know I would never do that..." g*n and Wes come back just then. g*n: "Building's shut tight. No way to see what's inside." Wesley: "Or how many." Angel: "Okay, You know what, I'll go in, uh, pretend like I want to join, get a head count, lay of the land." g*n: "Come on, man. You'd get made ten feet from the door. Too many night crawlers in this town know what you look like." Wesley: "Some can sense your soul." Angel: "Right." Cordy: "Harmony!" Harmony comes over, smiling. Harmony: "Yeah?" Cordy: "She doesn't have a soul and nobody knows her here. She could be our inside spy. Tell us what's the what." Harmony: "Me?" Wesley: "Out of the question." g*n: "I got a bad feeling about this." Cordy: "Come on. I know she can do this. (To Harmony) You can do this, right?" Harmony: "Well,- I kind of thought I'd start out with some light typing, car guarding, something low pressure?" Cordy: "This is the chance you needed. To find a purpose." Harmony: "But I thought I had purpose guarding the... (Takes a deep breath and smiles) Yeah. Okay. I wanna do this." Wesley after a b*at: "Alright Harmony. You're on." Harmony smiles at Cordy: "Watch out Evil (morphs into vamp-face) here comes Harmony." Harmony strides towards the theater. Cordy calls after her: "Hey. We'll meet you out back!" Harmony walks into the theater to a table attended by two vampires. One of them hands her a book with Doug's picture on the front and the heading of 'Selective Slaughter - Turning a bloodbath into a blood bank' We can hear Doug speaking on stage in the background. Doug: "I can hear you saying 'but I'm not like you, Doug. I don't have what it takes.' That's just the voice of your inner human spreading the ghostly remnants of neurosis from your past life. Instead say: 'I'm in control of my unlife.'" Harmony walks into the theater where Doug is presenting a green robe to the audience. Doug: "Let's have a nice big hand for Tibor, graduating to the yellow level." Applause as Tibor changes robes. Doug: "Now. With each level ascension, there are rewards." Doug flicks a switch on the remote he's holding and the screen behind him slides up revealing the cage full of humans. Doug: "Grab yourself a nice juicy one, Tibor. You've earned it!" The crowd cheers wildly as Tibor runs over to the cage, reaches in and grabs the wrist of one of the humans. Pulling her arm through the bars, Tibor sinks his teeth into the woman's wrist and drinks. Harmony, sitting in the crowd, looks around then begins to clap half-heartedly. Wesley, Angel, Cordy and g*n walk up to the back of the theater. Wesley: "She should have been back by now." Angel: "Maybe she ran into trouble." Cordy: "Give her a few more minutes." Wesley looks at his watch: "I knew this was a bad idea." Angel: "Look, if she's in trouble we'll rescue her." g*n: "Now we saving a vampire from vampires? I got two words for that: nuh and ah." Cordy: "That is so... (Sees someone behind g*n) Harmony! Are you okay?" Harmony, still in vamp-face: "Fine. There is maybe a hundred of them in there, give or take. There's a cage holding about a dozen people." Cordy: "You did it. You so rule!" Harmony, jumping up and down: "I know! Oh. And I left the door in back open. Come on." They all follow her into the theater, Angel bringing up the rear. Harmony: "You know, Cor, I really got to thank you again for giving me this opportunity. You guys have all been so great. I mean, you could have totally staked me in Cordelia's apartment." Harmony leads them down some stairs onto what looks like a back stage area. Harmony: "And hay, who could have blamed you? I mean, one more incredibly sexy vampire turned to dust. But you guys helped my find my destiny and you know, I really appreciate that. I never felt like I belonged anywhere before." Wesley scanning the dim surroundings crossbow held at the ready: "Yes, yes, uh, you're welcome. - Uh, the vampires, where are they?" Harmony: "Oh. Right behind you." Some stage lights come on and vampires appear around them. Harmony: "I belong with them." Break The stage screen slides up revealing that they're all on the stage as Doug steps out of the wings. Doug: "Now that is what I call and impressive display of potential actualization. Look. A member of our organization for less than twenty minutes and look at what she's delivered (points as Wes and g*n) two to turn (looks at Cordy) and one for food. And as a bonus the infamous Angel. - I think someone just made the ascension to blue robe status." A vampire brings Harmony a blue robe as she claps excitedly, then puts it on. Harmony: "Oh, goody!" Doug: "Congratulations, Harmony." There are cheers from the spectators in the seats in front of the stage. Harmony: "Just taking the first steps to mastering my destiny, Doug, like you said." Cordy leveling her crossbow at Harmony: "Well, Harmony, aren't you just about the most weak-willed, soft-brained..." Harmony: "Huh-uh. Doug says those kind of comments are self-growth inhibitors. I tune out mental roadblocks." Cordy looks back at Angel. Doug, leaning one elbow on a ledge: "Oh, I'm sorry. You can all put your w*apon down now. (None of them do) Really Angel, you don't want all your friends to die horribly now, do you?" Angel: "No I don't. - Wesley?" Wesley: "k*ll 'em all!" And with that the team springs into action. Wes and Cordy f*ring their crossbows, while g*n att*cks with his ax and Angel with his fists and stake. Beyond the stage lights we can see robed vampires sitting in the audience, watching. Angel dusts one vampire and sends another one flying into the seats. The vampires that one lands on start heading up the aisle towards the exit, starting a mass exodus. Cordy hits Harmony across the chin. A yellow robed vamp hits Wesley in his recently healed gut, causing him to hunch over but before he can do any more damage Angel pulls him off Wes and buries a stake in its chest. g*n drops a yellow robed vamp on its back but before he can k*ll it, he is grabbed from behind by a blue robe. Harmony hits Cordy, sending her flying backwards through the air. g*n gets the blue guy off his back while Angel helps Wes to his feet. Angel: "Are you okay?" Wesley: "Yeah." Angel: "Get to the cage. Get those people out." Wesley limps over to the cage door. Wesley: "I'll get you out of here." He tries to get the door open but can't. Angel, keeping an eye on Wesley, is jumped from behind and pushed to the floor by Doug and the two of them start to fight. Doug grabs a f*re ax from the wall and swings at Angel. Doug: "Why are you working with these humans, Angel? You should be maximizing you inner potential, empowering your vampire self." Harmony tosses Cordy face down to the floor. g*n stakes a green robe. Harmony rolls Cordy over onto her back and finds herself with a loaded crossbow at her throat. Harmony laughs. Cordy: "What's so funny?" Harmony: "Your crossbow. You got it aimed at my *throat*. You can be so stupid. *That* won't k*ll me." Cordy: "No, that'll just hurt like hell." Sits up and with her left points a second crossbow at her heart Cordy: "This one will k*ll you." Wesley is still struggling with the locked cage. A green robe sticks him with a cattle prod and Wes drops to the floor with a groan. As the green robe gets ready to jab Wes again, g*n comes up from behind and stakes it. A key drops to the ground, followed by some dust. Wes grabs the key. g*n reaches a hand down and helps Wes up, then they unlock the cage. Angel is dodging the wild swings of Doug's ax. Harmony backs away from Cordy as she gets up, crossbow aimed at Harmony's heart. Harmony, panting: "Okay. You're angry. And I don't blame you. I just, you know... and it's nothing personal. I'm evil. We're still friends, right?" Cordy tightens her finger on the trigger and Harmony squeezes her eyes shut. g*n and Wes are directing the freed humans towards the back exit. Angel hits Doug, then grabs a hold of him and throws him against the wall, causing him to drop his ax - which Angel picks up and uses to behead Doug as he comes back up. Cordy slowly lowers her crossbow and Harmony hesitantly opens her eyes. Harmony in a small voice: "We're still friends, right?" Cordy: "No, Harmony. We're not friends. Just get out of here." Harmony: "Really?" Cordy: "Not just here. I want you out of my city. You're gonna wanna be as far away from me as possible." Harmony: "But I left a few things at your (Cordy raises the crossbow) Bye." Harmony turns and runs up the stairs, looking back at Cordy once to see that she still has the crossbow trained on her. The camera shows up Cordy with Angel standing a few steps behind her, ax still in hand. Cordy: "Don't say anything. Not a word." Angel glances up the stairs then looks in the direction Cordy just left. Hyperion, day. Wesley is sitting behind the desk in his office, looking at some papers. The door opens and Angel sticks his head in. Angel: "You wanted to see me?" Wesley: "Yes. Please, come in. Oh, close the door." Angel closes the door and Wes lays the papers aside then takes a deep breath. Wesley: "I just... (Indicates a chair and Angel sits down) I just thought we should touch base, ah, before Cordelia arrived this morning. I know things have been, uh... strained between the two of you, and working in such close quarters it's..." Angel: "It's- it's okay, Wesley, really. I mean, Cordelia has every right to feel the way that she does and I'm willing to give her the room that she needs." Wesley after a b*at: "Good. - Good. (Smiles and gets up) I think that's just the right attitude. (Angel gets up too) Time and space. Those are really the only things one can give in a situation like this. As long as we both understand that, the healing process can..." He is interrupted by a scream from Cordelia coming from the outer office. Cordy burst in through the doors, a shirt draped over each arm. Cordy to Angel: "Oh, my god. These are gorgeous! You have the most amazing taste! You have, like - a gay man's taste, and that's saying something." Wesley glances past Cordy and sees that there are even more clothes draped all over Cordy's desk. Cordy: "I love them *so* much!" Throws her arms around Angel and kisses him on the cheek. Cordy: "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best!" Kisses him again as Angel grins from ear to ear. Wesley narrows his eyes at Angel and folds his arms across his chest. Cordy: "I have to go try these on. " Smiles at Angel then Wes and begins to dance in place singing, 'la, la, la, la, la, new clothes! I have new clothes!' Angel, still grinning broadly looks towards Wes, who's not smiling. Cordy dances out of the room: "New clothes, I have new clothes!" Angel: "I got her clothes." Angel watches her leave with a smile, then walks out through a different door, leaving Wesley alone in his office, arms crosses, not looking happy - while the sounds of Cordy's celebrating still drift in through the open door. FADE TO BLACK

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x17 - Disharmony"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Wesley: "We've all discussed it and none of us are ready just yet to..." Angel: "It's okay. I don't want you to come back and work for me. I wanna work for you." Angel slices Lindsey's hand off to keep him from burning the scroll that holds Cordy's cure. Angel: "I'd be careful who you offer that hand to, Mr. Manners. You might just lose it. Isn't that right, Lindsey?" Lindsey: "There's worse things to lose, aren't there?" Lilah: "The senior partners want Angel alive." Lindsey: "Boo-hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with my plastic hand." Lindsey: "If he's not gonna play by the old rules, why should we?" Lindsey runs Angel over with the truck. Lindsey beating on Angel with the sledgehammer. Angel knocking Lindsey down then smashing his plastic hand with Lindsey's sledge. Lindsey is lying in bed. The alarm clock radio (showing 6:45 am) comes on with a downtown traffic report (suggesting you better take the helicopter to work) and weather forecast (sunny, bright and beautiful). Lindsey reaches over and hits the top of it with the stump of his right arm, turning it off. Using his left hand, Lindsey shaves in front of the mirror. He opens a dresser drawer and attaches his plastic hand. Opens the closet and chooses one of several pre-knotted ties and slips it over his head. As he slides the knot tight his eyes fall on the guitar leaning against the back wall of the closet. After a moment he steps back and closes the closet. Joseph Kramer: "Am I a lucky guy or what? I get to meet with the board and get the quarterlies out all in the same day." We see an average white business man enter the family's kitchen as he tightens his tie. His wife steps up to him to get a quick kiss on the cheek. Wife: "Morning, sweetie. Hungry?" Joseph: "Hmm, no time." Wife lifts up a plate with muffins. Wife: "Ah, have a muffin." Joseph breaks of a little piece from one of them and steps over to the kitchen table. Joseph: "Where's my sugar?" He holds out his arms and his young daughter comes and gives him a hug as he crouches down so she can reach his neck. His son comes over, holding out his hand. Joseph takes it. Joseph: "And a manly handshake. (Pulls him into a quick hug) Come here." Joseph checks his watch: "Oh. We're late. We're late." Wife: "I'll go start the van. Jesse, you can take your vitamins in the car. Hayley, don't forget your homework. (Grabs her purse form the counter) Come on. Lets go." The kids walk out the door. Joseph is liking off his fingers, reading the newspaper he's holding in his other hand. Wife's voice form outside: "Hayley, where are your books?" Joseph sees the book bag on the kitchen table and reaches for it. Joseph: "I got them!" Wife: "And the vitamins?" Joseph: "I got them, too. Just keep going." Joseph slings the book bag over his shoulder and still reading his newspaper, reaches for the vitamins sitting on the counter. Instead his hand closes around a big butcher Kn*fe lying next to them. Still reading, Joseph picks it up and starts walking towards the door. Son: "Come on, dad, we're gonna be late!" Never taking his eyes off the newspaper he s*ab himself in the right eye with the Kn*fe. The scene turns blurry and we see Cordy reeling with the vision of Joseph s*ab himself. She tries to catch herself against the bookshelf, but only succeeds in knocking some books to the floor. Angel comes rushing over: "Cordelia. Cordelia. Cordy!" He catches a hold of her and looks up at Wesley and g*n, who are also hurrying over. Angel: "Get her some water." g*n hurries off and Wesley and Angel crouch down beside Cordy. Angel: "Okay. What is it? What did you see?" We get more flashes of Joseph screaming, the book bag dropping to the floor, the bloody butcher Kn*fe. Gasping and sobbing Cordy buries her face against Angel's chest, as Joseph drops facedown to the floor. Angel: "Easy. Easy. You're okay." Intro Wolfram and Hart, day. Nathan Reed is sitting at the head of a conference table with fourteen lawyers, including Lindsey and Lilah. Nathan: "Where are we with Western Pacific Power?" Lawyer: "The attorney general is thr*at a thorough investigation." Nathan: "I know. That's why I'm asking, where are we with Western Pacific Power." Lilah: "We can tie it up in litigation forever, sir. They'll never miss a dividend." Lindsey: "Why should we? They already looted 3.5 billion since de-regulation." Nathan: "Are you suggesting that our clients admit that, Mr. McDonald?" Lilah: "That's a great idea. They can come clean, and go to jail and pay us how?" Lindsey: "Litigation is bad PR for public utility. We cut a deal now, they refund half a billion without admitting fault and we take twenty percent off the top, everybody wins." Nathan: "I'll consider both options. And the current status of Angel?" Lindsey: "Angel? - He's up, he's down. - He's good, he's bad. He's a barrel of d*ad monkeys..." Lilah: "He's back with his group, sir. According to *my* sources he's doing better, in the sense that he's not currently spending all of his time alone on the warpath trying to k*ll, well (looks over at Lindsey) us." Nathan: "Hmm. - Now, when are you and Lindsey meeting with the CFO from Lycor?" Lilah flips through her papers. Lilah: "Oh, uhm, I think it's..." Lindsey: "Thursday at eleven." Nathan: "Good. - Friday we will be re-evaluating your division. You two can catch me up then. Let's get to work." Nathan gets up and everyone follows suit. Lilah to Lindsey: "Could you s*ab me in my back a little deeper? I still have feeling in my legs." Lindsey: "Lilah..." Lilah: "They're gonna be evaluating us and you know what that means. They'll promote one and cut the other. Around here, that's a literal cutting." Lindsey: "Well, nothing lasts forever." Lilah: "That's deep. Why don't you go..." Nathan: "Oh, Lindsey. Why don't you join me in my office?" Lilah watches Lindsey enter Nathan's office with a sigh and stands there watching them through the glass walls. Nathan: "Lindsey, you had some good ideas in there." Lindsey: "Thank you, sir." Nathan: "We are in a funny business, but one word of advice - about your attitude towards Angel - now I realize what he did to you was (we get a close up of Lindsey's plastic hand) heartless. And naturally your attitude towards him would be complex, but - it's not very professional to air those feelings around your colleagues. (Lays a hand on Lindsey's shoulder as Lilah watches with a frown from outside the office) People look up to you around here. - Which reminds me (pulls out a little card) I made - an appointment for you today. (Lindsey takes the card) It'll take a while - so I cleared your calendar." Lindsey as Nathan leads him to the door: "An appointment." Nathan: "Yes, well, just a, uhm - well. You'll see." Smiles at Lindsey and opens the door for him. Cordy is sitting on a chair with the three guys arrayed in front of her. Cordy: "He had to be crazy. But he didn't feel crazy. He felt normal, you know? - Until he started s*ab himself." Wesley: "But you don't know where this occurred." Cordy: "I told you. It was in a house. It could have been in an apartment. In a kitchen." g*n: "We got to narrow it down a little." Cordy: "An nice kitchen?! I don't know!" Angel: "It's alright. We'll figure it out." Wesley: "Let's start by calling the hospitals." g*n: "And say what? Did my uncle check in with a Kn*fe in his eye? They only give out information to relatives. (Angel and Wes look at him) I just got the calling the hospitals job, didn't I?" Wesley: "I'll go to the morgues." Angel: "Alright. I'll h*t the streets, roust some demons, see if there's a new terror in town." Wesley getting his jacket: "Good idea." Angel to g*n as he gets his own jacket: "Keep an eye on her, will you?" g*n: "Sure." Angel goes over to where Cordy is sitting and puts a hand on her arm. Angel: "We'll be back." Angel leaves. g*n: "Can I, ah, get you anything? A cup of tea? (Cordy gives him a look) You'll let me know." g*n sits down at the counter with the phonebook and a notepad, throws a look over his shoulder at Cordy, now is sitting in her chair, one hand pressed up against her forehead, her hair obscuring her face. A nurse is taking Lindsey's blood pressure, as a Doctor enters the room. Melman: "Lindsey. I'm Doctor Melman. It's a pleasure to meet you." Holds his hand out and shakes the left hand Lindsey offers him. Lindsey: "Hi." Melman takes the cart from the nurse. Melman: "Let's see. Okay. Your basic vitals are good. You've had all the usual childhood diseases and your not allergic to any medication. Let's start him out with two milligrams of Verset. It's a little something to relax you before we begin the procedure. Do you have any questions?" Lindsey: "One. What the hell's going on?" Melman: "Your boss didn't tell you." Lindsey: "No." Melman: "They have a funny sense of humor over there." Lindsey: "Yeah, they keep us hopping." Melman: "Your firm is a major source of funding for our clinic. We see most of you for your primary care and whatnot, but - there are some other, less publicized aspects of our work." Lindsey: "What the hell are they gonna do to me?" Melman: "Please, don't - don't be alarmed. They think the world of you. - That's why they moved you to the top of their transplant list." Lindsey: "Transplant." The nurse hands Melman a syringe. Melman: "Yes, your hand. That's why you're here. We're gonna give you a new one. (He injects Lindsey) Don't look so nervous. This is cause for applause. In just a few hours time, you'll be doing the applauding." Lindsey blinks woozily as the medication takes effect. Blurry, slightly shaky picture of an operating room from the view of the patient alternate with clear sh*ts of it. Melman: "Let's get the soft tissue ready for incision." Someone hands the doctor a human hand. Melman: "Connecting the extensors." Someone hands him a pair of snips. Melman: "Doing great, Lindsey. - Where is the Pockla?" Melman is putting in the last stiches. Melman: "Release the tourniquet. - I'm waiting on the Pockla." Nurse: "Here it comes." A red robbed figure with long-fingered, claw-tipped hands suddenly materializes just inside the room and glides closer to the operation table whispering in some demonic language and waving its hands. It sprinkles some powder over the seam between Lindsey's arm and the new hand and the stitches pull together and melt away, leaving only a thin red line behind. The Pockla turns away and glides towards the closed door, dematerializing just before it reaches it. Melman: "Okay. Let's get him to post-op." sh*t of the outside of the Hyperion at night. g*n is sitting at the counter, talking to the phone while Cordy is cleaning the shelves in the background. g*n: "Yeah, he's my father his name is Henry Addison." In front of him is a list of hospital names, all crossed out. g*n: "Yeah, I'm his son, g*n-ter, g*n Addison. - But-but if he's had a manic episode he might not know his name or might think he's somebody else. - It'd be a pretty serious Kn*fe wound or wounds in his eye. - You sure? - Alright. Thanks." g*n hangs up the phone as Angel walks up to the counter. Angel: "How's she doing?" g*n looks over his shoulder at Cordy dusting the top of a cabinet. g*n: "She's been pretty quiet. She grunted every once around noon then got on with the maniacal cleaning." Wesley comes in: "Guess what I found? More nothing than usual. How about you two?" g*n holds up the pad with the scratched out hospital names and Wesley looks over at Angel. Angel: "Nothing." Wesley: "We need more to go on." Angel quietly: "Yeah, well, we'll just have to, you know, talk to Cordelia. Get her to..." g*n: "Dig a little deeper?" Wesley claps Angel on the shoulder. Wesley: "Go ahead. Probably best not to crowd her." Angel: "Me? You're the one in charge now." Wesley sighs: "You're right." He starts to walk past Angel. Wesley: "That's why I'm assigning this one to you." Wesley and g*n walk away from the counter, leaving Angel alone, looking at Cordelia. Throwing a glance at them, Angel steps around the counter towards Cordelia while Wesley and g*n watch from the other end of the lobby. Angel: "Hey." Cordy slows in the polishing of the black and white picture hanging on the wall but doesn't turn around. Angel: "Boy, I mean, you could see your reflection in that glass. - Well, I mean, I couldn't because of the whole - vampire situation, but a normal person? (whistles)" Cordy sighs, her back to him: "What do you want?" Angel quietly: "We need help. We're not getting anywhere." Cordy looking down at her rag: "I'm sorry. He's probably d*ad by now." Angel stepping a little closer: "We don't know that for sure. There could be others." Cordy rubs her forehead: "I wish it would stop hurting. (Turns around to face Angel) What do you want me to do?" Angel: "I'm not exactly sure. - Maybe you can - look again? You know, inside." Cordy: "That's all I've been doing - all day." She walks away from Angel over to her desk, rubbing her forehead. Angel throws a look at Wesley and g*n. Cordy holds up a hand and closes her eyes. Cordy: "A guy in a kitchen. (flash to Joseph coming into the kitchen) A normal guy. - And he picks up a Kn*fe (Flash of Joseph picking up the Kn*fe) and... (flash of Joseph s*ab himself in the right eye on his way outside while still reading his newspaper) Oh, god. I think he had kids." Flash on the kitchen table. Angel: "How do you know that?" Cordy: "Cereal bowls - on the table, and, uhm, there was a book bag. (Flash to Joseph picking up the bag, then of the bloody Kn*fe and blood spattered bag dropping to the floor) It has a name of a school on it. Ah, D-something. Delaney, or, uh... (opens her eyes and looks at Angel) Delancy Schools." Angel: "That's good. That's great. - Anything else?" Cordy puts her hands to the sides of her head, then moves them to cover her face as we get another flash of Joseph dropping to the floor face down, a trail of blood running down the side of his face from his right eye. Cordy: "I just keep seeing it." Angel: "Okay. Get some rest. Wesley and g*n'll look into it first thing in the morning." Cordy nods. Angel: "Can I get you anything?" Cordy: "*Why* does everyone keep asking me that?!" Angel slowly backs away shaking his head a little. Angel: "No reason." Morning. Lindsey is waking up in his bed. Looks at his left hand and flexes it. Pulls his right hand out from under the covers and looks at the thin red line circling his wrist, flexing his new hand slowly. The radio comes on and Lindsey reaches out with his new hand and turns it off. Lindsey catches the water from the bathroom faucet in both palms and washes off his face. Looks at himself in the mirror. He gets a tie out of the closet and sees his guitar. Lindsey sits on the edge of his bed, holding the guitar. He flexes his right hand above the strings, then begins to pick at them experimentally, starts to play. Lindsey is shaking hands with the CFO from Lycor, Nathan Reed standing next to them as Lilah walks up them. Nathan: "Oh, and here is Lilah Morgan. Mr. Kraigle." Irv Kraigle shakes her hand: "Lilah. Nice to see you." Nathan: "You guys can use my office, and, Irv, call me if you need anything. You're in - good hands, here." Walks away with a smile. Lindsey: "We can go in now, Mr. Kraigle." Irv: "Oh, please, call me Irv." Lindsey: "Thank you, Irv." Lilah takes Lindsey aside and indicates his new right hand. Lilah: "That's an expensive operation. The shaman alone's a quarter mil? I guess they like you. They really, really like you." Lindsey: "Client's waiting." Lilah: "I know you think you have this in the bag..." Lindsey: "I don't think anything - Lilah." Lilah: "Oh, you're the one in pain here? (Shakes her head) I can't believe they chose you over me." Irv: "We didn't do anything wrong." Lilah: "It's not about right or wrong, Mr. Kraigle, it's about what a jury may or may not award." Irv: "How can you get cancer from eating chocolate?" The three of them are sitting at the conference table in Nathan Reed's office. Irv at the head with Lilah and Lindsey at either side of him. Lindsey is scribbling on the note pad in front of him without looking down at it. Lindsey: "By selling it in a tin that leaches cytoclistomine into the chocolate." Irv: "But we didn't know that. How could we have known that? The Chinese screwed us. They sold us the tin." Lilah: "Don't worry. If a jury ever hears this, and that's a big if, they'll be handpicked or enchanted by us." Irv: "Why can't people take responsibility for their own problems? We didn't give them cancer, the Chinese did." Lindsey: "Actually it was the Drizon company." Irv: "Who?" Lindsey: "It's an offshore corporation that split from your company, oh, (looks over at Lilah) let's say six years ago. (Lilah nods) They are solely responsible for the manufacture and sale of the tin containers your company merely fills with chocolate." Irv checks something in the papers in front of him, then sits back in his chair. Irv: "Really." Lindsey: "The plaintiffs want redress, they sue Drizon. Unfortunately they're going bankrupt this summer." Irv sees that Lindsey is still writing on the pad in front of him. Irv: "Are you getting all this down?" Lindsey looks down with a frown and sees that his right hand is writing 'k*ll' over and over onto the note pad. Irv to Lilah: "He's good, isn't he?" Lilah smiles at him. Lilah: "Yeah. He's great." Lindsey is staring down at his hand as it continues to write 'k*ll.' Break. Irv: "Well, this is very helpful. Very - comforting. We're not doing anything unlawful here, are we?" Lindsey opens the fingers of his right hand and lets the pen drop, then takes a hold of his right hand with his left. Lilah: "No. And more importantly, we're preserving your company." Lindsey gets up, taking the notepad with him. Lindsey: "Ahem, I have to go." Irv: "Something wrong?" Lilah: "No. No. Nothing is wrong." Lindsey sits at a desk in his apartment, pen to paper, waiting for his hand to start writing on its own. It doesn't move and he pokes it with his left forefinger. Nothing happens, so he pokes it again. When it still doesn't move he finally picks up a letter opener and pricks it with it. Some blood beads up but the hand doesn't move. Lindsey finally drops the pen and takes the letter opener in his right, turning it a few times before letting it drop as well. Holds up his new hand and looks at it: "Who are you?" Hyperion, day. Inside the lobby Angel accepts a box from a delivery guy, handing him some money. Angel: "Thanks. Keep the change." Delivery guy on his way out: "Wow. A whole dollar just for me. I'm the luckiest delivery man ever." Angel turns to look as the door closes behind the guy then goes and sets the box on the counter. Cordy from her desk: "What's all this?" Angel: "Lunch. I was hungry." He sets wrapped sandwiches out in a row on the counter top. Cordy gets up and comes over. Cordy: "You don't eat food." Angel: "Oh, I can. It doesn't keep me alive, but, you know, sometimes I get a hankering." Cordy: "You had a hankering for turkey, ham and roast beef sandwiches?" Angel points to one: "You missed the vegetarian." Cordy: "Soup and salad, too? What is going on here?" Angel quietly: "I forgot what you liked." Cordy: "Why didn't you ask me?" Angel: "Well, you said, why is everyone asking you if they can get you anything, and-and I didn't wanna *do* that..." Cordy: "So you did this - instead." Angel quietly: "Yup." Cordy: "I love you." Angel's worried look melts into a big smile as Cordy picks up two sandwiches. Cordy: "And you ought to do *that* more often." Goes back to her desk. Angel: "Buy you food?" Cordy: "Smile." She reaches her desk and hunches over as she has a flash of Joseph stuffing a piece of muffin into his mouth while reading the paper. Angel comes over to her: "What?" Cordy: "Okay, this is weird. Before he put the Kn*fe in his eye he was happy. He was happy about *his* eye. Like it was new or - something." Angel: "New?" Wesley and g*n walk in. Wesley: "I think we found him. A man named Joseph Kramer, has two kids, age twelve and nine, they go to the Delancy School." g*n: "The kids didn't show up for school yesterday. Their mom called sayin' she was taking them out of the country. Their father supposedly got a promotion in the Seychelles." Angel putting on his coat: "Did you get a home address?" Wesley: "We've already been there. I stood look-out, g*n went in." Angel: "And?" g*n: "No trace of the family or any personal belongings. The place had been cleaned from top to bottom. The floors was polished, the carpet was still wet." Angel: "To get rid of the blood." g*n: "There was a little piece of molding they missed up under the pantry." g*n pulls a piece of blood-smeared wood out of his pocket and holds it out to Angel. g*n: "You want to sniff?" Angel reaches out and gently pushes his hand down: "How about I just believe you, huh?" Wesley: "What do we know?" Cordy: "We don't know anything. The guy's gone, the family's gone. Someone or something has the power to make them all disappear in a day." g*n: "We're at a d*ad end." Wesley sits down on the edge of the desk: "I thought we had more than that." Angel: "There is only we can do now." Cordy: "Oh, god. Oh, no." Wesley: "The Karaoke bar." g*n: "Angel's gonna sing?" Cordy: "Isn't there some other way?" Wesley: "There has to be. Think, damn it!" Angel looks form one to the other: "Hey! Wha..?" The Host is smiling, watching a guy up on the stage playing guitar and singing. It's Lindsey. Lindsey: "Pretty girl on every corner. Sunshine turns the sky to gold. Warm, warm, it's always warm here. And I can't take the cold." Cordy and the others come walking in. Cordy: "You should pick something short." Angel: "I was thinking about Stairway to Heaven." Wesley: "Don't even joke about that." Cordy: "Oh, my god, look who's..." Angel: "Lindsey?" Lindsey on stage: "This whole world shines so brightly." Host comes over to them: "Isn't he fabulous?" Angel: "He comes here?" Host: "He used to come all the time before some caballero chopped off his strumming hand. - Looks like he's got a new one." Lindsey: "Pretty as a picture, she's..." Cordy: "Wow. He's good." g*n: "Lawyer's got some pipes." Lindsey: "Settles me with love and laughter." Angel: "You think he's good." Cordy never taking her eyes off Lindsey: "Shh." Lindsey: "and I can't feel a thing." g*n nods to the music as Angel looks up at the ceiling. Lindsey: "The sky's gonna open. People gonna pray and crawl." Several demons are watching Lindsey up on the stage, smiling, tapping their hands to the music. Lindsey: "It's gonna rain down f*re..." Angel: "What is that? Rock? Country? Ballad? Pick a style, pal." Wesley: "Shh." Host: "Angel cakes. Don't make me ask you to leave." Lindsey: "The sky is gonna open, people gonna pray and sing. Oh, I can't feel..." He ends the song with a chord and the audience starts to applaud and cheer. Cordy is clapping as well, eyes still fixed on Lindsey. Angel looks form Cordy to g*n, who's nodding his head. Cordy: "We can't sing after that." Host: "You won't have to." Cordy looks over at Angel as the host meets Lindsey halfway from the stage carrying two drinks. Host: "Golly, pilgrim. Sure is good to have you back in the saddle. (Hands Lindsey one of the drinks) Your favorite. T&T, the imported." Lindsey takes the drink but only smells it. Lindsey: "Look, I got a crazy man's hand here who wants to k*ll - someone, maybe me, I don't know. What do you see?" Host leading him over towards where the A-team is standing: "Well, you know what they say: the hand is quicker than the eye. You'll get that later." Lindsey: "Look. I need help." Angel: "I'll say. You might want to start with his singing." Laughs. Cordy slaps the back of her hand against Angel's chest and steps up to Lindsey. Cordy: "Hi. You probably don't remember me. Cordelia. I know you're evil - and everything, but that was just so amazing." g*n: "That was kind of tight." Wesley: "Terrific, really." Angel: "Is everyone drunk?" Lindsey: "What's he doing here, huh? (To Angel) What are you looking at?" Host: "Easy, easy, children. I don't allow v*olence in *my* club. Angel's here for the same reason you are." Lindsey: "How's that?" Host: "Two enemies, one case, all come together in a beautiful buddy-movie kind of way." g*n: "They supposed to work together on this?" Lindsey: "Work with him? (Host nods) Work with him?" Host: "Am I the only one who saw 'Forty-eight Hours?'" Lindsey: "I've got a m*rder hand on me and you're telling me to team up with the guy who cut mine off in the first place?" Host: "I'm telling you what's what, sugar. What you *do* with it is up to you." Lindsey huffs, takes a sip from his drink before setting down on the bar and walking out past Angel. Lindsey to Angel: "If I see outside of the club, I'm gonna k*ll you." Host: "Uh, resentment is such an ugly emotion. I hope you've overcome yours, Angel, because right now he's got your case in (laughs) forgive me, in the palm of his hand. Toodles." g*n: "If Lindsey's the lead, shouldn't we be following him?" Angel to Cordy: "You said the guy in the vision just got a new eye. And Lindsey just got a new hand." Wesley: "Right. Then we should find out where the transplants took place." g*n pointing towards the door: "So we're following him, right?" Angel: "Actually what we need to follow (picks up Lindsey's glass) is his new hand. (Holds the glass up and looks at the fingerprints left on it) Wonder who it belonged to." At a deserted Wolfram and Hart, Lindsey holds up a key card to the electronic lock on Nathan's office and enters it. He walks through the dark office over to the computer on the desk. Sees a picture of Nathan Reed with his wife and son as he boots up the computer. He types in username 'Reed, N' password 'Zen' and logs successfully on to Nathan's Personal Information Center. Clicks on the 'To Do' Icon, bringing up a list: Blatt case deposition - March 5 - urgent - in progress LA Office Assignments - March 6 - medium - in progress Senior Partner Reports - March 8 - urgent - complete Special Projects Reevaluation - March 8 - highest - pending Jackson case brief - March 11 - medium - pending Vacation plans - March 15 - low - in progress Partner compensation - March 31 - medium - in progress Feeder Negotiation - April 10 - medium - pending New Associate Recruiting - April 10 - low - in progress Shaman Contracts - April 15 - high - in progress Europe fact-finding trip - April 30 - high - in progress Lindsey brings up the 'Special Projects Reevaluation' screen holding a number of folders entitled: Project History, Personnel Roster, Manners m*ssacre, Bethany Project, Project Darla, Drusilla (vampire), Project Angel, Vampire Detectors, Lilah Morgan, Lindsey McDonald, Youth Center Project, Demon Relations, Terminated Employees, and Pending Projects. Lindsey moves the mouse over his own folder, but then clicks on Lilah's instead. The screen shows a picture of Lilah and her name. Current assignment: Co-Vice-President for Special Projects - Junior Associate, 1994, - Senior Associate, 1997, - Junior Partner, 2000 - Graduate of Montesori(?) University School of Law 1994 with High Honors - Law Review 1992-94 - recruited by Los Angeles Office - Supervised by Holland Manners. Lindsey closes that folder and goes back to Nathan's To-Do list and types Fairfield Clinic into the search engine. This brings up a picture of the clinic and a short report: "Fairfield Clinic is the primary health-care provider for the Wolfram & Hart Los Angels office employees. Offering a wide range of health services the clinic provides first class care for our most valuable resource - our people. In addition to the usual rnage of health care offerings, Fairfield's research departments is at the forefront of development of advanced treatments. Perhaps no (?) in the workd has developed such a sophisticated use of demons in the therapeutic setting, allowing our employees benefits (?) which would be impossible with pure traditional means. Fairfield Clinic's state of the art facility was financed by Wolfram & Hart as part of our ongoing health care partnership." Angel comes walks into the Hyperion carrying a brown manila folder. Angel: "I got it. The hand belongs to a thirty year old white male named Bradley Scott, served two and a half years at Soledad for embezzlement, paroled last month." g*n: "How'd you find all this?" Angel: "I'm a detective." Cordy: "Did he have a life before prison?" Angel: "I'm not sure. Why don't you just look him up on..." Cordy sits down at her computer and begins to type: "I am." Wesley: "That's impressive, Angel." Angel: "Yeah, well, sometimes you just got to follow your..." Points at his nose. Wesley: "So, how did your (taps his nose) get you into the N.C.I.C.?" Angel: "The what?" Wesley: "The National Crime and Information Center?" Angel: "Oh, that. Kind of a long story... (Moves towards Cordy's desk) How's it coming over there." g*n: "We got time." Angel: "You know, when I was in charge here, nobody questioned my methods or my singing." Cordy: "You're half right." Wes and g*n just keep looking at him Angel: "Alright. I hired a private detective. He's got a friend on the force." Wesley: "*We're* supposed to be the private detectives." g*n: "*We* are supposed to have a friend on the force." Angel: "We did, but she got fired. Get over it." Cordy: "Bradley Scott. Guess where he worked while he was dumping bearer bonds on the black market. Wolfram and Hart." Wesley: "I wonder if he's still alive." Angel: "Well, according to his records he reported to his parole officer once - then he disappeared." g*n: "He goes to jail. They wait for him to get out, then (makes a chopping motion at his right wrist) whack! Wolfram and Hart gives his hand to Lindsey. I guess they really want to give their boy everything." Lindsey leaves Nathan's office. As he walks down the corridor he sees Lilah rummaging through the file cabinets in the 'File Storage' room. Sees her fold up a page and stick in into her purse - in which she keeps a revolver before - he quietly backs away. A guy is sitting on a sofa watching TV and drinking a beer when there is a knock on the door. Guy: "Who is it?" Lindsey through the door: "You don't know me. My name is Lindsey McDonald. I work at Wolfram and Hart." The guy turns off the TV and partly cracks the door. Guy: "What do you want?" Lindsey: "I wanna talk to you, just for a minute. Can I come in?" The guy closes the door enough to release the safety chain, opens it again to let Lindsey in, then glances out along the corridor before closing the door. Lindsey: "No, it's okay. I'm alone." Guy: "Professional habit. I, ah, see a lot of low-lives." Lindsey: "Yeah, I guess you would be, being a parole officer. Listen. This is completely off the record. I had a procedure done - at Fairfield Clinic. I know they paid you to do things for them in the past, and I don't care about that. What I do care about is finding out where they get their body parts." Guy: "What's the code?" Lindsey: "Code?" Guy: "Well, if you're with Wolfram and Hart, you know the code." Lindsey: "Look, I'm a lawyer there. This is not my case. I don't know the code. We don't need the code. I can pay you..." The guy hits Lindsey across the chin, sending him crashing down onto the sofa table. Hits him over the head as he comes back up and everything goes dark. Break The parole officer is holding Lindsey up against the wall, pressing the muzzle of his revolver against his throat. Guy: "Now you got three seconds to tell me what the game is." Lindsey: "There is no game. This is about me." Guy cocks his revolver: "Good bye." Something comes flying into the room, shattering the window. The guy spins around and sh**t at Angel standing just outside of it and Angel drops out of sight. Guy grabs Lindsey from behind around the throat and drags him over towards the window, holding the g*n against his head. Guy: "Friend of yours?" Lindsey: "No, he's not." Guy yelling: "Hey, I'm about to out a b*llet into your buddy's brain here! - I got him. I know I got him." The guy leans out the window to look and Angel sh**t up and slings a loop of rope over his head around his throat. Lindsey spins free, twisting the g*n out of the guys grip at the same time. Lindsey: "What are you doing here?!" Angel: "Gee, I don't know, saving your life?" Lindsey waves the guy's g*n wildly in Angel's face: "I don't need you to save my life." Guy: "Hey, watch it with that!" Angel: "Gee, a little gratitude, Lindsey. Goes a long way." Lindsey: "You got no business..! What-why aren't you trying to k*ll me?!" Angel: "Excuse me. I'm on a case here, Lindsey. Does everything always have to be about k*lling you all the time?" Guy: "I-I can see you guys got issues, so I'll just..." Stops as Angel tightens the rope on the guy's throat. Lindsey: "That's my lead! You're choking my lead!" Angel: "'He's *my* lead! He's *my* lead!' What, are we on the schoolyard here? Look, if you wanna get to the bottom of this, you got to learn how to play with others. (To the parole-guy) Look, I'm gonna loosen the rope and you're gonna tell me everything about your parolee, Bradley Scott. " Lindsey: "Who?" Angel: "The guy who's hand you're wearing. You might want to listen up." Lindsey pointing with the g*n: "You don't tell me what to do." Angel to the guy: "He's so immature." Lindsey yelling and gesturing with the g*n: "Shut up!" Angel to guy: "We're waiting." Guy: "I'm not telling you zip. You can k*ll me but Wolfram and Hart will do a lot worse." Angel: "k*ll you? - Why would I k*ll you (morphs into vamp-face) when I could live off you for a month?" The guy looks back at Angel and yells as he sees his changed face. Angel pats the guy's face as Lindsey makes a grimace. Angel: "Hmm, can't you just taste that butter fat?" Grins at Lindsey. Lindsey: "You are really gross, you know that?" Guy: "I'll tell ya! I'll tell ya! Scott stole some bearer bonds, went to jail. When he got paroled, Wolfram and Hart had him assigned to me." Angel: "According to your file he was a fugitive no-show, but you saw him, didn't you?" Guy: "Just once." Lindsey: "You took him to Fairfield Clinic?" Guy: "No, I didn't take him there." Angel: "Where?" Guy: "Just some address. - I don't know what they do there. I don't wanna know." Cordy is sitting at her desk with her head buried in her arms, sniffling, as Wes and g*n peek in through a crack in the door. They carefully pull the door shut again and step away from it. g*n: "Is it me or are these vision hangovers getting longer and longer? (Points to his head) It's like she can't rest in there until it's done." Wesley: "I know. She inherited these visions from Doyle, but he was half demon. I'm not sure the human body can carry... - Last year a demon unleashed a slew of these visions on her. She wound up in a hospital out of her mind." g*n: "Oh. - Well, she's been a little cranky lately but it's not like she's..." We hear Cordy's voice through the door: "Angel? - Where are you? I-I can't... Are you there?" g*n and Wesley look at each other. g*n: "...crazy?" They look towards the door. Cordy, phone in hand, jumps as they suddenly kick her door open. Cordy, exhales, to phone: "Nothing. I'm fine. - It's just g*n and Wesley playing with the doors. (To g*n and Wes) I'm *trying* to work here. (To phone) Okay. - We'll wait here. - I'm *fine*. Just - get it done." Angel and Lindsey are driving down the street in his convertible. Angel looks over at Lindsey. Angel: "A funny thing happened the other day. Guy picks up butcher Kn*fe, sticks it in his own eye. - yow! - I guess he went to the same clinic you did. - Your hand hasn't been doing anything - funny lately, has it? - I know, it's none of my business, but you don't seem all that happy lately." Lindsey: "You know, I know you're Mr. 'save a soul' now, but at least you used to throw down with your enemies. What do wanna do now? You wanna share?" Angel: "I guess it's a lot to carry. I mean, losing Darla - and even me in a way, as a place to focus your rage. It's ironic. I mean, here you are. You're young, and healthy, good job, new hand. (Lindsey looks down at his right hand) - Seems like the more you get, the less you have. - Am I getting through here? (Lindsey doesn't answer) You just keep on moping. You're good at that." Angel pulls the car to the side of the road. Both he and Lindsey get out. Angel opens the trunk and pulls the bound and gagged parole officer up far enough so that he can see the store with a sign saying 'Southern California Travel' across the road from where they parked. Angel: "Is that were you took him?" The guy nods his head and grunt affirmatively. Angel puts him back down and closes the trunk over the guys muffled protests. Angel, carrying an ax in his right hand, and Lindsey walk across the street to the store. Angel: "Do you know this place?" Lindsey: "No." Angel: "Well, I'm thinking if it has anything to do with you guys security will be top drawer. Window sensors, motion detectors, cellular backup, guards, obviously." Lindsey: "Yeah, I don't have my laptop." Angel: "Huh?" Lindsey: "My computer. You want me to hack into the system and break the codes we're definitely gonna need..." Angel: "Wait, wait, wait." Angel stops and Lindsey turns around to face him. Angel: "That seems like a big bother. What do you say we just fight, huh?" Angel lifts his ax and Lindsey braces himself for a fight, raising his fists. Angel motions with his hand: "You might wanna step aside?" Lindsey lowers his fists a bit and looks at the store windows behind him. Makes a face and steps aside. Angel hauls back and throws his ax, shattering the window. Claps Lindsey on the back as a guard steps out onto the street. Angel: "Come on. Work off some of that aggression, huh?" Angel drops the first guy with a hard cross and enters the store, Lindsey right behind him. Angel hits another guard, knees him in the stomach, then tosses the guy aside while Lindsey dances past Angel to h*t one of the other two guards coming towards them. Short moments later all the guards are down and Angel and Lindsey look around the travel agency's office. Angel: "The floor. It's hollow." He pushes some furniture aside and lifts up a throw rug to reveal a trap door. They walk down the stairs into a room lined with cells, with strategically placed labels on the glass doors, holding naked people - or what's left of them. Lindsey: "What is this?" Angel: "You know what this is. Spare parts - for guys like you. (Motions to the right, where the cell occupants are still whole) You got your before (turns to look to the other side of the room) and your after." A label on one of the cells identifies the body inside as 'unit: 42-89 - Blood: O+ Tissue: (?) - Start: 8/19/00 - Discard: 10/29/01 - Harvest: 5/5/00 left ear - 6/18/00 left leg - 3/10/01 right hand. The male inside is wearing an oxygen mask, his right hand is missing. Angel: "More like during, I guess. - Your firm in action, Lindsey. A lot to be proud of, huh?" Angel looks up at a banner hanging on one of the walls. Angel: "The Pockla blessed this place." Lindsey: "Who are they?" Angel: "Demon healers. They know how to regenerate flesh. Probably explains why some of these transplants aren't taking so well." Lindsey: "Yeah, I'm pretty sure one of them was there when they gave me my hand." Angel: "Your hand? (Indicates one of the cells) I think it belonged to that guy over there." Lindsey turns to look at the guy with the missing right hand. The camera reverses so that we look out through the glass door. Angel (muffled through the door): "Or what's left of him anyway." Lindsey (muffled): "Oh god. I know him." Lindsey steps closer to the cell and the camera reversed again to show us the guy in the cell looking out at Lindsey. Lindsey: "I didn't get the name before. - We worked in the mailroom together. - Brad?" Brad wheezing: "k*ll..." Lindsey throws a look over his shoulder at Angel. Brad: "k*ll..." Lindsey: "k*ll who? Huh? Who do you want to k*ll?" Brad: "k*ll - me..." Break Brad: "Please..." Lindsey turns to Angel: "What am I supposed to do here?" Angel: "I know what I'd do. This is your deal. Whatever it is, you better do it quick. They're gonna be coming in force. We got to help the ones that we can." Angel pulls the banners off the wall and breaks the glass to the first of the 'before' cells, while Lindsey stares up into Brad's face, who is still trying to talk. Angel is wrapping the guy he just freed in the banner and helps him out of his cell. Lindsey: "I'm sorry." He reaches over and pulls the wires leading to Brad's cell. As Lindsey stands looking at Brad, one hand braced against each side of the cell door, we hear the machinery winding down then the cell goes dark. Angel watches as Lindsey takes a deep breath then goes to smash the connections to the next cell and picks up a metal table and tosses it across the room. Angel helps a woman out of another cell. Angel to Lindsey: "Help these people upstairs." Angel opens the valves of a couple of oxygen t*nk, letting the gas escape into the room. Angel: "Get them to the car." Angel lights a piece of paper, drops it on the floor and runs up the stairs. Angel comes running out the front of the store and makes it most of the way across the street before a huge fireball explodes outward, shattering the windows and spraying glass everywhere. Hyperion, day. Angel to Cordy: "How is everything in your head?" Cordy: "What?" Angel: "Any vision aftermaths?" Cordy takes a deep breath: "I-it's better." Wesley: "What?" Cordy: "It's just - they're starting to take their toll. (Shrugs and gives them a smile) It's part of the job, right?" No one says anything. Lilah is playing with her hair as she sits next to Lindsey at Nathan Reed's conference table, which is once again occupied with all the same lawyers we saw there at the beginning. Nathan: "These Reevaluations are always a bit of a mixed blessing. Sad as we lose one of our own. But also hopeful as we turn towards the future and - promote one of our own. - Lilah. You have made a lot of great contributions and I know you have tried your very, very best..." Lilah: "No!" She scrabbles for her purse, but Lindsey puts his hands over hers. Lindsey: "Lilah. Please. (Lilah stops and looks at him) - They chose me. - I'm clearly the guy." Nathan Reed: "Yes, you are." Lindsey to Lilah: "You could've had it. - But you didn't have what it takes." Lindsey raises his right hand up and Lilah jumps, letting out a little scream as he wriggles his fingers. Lindsey almost laughing: "An evil hand. - I mean, come on, who here does, huh? (Gets up and motions towards a guy across from him at the table) Leon doesn't. - Charlie doesn't. (Ruffles the hair of the guy sitting on Lilah's other side, and looks at Nathan) You do know you gave me an evil hand, right? (Nathan doesn't move) I've been writing 'k*ll, k*ll, k*ll' on everything. It's crazy. It's crazy. Anything could happen!" Nathan to the guard: "Allen." Lindsey: "Allen, how are you?" Allen reaches for his g*n, but Lindsey slugs him, sending his ear-piece dangling down his neck, and grabs the g*n Allan is reaching for and presses it into the guards chest. Allen raises his hands. Lindsey: "Uh-oh." sh**t the guard in the foot while looking at Nathan. Lindsey: "Uh, that's gonna hurt in the morning!" Allen is hopping around on one foot and Lindsey pushes him to the floor before waving the g*n at the people sitting around the table. Lindsey: "Stop, evil hand, stop it." Fires of a few sh*ts in Nathan's direction shattering some pottery behind him and making Nathan flinch a bit. Lindsey grinning: "I just can't control my evil hand. (Walks up to Nathan's end of the table) Nathan, I'm so proud that you chose me. (Ruffles Charlie's hair as he walks past him) Charlie! If I would have been in your shoes - I would have chosen Lilah. (Lilah turns to stare at Lindsey) Let me tell you why. Do you have any idea of the hours this chick has logged in? Huh? The files she has on you guys? - Deep stuff. Ronnie, your stock manipulations, Nathan's little offshore accounts... Can you imagine if something were to happen to this girl and those files got back to the senior partners? - They'd eat you alive! (Lilah looks at him with a frown) She's been working overtime, boys. She's everything you ever dreamed off. Lilah is your guy. Me - (leans down on the table next to Nathan, who looks straight ahead) I'm unreliable. I've got these evil hand issues - and I'm bored with this crap. - And besides, I'm leaving, so - if you wanna chase me, be my guest, and remember (holds up his hand) evil. (Knocks on the table with his right hand.) Charlie." Lindsey quietly to Lilah as he passes her: "Good luck." Lilah jumps, putting a hand over her mouth then turns to stare at Lindsey as he walks towards the door. He gives her a big grin, and waves his right hand in the air. Lindsey: "Evil." Lilah stands and stares as the door closes behind Lindsey. Nathan: "Well. Let's amend the minutes. - Lilah Morgan was promoted. - And, uh, someone call an ambulance." Night. Lindsey walks up to his old truck and puts a duffel and his guitar case into the bed. Lindsey: "If you're here to k*ll me, grab ya a ticket and get in line." Angel leaning on the gate of the truck: "Oh, I really like this truck. '56, right? First year they had that wrap-around windshield. You know, back in the fifties we all thought life was gonna be like in the Jetsons by now. Air cars, robots. - I'd love to have an air car. Wouldn't that be cool?" Lindsey with a smile: "So, you're here to talk me to death." Angel: "Nah, I just came here to say, things don't always work out like you think. - I bet Wolfram and Hart aren't too happy losing one of their best and their brightest." Lindsey: "Yeah, well, let 'em come try to stop me. It'll be fun." Angel: "Well, I don't know if that's a healthy attitude. - So, where're you going, Lindsey? (Looks at the duffel and guitar case) Back to your roots?" Lindsey: "Something like that." Angel nods his head slowly. Lindsey: "I hope you're not waiting for me to tell you that I learned some kind of a lesson. That I had a big moral crisis, but now I see the light." Angel laughs: "If you told me that, then I'd have to k*ll you. - I'm just here to say 'bon voyage' - don't come back." Lindsey: "To L.A.? - Nah. - You can have this place." Opens the door to his truck. Angel: "Good. I'm glad I didn't have to do something immature here." Lindsey nods with a slight smile, sobers after a b*at. Lindsey: "The key to Wolfram and Hart: don't let them make you play their game. - You gotta make them play yours." Angel quietly: "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Lindsey nods gets ready to get in his truck. Angel: "Don't drive too fast now. Lots of cops out there." Lindsey gets in and starts the engine. As he pulls away from the curb we see that there is a big sign stuck to the gate of his truck saying 'cops suck.' Angel stands there with a smile on his face as he watches him drive off.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x18 - d*ad End"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Rondell: "Well, if it isn't Charles g*n." g*n: "Anne, meet Rondell and George." g*n: "Somebody could have filled me in." George: "You ain't been around to tell nothing to." Rondell: "You been moving on up, dog. Playing demon detective with your new family." Zombie cop: "Put your hands on the wall, step back and spread your feet apart." Wesley: "Wait! Officer, wait!" Zombie cop sh**t Wesley. g*n: "This man took a b*llet for me!" Wesley: "And it was nothing." They do the elaborate handshake routine. Angel: "Ah, I see you guys have bonded." Wesley: "We've all discussed it and none of us are ready just yet..." Angel: "It's okay, Wesley. I don't want you to came back and work for me. I wanna work for you." Cordy's reaction during the vision from "d*ad End" Angel: "Cordy! - What did you see?" g*n: "Is it me or are these vision hangovers getting longer and longer." Cordy: "I wish it would stop hurting." Night. Inside a fancy restaurant Wesley, Cordy and g*n at a table with an empty forth chair, eating dinner. Cordy: "You wanna try some of this sashimi?" g*n: "That's the raw fish? Maybe when hell freezes over." Cordy cranes her neck to look around the restaurant. Wesley: "What are you looking for?" Cordy: "Celebrities. They wouldn't put them out here in the 'B' section. They put them back in the dark." Angel: "Not like here - where it's brightly lit and - open and everyone could stare at you and..." Camera pans from what we now realize was a mirror to show that the forth chair at the table is actually occupied by Angel. Angel: "It's a little exposed. Kind of public." g*n: "Oh, yeah, that public thing. It happens when you go where the people are." g*n claps him on the arm as Angel looks around the restaurant. Angel: "Oh, no, no, no. I-I-I like the people. Normal people. I wanna get out and be one of them. You know. Celebrate Cordy's good news." Cordy: "Oh, it's just a commercial." Wesley lifting his wine glass: "Just a *national* commercial. Here is to you." They all clink glasses. Cordy: "Guys, I can't drink. I have to be up at four thirty in the morning for the sh**t. But please, continue with the toasting and the praising." g*n: "You're gonna knock 'em d*ad, and make a ton of cash." Angel: "What he said, but-but don't leave us when you get famous." Cordy: "I'm touched. But don't worry. I *can't* leave you guys while I'm still the proud owner of the mind-shattering, ever more debilitating visions." Takes a sip from her wineglass that holds water then goes back to eating. Cordy: "I feel a little guilty." Angel: "Don't. - I mean, nineteen dollars for a - sashimi couscous appetizer is money well spent. How was it anyway? Pretty good? I mean, it ought to be pretty..." Cordy: "It's delicious but that's not what I feel guilty about." Angel: "Oh. (Sees Wesley looking at him) I 'm not cheap, I-I'm just old. (Slipping into a slight Irish accent) I-I remember when a few bob got you a good meal, a bottle *and* a tavern wench. - You were saying?" Cordy: "I was saying, I feel guilty leaving you guys in the middle of a case to go do this commercial." Wesley: "Mhmm, we have it under control. Angel will get hold of his informant first thing in the morning." g*n: "And he (to Angel) - well, is it a he or an it?" Angel: "Actually both." g*n: "Well, then he slash it points us to the big bloated thing in your vision." Wesley: "The Haklar demon. In fact Angel's informant will lead us to the demon's feeding grounds where we manly men will gather round and k*ll it to death." Wesley holds out his fist and g*n bumps it with his own. Angel, just a b*at too slow, puts his fist out as well. The others obligingly repeat the gesture. Cordy: "Ooh, sounds like fun. - If you guys want more wine, don't let me stop you." Angel: "Oh, no more wine for me. That imported stuff goes right to your head." g*n: "You think we should get a flame thrower?" Wesley: "For the Haklar? I hadn't thought of that." Angel: "I mean, if you guys want to order another bottle..." g*n: "Of course if we wound up in a tight space we could burn each other." Wesley: "Right. Right." g*n: "Well, you're the boss. You'll decide." Wesley taking a deep breath: "A flame thrower is big and loud. Might call attention where we don't want it. Stealth, you know being a large part of..." Angel notices a shorthaired woman wearing a cape walking through the restaurant and jumps out of his seat with vampire speed to grab a hold of her. Angel: "Isn't this interesting?" Woman: "Wha-what? My shawl?" Angel: "No, your Brahenian (?) Battle-shroud, woven from the skin of d*ad children." Wesley at the table: "What's he doing?" Angel: "You think I don't know a Voltar Witch when I see one? You don't think I can't see the markings of a... (trails of as he takes a closer look at the shawl) Looks a little different up close." Cordy: "It's a beautiful shawl ma'am. It's a beautiful, thousand dollar, Laura Mina original. (Laughs) My friend just loves beautiful things so much he can't control himself. Because he's - ahm, from France? - We're so sorry. So sorry." Pulls Angel back towards the table. Angel with French accent: "Pardon." g*n as they all sit back down: "If we had a flame-thrower we could set the table on f*re. Draw a little *more* attention to us." Angel: "I'm telling you those markings, from a distance they really looked..." Wesley: "Let's just eat and be on our way without any more..." Cordy: "Oh god." Cordy scrunches up her face. g*n: "What is it? What do you see?" Cordy: "Moo..." Wesley: "Moo? Some sort of cow monster?" Cordy: "Move. I think the sashimi is coming up." The guys jump up off their chairs as Cordy doubles over, pulling the tablecloth and dishes off the table as she is violently sick. Angel: "They'll take that off the bill, right?" Intro Hyperion day. Wesley is sitting in his office talking on the phone. Wesley: "Yes, mum. Yes, well, put him on. - Right. You too. - Hello father. Happy Birthday. - How are you? - Good. - No! It's going quite well actually. - Yes. I have news. - I've been put in charge of our group. - Yes, as their leader. No, it's a permanent position. Well as permanent as these things... - (the smile on Wesley's face fades away into nothing) - No, I certainly won't be fired. - Ah. Well, yes, I was that one time, yes. - Again... No, you're right. I see how... - Yes, I'd forgotten, thank you. - Yes. - Ah, just recently. Uhm, it's going quite well so far. - - No, I think this time... - I hope it will be different. - No. No, you're right. I see how... - I just thought you'd be... I thought you'd want to know, that's all. - Right. Well - again, happy birthday. - Okay." Hangs up and looks down at the desk. g*n comes in munching on some chips. g*n: "You talking to someone?" Wesley closing the folder in front of him: "Yes, my father." g*n: "English senior? How is he?" Wesley: "Well. It's his birthday." g*n: "Nice." Wesley still moving stuff around on his desk: "He sends his greetings to everyone in Tinsel Town." Day, big, white warehouse with Stage 6 stenciled on it. Inside Angel makes his way through the people getting ready to sh**t Cordy's commercial. Angel: "Sorry." He spots the stage made up to look like a sunlit beach and a girl in a bikini waiting for the sh**t to start. He slowly walks out on the beach. The girl gives him a brilliant smile when she sees him coming towards her, but he passes her by without even a look and the smile vanishes. He turns and blinks at the fake sunlight. Letting out a deep breath he closes his eyes and turns his head to face the fake sun, a slight smile spreading across his face. Cordy, wearing a heavy, white bathrobe steps up to him. Cordy: "What are you doing here?" Angel smiles at her: "Getting a tan. Ha. Not bursting into flames?" Cordy: "So - what are you doing here?" Angel: "I have to ask you a question. In your vision did the Haklar demon..." Cordy grabs him by the arms as she sees someone coming. Cordy whispering: "Shut up. The director's come in. (To the director) Hi. I just wanna say thanks for casting me." Director: "You're welcome. Lose the bathrobe." Cordy: "Excuse me?" Director: "What's wrong? You don't speak English? The wardrobe. I need to *see* it. Lose the robe, princess." Cordy stares at him for a moment and he snaps his fingers a few times. Cordy: "Sure. Sure." She slowly takes the robe off to reveal that she's wearing a very skimpy bikini dotted with seashells. Angel looks over, blinks, takes a second look, his eyes widening a little. Looks away. Sneaks another quick glance then keeps his eyes on the director. Director: "Turn around. (Cordy does so, slowly) Well, nothing wrong there. Okay, turn. (Cordy turns to face him again) When does she go to makeup?" His assistant looks at his notebook. Cordy: "I've already been to makeup." Director: "Really. (To assistant) Then take her back. Tell David to get rid of those circles under her eyes. She looks like a refugee from an abused women's shelter." Cordy: "I had food poisoning." Director: "Yeah, right. You eat. Good one. (To assistant) Tell David I'm supposed to wanna sleep with this woman. I don't. Do you wanna sleep with her? Of course you don't." Angel: "You're out of line. (The director turns and stares) Apologize to her." Director: "Oh, let me guess. Wanna-be rocker or part-time male model. I could go either way on this one." Angel takes a step closer to him: "I said apologize to her." Director: "Really? (Aside to assistant) Get security." Cordy: "Angel..." Angel: "Who the hell do you think you are, huh?" Director: "I think I'm the director. (To Cordy) And I think you're real smart for bringing your unemployed boyfriend onto *my* set, telling me how to film my commercial. That's really helping your career." Cordy, back in her bathrobe, takes a hold of Angel arm and pulls him away from the director. Cordy: "I'm sorry. Ah. He won't bother you anymore." Director: "Oh, I know he won't. Because security is gonna toss his ass in about two minutes. Now get into makeup and hope they can work miracles." The director leaves and Cordy turns to face Angel. Angel: "Do you want me to rip that guy's head of for you? Because, you know, I can. I can actually just rip his head right off his body. I can do that." Cordy: "Are you *trying* to ruin my career? I mean, is this like a conscious effort on your part?" Angel: "No. I just..." Cordy: "You need to go. Now. (Angel lets out a deep breath) Why are you still here? Go!" Angel: "Look, I have to ask you a question." Cordy lets out a deep breath and folds her arms in front of her. Cordy: "What?" Angel: "In your vision - the Haklar demon that you saw, did he eat his victim whole or did he just rip out the liver? - 'cause, I mean, it's a funny story, according to my informant, liver-eating Haklar's have different feeding grounds then people-eaters, and I need to know what kind it was so I can track it down and k*ll it." Cordy nods, then shakes her head and turns to walk away. Cordy quietly: "I hate my whole life." g*n is sitting on the round bench in the lobby of the Hyperion watching Wesley pace. g*n: "So - this Heckler demon we're supposed to k*ll..." Wesley: "Haklar. Two 'a's." g*n: "This Haklar with two 'a's' we're supposed to k*ll. Give me the specs. What I need to know?" Wesley stops pacing: "The Haklar, descended for the Klensan order demons, can weigh as much as three tons as an adult male. It awakes from its hibernation during alternating full moons only to feed and mate - often simultaneously. Incapable of traditional speech the Haklar has learned to communicate with each other via a pattern of carefully timed facial ticks, not dissimilar to our own Morse code. The Haklar prefers a warm moist clime where it can..." g*n: "Wesley." Wesley: "Yes?" g*n: "I meant, how do we go about k*lling it." Wesley: "Oh. - Your standard slice and dice." The door opens and George and Rondell walk in. g*n gets up to greet them. g*n: "Hey. What are y'all doing here?" George: "Got a situation." g*n: "Wesley, you remember Rondell and George?" Wesley shakes their hands: "Certainly. I never got the chance to thank you both properly. I think it's fair to say I owe you men my life." George: "It's cool. Only reason you got sh*t is 'cause you got our backs." Rondell: "Hey, how you feeling?" Wesley: "Better, thank you." g*n: "The situation, what is it?" Rondell: "What else? Vamps." George: "Pack of them making McKenzie park their new personal restaurant." g*n: "Got a lot of homeless sleeping there." Rondell: "They be the meals." g*n: "Sounds like what we need to do is set a trap." George: "Traps already set." g*n: "It is?" George: "We know the drill. Everything's in motion." g*n: "Oh. Alright. You just need me to..." Rondell: "Lend us your truck." g*n: "You want my ride?" George: "It's still tricked out for dusting, ain't it?" g*n: "Well, yeah. But..." Rondell: "We wanna go in with everything we got." g*n throws a quick look at Wesley. g*n: "Count me in then." Wesley: "What about the Haklar?" g*n: "Angel gets a lock on its crib, page me." Angel comes in: "Haklar is living on the North Shore of Lake Hollywood. We better hurry. They've got a five K race starting there in half an hour." Wesley: "Consider yourself paged." g*n looks from Wesley to George and Rondell. g*n: "I got to take this. Wait for me though. I'm through, I hook up with you guys at base camp, we head out together. Rondell: "Yeah, whatever, G. (Bumps George) Lets roll man." The two of them leave with g*n looking after them. Wesley walks up to Angel. Wesley: "Angel, is everything alright?" Angel hands g*n an ax, then picks up another one and tosses it to Wesley before getting one for himself. Angel with a sigh: "I-It's Cordy." Wesley: "What about her?" g*n: "Headaches getting worse?" Wesley: "What happened?" Angel: "Nothing happened. It - it's just... Heh. Acting is her dream job? I mean, that's the world she really wants to live in? With people like that? I don't get it." Wesley: "Who are you talking about?" Angel: "Mr. 'Hey, I'm an L.A. director, you know, sh**ting a commercial (snaps his fingers) so I must be the center of the universe' guy? It's just like, (?) if you wanna make it in show business you just pretend you're on the food chain(?). I mean, all we do is save the world. And the way he talks to her. It's like she's his commodity. Like she's his sl*ve or something. And you know what the worst part is? She took it. When was the last time Cordy took crap from any of us?" g*n: "Never. And the day after never." Angel: "Exactly! He's also got her wearing this - flimsy swimsuit that covers like (twists the ax handle between his hands as he looks up at the ceiling) nothing." For a moment all three guys' eyes unfocus, then they glance at each other. Wesley: "Appalling." g*n: "Disgusting." Angel: "Right." All three guys stare at the floor for a moment, then g*n shakes his head slightly. g*n: "Well, shouldn't we be off k*lling something?" Wesley: "Absolutely." Angel: "Good. Let's get this show on the road." The three of them head out. The host is singing "Superstition" up on the stage of Caritas. The club is jamming as the host dances to his own music. Suddenly there is a shimmering in the air behind him. Not noticing the host keeps on singing. The host turns as shimmering condenses into a portal and stares as a gray skinned monster jumps through it onto the stage. Break The gray monster jumps off the stage, smashes into a table and breaks some glasses, hits a couple of the patrons to get them out of its way, then spots the exit and heads on out up the stairs. Host in normal voice: "It's alright. Everything's fine. (Licks his lips) Nothing to worry about. - It's all part of the show." Cordy is on the fake beach on Stage 6 Spreading suntan lotion on the guy lying on his stomach between her and the other girl. Cordy: "Goes on smooth like a lovers kiss. It's the only suntan lotion good enough for our man." Director: "Cut. Cut. (Steps up to Cordy) You're in his light." Cordy: "Still?" Director: "I told you twice, you have to bend over more." Cordy: "If I bend over any more I'm gonna fall out of my top." Director: "And then you'll be out of his light. See? Everybody wins." Cordy motions towards the lights: "But isn't there something we could do..." Director: "I didn't hire you to play Ophelia. - Show the cleavage, save the line. Got it? Or you wanna waste more of our time?" Cordy, after a b*at: "Got it." The director leaves and Cordy looks down. Wesley follows Angel into the Hyperion dabbing at his brow with a handkerchief. Wesley: "Has it..." Angel: "Stopped bleeding? Yeah." They stop as they spot Cordy sitting hunched over on one of the seats in the looby. Wesley: "Cordelia." Angel: "Hi." Cordy looks up at them, then back down at the floor. Angel takes a step closer: "Look, I just wanna say - if I was out of line today..." Cordy straightening up: "*If* you were out of *line*? *If*? (Gets up) You're comfortable with your use of the word 'if' here, are you?" Angel throws a look at Wesley then turns around as Cordy walks past him. Angel: "I'm sorry I embarrassed you." Cordy lets out a breath: "Who am I kidding. I embarrassed myself. - I just wanted to act, that's all. - For them to like me because I was good. - I never wanted to feel like this. - I thought g*n was with you guys?" Wesley: "He was. After the fight he had to go home to take care of some vampire business." Cordy: "How was the big fight? All big and - fighty?" Wesley: "We managed to k*ll the Haklar just as it was about to devour a group of power walkers." Angel: "Horrible." Cordy: "I know. I saw it in my stupid vision, remember?" Angel: "No, not the Haklar, the power walkers. I mean, walking I get, but power walking? Why not just run for a shorter time? - Weird. - Plus one of them h*t him." Cordy: "A power walker did that?" Wesley: "Apparently she felt that I disrespected the Haklar's culture by k*lling it." Cordy: "This town sucks." The door opens and the host comes in. Host: "Am I happy to see you. You're still a knight for hire, yeah? Well, I'm hiring. I need you to k*ll something. I suppose you want the particulars, so here they are: it's called a Drokken." Wesley: "Drokken?" Host: "Ah, you won't find it in your books. It's not from any world you ever heard of." Angel folding his arms: "How did it get here?" Host: "Portal. Right in the middle of my Steve Wonder tune. Totally threw me off, and you know how I hate to disappoint an audience. But I digress. What-what's important is that you k*ll this Drokken, and-and this part I can't stress enough: k*ll it you must." Angel: "Where is it?" Host: "No idea. But I imagine it's getting pretty hungry by now." Two guys are walking down a street at night. The Drokken att*cks them, quickly knocks them down and begins to eat, amking some real disgusting noises. A blonde woman walks down a sidewalk, uses her remote to unlock her car, looks up and sees the Drokken, mouth still smeared with blood and screams. Angel: "That's all you got for us?" Wesley sitting beside Cordy: "What is it doing here? What does it want? What is it capable of?" Host: "Who cares? It trashed my club, my clientele." Angel: "I thought v*olence wasn't possible in Caritas. Isn't it supposed to be a sanctuary?" Host: "I didn't say the Drokken *k*lled* anyone. I mean, knocked over a couple of my regulars. (Looks from Angel to Wes and back) There were a couple of angry glances. - I sensed some bad intentions. - Not a nice fellow. Bad, bad beast. Did I mention the teeth?" Angel: "You mentioned the teeth." Host: "Are you gonna help me or do I have to break out my champion rolodex?" Angel: "Okay. We can start at Caritas, do a circular search, say one mile in diameter, keep moving out and hope we get lucky, huh?" Cordy: "Angel." Angel looks over at her and she tips her head towards Wesley. Angel unfolds his arms and backs up. Angel: "Sorry. I didn't mean to step on your toes, Wesley." Wesley: "Quite alright." Cordy with a bright smile: "Wesley is kind of our new leader now." Host: "Well, it's been a long time coming. Congrats. (To Angel) And kudos to you. Nice choice of conductor to lead your symphony. (To Wes) So, what do we do now?" Wesley gets up: "Well, ah... - Angel's right. Barring more promising leads a circular search pattern for the beast seems best." Host: "I like it." Angel and Wesley start to head out, but the host notices that Cordy is scrunching up her face and putting a hand up to her head. Host: "Hey. What's with her?" Cordy doubles over groaning. Wesley: "Food poisoning." Angel: "From a very expensive appetizer." Cordy straightens back up, still clutching her head and Angel hurries over. Angel: "Or possibly a vision." We get blurry images of a girl wearing a locket taking a book off a shelf and opening it. Suddenly a portal like the one we saw in Caritas opens behind her and she is sucked into it, screaming. Angel: "You're okay?" Cordy: "Why does everyone *always* ask me that? Do I *look* okay?!" Angel backs a few steps away. Wesley: "What did you see?" Cordy: "A woman. She was at the public library. I think she works there. She was reading a book." Host: "A-as scary as *that* sounds... Crazed, rabid Drokken on the loose here? Kind of in first position." Cordy to Wesley: "There was an opening behind her. Something magical - a - portal." Angel: "A portal." Host: "A portal?" Wesley: "Like the one from which this Drokken beast materialized in Caritas?" Host: "We-we don't know that for a fact." Wesley: "There is our connection. (Checks his watch) We better get to the library. They'll be closing soon." Angel: "Right." The three of them get ready to head out. Host: "How fortunate that the Powers That Be haven taken an interest in my... I mean, in the problem I brought to your... Ah, it's really quite a break." Angel as he walks past the host: "You coming?" Host: "Right. - I thought you'd never ask." The host stands there, just looking after them for a moment. g*n walks into the g*ng's quiet base camp, sees one of them standing guard. g*n: "Junior, where is everybody?" Junior won't answer or even look at g*n. g*n: "What's wrong?" When he still doesn't get an answer g*n moves on to find the whole group standing silently together in another room. They part to let g*n through to the front where he finds Rondell laid out on a pallet. g*n crouches down next to George. g*n: "What..." George turns Rondell's head to the side, exposing a vampire's fang marks on his neck. g*n: "Did they make him drink?" George: "We don't know." g*n closes his eyes and turns his face to the side. The host and Angel follow Wesley and Cordy into the public library. Host: "Call me crazy, but I'm getting the weirdest sense of deja vue here. How come every time you and me h*t the big city we end up in a library? Snoresville. Next time why don't we do something fun?" Angel: "Like what?" Host: "Elton's in town next month. What do you say, you and me, back row seats?" Angel: "I don't do big and crowed." Host: "Mr. Elton John hits the first few keys of 'yellow brick road' I defy you not to feel like the only other person in the room." An older librarian almost runs into the host and both of them such their breath in loudly. Host: "Hi. How are you?" Librarian: "You... You're... (starts to smile in relief) You're for the children's reading program!" Host smiles back: "Yes. Yes, I am." Librarian: "It's not until tomorrow morning." Host: "Yes, I know. I never perform without checking out the space first. Get a feel for the room." Librarian: "Oh. (Looks him up and down) Wow. The kids will flip over your costume. It looks so authentic." Host: "Thank you." Librarian: "Except for the horns. - But those are probably hard to fake." Host: "If you only knew." Librarian: "The reading area is down that way. Just take a left." Host: "Toodles. See you and the munchkins in the morning." Librarian: "Right." The host walks past the others taking a left down the next corridor as instructed. Librarian to the other: "If you're planning on checking out anything you've got about five minutes." Cordy: "Actually we're looking for someone who works here." Librarian: "Who's that?" Cordy: "Okay, she's - tall. She's brown hair about down to here (indicates her waist on her back), wears glasses, pretty..." Librarian: "Sorry." Cordy: "She wears a locket, shaped like a ball or-or an apple, I think?" Librarian: "An apple? Fred wore one of those." Angel: "Fred?" Librarian: "Winifred. Everyone called her Fred." Angel: "Do you know where we can find her?" The librarian stares at them for a moment. The librarian pulls a folded flyer from under the desk counter and hands it to Cordy. Librarian: "Fred disappeared five years ago. They never found her. Police said if she didn't show up in the first week... Well, we all stopped hoping a while ago." Cordy hands the flyer to Angel: "This is her." Wesley: "Can you tell us anything about her?" Librarian: "She worked here in the library with me. She was studying to be a physicist." Wesley: "The day she disappeared..." Librarian: "Oh - it was creepy. One minute she is cataloguing in the foreign language section and the next minute she's gone!" Wesley, Angel and Cordy enter the Foreign Language Section. Wesley: "Angel, why don't you look over there, I'll look over here and... what exactly are we looking for?" Cordy: "I don't know. But this is where I saw the portal in my vision." Host comes in: "This reading room - to die for. Great stage, rocking chair, fabulous colors. I'm tempted to just show up tomorrow morning with Harry Potter." Angel: "If you don't mind, we're working here. You know, on that thing you wanted us working on?" Host: "I really liked that circular search pattern you pitched. Has there been any talk of going back to that?" Cordy pulls a book from a shelf. Cordy: "Here it is. This is the book that Fred was holding in my vision." She opens it to the title page. Wesley reads: "SCRQWRN. What kind of language is that?" The host eyes the book wearily. Cordy: "Last checked out May 6th of 1996 - and returned May 7th of 1996." Angel pulls out the missing person flyer the librarian gave them. Angel: "The date she disappeared." Cordy: "(?)Crv dr pff lr ploos pls...(?)" The host lifts a hand as if to stop her but remains quiet. Cordy: "(?)Vos strp umpt pls plsrts in uft frm pltz(?). - Yeah, Pat, I'd like to buy a vowel." The host begins to scream as a blinding light and wind suddenly whips around them. Angel grabs a hold of Cordelia and tries to shield her, while the host looking straight at the emerging portal keeps holding that one screaming note. Break Right where we left off. Suddenly the host's scream is joined by a second as a green-skinned, red-eyed, longhaired and armored demon flies headfirst out through the portal, rolls to his feet and draws a sword. Pushing Cordy behind him, Angel att*cks the demon. Ducking the demon's sword he punches and kicks it in the gut a few times then manages to knock the sword out of its hands. Angel grabs it and pushes it up against of the stacks and for the first time we see that it bears a remarkable resemblance in appearance to the host. Host: "Landok? Is that you?" Wes and Cordy look at each other and Angel lowers the fist he had raised to h*t the demon again. Angel: "You know him?" Host: "Yeah. But just because I know his name doesn't mean you can't knock him unconscious. Please continue." Landok to host: "Can it really be you? Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan?" Host: "It's clearly rabid. (To Angel) Do your thing, Angel." Angel: "Krevlorneswath?" Cordy: "Of the Deathwok Clan?" Host: "Eh, ah, - I-I prefer Lorne." Angel: "Lorne." Host: "Yes. Lorne, if you must. Though I generally don't go by that because (indicates his face) green?" Cordy: "Huh?" Angel smiles: "Right. Lorne Greene. (Cordy and Wes turn to stare at him) Bonanza? (Cordy and Wes look at each other then back at Angel) Fifteen years on the air not mean anything to anyone here? (Drops his hands as the others still just stare) Okay. *Now* I feel old." Landok: "What is this place?" Host: "It's called Los Angeles, and this isn't exactly one of the hot spots." Landok: "Is it a prison? (Raises his sword) Are these your captors?" Host: "Whoa, big fella. Put the sharp piece of metal down. These are my friends. Angel, Cordelia, Wesley - Everybody this is Landok." Landok holds the sword tip down in front of himself and gives them a slight bow. Landok: "Landokmar of the Deathwok clan." Cordy: "There is that Deathwok clan thing again. Does that mean that the two of you are..." Host: "Yeah. Cousins." Angel: "Cousins?" Landok sheathes his sword. Landok: "Your vanishing was a great mystery to our clan." Everyone looks at Lorne. Host: "Long story, boring ending, really it wouldn't interest you at all." Landok: "It was hoped that you had sought atonement by forfeiting your life in the sacrificial canyons of Trelinsk." Host: "Well, it's been fun, Landok, but we have to skeedadle. You'll be just fine. New people come to L.A. all the time and manage to find their way around." Landok: "Where you abducted into this world as I was?" Host: "Ah, I came through a portal, yes." Landok: "Then we will find a path back to our home Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan. We will return together." Host: "Don't know about you, but my ticket was strictly one way." Landok: "You will not return home to remove the shame that you have visited upon your life-giver?" Host: "Is anyone else getting a little peckish? (Laughs) How does Italian sound, hm?" Landok: "Your mother's burden is terrible." Host: "Misses her little green boo, does she?" Landok: "She rips your images into tiny pieces, feeds them to the swine, butchers the pigs and has their remains scattered for the dogs." Host: "Sounds like ma. Tell you what, you pick the spot. I'm game for anything, so..." Landok: "Does your cowardice really know no limits?" Host: "The nice people really don't wanna hear about our family issues." Cordy: "Sure we do." Wesley: "Yes. Let's hear about the cowardice and shame." Host: "Okay. For your information: not a coward. In fact, my friends and I were just partaking in a Drokken hunt which, regrettably, we must now return to. Now, if you'll excuse us..." Landok: "There is a Drokken near by? I will assist in the k*ll." Host: "Find your own Drokken." Wesley: "You know how we can k*ll it?" Landok: "All that is required is to pierce it with a w*apon dipped in thromite." Host: "Sorry, cus, thromite? Not exactly existing in this world. Thanks anyway." Landok: "Then k*lling the Drokken will be most difficult. It is impervious to most wounds." Angel: "What if you chop its head off?" Wesley: "Or run it through with a sword?" Angel: "Or electrocute it with, oh, lets say about a fifty thousand volt charge?" Cordy: "Yeah, we've had a lot of luck with those things in the past." Landok: "Without thromite it will take a mighty blow to destroy the Drokken. It is quite strong and fast, very difficult to h*t." Angel: "Well, in order to h*t it, we've got to find it first." Landok: "I can track the Drokken for you." Wesley: "You can?" Landok: "Wherever it roams it leaves behind waves of hostility." Wesley: "And you can *read* these waves? - Amazing! All your people do this?" Landok: "Those who are willing to submit to training." Host: "Oh, everyone on board. Guilt trip leaving this station." Landok: "Lead me to where the Drokken entered this world. (Pulls his sword) I will help you slay it." Wesley: "We'd welcome your help." The host watches as they all file past him, then finally follows them. g*n's truck pulls up and g*n gets out. There is old wood furniture in the bed of it. g*n grabs a hold of George as he steps closer and slams him up against the back of the truck. g*n: "You should have waited for me." George: "We've been waiting on you for months, bro." g*n pushes him to the side and grabs a chair from the back of the truck to add it to a pile of other broken furniture laid out a little ways away, then stands there staring at it. Landok is crouched at the foot of the body the Drokken k*lled earlier. Landok: "Our path is true, but our arrival untimely. The Drokken has consumed. It will be at maximum power." He straightens up and waves a hand slowly back and forth in front of his face. Angel quietly to host: "What's he doing?" Host: "He's channeling his mind to identify the Drokken's aura. I use that sense to help people find their destinies and I'm a freak. He uses it to hunt, he's considered the golden spawn. Go figure." Angel: "So, he's like some big hero back home." Host: "Talk about screwed up values. A world of only good and evil, black and white, no gray. No music, no art, just champions roaming the countryside, fighting for justice. Bo-ring. You got a problem, solve it with a sword. No one ever admits to having actual feelings and emotions, let alone talks about them. Can you imagine living in place like that?" Angel lost in thought: "Not really." Wesley puts down his cell phone. Wesley: "Why isn't g*n answering our pages? What if he's in some kind of trouble?" Cordy is sitting on a bench flipping through the book she found at the library. Cordy: "Or maybe he's in the middle of his stake-o-rama. Besides, last time we went chasing after him on a hunt you got sh*t. Remember?" Wesley: "Point taken. - What are you doing?" Cordy: "I don't know. - We're missing something here, Wesley." Wesley: "When we get back to the office I'll see what I can do about deciphering it." Cordy: "I mean something bigger." Wesley: "Like what?" Cordy: "I don't know. I just feel like we're chasing after this monster, which is good and all, but - we're missing something." Landok: "The Drokken goes this way. The aura is strong. It's not far." Host: "What do you want? A medal?" Landok takes step closer to the host: "Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan mocks me?" Host: "Just the LA in me coming out, I guess." Landok: "The same Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan who refused the ancient tradition of hunting and gathering." Host: "I'll let you in on a little secret, Landok. While the rest of you boys were out hunting I was down at the waterhole chatting up the senioritas, gathering a little love." Landok: "Your cowardice even extended to the sacred joust." Host: "For the last time: not a coward. I just saw both sides of the joust. (To Angel) How you're supposed to joust someone when you partially agree with their point of view?" Landok: "The Drokken has taken more food to consume later." Cordy: "More food? - Oh, you mean people? - Oh! You mean *people*." Angel's convertible pulls up in front of a warehouse with stacks of wooden pallets forming a veritable labyrinth around it. Landok rises up in the back seat and looks around. Angel: "You're sure this is where the Drokken came." Just then the Drokken comes into view for a moment, carrying the woman from earlier under one arm. It stops to growl in their direction then disappears into the maze. Landok: "I am sure." Angel: "What do we do, Wesley?" Wesley: "Ah, we don't have g*n. Uhm, if it's as strong as Landok says..." Angel: "Yeah?" Wesley: "Perhaps a diversion. I-I have some flares maybe the light will distract him long enough for us to be able to..." Landok: "Enough of your words!" Landok jumps out of the car and charges into the maze of stacks. Host: "Patience not really a virtue with my people." Angel gets out of the car and walks towards the stacks, sword in hand. Wesley: "Angel, what are you... What are you... (Wesley gets out as well and looks after them) We don't have a plan." Landok comes upon the Drokken and it leaves the frightened woman to charge him. Landok att*cks the monster with his sword without doing any visible damage. After a few swings the Drokken gets a hold of him and bites him in the arm and Landok screams as it throws him aside. Angel comes up behind it and kicks it in the side. The two of them fight and seem pretty evenly matched. Wesley and the host come up and see Landok sitting against one of the stack, his arm bleeding. Landok: "Where is my sword?" Host: "You're hurt." Landok: "Fetch my sword." Host: "You've been poisoned." Landok: "There is time to die *after* the Drokken is slain." Wesley: "Poisoned?" Host watching Angel and the Drokken fight: "The Drokken's bite contains a powerful venom deadly to my people." Wesley: "Is there an antidote?" Host: "Only back in our world." The Drokken manages to get a solid kick in at Angel and sends him flying through the air then scuttles off between the stacks. Wesley comes up next to Angel as he picks himself back up. Angel: "It's going after the woman." Angel starts to follow the Drokken. Wesley pulls out a flare and lights it then follows after. The Drokken jumps from the top of one stack to another, watching them. Angel quietly to Wesley: "Find the woman. Get her out. I'll find the Drokken." Wesley nods and the two of them split up. Landok: "Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan, my sword!" Host: "Hello! Martyr complex? You can't even lift your arm for crying out loud." We cut back and forth between Wesley with his flare in hand, and Angel making his way among them in the dark with his sword out. Angel: "Hey. You want food? - I can be food. - Pretty tasty here. (Quietly) Come on, where are you? - (Louder) Here kitty, kitty, kitty. - Here kitty, kitty, kitty." Wesley hears the woman's sobs and hurries after the sound. Wesley: "It's alright. It's alright. I'm gonna get you out of here. Don't be scared." The woman looks past him and screams at the top of her lungs. Wesley spins around to find the Drokken charging straight at him, knocking him backwards to the ground. Break Wesley pushes himself partway up and tries to fend off the Drokken with his flare. The Drokken bites off the top of it and swallows it, leaving Wesley staring at the bitten off stump left in his hand. Before the Drokken can do anything else, Angel is there, attacking it with feet, hands and sword at a furious speed. The Drokken manages to send Angel flying backwards to the ground but Angel throws his sword as he gets back up, and it hits the Drokken's throat d*ad center, sticking halfway out the back. The Drokken makes a gurgling sound then collapses to the ground. Wesley and Angel look at each other. Angel glances over at the woman then back at Wesley. Angel: "That was fun." Cordy has the book open on the hood of Angel's car and is reading in it as the other come back out of the stacks, the host supporting his cousin. Landok: "If I am to perish this night..." Host: "Stop right here. No perishables allowed here." Landok: "If I perish, you will perform the rituals!" Host: "I certainly will not." Landok: "I will not receive glory unless you perform the rituals." Host: "Then glory you will not have." Landok: "You are the only one here who can officiate." Wesley: "We have to get him back to his world now or he's gonna die." Cordy: "I think I understand." Angel: "Understand what?" Cordy: "The vision. This book. I think it's how we send him back!" Wesley: "What do you mean?" Cordy: "If he reads from the book where we know a portal exists I think it'll send him back. My vision was telling me that that's what happened to that girl Fred. The portal works both ways." Angel: "What if instead of sending him back it the portal sends something here?" Cordy: "It won't." Wesley: "How can you be sure?" Cordy: "I can't. I-I just am. - Don't ask me how I know. I just know." Cordy looks at Angel who just looks over at Wesley. Wesley after a moment: "Lets go." They all pile into the front seat of Angel's car. The host and his cousin are already in the back. Landok: "Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan, give me your pledge. Will you perform the rituals?" Host: "I won't have to. No one's dying." g*n stares at Rondell laid out on the pile of broken furniture. George throws a match and lights the pyre. The whole g*ng watches in silence as the flames lick into the night sky. Angel and the host are supporting Landok between them as they enter Caritas. Host: "Put the portal up here before. Right there. Talk about upstaging me." Angel: "I got him." Helps Landok on stage then turns to Cordy for the book. Angel: "Cordy? (Hands the book to Landok) All you have to do is read aloud from it. (Turns to look at Cordy, who has her fingers crossed, then back at Landok) Well, that's the theory anyway." Landok: "To defeat the Drokken, you must be a great and noble warrior." Angel: "Well, you know - I try." Landok: "I am happy to know you." Grips Angel's wrist. Host: "Landok, be safe." Landok: "Goodbye, Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan." Host: "Tell my mother I... - Tell her I threw myself into the sacrificial canyons of Trelinsk." Landok: "I feel we will meet again some day." Host: "Oh, god. I hope not." Landok begins to read form the book. The ground begins to shake slightly. The others flinch as the portal opens with a sudden bright light and a gust of wind and sucks Landok backwards into it, then closes again. They all stand and stare at the empty stage. Host: "Wha-what's say we all forget this ever happened." Angel: "I'm down with that. Wesley?" Wesley: "Fine with me. Cordy?" There is no answer and he turns to see that there is no Cordy anywhere in sight. Wesley: "Cordy!?" They all look around. Angel: "Cordy!" Cordy is lying in a patch of sunshine on the ground. She opens her eyes and gets up to look at the wood filled with strange animal noises all around her. Looks up at the sky and sees that there are two suns in it. Spots what looks like stick puppets draped with animal skins a little ways away. Cordy: "Oh - crap!"

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x19 - Belonging"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Landok comes sh**ting out of the portal and he and Angel fight. Lorne: "Landok, is that you?" Landok: "Landokmar of the Deathwok clan." Cordy: "Does that mean that the two of you are..." Lorne: "Cousins, yeah." Director: "Show the cleavage. Say the line. Got it? Or do you want to waste more of our time, princess?" Cordy: "I just wanted to act, that's all." g*n upon seeing that George is d*ad: "You should've waited for me!" Rondell: "We been waiting on you for months, bro." Cordy to Librarian: "We're looking for someone we think works here." Librarian: "Fred disappeared five years ago. They never found her." Cordy pulls a book from the shelf: "Here it is." Blurry pictures of her vision of Fred getting sucked through a portal. Cordy: "This is the book that Fred was holding in my vision. The portal works both ways!" Landok reading from book then getting sucked through the portal. Wesley: "Cordy? - Cordy?" Angel: "Cordy!" Cordy wakes up in the woods on Pylea. Wesley looks around the club for Cordy, Angel is searching behind the stage curtains. Wesley: "Cordy?" Angel: "Cordy?" Wesley: "Oh no. Oh my god, no. How could I've let this happen?" Angel: "No. She's here somewhere. She's just hiding. Cordy! Cordy!" Wesley: "Angel." Angel: "What?" Wesley: "She's gone. - Cordy's been sucked into the portal. She's in the host's dimension now." Angel to Lorne: "Where's Cordelia?!" Cordy gets up and brushes herself off. Cordy: "Angel? - Wesley! - Mr. Green-Mojo-Guy's cousin? -(Screams) Help!" Slaps a hand over her mouth. Cordy: "Right. Good one, Cor. Scream *very* loudly so the hellbeasts come to you." Takes a deep breath then clicks her heels together three times. Nothing happens. Cordy: "Worth a sh*t. - So. - Silver lining. - It's kind of a pretty place - when you look at it: woodsy woods, sunny and mild..." Spots a creature on a rock looking at her and growling. Cordy: "Giant hairy hellbeast staring at me. That's - that's incredibly frightning. Good hellbeast. You're a lazy hellbeast, aren't you? Yeas. You're gonna stay right there (Turns and begins to run) while I run for my life." The beast jumps from its perch on the rock and chases after her. Intro The host is behind the bar pouring himself a drink. Lorne: "I don't know where she is. I mean, m-my world, sure, but who knows if she's even... oh no, 'cause there's the... and the (gestures towards his head) with the (gestures again) oh (knocks the drink back in one go). God I wish I could get drunk." Wesley: "Okay, let's approach this logically." Angel: "Screw logic. We're getting Cordy back." Angel retrieves the book. Angel: "We're gonna open up another portal and we're going in after her." Wesley: "Angel, I don't think that's a good idea." Angel: "Wesley, I don't think I care." Wesley: "But we're completely unprepared. We should go back to the hotel, do some research." The host slowly sinks down below the level of the bar, opening and closing his mouth with no words coming out. Angel: "I don't wanna research, alright? I wanna jump through the big swirly hole thingy and save Cordelia!" Angel starts to read from the book, but Wesley grabs him by the arm and pulls him around to face him. Wesley: "We might never be able to get back!" Angel quietly: "It's Cordy." After a b*at Wesley nods and steps back. Angel: "Krv Drpglr pwlz..." Lorne's head just peaking over the bar: "Oh crap." Angel: "...chkwrt strplmt dwghzn prqlrzn lffrmtplzt." The host ducks down completely as the music stops in a big crescendo - and absolutely nothing happens. Angel: "Maybe I have to be standing where the portal opens." The host peeks over the bar than disappears again as Angel walks up on the stage and starts over. Angel: "Krv Drpglr pwlz chkwrt strplmt dwghzn prqlrzn lffrmtplzt!" Wesley sits down slowly as again nothing happens. Angel: "What, is it - out of batteries? (Turns to face the host, once again peeking over the bar) Is this thing out of batteries?!?" Lorne: "I don't know. I don't know how it works." Angel: "Damn it!" Angel throws the book down and drops to sit on the edge of the stage, takes a few deep breaths. Angel: "I just got her back." Wesley: "There's obviously not going to be any big swirly hole jumping without a big swirly hole." Lorne: "Yeah. Right." Wesley: "So I suggest we return to the hotel, figure out a way to make one." Lorne: "You know, maybe it's best that you can't get in." Wes and Angel look over at Lorne. Angel: "What?" Lorne: "I'm just saying, my world? You-you don't want to jump into my world looking like that." Angel stands up: "Like what?" Lorne: "Like a human." Cordy is running from the beast. The beast catches up with her and brings her down and rolls her onto her back. Cordy: "No, no, wait! - I'm not supposed to die like this." The beast begins to lick her face. Cordy: "Oh, thank god - and also - eww! An old demon man comes running up. ODM: "Come here boy. Seekul!" With a funny sounding squeak the beast jumps off Cordy to face ODM, who holds his arms open. ODM: "Ha, ha, c'mere. Come on. Ha, ha." The beast bounces over to the old demon man. Cordy slowly picks herself up while the man pets his beast. ODM: "Good boy, Seekul. Yes. Yes." Cordy: "Really cute - thing, you got there. Personally I've always been a real - thing lover." ODM: "Good boy. Good boy. You found me a cow." Cordy: "Hey. Who're calling cow, mister!" The demon man takes out a piece of leather with a weighted end, whips it around a few times them throws it at Cordy, where it wraps her upper arms tightly to her body. Cordy: "Uhm - Oh-oh." ODM: "A fine old cow. Good cow. She'll fetch a pretty price at the market." Cordy: "Okay. But you're like Hindu, right? You don't eat the cows, right?" ODM: "Kind of a chatty cow, huh, Seekul? That'll drag down the price." He pulls out a piece of cloth. Cordy: "Wait! Wait,wait wait!" Uses the cloth to gag Cordy." The host is sitting in lobby of the Hyperion, Angel is leaning on the counter. Wesley enters carrying a stack of books. Angel: "Start talking." Lorne: "About my dimension? Okay, sure. Lets see. I was there. I came here. I like here. I don't wanna go there. So, is that all? Because I have to clean up the club." The host tires to leave. Angel: "Sit." Lorne drops back down on the bench. Angel: "Let's start simple. How did you get from your world to here?" Lorne: "Through a portal." Angel: "And how did you open that portal?" Lorne: "I didn't." Angel: "You're not helping me here." Lorne: "Look, it's no secret that I hate Pylea." Angel: "Pylea." Lorne: "My home dimension. Back when I lived there I would have done *anything* to get out. Anything! So one day, five years ago, I'm in the woods when suddenly right in front of me, out of nowhere, a portal appears. It-it was like my prayers had finally been answered." Angel: "You knew it was a portal." Lorne: "Well, no. At first I didn't know what the heck it was. But when I went to take a closer look, the forest goes all bendy, big flashy light and whoosh! - through the portal and bang (snaps his fingers) - I'm in another dimension. This dimension - which I *love* and adore and will never, never, never *never* leave." Angel: "But then who (snaps his fingers) opened the portal?" Lorne holds up his hand as if it was a sock puppet. Lorne: "Gift horse. (opens the hand puppets mouth) Mouth. (Pointedly looks the other way)" Angel goes to sit down. Angel: "Alright. So where did you end up in this dimension?" Lorne: "In an abandoned building, unlike any building I'd ever seen. And that's when I realized that I'd been delivered from hell. - I created Caritas in that very spot." Angel: "So you're saying that Pylea is a hell dimension, that Cordy is stuck in hell." Lorne: "Oh, not literally - but it runs a close second." Angel: "I find that hard to believe." Host: "Do you? - Well, try this: they have *no* music there. It doesn't exist. Do you know what that's like? No lullabies, no love songs. All my life I thought I was crazy. That I had ghosts in my head or something. Simply because I could hear music. Of course I didn't know it was music. All I knew was that it was something beautiful and - and painful - and right. And I was the only one who could hear it. - Then I wound up here and heard Aretha for the fist time... Well. (Gives a slight laugh, then turns serious) Don't kid yourselves. Cordy's in a *very* bad place." Wesley: "It's cold!" Angel: "What? Put on a sweater." Wesley: "No. No, no, no. The hotspot is cold. (Angel and the host look at him) - Certain geographical areas are rife with psychic energy. These areas tend to function as - dimensional hotspots, natural gateways between worlds. I'm guessing Caritas is one such spot. But the catch is..." Angel: "Oh god, got to have one of those." Wesley: "Creating a portal tends to deplete a hotspot of its psychic energy." Angel: "And since we already opened one..." Wesley: "...the hotspot is cold. That's why you couldn't open a second portal." Angel: "See, I *was* right. It was the batteries." Wesley: "The same probably applies to the one in the library." Lorne: "Oh, why not then wait until the portal recharges?" Angel gets up. Angel: "Because we've already wasted enough time. We have to find another hotspot and fast." Wesley: "That's not our only problem." Angel drops back down. Angel: "Of course it's not." Wesley: "When separate entities enter a dimensional portal they tend to - well - separate. Assuming we find another hotspot, and manage to open another portal, if we simply jump in, we could end up literally on opposite ends of the world." Lorne: "That means Landok and Cordy..." Wesley: "...didn't arrive together." Angel: "She really is alone." g*n: "Hey." Wesley turns to the door. Wesley: "g*n! Where have you been? We've been... We spoke hours ago." g*n: "Sorry." Wesley: "No, it's okay. It's fine. Uh (gestures towards Angel) will you update him?" Angel: "Yeah. We've got two problems. One: we got to find a dimensional hotspot, and two: we got to figure out how we can all get through the portal without..." g*n: "I'm not going." Everyone stops to look at g*n. Angel after a long moment: "What?" g*n: "Last night I lost one of my crew. - I should have been there, but... - I'm sorry but Wes said the trip was one way and-and I can't! - I know that makes me... (Shakes his head) I don't know what it makes me. But I figured I just owed to you to tell you face to face. (Angel stays silent) - Wish you luck. - Please. Find her." g*n and Angel look at each other for a moment then g*n turns and leaves. Lorne: "Hmm, tough decision. Poor kid. - But I'm right there with him." Angel: "Yeah. Me too, I guess." Lorne: "No, I mean about the not going part. You do know I'm not going, right?" Angel: "What? - But it's your world. We need a guide." Lorne: "Remember when I said that I loved this dimension and I'm never, never, *never* gonna leave? Well, exactly which never did you not understand?" Angel: "First g*n and now... I-I can't believe this!" Lorne: "I'm sorry guys, but, I tell you what, I've got an idea about finding your hotspot. Back in a jiff." The host leaves as Angel leans on the counter across from Wesley. Wesley: "g*n does have - responsibilities - ties - people to take care of." Angel: "So do I. - Right now - you and I- have to figure out - how to save her." Wesley goes back to reading his books. Cordy is carried into a quaint, medieval looking village hung hand and foot off a log, carried between to demon men. They set the log on top of some braces and leave. The old demon man comes up accompanied by an old demon woman. ODM: "She is a good cow. Strong. Maybe a little talkative, but you can whip it out of her." Vakma: "Skinny. Ugly, too. (Cordy lets out a muffled protest) One pig." ODM: "Two pigs." Vakma: "For this old cow? She probably croak before I can get her home." ODM: "A pig and a pint then. Flip liquor." Vakma looks over at Cordy then pulls a shiny silver collar out of the bag she is carrying. Vakama: "Fine. Put the collar on her." The old demon man takes the collar and snaps it around Cordy's neck. Vakma: "Ever since the last cow died we've mucking out the flehegna s*ab ourselves. You should see my rash." The old demon man cuts Cordy down and reaches to untie her gag, but Cordy pushes his hands away mumbling 'I got it, I got it' through the gag and does it herself. Cordy: "Okay. Okay. Look. First of all - I'm a human being - not a cow. You can't just barter a human being! Second of all: one pig? One *measly* pig? Third of all there has been a *huge* misunderstanding. See, I am an American and I have rights. And right now I'd like to get right back to... (Vakma points a square, little, silver thing at Cordy and presses down on it and Cordy yelps and reaches for her collar) That hurt!" Vakma: "Cows aren't for talking they're for doing their job if they know what's good for them. (To the old demon man) You can come by tomorrow and pick up your stuff. (To Cordy) Come on cow." Vakma turns and walks away, but Cordy doesn't move. Cordy: "If you think I'm gonna follow you..." Vakma points the silver thingy over her shoulder and presses it and Cordy yelps. Cordy: "Ow! You got another think... Ow! Coming." Cordy starts to hurry after the old demon woman, not seeing the human girl, her dirty face half obscured by long dark hair, watching her from the shadows. Break g*n is sitting in his truck with the engine idling, staring straight ahead. Finally he swallows and puts the truck in gear. Big office divided up into many little cubicles with some portable walls. In one of those cubicles we see a dark haired girl talking on the phone. Aggie: "You don't know where you're going. You're lost. Miles from anything that grounds you. I get a deep sense of longing - separation." The host, holding a magazine to partially obscure his face and wearing dark sunglasses and a baseball cap comes up to the cubicle. Lorne: "Is this a bad time?" Aggie: "It's like you feel cut off." With that she pushes a button on the phone and jumps up to hug the host. Aggie: "Lorne!" Lorne: "Hey, Aggie, how's it going?" Aggie: "Ah, you know the business. Vague predicitons, lengthy pauses, anything to keep the numbers rolling." Lorne: "Yeah." Aggie: "You're hiding from the mob?" Lorne: "Don't get me started. I know it's Hollywood chic going incognito and all, but this hat's really chafing my horns!" Aggie laughs: "So, what brings you to the office?" Lorne: "Like you don't already know." Aggie: "Oh, I know. I just want to see what kind of spin you're gonna put on it." Lorne: "Dimensional portals. Psychic hotspots. I need to find one." Aggie: "Why?" Lorne: "Ah, some friends of mine are going on a little trip." Aggie: "Hm, I see. And the big flashing neon warning light in your aura means what?" Lorne: "Eat at Joe's. - So, can you help me pin down a hotspot?" Aggie: "No." Lorne kind of deflates and sits down. Lorne: "Got to admit, I didn't see *that* coming." Aggie: "I'm getting all these ugly conflict vibes coming off you, Lorne. And they're all pointing at that portal." Lorne: "A-are you sure you're not just seeing the chili I had for lunch yesterday because, whohoo, you wanna talk about conflict! (She just looks at him and he leaves off the joke) They need the hotspot because they're going to Pylea, my home dimension." Aggie: "And you're not going with them?" Lorne: "Hey, I'd rather have a hydrochloric acid facial. I'd rather invite a hive of wasps to nest in my throat. I'd rather sit through a junior high school production of Cats! - You see where I'm going with this?" Aggie: "Not Pylea." Lorne: "Exactamondo." Aggie: "Well, it's too bad then. Now they'll never rescue the girl." Lorne: "Come again?" Aggie sighs: "I can find your hotspot, Lorne, but on one condition: you've got to go with them. (Lorne shakes his head) It's the only way you'll ever resolve all those issues that are clouding up your aura, I can see it! - And be honest. Deep down you've always known you'd have to take that one last trip home." Lorne: "It's the 'last' that scares me." Aggie: "Well, sometimes the journey is taken simply because - it must be taken. - Is that vague enough for you?" Lorne: "Is that what I sound like? Eeesh. No *wonder* people complain." Angel is pacing in the lobby of the Hyperion. Wesley: "I suppose I could try a binding spell of some kind. Something to fuse us together as we enter the portal." Angel: "Good. Let's do that. Let's..." Wesley: "However, we could emerge on the other side as a freakishly hybridized Siamese twin." Angel: "Keep looking?" Wesley: "You know this is the third reference I've seen to iron or metal. Could be a clue as to how to prevent us from scattering." Angel: "What, we handcuff ourselves together? Who do we know that has handcuffs?" Wesley: "Well, I - wouldn't know. And anyway, I don't think handcuffs would work." Angel: "What will work, Wesley? It's been twelve hours since she's been sucked through that portal. There is no telling what could have happened by now. - What do you want?" We see that two men in business suits carrying briefcases have entered. Park: "Angel. Good afternoon." Angel: "Lawyers. Don't you people sleep during the day?" Park: "I'm Gavin Park. This is my associate, Mr. Hayes. We represent Wolfram and..." Angel: "Already bored." Park: "We've come to appraise the hotel." Angel: "What?" Park: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but your lease expires in six months and Wolfram and Hart is interested in purchasing this building." Angel: "You got to be kidding me. You guys - couldn't get me to turn evil, so now you wanna evict me? You know, they're trying to annoy me to death." Park: "We'd like to take a walk around the place if you don't mind." Angel in vamp face: "You think I mind?' Hayes can't help but stare a little, but Park shows no reaction. Park: "Very well. We'll notify the real estate company of your non-compliance. They should send you a notice of obligation. After that if you still refuse to cooperate, well, - I'm sure that somewhere in your lease agreement there *must* be one or two loop holes to be - exploited." Park and Hayes turn to leave and Angel morphs back into human face, and rolls his head around. Angel to Wesley: "How quick can we get out of this world?" Wesley: "Hm." Cordy, now wearing some ragged indigenous clothing, is in a s*ab shoveling flehegna manure and talking to herself. Cordy: "I wanna go home. I wanna be in my bed. I wanna - order some Thai food and read the latest issue of Marie Claire. I wanna be doing anything but shoveling demon horse poop!" She yelps as her collar zaps her. Cordy: "That woman has ears like a bat! (Grabs her collar) There's got to be a way to get this thing off." Voice: "Don't do that!" Cordy jumps and takes her hands off her collar, then looks for the source of the voice. Cordy: "Who's there? (Steps into the empty box behind her) What do you want?" Voice: "I forget. It's not important. But - but if you take the collar off, bad things will happen to your head." Cordy spots a hole in the wooden wall of the empty box and the ragged girl from the plaza peeking through it. Fred: "Like - it'll implode. So don't take the collar off, okay? Cause-cause I can't talk to you if you don't have a head, okay?" Cordy: "Okay. A-are you a human?" Fred: "Keep-keep shoveling! Go shovel." Fred glances around furtively as Cordy obediently picks up her shovel. Fred: "Where did you come from?" Cordy: "Los Angeles. How long have you been here?" Fred: "I was born here. I-I mean, not really. I j-just... some-sometimes I think I was. I mean, I don't think it was my thought. I forget certain words. How'd you get here?" Cordy: "Hold on. Why don't you tell me where here is first?" Fred: "Pylea. Keep shoveling! Geez! (Cordy grabs the shovel again and pretends to shovel her head still close to the hole) Another dimension. You're lost. I can tell. So many of us are lost even there. But - but it's true. I'm not crazy. Well, crazy, but I'm not wrong. Cordy: "So, how do I get out of here?" Fred lets out something between a laugh and a sob. Fred: "Oh. I forgot. Laughing. (Glances around) You don't. They use you as a sl*ve. Then your body gives - zip! - Gone." Cordy: "Well, that's not happening to me, okay? I have friends back in LA. They're gonna come rescue me. Any time now." Fred: "I tried to get back. I didn't have the mass, which is strange because... How'd you get here?" Cordy: "I'm pretty sure I, ah, I was sucked in by a portal." Fred: "A - a portal?" Cordy: "Yeah." Fred: "Where was it?" Before Cordy can answer we hear a male voice yelling: "Fugitive!" Fred: "Oh no!" Fred turns to run. Two demon men wearing the standard Pylea drab clothing run after her, while a third, wearing what looks like a uniform remains standing in the middle of the s*ab hallway. Men: "There she is. Get her! Get her!" Cordy: "What's going on?" The two men drag a struggling Fred back to the uniformed guy. Cordy: "What's going on?" Another drab clad man grabs Cordy and pulls her out into the hallway. Narwek: "On your face, cow. On the floor." Cordy: "No! No!" The guy pushes her facedown on the floor. Fred: "Let go of me. Stop! Stop!" The constable, who is of the same race as the host takes a hold of Fred's collar. Narwek: "A disabled collar. Clever little cow. You should have stayed in the woods!" Motions and the two demon men holding her drag her out of the s*ab. Fred: "Let go! Let go!" Cordy: "Wait!" Narwek: "Facedown!" The guy standing over Cordy pushes her face back down into the dirt. After watching her for a moment to make sure she stays that way the constable and the other guy follow the others out of the s*ab. Angel is sitting at Wesley's desk, the phone receiver lying on the table next to him. Angel: "So as soon as Wes solves our scattering problem, we'll be leaving. Don't know if we'll be coming back. - It's eleven sixteen. Cordy's been gone for almost twenty-four hours now. - I think I covered everything. - Oh. The mortgage for the hotel - is under the company name. The lease is up on six months, at least that's what they tell me, so... I guess that's it. - Take care of yourself." Angel reaches over and pushes the off-button on the phone. The host appears in the door to Wesley's office. Lorne: "How you're holding up?" Angel: "I wanna go bad. I'm just waiting for Wes to have that Eureka moment." Wes from off screen: "Eureka!" Angel gets up: "Oh, jeez. Thank god." Lorne: "You mean he actually really says Eureka?" Wesley comes running into the office. Wesley: "I know how to get us through the portal!" Angel: "Good. Let's go!" Angel and Wes run out of the office with the host following more slowly. Cordy is trailing after Vakma through the village market, loaded down with bags and buckets. Vakma seems to be wearing Cordy's belt as a headband. She stops to talk to a green-faced, horned vendor. Vakma: "Gimme six packets of hefroot, four queeks, a bottle of flip liquor, and a spatula." Cordy: "Uhm, Vakma? Is it... earlier that-that girl in the barn..." Vakma: "Shut up, Cow! Trensiduf of the Gathwok Clan was right. You talk too much. And you're about to spill my viper's milk." Cordy: "Well, I-I'm sorry. It's just if I wasn't carrying every... (Scrunches up her face and begins to sway) Oh, no." Vakma: "Stand up straight, cow. That milk is worth more than you are." Cordy topples as she is h*t by a vision. Vakma: "Bad Cow! Bad!" Blurry pictures of a Drokken and a screaming demon man. Cordy: "A Drokken. It's attacking one of your villagers, near the forest, by a-a big, yellow rock." A ring of villagers has formed around her, some the pale-skinned demon people, others green-skinned, some of them dressed in the type of armor Landok was wearing. Cordy: "Isn't anyone gonna ask if I'm okay?" Vakma points at her: "Cursed! My cow is cursed!" Cordy, still sitting on the ground holds up a hand to try and ward off the pitchforks aimed at her. Cordy: "No, wait. Wait. It's not a curse! This villager, You *have* to go save him, or the Drokken will..." Trails off as the crowd waves swords and pitch forks at her, chanting 'cursed, cursed.' LA, night, Angel's convertible, Wesley in the passenger seat, Lorne in the back slowly drives up the street. Lorne: "Here. Stop here." Angel stops the car. Angel: "Here? Isn't this a movie studio?" Lorne: "It makes a certain kind of sense, no? - Anyway, this is where Aggie said it was. And Aggie is never wrong when it comes to hotspots. She was doing sky bar way before Brad and Jennifer. - Anyway - you got the book? (Wesley holds it up) Good. Hold that puppy tight, okay? It's bad enough I got to cross over. The last thing I wanna do is to be stuck on the other side, waiting for a mystical locksmith." Wesley: "Alright then. (Looks over at Angel) I suppose we should probably begin." Angel nods, then: "Should I... - you know, I don't know, maybe put the top up?" Wesley: "Shouldn't be necessary. If I'm right, we only require a metal enclosure on four sides in order to ensure that we travel through the portal together. The car, top up or down, should do it. - I'm almost positive." Angel puts a hand on the book in Wesley's lap. Angel: "Almost." Wesley: "Ninety - six percent. (Angel kind of sinks down in his seat) Well, it's not like I've ever done this before! And with the time factor I'm under a great deal of..." g*n: "Oh, suck it up, English." g*n hops over the side of the car into the backseat behind Angel. Wesley: "g*n. How did you..?" g*n looks at Angel: "Got a phone message. Sounded like the captain of the Titanic getting ready to go down with the ship." Wesley looks at Angel. Angel: "I-I just though - that someone on this side - should - know the details - in case..." Lorne: "A backup man! Terrific idea! Well, now that he's going, I suppose someone should stay here, mind the store. Don't worry, I'm not disappointed. Just get me something nice to..." Lorne tries to get up out of the car, but the other three each put a hand out to push him back down and chorus 'shut up.' Wesley: "Everyone set?" g*n: "Let's get a move on." Wesley: "Right. (Opens the book) Here goes. - Krv Drpglr pwlz chkwrt strplmt dwghzn prqlrzn lffrmtplzt!" g*n stares as the portal begins to form in front of them. g*n: "Cool." Angel: "Ninety-six percent, huh?" Wesley: "Give or take." Angel: "Okay, gentlemen, take a good look around." All of them buckle up. Angel: "Now say good-bye!" Looks over at Wesley, then g*n the car for the portal. As the car disappears into the swirly hole the book drops onto the street behind it, smoking ever so slightly. Break Angel's convertible lands on the grassy ground between some trees on sunny Pylea, the screams of the passengers resonating through the air, then comes to a screeching halt. Angel jumps in his seat. Angel: "The sun. Daylight. Quick. Hand me a blanket. Hand me a blanket or I'm gonna catch on f*re!" Wesley scrambles for a blanket as Angel tries to pull up his leather jacket to cover his head. Angel: "Hand me a blanket! I'm gonna catch on f*re!" Wesley hands him a blanket but instead of taking it, Angel looks down at his hands, then around himself. Angel: "Why am I not on f*re?" g*n: "Yo, that was phat!" Wesley: "Well, it is another dimension. Perhaps their sun..." Lorne: "Back up, Copernicus. (Points to the sky) That's suns. Plural." Everyone looks up at the two suns up in the sky. Wesley: "Suns. Yes. Well, perhaps they don't have the same effect on vampires." Wesley reaches out to pinch Angel's cheek, making him jump and turn in his seat. Angel: "Hey! Watch it. Alright?" Wesley pinches Angel's cheek. Angel: "Hey!" Angel slaps his hand down then retaliates by pinching Wesley. Wesley: "Fascinating!" g*n: "Did you all see the street do that bendy thing?" Angel to Lorne: "So, we made it then. This is your world." Lorne: "Oh yes. Home sweet hell." Angel: "Ha! I'm not on f*re." Wesley: "And we're together. (Look down at himself then at Lorne and g*n in the backseat) And we didn't merge into some freakish, four-men Siamese twin!" g*n: "That was a risk? How come nobody told me that was a risk?" Angel jumps up to stand on his seat and spreads his arms looking up at the suns. Angel: "Can everyone just notice how much f*re I'm not on?" Lorne: "Yeah, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood alright. Now, may I suggest we find some way to hide the car? It'll be a little conspicuous, seeing as we don't have convertibles in this world. Or you know, cars." They all climb out over the sides of the car. g*n: "Wonder if this is where Cordy came through." Wesley: "Could be. Angel: "Let's start gathering some branches, some brush. Anything to cover up the car. Oh, hey, look. There is some over in that patch of sun. I'll get them!" Runs off. Reaches down to pick up the branches, but instead turns to bask in the suns, taking a deep breath. g*n to Wes: "Hey, I'll give it to you. Trip into an alternate universe? Pretty damn cool." He and Wes do an elaborate handshake ritual. g*n: "But I wanna find Cordy, quick." Lorne: "Me too. Well, I-I mean for her sake of course. - If I know Pylea, she could probably use a friend right about now." Cordy is dropped face down on the floor of a big room with a vaulted ceiling, illuminated by torches stuck in wall-sconces. There are villagers crowded along the walls. Cordy, her hands bound behind her back, slowly works herself into a sitting position. Cordy: "Uhm, I'd just like to say - that I don't know anything about a curse. Okay? I just have these visions that..." She notices some of the villagers turn to stare at her. Cordy: "I don't get them very often." Narwek enters: "We found the body out by Dester's rock. A Drokken beast had fed on his flesh." Cordy: "Oh god, it's you. Look, I'm really sorry about that. Honest. But I didn't make it happen, I just saw it." Narwek: "Before it had come to pass." Cordy: "Exactly." Narwek: "It is the curse!" Cordy: "No. No curse. Just visions. They're not dangerous. I use them to help people." Deep voice: "Enough." A red-robbed, red-faced demon steps forward. Silas: "We must discover beyond all doubt if this girl is cursed with the sight. We will commence the test." Cordy: "Test. But I haven't studied. - Not much with the humor, are you, guys?" Silas: "Bring forth the instrument." Two red-robes carry in a table with various instruments on it. Silas picks up a big awl and holds it up. Silas: "Now we shall see if you are truly cursed, my child. - I pray you are not." Cordy: "Please. Please. I'll keep them to myself. I'll never mention them again. Please no. No! No!" Cordy leans back as far as she can as Silas comes closer and begins to scream. Cordy: "Help me! Help!" Angel: "This should do it. Are you ready?" The guys cover the car with branches. Lorne: "Yeah. I think we're only a couple miles from town, but we'll have to walk it." Angel: "No problem here, walking in the sun. Hey, do it all the time." Wesley claps Angel on the back: "Yes, we're all heartily aware that you're not on f*re. - Shall we go?" Wes starts to follow the host then calls back over his shoulder: "Don't forget the book." Angel freezes. Wesley: "What's wrong?" Angel: "I just don't think that's funny." Wesley: "I wasn't trying to be... What?" Angel: "Wesley, I don't have the book." Lorne: "What?!" Angel points at Wesley: "You had the book." Wesley: "I don't have the book." g*n: "Who had the book?" Angel says 'Wesley' as Wes says 'Angel.' Wes and Angel speaking together: "No, I didn't. - Yes you did!" Lorne: "Whoa. Ho, ho, whoa. Did we *look* in the car?" Angel: "There is nothing there. I checked it before we started hiding it to make sure we didn't leave anything." Lorne: "Oh! Like say the *book*!" Wesley: "Hold on. The book was in the car. That much we know. But, but perhaps - perhaps its only function is to open portals *to* Pylea. In which case it would be useless *in* Pylea and therefore - it only exists in our own dimension." Lorne: "Oh. You know, ordinarily I handle bad news really well. I just drown my sorrows in an ice-cold gin and tonic, little squeeze of lime, except where they don't *have* them here!" Angel: "Guys. Guys. You guys. We'll figure out another way to get back. We will. But right now we gotta find Cordelia, okay? That's why we're here, right? - She needs us. - Let's go." They all walk off together. Wesley: "You grabbed the book when..." Lorne: "I can't believe..." Cordy is lying curled up on the floor of the big room, with the people around her waiting. Silas steps forward. Silas: "The tests are complete. It is the unanimous decision of the covenant that the girl - is afflicted. (The crowd begins to shift and murmur) She carries the curse of the sight." Silas nods at his fellow red-robes and two of them pick Cordy up and drag her out of the room. Angel and the others have reached town and are making their way down a narrow, shadowed alley. Lorne: "Just remember, keep your heads down. Xenophobia kind of a watch-word where I'm from." g*n: "I don't get it. Why're they afraid of Xena? I mean, I think she's kind of fly." Wesley: "Xenophobia. Fear of foreigners?" g*n: "Oh. Then can we pretend I didn't just say that?" They stop at the end of the alley and Lorne points at a house across the street. Lorne: "Now, right over there is Blix's house -- a boyhood chum of mine. Ah, we were the best of buds, always playing games, watching out for each other, close as a Torto demon and its parasite. (Off their looks) I'll make the approach. You three stay here -- we gotta keep a low profile." Angel: "Why?" Lorne: "Because otherwise you might get beaten to death with sticks. Be right back." The host quickly makes his way across the street to the house and enters it. A moment later we hear a scream ring out and the host comes running back out his former best but chasing after him with an ax in his hand. Blix: "What?! - Traitor! Deserter! Betrayer!" Lorne as he runs past the others: "We should run. Now!" Blix continues screams attract the attention of others, dressed in the same hero garb that Landok was wearing. They draw their swords and join Blix in chasing down the alley as the others Angel and the others turn to run after the host. They run out into the market pursued by the screams of traitor and betrayer. Lorne hesitates for a moment then indicates a new direction. They run out onto the plaza where Cordy was sold earlier, only to find warriors closing in on them from all sides. Men: "Cease them!" Angel: "Hey, what now? Where do we go now?" Lorne: "Probably to the nearest dungeon. We're surrounded." Break Wesley: "We've been through a lot together, fellows. Fought a lot of fights. Faced some pretty steep odds." g*n to Angel: "I take the twenty on the left, you take the fifty on the right." Angel: "Okay." And with that they engage the warriors surrounding them. And since for some reason the Pyleans only come at them one at a time, they don't do too badly. Wesley jumps up on the block, twirling a sword he just liberated from one of their pursuers. Wesley: "I think we're winning!" Smash cut to the four of them bound and on their knees in the dirt in front of the block. A two-wheeled chariot, drawn by two horses pulls into the plaza. Narwek gets out of it with a sigh. Narwek: "Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok clan." Lorne: "Constable Narwek. Lovely to see you again. So, how've you been?" Narwek: " Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok clan, you have returned. - Why?" Lorne: "Actually I've been asking myself that very same question." Narwek: "Who are these cow-scum. You are all dressed - very strangely." Fingers the collar of g*n's jacket and g*n pulls away. Lorne: "They're not cow-scum. They're humans and they're my friends." Narwek: "Cows are not friends. They are creatures of labor. Beasts of burden, no more! I do not know where you have been, Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok clan, but it is *clear* that you have abandoned the teachings of your people. (To some of the bucket-helmeted Warriors that accompanied him) Take him away. We will begin interrogations immediately." Lorne turns to look at Angel, kneeling beside him, as the guards grab him under his arms and drag him away. Angel: "Wait! You can't do this." Lorne as he's being dragged away: "What? Hey, watch it guys!" Narwek: "You dare to use your tongue in *my* presence?" Hauls back and kicks Angel between the legs. Angel doubles over with a slight groan. Narwek: "Unworthy trash." Angel forces himself back upright. Three warriors come and pull all three of them to their feet. Narwek: "For the crime of as*ault - against those judged to be your betters - you are to be detained until our royal highness passes sentence upon you." g*n: "I'm guessing community service is out." Narwek glares at g*n who raises his chin a little. Narwek steps in front of g*n and hits him hard in the stomach. Angel tries to come to his aid but is restrained by some of the warriors. Wesley looks down, not moving. g*n coughs and slowly straightens back up. g*n: "Too bad. I really like those orange vests." Narwek hits him with a hard right across the chin. g*n spins around, manages to catch himself against the block. Wesley: "g*n, stop." Narwek moves to stand in front of Wesley, who meets his eyes without flinching. Narwek: "Put these things away." Some of the warriors lead them away. Silas in a dark room illuminated by torches. Silas: "Time has arrived my brethren. - She is indeed cursed with the sight. - Measures must be taken. - Blood must be spilled." Wes, g*n and Angel are in a bare cell. g*n is sitting on the straw-covered ground, grunting as he tries to break the chain connecting the shackles on his wrists. All three of them have their wrists and ankles shackled. g*n: "It's no use. This thing's made out of some magical alloy." Wesley: "Really? (Looks at his chains) How can you tell?" g*n: "I can't. I'm just making myself feel better." Wesley drops his hands: "Oh." g*n levers himself back to his feet. Wesley to Angel: "You found anything yet?" Angel steps back from the door. Angel: "Sealed up tight. Got to be at least six - seven inches thick at least. You?" Wesley: "No. No, these impenetrable stone walls are proving to be rather..." g*n: "You say impenetrable and I will kick your ass." Wesley: "I was always horrified by those stories about the tower of London." Angel: "Wasn't that bad." Wes and g*n turn to look at Angel. Wesley: "Yes? - Well, compared to this place I'm sure the tower takes on a certain - nostalgic glow. I wonder if they're treating the host any better." Angel pushes himself off the wall and moves over to the door. g*n: "Well, sure. The way that constable said interrogation I figure he's just in for a little light wrist slapping. - That - or he's d*ad." Angel: "Shut up." g*n: "Well, I ain't saying it's *not* wrist slapping." Angel: "No, shut up." Angel presses his ear against the door and the other two hurriedly shuffle over to him, their chains clinking. g*n: "How we're supposed to hear anything..." Angel waves him off impatiently. Angel: "I can hear two men talking in the hall." g*n looks at Wes. Wesley whispers: "Vampire." Angel: "Talking about a girl with visions." g*n: "Cordy!" Angel: "A covenant - a curse - something about testing the girl for sight. - They said she screamed." Wesley, quietly: "Those *bastards*!" Angel: "They're about to take us to a castle. - We're gonna be sentenced." Wes and g*n exchange a look. Angel pushes away from the door. Angel: "They're coming." The three of them hastily hop-shuffle away from the door. The little window in the door is opened and a helmeted guard peers in. Seeing the three of them standing at the back of the cell, he opens the door. Guard: "Out, prisoners!" Wes and co. slowly shuffle out the door. As they walk down the hallway we can hear whip cracks, each one followed by a scream. Angel quietly: "Be ready." We get an outside sh*t of a castle on a hill overlooking the village. The host turns as the guards lead Angel and the others up a corridor to where he is standing. Lorne: "Oh. Am I glad to see you. - And so much less d*ad than I expected." Angel: "What did they do to you/" Lorne: "Oh, well, first there was the welcome home parade thrown in my honor. (Holds up his shackled hands) Ticker tape, streamers. Honestly, I'm so touched, I almost wept." Angel looks back at Wes and g*n. Lorne: "Locked me in a room, pushed me around, asked a bunch of questions. Your standard film noir." Angel softly: "I think we might have a lead on Cordy." Lorne: "You found her?" Angel: "No. (Motions back to Wes and g*n and they shuffle closer) I overheard two guys talking about a girls with visions. Said she was cursed." Lorne: "Yikes. I don't like the sound of *that*." Angel: "They mentioned something about a covenant? Ah, something about performing tests on her?" Wesley: "Angel, I hate to state the obvious, but we need to get out of here." Narwek comes up the corridor. Narwek: "Silence. Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok clan, you and the cow-trash are not to speak." Lorne: "Ah, de-bunch your panties, Narwek." Narwek: "You - are a traitor to your home. You abandoned your life-giver, betrayed your people and now you consort with these - animals. - I *will* take great pleasure in watching them k*ll *you* slowly." Angel softly: "They take us in separately or together?" Lorne: "What?" Angel: "Separately or together. Quickly. We don't have much time." Lorne: "I don't know! I've never been sentenced to death before - together?" Angel: "Listen up." Narwek to one of the guards: "After that, drag the bodies to the village square. We will hang their corpses as a warning. - Prisoners! They day of judgement has arrived. Approach! The venerable monarch of Pylea, General of the Ravenous Legion, Eater of Our Enemy's Flesh, Prelate of the Sacrificial Blood Rites, and Sovereign Proconsul of Death, is prepared to pass sentence on upon you." Angel softly: "One." Narwek to guards: "Open the doors." The guards open the doors and lead the prisoners forward. Angel: "Two." As they step through the doors, Angel suddenly turns and slams his shackled fists into the stomach of the nearest guard as the others also att*ck the guards around them. They are interrupted by a loud throat clearing, They turn to look and all of them freeze in their tracks, their eyes going wide, their mouths dropping open. They stare at - Cordy - sitting on a throne, surrounded by courtiers, wearing a skimpy, shimmery outfit and crown. Cordy: "Hi, guys."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x20 - Over the Rainbow Pt. 1"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Landok comes through the portal. Lorne: "Landok? Is that you?" Cordy: "Does that mean that the tow of you are..?" Lorne: "Cousins, yeah." Librarian: "Fred disappeared five years ago. They never found her." Cordy: "The vision! This Book! I think this is how we send him back. The portal works both ways." Landok gets sucked back home through the portal. Wesley: "Cordy?" Angel: "Cordelia!" Wesley: "Cordy's been sucked into the portal. She's in the host's dimension now." Lorne: "They have *no* music there. Cordy is in a very bad place." Fred: "They use you as a sl*ve and then your body gives..." Narwek: "Fugitive!" Fred: "Oh no!" Fred gets captured. The guys jump through the portal in Angel's car. Angel: "Why am I not on f*re?" Wesley: "Well, it is another dimension." Vakma: "My cow is cursed!" Cordy: "I don't know anything about a curse, okay? I just have these visions." Silas: "She is indeed cursed with the sight." They guys are standing in front of Narwek in the village square, bound. Narwek: "For the crime of as*ault - you are to be detained in the dungeon until our royal highness passes sentence upon you." Angel: "One - two..." The guys att*ck the guards as they are being lead in, then freeze as someone clears their throat. Cordy: "Hi guys!" Wesley: "Cordelia?" g*n: "No way!" Angel: "You're - safe." Cordy: "Little bit. They made me their ruler." The soldiers pull the boys to their feet. Wesley: "But this is fantastic!" Cordy: "Well, it's not like my throne couldn't use a few extra cushions, but I'm really not gonna complain because - throne?" Wesley and g*n hold up their chained wrists. Wesley: "You could order them to release us!" Cordy: "Yes. I really could." Narwek: "Shall we gut the cows now that you might dine on their ignoble flesh, oh most high?" Cordy: "You're most high if you think that's gonna happen. Besides, shouldn't there be some extended groveling first?" Angel: "Cordelia?" Cordy: "Okay. - Off with their heads!" Some of the guards draw their swords to obey as the guys flinch in the hold of the rest of them. Cordy: "Just kidding." The guards freeze with the blades only inches away from the guys' throats. Intro Narwek helps Cordy down the steps in front of her throne. Narwek: "Your Majesty, I must protest. To allow dangerous criminals to roam free in your presence?" Cordy: "You're gonna make me use my 'important voice' aren't you? - Leave us!" The people in the room slowly file out and shut the door behind them. Cordy holds her arms open for a hug, and steps towards the guys (who are no longer chained). Wes, g*n and Lorne hurry towards her. Wes: "Oh, thank god!" Then past her. g*n: "Yes! Food!" Lorne: "I thought we'd never see food again!" They dig into the platters of fruit sitting on a shelf behind the throne. Cordy turns to stare at them. Angel: "What happened?" Cordy turns to face him: "What's it look like? They jabbed me with hot pokers for a while and then (smiles) made me a princess." Wesley (with his mouth full): "It doesn't make sense, does it? I mean, in a world where humans are slaves and chattel - why would they elevate one to monarch?" Lorne: "You had a vision, didn't you, pudding?" Cordy: "Uhm, yeah. And can I just say - visions? Not getting any easier. I mean, I'm still kind of vibrating - though *that* could be from the hot pokers." Lorne: "See there? She had a vision. That explains it." g*n: "It does?" Lorne: "Well, see there is this prophecy." Angel: "A prophecy? Great. Because those always go well." Lorne goes to lounge on the throne. Lorne: "Well the priests that have been running this mess for the last several millennia, the Covenant of Trombli - humorless bunch. Anyway, they teach of a coming messiah." Cordy goes up and pushes Lorne's feet off the arm of the throne and looks at him. Lorne gets up to let Cordy sit down. Lorne: "The cursed one. A being with the pure sight, who one day will claim the throne and restore the monarchy." Wesley: "When you say 'pure sight'..." Lorne: "I mean a direct link to the powers that be. I mean her!" g*n starts laughing and Cordy turns to glare at him. g*n: "She's the messiah?" Cordy: "It could happen." Wesley: "It *has* happened. At least that's what these Trombli believe. And so long as they do, we might actually stand a chance of surviving this place long enough to find our way out." Cordy: "How did you get in?" g*n: "The same way you did: opened a portal with the book." Wesley: "We, ah, seem to have misplaced it though." Cordy: "The portal or the book?" g*n: "Both." Cordy: "I don't know about portals, but they've got books here. Those trombonal guys? They used some when they swore me in." Wesley: "I've got to see those." Cordy: "In kind of in a hurry to get back to the 'Cordelia is not a princess' dimension, aren't you?" g*n: "Okay, but say we *do* find the instructions, don't we still need one of those inter dimensional hotspots?" Wesley: "Yes, that's true. - Angel." They all turn to look at Angel and Cordy gasps as she sees that he is standing in front of a mirror - checking out his reflection. Cordy jumps off her throne and hurries over to him. Cordy: "He's reflecting!" Wesley: "Yes the metaphysical laws which govern our world don't seem to apply here." g*n: "He can walk in the sun, too." Angel is looking at himself and feeling his hair, trying to push it down. Angel: "Okay - this is because of going through the portal, right?" Cordy: "No. It always looks like that." Angel turns to look at them. Wesley: "Angel, while we search for the proper incantation, it might save time if you go with the host. h*t the streets, see if you can document any - portal activity." Angel: "I don't get it." Wesley: "Well, the host knows this world, we need to ascertain if..." Angel turns back to the mirror: "No, I mean why didn't anybody tell me about this? Look it's..." Plays with his hair again. Cordy: "Uh. You look good." Angel checking himself out in the mirror again: "You're not just saying that, are you?" Wesley pulls him away from the mirror. Wesley: "Angel, please! Go with the host. (Angel bobs to look past Wes at the mirror, and Wes moves with him in an effort to stay in his line of sight) Track down his cousin Landok. Speak to his family and find out..." Lorne: "Whoa, whoa, back up, back up. You want me to talk to my family? On purpose?!" Wesley: "Well, it's that - or face the possibility of *never* returning to our own dimension again." Lorne sighs then pulls Angel (still staring at himself in the mirror) towards the door. Lorne: "Come on, gorgeous, you can stare at yourself in my grandmother's glass eye. Oh, and while we're here it's just Lorne, okay? To the people of Pylea a host is just one more thing to lay your eggs in." Angel: "Yeah, yeah, fine. Hey, can we get my coat?" They leave. Wesley: "The books Cordelia, can you get us access?" Cordy: "Am I not the princess?" One of the red robbed priests is pacing in a room where Silas is sitting at a table. Barshon: "To allow her to wear the crown is a sacrilege!" Silas: "She is cursed. She has the sight. We all agree." Barshon: "Not all. - Why would the powers choose as their vessel this craven beast?" Silas: "It doesn't matter why. She is our sovereign now and no harm must come to her. At least not until after the Com-shuk. If the princess survives the Com-shuk, *then* you may have her head, Barshon. But not before." Angel and Lorne are hitching a ride on the back of one of the pasty faced villager's donkey carts. They jump off as the cart passes in front of the dwelling of Lorne's family. Lorne: "Boy. I'd give my left horn to not have to do this." We see a group of Lorne's relatives, apparently engaged in some kind of horse play, in front of their dwelling. Lorne: "Hi-de-ho!" The big figure in the middle of the gathering turns around to look towards them. Unlike the other demons of Lorne's kind we've seen so far, this one sports a full beard in addition to the usual attributes of his race. Lorne: "Guess who's back." Bearded demon: "Krevlorneswath? - Can it be true? I've often prayed that I might look again upon your face." Lorne: "Well, you're in luck then." The bearded demon spits in Lorne's face. Bearded demon: "You have shamed our clan and betrayed your kind." Lorne dabs at the spit with a handkerchief. Lorne: "Thanks, mom." Angel's head snaps up and he mouths 'mom?' Mom: "Each morning before I feed I go out into the hills where the ground is thorny and parched, b*at my breast and curse the loins that gave birth to such a cretinous boy-child!" Lorne spreading his hands: "My mother." Mom: "Your father was right. We ate the wrong son." Lorne: "Well, enough of this sentimental reminiscing. Just a couple of quick questions, then I'll skeddadle. You remember back around five years ago when I first disappeared - did you notice anything - odd?" Mom: "We noticed feasting and celebrations. Your brother Numfar did the dance of joy for three moons. Numfar! Do the dance of joy." Numfar (who is, btw played by no other but Joss Whedon himself) starts some weird dance routine, which includes some kicks and hops as well as tapping himself repeatedly on the head. Lorne: "Actually what I meant was more along the lines of a strange flashing, kind of a weird pulsating... (aside to Angel) You remember when I said we didn't have music in my world? Wish I could say the same about the dancing. (Back to his mom) lights. Really you couldn't have missed it. Big, bendy, swirly..." Mom: "No longer do the dance of joy, Numfar!" Lorne: "Nothing like that at all then." Mom: "Now take your cow and get off my lawn!" Landok: "That is no cow." Landok pushed Lorne rudely out of the way and claps Angel on the shoulder. Landok: "My friend! It is good to see you again. I would have perished in your strange world were it not for your bravery." Angel shifts on his feet and throws a look over at Lorne. Mom: "You know Krevlorneswath's cow?" Landok: "He's Angel! The brave and noble drokken k*ller." Angel: "Just Angel is really..." Landok: "He is as valiant and courageous a warrior as I have ever known." Mom: "Then he shall be welcome in our home and we shall will him. (Lorne's mouth drops open) Numfar! Do the dance of honor." Numfar launches into another series of leaps and gestures, including the bunny-hop. Lorne: "Landok, hi. Say, the drokken k*ller and I have a few itty-bitty portal queries and then we'll..." Two relatives come up and pull Angel's coat off. Landok: "We shall adorn my gallant friend in raiments befitting a warrior, that our neighbors may know of his valor." Angel watching them take his coat into the house: "Uh, guys - no wire hanger because that's leather!" Two other are dropping a necklace around his neck and drape an elaborate cape over his shoulders. Angel: "Oh. Guys, hey, - all this isn't really... (Another relative holds a mirror up in front of him) Nice! He-hey!" Looks over at Lorne while adjusting the cape. Landok: "Come! You will be our guest of honor at the village feast. There you will tell the tale of your bravery and courage against the vicious drokken." Landok leads a smiling Angel away. Angel: "Hey, now, about the hair - do you think that..." Lorne shakes his head and looks over at Numfar, still hopping around. Lorne: "Why, it's the homecoming I always dreamed of." Follows the others, leaving the dancing Numfar behind. Wesley is sitting at a table in the castle library reading a book. g*n: "You actually read this stuff?" Wesley: "Hmm. It resembles certain demonic languages with which I'm - familiar, but - whole passages appear to be missing." Cordy is looking at another book and Wesley spots the head of the animal engraved on its cover. Wesley: "Fascinating. A hart." Cordy: "It's not a heart, it's a bambi. And we expect him to read this teeny tiny print?" Wesley: "No not h-e-a-r-t, h-a-r-t. A male red deer or staggard. Often associated with rural mysticism." g*n: "Yeah, they all got animals on them. Probably just a bunch of demon bedtime stories." Wesley looks at the three books lying open in front of him on the desk. Wesley: "Of course! The holy books are written in Trionic." Cordy: "What?" Wesley: "No one volume is complete without the other two. - Uhm. I-It's really one book broken up into three pieces." Cordy: "Like a trilogy." Wesley: "No. No. Much more complex than that. See this passage here (points at the first book), it continues in this volume here (points at the second) then concludes in this one (points at the third). The rhythm of the sentence structure - lets one know when to jump from book, to book, to book." g*n: "Anything about the portals?" Wesley: "Impossible to say. It will take me some time to decipher them I'm afraid." Cordy: "Starting to bore the princess." Wesley: "Though I do seem to be finding references to the cursed one." Cordy: "Really? There is stuff about messiah me?" Wesley: "Com-shuk." Cordy: "Huh?" Wesley: "Contextually a - a verb." Cordy: "Something I'm going to do?" Wesley: "With a 'groosalug'" Cordy: "What does that mean?" Wesley: "I have no idea." g*n: "Sounds dirty if you ask me." Cordy: "Nobody did." g*n: "Look. Why don't we just get somebody who knows this stuff to tell us what it means?" Cordy: "Like who?" g*n: "Like one of them priests the host was talking about. These books belong to them, right?" Wesley closed the middle book and sees that it has the head of a male sheep engraved on its cover. Cordy: "Well, yeah." g*n: "Look, you're the one going on and on about how you're the princess. Can't you just make them translate 'em for us?" Wes closes the second book. It has a wolf's head on the cover. Cordy: "I guess I could. Yeah. Why not? Princess, not really taking a vote, is she?" Wes looks down at the images on the covers of the three books, rearranges their order. Cordy: "I'll make a decree." g*n looks down as well: "Wolf - ram..." Wesley: "And hart. - I'm not sure the priests can be trusted." The host is sitting on the side of the Village Square drinking as Angel is recounting some of his exploit to a group of kids. Angel: "...and the scroll is just tipping from his fingertips, and his eyes lighting with fierce determination, and then whack! (Angel makes a chopping motion and some of the kids jump) I chopped off the evil lawyer-beast's hand and he screamed and he screamed and then I left." There are appreciative exclamations and applause from the crowd and with a smile Angel gets up and jumps through a gap in the circle of children at his feet and walks over to Lorne. Lorne: "Well, you're just a regular Hans Christian Tarantino, aren't you?" Angel smiles up at him. Lorne: "We should probably be getting back to the palace." Angel's smile slowly fades. Angel: "I really hate to disappoint the kids. They seem to be enjoying this." Lorne: "Nice to be seen as a hero without all the pesky moral ambiguities you get back home, isn't it?" Angel: "Yeah. - Maybe it is a little." Lorne: "They see you a certain way. You start to see yourself that way. You become that image. I get it. I do. Because I know how they see me! Can we go?" Landok comes over and claps Angel on the shoulder. Landok: "Angel. You must again tell the tale of the sorcerer who could remove his limbs and reassemble at will!" Lorne: "Right! Right. Because that's a good one." Landok see two demons position a square block on the little platform in the middle of the square. Landok: "Ah! It is time for the Bach-nal. (Grabs Angel by the front of his cape and shakes him) Angel, you shall swing the Crebbil!" Angel grins and shrugs: "Yeah? Okay." Lorne almost chokes on his drink. Lorne: "The Crebbil? The creb... Angel, Angel!" But Angel is already halfway across the square, Landok's arm draped around his shoulders. Wesley hurries after Cordy as she enters the throne room. Wesley: "Cordelia, you must listen to me!" Cordy: "No, Wesley, I think I've heard enough. (Goes to sit on her throne) You want me to go back to where we'd be slaves? Sorry, don't see the upside to that." Wesley: "Cordelia, there are forces at work here. You don't know who these priests are. Or what it is they serve!" Cordy: "Look, you wanna go, go! But I have to stay here and - be a princess." Wesley: "And com-shuk with a groosalug?" Cordy: "Better than shoveling demon horse poo!" Silas, followed by two other priests, walks in through the open double doors. Silas: "Majesty. - Is everything alright?" Cordy says yes at the same time as Wesley says no. g*n: "Yo, priesty, what's the four-one-one on this groosalug? (Cordy throws her hands up) What's that about?" Silas: "Have you had a vision, Majesty?" Wesley: "Yes. - Yes, she has had a vision. So... you may as well be candid with her. (Goes to stand next to Cordy) Or she'll know." g*n goes to join them, wagging his finger at Silas in passing. g*n: "No lying to the messiah now!" Silas: "Clearly her majesty has seen the groosalug because it has been summoned from the scum pits of Ur..." Cordy: "Scum pits?" Silas: "...and will arrive before night fall." Cordy: "So that's the really close scum pits then." Silas: "Everyone is very anxious for her majesty to com-shuk with the groosalug." Cordy: "Of course! Why wouldn't they be? (Points at Wes and g*n) Now these two? They didn't even know what the com-shuk was. - You tell them!" Silas: "The com-shuk is a mating ritual." g*n aside to Cordy: "I told you it was dirty." Cordy: "Yes. Exactly. The mating ritual - which is - great? (Laughs) It's been a really long times since I've had - a good com-shuk. So, uhm, (gets up) I'm just gonna run out for a minute - because I wanted to - ah, get it a gift! (Walks down the steps, turns and backs towards the open doors) And you know, groosalugs, hard to buy for. (Bumps into two priests, blocking the door) So, ah, - I should hurry." Silas: "I'm must insist you do not leave the palace, majesty. The rebels are about. There are rumblings." Cordy slowly walking with Silas back towards her throne: "Rebel rumblings." Silas: "We doubled the palace guard." Cordy: "Doubled, huh? Uh-huh. - But you will tell me when the groosalug gets here?" Silas bowing: "Yes of course, your majesty." Cordy steps back up to her throne: "Okay then. Well. Uh, you can go now." Silas: "Thank you, your majesty." Silas bows and back away, then all three priests leave the room shutting the doors behind them. Cordy: "Let's get the hell out of here." Lorne is looking for some way to get to Angel, but he is being lifted by two green demons and carried around the square. There are shouts of 'bring the crebbil!' Lorne from behind the wall of demons: "Angel! Angel." Angel smiles at Fred and gives her a little wave as she is being lead between to other demons towards the little platform. Angel is deposited on the platform. Lorne is bobbing up and down behind his mom and waving his hand in the air, still trying to get Angel's attention as he surveys the crowd. Some one pushes a battle-ax into Angel hands and Angel grabs it reflexively. Landok: "Strike quickly and true, Angel, then we can eat." Angel looks down and sees that Fred is kneeling beside him, her head resting on the block that was set up there earlier. He looks from her to the ax in his hands. Break Everyone is watching Angel up on the platform. Angel quietly: "You expect me to..." Mom: "Sever the cow's head from its body!" Fred quietly repeating over and over: "Make it quick. Make it quick." Landok: "It is a great honor to swing the crebbil at the bach-nal." Angel lowers the ax and pulls off the necklace and cape. Voice: "What is he doing?" Angel quietly: "You want me to k*ll her?" Mom: "The cow is a runaway. A scavenger, that sneaks down from the hills and plunders our food stores." Angel looks down at Fred. Angel: "She was probably hungry." Landok: "Will you not swing the crebbil?" Angel pulls Fred up: "Only if you force me to." Lorne: "Here we go." Lorne takes deep gulp from his mug. Angel pushes Fred a little behind him, holding the ax up in front of him. Angel: "Okay. We're gonna back up nice and slow and these nice folk are..." Mom: "Stop them!" Angel: "...are gonna k*ll us!" One green horned warrior jumps up on the platform and Angel pushes him off. Another one follows and Angel kicks him back down. Lorne: "Stop!" Angel stops to look over at him as Lorne starts to sing: "...in the name of love - before you break my heart..." All around the square demons are moaning and screaming in pain, covering their ears with their hands. Singing the host slowly walks through the crowd towards the platform as if he was in his club back on earth. Landok: "What strange sorcery is this?" Angel picks Fred up in his arms and jumps off the platform while Lorne steps on top of it still singing. Mom: "It burns! It burns!" Mom drops face down to the ground. Angel runs over to one of the horses the guards ride and jumps into its empty saddle, then motions to Fred. Angel: "Come on!" Fred grabs a hold of his hand and he pulls her up behind him. Angel turns the horse just as two guards in a chariot pulled by two horses come charging into the square. Lorne see them coming towards him, one leaning out over the side holding a mace. Lorne: "...think it o... Shi..!" The mace catches him square in the middle and the screen goes dark. Wes and g*n are sneaking along a deserted corridor in the castle. Wesley to Cordy: "Hurry up." Cordy striding after them, her hands full of jewels and other stuff like that. Cordy: "If you ever find a way to get us out of here, I want you to find me a dimension where some demons *doesn't* want to impregnate me with its spawn! Is that just too much to ask? What is it about me anyway? Do I put out some kind of come 'shuk' me vibe? I mean, you'd tell me, right?" Wes and g*n are pulling a stone trap door in the floor open to reveal some nauseous liquid sloshing around at the bottom of it. Cordy: "Okay. Smells like I'll be mating with the groosalug." g*n has backed away from the opening. Wes drops the arm he had been holding in front of his nose and turns to Cordy. Wesley: "You can do this, Cordelia. The sewage empties out beyond the castle. It's our only sure bet. Just - hold your breath." Cordy: "Why can't we use the front door?" g*n: "You really think you'd be able to get your booty out the front door?" Cordy: "Hey!" g*n indicates the stuff she's carrying: "That booty." Cordy: "Oh. I just wanted a little something to remember my reign by. Is that so wrong?" Wes helps g*n to drop down into the sewer. g*n groaning: "Ooh - god." Wesley holding out his hands to Cordy: "Come on." Cordy wrinkling up her face: "You first." With a sigh Wes drops down into the sewer. A heartfelt 'eew!' echoes up. Cordy eyes the opening then slowly maneuvers herself into place to climb down. Silas: "We've been looking for you, your majesty." Cordy looks up and sees a couple of priests as well as several guards. Silas: "Someone must speak to the servants about leaving that door open." One of the guards shuts it. Cordy straightening up: "Uh. Yeah. It's kind of whiffy in there. (Looks down at the stuff she is carrying) Oh. Ah. I just thought I would have this stuff - appraised!" Silas: "Your majesty, the groosalug approaches." Cordy: "Oh. - Good." g*n and Wes come out of an opening in the castle walls that is half obscured by foliage, looking a bit grubby. Wes is coughing into the sweater he was using to cover his mouth and nose against the stench. g*n looks back towards the opening. Wesley: "She didn't make it." g*n: "Now what?" Wesley: "We find Angel." Angel and Fred are riding double through what looks like low mountain country. Angel looks around then pulls the horse to a stop, slides off, and helps Fred down. Angel: "I don't think they followed us. We should probably stay on foot. In case they try to track us down. (Gives the now riderless horse a push to get it going) Come on." Turns to Fred and finds her staring at him. Angel: "You okay?" Fred claps a hand to the side of her head. Fred: "Handsome man - saved me from the monsters." Angel looks at her with a slight frown. Fred: "Bye." With that she runs off. Angel: "Hey. Wait a minute." Hurries after her. Fred runs through a wooded area, past a boulder. Runs up then slowly makes his way along the boulder and into a cave. (Nice guitar/woodwind score music playing here.) Finds Fred (now wearing a pair of crooked glasses) busily adding to the carved symbols covering the walls of the cave. Angel: "Hello?" Fred hesitates for a moment then continues to write. Angel looks around the cave. Angel: "Hey, great place." Slowly crosses the cave. Angel: "You don't have to be afraid of me. Really. I-I'd never..." He comes up on a small pool of water and his attention is captured by his reflection in it. Angel: "...hurt you?" Fred glances back at him, the quickly turns back to her carving. Angel: "So, ah... So, you don't wanna talk to me?" Fred: "I can't, huh?" Angel: "Why won't you?" Fred: "Because - you're not real. - Or I'm not real. *Somebody* here isn't real and I suspect it's you. So if you're not real, that means that my head came off back there and that I'm d*ad now. d*ad. And with me being d*ad and you not being real I can hardly be expected to have some big conversation with you at the moment, because it's just a little too much pressure, alright?!" Angel holds up his hands: "Okay. Okay." Fred nods and turns back to her writing. Angel: "What's that you're doing?" Fred looks up at the stuff covering the walls. Some of it looks like the words form the book that opened the portal, other stuff resembles mathematical formulas. Fred: "Uhm, I think I saw it in a dream." Angel: "You've been here a long time." Fred: "Always. - Not always." Angel spots something. Picks it up. It's a California drivers license for one Winifred Burke, living in Los Angeles, brown hair, 5'6", 114 pounds, expiration date 03-01-98. Fred turns around with a smile: "I had a dream. I had a name." Angel reads the license: "Winifred." Fred hurries over and pulls the license out of his hand. Angel: "You're the girl from Cordy's vision!" Fred: "What?" Angel: "They called you Fred. You were studying to be a physicist." Fred: "That's my dream." Angel: "You disappeared from a library in Los Angeles five years ago." Fred shakes her head: "Stop it." Angel: "It's not a dream, Fred." Fred: "It's not?" Angel: "No." Fred: "And my head's still on?" Angel gently pushes her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose. Angel: "Yeah." Fred smiles: "You're real?" Angel smiles and nods. Fred's smile melts into a frown and she starts to shake her head as she moves a few steps away from Angel. Fred: "No. No, I don't want you to be real." Angel: "Why?" Fred turning back to face him: "Because! You're nice, and you saved me. And bad things will happen to you here. (Shakes her head and looks down, twisting her fingers together) Bad things always happen here." Angel: "No, no, no. Nothing bad's gonna happen. I-It's gonna be okay. We-we can take you out of here." Fred: "We?" Angel: "Yeah. Me and my friends. We-we're working on a way to get out of here. We can take you back." Fred: "Can't get back. There is no back." Angel: "No, there is. If we can open the portal..." Fred hurries closer: "The portal! She fell through the portal!" Angel: "Who did?" Fred: "That other girl. I couldn't save her. I was arrested. They got her. She's a sl*ve. She'll die!" Angel: "Oh. Cordy. No, she's fine. They made her a princess." Fred: "They... Really? - Oh. (Looks down) When I got here they... They didn't do that. - Well. That's nice for her." Cordy is sitting on her throne. A girl is polishing the nails on her right hand. Cordy: "You're sure this is a good first date look? I don't want to seem too easy. I was thinking something more in a nice tailored suit - of armor. - So, so I figured we'd start slow. A few dinners, some light conversation, nothing too heavy and *then* in three or four years, if we still feel like we're hitting it off okay, we'll ah..." Silas: "Your majesty." Cordy: "Yeah." Silas points towards the door: "The groosalug." Cordy: "Say, don't you think it would add an air of feminine mystery if I were to, you know, not be here?" She tries to get up but is pushed back down into her throne by a bluish hand on her shoulder. The double doors open and wheezing, bulky demon with horns shuffles in, a sack slung over it's shoulder. Cordy to one of her attendants: "k*ll me now." She looks back to find a handsome warrior following the beast into the throne room. He claps the beast on the shoulder. Groo to beast: "Just put those anywhere." Groo walks up to the throne and kisses the back of Cordy's hand. Groo: "Majesty." Cordy: "Oh." Angel and Fred are walking outside between some low boulders. Fred: "I've never been to the palace before. I've seen it up there, on that hill, watching me." Angel: "We just gotta find my friends." He slows, scans their surroundings. Two bucket-head soldiers on horseback, swords drawn come around a boulder. Angel: "Get down." Angel pushes Fred to the ground and tries to shield her with his own body, as the first guard charges and tires to swipe them with his sword. Angel: "Look, you may see something that might frighten you, but I'm your friend, okay?" Angel jumps up to engage the guards as they come at them again while Fred runs to cower against the side of a boulder. The first guard charges Angel and he ducks under the sword, turns to find the second guard almost on top of him. He morphs but instead of his usual vamp face appearing the morph continues until his whole face turns green and bumpy, framed by some almost horn-like protrusions, while his hands turn into claws. Fred flinches a little as Angel leaps to pull the second guard of his horse. Angel lays into the downed guard with wild ferocity. The guard screams as Angel literally rips one of his arms off and tosses it aside. Seeing this the other guard turns his rearing horse, and flees. Angel buries his head against the guard's throat and the guard goes motionless. Lifting his head Angel looks back at Fred, cowering against her boulder. Fred, shaking her head: "Bad things always happen here." Break Growling, Angel leaves the soldier and makes his way over to Fred, who tries to make herself as small as possible. Angel leans in close to her and sniffs. Blood is smeared around his mouth and coloring his teeth. There is a piece of meat hanging form one fang. After a moment Angel abruptly turns to look over his shoulder and leaps away from Fred in a sudden flash of motion. Fred draws a few gasping breaths, then looks over at the mutilated corpse of the guard lying a few feet away. Groo: "An animal. A-a beast! To my people I was nothing more than this." Cordy is sitting on the throne attentively listening to the groosalug telling his story. Cordy: "Why?" Groo: "Can you not see why?" Cordy: "Not exactly. You seem pretty good to me." Groo: "You are truly beneficent. Such - compassion - to ignore the flaws of my - polluted birth." Cordy: "Well... huh?" Groo steps closer, goes down on one knee and takes hold of one of Cordy's hands. Groo: "Why the odd curve of my mouth (pulls her hand to rest against his lips as he pulls them back into a smile) the odd - bulging of my limbs (pulls her hand over to feel the muscles of his upper arm) the heart (pulls her hand against his chest) beating in the wrong place." Cordy swallows heavily. Groo lets go of her hand and turns away, Cordy just catching herself before she falls forward out of her throne. Groo: "As I matured these - defects became more apparent. The Covenant soon determined there could be no mistake. There was *cow's* blood in my veins." Cordy: "So? Heck, I'm all cow! Err, human." Groo: "No, no! You - you are *beyond* cow or good. You - you are the transcendent one." Cordy: "I am?" Groo: "You've been cursed by the powers." Cordy: "Tell me about it!" Groo: "For my people to be part cow is to be less than whole. There was nothing I could do to prove my worth. I was - incapable even of performing husbandly duties with any of the females of my tribe." Cordy: "You mean you are..." Groo: "Anatomically equipped to mate only with a human." Cordy: "Good to know." Groo: "I was cast from my village. Cut off from my liver givers. Forced to make my way on my own." Cordy: "My parents were busted for tax fraud and my trust fund dried up over night." Groo: "I - sought to end my suffering." Cordy: "Get out!" All of the attendants and the groosalug turn and file towards the door as Cordy watches with her mouth dropping open. Cordy: "Ah, no. Wait!" They stop to look at her. Cordy points at Groo. Cordy: "He can stay." The rest of them file out and close the doors. Cordy: "Go on. You sought to end your suffering." Groo: "I-I *foolishly* entered every contest of skill and daring that I could in an attempt to snuff out my pathetic life. - But even at *this* - I failed." Cordy: "You did?" Groo: "I *won* - every match. I - *vanquished* every flame beast. I *defeated* every drokken. It seemed nothing could stop me. - The Covenant had no choice but to bestow upon me the name groosalug. The brave - undefeated." Cordy's eyes are riveted to his. Cordy: "Wow." Constable Narwek enters, followed by two guards leading a gagged and bound Lorne between them. Narwek: "Majesty." Cordy never taking her eyes off Groo: "What?" Narwek: "There has been a disruption at the bach-nal. The prisoner is ready for your swift and cruel punishment." Cordy: "Handle it, will you? I'm in the middle of something." Narwek: "Execute the prisoner." Cordy finally looks away from Groo towards the door: "Wait! -Hang on!" She jumps off the throne and runs towards the door: "Pardon him. I-I pardon him. Pardon him. Ah, release him. Now! (Pulls the gag out of Lorne's mouth) Oh, baby, are you okay?" Lorne sighs then spots the groosalug. Lorne: "Not as good as you obviously. - Should I call them back? You could borrow the cuffs." Cordy looks towards Groo then begins to push Lorne out the door. Cordy: "Listen, I'll get right back with you. You're pardoned, absolved, shoo!" Lorne: "Uh, what about... Where is Wesley and g*n?" Cordy, closing the door: "Oh, I'm sure they're fine." Wes and g*n are walking through the forest. g*n: "We're lost." Wesley: "Nonsense. I've been following the sun. We're headed due west, back toward the village." g*n: "Which one?" Wesley: "Which village?" g*n: "Which sun? There're two of them. Alternate dimension? We're lost." Wesley stops and holds up a hand for silence. g*n: "You're having a Blair witch moment?" Wesley: "Something's hunting us." g*n smoothly slides in to stand back to back with Wes. g*n: "Palace guards?" Wesley: "I don't know." They pivot together to survey their surroundings. Suddenly the Angel-beast appears on top of a rock, then jumps off, knocking both of them to the ground. Wes and g*n pick themselves up and turn to look at the Angel-beast, fanning out so that the beast can't come at both of them at once. g*n: "What the hell is it?" Wesley stumbles on a rock and falls. The beast runs towards him hesitating a moment at the sight of the branch that Wes is holding in front of him. At the same time g*n begins to pelt the Angel-beast with rocks. g*n: "Come on! Come on!" The Angel-beast turns and Wes spots Angel's tattoo showing briefly through a rip in his clothing. Wesley: "It's Angel!" g*n glances at Wes and the beast leaps, knocking him to the ground. g*n is straining to hold the Angel-beast off far enough to keep out of the reach of its fangs. Wesley: "Angel! Can you hear me? Angel! Angel?" Fred slowly dips her hand into a leather pouch hanging by her side. When she takes her balled hand back out it is dripping with blood. She slowly raises it up into the air. We can still dimly hear Wesley calling Angel's name, but the sound of his voice is being drowned out by a heartbeat like thudding underlying a haunting woodwind tune as the Angel-beast slowly straightens up and looks over towards the blood covered fist. The Angel-beast slowly moves closer to Fred and, with her fist still raised, Fred slowly backs up, leading it away. Wesley hurries over to g*n and notices deep scratches marring his left shoulder. Wesley: "Oh, you're hurt." g*n: "What the hell just happened?" Wesley: "That strange wild girl saved us - from Angel." g*n: "Something very freaky is going on here." Wesley: "I have a suspicion I may know what. Angel's vampire-self - has been sublimated somehow - by this dimension." He picks up a handful of wet mud and gets ready to smear it over g*n's scratches. g*n holds up a hand. Wesley: "It's okay." g*n lets him pack the scratches with mud. Wesley: "Only his human side as surfaced since we've been here..." g*n: "You mean being able to walk around in the sun - seeing his reflection, like that?" Wesley: "Yes. And now, for whatever reason he's accessed his demon, but he can't find the balance he normally would in our world. His demon-self has totally overcome his human side." g*n: "So that's what the thing inside of him really looks like?" Wesley: "In its purest form." g*n: "That's nasty." Wesley: "Can you walk?" g*n: "Yeah." Wesley: "We've got to help him." Wes helps g*n to his feet. Wesley: "You alright?" g*n: "Yeah." Before they haven taken more than a few steps screaming figures start to drop out of the trees surrounding them and in a few moments they are surrounded by a group of humans carrying crude w*apon. g*n: "Oh, good. More fun." Fred is slowly backing across her cave. The Angel-beast follows her until it comes up to the edge of the little pool. It looks down and seeing a monster looking back swipes at the water, destroying the reflection. It sits and stares down as the image reforms slowly. Draws its claws across it slowly and watches the image break up and reform again. With a groan the beast suddenly morphs back into Angel, who staggers back from the edge of the pool. He takes a few stumbling steps away then collapses into a shivering, gasping heap in a little patch of sunlight in the middle of the cave, his back to Fred. Fred slowly walks over to him and reaches out a hand towards him. Looks at her still bloody hand and slowly pulls it back without touching him. Break Night has fallen over the castle. Groo and Cordy are still alone in the throne room. Groo: "And that, my princess, is my story in full. When the Covenant summoned me I was vanquishing the Mogfan beast that bedevils the scum pits of Ur." Cordy after a b*at: "Uh, that's a great story. And you are a great groosalug. But - I'm not your princess. - The truth is, I'm not anybody's princess." Groo: "Have you not the curse?" Cordy: "The visions? Oh, yeah, I've got visions coming out of my ears, sometimes a little blood, too, but - that doesn't make me a princess. That just makes me - kind of weird." Groo: "I do not understand." Cordy stands up: "Where I come from, who I really am - is so far from being a princess, you have no idea. (Sighs) I'm an actress." Groo: "I do not know this word." Cordy: "Actress? It means - when I'm finally lucky enough to get the gig, other people tell me what to do, where to stand, how to move, what to say..." Groo: "You are the concubine of your village." Cordy: "Felt like one sometimes. Last job I had you should have seen the horrible thing they made me wear! It was this tiny, skimpy, exploitative... (Looks down at her present, skimpy outfit) Uh, nothing like this!" Groo: "Have they no eyes in this village?" Cordy: "What do you mean?" Groo: "Can they not just look upon you and *see* that you are a princess?" Cordy after a b*at: "I'm not." Groo: "No. Pardon my impudence, majesty, but you are wrong. The Covenant has declared it so." Cordy: "It doesn't matter what they say." Groo: "Then *you* declare it so. You declare it with your bearing and your beauty - and the mercy that I have seen you bestow upon one of your subjects this very day." Cordy: "He was a friend of mine." Groo: "Then if you treat all of your subjects this way, you will do much good." Cordy: "It's a beautiful dream. Really it is. But - it's not real." Groo stepping close: "Why not?" Silas is pacing in front of some other priests. Silas: "Parchment! She's asked for parchment." Priest: "Some strange cow mating ritual?" Silas: "No. She wants to make proclamations." Priest: "Proclamations?" Silas: "She's decided she can do some good." Priest: "Then the com-shuk has not yet taken place." Silas: "I think it's time to send our princess a message." The human rebels are gathered around a f*re in the woods. Wes and g*n are tied to a stake to one side of it. Rebel: "I know how we send a message to the princess. - We storm the palace." Leader: "That'd be su1c1de. Our entire number would be wiped out in minutes." Rebel: "Yeah, but it'd be a message." Wesley: "Excuse me. I couldn't help overhearing." g*n: "Wesley!" Wesley: "It's all right g*n, I believe we can help these brave men." Leader: "Shut up, reconnaissance-cow-scum." Wesley: "Now see here, I've told you already. We're *not* reconnaissance cows." Rebel: "We tracked you coming from the palace. Don't lie." Wesley: "I'm not lying. And if it's a message you want sent to the princess, then I *know* we can help." g*n: "Shut up, Wesley." Leader: "How?" Wesley: "Well, we just happen to be close personal friends with the princess." g*n closes his eyes and lets his head drop. The rebels laugh. Rebel: "They know the princess." Leader: "Close personal friends, huh?" Wesley: "I can prove it. In my wallet... uh, ah, the leather holder in the back of my leg coverings." The leader walks over and pulls out Wesley's wallet. Wesley: "That's it." The leader flips the wallet open to reveal a picture of Angel, Cordy and Wes, all smiling. Leader: "It's true. They know the princess." Wesley: "Now, if your organization would just draw up some sort of list of demands we would be more than happy to present it directly to her majesty." Leader: "Lets do it. Have Sasha write up a list of demands." Wesley to g*n: "There, you see?" Leader: "Shove the list in their mouths, put their severed heads on sticks and display them outside the princess' window." g*n: "Have I mentioned just how glad I am I decided to leave my people behind in LA so I could come here to die?" Fred is filling a pot with water from the pool and carries over to where Angel is lying on a pile of blankets facing away from her. He is still shivering slightly and breathing in small ragged gasps. Fred dabs at his neck with a wet rag. Fred: "Are you feeling any better?" Angel doesn't react. Fred: "It's okay. You don't have to talk. I'm used to it." Angel muttering: "They, they saw it. They, they looked right at it. They saw it..." Fred: "Saw what?" Angel: "The monster... They-they saw what I really am. - I can't go back. Not now. I can never go back. No..." Fred: "It's okay. You - you could stay here." Fred looks around her little cave, while Angel lies there breathing raggedly. The groosalug and Cordy a lounging on the steps to her throne as Cordy writes up her proclamations. Cordy: "And this one will free the slaves and outlaw polyester. I know it hasn't actually been invented here yet, but I'm a forward thinking monarch." Silas and two other priests enter. One of them is carrying a small pedestal, the other a silver platter with a domed lid. They set down the pedestal and set the platter down on top of it. Cordy: "We didn't order anything." Silas: "Get out cow." Groo gets up and leaves. Cordy gets up and goes to stand in front of Silas. Cordy: "Hey. You can't call him that. He is groosalug, the brave and undefeated." Silas: "He is that only because I say he is." Cordy: "Groo! Where are you... Huh, he just left." Silas: "He understands the way of things." Cordy turns to face him. Cordy: "Yeah? Well, the way of things is going to change around here." Silas: "Is that right?" Cordy: "Way!" Picks up a rolled parchment and holds it up. Cordy: "I've got - proclamations!" Silas knocks the parchment out of her hand. Silas: "Foolish girl." Cordy: "Hey! Who's wearing the tiara around here, pal?!" Silas: "The Powers have seen fit to place their gift in you." Cordy: "You got that right." Silas: "But let us be clear. You have no authority here." Cordy: "But I am the princess." Silas: "The princess, like the groosalug, is a tool of the Covenant, nothing more. - You will do what we tell you to do. If we tell you to mate, then you shall mate." Cordy: "You can't force us to..." Silas: "And if we tell you 'silent' you shut your cow mouth!" Cordy folding her arms in front of her: "Pardon me?" Silas: "Pardon - your majesty? Don't you feel you have done enough - pardoning..." Silas reaches over to lift the lid off the platter. Silas: "...for one day?" Cordy looks down and gasps as she sees Lorne's severed head lying on the silver platter.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x21 - Through The Looking Glass Pt. 2"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Director: "Show the cleavage, say the line. Got it?" Cordy: "Got it." Wesley on phone: "I've been put in charge of our group." Angel: "What do we do, Wesley?" Wesley: "Uhm, uh..." g*n: "Last night I lost one of my crew. I should have been there." Angel: "God, I hate LA. When can we get out of this world?" Wesley: "Cordy's been sucked into the portal. She's in the host's dimension." Angel: "We're going in after her." The convertible barrels through the gate. Angel standing in the sun. Wesley: "The meta-physical laws that govern our world don't seem to apply here." Angel looks at himself in the mirror. Wesley: "Cordelia?" Cordy: "They made me their ruler." Silas: "Your Majesty, the groosalug." Cordy smiles at Groo. Mom: "Krelorneswath?" Mom spits. Lorne: "My mother!" Angel stands over Fred holding the crebbil. Landok: "Strike quickly and true, Angel. Then we can eat." Fred: "Handsome man - saved me from the monsters." Angel morphs into the Angel-beast. Wes and g*n are bound to a post in the rebel camp. Leader: "Shove the list in their mouths, put their severed heads on sticks and display them outside the princess's window." Silas to Cordy: "You will do what we say." Removes the lid to reveal Lorne's head on a silver platter. Cordy stands alone in front of Lorne's severed head sobbing. Cordy: "No. Oh, no. - God, please forgive me. This is all my fault. Because I pardoned you - and they - they wanted to teach me a lesson. - You didn't do anything wrong." Cordy reaches out as if to touch Lorne's cheek, but pulls her hand back at the last moment. Cordy: "You didn't do anything. - I don't like it here anymore. - I just wanna go home." Cordy covers her face with her hands, so she doesn't see Lorne's eyes open. Lorne: "Oh, honey, I'm right there with you." Cordy pulls her hands form her face, lets out a scream and falls backwards. Intro Cordy is standing in front of Lorne's head, sustaining one loud, drawn-out scream. Lorne: "I realize this is a bit of a shock, but I can explain. Take it easy. Okay, get it out of your system. (Laughs a little) That's good. You have to breathe sometime. - Good lord, shut up, woman!" Cordy finally quits screaming, and starts gasping for breath. Lorne: "It's not like I have hands to cover my ears here, you know?" Cordy points at Lorne's head: "Y-y-you-you're... I-it's..." Lorne: "So, please just listen? My people, the fun-loving Deathwok clan, you cut off our heads we just keep on ticking until you mutilate our bodies. Obviously they haven't gotten to my body yet. Probably a backlog in the mutilation chamber. So if we move quickly and quietly..." The door bursts open and Cordy spins around with a gasp, stepping between the head and the door. Two cow slaves walk in. Markallo: "Oh sacred princess, are you troubled? We heard a fearful shrieking." Cordy: "Oh, the shrieking. It's ah - the royal meditation that I do to help me - focus on the great affairs of state that I must manage." Takes a deep breath, spreads her hands and lets out a bellowing shriek. Markallo: "Kaldar, remove the traitor's filthy head from our lady's august presence." Cordy: "No, no, no, no! I - like the filthy head. That is, ah, I want to defile it more! (Turns and spits on Lorne, who is playing d*ad) I just keep it - to spit upon, and-and-and when I grow tired of that, I-I-I will make it into ah, a planter. A traitor planter - for *all* to see. - - Or maybe a candy dish. (Sighs) You may leave me." Markallo: "As you wish noble mistress." They leave, closing the door behind them and Cordy hurries to wipe Lorne's head with a piece of cloth. Cordy: "I'm sorry about the spittle. I just had to think fast. - This is just pretty unsettling for me." Lorne: "Oh, I'm sure it must be. And after all, I only lost my head! Technically my body." Cordy: "Okay, I realize this is a trying experience but I really don't see how *yelling* at me - can help matters." Lorne: "Just put me in a bag and take me to the mutilation chamber." Cordy: "I have no idea where the - mutilation chamber might be! I..." Lorne: "So, I guess I'll just sit here and die then. Find someone who knows!" Silas: "In what temper did you find her?" Markallo: "She appeared grievously distressed, master." Silas: "Good. We will add more heads to her collection that she might never forget who is the master here and who is the servant." Turns to the blue faced captain of the palace guard. Silas: "Her two friends that escaped through the waste canal, send a hunting party south into the woods after them." Captain: "Yes, lord." Silas: "As to the one they call Angel - you know what he is?" Captain: "He is the animal who took apart two of my soldiers." Priest: "He is a Van-tal, a drinker of blood. He can only be k*lled by f*re, decapitation or a wooden spear through the heart." Silas: "Perhaps all three, just to be thorough. Hunt him down." Captain: "It shall be done, my lord. I will personally bury my spear in his rump." The Captain turns to leave. Silas: "Captain! His heart is where a cow's is (touches his breast) here." Captain: "Disgusting." The Captain leaves. Priest: "This Angel-beast has saved a runaway sl*ve her rightful beheading. He ignores our laws and profanes our holy culture." Silas: "He does worse than that. He brings hope to the cows, for if one can be free hope arises that *all* can be free. - Isn't that right, Markallo?" Markallo: "My lord, as it was ordained in the beginning our lives belong to you." Silas: "They do. Yet we live in a time where runaways become rebels - where portals open to worlds where the holy clergy has not decreed them. Even slaves supposedly loyal to me - give the enemy drawings to our sacred devices." Markallo: "I-it is not true, master." Silas: "Don't be alarmed, Markallo. You did me a favor. The cows need to know what we can do to them - any time we chose." Silas turns around points a small silver device at Markallo and pushes down on a jewel set in its side. Markallo's eyes widen as we here a whizzing sound, then his head is blown of his shoulders. Silas doesn't show any reaction as we hear a dull thud followed by the sl*ve ring around his neck clinking on the floor. Silas to Kaldar: "Please clean that up." Silas looks at the silver device: "And if one of thy slaves offend thee, thou shalt smite him down." Pulls a cloth off a console, lets his hand hover over the outline of a hand set with jewels in the middle of it. Silas: "And if all of thy slaves offend thee, thou shalt smite them down, too, even upon the very last one in the land." Day in the rebel camp, Wes and g*n are kneeling, their hands bound behind their backs, their heads clamped into a pair of stocks. Leader: "For the crime of collaboration you are sentenced to death." Wesley: "No! We're *not* collaborators, we're not even from around here!" Sasha: "On my count of three." Wesley: "Forgive me, g*n. I should never have opened my mouth." g*n: "I've got a plan." Wesley: "Oh thank god! What is it?" Sasha: "One." g*n: "We die horribly and painfully, *you* go to hell and I spend eternity in the arms of baby Jesus." Wesley: "Oh." The rebel standing next to Wesley lifts his ax. Sasha: "Two." g*n squeezes his eyes shut. Sasha: "Three." Just as the executioner is about to strike a black-fletched arrow buries itself in his chest and he falls back with a scream, dropping the ax. The rebel leader spins around to see mounted guards charging down from the surrounding hills. Leader: "Imperial guards!" The rebels turn to fight the attacking guards. Wesley and g*n get up, the stocks clamped around their necks swinging around ponderously. Wesley: "This is our chance to escape!" Guard charging towards them: "There they are! k*ll the otherworlders!" g*n: "I really had about enough of this world." g*n and Wesley swing the heavy stocks still clamped around their necks, using them to knock out the soldiers attacking them on foot. Angel is lying on some pelts on the cave floor. He lets out a low moan then wakes with a sudden gasp and looks over to the cave entrance. Fred enters carrying a wooden bowl in her hand. Fred: "I found Kalla berries! (Pops a couple in her mouth with a smile) They sweeten the oatmeal. (Crouches down beside the f*re) Well - I call it oatmeal. It's actually crug-grain and thistles, but with enough Kalla berries..." Turns to see Angel slowly getting to his feet. Fred: "I hope the skins are comfortable. I seem to remember when there were beds you could sleep in for hours at a time!" Angel: "Oh, yeah, I-I slept. It-it was fine." Angel walks over to the pool and sits down on the edge of it. Fred: "Hmm." Angel: "What? (Looks down at his reflection for a moment before scooping up a handful of water to wash his face.) Did I snore?" Fred: "Hmm... I don't remember any snoring." Angel: "Good." Fred: "I remember caterwauling..." Fred lets out a short shriek, startling Angel. Angel: "Sorry." Fred: "I don't mind. - Sometimes it just burbles up inside you and you have to - bellow a little. Do it all the time. No one's around to hear." Crouches down in front of Angel and hands him a bowl of 'oatmeal' with a spoon in it. Fred: "You'll get better with a little rest and care." Angel: "I don't think so." Fred: "Why wouldn't ya?" Angel: "You saw what I turn into. - Back in LA it's bad. But here it's..." Fred: "We all got our demons." Angel doesn't look at her, just moves the spoon around in his oatmeal. Fred gets up and walks away from him. Fred: "Okay, so - maybe you got a beast in you. But I know what it's like to be squirrelly and a freak with no one to... (spins to face Angel) Does it taste like oatmeal?" Angel hurriedly shoves a spoonful in his mouth. Fred: "I-I forget what things are supposed to taste like." Angel: "Tastes good." Fred takes a step closer and yells 'Tacos!' making Angel jump. Fred: "Sorry. I didn't mean to holler at you. (Sits down beside Angel) I love tacos. Do they still have them? You know, back..." Angel: "...home? Yeah, they didn't outlaw tacos." Fred: "Oh, of course not. I've been trying to make an enchilada out of tree bark." Angel: "Bark enchiladas. Huh. - How's that going?" Fred: "There is work to be done." Cordy: "Come in!" The door to the throne room opens and a serving maid hurriedly kneels down in front of Cordy. Marelda: "What may thy lowly serving wench do you, my lady." Cordy: "You're not lowly. Please get up, get up. You're just like me." Marelda looks up: "Like you? The light that shines in the darkness upon the land?" Cordy: "Sure. - Is - is-is that what they really call me? (Marelda quickly lowers her eyes again) Anyway. You have served me well and loyally these last - two and a half - days. I'm very fond of you Lamara." Marelda: "Marelda." Cordy: "I knew that." Marelda: "Of course you did, exalted one. You know all. You must cut my tongue from my worthless skull!" Cordy: "No! No cutting. What is it with you people and mutilation?" Marelda: "We don't have a lot of - entertainment, mum." Cordy: "Can you keep a secret, Geraldo?" Marelda's head snaps up and she nods. Cordy: "I want you to take me to the mutilation chamber." Marelda: "This can not be done, majesty." Cordy: "Why not?" Marelda: "If anyone were to see you, you would bring shame to the kingdom! You can not defile your holy self by entering such a place." Cordy: "Huh." Cordy looks down at the 'd*ad' head of Lorne with a sigh. Drums her fingers on the pedestal for a moment. Cordy: "Okay. - Take off your clothes." Marelda stares up at Cordy. Lorne's eyes blink open. Angel stands in a little patch of sunshine inside the cave. Fred is sitting a little ways away, mending some garment. Angel: "Can't do this in LA." Fred: "Why not?" Angel: "Oh, I'll burst into flames. - Part of the beast thing." Fred: "So it's better for you here." Angel: "Well - there is the sun (lifts his head to face the sun, then lowers it and steps out of the sunlight) but also the thing inside that wants to rip my friends apart." Fed looks up at him for a moment, then goes back to mending the tunic she is holding on her lap. Angel sighs and looks at the symbols covering the cave walls. Angel: "Krv... drplgr.. I know these words. These are the words we used to open up the portals." Fred: "They're not words. They're consonant representations of a mathematical transfiguration formula." Angel after a b*at: "Well, obviously." Fred: "I used to think that if you said them out loud and in the right order the quaking and quivering would..." Angel: "Oh, you mean open a portal. - Well, that's how we got here and that's how we'll get back." Fred: "No. I tried. For years and years - until my tongue was swollen and my head was all kaplooey. It doesn't work on this side." Angel: "Oh, but it does. A drokken and one of those green warriors got to LA from this end. Somebody must have opened up the portals for them. Maybe you did and you just don't know where." Fred: "Me? I don't think so. The priests have all the power here." Angel turns back to look at the walls. Fred screams as a palace guard tackles her. Angel spins around, grabs the guard and tosses him against the cave wall. Another guard att*cks Angel, and then the Captain tries to run Angel through with a spear. Angel grabs the spear and deflects it so the Captain s*ab the guard behind Angel with it instead. The Captain hits Angel with his fist, pulls the spear free and uses it to b*at up on Angel, who staggers back under the as*ault. Angel's eyes suddenly take on a red glow. Fred cowers against one of the cave walls. Angel: "Can't change. Won't change." The glow slowly fades. The Captain swings the spear around, knocks Angel to the ground, then s*ab him in the chest with it. Break Angel groans as the Captain pulls the spear back out. Captain: "Missed the heart, did I?" Runs Angel through a again. Still no heart. Gets ready to try again, but suddenly collapses, revealing Fred behind him, holding a big boulder up above her head. Fred crouches down beside Angel repeating over and over: "Please don't die. Please don't die." Angel passes out. The last of the guards is fleeing the rebel camp. Sasha throws his sword after him and we hear a groan and a thud. Sasha walks over to the corpse of their leader and pulls the sword out of his body, walks over to where Wes and g*n, stocks still around their necks, hands bound behind their backs are standing together. Sasha: "They did not come for us. They came for you. Why?" Wesley: "Because they know we will try to rescue the princess." Sasha: "Rescue her from what?" Wesley: "From mating with the groosalug." Bartok: "Which will fulfill their prophecies and consolidate their power." g*n: "We don't want that to happen any more than you do." Sasha nods: "You're fight. We are on the same side. Release them." Some rebels go to untie them and take off the stocks. Sasha loudly: "Though their hands were tied and their necks were bared they fought with us. (Takes a step closer and continues more quietly) I'm ashamed. We nearly cut your heads off." Wesley rubbing his neck: "You were just (sighs) doing your job." g*n gives Wes a look. Sasha: "You're free to go." Wes and g*n walk past him towards the woods. Sasha: "Five cheers for the otherworlders!" Rebels cheering: "Brave warriors! Brave warriors!..." Wesley: "Oh, in this world you get five!" g*n: "So, our first job is to find Angel." Wesley: "Yes." g*n: "Last time we saw him he had a funny look on his face. A 'rip out your guts now, ask questions later' kind of look." Wesley: "What do you suggest?" g*n stops and points back at the camp: "I'm thinking these guys have a cause worth fighting for. Isn't that what we do?" Wesley: "What about Cordelia?" g*n: "If we're gonna be getting her out of that castle we're gonna need a lot of muscle." Wesley: "Muscle which could come in handy if we have to incapacitate Angel." g*n: "Yeah. Also look at them. They won a skirmish today, but they're no match for the covenant. I don't wanna leave them to get themselves k*lled. - I do that enough." Fred dabs at the wounds in Angel's chest. Angel's eyes slowly flutter open. Fred: "Oh. There you are. Good." Angel: "Hi." Fred: "You heal fast." Angel: "One of the pluses of being a beast." Fred: "But you're not. When you were fighting this time, you didn't change." Angel: "I was afraid." Fred: "Of what?" Angel: "That if I did, I'd never get back." Fred after a b*at: "You're not a beast." We hear laughter. Fred turns her head to look at the blue faced Captain lying bound on the floor behind her. Captain: "We'll write that on your bones once he tears you to pieces." Fred: "I'll just roll him over the cliff into the drokken gully like I did the others." Angel: "Wait. I need to talk to him." Angel slowly sits up, and makes his way over to the Captain. Pulls him up by the neck. Angel: "What can you tell me about the princess, huh?" Captain: "The filthy cow bitch that brought you into our world?" Angel: "Call her that again - I'll remove your face - slowly." Captain: "Once the groosalug mates with her - she'll be put to death. Like we already did with that traitor, Krevlorneswath." Angel: "You k*lled Lorne?" Captain: "We cut his head off and mutilated his body." Angel pushes the Captain away and starts to move towards the exit. Angel: "I have to go." Fred: "It's too dangerous. They'll k*ll you." Angel: "My friends are in trouble. One of them is already d*ad." Fred: "But it's safe here. Out there it's..." Angel turns around to look at her. Fred: "It's safe here with me." Angel quietly: "I'm sorry." The Captain pulls a Kn*fe from his sleeve and cuts at the bonds around his wrists. Fred: "They'll k*ll you and you'll turn into that beast - maybe not exactly in that order." Angel: "My friends are in trouble." Fred: "But the beast. I know you don't want them to see you that way. (Angel looks away) I'm not afraid of it like everyone else." The Captain launches himself at them from behind Fred with his Kn*fe. Angel pulls Fred out of the way, as Fred lets out a scream. Taking a hold of the Captain's Kn*fe hand he twists it around and s*ab him in the gut with it. The Captain drops to the floor. Angel goes over to Fred and pulls the hand clamped over her right upper arm away to get a look at the wound underneath. Angel: "Alright. You'll be alright." Cordy, dressed in the servant's dress and carrying a bucket sneaks into the mutilation chamber. Cordy: "It's pretty dark in here. - Let me just get used to it." She makes her way deeper into the chamber and spots a table heaped with body parts. Cordy: "Oh, yuck!" She drops the bucket and an 'Ouch! Hey!' echoes up out of it. Cordy: "Sorry. Sorry." Reaching down into it, Cordy pulls out Lorne's head and holds it out in front of her facing the table. Cordy: "These people are crazy! - Anything look familiar?" Lorne: "Get me closer." Averting her face Cordy inches a little closer, holding Lorne's head at arm's length. Lorne: "Oh, god. Oh no!" Cordy: "What? - Boy, that looks like your suit." Lorne: "It *is* my suit! You think they have French Viscose in this hellhole? (Moans) - Why am I still alive? Once they chop me up it's over! I'm looking at pieces of myself! Oh, it's over! (Sobs) Wait a second. Since when do I have five toes?" Cordy: "Shh! Somebody's coming." She presses herself into a dark corner. Lifts Lorne's head to look him in the eyes. Cordy: "Do you mind if I h*t him over the head with you?" Lorne: "Yes!" The door opens and a man walks in. Groo: "Your Highness?" Cordy hurries over to him: "Groo, it's you!" Groo: "I have done something terrible. I have betrayed my vows. But he was your friend. I could not stand to see you suffer." Cordy: "What terrible thing?" Groo: "I stole his body and put his strange garments on these parts - to fool them." Cordy: "You did all this for me? - That's not terrible, that's wonderful!" Throws her arms around Groo and hugs him tight, smashing Lorne's head (still in her hand) against Groo's back. Lorne: "Ouff! - Feels like somebody works out." Cordy steps back with a smile for Groo and holds up Lorne's head. Lorne: "Hi. And thank you from the bottom of my neck on down. - So, ah, where's the rest of me?" Groo: "I had your body smuggled to your mother's farm. Your cousin Landok shall meet us at the eastern watchtower. He will transport you home." Cordy turns Lorne's head to face her: "This is great! The man's an honest to god hero!" Cordy gives Groo another hug, banging Lorne's head against a pillar as she throws her arms around him. Lorne: "Ouch! - Watch the head!" The rebels are discussing what to do next. Bartok: "You still want to storm the castle gates." Sasha: "Yes! We have to show them!" Bartok: "We can't defeat them! They have the power, they have the wealth, we have no plan!" Sasha: "I say we storm the gates!" Wesley: "If you do they'll cut you down. You can not wage a frontal att*ck against a stronger opponent. - This kind of battle can only be won through guerilla warfare. (They all just look at him) By being sneaky! You create a diversion then you strike at several different points at once. While they are looking ahead, you come from behind." Sasha: "And k*ll their leader." Wesley: "Yes." Bartok: "Silas, their head priest." Sasha: "It's a good plan." Bartok: "I agree." Sasha lift up the bloody sword he pulled from their leader's body and holds it out to Wesley. Sasha: "You shall lead us!" Wesley: "Wha... Me? No, no, no, I was just suggesting that..." Bartok: "No, no, you fought well. The Covenant hates you. And you know the princess." Sasha: "And you have a *plan*." Bartok: "Besides, our leader is d*ad." Sasha puts the sword in Wesley's hand: "Hail to our new leader!" Rebels yell: "Hail!" Wesley aside to g*n: "Why do people keep putting me in charge of things?" g*n: "I have no idea." Rebels: "Hail!" Angel is tying a bandage around Fred's arm. Angel: "How's it feel?" Fred: "Alright." Angel: "Ah, it's best if you don't move it for a while. (Takes deep breath and motions towards the exit) Well, I better..." Fred: "Help your friends. - I know. - You're a good man." They look at each other for a moment then Angel turns and walks out of the cave. Fred slowly walks across the cave and sits down with her back against the wall, looks down at the gournd. Angel comes back in. Angel: "I - don't actually know how to get there." Fred: "Oh. (Gets up) I can show you." Groo is pacing in the Throne room. Cordy, back in her princess garb is sitting on a step. Groo: "I disobeyed the Covenant. I shall spend eternity burning in Tarkna for my sin." Cordy: "Oh, who believes a literal Tarkna nowadays." Groo: "It was worth it for one moment of your intimate touch." Cordy gets up: "That was an accident. I-it was kind of dark and - oh - you mean the hug. (They smile at each other and Cordy giggles a little) When I hugged you. That was nice. (Shakes herself) Where were we? Oh, yeah, the nut-cake clergy guys. They *need* someone to disobey them. They're evil and they run an evil regime." Groo: "It's not my duty to question authority." Cordy: "Hold on there. You're groosalug, the brave and undefeated champion, if it's not your duty to fight evil than I don't know what is." Groo: "I fight who I'm told. - I'm not a real champion!" Cordy: "Then it is time you stopped working for Monk-boy and became one. What you did for me and my friend that was pure champ - all the way." Groo: "I am unworthy of lifting your burden, highness." Cordy: "Nonsense, you're way worthy. - What burden is that again?" Groo: "When you receive me - on the night we are wed." Cordy: "Receive? - Oh! - Receive. When I and you - on our wedding night... I imagine there'll be some burden lifting on both sides. Not that I have a lot of experience or anything!" Groo: "It is foretold in the ancient prophecies that one will come who is cursed with the visions. She will mate with the groosalug whose demon blood shall absorb them." Cordy: "Absorb them?" Groo: "Your visions shall pass to me." Cordy turns away from him: "Ugh! I *knew* there was a catch! - You can't take my visions! I need them! I-I use them to help my friends fight evil back home!" Groo: "And I will use them here to fight evil, just as you have done." Cordy: "Groo - I can't give up my visions. - I *like* them. Okay, I don't like the searing pain and agony that is steadily getting worse." Groo: "You are pure human. - You are not meant to carry such a burden." Cordy: "Maybe not. - But I'm not ready to give them up either. - They're a part of who I am now. They're an honor. And you know - the visions, they only last for like a..." Cordy puts a hand to her head as she gets h*t by a vision. Groo manages to keep her from falling as she gets some blurry images of Groo lying on the ground, a growling beast on top of him. Cordy: "No. No." Break Wesley, g*n and the rebels are developing a battle plan. Wesley: "The groosalug is our most formidable opponent. We *have* to get him out of the castle. If challenged to fight he has to accept?" Sasha: "Yes. A champion of the realm he can not refuse, but no man can defeat the groosalug." Wesley: "We'll worry about defeating him later. Our first step is to get him out of there. Once he's out we'll create diversions here, here and here. (Sets some rocks on a map on the table in front of him.) Then a few of us will scale their back wall here where their defenses are weakest." g*n: "I wouldn't split my crew up this much if I was leading this charge." Wesley: "I'm leading this charge. Tell me about the k*lling device." Sasha: "It send a signal to the collar on every sl*ve in the land." Shows Wes a drawing of the jeweled-hand device. g*n: "What kind of signal?" Bartok: "Blows their heads off." Wesley: "If Silas thinks he's losing he'll use it. We have to get to him before he does." Sasha: "The castle is well guarded." Angel: "Unlike this place." Angel steps out from behind a tree, followed by Fred. Rebels draw w*apon and converge on them, on fo them dropping out of the very tree Angel just past to land behind them. Wesley: "It's alright. It's alright. He's a friend." Sasha: "Glad we were keeping watch." g*n: "He's Angel. He does that. (Points at Fred) How she do that?" Angel: "She's Fred. She does that, too." Wesley: "Fred. Winifred? The girl from Cordy's vision?" Sasha to some rebels: "Check the perimeter - the east groves!" The rebels disperse hurriedly. Angel: "These are my friends - Wesley - g*n." Fred smiles: "Hi-ya." Wesley: "These, ah (sees that all the rebels are gone) those were the rebels. We've joined forces." g*n: "They made Wes their general." Wesley: "But you're here now. Ah (Indicates the battle plan) if you want to... I mean - you're much better at..." Angel: "No, Wes, I-I can't... - You know what happens to me. (Looks down) I-I'm sorry... (Looks at g*n) ...ashamed of what I did to you." g*n with a slight nod: "It's kind of a crazy place here. - The sooner we all get out of here the better." Angel: "Fred here might be able to help us with that. She knows a lot about portals." Fred: "Not a lot. The trionic speechcraft formulation/modification has to alter the dynamic reality sphere... - Lutzbalm predicted it at Zurig in '89 -- laughed him off the stage -although this sl*very and degradation's no laughing matter...(laughs) ... it's no Crug-grain and Kalla berry breakfast all right." After b*at Wes and g*n turn to look at Angel. Angel: "She's been here a while. - Guys, ah, I have some bad news about Lorne." Rebel: "Ah, we captured this warrior of the Deathwok clan." They turn to see Landok dragging two rebels into camp by their necks, then push them into the dirt. They guys walk over to meet Landok, Fred doing her best to hide behind Angel. Angel: "Landok." Landok: "Angel, the drokken k*ller. I *will* not battle you for saving the sl*ve girl's neck." Wesley throws a look over at Angel. Angel: "Good." Landok: "It is forbidden to do battle while performing a sacred duty. (Takes a basket off his shoulder) I was transporting my kinsman home - when these fools tried to stop me." Angel quietly to the guys: "I was trying to tell you. They cut off the host's head." Wesley: "What?" g*n: "No." Landok: "Yes. I have it right here." He opens the basket and holds it out towards them. They take a few hesitant steps closer and peer down into the basket, Fred peeking out from behind Angel. Lorne's head lies in the basket, eyes closed. We get a sh*t of the four of them as if we were looking up at them from inside the basket. Angel: "He was..." g*n: "Yeah." Wesley: "Hmm." Lorne's eyes pop open: "That's it?" Angel, g*n and Wes all recoil with a scream, leaving Fred the only one still framed by the rim of the basket, peering down - completely unmoved. Lorne: "Where is the praising and extolling of my virtues? Where's the love?" The round circle of the basket rim blends into a sh*t of the full moon up in the night sky. Wesley is sitting in front of a f*re, leaning on an unsheathed sword. g*n: "I'm only gonna say this once. The guys you send to create those diversions are gonna die." Wesley after a b*at: "Yes they are. (Gets up and looks at g*n) You try not to get anybody k*lled you wind up getting everybody k*lled. (To the camp) Get ready to move out." Angel: "What do you want me to do?" Wesley: "Go to the village. Call out the groosalug - and k*ll him." Angel: "k*ll their undefeated champion. - I can't do that without turning into the beast." Wesley: "I know." Angel looks around for a moment then takes a step closer to Wes. Angel: "Look, when I fired you guys the reason I... Darkness was coming out in me. I didn't want you near it. - The thing that comes out here is ten times worse. - Wes. - I do this - you know I won't come back from it." Wesley: "Yes, you will. I know you. (Glances over at g*n) We know you. We know you're a man with a demon inside - not the other way around. *We* know you have the strength to do what needs to be done, and you will come back to us." Angel and Wes look at each other for a long moment. Fred: "I could go with you. I know how to prepare the challenge torch." Wesley puts a hand on Angel's shoulder. Wesley: "You'll come back." Angel looks over at g*n, whose face remains expressionless, then he and Fred leave. g*n to Wes: "You really think he'll come back?" Wesley turning to leave: "I need *him* to think it." g*n stares after Wesley. Cordy is reclining on a lounger, eyes closed, with Groo sitting on the edge of it. Groo: "What can I get you princess?" Cordy: "Nothing. - Just don't leave! - And whatever you do, don't fight a big, ugly, pointy demon with green skin - I saw what he'll do to you." The door opens and Silas comes in, followed by a couple more priests. Silas: "Good. I see we're progressing towards mating. Let's get on with it." Cordy: "Huh? What about the wedding?" Silas: "I tire of waiting. Do it!" Cordy gets up: "With you guys standing around? I don't think so!" Silas stepping closer: "Then I'll encourage you." Another priest enters: "My lord! There is something in the village you will want to see." The priests walk over to a window and look out. Angel, trailed by Fred, is entering the village square, carrying a burning triple-torch. Angel steps up on the podium and plants the torch in a holder there. Angel: "I challenge the groosalug to mortal combat." Angel glances back at Fred, who was mouthing the words along with him. Fred gives him two thumbs up. Angel: "Come out and face me you spineless coward!" Fred: "Uh! Why'd you add that coward thing? That's really gonna piss him off." Fred goes to hide behind a market stand. Cordy: "What is going on? Who's yelling." Silas to Groo: "You have been challenged. You must fight." Cordy: "What? No! No fighting. I had a vision, he can't fight!" Silas: "The honor of the kingdom is at stake." Cordy: "Will you listen to me?!" Silas: "Silence!" Groo turns to follow Silas out of the room. Cordy: "No! Don't do it, please. Don't do it! Groo, no! No! No!" The priest shut the doors behind them. Groo looks out the window at the challenge torch. Groo: "Who calls me out?" Silas: "Do you love your princess?" Groo: "More than I thought possible." Silas: "If this *filth* should win - he will ravage - and he will defile her. - He will use her for his pleasure again - and again. - And when she has no more screaming in her - he will *k*ll* her." Groo: "He will *not*! He will die!" We look out through some bushes at the guards in front of one of the castle gates. A voice rings out. "The groosalug has been challenged. He will fight the challenger in the village square!" Wesley watches as some of the guards run off, then moves deeper into the bushes where the rest of the rebels are waiting. He gives some hand signals and some of the rebels move off. A few moments later voices ring out again. "Rebels at the south gate!" A few more guards run off. "Rebels at the north wall!" Wesley crouches down next to Bartok and looks at him. Bartok looks from Wesley to the guards left in front of the gate, then rises and charges yelling: "Death to the state! - Death to the state!" Two more rebels follow him to engage the remaining guards as Wesley looks down to the ground. Then signals for the others to follow him. g*n throws a grappling hook up over the wall and begins to scale it. Two rebels charge the gate with a battering ram. One of the rebels fighting the guards lets out a scream as a sword slices across his stomach. The groosalug arrives at the village square in a chariot, takes off his gloves, walks up on the podium and holds his hand into the flames of the torch. Angel: "This guy - he doesn't feel pain?" Fred: "Oh, he-he feels it, but - he's the groosalug. He overcomes all things. - Good luck." Ducks down behind an empty market stand. Groo: "You will die, barbarian!" Groo walks over to a rack to pick up an ax and a club and goes to att*ck Angel, who barely manages to get a few kicks and hits in between the ones he receives from Groo. Angel is h*t hard in the stomach and flies backwards onto the ground. Groo follows up with a downward swing of his ax. Break (of course) Angel manages to avoid the ax, get back to his feet and att*ck Groo in return, but soon gets kicked through the air again. The flies through the tarp of the market stand Fred is hiding behind and lands on the ground not far from her. Fred: "You can't hold back! You'll die!" Angel: "Not holding back - holding on." Silas is walking down a corridor. A priest hurries up behind him. Priest: "My lord, rebels have breached the castle!" Wes, g*n a couple of rebels are coming up another corridor. Wesley: "It's Silas. Stop him." They charge at Silas but are intercepted by some palace guards as Silas and the other priest hurry away down the corridor. Guard: "There they are!" A nicely choreographed sword-fight sequence follows during which the outnumbered infiltrators eventually finish off the guards. Cordy is pacing in the priest's chambers, wearing a dark red cloak over her princess outfit. Silas comes in and Cordy hurries over to him. Cordy: "Oh, there you are. Please, I had a vision. The beast is gonna k*ll him. You have to stop it!" Silas hits her hard across the face sending her reeling to the ground. Silas: "This is all your fault! (Grabs her by the throat and pulls her up to face him) You think you can *destroy* our way of life? Think again! I will k*ll every cow in the world before I allow that to happen. (Pulls the cloth off the k*lling device) Everyone of you." Pushes her away. Cordy crashes against a bookcase and drops to the floor. Groo and Angel are still fighting in the square, with Angel barely holding his own. Groo kicks Angel back to the ground next to some posts. Angel comes back up with a sturdy stick in his hand, but before he can use it, Groo whips out one of those things the old demon man used to capture Cordy. It winds itself around the wrist of Angel's right hand, tying it tightly against one of the posts, and causing him to drop the stick. Groo walks up and starts to bludgeon Angel with his cudgel. Groo: "You would defile her! You animal!" Groo keeps pounding on Angel. Fred hides her face behind her hand. Angel is hanging by his right wrist, still tethered firmly against the post, and Groo lowers his cudgel. Angel slowly lifts his head to look at him - and morphs into the Angel-beast. The guards' horses rear, almost unseating them. Groo swings the cudgel but the Angel-beast catches it in its left hand, then tosses Groo across the square before ripping its right hand free. Groo barely manages to get to his feet before the beast pounces on him in one incredible leap. Cordy is swaying in front the bookcase, her head lowered. Silas' hand is hovering over the k*lling device. Wes, followed by g*n, Bartok and Sasha come charging in. Silas: "You're a little late." Wesley lowers his sword, hands it to Sasha and holds up his hand without ever taking his eyes off Silas. Wesley: "Stand down. (To Silas) You don't have to do this." Silas: "I don't have to - but I'm going to. (Cordy slowly straightens up behind him) And you and your filthy cow-princess can go straight..." Cordy swings the sword she has picked up as hard as she can and Silas' head goes flying off his neck. Cordy: "Your cow-princess is tired of hearing you yak, padre." g*n: "Nice going." Cordy: "These guys *stay* d*ad without a head?" Sasha: "Oh yeah." Cordy: "Good. We need to get back to the village now! The groosalug is facing a terrible beast, I saw it." Wesley: "Actually the beast he's facing is Angel." Groo is getting mauled, barely managing to keep the beast away from his throat as the two of them roll around in the dirt. The beast pins him down and Groo squeezes his eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable. The beast pulls its clawed hand off Groo's face and Groo opens his eyes to look up at Angel, back in his human face. Angel: "We're not gonna do this. We're gonna find another way." Angel backs off from Groo. Angel: "I'm not an animal." Cordy: "Stop!" Groo sits up and punches Angel hard into the stomach sending him reeling back. Cordy: "Stop the fight! Stop!" Angel: "Alright. What part of me being all noble here - didn't get through?" Cordy runs up between them. Cordy: "Stop. Stop the fight. Don't hurt him. Stop. (Looks at Groo) I love him. I love him." Angel: "You love me?" Cordy frowns at Angel: "Not you, dumb ass. Him! I love him!" Cordy gives Groo a quick hug. Angel: "Oh." Cordy: "Lay down your w*apon! Silas is d*ad. All priests have been defeated. Any guard who harms a human from this day forth shall have to answer to me!" Angel: "She loves me, too, right?" Cordy hugs Groo again: "Are you okay? - Did he hurt you?" Angel: "As a friend and co-worker." Cordy: "Can I get some medical attention around here, people?" Angel: "Maybe love is too strong a term." The double Pylean suns are blazing up in the sky. Lorne walks out of a room at his mom's farm twisting his neck to where Angel is waiting for him Lorne: "Good as new - though I seem to have put on about a hundred and fifty eight pounds." Angel: "You look great. Love the trousers." Lorne: "Yeah. It's been a thrill, mom. See you in a millenium or three." Angel catches a hold of Lorne's arm to stop him from just walking out. Angel quietly: "Hey. Isn't there something you wanna say to your mother?" Lorne: "Hmm, may you burn in Tarkna?" Angel: "Come on. She's not that bad. I mean, she didn't store your body on top of the maggot pile like you thought she would, now did she?" Lorne turns to face his mom: "Bye mom. Thanks for storing my body on the lice pile instead of the maggot heap." Angel does a slight double take as Lorne turns away, scratching his side. Mom: "I thought you were lost to us forever. (Sniffs. Lorne turns back to face her) But you came back. You came back. (A slight smile starts to play over Lorne's face) The runt of my loins came back after raining such *misery* upon our lives (Lorne's smile fades) and managed to shame up even further!" Mom spits upon Lorne and Angel claps a hand on him. Angel: "Alright then. We'll just be..." Mom: "Who's supposed to do our labor now that your cow-friend has freed the slaves? You know what they call me - at the hall of Drink and Chance? - Mother of the vile excrement!" Angel: "Be sure to keep in touch." Angel pulls Lorne towards the door. Mom: "Go on, misfit! Back to your world where no one knows his place!" Angel and Lorne walk down the outside steps. Mom: "May you rot in Tarkna!" Mom slams the door shut behind them. Angel: "Every family's got its problems." Mom muffled: "Numfar, do the dance of shame." We hear some shuffling and clomping coming from the house behind them. Angel: "Yours more than most." Lorne: "My psychic friend told me I had to come back here. I didn't believe her. Then I realized I *did* have to come back here, because - I really always thought I had to come back here, deep down inside, you know? I had to come back here to find out I *didn't* have to come back here. I don't belong here. I hate it here. You know where I belong? LA. You know why? *Nobody* belongs there. It's the perfect place for guys like us." Angel nods his head, a slight smile on his face. Angel: "That's kind of beautiful." The start walking down the path leading away from the farm. Lorne: "Ain't it? I'm very moved, if I do say so myself." Angel claps him on the back: "Please do." Lorne: "You know, I feel a song coming on." Angel: "Yeah, I thought you might." Lorne singing: "Somewhere over the rainbow..." Two guys that were doing something at the side of the road further down, clap their hands over their ears and sink to the ground, groaning. Lorne: "...way up high..." Cordy is pacing in front of her throne, holding an ax in her hands. Groo stands behind her. There are human servants present, none wearing a collar, and a priest. Cordy: "I have a vision. Actually I have two visions, and in one of them you get to keep your head." Priest: "How may I be of service your majesty?" Cordy: "Take a memo. (A girls hands him a parchment and quill) As it is now written - all citizens are created equal. sl*very and religious persecution are outlawed." Cordy swings the ax. The priest jumps as the ax shatters the k*lling device. Wes, Fred, and g*n come hurrying in, each one holding one of the Wolf, Ram and Hart books. Wesley: "I think we did it." Fred: "I-I was opening portals but I couldn't tell where. You-you need the priests' formulas to figure that out on this side." Cordy: "So we can go home!" g*n holding up the book: "All we have to do is take these to Angel's car and have her say the words." Priest: "Those are sacred books! (Cordy looks at him) Which *you* should have - as a small memento." Cordy walks up to Groo. Cordy: "You're in charge now. You got a long road ahead. (Leads him up the steps to the throne) sl*very has ended but - reconstruction has just g*n." Groo: "What is this - recon-struction?" Cordy: "g*n, you wanna field this?" g*n: " It means - sayin' people are free don't make 'em free. - You got - races that hate each other, you got some folks gettin' work they don't want, - others losin' the little they had. - You're lookin' at social confusion, economic depression and probably - some riots. - Good luck." Cordy: "You'll do fine." Groo: "It worries me - but - not as much as... (Takes her hands) Do you have to go, majesty?" Cordy: "I don't want to. I'm *really* gonna miss your eyes - and the majesty thing - but-but I have a job to do back home. - It was really fun being your princess." Cordy takes Groo's face between her hands and they kiss. Wes and g*n look down, but Fred watches, a big smile spreading across her face. Cordy finishes the kiss, patting Groo on the cheek. He picks up her cloak and drapes it over her shoulders. Groo: "God speed, princess." Cordy: "Bye Groo." Tying the strings of her cloak Cordy walks down the steps and across the room towards the others, smiling as the people on both sides of the aisle bow and say 'your majesty.' The others fall in behind her as they walk out. Wesley: "Should people be bowing in a free society?" Cordy: "These things take time." A slight wind tinkles the glasses in a deserted Caritas. The curtain behind the stage starts to billow. White spots of light appear and coalesce to form a portal. Angel's convertible comes barreling through with Angel, Cordy and Wes in the front, g*n, Fred and Lorne in the back, all of them screaming. Angel manages to stop the car as it rams into the bar after crashing through the tables in front of the stage. Lorne: "You know I've been thinking about remodeling the bar. - Who's up for a nightcap?" They all get up out of the car. Hyperion, night. Cordy, Fred and the guys are entering the garden court. Fred: "Are-are you sure about that?" Cordy: "Trust me. Tacos everywhere - and - soap!" g*n: "Yo, that portal jumping is a fun ride. We sell it to a theme park we could get paid!" Angel pushes to the front as the get to the doors leading into the hotel itself. Angel smiling: "Okay. Can I say it? I wanna say it." Wesley: "Say what?" Angel pushes the double doors open, walking into the lobby. Angel: "There's no place like..." Trails off as he sees Willow sitting hunched up on one of the chairs in the lobby. Angel's smile vanishes as Willow looks up at him. Angel: "Willow?" Cordy: "What's..?" Willow slowly gets up, never taking her eyes of Angel. Angel quietly: "It's Buffy."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "02x22 - There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb (Part. 3)"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Cordy: "I have a roommate. It's cool. I never see him." Wesley: "Cordy's been sucked into the portal." Cordy: "They made me their ruler." Fred: "Handsome man - saved me from the monsters." Darla: "He's here." Lindsey: "Angel." Darla: "I'd love to see that boy." Angel and Darla making out. Angel: "Get dressed and get out. Because the next time I see you, I will have to k*ll you." Hyperion, day. Fred peaks around the corner of the corridor overlooking the lobby, hears Cordy's voice and quickly disappears again. Cordy: "I can understand people who drink too much. I understand people who put a little note on the parking meter that says it's broken when it's not. I don't understand people who worship demons." Cordy, g*n and Wesley come walking across the courtyard, carrying w*apon and looking slightly disheveled. g*n: "Yeah. Especially Lu-rite demons. The stink on that thing... If you're a prince of the underworld, bro, take a Jacuzzi every once in a while." Wesley: "It's sad. The only way some people can find a purpose in life is by becoming obsessed with demons. By the way, g*n, technically that wasn't a Lu-rite. It was a Mu-rite, a sub-species of the Lu-rite. The male sports a small, tell-tale fin just behind the third shoulder." g*n: "So glad to know we're not the sad people obsessed with demons." Wesley: "We have to be a little obsessed. We're detectives that specialize in these things." Cordy: "And we're not sad." Wesley: "No. No, we're a happy and rambunctious lot if I ever saw one. (g*n looks at Wes) Not going to humor me even a little, are you?" Cordy: "Hu-uh." Wesley: "I realize we sacrifice a great deal of our - social lives. But we have to. Our work demands it." g*n: "True. I mean, who has time for love when you're out there doing it with the demons? (Wes glances in his direction) Didn't that come out sad and wrong? - I need to get out more. Speaking of: anyone talked to Fred lately?" Cordy: "Not talked. Glimpsed. She pokes her head out of her room every once in a while." Wesley: "Nice girl." Cordy: "Nice, but not making the giant strides towards mental health. She's been hibernating up there for three months now." Wesley: "Ever since Angel went away. She's become quite attached to him." g*n: "Angel groupie. I get that. He rescued her from Pylea." Cordy: "I miss Pylea." Wesley: "I would think you might. You were there a week, they made you queen. Fred was there for five years. She was a sl*ve, a runaway, they nearly chopped her head off. All those years she spent hiding out alone in that cave." g*n: "She survived. Girl's strong." Cordy: "The girl's trading one cave for another. How strong is that?" Wesley: "When Angel comes back..." g*n: "When *is* he coming back anyway?" Cordy: "As soon as he works through his grief a little." g*n: "A little? Buff..." Cordy: Don't! Say the 'B' word." g*n: "The 'B' word was the love of his life, and he's,.what? 250? That isn't a short life. That grief work is gonna take more than a vacation in Sri Lanka." Wesley: "It isn't a vacation. It's a spiritual retreat at a monastery." g*n: "Hmm. Angel and a bunch of monks in the middle of nowhere. There's a party! He should have got hammered and went to Vegas just like I told him." Wesley: "He doesn't need a lap dance. He needs some peace and quiet to work through this." Cut to Angel, dressed in white robes, fighting against armed, red robbed monks in the hall of the monastery (doing a very cool back flip up onto a balcony at one point). The big double doors of the monastery open. Angel steps out to find some men wearing gray waiting outside. Man (speaking Tibetan): "What happened?" Angel (answering in Tibetan): "Demon monks. I should've gone to Vegas." The man cocks his head as Angel walks past, then looks in through the open doors to see at least ten red robbed bodies littering the floor. Intro Hyperion, day, Cordy walks in carrying two big mousetraps. Cordy: "So, whose turn is it to set the traps?" Wesley and g*n point at each other: "His." Cordy: "You guys amaze me. You'll fight hell-beasts, but you're scared of rats." g*n: "Man, I hate rats. With their little beady eyes..." Wesley: "...and their beady teeth." g*n: "And their little tails all woosh, woosh." Cordy walks towards the basement door Cordy: "Well, aren't you two just the biggest scardies I ever saw..." Cordy drops the traps with a scream as the door suddenly opens just as she reaches it. Angel is standing there with a little smile on his face. Cordy gives him a hug. Cordy: "You're back." g*n and Wes come over, both starting to smile. Cordy: "You guys, he's back!" Cordy pulls Angel after her into the lobby. Angel: "Wesley." Wesley: "Welcome home." Wes catches Angel in a hug. g*n: "Hey, what's up man?" g*n greets Angel with a hug as well. Cordy: "So, I hope you had a good retreat, all peaceful and meditate-y." Angel: "Sure, until the monks turned out to be life-sucking Shur-hod demons." Wesley: "Oh..." g*n: "Vegas." Angel with a little laugh: "Yeah." Cordy: "Well, the point is, you worked on things. It wasn't like a holiday, where you come back home to your friends, you know, with some small mementos of your trip..." Angel: "Fishing for gifts?" Cordy: "Yes!" Angel hands her a small skull-like head with a tuft of dark hair on top. Cordy: "Oh - a - small - human head!" Angel pulls it out of her hand and tosses it to g*n. g*n catches it: "Cool!" Angel smiles and hands Cordy a necklace instead. Cordy: "Oh! Oh, my gosh, it's gorgeous!" Puts it around her neck. Cordy, brightly: "And look how it brings out my breasts! (g*n gives her a look) You know you were all thinking it! (To Angel) Thanks." Angel hands Wes a sheathed dagger. Wesley: "Uh! Sixteenth century! (Unsheathes it) Angel! Murshan Dynasty? (Angel nods as a grin spreads across Wes' face) I've always wanted one of these! I didn't think you... (Whips the dagger through the air) Oh, I can't wait to k*ll something with this! (To Cordy) Any visions brewing?" Angel steps towards the stairs: "The place looks good. How's Fred?" Cordy: "Good! She's (Taps Wes' chest to get the guy's attention and makes a cutting motion across her throat with her hand) doing well." Angel: "Hasn't come out of her room yet, huh?" Cordy: "Not what you'd call frequently. We, we sent up a lot of tacos." Angel turns back towards them: "I'll settle in and check up on her. You guys can bring me up to date. - It's really good to see you guys." Angel turns and walks up the stairs. g*n: "Thanks for the head, bro." Wesley: "He seems better than when he left." Cordy looks after Angel: "Uh-huh." Fred is in her room adding the words listen, listen to the scrawls covering the walls. Fred: "Listen. Listen. Listen." Jumps at the knock on her door. Fred: "Oh. Hi! How are you? I'm just fine. Doing real good here, no need to worry about me, but thanks for checking!" Goes back to writing. Angel: "It's me, Fred." Fred: "Oh, Angel." Fred hurriedly takes off her glasses and runs to open the door. Fred with a big smile: "Hi! Hey! You're... Well, hi there!" Reaches as if to hug Angel, but when he just keeps standing outside of her door she steps back again. Fred: "It's good to... Did you have a nice... Oh, here, let me make some room!" Hurries to take some stuff off one of the chairs. Angel: "I can't come in." Fred: "Of course not. You're worn from your trip. You go rest. We'll catch up later." Fred begins to shut the door, not looking at Angel. Angel: "Fred, I wanna talk to you, I just can't come in unless you..." Fred, pulling the door back open: "I invite you. Instead of being rude! Oh, come in. Come in." Angel walks in and looks at the writing covering the walls. Fred: "It's just a smidge of vampire in you as far as I'm concerned, but the universe has rules. I'm a great believer in rules, and theorems, formulas..." Angel: "I get that." Fred: "Aphorisms leave me a little dry." Angel: "How are you?" Fred: "Yeah. - Good. - Everything's pretty much like when you, you know, went away on your trip." Angel: "Sorry I left so suddenly. I just..." Fred: "Hey, no, you had things you had to take care of. And it's not like I need a babysitter or... You're sticking around *now*, right?" Angel: "Yeah, I am." Fred: "Oh (lets out a short laugh) good!" Angel reads the words on the wall behind Fred: "Listen, listen, listen... What are you listening for?" Fred sits down on the arm of a chair, pulling her knees up. Fred: "The click. - When it all comes together and makes sense. There's like a click in your brain and then you understand things again." Angel: "Oh. What happens if you run out of wall space before you get the click?" Fred, hugging her arms around her knees: "I don't know." Angel: "Fred, I know you spent... (stops as he steps on some of the trash littering the floor, then moves a chair to sit across from Fred) five years in a place where humans could only be slaves or fugitives. I know that wasn't a picnic for you. But you're home now. You're safe. You can come out of your room. - I know that it's gonna take some time." Fred gets up: "Time. I have a whole treatise on that. It seems to take a lot of it to do just about anything these days." Fred starts to write on the wall. Angel gets up and gently takes the marker out of her hand. Angel: "Fred. Fred. You don't have to write absolutely everything down." Fred: "Oh, right. (Laughs) God, I should write *that* down." Angel reaches out and helps down off the chair she was standing on. Angel: "You just... come on... you just need to take some small steps. Hmm? (Pushes the glasses up on her nose with a slight smile) Like, uhm, coming downstairs (walks past her and opens the door) and hanging with us for a while. What do you say? There's nothing to be scared of. You're safe here in the hotel." Angel slowly steps backwards out of Fred's room. We hear Cordy scream downstairs. Angel: "Hold that thought!" Angel runs downstairs where Cordy is having one dozy of a vision. Wes and g*n come running as well from different parts of the hotel. Angel and g*n support Cordy in a sitting position between them. Angel: "Easy. What is it? What did you see?" Flashes of Cordy's vision. Cordy: "A bunch of vampires - and - they're crashing a party. They're k*lling people." Angel: "Where?" Cordy: "Wilson College. Bonner Hall. (Wes and g*n head for the doors) Room nine eighteen." Angel yells after them: "Room nine eighteen!" Cordy: "They're gonna take hostages. (More flashes) Watch out for the blonde. She's the worst!" Angel: "Are you alright?" Cordy: "Yeah. Fine. I'm fine. Go. Go!" Angel hurries after the others. As soon as he's through the doors, Cordy collapses, sobbing from the pain. g*n, Angel and Wes enter a dorm room littered with bodies. g*n picks up a flyer. g*n: "So much for inviting everyone. Angel: "Some of them are still alive." Wes into the phone sitting next to the door: "There's been an accident. We need two, maybe three ambulances. Wilson College, Bonner Hall, Room nine eighteen." Angel looks around the room then walks over to the open window. Angel: "They're heading east on sixth street. Take the car." g*n: "What are you gonna do?" Angel vamps out as he turns to look at g*n. g*n: "Oh." Angel jumps out of the window, then runs along the roof tops. Four vampires are sitting in a convertible, whooping as they drive down the street. A blond boy sits between the blonde vampire Cordy mentioned and the driver, his dark haired girl friend sits between the two vamps in the back. Bobby: "Please." Elisabeth: "Hmm?" Bobby: "Please don't hurt her." Elisabeth: "You love her? (Bobby nods) You'd do anything for her. (He nods again) What if - we just k*ll her and let you go? Hmm? (Bobby just stares at her) Come on now. Life's about making choices. - You or her, what's it gonna be?" Bobby, after a long moment: "Her. - Take her. God, I..." Elisabeth: "Gee. Bobby, you call that love? We get home (pets the side of his head) I'll show you what love is." The girl in the back screams as Angel drops down onto the hood of the car and grabs the wheel, serving the car off the street into a building. Wes and g*n bring Angel's convertible to a squealing stop behind it, and jump out, grabbing some w*apon from the backseat. Angel jumps off the hood, slugs the vamp sitting beside the girl then pulls the boy and his girlfriend up and lifts them out of the car. Angel: "Run!" Elisabeth slugs Angel and runs after the kids, only to find herself face to face with Wes and g*n. Elisabeth punches g*n then turns back to h*t Angel as he is beating up on two of the vamps while Wes takes on the third. g*n hits one of the vampire, distracting its attention from Angel, then quickly stakes it and throws the stake to Wes, who catches it and uses it to stake his vamp. Seeing this the third vamp runs while Angel grabs Elisabeth by the shirt, pulls her around to face him and stakes her as well. Elisabeth stares at him: "Angelus?" then turns to dust. Angel looks down at the heart-shaped locket left in his hand from pulling her around. Break Cordy stumbles into her dark bathroom, leans panting on the sink, and looks at herself in the mirror. Bathroom door shuts and the light turns on. Cordy: "Oh. Too bright, too bright!" The main light turns back off and a small table lamp comes on instead. Cordy with a sigh: "Oh, thank you, Dennis. - How'd I ever live without a ghost?" Cordy opens the medicine cabinet and takes out a bottle of prescription pills. The stopper drops into the drain of the bathtub and the water turns on." Cordy: "Hot. Really hot. Please." Cordy swallows three pills. Cordy: "Ahh. These visions are k*lling me. They're getting worse every time." Cordy steps over to the tub filled with bubbles and takes off her shirt. Her shirt drops, then floats up to hang itself over a hook. Cordy is sinking back into the bubbles with a sigh. A loofa brush floats up in front of her face and Cordy leans forward. Cordy: "Oh, Dennis, what'd I do without you?" We hear a telephone ring. Cordy: "No." Flashback to Marseilles, 1767, a bell is ringing the alarm and we can see the glow of a big f*re lighting the side of the buildings at the end of the street. Elisabeth and James are dancing down the street laughing, followed by a more sober Angelus and Darla. Darla: "Young love." Angelus: "Give it a century." James: "A century? A mere hundred years?" Elisabeth: "I would need a thousand just to sketch the perfect plane of your face." James: "I would need ten thousand just to name the color of your eyes." Angelus: "They're green, but take your time. In fact, don't. We have a ship to catch and Holtz may not be far behind." James sighs. Elisabeth: "You know neither poetry nor love, Angelus." Darla: "He knows other things. Marvelously vile and ripping things. Didn't we eat a poet in Madrid?" Angelus: "Troubadour." James: "Everything's closed! Pity. I wanted to spend some of the counts gold on you." Angelus: "We'll need it for the voyage." Elisabeth: "The count DeLeon was a little rich for my blood. I'll be full for a week!" Angelus: "The f*re was excessive." James: "Of course it was. We b*rned his villa to the ground!" Elisabeth: "We left a mark, made a statement!" Angelus: "Ah, a statement as in 'here, we are, Holz. Please, hunt us down.'" James: "Ah, who cares about Holtz?" Darla: "You would if you knew him. He's k*lled scores of us. Hunted Angelus and I across half of Europe. God, he follows us to Morocco, what then? The new world?" James: "I say we stay and fight the bastard." Angelus: "Yeah, but you're an idiot." James: "I don't believe he's the most formidable vampire k*ller in the world. None lives to tell the tale and all. (leans closer) *You* lived to tell the tale." Elisabeth to Darla: "I heard he trapped you both in a barn and *you* fled, leaving him to die." James: "It's not true." Angelus looking at Darla: "It's entirely true. She h*t me with a shovel, wished me luck and rode off on our only horse." Darla smiles up at Angelus, leaning in close to him: "Life is full of surprises." Angelus: "Ah, life is boring. You're full of surprises." Darla: "Of course when you finally did catch up with me in Vienna I had to pay for my sins, again and again." Angelus: "Hmm, can you even begin to fathom the things that we did? Of course not. You're in love." Darla and Angelus walk off. Angel turns back to see that Elisabeth is looking at a necklace in a shop window, James coming up behind her. Angelus: "Let's not dawdle, children." Elisabeth looking at the hear-shaped locket: "It's so pretty." James: "No it's not." Elisabeth: "James!" James: "Not as pretty as it's going to be..." James breaks the window and picks up the locket. James: "When it's worn by the prettiest one of all." James puts it around her neck. Elisabeth: "I adore it. I'll *never* take it off!" James swings her around then kisses her. Some uniformed soldiers come up the street. Angelus: "And this is what love gets you." James laughs: "Elisabeth, you and Darla get to the ship, we'll join you there. (Gives her quick kiss) Let's give them a rout, what do you say Angelus?" Angelus: "I'd say you're an idiot, but I'd just be repeating myself." James: "Come on you bloody frogs! I broke the window and I'll break your skulls! (Laughs and turns to Angelus as Darla and Elisabeth disappear down the street) See, all you have to do is stand up to them. (To soldiers) What are you afraid of?" Riders come galloping up and the soldiers disappear down the street. Angelus: "Not us." The riders pull up, some of them aiming crossbows. Guy with a beard and big Quaker-like hat looks at them. Angelus: "Hope she treasures that locket." g*n: "Then what?" Back in the present, Angel is locking at the locket, surrounded by g*n, Wes and Cordy. Angel: "Huh?" g*n: "What happened with Holtz?" Angel: "Oh, that's another story." g*n: "We got time." Wesley: "I'm not sure we do." Cordy: "No, because James and Elisabeth had the big, forever love. If he's still around and he finds out who k*lled her..." Wesley: "He's gonna want revenge." Angel: "*If* he's still around and if they're still in love. That was a long time ago." Cordy: "Yeah, two hundred plus years and the girl is still wearing the locket." Wes turning to leave: "g*n and I'll h*t the streets, see what our sources can tell us." Cordy: "Uh-huh. See? We have sources now." Angel: "Oh, you're almost like real detectives now." g*n following Wes: "Hey!" Angel: "Just kidding. You should probably check it out. - James really lived for that girl." Cordy: "Yeah." James and the escaped vampire watch from the shadows of a parking garage as Elisabeth's car is getting hooked up to a tow-truck. Vamp: "We did everything we could, but they were... (sighs) He was too much for us." James: "Angelus." Vamp: "Yeah. One of our own hunting us down. It's sick!" James: "How is this possible? The Angelus I knew..." Vamp: "He's not the same. Gypsies cursed him with a soul a hundred years ago or so. He's got a business here in LA. He kills us for money." James: "She's gone." Vamp: "It was horrible. She was bringing you two ripe and rosy humans and he just - flew out of the sky and..." James: "And you ran." Vamp: "No, I fought - until I saw it was hopeless. I thought you'd want to know how it happened, who did it." James: "And now I do." Vamp: "You want to be alone." James: "No. - I want to die." James tosses the other vamp into a patch of sunlight, showing no reaction to the screams as he goes up in flames and dies. Angel is looking at the pictures of James and Elisabeth in the locket. Cordy, leaning on the counter at the other end of the lobby looks at him then turns back to the papers in front of her. Angel, back still turned towards Cordy: "What?" Cordy: "What?" Angel: "What do you want to say?" Cordy: "Ah, me? Nothing. What makes you think I wanna..." Angel: "'cause I know you?" Cordy: "Well, it's really - none of my business." Angel: "And that always stops you." Cordy steps closer: "Actually, it is my business, *our* business, because we're trying to do a job here, and what affects you affects me, and - anyway, I don't like to see you suffer more than you have to. I don't think you should blame yourself, or feel guilty for her death." Angel: "I don't." Cordy: "Good. Glad to hear it." Angel: "I didn't even know who she was when I k*lled her." Cordy: "Not her! - Angel..." Angel after a b*at: "Oh... (Closes the locket) you - you want to talk about..." Cordy: "She was the love of your life and she died." Angel sits down on the stairs, facing Cordy. Cordy steps closer: "And - you weren't there when it happened. (Sits down next to him with a sigh) You couldn't help her fight. You couldn't save her. - You couldn't die with her." Angel doesn't answer. Cordy: "This is gonna be one of those talks where I do all the talking, isn't it? (Gets up) Well, I'm not gonna pry. It's not my style. (Turns back to face him) Okay, it's totally my style, but I can tell that I'm not getting anywhere right now. But you have to tell me one thing. You owe me this much. What the hell happened with Holtz" Flashback to Holtz men surrounding James and Angelus in Marseilles. Holtz steps up close to Angelus: "Where is she?" Angelus: "How's your health there than, Holtz? Mine is grand, thanks for asking." Holtz: "Where is she?" Angelus aside to James: "He wants Darla. Bit of a thorn in his side. What she and I did to his family... Tasty lot, especially the little ones. Your wife, she kept repeating on us. Of course, you know, I repeated on her a few times myself." Holtz hits Angelus across the chin as two men step up and grab a hold of Angelus arms, then pulls out a stake and holds it at Angelus throat. Holtz: "There are worse things than death, Angelus. I can keep you alive for months, years, if I have a mind to. (Presses the point of the stake into Angelus chest) Now. You *are* going to tell me where she is." Angelus: "Lord, yes, I'm gonna tell you. Who's arguing? I don't want to suffer needlessly. (Tilts his head towards James) She's with his lass." James: "Shut your mouth, you bloody coward!" Angelus: "Hey, he's in love. It's all very passionate and befuddlin'. Tell you what, how about I give you him and the women? - They're down at the docks." James: "I'll k*ll you!" James pulls Angelus free of the two humans and hits him. Holtz picks up a crossbow and aims it at the two fighting vampires. Holtz: "k*ll them!" Bolts start flying. Angelus, crossbow bolt stuck through his shoulder jumps on a horse. James jumps up behind him. Holtz: "Stop them! Stop them, they are getting away!" More bolts fly as the two vampires ride away down the street. Angelus pulls the horse up in an alley. Angelus: "I think we lost them." James pushes Angelus off the horse and slides forward into the saddle. James: "I'd k*ll you where you lay if I didn't have to get to Elizabeth." Angelus: "Excuse me, I'm laying here with numerous arrows in me, saving your life." James: "I'll be sure to tell Darla the utter lack of concern you had for her." James turns the horse around and rides off as Angelus pushes himself to his feet. Angelus: "Buy her a hat. She loves hats. - Why are people always running off and leaving me? (Pulls an arrow out of his side) Am I a bad bloke? - I don't think so. Not once you get to know me. (Pulls the arrow out of his shoulder.) Oh. I really need a doctor." Drops to the ground with a groan. James bursts into a doctor's office, a frantic nurse at his heels. Nurse: "Wait a minute! You can't go in there! He's sloughing!" The doctor, sitting behind his desk, pulls some light brown g*n off his face. Nurse: "Dr. Gregson, I tried to tell him!" Doctor: "It's alright, Sandy. (Drops the g*n in a basket labeled for toxic waste) I go through this every month. Just like a woman. (Wipes off his hands and puts on his glasses) so. I gather this is a matter of some urgency." James: "I need it." Doctor: "It?" James: "The cure." Doctor: "You're aware of the price? It's a steep one." James: "I've already paid it." Doctor: "Alright then. Sandy, lets prepare the patient." James is lying on an operating table with Dr. Gregson and Nurse Sandy standing over him. Doctor: "Now, James, (lifts a scalpel) this shouldn't hurt (starts to slice into James chest) too much." Break Lorne is on stage singing "I left my heart in San Francisco" g*n and Wes are standing over by the bar. g*n: "He said he had something?" Wesley: "That's what he said." g*n: "When's he gonna show?" Wesley: "Any time now." An old demon wearing a knit wool jacket taps g*n with his cane. Demon: "You youngster wanna button it up? I'm trying to enjoy the show here. - See, that's real singing there. That's *real* music." g*n: "Okay, pops." Demon: "What do you know?" Lorne finishes the song just as Merl walks up to g*n and Wes. Merl: "I'm not dealing if the bloodsucker is around." Wesley: "Angel's not here." Merl: "Good. He's always beating me up, or hanging me upside down, and he never pays up like he's supposed to." Wes pulls out some money and puts in on the bar in front of Merl. Merl: "Jeez, if I could have made a living in Akron I never would have come back to this smog pit." g*n: "Tick, tock, Merl." Merl: "Yeah, well, this thing took a little more leg work than I estimated. The price is gonna change." Wesley: "Really?" Merl: "Yeah." Wesley: "Alright." Wes picks up the top bill and puts it in his pocket. Merl: "Hey!" Wes keeps picking up one bill after another from the top of the stack, never taking his eyes off Merl. Merl, grabs the money: "Hey, hey, hey! - This guy James you're looking for, he's alive, he's in town, and he knows what Angel did to his heartthrob. (Lorne had come up to them and is listening in as well) He's out for blood." g*n pulls out a cell phone and starts dialing. Angel to phone: "Yeah, do that. I'll cover this end." Cordy: "What's up?" Angel hangs up the phone: "He's alive. Wes and g*n are gonna track him down." Cordy: "What if they can't?" Angel: "Doesn't really matter. 'cause I know where he'll be headed." Cordy: "Here. For you." Angel opens the w*apon cabinet: "I want you to go home while it's still light out and stay there." Cordy crosses her arms: "No." Angel: "Yes!" Cordy: "Hm-mm." Angel: "Where's my hurling ax? This is all different!" Cordy: "I moved some things to the cellar while you where gone. (Angel turns to look at her) They were dust catchers!" Angel: "Go home." Cordy: "I'm sticking with you!" Angel: "I appreciate your courage, but I don't wanna see you get hurt." Cordy: "Well, I don't either! I go home, he'll come after me because I'm home alone. That's what they do, they come after you when you're alone. Oh, sure, Cordy, go home! Be a hostage with the t*rture and the fear and the tort..." Angel: "Cordy! Will you, just once, do what I tell you without arguing about everything, okay? Hurling ax. Basement?" Angel walks towards the basement doors with Cordy hurrying after him. Cordy: "I'm not arguing! I just know I'd be a lot safer by your side rather than all alone at home." Angel opens the basement door to find James standing on the other side of it. James throws Angel back against the wall as Cordy runs back into the lobby. James: "Why'd you do it?" They exchange a few punches then James sends Angel flying into the lobby. James: "Because I had something you could never have?" Angel to Cordy peeking out from behind a pillar: "Get back!" Angel and James go at it again. Fred steps out onto the open hallway looking down into the lobby. Fred: "Angel? - I thought I heard company. I came out of my room. Small steps - like you said." Angel stops choking James to step back to where Fred can see him. Angel: "Go back to your room and stay there!" Fred turns to go: "Okay then." James and Angel resume their fight. Merl: "I don't know where he is now, but I know where he was earlier. Dr. Gregson's." g*n: "What kind of doctor is that?" Lorne: "A demon kind. Slod demon." Wesley: "Slod demon? What's he do?" Lorne: "He's a collector." The phone rings in the Hyperion's lobby, but Angel is too busy fighting to answer it. Cordy picks up a f*re extinguisher and hurls it at the back of James head. Angel: "I told you to..." Cordy picks up a stake and throws it: "Shut up and stake him!" James intercepts the stake and att*cks Angel with it. Cordy: "Oops." James trying to push the stake into Angel's chest: "You never loved anyone - or anything. Go to hell." Cordy jumps on James back. James turns to send her flying across the lobby. Angel grabs a hold of the stake and buries it in James chest, then hurries over to help Cordy up. Angel: "It's alright. It's alright. It's over." Cordy looks over and sees that James, instead of dusting, is pulling the stake from his chest. Angel and Cordy stare as the wound closes in front of their eyes. Cordy: "Ah, over in what sense?" Break Angel att*cks James and kicks him out through the glass doors into the sunlight streaming down into the garden court, hurries back to Cordy. Cordy points: "Ah, shouldn't he be on f*re?" Angel hustles her towards the basement: "Let's get out of here." Cordy is following Angel down the ladder into the sewers. Cordy: "My coat. It's stuck." Angel: "Leave it." Cordy slips out of it and hurries after Angel. James drops down into the sewers after them. Cordy and Angel come to a fork in the tunnels. Angel pushes Cordy towards one of them. Angel: "Go that way." Cordy: "Where are you gonna go?" Angel: "Go!" Cordy goes. Angel slices his hand and splashes some of his hand some ways down the other tunnel then hurries after Cordy. Opens a door in the side of the tunnel. Angel: "Cordy! This way. Hurry up!" Angel pulls the door shut behind them. James comes running up to the fork and sniffs the air, then runs down the tunnel Angel sprayed with his blood. Cordy: "Alright, I've been doing this for a while. Don't stakes through the heart and sunshine k*ll you guys?" Angel: "Sh! He seems to have become..." Cordy: "...invincible?" Angel: "Let's not exaggerate." Cordy: "The ring of Amara, when you had that you were invincible. Does he have a ring?" Angel: "No." Cordy: "Hmm. - Did the Amara people make cufflinks or belt buckles?" Angel: "There was only one." Cordy: "And you had to smash it!" Angel: "Why don't we recriminate later, okay?" Cordy: "Yes." Angel: "Now be quiet. I think he took the bait." A deep rumbling sounds and the tunnel begins to shake. Cordy throwing herself at Angel: "Earthquake!" Angel: "Subway!" Cordy lets go of him: "Okay, just subway." Both of the jump and Cordy lets out a small scream as her cell phone suddenly rings. Angel: "Jeez!" Cordy fumbling with her phone: "Sorry, sorry, cell phone." Wesley at Caritas: "Cordelia, is that you? Can you hear me?" Cordy: "Huh? What? Say that again?" Wesley: "There is something you have to know about James." Cordy: "Oh. He's invincible, is he? He went to a what? Slog demon? What's that? (to Angel) some kind of doctor demon that collects rare organs. (To phone) Cut out his heart? (To Angel) Absolutely can not be k*lled. (To phone) Wait. What? - How long? Six what? What? Hello? (looks down at her phone) No signal. (closes it) Okay. The guy's invincible, but it only lasts for so long then he dies." Angel: "How long?" Cordy: "He said... I don't know. Six minutes, hours, weeks. (fumbles with her cell phone) I hate these. Come on, give me a signal!" Angel: "That's good news. So all we have to do is, is wait him out." Cordy: "Right. So we just wait here until we're sure." With a big crash James burst through a door a ways down from them. Angel hurries Cordy back out into the tunnels. Angel: "Cordy, up here!" Angel and Cordy push through the people crowding the stairs to the subway platform just as a train pulls up. James is coming down the 'up' escalator, pushing people out of his way. Angel pulls Cordy through the open doors into the train. The doors close in front of James nose. As the train pulls out of the station Cordy, clinging to Angel's back sticks out her tongue at James. Cordy: "What a creep." James de-vamps as he watches the train pass by him, then jumps on the back of it. Cordy: "Should we get off at the next station and double back? He won't expect that. Or should we stay put till the end of the line and put as much distance between us..." Angel: "Shh!" There is a clunking sound coming from the roof. Cordy: "He couldn’t possibly..." Angel pushes Cordy behind him just as James come bursting in through a window at the end of the compartment. Angel: "Get back!" James: "Well, this is a new twist in an old snake. - Is it possible you care about someone who isn't you?" Angel glances back at Cordy: "Don't worry about her." James: "But if you've changed. If you aren't the same man who screwed Darla and couldn't care less what happened to her..." Angel: "Where did you hear... Oh. You mean back in the day. Right." Cordy: "He has changed. A lot. He has a soul now and he cares about people." James: "So you might feel something when I snap her neck." Cordy: "Well, it's not like he's losing sleep with the caring." James: "Lucky me. Now I can k*ll the woman you love." Angel: "No, you can't." James: "Are you forgetting who's the invincible one here?" Angel: "The woman I love - is d*ad." James: "Who are you talking about?" Cordy: "It happened about three months ago. We try not to say her name too much." James: "*You* loved someone - with all your heart." Angel: "Yeah." James: "No you didn't. - Because if you had you wouldn't be standing here playing games with me. You wouldn't be able to - because once she died or some bastard k*lled her, it would have k*lled everything in you." Angel: "I wouldn't be able to go on living." James: "Don't worry, you won't. And she won't either." James rips a seat loose and smashes it across Angel's face. Cordy: "Angel!" James hits Angel again sending sliding back towards Cordy and a male passenger standing by the door, leaning on a pair of crutches. Angel: "Catch him!" Cordy: "Catch who?" Angel pulls the crutches from under the guys arms and Cordy barely keeps him from falling. Angel flips to his feet and, one crutch under each arm, faces James. Angel: "Come on!" James att*cks and Angel catches his arm with the crutches and uses their leverage to twist James around and press him up against the wall. Angel: "How's that, invincible boy, huh? - Is that your idea of love, James, hmm? It's not real unless it kills, you?" James, panting: "Yeah. What's yours? It's fun as long as it doesn't cost me anything? - You don't know what love is!" Angel backs up, letting James free. James slides down the wall of the train and looks up at Angel. James panting: "You think you won - just because you're still alive? - I lived. - You just existed." Angel just stands there staring down at James until James suddenly turns to dust. Cordy sees Angel coming down the steps of the Hyperion. Cordy: "How's Fred?" Angel: "She's alright, considering. We talked over what happened and I think she'll be coming out of her room any decade now." Cordy: "And how about you?" Angel: "I'm o..." Cordy: "And don't say 'okay.' Angel, please. I know you. Ever since you've come back from your grief trip I can tell that something's not right. And, and *obviously* it's not. - Buffy's - d*ad, and I don't mean to diminish that. I miss her too. - I just wanna say - I know that James with all his Romeo and Juliet madness, opened up a lot of wounds for you, but you'll be okay." Angel: "I am okay." Cordy: "Then - what's the problem?" Angel: "That I'm okay. That losing Buffy didn't k*ll me. That I could deal with it. - In all those years - no one ever mattered. Not like she did. - And now she's gone - forever." Cordy: "And you're still here." Angel: "Yeah. I just feel like I'm betraying her somehow." Cordy: "No! If you were a loser, if you were some sick obsessed vampire, you'd go to a Snod demon, or whatever, and get your heart cut out. But you're not! You're a living, breathing... Well, living, anyway - good guy, whose still fighting and trying to help people, and that's not betraying her, that's honoring her." Angel: "You think?" Cordy: "I'm Cordelia. I don't think. I know. Okay?" Cordy gives him a big grin, which draws a small smile in response. Angel: "Okay." Cordy: "So - can we get back to wor,k now?" Angel: "Yeah. Sure. - There's work?" The door opens and g*n and Wes come striding in. Wesley: "What do you know about Nester demons?" Angel: "Well, they like to live in the walls of people's homes. They hatch several times a year - and don't you have to k*ll their queen or something?" g*n hands Cordy a dagger: "Yeah. And if you don't they infest again, worse than ever." Cordy: "We k*lled a bunch of them in Hancock Park a couple of months ago." Wesley: "I don't think we got the queen." Angel accepts a Kn*fe and turns to go: "Well, lets go find out." The four of them stride down the hall of the Hyperion. Puerto Cabazas, Nicaragua, night, a big burly black guy comes into a cantina. He pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to someone waiting for him at the bar. Guy: "Sorry it took so long. He's a very difficult shaman to find." Darla accepts the paper and stuffs it into her shirt. Darla: "You can go." Guy pours a drink: "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I thought - we'd have a drink - to celebrate." Darla: "No. Thanks." Guy: "Oh. Don't be so shy, little one. You get to know me, I'm a very nice man. How much can - one little drink hurt, huh?" Darla: "Depends on who's doing the drinking." Guy: "Hmm. I thought you might have a - surprise or two in you." Darla: "Well, you know what they say..." Darla vamps out and sinks her teeth into the side of the guys neck as he lets out a strangled scream, then drops him to the floor and picks up a slice of lemon and sucks on it. Darla: "Life's full of surprises." Darla gets up from the bar and we see that her belly is bulging, big and round.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x01 - Heartthrob"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: "You know Lilah Morgan in Special Projects." Park: "I'm Gavin Park." Angel: "Already bored." Fred: "They use you as a sl*ve and then your body gives." Constable: "Fugitive!" Fred: "Oh, no!" Fred: "Handsome man - saved me from the monsters." Cordy gets h*t with a vision. Angel: "Are you gonna be alright?" Cordy: "Yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine. Go. Go!" Cordy: "These visions are k*lling me." Angel and Darla making out. Angel: "Get dressed and get out. Because the next time I see you, I will have to k*ll you." Pregnant Darla gets up from the bar. Man: "He's a very difficult Shaman to find." Darla: "You know what they say: life's full of surprises." Wes and g*n are standing at the counter of the Hyperion, eating Chinese take-out right out of the boxes with chopsticks. Wes: "No, g*n, you misunderstand. - I mean - I'm not saying that we act differently. I just think we should be gentle in our inter... (sees Cordy coming in) Evening, Cordy." g*n waves at her with his chopsticks and gives her a big smile: "Hey, Cordelia." Cordy looks at them as she walks by. g*n to Wes: "How was that?" Wesley: "I felt quite genuine." Fred: "B plus. C minus." g*n and Wes turn to look at Fred, who is sitting cross-legged under the folding table the g*ng put up for Angel as a desk last season with her own box of Chinese takeout. Fred: "A girl can tell." Wesley: "Fred - if you feel comfortable enough grading our sincerity (crouches down in front of the table) how about joining us for the rest of the meal? - Isn't that the point of coming downstairs?" Fred swallows hard: "I guess that'd be okay." Fred crawls out from under the table and joins them at the counter, picking at the food in her box with her fingers. g*n: "Ah, I-I don't mean to rush you back into the twenty first century, but how about using some chopsticks. Or a fork, maybe. (Picks up a fork and offers it to her) You remember forks, don't you?" Fred takes it: "Sure. Who could forget? Fork, pitch fork, fork it over, fork in the road - one I'm not ready to take yet." Cordy walks back through the lobby. Wesley: "Hello again." g*n: "Nice day." Cordy: "I know what you're doing." g*n: "You do?" Fred: "Told you." Cordy: "You're being all fake nice and super-sensitive like 'poor Cordelia, she's on edge, because she hasn't had a vision in while.' Well, I have information for you. I look forward to my next vision." Wesley: "You do?" Cordy: "Well, why shouldn't I? I mean, the Powers That Be have seen fit to choose me - who am I to refuse?" Fred: "Great. How about if you use that vision thing to find out where Angel's at right now." Cordy: "Cause I don't care?" g*n: "Ah, what Cordelia means is that she doesn't choose to have a vision. The Powers send them to her when they got info to share." Wesley: "Think of them as gifts." Cordy: "Yes, having-my-head torn-open-and-hot-lava-poured-into-my-skull gifts." Fred looks from Cordy to Wes and g*n. Park: "Excuse me." They all turn as Gavin Park walks into the lobby carrying his briefcase. Cordy: "Oh. Hi. I'm sorry I didn't hear you sneak up on us. (Looks down at his shoes) Must be those tastefully expensive Gucci Loafers. Totally our fault." Wesley: "He's not a client. He's Gavin Park, attorney with Wolfram and Hart." Park: "Pleased to meet you. (Sees Fred) New player?" Wes walks over to stand in front of Gavin, blocking his view of Fred. Wesley: "Well, now that we've had this lovely reintroduction - I suggest you piss off." Angel walking in: "Is there a problem?" Wesley: "No, no problem. Mr. Park was just leaving." Park: "No. Actually, I just arrived. (Pulls out some papers) This is a list of fifty-seven city code violations for your hotel, including earthquake proofing, asbestos and termites. (Tosses the papers on a chair) Be advised I filed a copy of this with the city planning office." Angel: "Gee, fifty-seven - is that a lot?" Park after a moment: "I'll be in touch." Park walks up the stairs to leave. Cordy: "Yeah, okay - minion of darkness - Satan's toady - but that is a *nice* suit. Did you see that suit?" Angel: "Fred! Good to see you out and about." Fred: "It is, isn't it? Out and about. (Leans towards Angel) I've been forking with g*n." Angel and looks at g*n, eyebrows slightly raised. Cordy starts screaming as she gets h*t with a vision of some clawed demon thing. Angel and Wesley manage to catch her before she falls to the floor. Angel: "Are you alright. -Talk to me." Cordy, gasping: "There is a coin and, uhm, two clawed things, it's in China town I think. An herbalist's shop." Wes and g*n head for the books. Angel: "Come on." Angel helps Cordy up, but when he puts a hand on her left shoulder, Cordy jerks away with a gasp. Cordy: "I'm okay. I'm fine. It just caught me off guard a little. (Angel just looks at her) Ah, go find the coin. (Starts to walk away) It has a hole in it." Angel just stands there, looking after her. Cordy enters the bathroom at the Hyperion and closes the door behind her. Goes to lean on the sink. There is a knock on the door. Cordy: "Yes?" Wes is standing outside the closed door, holding an open book. Wesley: "Cordelia, that beast you saw - did it have four or five claws?" Cordy: "Five." Wesley: "You're certain?" Cordy pulls up her shirt and counts the claw marks decorating her belly. Cordy: "Pretty certain." Intro Wes is standing in front of a table loaded down with books. Fred is pacing behind him reading a thick phone book. Wesley: "Anything of interest yet, Fred?" Fred: "Oh, sure. Lots. 'H' is a fascinating letter. Helicopters, helium, helmets, hernias...' Wesley: "Did you happen to notice 'herbs' in your wanderings?" Fred with a big grin: "I did. (Wes just looks at her) Oh, right. There are, ah, lets see... five herbalist shops in Chinatown." Angel comes walking in. Angel: "We got a name or face for these things yet?" Wesley: "Circling. I think we might be looking either at a Wan Shan Dhole or a Cantonese Fook-beast." g*n walks in carrying a baseball bat and with a backpack slung over one shoulder. g*n: "I say we figure out what these things are after we find that coin. We're burning moonlight." Wesley: "Sounds like a plan." Angel: "Hey, Fred? I need you to do something for me." Fred gives him a huge smile. Cordy is in the bathroom taking a couple of aspirins. She's taken her shirt off and turns to look at her left shoulder blade in the mirror. There are three more claw marks there. Angel knocks on the closed door of the bathroom. Cordy: "I told you, it's about finding the coin." Angel: "It's me." Cordy: "I'm fine!" Angel: "I'm not leaving until you open the door. I mean it, Cordelia, open up." Cordy opens the door, shirt back on, hiding the scratches, and gives him a bright smile. Cordy: "See? Fine!" Angel stops her from closing the door again. Angel: "They're getting worse, aren't they?" Cordy: "I'm feeling better. Once I get a little protein in me, I'll be good as new. Honest. Now, go declaw those things!" Angel: "I've asked Fred to take you home." Cordy: "I don't need to go home." Angel: "There is nothing else you can do here. Just - get some rest, okay?" Cordy: "No..." Angel: "O-kay?" Cordy sighs: "Okay." Closes the door. Angel is sitting in the back of the convertible, with g*n driving and Wes in the passenger seat as they're driving down the dark streets of LA g*n: "Five herb shops in Chinatown and we've been to four. How come whatever we're searching for is always in the last place we look?" Wesley: "I supposed it is one of the unwritten laws of being a 'dick.' (g*n give Wes a look) Ah, a sleuth, a gumshoe, Sherlock." g*n: "All I know is you use the word 'dick' again and we're gonna have a problem. - So what is the name of this place anyway?" Wesley: "Van Hoa Dong. - It should be up there on the left. (Turns around to face Angel) How was Cordelia when you spoke to her." Angel: "She said she was fine." Wesley: "You don't believe her?" g*n: "Alright, here we go. Next time we're hitting the last place first." g*n stops the car just down the street from the herb shop. In the shop a white-haired older gentleman is measuring out some powder. A woman brings him another jar as Angel, g*n and Wes walk into the store. Woman: "Your kind not welcome here!" g*n: "Since when can't a brother buy some ginseng tea?" Man: "Not you. (Points at Angel) Him! Vampire not welcome!" Wesley: "This is a public facility and any being may enter. We're looking for an ancient coin." The Chinese couple exchanges a look - then both let out a scream and flip over the counter, landing in a martial arts stance. g*n: "Ah, so you think some fancy flipping and a little hollering can intimidate guys like us? (Suddenly their hands turn into long, gray claws) Okay, that creeps me out." Angel: "You two take grandma. I'll take the old man." A big fight ensues during which (miraculously) all three of our heroes manage to avoid getting more than superficially cut by the couple razor-sharp metal claws. In the end, Wesley manages to knock grandma over the head while g*n keeps her distracted with his wooden baseball bat (sharpened to a point for easier stake action). Angel takes a hold of the scarf the old man wears wrapped around his waist and with a sudden hard pull sends the man spinning through the air. The old man crashes into the shelves covering the wall and drops to land in a heap on the floor. g*n, panting: "Damn. Grandma and grandpa got game." Wesley: "Yeah, I know. Now if we could just find that coin before they come to." Angel: "Guys. Over here." Angel reaches down and snaps the leather necklace holding the coin from around the old man's neck. At Wolfram and Hart Lilah picks up the page a printer has just finished printing out and looks at it. Lilah: "Asbestos disposal? What?" Gavin Park comes up and takes the page from her. Park: "I think that's mine. Yeah, my printer is down so I had the I.T. guy network me into yours." Lilah: "Thanks for asking." Park: "This hasn't been announced yet - but I've been moved into Special Projects." Lilah: "From Real Estate?" Park: "With so much karmicly damaged property in LA, not to mention the demon infestation, the Partners felt that I would be more useful here." Lilah: "Hmm..." Park: "I'm working on a little something aimed at Angel Investigations. If you're interested, I'd love to have you on my team." Lilah: "Your team?" The door of her office pops open and a guy wearing a fez sticks his head out. Lilah: "I'll be right in." The guy withdraws and closes the door just as quickly. Lilah: "Let me tell you a little something about your team. - You don't have one." Park: "Look, just because they gave you Lindsey's old office doesn't mean..." Lilah: "I have this office because I earned it. As did Lindsey. He sacrificed his flesh and blood for this company, literally had his hand cut off - fighting against Angel. (Holds up the printout) What are you doing? Building code violations." Park: "I'm fighting Angel in my *own* way." Lilah, entering her office: "Yeah. I bet he's really terrified." Cordy walks out of her bedroom stretching. Cordy: "Okay! All ready for bed. Face washed, teeth brushed, tired, tired! (Fake yawns) You can go now!" Looks around the living room and notices the lack of an audience for her performance. Cordy: "Fred? - Okay, you can go now Fred." Walks over to the kitchen and sees Fred sitting on the floor eating peanut butter straight out of the jar. Fred: "Sorry. It's been so long." Cordy helps her up and puts the lid back on the jar. Cordy: "Not a problem. Here. Take it with you. Enjoy that peanutty goodness in the comfort of your *own* home." Fred: "Hey. Wait. Angel said..." Cordy: "I know. He said that you should wait until he calls (Fred nods) but as you can see, I'm fine. In fact I'm better than fine. I'm - right as rain." Fred: "I-I never understood that saying 'right as rain.' How is rain right? Or wrong, for that matter. Okay, I suppose if there's a flood it's wrong. And speaking of floods, or maybe just being overwhelmed - what's it like to have a vision?" Cordy: "Wow. You know, next to you, I am downright linear." Fred: "Do you see things or smell them or just know - 'in your stomach' know. Like in fifth grade when I saw Grayson Wells and I just knew we'd go steady and even though we never did, looking back on it, it feels like we did. Is it like that?" Cordy after a b*at: "Okay. Time to go." Starts ushering Fed towards the door. Fred: "Has - has anyone ever told you you're exactly like Lassie? Yeah. You're like Angel's Lassie. Sure, he does most of the saving but it's your visions that tell him that Timmy is trapped in the well, or the robbers are hiding in the barn. He really needs and depends on you." Cordy: "Well, thanks. I'd be flattered except for the Lassie being a *dog* part. Dennis, a little help here?" The door of Cordy's apartment swings open. Cordy: "See? I'm not alone, I have a ghost. (Pushes Fred out the door) Bye. We'll have to - to..." Cordy gets h*t by another visions and drops to the floor. Fred crouches down beside her. Fred: "Are you alright?" Fred gently turns an unconscious Cordy over onto her back. Suddenly boils appear all along the side of Cordy's face. Break Cordy: "A demon. An icky, boil-covered demon." Cordy is sitting next to Angel on the edge of her bed with g*n, Fred and Wes standing by the door, looking at her. Cordy: "A storefront downtown on the corner of fifth and something. And there was a key. I should probably draw you a picture of the key." Angel: "Cordy." Cordy starts to get up, but Angel pulls her back down and gently pushes the hair back from her face to reveal the boils she'd been trying to hide. Wesley: "Oh, god." Angel: "Cordy, we should talk about this. You can't ignore what's happening." Cordy sounding slightly hoarse: "I don't wanna talk. What's there to say? Except 'gross' 'yuck' and 'unclean.' (Cordy looks at the others, who avoid meeting her eye) Like you're not thinking it." Angel: "Has this ever happened before?" After a b*at Cordy pulls the sleeve of her sweater up to reveal one set of claw marks. Cordy: "Earlier tonight." Wes crouches down for a closer look: "Oh, whoah! Are you saying your vision had a physical manifestation?" Cordy: "Yeah." Wesley: "And did this new one have anything to do with..." Cordy: "The yuck monster (points at her face) Yeah." Cordy looks past Angel, catches sight of herself in the mirror and gets up to take a closer look. Cordy: "This must be a mistake. The Powers wouldn't do this to me on purpose, I mean, I'm a part of their team. Why would anybody do this on purpose?" Angel comes out of Cordy's bedroom closing the door behind him and joins the others waiting for him in Cordy's living room. Angel: "We have to figure this out and now. Anybody? g*n?" g*n: "I had this auntie who used to get this nasty crusty stuff on the back of her neck every summer - turns out she was allergic to shellfish." Angel after a b*at: "That was helpful." Wesley: "Why would the Powers choose to communicate with Cordy in this way?" Fred: "Maybe we could ask them. (Everyone turns to look at her) Y-you used the word 'communicate' which got me thinking - everything's made of energy, right? Light waves, radio waves, x-rays, even brain waves are all electric energy. If Cordelia is receiving visions from the Powers That Be they're being communicated somehow. Maybe we could figure out the frequency and trace the calls." Wesley: "Yes. Of course. Well done, Fred. - g*n, I need you and Fred to go to the hotel and get me some books. I'll make a list. We need to research that Chinese coin. Angel, you find that demon and get the key." Angel: "I'm not going anywhere." Wesley: "Cordy's had two visions in the same night. You see what it's doing to her. If the Powers That Be are taking such extreme measures we have to assume that the coin and the key are of great significance." Angel: "And so is Cordelia. If I go out and find that key, how can I help her?" Wesley: "By trusting me. I have an idea." Angel brings his convertible to a stop at a street corner and gets out. Sword in hand, he kicks open the door to the store and walks in. Angel: "I want the key and I want it now." Man: "Oh, w-which key might that be?" The man turns on some more light and Angel looks around the store at walls covered with keys and blanks used in the duplication of keys. Man: "Did you lose the original?" Angel pulls out Cordy's drawing of the key and hands it to the man behind the counter. Angel: "Ah, it looks like this." Man: "Ah. Yes, of course. This should only take a moment." The man reaches one hand under the counter - like a bank clerk reaching for the hidden alarm button. A buzzer sounds and a boil covered demon drops down behind Angel swinging a sword. Angel blocks the sword and turns to engage the demon. g*n and Fred walk into the Hyperion's courtyard. Fred: "I know that you're probably disappointed that you couldn't go fight that thing with Angel." g*n: "Right. Because why would I wanna walk with a cute, young woman on a beautiful night when I could be out hacking and slaying an ugly, boil-covered demon monster and getting myself k*lled." Fred: "I can't apologize enough." g*n: "Hey, I just follow orders. No matter how tough the job." Fred: "It's just that I'm still so jumpy, and I hate being jumpy, but I guess that's why you're here. Because you don't..." g*n: "Whoa." g*n has opened the door to the lobby and they find themselves facing a guy wearing a breathing mask. The lobby behind him is filled with gray smoke. g*n: "Who the hell are you?" The guy pulls up his mask: "Surekill Exterminators. You can't come in. We're fumigating." g*n: "In the middle of the night? I don't think so. (To Fred) I need you to get some of them books out of Wes' offices, okay? (Fred looks at him) You'll be okay. I just need to talk to this nice man." Fred walks past the two guys into the hotel. g*n: "Alright. You got thirty seconds to show me your work order before I start doing some exterminating my damn self." Wesley opens the door of Cordy's apartment to let Angel in. Angel: "How is she?" Wesley: "Ah. We're finding out right now. Did you get the... (Angel hands him the key as he walks past Wes) Great." Angel walks into Cordy's bedroom to see her lying on the bed with Lorne sitting beside her. Lorne: "Ah. His royal badness. Just in time. Would you talk to this young lady? She's resisting the process." Angel: "Process?" Wesley: "Oh, my idea. The host reads people's auras to set them on their path. In some shape or form that connects him to the Powers That Be. I'm thinking..." Angel: "Sure. He might be able to reverse the process. That he might be able to use Cordelia in order to trace the call back to the Powers." Lorne: "Way outside of my area of expertise, I should caution. But hey? Who knew William Shatner could sing? (Laughs) - Okay, bad example." Lorne gets up to make room and Angel takes his place on the bed. Cordy: "Was it there? Because I'm gonna be really ticked off if I'm all (points at her face) Phantom of the Opera and there wasn't a key." Angel: "It was right where you said." Cordy: "Oh, good." Angel: "Why don't you want Lorne to try and trace the visions?" Cordy: "It's not like I'm morally against letting a demon into my subconscious for a quick lookee-loo. Hey, might be fun. But with the Powers That Be doing this whole 'book of Job' thing, the last thing I want is more noise in my head." Angel: "Maybe he can make the noise stop." Cordy sighs: "Yeah." Angel: "Isn't that what you want?" Cordy: "Yes! No. Well, no. Sure I hate looking and feeling like this, but - if I lose the visions, I wouldn't be able to help you anymore. You wouldn't need me." Angel: "That's not why I need you. *You're* important. - And the visions are just after market extras like Hurst shift or Krager wheels." Cordy: "Did you just compare me to a car?" Angel: "It was a very nice car." Cordy: "I guess that's better than a dog." Angel: "Cordy, let us try and help. Okay?" Cordy: "Okay." Angel and Lorne change places again. Lorne: "Alright, princess, like I told you earlier. You shouldn't even feel a thing. You ready?" Cordy lies back into her pillow and closes her eyes with a sigh. Lorne puts his hands on her temples and closes his eyes, too. Lorne: "Now, I want you to relax. Picture yourself outdoors, in a field, or on a mountain." Cordy: "I like the mountains." Lorne: "Beautiful. Say you're on a mountaintop, and it's warm. The sky is blue, full of big, fluffy clouds. You're Julie Andrews in 'The Sound of Music.' And you're relaxed and you're spinning and the camera is swirling and - ouch! (Lorne recoils from Cordy) Careful, honey, you've got some power of your own!" Cordy: "Sorry. All the spinning and swirling was freaking me out." Lorne: "My fault, my fault. I just love that movie so much!- Okay. Ready to try again? (Cordy sits up a little higher in her bed) Okay. Now let's go looking for the Powers That Be. See if we can reach out and touch someone." Lilah is pacing her office impatiently, checking her watch. The fez-guy from earlier is writing on a paper. Lilah: "How many times did I tell you that if we don't have your ten-ninety-nine on file that payroll can't cut you a check." Fez: "I know, I know! - Hey, you know a good tax-guy?" Lilah: "Let's just finish the job, then we'll talk about taxes." Fez: "You're the boss. (Signs the paper) John Hancock and - done!" Lilah: "You remember what we talked about?" Fez: "All that f*re? (Laughs) How could I forget?" Fez guy sits down cross-legged on a table, closes his eyes, takes a deep breath and starts to levitate. Lilah smiles as Fez-guy reaches up to take his hat off, revealing an exposed, glistening, gray brain, pulsing and flexing in a weird rhythm. Lorne is massaging Cordy's temples with his fingers. Suddenly Cordy jerks as she is h*t with another vision. Next we get a sh*t of fez-guy's face and his pulsing, exposed brain. Then a blurry vision sh*t of a person engulfed in flames. Blend back to Cordy and Lorne getting blasted backwards through the air until he impacts with the wall to the sound of shattering glass as he smashes a floor lamp. Cordy is still in the throws of the vision as we blend from her jerking around on the bed to the burning guy and some bronze demon. Cordy screams and Angel hurries over to her. Angel: "Cordy? Cordy!" Wesley looks down at Cordy's arms that now look to be severely b*rned in the aftermath of the vision. Fez-guy is slowly settling back down on the table in Lilah's office. He puts his hat back on and opens his eyes to grin at Lilah. Lilah: "Well?" Fez: "I think she got the message." Break Cordy: "Is Lorne gonna be okay?" Angel: "He's fine. He's unconscious, but he's fine. You're the one I'm worried about." Cordy: "Am I a bad person? Am I just a horrible person? Because I know I can be snippy sometimes." Angel: "This isn't happening because you're bad. - If anything it's because you're strong. Stronger than you realize." Cordy: "I'm not. - I know what I said earlier. - But I don't want the visions anymore. I tried to be brave. I did. But I'm just scared now. I'm scared all the time. (Does her best not to cry) I mean look at me! (Holds out her arms, then takes a deep breath and wipes her eyes) What could be *so* important that the Powers would do this? I don't understand." Angel: "I don't either. Hey..." Angel reaches to take a hold of her hand. The door opens and Wesley sticks his head in. Wesley motions for Angel to come out. Angel hesitates looking back at Cordy. Wesley: "Angel. I really think you should hear this." Angel looks back and forth between Wes and Cordy, then gets up. Angel steps out into the hall, closing the door behind him. Angel: "This better be important." Wes cocks his head towards the living room. Angel walks over to see Lorne lying on the couch, with Fred crouching beside it and g*n sitting on the arm of it. Angel: "What? Did you make contact?" Fred: "The visions aren't from the Powers!" Lorne: "Oh, sure, sweetheart. Steal my thunder. Next time *you* can be the one that gets thrown across the room." Angel: "Who's sending the visions?" Lorne: "I don't know. (Winces as he tries to sit up) But it's local. Earthbound, and pretty authentic. I can see how a layperson might mistake it for the real deal." g*n: "Are you saying someone's hacked into Cordy's head?" Lorne: "Transmitting false data through the celestial pipeline. I know it's probably a mile long list, but I'd start looking at enemies. Who wants to get to you, who has the sizable resources, and who'd be willing to mess up a pretty face like Cordelia's?" Lilah is sitting in front of her computer in her office. Lilah: "Concentrate!" She clicks the mouse. We see the golfer on the screen h*t the ball into a water hazard. Lilah: "Ah, damn it." Angel: "Gosh. (Lilah jumps in her chair) Jeez, I hate traps. Don’t' you? I was gonna knock, but you seemed to focused, I hated to interrupt." Lilah: "How-how did you get in here?" Angel goes to sit down in the chair on the other side of her desk. Angel: "Oh, you mean, why didn't the vampire alarms go off? Your college, Gavin, he - helped me out. College, mortal enemy, however you guys play it around here. So, can we get down to business? I think you might be looking for these." Angel holds up the Chinese coin and the key, then tosses them on Lilah's desk. Angel: "What do you think?" Lilah: "I think - you might be right." Angel: "Good. Then we're done here. (Gets up and leans on Lilah's desk) You got what you wanted. Now it's over." Angel turns to go. Lilah: "Actually - it's not over. (Slides the key and coin across the desk) And you'll be needing these to complete your mission." Angel: "There is no mission. You and me - we're through." Lilah gets up: "That's where you're wrong. We're just getting started. There's a young man who's been unfairly imprisoned and - you're gonna save him. Isn't that what you do? Save people? (Indicates the key and coin with her chin) You'll need those to complete your mission." Angel: "I see. I do this for you and you stop sending Cordy the k*ller visions." Lilah: "No. You'll do this for me because I tell you to." Lilah walks up to Angel with a smile, glides a hand from his chest around to his back as she circles him. Lilah: "I know what you're thinking. Yes. You could k*ll me now, but then you'll never be able to stop the visions. Just for the record, those little skin problems on what's-her-name weren't intended. Just an unfortunate little side effect." Angel's right hand suddenly sh**t out and he grabs her by the throat, pulling her face close to his. Angel: "Her name is Cordelia, and you *will* help her." Angel lets go of Lilah and Lilah puts a hand up to her throat, breathing hard and shaking slightly. Angel has taken a step away and turned his back to her. He lets out a deep breath. Angel: "So, where is this jail?" Lilah smiles and walks up behind him. Lilah: "This is exactly why I chose you for the mission, Angel. I needed a man of character, a champion of good, a warrior, and I needed someone who could travel in and out of a fortressed demon dimension." Wesley is sitting at his desk looking at the markings on the coin through a magnifying glass. Angel walks in. Wesley: "How is Cordelia?" Angel: "Fred and g*n are looking after her. You figured it out?" Wesley: "I think so. Something you probably won't like to hear is that both artifacts are considered objects of good." Angel: "Oh. So the Chinese guy and the boil guy..." Wesley: "Were also aligned with the forces of good." Angel: "Damn! *So* hard to tell these days. You know, they should wear lapel pins or something." Wesley: "Well. In the meantime: the inscriptions on the key and the coin match. They actually work together to transport you in and out of the other dimension." Angel: "I don't suppose we know what this other dimension is like - I mean, besides fortress-y and demon-y." Wesley: "Well, based on the burn scars Cordy received from the last vision, I'd imagine f*re is not out of the question." Angel: "f*re." Wesley: "And if the young man is imprisoned, I'd imagine there may be guards." Angel: "Guards." Angel turns to leave the room. Wesley: "I don't need to explain to you that if Wolfram and Hart are behind this mission it can't be good." Angel stops to look back at Wesley, then continues out of the office. Wesley gets up to follow him. Angel is looking through the contents of the w*apon cabinet. Wesley: "Just because Lilah tells you that this man is wrongly imprisoned doesn't make it so." Angel: "You're right." Wesley: "Nor do I have to explain to you that helping them violates everything you stand for." Angel grabbing some w*apon: "Right again." Wesley: "Good. Then I don't need to convince you to let me go with you." Angel: "Right. No! Wesley, I need you to stay here in case anything goes wrong. - Now (holds up the coin) show me how it works." Wesley takes the coin: "I believe it's fairly simple. Ready?" Angel nods. Wes inserts the key into the hole in the center of the coin. Wesley: "This should take you there and bring you back." Wes turns the key and little metal bars spring out from the ends to lock against the coin. Giving it a good twist, Wesley tosses it to the floor where it spins on one end like a top, creating a swirling little vortex of smoke and light. Wesley: "You sure I can't come with you?" Angel: "Take care of Cordy." Taking a deep breath Angel takes a step closer to the spinning key. The ring of light and smoke expands to include Angel. Angel's image becomes smeared and translucent then he and the spinning key disappear with a small flash of light - while the sword, dagger and mace that Angel had just armed himself with clatter to the floor. Break Angel materializes in a darkened chamber. There are skulls worked into the stone walls behind him. Angel looks at his empty hands then checks his belt. Angel: "Sure. Because it would be too easy if I could actually defend myself." He takes a step forward and his foot kicks the key. Angel bends down to pick it up. Angel: "At least I got the key." Angel sticks the key in the inside pocket of his jacket. He spots a doorway to a room lit by f*re at the bottom of a fight of steps and slowly walks towards it. As he enters the room he sees a man engulfed in flames inside a burning cube. A bronze-skinned demon steps up behind Angel. Angel turns to face it. Angel: "Hi." Demon: "Hi. - You know you're not supposed to be here, right?" Angel: "Yeah. What about him?" Angel looks over to the guy inside the burning cage. Demon: "Oh, him? Oh, he's supposed to be here. Do you have any idea how monstrous a guy has to be before he gets sent to us? We're a *very* high-end institution." Angel: "And it's your job to keep him here." Demon: "Yeah. (Offers his hand) I'm Skip." Angel takes the offered hand and they shake. Angel: "Angel. - So, ah, you live in here, Skip?" Skip: "No. I commute. It's not too bad - about twenty minutes." Angel: "Uh, what keeps him in the f*re?" Skip: "My will." Angel: "How come he's not screaming in pain?" Skip: "Oh, he is. My will prevents him from being heard. I mean there is only so many 'oh my god! The pain! Please make it stop!' that you can listen to before it starts to bug the crap out of you." Angel: "I see your point." Skip sniffs: "You're a vampire, right? (Angel nods) How come it smells like you work for the Powers That Be?" Angel: "Cause I do." Skip: "And you're here to try to - rescue this guy? (Angel nods) But we're on the same side. Shouldn't you be helping to keep him in here?" Angel: "I know. I know. Long story. Involves a girl. I don't like it any better than you do." Skip: "So I really can't talk you out of this." Angel: "Sorry. I wish you could. I guess we just have to agree to..." Angel staggers back as Skip hits him full in the face. Angel: "...disagree." The two of them fight. Skip knocks Angel to the ground, and Angel vamps out, jumps back up and resumes the fight. Angel manages to kick Skip backwards towards the burning cage. The burning guy inside reaches out and grabs a hold of Skip's shoulders, trying to pull Skip into the cage with him. Flames lick at Skip's back as he struggles to get free. Angel, in vamp face stands there watching. Suddenly he morphs back to human and runs forward, pulls the hands off Skip's shoulders and swings Skip away from the cage. Angel: "Skip, are you okay? (Skip nods) Good. Sorry about this." With that Angel hauls back and knocks Skip out. The flames and the burning cage disappear, revealing the naked, soot smeared man at its center. Los Angeles, night, two limousines are parked in a spillway. Lilah is pacing between them, checking her watch occasionally. The headlights of a car come towards her and she smiles as she recognizes Angel's convertible. Angel and Wes are sitting in the front, g*n and the guy Angel rescued are in the back. Angel: "You know what to do if anything goes wrong?" g*n: "Pop goes the weasel." Angel gets out of the car and walks towards Lilah. Lilah motions towards the limousines and five or six burly bodyguards step out. Lilah: "To be honest, nobody at the firm thought that you could do it - except me. You're a remarkable man, Angel." Angel: "Yeah, and you're an evil bitch. Let's finish this. Take care of Cordelia - you get your guy." Lilah walks to the back of one of the limos. The window slides down revealing Fez-guy in the backseat. Lilah talks to him and the window slides back up. Lilah turns back to Angel. Lilah: "This should only take a moment." Angel turns to look towards his car and Wes pulls out his cell phone. The phone rings at Cordy's apartment, where Cordy is lying in bed, sleeping. Fred get up from where she was sitting on the end of the bed and goes to answer the phone. Fred: "Hello?" In the back of the limo Fez-guy is sitting hat-less, his eyes closed, brain pulsing. Fred turns to look at Cordy and sees the boils and blemishes melt away. Fred: "Wesley, it worked. She's okay." Wesley opens the car door and gets out. He motions to Angel with the phone. g*n gets out as well as the guy Angel rescued, his hands bound with thick rope in front of him. Angel watches as the guy walk past him and to the open door of one of the limos. The guy props his arms on the open door to let one of the bodyguards cut the rope while smirking at Angel, then gets in the car. Lilah: "It's just business." Angel: "Right. Just business." Lilah walks towards the limo on the right. Angel bends down to pick up a piece of rebar lying in a pile of other thrash and sends it hurtling through the air. The metal bar whistles past Lilah to smash through the back window of the limo and through Fe-guy's head. Lilah looks back at Angel then takes a couple of steps closer to the car to look at the Fez-guy slumping d*ad in the backseat. She jumps when Angel is suddenly right there speaking softly into her ear. Angel: "Don't you came at me through Cordelia ever again. You play that card a second time and I'll k*ll you." Lilah watches as g*n drives the convertible over and Angel gets into the passenger seat (Wes is now sitting in the back) then drives away. Then sun rises over the skyscrapers of the city. Cordy pours Angel a cup of coffee. Angel: "Cordy, I'm glad you're feeling better and all but..." Cordy: "...you're not really a foodie. I know. But - I saw this great, big industrial kitchen that we have, and never use and I thought that (both of the jump a little as two round waffles pop up from the toaster) one of these days we should get someone in here that can cook." Cordy takes the waffles out of the toaster and puts one on Angel's plate the other on her own and pours syrup over them. Cordy: "Here we are." Angel looking at his plate: "Heh. Here we are." Cordy: "Angel (he looks up at her) - what you did for me was unbelievably selfless - and brave, and amazing. (Angel looks back down) And it's so great to know that the next vision I have will just be blindingly painful and not turn me into Elephant-man or anything." Angel: "I hear a big 'but' coming." Cordy: "What if that guy you freed is someone or something that's truly terrible? Wolfram and Hart won this time and it's all *my* fault." Angel: "It's not about winning, Cordelia, it's about what's at stake. And in this particular scenario you were way more important than winning. - I can't worry about that guy I set free. I did what I had to do. I'll just deal with the consequences when they happen." They smile at each other, but the smiles disappear as soon as the other one is no longer looking. The Yoro Mountains of Honduras, a thunderstorm is lighting up the night sky. And old man is throwing bones on a little mat on the low table in front of him. He turns around as Darla walks in from the rain. Darla: "You're a difficult man to find, Senor. Do you know why I'm here? (The man nods) You are my last hope. I've been told you're very powerful, very wise. I tried everything and I can't get rid of it, so I ask you: what is this thing - growing inside of me? And how's it possible?" The man gets up. Shaman: "The father is also a..." Darla: "Vampire? Yes! Though - not a very good one." Shaman: "I will need some blood." Darla: "Well, I'll show you mine if - you show me yours." The shaman picks up a Kn*fe and a cup. Darla holds her hand over the cup but the shaman hesitates. With a sigh Darla takes the Kn*fe away from him and makes the cut herself. Darla: "Men are such babies." The Shaman mixes some powders and herbs with the blood in the cup. Shaman: "This has never failed me." The rubs the contents of the bowl onto his hands then lays them on Darla's swollen belly. After a moment he is blasted backwards away from her. Shaman: "I can not help you. No man can. This is not meant to be known." Darla: "Yeah, yeah. Like I haven't heard *that* before. (Looks down at her belly as she strokes it with her hands) I guess there is only one thing left to do. Time to go visit daddy."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x02 - That Vision Thing"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Lilah interrogating Merl: "We heard you do favors for Angel." Merl hanging upside down over a sewer with Angel holding on to the rope. Merl: "That is all I know, man, I swear." Angel dips Merl into the sewer. Wesley: "The host reads their souls, senses their futures." Cordy: "Yes, but he can only do it when they sing Karaoke." Angel meets g*n and g*ng for the first time. Angel: "I wanna find those kids. I don't think any of them have homes. If their hunting vampires, then they're gonna get themselves k*lled." g*n sees George's body. g*n slams Rondell up against the truck. g*n: "You should have waited for me." Rondell: "We been waiting on you for months, bro." Angel tosses Darla through the glass doors of his suite. Angel and Darla kissing and going at it. Angel: "Get dressed and get out, because the next time I see you, I will have to k*ll you." Close on Angel's face. Angel: "That night still haunts me. I'm ashamed of how I treated you. (Looks down) The way I used you. (Looks back up) I took - what I needed, (looks back down) then I cast you aside and that - that was wrong of me. Was very wrong." Angel looks back up at - Merl, sitting on a chair in Caritas. Merl: "He's reading!" We see that the bar is empty except for Merl and Angel sitting facing each other, Wes standing behind Angel and g*n, Lorne and Cordy leaning against the bar behind Merl. Angel: "I made some notes." Merl: "I don't feel the sincerity here." Angel: "I told you this was a waste of time." Merl: "Real friends don't need notes." Angel: "We're not *friends* Merl! We barely even know each other." Merl: "Not like you made the effort either, is it?!" Merl gets up and heads for the exit. Cordy steps in front of Merl. Angel: "No, you know what? No, no, no. Let him go if he wants to." Cordy to Merl: "Merl, you said you'd listen to what Angel had to say." Wesley to Angel: "You promised you'd make an attempt." Merl to Cordy: "You get a load of that insincere tripe he was reading?" Angel to Wes: "I apologized..." (Can't make out the rest of Angel and Wes' talk) Cordy to Merl: "I hardly think it's fair to blame it on the writing." Angel to Wes: "What does he *want* from me?!" Merl turning around: "What do I want? Huh? I tell you what I want. I want back the three months I spent in therapy after being hung upside down in a sewer. That's what *I* want." Cordy: "Angel, read the cards." Angel: "No. He's - he's right. He's right. Every time I went to Merl for information he came through. So, I'll tell you what, Merl. - Take a sh*t. (Stands in front of Merl holding his arms open) Take a sh*t, Merl." Cordy, Angel, Merl and Wes all talking at once, while the Lorne is shaking his head and g*n tries not to laugh. Cordy: "Oh, knock it off, guys." Angel: "Come on, take your best sh*t." Wesley: "Angel, please..." Angel: "Come on, Merl." Merl: "You see this? He's goading. He's goading me." Angel: "Take a sh*t, Merl. Come on, this one's free." Merl: "No. No. Shameless with the goading. You see?!" Angel: "Come on, Merl-la-la. Merl-la-la-la." Merl: "Okay!" Merl picks up a bottle from the bar and hauls back to h*t Angel. But the bottle instead recoils from an invisible wall, throwing Merl back - into Lorne's arms, waiting to catch him. Merl shakes his head: "Whoa! Man. You did that on purpose! You knew that was gonna happen. You tricked me! Huh?" Angel sits back down in his chair, trying to keep a straight face. Lorne: "Why, now, I'm sure Angel just forgot for the moment that *any* demon v*olence is impossible in Caritas." Angel: "Yeah. I-I - I forgot." Merl, gesturing dramatically: "Yeah, yeah. Whatever! Okay? 'cause I'm done listening to this bloodsucker! And the same goes for the rest of you, alright? I never want to see any of you ever again!" Merl walks towards the exit, slows, stops and turns. Merl: "Uh, so, who's gonna give me a ride home?" g*n's pickup pulls up in a dark, deserted alley and Merl gets out. Merl: "Thanks. I hope I, ah, didn't take you, ah, (the tires of g*n's truck squeal as he takes off) too far out of your way!" Merl turns on the overhead light bulb in his home and looks through his mail. Looks up and his mouth forms an 'o'. Merl: "What the... (throws up his hands and backs away) Hey, hey, hey! No, no, no. No! Noooo!" We see Merl cringe, hear several impacts of a bladed w*apon, see yellow-green liquid splatter the wall. Intro Fuzzed out picture of g*n smiling at Alonna. Alonna: "Hey, big brother." Flash. Alonna in vamp face. Flash. g*n: "I was never gonna let anything happen to you. I was supposed to protect you. You were my sister." Alonna: "I still am." Alonna vamps out and slowly moves in to bite g*n. g*n: "Good-bye." g*n stakes Alonna and watches her look at him as she turns to dust. g*n: "Alonna!" g*n jerks up into a sitting position on his bed as he suddenly wakes up. The pager on his nightstand beeps. Yellow gook is coating the light bulb hanging from the ceiling in Merl's home. Angel, standing in the middle of the tossed room turns as g*n knocks on the open door. Angel: "You made it." g*n: "Yeah. I called the hotel. They said you were down at Merl's. (Points at the wall) What is that?" Angel: "That's Merl." g*n: "Where is the rest of him?" Angel points at the light bulb then at a couple other places around the room. g*n: "Nasty. What happened?" Angel: "I don't know. Stopped by this morning. Thought I'd give 'sincere' one more sh*t. Even brought donuts. This is what I found. So far, we've ruled out su1c1de." Wes walks into the room carrying some papers. Wesley: "I found some of his personal papers, an address book (looks up) g*n. You're here. Good. Ah, you didn't notice anything odd last night when you dropped Merl off, did you?" g*n: "Not really." Wesley: "Well, we'll - box these up, catalogue them when we get back to the hotel." g*n: "Hey, guys - what are we doing?" Wesley: "Examining the crime scene." g*n: "Yeah, I see that. But what's our interest?" Wesley: "Someone k*lled Merl." g*n: "No, right, I get *that*. Look, I didn't have a beef with Merl, all right? I'm even sorry he got d*ad, but come on! Is this really the kind of thing we should be spending our time on? I mean he was what he was, right?" Angel looks up from going through Merl's stuff. Angel: "What's that supposed to mean?" g*n: "Nothing. It means what it means. Somebody k*lled a demon. Hello! We do that every day." Wesley: "*Merl* was harmless." g*n throws up his hands: "Okay." Angel: "Sure you're not just bent because maybe we interrupted something you'd rather be doing?" g*n: "No." Angel: "Okay. (Keeps sorting through Merl's clothes) Usually doesn't take you two hours to answer a page is all." g*n: "Excuse me, but did somebody put you back in charge? Because if they did they forgot to tell me about it." Wesley steps between them. Wesley: "All right. - g*n, if this isn't something you can get behind, we'll understand. For now why don't you just go on home." g*n just stands there looking at Wes. Wes claps him on the arm. Wesley: "Go home." g*n: "You know what? That's probably a *real* good idea." g*n walks out, past Angel, who is looking through Merl's rolodex. Angel: "Little creep." Wesley: "Angel!" Angel: "Merl. - He's right you know. I never did bother to get to know who he was. Now I guess I'll have to." Day. g*n's pickup pulls up in front of a rod-iron fence with barbed wire looped through it. g*n looks at it for a moment, then turns the engine off and gets out of his truck. g*n walks into a room lit by several candles. Graffiti covers most of the walls. A Hispanic looking guy att*cks g*n with a staff, but g*n easily matches the other's moves. He takes the staff away from the guy, trips him onto his back and holds the sharpened end of the staff against the guy's neck - only to find a loaded crossbow being held against his own neck by another guy that has come up behind him. Gio: "This is a situation you might wanna rethink." g*n turns to look at the crossbow, with the point of the bolt now just inches away from his face. g*n: "Nice rig." Gio: "I'm glad you like it." Rondell: "He should. He built it. - Gio, you wanna get that thing out of my boy's face?" g*n drops the staff and holds out a hand to help the Hispanic up as Gio points the crossbow up at the ceiling. g*n: "I see you're still passing along a little something of what *I* taught you." Rondell and g*n hug and exchange a special handshake. Rondell: "Word's out, brother. Vamps know better than to *even* cross Venice Boulevard these days. Crew's as tight as it's ever been - even back in your day." Gio points at g*n: "Charles g*n?" g*n: "That's right." Gio: "I know all about *you.* *That* name is part of the reason why I came out here." Rondell: "Gio's from Miami." g*n: "Ah, coast to coast, huh?" Gio: "Little something like that. - Hey, you might be able to help me out. Why is it - that places like LA and Miami bring out the teeth you suppose? I mean, you would think that the vamps would wanna hang in less sunny climes, you know what I'm sayin'?" g*n: "Yeah, I think I do." Gio: "Well, maybe we could ask your *boss* why that is." Rondell shakes his had: "Yo, Gio." Gio: "You can't b*at 'em, right, Chuck?" g*n: "It ain't even like that." Gio: "Nuh? - Okay. If you say so. See, 'cause *I* heard - that you was like this - big time, alpha vamp k*ller - and now you working with one? What's up with that?" Rondell: "Gio - who's supposed to be on point out back?" Gio never taking his eyes off g*n: "That be me." Rondell: "So why aren't you back there?" Gio sniffs at g*n, then gives a little laugh. Gio: "Yeah. A'right. It's cool. Y'all can have your nice little visit. (Turns to go with a laugh. To Rondell) You might wanna do that outside - in the *sunshine* - just to be on the safe side, you know?" With a last glance back at g*n, Gio leaves the room several of the others following him. Angel is sitting on the counter in the Hyperion's lobby. Cordy is on the computer at the desk behind the counter. Cordy: "Some people just need a little time alone. I wouldn't worry." Angel: "She's *had* time alone. Five years. I think that's the problem." Angel drops off the counter and walks over to look out at Fred, who is standing in the Hyperion's sunny garden court. Angel: "She's been back in this world for three months and she still hasn't gone out into it." Cordy gets up from her desk and walks into the lobby. Cordy: "Right. And it's not like the last time she went out into it she got sucked into an interdimensional portal and ended up living like a hunted animal in a hostile demon alterna-world or anything. Oh, wait. Kinda is, isn't it?" Angel walks behind the counter and leans on it. Angel: "Which is why I'm asking you to, you know, talk to her." Cordy: "I'm not so sure that's a great idea." Angel: "You don't like her?" Cordy: "Sure I like her. What's not to like? (Looks out at Fred) She's sweet and adorable and - seems to be laughing at something that shrub just said. (Turns back to Angel) Look, it's not that I don't like her. It's just - I don't get her." Angel: "I'm not asking you to 'get' her. I'm just asking you to - talk to her." Angel looks at Cordy a slow smile spreading across his face. Cordy lays the papers down on the counter. Cordy: "Fine, we'll chat." Angel: "Thanks." Angel picks up the paper while Cordy walks around the counter towards the door to Wes' office. Angel: "What's this?' Cordy: "Enemies of Merl list." Angel looks at it, then follows Cordy into Wes' office. Cordy is leaning the desk where Wesley is writing something. Angel: "Hey. - Why is my *name* at the top of this list?" Cordy: "Ah - 'a'?" Angel: "Merl and I where not enemies." Cordy: "Oh, okay, my mistake." Angel: "I'm the one that found the body, remember?" Cordy: "Oh. And *that's* not suspicious. The one time you pay Merl a social visit and he ends up - d*ad?" Wesley: "I recognize quite a few of these names, actually." Cordy: "You should. Half of them weren't 'enemies of Merl' until we made him snitch on them." Angel: "Oh, sure. I went *dark* and I k*lled Merl." Wes and Cordy look at him for a b*at. Wesley: "We'll work backwards, end with the 'a' s. How's that? (Gets up) We should start tracking these names." Angel starts to follow Wesley out, but turns back to Cordy. Angel: "You know, ask yourself this: if I'd k*lled Merl would I've - brought donuts?" Rondell and g*n are walking outside in the sunshine. g*n: "I guess that's the word on me around here nowadays, huh? Traitor? Vamp lover?" Rondell: "Hell, don't go listening to Gio, man. He don't know you." They walk into another shadowy building. g*n: "No, but you do. So what you got to say, Rondell. You think I turned my back on you all to hook up with one of them?" Rondell: "Hell, I don't know. I haven't even seen your back in months, bro. I don't know which way it's facing." g*n: "That's no answer." Rondell: "Truth? I ain't heard word one from you - not since we spread what was left of George in the river. Some of us were even starting to wonder if you were still *in* this world." g*n: "I didn't mean to disappear on y'all. I didn't plan it. - Guess after George..." Rondell: "You were gone way before George. - It was Alonna, man. Things - they were never the same after Alonna." g*n: "Couldn't keep my own sister safe. What can I do for the rest of you?" Rondell: "A lot, man. You done a lot. There's people alive today because of something you started." g*n: "No, man. Something *we* started." Rondell with a smile: "You got that right." They do the handshake again and Rondell catches g*n in a hug. Night. Wes and Angel are walking along a hallway. Angel: "What's this one?" Wes: "Ah, Samuel Larch, a bookie. Merl owed him quite a lot of money." Angel: "Demon or human?" Wesley: "I'm not sure." Angel looks at the closed door with the number 424 on it with a sigh. Angel: "Care to find out?" Angel kicks in the door. Wesley watches Angel walk across the threshold and pulls out a dagger before following Angel in. Wesley: "Demon then." They look around the room. It is destroyed with yellow slime splashed on the walls and broken furnishings. Angel: "I think when we find whatever is doing this - we're gonna need g*n." Wesley: "I agree. From the looks of this, whatever we're up against is - quite big. Extremely powerful..." Angel: "...and really pissed off." A big hulking monster is slowly lumbering along a sewer tunnel, emitting loud slurping noises. It is caught in a beam of light and turns around. It stops sucking on a large soda through a straw to look at the camera with a 'deer in the headlights' expression. Monster: "Hello? - Who's there, please?" A group of armed guys carrying flashlights come charging down the tunnel, easily catching up to the slow-moving demon. They corner him against a grate and begin to hack at it. We get a close up of Gio aiming his crossbow. Guy: "Smoke him Gio!" Break Wesley is looking over Larch's apartment for clues. He finds the broken off head of a crossbow bolt which looks exactly like the one Gio had loaded when he was thr*at to sh**t g*n earlier. g*n appears in the doorway of the apartment as Wesley is taking a closer look at the bolt. Wesley: "g*n." g*n: "Hey. Got your page. Where's Angel?" Wesley: "He's checking on something else. Come in. The victim's name was Samuel Larch. We found him last night." g*n is examining the yellow gook splashed on the furniture. g*n: "The guy was a demon." Wesley: "Yeah." g*n: "Wesley? - What are we doing, man? Who we're supposed to be working for, anyway? Did the Powers send us here? Did Cordy get a vision?" Wesley: "No." g*n: "Then what?" Wesley: "Charles, things aren't always so simple as - going out and slaying the big, bad ugly. There are in this world shades of gray..." g*n: "Yeah. And shades of green, and a kind of sickly looking yellow with pink eyes and sometimes puce with horns, too. I get it. What I don't get is *why* we're suddenly playing cleanup crew to a bunch of lowlife demons! - I mean, okay, so we - we bust our butts day and night until we find whatever it was that did Merl and this Larch guy..." Wesley: "And six other victims we believe we've linked to it." g*n: "So we find this demon k*lling machine. What then? We gonna stop it? Or thank it?" Wesley after a b*at: "I don't know." g*n turns away, shaking his head: "You don't know." Wesley adds the little plastic bag holding the arrow point to the other neatly labeled bags lying on a sofa table. Wesley: "From everything I can determine, this victim was fully assimilated. No history of v*olence, no thr*at to anyone. Of the other six, at least two of those *would* have to be classified as irredeemably evil." g*n sits down on the sofa. g*n: "So what are you saying then?" Wesley: "I'm saying that whatever is responsible for these att*cks *isn'*t making any distinctions. It's just k*lling. Randomly." Angel appears in the doorway. Angel: "You were right. It happened again." Wesley: "When." g*n sees the bag with the arrowhead and picks it up off the table. Angel: "Last night. A Yarbnie was eviscerated in the sewer near Century City." Wes walks over to his satchel to get something. g*n: "Yarbie, what's that?" g*n gets up from the sofa, casually pocketing the bag with the arrowhead. Wesley, still looking through his bag: "Yarbnie. It's a - balancing entity. They tend to nest in urban areas under roadways - utterly non-violent." Wes is making notes in a book. g*n: You know what? Uhm, maybe I should h*t the streets. You know, see if I can shake anything lose. I mean, if you want." Angel looks from g*n to Wesley. Wesley looks up at g*n: "Yeah. That's probably a good idea." g*n as he passes Angel on the way out: "Hey." Angel: "Hey." Angel glances after g*n then turns back to watching Wes write in his book. g*n is holding the bag with the arrowhead in his hand as he and Rondell are walking through the g*ng's home. Rondell: "So, you wanna explain this?" g*n: "It was dug out of the wall of an apartment over on the Miracle Mile." Rondell: "Yeah, so?" g*n: "So, I recognize it, Rondell. It's out of *my* old rig. The one Gio's been using." Rondell: "Okay." g*n: "Look, I just came by here to give you a heads up, alright? I think you got a rogue on your crew. Your boy Gio's been out there k*lling anything that moves. Now somebody, meaning you, has got to have a sit-down with him, man. Let him know that this ain't the way we do things down here." Rondell: "You say you dug this out of an apartment up on the Mile?" g*n: "Yes." Rondell: "Tall white towers. (g*n nods, and Rondell lets out a laugh) This is funny. Gio ain't no rogue. Yeah, he found the place, but we was all there. The whole crew." g*n: "You?" Rondell: "Bro, the thing living in that apartment? It *wasn't* human. We took care of it." g*n: "But - did it att*ck anybody?" Rondell: "No. We got away clean." g*n: "No, I mean before you broke in." Rondell: "No, man, we didn't give it a chance to. - What's the matter?" g*n: "Nothing." g*ng member: "Yo, Rondell! Everyone's here, man." g*n sees them handing out machine g*n. g*n: "What, you guys packing heat now?" Rondell: "You can never be too careful. I got to go. Hey, you wanna come out with us tonight? (g*n looks down at the arrow bag. Gio says he found a nest or something. Primo hunting." g*n: "No, man. I got something." Rondell points his finger at g*n as he turns to go: "Be good." g*n turns to go and finds Gio standing there. Gio, smiles: "Hey. You know something? - He still thinks you're some kind of hero. - (Looks g*n up and down) But me and you, we know better, right? (g*n just looks at him) - Yeah. Yeah, we know better." Gio chuckles as he walks past g*n to follow the others. Grins at g*n as he pulls the sliding door shut with a bang. The evidence bags and open books are spread out on the round chair thingy in the Hyperion's lobby. Wes walks over carrying more open books. Wesley: "I haven't the slightest idea what this might be. It doesn't fit any of the data I have available to me. (Looks at the bags) Something's missing." Angel: "Maybe it's something that's never been recorded here before." Cordy: "Just, please, don't tell me another portal has opened up. We have enough monsters in Los Angeles already!" Fred walks down the stairs, her nose buried in a book. Wesley: "No. Something's *missing*. We're missing one of the evidence bags." Angel walks over to Cordy and keeps motioning with his head towards Fred, who is now headed out in the garden court, eyes still firmly on the open book she is carrying. Wesley: "Seven, eight, nine, yes, here's ten - here is twelve, but - where is eleven?" Cordy hands the papers she was holding to Angel and walks off. Wesley: "What was eleven?" Fred sits down on the edge of the fountain in the sun, still reading that old book. Cordy comes down the steps behind her. Cordy: "Hi." Fred screams and jumps up from the bench. Fred: "Ah, oh, you-you startled me!" Cordy: "I'm sorry." Fred: "No. No, it's my fault. I'm sorry, okay?" Cordy: "Yeah." Fred walks towards the stairs: "Well, I'll get out of your way." Cordy: "No, Fred I want you to stay! Stay." Fred stops and peeks around a pillar back at Cordy. Cordy sits down and pats the fountain wall beside her. Cordy: "Actually I - I was hoping we could - you know, talk?" Fred comes over and sits down. Fred: "Well, yeah, of course. They sit there. Cordy takes a deep breath, clears her throat, takes another deep breath. Fred: "Did you mean now?" Cordy: "Yes! Yes. I'm sorry. It's just I feel a little awkward. (Takes another deep breath) Angel wants you to get out." Fred: "Oh, I see. - Okay. (Gets up and turns to walk away) No, I understand. I only have a few things to pack. It won't take long." Cordy: "No, Fred! That's not what I meant. Out, into the real world, you know, just for an evening or something." Fred lets out a big breath and smiles: "Oh! (Looks at Cordy, eyes going wide) Oh? (Turns to hide her face) Oh..." Cordy: "Well, not by yourself or anything. What if I... - What if *we* went out together?" Fred: "Well - I suppose I would be okay if I was with you, right?" Cordy: "Sure!" Fred: "I mean, that'd be safe, right?" Cordy: "Of course it would." Fred smiling: "No one would even bother to look at me twice with you around!" Cordy: "Exactly. - Ah. No. - Now, that's just not true! People *will* notice you!" Fred, not smiling anymore: "They will?" Cordy: "Yes! And you know why? - Because you'll be standing on a stage in the white-hot spotlight." Fred staring: "I will?" Cordy grins at her and nods. Fred looks away: "Oh." Night. g*n is sitting in his parked truck, staring out the window. He lifts his hand and looks at the arrowhead. Puts it down and starts the engine. g*n walks into the dimly lit lobby of the Hyperion. Angel comes out of Wes' office looking through some papers. Angel: "Hey." g*n: "Hey. - You the only one here?" Angel: "Yeah." g*n: "You, ah, making any progress?" Angel: "I don't know. Maybe. I... Wesley thinks these crimes have been random. I'm starting to think otherwise." g*n: "Oh?" Angel: "Yeah. It's just the way it's happening. It - reminds me of - things I've seen before." g*n: "How so?" Angel: "I know the pattern. The seeming randomness of it, the chaos. (Sighs) There is a larger purpose behind every move." g*n: "What?" Angel: "To have fun." g*n just stands there. Angel: "Something wrong?" g*n: "Nah. - I just need to see the boss. Know where he's at?" Fred is sitting on the stage of Caritas singing "Crazy" by Patsy Cline. Fred: "Crazy. I'm crazy for feeling so lonely. (Giggles and pushes the hair back from her face) I'm crazy..." Lorne is leaning against the bar. Cordy and Wes are sitting at a table. Cordy: "I swear to god she picked out the song herself." Fred: "...for feeling so blue. I knew you'd love me as long as you wanted..." g*n walks in and sees Fred and smiles. Fred: "...and then some day, you'd leave me for somebody new." g*n sees Wes and Cordy at the table and walks in the opposite direction, almost bumping into Lorne. Leans on the bar beside him, looking down. Lorne looks at him. g*n: "I know what your doing and don't!" Lorne takes a sip from his drink, still looking at g*n. g*n: "Stop it! Do - not! (Turns to face Lorne) Hey! Don't go reading me!" Fred: "Worry. Why should I let myself worry?" Lorne: "I wouldn't. But, sweetie, you're a billboard. (g*n turns to look towards Wes' table) Yeah. He came in tonight with some questions. Looks to me like you got the answers." Fred: "I'm crazy for thinking that my love could hold you..." g*n: "I really don't feel like going over there." Lorne: "Yeah, I know. So - you wanna talk about it?" Fred: "I'm crazy for trying, and crazy for..." g*n: "Do I got to sing?" Guys with machine g*n are coming down the stairs opening f*re on the demon clientele. Fred gets splattered by white demon blood and falls off the stool she is sitting on. g*n grabs Lorne and they take cover behind the bar. g*n: "Go. Down! Come on!" Wes and Cordy tip their table over and crouch behind it. Demons are being sh*t to pieces as b*ll*ts spray the air. One of the guys sh**t up the bottles lining the wall behind the bar. Gio walks into the center of the room, leaning the sawed off g*n he is carrying up against his shoulder and looks around with a big grin. Gio: "Party! Yoo-hoo!" Break g*n is ringing through the air. Lorne: "Oh, my club!" Wesley sees Fred stand up on the stage and runs out from behind his table. He jumps on the stage, picks Fred up and makes his way back to Cordy and the table. Cordy: "What's happening? I thought demon v*olence was impossible in here." Wesley: "Those aren't demons." One of the g*ng sh**t at a vampire, who promptly dusts. (Wooden b*ll*ts? Stake g*n?) Rondell: "It's time! Lets truck!" Gio: "Woah, don't be in such a rush, man! You're always in such a hurry. You're liable to miss out on some of the more interesting things in life. - Yo! Charlie g*n! Come on, now. I know you're in here. Where you at?" g*n stands up: "I'm right here." Several guys spin around and cock their g*n, pointing them at g*n. Rondell: "G-man. What're you doing here?" Gio, grinning: "Come on. Tell him! Tell him how you been rolling up in here for *months* tossing back drinks with your demon buddies." g*n just stands there. Rondell: "What he's saying - that ain't true." Gio: "Why not? His best friend's a *vampire*. What you expect?" g*n: "Rondell, go. Just take your crew and leave." Rondell: "No. Not until I get some answers." Gio: "That's right. Answers. The man wants some answers." Wesley stands up: "Yes, I think we all would." Cordy: "Wesley!" g*n: "Wes, stay out of this." Wesley: "As much as I would like to, am afraid I'm in it. We all are." Lorne slowly stands up. Gio cocks his head at a couple of guys and they grab Lorne and hustle him out into the open. g*n: "Hey. Hey! That's enough!" A gray faced demon keeps babbling: "Oh god, oh god, oh god." Rondell is pointing his g*n at g*n standing next to Lorne in front of the bar. Rondell: "I don't believe this." g*n: "He's okay, man." Gio: "Uh, nice!" Rondell: "He ain't okay. Look at him!" g*n: "You don't know what you're doing, Rondell." Wesley: "It was them. They k*lled Merl and the others. (g*n and Wes look at each other for a long moment) You knew." g*n: "I should have said something. I was going to. I was just... - I was trying to work it out, man. Figure how to deal." Lorne: "So, have you worked it out yet?" g*n: "I'm sorry." Rondell: "You're gonna apologize to this thing? (Lifts his g*n) Move." g*n steps in front of Lorne. Gio: "You might wanna." g*n: "You can't do that, man. I can't let you. - You lost the mission, bro." Rondell: "What?!" Gio aims his g*n at g*n with a big grin. g*n: "What you been doing, man, this ain't right. None of this is right! This is not what we're about." Rondell still aiming his g*n at g*n: "The hell you say. I don't know what you're about, but we've been doing what we've always done! Protecting our own." Wesley: "And is it 'protecting your own' to break into other people's homes?" Rondell: "They ain't people. (Turns, g*n now aimed at Wes) Are you?" Cordy gets up to stand beside Wes and immediately g*n are aimed at her as well. Cordy: "Stop! - Stop it." Wesley: "If you don't mind I'd prefer a clean k*ll. The last time I was merely wounded. It took months to heal. Wounded, if I recall, in an attempt to help you." g*n: "Look at me. Look at me! That's got nothing to do with them. This is between us. (Rondell looks back over his shoulder at g*n) *Us*. Let 'em go, man." Gio: "Yeah, why not? We can do that. After all - we ain't *monsters*." g*n throws his keys at Wes' feet: "Take my truck. The south side. They won't stop you." Wes doesn't move, but Cordy picks up the keys. Rondell turns to aim at g*n again: "How can you be sitting up in here with these things and tell me I'm the one that lost the mission?" g*n: "Because it's true. - We used to face death because we had to. Now you're chasing it down, man, for the fun of it. That ain't right." Rondell spins to aim at Cordy, who is helping Fred up. Rondell: "One! Just one. Her. (Cordy looks at Wes) The others stay." g*n: "Rondell, come on, man!" Cordy: "I'm not leaving here without her. (Puts an arm around Fred) No way." Some of the g*ng pull Fred away from her and hustle Cordy towards the door. Cordy: "No! No!" Wes takes a hold of Fred and they guys let her go to step back and aim their g*n at them again. Rondell: "The rest'll be able to leave *after* she brings back the vampire. (Glances back at g*n) Then we'll see who lost the mission." Rondell motions with his g*n at Cordy: "Go." Cordy looks at g*n, who nods, then slowly leaves. Gray demon: "Oh god, oh god, oh god..." Ugly demon: "Shut up! - He ain't listening." Cordy follows Angel down the steps into the lobby of the Hyperion. Cordy: "We have to think of a better plan. This is a bad plan. And I tell you why: it's their plan! They want you to go in there where you *can't* fight, so they can k*ll you!" Angel: "I don't have a choice." Cordy: "It'll be su1c1de." Angel: "It'll be okay." Cordy: "It won't! Angel, you didn't see these guys." Angel scribbles something on a piece of paper and hands it to Cordy. Angel: "Here. I want you to go this address." Cordy: "What is it?" Angel: "Transuding furies." Cordy: "Gesundheit." Angel: "Three sisters. Lorne hires them monthly to cast the sanctorium spell on Caritas. Tell them to lift the spell, then I'll be able to fight back." Cordy: "They lift the spell then you can fight - all twenty of them and still get k*lled. Great idea." Angel: "Cordy, please, just do it." Cordy: "What if they won't lift the spell?" Angel starts walking towards the door. Cordy follows after him. Angel: "They'll lift the spell. Just tell them that it's for - me." Cordy: "For you? You know them?" Angel: "I did." Cordy: "And they're gonna remember you?" Angel: "They should." Cordy: "They better! Angel - (He stops and looks back at her) I told her she was safe with me." Angel sighs: "I know." Turns and walks out the door. Gio is up on stage at Caritas singing "Wind Beneath My Wings" Gio: "Did you ever know that you're my - hero? (Laughs) You're everything I wish I could be. I could fly higher than..." Wes quietly to g*n: "We have to do something. Angel walks in here they'll k*ll him." g*n: "No. They won't. They're gonna make *me* do it." Gio: "...you are the wind beneath my wings. Hey, Chuck! Did I ever tell you you're... (Feedback starts to wine from the speakers) Hey!" Gio shakes the mike, then throws it away, steps off the stage, turns and sh**t the Karaoke machine, stopping the music. Wesley steps closer to Fred and she clings to the arms he wraps around her. Gio: "Ah! - You know I'm starting to think this good vamp ain't never gonna show." Lorne: "Miami." Gio turns around to look at the host, who is sitting on a chair by the back wall. Gio: "Did you say something to me, green boy?" Lorne: "Was three thousand miles really far enough, I wonder? I *know* why you left." Lorne stands up and two of the guys cocks their g*n and points it at his chest but Gio lifts a hand to stop him from sh**ting Lorne. Lorne: "Why you ran. - You couldn't stay there, could you? - After what you did. - She trusted you." Gio, quietly: "Shut up." Lorne: "Right up until the end she trusted you. Did you know that?" Gio hauls back and hits Lorne hard across the face. Lorne turns back to look at Gio, his mouth bloodied, but smiling. Gio backs up a step. Suddenly the ugly demon jumps up and runs for the door. Guy: "Yo! That one's trying to run!" A couple guys jump on ugly demon and b*at it back into place. Gray demon: "Oh god, oh god. They'll k*ll us all." Gio: "Now, I *told* you to *watch* the door!" g*n spins and hits one of the guys, grabs his machine g*n and aims it at Gio, while all of the g*ng (including Rondell) take aim at him. Gio points at g*n: "See that? You see that?! (Points at ugly demon) He's trying to save that lowlife! - You know what that kind of thing does? It's a baby k*ller is what that is. I've seen plenty of them in Florida." Walks up to ugly demon and smiles at it. Gio: "You like to eat babies, don't you?" Ugly: "Yeah, go ahead. I don't care. (Gio walks away from it, to be replaced by another of the g*ng aiming his machine g*n at it) You think I care? Go ahead and do it. Cowards. Cowards." Gio walks back over towards g*n: "So who does *he* go after? Who does he draw down on? The baby-k*lling monster? No, me, that's who. What does that tell you?" g*n: "Tells me there's a whole lot of monsters in this room to choose from." Gio: "Yeah, maybe you one of them. (Takes a step closer to g*n) You one of them, Chuck? Have they turned you already, huh? You one of 'em?" g*n: "Come at me and find out." Gio: "Yeah, I think he's one of them. (To g*n) Or - maybe you just wanna be. (g*n glances at the others in the room) Yeah. That's more like it. I bet they won't even let you in their little club. Huh, Chuck? Damn. You ain't even good enough for the vamps, the demons and the baby-eatin' monsters. Huh. Yeah, that's what I'm guessing. Wine 'em and dine 'em, stick up for them "Oh, yeah. That one's okay" and they still won't put you on! Ain't that a blip?" g*n: "Shut up." Gio smiling: "And all that what we heard about his sister might not be quite right. He was the only one there to see it. You know what I'm sayin'?" Ugly continually talking in background: "I'll taste your children..." Gio: "You're the one that let her get vamped in the first place, right Chuck?" Ugly: "Listen to them scream. Tear of a piece. Have me a meal..." Gio: "Because I know I wouldn't let no bloodsucker get that close to *my* sister. And why?" Ugly: "I live in the playgrounds..." Gio: "Where you thinking that finally she was gonna give it up to you? Was that the plan? And that's why you let her get bit." Ugly: "Tear up their tiny, tiny bodies. Leave them for husks..." Gio: "And then when she was there, all vamped out and hungry, you thought you might get that eternal kiss finally and when she said 'no' that's when you stuck it to her! That's what I'm thinkin'." g*n: "Shut up!" Lorne: "No. Not in here. No. No." Gio: "Is that why you start in here? Is that why you up in here, truckin' with vamps and demons, thinking you're gonna get your little piece of the action?!" g*n screaming: "I said shut (sh**t the ugly demon going on about k*lling babies) up!" Ugly demon drops, Gio grins and Fred huddles closer against Wes' chest. Lorne: "This is a sanctuary." Gio: "Not anymore it ain't." Angel: "Nice sh*t. (Looks at g*n) Am I next?" Break Rondell puts down his g*n, pulls out a stake and offers it to g*n. Rondell: "Prove to everyone here - this *thing* - ain't no friend to you." g*n takes the stake never taking his eyes off Angel. Wes leaves Fred to stand in front of g*n. Wesley: "This is madness. Angel has a soul." Gio: "He's a vampire." Wesley: "With a soul!" Gio: "Whatever. - You think that makes him the same as us?" Wesley: "No. Better. (To Gio) Better than you, anyway. When he did his pleasure k*lling he had no soul. You can make no such claim." Rondell to g*n: "What's it gonna be?" g*n looks down at the stake in his hand. Angel: "Here, Charles - let me make it simple for you. (Takes a small step closer and morphs into his vampire face) Take a look. This is what I am. Deal with it or don't. But make a damn choice." Cordy is sitting on the couch with the three furies floating in the air across from her. Cordy: "So, ah, Angel says you and he go -way back?" Furies together: "Mmm, Angel." Cordy: "Uh, yeah. So, uhm, about that sanctorium mojo you got on at Caritas. Any chance you can pull the plug on that like now - for instance? Kind of an emergency." Furies speaking in turn: "You would have us lift what has been put in place by mutual consent and contract?" Cordy: "If you don't, Angel will die." Furies together: "Mmm, Angel." g*n looks at Angel standing there in his vamp face. After a b*at he drops the stake. g*n: "That's not gonna happen." Gio: "I knew it!" g*n: "You don't know anything. You think I won't k*ll him because he's my friend? (Angel is back in human face) That ain't why. (g*n steps closer to Angel) Truth is, he can never be my friend. It's on account of what he is. Not his fault, really. Just the way it worked out." Rondell: "He ain't your friend. *I* am. And you gonna chose that over me?" g*n looks back at Rondell: "Looks like. It's about the mission, bro. He's got it. You don't." Gio: "Oh - so - you think, just because you're letting that monster live you got the mission, huh? Well, as far as I can see, a monster lover ain't no better than a monster, and I k*ll monsters. That's what I do. - So - anybody wanna walk out of here tonight, they gonna have to show me. Come on! Step on up and do what your friend here wouldn't: k*ll the vampire - and you can leave this place. Otherwise - stay and burn with the rest of them. (Holds up his crossbow rig and looks at Fred the group of humans huddled together behind her.) Who wants to live." Fred slowly gets up from her chair, looks over at Angel. Fred: "I'm sorry. I just - I don't wanna die." Gio offers her the crossbow with a big grin on his face. Cordy: "Look, this is *really* urgent. I know Lorne pays you to cast this spell. What will it take for you to lift it." Furies speaking in turns: "This is not a debt you can pay." Cordy: "You don't know that. My credit has been *very* good this last year." Furies: "Only Angel is equipped to make good on this debt." Cordy: "Angel. (Rude noise) I don't know. For a guy, who's a couple of centuries old - not very big with the wise investing. (Looks at the smiles on the furies faces) And when you say 'equipped' that isn't what you mean, is it?" Furies: "Mmm, Angel." Cordy: "Got it. And 'eww!'" Fed takes the rig from Gio and puts it on her right arm. Fred: "I'm sorry. - I just can't die in here." Lifts the crossbow to point at Angel. Angel: "It's okay. I understand." Gio leans in close to Fred: "Alright, now you wanna get it in the heart or it's no good." Gio takes a step back to give Fred room. Fred looks at Angel takes a couple deep breaths, then spins around to aim the bow at Gio. Fred: "Although I thought I might just sh**t you in the throat instead. Now, if I pierce one of your carotid arteries, considering the temperature in here, 'cause I think somebody sh*t the thermostat, the blood loss is gonna be heavy. And there's a chance I'll puncture a vocal cord and you won't even be able to scream. Butt you'll want to when the blood loss to your brain results in a cerebral vascular event. - That's a stroke. I wasn't trying to sound snooty." Angel: "Fred. Fred, it's okay. - Just - point it at me. At *me,* Fred." Fed shaking her head: "I can't." Angel inching closer to her: "Yes, you can. It's okay. Really." Fred looks back at Angel and Gio rips the bow from her hand and pushes her away. Wesley catches her. Gio points the bow at Angel when a flash of light lights up the bar. Angel looking up at the ceiling with a slight smile: "Thank you, ladies. I owe you one." Angel knocks the bow out of Gio's hand, then turns to disarm the guy standing next to him. Wes hands Fred over to Lorne and he and g*n rush in to help Angel against the g*ng. Gio: "Come on guys! Fight back! It's ten against three! This is pathetic! Hey, I'm done with you people. I don't even know why I came out to this coast! LA sucks. I'm going back to Florida, alright? You're lucky I don't have my old crew. (The head of the gray demon, sitting on a chair behind Gio, starts to split apart and it morphs into a huge, insect-like monster) I'd drag you out on the beach for a little sunshine and toast your..." The insect-like monster leans down and bites Gio's head off, leaning back to swallow it in one gulp. Rondell lifts his g*n and unloads it into the big monsters chest. We hear something big drop to the ground, then there are some quick flash cuts to Wesley helping Fred into the back of a taxi out by the street. g*n is talking to Rondell, standing a little ways down the street from the taxi, surrounded by his g*ng. (This exchange between g*n and Rondell wasn't really audible, but the CC had this) g*n: "I guess we just have to go our own separate ways, man." Rondell: All right." g*n: "Be well." Rondell and the g*ng leave and g*n walks over to where Wes is waiting beside the Taxi. g*n: "Don't guess Rondell and his crew are gonna be crossing Venice boulevard again any time soon." Wesley: "It's never easy - the pull of divided loyalties. - Whatever choice we do end up making we feel as though we've betrayed someone." g*n: "Yeah." Wesley: "If you ever withhold information or attempt to subvert me again, I will f*re you. - I can't have any one member of the team compromising the safety of the group, no matter who it is. If you do it again you will be dismissed, bag and baggage, out of a job onto the streets." Angel comes walking out of a door in the background and Wes turns away to get into the back of the taxi with Fred. g*n watches the taxi take off, turns to see Angel standing there and walks over to him. g*n: "So, now you're gonna get on me about all those things I said to you in there." Angel: "No." g*n: "You understand I had to stall. Just had to keep it going." Angel: "Yeah. I get that." g*n: "Doesn't mean I *meant* any of it." Angel: "No, you meant all of it, but that's okay." g*n: "I can't help the way I feel, man. That's just the way it is. - Doesn't mean I don't wanna work with you. Doesn't even mean that I don't like you. - Maybe some day, I don't know." Angel: "I don't know either. - But I got time." Angel turns and starts to walk away. g*n: "Hey!" Angel stops and turns back around to look at him. g*n: "No matter what else, I think I proved that you can trust me when I could have k*lled you and I didn't." Angel: "No. - You'll prove that I can trust you when day comes that you *have* to k*ll me - and you do." g*n watches as Angel turns and walks off, then turns around and walks away himself.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x03 - That Old g*ng of Mine"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Fred: "Handsome man. Saved me from the monsters." g*n: "Anyone talked Fred lately?" Angel: "She's been back in this world for three months and she still hasn't gone out into it." Gavin: "I'm working on a little something aimed at Angel Investigations." Lilah: "What are you doing? Building code violations." Gavin: "I'm fighting Angel in my *own* way." Lilah: "I bet he's really terrified." Lilah to Angel: "It's just business." Angel: "Don't you come at me through Cordelia ever again." Night, Hyperion Lobby, Cordy is looking through a magazine, Wes is reading a book and g*n is playing a hand-held video game. Fred comes down the stairs and walks up to Cordy. Cordy jumps and lets out a scream as Fred leans in to look at the magazine. Wes jumps and looks around at them. g*n without looking up from his game: "Hey, Fred." Fred: "Sorry! Did - did I startle you guys?" Wes: "No." Cordy: "Only in the sense of shocking and jolting us. - What's up?" Fred: "Nothing. Just taking a little stroll and... (looks at open magazine) Why would girls wanna look like that? I spent years in a cave starving. What's their excuse?" Cordy: "Fashion." Fred laughs. Stops, sits down beside Cordy and looks around the lobby. Fred: "So - everybody's just reading and hanging out?" Cordy: "Angel's upstairs." Fred: "Oh. - He's probably reading, too. He's so deep, you know? Thoughtful. I'm guessing "The Brothers Karmazov", Joyce, a little Goethe to round things out." Angel appears on the open hallway overlooking the lobby, holding a newspaper. Angel: "Am I the only one who read this?" Wes: "Read what?" Angel: "Charlton Heston. Double feature! (Comes down the steps) At the Nu-art. "Soylent Green" and - "The Omega Man." g*n, eyes on his game: "Wow." Angel: "It's two for one. Did I mention, Charlton Heston? Who's in?" Fred jumps up and raises her hand: "That sounds great!" Angel: "Fred. Wesley?" Wes: "Well, I'm in the middle of translating Fassad's guide from the original Sumerian." Angel: "g*n. Cordy?" They don't even look up at him, so he goes to grab his coat. Angel: "Looks like it's just you and me, Fred. - Well, the worm certainly has turned." Fred, giggling: "Y-y-yeah. The worm's turning and... (Stops smiling) Am I the worm?" Angel: "No. You may not know this, Fred, but certain friends and co-workers have been known to accuse *me* of being the quiet, stay at home, sulky one. (All three of them turn to look at Angel) Some people - just don't know how to have fun anymore." Big hotel, young man is in bed with two girls. 1.Girl: "Can we take a breather, stud?" Woody: "If you need one." He turns to the other girl. 2.Girl: "Hey, tiger. Me too. Just for a minute?" Guy gets out of bed with a sigh and goes to pour himself a martini. 1.Girl: "Pace yourself, sweetheart." Woody turns to admire his body in the mirror. Woody: "Mmm, it's good to be young. (Walks back towards the bed) So. Ready for round four?" Woody suddenly hunches over in pain. 2.Girl: "You okay, baby?" Woody: "Oh - it's been fun. - Alli permutat anima kimota. Alli permutat anima kimota. Alli permutat anima kimota." A stream of red-white energy issues forth from his eyes and mouth. The stream cuts off and Woody turns to look at the girls watching wide-eyed from the bed. The girls start to scream as Woody begins to steam and his body begins to deflate into a puddle of skin on the ground. Intro. Wes is sitting behind his desk listening to Fred. Fred: "And he opened every door for me and he paid for the tickets. And even bought a giant popcorn. And every few minutes he'd go like this (motions like she is tipping a tub of popcorn towards someone, laughs). Because he wanted me to know it was okay for me to have some. (drops in a chair) And he's so lonely because he's the last man on earth." Wes: "Angel?" Fred: "No! Charlton Heston. The Omega Man? Omega being the last letter of the Greek alphabet so it's a metaphor. (Jumps back up) And he walks on the street side and not the building side. It's old-fashioned, but kind of chivalrous, you know?" Wes: "We're back to talking about Angel." Fred: "Right. And even though he didn't talk a lot, it was still okay. It was comfortable. It wasn't that awkward kind of quiet. You know that awkward kind of quiet?" There is a moment of silence. Wesley: "No. That's never happened to me." Angel is sitting in the lobby reading the newspaper. Cordy: "You need to talk to Fred." Angel: "What about?" Cordy: "About the big date you guys had last night." Angel: "Woah! Date? - It was just a movie." Cordy: "That's what you need to tell *her*. She's in there going on and on about what a super time you guys had." Angel: "She's just enthusiastic. Don't read too much into it." Cordy pushes his feet off the footstool and sits down on it. Cordy: "She's got the big puppy love. I mean, who wouldn't? You're handsome, and brave, and heroic, emotionally stunted, erratic, prone to turning evil and, lets face it, a eunuch." Angel: "Hey, how can you... I'm not a eunuch." Cordy: "Angel, it's just a figure of speech." Angel: "Find a better one." Cordy: "I just mean that sex is a no-no for you. Because of this whole 'if you know perfect bliss you'll turn evil' curse. Really no cure for that, huh? - Listen, all I'm trying to tell you is, this thing with Fred, it's going to go bad unless it's nipped in the bud." Angel: "Okay. Maybe just a short talk. - So how soon can you do that?" Cordy gets up: "Nice try. It's gotta come from you." She takes a hold of Angel and pulls him up out of his chair and into Wes' office. Cordy: "Angel has something to say." Angel looks from Fred, who smiles at him, to Wes. Holds up his newspaper. Angel: "Hey, did anybody else see this? (Lays the paper down in front of Wes) Police found the body of a twenty-six year old Woodrow Raglan in a two-bedroom suite at the Elondria Hotel. Unnamed witness said it was as if his insides had just..." Wes: "...collapsed. You know, there was something else like that - last week." Cordy: "Uhm, may I just point out that no one is actually hiring us to look into this and that we should be doing more important things?" Wes holds up a newspaper clipping: "Here. Ten days ago, a body - found in another hotel room - under similar conditions." Angel: "What do you think? Spell, curse - serial demon?" Wes: "Though to say. Worth a closer look." Angel: "I'll say. Cordelia, open up a case file. We have to get on this right away." Angel hands Cordy the file with the newspaper clipping as he walks past her out of the office. Cordy: "Angel!" Cordy hurries after him. Wolfram and Hart, day. Gavin: "Good morning, Lilah." Lilah: "Good morning. Well, here we are at *my* office. Bye." Gavin: "You're a though one. I know I'm gonna have to earn your respect. But give me a little time. You'll see I'm a creative guy." Lilah: "Oh, like your 'lets torment Angel with building code violations' idea? Uh, so machiavellian! We'll just drown him in red tape." Gavin: "There are other level's to this, Lilah. Avenues of interest I have... One of them being: does Angel even exist?" Lilah: "Are you getting metaphysical on me?" Gavin: "No. The guy has no social security number, no tax payer ID, no last name as far as I know. How can he go down to the building department, or anywhere else in officialdom for that matter? - He's the rat and we're the maze. Don't you wanna see what he'll do next?" Lilah: "He might just rip out your throat." Gavin: "Do you think he'd do something that cliched? Gosh. Maybe you don't know him as well as you think." Gavin walks off down the hallway. Lilah looks after him, then, instead of entering her office, goes over to the desk of her secretary. Lilah: "Get Carter Williams on the phone. (The girl at the desk just looks at her) The graphic artist? (Lilah sighs) Oh, look under 'F' for forger." Lilah turns and walks into her office, closing the door. Hyperion, night. Cordy takes a printout from the printer and carries over to where the others are leaning against the reception counter. Wes: "There was a third victim five weeks ago. They were all young, healthy males. They all died in expensive hotel suites." Fred: "Can you imagine shelling out all that money for a snazzy suite and then kerplop, you're a big bag of mush bones? I guess it wouldn't be good wherever that happened. (Wes looks at her) Oh - please continue." Wes: "g*n, I was thinking you could interview the staff of these hotels where the guys died. I'm meeting a contact of mine from the coroner's office in thirty minutes. See what I can learn about these bodies." Cordy: "They were all members of the same health club. The bodies - when they weren't - you know - d*ad ones." Angel walks over to look at Cordy's printout, pulling out his car keys. Angel: "Cordy and I'll go check out the gym." Wes: "My thought exactly." Cordy grabs the keys: "I'll drive." g*n: "What are we waiting for?" Wes: "Everyone know what they're doing? Good." They all leave - except for Fred, still standing in front of the reception desk. Fred: "I'll just stay here. (Laughs) Okay. I'll do that." Cordy and Angel are walking into the health club. Cordy: "You can't just keep ignoring Fred! You have to speak to her. You know, there is your business life and then there is your social life, and everybody knows that you keep those two things sepa..." Cordy trails off as one of the male health club members walks by. Cordy: "I'm gonna go see if *he* knows anything." Walks away from Angel. Angel spots a club attendant and walks up to him. Angel: "Hi. I was just wondering,could ask you a few questions? My name is Angel." Phil shakes Angel's hand: "Angel. Good news, dude, we are running our best offer ever! Okay, I can get you a six months trial membership right now for three hundred and fifty dollars." Angel: "No. I'm looking into some guys that were members here." Angel pulls out the newspaper clipping and shows it to Phil. Phil: "Oh, yeah, Woody, right. I heard he like - died." Angel: "He like did. Along with the others. All members. So, I need to ask you, Phil, does the club condone steroid use?" Phil: "No. No, no, no a-a-absolutely not." Angel: "Then we should probably keep this between ourselves, don't you think? I'll just take a look at their records and I'll get out of your hair." Phil after a b*at: "Yeah, yeah, o-okay." He and Angel leave. Cordy is interviewing two guys. Cordy: "So, did you ever see anyone come in who looked suspicious - or really pale - or maybe green and scaly?" The guys look at each other. Angel and Phil are looking through some papers. Phil: "You know, I-I-I don't see anything that connects the three of them - except they were all in the evening Pilates class together." Angel: "Pilates, is that like Tae-bo?" Phil laughs: "Yeah - if you're living in 1999." Angel walks into the room where a group of people are participating in an exercise class. Instructor: "Relax your neck and shoulders, using your lower abdominals, bring the spine down to the floor. Take a deep breath in and as your arms come up to the ceiling..." Angel circles the room, he looks out of the big window at the back of the room. He sees light reflecting off a pair of circles in one of the windows of the building across the street. Looks at the sign in front of the other building: Monserrat, retirement community. Cordy, talking to four guys: "There could be follow-up questions. I'll need some home phone numbers. Why don't we start with you, Benny?" Angel comes up behind her and leans in close to her. Angel: "There is a retirement home in the street behind us. I'm gonna check something out." Cordy: "Bye." Angel looks at the four guys, starts to leave then turns back to Cordy. Angel: "Maybe when you're done with your *work* - here - you can pick me up. - Okay." Angel leaves. Cordy: "He's just someone I work with. Anyway..." Angel looks up at the window of the retirement home where he saw the reflection. Angel knocks at the door of room 316. The nameplate says Marcus Roscoe. An old man wearing big, round glasses slowly opens the door. Angel: "Mr. Roscoe. My name is Angel." Angel hands him one of their business cards. Marcus: "Angel Investigations." Angel: "Would it be alright if I came inside and asked you a few questions?" Marcus: "Well, it's ah, pretty late." Angel: "Shouldn't take long." Marcus turns and walks back into his room, leaving the door open. Angel shifts but remains standing outside. Marcus turns back and motions to him. Marcus: "Come on if you're coming." Angel walks in, closing the door behind him. He looks around then walks over to the window. Angel: "Nice to have view. I bet you, ah, spend a lot of time enjoying it." Marcus: "Not that, uh, much... (Sees Angel holding up the pair of binoculars he found on the window sill) Uh. - Well, I don't see any harm in looking. That's about all I can do anymore. Uh - what is it you want?" Angel: "Your help. (Angel puts the binoculars down and pulls out some newspaper clippings) I wonder if you've seen either of these men across the way in the gym." Marcus flips through them: "No. I don't think so. I'm more of a girl watcher. You know what I'm saying? - Jeez - they all died? How?" Angel: "That's what we're trying to find out." Marcus: "You work with the police?" Angel: "I'm a private investigator. I work with a team." Marcus: "Hmm, sounds nice. I was a salesman. Worked alone for fifty years." Angel: "Hmm. (Spots a shelf holding various pottery) Nothian herb jar. (Picks it up) That's a - pretty exotic item. Did you, ah, deal in the occult?" Marcus: "Occult shmuccult. I traveled a lot. Picked up some trinkets." Angel spots some extreme sports magazines lying on the table. He puts the jar back on the shelf. Angel: "Do a lot of bungee jumping, Mr. Roscoe?" Marcus: "More than you might think, Mr. Angel." Angel: "Just Angel." Marcus takes off his glasses and puts them in the breast pocket of his shirt. Takes a couple of steps closer to Angel. Marcus: "I'll remember that. (Looks at Angel) Alli permutat anmia kimota. Alli permutat anmia kimota." Angel chuckles: "You might wanna think twice about trying to cast a sp..." Red-white light streams from Marcus into Angel, while blue-white light streams from Angel to Marcus. After the light vanishes, Angel looks around, shrugs his shoulders. Marcus stares at Angel, eyes slightly squinted. Marcus: "You *are* me." Angel grabs Marcus by the shoulders and head-butts him, then lowers the unconscious old man into a chair. Angel: "That's gonna smart later." Angel walks out of the gate of the Moserrat and starts to saunter down the sidewalk. Cordy: "Ah, hello!" Angel turns and sees Cordy sitting at the wheel of the convertible. He walks over, chuckles and leans on the top of the windshield. Angel: "He-llo." Cordy: "So, what did you find at the old folks home?" Angel: "Uh - nothing. Didn't pan out. How about you?" Cordy: "I got a two month free trial membership, and I made some new friends... - Alright. I got nothing." Angel: "Pretty clear we're barking up the wrong tree here, huh?" Cordy after a b*at: "Yeah. - Well - get in. I'll take you back to the hotel." Angel grins and gets into the car and puts his arm on the back of Cordy's seat. Angel: "Alright! You and me - going back to the hotel. Nice, huh?" Cordy: "Are you alright?" Angel grinning: "Honey, I've never been better." Break Angel follows Cordy into the lobby of the Hyperion. Angel: "Nice! (Sees Cordy walking around the reception desk) You supposed to be back there? - (Hits the little bell on the counter) Ding, ding! Paying customers. Hellooo. (Whistles) Slow night, huh?" Cordy: "Yeah. But maybe Wes or g*n found out something." Angel: "Wes or g*n." Angel notices the stand of 'Angel Investigations' business cards on the counter. There are some with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, some with Charles g*n, some with just the business name, and others with Cordelia Chase, Senior Associate on it. Angel quietly: "They're a great part of our investigating team. Hmm. Working here with us in this old abandoned hotel." Picks up one of Cordy's cards. Angel: "Cordelia... (Cordy turns to look at him) have I ever told you you are a *very* *beautiful* woman?" Cordy goes back to sorting through the papers on her desk. Cordy: "Ha, ha. Very funny. I know you never said anything that tacky or overt to Fred. But you're still gonna have that talk - whether you want to or not." Cordy walks around the counter to stand a little ways down from Angel. Angel: "Talk with Fred." Cordy: "Yes! Just - keep it simple. One: you're not like other men. Two: there is no room in the workplace for romance." Angel: "Romance with Fred. - So I'm a... (Looks down at his clothes) Obviously." Cordy turns to go: "Get some rest. See you tomorrow." Marcus wakes up in his chair. Looks around and tries to get up. Doesn't make it. Tries again. Still can't just get up. Puts his hands on the arms of the chair and levers himself to his feet. He walks over to look in a mirror but only sees a blurry man-shape. Puts on his glasses and watches Marcus reflection become clear. Marcus is sneaking through the lobby of the Monserrat to the receptionist desk. Picks up the phone and dials. Angel is looking through papers back in Wesley's office. The phone rings but he lets the machine get it. Cordy's voice: "You've reached the offices of Angel Investigations. Please leave a message after the tone." Beep. Marcus voice: "Cordelia? Are you there? Pick up!" Angel picks up the phone: "Hey, Angel. How's my head? Hope you put some ice on it. Sweet deal you've got going on here, pal. Love the hotel. And Cordelia - whoh! That's how I spell w-o-m-a-n!" Marcus: "Where is she?" Angel: "You don't have to worry about anything except eating some nice soft foods and staying out of Ryan's way." Marcus: "Ryan?" An orderly takes the phone from Marcus. Ryan: "You wouldn't think that we just talked about this! (Hangs up the phone) There go your phone privileges for the rest of the month." Angel takes the tape out of the answering machine and smashes it. Ryan is walking Marcus down a hall at the Monserrat. Ryan: "You know you're not supposed to be out of your room at this hour." Marcus: "I was stretching my legs." Ryan puts a hand over his name badge: "Who am I?" Marcus: "You're Ryan." Ryan chuckles: "At least you're not having an episode. My advice, Marcus: if you start thinking you're a twenty-four year old stud, or a famous skateboarder, keep it to yourself. Unless you *wanna* wake up in iso and restraints again. Copy?" Marcus points at himself: "I know who *I* am." Ryan: "Then let's get *you* back to beddy-bye." Hyperion, day. Cordy walks into Wes' office to find Angel slumped asleep on top of the desk with papers littering the whole room. Cordy: "Angel!" Angel's head jerks up, obscured by the page of paper that he was sleeping on, stiil stuck to his face. Cordy: "What happened?" Angel pulls the paper off his face and takes a quick glance around. Angel: "Uh... hey, doll. I ah, (puts some papers back into an open file) was working on the case. I must have dozed off." Cordy: "You were too tired to go up to your room?" Angel: "My room, right - which I have upstairs. Well, you know me. Always giving a hundred percent. (Gets up and looks through the mess) Now what did I do with the darn case file..." Cordy quietly: "You gave it to me yesterday." Angel: "Ha. Must be getting old." Angel reaches for the file but Cordy puts it behind her back. Cordy: "Not until you have that talk with Fred." Wes walks in carrying an old English teapot. Wes: "You know there is something about brewed tea you simply can not replicate with a bag. (Sees the mess) What happened here?" Angel shuffling papers together: "I was just looking for something. Uh, I'll clean it up!" Cordy turns to go: "Don't avoid the talk." Angel: "I know. I know." Wes walks around the desk, picking up some of the papers, and looking over the mess. Angel: "Hey. How're you doing?" Wes: "Alright. Well... - you?" Angel pulls up a chair on the other side of Wes' desk and sits down. Angel: "So, we gotta talk. The thing is, I've got nothing against you personally. It's just..." Wes raises his head to stare at Angel who shifts uncomfortably in his chair. Angel not looking at Wes: "O-ho, this is gonna be harder than I-I thought. I just don't know how to spit this out." Wes comes around the desk and sits down on it's edge facing Angel. Wes: "Angel. Whatever it is, you know I'm here for you." Wes stretches out a hand towards Angel, and Angel hurriedly scoots his chair back. Angel: "Yeah. That may be the problem. (Chuckles uncomfortably) I mean, whatever we - had... - whatever we - did. I just think that we should keep that - behind us. - Start from scratch. You know, two men working side by side. But, you know, none of that - funny stuff." Wes straightens up, a slight frown on his face. Angel offers his hand. Angel: "Shake on that?" Wes after a b*at: "I guess." Wes takes Angel's hand, who gives it a hearty shake, then pulls Wes into a big hug. Angel: "Hey, all right. Gimme a hug." Cordy: "Wesley, food's here." Wes: "Okay." Angel pulls back from Wes, holding him at arms length. Angel: "Wesley?" Wes: "Yes?" Angel: "Do you know where Fred is?" Wes: "Uhm - up in her room I'd expect." Angel: "*Her* room. Right. - Somebody say something about food? I could eat a horse." Angel turns and walks out of Wes' office. g*n is standing in front of a carton holding cups and fast food. g*n: "Breakfast burritos all around." Angel grabs one of the burritos, and sticks some money into the breast pocket of g*n's jacket. Angel: "Thanks, bro. Keep the change on that." g*n: "O-kay." Wes: "Get anything from the hotel staff?" Angel sitting at his little folding desk munching on the burrito looks over at g*n and Wes. g*n: "Yeah, I did. All these guys ran up huge service bills, mostly alcohol. Well, at least they went out partying. Oh, and I got copies of their telephone bills, too." Angel talking with his mouth full: "Hey, isn't that illegal? I mean, don't these guys deserve a little privacy?" They all turn to stare at Angel. Angel: "What?" Cordy: "Why are you eating?" Angel: "I'm hungry." Wes: "Looks like they called the same number." g*n: "Yeah, saw that, too. Checked it out. (Pulls out a paper and hands it to Wes) First class escorts, La Brea and sixth." Angel gets up and moves over to them. Cordy: "Escorts. Oh, you mean hookers?" g*n takes the paper out of Wes' hand: "I should probably interview them right away - while the trail is hot." Wes takes the paper back: "Ah, I'll take this one. You interviewed the hotel staff. It's only fair if we divvy it up." g*n again taking the paper: "Yeah, but I figured it out." Cordy snatches the paper: "I'll interview the hookers. Are there any men who aren't just dogs?" Angel: "Not very many, I'm afraid. (Leans in close to Wes) You know a woman is more than a piece of meat. I'm sorry. That's just how I feel." Wes' beeper goes off and he checks the display. Wes: "Ah, my contact at the coroner. I can see one of the bodies. I should go." Cordy: "g*n can go with you." g*n: "That wasn't the kind of body I had in mind to see. (Cordy looks at him) We're going, we're going." g*n and Wes leave and Cordy follows them. Angel: "Hey, you know what? That's a great idea. I'll just stay here, hold the fort - keep an eye on the evidence." Crams some more burrito in his mouth. Marcus is sitting on a sofa in the lobby of the Monserrat with an open book on his lap. He sees the security guard at the desk by the doors get up to help an old lady with a walker accompanied by a younger woman through the door. Watches as the guard helps them over to the elevators. He gets up to head for the unguarded doors, but is intercepted by an old, black man being visited by his family. Jackson: "Marcus, I got someone I want you to meet." Marcus: "Oh, I can't right now." Jackson takes the baby from his daughters arms and hands her to Marcus. Jackson: "This is my baby granddaughter Katrina. (To baby) Girl's gonna *rule* the world! (To Marcus) Isn't she something?" Marcus takes the girl in his arm a smile spreading across his face. He looks past Jackson to the unoccupied guard desk, looks back down at the baby. Marcus: "She's beautiful." Marcus looks over to see that the guard has returned to his post. Angel is in Wes' office, shredding the newspaper clippings of the mysterious d*ad guys. That done, he sits back with a sigh, puts his feet up on the desk and picks up a martini glass sitting on it to take a sip. Fred: "What you doing?" Angel sees Fred and grins: "Well. Hey, sweetheart. Where you've been hiding?" Fred flustered: "You know, up in my room. Everybody keeps saying 'Fred, you should get out more' so, well..." Angel: "Fred - mmm." Angel takes a sip from his glass then gets up and walks around the desk to stand in front of Fred. Angel: "Have I ever told you you are a very *beautiful* woman? Fred: "Uhm - no?" Angel: "Do you like olives?" Angel pulls the toothpick with the olive out of his drink and offers it to Fred, who eats it out of his hand. Angel: "Tell you what, I have some work I have to finish up here. Why don't you go on upstairs and put on something pretty and we'll go out on the town." Fred: "Really?" Angel tips her on the nose with the toothpick: "And that's just for starters." Fred: "Okay, I'll just - I'll go and - okay." Runs out of the office. Angel shakes his head: "Hoo!" He goes to sit back down at the desk, whistling and shredding files. Lilah walks into the office and Angel turns the shredder off. Angel: "And what can I *do* for *you*?" Lilah: "Don't go all nightstalker on me. I'm here to do you a favor. (Angel checks Lilah out) We both agree that business with Cordelia was just business, right?" Angel after a b*at: "Sure." Lilah pulls a bundle of folded papers from her briefcase and drops on the desk in front of Angel. Lilah: "It's all in there. Earthquake safe certification, statement of asbestos level compliance... All of it." Angel picks up the bundle then drops it back on the desk. He looks up at Lilah. Stands up, picking up his martini glass and walks around the desk. Lilah: "I'm not playing you here. It's not about you. It's about Gavin. He thinks he's so smart. (Angel pour two martini glasses) - You're welcome." Angel: "I'm sorry. Thanks. (Puts olives in each glass) That was a really - thoughtful favor. - How about a drink? (picks up the two glasses and offers one to Lilah) Have I ever told you you're a very *beautiful* woman?" Lilah hesitantly accepts the glass and Angel clinks his against hers. Marcus is walking down some steps in the Monserrat. Peeks around the corner at the end of the hallway to see the security guard at the desk reading a newspaper. Scoots back away. Notices the f*re alarm on the wall. Glances back at the guard station, then trips the alarm. The alarm sounds and the guard jumps up from his desk and hurries away to look for the source. Marcus shuffle-runs towards the desk and the exit. Looks down at his left arm, grabs it with his other hand, starts to huff and puff. Marcus: "M-my heart..." Slowly collapses to the ground. Lilah is sitting in a chair across from Angel, who is sitting on Wes' desk. She sets down her empty glass. Angel: "Want another?" Lilah: "I'm gonna have to call a taxi as it is." Lilah gets up to leave - only to run against Angel's leg, stretched straight out to bar her way. Angel chuckles: "Oops!" Lilah: "What do you want?" Angel brushes the hair back from Lilah's face: "You. - Don't tell me you never thought about it." Angel stands up, leans in close and kisses her. Lilah pulls away shaking her head a little. Angel smiles at her then pulls her in for another kiss - which Lilah returns, passionately. They start groping each other. Lilah rips Angel's shirt open. Angel sweeps the stuff on Wes' desk to the side and pushes her down onto it. Fred walks up to the open door of Wes' office, wearing a long dress, her long hair open, with a shy smile on her face. She walks in to see Angel and Lilah groping wildly on top of Wes' desk. Her eyes widen, then she turns and runs away. Angel is nuzzling Lilah's neck. Suddenly vamps out and bites her as Lilah lets out a surprised scream. Break Lilah pushes Angel off her and gets up off the desk. Lilah: "You son of a bitch!" Angel: "Whoa! I'm sorry! It just - felt like the thing to do. (Stares at the cross Lilah is holding up to ward him off) Whoa! What are you born again all of a sudden?" Lilah: "I don't know what kind of sick game this is, Angel, but I hope you enjoyed it because you're never getting this close to me again." Angel is trying to get closer only to find himself shying back from the cross in her hands. Lilah walks out and Angel lifts a hand to run it through his hair - only to touch the thickened brow of his forehead. Angel: "What? This is new." Angel explores his face with his fingers, pricks his right thumb on his fangs. Angel: "Ow!" Angel reflectively sticks his thumb in his mouth and sucks on it, takes it back out to look at it in surprise, then sticks it back in to suck some more. Angel: "Ah. Hmm..." Still sucking on his thumb he walks into the bathroom - only to *not* see himself in the mirror. Angel: "What the..." Marcus is lying on a hospital bed, and IV going into the back of his right hand, watching the lights on the heart monitor beside his bed. Ryan: "You're awake." Marcus looks up at him: "It's beating." His right hand is resting on his chest over his heart, gently keeping the b*at. Ryan: "That was your fourth heart att*ck, Marcus. I don't know if you can survive another one. You got lucky this time. Try something like that again, you may not be." Marcus returns to watching the heart monitor display. Hyperion, night. Cordy walks into the dimly lit lobby. Cordy: "If Julia Roberts ever makes a realistic movie about being an escort, I think it should be called pretty skanky woman." Cordy stops by the counter to look around the deserted lobby. Cordy: "Angel? - Fred!" Cordy puts her stuff down. Hears some soft sobbing noises. She walks over and opens the elevator doors to reveal Fred hunched up in one corner of it, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees, crying. Cordy: "Fred. What's wrong? What happened?" Fred: "I should've knocked. I always forget to knock because, you know, I didn't have a door for so long. (Fred looks over at Cordy, trying to suppress her sobs) He called me a sweetheart. But it's just an expression, isn't it? Like when a waitress calls you honey, it doesn't mean your special or anything. It's just a word, right? Sweetheart." Cordy softly: "Is this about Angel? (Fred nods) Oh. - He talked to you, didn't he?" Cordy sits down beside Fred and sighs. Cordy: "This is all my fault. I told him to do that." Fred's turns her head to stare at Cordy. Fred: "You told him to make out with that woman on the desk?" Cordy: "What? No. - What woman?" Angel walks into a nightclub, moving with the music. Stops by the bar and turns to survey the room. He spots a pretty, dark haired girl sitting at a table with her boyfriend. The girl looks over at him and their eyes lock for a moment before she turns her attention back to her boyfriend. Angel keeps watching as the boyfriend gets up, taking his empty glass with him. The girl looks back over at Angel still standing by the bar. Some people walks past between them and after they're gone the girl's face falls as Angel is gone as well, only to set a full martini glass down in front of her a moment later. Angel is sitting with the girl at the table, whispering something in her ear. Under the table his hand is on her leg. Flash cut to Angel pulling the laughing girl after him out of the door to the club onto a balcony. The boyfriend and another guy walk up to the table to find it deserted. Angel and the girl are kissing out in front of the club. Girl with a smile: "My boyfriend is probably looking for me right now. He could catch us at any moment!" Pulls Angel in close for another kiss. Girl: "Sort of makes it more exciting doesn't it?" Angel: "Yeah. (Pulls back from nuzzling her neck and the girl screams at his vamp face) It does." Angel leans in and bites her, just as her boyfriend and two other guys walk out onto the balcony behind them. Boyfriend: "Hey!" Angel lets the girl go and spins around, morphing back into his human face as he does so. Boyfriend: "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Angel licks the blood from the corner of his lips. Girl: "He bit me!" Boyfriend: "Freak!" He hauls back to h*t Angel, but Angel catches his fist in his hand, clamping down on it. The guy groans in pain, then flies back as Angel hits him. Angel hold up his fist and looks at it. Angel: "Nice!" Angel stands there inviting the other two guys to h*t him. He takes a kick to the face from the first guy, then grabs him by the throat, head butts him and tosses him aside. Walks right into the fist of the second guy, and returns the h*t with a wide swing of his own then tosses that guy to the side as well and turns to face the boyfriend, scooting backwards away from him. Angel: "Come on! Bring it on. Is that it? Is that all you got?" Boyfriend: "What are you on?" Angel: "Well, you know, I'd say I'm high on life only - I ain't alive - which means - I'm never gonna die. I'm gonna be young, handsome and *strong* forever! (Laughs) There is just one thing I gotta do first!" With that Angel turns away, runs over to the railing, jumps on top, then off of it, only to easily land some stories below running down the street laughing. Wes: "I do not believe it. On my desk?" g*n: "Well, it did used to be his. Maybe he was just kinda - reclaiming it." Wes: "How? By marking it? - This isn't like him." Wes walks around the desk and crouches down to look at some books lying open on the floor. Cordy: "What? This is totally like him. Doing the mystery dance with some cheap blonde?" Fred: "Brunette. She was a cheap brunette." Cordy: "You're right. This isn't like him." g*n: "So, who was she?" Wes: "I don't think it matters who *she* was. The question is, who is *he*?" Cordy: "Uh-huh. We're all thinking it. - He's Angelus again." Fred: "Who's Angelus?" g*n: "The bad-ass vamp Angel turns into when he gets evil. But then why is there no body here? Wouldn't he've just k*lled her?" Wes: "No, that's not what I meant. Why would Angel, or Angelus for that matter, (holds up the open books) need to read about vampires?" Cordy: "He wouldn't." g*n: "Wait. What are you getting at?" Wes: "This case we've been working on. Each of the victims exhibited wild, uncharacteristic behavior just before they died. They weren't themselves." g*n: "Oh! So you think Angel's been infected by whatever got into those gym boys." Wes: "Not 'whatever' - whomever. Cordelia, when you and him were at the gym did anything unusual happen to Angel?" Cordy: "No, not really. I was with him pretty much the whole time. - Except for when he went across the street to the..." Cut to the Monserrat retirement community. Marcus is sneaking down a hallway. He enters a deserted common area off the lobby. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he tries to act casual. Jackson: "Hey. (Marcus jumps and turns around) What the hell are you doing out of bed? You trying to bust loose again, ain't you? Damn, Marcus - you don't quit, do you? Do want to have another heart att*ck?" Marcus: "Look - I can't really explain this, but I *need* to get out of here. (Puts his hands on Jackson's shoulders) Just - don't turn me in." Jackson: "Not gonna have to. Your kid was signing in at reception when I came down." Marcus: "My kid?" Jackson: "M-hm." Jackson walks off. Marcus turns and sees Angel talking to Ryan at the other end of the lobby. Angel turns and looks at Marcus with a smile. Angel: "Hi, dad." Break Marcus backs out of Angel's view. Angel slowly saunters across the lobby after him. Angel turns the corner down a branch of a deserted hallway. He sniffs the air, then turns around, smiling, to enter the darkened rec-room. Marcus is standing in the shadows besides the door. As Angel turns on the light, Marcus hits him over the head with a shuffleboard staff. Angel is thrown off balance but catches Marcus' next h*t and pulls the staff from his hands. Marcus staggers back. Marcus: "So, I guess you finally found a body that won't burn out, huh, Marcus?" Angel: "Looks like." Marcus: "Only one way you can keep it though, right? You got to k*ll yourself!" Marcus smacks his fist against his chest over his heart. Angel mimics the gesture: "Mmm! I can live with that!" Marcus: "You sure? I don't think you *really* know what you're getting into." Angel steps away from the door, walking towards Marcus, standing in the middle of the room. Angel: "Oh, I know what I'm getting into. *You're* the one that doesn't seem to know what you had. As far as I can tell you were the world's worst vampire. Vampires don't *help* people, you *moron* - they k*ll 'em! Here, let me show you." Marcus holds up a hand: "You may have the attitude, and you may have the power - but there is one thing you don't have, and never will: friends. (The sh*t widens to reveal Cordy, Fred, Wes and g*n walking in through the door behind Angel) Four of them, standing behind you (Angel spins around to look) with big, heavy things." Angel: "Guys! It's about time. It's *him* - he's the one who's been casting that spell." Cordy: "You're Angel? With *that* cologne? I don't think so." g*n walks up and put his loaded crossbow against Angel's chest. Marcus: "Don't stake him." Angel bats g*n's crossbow aside and lifts his staff to push both g*n and Wes into the wall. Angel drops the staff and turns to run - right into Cordy and Fred and their wooden baseball bats. g*n uses the shuffleboard staff to swipe Angel's legs out from under him, dropping Angel. Angel jumps back up, wrestles the bat away from Fred and turns with it towards Marcus. Cordy pulls out a tazer and hits Angel with a charge of blue-white light. Angel lands face down, in an unmoving heap at Marcus feet. Cordy: "God, I love technology. (Hurries over to Marcus) Are you alright?" Marcus: "I gotta pee." Wes: "Did you happen to notice a small Algurian conjuring orb? Could have been glowing." Marcus: "In his room, on a shrine." Wes: "Then I was right. (Looks down at Angel's body) Algurian body-switching spell. Keep an eye on him." Fred hauls back and hits Angel's body over the head, causing g*n to jump. Marcus: "Fred! He's out! He's out!" They have tied Angel's unconscious body to a chair in Marcus' room. Marcus sits down on the chair across from him as Wes hands him a piece of paper. Wes: "Read this." Marcus: "Alli permutat anima kimota. Alli permutat anima kimota." Angel's head comes up. A blue light starts to issue from Marcus eyes and nose, a red one from Angel's eyes. The blue light disappears into Angel's mouth, while the red light enters Marcus as soon as the blue light leaves it. Marcus and Angel's head sag onto their chests, but after a moment Angel's head comes back up. He looks up at g*n, a slightly dazed expression on his face. Angel: "It's cool, g*n. It's me." g*n bends to untie Angel's hands. Cordy: "I got his conjuring stone." Angel takes it into his hand. Marcus: "You can't take that!" Angel closes his hand, crushing the stone to powder. Marcus: "You...! You don't deserve that body!" Angel: "Funny. I was gonna say the same thing to you. (Stands up) I tell you why you have a weak heart, Marcus. You never use it." Angel starts to leave, with the others falling in behind him. Marcus: "You're pathetic! (Stands up) You're all pa..." Angel, turning back: "You should try and keep a lid on that rage, Marcus. It's - not healthy." Angel and the g*ng walk out as Marcus sinks back into his chair, clutching at his heart. Marcus moaning weakly: "Help..." Ryan and another attendant see Angel and the g*ng coming out of Marcus room. Ryan: "What's going on?" Angel: "Dad's having a bad night." The Hyperion's garden court, night. Fred is sitting on the edge of the dry fountain, reading a book. Angel comes down the steps behind her. Angel: "Hi." Fred: "Hey. - How's your head? S-sorry about all that..." Fred makes some hitting movements. Angel: "Ah, I - gather I - had it coming." Fred: "Mmm. - Yes." Angel goes to sit down beside her. Angel: "Fred, I've been meaning to talk to you about something." Fred puts her book down and smiles at him: "Okay." Angel sits there silently staring into the night for a b*at. Fred: "Is this about how you're not like other men - what with that curse and all... and how you're really fond of me, but that's as far at it goes?" Angel: "Uhm... - yeah." Fred: "Cordelia explained it to me. (Gives a little chuckle) She said you'd probably just screw it up." Angel: "Oh, she did, did she? - And she's probably right." Fred sighs and looks down. Angel: "What?" Fred: "It's like something out of Fitzgerald. - The man who can have everything but love. - Well, maybe in some ways you're better off, because love is... - Well, in a way it's everything. - But it's also heartache and disappointment. - And those are good things to avoid." Cordy comes hurrying out and Angel and Fred turn their heads to look at her. Cordy, a bit breathless: "Angel, Willow's on the phone... She's alive! Buffy's alive!" With that Cordy turns around and hurries back in. Angel and Fred look at each other for a b*at then Angel jumps up and runs into the hotel after Cordy. Fred: "Buffy?"

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x04 - Carpe Noctem"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Librarian: "Fred disappeared five years ago. They never found her." Wes: "Cordy's been sucked into the portal. She's in the Host's dimension." Fred: "They use you as a sl*ve and then your body gives." Constable: "Fugitive!" Fred: "Oh no!" Angel kills the demon Guard Captain. Fred: "Handsome man - saved me from the monsters." Fred: "I love tacos. D-do they still have them?" Wes: "The host reads their souls, senses their futures." Cordy: "Yes, but he can only do it when they sing Karaoke." Fred sings "Crazy." g*n's old g*ng comes in and sh**t the place up. Lorne: "Ah! My club! Friends of yours, g*n?" Wes is looking past the naked sword blade to the person holding it. Wes: "You wouldn't dare. - You were just going to toss in a Prothgarian broadsword with a third-century ceremonial Sancteus dagger?" Cordy turns the sword in her hands to give it a second look. Cordy: "Hmm. Let's see. Long, metal, pointy. - Yup." Wes: "Cordy! The purpose of an inventory..." g*n: "Yes, give us that (mimics Wes English accent) purpose of an inventory speech - again." Wes: "This wasn't my idea." Cordy: "No. Angel - keeps complaining that the w*apon cabinet is all different. But, Wesley, who's the boss around here? You - or the guy with the pancreas dagger." Fred: "What time is it?" Wes holds up his wrist to Cordy and read his watch. Cordy: "Six twenty four, and for those of you who are playing the home game: that's exactly three minutes from the last time you asked." Fred fumbles around with the strange contraption (looks like a hybrid between a suitcase, a crossbow and a sowing machine - or something like that). Fred: "I'm sorry. I just - I have this theory that the more you are aware of time the more slowly it moves, which *could* make light speed travel possible, but only if you were to concentrate really..." Cordy: "He'll be back when he's back." Fred: "So - now that she's alive again, are they gonna get back together? Angel and that girl with the goofy name?" Wes: "Well - *Fred* - that's a difficult question. I think it's fair to say - no. Not a chance, never, no way, not in a million years, and also 'nuh-uh.'" Fred: "But you said he loved her. And of course she's gonna love him back, because he's so strong and handsome and he really listens when you talk. I-I mean, if you go for that sort of thing, why wouldn't it work?" Cordy: "Let me break it down for you, Fred." Cordy steps away from the reception counter and pretends to be Buffy. Cordy: "Oh - Angel! I know that I'm a Slayer and you a vampire - and it would be *impossible* for us to *be* together - *but!*" g*n laughs at Cordy's act. Wes stands up: "But!" Cordy turns to look at him. Wes pulls his glasses off and lays them to the side. Wes: "My gypsy curse sometimes prevent me from seeing the truth. Oh, Buffy!" Cordy: "Yes, Angel?" Wes: "Oh, I love you so much I almost forgot to *brood!*" Fred watches wide-eyed. g*n is laughing. Cordy: "And just because I sent you to hell that one time doesn't mean that we can't just be friends." Wes grabs a hold of Cordy's wrist. Cordy: "Oh!" Wes: "Or possibly more." Cordy gasps: "Gasp! No! We mustn't." Wes pulls Cordy close. Wes: "Kiss me." Cordy: "Bite me!" Wes bends Cordy back over his arm and pretends to sink his fangs into her neck. Angel off screen: "How about you both bite me." Fred jumps up: "You're back!" Cordy and Wes see Angel watching them and quickly scurry apart. g*n: "How'd it go?" Angel: "I think those two pretty much summed it up. To be honest - I *really* don't wanna talk about it." Cordy tugs her mini skirt back in place. Cordy: "But... ah, Angel - we're your friends. (Gives him a big, friendly smile) and, and it-it's not healthy to repress stuff like *this.* You-you need to share your - pain, express those feelings of grief and longing or... The curiosity is gonna k*ll me!" Angel quietly: "Oh, no. Wouldn't want that." Fred: "Personally, I don't care at all what happened." Cordy as she walks past Fred: "Shut up, Fred." Angel quietly: "Actually, you know what I need right now? - Ice cream. (Looks at Fred) You wanna get some ice cream?" Fred with a big grin: "I like Ice cream!" She walks over to Angel and they leave the hotel together. Cordy: "Now we'll never, ever know." Angel off screen: "That's right." Angel and Fred are walking along a dimly lit sewer tunnel with Fred holding a big ice cream cone. Fred: "This has been the best night ever! First there's you taking me to ice cream, then there is the ice cream, then that monster jumps out of the freezer and you're all brave and "Fred, watch out!", and then we get to chase it down into the sewers, which are just so bleak and oppressive and - homey. And, and I could build a condo down here." Angel: "I'm glad you're having fun." Fred: "You think maybe the monster just wanted a sugar cone?" Angel: "I doubt it. Durslar beasts don't usually come above ground like that. They tend to stick to the sewers." Fred: "Lucky stiffs. They get to lead lives of mysterious sewage while I'm just plain ol' boring ol' Fred." Angel: "Boring? That's not a word I'd use for you." Fred: "Fine. Nutty-ol'-goonie-bird-up-in her-room-doin'-nothin'-but-moochin'-off-Angel Fred. I swear I don't know how you all put up with me. I practically need flashcards to understand my (looks past Angel) pretty crystals. Oh, look. They're everywhere." A dull roaring sounds and Fred jumps back. Fred: "It wasn't me." Angel: "Oh, no, no, no. We must be near the Durslar's lair. Why don't you head back on to the hotel. I can take it from here." Fred: "But shouldn't we call Wesley first and maybe, you know, the army?" Angel: "Nah. Durslar beasts are pretty Faulknerian. Lotta sound, no fury. Think you can find your way back okay?" Fred: "I think so. 128 meters back, eastward fork, 207 meters to the southward fork, hang a right, 12 meters in... I'm just being a big nerd again, aren't I? (Angel nods) I'm gonna go now." Fred heads down the tunnel and Angel turns to walk towards the Durslar's lair. Fred turning back around: "A-are you sure you're gonna be okay? Because I can stay with you. I really don't mind." Angel: "I'll be fine." Fred: "You don't need me. Okay. Bye!" Fred disappears around the corner then sticks her head out to look back around it. Fred: "Are you sure?" Angel with a little laugh: "I'm fine!" Fred: "Okay. Bye then!" Finally leaves for good, with Angel watching her go, big smile on his face - not noticing the Durslar coming up behind him. Intro Back at the Hyperion Wes, Cordy and g*n are still busy with the w*apon inventory. Wes: "Three-pronged Scythian death spear, category six. w*apon cabinet, third shelf." Cordy takes the tagged spear and puts it in the w*apon cabinet. Wes: "You know, back in my days as a rogue demon hunter I once used that very spear to pin down what I thought was a small Rodentius demon - of course the poodle's owners weren't very happy." g*n to Cordy: "Would you hurry up and get a vision already?" Cordy straightens up and backs away from the w*apon cabinet. Cordy: "Ah, gee, g*n, much as I would *love* to endure another soul-splittingly agonizing psychic invasion for your benef-ow! Ow! Ow!" Wes and g*n hurry over to where Cordy is hunching over in pain. g*n: "Yes! Yes!" Cordy: "No! Ow, Fred! Ouch. I really wish she wouldn't leave her toys lying around!" Cordy walks over to sit on the round settee, rubbing her shin after having bumped in Fred's contraption. g*n: "Ooh! Pretty wicked looking toy!" Wes: "I'll say. It almost looks like a spring-loaded decapitation device." Cordy: "Or it makes toast. With her you never know." Man's voice: "Ah. Excuse me! Ah, is this Angel Investigations?" The g*ng looks up to see a middle-aged couple standing on the landing just inside the front doors. Wes: "Yes. Can we help you?" Roger: "I sure hope so. I'm Roger, and this is my wife, Trish. Ah, we're sorry to barge in on your... arsenal here, but - we really need to talk to you." Wes: "Of course. Please, step into my office." Craning his neck to get another look at the arsenal of w*apon on display, Roger ushers his wife down the stairs. They all enter Wes' office. Wes: "I'm Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. These are my colleagues, Cordelia Chase and Charles g*n." They shake hands. Wes: "What can we do for you?" The couple sits down in the chairs in front of Wes' desk as Wes settles in his chair as well. Trish: "It's our daughter. She's missing." Cordy: "Oh, no. Kidnapped by evil fiends?" Trish: "We're not sure." Wes making notes: "I see. Was your daughter involved in any kind of demon worship?" Roger: "Of course not!" g*n: "Could be a vampire. Hard luck tracking one of those in a city this big, but don't worry. We're detectives. We can find anyone." Roger: "We already hired a detective." Wes: "And he couldn't locate her." Roger: "He said she was staying here - in your hotel." Trish: "Her name is Winifred Burkle. We call her Fred." Wes looks up at g*n and Cordy. Fred is coming up into the lobby through the basement door, still licking her ice cream cone. She hears voices, glances at the open door to Wes' office. She sees Roger and Trish and runs up the stairs to her room. g*n: "Fred's your daughter?" Trish: "Yes. You know her?" Roger: "Is she here? Is she alright?" Wes: "She's fine and - out at the moment - with one of our associates." Cordy: "Who is not an evil fiend - or a vampire - because they don't exist. In - case you aren't familiar with our LA gumshoe detective slang." Roger: "But what happened to her? It's been five years -- has she been with y'all this whole time?" Wes: "No. Ah, we've only known Fred for a few months, really. - You see we found her in..." Wes looks at Cordy and g*n. Cordy: "Ah, a fit of depression." Trish: "Fred was depressed? (Cordy nods) Over what?" Cordy looks at Wes. Wes: "She had recently relocated and was - having trouble adjusting. So, how did you come to find her again?" Trish: "Oh, about a month ago we got a letter from her in the mail." Roger: "But she didn't leave her return address. In fact she said she was fine and we shouldn't bother looking for her, but..." Trish: "Five years of not knowing whether your daughter's alive or... Well, how could we just let it go?" Roger: "So we hired the private eye." g*n: "And he tracked her down through an un-addressed envelope? We could do that." Angel: "Wait til you guys hear what happened at Haagen Dazs! Ordinarily these things don't put up much of a fight, but this one? Hoo! I think I'm gonna have it..." Angel walks into the office, carrying the Durslar's severed head. Sees Fred's parents. Angel: "...mounted. - Hello." Cordy: "Angel. you're -- alone. And - and you brought ... a prop! From your movie! (to parents) This is Angel. - *Angel* - makes - monster movies. - Angel, these are Fred's very *normal* parents." Angel puts the head behind his back. Angel: "Ah. - Fred has parents." Fred is up in her room, trying to (unsuccessfully) wipe off the writing on the wall using a towel. Looks around the room and grabs the pieces of clothing lying on the nightstand and bed. Angel smiling: "Well it sure is - nice to meet you both." Roger: "Ah. Son, you-your prop is dripping." Angel looks down at the green blood dripping from the severed demon neck. Angel laughing: "Oh, yeah. This (swings the demon head up by the hair, causing Roger and Trish to duck back) - fake. You know, a little glue, paper machee..." Angel tosses the head back behind himself without looking into the lobby - where we hear a big crash of glass as it lands. Angel: "...possibly some lead. So, Fred's parents - we've heard so - much... Well, uhm, sure is nice to meet you folks." g*n: "No address anywhere on the envelope?" Roger: "No. None." g*n: "Ah." Roger to Angel: "Do you know when Fred will be back?" Angel looks towards Cordy and g*n, who give him pointed looks in return. Angel: "Oh, me. Well, yeah, ah, I sent her right back here, right before I... picked up that - prop. So I'm sure she's - up in her room (Trish and Roger smile at each other) - right now." Fred's parents and the g*ng survey Fred's room - which is remarkably clean and organized. Trish: "Fred?" Roger: "She's not here." Angel picks up the crumpled ice cream cone wrapper from the floor. Angel: "No. But she was." Trish looks at the walls. Trish: "This - it's her writing. But what does this mean? It's just crazy." Roger quietly to Trish: "We might have to call them in sooner than we thought." Cordy is whispering to Wes and g*n: "Guys - when was the last time Fred ever left the hotel by herself?" g*n: "A couple of weeks after never." Roger: "We want our daughter." Wes: "So, what is she running from?" The three of them turn to look at Fred's parents, standing across the room from them. Fred is hurrying a darkened street, wearing a backpack and looking scared. Break The g*ng is alone in Wesley's office. Cordy: "There's just something - off about them. I can't put my finger on what." Wes: "Fred must have returned while we were in here, seen her parents and..." Angel: "Took off. That's not a good sign." g*n: "They said she sent them a letter. Can you picture Fred sneaking off to send a letter?" Cordy: "Pfft! Sneaking off, right. Fred can barely tie her shoes without Mr. 'oh, you're my big, fat hero!' around." Angel quietly: "You think I'm fat?" Wes: "This could be a ruse, to trick us into letting them get close to her. Making it seem as though she'd initiated contact." Angel: "On the other hand if the letter is real and she told them not to look for her, there's got to be a reason for that." Cordy: "Fred never talks about her family." Angel: "So, where do we start?" Angel looks form one to the other, but they all stay silent. Angel: "Where would Fred go?" g*n: "We could h*t all the local taco stands. (Everyone looks at him) Joke! - Kind of." Angel: "Come on, guys, think! What do we know about Fred?" g*n: "Well, I knew about the tacos." Angel: "All right. She seemed pretty comfortable in the sewers. They're dark, cave-like. She felt safe there. I'll head back down there, see if I can find her." Wes: "She worked at the Public Library. There may be colleagues there she trusted." Cordy has been peeking out into the lobby at ma and pa Burkle sitting on the settee, talking quietly to each other. Cordy: "What about them? We can't just leave them there! (The guys look at each other) What if Fred comes back?" The Burkle's look up, catching sight of Cordy watching them and Cordy quickly pulls her head back out of sight. Cordy: "Oh!" Roger: "Is it time?" Trish: "Not yet." The g*ng follows Wes out of the office into the lobby. Wes: "Mr. and Mrs. Burkle, we're gonna try a few places we think Fred may have gone. Would you like to come along?" Roger: "Ah, all six of us? Wouldn't it make more sense to split up, cover more territory?" g*n after a b*at: "Perhaps." Angel: "Well, I'm gonna check out some of my, ah, industry contacts. So it'll just be the five of you." Trish: "Industry contacts? Why would... - Fred's not - 'making movies,' is she?" Angel: "Movies? Oh, you mean... No! No, no, of course not. It's just some of these contacts they-they know things sometimes. They're, ah, underground." Wes: "Right. Uh - shall we go?" The Burkles follow Cordy and g*n out the door. Angel grabs a hold of Wes' arm as he passes him. Angel: "Call me if..." Wes: "Yeah." Lorne, smoking a cigarette and wearing a white, terry bathrobe, makes his way through a bead curtain to answer the banging on the door. Lorne: "Oh, figures. Right when Judge Judy is about to lay the smack down. (More banging) I'm coming! I'm not death, you know." Lorne puts his cigarette into an ashtray sitting on one of the tables in his deserted bar. The table collapses, sending the bottles sitting on top of it crashing to the floor. Lorne doesn't react, just continues to shuffle towards the bar, where he pushes a button that unlocks the door. Lorne: "Can't you read the sign on the door? Se habla 'closed.' (Fred comes down the steps) Oh, Fred, it's you. The bar is closed. (Turns away) Good seeing you. It's been fun. Bye-bye." Fred takes a deep breath and launches into "Row, row, row your boat" as she hurries after Lorne. Lorne: "Ouch! Turn the sirens down a notch, would you? All that fear and panic's bl*wing out my fuses." Fred: "I'm sorry. It's just - something awful has happened." Lorne: "Oh really? (Sweeps a hand out to encompass his club - still as trashed as g*n's former g*ng left it) I wonder what that's like." Fred: "Oh, no. Was there another m*ssacre?" Lorne: "Oh, no. No. Just the one. But it turns out massacres are a lot like sitting through Godfather three: once is enough." Fred: "I'm not... I mean, I don't wanna sound... Why is it still like this?" Lorne: "Ah, Fred, honey, I don't think you're here to discuss interior decorating. Am I wrong?" Lorne pulls out a chair at an intact table, rights the overturned lamp on it and indicates the chair opposite from his. Lorne: "Now, what can I do for you?" Fred sits down: "I - I need cash. I don't wanna talk about it, because I think my head might go a little twang and I'll sing if I have to. (Starts singing) Row, row, row..." Lorne: "Easy! Easy! Forget the singing, sweetheart. Your aura is practically screaming! - Yeah, you are in a bad place, aren't you doll? - You thought you could outrun them - and maybe you were free. - But those old monsters hunted you down. - I know why you're running away, Fred. You know what your problem is?" Fred: "I'm not strong enough to stay and face my fear." Lorne: "No. You haven't run far enough." Fred just looks at him. A rat runs along on top of a pipe running along the ceiling of a sewer tunnel. Angel: 'Fred? - Fred, it's just me! - I'm alone. - Listen - whatever that thing is with your parents? - You know, we can help you. - Fred?" Two glowing blue eyes peek around a recess behind Angel as he walks on. Night, Los Angeles Public Library Trish: "Does Fred come to the library often?" Cordy: "Uh, well, this was the first place I ever saw her." Trish: "She used to love our little community library back home. Every afternoon, I'd pick her up there after my rounds." Cordy: "Oh, a doctor! No wonder Fred's so smart!" Trish: "I drive a school bus." Cordy: "Oh. Well, I-I've actually never - ridden in one of those, but I hear they're very nice." Roger: "What exactly does Fred do for you people? It strikes me a little odd, a physicist working for a detective agency." Cordy: "Uh, well, Fred's ah... gone through some changes." Roger: "And whose fault is that?" Cordy is still thinking when Wes and g*n walk in. Wes: "We've swept all the floors. Nothing." Trish: "Oh!" Roger: "So. What's next?" Wes: "Give me one second to confer with my colleagues." He pulls Cordy away with him and g*n. g*n: "I could have *told* you she wasn't going to be at the library." Wes: "Then if you know so much about her, g*n, why don't you just tell us where she is?" g*n: "Bet that taco stand's not looking so bad now, is it?" Cordy: "Hey! Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson, a little focus, please. There is *definitely* something going on with them." They looks over at the Burkles talking quietly to each other. Wes: "So, where *do* we go next? - Where would Fred go for help? For guidance?" Angel is still slowly walking along the sewer looking for Fred. Angel: "Fred? - Nothing to be afraid of." Angel jumps as his cell phone rings. He pulls it out of the breast pocket of his coat and opens it. Angel: "What? - No. You?" We get a distorted sh*t of Angel in the sewer tunnel as if seen from above. Angel lets out a deep breath: "Oh! You mean the place where she would go for help and guidance! (Turns to go back the way he came) And we call ourselves detectives." We get another distorted sh*t of Angel walking away. Angel: "I'll meet you there." Angel walks past the camera and we see a strange silhouette with blue glowing bug eyes in the tunnel behind him, watching him walk away. Lorne: "Well, isn't this a lovely surprise." Cordy: "*He's* surprised. I didn't think he *owned* terry cloth." Lorne: "Hmm. Such a small entourage tonight. Hey, g*n, why didn't you bring your other friends? 'cause they make a party." g*n looks from Wes to Angel, to Lorne: "Maybe I should wait outside." Lorne: "You know, I'm - I'm not entirely uncomfortable with that suggestion." g*n leaves. Trish: "What kind of a place is this?" Lorne: "Oh, do you like it? I was kinda going for a Dresden after the b*mb sort of feel." Roger: "Ah, is this one of your big 'industry contacts?' Some guy in a bathrobe, wearing makeup and fake horns?" Lorne: "They're not fake! And it's - only a little eyeliner." Wes: "Lorne, I'd like you to meet Fred's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Burkle. They're here visiting - from the country." Roger: "Yeah. You have to forgive us hicks. Down in Texas we don't get a lot of guys who wear eyeliner - not for long anyway." Cordy: "He's just teasing you. He probably just got back from a sh**t. He and Angel do monster movies together! Right, Lorne?!" Lorne: "Ah... No." Angel walks up to Lorne and pulls him aside. Angel: "Can I talk to you for a second?" Trish, leaning against the bar: "Some detectives! You have no idea where our daughter is, do you?" Cordy and Wes stay quiet. Roger: "Maybe they do. Maybe they just don't want us to find her." Angel: "Look, Lorne, I'm sorry about the bar, but right now Fred is missing and we need your help." Lorne: "Oh, really? Yeah, well, I'm not some mystical vending machine here to spit out answers every time *you* waltz in with a problem. I have a heart. Granted it's located in my left butt cheek, but it's still a heart. And that heart is broken! I mean, why is it no one ever cares about *my* destiny? Everyone who walks through that door is all about me, me, me. Well, what about my me? My me's important." Angel: "You know where she is, don't you?" Lorne: " A-and another thing, how... how do they get the pimentos in the olives, huh? There's a mystery for you. You know, do they stuff each one by hand, 'cause that seems a little time consuming, or do you think they have a - little - pimento - stuffing - machine ..." Angel just looks at Lorne. Lorne sighs: "Fred doesn't want to see her parents. She has reason for that. I mean, why force a showdown if you don't have to?" Angel: "Because it won't be over. They found her once, they'll do it again. At least this time we can be there to protect her. (Lorne shakes his head a little and looks away) Please. - Tell me where Fred is. - I know you're not a slot machine." Lorne: "Vending machine, you big palooka. (sighs) Alright, but play this one delicately, bro. Because it's gonna get messy." Fred is clutching a ticket in her hands as she is sitting on a bench next to an elderly homeless man. Fred: "I can do this. Sure I can. I can just get right up on that bus and be a whole new person - like origami - or plastic. Move some place I've never been with no money, no friends, no job. Easy as pie. 3.14 159265..." The homeless guy gets up and moves away. Fred: "Oh, hey, I was just calculating pi - to relax. I'm not dangerous." We get a distorted picture of Fred sitting on the bench in the bus terminal as if seen from above (like the one we got of Angel in the sewer earlier). Fred: "I could go to Vegas. Learn to play Black Jack. Memorize four hundred fifty two consecutive digits of pi a few hundred measly cards are easy." Through the potted palm fronds behind Fred's bench we can see her parents and the fang g*ng enter the bus terminal. Fred: "Nine, ten, Jack. (looks over and sees her parents talking to one of the clerks) Queen, King. No!" Trish turns and sees Fred getting up from the bench. Trish: "Fred?" Fred: "No, you're not here! Go away!" Trish: "Fred, honey, it's us!" Fred shakes her head: "No. You're not them. You can't be them, because they don't know." Roger: "Sweetie, it's mom and dad." Fred: "Shh! Stop saying that. You *can't* be!" Trish: "Honey, don't you remember us?" Fred: "I was - I was five years and so lost and, and at night I would... I was all by myself and you weren't there!" Fred starts to cry. Roger: "Fred, I don't understand." Fred: "I got lost. I got lost, and they did terrible things to me, but, but it was just a storybook. It was just a story with monsters, not real. (keeps shaking her head) Not in the world but - but if you're here and you see me then - then it's real! And it did happen. If you see what they made of me... I - I didn't mean to get so lost!" Trish also crying takes Fred's face into her hands. Trish: "Oh, honey, it doesn't matter what they did to you." Embraces her daughter. Fred: "Mommy." Trish: "Oh, we're gonna make it all right." Fred: "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I got so lost." Roger: "It don't matter. You're our little girl." Fred: "I missed you so much. I didn't mean to..." Trish: "Shh..." Roger: "Everything's okay now. You'll see. You're safe now." Suddenly a big insect (like an overgrown hybrid between a spider and a cockroach) drops screeching from the ceiling. Roger: "Whoa! - Tell me *that's* something from the movies!" Cordy: "No. That's something that's gonna k*ll us." Break. Angel: "Everybody outside." Wes: "Angel..." Angel: "Get them out of here. I can handle this. Move!" g*n: "Let's go!" Angel ducks a s*ab of the creature's front legs. The g*ng and the Burles run out of the doors of the terminal. Roger: "What the hell is that?" Cordy: "All our w*apon are back at the hotel!" g*n: "Angel said he could handle..." Angel comes flying through the closed doors, smashing them, coming to rest across the street at g*n's feet. g*n: "...it." The bug follows Angel through the door. Angel turns to look up at it. He's wearing his vamp face. g*n: "Maybe there's something in the trunk." As they run to the car: Roger: "What happened to his face?" Wes: "Angel's a vampire. He has a soul, but it's a long story. I'll tell you about it if we don't end up dying." Wes sees a pile of luggage and changed direction. Wes: "Cordy! Here." The bug is still s*ab and slicing at Angel with its pincers. Angel manages to duck most of them before getting swiped off his feet. g*n: "Hey! Bug boy!" g*n has found a compound sports bow and loosens an arrow. The bug shrieks and goes for the downed Angel again only to have Cordy and Wes attacking it with golf clubs. g*n grabs a club of his own and joins the fray. The bug manages to knock a club out of someone's hands and it slides across the ground to come to rest in front of Fred. Angel is back up and slugging as well. The bug manages to send him flying against the wheel of one of the parked busses. As Angel gets back up, the bug s*ab him in each shoulder with its pincers, pinning him up against the bus. Fred hits on the bug from behind with the golf club and it lets go of Angel to turn on Fred. Angel: "Fred, get out of the..." Angel pushes Fred out of the way, but the bug still scores on Fred's arm - before getting h*t over the head hard with a metal cylinder by Roger. Roger: "That's my *daughter* you damn cockroach!" Angel jumps on the bugs back, pinning its forelegs against its body, immobilizing them. Roger helps Fred up. Roger: "Here, baby. Come on, come on." Roger leads Fred over to the side. The bug breaks Angel's grip and shakes him off then turns around and sends him flying through the air to impact with the side of a parked bus. The bug goes after Angel - only to get splatted by a bus barreling by. The bus stops and Trish gets out. Trish: "Did I get it? Did I get it, y'all?" They are all back in the lobby of the Hyperion. Cordy is doctoring the scratch on Fred's arm. Trish: "I almost hate to ask, but - you do a lot of bandaging in your line of work?" Cordy: "Mmm. Occupational hazard. I mean, sure there is the occasional demon who tries to k*ll us with pillows, but, sadly, those cases are few and far between." Roger is looking at the Durslar's head. It has some of the same pretty crystals that Fred spotted in the sewer around its lair stuck to its side. Roger: "How about this guy? Was he a demon?" Cordy: "I think Angel called it a Durslar beast." Fred touches the crystals with her finger. Cordy: "He and Fred tracked it down after it att*cked them when they went out for ice cream." Roger: "You mean you know how to track these things, Fred?" Fred: "No. Mostly I was just there for the ice cream." Trish: "I wish he hadn't brought that thing out again. It gives me the willies." Roger: "Oh, don't be silly Trish. It's just a severed head." g*n picks up the head to move it out of Trish's sight. g*n: "I got it. The lady makes bug soup with a ten ton bus, but show her a paper-mache head, she gets the willies. Ha. Women." g*n sets to head down on the reception counter beside Angel. Angel: "Uh, g*n, you *do* know it's not paper-mache?" g*n quickly takes his hands off the head. g*n: "We still got that bleach in the bathroom?" g*n runs for the bathroom. Angel and Wes watch the Burkles fuss over Fred. Angel: "I got to say this is not how I pictured this turning out." Wes: "They look happy, don't they?" Cordy: "Voila! That's French for 'I think we stopped the bleeding.'" Fred: "Thanks Cordelia." Cordy: "Next up: multiple s*ab wounds. Angel!" Angel jumps of his stool and hurries over to the settee. Angel: "Uh, it's my turn. Oh, yay!" Cordy: "What a dork." Fred walks over to Wes. Wes: "How does it feel, Fred?" Fred: "Like my heart's been put in one of those orange juice squeezers... (Looks down at her arm) Oh. Kind of like a giant bug tried to rip my arm off and Angel saved me." Trish: "He seems to do *that* a lot, doesn't he?" Fred: "It's what he does. Angel's the champion, and Wesley's the brains of the operation, g*n's the muscle and Cordy's the heart, and I'm..." Roger: "And to think, we were wondering when to call the cops on a bunch of superheroes!" Angel: "Oh, I'm not really a hero." g*n: "More like a bloodsucking fiend." Angel gives him a look. Roger: "Frankly, Angel, I don't care if you drink pig's blood, cows blood, or those froofy, little, imported beers. You saved my little girl." Angel: "Well, I wouldn't 've had to if she hadn't gone all Amazonian and whacked that thing with a golf club." Roger: "Well, I tell ya, I hadn't seen a stroke like that since Nicklaus took on Gary Player in the '63..." Angel and Roger: "Bob Hope Dessert Classic." They look at each other, laugh and shake hands. Angel: "Alright!" Fred: "I wanna go home." Everyone gets real quiet and looks at her. Fred: "I'm - I'm just not cut out for this. I mean, if Angel hadn't gotten me out of the way, you'd all be laughing in the morgue right now. - Okay, maybe not laughing, but - the point is, I think I should go home where it's quiet and safe and - monsters don't eat your family. - You're not - disappointed in me, are you?" Trish: "Oh, Fred. Never! Oh, it's gonna be so good to have you home!" The Burkles share a family hug. g*n: "She probably be happier there." Wes: "Yeah. That's good." Fred stands in her room contemplating the writing on the wall. Angel appears in the open door behind her and knocks on it to get her attention. Fred: "Oh, Angel. Hi. I invite you in." Angel: "Thanks, but you only have to do that the first time. Once I'm invited..." Fred: "I know. I just figured since I'm going home now I'm not gonna be inviting you in anywhere. - Unless, of course, you come to Texas." Angel: "Or if you build that condo in the sewer." Silence. Angel: "So how you doing?" Fred: "Oh, ah - fizzy. - Kinda weird and... fizzy. But excited. - And a little sad. - Thankful. Sorta cautiously happy. Relieved and worried at the same time. Slightly nauseous while still bein', hopeful?" Angel: "And that about covers it. (Looks at the walls) Are you gonna remember everything that's up there?" Fred: "Well, sure. It's a story. (They both look at the walls) Once upon a time - there was a girl who lived all alone in a horrible cave - so far from home it made her chest hurt. - And every day in that horrible cave, the girl tried to figure out a way to escape. - None of her plans ever succeeded, of course, - and she'd almost given up hopin' - when one day, just like in a fairy tale - a handsome man rode up on a horse and saved her, - and took her back to his castle. - - Now you'd think that was the end, wouldn'tcha? Dumb old fairy tales and their happily ever afters." Fred sits down on the edge of her bed and Angel sits down beside her. Fred: "But see, the minute they got back to the castle, - the handsome man went away again. - And even though she didn't mean to, - didn't want to - high up in that castle the girl just built herself another cave. Hoping he would save her again. (Looks at Angel) But you can't save me *this* time. - Can you?" Angel remains silent and Fred looks down at her hands. Roger is talking to Wes and g*n at reception counter, while Trish and Cordy sit on the settee together. Trish: " I mean, Rog's always had a thing for those disgusting "Alien" movies with all the slime and teeth. He just can't get enough of 'em. - Except for that last one they made I think he dozed off. - I just can't believe it's all real." Cordy: "Well, I don't know about aliens, but demons and alternate dimensions I know. It takes a little getting used to." Trish: "I'm so glad Fred's coming home. This place is too dangerous for her." Roger and g*n carry Fred's contraption over to the settee. Roger: "Hey, honey, would you look at this? Fred *made* this." g*n: "Cool, ain't it?" Wes: " We think it's some sort of mechanized w*apon, possibly influenced by the medieval catapult, designed for serious to fatal wounding, if not complete decapitation." Roger: "Or it makes toast." Wes: "Or it makes toast." Trish sees Fred and Angel coming down the stairs. Trish: "Hey! You got everything packed, baby? What about that shirt with the bug guts on it? You-you threw that out, right? You're not taking it home, right?" Fred: "I don't know. I kinda thought I'd take it with me - guts and all. You know, as a souvenir." Roger: "Ah. That's my girl!" Fred looks at the g*ng: " You know, in the shower I had all these pretty things I was gonna say and I was gonna be all fancy and... aw, hell. (glancing at parents) I mean heck." Goes and give g*n a big hug. g*n holds on to her tightly for a moment then clears his throat and lets her go. Fred walks over to Wes. They dance around awkwardly for a moment trying to figure out whose arm will go where before hugging as well. Fred goes to hug Cordy. Cordy whispers: "Between you and me, I'm almost a little jealous." Fred walks over to Angel and the look at each other. Fred: "Thank you - for everything." Angel silently hands her the suitcase he carried down the steps for her. Angel: "Bye Fred." Fred gives him a smile and turns to her parents. Fred: "We better go before I get all runny." The Burkles walks up the steps to the front doors. Fred turns around one last time and waves at them all before the doors close behind them. The Burkles are sitting together in the back of a Taxi cab. Roger: "You're room is exactly how you left it. - All except for the guy renting it out, but his lease is up in a month." Fred: "You rented out my room?" Roger: "Well, honey, after the forth year... We didn't hear nothing from you!" Fred: "Daddy, I was kidnapped into an alternate dimension." The taxi driver kind of turns his head at that. Trish to driver: "Well, she *was*." Fred unzips her bag and takes out shirt she wore during the bug fight. Fred: "I'm just gonna miss 'em, that's..." She sees that the bug juice as turned into the same pretty crystals that where on the walls down in the sewer and on the demon's head back at the Hyperion. Fred: "Turn the car around. Now!" The g*ng is sprawled out in the chairs of Wes' office. Cordy: "In a really weird way, you know who I miss?" Wes: "Fred." Cordy: "Actually I was gonna say her parents. - Is that wrong." Angel: "I don't think so. They were very - nice." Cordy: "Nice? - They weren't just nice, Angel. They were..." g*n: "Parents." Wes: " They loved her. - Supported her. - Didn't grind her down into a - tiny self-conscious nub with their constant berating. Their never ending tirade of debasement, and scorn and..." Wes trails off as he notices that all of the others are looking at him, makes as if to say something else, but then just stays silent. Cordy: "At least now Fred's got a sh*t at a normal life. Not that I don't love you guys, and LA, and my work, but - things are just never normal around here. You know?" We get a close up of the Durslar's severed head. Something is moving beneath its skin. Break Wes: "She was so smart." Angel: "I'm gonna miss her. She was just this nice, quiet kind of crazy. - I found that - soothing." Cordy: "And what? I'm not soothing? (Cordy sits up) I can be soothing. I could soothe your ass off, pal." g*n: "Plus, she was pretty handy with a five iron." g*n and Wes look at each other sharing a laugh. Cordy: "Right before she almost got k*lled. Personally, I'm *glad* she's gone. It's gonna be a load off not having to worry about crazy taco lady anymore." Angel: "She'll come back to visit." Cordy: "Do you really think she'll come back and visit?" The Durslar head is bubbling like crazy now and a giant insect looking just like the one from the bus terminal is looking in the window - but the g*ng doesn't notice either of that. Cordy: "Well, that's it. I'm not gonna sit around here and mope like you - bunch - of - mopers. I'm gonna go home (She puts on her shoes) Eat some comfort food. (Gets up and starts to walk out) Have a good cry. Crawl under my big, fluffy... (enters the lobby and sees the bug entering the hotel) giant bug!" Cordy screams and runs back into the office just as the guys come running out. g*n: "We h*t that thing with a bus. You're telling me a bus won't k*ll it?" Angel: "I don't think it's the same one." Angel is looking out into the garden court which is crawling with giant bugs. Cordy: "We are so immensely d*ad." Wes: "w*apon." Angel runs and rolls over the counter to engage the bug while the others run for the w*apon cabinet. w*apon in hand Wes turns only to see the bug throwing Angel to the floor. Wes: "Angel, we.." The door opens and Fred runs in. Fred: "Here! I'm here." Wes: "Fred?" Fred: "Oh, I'm late!" Roger helps her to drag her contraption into position. The bug is still s*ab at the downed Angel. g*n and Wes raise their w*apon trying to block it's pincers. Angel: "Who's helping me here?" Fred: "I am!" She stomps down on her contraption. A battle axe sails through the air and splits the Durslar head like an over ripe melon. Green goop spatters the wall and a bunch of little cockroaches crawl free of it. The bug leaves off Angel and the g*ng, instead going to collect the bug filled bottom part of the head. The bug heads for the garden court. The little bugs follow after it. Fred and her parents come down the front steps. g*n: "So. *Not* a toaster." Angel: "Fred, how did you..." Fred: "The crystals. The ones we saw in the sewer? They were on the Durslar head , too. And at first I thought they came from the Durslar, but then I saw *this*. - Daddy?" Roger hands her the crystal covered shirt. Fred: "Those crystals are just dried up bug goop. It must have laid its eggs in the Durslar's head, which would explain the Durslar coming up out of the sewer, 'cause, I mean, wouldn't you be a little crazy if you had eggs in your head? I know I would. (Cordy opens her mouth, glances at Angel and closes it again) Anyway, that'd be all fine and Darwinian, except Angel k*lled the Durslar and brought the head back here, so the Bug had to track him down to get its babies back." Wes: "And at the bus station, when Trish ran over the mother..." Fred: "Or father. I think it might be a hive species gender neutral, but I'd have to do some research to back that up." Wes: "The whole hive showed up in order to reclaim its offspring. (Fred nods) Brilliant deduction, Fred!" g*n: "Not to mention, that little axe gadget is tight." Fred laughing: "That was just a random thought I had. What if you had to do battle with your arms cut off? Sure, you'd hemorrhage to death pretty quick, but at least you could take your enemy with you!" Angel: "Nice going, Fred." Fred: "Aw, it was nothing. Just a stunning revelation of my true path in life, that's all." Roger: "Come again, honey?" Fred walks over to her parents: "Look - I could go home with you and pretend the last five years didn't happen. - I could even pretend to have a normal life. - But the truth of it is... Well, I'm not normal anymore. (Roger and Trish exchange a look) I guess what I'm getting at is... - I-I missed you both so bad. But - I belong here. (Turns to the g*ng) Un-unless I don't. Which if- if you all don't wanna put up with me, I completely understand..." Wes: "Lets put it to a vote, shall we? All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion passed. Good. You're staying." The g*ng smile at each other, then turn to smile at Fred. Fred: "Mamma. - Daddy. This is my life now." Trish: "We were kinda hoping you wouldn't figure that out." Roger: "Of course we'd have to sick around for another couple of weeks." Fred leans against him: "Daddy!" Roger laughs: "Days. You know, just to catch up and get reacquainted, and to make *sure* that you are positive about your decision." Fred: "Oh, I think I know where I'll end up." Hyperion day. Fred and Angel have paint rollers in their hand and are painting over the walls in Fred's room. Roger: "Now, Spiro Agnew, I *know* he was..." Angel: "A Grathnar demon! You knew that? I thought I was the only one that knew that!" Roger: "What else would he be, but a demon?" Wes comes in carrying another can of paint. Sees g*n painting the wall. Wes: "Not horizontally, vertically! Other wise you..." g*n: "Look, I'm telling you, if you do it vertically you're gonna get those ugly drops..." Trish also painting: "Now, boys, I don't wanna hear any fighting over there." g*n and Wes: "Okay." Cordy comes in, carrying two pizza boxes. Cordy: "Did someone here order a pizza? Hey Fred? Pizza?" Fred walking to anther part of the wall: "In a minute, I just wanna finish this section." Fred looks at a line drawing of two people on top of a horse for a moment, then lifts her paint roller and paints over it

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x05 - Fredless"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Wesley: "All those years she spent hiding out alone in that cave." Cordy: "The girl's trading one cave for another." Fred: "The vision's aren't from the powers!" Lilah: "There's a young man who's been unfairly imprisoned and - you're gonna save him." Angel: "I do this for you and you stop sending Cordy the k*ller visions." Lilah: "It's just business." Angel: "Don't you come at me through Cordelia ever again. You play that card a second time and I'll k*ll you." Angel: "Just trust me." Cordy: "I do." Hyperion, basement, Angel is standing behind Cordy, leaning in close. Angel: "Don't stiffen up." Cordy: "Yeah, you either." Cordy raises the sword in her hands and they start moving through an exercise with Angel Guiding her movements. Angel: "Alright. A good defense is about moving the line of att*ck. When the bad guy comes at you, you want to step off the line (His hands direct Cordy to turn) like this (he jumps back to avoid the sword slicing his belly open) creating a new one. Every time you do, your opponent will be forced to adjust. Always make the other guy work." Cordy: "Okay. Move the line. Then what?" Angel picks up a sword of his own. Angel: "Then - just keep moving the line. You'll be able to keep an attacker busy until... - You know." Cordy: "What? Until he dies of old age or until *you* swoop in to save me? Angel, I didn't ask you to train me so I could stave. I already know how to stave. *Now* I need to learn how to fight!" Angel: "You don't think that I would?" Cordy: "Would what?" Angel: "Save you." Cordy: "Men-folk not always around to protect the women-folk, you know? - Besides, what if it turned out *you* were the guy I had to fight? Could happen." Angel: "Okay." Angel raises his sword and takes a stance beside Cordy and she copies his movements. Angel: "When you put an adversary down, you wanna make sure he doesn't get up again. So, like I showed you..." They move through an exercise parallel to each other. Angel: "Force the other guy to counter and he'll open himself up something like this. We'll go half-speed until..." Angel puts his sword away. Cordy: "No need, I got it. Three years of Varsity Cheer Squad, I only ever had to be shown a move once." Angel: "You know, Cordelia, handling a lethal w*apon is a *little* different from shaking a pom-pom." Cordy: "Ready! O-kay!" Cordy comes at Angel with the sword full-speed, ending with him up against the wall the sword inches away from his throat. Angel: "Easy - Ha, ha - Go team." Lilah is walking through the hall at Wolfram and Hart, her secretary on her heels. Lilah: "How long has he been here?" Secretary: "Security brought him in about twenty minutes ago." Lilah: "You should have pulled me out of that meeting the minute you heard anything. What about the family?" Secretary: "On their way." Lilah enters her office to see Gavin chatting with Billy - the guy Angel rescued from the f*re-cage in that demon dimension. Gavin: "Lilah. - I was just keeping young Billy here company." Lilah: "Thanks awfully, Gavin. I'll take it from here. Billy, your family has been worried sick. Where have you been?" Billy: "Went for a walk." Lilah: "A walk. For three days?" Gavin: "The boy was feeling cooped up." Lilah: "Gavin, why don't you go - close an escrow or something? (Turns back to Billy) You're not supposed to be out on your own. You remember what happened the last time, don't you? You don't wanna end up in that awful place again, do you?" Congressman Blim: "Well, of course he doesn't. - No one wants that." Lilah turns to the new arrival: "Congressman." Blim: "I trust you managed to stay out of trouble this time, Billy?" Billy: "No trouble." Blim: "Lets go home. (To Lilah) Well, this is the second time you've returned our nephew safely to us. (Looks at Gavin) Thank you." Blim and Billy turn to go. Gavin: "Our pleasure." Lilah towards the departing backs: "Our pleasure in the sense that (door closes and she looks at Gavin) he had nothing to do with it." Gavin: "Nice boy." Lilah: "Yeah, Billy? He's great. Had his own private room in hell. Family connections. Oh - by the way - get out." Gavin: "I wasn't finished." Lilah: "No. You really were. To make myself clear - you go sniffing around one of my clients again, I think we're gonna have a problem." Gavin: "You *think?* Who told you, you could *think?* You know, why don't you try *listening* once in a while instead of constantly flapping that fat mouth of yours?" Lilah lets out a laugh: "You weren't exactly captain of the debate team, were you, Gavin? At least Lindsey knew how to..." Gavin grabs Lilah by the hair and smashes her into the glass shelves against the wall, then jumps on top of her, wrapping his hands around her neck and choking her. Walking down the hall outside a smile spreads slowly across Billy's face. Intro Wes' apartment, g*n and Angel are sitting on the couch playing a video game. Fred is sitting on the arm of the couch next to g*n watching. Wes is pouring Cordy a cup of tea in the kitchen. Wes: "It's inspiring to see you like this. The initiative you've shown in training with Angel. Taking responsibility. I'm proud of you." Cordy: "Well, never hurts to be prepared." Wes: "Hm. I agree. We should all be battle ready. Every one of us." g*n from the other room: "d*ad! So d*ad! So very, very d*ad. Just how d*ad are you, huh?" Angel: "I'm tired of being the d*ad one." Wes looking at the three of them through the open kitchen door. Wes: "I was thinking, perhaps I'd enter into a similar training arrangement with our Fred." Cordy: "Oh, hey, if you think she can help you fight, why not? (Wes gives her a look) I'm kidding. - Wesley, if you wanna get to know Fred better, maybe the next time you have her over for an intimate dinner for two, you won't ask the rest of us to come along." Wes: "Ah, I don't... I mean... (Cordy gives him a look) Was I *that* obvious?" g*n, eyes on the TV screen: "Yes! Ha, ha!" Cordy whispers: "I don't think anybody else noticed." Wes looking at Fred: "She is a rather extraordinary young woman. - Still, the last thing any of us should be doing is - coupling - with each other, I mean. Office romances, even under the most *normal* circumstances..." Cordy: "We don't live in normal circumstances. - I mean, what are the odds of any of us actually finding someone out there who can deal with the kind of stuff we have to deal with? I don't know. Maybe we *are* meant..." Wes: "For each other?" Cordy: "Actually I was gonna say 'to be alone.' But what the heck - Wesley, if you like her, *tell* her. Just go right up to her and (Cordy starts to frown and sway a little) hug her into little pieces." Cordy gets h*t by a vision and collapses on the floor. g*n and Angel jumps off the sofa and run into the kitchen. Angel: "Easy." Angel helps Cordy up into a chair. Cordy: "Convenience store, man attacking a woman. His wife - it's his wife." Angel: "How many convenience stores we got on the Westside?" Fred: "Well, even if you just include Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Malibu only, the combined populations is something like a hundred thirty thousand people spread over more than thirty square miles, and given that..." g*n: "A lot." Fred: "I was - getting there." Wes: "Alright. We go in two teams. g*n, you and I..." Cordy: "No. It's too late. You can't save her. This m*rder happened a week ago. (Looks up at Angel) Why would they show this to me now?" Cordy is sitting at her desk in the Hyperion. She gets up as Wes drops a thick file onto the counter. Cordy: "What's this?" Wes: "Everything. Everything about the crime I believe you saw in your vision. Police reports, husband's written confession, captures from the convenience store's video surveillance cameras..." Fred is coming down the stairs and g*n and Angel are coming from other parts of the Hyperion to join Cordy in picking up papers from the file. Wes: "...and I have to caution all of you, the medical examiners crime scene photos. Cordelia..." Angel reaches out and takes the crime scene photos of the d*ad elderly woman away from her. Angel: "Maybe you shouldn't be looking at that." Cordy: "Tell that to the Powers. They already ran the THX version in my head, remember? (To Wes) How did you get this stuff?" Wes: "I did it the old-fashioned way: I bought it." Fred: "The police sold you this stuff?" Wes: "Not exactly. A source. Someone who has access. Usually they sell to the tabloids, when the victims are - more high profile." g*n: "Charlene Baird." Wes: "The victim. She and the perpetrator were married for thirty years, no history of domestic v*olence." Fred: "Why'd he do it?" Wes: "He says she wouldn't listen to him. He was trying to get her to stop talking." Fred: "Well, it worked." g*n: "I don't get it. This guy confessed. Crime solved. Why are the Powers airing re-runs in Cordy's head?" Angel is looking at one of the pictures from the surveillance cameras. Wes: "I don't know." Angel: "I do. (Put the photo on the counter) Eleven twenty four, twenty minutes before the crime occurred. Look who's there." Wes looks at a person in the background of the picture with the magnifying glass. It's Billy. Wes hands the picture to g*n. g*n: "Oh, boy." Cordy: "What? - What?!" She takes one of the photos and looks at Billy. Cordy: "Okay. Kinda cute. So, who is he?" No one answers her. Wes and Fred are sitting on the round settee in the lobby. g*n is standing beside it. Behind the counter, Angel is sitting on the edge of Cordy's desk, while Cordy is pacing quickly back and forth, holding the photo in her hands. Cordy: "You're sure this is him? This is the guy?" Angel: "You pull someone from a hell dimension, you tend to remember their face. Yeah. - That's him." Cordy slowly sinks down into a chair. Cordy: "Well, then - now we know why the Powers made me experience that woman's death. - She died because of me." Angel: "No." Cordy: "Yes! Angel, if he's somehow responsible - then so am I." Angel: "You're not the one who broke him out and put him back on the streets. I did that." Cordy: "For me. You did it to save me." Angel: "And I'd do it again." Cordy: "Angel..." Angel crouches down in front of Cordy. Angel: "Hey. - Hey, whatever's happening now, you're not responsible for this - and neither am I. - But I know who is." Lilah is pouring herself a drink. She jumps a little as the door to her dimly lit apartment is suddenly kicked open, revealing Angel standing in the brightly lit hallway. Lilah: "That's a very dramatic entrance - except for the part where you can't enter." Angel: "You're a little jumpy there, Lilah." Lilah: "It's been a long day at the office." Angel: "Then you know that your boy is on the loose. You know what he's doing." Lilah sighs: "It's been brought to my attention." As she walks closer to the door we see that her face is black and blue from the beating Gavin gave her earlier. Angel: "God. Are you...?" Lilah: "I'm fine. You should see the other guy." Angel: "I plan to." Lilah: "Billy never touched me, friend." Angel: "I know. He has some power. He makes people..." Lilah: "Billy never touched me, and you can't touch him. Nobody can. Billy as in Blim? As in congressman Nathan Blim's nephew? That family is the closest thing this country has to royalty. They'd own half the eastern seaboard even if they weren't clients of ours. The law won't go near him." Angel: "I'm not the law." Lilah: "This isn't some three horned Gurnarbeast you can just chop into meatloaf!" Angel: "Why you're protecting him after what he did?" Lilah: "I'm sorry, but this deep chivalric concern coming from the only man I know who *definitely* wants to k*ll me, is a bit much on a day like this." Angel: "Your hands are shaking." Lilah: "Stay away from my client." She closes the door in Angel's face. Night. Angel's convertible pulls off the side of a road and its lights go out. Angel, g*n and Wes get out and walk up to the gates of a big estate. Wes: "This is it. The Blim estate." g*n: "Not very welcoming, is it?" Wes: "I don't suppose it'll do much good to ring the bell either." g*n: "How about we sneak in, dressed up like security guards or something?" Wes: "Well, that's a possibility. Or we could..." Angel leaps straight up to the top of the gate (12 - 15 feet high?). He drops down on the other side and disappears into the bushes. g*n: "So... - wanna go next?" Wes looks at the gate: "I guess we wait here." g*n: "Yeah." Angel is running towards the house. We see Billy through one of the glass doors, talking on the phone. Angel makes his way to the glass doors. Billy lowers the cordless and looks out, directly at Angel. Angel runs out from behind a bush, jumps over a low wall, picks up a metal patio chair and tosses it through the glass doors, shattering them. Billy stands unmoved. He tosses the phone aside as Angel steps in through the doors. Angel: "Why doesn't it surprise me that I can just walk right in here without an invitation." Billy: "Well, as far as I'm concerned you have a standing invitation." Angel: "You're not a right guy, Billy. You're not quite human either, are you?" Billy: "Not quite. More than you." Angel: "You like to hurt women, do you, Billy? That make you feel like a man?" Billy: "I have never hurt a woman in my life. - I just like to watch." Angel: "Not anymore." Billy: "Oh?" Angel: "You're going back." Billy: "Really? 'cause I don't think so." Woman's voice: "Los Angeles Police department" Man's voice: "Hands were we can see 'em. Turn around. - Slowly!" Angel raises his hands and turns to face the shattered doors. Billy steps up beside him before he can speak. Billy: "You're looking for me." Woman cop: "William Blim?" Billy: "That's right. I'm the one that called you. Did you find the body? Was it where I said it would be?" Woman: "William Blim we're taking you into custody for questioning." Billy smiles: "Oh, yes (turns to look at Angel) I should think you would." Woman cop: "Sanchez, be sure you read him his rights." Sanchez pulls out a pair of cuffs and walks up to Billy. Billy puts one hand on Sanchez wrist. Billy: "Will those be absolutely necessary? I won't give you any trouble, officer. I'll come quietly." Sanchez turns back to look at the woman detective. She nods. As Billy takes his hand off Sanchez bare wrist, we see that his fingers left a glowing, red print that quickly fades away. Sanchez leads Billy out of the house. Woman cop to Angel: "Who are you?" Billy: "He's nobody." Angel watches as the cops lead Billy away, reading him his rights as they go. Billy is sitting the back of the police car. Sanchez: "Why're you going this way? I thought I told you to take Pico." Woman cop: "Relax, Sanchez. We'll get there." Sanchez: "Did you just tell me to relax? - You think you can talk to me like that?" Woman cop: "I'd talk to you with my finger, but I like both hands on the wheel while I'm driving." Sanchez: "Pull over." Woman Cop: "What?" Sanchez: "Pull over!" Woman Cop: "What's your problem?" Sanchez: "I tell you what my problem is: I got a woman here that don't listen!" We get a close up of Billy as we hear sounds of a struggle and of the car skidding out of control. Break Wes hangs up the phone in the Hyperion's reception. Wes: "My contact at the city morgue confirms it. Her body was discovered earlier tonight. A young woman was reported missing three days ago. Someone phoned in a tip." Angel: "Billy." g*n: "It doesn't make sense. I mean, even if he did it, he didn't do it, you know what I'm saying? So why confess? What does he get?" Angel: "Out. It gets him out." g*n: "Yeah, out of his palatial twelve million Dollar compound and into a holding cell at Men's central." Wes: "Yes, but for how long?" Cordy: "Well, an impenetrable cube of hell f*re in a heavily guarded demon dimension couldn't do much, so my guess - regular bars? Not really going to be a problem." Angel: "She's right. All he'll need to get out this time is his lawyer." Angel turns to go. Wes: "Angel, what are you doing?" Angel: "I'm gonna get there before Lilah does." g*n: "And then what?" Angel: "Well, I took him out of one cell, I can take him out of this one, too." Cordy: "Wait! Angel, you can't barge into a police precinct and go all Terminator." Angel: "I'll be okay." Cordy: "It's dangerous. He's dangerous. What if he lays his whammy on you?" Angel: "He won't be conscious long enough to try." Fred: "He's not there! (Everyone turns to look at her) I just heard it on the police scanner. The patrol car carrying Billy never made it to the police station. There's been an accident." We see an ambulance and another police car parked just beyond the stopped patrol car. The backside door is open and bent out of shape as if it had been kicked open from the inside with tremendous force. Wes walks away from the scene and meets up with g*n. Wes: "There was an altercation between the officers who transporting Billy. One of them att*cked his partner. She was forced to sh**t him. The female's been taken to a local hospital." g*n: "So, maybe she can tell us something - like what Billy did to her partner before he snapped." Wes: "It wouldn't be a bad idea if one of us were standing by at the hospital visiting a sick relative." g*n: "Maybe happen to strike up a conversation with the hospital staff or one of her buddies?" Wes: "Maybe." g*n: "I'm on it." g*n leaves and Wes walks over to where Angel is standing across the road from the patrol car. Angel: "The blood in that car? Some of it is his. - Not human." Angel walks down the road a little ways. Angel: "He came through here." Wes crouches down and touches the bloody handprint on the wall that Angel found. Wes: "And recently. It's still wet." Wes picks up a piece of paper from the ground and presses it up against the handprint. Wes: "I'll take a sample back to the hotel, see if I can determine just what sort of creature Billy is." Angel: "I can't wait for that." Wes: "I understand." Angel: "I can find him." Wes: "Be careful" But Angel is already across the street and disappearing between two buildings. Wes sighs and pulls the paper away, checking to make sure he got a good print on the paper. Cordy takes the tazer from the w*apon cabinet and puts it into her shoulder bag. Picks up a crossbow and stows it as well. Fred comes walking down the stairs. Fred: "What you doing?" Cordy turns and sees her. Cordy: "I'm gonna go run an errand. Uh - a normal, every day errand." Cordy walks to the side door. Fred: "Cordelia. (Cordy turns to look at her) I don't think you should do this." Cordy: "How can I not?" Cordy opens the door and walks out. Fred stands there for a moment then turns as Wes comes in the main doors. Wes: "Fred! You're here. Good, I was hoping you would assist me. (Lifts up a bag with the paper in it) I managed to lift a sample of Billy's blood. Maybe we can identify his demon lineage and somehow figure out how his power works. Would you hand me the (looks up to see that Fred is holding out some glass slides) glass slides. (Gives Fred a silly smile) Thank you." Lilah goes to answer a knock on her door. Lilah: "Cordelia Chase, right? Come to gloat?" Cordy: "I can do that anywhere. Are you gonna invite me in? Oh, wait. I'm not a vampire." Cordy walks in past Lilah. Lilah: "Please, come on in." Closes the door and walks after Cordy. Cordy: "I want you to tell me about Billy. Everything you *didn't* tell Angel. I want you to help me stop him." Lilah: "And what makes you think I'm gonna do that?" Cordy: "Well, there's your face - for starters." Lilah picks up her drink: "I know the risks of my job and I accept them." Cordy: "Then why where you crying five minutes ago? - There's not a thing about badly reapplied mascara that I don't know." Lilah: "I'm not Lindsey McDonald. I don't switch sides whenever it gets tough. And since when is this your job? I thought Angel was the dark avenger." Cordy: "Angel feels responsible for this guy because he brought him back from hell. I feel responsible because he did it to save me. You, who are actually responsible for the entire thing, feel nothing at all, because *you* are a vicious bitch." Lilah shrugs: "So? You know me." Cordy: "Please, I was you - with better shoes." Lilah: "These are Boracchi." Cordy: "Fall collection?" Lilah: "Next spring." Cordy: "He's widened the heel." Lilah: "And rounded the toe." Cordy: "That won't work with pink." Lilah: "The pink is out this spring." Cordy: "Billy Blim makes people crazy." Lilah: "Not all people. Just men. He brings out a primordial misogyny in them. Turns them into K*llers." Cordy: "Then why didn't he do it to Angel?" Lilah: "Angel's seen him?" Cordy: "Yes, right before he escaped from the cops." Lilah lets out a chuckle. Cordy: "What's so witty?" Lilah: "Billy's touch works differently on different men. Some lose their mind in an instant. Others - can take hours. - Gee, I sure hope Angel isn't starting to feel testy." Cordy: "You better hope it." Lilah: "I know. I've seen his dark side." Cordy: "You really haven't. - I have to find Billy." Lilah: "And I'm gonna help you why?" Cordy: "You know that guy that you hired to hack into my visions? What he did to me? What it felt like? I was cut, my face disfigured, and burning with pain every second not knowing if it was gonna end or just get worse till I died." Lilah: "So you think I owe you..." Cordy: "It's not the pain. It's the helplessness. The certainty that there is nothing you can do to stop it, that your life can be thrown away in an instant by someone else. He doesn't care. He'll b*at you down until you stay down because he doesn't even *think* of you as alive. - No woman should ever have to go through that, and no woman strong enough to wear the mantel of 'vicious bitch' would ever put up with it. - *Where* is Billy going?" Angel walks up on two guys standing beside a taxicab, talking. 1.man: "He seemed like such a levelheaded guy, you know? Always polite, with the 'yes, sir' and the 'thank you, sirs.' And to lose it like that, I didn't see it coming, did you?" 2.man: "I got to say, I understand why he did it. I mean, there is a point, am I right? How many times do you feel like talking a fist to a customer?" Angel: "One of your drivers finally snapped, huh?" 2.man: "Yeah, he b*at the hell out of his fare." Angel: "A woman?" 2.man: "That surprise you? Probably sitting in the back, nagging, telling him how to drive. You know the type." Angel: "Yeah. Probably had it coming to her, huh?" 2.man shrugs: "I'm just saying..." Angel grabs him by the shirt and pulls him close. Angel to 1.man: "Get out of here." The first man walks off. Angel: "This driver who snapped? You're gonna tell me what his last stop was, right before he b*at up that woman. - I'm just saying." A hip get together is going on in a well-appointed suite. There is a couple kissing on the couch. Two guys are playing pool. Music is playing: '..the future is coming on, coming on - finally someone let me out of my cage..." Guy walks up to one of the pool players. Guy: "Hey, Dylan, your cousin is here." Dylan: "Which one? There is about a zillion of them." Guy: "I think he said his name is Billy." Dylan, sh**ting pool: "Billy? Not possible. Billy's..." Turns his head to see Billy standing beside him. Billy: "Hi, Dylan." Dylan: "Billy." Billy: "I didn't know you were having a party." Dylan: "Billy (swallows) I-I thought we agreed that you weren't going to come around here anymore after that last thing." Billy is watching the couple kissing on the couch. Billy: "I think we should talk to them about appropriate public behavior. - Do you want to? Or should I?" Wes is looking at Billy's blood through a microscope. Wes: "This was taken from the print I made of Billy's blood. (Makes room for Fred to look) Tell me what you think." Fred looks: "Looks to me as if some of the red blood cells are kind of supercharged." Wes: "Those would probably be from Billy's demon lineage." Fred: "So, however Billy is putting the mojo on people, the power seems to be in his blood. Which means it can also be in his sweat or his saliva or even his touch." Wes: "Speaking of saliva, where is Cordelia?" Fred: "What do you mean 'speaking of saliva?' How does saliva make you..." Wes: "It's a simple question. Where is Cordelia?" Fred: "I - I think she went out." Wes: "Out?" Fred nods. Wes: "Did she happen to mention where?" Fred: "She just - ah - she said an errand." Wes: "So when you say you 'think' she went out, what you mean is you 'know' she went out because you spoke to her." Fred: "Well, I suppose I..." Wes: "Suppose?" Fred: "I - I did. Yes, I did." Wes: "That's better. (Leans in to look through the microscope again) Lie to me again - and we're going to have a problem." Break Fred walks around Wes' desk and towards the door while Wes is still looking through the microscope. Wes: "Where're you going?" Fred: "I was just gonna call Cordelia, find out where she is for you." Wes: "That's not necessary." Fred: "It's not?" Wes: "No. - Sit down Fred." Fred: "It'll just..." Wes: "Sit! - Down." Fred hesitantly walks back into the office and sits in the chair in front of Wes' desk. Wes: "There's something we need to discuss." Fred: "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Cordelia left. Really I am." Wes holds up a hand: "Pffft. We're past that. I've put it behind me. (Gets up to walks around his desk) However, we are going to have to make some changes around here." Fred: "Change can be good, I guess." Wes: "Like, no more of these provocative little outfits you wear." Wes pulls the strap of Fred's dress off her shoulder. Fred pulls it back up. Fred: "Provocative?" Wes sits down on the edge of the desk in front of Fred. Wes: "Maybe Mommy and Daddy never explain to you that men - *grown* men - are wired a certain way. - (Wes leans in closer to a wide-eyed Fred) You can't be coming in here day after day waving it in my face like this." Fred: "What?" Wes almost whispering: "You're practically daring me to take it. Is that what you want?" Fred jumps up out of her chair: "Stop it!" Wes: "Oh, are we standing now? Is that what we're doing?" Fred backing away: "This conversation is making me very uncomfortable." Wes: "Oh, you're uncomfortable. That's rich! How do you think I feel? What do you think it's like for me with you smelling the way you do?" Fred: "Wesley, please." Wes stalking closer to her: "You think you can taunt a man and get away with it? You brush up close, bat your eyes - and then when our backs are turned, you *laugh* at us." Fred: "No, I would never..." Wes: "Humiliate us. You think you can do anything you please because you're connected to life, because you bleed, is that it?" Fred: "No!" Wes slaps her open handed across the face. Fred falls to the floor. Wes: "I'll show you blood." Fred runs to the side doors, but before she can get them open, Wes grabs her by the hair from behind. Wes: "What do you tell a woman who has two black eyes? (Pulls her back then pushes her down onto the steps leading up beside the doors) Nothing you haven't already told her twice." Fred picks herself up and runs upstairs. Wes: "No sense of humor." Wes pulls his tie off and walks down into the lobby stretching his shoulders and massaging his neck. He turns his head and his eyes come to rest on the battle ax in the corner of the w*apon cabinet. Dylan opens the door to his apartment as far as the safety chain will let him. Angel: "I'm looking for Billy Blim?" Dylan: "Are you a friend of his or what?" Angel: "Friend? To be honest I'm looking to k*ll the bastard." Dylan: "Oh. Come on in." Dylan undoes the chain to let Angel in. Angel: "Is he here?" Dylan: "No. He came and went." Angel: "And everyone's okay? Frankly I was expecting blood - carnage, you know - bad things." Dylan: "You gotta know the rules around Billy. Everyone in the family knows the rules. You never leave him alone with your girlfriend, keep him away from your pets and don't *ever* let him touch you. Like, if he wants money you gotta leave it on the table and back away." Angel: "Is that why he was here?" Dylan: "Yeah, he said he needed some - fun money. I just wanted to get rid of him." Angel: "So can you explain something to me? - How come you invited me in after I told you I wanted to k*ll your cousin?" Dylan: "You're Angel, right?" Angel: "Did Billy mention me?" Dylan: "No, no. There was a chick here. She was cute, brunette. Well, she said that a melodramatic guy named Angel would eventually show up." Angel: "Cordelia... - thinks I'm melodramatic?" Dylan: "Well, you did say that you were gonna k*ll my cousin." Angel: "That's not melodrama, melodrama (Grabs Dylan by the shirt front) She was here?!" Dylan: "So you're saying that melodrama is exaggerated emo..." Angel: "This isn't a demo, this is real! Where did you send her?" Dylan: "Santa Monica. My family has a plane there. Billy said he wanted to fly some place. I don't know where. Vancouver, Tahiti, he didn't say. Hopefully far away." Wes walks up the stairs of the Hyperion. There is a mattress leaned against the corner of the landing. Wes: "Fred?" As he walks up the next set of stairs, we see that he is carrying the battle ax in his right hand. Wes: "Fred? - I know what you're doing. - What you're up to. - Luring me. (Enters a hallway) Forcing me to find you. - Oh, it's such a dog and pony show. - You beguile me with your girlish ways (pushes a door open with his ax) I pursue you (Pushes open the next door) but you never give over, do you? - No, you just keep laughing and running. (Pushes open another door) Well, guess what, my love - I'm not some downy-faced schoolboy. (Pushes open another door. This one has the safety chain in place) I'm a man." Wes kicks the door open and walks into the room. There is a can of paint sitting on some boards as if someone had been working on renovating it. The room looks dark and deserted. Wes: "You can't come out into the open, can you? - No, you hide - you deceive. (He walks into the room, the light glinting of the ax held before him) It's nothing new. It goes all the way back to Eve. - You and the serpent plotting behind our backs. - 'Here, honey, eat this. It's just an apple.' - That's the problem with your sex - you're all weak, and you're all dirty and you won't be satisfied until you've brought each and everyone of us out of the garden and down into the muck with you!" Wes smashes a stool aside with his ax, breaking it and sending the tools on it scattering across the floor. We hear a smothered gasp, and Wes' head snaps around to look towards the bed in the corner. He walks over to it. We see Fred looking at his shoes as he stops beside it. Then takes a few steps to the side. Fred gasps as Wes picks up the mattress and throws it against the wall, so he can look down at her through the frame. Wes: "Why do you make me do this?" Fred whimpers as Wes pulls her out from under the bed by her neck and pushes her up against the wall. Wes leans in to kiss her - only to draw back in pain as Fred buries a nail in his shoulder and knees him in the crotch. Wes hunches over in pain and Fred runs out of the room. An airplane is slowly taxiing down the dark runway. Cordy comes out from behind the nose of a private plane and walks up to where Billy is standing on the tarmac with his back towards her. Cordy: "Billy?" Billy turns: "Yes? - Do I know you?" Cordy: "Not exactly. I thought we should meet. I'm the woman Wolfram and Hart tortured to get you out of your f*re cell." Billy: "Oh, I see. - And you're here to whine. Poor, helpless, battered woman who needs to vent her feelings about the injustice of it all." Cordy: "No, ass-wipe." Cordy pushes the tazer up against Billy stomach and he collapses gasping to the ground. He looks up to see Cordy aiming a crossbow at him. Cordy: "I'm here to send you back." Fred is quietly hurrying down a dark hallway in the Hyperion. Wes: "I'm still here!" Fred stops and slowly turns to look behind her. Wes is standing at the other end of the hall. Wes: "I don't run away like a girl. I see things through." Fred takes off running and Wes walks after her. Wes sees Fred running up the stairs and turns to hurry down the hall away from the stairs Fred took. Fred runs down another hallway. She stumbles and falls to her hands and knees. Rolls over to look behind her. Backs off on all fours, then gets up, turning to run - straight into g*n, who puts a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. g*n: "Shh." g*n takes his hand from Fred's mouth, puts an arm around her and pulls around a corner. Cordy is standing over Billy at the airport. Billy slowly picks himself back up, never taking his eyes off her. Billy: "You think I hate you because you're a woman. I don't." Cordy: "Gee, and I was feeling special." Billy: "I don't hate women. I mean, sure, you're all whores who sell yourselves for money and prestige, but men are just as bad. Maybe even worse. They're willing to throw away careers or families, or even lives for what's under your skirt!" Cordy: "I'm wearing pants." Billy: "So, you can dress like a man, talk like a man? (Smiles) Does that make you feel superior?" Cordy: "Actually, I'm feeling superior because I have an arrow pointed at your jugular. - And the irony of using a phallic shaped w*apon? Not lost on me." Billy: "You don't have the nerve to do it." Cordy takes a step closer, so the tip of the arrow is almost up against Billy's throat. Cordy: "Wrong again." Suddenly the crossbow is being pushed away and Angel steps between them, pushing Cordy away. Angel: "I can't let you do it, Cordelia." Billy: "You saved me again! I knew that you would." Cordy: "Angel, you know what he is!" Angel: "Yeah, I do. Which is why I'm gonna waste this piece of garbage myself." Angel turns to h*t Billy, but Cordy catches a hold of his arm and holds him back. Cordy: "Angel! (He turns to look back at her) He can't hurt me." Angel turns away from Cordy, trying to pull his arm free, and Billy takes a hold of Angel's face with both of his hands, stares into Angel's eyes. Billy: "No, I won't hurt her. *I* won't hurt her at all!" Angel pushes Billy away from him and we see the imprints from Billy's hands on Angel's face their bright red glow slowly fading as Angel takes few quick breaths. Billy and Cordy stare at Angel. Angel glances back towards Cordy. Break. g*n and Fred are hurrying down a dimly lit hallway in the Hyperion. g*n tries a door. It's locked. The next one is open and he hurries inside. g*n: "Here." Fred follows him in and g*n locks the door, then pushes a dresser in front of it. g*n: "Now, what the hell happened to Wesley?" g*n picks up a nightstand and sets it on top of the dresser. Fred: "Somehow he got infected. All I can figure it happened while he was working with Billy's blood from the handprint." g*n: "You mean, that - that fingerprinty-looking handprint downstairs is Billy's blood? (Fred nods) So you're saying that Wes turned into a psycho k*ller because of that bloody handprint that - I picked up and looked at?" Fred: "When you put it that way, it kinda worries me." g*n pulls the nightstand back off the dresser and starts to pull it away from the door. g*n: "I better get out of here. Lock the door behind me." Something crashes against the door from outside, drawing a little scream from Fred. g*n quickly pushes the dresser back up against the door. Wes is outside swinging his ax against the door. g*n: "Well, uh - maybe we go to plan 'B.'" Wes swings his ax at the door again. Fred takes a step back and lets out a scream when one of her feet breaks through the floorboards. g*n catches a hold of her before she can fall and pulls her away from that part of the floor. Wes hacks at the door. Fred, clinging to g*n: "Oh, god." Wes hacks at the door. Fred: "You know when you said we go to plan B? What's plan B?" g*n: "Ah - plan B - (lets go of Fred and looks around the room) Ah - plan B..." Fred: "Charles...?" g*n spins around to face her: "Plan B is the plan where if you don't stop whining I bash in your... (Stops, his eyes going wide) Oh, god." Angel is standing in the middle between Billy and Cordy. He starts to inch back towards Cordy. Angel: "Cordy, get out of here." Cordy: "No." Angel: "Cordelia?" Cordy: "I can't." Angel turns to look at her: "GET OUT!" Cordy jumps a little, but doesn't budge. Cordy: "Angel - you can fight this!" Billy steps closer to Angel: "Don't fight it - feel it! You can, can't you? All that rage, all that hatred bubbling to the surface? (Conversationally) I actually never done this to a vampire. Should be pretty entertaining." Angel to Cordy: "Please - go." Cordy: "I can't. I have this problem. This is happening to you because of me. Because of *me.* So, I can't leave you - Angel - I won't." Angel: "You think that's your problem? - That's not your problem. - You know what your real problem is? (Cordy backs up just a little) Guys like him!" With that Angel spins around and hits Billy full force sending him flying to the ground. Cordy slowly lowers her hand that she had put up to shield herself from the expected blow. Angel to Billy: "'cause you got no power over me." Billy and Angel start to fight, as Cordy lets out a relieved breath. g*n picks up a chair and smashes it against the wall, breaking it to pieces. Fred: "Charles, you're scaring me!" She jumps back with a little scream as g*n comes at her with a chair leg in his hand. g*n: "Take this and knock me out. Knock me out!" Fred: "You want me to h*t you?" g*n hands her the leg: "Yes!" Fred: "I can't!" g*n: "You might want to." Wes hacks at the door. g*n: "h*t ME!" Fred: "Charles, please..." g*n, mocking: "Charles, please. - Fine. Then give it back to me so I can smash your *stupid* head with it. Gimme the damn chair leg!" Fred hauls back and brains him. g*n drops to his knees but isn't out. g*n: "You're gonna pay for that." Fred hits him again and he lands facedown on the floor and doesn't move any more. Fred throws the chair leg aside, then jumps as Wes ax cracks through the door behind her. Angel and Billy are fighting. Angel tosses Billy through the air. Billy rolls as he hits then comes up on all fours. He smashes both hands hard against the ground. A shock wave radiates out from his hands then returns to them as a crack appears in the ground between them. Both hands begin to glow a bright red. The red leaves his hands, flashes up his arms and Billy's eyes flash yellow. When Angel comes back at him, he tosses him like a toy. Billy is now pretty clearly the stronger of the two. Cordy sees her crossbow lying on the ground. She picks it up and aims it at the combatants, but Angel and Billy change positions so often that she never has a clear sh*t. Angel manages to toss Billy away from him and Cordy's finger tightens on the trigger. g*n sh*ts ring out and Billy jerks where he is squatting on all fours, then drops to the ground and doesn't move anymore. Cordy lowers her crossbow and looks around to see Lilah lowering her p*stol. Angel looks from Lilah to Billy. Lets out a breath. Lilah looks at Angel, then turns and walks away. Cordy looks over at Angel. Wes is pushing against the door, forcing the dresser back inch by inch. Wes enters the room. Sees g*n lying unconscious on the floor. Wes: "Would you like to hear my theory, Fred? - It's about how stupid you are. - I believe that after five years of living in a cave - you'll instinctively retreat to small dark places, rather than run outside where you'd be safe." The floor creaks beneath his feet and Wes looks down at the tarp covering the area in front of him. He walks around the tarp to a closet. Wes: "Let's finish this." He pulls the closet door open - only to see in the mirror on the inside of the door that Fred is standing behind him. Fred: "I'm sorry, Wesley." Wes looks at her: "You're sorry?" Fred: "You were right about me liking dark places to hide in." Wes raises his ax and slowly walks towards her. Fred: "But you forgot I also like to build things." Fred pulls on a rope. A f*re extinguisher swings free and hits Wes, knocking him back onto the tarp. He falls through the place in the floor that broke under Fred's weight earlier. Fred walks up to the hole and looks down at Wes, lying sprawled unconscious in the room below. Day. The Hyperion. Cordy and Angel are back in the basement training. Cordy: "I don't get it." Angel: "I don't get it either." Cordy: "I mean, you're a man." Angel and Cordy are moving side by side through the same sword exercise. Cordy: "So why didn't Billy's touch affect you?" Angel: "Well, maybe because - I'm not human." Cordy chuckles: "Oh, right. And a *vampire* could never be turned into a monster." Angel: "Well, that thing that Billy brought out in others? - The hatred and anger... (reach the end of the sequence) that's something I lost a long time ago." Cordy: "Even when you were evil?" Angel: "I never hated my victims, I never k*lled out of anger, it was always about the - pain and the pleasure." Cordy: "Huh. - So I guess you could say that your demoness makes less petty than humans. Almost noble - I mean, in a twisted, dark and *really* disturbing kind of way." They get into position to start another set. Angel: "Thanks." Cordy: "Hm-mm. (They start the set) It's weird!" Angel: "What is?" Cordy: "I'm starting to get used to being creeped out and comforted at the same time." Angel: "I get that." They smile at each other before continuing with the set. Wes is sitting in his dark apartment staring at the sun shining in through one of the windows. He doesn't move when someone knocks at the door. Fred's voice: "Wesley? - Wesley, it's me, Fred." Wes turns his head a little. After a b*at he gets up and walks slowly over to open the door. Fred sees the bruise on the side of Wes face. Fred: "Oh - does that hurt?" She lifts a hand towards his face, but Wes leans away, not looking at her. Fred sighs and puts her hand down. Fred: "Sorry. - I left a bunch of messages." Wes: "Yes. I meant to call you back. I'm sorry. (Looks at her and whispers) I'm *so* sorry." Fred: "Wesley, you gotta come back to work." Wes: "How can I?" Fred: "What do you mean? How can you not? You're the boss. We need you. - You took a few days off. That's good. We all did. - But now it's time to come back." Wes quietly: "Fred, I tried to k*ll you." Fred smiles and shakes her head: "That wasn't you." Wes: "How can you know that? Something inside me was forced to the surface. Something primal, something..." Fred: "Do you wanna k*ll me?" Wes: "Oh, God, no." Fred: "It wasn't something in you, Wesley. It was something that was done to you." Wes: "I don't know what kind of man I am anymore." Fred: "Well, I do. - You're a good man. - Will I see you back at the office?" Wes: "Yeah." Fred: "Good." Fred slowly walks out and Wes closes the door behind her and begins to cry. Fred stops in the hallway and turns back as she hears sounds of Wesley weeping. She hesitates for a moment, takes a step back towards his door, then turns around and leaves.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x06 - Billy"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Wes: "The host reads their souls, senses their futures." Cordy: "Yes, but he can only do it when they sing Karaoke." Cordy: "Imagine what could have happened if you'd gone nuts and slept with Darla!" Angel throws Darla through the glass doors. Angel and Darla on the bed kissing and ripping each others clothes off Angel: "You know I would never do that." Angel wakes beside Darla and jerks upright in bed. Angel: "Get dressed and get out, because the next time I see you I will have to k*ll you." Shaman: "I can not help you. No one can. This is not meant to be known." Darla rubbing her pregnant belly: "Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do. Time to go visit daddy." Rome 1771 Some rats scurry along an underground sewer tunnel. Angelus runs by. He looks behind him and sees a group of monks carrying torches coming his way. Turns a corner, only to see other torch carrying groups of monks down a couple other branches. Angelus comes up on a sewer grate. He pulls the center grating loose, steps through, then wedges it back in place behind him. As he turns, he stumbles, tumbles down the slanting tunnel, crashes through another grate and lands on the floor of some underground chamber lit by torches. He is surrounded by monks with crossbows aimed at him. A pair of double doors swing open behind him, letting in bright sunlight. Angelus throws himself to the ground out of the direct light surrounded by a thin cloud of smoke. A rider brings his horse to a stop just inside the doors and dismounts. One of the monks leads the horse away as the rider makes his way over to a red robbed priest, while Angelus is picks himself up from the floor. Holtz: "Mille grazie, Monsignore. Sono nel vostro debito." Subtitles: "Thank you, Monsignor. I am in your debt." Monsignor (st): "No, this animal m*rder your family. (Points at Angelus) Hold the beast!" Chains wrap around Angelus upper arms and chest. Holtz steps closer to Angelus: "Monsignor Rivalli, performed the ceremony when Caroline and I were wed. You remember Caroline?" Angelus: "Pretty lass. Hearty screamer." Holtz: "The good monsignor has since then been excommunicated. The order he founded, Inquisitore, adheres to the old beliefs. They're traditionalists and quite good at their work. Let's get started, shall we?" Holtz takes a sharp hook and some knives from one of the monks. We see the hook digging into the side of Angelus' neck, hear some cloth ripping. Angelus: "Ah. Aah!" We see the sun rise and set while hearing Angelus' screams in the background. The monsignor is walking cross the room, reading a book. Holtz is sitting on a bench, drinking from a cup. We hear some monks recite in the background and Angelus gasping in pain. Holtz: "You lost me in North Africa. I knew you'd come back to Europe, but *Rome* Angelus? (Gets up and walks around Angelus, suspended from the ceiling by chains around his wrists) Why in Gods name would you come to the seat of all that's holy?" Angelus: "Darla - she loves the Sistine chapel." Holtz: "Michelangelo?" Angelus: "Not him. She's mad about Botticelli's frescos. (Groans) The Temptation of Christ is her favorite - probably because of the leper. (Sighs) What do you want, Holtz?" Holtz picks up a three-pronged claw and looks at it. Holtz: "I don't want anything. My family is gone. I don't trust you to give me Darla, although I *will* find her, you know that. My only desire here - is to discover if a thing such as yourself can be made to pay for its sins. (Holtz digs the claw-thingy in somewhere below Angelus waist (off screen) and Angelus groans in pain) You're a demon. It is your nature to maim and k*ll. But you were also once a man. If we b*at and burn the demon out of your living flesh, will there be anything left? (Holtz digs the claw in again and Angelus groans in pain) Anything at all? I doubt it. But I'm willing to spend the next fortnight of my life finding out. - In either event - you have no soul, you can not be saved." A flaming arrow streaks across the room and buries itself in one of the monks. Darla: "Sorry it took me so long darling." Darla is standing in a tunnel opening, holding a crossbow loaded with another flaming arrow. There are other vampires with her. Darla: "k*ll them." Darla fires her flaming bolt, hitting Holtz in the shoulder. The vampires streak past her and att*ck the monks. Several vampires get staked by the monks during the fight, but that doesn't slow the rest of them down. Monsignor confronts Darla with a cross held in front of him. Monsignor: "Vai' all inferno, demonio lordo! (caption) Go to hell foul demon!" Darla pushes the cross aside, then sends the Monsignor flying into a wall. Darla: "No, grazie, padre." The double doors that Holtz rode in through is pulled down and a horse and carriage driven by a blanket shrouded vampire trot in. Darla unclips Angelus chains. Two other vampires catch him under the arms and drop him onto the back of the cart. Holtz tries to get up. Darla knocks him across the chin, then joins a groaning Angelus on the cart. Angelus: "Darlin'?" Darla: "What?" Angelus: "Shouldn't we be k*lling Holtz?" Darla: "I know, but it's just so much fun ruining his life. He's like family now." Angelus pulls Darla into a kiss as a vampire covers them with a tarp. The wagon heads out into the sunlight, with the blanket shrouded vamp at the reins. A public bus (Downtown LA - Hollywood) pulls over to the side of a dark and deserted street in LA. Darla: "Right here is fine. (To bus driver) Thanks for the lift. That didn't take long at all. (Gets off the bus) And they say there is no public transportation in LA." The bus driver turns slowly and looks towards the back of the bus. Three passengers are slumped in their seats with twin puncture wounds visible on their necks. Four other people are huddled down in the back of the bus. Bus driver fumbles out his radio: "Help! We got a code twelve on the 5-8 line! We need help here now, for god's sake. Now!" Darla walks away across the street. Intro Cordy is arranging some flowers in a vase down in the basement of the Hyperion. Angel walks into the training area and sees that there are several vases of them scattered around the room. Angel: "What's this?" Cordy: "Oh, it's just so dark and lifeless down here, I thought I'd brighten it up a little for you. (Angel picks up one of the vases) You can't exactly go out and enjoy the sunny fields of nature, but that doesn't mean we can't bring a little bloom into your darkness." Angel: "They're fake." Cordy: "Yeah. You put something real in this hellhole and it die (snaps her fingers) like that." Angel puts the flowers down, looking at Cordy. Cordy: "Thank you, Cordelia?" Angel: "You know, I've been around a long time..." Cordy: "Which reminds me. Next birthday, you think we could skip the two-hundred and fifty odd candles on the cake and the inevitable f*re marshal and just go and just go with a little song?" Angel: "And I've never known anyone like you." Cordy: "Well, duh! Times a wasting, big guy. Can we do it? (Takes on a stance) Hi-yeah!" Angel chuckling: "Okay. Last time we were working on not pulling your punches and your kicks. Right? Don't worry about me. (Cordy hits him and he deflects the punch with his arm) That's good. (Cordy swipes at him again) Good! Where is your weight? (Angel looks down) Balls of your feet?" Cordy swings and hits him across the face full force. Cordy: "Oops! Oh god, you said that... (Angel straightens back up, smiling) Are you okay?" Angel: "I'm a vampire. You can't hurt me. Good." Angel turns away from her and makes a face, gingerly feeling his nose. Cordy: "You're off your game. It's because of the prophecy Wes and g*n are trying to get their hands on. You think the end is coming." Angel turns back to face her: "The end is not coming. Someone is always uncovering some ancient scroll, and they're always saying the same thing: that something terrible is coming. Do you know how many of these things I've seen in my very long life?" Cordy: "Four?" Angel: "Three. But there's nothing to worry about." Cordy: "Then way are g*n and Wesley breaking and entering right now?" Angel: "Breaking and entering is such a negative term. They are simply retrieving some missing pieces from the Nyazian Scroll. Just to make sure..." Cordy: "That the end is coming. - Well, all we can do is live each moment to the fullest and be grateful that we didn't throw too much money at the NASDAQ." Angel blinking his eyes and lifting a hand towards his face: "Am I swelling?" Camera sweeps over some big houses, surrounded by big gardens on a sunny plateau with some mountains in the background. Pans past some old oil paintings and statuary to show Wes, dressed in black, sneaking up on the window and look into the window from outside. Wes motions and g*n walks up beside him. Wes: "Step one: Dobermans are happily gnawing on the steak. Alarm and vid lines are disabled (pulls out a scanner and looks at its display) no infrared. Caught a break there. Step two: we cut a hole in the glass, snake in the mini-cam and scan the interior." g*n walks over to look in the glass door while Wes pulls glasscutter with a suction cup out of his duffel bag and attaches it to the window. Wes: "If it's all clear, we disable the locks and bolts on the side door thus completing... (g*n tries the door and it swings open) ...step three." Wes closes up his duffel and moves over to follow g*n inside, then hurries back to detach the suction cup from the window and stow it in his bag while g*n waits for him inside. Wes hurries in and motions for g*n to close the patio door. They open the doors into an adjacent room, in which all sorts of things are on display. g*n looks around and whistles. Wes: "Can you believe this?" g*n looking around: "Some guys collect old cars, some guys collect..." g*n flinches back as he spots a misshapen, one-eyed demon head in a glass case. Then he and Wes lean in for a closer look. g*n: "It's like - the eye follows you wherever you go." Wes walks over to a bottle sitting on a pedestal, pulls out the stopper and takes a sniff before closing it again. Wes: "Alright. If you were the priceless remnants of the lost Nyazian Scroll, where would you be?" g*n: "If I was priceless - I'd be in the vault." Wes: "The vault? Your snitch never said anything about a vault!" g*n: "I got a bad feeling about this." Wes: "We figure something out. It's just a - vault." g*n: "Actually my bad feeling is more about the man standing behind you with the large revolver." Wes turns to see a guy standing in the door aiming a g*n at them. Man: "Move and I'll k*ll you. The man edges into the room and reaches for the telephone with one hand while still aiming the g*n at them with the other. Wes: "I hope you're calling the police." Man: "You bet I am." Wes: "Good. You can explain to them why you keep so much GHB on hand. (Wes walks over to the bottle on the pedestal) You know, Rohypnol, the date r*pe drug." Man: "What?" Wes indicates the bottle: "Muslok Trancing Amalgam. Under the microscope it's virtually indistinguishable from GHB." The man slowly puts the receiver back down. Man: "Alright. I won't call the police." Wes: "I'm glad we understand each other." Man: "Until after I k*ll you." Wes: "Oh." g*n picks up four red glass balls out of a bowl on another stand. g*n: "Hey, these worth a lot?" Man: "Yes. They're Cyopian conjuring spheres." g*n: "How much? Four figures each? Five? (Starts to juggle two of the balls with one hand) More?" Man: "Stop that!" g*n: "Put the w*apon down." When the man hesitates, g*n lets one of the balls drop and it shatters with a liquid splash as it hits the floor. g*n: "Kind of delicate. (Juggles the remaining three with both hands) Look, we're not thieves, we're investigators. Now, we need to look at your Nyazian Scrolls. Put the w*apon down, because - I'm getting kind of tired here." Man: "Alright!" Man puts the revolver down on a glass case and Wes retrieves it. g*n drops another ball (the owner lets out a fearful gasp) only to bounce it off his foot and catch it again. g*n: "I always wanna give them a big finish. Fred comes down the basement stairs of the Hyperion. Cordy: "Ow. That doesn't feel right." Angel: "Just relax. You have to bend." Cordy: "I don't bend there. - Okay. Now that's downright unnatural." Angel: "I know it feels strange, but if an attacker comes at you from behind, you wanna be able to shift all your weight immediately to your other foot so you can spin and kick. Here, you try it." Cordy spins and kicks up against Angel's chest. Angel catches her, one arm around her leg another around her waist to keep her from falling. Angel: "Whoa! Easy. Alright. That's alright. (Lowers her leg and lets go of her) That's better. We'll keep - working on it. Okay. That's probably enough for today." Cordy: "Yeah, well, we could do more of it, but then I'd have to ice every bone in my body. See you." Cordy walks towards the stairs, one hand pressed against the small of her back. Cordy: "Hey, Fred." Fred: "Hey! - Kye-rumption." Cordy walking up the stairs: "Well - back at you." Angel: "What did you say?" Fred: "Kye-rumption. It's the one nice word I remember from the Pylean hell dimension." Angel: "What's it mean?" Fred: "It's when two great heroes meet on the field of battle and recognize their mutual fate. It's also a kind of grog made out of the ox dung but that's archaic." Angel: "Oh, ah, that's interesting." Fred: "When I see you and Cordelia sparring Kye-rumption always comes to mind." Angel after a b*at: "Me and Cordelia." Fred: "I know. She's such a hero, with the visions and the courage. It's only natural that you and she would be drawn to one another. - Oh! Plastic flowers! (Hurries over to one of the vases) My favorite! They never fade, you know." Angel: "Oh, whoa, wait a minute. There's nothing going on between me and Cordelia." Fred: "Nothing but Moira." Angel: "Who's Moira?" Fred: "Moira is the gut physical attraction between two larger than life souls." Angel: "Ha. No, there is no attraction. Cordelia is a friend. Someone I work with. That's all." Fred grinning: "See? You're being chivalrous. Because you 're a hero, just like her. You got Kye-rumption!" Angel: "Stop using that word!" Wes: "What's going on down here?" Angel: "Nothing." Wes: "I believe Fred's been through enough recently without people shouting at her." Fred: "He didn't mean anything by it." Wes just stands there, looking at the floor. Angel: "Is there something you wanted?" Wes: "Yes. (Looks at Fred) g*n and I were hoping you could give us a hand with the Nyazian Prohecies. We need someone who can do the math." Fred: "Sure!" Fred starts up the stairs. Wes looks around: "Who gave you all the flowers?" Angel: "Nobody." g*n is throwing darts at a board in the office at the Hyperion. Wes is sitting at the desk, writing. Fred is sitting beside him, working on the laptop. Cordy is at her own desk. g*n: "So, how are you doing there, Fred?" Fred: "Oh, it's a simple equation, really. The ancient Roman calendar has fourteen hundred and sixty-four days in a four-year cycle. The Etruscan, Sumerian, and Druidian each have their own cycles. You work forward from the presumed day of the prophecy under each calendar, factoring in our own three hundred and sixty-five day calendar and accounting for a three day discrepancy for every four years and..." Angel walks into the lobby, he sees Cordy sitting at her desk and stops before anyone notices he's there. Fred: "Oh. - That can't be right. - Unless the world ended last March." g*n: "So, are we talking Armageddon - or bad house number? (Sits down in the chair in front of Wes desk) Is it a bad event - or a bad guy?" Wes: "It's not clear on that. It predicts the arrival or arising of the Tro-clan, the person or being that brings about the ruination of mankind." g*n: "So it's a two for one. Isn't that nice." Wes: "And I'm not sure on the translation. Ruination may in fact mean purification." g*n: "Purification? So this Tro-clan is a good thing?" Wes: "I doubt that. But it's purification in Aramaic, ruination in ancient Greek and in the lost Ga-shundi language it means both." Cordy: "And you don't want to make the same mistake twice." Cordy looks up from her desk at Wes, who looks down at his papers. Wes: "No." Fred: "What mistake?" Wes: "There was another prophecy a while back. It seemed to be about Angel and contained the word 'Shanshu' which I thought meant to die and I - sort of told Angel..." Cordy: "...that we was going to die." Fred: "Oh, no." Wes: "Then I found out it also meant to live. It meant to die and to live." Fred: "So - which is it?" Wes: "Both. In his case it meant that some day the vampire in him might die, but the human in him might live." Angel is standing at a corner in the lobby, listening. Fred: "That he would be like a normal man?" Angel slowly lifts his head and looks at Cordy working at her desk. Wes: "Yes." Fred: "Wow. What would we do if that happened?" Cordy: "I'd buy him some plaid shirts and take him to the beach. The boy needs some color." Fred goes back to typing on the laptop. Fred: "There. That came out better. - Oh. No it didn't. It's still very preliminary, but - if these calculations are correct, this bad thing should already be here. (Looks around) Well, I-I guess not right here, but - here in LA." Angel walks into the reception area and sits down. Fred: "Let me run these numbers again." Cordy: "Hey." Angel: "Hey." Cordy after a while: "Why are you looking at me like that?" Angel: "Ah, no reason." After a moment Cordy gets up and walks past Angel to pour a cup of coffee. Cordy: "Okay. It's getting creepy now." Angel: "I was just thinking about things. - People. You know. How they relate. Take you and me for instance. We're very different. *Very* different. Obviously (points at Cordy) human (points at himself) vampire. (points a Cordy) Woman (points at himself) man...pire." Cordy: "Has someone been putting vodka in your blood?" Angel laughs: "See? You're funny! And I, well I get off a good one every once in a while, but you..." Cordy, sipping her coffee: "Angel, are you trying to say you love me?" Angel: "What?" Cordy: "I love you too." Angel: "You do? When did this..." Cordy yells towards Wes open office door: "Angel loves me. I love him." Angel: "Oh, my god!" Cordy: "You guys love us and we love you." Fred, Wes and g*n chorus: "We love you Angel." Cordy: "They were all saying it earlier. Just in case this prophecy comes true and we all die. - You're not gonna wanna hug, are you?" Angel clears his throat and sits back shaking his head: "No." Cordy goes back to her desk: "God knows we've been through a lot together." Angel: "That's really all I was trying to say, that we've been through so much together, you and me, as *friends.* You've seen the - good, - and the not so good." Cordy: "Just like you have in me. And for the record: the good I've seen far outweighs the bad." Angel after a b*at: "Thanks. You, too." Cordy: "Hey, what are friends for?" Darla: "If you ask me, they're for knocking you up and leaving you high and dry." Angel spins around to see a very pregnant Darla standing on the top landing leading down into the lobby from outside. Darla: "Hello, lover. Long time no see." Break Angel: "Darla." Cordy: "Darla?" Wes: "Darla!" Fred: "Who's Darla?" g*n: "Angel's old flame from way back." Fred: "Not the one that died?" g*n: "Yeah. No, not that one. The other one that died and came back to life. She's a vampire." Fred: "Y'all have a chart or something?" g*n: "In the files. I'll get it for you later." Angel: "Well, when did this happen?" Darla comes down the steps: "You know *exactly* when it happened." Cordy: "Angel - did - you and Darla...?" Angel: "Uh..." Cordy turns to look at him. Angel: "This is impossible." Darla: "Tell me about it - daddy!" Cordy: "You slept with her?" Angel: "Vampires can't have children. Wesley?" Wes: "Ah, no, he's right. It's not possible." Cordy: "That's not what I asked." Darla: "You know we can't. I know we can't. But - we did." Fred: "I wonder if this might not be that bad thing we were expecting." Darla: "What did you do to me?" She hits Angel across the face and he stumbles back against the w*apon cabinet behind him. Cordy steps between Angel and Darla: "Stop that!" Angel: "It's okay. It's alright. I'm okay." Cordy: "You'll hurt her! Haven't you done enough? (Turns to Darla) Here, sit down. You should get off your feet." Cordy leads Darla over to the round settee, then looks back at the others. Cordy: "Can we get her some water?" Fred turns to go get it. Angel: "Cordy that's *Darla.* Maybe you don't want to..." Cordy: "Did you or did you not look me in the eye and say that you would *never* do a thing like this with her?" Darla: "Oh, he lied? What a surprise." Fred carrying a glass of water: "Hi. I'm Fred. Is water okay, or did you want some blood?" Darla takes the water as Wes gently pulls Fred back away from Darla. Angel: "Cordy. I'm sorry - I lied. It was just - it was a very dark time." Cordy: "Oh! You used her to make *you* feel better during *your* dark time. Well, that makes it *all* heroic." Angel: "It wasn't like that. It just - happened. It wasn't like I went *evil* or anything, I just..." Cordy: "You just went male. (brushes the hair out of Darla's face) Have you been to a doctor." Darla gives her a look: "No. But I have been to every shaman and seer in the Western Hemisphere." Wes: "And what did they say?" Darla: "They don't know what it is. They don't know what it means. Nothing like this has ever happened." Angel: "Maybe it's an hysterical pregnancy." Darla: "You wanna feel it kick?" Cordy: "Does it kick a lot?" Darla: "Like crazy." Angel: "well, now wouldn't that be the first sign of... (Cordy gives him a look) ...hysteria?" Cordy: "What can we do for you?" Darla: "Well, you can get you little g*ng of supernatural detectives to find out what the hell is happening to me and how to stop it." Cordy looking at Darla: "Are you gonna take some responsibility here? (Looks up at Angel) Angel?" Angel: "Oh, me? - Of course I am. - Wes, lets get on this right now." Wes: "What do you suggest?" Angel: "I suggest you use your books and find out what's going on. What, do I have to think of everything?" Wes picks up a book from the counter and opens it. Wes: "Oh, here it is." Darla straightens up in her seat and Angel walks over to Wes. Wes: "It says 'I have absolutely no idea what's going on.' (Closes the book) We should talk to the host." Lorne: "Oh, this is all wrong." The camera pulls back and we see that he is looking at two people holding up a modern painting. Lorne: "Try it on the back wall. Far away from where folks might be eating." Muses: "v*olence abounds, v*olence restrain, this space a sanctuary was and shall be again." Lorne: "That's great girls. - Hey, Arnie, why 're you charging me twelve hundred over the estimate here?" Arnie: "Had to run a separate two twelve to the security box. Double insulation everywhere in the building. Plus, we had a run on Kek bile and Bin-der glands. And you know what you said: 'This club's my baby. I want top drawer through out." Angel: "Lorne! You here? - You got to help me. We got (looks back at the others filing in behind him) kind of a situation on our hands." Muses: "Mmm, Angel." Cordy: "And here we have three more of Angel's chippies. You girls are on the pill I hope." Muses: "Mmm." Angel smiles and waves at them then walks over to lean in close to Lorne. Angel: "What are they doing here?" Lorne: "They're here to help recast the sanctuary spell to prevent v*olence in the club. And this time I'm covering demons *and* humans. I'm opening the club again. I know I was blue for a pretty long time. If it'd gone on much longer I would have turned aquamarine. (Lorne is the only one laughing) And now that the ice is broken (turns to Darla) what happened here?" Darla: "What's it look like?" Cordy: "Angel boned her." Angel: "Just once. Just the one night. Ah, just the two or three one times that one night..." Fred: "Is Angel gonna sing?" g*n: "Oh!" Wes: "I suppose he has to." Cordy: "She's carrying the baby!" Darla grabs Lorne by the lapels, pulls herself in close and starts to sing: "Oh, Danny boy... What the hell's inside me?" Lorne: "Oh, no, no, no. We're way past singing, mes enfants. This is a brand new day here. (To the club at large) Alright every body, that's a wrap! (People and demons start filing out) We'll finish the spell tomorrow. We got a little crisis brewing. Thanks for coming! Check's in the mail! Get the hell out." Muses, speaking in turn: "Bye Angel, come see us soon. Mmm..." Cordy: "Men!" Lorne: "This is way beyond my ken - and my Barbie and *all* my action figures. If it's alive..." Darla: "Oh, it's alive! And kicking!" Lorne: "It could be anything. A child born to two vampires..." g*n: "Maybe it's some kind of 'ueber'- vamp." Wes: "The Nyazian prophecies mention a Tro-clan." Fred: "That's supposed to be here about now." Lorne: "Born out of darkness to bring darkness." Angel: "Great. So, we're saying that my child is - the scourge of mankind?" Darla moans. Cordy: "You guys are upsetting her! (To Lorne) I think she needs to lie down." Lorne: "Yeah, of course. She can have my bedroom." Lorne and Cordy help Darla up and start to lead her towards the back of the club. When Angel starts to follow Cordy stops him. Cordy: "We can handle it." Cordy and Lorne lead Darla into Lorne's bedroom. Cordy: "I think we should call a doctor." Darla: "It'll pass. I just have to - let it." Darla lets herself drop onto the bed and Cordy sits down on the edge of it beside her. Cordy: "I'll stay with her." Lorne: "If you need anything, just holler." Cordy: "Okay." Lorne leaves the room. Angel: "I don't accept this. These stupid prophecies, you can always interpret them a hundred ways from Sunday. How do we even know your calculations are correct?" Fred: "I don't. I'm still working on them." g*n: "Well, we do know that Darla is pregnant with something!" Angel: "That's biologically impossible." Lorne: "And mystically unfair. You've fought long and hard for good. If your destiny is to spawn something evil..." Angel: "I don't see how anything spawned by Darla and me could be good." Wes: "You know the first prophecy that said that the vampire with a soul would be pivotal in the battle between good and evil?" g*n: "That Shanshu one?" Wes: "Maybe it's not you. Maybe your child is a pivotal figure. Maybe your destiny is simply to help bring to the world." Angel after a b*at: "Or to stop it." Fred: "Can I say something about destiny?- Screw destiny! If this evil thing comes we'll fight it, and we'll keep fighting it until we whoop it. 'cause destiny is just another word for inevitable and nothing's inevitable as long as you stand up, look it in the eye, and say 'your evitable!' - Well, you- you catch my drift." Lorne: "Wow. I like her so much!" Angel: "I wanna see these prophecies myself, and your calculations, Fred, and anything else we got on this." Fred: "Why don't I go back to the hotel and get everything?" Wes: "Good idea. We put our heads together and figure out a way to fight this thing." Fred leaves and Angel turns to Lorne. Angel: "How's she doing?" Lorne: "Well, she's weary. The poor thing looks like she's about eighteen months pregnant. Hope they're not twins." Angel: "Not her. Cordelia." Lorne: "Oh, ah, I sense that she's - hurt and *pissed* what with the lying and deception and ecetera. You should probably stay out of her way for a while, huh?" Cordy: "How're you feeling?" Darla: "Just crazy." Cordy: "What?" Darla: "Why would anyone bring something into this world?" Cordy: "I was pregnant once. (Laughs and holds out a hand) I was out to here - overnight! Mystical thing. I didn't go to term, but while it lasted, hooh! Talk about uncomfortable! Your back and legs hurt all the time and first you're sick to your stomach and you can't eat anything and then your ravenous! Are you able to eat or do you just..." Darla levers herself up: "What? Drink?" Cordy: "Well, it's - really none of my business, is it? - You should rest (Cordy gets up) and I should (starts to walk towards the door) I'll just be real close by. If there is anything that you need... (Darla morphs into vampface) Anything at all..." Cordy is about to open the door, but Darla is suddenly there, holding the door shut. Darla: "I'm hungry all the time. It's weird." Cordy: "Sure. You're eating for two now. It's only natural." Darla: "No, what's weird is - no matter how much I feed - I can't seem to get full." Cordy punches Darla hard across the face. Follows it up with a second punch, then pulls out a cross to ward Darla off. Cordy: "Pregnant or not, you're *going* to keep your distance." Darla bats the cross aside, grabs Cordy and throws her across the room against a table. Then she clamps a hand over Cordy's mouth to prevent her from screaming and sinks her teeth into the side of Cordy's neck. Break As Darla bites her, Cordy gets h*t by a vision. Darla backs away from her for a moment while we see flashes of some arcade, then lunges back in - only to get pulled back away by Angel. Angel: "Get away from her!" Angel picks Cordy up and carries over to the bed. Angel: "You're gonna be alright. You're gonna be alright." Cordy holding the side of her neck: "Ouch!" Angel presses a cloth over the neck wound. Angel: "Cordy, you're gonna be all right. I'll k*ll her for this." Cordy panting: "You're gonna have to find her first." Angel looks around. Darla is gone. Out in the club the others are just picking themselves back up, when Angel comes out, carrying Cordy in his arms. Angel: "She bit Cordy." Lorne: "Oh, sweetie, are you alright?" Angel: "No. Where is she?" Wes: "She got away." g*n: "We tried to stop her by hitting her fists and feet with our faces, but..." Angel: "We'll take Cordy to a safe place and we'll take care of Darla." Hyperion, night, Cordy is lying on a bed with Angel sitting beside her. Angel: "Are you feeling any better?" Cordy: "Yeah. You don't have to stay with me." Angel: "g*n's gonna be right here." Cordy lifts her head to look at g*n: "Thanks." Angel: "I'm not gonna keep telling you how sorry I am. I'm gonna tell you - that she'll never do it again." Cordy: "It was my fault, Angel. I felt sorry for her. She looked so helpless - like a mother. - I forgot what she really was. - I'm starting to feel the pills." Angel gets up and backs away from the bed as Cordy's eyes drift closed. Angel quietly to g*n: "You see Darla anywhere in range..." g*n: "I'll take care of it." Angel turns to go. Cordy sits up: "Wait! - When she bit me I had a vision. I almost forgot." Angel comes back and sits back down on the edge of the bed. Angel: "What did you see?" Cordy: "It was like no vision I ever had before. - She's so hungry. - She doesn't know how to make the hunger stop. - I think I know where she's headed." Angel is arming himself from the w*apon cabinet. Wes: "I'm not speaking to you as the boss, because I know you wouldn't listen, but you shouldn't do this alone." Angel: "I *have* to do this alone." Wes: "Angel, a normal vampire is strong, and Darla wasn't normal before this. She took down the host, g*n, and me without even breaking stride. She's stronger than all of us right now, including you, because of what's in her." Angel: "I know. I put it there." Angel turns away and hurries out. Wes: "Why does he think he has to do everything alone?" Fred: "I think he just can't bear to have us see him do it." Wes: "k*ll Darla? She did try to k*ll Cordy - and she's a vampire." Fred: "Who is carrying his child. The one thing he can never have, even if he lives forever." A busy arcade, there are kids and noise everywhere. A little blond boy stands in the middle of the confusion, looking around. Boy: "Mommy? - Mommy? - Mommy?" Darla: "What's wrong, honey? Lost your mommy? (Boy nods) Let's go find her together, hm?" The boy nods and takes her hand. Darla turns to lead him away. Woman: "You're a brave woman! (Darla stops and looks over her shoulder) About to have one, taking another one out to play." Darla: "Oh. I love children. I could just - eat them up." Darla and the woman smile at each other and go their separate ways. Break Cordy is sleeping on the bed, dreaming of Darla biting her and getting the vision. She jerks awake with a gasp. g*n comes over and sits down on the edge of the bed. g*n: "Hey, hey! It's alright. It's just a dream, okay? I'm right here. She can't hurt you." Cordy: "I have to talk to Wes." Cordy is pacing in Wes' office. Cordy: "It was a dream, but - it was more like a vision." Wes: "About what?" Cordy: "About what's inside Darla. (Sits down) This Tro-clan thing - the prophecies say that it will be born - or it will arise?" Wes: "It says both. The middle English eyrizan and the Gothic urreisan, both mean to appear, to spring up." Fred: "Angel's not answering his phone. Should I leave a message on his voice mail?" Cordy: "He doesn't know how to use his voice mail. Just try his pager." Wes: "There is also a reference to the Tro-clan being boren, which is pretty plain middle English for being born, to bear." We hear a pager go off. g*n checks his belt, then gets up and walks over and pulls Angel's pager out of the pocket of the coat hanging in the corner of Wes' office. g*n: "Well, we found Angel's beeper." Wes: "What is it, Cordy? What is the vision trying to tell you?" Cordy: "I think they're trying to tell me *why* Darla is craving younger victims." Darla is crouched in front of the little boy in a deserted corner of the arcade. Boy: "Ma'am, I don't think my mom is back here." Darla: "Are you sure? Did you look?" The boy looks around. Boy: "I don't see anybody." He turns back to see that Darla has morphed and lets out a scream. Angel runs across some of the arcade games and tackles Darla against the wall and slams the stake in his hand towards her heart. Darla puts up a hand to ward it off the stake pierces her hand until it comes out on the other side. The boy runs away screaming, straight into his mother's arms out in the crowd. Mother: "There you are! (Catches him up in her arms and hugs him close) Where have you been? How many times have I told you not to wander off!" Darla tosses Angel out from the deserted section. The mother's eyes widen as Angel lands on top of some tables, over turning them. People in the crowd see Darla follow him out, still wearing her vampface and turn to run away, screaming. Darla pulls the stake out of her right palm and lets it drop as she walks towards Angel. Darla: "You *so* want to play the good guy, don't you? Yeah. You're the good guy who did *this* to me." Hauls back and knocks Angel across the face, slamming him against one of the games. Darla: "You may have the face, but you don't know the hunger! It pounds! You can't make it go away! You can't stop it!" Angel: "I'll stop it!" He hauls back and hits Darla. The two of them fight. In the end Angel manages to grab Darla by the throat and push her up against the wall. Darla: "How could you put this in me? I *hate* you!" Darla hits him again, but Angel refuses to let go of her throat. Darla: "They breathe. They breathe and pound. I don't breathe, you idiot! You can't strangle me!" Darla laughs. Angel: "I'm not gonna strangle you." Angel pulls her away and slams her back up against the wall, pulling out another stake. Darla: "Come on! Do it! (Angel hesitates) Do it!" Angel slowly lowers the stake and looks down at Darla's belly. We hear a heartbeat. Angel slowly steps back from Darla. Darla lunges, grabs a hold of Angel's jacket and shakes him. Darla: "Do it! Do it! Make it stop!" Angel gently restrains her, wrapping her tightly in his arms and pulling her up against his chest. Angel: "No it won't, Darla. Darla, listen to me." Darla: "Make it stop! Make it stop." Angel: "The child. The child has a heartbeat. It has a soul." Darla flailing wildly: "No! Not my child! No!" Angel: "Our child. Ourchild. Our child. That's why you've been craving purer and purer blood. That's why it's been driving you out of your mind. It has a soul." Darla collapses against Angel's chest, sobbing: "No, it doesn't." Angel holding her: "It does." Darla: "It can't." Angel quietly: "Yes, it does. It does." Angel helps Darla to lay back down on a bed in the Hyperion and hands her a mug. Angel: "Here, drink this." Darla takes a gulp then makes face. Darla: "Pig's blood?" Angel: "You need to keep yourself nourished. You'll get used..." Darla throws the pug against the wall, shattering it and splashing the wall with blood. Angel: "You're not alone in this anymore. We'll deal with this together." Darla: "Gosh. I'm the luckiest vampire girl in the whole world. - Get away from me." Angel gets up: "Try and get some sleep." Darla: "How's Cordy? She wanna come up and visit?" Laughs. Angel walks up to g*n, standing in the door holding a loaded crossbow. Angel: "She goes near Cordy, or Fred..." g*n lifting the bow: "I know." Angel: "Don't underestimate her. The woman is stronger than all of us right now." Angel walks down into the lobby and sees Cordy and Wes leaning over an open book on the reception counter together. Angel: "You're not to go near Darla for any reason without me, g*n, and a lot of crossbows standing between you. You understand?" Cordy: "Oh, yeah. And if I forget (indicates the bandage on the side of her neck) I have a nice little reminder." Angel: "That goes for you, too, Fred." Fred looks up from the laptop: "Gotcha." Angel goes to sit down on the settee in the middle of the lobby and Cordy walks over to him. Cordy: "So, I guess you're gonna be a father." Angel after a b*at: "Guess I am." Cordy: "I felt it in my dream. The same thing you did - when you found her. (Sits down beside him) It has a soul." Wes: "Well, Angel has a soul. It makes sense. As much as any of this does." Angel looks down at his folded hands. Wes: "Angel, even with a soul, she could give birth to what's spoken of in the prophecies." Angel looks at Wes: "The thing that's coming to k*ll and burn us all? - I know that. - I also know the child is mine." Wes: "Right." Cordy: "Well! Another big fun day at Angel Investigations. (Gets up) What do you say we pour ourselves a good stiff..." Fred: "Uh-oh." Cordy: "A good, stiff uh-oh?" Fred: "Remember before when I said I thought that maybe, possibly, perhaps I might have been off in my earlier calculations? And you asked Wes if he thought if the Tro-clan was prophesied to arise or be born and he said it could be both? And we all know that the Latin for arrive is arripare, to come to land or possibly in this instance simply to come to, as from a deep sleep?" Angel, Wes: "Fred!" Fred: "Right. I believe that whatever this thing is, it's arriving right about (looks down at a watch) three, two, now." A busy section of LA, night, people are walking past, talking. The camera sinks through the ground down into a round chamber, lit by fires in the alcoves along the wall. The ceiling is supported by a circle of pillars. A stone statue and two bowls holding more flames are set up, forming an equal triangle inside the circle of pillars. A demon walks in and stops in front of the statue. Sahjhan: "The weight of time is heavy on the world. And all men born must die. But there are worlds unknown, where dreamers dream and sleepers sleep, and patiently await. As pledged in Caladan by Cod-she, (Sahjhan steps back and throws some powder at the statue) One shall awaken in the first year of the final century. That one, who lived before and joined Cod-she in the great sleep. Arise, as was promised and foretold. Arise. - Arise!" Nothing happens. The demon turns away and walks over to one of the fires and lights himself a cigarette. Turns back to watch the statue, puffing. Checks his watch. Takes another drag. Suddenly the room begins to shake and blue lighting flashes. The eyes of the statue suddenly turn into two open, human looking eyes. The statue cracks then crumbles to the ground in a cloud of dust. The demon puts out his cigarette and walks over to the figure huddled in the middle of what's left of the statue. Sahjhan: "Welcome to the twenty first century. (Crouches down and puts a hand on the back of the figure) Angelus is here. You'll see him soon. - You haven't used your muscles in a very long time. It will be a while before you're strong enough to..." The figure suddenly straightens up. It's Holtz. Holtz: "Just tell me where he is."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x07 - Offspring"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Quick sh*ts of Darla and Angel making out, and of Holtz' demon cocoon breaking. Wes: "The Nyazian Scrolls mentions the Tro-clan that brings about the ruination of mankind." Cordy: "Imagine what could have happened if you'd gone nuts and slept with Darla!" Angel: "You know I would never do that." Darla: "Hello, lover." Angel: "Darla?" Wes: "Darla." Cordy: "Darla?" Angel: "This is impossible." Darla: "Tell me about it - Daddy." Cordy: "You slept with her?" Angel: "Uh..." Cordy to Darla: "How are you feeling?" Darla bits Cordy. Angel: "Get away from her!" Angel: "You're gonna be all right! I'll k*ll her for this." Cordy: "You gonna have to find her first." Angel tackles Darla away from the boy. Angel holds Darla and raises the stake. Darla: "Come on! Do it! Do it! Do it!" Angel: "The child. It has a soul." Darla: "No it doesn't..." Angel: "It does. It does." Fred: "Whatever that thing is, it is arriving right about - one, two - now." Holtz: "Just tell me where he is." York, England - 1764 Holtz gallops through the countryside at night. Stops and then rides up to another man signaling with a torch. Man: "We found them." Holtz: "Go." They ride off. Inside of a house, dimly lit by a candle. A knock on the door. A young girl opens the door. Angelus: "Ah, is your mother home there, young lady? (Girl nods) Will you take us to her?" Sarah: "Father said not to let strangers in while he's away." Angelus and Darla look at each other. Angelus: "But we're not strangers. You're Sarah, aren't you? We know all about you. You're the apple of your father's eye." Darla: "Would strangers know that?" Sarah shakes her head. Angelus: "So, lass. May two friends enter?" Sarah steps to the side. Angelus: "Is that a yes then?" Sarah: "Yes." Angelus: "Ah. Lovely." Darla and Angelus walk in. Darla takes Sarah's hands. Darla: "Such a dear girl. Remind me to give you a special treat." Angelus locks the door. Holtz and the other man are riding hell for leather through the night. They meet up with some other men carrying torches. Man: "They're trapped inside." Angelus: "Did you mommy make you that dress Sarah?" Mom: "What's all the fuss, love?" Darla, Sarah and Angelus walk into the kitchen. Angelus: "Good evening to you, ma'am." Mom: "Evening." Holtz takes a torch from one of the men and leads them towards a dark house. Holtz: "Burn it down if you have to." Angelus: "We can only stay for a moment. We have a message for you husband." Mom: "You know my Daniel?" The men near the house. Mom: "What is his message?" Darla: "I'll give it to Sarah, hmm?" The men reach the door of the house. Holtz: "On my signal." Darla brushes the hair back from Sarah's face. Darla: "Close your eyes. I have a surprise for you." Darla looks at the mother, morphs into vamp face and sinks her fangs into Sarah's neck. Sarah screams and Mom tires to run to her daughter but Angel holds her back. Angelus: "Tell your husband, Mr. Holtz..." Mom sees Angelus vamp face: "No... no..." Angelus: "Never mind. I'll tell him meself." Angelus sinks his fangs into her neck. Holtz break in the door, looks around. Holtz: "Where are they?" He finds a note that reads: "How do you hope to save others when you can not save your own?" Holtz: "They're at my house." Darla and Angelus look up as they hear a baby cry. Darla: "Can something be done about that horrible noise?" Angelus straightens up. Darla: "I think it wants its mother." Angelus: "Let's send it to her. Do you wanna do it, or should I?" Holtz and two other men ride through the night. Holtz slams the door of his house open and enters the kitchen to see his wife lying there with vampire bite marks on her neck. Hyperion, day Darla is lying on a bed, apparently asleep. Angel walks in and sits down beside the bed. After a moment he hesitantly reaches out and puts one hand on Darla's swollen belly. Darla stirs, but her eyes stay closed. One of her hands comes up to cover Angel's. Darla: "Are you going to do it (opens her eyes to look at Angel) or am I?" Intro Scenes from world history flash across four TV screens stacked side by side. Holtz is sitting in a chair in front of them, watching. He is still in the same circular room that he woke in, lit by f*re burning in bowls sitting in the niches lining the walls. The demon that did the incantation to wake him suddenly stands behind his chair. Sahjhan: "I know it seems like only a moment to you. But two hundred and twenty seven years have passed since our agreement. Empires have risen and fallen. Mankind has harnessed the power of the sun, walked on the moon, and turned arid desserts into fields of green." Holtz: "What of England? Has it survived the years and destruction?" Sahjhan: "Yes. - It went through a rough patch about sixty years ago, but it's mostly unchanged. Warm beer, boiled meat, bad teeth. That's why I moved to LA. - Have you followed this part of the history? American Revolution, manifest destiny, westward expansion, the Beach Boys?" Holtz: "I understand enough. One thing baffles me. (Indicates the TVs) These visions, wars, the w*apon of destruction - how is it no one has k*lled Angelus or Darla?" Sahjhan: "That's why I brought you here, remember? Because your fate and their fate are entwined." Holtz gets up: "Then let's go. Let's finish this. I want Angelus." Sahjhan: "I know. I want him, too. But we're going to do it right. I haven't waited two and a half centuries to mess it all up." Holtz: "You have been tracking them this entire time?" Sahjhan: "Yes. But not in the way you imagine. There are other dimensions, other worlds where time behaves differently. I have an ability to navigate those dimensions." Holtz: "And is that why you haven't aged?" Sahjhan: "That, and I had a little work done. Mostly around the eyes. Now get some rest. You're going to need it." The demon leaves and Holtz sits back down in the chair facing the TVs. Darla is lying on the couch in Angel's suite, Angel is sitting in a chair. Darla: "You figure out a way to do it?" Angel: "No. I was thinking about the last time you were here." Darla: "Mmm - that. (Sits up) Kind of hard to forget." Angel: "I know. I've tried." Darla stands up and begins to walk around. Darla: "Hey, you're the one that came in here all 'the world is a cold and lonely place.'" Angel: "I had a bad day." Darla: "So, you threw me through those glass doors, slammed me against the wall, pushed me onto the bed and took what you wanted." Angel: "It seemed like the thing to do - at the time." There's a knock on the door. Angel: "Come in." g*n walks in carrying a loaded crossbow, followed by Wes, Fred and Cordy. Wes: "Sorry to intrude. We had a bit of a breakthrough with the Nyazian Scroll translation. I thought you should know." Fred: "It turns out that some of the irregular verbs Wes was using were problematic when converted to Ga-shundi because of the Nyazian trick of converting both nouns and verbs, which he discovered by... - Sorry. I'll shut up now so he can tell you what he figured out." Wes: "The Tro-clan isn't a person or persons. It's a confluence of events." Cordy: "Which means it not only involves you, Darla and the child, but other horrible things we don't know about." Angel: "That... That's good. Right? I mean, doesn't that mean that the kid isn't this evil, apocalyptic thing that we feared?" Wes: "Not necessarily. There are a few Nyazian phrases related specifically to the thing being born that I haven't been able to complete." Angel: "So it's important that you so." g*n: "Because we need to know what kind of bun is in the oven." Darla: "I know one thing about it. Something's protecting it." Fred: "How do you know that?" Darla sits down: "Because I can't get rid of it." Fred: "Sorry I asked." g*n raises the crossbow: "So you're saying, if I sh*t this into your stomach, it wouldn't do anything?" Darla spreads her hands: "f*re away." Angel steps between them: "No one is f*ring anything." Wes: "Angel's right. Clearly something wants this thing to come to term. - We'll wait for it to be born then we'll chop its head off." Fred: "Well, what if it doesn't have a head?" Cordy: "We're gonna need a really big mallet." g*n: "If it skitters, we should have a net or something. Maybe a flame thrower." Angel: "Flame thrower? No, no. There'll be no throwing of flames. Nobody's gonna do anything until we know exactly what's going on. Now, if anybody has a problem with that they should leave - now." Darla gets up, shrugs and walks towards the door. Angel pulls her back. Angel: "Not you." Angel sighs and takes a step closer to the others. Angel: "Come on, guys. How about it?" After a b*at g*n lowers his crossbow with a nod. Angel: "Cordy?" Cordy steps closer: "You want me to protect the vampire bitch who bit me *and* her evil love child?" Cordy hauls back and clocks Darla full on the nose, sending her stumbling back against the chair. Cordy smiles at Angel: "Okay, I'm in." Darla leans on the chair and moans. Cordy: "Oh, come on, tough girl. You're a vampire.. A punch in the nose shouldn't hurt that much." Fred: "Not ow her nose. She's having contractions." Darla writhes in the chair, groaning. Wolfram and Hart, day Lilah pricks her finger with a needle. Lets the blood drip into a little jar, then dips a pen in it and signs her name on a line labeled 'witness' at the bottom of a paper. There is a knock on the door and a mail clerk comes in with his cart. Cyril: "Good morning, Miss Morgan." Lilah: "Morning." Blows on her signature, then sticks the paper into an envelope and hands it to the clerk. Lilah: "Would you take this to Pinderhook down in demon resources for me?" Cyril: "Sure. - Uh... - Miss Morgan, I hate to bother you. But I've been admiring you for quite a while and I was wondering..." Lilah: "Don't flatter yourself, Cyril. I don't date guys from the mail room." Cyril: "Me neither! - (Holds out a CD case) I just thought you should know about this." Lilah takes it and pops it into her computer. Cyril starts to head for the door as a surveillance video of Angel and Lilah making out on Wes' desk comes up on her screen. Lilah: "Wait. (Walks over to Cyril) You little weasel! If you think you can blackmail your way onto me on *my* desk..." Cyril: "No! That's not it! You got it all wrong. I respect you way too much to be attracted to you. It's - it's just - down in the mailroom, I see a lot. You know? Different factions in the firm. There comes a time when a guy has to choose a side." Lilah: "And is that disk your way of telling me you're choosing *my* side? (Cyril smiles and gives her a nod) And who are we allied against, you and I? Who is this common foe?" Cyril: "I'd rather not..." Lilah: "If you don't tell me right now, I'm gonna have your skin peeled off and stapled back on inside out." Cyril: "Mr. Park." Lilah: "Gavin." Lilah goes and gets the disk. Cyril: "Remember those exterminators he sent to Angel's hotel? They don't k*ll bugs. They plant them." Lilah: "Hm." Lilah walks past him towards the door. Cyril follows her out, pushing his mail cart. A finger taps against a fuzzy video screen, and a picture of the Hyperion's lobby flickers to life. Angel's voice: "Good. That's it. Where is your weight? Balls of your feet? Don’t forget to..." Cordy: "Oops. Oh, god, you said that..." Gavin looks over the shoulder of a guy wearing headphones while transcribing. Gavin: "Keee-yi-ha ow. Someone doing an incantation?" Transcriber: "No. Angel started training female one in martial arts. I think she got in a lucky punch." Gavin: "Any tech problem?" Transcriber: "Just a couple glitches. Don't sweat it though. I've been staying late. (Hands Gavin a huge book-like file) That is the transcription of everything up to last week." Gavin opens the top cover. Lilah: "How about that? I just asked myself, if I were a cockroach, where would I hide? And voila! - there you are! (Holds up the disk) Did you really think you could blackmail me with this?" Gavin: "Blackmail? (Laughs) No one cares. From what I've hear-, bumping uglies with an old man that body-jumped into a vampire is the closest thing you've had to a meaningful relationship in years. This is about something else. - Thank you, Cyril." Cyril peeks his head around the corner of the open door: "You're welcome - sir." Lilah: "What was all that crap about choosing sides?" Gavin: "He did. He's on mine." Lilah: "Is this your convoluted pathetic way of asking for my help? Because you sure need it. You're understaffed, underfunded, and clearly (takes the file from him) undertalented. So, what have we learned here?" Gavin: "We? There is no we. I just decided it was time you understood the full scope of what I've been doing these past few months." Lilah: "Who is this 'unidentified, pregnant female'?" Transcriber: "I - I don't know. We lost audio for a couple of days last week. I can pull the tape." Lilah: "See? Need me." The transcriber pops a tape in a VCR. On the screen Darla walks into the lobby. Lilah: "Darla?" Gavin: "Darla? That's impossible. Vampires can't give birth!" Lilah pulls out her cell phone: "Tell me about it. (To phone) Linwood? It's Lilah. You're not gonna believe what I'm looking at." Darla is sitting in the chair, moaning and holding the sides of her belly. Angel: "How long since the last contraction?" Fred: "About twenty minutes. They're still real irregular." Darla: "Something's wrong. The pain..." Angel: "You like pain." Darla: "This is different. I want it out - now!" Wes: "That's exactly what's happening, Darla. You're in the first stage of labor." Angel: "Labor, that's - that's good, right? How long does it usually last?" Wes: "It varies. On average, the whole thing, maybe eighteen hours." Darla forces herself up out of the chair: "Eighteen hours? That's too long!" Angel supports her as she hunches over with another contraction. Angel: "Alright. Easy. Lie down." Angel helps onto the bed as the others leave and close the door behind them. Angel: "I'll be right back." Angel follows the others out. Angel: "Guys, we got to figure out what's inside of her now, before it skitters out." g*n: "We should get a demony doctor in here. You know, someone who understands how her vampire girl parts work. (Cordy looks at him) You know what I'm saying." Cordy: "Well, didn't she already try that whole shaman, voodoo, witch doctor thing?" Angel: "Yeah. She did." Fred: "I don't suppose she ever went to like a normal doctor or a hospital?" Cordy: "Hey, there's an idea: hospital. Oh, wait, they don't admit vampires." Angel: "Who says we have to admit?" Wes: "Of course. We don't need the right doctor, we just need the right equipment." We hear Darla groaning in the other room and Angel hurries back to her. Wolfram and Hart, day Linwood is walking down the hallway talking to his phone, flanked by Lilah and Gavin. Linwood: "I don't care how much it costs. Just find someone who can answer the bloody question. (Closes his phone) Heads are gonna roll if the Senior Partners hear about this." Gavin: "They won't. That's why we came directly to you." Linwood: "Darla - pregnant. How'd we miss it?" Lilah: "I'm sequestering the psychics and the mind readers in the conference room. We will get to the bottom of this." Linwood: "Man works hard - builds something - waters it - grows rich and powerful. - Leaves his wife for a younger beauty. - These are the reasons we take certain - blood oaths. - And to have it all vanish because..." Lilah: "Sir, I can't stress enough. There is no way we could have foreseen this." Gavin: "She's right, sir. No one could have known." Cyril sticks his head out of a door just after they walk past it. We hear a phone ring. Cyril is on his cell. Woman's voice: "Hi, you've reached the Tittles. We can't come to the phone right now. If you wanna leave a message for Christine, press one. (man's voice) For Bentley, press two. (Deep, gravely voice) Or to speak to or worship Master Tarfall, Underlord of pain, press three." Cyril pushes a button. Cyril: "Master, it's happened. The thing you have foreseen has come to be. We must tell the others." Break York, England, night, nine years later Holtz is sitting in front of a f*re. His eyes are closed. We get flashes of f*re intermixed with flashes of his family and screaming. Holtz opens his eyes and takes a drink form the pewter mug he is holding. We hear a funky sound effect. Holtz doesn't stir from his seat. Holtz: "Another step and it'll be your last. If you've come for anything other than a fight, you're in the wrong place." Male voice: "A fight's exactly what I'm looking for." Holtz stands up and turns around. Holtz: "Be a man and who your face." Out of the shadows steps the demon that brought Holtz to LA. Sahjhan: "I'm not a man. - What I mean is..." Holtz takes a closer look at him: "You're not human." Sahjhan: "But clearly masculine. You get that, right?" Holtz picks up a p*stol and aims it at the demon's breast. Holtz: "You'll get more than a fight if you don't leave right now." Sahjhan: "Fine. My mistake. - I just thought you might want help k*lling Angelus and Darla." Holtz turns away: "I don't need your help. I'll k*ll them myself." Sahjhan: "Not to rain on your parade - but, no, you won't. You'll die a bitter old man and never see them again." Holtz: "You don't know that." Sahjhan: "I kinda do. In fact I know that it'll be another two hundred years before you get another chance to confront either Angelus or Darla." Holtz: "And is this the part of the tale where the demon offers the broken man the chance to change all that?" Sahjhan: "I'll take you to them. Two centuries into the future." Holtz: "Through black magic and sorcery." Sahjhan: "No. On a mule cart. Of course through black magic and sorcery. I'm a demon." Holtz: "And what do you want from me?" Sahjhan: "Your word. I want your word that when the time comes you will show them no mercy." Holtz looks into the dark corners of the room. Sahjhan: "I don't mean to be pushy, but this is a limited time offer. Say yes, and I'll take you to them this very hour. Say no - and realize the one chance to avenge what they did to your wife and children has slipped away - forever." Holtz stares at nothing. Night, emergency entrance of a hospital Angel is pushing Darla along one of the hospital hallways in a wheelchair. Angel: "How are you feeling?" Darla: "I haven't had blood in almost a day, and your devil spawn is trying to rip its way out of my body. How do you think I'm doing?" A door is pushed open and Cordy motions at Angel. Cordy whispering: "Psst. Paging Dr. Angel." Angel pulls Darla's chair through the swinging doors after Cordy. Wes: "I sent g*n and Fred to find an ultra-sound machine so we can take a look. Inside Darla, that is." Angel: "What is this? A classroom?" Wes: "Yes. It's is a teaching hospital. How are you feeling, Darla?" Darla doesn't answer. Angel: "Something wrong?" Darla: "I think the contractions have stopped." Angel: "Is that bad?" Wes walks over and reaches for Darla then pulls back. Wes: "Do you mind if I..." Darla: "I won't bite." Cordy: "No, but that thing inside might." Wes carefully feels Darla's belly. Wes: "You may have been experiencing something called Braxton-Hicks contractions. They're a form of false labor." Darla: "False?" Wes: "False as in not ready to come out yet." Darla: "Well, I'm way past ready. I'd cut it out of me if I could." The door opens and g*n and Fred wheel in a machine. g*n: "Here you go, one ultra-sound machine." Wes: "Darla, up on the table, please." Angel: "Don't you wanna see what's inside?" Darla looks down at her belly. Holtz is pacing in front of the TVs. A grate slides to the side and the demon enters. Holtz: "You've kept me here long enough. Where are they?" Sahjhan: "It's not that simple." Holtz: "I'm tired of waiting!" Holtz reaches out to grab the demon, but his hands pass right through it. Holtz pulls his hands back and looks from the to the demon. Sahjhan: "Like I said - it's not that simple. - Do think I'd go to all this trouble of transporting you two and a half centuries if I could walk up to Angelus and stake him myself? Please! There are rules and timetables and forces at work far greater than either of us. Boy, you vengeful types aren't real good at playing with others, are you?" The demon passes his hands along the sides of his head and his face turns into that of a human. Sahjhan: "It's my street face. (A coat lands on Holtz' shoulder) Now put that on. I've lined up some men to help us." Conference room at Wolfram and Hart. It's crowed. There are people and beings sitting at the table filling out papers. One gray skinned demon is taking a lie detector test. Man: "Alright then, sir. Are you know or have you ever been a vampire? - Are any of your friends vampires?" Linwood: "Thank you for coming. And correct me if I'm wrong, but the role of a psychic - is to be psychic. To predict the future, so that Wolfram and Hart doesn't find itself in this kind of predicament." Bald psychic: "I can't apologize enough, sir." Linwood: "You're right. You can't. (Laughs) But I'm not without compassion. I'm gonna give you a chance to save your job - and your skin." Bald psychic smiles relieved, then frowns and leans in a bit closer to Linwood. Bald psychic: "No, you're not. - You're gonna have me k*lled." Linwood puts a hand on his shoulder: "Now, why couldn't you have had that kind of foresight when we needed it?" Someone puts a plastic bag over the bald guy's head from behind and pulls him away from Linwood. Mind reader: "They are telling the truth." Lilah: "Thank you. (Steps up to Linwood) Intelligence is just coming in. No one seems to know *how* Darla could be pregnant. There is a rumor about a prophecy involving a vampire birth, but the Scroll it's recorded on seems to be missing." Linwood: "Do you have any idea how many groups and cults and organizations would k*ll to get their hands on this baby? We've got to get it before anybody finds out." Lilah: "Yes sir. And we will." Linwood: "We need to get, dissect it, and find out what it means." Gavin: "Berlin's on the phone for you, sir." Linwood: "Oh, god. If they've heard about this in Berlin, Singapore and Muncie can't be far behind. Now listen, if the Senior Partners are looking to assign blame, the buck stops here, you understand me?" Lilah: "Not exactly, sir." Linwood: "If the Partners are looking to place blame, I'm gonna have to step forward." Lilah: "That's inspiring, sir." Linwood: "Yes, I'll step forward and blame you. Darla was resurrected on your watch. I can think of no better scapegoat." Pats Lilah on the shoulder and leaves while big grin spreads across Gavin's face. Lilah: "You think this is over? Watch and learn, rookie." Lilah pulls out her cell phone. A guy wearing nothing but a turban and a loincloth is meditating in front of a candle with his eyes closed. He lifts one hand and opens it to reveal a crumpled piece of paper. His eyes remain closed and he doesn't move as the paper suddenly bursts into flame and burns up on his palm. We hear a phone ring. The guy reaches behind him and pulls out a cell phone and answers it without opening his eyes. Guy: "Yes? - I understand." Lowers the phone and extinguishes the candlewick between his finger. Stands up and opens his eyes to look at a sword blade leaning against the wall across the room from him. He holds out his hand and after a b*at the sword flies across the room and the handle slaps into his hand. He whips the blade around the air as if fighting some invisible foes. Wes is putting jelly on Darla's exposed belly, and turns on the ultrasound machine. Wes: "Well, then. Let's take a look, shall we? (Looks at the monitor) Well, I haven't studied one of these for quite a while." Angel: "Isn't that a head?" Wes: "I think it is. Or is that the head?" Fred: "Maybe you're both right. (Everyone turns to look at her) It's not like I'm suggesting it's an evil two-headed thing." Wes moves the sensor around. Cordy: "I see it." Darla: "My little parasite." Wes: "Oh, my..." Angel: "What is it?" Wes: "It's - it's human." g*n: "Human as is in humanoid? As in cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers?" Wes: "No - human as in - a boy." Angel: "Boy?" Wes with a slight smile: "A boy. A boy. (To Darla) You're carrying a boy." Darla: "Great." Angel: "Gonna have a son. (A slight smile creeps across Angel's face) I'm gonna have a son." Fred: "Guys. As fascinating as an ultra-sound image of an unborn child may appear..." Angel: "Me. A father. To a son. You know what that means?" Fred: "We're surrounded by vampires?" Angel: "No, it's a human bo..." Angel trails off as he looks away from the monitor for the first time and notices the vampires lining the teaching gallery above them and the back wall of the room. Angel: "Oh. We *are* surrounded by vampires." Cordy: "Ahem - so, who has a plan?" g*n: "Don't let 'em k*ll us sounds like a good first step." Vampire: "The miracle child." The other vampires echo him in a whisper. Vampire: "For his time has come. (All the vamps bow down) Praise be. Praise be. Praise be." Break Holtz and Sahjhan walk down the side walk of one of the streets in LA. Sahjhan: "The buildings are taller, machines more powerful - and you can get really great Tai food at two in the morning. - But the thing to understand is that people are the same today as they were in your day. They drink too much. They fight. They work hard. They fall in love." Holtz sees a picture of a family pasted on one of the walls. Holtz: "They have families." Sahjhan: "Yes, they still have families." Holtz: "I hope these men you've hired are ruthless bastards." They walk up to a metal door and Sahjhan knocks on it. Voice: "Go away!" Sahjhan: "It's Sahjhan. (To Holtz) This is where we'll get your men. - Very exclusive." Holtz stands in the club watching a group of gray-skinned demons with upside-down walrus tusks train and fight each other. Holtz: "These aren't men." Sahjhan: "Once again: gender - not species. I should have said 'minions.' Have you seen Grappler demons fight? - Not the sharpest pencils in the box, but merciless in battle. - Okay, guys! Over here! Time to meet the new Jefe. And Flarmar, leave the head in the ring, okay?" Flarmar grunts and drops the head he'd ripped of his opponent earlier. Sahjhan to Holtz: "Ready to command your troops, captain?" Holtz: "Any other surprises I should know about?" We get a close up of Darla's belly then the camera pulls back to show all the vampires kneeling, while AI and Darla stand in the middle of the room watching. Cordy: "Hey, I'm all for being idolized, but - what the hell is going on?" Angel: "What do you want?" Vampire: "To protect the miracle child." Angel: "Protect? Ah, that's good. We're all here for the same thing." The guy with the sword that Lilah called earlier suddenly jumps through one of the glass windows above, dressed like a ninja and holding the sword in front of him, screaming 'die!' The miracle child worshipping vampires jump on him en masse, and he goes down with a strangled scream. We hear a crunch and someone gulping down liquid. Vampire straightening from his meal: "As it has been prophesied - by our great potentate Ul-thar, we vow our lives to protect this - special child." Angel aside to Darla: "You hear that? Our kid. Special." Vampire: "Now let us k*ll the humans so we may use their blood to nourish the mother - and her miracle child." Darla, smiling: "Guess I'm getting dinner after all." Gavin is flipping through some blue prints on a table. Gavin: "Commander, this should provide your ops team with a solid tactical base. Plan and elevation drawings of every floor in Angel's hotel. I also have strategic surveillance capabilities, so we can monitor the engagement from here." Commander: "Excellent. I'm confident my men will be able to capture and retrieve the target. The larger question revolves around subsequent extraction of the target's cargo." Linwood looks from the commander to Gavin. Gavin quietly: "Getting the baby from Darla." Linwood: "Of course. And for *that* we have called in an expert." Lilah walks in followed by a man dressed in black. Fetanovich: "You flatter me, sir." Lilah: "Gentlemen, may I introduce Dr. Fetvanovich from our satellite office in the Balkans." Linwood shakes his hand: "How do you do, doctor?" Lilah: "Dr. Fetvanovich is the world's foremost specialist in paranormal obstetrics. We are *very* fortunate he's consented to help." Doctor smiling: "It is I who feel fortunate. A vampire birth is, ah - unprecedented. I look forward to dissecting both the mother and the child." Angel: "Darla, you might wanna join the fight." Darla: "Sorry, darling. I'm gonna have to be Switzerland and sit this one out. (To vampires) Now, you did say you were just gonna k*ll the humans, right?" Vampire: "Yes, just the humans. Then we will nourish you, slice you open, wear your entrails as a belt and consume your eyeballs before we worship the miracle child." Darla jumps off the table and goes to stand beside Angel. Darla: "Okay. I'm in." Angel: "g*n, you and I can hold them off for as long as we can. The rest of you, get Darla to the car." Darla: "Oh, I'd rather stay and fight. Show these youngsters a thing or two about real carnage." Angel: "That's thoughtful, but, you know, you should go." Fred: "Charles, do you have an extra dagger I could borrow?" g*n pulls out a dagger and hands it to her. g*n: "This okay?" Fred: "Perfect." Angel: "No my count of three. One, two..." Fred holds the dagger against Darla's belly. Fred: "You freaks make one move and I'll slice the miracle kid into triplets." Cordy: "It's always the quiet ones." Vampire: "Wait!" Fred quietly to Darla: "They don't know the Kn*fe can't hurt the baby." Darla: "They do *now.* Vampires have great hearing." The vampire leader smiles. Darla: "Here we go." The vampires att*ck and a big fight ensues. Wes: "Everybody out!" The g*ng back up towards the door, and begins to file out. Angel is the last to leave, staking one last vamp with a broomstick before following the others. The camera pans around the dimly lit lobby. Suddenly a commando guy wearing a black ski mask pops up. Guy into radio: "All clear." Two more commandos rappel down from the upper story and another group comes in through the front doors, followed by the doctor and his equipment. Guy: "Lobby secure, sir." Doctor: "Lets set up out here. - Oh, and get a hose. I'm afraid there might be some blood. - And you can set baby's cage next to mama's." Break g*n is looking out over the back of Angel's as it speeds down a road. g*n: "I think we lost them." Angel: "Anybody hurt?" Cordy: "Nothing a couple of band aids and a pint of Heathbar crunch can't fix." Wes: "I'm good." Angel: "Darla? - Darla, everything okay?" Darla is sitting in the back between g*n and Wes, with Wes holding a stake at the ready. Darla: "Yeah. Fine." Wes: "You all right?" Darla: "It's nothing!" Angel: "It's the kid, isn't it? Seeing him on the monitor." Darla raises her head and we can see a tear hanging from one of her eyes. Darla: "No, I'm just disappointed that the vamp cult didn't k*ll all of you guys. - So, where 're we going? I'm famished and we all know how ugly that can get." Fred: "Where *are* we going?" Angel: "Somewhere safe." Cordy: "Where's safe? The hotel is definitely out." g*n: "How about if we go to..." Angel: "Vegas? Sorry, g*n, too high profile, but I agree we need to get out of dodge." Wes: "Actually..." Cordy: "God! I hate it when you say that word! 'Actually' means that your oversized gi-normous brain thought of something that the rest of us failed to consider, right?" Wes: "Just, other people seem to know a lot more about this kid's importance than we do. The only thing that can help us is back at the hotel. (To Angel) We can't protect your child unless we get the scrolls." Angel: "Okay then. Quick stop." One of the commandos on guard in the yard hears a noise and looks around with his flashlight. When he doesn't find anything he returns to his post, only to be knock out from behind by Holtz. The doctor is setting out his instruments on a table in the lobby. He lifts up a big curved spatula-like thing, inspects it, then picks up the rake-like thing next to it. The doctor spins around as a door clicks shut. One of the commandos aims his g*n at Holtz as he walks in. Doctor to Commando: "Is this man with you?" Holtz: "Where is Angelus?" Linwood is watching Holtz walk up to the doctor and the commandos closing in on both of them on a little monitor back in the basement at W&H. Linwood: "Who is this pirate with a sword, and what is he doing in the middle of my operation?" Lilah: "I don't know, sir. But he called Angel by his old name, Angelus." Linwood as the monitor begins to crackle: "I need better audio." Transcriber is fiddling with some wires: "Any second." Holtz: "Hand over the vampires." Linwood: "This has gone on long enough. (To radio) I don't care who that man is. Take him out. Take him out now. (Puts down the radio then picks it back up) Over." Commando on screen: "Take him out!" The screen fusses out at the commandos close in and the screaming begins. Gavin: "This should be sweet." Linwood: "Picture?" Transcriber: "I'm working on it, sir." Gavin: "Burke's never lost." Lilah: "I'm sure it'll be over in just a second." A prolonged and heartfelt scream resounds from the speakers. Gavin: "That should do it." Linwood to radio: "Anybody there? - Over?" Angel turns the convertible into a dark alley and brings it to a stop. Cordy: "Why 're we stopping here?" Angel: "It's only a couple of blocks from the hotel. I'll go the rest of the way on foot." Cordy slides into the driver seat as Angel gets out and looks up at the surrounding buildings. g*n: "Hey, who said you get to be wheel man?" Cordy: "Who said it had to be a man?" Angel: "The scrolls?" Wes: "In the cabinet back in the office." Angel: "If I'm not back in five minutes, leave without me." Cordy: "Leave to where?" Angel: "Anywhere. Somewhere safe." Darla: "Angel?" Angel: "Yeah." Darla after a b*at: "Just get out of here." Angel jumps onto the hood of the car and from there to the bottom rung of a f*re-escape ladder and makes his way up the side of the building. Angel runs along the corridor in the Hyperion, drops down into the lobby and looks around at the destruction of Doctor Fetvanovich's equipment and the bodies of the W&H team. He sees the doctor's body, and chicken feet sticking out of his pants. Holtz: "Angelus." Angel turns around and sees Holtz. Holtz: "I've been looking for you." Darla is still in the back of the car. Wes is sitting on the trunk facing Fred, standing behind the car. g*n is sitting on the side of the passenger door. Cordy starts the car. g*n: "He said five minutes!" Cordy: "It's been six and a half." Darla: "It's so typical of him." Fred: "It probably wouldn't hurt to wait another minute, right? I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen in another minute?" Darla lets out a blood-curdling scream. Fred: "Ask a stupid question..." Wes: "Her water's broken. This is for real. There should be a blanket in the trunk." Cordy: "What are we gonna do? Deliver the kid right here? Shouldn't we go somewhere?" Fred: "What's keeping Angel?" g*n gets the blanket out of the trunk and he and Wes help a screaming Darla to lie down in the back seat while the camera pulls up to give us an overhead view of them.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x08 - Quickening"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Darla sees Liam for the first time - brawling at the pub. Darla: "Who is he? - He's magnificent." Darla turns Liam in the alley. Darla: "I could show you, things you've never seen." sh*ts the China flashback. Darla: "We were together for a hundred and fifty years. - We shared everything." Angelus and Darla trapped in the barn in France. Angelus: "Who's this man Holtz?" Darla: "A vampire hunter." Angelus: "How does he keep finding us?" Angelus bites Holtz wife. Angelus: "We have message for your husband." Angelus at Holtz mercy in Rome. Holtz: "You remember Caroline?" Angelus: "Pretty lass, hearty screamer?" Sahjhan visits Holtz in England. Sahjhan: "It'll be over two hundred years before you can find either Angelus or Darla. I want your word you will show them no mercy." Angel sees human Darla in a crowed LA park for the first time. Angel: "That's her. Darla. She's back." Angel and Darla making out. Darla: "God doesn't want you! But I still do." Angel waking up after. Darla: "You still have a soul!" Angel stops Darla from staking him. Angel: "Get dressed and get out." Darla stand up from the barstool, hugely pregnant. Angel: "This is impossible." Darla: "Tell me about it - Daddy!" Wes: "You're carrying a boy." Darla: "Great." Lilah to Linwood: "No one seems to know *how* Darla could be pregnant." Wes: "The Nyazian Prophecies speak of a Tro-clon, that brings about the ruination of mankind." Lilah: "The scroll it's recorded on, seems to be missing." Darla having contractions in the backseat of the car. Wes: "Her water's broken. This is for real." W&H's commando enter the Hyperion. Linwood: "We got to get this baby before anybody finds out." Holtz walk into the Hyperion. Linwood sees him on the monitor. Linwood: "I don't care who that man is. Take him out. Take him out now." Angel walks into the carnage left in the lobby after the fight. Holtz: "Angelus? - I've been looking for you." Angel: "Holtz. - My god." Holtz: "You have no god, demon." Angel: "The Tro-clon - the prophecy - raised up from darkness to bring darkness. That's you. Holtz, whatever brought you here..." Some of Holtz' gGapplar demons stand up and catch Angel's wrists and neck in some metal clamps on the ends of long sticks, holding him fast. Holtz: "You did. - You and your demon bitch. - For two hundred years I slept. For two hundred years - I dreamt of nothing - (Lays a sword against Angel's throat) but this moment." Angel: "Which would explain why you look so well rested." Holtz pulls the sword back: "You haven't changed." Angel: "Actually, I have. While you were sleeping, a lot changed." Holtz: "Really?" Holtz throws something at Angel's face (Holy water?), and his face morphs into vampface for a split second, then back to human. Holtz: "Somehow things seem the same to me." Angel: "You're wrong." Holtz puts the sword tip against Angel's throat again: "I *will* have justice." Angel: "No. - I don't think you will. - There is no justice for the things I did to you." Holtz: "You didn't do them to me. And you didn't do them alone." Holtz turns away and addresses the other Grapplar demons. Holtz: "Find the female. If he's here, Darla can't be far. (Turns to look at Angel) Or are you going to tell me *that's* changed, too?" Darla is screaming with pain in the backseat of Angel's convertible. g*n: "She's gonna pop right here." Wes: "The contractions, they're coming more frequently now." Cordy holding a stake: "You think?" Wes: "Angel's not back with the scrolls yet. I'd feel a lot better if we had the ancient prophecies to guide ?us." Cordy: "Please! Women have been giving birth without ancient prophecies for years!" g*n: "What we could really use right about now is some Vaseline and a catcher's mitt." Darla lets out another scream. Fred: "I don't think she's ready to deliver yet, but she's moved into the active stage of her labor." Wes looks around: "We have to go. We can't stay here. It's too exposed. Angel should have been back by now." g*n: "Something must have happened." Wes: "Now it's up to us to protect Angel's unborn child. - Darla, we're trying to take you out of here. Relax. The trick is to breathe. Something like this: (Wes demonstrated short panting breaths) Heh, heh, heh, hoh, hoh, hoh, heh, heh, heh..." Darla: "I! Don't! (Sits up and sends all four of them flying backwards, away from the car, morphing into her vampface) Breathe!" Darla breaks down in a fit of crying. Intro Holtz is riding hell for leather through the night, intercut with flashes of his wife and daughter. He bursts into his house, kneels down beside the body of his wife and sees the two puncture wounds in her neck. Holtz is sitting, crying into his hands. Sarah: "Papa? - Papa." Holtz slowly lowers his hands: "Sarah?" He turns and sees his daughter in the doorway, clutching her doll. Holtz: "Oh, Sarah!" Hurries over to hold her. Holtz: "Sarah." Sarah: "Mommy won't wake up." Holtz: "Shh... Quiet now." He sits down, pulls her against him and begins to sing a lullaby. Holtz: "Sleep, my love, and peace attend thee, all through the night. Guardian angels god will lend thee, all through the night. Slow the drowsy..." He pushes the hair back from her face and sees two puncture wounds in the side of her neck. Two of Holtz' men appear in the open door. Man: "Captain." Holtz never taking his eyes off Sarah: "Don't come in here." Man makes a cross: "Sweet Jesus." Holtz: "Get out!" The men back away and Holtz resumes singing. Holtz: "No forebodings (slowly backs away from his daughter) will alarm thee, all through the night." Holtz sits down on a bench against the wall and watches as his daughter sit in the middle of the room, playing with her doll. Holtz singing: "They will keep all peril from you, all through the night..." Wolfram and Hart, night, Lilah, Linwood and Gavin are walking down a corridor. Linwood is holding a picture of Holtz. Lilah: "We've no idea who he is. We ran everything from the surveillance tapes through face and voice recognition and came up with nada. Whoever he is, he's not in the system." Linwood: "A new player." Gavin: "Or an old one." Linwood: "Go." Gavin: "Well, sir, he did address Angel as Angelus. That might suggest some sort of personal history." Linwood: "An old friend." Lilah: "Not likely. Angelus didn't have friends." Linwood: "What's the status of our surveillance?" Gavin: "Still down, but we're working on it." Linwood: "And we've heard nothing yet from Commander Burke's team or from Dr. Fetvanovich?" Gavin: "All units were successfully deployed at Angel's hotel. But that's all we know." Linwood: "Actually that's all *you* know. - I, on the other hand, know nothing." Gavin: "Sir?" Linwood: "It's clear that *I* could *never* have been involved in such an ill-conceived and in the end botched operation." Gavin: "Because you were never here." Linwood: "That is correct." Gavin: "But *we* were." Linwood: "You were. - I'll expect a full report at Thursday's staff meeting, and be advised, when I hear about all this for the very first time I will be both shocked and appalled. (Gives the a smile) Good night." Gavin: "He's gonna crucify us." Lilah: "They don't crucify here. It's too Christian." Angel is still held motionless by the metal grips while Holts admires one of Angel's swords. Angel: "You're still human. How'd you manage this?" Holtz puts the sword back into the w*apon cabinet. Holtz: "So, the question becomes - now that I have you - what's the best way to get her?" Angel: "Only dark magics could have brought you this far." Holtz: "She was always the trick, you know, not you. Darla was the unpredictable one." Angel: "Was it a demon - or something else?" Holtz points a stake at Angel's chest: "What if I just - k*ll you now? Would she somehow sense it? Would she then come running? (Walks away from Angel) Would that bring her bursting through those doors, I wonder?" Angel: "Did something come to you, or did you seek it out?" Holtz: "She might show herself in the service of revenge. - It can be a powerful motivator." Angel: "Yes, it can. What did you have to give up for this second chance?" Holtz: "Give up? (Turns to face Angel) I had nothing *to* give up. *You* saw to that." Angel: "We took a lot from you, that's true. But we didn't get everything. We couldn't take your soul." Holtz: "What do you know of a soul." Angel: "I know yours will be destroyed if you allow yourself to be used in the service of evil. - You're a good man, Holtz. A righteous man - and you're being used - for some purpose - other than justice." Holtz: "Could it be you really have changed? - I don't remember you ever pleading so cravenly before." Angel: "And I remember *you* used to work with men." Holtz hits Angel hard across the face. g*n crouches down between Cordy and Fred. g*n: "Smack him again." Cordy gives the side of Wes' face a slight smack. Wes: "Ow." Wes opens his eyes and slowly sits up, reaching one hand towards the back of his head. Wes: "That hurts." Cordy: "Well, you know what they say: birth -painful." Wes: "Yes, but generally for the mother, not the bystanders. How long have I been out?" Wes accepts a hand from g*n to help him to his feet. Fred: "Not long, but we seem to be between contractions now." They turn to look at Darla, how is sitting in the backseat of the car, gesturing while talking to herself and crying. Cordy: "Yep. She's been doing that." g*n: "Hormones." Looks in Cordy's direction as he takes a step back. Wes: "Come on then. (Walks towards the car) Darla? Darla, do you feel well enough to travel?" Darla nods. Wes: "Good." Wes gets into the driver's seat. Everyone else piles into the front seat as well. Fred, the last to get in, ends up sitting half on Cordy and g*n's lap. Darla: "Doesn't anyone wanna sit back here with me?" Cordy: "We're good." g*n: "Yeah, it's - comfy." Darla: "I promise I won't throw anyone out of the car. - Not while it's moving." Fred: "It's not that we don't trust you. I mean, we *don't* trust you. But the fact is, your water broke all over the back seat." Darla: "Oh." Cordy looks at Wes: "What? What are you waiting for?" Wes: "I presume we have a tire iron in the trunk?" g*n: "Yeah, why? We got a flat?" Wes: "And how about a hurling ax, or some sort of heavy mallet?" The turn to see what Wes is looking at: Grapplar demons stepping out of the shadows in front of the car. Wes: "Also a g*n wouldn't be a terrible thing at this juncture." They all turn to look behind the car. More Grapplar demons. Holtz: "Are you still concerned about my soul, Angelus? My vampire priest?" The door opens and a Grapplar comes in. Holtz: "Excuse me." He walks over to receive the demon's report. Turns back to look at Angelus. Holtz: "You've got her. Good. Bring her in." Angel watches the door as the Grapplar pulls in his c*ptive. Angel: "Lilah." Holtz: "This isn't her." Holtz walks over and throws some water in Lilah's face. Holtz: "She's not even a vampire." Lilah wiping her face dry: "No, I'm an attorney." Angel: "Let me guess: d*ad guys all over my floor - friends of yours?" Lilah: "Look, if I'd known you were torturing him, I wouldn't have interrupted. Please, continue. I'll wait until your finished." Holtz: "When I'm finished, he'll be d*ad." Lilah: "Really?" Holtz: "You say you're an attorney. You deal in man's laws, I deal in god's." Lilah: "Ah, right. A good guy." Holtz: "Do you know what he is?" Lilah: "Yeah, I know. (Reciting) Vampire, cursed by gypsies who restored his soul. Destined to atone for centuries of evil, wacky sidekicks, yada, yada. I'd have him k*lled myself, except the people I work for have this (makes air quotes) 'policy.'" Holtz: "Hm." Lilah: "Hmm." Holtz turns to look at Angel: "What does she mean 'cursed by gypsies?'" Angel: "Long story, Holtz. I doubt it would interest you much." Lilah: "How about I go to my car for about twenty seconds? That should give you enough time in here. Then I gotta call some people to clean this mess up. I've got an early staff meeting in the morning." Angel glances down and spots a grenade in the hand of one of the d*ad commandos at his feet. Holtz: "I can't allow you to leave." Angel cranes his neck to glance at the elevator behind him while Holtz' attention is on Lilah. Lilah: "What do you mean? Of course you can." Holtz: "No. You said you work for the law." Angel puts the tip of his shoe under the d*ad man's open hand. Lilah: "No, I didn't. I said I'm a lawyer. I don't care about the law." Angel: "Lilah?" Lilah: "What?" Angel: "Duck." Angel flips the grenade up and catches the pin in his mouth. He shakes his head and the grenade flies free from the pin. The top comes off the grenade as it lands on the floor and it explodes a moment later, blasting Angel back and throwing Holtz to the floor. Holtz picks himself up and looks at the man-shaped hole in the elevator doors. He picks himself up, runs over to them and looks down the empty elevator shaft. Holtz to his minions: "Search the grounds! (To Lilah) Those men you sent to k*ll Angelus, they were each of them brave." Lilah: "Oh, good." Holtz: "They fought to the last." Lilah looks at the bodies on the floor: "Yeah, I get *that*." Holtz: "But send more, and I'll do the same. No one will have him but me." Lilah: "There weren't sent for Angel. This was meant to be a party for his girlfriend." Holtz: "You know of Darla?" Lilah: "Sure." Holtz: "Tell me, these gypsies, did they curse her as well? Has she, too, been re-ensouled?" Lilah: "Darla? No. She's free-range evil." Holtz turns away with a nod: "Hmm." Lilah: "Hey, if you do manage to catch up with her, I think maybe we can do some business." Holtz looks back at her: "The only business that I have with Darla is to send her back to the hell that made her." Lilah opens her mouth to say more, but Holtz is already walking away. Lilah: "Yeah, okay. Whatever. (Pulls out her phone) Harvey? It's Lilah. I've got a job for you. Angel Investigations." She leans on the reception desk and sees the remnant of the Nyazian scroll, picks it up and plays with it while continuing to talk. Lilah: "Yeah. Full cleaner service. (Stops to twist the piece of dark gray material and stares at it) Thanks." Lilah puts her phone away, glances around and quickly picks up a picture frame lying on the counter and put it over the piece of the scroll and some memo pads. Glancing around the picks the whole stack up and turns to the doors. Wes, g*n and the girls a fighting the Grapplars while Darla just sits in the back of the car arguing with herself. Wes: "Keep the moving." g*n: "Don't let them get behind you!" Darla shakes her head, gets up out of the back seat and slides behind the wheel. Fred: "Charles! (g*n clobbers the Grapplar about to get Fred) Thanks." Fred swings her bat at g*n. He ducks and Fred's swing hits the demon behind him full across the face. As the g*ng continues to fight, Darla starts the car. She puts it into gear and mows down the two demons standing in front of it. Slams on the breaks, backs over one of the Grapplars behind the car, then squeals out of there leaving the her defenders to stare after the disappearing car. A slightly singed looking Angel comes up behind them and cranes his head to look over their shoulders. Angel: "What are we looking at?" Everyone turns to stare at him. Break Wes: 'Holtz?" Angel: "Yeah." Wes: "The vampire hunter that tracked you and Darla..." Angel: "Through the late seventeen hundreds, yeah." g*n: "Sure it wasn't his great, great, great-grandson?" Angel: "No it was him." Fred: "Maybe he's part of what's supposed to rain down ruination upon mankind. The Nyazian Prophecies did say that the Tro-clan was going to be a confluence of events." Cordy: "And the sudden appearance of an eighteenth century vampire hunter in the twenty first century does seem pretty confluey." g*n: "You think he's here for the baby?" Angel: "I don't think he even knows about it." Fred: "He wouldn't have to. That's the tragic beauty of a cosmic convergence. I-I mean, he just plays his own small part. He-he comes here looking for Angel and Darla, and in the process ends up finding Angel's unborn child, who, as it turns out, wasn't evil at all as we feared, but was actually meant to be some sort of Messianic figure. But Holtz kills it before it's even born and his vengeance somehow triggers the end of the world! (She smiles at the others, who just look at her) Or not! It could go either way. - Have you thought of a name yet?" Wes: "We need to find Darla before Holtz does." Angel: "I can find her a lot faster on my own." Wes: "Of course." Angel: "If you guys could just find some place safe for her to have this baby, we'll come to you." g*n: "We can do that." Angel turns to go. Cordy: "Hey! (Angel turns back) Be careful." Angel turns to go. Wes: "Angel. (Angel turns back) The scrolls, you didn't manage to..." Angel: "No." Angel leaves. Wes: "I'm sure we'll be fine without them." A guy wearing white gloves is examining the remnant of the scroll in Lilah's office. Man: "Nyazian. Exquisite! I recognize the Ga-shundi cross-text. Quite a find! Have you any idea what this is worth?" Lilah: "Hopefully enough to cover my ass. (Hands him the memo pad) Here, these notes should help speed things up a little." Man: "Ah! You had another translator work on this I see. - I don't recognize the handwriting but the idiom would indicate an Englishman." Lilah: "I don't know. I don't remember." Man: "It wasn't Worm Forsch in Ancient Symbols and Icons, was it? He's had his eye on my cubicle." Lilah: "No, it was somebody else. You don't know them." Man: "He's only got that one eye..." Lilah: "Don't worry about it. Outside contractors. Now, I've highlighted the sections they seemed to be concentrating on." Man: "You *highlighted* an ancient Nyazian Scroll?" Lilah: "In yellow." Man: "Hmm." Lilah: "So, can you translate it?" Man: "When it comes to sacred prophecies it's always going to be more of an interpretation than a strict translation." Lilah: "I'm just looking for the gist here. What does it say?" Man: "Let's see. (Looks through his magnifying glass at the symbols on the scroll) Bring... forth... appear... born... Uh! Something about a birth!" Lilah: "What? What about the birth?" Man: "It's unclear." Lilah: "Make it clear." Man: "Well, this should be fun!" Lilah: "No. This shouldn't be fun, what it should be is done by morning - or I'll have your family k*lled." Lilah leaves. Holtz is back in the chamber he woke up in talking to Sahjhan. Holtz: "You knew. You knew and you didn't tell me." Sahjhan: "Okay! So I left out one teeny weeny little detail. It didn't seem all that important." Holtz: "Not important? Angelus with a soul?" Sahjhan: "It doesn't mean anything!" Holtz: "It means everything." Sahjhan: "See? This is *why* I didn't mention it. So Angel has a soul. Big whoop! So did Attila the Hun! Not to mention a heart as big as all outdoors when it came to gift giving. He is *still* a vampire! Angel, not Attila." Holtz: "He's not the same vampire." Sahjhan: "Of course he is! His hair is a little shorter, a little spikier. He's using product. But it's the same guy." Holtz: "No. He's changed. He's - different." Sahjhan: "Look. I don't know what kind of moral mind games you've been torturing yourself with, but can't let this soul thing get in the way of what you swore to do." Holtz: "Get in the way?" Sahjhan: "That's what this is about, right? You find out Angel has a soul, now you're wondering if things are a little murkier - ethically speaking." Holtz: "Things - have never been clearer. Releasing his soul to suffer for all eternity only makes his destruction more just, more fitting." Sahjhan: "Oh. Well, then what's the problem?" Holtz: "You've had me hunting the wrong prey." Sahjhan: "Ah! Right. Because an Angel with a soul is going to be a slightly different challenge from an Angel without a soul." Holtz: "I must know everything." Sahjhan: "Right. No, gotcha. My mistake." Holtz: "You've kept nothing else from me then?" Sahjhan: "Ah. - No. - Nothing I can think of." Darla is standing on top of a building looking over the city below, her hands cradling her pregnant belly. Angel: "You always did love a view." Darla: "Look at it. Listen to it. Can you smell it? This world. This horrible world. Why would anyone want to bring a baby into it?" Angel: "To make it better, maybe?" Darla: "Or to destroy it finally." Angel: "Why is it everyone insists on planning my son's future before he's even born?" Darla turns and walks past where Angel is standing. Darla: "Alright then, how's this? It doesn't have a future. Not with me." Angel follows her: "Darla..." Darla: "Angel, I can't have this baby." Angel: "What?" Darla: "I can't let it out. I-I can't." Angel: "Okay, not sure you have a lot of choice in the matter..." Darla: "Look, I know. It wants to come out. I can feel it. It's ready. It's just - I can't let it. I can't let because... because..." Angel: "You love it." Darla: "Completely. I love it completely. I-I-I don't think I've ever loved anything as much as this life that's inside of me." Angel: "Well - you've never *loved* anything, Darla." Darla: "That's true. Four hundred years and I never did - till now. - I don't know what to do." Angel: "Well, you-you'll do the only thing that you can do. - You'll have it. You'll have it and then..." Darla: "What? We'll raise it?" Angel: "Why not?" Darla: "It's impossible." Angel: "This whole thing is impossible, Darla, but it's happening." Darla: "What do I have to offer a child, a *human* child, besides ugly death?" Angel: "Darla." Darla: "You know it's true." Angel: "No. What I do know is that you love this baby, our baby. You've bonded with it. You've spent nine months carrying it, nourishing it..." Darla: "No. No, I haven't been nourishing it. I haven't given this baby a thing. I'm d*ad. It's been nourishing me. These feelings that I'm having, they're not mine. They're coming from it." Angel: "You don't know that." Darla: "Of course I do! We both do. Angel, I don't have a soul. It does. And right now that soul is inside of me, but soon, it won't be and then..." Angel: "Darla..." Darla: "I won't be able to love it. I won't even be able to remember that I loved it. (Starts to cry) I want to remember." Angel pulls her against him. Angel: "Shh..." Angel closes his eyes as he holds a crying Darla. Lorne: "Here?! She wants to have it here? Well, that's just a terrible idea. Can't you see I'm working my tush off trying to get ready for a grand re-opening? (To a girl carrying a big jar) Uh, ah, Gorsh entrails behind the bar next to the Maraschinos. I can't have *baby* here! I just had the booth simonized." Cordy: "Lorne, what do you want us to do? Tell Angel and Darla that they're not welcome here?" Lorne: "No. No, of course not. Caritas is and will always be a Sanctuary. That is if *some* people ever finish the work they promised to have done three days ago. How's the job coming, Arnie?" Arnie: "I think we'll have up on her feet by the time you open tomorrow night." g*n: "New security system?" Lorne: "Yeah, routes the new sanctuary spells together to prevent both human and demon v*olence, Creating a totally carnage free Caritas." Arnie: "But, ah, balancing that interspecies flux, a little trickier than I expected." Lorne takes the leaflet Arnie is working from away from him. Lorne: "Uh-huh. That's not the only thing that's tricky around here. You hum while you work." Arnie: "Yeah, so?" Lorne: "So? I just read you, buster! Which connection are you leaving unconnected to milk this job?" Arnie: "You're questioning my work ethic?" Lorne: "No, I'm f*ring you! Get out. Out. Git. Go on." Lorne pushes Arnie towards the door. Arnie: "Hey, I'm union. You got to pay me for the full day." Lorne: "Out. I'll finish this myself. How hard could this be?" Lorne opens the leaflet. Angel and Darla are standing beside each other on the rooftop, each facing a different way. Darla: "You won't let me hurt it, will you? You'll protect it, right? From me, I mean." Angel's cell phone rings and he answers it. Angel: "Yeah." Wes: "We found a place." Angel: "Is it safe?" Wes looks over at the host working on the equipment. Wes: "I'm sure by the time you get here it'll be safe as houses." Lorne: "Okay. Try that." Fred sighs and give g*n a slight slap across the face. Fred: "Nope, still not working." Lorne: "Okay. Ah. - Try it now." Fred slaps g*n again. g*n and Fred: "No!" Darla hunches over and leans against a post. Angel: "Hey - Darla? We should - get going. I feel a storm coming. You okay? Another contraction?" Darla: "No. It's something else." Lilah walks into her office. Lilah: "You got something?" Man: "Yes. I believe I do. I have to say, whoever you had working on this before was very close. These notes were enormously helpful." Lilah: "That's great. What does it say?" Man: "I can see he ran into trouble right here with the tense. Ga-shundi tenses are tricky little buggers! (Laughs)" Lilah: "I'm riveted. The birth! What does it say about the birth?" Man: "Well, actually, it's funny... it doesn't." Lilah: "What do you mean, it doesn't. But you said it did." Man: "Yes, I did say it did." Lilah: "But it doesn't." Man smiling: "In a way." Lilah: "I have a g*n." Man: "The prophecy, it's not so much a birth announcement as it is an obituary." Lilah: "Obituary?" Man: "Yes. The prophet is telling us there will be no birth." Lilah: "But are you sure?" Man: "Oh, quite sure! 'For surely in that time, when the sky opens and the heavens weep, there will be no birth, only death.'" Lilah: "Only death?" Man: "Just death." Lilah considering: "Just death." A slight smile plays across her face. Break Holtz is sitting in his house staring straight ahead. The two men form the night before have come back. It is now day outside. Man: "Captain. (Holtz doesn't move) Captain, we beg you. Let us take you out of this place. (Looks at Caroline's body) It's the devil's work." Holtz: "Not the devil. Just a demon." The man looks over at Sarah cowering in a dark corner, clutching her doll. Man: "What are we going to do?" Holtz slowly gets up: "Whatever we have to." Holtz walks over to Sarah and picks her up. Sarah: "Papa, no! Please, no, papa! Papa, don't. Let me go!" Holtz caries her over to the door and out onto the roofed porch. Sarah: "No, papa. Papa, don't!" Sarah tries to cling to one of the porch's pillars, but Holtz pulls her away and pushes her out into the bright sunlight of the front yard. She turns back to look up at him, morphing into vamp face as she burns up in the direct sunlight. Holtz stays and watches until she's gone then walks back into the house. Wes is pacing. g*n is sitting in front of the bar, playing his gameboy. Cordy is sitting on a stool behind him, reading a magazine. Fred is sitting beside Lorne reading the leaflet, while Lorne is still messing with whatever magic-machine Arnie was installing. Lorne: "Okay. Okay. I'm *convinced* I got it this time!" Cordy smacks the back of g*n's head. g*n: "Ow." Lorne takes the leaflet away from Fred: "Let me see that." Angel supports Darla as he's leading her down the stairs. Angel: "Just a few more steps. That's it. Okay. All right." Wes walks over to them. Angel: "Guys. A chair. Chair." Wes pulls a chair out for Darla. g*n: "Jeez, what happened?" Angel helps Darla into the chair: "Easy." Darla: "Thanks." g*n looks from Angel to Wes. Angel motions with his head to the corner of the room and he and Wes walk away. Cordy to Darla: "You're welcome." Fred: "You gave us quite a scare. - But - I guess you're used to that, what with being a scary thing and all." We hear thunder rumbling outside. Darla: "Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I don't know what got into me." Darla starts to laugh quietly to herself as she looks down at her belly. Angel: "She's in a lot of pain." Wes: "How frequent are the contractions?" Angel: "It's been... I don't know, maybe an hour?" Wes: "An hour? She was well into the active stage of labor. I don't understand." Angel: "I don't either. She just - stopped having them." Wes: "But the pain she's experiencing?" Angel: "She says she's experiencing something else." Wes whispering: "That's worrying." Darla suddenly hunches over with a moan of pain. Cordy: "Angel!" Angel hurries to her side. Angel: "Darla?" Darla: "Angel!" Lorne: "Let's get her into my bedroom. Come on." He and Angel help her up and lead her away. Lorne: "Easy. Easy now. Come on, sweetheart. We'll get you right in there." Fred looks down at the chair Darla was sitting on as notices a little puddle of dark blood on the seat. Sahjhan: "It's time to get to work." Holtz: "You found him then?" Sahjahn: "Tell him." Arnie: "Don't forget what we discussed." Sahjhan: "You'll get your money." Arnie: "I've heard that one before. You know, I've got mouths to feed. Plus a family. Some of them have mouths, too." Sahjhan: "Just tell him what you heard!" Arnie's eyes light up and he mimics Cordy: "Lorne, what do you want us to do? Tell Angel and Darla they're not welcome here? (Mimics Lorne) No, of course not. Caritas is and always will be a sanctuary." Angel waits at the door as Wes and Fred check on Darla lying on Lorne's bed, then walk over to him. Angel: "Is she gonna be okay?" Wes: "She's tough as nails." Fred: "And immortal, so that's, you know, in her favor - health wise." Angel: "What about the baby?" Wes glances back at Darla, then walks out of the room. Angel follows him. Darla lifts her head and watches the leave. Angel: "What? What is it?" Wes: "Angel, I think you need to prepare yourself for the worst." Angel: "No." Wes: "The babies heartbeat is faint. Very faint." Angel: "What do we do?" Wes: "I'm not sure there is anything we can do. Darla's body - it's not a life-giving vessel. I don't know that it's equipped to do what it needs to do in order to bring a baby to term." Angel: "So-so, what-what are you saying? We just let it die?" Cordy: "Ah, what about a c-section?" Fred: "Normally that's exactly what we'd do in this instance, but... the mystical forces that's been protecting the pregnancy..." Thunder rumbles outside. Angel: "...is gonna end up k*lling it." Wes: "That's my fear." Angel sighs, and rubs his eyes: "This doesn't make any sense. I mean, this whole thing has been a miracle, right? You don't just get half a miracle, do you? - I mean, the powers - they brought her this far, they protected the baby all this time..." g*n: "We don't know that. We don't know that it's the powers that's been protecting it. Angel, I'm sorry, but what if what Darla's carrying *is* the thing in the prophecies? That scourge of mankind that's supposed to plunge the world into ultimate darkness? - What if - what if what's happening to Darla *now*, what if that's the powers? Finally stepping up to the plate and doing something for once!" Angel staring straight ahead: "How? By k*lling my kid?" Angel walks towards Lorne's bedroom. Cordy to g*n: "Do you always have to be so damned honest?" Cordy reaches out to slap g*n on the arm, but her hand is repelled by a by blue force field. Lorne: "What? Hey! Hey, it-it worked! I fixed it!" The others continue to look glum. Lorne: "Ah, yay, me?" Angel stands in the doorway of Lorne's bedroom and looks at Darla for a moment before walking over and sitting down on a chair beside the bed. Darla stirs, opens her eyes and looks at him. Angel: "Hi. How 're you doing?" Darla: "He finally stopped kicking." Angel: "Did he." He leans forward and lays one hand on Darla's belly. Angel: "I guess he figured he finally got your attention. - You called him a 'he.' (With a slight smile at Darla) I think that's the first time you've ever done that." Darla: "He's dying. (Angel's smile melts away, but he refuses to look away from her) Isn't he?" Angel after a b*at: "No." Darla: "You lied much better when you didn't have a soul. - I can feel the life slipping away from me." Angel: "Then don't let it. You have to fight for this. - Please." Darla: "I don't know how. My boy. (Strokes her belly) My darling boy. - I told you I had nothing to offer this kid. Some mother (there are tears in Darla's eyes) can't even offer it life." g*n gets up off his stool: "Maybe I should go in there, apologize." Wes takes hold of his arm: "Best to just stay here, wait this out." Cordy: "I think both Angel and Darla just need a little time alone." Fred: "This isn't gonna end well, is it?" Lorne: "Okay. Everybody's drinking. I'm buying." He gets up from his chair and sees Holtz walk into the bar. Lorne: "Oh, hello." Holtz looks Lorne up and down: "Hello." Lorne: "We're not open at the moment. Why don't you come back tomorrow night? (Hands him a flyer) It's the grand re-opening. Here. Here's a flyer." Holtz takes it: "Thanks." Lorne walks around the bar to pour some drinks. Holtz takes a slow look around, the turns and walks out, singing quietly: "Sleep, my love and peace attend thee, (Lorne starts to hum along) all through the night, guardian angels god will send you, all through the night..." Lorne's eyes suddenly widen and he drops the bottle and glass back onto the counter. Lorne: "Run!" Cordy: "What's going on?" Lorne heading for the back of the club: "Just run! Run." The others get up and follow him. A red metal barrel tumbles down the stairs and comes to rest just on the other side of the metal security doorway. A grenade bounces down the steps and comes to rest beside it. A b*at later the grenade explodes and big fireball sweeps through the club, destroying everything in its wake. Break Angel is supporting Darla beside the bed as the others run in. Angel: "What's going on?" Wes: "We're being att*cked." Angel: "att*cked? I thought you had double protection sanctorium spells?" Lorne: "I do. It's a thing with the door and the stairs and the world and the thing. Never mind!" g*n: "Apparently you can be outside and shove stuff in." Lorne: "I just said that." A burning beam crashes through the ceiling beside Angel and Darla. Darla lets out a little scream. Angel: "It's Holtz." Darla: "What?" Lorne: "Come on. We've got to move the bed." The others go and help Lorne. Darla: "How's it possible?" Angel: "He's here. I would have mentioned it before, but I didn't think it was the right time." Darla sinks down onto a chair. Darla: "No. No, it's the perfect time." g*n as they pull out the bed: "What's behind the bed?" Lorne: "An old loading dock door. I had the whole place converted." Wes: "What's on the other side?" Lorne: "An alley." Darla: "What we did to him." Angel: "I know." g*n: "You got an ax, a hammer or anything?" Wes: "Buddha head." Hands it to g*n. Cordy: "A rhino." Hands it to Wes. He and g*n haul back with the statues and att*ck the wall. Darla: "That's why this is happening. His family, his children... - what that must have been like for him. Doesn't seem so funny now, does it?" Angel: "Darla?" Wes: "Angel, we could use some vampire strength here." Angel: "Cordy, Fred!" Cordy and Fred take his place with Darla. Angel steps between Wes and g*n who step aside and watch him batter down the wall with his fists and feet. Holtz walks into the burning remains of the club. A back alley lit by Chinese lanterns. Angel breaks through into it from Lorne's bedroom. Wooden shards fly as he enlarges the opening. Cordy steps through it, followed by Wes, Fred, g*n and Lorne. Then Angel half carries Darla through it. Darla: "No. No. Go on. I can't. It doesn't matter anyway." Angel: "I'm not leaving you, alright? Easy. Alright. (Pulls out his keys and tosses them towards the others.) Go get my car. It's out front." He lowers Darla to the ground and crouches down beside her. Angel: "I got you." Cordy makes move to join him. Angel: "Go!" All of them turn and hurry off (Lorne is holding to pieces of cardboard over his head to keep some of the rain off himself), but after a few steps Fred stops and runs back to crouch beside Angel and Darla. Angel: "Fred, go with them." Fred: "It's okay. They'll come back for us." Angel takes off his jacket and slings it around Fred's shoulders. Angel to Darla: "You're gonna be okay." Darla: "No. No, I don't think so. Once he's gone, I won't be okay. I won't be okay at all. - I don't know what I'll be. - Angel... Our baby is gonna die right here in this alley. - You died in an alley, remember?" Angel: "I remember." Darla: "I wanna say I'm sorry. I wanna say it and mean it, but - I can't. - Aren't you gonna tell me it's okay?" Angel: "No." Darla: "No? It's really not, is it? We did so many terrible things together. So much destruction, so much - pain. - We can't make up for any of it. You know that, don't you." Angel after a b*at: "Yeah." Darla: "This child - Angel, it's the one good thing we ever did together." Angel lifts Darla's hand between both of his and pressed it against his lips. Darla: "The only good thing." Angel buries his face in his hands, still holding onto Darla's, takes a sobbing breath. Darla: "You make sure to tell him that." Darla is holding one of the splinters of wood and buries it in her chest, gasping. Angel lifts his head and stares as Darla turns to dust. Where Darla was there is now a naked human infant lying in the rain, crying. Holtz steps into Lorne's bedroom with flames flickering all around him. Lifts his crossbow and looks around. Angel carefully gathers up the baby. Holtz steps through the hole in Lorne's wall into the alley. Lifts the crossbow and aims it at Angel as Angel slowly stands up, cradling the crying infant. Fred hands Angel's jacket back to him and he wraps it around the infant. Holtz is watching them over his crossbow. Angel slowly turns his head and sees Holtz. For a moment they just look at each other. A Grapplar appears at the mouth of the alley behind. Angel looks from it to the baby (that has quieted down) to Holtz. Angel's car pulls up behind two Grapplars at the other end of the alley and Wes gets out. Holtz slowly lowers his crossbow, still looking at Angel cradling the infant against his chest. After a b*at Angel slowly walks past Holtz, Fred clinging to his right arm. Holtz watches as Angel and Fred pass between the two Grapplars. Sahjhan: "Do it! Now's your chance. Do it! Finish it while you still can! You can't just let him walk away! Not now! Not after what you swore to me!" Holtz watches as Fred and Angel get into the car. Holtz: "I swore that I would show no mercy. (Watches Angel's car drive away) And I won't."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x09 - Lullaby"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Darla and Angelus k*ll Holtz family. Darla: "His family, his children..." Sahjhan: "It will be over two hundred years before you get another chance to confront either Angelus or Darla." Holtz: "I'm *tired* of waiting!" He tries to choke Sahjhan, but his hands go right through the demon. Sahjhan: "And I want your word that you will show them no mercy." Linwood: "Who's this pirate with a sword?" Lilah: "Whoever he is he is not in the system." Angel: "This is impossible." Darla: "Tell me about it - Daddy!" The g*ng looks at the ultrasound of the baby. Fred: "Wonder if that might not be that bad thing we were expecting." Linwood: "We need to get it, dissect it and find out what it means." Wes: "It's human." Angel: "I'm gonna have a son." Translator: "The prophet is telling us: There will be *no* birth." Darla screams and throws g*n, Wes, Fred and Cordy away from the car. Lorne: "She wants to have it here?! Can't have a baby here!" The barrel rolls down the stairs and explodes in a ball of f*re. Angel helps Darla out the back of Lorne's bedroom, hunkers down beside her in the rain. Darla: "This Child, it's the one good thing we ever did together. You make sure to tell him that." Darla stakes herself and explodes into a cloud of dust, leaving a crying baby boy behind. Holtz steps through the hole in the wall and aims his crossbow at Angel, who is holding his son. Sahjhan: "Now is your chance. Do it! Finish it, while you still can. You can't just let him walk away!" Holtz: "I swore that I would show no mercy. - And I won't." The g*ng walks into the lobby of the Hyperion as a thunderstorm rages outside. Cordy: "We need to make some little changes for safety. Covers for the outlets, kidproof the locks on the w*apon cabinet. (Sees the blood spattered equipment that is all that remains of the fight between the Grapplar demons and Wolfram and Hart's swat team) Right after we gut and remodel the entire hotel." Fred: "We should be careful. Whatever was in those cages could still be loose." g*n and Angel exchange a look. Fred sees that the cages are labeled: Baby and Mother. Fred: "Oh." g*n: "There's blood over here." Wes: "Not to mention some bastard blown a gaping hole in the lift." Angel: "Sorry. My bastard." Wes: "Oh. Well - not like we ever use it." We hear someone walk up to the front door. Angel huddles protectively around the baby. g*n hefts his ax and Wes aims a crossbow at the person coming in through the doors, hidden by a big umbrella. Lorne lowers the umbrella and recoils at all seeing the grim expressions at the w*apon aimed at him. Lorne: "Now is that anyway to welcome a houseguest?" Everyone lowers their w*apon. g*n: "Houseguest?" Lorne: "Well, I figured since you all managed to destroy my club - twice - that I wouldn't be imposing if I h*t you up for a place to stay. (Sees the mess in the lobby) On second thought, maybe I should reconsider that standing offer I have from a marginally attractive Mulix demon." Wes: "Well, if he/she/it has more suitable accommodations..." Lorne walks towards Angel, holding out his hands. Lorne: "Ah, come on, hand over the little nipper. Let Uncle Lorne have a gander. (Angel curls tighter around the baby) Oh, come on, I'm sure everyone else's already had their turn!" g*n and Fred peel the stickers off the cages. Lorne puts a hand on Angel's arm, but Angel shakes it off. Lorne: "Wow. I'm sensing a serious 'mama bear' vibe." Cordy: "Yeah, we're all still waiting our turn." Lorne: "I get it. Lookee don't touchee? - I see he's got himself a little scratch..." Lorne reaches towards the baby's left cheek, but Angel pushes his hand away. Cordy: "Yeah, during the rush to get out of the alley. (Comes over) Here, let me put a little ointment on it." Angel takes the ointment from Cordy. Angel: "I-I I got it. I got it." Angel goes to lay the baby down on the counter top. Angel: "Easy. Right there. Alright. (Undoes the blanket a little) Let your arms out. - Okay. Shh." Angel carefully dabs some ointment on the cut and the baby begins to cry. Angel: "What? What did I do?" Cordy: "You don't have a woman's touch - whatever your taste in clothing may indicate." Cordy walks off to sit down on the steps leading into the lobby from the door to the garden court. Angel reads what's written on the tube of ointment. g*n picks up a cleaver-like instrument laying on top of one of the cage and looks at it. g*n: "I don't even wanna know." Fred: "You think you could throw it?" g*n: "I guess. Why?" Fred points past him: "There!" g*n turns and sees a demon leaping over the railing out side the glass garden court doors. Cordy jumps up with a scream as the demon comes charging in. g*n throwing the cleaver: "Bogie at the back door!" Angel, baby wrapped protectively in his arms, turns his back to the door, trying to shield the baby with his body. The demon, scimitar raised above it's head, falls backwards onto the steps, the cleaver buried in his chest and one of Wes crossbow bolts in its neck. Cordy: "This isn't over, is it?" Wes: "No. Angel's son is part of the prophecy. Everyone and everything will be coming for him." g*n: "Which means we need a plan." Angel: "Ah-ha! (Everyone turns to look at him) I think I figured it out. (Pulls a diaper out of his coat pocket) He wet himself." Intro Hyperion, night. Wes walks into his office. Wes: "Angel, we could use your help when you're finished - changing the baby - who is being changed on my desk." Angel: "Sorry. I needed the space." Wes: "Of course. And seeing as you once nearly had sex on my desk I shouldn't be surprised that now there is a baby on it." Angel: "Hey! First of all that wasn't me, that was some guy who switched bodies with me. And second of all (Cups his hands around the baby's ears, and drops his voice to a whisper) can we keep the S E X talk away from the baby?" Wes steps closer and picks up the pack of diapers. Wes: "Do you need help?" Angel: "Ah, no, Wes. I know how to change a diaper - a normal one with pins. It's these newfangled fasteners." Wes: "Did you know these diapers are lined with a space-age material originally designed for NASA astronauts? Hmm, interesting. (Puts the pack of diapers down) Though now I'm picturing grown men in nappies and am rather disturbed." Angel: "Ah, okay, got it. (To baby) You're all ready aren't you?" Angel wraps the baby back in its blanket and drops the bundled up, used diaper into Wes hand. Wes looks down at it. Angel picks up the baby and looks at Wes. Angel: "Right. How's the list coming along?" They move out into the lobby where the others are waiting in front of a dry erase board. Wes drops the diaper on the counter top as he walks past. Wes: "We've divided it into two categories. Column one groups or individuals that we know pose a thr*at to the baby: Holtz, Wolfram & Hart, the vampire cult that att*cked us at the hospital. Column two those you *could* pose a thr*at once they get wind of the baby." Angel: "Order of Phillius, Beltar the Cremator, - Frank?" (The list also has a 'Piper Beast' and 'The Scourge' as potential thr*at.) g*n: "Local mobster, specializes in kidnapping." Angel: "Ah. (Baby begins to cry) What, what, what? What is it? You can't be wet again. I just changed you. Ah-hmm, are you hungry? I got a bottle all ready for you." Walks over to counter and looks around. Angel: "Where did I put his bottle? I had a bottle all ready for him!" Cordy hurries over, picks up the bottle and hands it to him. Angel: "Okay. (To baby) Here's your babba. (Baby cries) Take your babba. (g*n grins.) You just take it like this (Angel lifts the bottle and makes sucking noises) and you drink, and you're happy." The baby continues to cry. g*n comes over. g*n: "Angel, why don't you let me take him for a little while. I helped raise my cousin since she was about a week old." Cordy throws up her hands and walks away. Angel: "I-i can handle it. (Walks away from g*n) Alright, so we got a list. All we have to do is erase everyone on it." Fred picks up a dry eraser: "I can do that for you." Cordy: "Ah, Fred..." Fred: "What?" Fred stops erasing and turns to look at Cordy. Fred: "Oh, you meant erase in a squish and k*ll violent kind of way. I'll just put that back." Writes Holtz name back on the list. Angel, pacing and holding the bottle out to the crying baby: "Come on, it's a nice babba. You wanna stop crying and take your babba, yes you do - please?" Sahjhan follows Holtz into their underground lair. Sahjhan: "Well that was a thrilling evening. It's not like I've been waiting two hundred and fifty years for you to take your blood vengeance on Angel to have you just stand there and let him walk away." Holtz: "Why didn't you tell me Darla was pregnant?" Sahjahn: "Didn't matter. You were supposed to k*ll them both before she could have it." Holtz: "She sacrificed herself to save the child." Sahjhan: "Yeah. Darla did your job for you. Well, at least one of them is dust." Holtz: "She got off easy. Angel's demise will be a great deal more painful." Sahjhan: "You know you throw around a lot of big words like death and pain and no mercy, but so far I haven't seen bupkus." The Grapplar demons are following behind them stuffing themselves with fast food as they go. Sahjhan: "Listen to me, Holtz, we got prophecies to fulfill. We don't need some deep, dark plan for Angel. You put a stake in him, you watch him go poof! It's a classic." Holtz: "Step one is getting rid of these minions." Sahjhan: "No. Step one is poof. And then there are no more steps. And we can't get rid of the Grapplars. I signed a two-week contract. - Trust me, you don't wanna piss these guys off." Holtz: "They're soulless beasts bred only to maim and k*ll." One of the Grapplars is looking at the drink and food he is holding. Sahjhan: "Ah! Maim and k*ll. Two more words I like. You're gonna need these guys - unless you're plan is to k*ll Angel with candy clowns and marshmallow pies." All the Grapplars are making choking noises. Sahjhan looks at them. Sahjhan: "What's happening?" Holtz: "I need more than mere fighters." Sahjhan: "They're choking! Do you know the Heimlich? I can't do it in this dimension. My arms will go right through them. (The Grapplars start dropping one by one) What did you do?" Holtz: "I poisoned their drink." Sahjhan: "Why?!" Holtz: "Because I don't need mercenaries who will k*ll for anyone willing to pay their price. I need warriors who will die for my cause..." One remaining Grapplars charges Holtz from behind. Holtz kills him with a backwards thrust of his sword without ever taking his eyes off Sahjhan. Holtz: "...like that." Sahjhan: "Great. So step one is I'm stuck with four costly and d*ad demons. What's step two?" Holtz walk over to where a computer is sitting atop a table. Holtz: "We can find information using this box - correct?" Sahjhan: "Yeah. You won't believe how fast my connection is. What do you wanna find?" Sahjhan passes his hand in front of the computer screen and the entry page of the "Demons, Demons, Demons" database comes up. Holtz: "Obituraries." Cordy is at her laptop searching that same database. g*n: "What about that ninja guy that att*cked us at the hospital?" Wes: "The vampire cult k*lled him before he could get to the baby." Fred: "There could be more of them." Cordy: "The world is a sick and demented place. You know there are already three websites offering money for the baby?" Fred is adding 'Ninja guys' to the column of known thr*at. Angel, carrying the baby: "Fred, help them trace the websites." Fred: "Right." Angel is still trying to get the baby to take the bottle. Angel: "It's good. Try it. You'll like it. Mmmm, so good." The baby keeps crying. Fred takes Cordy's place in front of the laptop. Angel picks up a stuffed Teddy and pretends to feed it the bottle. Angel: "See? Ha. Teddy likes it. And I like it, too." Angel opens his mouth and shakes some of the milk from the bottle into it. Angel: "See? Mmmm." Smiles at the baby, then turns his head away, makes a face and spits. A blue flash lights up the hotel and everyone looks around. Fred: "What was that?" Lorne walks in: "Oh, just listening to those Furies gives me whiplash! Thank god they finally left. My head was about to pop off. Which, granted, not that big a deal." Wes: "That flash was their spell kicking in?" Lorne: "Yeah, they put a force field over the entire hotel. No one or thing can get in or out." Fred: "So, the baby's safe? We're all safe. Right, Lorne? I-I mean unless one of those K*llers decides to throw in a f*re b*mb in at us like they did at your club, which had a similar safety spell around it as I recall. - Sorry." Angel: "She's right. He won't be safe here for long." Lorne: "Well, we can get out if we have to. I installed an emergency exit down in the sewers. A-a mystical barrier, opens and closes with a password. (To Fred) Pylean word for hedgehog." Fred: "Oh. - Oh!" Starts to laugh. g*n: "I'm guessing it means something very different in English?" Cordy: "Well, we'll have to use it. The baby needs to see a doctor." Angel: "What? He's not sick! Does he look sick?" Cordy read in baby book: "No. But he needs his newborn checkup. The baby book says that he's supposed to have a vitamin K sh*t and a PKU test after he's born. Uh - are you gonna circumcise?" The baby starts screaming louder. g*n: "I think he heard you." Lorne: "Speaking of hearing things - are there any fluorescent lights in here? I keep hearing this hum. Plus, fluorescent - green light, green skin - it's all bad. - I'll take the blank stares as a big fat no." Angel is looking at the w*apon cabinet. Angel: "g*n?" g*n: "Yeah." Angel: "I'm in a w*r here. I'm gonna need some serious firepower." g*n: "You mean something beyond swords and spears?" Angel: "Way beyond." g*n: "I know some guys. Leave it to me." Angel: "Thanks. (To Fred) We get into the websites?" Fred: "Not yet. Normally all we would have to do is hack into the e-mail and track the relays but - they're using re-mailers." Angel looks at them: "Which means?" Cordy: "Which means there is no direct id, it's going to take a little time..." Angel: "We don't have a little time. Are those all the names up there on the board?" Wes: "Working on some other leads. We all want the same thing, Angel. We're doing the best we can." Angel, looking down at the baby: "Do better." Wes: "Angel!" Angel: "I promised his mother. No one is gonna put their hands on this child. No one." Angel turns to walk up the stairs. Linwood watches Angel carry the child upstairs on the monitor. Linwood: "No one is going to put their hands on this child. Is this meant to be ironic? According to our highly - and I'm now thinking, somewhat overpaid translators, the Nyazian Scroll said the child would never be born. And yet - here he is." Gavin: "It was a technicality, sir. Darla died during childbirth." Lilah: "Dusted during childbirth is more like it. According to our sources she staked herself, leaving the baby alive and kicking but never actually born. MacDuff was from his mother's womb untimely ripped." Linwood: "Clever loophole. We could use some of those Nyazian Scroll writers in Contracts and Negotiations." Gavin: "We have to get that baby." Lilah: "He has a knack for stating the obvious, sir." Gavin: "I also have an intercept team working on tactical scenarios as we speak. I'm sure Lilah would have thought of that - given time." Linwood: "Moving on - children. (Picks up a photo of Holtz) I want everything there is on this character. He slaughtered some of our best-trained men. He's gonna be a problem." Lilah: "We're locating him, sir." Linwood: "Preferably before he locates us. (Walks towards the screen as we can hear the baby gurgle) That's a cute little baby. Yes, you are. And your daddy is a vampire with a soul. And sometimes he reverts to a creature of pure, malevolent evil, who could rip your tiny throat out. Yes, he does. (Chuckles) I like kids. The Senior Partners took mine before I really got to know them. Turn it up. (Lilah pushes a button on the remote and the room fills with a baby's cries) Turn it down." Lilah does as Linwood walks out. Angel is trying to distract the baby from crying with the teddy bear. Angel: "Teddy isn't crying. Do you see Teddy cry? Teddy isn't crying. Do you see Teddy crying? No, Teddy isn't crying. (The baby cries and Angel leans his head into the Teddy with a sigh) Come on, kid, you gotta give me something here. Alright. Last ditch effort. (Angel takes a deep breath, clears his throat and begins to sing) Toora-loora-loora, toora-loora-lay..." Lorne walks into the room behind Angel. Angel: "Toora-loora-loora, that's an Irish lullaby..." Angel breaks off, leaning his head against the side of the cradle in defeat as the crying never even slows. Lorne: "Here let me give it a try. (Sings) Ooh, ooh, baby, baby. Ooh, ooh, baby, baby. Mistakes I know I made a few, but I'm only human. You'll make mistakes, too. And I'm crying... (Stops singing) He doesn't like Smokey Robinson and the Miracles? I thought you said this kid had a soul." Angel leans down over the cradle: "You know what, you're fed, you're changed. I hold you, you cry. I put you down, you cry. What do you want me to do here? (The baby cries.) I'm a terrible father. (Picks up the baby) I can't even get him to stop crying." Lorne: "Yeah, well, it's getting a little tense - your vibe, that is." Angel: "My vibe? What vibe?" Lorne: "Oh, just the incredibly anxious one that's been coming of you in waves ever since he was born. He's deeply connected to you. If you're wound this tight, how do you think he's gonna feel?" Angel: "Hey, he's not even a day old and he's got an enemies list. How would you feel? Wouldn't you be a little edgy?" Lorne: "Yeah. I'd also be in awe. Look at him." Angel looks down at the screaming baby in his arms. Lorne: "He's more than a mission, bro. *Look* at him. Look at him." Lorne turns and walks out of the room as Angel keeps looking at the baby, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Angel sits down in a chair. Angel: "It's all right. It's gonna be alright. It's gonna be all right." The baby continues to scream. Angel: "Hey. Shh." Angel makes a face and silly noises. Angel: "Do you like that?" The baby continues to scream. Angel: "Well, obviously. Okay. How about this one?" Angel pulls on his ears, makes another face and silly noises. The baby continues to scream. Angel: "Okay. I only got one more in me." Angel sighs and morphs into vamp-face. The baby looks up at him, stops crying and after a moment its eyes start drooping. A big smile spreads over Angel's face. Angel: "Yeah, that's my little guy! You like that, don't you? A bootchee-wootchee..." Wolfram and Hart, night, Lilah walks into a room in the basement filled with file cabinets and presents herself to the woman sitting behind a desk. Lilah: "Lilah Morgan, clearance oh -one-one-two-seven-seven-three." The woman enters it in her laptop then sits back and looks up at Lilah. Woman: "There you are. What can I do for you, Miss Morgan?" Lilah: "I want everything the firm has on Angel, the whole case file. His life history, un-life history, intercept records, victim lists, transfers and accounts, everything. I'm looking for someone he crossed paths with probably a hundred years ago or more. And make it fast. The boys upstairs are at defcon like - a thousand." Woman smiles: "Sure thing, Miss Morgan. Just a sec." She turns around and pulls a thick ring binder from the shelf behind her and drops it on the table. Lilah: "Everything is in there." Woman: "Right down to the baby that wasn't supposed to be born." Lilah: "How do you know about that?" Woman: "I'm Files and Records. It's my job." Lilah: "Great. (Hefts the file and turns to go) I'll be back when I'm..." Woman: "Ah, Miss Morgan, there aren't any documents in there, you know. That's just the reference key to the full file." Lilah: "The reference key. So - where is the full file?" The woman flips a switch and a whole section of file cabinets is illuminated. Woman: "The key is only helpful in locating which section of the file you'd like to look at." Lilah sighs: "That *whole* thing is Angel's file." Woman: "Just the first thirty five cabinets." Lilah: "Right. (Drops the book back on the desk) Does China Palace deliver down here?" Holtz is waiting behind a chain-link fence. He pulls out a paper with an obituary for a young girl named Julia Cooper. A door in the building on the other side of the fence with a sign "No Parking. Bar deliveries only" opens. A girl looking exactly like the picture on the obituary walks out, squinting at the bright sunlight. She lights a cigarette and walks off. Holtz follows after her. He turns a corner to see a barely smoked cigarette lying on the ground. He raises his hand to catch the girl's fist as she swings at him. Holtz: "Your punch could have been quicker - without so much to drink." Justine: "It's kind of a trade-off, because without that much to drink (head-butts Holtz) hurts a lot more." Holtz tosses her against a nearby, parked car. Holtz: "You stick to the shadows." Justine: "I'm not much of a day person." The girl takes a hold of a wood 2x4 lying on the ground next to her as she picks herself back up. Holtz: "I'm not here to fight." Justine: "Your bad luck." She swings at Holtz, but he easily evades her att*ck, and pushes her up against the wall of the building, his hand around her throat. Holtz: "I know you're in pain. I know what it's like to grieve." Holtz lets go of her. She lifts up a finger and taps him on the chin. Justine: "Nice goatee. Kind of rounds out the whole creepy stalker look. I'll be moving on now." She turns to go. Holtz: "Justine. (She turns back to face him) I'm not finished." Justine: "You know my name?" Holtz: "I know everything. You know at seventeen twenty two Spaulding. You stay out all night. Sleep all day. Ever since your sister was m*rder six months ago. (Unfolds the printout of the obituary and hands it to her.) Your twin. - It wasn't a mugging like the paper said, was it? Major blood loss, two unidentifiable neck wounds." Justine: "So?" Holtz: "My name is Holtz. I want to help you." Justine: "I'll tell you what I want. (Gets right into Holtz face) I want you to stay the hell away from me." Holtz watches as Justine walks off. Hyperion, day, Fred is hunched over the laptop as Cordy brings over two cups and sets one down beside her. Fred: "Thanks." Fred looks up and sees Angel coming down the stairs carrying his son. Fred: "Oh-oh, we still haven't traced the websites." Cordy pats her on the back: "Relax." Cordy walks over to meet Angel. Cordy: "Get any sleep?" Angel, never taking his eyes off the baby: "Nah, I was up all night watching him." Cordy: "You know, if you'd let us take shifts we could..." Angel: "No, I wasn't watching him like that - I was just - watching him. (Cordy smiles) He - looks a little bit like me, don't you think?" Cordy: "Oh, yeah. Look at that brow. He's a miniature you. Why don't you hand him over for a while, catch some shut eye." Angel: "No. I'll sleep - when I know he's safe." Cordy: "Which will be when? Around never? - Angel, I understand you wanna protect him - but you gotta let go a little. Share part of the responsibility. You can't be everything for him." Angel: "I'm his only family. My job now is to be everything for him." Cordy: "Really? - Okay. Follow me. Come on." Cordy takes a hold of Angel's elbow and leads him towards the garden court. Angel, never taking his eyes off the baby in his arm: "Where are we going?" Cordy: "Come on." Cordy leads him out of the Hyperion. Angel stops before they leave the shadows of the building. Angel: "Cordelia..." Cordy: "We're going outside, where your son is gonna wanna go play. Where you have to rush him to the hospital if he gets sick in the daytime. But I see your point. You can't go outside during the day like other parents because - you're a vampire. And even if you weren't - you can't do everything for him." Angel, looking down at the baby, stretches one hand out into the sunlight. Angel: "If he has to get to the hospital at noon (Smoke starts to rise from his hand) on the sunniest day of the year, he'll get there (Looks at Cordy, his hand still smoldering in the sunlight) even if I don't." Cordy: "Angel, (Pushes his hand down into the shadow) stop, Angel..." Angel turns away and walks back into the Hyperion. Lorne comes down the steps. Lorne: "Good morning all. (Sniffs) Is that bacon I smell or did somebody fall asleep with the curtains open? (Drapes one arm over Angel's shoulder as he looks down at the baby) You got to figure a guy like you, a place like this, the only truly safe room would be the janitor's closet." Angel looks down at his shirt pocket then walks away from Lorne. Angel: "Thanks for the tip." Fred: "Were you able to sleep, Lorne, or did you still hear that humming?" Lorne: "Oh, I got some earplugs. Put them in and slept like a baby. Cried and wet the bed all night. (He is the only one laughing) Tough room." g*n walks in. g*n: "Mission accomplished. (Drops a duffel on a chair and unzips it) You said you wanted f*re power, so..." Angel looks into the open bag: "Good work." g*n: "Also we got company out front." Angel: "Did they see you?" g*n: "Nah. I saw them, kept on going, doubled back and came in through the sewer." Angel: "Who are they?" g*n: "Well, two blacked out cars of what I'm betting is more vampire cult. And a biker g*ng I recognize from back in the day." Angel: "Humans?" g*n: "Yeah. Into extortion and kidnapping. There are also some funky fellows in a van I didn't recognize, wearing hooded cloaks." Wes joining them: "Lilliad demons. Their fun is making a magical broth from the bones of human children (To Cordy who is about to add them to the white board) That's two 'L's' in the middle. They probably want to find out how the child born of a vampire effects the recipe. They use strong magic. They may be able to break the furies spell." Angel: "What are they waiting for?" Wes: "Night. Their power is linked directly to the lunar cycle." Cordy: "So, we're safe for now, but when the moon rises..." Fred: "And tonight's a full moon." g*n: "No matter what kind of w*apon we have, we're not gonna be able to fight off the whole world, once that force field comes down." Wes: "I don't see that we have a choice." Lilah is sitting crosslegged on the floor of the File room, surrounded by papers and files. Lilah: "This is impossible. Two hundred seventy five years of the most inane... (Picks up a paper and looks at it) What kind of wussy name is Liam anyway? - Okay. You're at the hotel. The pirate is about to k*ll Angel. Angel calls him - what? What was it? - Hose. - Hope." Woman: "Holtz?" Lilah: "What?' Woman: "Holtz, Daniel, vampire k*ller, circa seventeen fifty four. He hunted Angel and Darla halfway around the world until his mysterious disappearance in seventeen seventy three. Larson McMillian Vampiricus Conquestus page four twelve." Lilah: "How did you..." Woman: "I'm files and records. It's my job." Lilah gets up: "You mean I've been sitting here for the last fourteen hours..." Woman: "Ah-hmm." Lilah: "To find that you know everything that's in this case file." Woman: "No, Miss Morgan." Lilah: "Oh." Woman: "I know everything in every case file. I'm Files and Records, it's my..." Lilah: "...your job. Unbelievable. (Sits down on the edge of the woman's desk) So what's the skinny on Holtz then? Why the big hate-on for Angel?" Woman: "Just a moment." She sits back and her eyes flicker while we hear a rattling sound. Woman: "Seventeen sixty-four. Angel and Darla k*ll Holtz, Caroline, Holtz, Sarah, and Holtz, Daniel infant son." Lilah: "Massacred his family. That'll do it." Woman: "Holtz vows to revenge their blood, May seventeen sixty-four. Pursues Angel and Darla relentlessly for nine years, racking up an incidental body count of three hundred seventy-eight vampires in the meantime." Lilah: "So what we're dealing with is a single minded vengeance machine with a bloodlust to match. That's just - awesome." Night in a cemetery, Justine is fighting against a vampire as Holtz watches from the shadows beneath a tree. The vampire kicks Justine in Holtz direction and he catches her before she falls. Justine: "What the hell are you doing here?" Holtz: "Watching you fight." Holtz pushes her away and Justine resumes her fight. She raises a stake, but the vampire knocks it out of her hand and her to the ground. The vampire is about to sink its teeth into her neck when it disappears in a cloud of dust revealing Holtz, holding a stake. Holtz holds out his hand and helps Justine back to her feet. Justine: "Why did you wait so long?" Holtz: "I wanted to see if you could win." Justine: "Always. I would have kicked his ass if you hadn't distracted me." Holtz: "Hmm. I wasn't your problem." Justine: "Really?" Holtz: "You fight well and lack strategy. Your passion works against you." Justine: "And you're here to teach me about passion." Holtz: "I'm here to teach you how to fight." Justine: "What's in it for you?" Holtz: "You help me k*ll a vampire." Justine: "You don't need me for that." Holtz: "I do. This vampire is strong." Justine: "What are we talking about. Some kind of Karate Kid Mr. Miyagi groove thing? Wax on, wax off." Holtz: "You'll find your references to modern popular culture tend to be lost on me." Justine: "What a shocker." Holtz: "But I know you're interested in more that the trivial. Your life has been ruined. You can't sleep. Instead you wander the streets, making others pay for what happened to your sister. That's where I can help. I see your talent. And I see your hate. And I know that I can shape and hone you into an instrument of vengeance." Justine: "Sounds like fun." Holtz: "It won't be." He turns and walks off. After a b*at Justine follows, looking back once over her shoulder. Figures in purple hooded cloaks are chanting in front of the Hyperion. g*n turns away from the first story window and walks over to the stairs leading down into the lobby. g*n: "Guys, the Lilliad demons are starting their mojo on the force field." g*n resumes his post at the window as Wes and Fred pick up crossbows. g*n sees a car pull up and men jump out. g*n: "Ah, right, sun's down, vamps can come out, too. - Wait, they're headed towards the bikers." Fred: "What are they doing?" g*n, walking down the stairs: "They, ah, having a brawl over who gets to k*ll us first." Wes: "We have to hold our ground." Cordy: "What if we can't?" Wes: "If we're forced to fall back we'll do so towards the cellar. We can make a retreat through the sewer." Wes picks up a flame-thrower. Angel is standing on the stairs, holding the baby in his arms. Angel: "This isn't going to work." Wes: "I checked it. It's primed and ready." Angel: "Not the w*apon, the plan." Lorne: "I'm so glad somebody finally said that, because sitting here waiting to die never was much of a plan. Sorry. So, what kind of genius idea you got hidden up that well tailored sleeve of yours, huh?" Angel: "Plan is I go. Take the baby somewhere safe." Cordy: "What?" Angel: "He was born in a siege, he's not gonna die in one." Wes: "But if you stay and help us fight... You said it yourself: we're in a w*r." Angel is putting stuff into a bag. Angel: "And now I'm in a retreat." Wes: "What happened to taking them out?" Angel: "There's too many of them. I can get out through the sewers. With any luck I'll get a couple miles before anyone notices that I'm gone." Cordy: "So you're just gonna leave? Run away?" g*n: "Why not? That's what he's good at. Sure you don't wanna f*re us first? A little icing on the cake while you leave us here to do the fighting?" Lorne: "I thought we already established this as a bad, bad idea." Angel: "No, you're gonna be all right. Once they break the spell and storm the place they'll realize that the baby's gone and they'll go after me. Wesley, stall them if you can." Cordy steps into his path as Angel shoulders the bag and heads for the basement doors. Cordy: "I'm sure tripping over our d*ad bodies will slow them down. You really didn't hear anything I said to you earlier, did you?" Angel looks down at the baby in his arm then walks past Cordy. Angel: "I heard you." Fred: "Angel! Don't leave us." Angel hurries on without even looking back. Break Gavin and Linwood are watching Angel head down into the cellar. Gavin: "He's running away." Linwood: "He's sneaking away. And giving us the chance to get the jump on everyone." Gavin into radio: "Alpha team he's heading into the sewers." Radio: "Copy that." Linwood: "Today the world is different. A vampire has sacrificed herself for her baby. Do you know what that means?" Lilah: "That there's something good about the kid?" Linwood: "This child can grow up, and hunt each and everyone of us down. Let's not let that happen, shall we?" Gavin: "No, sir. We'll find the baby by sunrise, d*ad or alive." Lilah: "Are you crazy?" Gavin: "What? Is Lilah worried we're gonna hurt the itty biddy baby?" Lilah: "No. I'm afraid you'll k*ll him before we have a chance to cut him open while he's still breathing and find out how the hell he's alive in the first place." Linwood turns to looks at Lilah. Gives her a slight smile. Angel is walking through the sewers with the baby. Two hum-vees pull up along the curb of a street. Lilah on radio: "Alpha team, where are you? Over." Guy: "We're here." The chanting demons bring down the fore field and run for the hotel. Wes and g*n stand up and face the doors. g*n is jumping in place to loosen his muscles. Looks over at Wes. g*n: "What are you doing?" Wes: "Trying to imagine myself as John Wayne in Rio Bravo. You?" g*n: "Austin Stoker, as*ault on Precinct Thirteen." They slap their hands together, Cordy walks past them holding her w*apon at the ready. Cordy: "If we live through this, trade in your DVD Players and get a life." Before the Lilliad demons reach the door they are intercepted by the biker g*ng and the vampires and general fighting breaks out. Angel climbs up a ladder in the sewers. He pushes the round metal lid covering the manhole aside and comes up in the street beside his parked car. He glances around the street and gets into the car. A man in one of the Hum-vees watches him through night-vision binoculars. Guy on radio: "Got him." Angel's car pulls out into the road. Man, lowering the binoculars: "Have a visual. Let's go." The Hum-vees follow Angel's car. Two demons and men break free from the fight at the front doors of the Hyperion and walk inside. The Demons take down their hoods. Lilliad: "Where is the child?" Wes: "Upstairs, room three-one-two, why don't you go and get him? Oh, wait. I have a better idea." Wes aims the flame-thrower and fires. We hear screams as flames wipe the screen. Outside the fight continues. A vampire looks up from the fighting as Angel's car drives by. He knocks down another opponent, then sees the Hum-vees in pursuit. The vampire hurries inside the hotel. Vampire: "Master, it's a trick! He's taken the child." The vampire looks down at the charred and still smoking remains of a Lilliad demon. Looks at Wes who gives him a shrug before torching him with a burst of flame. Outside the remaining fighters hurry to their vehicles to pursue Angel. Cordy lowers her w*apon: "Now they're all after him." Wes: "Hopefully we stalled them long enough." g*n sits down: "Whatever. Running away was his call." Angel's car fishtails around a corner, the Hum-vees, the bikers, the cars of the vampire cult and the van of the Lilliad demons in hot pursuit. A Hum-vee pulls out of another street to cut him off and Angel wrenches the car aside to turn into another street. Angel is driving through a tunnel, down a highway and past a sign reading Lancaster 16 and Mojave Dessert 42. Angel checks on his pursuers in the side mirror. Looks down at the baby he is holding with his left arm. Angel: "We'll get through this, I promise. The vampire/demon/biker posse, that's the easy part. (the Hum-vee following rams his car from behind) The part that scares me - is all the questions. Why is the sky blue. Why do people get sick. Why is there always pigs' blood in the fridge. I don't have all the answers. Well, I do to that last one." The Hum-vee rams him again. They drive by a 'Danger Abandoned Mine No Trespassing' sign. Angel: "Here we go." He suddenly turns the car and drives through a latched wooden gate. Man in Hum-vee: "He's breaking left." Angel drives past an abandoned shack and through the boards closing off the entrance of the mine. Outside the other vehicles pull up in front of the mine entrance. Angel descends into the main mine shaft. Outside the three parties resume their fight against each other even as they all make their way towards the entrance of the mine. Angel comes up against a tunnel entrance nailed shut with boards. As the first pursuers descend into the pit of the main shaft, he runs over to another tunnel mouth and finds it blocked by and iron grate. He turns to face his pursuers. Looks down at the baby in his arms. Angel: "Could be worse. At least you're not crying." Break Angel looks around and grabs a hold of a rope trailing down from the ceiling. Lilliad: "Give us the baby!" Angel: "You want the baby? - You can have the baby." Angel tosses the wrapped baby in a high arc into the middle of his enemies. They all scramble for it, while Angel quickly rides the rope up to the top of the shaft. One of the vampires has a hold of the baby and unwraps the blanket to get a look at it. Angel's car backs out of the mine shaft, makes a screeching U-turn and speeds away. The vampire stares down at Teddy, a b*mb with the timer almost to zero strapped to it's chest. Man: "What is it?" Vampire: "It's a..." A fireball rolls out of the mineshaft, its f*re casting a red glow over the taillights of Angel's escaping car. A Hospital waiting area. Wes and Fred get up from a couch as a doctor enters. Cordy, standing beside the couch turns around and we see that she is holding the baby. Nurse: "Ah, sorry for the wait. Let's go." The three of them follow the doctor through a set of doors. At Wolfram and Hart, Linwood is re-watching the encounter between Lorne and Angel that morning. Lorne: "Ah, good morning all. Is that bacon I smell or did somebody fall asleep with the curtains open? You got to figure, a guy like you, a place like this the only truly safe..." Linwood: "Back it up." The video backs up then begins to play again. Lorne: "...fall asleep with the curtains open. You got to figure, a guy like you..." Linwood: "Stop it right there! (Tape stops) Magnify one hundred times. (Picture zooms in) Again." The whole screen is now filled with Lorne's hand slipping a half-concealed piece of paper into the breast pocket of Angel's shirt. Linwood: "There. That is when he gives Angel the note." Lorne: "The only truly safe room would be the janitor's closet." Angel: "Thanks for the tip." Linwood: "And tells him where to read it. The janitor's closet, where we don't have surveillance." Lilah to Gavin: "That green houseguest could hear the hum of your transmit frequency. What are the odds?" Linwood: "All that Sturm and Drang about Angel running out on them? Just a performance." Lilah: "He did a good job. Who knew Angel had the acting chops?" Gavin: "Are you kidding? It was one note. Felt forced." Lilah: "Funny. You bought it at the time." Linwood: "It worked - for us. Angel's little trick thinned the herd. And what about Holtz?" Gavin: "No reports yet that he was among Angel's pursuers." Linwood: "I was hoping he'd be among the casualties. What do we know about him?" Lilah opens a folder: "He is a vampire hunter. Angel k*lled his family and he spent the rest of his life seeking revenge. Oh, and one more thing, this all happened two hundred years ago." Linwood: "I thought Holtz was human." Lilah: "He is." Linwood: "I time traveler." Gavin: "His arrival was foretold in the Nyazian Scrolls. He is a player." Linwood: "Yeah. He's a cog in the machine, and aren't we all. - What do you suppose it is that he wants?" Lilah: "You mean other than to tear out Angel's heart and wearing it as a broach?" Linwood: "We need more information. How he got he, who he works with, where he lives. It's only a matter of time before our needs and his come into conflict. (An alarm sounds) Maybe sooner than we think." Angel walks into the office, walks up to Linwood, slices him across the cheek, and pushes him facedown against the table. Angel: "My son has a tiny scratch on his cheek, and now, by extraordinary coincidence so do you. I'm holding you personally responsible for *anything* that happens to him whether it's your fault or not. Cold, sunburn, scratched knee, what ever happens to him, happens to you, and then some." Angel pulls Linwood back up, pushes him back into his chair and leans over him. Angel: "For not only are you not coming after him, you gonna make sure that he lives a long, healthy life. You just became his godfather, understand?" Linwood: "I believe I do." Guards come in in response to the alarm. Guard: "Sir?" Linwood: "It's all right." Angel starts to leave but turns back around before he reaches the door. Angel: "Oh, and one more thing: College fund? Start saving. I got my heart set on Notre Dame." Angel leaves and Linwood pulls himself back upright in his chair. Lilah pulls the handkerchief out of Gavin breast pocket and goes to dab at the scratch on Linwood's cheek. Linwood grabs the cloth from her and throws it down. The doctor and a nurse carrying the baby come back out into the waiting room. Doctor: "I'm happy to report you have a healthy baby boy." Cordy: "Oh, great. But I'm not the mother." Doctor: "Oh, I'm sorry. (turns to Fred) I'm happy to report you have a healthy baby boy." Fred: "Oh. Me neither." Wes: "I'm afraid the mother is, ah, no longer in the picture." Doctor: "I see. Well, his height and weight are in the ninety percentile. We gave him his vitamin K and his PKU and he's doing very well. We don't seem to have his - what's his name?" Cordy and Wes look at each other. Angel walking in: "Connor. His name is Connor." Doctor: "Connor. Thank you. Mr. (looks at the papers) Angel. (the nurse hands the baby to Angel) And congratulations." Angel: "Thanks." The Doctor and the nurse leave, as Angel smiles down at Connor. Angel: "Hey... (Looks up) Mr. Angel?" Fred: "Your first name is Geraldo." Cordy: "We had to tell them something." Fred: "Geraldo Angel. You’re a pet psychiatrist with a small practice in Pacoima. Oh, and you fight crime- We just told them the name part. The rest is me, having fun." Angel: "I don't know what to say." Cordy: "How about thanks. I appreciate it. You guys rock. Way to go?" Angel looks up from Connor's face: "What she said." The double doors behind them open and g*n comes in pushing an empty stroller. g*n: "Got the best one a very small amount of money could buy." They all 'ah.' Angel hands Connor over to Cordy who puts him in the stroller. Cordy: "Hey, you wanna go for a ride? Oh, goodness..." Wes: "Connor. That's a lovely name. I don't suppose you ever considered Wes..." Angel, g*n and Cordy: "No." Fred: "Not to be negative or anything, but - we're okay, right? Nobody else is coming after Connor or us?" Angel: "No. We're safe for the time being. - Let's go home. Nice stroller." g*n: "Thank you." They walk out together, Fred and g*n on the left, Cordy and Wes on the right, and Angel, pushing the stroller in the middle. Camera pans down to Connor and the screen fades to black.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x10 - Dad"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel: "I'm gonna have a son." Darla stakes herself leaving the baby behind in the rain. Cordy: "I have a room mate. It's cool I never see him. He's a ghost." Fred: "When I see you and Cordelia sparring... It's only natural that you and she should be drawn to one another." Cordy clocks Angel on the nose, and he turns his head to hide the pain from her. g*n: "Cordelia, she doesn't choose to have a vision. The Powers send them to her when they got info to share." Cordy: "I look forward to my next vision." Series of highlights of some of the worst vision pains Cordy's gotten over the years. Angel: "Easy. Are you gonna be alright?" Cordy is taking pills in the bathroom: "These visions are k*lling me." Cordy to Angel: "If I lose the visions, I wouldn't be able to help you anymore. You wouldn't need me." Close up on a bedraggled and shaken looking Cordy. Cordy: "I'd - just like to say thank you. (Deep breath) You believed in me when no one else would. Even in my darkest hours you were there for me (almost starts crying) and that means more to me that you'll ever know. (sniffs) I guess what I'm really trying to say is - I love you. - To all my fans: (Holds up a scrub brush in plastic gloved hand) this is for you!" sh*t widens to show that Cordy is sitting on the floor of the Hyperion lobby. Fred is sitting a little ways away, wearing yellow plastic gloves and applauding wildly. Fred: "Wow! That was just - wow. 'cause... oh, and with the tears! I-I got chill bumps all up my arms." Cordy: "Yup. That's the famous speech. Not that I'll ever use it of course - unless they start handing out awards for best slime and grime. - Oh, I swear. Next time Angel decides to blow something up he's cleaning his own scorch marks." g*n walks in wearing a hairnet and facemask and carrying a spray bottle. g*n: "Ladies. Less yammering, more scrub." Cordy: "My, g*n. Don't you look - sterile." g*n takes the facemask off: "Couple more hours of sniffing that industrial cleanser, I think I might be. Hey, I don't suppose you ladies wanna trade jobs?" Cordy: "Ah - hmm. Scrape up Wolfram and Hart's entrails off floor, hmm - Fred?" Fred: "You're screwed." Cordy chuckles and goes back to scrubbing the floor. g*n leans in closer to Fred: "Wes back yet?" Cordy: "No. He's still at the store picking up some more extra strength ick remover." g*n salutes Fred with his bottle and leaves. Angel: "Look who's up from his nap." Cordy pulls off her gloves and gets up: "Oh, Conner!" Angel curls up protectively around the baby as Cordy stretches out her hands. Angel: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa - dirty people. Not touching the baby." Cordy: "But pig-drinking bloodsuckers are okay? - I meant that in a nice way. Okay, I'm gonna go wash my hands, but when I get back I get first dibs on baby snuggles." Angel calls after her: "Don't forget to get under your fingernails. (Quietly to Fred) Does she know?" Wes burst through the door carrying a couple of bags. Wes: "Where is she?" Cordy is in the bathroom popping some pills from a prescription bottle. She comes out of the bathroom to find g*n and Wes holding a cake with six lit candles and the picture of a female superhero on it. All four start singing 'happy birthday.' Cordy grinning: "Oh you guys. I can't believe you did this." g*n: "Don't just stand there. Blow out the candles, girl." Cordy blows out the candles and they guys cheer. Fred: "Did you make a wish?" Cordy: "I sure did. Ah, Jude Law was a little busy, huh?" Wes: "Oh, how disappointing for you. Well, I guess you won't be wanting the presents we..." Cordy: "Oh, wanting. Wanting presents." g*n and Wes put the cake on the lobby counter. Angel: "Do you want to hold the baby now?" Cordy: "Yeah. (Takes Connor) Oh, thank you. Hey, honey. Yeeh, the baby, baby." Angel shifts awkwardly then pulls a small box out of his pocket. Angel: "Uhm - ah, I - I got you a - a little something." Cordy takes it: "Oh, Angel, you didn't have to do that. You have enough to take care of as it is." Angel: "Well, I'm a champion. (Chuckles) We do important stuff. Hey, and who's more important then..." Wes: "You have to forgive the wrapping. Some of us seem to have fostered a strange addiction to Scotch tape." Wes, Fred, and g*n come up, each of them carrying a big, wrapped box with a big bow on top. Cordy: "Oh - what a cruel dilemma: presents of sweet little baby face." Cordy looks down at Connor and coos. Then her head whips up all smiles gone. Cordy to Angel: "Take the baby." Angel: "You're choosing birthday gifts over my kid?" Cordy: "Take the baby! Take the baby!" Angel quickly takes Connor as Cordy gets h*t by a vision. Cordy: "There's a teenager, a girl, she... she..." Cordy is suddenly blasted backwards into the glass doors of the w*apon cabinet. The others cluster around her as she lies motionless on the floor. Fred: "Is she alright?" Close on Cordy as she gasps and sits up. Cordy: "I'm fine - you guys. I'll be okay. I'm just..." Cordy turns to see all of the guys clustered around her body - lying a few feet away from where she is. Cordy: "d*ad?" Intro Right back where we left off. Fred: "Oh, no." Angel: "Take him. (Hands Connor to Wes) Come on Cordy, wake up. It's all over. Come back to us." Cordy: "I haven't gone anywhere. Angel..." Angel: "Please wake up." Wes: "Angel, is she..." Angel and Cordy: "No!" Cordy: "I'm not?" Angel: "She's still breathing. Her heart's still beating." Cordy: "Yes! But - If I'm not d*ad then..." Angel: "She's just in some sort of trance or a coma." Cordy: "Like hell I am!" Angel: "Well, let's get her over to the couch." Angel and g*n pick up Cordy's body and carry it over to the couch. Angel: "Easy." g*n: "All right." Angel: "Easy." Cordy watching: "Ookay. I get it. This is some kind of bizarre birthday present you guys cooked up." Fred spots the bottle of prescription pills on the floor where Cordy's body was lying and picks it up. Cordy: "Alright. The joke's on me. Now put me back in my body!" Angel: "It was a vision, wasn't it? I mean, she just started saying something about a girl..." Cordy: "That's right. She's in a house on Oak street (the others keep talking, but we can't hear what they're saying anymore than they can hear or see Cordy) the middle of Reseda. It feels like we have some time here, but - but (looks at the others) you can't hear me at all, can you?" Lorne coming down the stairs: "What's all the hubbub, bub?" Cordy: "Lorne! Thank god! You can hear me, right? 'cause if there's some weird, other-worldly thing going on you'd still be able to..." Cordy trails off as Lorne walks right through her, never noticing her. Cordy: "Oh. That's not good. (A black shadow passes overhead) Did anybody else just see that?' Lorne: "Jumping Judas on a unicycle. What happened?" Angel: "All we know is that she had a vision." Fred: "There is a lot we don't know. I think she dropped this." Holds out the bottle of pills to Angel. Cordy: "No Fred! Put that away. That's not important." Fred: "Seltrex." Wes: "Oh god." Angel: "What's Seltrex?" Cordy: "Nothing! It's just..." Wes: "Seltrex is a highly powerful migraine medication." g*n: "Maybe we should get her to a hospital." Angel: "So they can do what? Do what they did last time, strap her to a bed and tell us there's no hope?" Wes: "Angel is right. Seltrex is potent but - it doesn't cause the catatonia." Lorne: "I'm picking up some hardcore woo-woo vibes in the room. This ain't medical, kids. It's mystical." Fred: "That's what I'm saying. There is so much we don't know. If Cordelia is taking a drug this powerful in secret, the visions are probably doing a lot more damage than she lets on." g*n: "This last one must have overloaded her." Angel: "Don't say last! Okay? She'll come out of this. She has to." Cordy: "She will!" Angel: "Okay. Look, if this is a mystical problem there has to be some kind of mystical solution." Cordy: "There you go. Great idea!" Angel: "g*n, you and Fred go to Cordy's place." Cordy: "No! Bad idea. Bad idea!" Angel picks up Cordy's body: "See if she's been hiding anything. Anything that could tell us what's wrong with her. Wes?" Wes: "I'll h*t the books." Lorne: "I'll take the little peanut." The group disperses, leaving Cordy behind in the lobby. Cordy: "Does nobody care that there is a girl in Reseda that is about to be fed to a no-eyed, three-mouthed monster? (Hears indistinct whispering and looks around) What? - Hello? - Message. I'll leave a message." Cordy walks over to the counter top but her hand goes right through the pens sitting there. Tries again, with the same results. g*n and Fred stand inside the door of Cordy's apartment facing a floating party hat and noisemaker, confetti floating down from the ceiling and a 'happy birthday' sign. g*n: "I think Phantom Dennis was expecting the birthday girl." Fred smiles and steps forward: "Oh. Hi there. I-I know we haven't been formally introduced... Actually I'm not sure how to introduce myself to someone who is, you know - former. But, I'm Fred. (Reaches out and shakes the top of the party hat) It's nice to meet you." g*n smiling: "Fred, you are - you are so cool." Fred: "I think we should tell him." g*n takes a deep breath and steps forward. g*n: "Okay. Uh. You might wanna... (To Fred) Do ghosts sit down?" Wes is sitting at his desk reading a book. Cordy is standing in front of it, yelling at him. Cordy: "Wesley. Wesley! WESLEY! (Waves her arms wildly) Yoo-hoo!" Wes: "But if she's in the astral plane, she could be here unable to communicate." Cordy sighs: "Yeah. Here! Unable to communicate. (Slowly walks over to take a look at Wes' book) 'Astral Projection.' I should read up. (Wes turns the page over) Wait, don't turn - turn..." Fred: "It doesn't make any sense." g*n: "What doesn't?" Fred: "It's all - normal." Shuts the door to Cordy's bathroom vanity. g*n: "And that's wrong?" Fred: "No (turns and sees g*n standing in the door, one of Cordy's bras in his hands) what's wrong is you picking through Cordy's (fails around as g*n raises his eyebrows at her) support - things." g*n: "What - this? Come on, you're telling me you never hid anything in your underwear drawer?" Fred: "I don't know. I mean, for five years I didn't even have... Can we not talk abut my underwear, please? - And put that down. (g*n does) I just figured if Cordy was taking something serious like Seltrex she'd have tried other stuff first. But - there is not even any Aspirin in here. (Leans in closer to g*n) I think he's protecting her." g*n looks around the room, the steps back into Cordy's bedroom. g*n: "Phantom Dennis? Listen, we would never ask you to betray Cordelia, but we need to see whatever it is she's been hiding from us. I mean, unless you're so hyped on the ghosting life that you want her to join you?" After a moment, g*n sighs and drops down on the end of Cordy's bed. A storage container slides out from under the bed. Fred and g*n open it. Fred: "Hmm. You looked through the underwear drawer first, didn't you? (They pick up several prescription bottles) The date on this prescription? It's from a year ago." Cordy's body is lying on Angel's bed. Angel is sitting in a chair beside it, holding her hand. Through the opening to the next part of the suite we can see Connor's crib. Angel: "Cordy - Look, I know that you can't hear me, but - there is something I have to say. (Puts down her hand) You really piss me off, you know that? I thought we trusted each other. But you've been lying. MRI's and CAT scans? It's been going on for over a year. Why couldn't you let me in? I could have helped you. You make me so furious." Cordy: "You're furious? I get body-jacked on my birthday, and *you're* the one that's furious?" Lorne walks in: "Knock, knock. How is she?" Angel: "The same. You ready?" Lorne: "As I'll ever be." Cordy: "For what? What's he gonna do?" Lorne sits down on the edge of the bed. Lorne: "Although I'm sort of wishing I brought my helmet. Last time I tried this I got blown across the room." Cordy: "Oh, god, please let this work." Lorne puts his fingers on the temples of Cordy's body and closes his eyes. Cordy closes her eyes as well. Lorne: "Cordelia? Are you there?" Cordy: "It's me. Lorne, I'm here." Lorne: "Cordelia?" Cordy's eyes pop open: "Yes! One seven one Oak street. Can you hear me? Lorne?" Lorne takes his hands away and looks at Angel. Angel looks from Cordy's body to Lorne: "What?" Lorne: "Cordelia's not in there. She's just gone." Cordy: "I'm standing right in front of you." Angel sighs and rest his head on his hands. Cordy looks up as she hears the indistinct whisperings again. Cordy: "And - I'm afraid." Angel raises his head: "No. This isn't gonna happen. (Gets up) I don't care how many favors you have to call in. I don't care how many gods you have to cross. You have a connection to the Powers That Be and you're gonna find me a way to talk to them. Understand?" Lorne backs up a step: "A-angel honey, it-it's not that easy. I mean, contacting the Powers is a muddy, not to mention dangerous, area. But this is a - this is a bit much to ask." Angel: "I'm not asking." Lorne sighs and leaves. Angel sits back down on the chair beside the bed. Blend to Cordy sitting on the floor at the end of the bed. She looks over as Angel begins to snore. Cordy gets up. Cordy: "Finally! (Walks over to Angel) Okay, Wes, let's hope your books know what they're talking about." Cordy sits down on the chair, melting into Angel's body as she positions herself to match Angel's. Angel's head comes up and he exhales slowly as he straightens. He sees a permanent marker on the nightstand, and knocks over a glass sitting beside it as he picks it up. Moving slowly, he starts to write 171 Oak on the wall above the bed. We hear indistinct whispering and a dark, smoke-like shadow writhes across the wall beside Angel. (I missed the next part because of a glitch during the recording, but I take it that the shadow threw Cordy out of Angel's body, making Angel fall to the floor.) Wes walks in just as Angel picks himself up off the floor. Wes: "Angel - what are you doing on the floor?" Angel: "I don't know. I had this dream that, uh - Cordy was here. She was - ah, trying to tell me something. Something really important." Cordy: "Yes! And, and...?" Angel: "It's weird." Cordy: "*How* are *you* a champion? In what *way* are *you* a champion?" Wes: "Fred studied Cordy's latest CAT scans. The news isn't good. The tests show widespread neuro-electrical deterioration." Cordy: "That's just a fancy way of saying..." Angel: "She's dying." Cordy after a b*at: "I think I like the fancy way better." Wes: "I'm still working on, ah, the mystical aspect: trance states, astral projection, spiritual possession. But so far I haven't been able to... Why don't you take a break? I-I'll watch her and Connor." Angel leaves, not meeting Wes' eyes. Cordy looking down at her body: "I'm not ready yet." A wind starts blast through the room affecting only Cordy. She backs into a corner and slowly slides down to the floor, watching as the dark shadow seeps out of the wall opposite her. The air ripples like a pond and Skip (the demon from TVT) materializes from it. Skip: "Hey. How's it going?" Break Cordy slowly stands up takes a few steps closer to Skip. Cordy: "You're - you're - death? You've come to take me." Skip burst into echoing laughter. Skip: "Kidding. (Offers her his hand) I'm Skip. (Cordy just looks at him) You're Cordelia Chase, right? (Cordy nods slightly) Sorry it took me so long, I... (Indicates her body) Is this you? Most people go astral, their spiritual shapes tend to be an idealized version of themselves. You know, straighten the nose, lose the gray, sort of a self-esteem kind of thing. You're pretty confident, aren't you?" Cordy: "What is this? Who are you? What the hell is going on?!" Skip: "You have questions. I get that. And I'll answer them, too, but first we got to get out of here." Cordy: "But why? Here is good. I feel really comfortable here. I-I like here." Skip: "But you see, there is a slight problem: you - don't belong here anymore." Cordy: "Because I'm d*ad?" Skip: "Not yet. But you will be - very soon - unless - you - come with me." Cordy looks over towards Wes sitting on the chair beside her bed. Cordy: "Well, I'll follow you on-on one condition. You have to tell my friends about this vision that I had." Skip: "Sorry. No can do. I'm not a messenger. I'm just a guide." Skip holds out his hand to Cordy. Cordy looks at it: "I don't wanna die." Skip: "So don't." Cordy slowly puts her hand into Skips. There is a blue flash of light. We see a stack of CAT scan prints lying on Wes' desk. Fred: "That's from eight months ago. The red spots are what they call hot areas or what you'd expect from a healthy, functioning brain. This one is dated one month ago." g*n: "Cordy's doctors couldn't explain it." Fred moves the print, revealing one that's mostly green and yellow underneath. Fred: "See - green is a cold color, usually signifying d*ad areas of the cerebrum. Normally you wouldn't see a scan like that..." g*n: "Unless the person was a cucumber." Angel: "How could we not know?" Lorne comes in moaning: "Oh, for the love of god, somebody get me a sea-breeze." Lorne's clothes are torn and his left horn is dangling by a thread. Fred: "Lorne! What happened?" Lorne: "I can't really talk about it." g*n: "Then how the hell are we supposed to find them so we can kick their asses?" Lorne: "Ah, no. I mean I *can't* talk about it. They cast a spell. I went down to the lo...(his speech turns to incoherent mumbling) See?" Angel: "Did you get the information?" Lorne: "Oh, why yes, Angel. My horn should grow back in a couple of days. So kind of you to be concerned. - Well, they didn't say I couldn't write it." Lorne holds out a piece of paper. Angel takes it, grabs his coat and heads for the door. Lorne: "Angel, all kidding aside, this isn't something to be taken lightly. Only a champion can deal with the conduit. And even then you have to la-argh arr..." Angel: "I'll keep that in mind." Angel leaves and Lorne shakes himself. Cordy looks around as a flash of white light resolves itself into a deserted open room. Cordy: "Is this... This is a mall." Skip: "We just figured you'd be more comfortable here." Cordy: "We?" Skip: "The Powers That Be." Cordy: "The Powers That Be popped me out of my body and sent me to a mall?' Skip: "Actually, this is more a construct of a mall. You know, like in the Matrix." Cordy: "You've seen the Matrix." Skip: "Oh, I love that flick. When Trinity is all 'dodge this' and the agent just crumples to the (Cordy sighs) and I'm not really instilling any *awe* anymore, am I?" Cordy: "Why did you bring me here?" Skip: "To give you a choice. But, we'll get to that later. Right now there is something I want you to see." Skip touches an info-TV-screen and motions here over as a picture of Doyle appears on it. Cordy: "Oh my god. - Doyle." The screen shows the kiss that transferred the visions for Doyle to Cordelia. Skip: "This is where it happened, big cosmic whoops. - Doyle was never meant to give you those visions." Cordy: "The why did the Powers let him?" Skip: "Well, they're usually pretty good at catching that sort of thing. What they didn't count on where his feelings for you." Cordy: "You mean - Doyle gave me the visions because - he loved me?" Skip: "I can't answer that. What I *can* tell you is that it was a mistake." Cordy turns away: "But I thought the Powers That Be knew everything." Skip: "Life and death, that sort of thing, they got a handle on. Who someone chooses to love, well, that's just good old free will. See Cordelia, the visions are an ancient, powerful force. Demons are the only ones who can withstand them." Cordy: "But I've had them for more than two years now. Doesn't that mean I'm strong?" Skip: "Strong, yes. Demon, no. Just ask Tammy here." Cordy: "Tammy where?" Skip steps aside to reveal a girl dressed like a peasant. Tammy (in Cockney accent): "Hello, miss?" Cordy spins to face her. Skip: "This is Tammy. She had the visions back in - sixteen thirty?" Tammy: "Aye. Had 'em well neigh on a year, and a hellish year it was, too. Town fathers called me a witch, wanted to burn me at the stake." Cordy: "They k*lled you because you had visions?" Tammy: "No, miss. They didn't have to. (Turns so her back is facing Cordy) Last vision I had blew out the back of me skull. (Tammy turns back around and we see the hole in the back of her head) We wasn't mean to have the visions, us humans. Look, you want my advice, you listen to our man Skip here. He won't steer you wrong, this one." Skip smiles: "Aw, get out of here. (Turns serious) Really. Get out. I've got work." Tammy leaves. Skip to Cordy: "You okay?" Dissolve to a white light and whisperings that resolves into chamber. Its walls are hidden in the shadows. The only thing in it is a square cube of stone with a f*re burning on top. We hear a scream and Angel drops into frame to land face down on the floor beside the cube. Angel: "Thanks Lorne." Voices: "It is come. The champion is come. (Angel picks himself up and looks around) Come for what? Answers not to be had. Death is certain. Death awaits." Angel: "I wanna talk to the conduit." Voices: "We are the conduit. We are the gateway, the all the time, the ever. It wishes to speak to us." Angel: "Yes, it does. Are you gonna show yourselves?" Voices: "We are unseen. Formless. It speaks unknowing. Send it away." Angel: "I'm not going anywhere until I get my message to the Powers That Be. My friend - Cordelia - has visions given to her by the Powers. They're k*lling her. I want the Powers to take them back. - Let her go. She's suffered enough!" Suddenly Angel flies across the room to smash into one of the walls. Voices: "Suffering? Does it know suffering?" Angel flies across the room to smash into the opposite wall then drops to the floor. Voices: "Yes it does. - The Powers owe nothing. Send it away. Send it away." Angel picks himself back up: "I'm not finished." Skip: "You ever have the vague sensation that maybe you left the oven on? Or that you're supposed to call someone back, you just forgot who it was? More to the point, have you ever felt that way about your acting career?" Cordy: "I don't have an acting career." Skip: "Which sort of brings me to my next point." Skip points to a stack of TV screens and they come to life, showing scenes of a Hollywood party. Cordy: "Hey! I remember that night." Skip: "You'd been in LA for a few months, things had been kind of lean, and who should you run into?" Angel appears on the screen, making his way through the party goers. Cordy watches with a slight smile on her face as she and Angel meet at the party from "City of..." Skip: "Your entire life changed that night. In ways you couldn't imagine. Indescribably painful ways, I think you'll agree. Now, what if the play ran a little different? (The picture on the screen rewinds) You're on the sideline over here, (Skip points and a white x appears on the lower right corner of the screen) talking to a couple wanna-be moguls. Angel is down field here. (A circle appears around Angel's head in the back of the screen) Instead of cutting through the middle to meet Angel, (two white intersecting lines appear on the screen) what if you'd been forced to counter? What if *this* guy, (a circle appears around another man in the crowd) who happens to be a very powerful talent agent, flanks you (A white line connects the circled agent to the X denoting Cordy's position) and drew you off side? (A white line leads from the X in the right lower corner of the screen over to the left corner and another X) What would happen then?" Cordy: "I'd, ah, score a touchdown?" Skip: "Metaphorically speaking, heck, yeah! Inside every living thing there is a connection to the Powers That Be. Call it instinct, intuition. Deep down we all know our purpose in this world." Cordy: "Are you saying that - I was meant to be an actress?" Skip: "No. I'm saying you were meant to be an incredibly famous and wealthy actress. And the Powers That Be can make that happen." Cordy: "They can do that? They can turn back time?" Skip: "They don't go for that - much. Think of it as 'writing over history.' From this moment on you could live the life you always wanted. No monsters, no visions, no dying. Well, not for a long time, anyway." Cordy: "But no Angel." Skip: "Cordelia, I want you to listen to me. If you go back inside your body, you *won't* wake up. You will lie there, unable to move, unable to speak - until the next vision hits you and then you will die." Cordy: "But that's not fair. How's Angel gonna know to save that girl if I don't tell him where she is? He needs me." Skip after a b*at: "Let's go in here." Skip takes a hold of Cordy's hand and pulls her through one of the walls of the mall - into the space where Angel is arguing with the Conduit. Voices: "Its pleas are pointless. Her path is chosen. We will not interfere." Angel: "The visions are too much. She's not strong enough to handle them." Voices: "Obstinate. It speaks and does not listen." Angel spins around, yelling: "No, you're not listening! Cordelia is not a champion. She is a rich girl from Sunnydale who likes to play superhero. She doesn't have what it takes to do this! Don't the Powers get that? Stop whispering and listen to me, damn it! She's weak." Cordy: "Skip. Get me out of here. Now!" Skip and Cordy melt away. Angel: "You're k*lling her. She's unconscious, and she's alone. Who knows if she's in pain?" Voices: "It is angry. It is afraid." Angel after a b*at: "I'm more afraid of her dying than she is. - What is that?" Skip and Cordy are back at the mall. Skip: "Cordelia - are you sure?" Cordy: "You gave me a choice, so I'm choosing." Skip: "Okay, kid. Here goes. I'm gonna make you a star." Cordy closes her eyes. Announcers voice: "And now, ladies and gentlemen, the two time Emmy award winning star of our show, the gal with the million dollar smile: Cordelia Chase!" The mall has changed into the set of a sit-com around Cordy. She is caught in a spotlight and opens her eyes to wild applause form the audience and crew. She is now wearing a tight, blue, sparkly dress and smiles brilliantly at her fans. Break We get to see the opening credits of her show, titled Cordy! (The opening credits include: Cordelia Chase, Gregory Dunne, Elliott Sims, and Carol Wright Created by Phlegmont and Mendoza) Cordelia: "2,3,4" Singers: "Yes, you can hear it in her laughter. - Ooh, you can see it in her smile. - Yeah, you'll be hanging from the rafters. - Ooh, you better stay awhile. - Ooh, better stay awhile. - - Yes, the whole world is full of laughter. - Ooh, you got my heart a little wired. - Yeah, you'll be hanging from the rafters. - Ooh, better stay awhile. - Ooh, you better stay awhile. - Ooh, better stay awhile..." (Note: The theme song was sung by Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt. Words and music by David Greenwalt.) Audience claps wildly. We see Cordy walk down a corridor from the stage, dressed in a dark outfit now, wearing her hair different. Man off screen: "Great show, Cordy!" Cordy: "Thanks, you too." Cordy's assistant falls in beside her, holding a PDA. Nev: "Okay. There are stars and there are stars, and then there is you!" Cordy: "God, that is sweet, Nev. Am I paying you enough?" Nev: "Well, as a matter of fact..." Cordy: "Good. What's cooking?" Nev: "Okay. You got a costume fitting. The Producers want to run some ideas past you for next weeks show." Cordy walks up to some fans lying in wait backstage, and begins to sign some of the autograph books held out to her. Cordy: "Hi, how are you? What's your name?" Nev: "We want to record that breast cancer PSA, but tomorrow is pretty booked. Maybe next week." Cordy still signing: "No, make it tomorrow. I wanna get it on the air. (Turns to Nev with a sigh) Nev, you ever get that nagging feeling that you're supposed to be somewhere, doing something, but you can't remember what?" Nev: "No. I'm highly organized. That's why you pay me - pretty well. But with the holidays coming I really..." Cordy hands the autograph and pen back to one of the fans. Cordy: "I have to go, I'm sorry. I have to go." Starts to walk on. Nev dogs her, pulling out his phone. Cordy: "I want something. Hypo-something. Hypothermia?" Nev to phone: "Josh, lets get a large tub of ice water to Miss Chase's dressing room, pronto." Cordy to herself: "No, that's not it." Nev: "Canceling ice water." Cordy: "Hyper... hyperbaric?" Nev: "Josh, make it an oxygen tent." Cordy to herself: "No, that's not it either." Nev: "Canceling tent." Cordy spins to face Nev: "Hyperion! That's it!" Nev: "The hotel." Cordy: "Yes. I wanna go there." Nev: "Terrific. When would you like me to... (Cordy is already walking on) Now? Now you would like to... (Cordy snaps her fingers in the air without looking back at Nev) Without security? Without an entourage of me? Right. I'll give them a call. (To phone) Josh, car, side door, now." Cordy enters the Hyperion. A string of lights are decorating the plants framing the entrance. Jazzy music is playing. People are scattered around the lobby. A bellboy pushes a baggage cart towards the elevators. Lights are decorating all the plants around the lobby. Cordy walks up to the concierge writing something in the book lying open on the reception counter. Cordy: "Hi. Excuse me." Concierge: "Ah, yes, how can we help... (Looks up) Oh, Miss Chase. How can you help me? Ah, how can I help with... (Gives a little laugh) How can we help you?" Cordy: "I believe my assistant made a reservation." Concierge checks the book: "Ah. The, ah, luxury suite. I will take you right up to my room. *Your* room, I meant. - Welcome to the Hyperion." Cordy is following the concierge down a corridor of the Hyperion. Concierge: "And here we are, Ms. Chase. (Pulls out a key and starts to unlock a door) The luxury suite." Cordy slowly walks past him looking around. Cordy: "No. (Points at a door) This one. (Closes her eyes for a moment) I want this one." Concierge: "That's ah - that's a *standard* Miss Chase. It's hardly fitting for someone of your..." Cordy: "Open it?" Concierge: "Yes, certainly." Cordy slowly enters the suite she picked and looks around it. The standard warm décor of the hotel room is intercut with flashes of the same suite, but the way it looked when Angel was using it, including Connor's crib. Cordy slowly walks over to the bed as the concierge watches her from just inside the door. Cordy: "This wallpaper..." Concierge: "Ah, yes. Designed by renowned artist Jacques Latour. Part of the remodeling we... (Cordy starts to rip some of it off the wall) Ha, ha... - Mmm, I hate that wallpaper. That's bad, bad wallpaper." Cordy has ripped enough paper off the wall to reveal the address she wrote on it while 'borrowing' Angel's body. Cordy: "One seven one Oak. (Turns to the Concierge) Where is that?" Concierge: "Ah..." Cordy rings the doorbell of house 171. A teenage girl answers the door. Cordy: "Oh, hi. I'm - I'm really sorry to bother you..." Cynthia: "Oh, my god. You're - Cordelia Chase. (Cordy smiles and nods) You're - Cordy!" Cordy: "Yeah, hi. Listen, I know you don't know me, but would you mind if I..." Cynthia: "Oh! Please, come in." Cordy: "Oh, thanks." Cordy walks in, and the girl closes the door behind her. Cynthia: "I'm Cynthia. Cynthia York. And - I love your show. Like, *love* love. You're just - you're my idol, Cordy. I wanna be just like you, and have my own design firm and... (Frowns) Wait a second. What are you doing in Reseda?" Cordy laughs: "Yeah, uhm, hmm. Good question. Uhm, this is - gonna sound a little bizarre, but, uhm, is everything okay here? Nothing - bad - happened, has it?" Cynthia half shrugs: "My dad left us a couple months ago." Cordy reaches out to touch the girls shoulder: "Oh. Honey, I'm sorry. Is your mom here?" Cynthia shakes her head: "She's up in Ojai visiting friends." Cordy: "Oh. - Well, ah... - That's, ah... Well, okay, then, ahem..." Cordy turns to the door to leave. Cynthia: "Hey! You wanna see something cool?" Cordy turns back: "Sure." Cynthia takes Cordy's hand and leads her over to a pentagram drawn on the floor on the other side of the couch. Cynthia: "It's a retrieval spell. I'm gonna make my dad come back and live with us again. - I'm pretty sure I did everything right. Even though I - spilled some diet coke on the book I was using and had to improvise a little. Pretty cool pentagram, huh?" Cordy: "Cynthia? I think we should get out of here before..." A blue light flashes and suddenly there is a big demon standing in the middle of the pentagram. Cordy: "...that happens." Break Cordy pushes Cynthia towards the door. Cordy: "Get our of here, Cynthia. Go!" Cordy picks up a table lamp and smashes it over the monster's head, then turns to run. The monster trips her, then grabs a hold of her ankle. Cordy grabs a hold of a book (?) lying on the coffee table and rams it in the monster face, making it fall back. The door behind her opens and Cordy turns to stare up as g*n and Wes enter. Wes is carrying a drawn sword in his right hand. His left sleeve is pinned up, empty, against the side of his jacket. Wes to g*n: "Get the girl." g*n to Cynthia: "Lets go! Outside." g*n pulls Cynthia towards the door as Wes runs the demon through with his sword. Cordy: "Wesley, what are you doing here and - what - happened to your other arm?" Wes pushes her aside: "Look out." The monster comes at Wes again and he fends it off with his sword. g*n comes in and tries to b*at the monster with his baseball bat. After a brief struggle they manage to down the monster, and Wes skewers it with his sword. Cordy: "So, you - like - k*ll things now? Cause last time I saw you, you just kind of fainted in front of them." Wes: "Cordelia, why on earth are you here?" Cordy: "I know, I know. Reseda. It's practically the ninth circle of hell." Wes: "Not Reseda. Here in this house. Is that girl a friend of yours?" Cordy: "Oh, look, I know we haven't seen each other in a while, Wesley, and... (Laughs a little) But there is something *weird* going on with me. Like (whispering) Sunnydale weird." Cynthia: "Oh, my god. (Looking at the d*ad monster) My mom is gonna freak." g*n is sticking the appendage of the monster hanging over the gate of his truck under the tarp spread over the bed of it. Cordy and Wes are walking down the walkway from the house to the truck. Cordy: "...and underneath the wallpaper was an address. This address. So, for absolutely no sane person reason I can think of, I come out here and whammo! Slimy monster fun time. What's up with that?" Wes throws his sword in the back of the truck and turns to face her. Wes: "I'm not sure. I'd have to consult my books." Cordy smiles at him: "Some things never change." g*n clears his throat behind them. Wes: "Oh, sorry. This is my partner, Charles g*n." g*n: "Man, Wes told me he knew you, but I-I didn't believe him." Cordy: "Yeah, we go way back. (Gives a laugh) Back to, uhm, when - you had two arms, which, by the way..." Wes: "Ah, Kungai demon a couple of years ago." g*n: "Hey, is it true that you and Wes were... You know, that you had a little..." Cordy: "...humiliating kiss where he drooled all over my chin? (g*n looks from Wes to Cordy) Yeah. But I worked *really* hard to repress it." Wes: "Right. Well, as much as I'm enjoying this forced death march down memory lane..." Wes goes over to the passenger side of the truck and opens the door. g*n: "Hey, what is it with you Sunnydale folks and repression? I mean, you three are the most denying it folks I've ever met." Cordy: "Three? Who else is here in LA?" We get flashes of g*n's truck driving down the road and different sh*ts of the city at night. Wes walks into his apartment, followed by Cordy and g*n. Wes: "Cordelia, I want you to think about this. Angel's not the person you knew. He came to Los Angeles in pain, vulnerable - and when Doyle, his only friend died he - he retreated into himself." g*n: "Him getting the visions didn't help either." Cordy: "So, let me get this straight. Angel gets the visions of people who are gonna die, and he tells you, and you go out and slay, and - this is how you make your living? This - got to be the suckiest job in the world." g*n: "It pays the bills - occasionally." Wes walks over to a door: "Don't be shocked by his condition. (Takes a key from a hook beside it) The visions have taken a toll - and the isolation. Sometimes he sends us out to save people he k*lled two hundred years ago. (Cordy looks from Wes to g*n, then looks down) So, why don't we just tell him you stopped by and said hi?" Cordy: "Wesley. I've gotta see him." Wes opens to the door to a room empty except for some shackles dangling from the ceiling and a mattress lying cockeyed in the middle of the floor. Angel, bare footed, is sitting on the edge of the mattress, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees. As the door opens he gasps, then curls up even tighter. Cordy looks at the shackles. Wes: "Restraints. Sometimes the visions make him violent." Angel scrambles to his feet, arms wrapped tightly around himself and begins to ramble. Angel: "One seven one Oak drive, do you hear me? I feel better now. I can be alone here. I won't run away..." Cordy: "Oh my god." Wes: "This is one of his good days." Angel: "No, I - I won't. I won't do that. I won't do... I didn't mean... I didn't mean... Only if it's d*ad. It's me. (Drops back down on the corner of the mattress) It was my fault. It was me. I'm okay. I didn't mean... I didn't mean..." Cordy takes a step closer, but Wes takes hold of her arm. Wes: "Don't get too close." Angel covers his head:"Ah! I won't run away." Cordy walks towards him: "Angel. - Do you remember me? (Squats down beside him) Cordelia?" Angel looks up and scrambles away from her on all fours. Angel: "No. I'm afraid." Angel goes to cower in a corner of the room. Angel: "I'm afraid. I'm afraid." Cordy slowly walks over to him: "Shh. Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you." Angel: "I'm fine. Fine. One seven one. One seven one. You'll see. You'll see, one seven one. My head doesn't hurt. (Bangs his head back against the wall) My head doesn't hurt. Now I'm warm. My head doesn't hurt." Cordy: "You don't remember me, do you?" Angel: "I was there. I wanted to die. But - but I was - was afraid to die. So afraid to die. One seven one." Angel repeats the number over and over as he keeps writing it with his finger on the wall beside him. Cordy: "Shh, Angel, it's okay. Everything is gonna be okay." Angel: "It was my fault. I was there. I couldn't do anything. There was nothing I could do." Cordy: "Everything is gonna be okay." Cordy leans in and softly kisses Angel on the mouth. Wes and g*n watch in slow motion. There is a whoosing sound and a blue light passes from Angel's lips to Cordy. Cordy sits back on her heels and turns to look at Wes and g*n, then stands up. Cordy: "I remember everything. The visions (Walks over to where Skip is suddenly standing in the room) they're mine." Skip: "We made a deal. You gave up the visions, not to mention the certain death that goes with them, and you get to live out your dream. Call me crazy, but I thought that was a pretty fair trade." Cordy: "Sure it's fair. But it wasn't me." Skip: "We've been over this. I respect what you're trying to do. It's noble and heroic, and all that other Russle Crowe 'Gladiator' crap." Cordy: "You've seen..." Skip: "Didn't love it. The fact remains that humans are not strong enough to harbor the visions! Period. Even the Powers That Be can't change that." Cordy steps closer: "Then find a loop hole, Skip. I know my purpose in this world and it includes the visions. And if the Powers That Be aren't complete dumb-asses, they know it, too." Skip: "There maybe a - tiny - loophole." Cordy: "I'll take it." Skip: "You may wanna think about that. The only way *you* get to keep the visions is by becoming - part demon. (Cordy looks down) The process isn't easy. It'll make your vision pain feel like a stroll through candyland. And even after the pain subsides the effects of the transition will be numerous and unpredictable. You may never be able to lead a human life again." Cordy looks over at Angel (who appears to be frozen in time), then back at Skip. Cordy: "So - demonize me already." Skip after a b*at: "It was an honor being your guide, Cordelia Chase." Cordy gives him slight smile. Skip raises his hand, a blue light illuminates the room and Cordy arcs back, screaming in pain. On the bed in Angel's room Cordy arcs back, screaming in pain. Angel rushes to her side as the rest of the g*ng come running. Fred: "What's happening to her?" Cordy sits up on the bed, gasping, and opens her eyes. Angel catches her in a hug. Angel: "I thought I'd lost you." Cordy: "Angel." Cordy gasps, pulls back and grabs a hold of her head. Cordy: "No horns." Checks her backside. Smiles up at Angel: "No tail." Angel looks at the others, but no one volunteers an opinion. Cordy: "Whew! Just checking." Cordy scrambles up out of bed and stretches, while Angel takes a suspicious look under the pillow before slowly trailing after her. Cordy: "It feels *so* good to be solid again." Angel joins the rest of the g*ng and they all pivot to keep watching Cordy. Wes: "Cordelia, what is the last thing you remember?" Cordy: "When? I've been so... Oh. You mean the vision downstairs. No, I had a vision, but it's been taken care off. There was this actress, and an one-armed guy. (Everyone watches her silently) It's a long story. But right now, we have to solve my vision." Lorne: "The one you just said was taken care of?" Cordy: "No. The one I'm having right now. There is a young man in a park in Glendale. Uh, somewhere near a pond. There is a demon waiting for him. He's red with four, no make that five horns." Angel looks at the others then back at Cordy. Angel: "Uh, Cordy?" The camera pulls back and we can see that Cordy is floating about a foot off the ground. Cordy: "What?"

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x11 - Birthday"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Wesley: "Angel's son is part of the prophecy." Linwood: "The Nyazian scrolls said the child would never be born!" Gavin: "Darla died during childbirth." Darla dusts herself. Holtz: "She sacrificed herself to save the child." Angel: "I'm his only family. My job now is to be everything for him." Gavin: "We have to get that baby." g*n: "Boogie at the back door!" Wes: "Everyone and everything will be coming for him." Angel: "No one is gonna put their hands on this child." Cordy gets thrown into the w*apon cabinet by a vision. Cordy: "These visions are k*lling me." Skip: "Humans are not strong enough to harbor the visions! Demons are the only ones who can withstand them." Cordy: "So - demonize me already." Cordy: "Right now we have to solve my vision. The one I'm having right now." Angel: "Cordy..." Cordy, floating a foot above the ground: "What?" Files and Records: "Holtz, Daniel, vampire k*ller, ca. Seventeen fifty four." Holtz shows Justine the obituary of her sister, Julia Cooper. Holtz: "Justine, I know what it's like to grieve. I want to help you." Justine: "I want you to stay the hell away from me." Justine fights the vampire in the cemetery and Holtz stakes it before it can bite her. Holtz: "I'm here to teach you how to fight." Justine: "What's in it for you?" Holtz: "You help me k*ll a vampire." sh*t of Angel and the g*ng leaving the hospital with Connor in the stroller g*n bought. Justine: "You don't need me for that." Holtz: "I do. This vampire is strong." Angel is counting loose change as he puts it into a piggybank. Angel: "Sixty, seventy, eighty. One, two, three." Cordy, holding Connor: "Angel..." Angel raises a hand to stop her as he picks up the piggy and locks it into the picture safe beside the desk. Fred looks up from her laptop. Fred: "How is the Connor fund?" Angel: "There was a dollar eighty three in the cushions out there. That's perfectly good money just lying around. (Closes the safe) Now, how's it going?" Fred: "Moments away." Angel looks over Fred's shoulder at the new website for Angel Investigations and points at the 'No Case Too Small' under the 'We Help The Helpless" part. Angel: "Ah. Can you make that bigger? Bold, but, you know, tasteful." Fred: "Hmm. Tasteful. Sure." Cordy to baby: "You are so cute! Yes, you are. You are just the best little boy in the whole world." Angel comes up behind her and smiles down at Connor over her shoulder. Angel: "How's my little man?" Cordy: "Oh, he wonders where his father's been." Angel: "Papa's got mouths to feed." Cordy: "Ah. I have a mouth, too. Always have had one. Kind of known for it and we've fed it fine for years. Yeah." Cordy puts Connor down in a baby carry-bed. Cordy: "Angel - I'm glad you wanna take care of your son. I am. I just wanna make sure we don't lose sight of the mission." Angel: "Well, we have to earn a living. I mean, not just for Connor, but for all of us." Cordy: "I agree. But first and foremost we work for the Powers, help the helpless. Promise me we won't neglect that." Angel: "I promise. (Sees g*n coming in) I promise. (Turns to g*n) Well?" g*n: "Well, we hired some guys. Six thousand of these babies all over town." g*n holds up a flyer with 'Angel Investigations' and their logo on it. 'We help the helpless. No case too small. Paranormal Specialists. 313-555-0126' Angel: "Nice! (To Cordy) I'd call me, wouldn't you?" Fred: "Hey! The website's up. We're live." Angel picks Connor up: "We're live, little guy. Come on." Angel walks over to the desk and turns the laptop so everyone can see the screen. Angel: "There, beautiful. We're online. We got flyers, we got yellow pages. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to a new area of Angel Investigations. All we have to do now is wait - for that phone to start ringing and the money to start rolling in. (To Baby) Because someone's got to clothe and feed and educate this little guy, yeah? (Connor yawns) Yep - all we have to do is wait. - Just a matter of time. (Connor fusses) Don't you worry, this town is full of people who have problems." A man is running through the pouring rain. He looks back over his shoulder at some looming shadows following him on the wall of the alley behind him, and runs right into a pile of trashcans. As he picks himself back up, he sees one of Angel's new flyers. AI is still standing around the phone, waiting. The man, flyer in hand, runs over to a payphone, dials, listens to it ring. Man: "Come on, come on, come on!" Split screen - the phone at AI is *not* ringing. Triple split screen, a guy picks up the phone in what looks like a kitchen. Guy: "Fabrizio's Pizza." Fred picks up a flyer form the desk and takes a closer look at it. Fred: "Is this the right phone number?" Everyone turns to look at Wesley. Intro Hyperion, day, Wes walks in, carrying a stack of flyers. Wes: "That's the last of them. Six thousand new ones." Wes stops to see what has g*n's attention so riveted. Fred is out in the lobby cuddling Connor. Wes: "Adorable." g*n: "So sweet." Wes: "I meant the baby." g*n: "I meant the hot mama." g*n and Wes look at each other. Angel comes in. Wes: "Sorry about the mix up last night." Angel: "It's not important. But we can't afford any more mistakes. Making mistakes cost money, and making money right now is our number one priority. (Lorne comes down the stairs in a silk housecoat) Hey, Lorne." Lorne: "If this is about the baby formula that I snagged from the fridge last night - sorry. I was feeling a little peckish and it was that or a glass of pig's blood. By the way, baby formula and Kaluha? Not as bad as it sounds." Angel: "Lorne, I need you to use your contacts to find out what Holtz is up to. He's out there somewhere. We can never forget that. Finding him is our number one priority." g*n: "I thought you said..." Angel: "Finding Holtz and making money are our two number one priorities." Cordy walks by behind him and clears her throat. Angel: "Helping the helpless, finding Holtz, and making money are out *three* number one priorities." Cordy: "Hey, look! We got some hits on our website." The phone on Cordy's desk rings and Wes picks it up. Wes: "Angel Investigations, may I help you?" The phone on the counter rings and g*n picks it up. g*n: "Angel Investigations, can I help you?" Yet a third phone rings somewhere. Angel, smiling: "We're in business!" Justine is sitting at a small table in Holtz lair with Holtz pacing behind her. Justine: "You should be thanking me." Holtz: "For disobeying an order?" Justine: "For dusting two vamps!" Holtz: "Two vampires from whom I had told you to walk away." Justine: "Guess I misunderstood." Holtz: "Which is why we're here." Justine: "And speaking of here, would a couple of light bulbs and indoor plumbing k*ll you?" Holtz: "We are here to determine whether or not - you - have the commitment necessary for the work at hand." Justine: "At hand? -That's a joke, right?" Holtz: "Why are you wasting my time?" Justine: "What do you want from me?" Holtz: "I just told you: commitment. Something you must now convince me you have." The camera pans down from Justine looking up at Holtz to reveal that her left hand is pinned to the desk with an awl. Holtz: "So I've explained why I'm doing this. Why are you?" Justine: "Let's just say, feeling something - is better than feeling nothing." Holtz: "Take it out any time you like. If you're still here when I return, we'll consider the next phase of our - partnership." Justine watches Holtz walk out and slide the grate shut behind him. The Hyperion lobby is full of people (not all of them human). Fred takes a clipboard from one of the non-humans. Angel, holding Connor, walks up beside her. Fred: "Welcome to Angel Investigations Mr. (looks at the clipboard) Blee - Lee - Shushngrung. Uhm, please have a seat and one of our associates will be right with you." Angel: "Hey, Lorne. Non-human on deck." Lorne: "Coming." Lorne is talking to three gray aliens, wearing long robes and silver facemasks in a language that seems to be mostly clicks, whirrs, and popping sounds. He leaves them to talk to Angel. Lorne: "Hey, the guys with the chrome faceplates, they're called Nahdrahs. I speak their lingo, sort of. If I understand them correctly they've got a job for our leader and a great deal of money." Angel: "Oh, let's not keep them waiting, huh?" Lorne: "Well, our leader in this instance being Wesley. They saw his web articles on DNA fusion comparisons in Tri-ped demon populations." Angel sees Wes coming out of the office with some other people and flags him. Angel: "Hey, Wes. Wes, talk to the Nahdrahs." g*n comes up to Angel leading a young blonde. g*n: "Hey, office free? It's kind of personal." Angel: "Yeah. Go. (To Connor) If this keeps up, little guy, we may have to incorporate, huh?" Cordy is sitting at the counter, phone in hand. Cordy: "We're getting stretched a little thin here, Angel." Angel: "Come on. Nonsense. We can handle it." Cordy: "Really? Well, then why don't you handle it by picking up lines two, three and four?" Angel shrugs and walks towards the phones. Angel: "Angel Investigations, your problems are our problems. - Okay. How urgent is it? Uh-huh. And what do you do for a living? That's a good company. You own it? Okay, hold on. (Puts down the receiver) Pen, paper, quick." g*n is pouring some tea for the Blonde in the office. Ally: "I don't sleep. I'm afraid to go out or answer the phone." g*n: "Yeah, I hate stalkers. Look, don't worry. We'll put a stop to it. (Hands her the tea) Have a seat." Ally: "Thank you." g*n: "So, do you know who this guy is?" Ally: "Yeah, well, it's- it's Brian, my ex-boyfriend." g*n: "Have you - been to the police?" Ally: "Yeah. They act like I'm some kind of nut. Just - like I'm making it all up." g*n: "Yeah, you go to the cops for help they don't do a thing until somebody ends up d*ad." Ally: "Somebody *is* d*ad." g*n: "Who?" Ally: "Brian. (Holds up the flyer) Isn't that the kind of stuff you guys deal with?" (The number at the bottom of the flyer now ends in 0162) g*n: "Yeah. All the time. So - Brian, your d*ad boyfriend, is stalking you?" Ally: "Well, I mean, he's not my boyfriend *now.*" Wes is talking to the Nahdrahs with Lorne translating. Wes: "The Internet article I'm currently writing posits a formula for the genome mapping of creatures who don't have genes. - It's an exciting arena." Lorne: "One I'm sure we can all download at 'I'll never know the love of a woman dot com.' (Wes gives him a look) Ah, can we get down to business? They want to buy your head. - Little rusty with the language. I should probably clarify that." Lorne clicks away at the Nahdrahs. One of them holds up a metal suit case. Lorne: "They want your mind. They're celebrating their prince's, uh - it's - it's like a birthday, only they're not born so much as disgorged. They - they need you to solve one of their traditional puzzles so they can give it to him. It's quite an honor." Wes: "Could be interesting." Fred has come up and looks at the Nahdrah's robes. Fred: "Sure. These are puzzle people. Did you notice the designs on their tunics? (Traces the design) Geometric shapes. Each a prime number, if you count their edges, arranged in ascending order of exponential accumulation." Wes, smiling at her: "Yes, I did - not - notice that at all." Fred grins back at him, while the Nahdrahs start clicking away at Lorne. Lorne: "Ah, they wanna know why your girlfriend was pointing at them. I better tell them what she said before we have an international incident." Wes: "Ah, she's not my..." Lots of excited clicking going on by the Nahdrahs. Wes: "Silly." The Nahrdahs leave in a hurry. Fred: "Did I say something wrong?" Lorne: "No. No, they liked *you.*" Fred: "So much they ran away?" Lorne: "They either have to consult with their prince or go eat a cheese monkey. Did-did I mention rusty with the lingo?" g*n: "Wes? I think I'm gonna need you on this one." Angel on phone: "Great. I'm on my way." Angel hangs up the phone and picks up the piece of paper from the desk. Walks over to Cordy and thrusts Connor into her arms. Angel: "Big case. Got to run." Cordy: "Oh..." Angel, already leaving: "I think he needs changing. Oh, and bottle, three o'clock." Cordy to Connor: "Well, hi there." sh*t of a car driving down a street at night. A man dressed in a suit is talking on a hands-free phone headset of a large office as Angel enters through the glass doors. The side wall of the window are large windows overlooking a manufacturing floor. Harlan: "Yeah. Okay. That's good for us. Tell him a six month million dollar guarantee and we'll cover the extra cost. Yeah. No, I get that, but we got to get a decision by tomorrow. Listen, somebody just walked in my office. I'll call you back. (Takes the headset off) Mr. Angel." Angel: "Just Angel." Guy gets up to shake Angel's hand Harlan: "Harlan Elster. Thanks for coming to meet me." Angel: "No problem. I know what it's like when your name's on the letterhead..." Harlan: "Hmm. I got to say, you're not exactly what I pictured." Angel: "No?" Harlan: "You're pretty well coifed, I guess. You're not afraid to get a little mussed, are you, Mr. Angel? Because 'mussed' you're gonna be just by stepping foot in there." Angel: "In where?" Harlan: "Eighty third and Vermont. (Hands Angel a folder) Used to be low-income housing. Now it's a nest. Boarded up windows. No Electricity. Sewer access. They like it dark." Angel: "Vampires." Harlan: "A whole g*ng of them. Those photos were taken by the last guy I had on this job." Angel: "What happened to him?" Harlan: "He got mussed. You have much experience dealing with vampires?" Angel: "Some." Harlan: "Yeah, well, not like these. They're not out for blood. They want money." Angel: "Money?" Harlan: "Yeah. I know. Whoever heard of a vampire out to make a buck, right?" Angel lets out a half-hearted laugh and drops into a chair. Harlan: "Anyway, they've been putting the squeeze on some local business men. We pay them a protection fee and they don't eat our employees. They're demanding five thousand dollars by midnight." Angel: "Whoa." Harlan starts to make out a check: "Now, I'm prepared to pay you ten to make this problem go away. Five thousand now (rips out the check) the remainder when the jobs finished." Angel: "That'll make ten - which is more than they're asking you for." Harlan: "But this isn't about money." Angel: "No, no, of course it's not - about - that. (Takes the check) Money. (Lets out a short laugh as he looks at the check) I'll get right on this." Harlan shakes Angel's hand again: "Thanks." Angel: "Sure." Harlan watches the doors close behind Angel. A door behind Harlan opens and an older man walks in. Man: "What the hell are you doing in my office?" Harlan: "Mr. Elster." With that the imposter hauls back and knocks the real Harlan Elster out. Break Justine's head is resting on the table in Holtz' lair, her hand still pinned to the table by the ice pick. Holtz walks in, crouches down and lays his head on the table, so their eyes are on a level. Justine: "Decided to stick around." Holtz: "You asked me what I wanted from you. (Wraps his hand around the handle of the ice pick) I want you to go out and find others like you. People who have suffered as we have, people with the same rage, the same f*re. You'll know them when you see them. Their eyes - will look like this feels." Justine lets out a scream as Holtz pulls the ice pick free. Holtz hands her a handkerchief. Holtz: "Are we clear? Have we learned our lessons, Justine?" Justine wraps the handkerchief around her hand. Justine: "We're clear." As Justine gets up she hits Holtz hard across the chin with her wrapped left fist, knocking him back. Justine: "You son of a bitch." She drops back into her chair, breathing hard, as Holtz watches her, fingering his chin. Angel walks into the lobby of the Hyperion, which is deserted, except for some papers strewn here and there and Cordy and Fred sprawled on the settee next to Connor's bassinet. Angel: "Is this country great or what? Five thousand smackeroos and all I have to do to collect five thousand more, is clean out a vamp nest downtown. Where's Wes and g*n? I wanna show 'em this." Cordy: "Out on a case." Fred: "There's a young woman whose d*ad boyfriend is stalking her." Angel: "That's terrible. Did you..." Cordy: "I ran her credit. She's solvent." Angel: "Nice. (Crouches to look into the bassinet) Hey, how's my little magnum cum laude, Notre Dame, class of two thousand twenty?" Cordy: "Angel - I don't think it's such a great idea to be working on so many cases at once. I mean, what if we're all out making money and some poor devil stumbles in here and needs our help?" The doors open and Lorne stumbles in. Lorne: "Bon giorno, everybody, bon giorno." Angel: "You've been drinking?" Lorne: "Oh, I can hold my liquor, Mister. Unfortunately I can't say the same for my firewater." Lorne giggles. Fred: "Aren't they the same thing?" Lorne: "Hey, Fred-girl! No, this is special firewater, used to loosen the tongue of my Gar-wak snitch. They light the water on f*re and there's chanting and a bong, and look out, Houston!" Angel: "Did you learn anything about Holtz?" Lorne: "Oh yeah. He is *really* not fond of you. I'm led to believe that he and his Grapplar demons had plans to (makes sound and cutting motion across his throat) you. (Angel leans back a little closing his eyes for a moment) Is my breath stinky?" Lorne exhales into Angel face. Angel: "Yeah." Angel fans the air in front of him with the check in his hand and backs away. Angel: "Holtz is using the Grapplars as soldiers." Lorne: "Not anymore, Bucko. He poisoned them and he's looking for replacements. Humans." Angel: "Do we know where he is?" Lorne: "Bro, I'm on it. I've got rats looking all over this town. Well, not actual rats - except two of them. Ooh, I don't feel so good." Cordy picks Connor up out his bassinet. Cordy: "Uh, we've got company." Angel turns to see the Nahdrahs walking in, clicking away as soon as they enter. Cordy: "Lorne? It's all snap, crackle, pop to me." Angel: "Ah, these are the guys that wanted Wesley." Lorne: "Not anymore. Now they want Fred." Angel: "For what?" Lorne clicks away to the Nahdrahs then turns back to Angel. Lorne: "Her enormous brain. They're convinced she can solve the puzzle they wanna give to their prince. (To Fred) They weren't offended by you before, they were impressed." Fred: "Really?" Angel: "Where would she have to go and how long would it take?" Lorne after clicking to the Nahdrahs: "They live on a barge, currently docked in the marina. And a day or two, depends no how long it takes her to solve it." Angel to Fred: "You game?" Fred shrugs: "Sure.' Angel to Lorne: "You'll have to go with her to translate. Tell 'em it won't be cheap. They're getting two of our top employees. That's salary, per diem, overtime..." Lorne: "Okay, okay." Clicks and pops away at the Nahdrahs. One of them lifts the metal suitcase up. Lorne: "They apologize for their paltry offering and hope you'll accept (the Nahdrah opens the case revealing bundles of cash) Fifty thousand dollars!?!" Angel: "Fifty..." Cordy: "...thousand..." Fred: "...Dollars?" Angel reaches out and grabs the suitcase, a big smile on his face: "We accept." g*n and Wes are guarding the Blonde from earlier at her home. Ally: "You know, I consider myself independent and it's hard for me to ask for help, but - it really feels good for you guys to be in the house. You know that woman you work with was right. You inspire confidence." Wes: "Which woman?" Ally: "Brunette, really cute, Texan maybe?" g*n and Wes smile: "Fred." Turn to look at each other. g*n: "Said I inspire confidence." Wes: "Actually, I-I believe the comment was directed at me." g*n: "Really? 'cause I don't think so." Ally holds out a photograph: "Here, this is Brian. Not exactly a rocket scientist, but, ah, he's so sweet. You ever meet somebody and you just know that you belong together? It just feels..." g*n and Wes: "Comfortable." They look at each other. Wes: "You read all the same science journals." g*n: "You laugh at the same dumb jokes." Ally: "And the sex. Oh, god, do I miss the sex." g*n to himself: "Tell me about it." Wes: "Hmm." Ally: "So, explain something to me. How can Brian be stalking me if he's d*ad?" g*n opens his mouth but Wes, looking out the window answers before he gets a chance to say anything. Wes: "There are any number of explanations. Witchcraft, black magic, voodoo, zombiefication, demon possession, even vampirism." Ally: "But why? Why is he hanging around here? What does he want?" g*n tries to answer, but Wes beats to it again. Wes: "Perhaps there is something he left unfinished, something he wants to tell you." g*n: "Or maybe he just wants to eat your intestines." Wes: "g*n. We don't know that he's a zombie, and besides the flesh eating is a myth. Zombies merely mangle, mutilate and occasionally wear human flesh. So there is no reason to be frightened until we have a better idea..." The door, beside which Wes is standing, cracks open and a pale hand grabs a hold of him. Wes throws himself against the door, trying to force it shut again. Wes: "g*n!" g*n runs over and starts to b*at on what's visible of Brian with his baseball bat. Brian retreats and they slam the door shut. Wes: "Right then. Zombie it is." Lorne moans as he and Fred climb on to the Nahdrah's barge. Fred: "Are you okay?" Lorne: "I was feeling seasick when we were still on dry land. Do I look greener than usual?" Fred: "A little." They are lead into a big open room on the deck of the barge. Lorne: "Oh, nice décor! It's sort of a Jules Verne meets Leona Helmsly." The Nahdrahs click away as they lead them further into the room. Lorne: "Oh, great! They wanna take our picture." He and Fred pose and one of them takes the picture. Lorne: "Terrif. Hey, this is the puzzle they want you to solve." There are irregularly shaped hunks of glass, softly glowing from within, spread out on a table. Fred: "I'm guessing it fits together in some sort of algorithmic sequence? Any hints?" Lorne clicks at the Nahdrahs. Lorne: "Yeah, just one. He said if they knew how to do it themselves you wouldn't be here." Fred sits down at the table, opens her laptop and takes a closer look at the pieces. Fred: "So. Causation. Corollary. Causatu Corollary. Are we talking a closed curve of finite length in a simply connected domain of zero? - That would be too easy, wouldn't it?" One of the Nahdrahs comes over with a tray. Lorne: "Oh, hors d'oeuvres. (Sees that they are Eyeballs and insects on round crackers) Oh, really I couldn't. I had eyeballs and insects for breakfast." Angel walks into the vamps' lair, looking around. Angel: "Ooh, aren't we just the scary serial vamps - with the spooky lair -and the taking of trophies of our victims?" Angel picks up some of the stuff (like watches, wallets, purses, etc) on one of the tables then drops it back down. Angel: "Lame." Angel pulls out a stake and flattens himself against the wall next to the door as footsteps approach. A man comes in, carrying more loot, and Angel att*cks him from behind. The guy drops the stuff and turns on Angel, revealing his vamp face and the two of them fight. Angel gets thrown around a bit. He lands on the floor and picks up a broken table leg. Angel: "Next time you h*t the yard sales, I'd avoid the wooden furniture. (Angel stakes the vamp as it charges him again.) I hear Wicker is nice." Angel gets up to see two other vamps standing there. Angel: "Oh, great. Two more." Vamp1: "Dibs on the coat." Angel walks back into Harlan Elsters office. The real Harlan Elster is looking through some papers. Angel: "Excuse me." Elster: "What do you want?" Angel: "I-I'm looking for Harlan Elster?" Elster: "I'm Harlan Elster." Angel: "That's bad." Elster: "How's that bad?" Angel: "Well, because the Harlan Elster I'm looking for (pulls out the check) gave me this." Elster steps up to take a closer look at it, then points at his chin. Elster: "Really. Well, he gave me this. (Hands the check back to Angel) At least mine's real. The man who forged my name, about your height, less b*at up?" Angel: "Yeah, that's him." Elster: "Sam Ryan. Used to work for me. Press Foreman. Fired him six months ago. He kept coming to me to bankroll his kooky scheme." Angel: "Kooky scheme?" Elster: "The guy's been a little bit off his nut ever since he lost his friend. Wanted me to pay some charlatan ghostbuster to clean out an abandoned rathole in midtown. He was convinced *vampires* were nesting there. Some people would take advantage of a guy like that." Angel: "Yeah. (Holds up the check and rips it in two) Yeah." Starts to leave. Elster: "Immortal creatures living in a rat infested building, guarding their treasure. Right." Angel turning back: "Treasure?" Fred is putting some of the glass hunks together. Fred: "There is a ascending and descending causation instantly proved by (the pieces stick together) - that! (Giggles) I think I'm on to something here." Lorne: "Yeah, me too. Unfortunately it requires a vomitorium." Fred: "Oh - I'm sorry. Lorne clicks to the Nahdrah watching Fred's progress. The Nahdrah points and clicks in answer. Lorne: "I'll just go use the facilities. Keep up the good work." Lorne leaves as Fred slides another glass piece into place, causing the Nahdrah to hurry away. Lorne is walking up some stairs and turns down a gangway. He hears some soft whirring and clicking and turns the other way. He traces the sounds to a curtained off alcove. Parting one of the curtains slightly he sees a sick looking Nahdrah without a mask sitting in a chair, attended by several others. Lorne watches as one of the Nahdrahs turns a laptop so the big one in the chair (and Lorne) can see the screen. It shows a picture of Fred's head sliding over onto the shoulders of the guy sitting in the chair. Subtitles: "She is solving the puzzle, sire. We have found a head worthy to rest upon your noble shoulders." The prince in the chair nods. Lorne turns away - only to get h*t over the head with a metal bar from behind. Subtitles as we zoom in on the picture of Fred's head on the prince's body: "We will sew it on this very night." Break Cordy is hopping up on her toes and dropping back down in front of Connor's bassinet. She gives up after a few tries and bends down to pick Connor up. Cordy: "Hmm. Well, I figured it was a long sh*t. But I really can float, you know. Well, I did that one time during my last vision. Who-ee - somebody needs a change. (Puts him back down) But before that, believe me, there was no floating up piece of mind destiny to my visions. No there was just - k*ller pain. And unfortunately, that's not an exaggeration. They really were k*lling me. (She moves the tea tray and puts a cloth down) So, the Powers That Be put a little demon in me, and as far as side effects go (Picks Connor back up) The visions are a breeze now. (Puts him down on the cloth and starts to change him) I don't know what else might be in store. I'm keeping an eye out for horns and a tail. Wow. It just occurred to me what a weird life you're in for, little guy. Your aunt Cordy gets visions and your daddy is a... - Well, you won't see him aging whole lot, or catching surf and sun in Malibu. But he is a good man, a champion, and he loves you very much. Plus, he's quite the natty dresser. (The change done, she picks Connor up) And your daddy is out there right now fighting evil - for money." Sam Ryan walks into the vampires' nest and looks around. He picks up a watch off one of the dressers and looks at it. Angel grabs Sam's arm from behind and takes the watch away from him. Sam: "Give it back." Angel: "No, I think I earned it, don't you? What is it? Rolex?" Sam: "Timex." Angel: "Oh. (Twists Sam's arm a littleharder) What is it, really? Considering all the trouble you went through to get it, we both know it's not just a watch." Sam: "That's true. It's not." Angel: "Probably worth more than ten grand, too." Sam: "A lot more." Angel: "What's it do? Open a portal? Raise an army?" Sam: "It glows in the dark. Probably about all of them do now. Looks like they cracked it when they took it off him. (Angel lets go of Sam and Sam turns to face him) I told him to let them have it, but - he wasn't about to give it up. It was the first thing I ever bought him." Angel: "These vampires k*lled your friend." Sam nodding: "Look. I'm sorry about what I did. I needed help. I didn't know what else to do." Angel: "So you lied to me." Sam: "I'm sorry." Angel: "I didn't k*ll three vampires for nothing. Ten grand - that was the deal." Sam: "Seven." Angel: "Okay. Fine. I'll take seven." Sam: "No, no, no. You said three vampires. There were seven." They both look around. Angel: "Which would make four more." Sam: "Four more." Cordy bending over the bassinet: "You're gonna discover there's a lot of cool things in this world. (Holds up two handful of the Nahdrah's money with a big smile) Fifty grand - way up there on the list." Cordy goes to put the bills back into the suitcase with the other ones. Cordy: "We're just gonna lock this up in the safe and... " The camera zooms in close as Cordy kind of freezes, a wide-eyed expression on her face. Cordy: "Right after this vision." We get blurry sh*ts of Fred solving the puzzle, of the prince and the laptop screen, then of a Kn*fe blade coming at Fred. Cordy: "Oh god. Fred, don't solve that puzzle." Fred puts another piece of glass into place, smiling: "Shouldn't be long now." Ally: "Do you guys know how much longer we're gonna be? I've got plans this evening." Wes: "We've taken every precaution, secured every entrance..." We hear glass breaking and g*n and Wes stand up, w*apon at the ready. g*n: "With the possible exception of the skylight in the kitchen." Brian walking in: "Ally! - Ally - baby, I just..." Ally flinches as g*n hits Brian over the head with the baseball bat. Wes: "Into the bedroom." Brian pushes Wes and g*n away from him, as Ally runs for the bedroom. They pick themselves back up and g*n clubs Brian again before they hurry after Ally. Cordy hangs up the phone. Cordy: "Well. Your uncle Wes and uncle g*n not picking up either. And your daddy, he doesn't know how to work his voicemail (Picks Connor up) or keep a promise. So we'll go down to the Marina, return the money and explain it was all just a big mistake." Cordy, holding Connor in one arm, picks up the money case with her free hand and heads out. g*n and Wes are sliding a dresser in front of the bedroom door as Brian pounds on it. Brian: "Ally, why won't you talk to me?" Ally: "Because you're d*ad. Now, go away! (To Wes and g*n) You know, I'm paying good money here. Can you please get rid of him?" g*n and Wes try to brace the dresser, but it is slowly pushed back to the point where Brian and stick his head in through the crack in the door. Brian: "Just give me another chance, baby. (Looks at g*n and Wes) Who are these guys?" Wes: "We are here to protect her from you, actually." Brian: "Protection? (Lets out a deep breath and smiles at Ally) I thought you were dating them." Ally: "You know, this is exactly why I broke up with you. You're suffocating me! Now, get lost!" Ally tries to help push the dresser. g*n lifts his bat one handed and bashes at Brian's hand and head with it. They manage to shut the door. They all wait and listen for a moment, then Wes motions for g*n to take a look as he slides the dresser back. Wes: "What's he doing?" g*n: "Pouting." Ally: "Okay. That's it." She walks past g*n out into the living room, where Brian is sitting, hunched over. Ally: "You know, this is so typical of you. You're all bluster and then you pout." Brian: "I thought we had fun together." Ally: "We did, but you're so - needy." Brian: "Needy? Because I cared?" Ally: "Caring didn't entitle you to read my diary, follow me to work..." Brian: "I never... Okay, I read your diary once or twice. Does that give you a reason to poison me?" Ally notices g*n and Wes looking at her. Ally: "What? You're gonna believe everything a zombie says?" Wes: "Are you saying *she* k*lled you?" Brian: "I'd forgive her if she'd take me back." g*n: "You're kidding, right?" Brian: "No. (To Ally) Baby, I've seen the guys you've been going out with. You're not having any fun! Come on. Lets give it another sh*t." Ally stays silent, just looking at Brian. Brian gets up, smiling. Brian: "What do you say? Me and you?" Ally, half smiling: "Eew, I-I can't. It's creepy." Brian: "Come on. I miss you." g*n shakes his head. Ally: "Oh. I don't know. - Maybe I was a little - hasty." They grin at each other then hug. g*n and Wes look at each other, as Brian gives Ally a kiss. Wes, turning back: "Will that be cash or charge?" Sam is bracing his back against the door of the vampire nest as someone is pounding on it from outside. Sam: "Alright. You're kidding me, right?" Angel, sitting on a table across the room: "Sorry. I don't get paid I can't fight." Sam: "I don't think I can hold this by myself." Angel: "Yeah. I see that." Sam: "They're coming through." Angel gets up: "Okay. You know what, I'll help barricade, but that's it." Angel leans his back against the door beside Sam. Sam: "I'm sorry I lied to you. I shouldn't have." Angel: "No. You did the wrong thing. But your heart was in the right place. Your motives were noble." Sam: "Thank you." Angel: "It's not as though I haven't been accused of nobility myself once or twice." Sam: "Then you understand." Angel: "Yeah. But being a champion is not all good deeds and happy endings. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. People don't seem to consider that." The thudding on the door gets harder. Sam: "I think - I think we're in real trouble here." Angel: "All right. Maybe we can work something out. You own a car?" Sam: "The bank owns it." Angel: "House?" Sam: "I rent." Angel: "How's your credit. Can you borrow?" Sam: "I'm kind of out of a job. Spent all I had tracking these guys." Angel: "I don't know what to tell you, Sam. I can't k*ll on deferment. Sets a precedent." Fred slides the last piece of the puzzle into place the glass pyramid she has formed lights up. The Nahdrahs around her click away in excitement. Fred takes off her glasses, a big smile on her face. Fred: "Oh, it was nothing. (The Nahdrahs take a hold of her and pull her along) Oh. Are we going somewhere to celebrate? Say, has anyone seen my friend with the horns? He wasn't feeling so good and I'm a little worried about him." They enter another room and Fred sees Lorne lying tied up on the floor. Fred: "And me now." Lorne: "Yeah, I know. We're in a bit of a situation here." The Nahdrahs push Fred down in a chair across from their prince and close the clamps to hold her in place. Fred: "Oh god. I don't have to marry him, do I?" Lorne: "In fact, no. And that's something we can be grateful for." Fred: "What are they gonna do?" Lorne: "Well it seems the prince's head or heads, I should say, wear out every so often, and they uh..." Fred: "Cut off someone else's and give him a new one?" Lorne: "Uh, ah..." One of the Nahdrahs his holding a blade up. Fred: "Lorne, help. Help!" A sharp whistle sounds and everyone turns to look at Cordy standing in the door, holding the money and Connor. Cordy: "Hey! I'd just like a word here." Lorne: "Oh-ho-ho, you guys are *so* gonna get your butts kicked!" Cordy: "Lorne." Lorne: "Sorry. I yield the floor to the person *not* tied up on it." Cordy: "Translate. There's been a terrible misunderstanding. And I know you're men of honor and I know we can make a simple exchange - in a - a civilized manner." Cordy looks at Lorne and he starts to click away at the Nahdrahs. Cordy sets down the suitcase. Cordy: "We return your gracious gift and you return Fred. Sorry about the confusion, but we kind of need her head at work." Fred: "Firmly attached to her body." Cordy: "That goes without saying. (Lorne is staring at her) Say it!" Lorne: "Ah, uh..." Clicks away to the Nahdrahs, who answer back and raise their w*apon. Lorne: "I told them what they had to do, and told them what would happen if they didn't do it." Cordy: "Lorne, we're in no position to be thr*at these nice people." Lorne: "Oh, sure we are. Angel, Wes, and g*n can take 'em! Can't see them from down here. Where are they anyway?" Cordy: "Out making money." Lorne: "Oh. So, when I told the Nahdrahs that they were surrounded by k*ller warriors I was stretching the truth a little?" Cordy: "Just enough to get us all k*lled." Cordy gives the Nahdrahs a big smile. Break Back at the vampire nest Angel steps away from the door. Sam: "Uh, yeah, hello? What happened to the complimentary barricading?" Angel throws a chair up to break a window high up in the wall. Angel: "It's gonna give. I'm getting you out of here. Lets go." Sam closes his eyes for a moment: "No. You go." Angel: "What?" Sam: "I'm not leaving. I can't." Angel: "You think you can take on four vampires by yourself?" Sam: "Probably not. But these things k*lled Jack. If I run now, I'll be running the rest of my life." Angel rubs his eyes: "Yeah, that's noble, Sam, but do you really think that's what Jack would want?" Sam: "No. I think Jack would probably wanna be here with me. But that's never gonna happen." Angel sighs and picks up a wooden chair leg. He goes over to the door and pulls Sam away from it, talking to him. Angel: "You take on a job in good faith - you expect to be compensated. You provide the best service you can offer." The door behind Angel burst open and four vampires rush in. Angel stakes one of them without even looking around, throwing another to the side, never taking his eyes off Sam. Angel: "A quality service. - But you know, there's overhead." The vamp in the doorway hesitates as Angel grabs another one and stakes it off hand, still ranting. Angel: "There's rent, three phone lines, advertising, it adds up." The remaining vamps run as Angel pulls out the watch and throws it at Sam. Angel: "Here." Angel starts to leave. Sam: "Thank you. I can't even begin to express my..." Angel throws the chair leg to the side on his way out the door. We hear some beeping. Angel pulls out his phone. Sam calling after him: "I owe you. - You're a real - champion." Angel: "Yeah whatever. (To phone) Hello? (Beeping continues) Hello?!" Sam: "Hey - I think - I think that's your voice mail." Cordy: "Lorne - do these guys have groins?" Fred: "Is that really important right now?" Cordy: "Work with me here, kids." Lorne: "I think so. I never knew one intimately." Cordy steps forward and kicks one of the Nahdrahs between the legs. We hear a metal clang, and Cordy hops back on one foot. Cordy: "Oh. Ow! Ow! Ow!" Cordy hops backwards through the curtain, only to come back in, bracketed by Wes and g*n, who proceed to att*ck the Nahdrahs. The Nahdrah standing next to Fred holds the sword blade against her throat and Fred begins to scream. Cordy: "Fred! Help her!" Wes and g*n pop up out of the fight: "Fred!" g*n grabs a metal rod, while Wes grabs the suitcase, and hurl them. The rod knocks the Nahdrah with the sword backwards, away from Fred. The suitcase decapitates the prince before bursting open against the wall. All the fighting and screaming stops as the Nahdrahs stare at their headless prince. g*n: "Well, I guess you cut off the snake's head..." All the Nahdrahs start clicking and raise their w*apon. Wes: "You piss the other snakes off." Wes and g*n go down under the as*ault. The skylight burst and Angel drops in on them joining the fight. Wes and g*n are working on freeing Fred. There are Nahdrah bodies littering the floor. Angel to Cordy: "I should have listened to you." Cordy: "Well, yeah." Angel takes Connor from her: "I should never have left you and the baby alone like that." Cordy: "Well - yeah." Wes and g*n help Fred up out of the chair. Fred: "If you can keep your head when those about you are losing theirs guess you're pretty lucky. I could kiss you both." Wes and g*n both move closer. Lorne clears his throat, and they all look down at him. Lorne: "Uh, still tied up down here." Fred: "Oh..." The three of them proceed to untie Lorne. Lorne: "Yeah, come on. My hands are turning pink." Angel: "Guys, can I say something? (Angel looks at the spilled money) Money's important but it - it isn't everything. - I got - I got carried away. - I just (looks down at Connor) I never had a life that was totally dependent on me before. (Looks at the money again) But that's no excuse. (To Cordy) Where was I?" Cordy: "Money's not the most important." Angel: "No, it's not. What's - important is (looks from Connor to the other) family - and the mission." Cordy after a b*at: "They tried to cut Fred's head off. We earned every penny." Angel: "Hold the baby." Cordy takes Connor from Angel as everyone but her rushes over to the spilled money and starts to stuff it into their pockets. g*n: "Spending money..." Hyperion, night, Cordy is singing a lullaby. Cordy: "Go to sleep, my baby peep..." She and Angel are falling asleep lying on top of Angel's bed with Connor in between them, feeding from a bottle. Cordy: "I'm just saying a boat." Angel: "No. College fund." Cordy: "Yes. College fund - and pay our bills - and put a down payment on a boat." Angel: "We're not getting a boat." Cordy: "Hmm, they're fun." Angel: "They're expensive. And when would I go on this boat, hmm?" Cordy: "Moonlight sails. - Okay. - College fund - pay our bills - and rent a ski condo in Aspen." Angel: "Ski condo?" Cordy: "There's got to be some fun in our lives." Angel: "Hmm - I like a ski condo." Cordy: "Sure. Snow. Trees. Chipmunk robots on ice..." Angel: "Chipmunk robots... - on ice..."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x12 - Provider"}

foreverdreaming

Wesley is sitting in front of a book open to a woodcut of a demon. Wes: "Honestly, have you ever seen anything lovelier? So - graceful, so full of life. And those eyes... make you feel like you’re the only man in the room." Cordy: "Plus, six breast. Any man is gonna love that." Wes: "Fred doesn't have six breasts! - Right?" Cordy, writing on a notepad: "Sorialus the Ravager. (Looks down at the book) And, yeah, she's the one from my vision." Wes: "Coming to destroy the humans that k*lled her mate." Cordy: "But not for another month or so. I'll file her under 'pending.' - You're gonna ask her out?" Wes: "The Ravager?" Cordy: "Fred." Wes: "Oh. - Yes - but, you know - timing. I'll make my move when I feel the iron is hot." Cordy: "Well, get it done, Johnny Reb. So I can hear about something else, and you can do something else besides feeling your hot iron." Wes: "Am I very boring on the subject?" Cordy smiles: "You know, there was a time when you thought I was the loveliest thing in the world." Wes: "Well, I... You're an extraordinary woman. (Cordy raises an eyebrow) I..." Cordy: "At ease, soldier. Just like to hear it every now and then. I was the ditziest bitch in Sunnydale, could have had any man I wanted. Now I'm all superhero-y and the best action I can get is an invisible ghost who's good with the Loohfah." Turns from filing away her notes to look at Wes. Wes looks at her for half a moment then looks back down at his book. Wes: "I'm sorry. I missed that last part." Cordy smiling: "You *are* a gentleman." Angel: "Who's doing what with the Loofah?" Wes, getting up: "Not Loofah, Looh-fah. Nooctm... Skumth. It's a demon." Cordy (to Angel): "So, you went with the dark clothes today." Angel: "Ask me why I'm smiling." Cordy: "I will, because it's scaring me." Angel pulls some tickets out of his back pocket and holds them up. Angel: "We - are stepping out." sh*t of the Hyperion by day. g*n: "You are a remarkable woman. Particularly the way you can shovel a mountain range of food into your mouth. That is some Olympian feat, that much eatin'." g*n and Fred are walking into the Hyperion's garden court from the street. Fred: "Oh, was I a pig? It's just that that first breakfast seems to go so quick, and I'm always still..." g*n: "Nah, I was wondering where it all goes in that little stick-figure body you got." Fred: "Stick? You're a beast." g*n: "Ah, come on. You know you're gorgeous." Fred looks at his back as he walks up the steps into the Hyperion. g*n, entering the lobby: "Morning friends and neighbors. Ooh, are those the tickets? You got 'em?" Angel: "Well, I got to the ticket place and..." g*n: "I'm paying you back. This one's on me." Fred: "Morning." g*n: "Mahta Hari is the tightest band in LA. You guys are gonna be trippin' out." Angel: "The only thing is..." g*n puts a hand on Angel's shoulder: "Look, I said I'm good for it, man. Don't have to worry about dippin' in the Connor college fund. (Takes the tickets from Angel) The time I saw the Mahta Hari at the Troubadour they where the (reads tickets) "Blinnikov World Ballet Tour. What's going on?" Angel: "I was trying to tell you. I got to the ticket place and boom! Tonight only!" g*n: "But - you got ballet on my Mahta Hari tickets." Angel: "This is the Blinnikov World Ballet Corps." Cordy: "He's been saying that like it has meaning." Angel: "This is one of the premier companies in the world. And they're going Giselle! It's their signature piece." g*n: "This is all like some horrible dream." Wes: "I think I've heard of them. Very ahead of their time." Angel: "Oh, yeah. Yeah. I saw their production of Giselle in eighteen-ninety. I cried like a baby. And I was evil!" Fred: "I-I think it sounds exciting!" Wes: "Yes." g*n: "No. No! This is not Mahta Hari. This is tutus, and guys with their big-ass packages jumping up and down. This is just... (To Angel) I will never trust you again. The trust is gone." Cordy: "Oh, get over it. Do we get dressed up?" Angel: "Of course." Cordy: "I'm in." Angel: "Guys, seeing real ballet live it's... (sighs) it's like another world. g*n, these guys are tight, and you're gonna be trippin' out." g*n: "Don't be usin' my own phrases when we lost the trust." Cordy: "Come on, guys. Working day, cases to solve." g*n: "Okay. But I'm not still paying, right. Because this is... (Looks at the tickets) this is... It's like a nightmare." The director of the ballet company, wearing a Russian cross with a red stone in the middle on his tie and another man are walking backstage at the theater. Man: "It's such an honor to have the company here, I have to say. All of LA is buzzing. To have the Blinnikov performing Giselle... I can't imagine what's tonight's going to be like." Director: "It will be the performance of a lifetime." The camera angle changes so that we are looking down on them from the rigging past some gray-skinned hands while hearing some strange giggling. Director: "I guarantee it." Intro Cordy and Fred are in a fancy clothing store. Fred: "Are you certain this is the place for us?" Cordy: "Well, we could always get our outfits at 'Cave-girl's House of Burlap,' but that's just so last season. The guys are all renting tuxes. We gotta step up." Fred: "But aren't we - you know - poor?" Cordy: "There is a custom amongst my people. It's called 'buying a dress, wearing it once, and returning it the next day.' It's all about hiding the tags while it's on." Fred: "Oh. Okay. I'm very excited about tonight. I love the ballet! I mean, I haven't seen that much, but my family used to go to the Nutcracker every Christmas, and I had my first sexual dream about the Mouseking." Cordy gives Fred a look and half nods before holding up a dress. Cordy: "Face me." Holds the dress up against Fred then shakes her head and puts it back on the rack. Fred: "Can I ask you something?" Cordy, looking at another dress: "I think you guys are perfect for each other. (Turns to smile at Fred) I have magic powers, remember?" Fred: "It -it's not like we've said anything or... but he's so sweet... and commanding, and I feel so comfortable around him...(Looks down) I mean, I don't even know if he feels..." Cordy: "He feels." Fred, looking up: "Feelings?" Cordy: "Oh, there is definite feelings. We find the right outfit for tonight, there may be actual feeling." Fred: "And then we have to find a dress for you. Something that will make Angel crazy." Cordy: "Fred, sweetie. Angel *is* crazy." Fred: "Well, I know he's gonna wanna look his best for you." Cordy: "That's right. The world's champion is gonna spend all day worrying about his outfit!" Lorne is wiping at the back of Angel's tux jacket with a rag. Angel: "Is it gonna to be alright? Is there a stain?" Lorne: "Oh, relax, crumb cake. I've got the soda water working overtime. Man, little Connor burps like a champ." Angel: "At least he's sleeping." Lorne: "Who wouldn't? With that sweet Irish lullaby you crooned. Just a hair flat on the bridge, but - more to the point - Cordelia?" Angel: "What about her?" Lorne: "I read you while you were singing, you big corn muffin, and uh, can't say as I blame. I mean, what a woman she's become." Angel: "You're not supposed to be reading me. Anyway, you read me wrong." Angel sits down on the edge of his bed and starts to put his shoes on. Lorne: "Sorry, strudel. It's not just when you're singing. We got a little term back in Pylea. Kyrumption?" Angel: "I know it." Lorne: "Okay. When two great heroes come together..." Angel: "There will be no coming together, okay? Everything we've been through together and all anybody wants to talk about is..." Lorne: "Can't fight Kyrumption, cinnamon buns. It's fate. It's the stars. Kyrumption is..." Angel gets up: "Stop saying that. And stop calling me pastries." Lorne after watching Angel for a moment: "You're a man of many limitations, Angel. But you're a man. You got a heart. And Cordelia is a hell of a lady. I mean, if I thought she'd like to wear green, I'd be elbowing you out of the way. But she's out of my league. She's a champion, Angel, old school. And besides, we all know you got a thing for ex-cheerleaders." Lorne drops into a chair, chuckling, but Angel only looks down. Angel: "What have I got to offer her?" Lorne: "Do I even have to answer that? You just have to act, Angel. You gotta let her know what's brewing inside. 'cause, man, it's real and - and you don't wanna miss that sh*t!" Angel shaking his head: "Lorne, Cordelia, she's..." Cordy: "She's what?" Both of them turn to look at Cordy standing in the doorway, showing off her dress. Angel after a b*at: "I-I was just saying that you're not much of an ballet fan." Lorne aside to Angel: "You - you know, disregard everything I said. I forgot how homely she was." Angel: "You - you look like..." Cordy: "Like a ballet fan? (Comes swaying into the room) An aficionado? A devotee, in fact? (Reaches up to adjust Angel's bow-tie) Tonight I've decided that we don't have to be our incredibly dreary selves. (Smiles at Angel) Tonight we're just a couple of young sophisticates enjoying an evening of classical dance. How does that sound?" Angel: "Sounds just right." g*n: "You got to promise not to laugh." Fred: "I promise." g*n: "It's gotta come from the heart." Fred: "Will you stop being such a little girl? I said, I promise." g*n steps out into Fred's view and spreads his arms so she can get a look at his tux, not looking at her. Fred's eyes go wide. After a moment she bursts out laughing. g*n: "This is what your promises are worth? I'm having a lot of trust issues at this time in my life." Fred: "It's just - my god, you're so pretty." g*n smiling: "You know there's not a lot of people could say that to me and live. But - the way you look - there is no way I can fight you." Fred: "Tonight feels... I don't know - kind of magical. Is that stupid?" Wes comes up and drapes Fred's stole over her shoulders. Wes: "Not at all. (Notices g*n) Finally came out of hiding." g*n motions towards Fred: "And look at my reward." Wes: "Yes. Isn't she a vision." g*n: "A lot of that going around." Cordy is walking down the steps on Angel's arm. Cordy: "Thank you, but no thank you. There will be no visions tonight." Angel: "How can you be sure?" Cordy: "I had a vision." Wes drapes her jacket over Cordy's shoulders. Cordy: "Thank you. (Whispering) The iron is hot." Wes looks from Cordy to Fred. They all walk out of the lobby. Fred looks around the theater lobby with a big smile on her face. The g*ng settles into their seats. Wes, Fred and g*n are sitting together in one row. Angel and Cordy have seats in the row just behind them. Angel: "Sorry they're not closer. Getting five seats together..." Wes: "Don't be silly. Best place. We get the whole panorama from here." Cordy: "Besides, back here we stand less chance of setting off the 'under seventy' alarm." Angel: "Back in the day I'd always get box seats. Or I'd just eat the people who had 'em.' Cordy: "Don't lets reminisce. We're here. Enjoy." The camera pans down to the stage as the curtain opens. As the ballet begins we pan up to a box, where the Russian director is watching the performance. We get a sh*t of Cordy snoring in her seat. She jerks and moves, without waking so her head is now lying against Angel's shoulder, still quietly snoring away. In the row in front of them Wes glances at Fred, while g*n is leaning forward, intent on the stage, a smile on his face. Fred looks over at g*n and smiles. Angel, Cordy still snoring, is watching the performance, a frown spreading over his face. The act comes to an end and people begin to applaud. g*n clapping: ""Bravo! Bravo!" Cordy jerking upright: "I loved it." Angel: "It's just intermission." Cordy, wiping at her face: "Oh." g*n: "Bravo! Bravo!" Cordy looks at Angel's jacket where her head was resting. Cordy: "That isn't drool, is it?" Angel: "It's okay. Matches the back." The group is walking out in the lobby. g*n: "I say it once, and gloat all you want: these guys are tight, and I am trippin' out." Wes: "They certainly live up to their reputation. Has the choreography changed much since..." Angel: "No. Nothing's changed." Wes: "Well, it's wonderful they're able to..." Angel: "No. I mean, nothings changed. These are the same dancers I saw before." Fred: "That's impossible. We're watching the exact same troupe you saw in nineteen-ninety?" g*n: "I think he said eighteen-ninety." Fred: "Oh. Okay, that's much more impossible." Angel: "So, somebody wanna tell me how we're watching a show starring people who should have died sixty years ago?" The g*ng exchanges looks but no one volunteers any ideas. Cordy: "Well, it's a puzzler. Are there snacks?" Break Wes: "So what are we thinking? Vampires?" Cordy: "Well, they're not a deeply tanned bunch." g*n: "That would explain the precision and the athleticism. I mean, some of those jumps were... (Sees the others looking at him) You know, I was cool before I met you all." Cordy: "Dancing vampires. Who's not scared?" Angel: "Not it. I'd know. I'd sense it." Wes: "Even all the way back there... (Angel looks at him) ...with the - panoramic view?" Angel: "We should check it out." Fred: "Maybe after the show we should head backstage?" Angel: "I was thinking now. You guys should go back. I'll snoop." Cordy: "I'm with snoopy. The magic of the ballet - not really getting to me." Wes: "How will the dancers keep time without your rhythmic snoring?" The lights flicker and a soft chiming sounds to indicate the end of the intermission. Cordy to Wes: "Don't think that's not coming back to haunt you." Angel: "Go." g*n: "Hurry." Angel and Cordy are descending some stairs and spot a big security guard standing in front of the door at the bottom. Cordy: "Check out the zeppelin." Angel: "Awful lot of muscle for a ballet company." Cordy: "You want I should distract him? Make with the nice, nice while you slip by?" Angel: "Don't be stupid. I'm that guy and the most beautiful girl I've ever seen is making eyes at me? It's either bachelor party or a scam." Cordy: "What did you just call me?" Angel: "I'm sorry. You're not stupid." Cordy: "No. After that." Angel: "I think I'll just have to go with my patented sudden burst of v*olence." Cordy: "Hey, hold on. I think I might have an approach that is a little more subtle." Cordy to guard: "Hey! Do you like bribes?" Guard, smiling: "Do I ever." Cordy holds up some money: "Well, we *really* wanna go backstage." Guard, taking the money: "Yeah, okay, but this isn't so much a bribe as it is a tip. And since I'm not parking your car, there's really no way that..." The guard is handing the bill back to Cordy when he is knocked out by a sudden cross from Angel. Angel: "Okay. That's how we do it." Cordy as they walk through the door: "Okay. You saw the building as we drove by. Do you remember it going on forever?" Angel glances past her down a corridor that stretches on without an end in sight. Angel: "It's clearly a spell, or a time flux, or something. I don't think we wanna be rushing in here." Cordy: "Well, lets get the others and talk options." They turn back to the door they just came through, but instead there is just another corridor, stretching on forever. Angel: "Works in theory." Wes, Fred and g*n are watching the dance. So is the director up in his box. Angel and Cordy are walking down the corridor. Angel opens one of the doors and they enter. Angel: "This is her dressing room." Cordy: "The prima ballerina." Angel: "It's unchanged." Cordy sits down at the dressing table and picks up a little chain with a cross on it. Cordy: "She would wait for him here." Angel: "It's warm. It's very warm." Cordy turns to look at him: "I feel it." Angel: "Something happened here." Cordy stands up: "Angel?" Angel: "Yeah?" Cordy: "I want you - to undress me." Angel: "You what?" Cordy: "It's just another costume. I want you to see who I really am. You're the only one who can." Angel shaking his head slightly: "I... - This isn't us. Cordelia (licks his lips) we're acting this out. Someone is..." Cordy: "Whoa! - Did - did I actually just ask you to undress me?" Angel steps closer: "Is that what you want?" Cordy: "Please... I..." Angel: "You want me to make love to you right here?" Cordy: "You know I do." Angel caresses her cheek and leans in closer. Angel, whispering: "But you're afraid." Cordy: "What if he finds us?" Angel: "I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid of anything." Cordy, whispering: "I'm only alive when you're inside me." They start kissing. Break We see the prima ballerina dancing with the lead dancer. Cordy and Angel are still kissing passionately. Suddenly there is a hissing sound and Angel jerks away, putting one hand up against the side of his mouth and cheek. Angel: "Ah! Cordelia." Cordy: "Yes." Angel: "I'm sorry." Cordy: "No. We so need to be out of here." Angel: "Yes." They're both breathing rather fast as they move back together. Cordy, not trying to get away: "This isn't out of here." Angel: "I know. - Right." Remaining on the verge of another kiss they move across the room. Cordy turns so that her back is to Angel, snaking one of her arms up behind his neck. Cordy, breathless: "Open the damn door." Angel: "Kinda hard." Cordy: "Kinda noticed." Never losing touch with Cordy's body, Angel reaches around and twists the door handle. Breaking apart, they hurry through the open door, and Angel slams it shut behind them. Cordy: "Whoa!" Angel, leaning with his back against the door: "That's a fair assessment." Cordy, points at the door: "What the hell is that place?" Angel: "There's spirits in there. Energy trapped in time. It took us over." Cordy: "Yee. Scary. - Well, it's a good thing it wears off right away." Cordy laughs as both of them look down. Angel takes off his tux jacket and folds it over his arm, strategically positioned in front of his body. Angel: "Yeah. Good thing." Lorne places Connor into the crib in Angel's room singing softly. Lorne, singing: "Go to sleep, lullaby, you've been fed and you're sleepy. You'll be with uncle Lorne, who in no way resents not being asked to go to the ballet." Lorne sits down by a desk and picks up a magazine. Lorne, singing: "And is certainly, not thinking, of selling you to the first vampire cult that makes him a decent offer..." The camera moves through the lobby, and up the stairs. Turns down the hallway. Lorne is reading the magazine, humming to himself. He stops and glances towards the door. Puts the magazine down as he gets up. Lorne: "Hey, you just sleep on, little nipper. Uncle Lorne is gonna make sure we're alone." Lorne picks up Angel's fighting ax, leaning against the nightstand next to the rubber ducky, and heads for the door. Lorne: "Won't be gone a moment." The door opens as Lorne reaches it and his eyes go wide. Lorne: "Oh my god." Angel and Cordy are wandering down a hallway. Cordy: "Are you sure this is the way?" Angel: "I'm sure it's *a* way. Place is a maze. I'm just hoping there's another room. We can just go..." Cordy: "Damn it!" Angel: "What?" Cordy: "I said something. Back in that room. Something important. Do you remember?" Angel: "Uhm - you-you're only alive when I-I'm..." Cordy: "Not that." Angel: "No. Of course. I-I was just... Oh. Hey! I said you were afraid." Cordy: "And I said - what if he finds us?" Angel: "She had a secret lover." Cordy: "They were afraid of someone. And I'll bet you anything that someone is the reason why we're stuck here! We left too soon." Angel: "We... who? The room?" Cordy: "It's a clue! Those spirits or - or energy or - or whatever are still in there. So we can figure out what happened. We have to go back in!" Angel: "I'm marveling at the wrongness of that idea.' Cordy: "You wanna wander around backstage like Spinal Tap for the next - ever?" Angel: "I'm sure there are other rooms that..." Cordy: "All we have to do is play the scene. Get in, get out. No one gets happy." Angel: "What if there is - no more talking in that scene? - Look, I've been possessed by the spirits of old lovers before. Never goes well." Cordy pulls out the necklace with the cross and holds it up. Cordy: "Well, I've got my little cross if things get out of hand. (Angel won't look at her) Hey - it's awkward, but it's not *us.* So long as nothing is removed or - inserted it's all forgotten." Angel: "It is us - Cordelia. It's you and me. - Kissing you, it's... - It's not something I can just..." Cordy: "Oh, come on. It's not *that* horrible. (Turns to walk down the hall) Up to his ass in demon gore - fine! But ask him to mack on a hottie and he wigs. (Turns back to indicate Angel) My champion, ladies and gentlemen." Up in the theater, Fred is watching the ballerina and the lead dance. Wes' hand slowly moves towards Fred's hand, resting on her knee - just as g*n's hand does the same. Fred, whispering: "Angel!" Wes and g*n jerk their hands back. g*n: "Huh?" Fred: "And Cordy. They've been gone way too long." Wes after a b*at: "You're right. Come on." g*n, even as he gets up with them: "We're gonna miss the end!" Wes: "I'm sorry." Cordy and Angel are back in the dressing room of the ballerina, standing a few feet apart. Angel: "Anything coming?" Cordy: "Uhm..." Cordy paces a little circle, then turns to face Angel. Cordy: "Okay. Let's take it from the middle. - I want you to undress me." Angel: "You want me to have sex now with you here." Cordy: "Yes, but I'm scared." Angel: "But you're afraid." Cordy: "And afraid. What if we-he! - finds us?" Angel awkwardly takes a hold of Cordy's shoulders and pulls her closer. Angel: "Well, I'm not afraid of anything." Cordy: "Only good inside, blah, blah, blah..." Cordy squints her eyes closed and leans in to give Angel a quick smooch. Then they both look around the room. Angel: "Maybe it only works the one time. You know, when the energy..." Cordy reaches up and pulls Angel into a passionate kiss. The cross necklace drops from her fingers behind Angel's back. Fred and the guys come across the unconscious security guard. g*n: "At least Angel left us a trail." We hear mixed laughter and crying and two shapes move away as g*n, Fred and Wes step over the downed guard and through the door. The director is up in his box, watching the ballerina dance. We see two pairs of white-gloved hands on the back of his chair and hear the same mix of laughter and crying. Director: "Deal with them. I can't be bothered right now." The two shapes move away. Angel is laying Cordy back on the lounge in the ballerina's dressing room, covering her neck with kisses. Cordy: "This is wrong." Angel: "Hush." Cordy: "You don't know him. - He has power." Angel: "The power to do this?" Cordy gasps, takes a deep breath - and another. Cordy: "Stephan, his power is unnatural. He could..." Angel: "What? k*ll us?" Cordy: "Worse." Angel: "Kurskov owns the company. He doesn't own you." Cordy: "He doesn't know that. He thinks I'm his. (Sits up as a Russian accent enters her speech) That I dance for him. He is nothing but a deluded fan. He thinks I love him." Angel: "Come away with me. Now. Tonight. We'll disappear. Even *he* won't find us." Cordy: "I... - Stephan, everything I worked for is here." Angel: "You can still dance." Cordy: "Can I? I don't... Not yet. - Maybe when we're..." Angel: "Don't. Don't make promises." Cordy: "Help me. - Help me be not afraid." She sinks back onto the lounge and Angel goes back to kissing her neck. Fred, g*n and Wes are walking the corridors. g*n: "This is very not right." Fred: "Do you hear it?" Wes: "There is something." Two shapes flit across the corridor behind them, unnoticed. We can hear low moaning. Wes: "Someone's in pain." Fred: "Either that, or someone's in fun." Angel is working his way south of Cordy's belly button, covering her bare skin with kisses. Cordy, moaning: "Oh, no. (Suddenly her eyes widen and she sits up) Oh, no!" Angel straightens up just in time to get knocked to the floor by one of the director's minions. Cordy peeks over the back of the lounge and watches as the minion, wearing a gray 'comedy mask' hits Angel across the chin with a hard right. Cordy: "Oh, thank god!" Angel hits back, knocking the minion to the floor. Cordy, pulling the straps of her dress up onto her shoulders: "Okay. So. Good. They were probably interrupted by this Count Kurskov, or his lackeys, right? So we're done with the..." Cordy throws up her hands to shield herself as Angel charges at her. Cordy lets out a scream as Angel launches himself over her, tackling the minion set to att*ck Cordy from behind. The others out in the corridor follow the sounds of the fight. g*n: "Now that sounds less like fun." One of Kurskov's minions, wearing a gray 'tragedy mask' come up behind g*n. g*n lets out a scream as the minion s*ab him from behind with a sword. Fred, spinning around: "Charles!" Break Another sword wielding minion is confronting Wesley. Wes: "Fred, stay between us." g*n: "I need to..." Fred picks up a prop and wallops the tragedy minion as g*n drops to his knees with a groan. Fred: "Wesley!" Wes catches the tragedy minion's sword as Fred tosses it to him and engages the 'comedy' minion. Wes: "Can you handle the other?" Wes glances back to see Fred continuing to wallop on the sobbing 'tragedy' minion, before turning back to face his own foe. Wes: "Well, then. Just us." Cordy is throwing cushions and whatever else comes to hand at a laughing 'comedy' minion, while Angel has the 'tragedy' minion on the floor, choking it. The 'comedy' minion slashes at Cordy with its sword. Cordy picks up a short stick, decorated with swaths of ribbons. Looks at it as she dodges another swing, then over towards Angel. Cordy: "A little help!" The 'tragedy' minion pulls out a stiletto and s*ab Angel through the heart with it. Angel: "Thank you." Angel pulls out the stiletto, knocks the 'tragedy' minion across the chin, then s*ab it through the heart with its own sword, at the same time throwing the stiletto to skewer the 'comedy' minion through the throat. Cordy watches the minion drop to the floor then hurries over to Angel. Angel: "You alright?" Cordy: "Yeah. We gotta move." Angel looks from one minion to the other. Angel: "You think they're not d*ad?" Cordy: "You just looked *really* hot doing that." Angel: "Oh." Cordy nods: "Yeah." Angel: "Run." They jump up and run out the room, Angel taking the minion's sword with him. Wes is fencing with the 'comedy' minion out in the corridor. The minion, with its grotesque comedy mask, is laughing the whole time. After some fancy sword and curtain work, Wes manages to run it through with his blade. Wes: "Who is laughing now?" The minion lets out a weak laugh. Wes: "Well, you. But I still win." Fred is performing some impromptu first aid on g*n's wound. g*n: "That's good. That should hold. (Fred lets out a shaky breath) You okay? You hurt?" Fred: "I'm fine. I just thought... (Takes a deep breath and looks away) I'm sorry. I shouldn't fall apart like this." g*n with a slight smile: "You scared I'm gonna die on you?" Fred: "Charles, don't even..." g*n looks up at the ceiling and starts declaiming: "And all I ask - is one last kiss - as the light is dimming." Breaks up in laughter. Fred: "You think that's funny?" g*n: "It's just a scratch!" Fred: "I thought it was... - I..." g*n: "Hey. (g*n carefully reaches out and pulls Fred against him) Hey. (g*n strokes Fred's shoulder then pulls back and tries to look into her eyes) You really that worried about me?" Fred, not looking at him: "You probably think I'm an idiot." g*n, quietly: "I think if you care that much - the wound is definitely deep." Fred raises her eyes to look at him: "The light is dimming?" g*n: "And all I ask (looks at her lips) is one (slowly leans forward) last..." They kiss softly. The camera pulls back and we see Wesley standing a little way away watching them, his face reflected in a polished brass mirror. Wesley slowly turns and walks away. We hear the sound of a sword tip dragging along the floor, see black clad legs shambling into view. Their owner drops to his knees and we see that it is Wesley. He bows his head, then turns it to look at the camera as and ominous music begins to play. The sh*t of Wes' face blends into a sh*t of Kurskov watching the prima ballerina dance on stage. g*n and Fred are getting to their feet as Angel and Cordy come up a branch of the corridor. Angel: "You guys alright?" Fred: "Charles got s*ab." g*n pulls up his shirt as Cordy hurries over to take a closer look. g*n: "Yeah. A couple stitches worth." Angel looks at the d*ad minions. Angel: "The same guys that att*cked us." Fred: "Cordy - your tag's showing." Fred tucks the tag back away. g*n: "Any idea where we are or what the hell?" Angel, shifting on his feet: "Yeah. Cordy and I h*t kind of a mystical hotspot back in one of the dressing rooms." Cordy: "Well, it seems the prima ballerina had a lover back in the day. And there was this Count Kurskov, who owned the company, and I guess he had a thing for the girl and - they were mightily afraid of him." Angel: "He had powers of some kind." Wes: "He was a wizard." They all turn to see Wes standing on the threshold of one of the corridors archways, sword carried loosely by his side. Wes: "He was obsessed with the girl. - When he found her with the other man, he went insane with jealous rage - pulled her out of time (slowly walks towards them) out of any reality beyond *his* theater, his company. He swore she would dance for him forever." Fred: "How did you..." Wes: "I - ah, - I h*t a hotspot, too." g*n: "And now we're stuck here?" Wes: "Well, ah, this kind of temporal shift can't just exist. It has to be maintained. That requires power and concentration. If we can overload him somehow, we might be able to slip back to the real world." g*n: "The man with the plan!" Angel: "Great. So, how do we overload him?" Wes: "Well, I'd imagine *that* requires some energy." The others turn to look at what Wes is indicating. One of the d*ad minions is slowly rising, begins to shake, then splits in two, one wearing a tragedy mask and sobbing, the other wearing a comedy mask and laughing. Angel grabs them both in a head lock under each arm and breaks both their necks. As soon as they h*t the floor they start shivering and splitting each into a new pair of theater minions. Fred: "The more we k*ll, the more he makes." Cordy, pointing: "Look!" For a moment the wall of the corridor wavers, revealing another reality behind it. Wes: "And that is draining his energy. Angel, try and find a way to the stage. The count will be watching." Angel starts to walks away, muttering under his breath: "I bet *he* has a box." Wes puts a hand on Angel's arm as he walks past and Angel stops to look at him. Wes: "Find his power center and destroy it. We'll try and loosen his hold." g*n: "By making more monsters? Man with the frightening plan!" A minion comes up the corridor and Angel spin kicks it, breaking its neck before heading past it. Cordy, pointing: "Back here. They can't surround us." They all move into the corner Cordy indicated. Cordy picks up one of the minion's swords, handing its stiletto to g*n as he and Fred walk past her. Wes puts a hand on g*n's arm. Wes: "You two - (Looks from Fred to g*n, then back to Fred) - stay close together. I'll take point." Cordy, coming up beside him: "I hope you're in a k*lling mood." Wes: "I should do alright." We get intercut sh*ts of the ballerina dancing on stage, the g*ng fighting the minions, and Angel looking for a way out of the corridor maze. The wall next to Angel flickers and after a split second's hesitation, Angel leaps at it - and lands in the wings off the stage. He sees the ballerina standing there watching from just off stage, waiting, at the same time the ballerina also comes dancing off the stage, her image shivering and dissolving as she passes from the view of the theater audience. Angel: "Hello?" The ballerina's head whips around and she stares at Angel. Ballerina, speaking with a Russian accent: "Who are you? - There's no one... - You're new." Angel: "I'm pretty old, actually. (Slowly walks closer) I've seen you dance." Ballerina, looking out on the stage: "Everyone sees me." Angel: "It was Giselle then, as well." Ballerina: "Always." Angel looks past the ballerina and sees Kurskov up in his box. Angel: "I know what's happening. Count Kurskov - he's punishing you." Ballerina: "He made me. He owns me. And when I dance it is only for him." Beside Angel the air shivers as a row of dancers materializes and passes out onto the stage. Angel: "Do you believe that?" Ballerina: "It really doesn't matter. I'll dance. I'll wait here. And then I'll dance again. That's all." Angel: "A hundred years - doing the same piece - every night. Is that enough? What about Stephan?" Ballerina takes a deep breath: "I waited too long. I should have gone when he asked me, should have disappeared, but... (swallows hard) I wanted this. This dance, this... I hesitated and... - I lost everything that mattered. Now all I do is wait." Angel: "You dance." Ballerina: "There is a section in the first act, during the courtship dance, where - my foot slips. My ankle's turned and - and I don't quite hold - every time. (Glances at the box) He doesn't notice. He doesn't even know ballet that well. But always, at that same moment, I slip. - It isn't just the same ballet. (Looks at Angel) It's the same performance. I don't dance. (Returns to watching the stage) I echo. (After a moment she turns back to Angel) Please - can you make it stop?" The g*ng all have swords now, fighting the minions. Wes: "It's working!" g*n: "Yeah, there are dozens of them. Yay us!" Wes: "It has to be weakening his hold." Angel reaches out his hand towards the stage and it vanishes from view in mid-air. Angel: "I can help you. But you have to do something." Ballerina: "What?" Angel: "Change the ending. Dance something new." Ballerina: "I can't." Angel: "He doesn't control all this. He's losing it. (Looks to see the 1890 backstage dissolve for a moment into the present day stage) But you have to take the stage. - It's not too late. You can change things." The ballerina looks from Angel to the stage. She slowly steps towards the stage, looking back at Angel once, then goes out and begins to dance around the lead dancer, lying stretched out in the middle of the stage as the rest of the company leaves the stage. She raises her head from bowing down over the fallen body to look towards Angel, waiting in the wings, then steps back and strikes a different pose. Up in his box, Kurskov jumps up out of his chair. Kurskov: "No!" As the ballerina begins to dance again, the body of the lead dancer shivers and dissolves. The ballerina stops, holding a pose, and looks up defiantly at Kurskov's box. Angel run out onto the stage and with two great leaps lands in Kurskov's box. He grabs him by the lapels and pulls him close. Angel: "Hey, where is your power center?" Kurskov: "How dare you?" Angel: "I'll guess." Angel smashes the jewel in the center of the Russian cross-shaped medal hanging around Kurskov's neck. A wave of blue light races out, washing over the ballerina on the stage, washing over the minions attacking the g*ng. g*n stops in mid-swing to look around as his sword, the minions and the corridor dissolve into a modern day back stage room. On the stage the ballerina looks up at Angel. Angel gives her a slight nod and she sinks down, folding her body on top of her outstretched leg, in something like a deep bow, before dissolving away. Kurskov: "You have no right." Angel: "Save it." Out in the audience people begin to applaud. Kurskov: "She - was my love. She danced only for *me!*" Angel: "Yeah. You love her that much? (Hauls back and clocks Kurskov on the chin, dropping him to the floor) Start a website." Angel leaves the box. Hyperion, night. In his office, Wes is working on the wound in g*n's back. Wes: "We'll have to clean the wound. Do you want something for the pain?" g*n, looking at Fred sitting across from him: "What pain?" Fred smiles at g*n. We see that Angel was watching them. He turns away, a slight smile on his face. Out in the lobby Cordy is brushing at her dress. Cordy: "Do you think I can still return it? Because otherwise we're gonna have to take on a lot more cases." Angel: "Cordy." Cordy: "You know, we should probably just not talk about - our little adventure. Anything that might have been seen, anything that might have been, oh (lets out a laugh) perky." Angel turning away: "I just wanna pretend it never happened." Cordy: "Exactly." Angel: "Wipe it from my memory." Cordy: "What? - Was it, like, disgusting?" Angel: "No! I, ah... I would, I would just want... If we were to... - I would just want it to be... - new. Start at the beginning." Cordy shaking her head: "Lost me in the middle." Angel: "Cordy - you and I, we've been working together for - a long time. (Cordy lets out a short 'duh' kind of laugh) What I mean is, you've become a truly extraordinary woman. (Cordy grins) I know we haven't always gotten along, but - I think that we, you know, we..." Cordy: "Groo?" Angel: "Yes! We - we-we grew - closer together, I think..." Cordy runs past Angel yelling: "Groo!" Groo: "Princess!" Angel turns to see Cordy throw herself into the Groosalug's arms as he comes down the stairs. Groo catches her in a tight hug, swinging her around. Cordy: "Oh god! I can't believe it!" Fred and Wes come out of the office at the noise. Groo looking deep into Cordy's eyes: "I feared you'd forget who I was." Cordy, running a hand down the side of his face: "Remind me." They kiss. Lorne walks over to stand next to Angel, who isn't taking his eyes of Cordy and Groo. Lorne: "He just showed up. Apparently once everyone in Pylea got their freedom, the political situation got a little sketchy. The Groosalug here got deposed and they set up some kind of people's republic. So, he came looking for his - true love." Angel: "Huh. That's good-good for her." Lorne: "Yeah." Angel turning away: "I'm gonna check on Connor." Lorne: "Ah, he's sleeping." Angel keeps walking up the stairs. Fred: "Well, that's a surprise. I thought for sure she was meant to be with Angel. I guess you never can predict those things. (Turns to look at Wesley) You know?" Wes, looking at her, after a b*at: "No. I guess you never can." Fred gives him a smile, then turns back to watching Groo and Cordy.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x13 - Waiting in the Wings"}

foreverdreaming

Angel: "Previously on Angel" Wesley: "Angel's son is part of the prophecy. Everyone and everything will be coming for him." Fred is holding Connor. Wes: "Adorable." g*n: "So sweet." Wes: "I meant the baby." g*n: "I meant the hot mama." Wesley: "She is a rather extraordinary young woman." g*n and Fred kiss. Wes' face reflected in the polished metal as he sees them. Lorne: "We got a little term back in Pylea - kyrumption..." Angel: "I know it." Pylean Priest: "Everyone is very anxious for her majesty to com-shuck with the Groosalug." g*n: "Sounds dirty if you ask me." Cordy runs across the dungeon to hug Groo. Cordy: "That's not terrible, that's wonderful!" Groo: "Your visions shall pass to me." Cordy: "I can't give up my visions!" Cordy lounges in Angel's doorway, dressed up for the ballet. Lorne: "Cordelia?" Angel: "What about her?" Lorne: "You got to let her know what's brewing inside, because you don't wanna miss that sh*t!" Possessed by the mystical energy in the ballerina's dressing room, Angel and Cordy go at it. Angel: "You've become a truly extraordinary woman. I think that we..." Cordy: "Groo?" Angel: "Yes! We grew - closer together and I think..." Cordy runs past him. Cordy: "Groo!" Groo: "Princess!" They hug. Cordy: "Oh god, I can't believe it!" Lorne to Angel: "He just showed up" Fred (voice-over as Angel goes to check on Connor): "I thought for sure she was meant to be with Angel. I guess you never can predict those things." Angel is leaning on Connor's crib, looking down at his son. Lorne comes up beside him. Angel: "It's strange." Lorne: "Hmm." Angel: "I remember him being taller." Lorne: "A trick of the light. They don't actually get smaller until they're very, very old." Angel: "I didn't mean the baby." Lorne: "I know you didn't." Angel: "I meant the Groosalug." Lorne: "I know you did." Angel: "Did he seem, ah, - I don't know - short?" Lorne: "Oh, absolutely. Clearly the guy shrank - all over, probably. (Lorne helps Angel out of his tux jacket) Why, he's nothing but a muscley midget. I'm sure once Cordelia gets him home, she'll just pop him into a smallish drawer, and that will be that." Angel, adjusting his cuffs: "She took him home. Well - well, that's good. At least we won't have to put him up here. The place was starting to turn into a hotel." Lorne: "So - so you don't have a problem with that then?" Angel: "Of course not. Why would I?" Lorne sniffs Angel's tux jacket. Lorne: "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I don't remember you wearing this perfume when you left this evening?" Angel takes the jacket from him. Angel: "Okay. There may have been some magic." Lorne: "There. You see?" Angel: "Actual *magic,* Lorne. Whatever happened, it was a spell. It's worn off now. There's nothing between Cordelia and me." Lorne: "Sure there is. And it got arms like steel cables and a deeply ironic sense of timing." Angel goes to hang his jacket into a closet. Angel: "You know, it's good that the Groosalug showed up when he did. You were right. Cordelia deserves a champion, and now she's got one." Lorne: "Well, what about you?" Angel: "I'm fine. I've been a solo-act most of my two hundred fourty plus years. And when I wasn't? Never turned out well. I like being alone." The camera frames Angel and Lorne from inside the closet as Angel hangs up the jacket. Lorne: "Fine, Ms. Garbo. Have it your way. Be alone." The closet door closes, and the screen goes dark - only to show us Angel again as he opens the door again a moment later. Angel reaches in, takes out the jacket on its hanger and sniffs at it for just a moment before hanging it back up and closing the door as he turns away. The camera looks out of another closet, this time at Cordy changing out of her evening dress. Cordy: "So, ahem, you got deposed, huh?" Groo, pacing in her living room: "Yes." Cordy: "Huh. That sucks." Groo: "The people turned against me." Cordy: "Yeah, well, they'll do that." Groo: "Endless committees were formed. Committees splintered into factions, the factions into coalitions, the coalitions turned into subcommittees, until finally the more radical element, spurred by a charismatic leader, did the dance of revolution." Cordy comes out of her bedroom, wearing a red sweater and jeans. Cordy: "And here you are." Groo: "Yes." Cordy: "So - you don't miss it? You know, the power, castle, concubines, and the royal chippies." Groo: "There was never anyone else." Cordy: "Oh." Groo: "I welcomed the overthrow. The tedium of government was too much to bear after a life on the b*ttlefield." Cordy, running a finger down the side of Groo's face: "Your heart wasn't really in it." Groo: "No. That left when you did." Groo slowly leans forward and they kiss. The camera circles around them and as we come back to see the Groosalug's face he has suddenly turned into an ugly, spiny, black monster. Cordy pulls back, staring at him. Groo's voice coming from the monster: "Princess?" Cordy takes a step back. Groo, looking like himself again: "Is something wrong?" Intro Angel comes down the stairs into the lobby, carrying Connor. Wesley is moving about behind the reception counter. Angel: "Hey." Wes: "Morning." Angel: "You, ah, you're the only one here?" Wes: "So far. - How's young Connor today?" Angel: "He's good. Cordelia, she's - usually in by now, isn't she?" Wes: "It's early. I imagine she and Groosalug where up late. They have a lot of catching up to do." Angel: "Right. Ah. 'They.'" Angel goes to put Connor down in a bassinet in Wes' office. Wes follows him. Wes: "Actually, I was hoping you and I could talk before the others got here." Angel: "Sure. What is it?" Wes: "Well - it's the fact of him. I know his sudden arrival was something we all needed a moment to digest. - Still, there are questions." Angel: "You're suspicious." Wes: "'Cautious' might be a better word." Angel: "You think he's evil." Wes: "Evil?" Angel: "Okay, maybe not evil, but - he's definitely hiding something. Does he seem shorter to you?" Wes glances down into the bassinet. Wes: "We are both talking about Connor, aren't we?" Angel: "What about Connor." Wes: "He shouldn't exist." Angel: "His birth was foretold. How many people can say that?" Wes: "He has a role to play, that's true, but we still don't know what that role is. - Angel, we can't be afraid to ask the questions, because your enemies, *his* enemies, certainly won't be." Angel: "You're right. We should be prepared." Wes: "I'm glad you agree. However, with the loss of the Nyazian Prophecies, we'll probably have to look elsewhere for our answers." Angel: "Well, we both know where those prophecies went. Maybe it's time to make another as*ault on Wolfram and Hart." Wes: "That might not be necessary. Not yet, anyway. There should be other sources. Ancient works accumulate scholarship, commentary over the years." Angel: "Huh. You think somebody else has already done the work for us." Wes: "That's my hope. I've been looking into it. I just... I felt you should know." Angel: "I wanna be involved, completely." Cordy: "Involved with who?" Angel spins around to see Cordy put some stuff down on the reception counter, and walks out of Wes' office. Angel: "You're here. And...(Sees Groo standing in front of the w*apon cabinet, trying out one of the swords) ... so is he." Groo: "Angel. Your w*apon are most impressive." Angel: "Thanks. Thank you. (Grabs a hold of Cordy's arm, never taking his eyes off Groo) Can you, uh, ask him not to handle my w*apon?" Cordy: "Oh, relax. If there's one thing Groo knows, it's how to handle a w*apon. - Poor guy. Looks like that's about all he's gonna be handling." Angel: "You mean, ah, you two didn't..." Cordy: "I got him home last night and we started... you know. - But then - I couldn't go through with it." Angel: "You couldn't?" Cordy: "No. Not after seeing that disgusting, spiny thing!" Angel throws a look at Groo before following Cordy into Wes' office. Angel: "Spiny?" Cordy: "Right up in my face! That's what the visions are like now. No pain, less artsy, sometimes floaty, though not lately, and very often stinky." Wes: "You had a vision?" Cordy: "Yeah. Big as life (Shows them a sketch she drew of the monster) last night, while Groo and I were getting reacquainted. Kind of a mood k*ller, I got to say." Wes: "You should have called one of us." Cordy: "Oh, please! Like I'm gonna bother you guys in the middle of the night because I want sex and can't have it." Wes: "Actually, I meant the vision." Cordy: "Oh. That. Well, it's not rising up until sometime later today." Wes: "Oh. Why can't you have sex?" Cordy: "I could lose my 'visionity.'" Wes: "If you wanna play it that way." Cordy: "*Vision*-ity! The visions. When that one h*t my last night, it h*t me. In Pylea the visions were supposed to pass to Groo if we ever did the royal com-shuck. How do I know that won't happen here?" Angel: "Good point. You really don't." Wes: "But your recent transformation could have changed all that. It might be possible to..." Angel kicks the side of Wes' desk as he moves his foot. Angel: "Still, you know, better safe than sorry. (To Cordy) You're doing the right thing." Cordy: "I know. I know. I can't risk it. It's just - I'm so... (Looks out of the office to where Groo is still swinging that sword) And he's such a... Rrrr.. (Turns to smile at Wes and Angel) Don’t you think?" Angel and Wes both look down. Angel: "Yeah, sure." Wes: "Certainly." Cordy: "I mean, there's gotta be other things we can do to relieve the tension!" Angel: "Jogging could be the thing." Wes: "Perhaps some form of paranormal prophylactic..." Angel: "Because, you know, jogging..." Cordy, still watching Groo: "I guess we could probably 'com' without actually 'shucking.'" Angel: "Well, I don't know. That could be a slippery slope that once you're on, that you could - slide." Cordy: "At least I won't be upsetting the average around here. Nobody in *this* office is ever gonna get any." g*n is sitting across from Fred in a diner, watching her eat. g*n: "It's funny." Fred: "The way I chew?" g*n: "No. Until that kiss last night, I would have thought you and Wesley had a thing for each other." Fred: "Wesley?" g*n: "Yeah." Fred: "No, we're just good friends." g*n: "You want another order of those?" Fred: "Yes, please." Fred puts a hand on g*n's wrist as he looks around for a waitress. Fred: "Oh. No. No, I'm not hungry." g*n: "You sure? I love watching you eat." Fred: "Wow. (They both look down, fidgeting and smiling) - We should probably go. People might start to talk." g*n laughs: "Why would they?" Fred: "Well, you know, us." g*n: "'Us' has been doing breakfast for weeks now. Everyone knows that." Fred: "I know, but now that we've kissed, things are different. - I mean, they are, right?" g*n, smiling at her: "Oh yeah." Fred: "So - so you don't think they can tell?" g*n looks around: "From here?" Fred laughs: "I'm sorry. I'm being ridiculous, I know. It's just - I don't have a lot of experience in this area. I spent the last five years in a cave." g*n: "Yeah, I know what that's like." Fred: "How could you?" g*n: "Because now everything's so bright my eyes hurt." As they get lost in each other's eyes, the waitress drops the tab on the table. Waitress: "Here you go." Fred: "Thank you." g*n: "Thanks." They both reach for it without losing eye contact, and their hands touch. Fred looks down: "How are we gonna work this?" g*n: "Like we always do. We split it." Fred: "But you hardly ordered anything. I'd be getting so much more value." g*n, smiling: "I think I'm making out okay." They lean across the table to kiss when their beepers go off. They both fumble for them and look at the number. Both: "Wesley." Wes: "We've identified the demon from Cordelia's vision as a Senih'd. (Hands g*n an open book) We believe it will rise in the mid-city area sometime before nightfall." g*n looks at the illustration, then hands the book over to Fred, sitting beside him. Wes notices their smiles as their hands linger during the hand-off. Wes: "The Senih'd manifests in its physical form for one purpose only - to feed." Fred hands the book to Cordy. Cordy: "Seen it." Cordy passes the book to Groo, standing beside her. Wes: "Immediately upon rising it will go to ground to search for a victim. We've got to make sure it doesn't find one." Angel comes to look at the book as Groo is holding it. He glances at Groo. Lifts up on his toes for a moment, then drops back down. Wes: "Angel will take the sewer tunnels. The rest of us will go by car to Sorensen Park. We'll enter the underground from the water treatment plant there, double back. Hopefully by the time we meet up again..." Groo: "I know this creature. It resembles the Bleaucha, which nest in the scum pits of Ur. I've slain many." Wes: "Really?" Groo: "Tracking it will be simple. k*lling it, more difficult." Angel: "Well, yeah." Wes: "Alright then. Groo, you go with Angel. Lets move out." Everyone starts to leave as Angel stares at Wes, turns to look after Groo, then turns back to Wesley. Angel: "I don't think that's such a good idea, me and him. You know, I'm more of a loner. Plus, he's so - bulky. He could really slow me down!" Wes: "He's an experienced warrior. He should be a great asset." Angel looks over to where the others arm up in front of the w*apon cabinet. Sees Cordy hand Groo a sword. Cordy: "Here's a nice one." Angel: "That's my favorite broadsword!" Wes: "You'll be fine, Angel." Wes pats Angel on the shoulder and walks past him. Cordy to Groo: "Are you sure you're gonna be warm enough? The sewers are pretty damp." Groo: "I shall be fine." Cordy: "Okay. (Hands Angel a w*apon without taking her eyes of Groo) Here." Angel turns the ax in his hand, looking at the small head on it. Looks at Cordy, only to see her kiss Groo's cheek. Angel, turning away: "Lets go." Angel and Groo walk off together. Groo: "I shall present this beast's head to my princess as a token." Angel: "Right. 'cause she'll love that." Angel and Groo are walking along some dark sewer tunnels. Angel: "You sense anything?" Groo: "A deep sadness." Angel stops and turns to look back at Groo. Groo: "My princess. She is unhappy. I fear I am the cause." Angel: "No. No, she's not unhappy you're here, Groo. She's - thrilled." They walk on. Groo: "Then what keeps her from me? There is a distance - as if her heart is not free." Angel: "I-I think, that maybe she's afraid to get too close. - She's, ah, scared if she does, she'll, ah, lose something." Groo: "But I would give myself to her." We hear a low growling sound. Angel holds up a hand to stop Groo, then takes a couple steps forward and crouches down. Angel touches some liquid spots on the ground, then rubs his fingers together, looking at them. Groo: "It is wounded. It bleeds." Angel: "It's better than bread crumbs. Lets go." Angel and Groo enter what looks like the water treatment plant Wes was talking about. The Senih'd drops off of some pipes behind them. Angel and Groo turn and att*ck the demon together. The Senih'd manages to disarm both of them fairly early into the fight, but neither Angel nor Groo let that slow them down. Angel is taking a bit more of a beating than Groo, but other than that they're doing about the same against the monster. Until it lets out a scream and breaks through the wall to escape into the sunny park outside. Angel scrambles back out of the sunlight streaming in through the opening. Groo picks up his dropped sword, then holds out a hand to help Angel up. Groo: "Come." Angel just looks at Groo, not moving. Screams sound from outside, and Groo turns to run after the Senih'd. Angel slowly gets up and watches as Groo goes to rescue the young woman the Senih'd has grabbed. The demon tries to use the woman as a shield against Groo's sword, but Groo manages to knock them apart. Cordy, Wes, g*n, and Fred come running over a rise in the park, just in time to see Groo catch the woman in one arm, while knocking the Senih'd down and s*ab it deep into the back of its neck. The demon dissolves into an oily black puddle that seeps away into the ground. Angel watches the rescued woman cling to Groo. Wes: "Well, done." Angel watches as Cordy throws her arms around Groo, a big smile on her face. Wes: "I must say, excellent work." The people in the park gather around them, applauding. Wes reaches out to pat Groo on the shoulder. Wes: "Well done." Wes turns and looks towards the hole in the side of the building. He sees Angel standing in the shadows of it, watching them. Break Ms. Frakes voice over: "You think you know someone. You think your place is secure and that there's a future there." Angel is sitting across from Ms Frakes behind Wes' desk, watching Groo as he reenacts his fight with the demon for Cordy, g*n and Fred. Ms. Frakes: "And then something happens. No, strike that. Some *one* happens! (Angel watches Groo drop down beside Cordy, catching her in a hug) They insinuate themselves, pushing you out, taking your place." Angel turns his attention back to Ms Frakes. Angel: "And what makes you think this other woman is a witch, Ms - Frakes?" Ms. Frakes: "Why else would Jerry cheat on me? We've been engaged for eight years! She had to have put some kind of a spell on him." Wes is talking on the phone, while also watching the group out in the lobby. Wes: "I'm looking for the original Greek if it's at all possible." Watching as Fred is laughing at Groo's antics, Wes slowly moves backward until the wall beside him hides g*n, sitting beside Fred, from his view - leaving only Fred and Cordy in his sights. Wes: "You do? Excellent. Ah, can I get a quote on that?" Angel leans back in his chair. Angel: "Well, if you give me the woman's name I'll have someone check her out. See if we can find out if she's a - witch." Ms Frakes: "HotBlonde37159 (She hands Angel some papers) I got these off the e-mails that I took from Jerry's computer." Angel: "It's, ah, gonna... (glances us as Wes walks into the office) uh, it's gonna be pretty difficult to find her based solely on this." Ms Frakes: "Well, just follow Jerry! I'm sure he'll lead you right to her." Angel looks up at Wes: "Ms Frakes here wants us to stake out her fiancé. I was trying to explain to her that..." Wes: "I think we can spare someone to keep an eye on Ms Frakes' fiancé. g*n! (g*n gets up from the settee) If witchcraft is involved we should probably look into it." g*n: "What's up?" Wes: "Ah, g*n, Ms Frakes here needs some surveillance work. I thought, if you were free..." g*n: "Yeah, not a problem." Wes: "Good. (Takes the papers from Angel and hands them to g*n) She'll give you the details. I'll leave it in your hands." Wes takes the printed up e-mails form Angel and hands them to g*n. g*n: "Sure thing." Fred smiles at Wes as she comes into the office. Fred: "We won't let you down." Angel and Wes are entering the rare books shop. Angel: "I don't know. Maybe they should just do it, you know? Get it over with." Wes: "I'm sorry?" Angel: "Cordy and Groo. She's being all noble for the good of the team. She should just make it with the com-shuck. That's what she wants." Wes: "Oh." Proprietor: "May I help you?" Wes: "Yes. I phoned earlier about Grammaticus Third Century Greek Commentaries." Proprietor: "Of course. The G.T.C.G.C. I'll be just one moment." Wes: "Thank you." Angel: "I mean, why not? You know, life is short. Okay, not mine, but, you know, most people's. And if Groo does it for her, she should go for it. (Walks over to a shelf to flip through some books) Make him happy. Make her happy. (Almost inaudible) Make everybody happy." Wes: "But still - office romance - complicates things. What if they should have a row, or break up?" Angel: "All of us fight with each other at some point. It's not like anybody else is having a romance. I don't see it changing things much." Wes: "Well - (leans closer to Angel and drops his voice after a glance around) she said it herself. It could risk the visions." Angel: "Okay. So the visions pass to Groo. He gets them instead of her. So what?" Wes: "Are you suggesting Groosalug could replace Cordelia?" Angel, still browsing the books: "Maybe not Cordelia." Wes: "I see. - You think he could replace you." Angel slowly puts the book he's holding back on the shelf and turns to face Wes. Angel: "I don't know. Seems to me, here is a guy who can do everything I can - and a few things I can't." Wes: "That's not true." Angel: "You saw what happened this afternoon. If Groo hadn't been there..." Wes: "Then the rest of us would have. - Angel, - you're the reason we've all come together. It's your mission which animates us. We each contribute, it's true, but you - you're unique. (Indicates the shelves) You're like one of these rare volumes. One of a kind." Angel smiles ever so slightly. The proprietor walks through in between them, carrying three old books. Proprietor: "I've got three of them." Angel blinks, smile gone as his brows draw down for a moment. Groo is sitting in a chair in Wes' office with Cordy leaning down for a kiss. Cordy, pulling back a little: "Are you sure?" Groo: "I'm sure." Cordy: "Good. Don't worry. I practiced plenty on Cousin Timmy when we were kids." They smile at each other. Cordy takes a step over towards the desk, then turns back. Cordy: "Oh, wait. It's not like your strength is in your hair, or anything like that, right?" Groo: "No. I - believe it is in my muscles." Cordy laughs: "Okay. So, we lose the "b*ttlefield Earth" hair, and get you out of these animal skins, and it'll be a whole new you!" Groo: "And will this 'new me' be one that you can allow yourself to love?" Cordy: "What?" Groo: "Will the 'new me' please you in ways that the 'old me' could not?" Cordy: "Groo, it's a haircut. It's not gonna make me like you any better." Groo: "Oh. - I understand." After a b*at Cordy puts the scissors down, takes a deep breath and crouches down in front of Groo. Cordy: "You didn't give up your throne and come all this way for a make-over, did you? You came for something I can't give you - me. - It's not that I don't want to. I do. I've never met anyone like you, Groo. You're so open, and sweet, and there is a definite thing here. It's just..." Groo puts a hand on hers: "You are afraid that with me, you will be less than what you were." The camera shows a tree with a lot of roots visible around the bottom of the trunk. A car pulls up at the curb across the street from it. A man gets out and walks over to stand beneath the tree. g*n's truck pulls up. g*n: "Looks like this is it. Better get the camera." Fred, setting up the video camera: "Do you really think he's possessed or under some kind of spell?" g*n: "Well, it's hard to say. There's all different kinds of magic. You've got demony love spells, mojo sex chants, voodoo bootie rituals..." Fred: "Voodoo bootie rituals?" g*n gives her serious nod, then they both start laughing. Fred, leaning towards him: "You made that up." g*n: "Then there is the all-powerful, big, brown, soulful eyes kind of magic." Fred smiles: "Kind of familiar with that one myself." They start to kiss, but Fred pulls away. Fred: "Hmm. We should..." g*n: "Right. Because we're all about the work." Fred turns to watch Jerry, standing under the tree, holding a single red rose, waiting. Fred: "Maybe it's not so much magical but chemical when two people are attracted. Maybe it's like the DNA knows what it needs and when it finds it, nothing can get in its way. It just takes it." g*n: "It does?" Fred nods at him with a smile. g*n leans forward and they kiss. Fred after a moment: "Charles..." g*n: "Yeah?" Fred: "We're not supposed to be the ones having the rendezvous." g*n: "We're not?" Fred: "No. He is." g*n: "But he's cheating on someone. You and me, we got a right." g*n pulls her close, but Fred, while smiling doesn't give in. Fred: "I know. But we're supposed to be working." g*n lets out a sigh, and sits back. g*n: "You're right." He looks towards the tree - no Jerry in sight. g*n: "Damn!" Wes: "I'll get started translating this material right away." Angel: "Well, ah, Wesley - thanks - for what you said before. You put things into perspective for me." Wes: "Glad I could. While I do believe having another warrior for good may be an asset in the coming days, Truth is, you and the Groosalug are two totally different - people..." Wes trails off as they enter the lobby and see Groo, his hair cut short, dressed in a set of Angel's clothes. Groo: "Ah, hello." Wes: "...who look exactly alike." Angel under his breath: "He's wearing my clothes." Wes: "Good fit." Groo smiles up at them. Angel returns the smile. Angel: "Where's Cordelia?" Cordy gets up from Wes' chair as Angel walks into the office, a set smile on his face. Cordy: "Oh, good. You're back." Angel: "He's wearing my clothes." Cordy: "What? Oh, yeah. I-I didn't think you'd mind. Turns out you guys are about the same size. I think he's a little taller. Looks great though, doesn't he? Angel, I need your help." Angel: "What happened? - You had a vision?" Cordy: "What? Oh, no. No, it's nothing like that. Uhm. This is - personal." Angel: "What is it?" Cordy: "I wouldn't ask, except, ah, there's really no one else I can trust with this. It's something only you can do?" Angel puts his hands on Cordy's arms and leads her over to a chair before sitting down on the edge of the desk in front of her. Angel: "Tell me." Cordy lets out a deep breath: "You've done so much for me already and... Well, this is just one more thing for the list, I guess." Angel: "There is no list. You know that. Just - just tell me what I can do." Cordy: "I need you to help me have sex - with Groo." Angel slowly turns his head to look out into the lobby where Groo is standing talking to Wesley. Cordy grins at Groo behind Angel's back and waves. Groo waves and smiles back. Angel lifts a hand, wiggles his fingers a little and raises his eyebrows, while trying to smile back. Break Cordy: "I realized something today. - It's not the thr*at of losing the visions that's been keeping me from being close. - It's me. The Visions are just an excuse. I mean - there's always *some* excuse." Angel: "Right." Cordy: "I'm *tired* of being lonely." Angel: "Yeah." Cordy: "So I worked it out." Angel: "You did?" Cordy: "Yes! It was something Wesley said - a paranormal prophylactic. And that got me thinking. I couldn't be the only woman on earth that had some supernatural gift that could be lost through physical intimacy." Angel: "Stands to reason." Cordy: "So I started researching and anyway, I'm right. There is a potion, a protective potion. I take it and bang! I can." Angel: "Hmm. A potion." Cordy: "Yeah. Anyway, this woman's name is Anita, and she's kind of in the business. Makes love potions, elixirs, things like that. She says she's got just the thing at this address." Cordy hands Angel a paper with a scribbled address. Angel: "You want me to - get this for you." Cordy: "I went to my ATM, got cash. (Hands Angel a wad of bills) Nearly cleaned me out, but I think it's worth it." Angel: "So you and Groo can..." Cordy: "...com-shuck like bunnies. You betcha." Angel: "Why don't you just send him?" Cordy: "I *am* sending him. He kind of insists on it, but that's why I need you." Angel: "Huh?" Cordy: "He doesn't know this world. I can't send him into a demon brothel all by himself! I mean, I trust him, but I'm not crazy." Angel takes a step back: "Brothel." Cordy follows him: "*You'd* be safe there. No woman's gonna tempt you, right?" Angel looks down: "R-right." Groo walks into the office. Groo: "Are we ready?" Cordy: "I think so." Groo: "We're most grateful for your help, Angel. (Groo puts an arm around Angel's shoulder and pulls him close) You've been a true friend to us both." Cordy laughs. Angel: "Yeah." Fred and g*n are walking around tree where they last saw Jerry. Fred: "There is nothing." g*n: "More like a whole lot of nothing. How are we gonna explain this? 'Sorry, Wes. We lost the dude because we were macking on the job.'" Fred: "We didn't lose him so much as... Okay. We lost him. But his car's still here. So he's got to be close, right?" g*n bends down and picks up the single red rose Jerry was holding earlier. Fred: "I'm sure there is an explanation." g*n: "The camera." Fred: "Yeah, the camera. Maybe he saw the camera." g*n: "No, I mean, whatever happened, we got it on tape." Fred: "Right." Fred looks down at the camera she is carrying. Fred flips the side screen of the camera open and rewinds the tape to where Jerry was still standing under the tree. Fred: "There he is." g*n: "Push play." On the screen we see some roots come up out of the ground, wrap around Jerry and pull him straight down into the ground. Fred: "Well, that can't be good." Roots sh**t up out of the ground, wrap around g*n and Fred and they vanish into the ground as well. We get an outside sh*t of a lit mansion. Then see a dorky looking guy walk down a hallway on the arm of a 'lady' with an oversized smile and three boobs. Another lady comes around a corner of the hallway, followed by Angel and Groo. Anita: "Oh, I love your outfits." Angel: "Well, I really wouldn't call them 'outfits.'" Anita: "But you are together." Groo puts a hand on Angel's shoulder: "Yes! Two champions here together." Angel, pushing Groo's hand off: "Not 'together' together. Just 'get the potion' together." Groo: "So I may com-shuck my princess." Angel: "Just to reiterate, (Angel points at himself) *not* (is distracted by the sound of laughter) the princess..." Angel is looking through an open door into a reddish room, watching a couple having a pillow fight. Anita: "The room is enchanted. Everything that happens in there, every touch, every emotion, every desire is extended for maximum pleasure. I can check the schedule if there is someone special you would like to bring." Anita takes a hold of Groo and leads him down the corridor, after a moment Angel turns away from the room to follow. Anita: "Just right in here." Anita leads Groo into a big bedroom. A man wearing dress pants and shirt is manacled to one of the walls. Man: "Oh, hello." Groo: "Fear not, friend. We are here to save you!" Groo rushed over and tries to pry the shackles open. Man: "Hey! Get off!" Angel comes in, takes one look, and hurries over and grabs a hold of Groo's shoulders. Angel: "Groo! Groo, I think he's happy there." Groo: "As a sl*ve?" Man: "Don't judge me." Angel pulls Groo away. Angel: "Come on. (To man) Sorry. (To Anita) If you'll just give us the potion, we'll be..." Anita: "You brought cash?" Angel pulls out the money Cordy gave him and hands it to Anita. Anita takes it then lifts one hand up into the air. We hear a little tinkling sound and her hand is enveloped in a deep blue light. As she brings her hand back down she is holding a small metal bottle. Anita: "Make sure to tell your princess to drink it all at once." Groo takes the bottle and Anita looks at Angel. Anita: "I know why your earnest friend is here, but why are you? What's in it for you?" Angel just stands there looking at Anita, ignoring the ringing of his cell phone. Groo: "Angel, your coat is singing." Angel pulls out the phone and flips it open. Angel: "Hello. - What? g*n? (He turns away from the others plugging his other ear) I can barely hear you." We see g*n and Fred wrapped in a net of roots in what looks like a cave. g*n: "Yeah, reception's not so great, is it?" Angel: "Where are you?" g*n: "Under Plummer park." Angel: "Under it?" g*n: "Pretty much. We were tailing that woman's fiancé..." Fred: "Jerry." g*n: "...and we kind of lost him." Fred: "But then we found him - sort of." g*n: "Him *and* his date. Some root-crazy, tree-like demony thing." Fred: "With what looks like a DSL connection. (We see some computer screens and keyboards wrapped around by more roots.) We're pretty sure he chats up lonely hearts online, and then sucks them down here for food. Or maybe it gets its power that way." g*n: "Monster's got a big, old, leathery joint jammed up into guy. I think it's sucking the life out of him." We get a sh*t of a gnarly face in the main trunk and hear it growl. Angel: "What... have you called Wesley yet?" g*n: "We were kind of hoping we wouldn't have to." Angel: "I don't understand." Fred: "We just didn't want to bother him with this." Angel: "Bother him?" g*n: "Look. Nothing against Wes, but I'm not sure he can help us out at the moment. What we really need..." Angel listens to his phone. Angel: "Oh. Ah-huh. (Angel turns and holds the phone out to Groo) Uhm. It's for you." Groo is leading the way through the sewers. Groo: "I am honored they requested the Groosalug to save them." Angel: "I wouldn't say requested, more like included. (Puts a hand on Groo's shoulder to hold him up) Hang on. Here. Here. Did you feel it?" Groo strides forward: "Something Evil." Angel grabs a hold of Groo again: "Whoa, easy. Slow down, Champ! We have to be very careful here." Groo: "You're right. (Groo pulls out the bottle Anita gave him) Will you keep this safe?" Angel looks from Groo to the bottle. After a moment he takes it and puts it in his pocket. Angel: "Fine. But we just got to be, you know, a little bit more..." Groo charges forward with a loud battle cry. Angel: "...patient." Groo slashes away at the roots as he runs into the cave. Fred: "It's Groo!" g*n: "Over here!" Groo lets out another battle cry. The face in the trunk roars back. A root sh**t out and buries itself in the middle of Groo's chest. Groo drops the sword as he is pulled up beside the now released Jerry, who is lying motionless on the ground. Fred: "What are we gonna do now?" Angel makes his way into the cave between some of the hanging roots. Angel: "That's my shirt!" Break Angel: "This thing is not actually made out of wood, is it?" Fred: "No, it's flesh." Angel: "Good. (Picks up the sword Groo dropped) Flesh I can deal with. Flesh I can k*ll." Fred: "But I don't think hacking it is going to do any good. It doesn't seem to have any vital organs. It uses people as batteries. It draws its power from its victims." Angel looks from the root-demons snarling face to Groo, who is groaning and straining against the root buried in his chest. g*n: "And it's been getting stronger since it tapped into Groo." Angel: "Really. Stronger. (Groo suppresses another scream) Come on! He can't be that great." Fred: "He is the Groosalug." g*n throws a look at Fred as he sees Angel drop the sword and walk closer to the root-face. Angel: "What do you think? - Honestly. Does he seem really 'better' than other men?" Demon: "He's magnificent." Angel: "Really? - I'd say more like magnificently stupid. (g*n and Fred exchange another look) Because him with the beer tap in his chest and me with the, you know, just walking around (Angel walks up to Groo) And I'm really getting tired of the 'Groosa-worship' thing. (Slugs Groo in the face. The root-demon lets out a roar) Nothing personal, champ. Oh! Everyone makes such a big deal about the Groosalug. (Slugs Groo. The root-demon roars.) He's such a champion. (Slug. Roar.) He's so rugged. (Slug. Roar.) He's so emotionally available. (Slug. Roar.) Look at him in the daylight. (Slug. Roar.) But you know what? I'm smarter, and I'm stronger, and I pick out my own clothes!" Angel kicks Groo. The demon roars, withdraws its tap-root from Groo and buries it in Angel's chest instead. Angel drops to his knees, catching himself on his left hand, while his right wraps around the taproot. Angel: "Okay. Oh, jeez. Well, it's okay. You know, no one is using my heart at the moment anyway." Demon: "k*ll you." Angel: "Sorry. Already d*ad." Demon: "Vampire!" Angel: "Yeah. Did I mention that?" Demon moans: "Cold. - Cold." Angel: "Oh, yeah. It's kinda cold in there. But, hey, don't let that stop you." The tree demon moans. The root bindings around g*n and Fred shrivel and drop away. g*n jumps up, grabs Groo's dropped sword. Demon: "So cold." g*n: "So d*ad!" g*n buries the sword in the root-demon's face. A yellowish green liquid pours out. Fred goes to check on Groo, while g*n checks on Angel. Angel: "How is he?" Fred: "Pretty b*at up. Still alive - thanks to you." Wes it talking on the phone in his office. g*n and Fred are sitting in chairs in front of his desk. Wes: "Yes, Ms Frakes. We are, too. - You're welcome. - Good bye. (Hangs up phone) Well, Ms Frakes is very happy. You saved her fiancé's life." Fred: "So he's gonna be okay?" Wes: "Yes." g*n: "That's good." Wes: "Yes." There is a long pause. Wes: "Well, good work. You should probably get cleaned up, then." Fred getting up: "Yeah. Good idea." Wes: "Ah, Charles, a word?" g*n and Fred look at each other for a moment. Fred: "Well, good night." g*n: "Good night. (Smiles as he watches Fred leave) What is it?" g*n turns back to face Wes. Wes: "When you knew this was more than just a tryst you should have told me." g*n: "It happened so fast. The thing just grabbed the guy and he was gone." Wes: "That's... - That's not what I meant." g*n: "Oh. - You mean... (points a thumb back over his shoulder) - Well... - I'm not so sure that's any of your business." Wes: "No. You're probably right. - Still... She could get hurt. - I trust that won't happen?" g*n: "What are you, her brother?" Wes: "Apparently." g*n after a b*at: "Wesley, I..." Wes: "She chose. - It's just important to me that she's taken care of." g*n: "She will be." Wes: "Good." Wes picks up his pen and goes back to working on translating the open book in front of him. g*n watches him for a moment then turns to go. Halfway to the door he turns back and opens his mouth, but closes it again without speaking and leaves. Wes looks up. We hear a ripping sound and see Angel scrunch up his face, then hear buttons rain to the floor. Cordy: "Sorry." Angel, as he watches her dab at Groo's bared chest: "It's, ah - it's okay. It, ah, was already ruined." Cordy: "Well, if it's any consolation, I planned to rip it off him later anyway. (Her head whips around to looks at Angel) You did get the potion, didn't you?" Angel holds up the slightly dented flask. Angel: "Yeah. We - we got it." Cordy goes back to doctoring Groo. Cordy: "Well. This isn't so bad. You heal almost as fast as he does." Groo: "Princess, I - I have a confession to make." Angel: "Groo." Groo looks over at Angel, who silently shakes his head 'no' at him. Cordy pulls his face back around to look at her. Cordy: "A confession? What - what confession? Did something happen at the brothel? (To Angel) You were supposed to look after him!" Angel: "Nothing happened! Except your - boyfriend here was - very brave, and - saved the day." Cordy to Groo: "You did? (Slaps his shoulder) You big hero!" Groo: "No. I was reckless! I put everyone in grave peril. - *Angel* is the true champion. (Looks over at Angel) He saved us all." Cordy, never taking her eyes off Groo: "Did you hear that?" Angel: "Yeah, but..." Cordy: "How many guys would just give away the credit like that? That is just *so* noble. (Holds out her hand) The potion." Angel puts the flask into her outstretched hand. Cordy takes it then grabs Groo by his shirt and pulls him up off the settee. Cordy: "Let's get our of here! See ya!" Cordy hurries Groo towards the exit doors of the Hyperion. Angel: "Cordelia." Cordy stops and looks back at Angel. Cordy: "What?" When Angel only stands there, Cordy holds up a finger to Groo then walks back to Angel. Cordy, quietly: "What is it?" Angel takes one of her hands and puts a roll off dollar bills tied with a string into it. Cordy: "What's this?" Angel: "Just some money I saved up." Cordy: "Why? What for?" Angel: "I did something for you tonight. Now I want you to do something for me. - Don't come in tomorrow. In fact, don't come in for a couple of weeks. Take Groo some place - nice. Somewhere where there is - sun. - He'd like that." Cordy: "Angel..." Angel: "Promise me." Cordy shakes her head a little as she looks down at the money, hitches one shoulder a little. Cordy: "Okay." Cordy turns to leave, then turns back and touches the hole in Angel's T-shirt where the tentacle went into his heart. Cordy: "You sure you don't need some patching up yourself?" Angel looks down at his chest: "No, I - I'm good. Didn't hurt a bit." Cordy looks at him for a moment, then turns and walks out with Groo. As the door closes Wes comes out of his office. Angel looks at him then turns towards the stairs. Lorne is laying Connor down in his crib. Lorne: "Alright now. You get some rest, big boy. Yes. You go to sleep. Get you nice and tucked in... yes." Lorne looks up as Angel walks up to them. Angel: "Thanks for looking after him." Lorne: "Yeah. Sure. (Gives Angel a look) You okay?" Angel looks down at Connor, a slight smile spreading over his face. Angel: "Yeah." Lorne leaves as Angel keeps watching Connor. We see Wesley writing 'the son.' The camera pulls back to show us Wes staring down at his notepad. Angel walks in, carrying Connor. Angel: "Working late?" Wes: "Yes. - You startled me." Angel: "Oh, we didn't mean to." Wes: "I thought I was alone." Angel: "Yeah. (Looks at Connor with a smile) So did I." Wes watches as Angel kisses Connor's cheek and walks back out of the office. Wes lets out a sigh and looks back down at his notepad where we can read 'the father - will k*ll - the son.'

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x14 - Couplet"}

foreverdreaming

g*n: "Previously on Angel:" Angel to Wes: "Check me out! I'm Mr. Dad." Sahjhan to Lilah: "I need the blood of Angel's son." Lilah: "Got it." Sahjhan: "Got it? How'd you get it?" Lilah: "Swiped it." Angel: "Things have been a little slow since Cordelia and the Groosalug went on vacation." Angel: "You've been holed up with all those prophecies and books." Angel: "You okay, Wes?" Loa: "That the vampire will devour his child is certain." Wes: "When will this happen?" Lilah: "It's already started." Loa: "Be heedful of the signs, human." The second, stronger earthquake hits as Angel is heating up a bottle for Connor. Loa: "Earthquake, f*re..." The gas stove topples over, sh**ting out an expl*si*n of flame that throws Angel halfway across the room. Loa: "...blood." Angel: "Wesley, get out!" Angel grabs Wes and throws him out of the burning room, then follows, holding Connor. Angel to Connor: "It's okay." Wes stares up at Angel, who is bleeding from a gash on the side of his head. Wes to himself: "Earthquake, f*re, blood." Hyperion, day, Wes is staring at his translation of 'The Father will k*ll The Son.' He looks up at the bassinet as we hear Connor fussing, then closes the book on the desk in front of him on the notepad. He slowly gets up and walks over to the bassinet, where Connor is now crying, and looks down at the baby. Angel: "Geez, Wes! Don't you know what you're supposed to do?" Wes looks up to see Angel standing there sipping a tall glass of blood. Angel sets the glass aside and walks over to the bassinet. Angel: "You pick 'em up when they fuss. (Leans down to pick Connor up) Daddy's here." Wes: "Sorry. I don't know what I was... I didn't sleep very well." Angel: "Yeah, and you look like hell. Not the fun one, where they burn you with hot pokers for all eternity, but the hardcore one, you know, Nixon and Brittany Spears?" Angel laughs down at Connor. Wes: "You're awfully chipper today." Angel: "Yeah, it's weird, huh? Maybe it was the earthquake, but I barely slept and I have all this energy. God, I could drink a horse!" Angel picks up his glass of blood for another drink. Wes: "Speaking of earthquake: you realize we have no insurance." Angel: "Yeah. Bummer." Wes: "Your room is..." Angel: "...the wreck of the Hesperus. I know. Wes - don't be such a worrywart. The best part about owning a hotel is plenty of rooms. I'll just move to another one until we get it fixed." We hear a guitar and a woman's voice. Angel: "Who is that singing?" Wes: "Lorne is seeing a client in the garden." Angel: "She's good. (To Connor) You wanna see the lady sing?" Angel walks over to look out at the garden court, carrying Connor and taking another drink from his glass. A young woman with long blonde hair is singing to her guitar. Kim singing: "I fell so far - a light went on in my heart. You're gone - now I'm - left alone in the dark." Stops and turns to Lorne: "Do you see anything?" Lorne: "I see you're plenty scared. It's alright. Keep going." Kim singing: "My soul is aching..." Connor starts to fuss. Angel: "Hey, hey, hey. No fussing now. Hey, do you wanna see something cool? Sure you do." Angel walks back into the lobby and opens the w*apon cabinet as Wes watches them. Kim singing: "...my heart is breaking..." Angel: "Ah, huh? You like that broadsword? That's your old man's favorite. (Turns away from the w*apon) Wes! He's gonna be crawling in no time. We got to start baby proofing this place! (Hands Connor over to Wesley) Here take him. (To Connor) It's alright. It's your uncle Wes. Yeah, he loves you bunches! (Turns away with a chuckle) He's just - English." Fred's voice: "Are you crazy? It's the best state in the Union!" Wes looks over to see Fred coming down the stairs, talking to her cell phone. Fred: "What's wrong with Texas? - Texas doesn't hate the black man. Texas *loves* the black man. Well, most of Texas. Anyone with a brain. What's so great about California?" The doors open and g*n walks in, also talking to his cell. g*n: "Everything. It's got the climate, the ocean..." Fred: "The earth that opens up and swallows you whole." g*n: "The Lakers, the music." They walk towards each other across the lobby, still talking into their phones. Fred: "The traffic, the smog." They stop face to face. g*n: "It's got you." Fred closes her phone and smiles at him: "Okay. You win. Morning." g*n smiles back: "Hi." Wes: "Glad to see you're using the company phones for such important calls." g*n holds up his phone: "Did you want me to pay for that?" Angel: "Chain 'em up!" Fred: "What?!" Angel: "I say we put a chain and a combination lock on the w*apon. Better safe than sorry. (To Connor) Isn't that right, buddy? (Kisses Connor) He likes you. I can tell." Wes: "I like him, too. As a matter of fact I was thinking, perhaps I'd take him to the park or the beach, just the two of us. (Angel takes Connor back from Wes.) Maybe there'll be some time in the next day or two." Angel: "Sounds great. Yeah. Count on it." Lorne: "Ah, guys? I think there's something you should... Ah, can you come here for a sec?" They all follow him out into the garden court. Angel is careful to stay back in the shadows of the hotel entrance. Lorne: "Everybody, this is my friend, Kim. (To Kim) It's alright. They're professionals. Just take it from the chorus, hmm?" Kim, singing: "My heart is breaking - in two. No love, no light left - no you..." Suddenly her face morphs into that of an ugly gray skinned demon. Demon-Kim: "I'll hack your eyeballs out and rip your children in two!" Green drool starts to drip from her mouth. Her face morphs back to human, and Lorne walks over to a shaking Kim. Lorne: "It's okay. I got ya. It's all right. It's okay. (To the others) Catchy finish, huh?" Intro Kim is sitting in Wes' office drinking tea. Lorne: "Kim is good people. She came to see me a couple of years ago." Kim: "He put me on my true path." Lorne smiling: "She was throwing her life away in medical school, when she should have been a singer." g*n: "Yeah. Who needs more doctor's in the world when you can have singing demons?" Kim: "Well, the demon part - is new." Angel: "Ha! Singing demons, flying nuns. Good one, G!" Angel takes another drink from his glass of blood as g*n looks over at him. Lorne: "Well, she hooked up with this band a couple of weeks ago and..." Kim: "They were mellow - organic types. They never touched drugs or played a diminished chord." Angel: "I like nuns. How did the flying nun fly anyway? Was it god or - magic? (Everyone looks at Angel) What? You think about these things sometimes. (Motions to Kim) Please - continue!" Kim: "Uhm - well, then they started changing. Stevie, the lead guitar grew a seventh finger like overnight." g*n: "Seventh?" Kim: "Well, he already had six. I just thought... I don't really know what I thought. And Raw, the drummer, suddenly sprouted that spiny thing on his back..." We get a sh*t of Wes and Fred, wearing gloves, bending over a microscope sitting on Cordy's desk. Kim: "...And they started playing this beyond industrial trash noise funk day and night. And then it happened to me. - You saw it. - Am I gonna turn into that?" Wes: "No. You're human. They're not. What's happening to you isn't permanent. It's just an infection." Fred: "Which you can get rid of by taking twenty milligrams of Cylenthium powder twice a day for a month." Lorne: "Mystical antibiotic. I'll get you some." Fred holds up a glass slide: "I thought your saliva was suspect. What with being green and all... No offense, Lorne. Under the microscope it showed traces of Penloxia." Lorne: "Oh - they're Wraith-ers." Kim: "Wraith-ers?" Wes: "Demons that can make themselves look human - for a time. (Shows her an entry in one of his books) Ten days, two weeks, then they revert to what they really are." g*n: "I wonder why they would wanna look like musicians?" Angel: "For the chicks. Musicians get the chicks! (Everyone turns to look at him) What? They're gonna appear as dentists? Let's take 'em out. (To Kim) Where are they?" Kim: "In a rehearsal space. It's an old loading dock behind the shop'n'go in Echo park." Angel: "Wes?" Wes: "You'll have to k*ll them. It's the only thing you can do with Wraith-ers. You, g*n, Fred can go. Lorne, stay here with the baby. I have some business to take care of." Fred: "Guys, shouldn't we call Cordelia and the Groosalug back into action? I mean, if one of us gets hurt, say, k*lling Wraith-ers for example. We're gonna need some backup around here." Angel: "Nah, I don't wanna disturb her. It's the only break she's had in years. Besides, you know, it's just a couple of Wraith-ers." Kim: "Three -actually." Angel: "Piece of cake! (Does some shadow boxing) I'm up for a little kick-ass! Come on! Who's with me?" At Holtz headquarters one of his men is punching a vampire, held in a chain harness. Justine, holding the end of the harness chain: "Good!" The man stumbles back from a swing by the vampire. Justine: "He'd be sucking the life out of you right about now, Rick. Never take your eyes off a vampire. You have to feel where your fellow soldiers are! You can trust each other with your lives!" Pulls the vampire back to face her. The vampire swings at her. She kicks it and wraps the chain around its neck forcing it to its knees. Justine: "Never! Ever! Trust a bloodsucker! (Tosses the vampire over her back) Keep practicing!" One of the men grabs the chain and hooks it to the wall. Holtz gets up and walks into another part of the house. Justine follows him. Holtz: "I don't like it." Justine: "They'll learn or they'll die." Holtz: "Oh, not that. They're coming right along. I - I don't like tea in these cotton cups." Justine: "It's called Styrofoam - and I'll get you some China ones." Holtz: "Thank you, Justine. Are you ready?" Justine: "Yes." Holtz: "What is it you're not sure of - is it me?" Justine: "No! It's... - these people that work for Angel - we may end up k*lling a lot of them." Holtz: "We may end up k*lling all of them." Justine: "I'd follow you through the gates of hell to k*ll vampires, Daniel. You know that." Holtz: "But people - even evil people who help vampires..." The Camera pans down Holtz' arm and we see him take out a hidden Kn*fe and holding it concealed in his right hand. Holtz: "...are another kettle of fish." Justine after a b*at: "They chose Angel. That makes them enemy soldiers." Wes: "So I guess that makes it alright." Holtz turning: "Mr. Wyndham-Pryce. How nice to see you again." Justine: "What the hell do you want?" Holtz: "Don't be rude Justine. He's our guest." Holtz looks at the two guys holding Wes and they let go and leave. Holtz: "And in the throws of a very difficult decision, I'd imagine." Holtz uses the Kn*fe in his right hand to cut a slice off an apple and offers it to Wes. Holtz: "You want some apple?" Kim's band is playing their beyond industrial trash funk music. A couple of punk girls are dancing wildly in front of the stage. Singer screaming: "I hate your zit-face smile, that's why I'll cut you it in two, ..?.., and when I'm done with you, I'll throw your mother, brother, sister, uncle and your little dog, too." A trashcan shatters one of the windows beside the stage and the music cuts off. g*n steps through carrying a crossbow followed by Fred, and Angel, who is holding a blanket over his head to shield him from the sun's rays. Singer: "Dude! You're paying for that window." g*n: "No, I'm not." Drummer: "Wait, are you the "A" and "R" guys? This isn't even the whole band. We got a k*ller chick who sings! (Looks at Fred) Hey, baby! Hey, don't worry about the window, Holmes." Angel: "We're not the "A" and "R" guys. We're just here to k*ll you." Drummer: "Ah, dude, they wanna k*ll us." Singer: "Okay. But they're still paying for the window." Drummer: "I got first ride on the hottie." With that the drummer leaps off the stage. g*n hits the drummer, sending him stumbling back against the stage as the groupies let out a scream. g*n to Fred: "Get them out of here!" Fred to g*n: "Be careful." Fred takes a hold of the two girls and ushers them out. g*n raises his crossbow as the three Wraith-ers square off against them and they suddenly come to a d*ad halt. g*n: "Oh, come on! Take it like a demon." A growl sounds and g*n turns his head to see that Angel is snarling at them in full vamp-face. Angel leaps past g*n onto the stage, tackling all three demons at once, then starts to lay into them like there is no tomorrow. g*n stares and kicks the occasional Wraith-er as it comes his way, but Angel is hogging all the action, tossing the demons around like rag dolls. g*n sh**t one of the Wraith-ers' in the throat with an arrow and glances over at Fred standing back in the shadow of the entrance. All falls quiet as Angel tosses the last demon aside. Vamp-faced Angel is standing on the cleared stage, still holding one of the demon's arms. Angel: "That was fun." Wes: "I don't wanna see anyone get hurt. Your soldiers - or mine." Holtz: "I share your hatred of v*olence, Mr. Wyndham-Pryce and I've meted out a good deal less of it in my lifetime than Angelus has in his." Wes: "*Angel*" Holtz: "Whatever you wish to call him. I will never agree that he has somehow been absolved from the past by the presence of his soul." Justine: "He's a vampire. End of discussion. (Steps closer to Wes holding up a Kn*fe) And I'd bet you a dollar this one's here to s*ab us in the back." Wes just looks at her as she thr*at him with the Kn*fe. Wes: "Who did you lose?" Justine: "What?" Wes: "You're here in Holtz' army - ready to k*ll others, die for the cause. You must have lost someone very important to you." Justine: "That's none of your business." Holtz: "Her twin sister Julia was m*rder by vampires." Wes: "You lost family. I'm sorry. (Steps closer to Justine) Angel and the people I work with are *my* family - and when I say I don't want to see anyone to get hurt..." He grabs a hold of Justine's Kn*fe hand and twists her around against him, grabbing her throat with his other hand. Wes: "...I mostly mean them." Holtz holds up a hand to stop the rest of his guys from interfering as Justine gasps in Wes' grip. Wes: "But I don't s*ab people in the back." Holtz gets up and steps closer. Holtz: "You're an honest man. (Takes the Kn*fe out of Justine's hand) I trust you." Wes lets Justine go and she spins away to stand behind Holtz. Holtz: "And you can trust me." Wes: "It's funny. I don't." Holtz, sitting back down: "Well, your problem isn't me right now. - Your problem is, your friend is going to k*ll his own child. - You know you have to do something about it. - You know if you don't, I will. (Holtz stand up and steps closer to Wesley) Don't misunderstand me. I won't stand by while an innocent child is m*rder - but I won't att*ck and endanger other innocent lives unless I'm forced to." Wes: "How long do I have?" Holtz: "I'll give you one day. (Turns away and sits back down on the edge of the desk) You may not trust me, but I trust you to do what's right. One day. After that... - *everyone* will get hurt." After a b*at, Wes walks past Holtz without another word. Lorne has a bunch of stuffed animals lined up on the reception counter. Lorne: "So, Sammy's at the Flamigo, and Frank, Dino, Peter, Joey, and Shirley are all front row center. Well, Sammy starts singing 'I Did It My Way' then he stops and says 'I can't sing this song in front of you, Frank.' (Connor coos up at Lorne) The crowd loves it. They're laughing. Ha, ha, ha, ha. So, then Frank calls out 'hey, you're short, you're one-eyed, and I heard somewhere you're Jewish. Don't be intimidated!' The crowd goes wild!" Lorne breaks off as the door opens and Fred, Angel, and g*n stride in. Lorne: "So, how'd it go?" g*n: "The Wraith-ers are no more." Angel: "Tore 'em apart." Fred: "Literally." Angel walks around the counter, opens the little fridge there and pours himself a glass of blood. Lorne: "He has been so good the whole time his daddy's been gone. (Angel starts to gulp down the blood) Do you miss your daddy? He's right here. (Lorne looks over at Angel) Hey, Angel, I think Connor needs some papa-love." Angel: "He needs a lot of things. All day, every day." Lorne: "Well, yeah. That's kind of how kids..." Angel: "Connor needs a bath, Connor needs a bottle, what Connor needs is to grow up!" Angel gulps more blood as everyone watches him. Lorne: "Is something wrong?" Angel: "Gosh, no, Lorne, everything's just great! (Connor is starting to fuss) I got a kid that cries, pees and moans, and never gives me a moment to myself." Connor is crying now. Lorne to Connor: "Oh, it's alright." Angel: "It's really not. Connor, shut up!" Fred: "Don't yell at him. He's just a baby!" Angel: "He keeps it up he's not gonna be a baby for long!" With that Angel throws the glass at the wall, shattering it and spattering blood everywhere. g*n: "You better get a grip right now!" Fred goes to pick Connor up. Angel stares at the blood dripping down the wall, looks at the guys then back at the blood. He turns to look at Lorne. Angel quietly: "What's wrong with me?" Break. Angel: "Something's not right.' g*n: "You could say that." Lorne: "Ah, I couldn't help but notice - when did you start drinking so much blood?" Angel: "I don't know. A few days ago." Fred: "Where did you get it?" Angel: "Same butcher as always. It's - it's pig's blood. This last batch just seemed so much more..." g*n: "What?" Angel quietly after a b*at: "Tasty." g*n, putting the crossbow down on the counter: "You were all hyped this morning. Then you went all Tyson on those demons. Then you kinda crashed. Then you had another drink, then you started throwing things." Fred: "Mm-hmm, just like my aunt Viola and her Southern Comfort." Angel: "Hey. (Points at himself) Vampire. Need to drink something red. Doesn't make me a blood-aholic." Lorne: "Not unless someone's spiking your drink." They all look at the blood spattered wall. Fred hands Connor to g*n. Fred: "Let's find out." We get a sh*t of the sun setting, then some flashes of LA at night. Wes is walking down a sidewalk in a residential neighborhood. We can hear two sets of footsteps. Wes sees a child run out of a house to greet its father. Child: "Daddy!" Dad, catching the child up: "Hey-hey! How are you, hmm?" The dad carries his child to the house, where his wife is waiting to welcome him. They go inside and Wes walks on. Wes quietly: "Oh, for god's sake. (Louder) I know you're better at following people than this." Wes turns, and after a moment Justine steps out from behind one of the trees lining the road. Wes: "So, what's the play?" Justine: "I just... (Walks closer) need to talk to you. I'm alone. He doesn't know that I'm... I wanna talk to you about him." Wes: "Holtz? Great guy, not overly tall. - Is this where you offer to help me behind his back?" Wes turns and continues down the sidewalk. Justine hurries after him. Justine: "Do you believe in *anything*? Or is it all just a big scam to you?" Wes: "You're a soldier, fight to the death kind. I respect that. You work for a man, who you think is noble and good. I respect that. Trouble is, he's not." Justine: "You work with a vampire." Wes turns to face her: "Who in fact *is* noble and good. Quirky, but there it is. Holtz talks about 'justice' and it's stirring, but what he wants is revenge. He's driven by it, blinded by it, and if you, me, or anyone else gets in his way, he'll k*ll for it." Justine: "You're wrong. You don't know him. Everything that he's done for me, for all of us..." Wes: "Sounds like a nice cult." Justine: "He gave you his word. He'll keep it. (Justine steps closer to him) You're the one who's blind." Wes: "How so?" Justine: "What you're about to do to your friend? I imagine it's easier to hate Holtz than yourself." Wes: "There's enough to go around for both him and me. - Be careful." Wes turns and walks away. Justine watches him, then jumps as Holtz voice sounds from behind her. Holtz: "You are being careful. I didn't even hear you leave." The camera pans from the blood on the wall to Angel standing there, watching Fred work at the desk where the microscope sits. g*n, holding Connor: "You wanna hold him? He's sleeping." Angel after a b*at: "Maybe that's not such a good idea right now." Fred straightens up from the microscope. Fred: "So, there is more to pig's blood than meets the eye. (Angel looks at the blood on the wall) There's just a trace of..." Angel, quietly: "Human blood in it. I can feel it. It's his. - It's Connor's." g*n: "How do you know that?" Angel: "The past couple of days he's... (takes a deep breath and wraps his arms around himself) smelled like food." Lorne: "So, they've been feeding you your own son's blood so you'd get the taste of it and want more." Fred: "Who's 'they'?" Angel: "Who do you think?" Lilah is sitting at the bar where she met Shajhan, looking into the mirrored wall backing the shelf of bottles behind the bartender. The bartender serves her a drink. After he moves on she hisses at her reflection in the mirror, making a clawing motion with her left hand. Lilah: "Like a cat. Can't hear you. But I'm starting to feel you when you're near." She turns around and there is Angel standing right behind her. Lilah: "Isn't that nice and creepy? How'd you find me?" Angel: "Your assistant." Lilah: "I'll have his arms broken." Angel: "Already taken care of." Lilah: "And am I next?" Angel: "You know, Lilah, there are so many things I could do to you. With transfusions I could keep you alive indefinitely. I do have some expertise in this area. - My own son. How could you?" Lilah: "It's my job." Lilah turns back to her drink. After a b*at Angel sits down on the stool beside her. Angel: "Don't you ever get tired of the whole femme fatale act? (To bartender) Whiskey, straight, lots of it. (To Lilah) How about just once - you talk to me like a person?" Lilah: "Look, I've been doing this a long damn time. I've had to be better, smarter, quicker than every man in Wolfram and Hart." Angel: "So, it's a feminist thing. (To Bartender as he sets down Angel's drink) It's on her." Lilah: "It's a survival thing. I made a lot of devil's bargains and I stuck to them. As a result, I live somewhat dangerously, and *quiet* comfortably. My mother, who no longer recognizes me, has the best room at the clinic. I get up every morning, put on my game face and do what I have to." Angel: "Thing about a game face, Lilah, you wear it long enough, it stops being something you can put on and take off." Lilah: "Wow. We've spent so much time and money on you. You're so pivotal to the coming cataclysm, that I sometimes forget how dense you can be. The game face - the one I worked so hard to get - I became that *years* ago. Just like you've become simpering and good from yours. You're the new poster boy for human. Thank you very much. I don't want it." Angel: "Hmm, speaking as one non-human to another: sorry if I h*t a nerve." Lilah laughs: "You think you can awaken some buried spark of decency in my? Is that the way you (air quote) help your helpless? (air quote) - I'm *not* helpless. I'm glad you came along, because I was sitting here 'what's it all about' and now I know. It is all about making the rest of your eternal life miserable. (Clinks her glass to Angel's and smiles) Shall we drink to that?" Sahjhan: "You back-s*ab, traitorous bitch." Angel and Lilah twist around on their stools and there is Sahjhan standing behind them. Sahjhan: "I have a lot of work to do. I can't be in every time/space at once, and here I find you drinking with my sworn enemy." Angel: "Sworn enemy? Really? Have we met? Because I don't remember swearing." Lilah: "Sahjhan, he found me." Angel glances from Lilah to Sahjhan. Angel: "So - you all are in cahoots. Ethereal time-traveling demon - you're the screwball that brought Holtz back. - How's that working out? He's not very fond of demons, is he?" Sahjhan: "You will learn nothing from me." Lilah: "Other than that you're his sworn enemy, who brought Holtz back, and when that didn't work out, you came to me. Idiot." Sahjhan: "Hey! You think my life is easy? I'm jumping from one dimension to another. I don't always have sound. Sometimes it's just a visual. Saw you two sitting here all chummy." Angel: "So, *why* do you wanna k*ll me?" Lilah to Angel: "He wouldn't tell me either. Not that I need a reason. I was just curious. (To Sahjhan) Did he boink your demon bride? Eat your mother? (Looks from Sahjhan to Angel) You really don't know who he is." Sahjhan: "You will pay." Angel: "For what?" Sahjhan only turns and disappears into thin air. Lilah: "Well, whatever his grudge, I think you just made him madder." Wes is walking into the deserted lobby of the Hyperion. He hears Connor fussing in the bassinet and looks down at him for a moment, then goes to retrieve Connor's diaper bag and stuffs a few things into it. Lorne: "What are you doing?" Wes looks up to see Loren coming down the stairs with a bottle in his hand. Wes: "Hi. - I'm taking Connor." Lorne: "Where?" Wes, continuing to back Connor's bag: "To my place - for the night. We're going to the park in the morning. I talked to Angel before. He knows all about it. Are Fred and g*n..." Lorne: "Out. Getting food. Boy, that girl can put away the chow! Oh, here. I heated up a bottle. Hey, Angel didn't say anything about... Well, he probably forgot. He went off in kind of a hurry." Wes: "What happened?" Lorne: "Well, he was acting kind of weird this morning. I'm sure you noticed. (Wes goes to pick Connor up) Then when he came back from k*lling the Wraith-ers..." Wes to a fussy Connor: "Hey, it's okay. It's your Uncle Wes. You like your Uncle Wes. We're gonna have a great time." Wes bounced Connor in his arms and starts to hum to stop him from fussing. He looks up to see Lorne staring at him. Stops humming. He sees Lorne's eyes go wide. Wes slowly puts Connor back down into the bassinet then launches himself at Lorne. Lorne runs from him and into Wes' office. Wes tackles Lorne to the floor. Lorne struggles back up, and in the scuffle ends up tipping over Wes' desk. Wes scrambles after him and hits Lorne across the face a couple times. Then picks up a statue from the cabinet behind his desk and knocks Lorne out with it. Wes hurries back to the bassinet and picks up Connor. Wes: "Here. All right. That's a boy. That's a boy." Wes turns with Connor against his shoulder - only to find himself face to face with Angel. Wes: "Angel." Angel: "Where is everybody?" Wes: "Fred and g*n went for food. Lorne - had to go out. I'm watching the baby. In fact, I packed up some overnight things. We talked about me taking Connor to the park and the one across from my place is... It's always full of kids. I thought he could spend the night with me." They just stand there looking at each other silently for a moment. Angel: "That's - probably a really good idea." Wes lets out a breath. Wes: "You wanna say good-bye?" Angel takes Connor: "Okay. Hey. He-he. Sleep tight, big guy. (Smiles at Connor and gives him a kiss) Daddy will see you real soon. (To Wes) Just keep and eye... I check on him a lot during the night. You got his pediatrician's number, his baby formula?" Wes: "I've got all that." Angel: "You ever hear of a time-traveling demon by the name of Sahjhan?" Wes: "No." Angel: "The guy that brought Holtz here. He thinks I'm his sworn enemy. I don't know him from Adam. Can you h*t the books before you go?" Wes watches Angel sit down on the settee in the lobby. The doors open and Fred and g*n come in. g*n: "Hey. Where is Lorne? He better show his green face pronto, or Fred'll eat his hoagie." Fred: "I will not! I already had two. - Unless he's really not here?" Angel: "He had to go out." g*n: "Where?" Angel to Wes: "Where did you say he went?" Wes: "I don't know. He didn't say - exactly. I think he had to see a client. You know, I've got better reference materials for your demon at home, and Connor is getting sleepy. Why don't I look into it there?" Angel looks from Wes to Connor, to Wes outstretched hands, back at Connor. Slowly lets Wes take the baby. Angel: "Ah, okay. Just call me if you find something." Angel's hand lingers on Connor as Wes slowly steps away. Wes: "I guess, ah - I'll see everyone tomorrow." Angel jumps up: "Hey, Wes?" Wes half turns back. Angel: "What's the closest emergency room to your place?" Wes after half a b*at: "Drew Medical. One minute away. (Wes half-hurries towards the doors, curled around Connor) Top infant care center. Don't worry." We see Wes hurry down the sidewalk with Connor. Angel: "Well, my first whole night without the kid." Angel puts Connor's stuffed toys into the bassinet as Fred and g*n watch him. Angel: "This'll be good for both of us. He can bond with his Uncle Wes... (Fred and g*n exchange a look and a smile) I can get some rest." Angel looks down at the stuffed monkey. g*n, smiling: "We'll stay up with you." Angel: "Really? Thanks. - You know, he's just a little guy. I'm sure he'll be..." Angel breaks off as we hear moaning coming from Wes' office. Fred: "Is there someone in Wes' office?" Before they can check the front doors open and Holtz strides in. At the same time several of his people appear from different places all around the lobby. One even comes halfway down the stairs from above. Break Angel takes a quick looks around, marking all of Holtz' people. Angel: "Won't you come in." Holtz: "How is fatherhood treating you?" Angel: "I like it. (Holtz' guys slowly close in, raising their w*apon) You know - I met a friend of yours tonight. A demon named Sahjhan?" Holtz slowly coming down the front steps into the lobby: "What did he have to say?" Angel: "He was cryptic. Actually he was kind of long-winded. I didn't quite get what his deal was. I wasn't paying that much attention to him." One of the men glances into the bassinet, then almost imperceptibly shakes his head at Holtz. Angel: "He hates me. Do you know why?" Holtz: "I don't really care why. So - where is the little nipper?" Angel: "Oh, he had to go out. Sorry. I know he'd love to meet you." Holtz: "I'm sure he'll turn up. - Looks like you made a nice life for yourself here." Angel: "Are you here to fight or shall I make some tea?" Holtz to his men: "I want to keep Angelus alive - but not well." Holtz men att*ck and Angel and g*n fight back. Angel tosses one guy into the w*apon cabinet, breaking the glass doors. Makes his way to it through some more of Holtz' men, takes out the sharpened baseball bat and tosses it to g*n. Picks up the broadsword for himself, but only uses it to fend off the men's w*apon. Neither he nor g*n are trying to k*ll, just to disable. When one of the men lifts a wooden staff to stake Angel after he gets knocked to the ground, Fred sh**t him in the back with a crossbow bolt. As she picks up another bolt to reload, one of the men tackles her to the floor. We see Lorne's green hand come up behind Wes' desk as g*n gets battered back into the office by two of Holtz' men. Lorne levers himself to his feet, and seeing g*n getting battered down, lets out a high shrieking that has everyone cower down, covering their ears. Lorne kicks one of g*n's attackers in the face as he breaks of his 'musical' as*ault, and g*n knocks the other one out. Holtz quietly turns away and walks out the front doors. Angel sends the last attacker flying over the counter, looks at where Holtz was standing and sees the open doors, then walks over to pull the guy lying on Fred's back off her and helps her up. Angel: "Easy. Come on. Are you hurt?" Fred: "I don't think so." Angel: "Call Wes." Fred stumbles towards the phone. Angel sees Lorne, looking all bruised up, following g*n out of the office. Angel: "Jeez, Lorne. They got you good. You better sit down." Lorne just looks at Angel. Angel: "What?" Lorne: "They didn't do this to me. Wesley did." Everyone turns to stare at Lorne. Angel: "Wesley? - What are you talking about?" Lorne: "Well, earlier when he came to pick up the baby, Connor started crying and Wes hummed a little lullaby, and I read him and... - I don't know why he did it." Angel: "Did what?" Lorne: "He - he's been to see Holtz behind your back. Twice. And he's not taking the baby overnight. He's - he's taking the baby away - for good." Wes walks out of his apartment building (it has the number 2337 beside the door), carrying Connor and a suitcase. He pushes a button on his key chain and one of the cars by the curb chirps as it unlocks. He loads the suitcase into the back. As he opens the side door he hears a moaning sound and turns to see a woman, arms wrapped around her middle, stumbling towards him through the park across the street. Still holding Connor with his left arm, he pulls a g*n with his right and aims it at Justine. Wes: "That's close enough." Justine stumbles to her knees and looks up at Wes through her disordered hair, crying. Wes: "Justine?" Justine: "He's everything you said. - It's true." Wes slowly lowers his g*n and steps closer. Wes: "What happened?" Justine: "Well - he didn't keep his word." Justine lets out a pained laugh. Wes puts the safety back on and puts the g*n away. Justine, arms still wrapped tightly around her middle, gets back to her feet and stumbles closer. Justine: "He took everybody - and he went after the baby. And when I questioned him... (We can see that Justine's face is all bruised, and her lip bloodied) Bastard! I'll k*ll him for this. - You have to get out of here." Justine falls against Wes. Wes: "You have to get to hospital." Justine: "No. I just to do..." Justine pulls out a Kn*fe and slices it across the side of Wes neck. Wes falls to his knees, pressing one hand over the cut, as Justine pulls the baby out of his grip. Wes watches Justine run to the car, put Connor in the passenger side then get in the driver's side, before toppling over onto his side. Blood is seeping through between his fingers as he lies there, watching her drive off. g*n: "It doesn't make any sense. Why would Wes *do* a thing like that? You must have read him wrong." Lorne: "No, I read him right. And I've got the gash on my noggin to prove it." Fred hangs up the phone: "He isn't answering his cell, pager, or home." Angel: "Where is he?" One of Holtz' guys, hand pressed over his side is inching along the floor. Lorne: "Shouldn't we be getting these guys to a hospital or morgue?" Angel: "No. - Holtz knew Connor wasn't here when he walked through that door. He would have torn the place apart top to bottom. He was stalling." Lorne: "Buying Wesley some time to get away." Angel: "Holtz is the key. I want Holtz. If I find Wesley with him..." g*n: "Angel, we don't know the whole story here. I don't think you should get too pumped..." Angel: "I'm not interested in what you think!" Lorne: "Hey, easy guys!" Angel: "He took my son." g*n: "I know this is life and death. I'm just saying, let's get..." Angel grabs g*n's shirt collar with both hands and pushes him back. Angel: "He took my son!" g*n: "You better get your damn hands off of me!" Fred: "Stop it! Stop it both of you! This isn't helping, damn it! (Pushes them apart) Back off! - There is only one thing that matters right now, and that is 'where is Connor?'" g*n and Angel stand there staring at each other for a moment, then Angel brushes past Fred and g*n to pull up one of Holtz' men. Angel: "Get up. Where is Holtz?" 1.Guy: "You'd think I'd tell..." Angel throws him clear across the lobby and picks up the next one. Angel pushes him up against the wall, pulls the crossbow bolt out of his side and holds it up. Angel: "I'm gonna count to three and then I'm gonna bury this in your face." 2.Guy: "Twenty two thirty nine Santa Elena. It's a big Victorian in Silverlake." Angel lets the guy drop to the floor and heads towards the door, picking his broadsword up off the floor as he goes. Fred: "We better find Wes before he does." g*n: "We should start at his place." Lorne watches g*n and Fred hurry out. Lorne: "I'll stay here in case he comes back." Bends down behind the counter and comes up holding a baseball bat. Lorne: "And this time I'll be ready!" We see a group of paramilitaries with machine g*n. A black suburban pulls up. One of the uniformed guys opens the passenger door and Lilah steps out. Man: "Ma'am." Lilah walks over to the commander of the group. Lilah: "What do we know?" Commander: "No Holtz, no baby. (Indicates to guys, sitting, tied up, on a low wall) Two stragglers from the att*ck at Angel's hotel. They don't know where Holtz went." Lilah: "Get them off the street." The commander motions to his men and they lead the two guys away. Lilah: "So we're in the right place." Commander: "Yeah." Lilah looks at him: "Excuse me?" Commander after half a b*at: "Yes, ma'am. But Holtz didn't come back here after the hotel." Lilah: "Where'd he go?" Commander: "Uh, we had him, and we lost him. (Puts a finger up to his ear piece) Ah, we're picking him up again. Please, just give me a moment, please. - Spring Street." Lilah: "Downtown." Commander: "Yes, ma'am. Near the sixth street bridge." Lilah: "Let's go." Commander: "Sixth Street Bridge, let's go!" All the men run to their vehicles. Man: "Let's go! Hustle! Hustle!" As one of the commandos gets ready to get into his Hum-vee, Angel jumps out from behind a tree, smashes him into a post, then a tree, knocking him out. The driver of the Hum-vee looks over towards the passenger side when his partner doesn't get in. The driver's side door opens and Angel throws him out on the street, gets in and drives off after the rest of the cavalcade. Holtz steps out onto a darkened street and Justine bring Wes' car to a stop in front of him. Holtz gets in. Holtz: "It went well?" Justine: "Very well. But you're paying for my dental work." Holtz smiles, then looks over his shoulder to Connor, strapped into a car seat in the back. Holtz: "Hello, son. I'm you're father. And that strong lady with the black eye is your mother. Your name is Steven Franklin Thomas. And you're going to grow up with me on a little ranch in the middle of nowhere. (To Justine) What's it like in Utah?" Justine: "It's pretty." Holtz: "Let's go." They drive off, only to have a Hum-vee overtake them and cut them off. The car turns off the road, but is quickly blocked in by more Hum-vees. Angel jumps out of one of them and charges at the car. Holtz gets Connor out of the back while Justine tackles Angel only to get thrown aside. Holtz: "Come any closer and I'll snap his neck!" Angel comes to a d*ad stop. All around them commandos are jumping out of their vehicles, cocking their machine g*n. Holtz: "Who are they?" Lilah: "They work for me." Holtz: "Ah. The attorney." Lilah: "Yes. You are gonna give us the kid, Captain Holtz." Angel: "Don't!" Lilah: "That's cute. You'd rather see the fanatic with the baby than us? (To Holtz) Those are a*t*matic w*apon pointed at you. They didn't have them in your time. They f*re sixteen b*ll*ts per second." Angel: "And if they were going to use them they would have already. They want the baby alive." Holtz: "Something we all have in common." The air shivers and Sahjhan appears. Sahjhan: "Not all of us. (To Lilah) You do not want the child alive. You want the child d*ad. That was our arrangement." Lilah: "Yeah. I'm a lawyer. Have you met me? We have a new arrangement. I'm keeping the baby." Sahjahn: "You can't do that!" Lilah to commandos: "Ignore the loud mouth with the bad skin. He's impotent in this dimension." Holtz: "We're leaving." Lilah: "No one's going anywhere." One of the commandos steps closer, and Angel knock him down, taking the w*apon away from him and turning it on Lilah. Lilah: "Don't sh**t." Angel: "Yeah. You really don't want to. Your b*ll*ts won't k*ll me. But mine will k*ll you - and her first." Angel looks over at Holtz and Connor. Holtz: "He'll be d*ad before I h*t the ground." Angel: "I know." Holtz: "So. I'm going to leave now, right? With me, he gets to live, anyone tries to take him, he dies." Angel after a long b*at: "Take him." Sahjhan: "Woah! No! What is wrong of you people?" Holtz to Angel: "I will take good care of him, as though he were my own son. He'll never even know you existed. Don't come after me. - You will though, won't you? Maybe I should just..." Angel: "No. Please." Justine looks from Holtz' hand moving closer to Connor's neck to Angel and back. Angel: "Take him." Sahjhan, raising his hands: "Lekko najine forkahdio!" There is a big expl*si*n with bright sparks and a hole opens in the air. Past the burning edges we can see a turbulent, blood red sky. Sahjhan: "What you are looking into is the Quortoth, the darkest of the dark worlds. So - I can widen the portal and you can all be swallowed up by a world you can not begin to imagine - or you can keep your word and k*ll that child. (To Lilah) Now!" When no one moves he spreads his arms. Sahjhan: "Don't say I didn't warn you." The opening in the air grows bigger. Lilah: "k*ll it." Angel: "No!" The commandos and Angel stand there with the w*apon aimed at each other. Holtz grabs a hold of Justine and pushes her away from him then heads for the hole in the air. Angel drops the g*n and charges after him. Justine: "Daniel! Daniel!" Angel: "No! NO!" Holtz jumps into the roiling red air of the portal and disappears from view. Angel jumps after him, but is thrown back by a lighting bolt lashing out from the portal and hitting him full in the chest. Angel flies backward, landing with a hard thud and rolls to look back at the portal. Sahjhan: "Wow. I didn't count on that. Kinda takes care of my problem." Both Justine and Angel are lying on the ground staring at the portal. Sahjhan raises his hands. Sahjhan: "Forkahdio najine lekko." The hole in the air quickly shrinks to a pinpoint and disappears. Sahjhan: "All right then. (Looks down at Angel, who is still staring at where the portal used to be) Have a good summer." With that Sahjhan disappears into thin air. Lilah, looking down at Angel, who hasn't moved: "Hmph! Well, I'm looking at a mountain of paperwork." Turns to go. Justine gets up and stumbles towards Wes' car. Commander: "Should we do something about..." Lilah, looking back at Angel: "Yes, we should. - We should let him suffer." Angel rolls over onto all fours and looks around him. Sees Justine drive off in Wes' car and collapses back onto the hard ground, once again facing twords where the portal used to be. "Connor."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x16 - Sleep Tight"}

foreverdreaming

TEASER Angel: "Previously on Angel:" Lorne: "They've been feeding you your own son's blood so you'd get the taste of it and want more." Holtz: "Angelus is in his nature. The beast *will* re-emerge." Lorne: "Wesley's taking the baby away - for good." Justine slits Wes' throat. Holtz to Connor: "Hello, son. Your name is Steven Franklin Thomas and I'm your father." Lilah: "Give us the kid, Captain Holtz." Holtz: "Anyone tries to take him, he dies." Sahjhan: "The world you're looking into is the Quor-toth, the darkest of the dark worlds." Holtz jumps through the rip with baby Connor. Justine: "Daniel!" Lorne: "There are no portals to Quor-toth. To punch through to Quor-toth would require dark, dark magics. The kind of power it takes centuries to build. Please do not do this thing." Lilah dribbles her blood into the center of the Pentagram. AI leans over the hole in the ballroom floor and stares at the pool full of the glowing ghost-shrimp/slugs. Cordy: "You know there is almost always some cosmic price to using primordial powers." One of the slugs crawls into Fred. Angel: "What are you fleeing from?" Fred: "The destroyer. It's coming after you - Angel." The air above the pentagram crackles with static lightning and an ugly, horned monster drops through, followed almost immediately by a teenaged boy. The boy slices the demon's head off in one smooth motion and its decapitated body falls out of frame. Angel stands immobile, staring as the boy aims a three-chambered, wrist-mounted stake-launcher at him. Connor: "Hi, dad." In slow motion, we see g*n run for the w*apon cabinet. Groo moves to the side to get a clear sh*t at Connor, swinging his ax. Angel turns towards them, holding out a hand. Angel: "Wait!" Connor launches two stakes at Angel in quick succession as Angel turns back to face him. Angel: "No!" Angel turns as the stakes travel through the air, aimed at his heart. The first one almost lodges in his shoulder, but he turns with it and bats the second one aside. Even as the stakes fly towards Angel, Groo's ax flies through the air at Connor, who deflects the ax, mirroring Angel's motion. Back in real time, both Angel and Conner straighten back up and resume their former positions staring at each other, Connor with the stake-launcher once again aimed at Angel, as the last of the stakes clatters to the floor. Connor: "Interesting." TEASER END INTRO Angel: "My god. - It's you. - Connor." Connor launches three more stakes at Angel, who ducks and rolls to avoid them. Cordy: "Angel!" Cordy tosses her sword, and Angel catches it out of the air as he rolls back to his feet. Connor tosses the stake launcher aside and swipes at Angel with the blade in his left hand. Angel parries the blow on his sword. Connor does a one-handed cartwheel, then flips up, kicking both g*n and Groo in the chest in quick succession before landing on his feet in front of the counter. Cordy has positioned herself in front of Lorne and Fred, holding another sword in a guard position. Angel: "Will you just stop for..." Connor spins back to swipe at Angel. Angel spins so that for a moment the two of them are standing back to back, parrying the blade in Connor's left with the sword in his right. Angel: "Can't we just talk about this?" Connor elbows Angel in the back, dropping him face first on the floor, grabs a hold of one of Angel's ankles and sends him sliding across the floor between his own spread legs. As he slides, Angel turns onto his back and catches the down swing of Connor's blade on his sword. Angel: "Wait!" Angel kicks both feet up into Connor's face, sending him flying into a backward flip. Connor lands flat on his back, but does a quick kip-up back to his feet. g*n and Groo are also back on their feet, and together with Angel from a triangle around Connor as they all shift positions. Angel: "Okay. Everybody just calm down." Groo swipes at Connor and gets knocked back into the stairs. Connor turns and parries the swing g*n aims at him then spins out of it into a punch at Angel, back around to punch at g*n. He keeps spinning and kicking and punching at his three opponents in turn in rapid succession. g*n: "Angel, if Peter Pan here doesn't stop..." Connor jump-kicks g*n hard in the chest, then moves in for the k*lling blow. Before he can complete it, Angel hits him on the back of the head with the pommel of his sword, knocking him away from g*n. Angel drops the sword, and straddles Connor, hitting him with a hard right-cross, then forcing the blade strapped to Connor's left wrist closer and closer to his own throat. The tip of the blade starts to dig into Connor's throat. Suddenly Angel's eyes widen. He rips the blade from Connor's arm and tosses it behind him, then slowly backs off, staring at his son. Cordy, still standing guard in front of Lorne and Fred, watches as Angel slowly offers his hand to help Connor up. But Connor only squirms back a little, then jumps to his feet and runs up the steps and out of the front doors of the Hyperion. Angel runs after him. Connor comes running out of the doors into the courtyard of the Hyperion. He runs from the shadows by the doors out into the bright sunshine. Angel: "No!" Angel starts to backpedal even as g*n and Groo reach out to pull him back before he runs out into the sunlight himself. Angel: "Connor!" g*n: "You're gonna fry out here, man! Come on." Angel watches Connor run out of the gates. g*n: "We'll go." g*n and Groo take off after Connor. Angel stands in the shadows by the door staring after them as Cordy comes running out. Connor has run out into the middle of the busy street and cars are honking, and swerving in an effort to avoid hitting him. g*n and Groo stop at the side of the road, blocked from following by the erratic traffic. Connor has made it to the center of the street and stands on the center line, staring back at Groo and g*n as cars pass between them, honking. A bus passes behind Connor and he takes off running, then scales up the back of it. Groo and g*n watch him disappear down the street, crouched on top of the bus. Angel in the lead, everyone files back into the hotel. Angel: "Okay, anyone get the number of that bus?" g*n: "Seventeen. I'll call, see where it ends up." Fred: "Let me check online. It'll be faster." Cordy: "That was it. That was it, Angel." Angel, pulling on his coat: "No. No, it isn't. I'm gonna go find him." Cordy: "I mean the fight you just had. That was the vision I warned you about yesterday." Angel: "You never mentioned Connor!" Cordy: "Because I only saw you." g*n: "Angel? I hate to bring that up, but are we sure this was Connor? Just 'cause he said 'hi, dad'?" Angel: "That was him." g*n: "Couple of weeks ago he was wearing diapers. Now he's a teenager?" Cordy: "Tell me we don't live in a soap opera." Lorne: "Yeah, well, personally I'm less worried about the 'how he grew up' than the 'why he came back.'" Angel: "He came back because he could. He found a way to escape that place." Lorne: "Yeah, well, that's a possibility. Here is another: you sure he said 'hi, dad' and not 'you're d*ad'?" Angel: "He's angry and afraid. As soon as I get a chance to talk to him... Fred?" Fred: "Seventeen goes all the way downtown. Ends up at Union Station." Angel: "Okay. Look, I'm going underground. Somebody h*t the surface streets." Angel runs off towards the basement. g*n: "We got it, man." Groo: "We will not fail - man." g*n turns to look at Groo. Cordy: "Let's split up. (Turns to Fred and Lorne) You guys start at the end of the line work your way backward..." Cordy trails off as the air above the Pentagram starts to crackle and hiss again. Cordy: "Okay. That can't be good." Fred: "I'm guessing the dimensional rift from Quor-toth must still be open?" Lorne: "Yeah. So, what-what's say we close it up before anything else slithers, skitters or slides out of there." g*n: "Amen to that." Groo: "Princess, perhaps your newfound powers can seal it shut." Cordy after a b*at: "Can't hurt to try." She steps into the middle of the Pentagram and lifts her hands to point at the air above her. Cordy: "I command you: Close!" The air continues to crackle and Cordy turns away. Cordy: "Okay. I got nothing." Fred: "Actually - we do know somebody who might be able to..." g*n: "No. I already went to Wes's. Can't - do that again." Lorne: "Well - I-I might know a guy, who knows another guy." Groo: "Is it dangerous? g*n and I can protect you." Lorne: "Well, no. It's not dangerous, it's just awkward. This guy is all hands. I mean, *all* hands, like fifty of them. Anybody fluid in sign language?" Cordy: "You know, we can't all walk out of here when we have a cosmic crack hanging over us." Groo: "Then I will stay (picks up a sword) and guard the hotel." Cordy: "I'm with him. (To g*n and Fred) You two h*t the streets. Lorne..." Lorne: "Already gone." Everyone heads out as Cordy gets herself a sword to join Groo on his watch. Fred: "You went to Wesley for me. He's the one who told you how to save me." g*n: "Yeah. He made it clear. That's a door none of us is ever going to be knocking on again." There is a knock on a door. The door is opened by Wesley. Lilah: "I would have called, but I figured you'd only tell me to go to hell, so, I thought I'd just take a sh*t and drop by. - Aren't you going to invite you in?" Wes: "No." Lilah: "Okay." Lilah pushed past Wes and walks into his apartment. Lilah looks around as Wes checks the hallway to see if Lilah brought anyone before turning back to watch her without closing the door. Lilah: "Huh. Not what I expected. You know, bunch of flowers and 'get well' cards, maybe a couple of those balloons with the smiley faces on them?" Wes just looks at Lilah. Lilah: "Wow. I guess when she slit your throat she nicked your sense of humor." Wes: "Not at all. I find you being here extremely funny." Lilah: "And how is that?" Wes: "Because you're going to offer me a job." Lilah turns away with a slight smile and picks up a statue. Lilah: "It's a shame, really, what happened. You dedicate your life to a cause, and the very people you try to help turn their backs on you." Wes: "Yes. Tragic. Now get the hell out." Lilah: "Man of your talents, scholar, man of intellect..." Wes: "Deep inside knowledge of Angel Investigations." Lilah: "Did I mention that Wolfram and Hart has the finest library of mystical, occult, and supernatural reference material in the world? Full medical, dental, 401(k) package." Wes: "Not interested." Lilah: "Hey, it was worth a sh*t. - Anyway, here is something to help pass the time in the unemployment line." Lilah pulls a gift-wrapped book out of her purse and hands it to Wesley. Wes unwraps it and reads the title on the spine. Wes: "Dante's Divine Comedy." Lilah: "Actually it's just part one, the inferno. It's not a first edition, more like the fifteen hundreds, but it's in the original Tuscan. Have you read it?" Wes closes the book and tosses it on a table. Wes: "Several times." Lilah: "Then you know it's a guided tour of the underworld, the nine levels of hell." Wes: "Yes. Descending, concentric rings based on severity of the sin." Lilah: "You know, I always forget - the very bottom of hell, in the ninth circle, the devil is frozen in ice, right? He got three heads, three mouths and those mouths are reserved for the worst sinners. Now, I can't remember - who is in the center mouth? Wh-what was his name? The one person in all of human history deemed the greatest sinner? Who is it?" Wes after a b*at: "Judas Iscariot." Lilah: "Right. The worst spot in hell is reserved for those who betray." Lilah walks past Wes towards the door, but stops and leans in close for a moment. Lilah: "So, don't pretend you're too good to work for us." Lilah leaves closing the door behind her. Connor is crouching on the roof of the bus, staring at the traffic and buildings as the bus drives down the road. He spots a big video screen, then stares down at a f*re engine with its sirens blaring. As they pass another intersection he jumps off the bus. Angel is walking along the sewer tunnels, cell phone in hand. Angel: "Did you find him?" g*n: "No. Looks like we just missed him though. He's leaving a trail." Angel: "What? Did he hurt somebody?" g*n: "No, nothing like that. I mean gawkers. Folk's not used to seeing a kid in animal skins riding on top of a bus - not south of St. Monica Boulevard, anyway." Fred: "Two more Robin Hood reports." g*n: "You hear that? He's still headed downtown." Angel: "Where are you?" g*n: "Ah, just east of Union." Angel: "He won't head all the way into town." g*n: "You don't think?" Angel: "Too many people. He'll jump off, head for some place less populated." g*n checks his watch: "Well, you want us to turn around, come and get you?" Angel: "No. Still a few more hours till sunset. Just keep following the trail. The minute it goes cold, let me know." g*n: "And if it doesn't go cold? I mean, if we find him first." Angel: "He's my son. He's my son, and he's alive. He's gonna stay alive." g*n: "Right. Anything else we can do for you?" Angel: "Yeah. Make the sun go down." Angel closes his cell phone and moves on. Connor has made his way down beside an overpass, he hears a girls' voice. Sunny: " Come on, Tyke, look. Look. This stuff is good. It's worth something. Come on." Connor looks down into a dried up aqueduct and spots Sunny stumbling back a few steps, talking to someone he can't see. Sunny: "Hey, why are you being such a jerk? I need - I need it now. Tyke, come on!" We hear a man's voice arguing back. Connor drops over the side of the railing of the road bridging the aqueduct. Sunny is holding up three CD's for Tyke's inspection. Sunny: "Brand new, never opened. They got to be worth half a gram, huh?" Tyke takes the CDs and looks at them. Tyke: "They suck." Sunny taking them back: "They rock! Look! It's like every h*t in the eighties! Plus - plus, this girl is hot." Connor slowly makes his way closer to the man and girl standing by a derelict car under the overpass. Tyke: "Get out of here, Sunny. You're embarrassing yourself." Sunny: "Hey, they're worth at least a quarter. Please!" Tyke: "Alright. Okay." Tyke takes the three CDs and tosses them like Frisbees one by one. Tyke: "Bye! Bye! Bye." Sunny: "You jerk!" She starts to flail at him and Tyke stops her by grabbing a hold of her body and hair. Tyke: "You know what? *That* you get to work off!" Sunny: "Let go! Don't." Tyke is in the process of sticking Sunny into the back seat of the derelict car when he notices Connor coming towards them. Tyke: "Walk away!" When Connor doesn't react, Tyke tosses Sunny into the backseat and turns to face Connor. Tyke: "An entire suit made of Chamois. That's different. 'What are you wearing to the Oscars?' 'My Chamois suit.' - What's all this?" Tyke indicates the string of bones and teeth that Connor is wearing slung across his chest. Connor: "Things I k*lled." Tyke laughs and whistles. Three thugs file out from under the overpass and arrange themselves behind Connor. Tyke: "Uh, aren't you all scary. Chamois and teeth! (Gives an exaggerated shudder) Wanna know what else is scary?" One of the guys behind Connor hits him over the head with a crowbar, even as Connor starts to turn to face him and Connor drops to the ground, not moving. Tyke: "Me." Break Tyke crouches down beside Connor and rips off the necklace of hunting trophies, taking a closer look at it. Tyke: "Just get rid of him." Tyke walks to the car, taking off his jacket and dropping it and Connor's necklace on the trunk of the car. One of his g*ons raises his crowbar to finish Connor off, but Connor's eyes pop open. Connor turns enough that the crowbar hits the concrete instead of his head, grabs a hold of it and kicks the guy wielding it in the stomach. Tyke turns and watches as Connor jumps up and easily holds his own against the three g*ons. Tyke pulls out a g*n and aims it at Connor, but even as he pulls the trigger, Sunny slams the car door into this back. Sunny: "No!" Tyke's aim goes wild and he sh**t one of his own guys instead of Connor. Kicking the car door shut, Tyke aims the g*n at Sunny next, but Connor kicks it out of his hand before he can pull the trigger. Connor and Tyke fight. Connor ends it by jumping on the car, grabbing a hold of Tyke and slamming him down hard on his back on the car roof. Pulling a blade from the sheath on his leg he throws it at one of the goon's, burying it in the guys forearm. As Connor goes to retrieve his Kn*fe. Sunny jumps out of the car and looks through Tyke's jacket lying on the trunk. She finds a roll of money and a bag of drugs. Looking up she sees that Connor is about to slit Tyke's throat. Sunny: "Don't! Are you crazy? The police are probably on their way. Come on. We got to go." Connor lets himself be pulled away, grabbing his string of trophies, then stops, turns back and slices off Tyke's left ear. Tyke screams as Connor holds up the ear to Sunny. Connor: "So he won't forget me." Groo is still standing guard, watching the crackling rift, sword at the ready, but Cordy is now sitting on the steps instead. Cordy: "Isn't your neck stiff? You've been standing exactly like that all day." Groo: "Pylean warriors are trained for such endurance. I once happened upon a herd of Bur-beasts and as you know, engorged Bur-beasts will couple with anything that moves. I was forced to stand perfectly still for eleven days and nights." Cordy: "So, you were never..." Groo smiles, still not taking his eyes off the rift: "No. That honor was yours, princess." Cordy, getting up: "I don't know. Angel does all that 'ninja statue, don't move a muscle or you're d*ad' stuff, too. Me, I wouldn't last ten minutes. Of course, heels? Not helping." Groo: "Yes. I'm sure Angel has regaled you with his many exploits." Cordy: "Oh, he's tried alright. But I get so bored with all that 'days of yore' crap. (Groo glances at her) Ah - I mean - they're nothing like your thrilling tales of adventure! Not that you need adventurous tales to impress me. I'm impressed by you just being you." Groo: "But the way you constantly speak of Angel." Cordy: "Is because these last weeks have been so hard for him. (Comes to stand in front of Groo) He needs me. And you do, too." Cordy pushes Groo's sword hand down and leans in to kiss him, but after only a moment Groo pulls back. Groo: "Princess, I should be watching for creatures from the other dimension." Cordy: "You're the only creature from another dimension I'm interested in." This time it is Groo that leans in to kiss Cordy. Goo: "I was worried that your affection for the Groosalug had waned." They kiss again - only to be knocked apart to land flat on their backs as thunder and lighting cracks from the rift above them. Three police cars surround the derelict car in the aqueduct. g*n is talking to one of the officers, then makes his way out from under the yellow tape to meet up with Fred. Fred: "A couple of shopkeepers saw Conner jump off the bus right up the road from here." They walk a little ways to where Angel is standing in the shadows. Angel: "He was here. I can smell him." g*n: "Cops say it was a drug thing gone wrong. Some guy got k*lled. It wasn't our boy. They caught one of the badies. I.d.ed a local as the sh**t." Fred: "So, he was here but not part of..." g*n: "Oh, he was part of it, lot of mayhem. (To Angel) Including the guy's ear sliced off as a trophy." Fred makes a face: "Uh!" Angel: "He was raised in a hell dimension, okay?" g*n: "So, how do you wanna play this?" Angel: "Well, it'll be dark soon. You two head back to the hotel." Fred: "Shouldn't we all keep looking?" Angel: "I have a better chance finding him by myself. I don't wanna scare him. He's all alone in a strange world." We get a sh*t of the sun setting, then different flashes from around LA. Sunny: "So, that was really cool today. So, where did you learn to fight all bad-ass like that?" Connor: "In Quor-toth." Sunny: "Quor-toth? That's in Mexico, right?" She walks up to one of the doors of an abandoned motel and opens it only to reveal a guy about to light a drug pipe. Sunny: "Oh. Sorry." Sunny closes the door and moves over to the steps leading up to the second floor. Sunny: "Lots of folks squat here. Most are cool, but... If a fat guy, wearing furry slippers asks you to play 'teddy bear in the hole' just tell him to get lost. - So, ah - what did you do for kicks in Quor-toth?" Connor: "Kicks?" Sunny: "You know, like fun. Parties, movies, the mall? How do you spend your time?" Connor: "I hunt." Sunny: "Big surprise." Sunny opens another door, and after taking a careful peek, enters. Connor looks around the dark motel room as Sunny lights a couple of candles. Sunny: "Home, sweet home." Connor: "This is - this is home." Sunny: "Tonight it is. - You're welcome to crash here, too." Sunny pulls a bag of drugs out of Tyke's jacket and stuffs it in her pants pocket as Connor picks up a bra lying on a dresser. Sunny: "Hmm, I don't think it's your size. People squat here and they leave stuff. (Picks up a shirt and pants lying on the sofa) So, uhm, how do you feel about losing the whole - 'd*ad animal' thing?" Connor looks down at his clothes. Sunny walks over and tosses some clothes at him. Sunny: "I mean, not that I'm against eating a cheeseburger." Sunny turns back to the sofa table and pulls a beefstick out of a bag as Connor starts to strip behind her. Sunny: "We have all food groups. Meat (pulls out a bag of candy bars) and chocolate. So, you really were going to k*ll Tyke." Connor: "He was hurting you." Sunny: "Well, it's good you didn't." Connor: "Why?" Sunny, biting into a candybar, looks over her shoulder and sees that Connor is butt naked. Sunny turning away after a b*at: "Ahem, because it's wrong?" Connor starts to pull on the jeans she gave him. Sunny: "I mean - I know Tyke's a bastard, but the cops are even worse. (Taking another bite of the candy bar) God, I love these. Have you ever had one?" Connor, in the process of pulling on the shirt, shakes his head. Sunny: "Well, then get on down here, cowboy." Connor crouches down across from Sunny and takes a bite of her offered candy bar. Sunny: "Isn't it the best?" Looking through the stuff on the table, Sunny picks up an applesauce cup and opens it, then opens a bag of chips. Connor picks up a burnt looking spoon. Connor: "I know this. A tool for eating." Connor is about the start on the applesauce with it, but Sunny takes the spoon away from him. Sunny: "Ah, uhm, no. Uhm - that isn't for - food." Connor starts to eat straight out of the cup, wearing a small frown. Sunny holds up a packet of white powder. Sunny: "It's for this. I get it from Tyke. - It's - medicine." Connor: "You're sick?" Sunny: "No. It's - it's not that kind of medicine. - It helps me sometimes when I'm - sad." Connor: "You're sad?" After a b*at Sunny shakes her head. Sunny: "No. Hm-mm." Offers him a bite of her moon pie. Connor takes a bite and smiles at her. Sunny smiles back at him. Fred, voice over: "Connor is new to this world, alone, probably scared." g*n: "Yeah, he looked scared, kicking my ass." Fred: "You're right, we should have gone with Angel." Fred and g*n walk into the Hyperion. g*n: "Yeah, especially now that we know what Connor is capable - of..." g*n trails off as he spots Cordy and Groo lying on the lobby floor, unconscious. Sunny: "Hmm, food, cash, a place to crash. I've had worse days. How about you? (Connor looks away, not answering) So, what's your deal? (Connor looks at her) Why did you come to LA?" Connor: "To find my father." Sunny: "Really? Heh. I came here to get away from mine. - Parents should have to take like a test or something, before they can have kids. And if they're - drunks, or idiots, or evil - they should be sterilized." Connor: "If they're evil they should be k*lled." Sunny considers that for a moment in silence then lets out a sigh. Sunny: "You don't say much but - I like what you say." Connor looks at Sunny and after a moment she leans in to kiss him. At first he pulls back, then leans closer and they kiss. After a moment Sunny pulls back with a smile. Sunny: "Ah, I - ah, I'll be right back." Wesley looks up from typing on his laptop and over at the book Lilah gave him, lying on the coffee table beside the computer. He picks it up and opens it to a woodcut of the devil eating Judas. Wes looks at it for a moment, then snaps the book shut. The camera pans down to show Connor asleep where Sunny left him leaning against the sofa. A f*re engine honks, and Connor snaps awake, pulling out two daggers in the same motion. The sirens fade as Connor stands up and looks around. Connor: "Sunny?" There is no answer and Connor slowly makes his way across the room. He hears some wood creaking and spins to look behind him. Connor: "Sunny?" When there is no answer he continues on, and pushes open the door to the bathroom, revealing Sunny slumped against the side of the bathtub. There is a tourniquet around her upper arm and a syringe still sticking out of her forearm. Connor crouches down beside her, briefly touching her shoulder. Connor quietly: "Sunny?" He reaches down and picks up the packet of 'medicine' Sunny showed him earlier, then stands up. Connor turns around to find Angel standing in the door behind him. Angel: "Connor." Break Angel sees Sunny slumped against the bathtub and grabs a hold on Connor's arm, pushing his sleeve up. Angel: "She didn't sh**t any of this crap in you, did she?" Connor pulls free: "No." Angel holds up his hands in a placating gesture: "Okay. I'm sorry. I just... (Angel glances at Sunny) We'll take care of this, okay? Together." Connor shakes his head: "Too late. - Too late." Connor walks past Angel back into the main motel room. Angel: "Connor. - I'm sorry about... - Was she you're friend? Connor. Just talk to me." Angel trails after Connor and watches him pick up Tyke's jacket and sniff at it. Angel: "Well, you know, I figure you have to be feeling like you traded in one hell dimension for another right about now, but if you just let me... What are you doing? (Takes the jacket away from Connor) What is that?" Connor: "Give that back!" Angel sniffs the jacket. Angel: "Why? Who're you tracking?" Connor makes a grab for the jacket, but Angel stops him. A quick search of the pockets brings out another packet of drugs. Angel: "Right. I get it. You're going after they guy that gave her the junk." Connor: "His medicine k*lled her." Angel: "And you're going to do what about it?" Connor: "Punish." Angel: "You mean, k*ll." Connor makes another s*ab at the jacket, and again Angel stops him. Angel: "Slow down." Conner att*cks Angel, but Angel takes a hold of him and pushes him up against the wall. Angel: "Listen to me!" Connor slams Angel up against the wall in turn. Connor: "No!" Angel sighs as Connor lets go of him and goes to retrieve the jacket. Angel takes a hold of his son, and again pushes him up against the wall. Angel: "You *will* listen." Connor hauls back and clocks Angel across the face. Angel pushes Connor's face into the wall. Angel: "I'm not gonna let you walk out that door and get into any more trouble. - Hear me?" Connor: "Fine." Angel lets go of him and takes a step back. After a moment Connor spins around and att*cks Angel again, only to get tossed on the floor. Angel lets out a sigh: "I'm sorry. You just don't understand how this world works." Connor: "I understand. Sunny was nice. Now she's d*ad." Angel: "Connor..." Connor: "Stop calling me that! (Glares up at Angel) My name is Steven." Angel just looks at Connor. Cordy and Groo are sitting on the settee in the lobby. Cordy is holding an icepack to her head. g*n: "And then what?" Cordy: "And then what nothing. Standing, talking, boom - knocked on our butts." g*n: "You think something else came out of there?" Cordy: "Hello? Face down. Knocked out?" Fred: "I found a picture of that beast Connor k*lled. And uhm, it says that these things usually have a mate." g*n takes a look at the book Fred hands him, then closes it as the rift above the Pentagram lets out another crackle. Cordy: "Where is Lorne? He should have been back with that expert hours ago." g*n: "Well, he said it was complicated." Fred: "There is that other expert." Cordy: "You know someone else who can... - Oh. I don't think Angel's gonna go for that." Groo: "Yes. We must always consider Angel. Angel is our leader. We must obey his wishes." Cordy looks over at Groo. Fred: "So - We're just supposed to sit here with a fissure from a hell dimension in the middle of the lobby when we know someone who can help us?" Fred looks from a silent Cordy to and equally silent g*n. Fred: "I don't think so. I'm calling him." g*n: "Fred. No, you're not." Just then the door opens and Lorne, wearing a hat and trench coat walks in with a blue-haired lady, wrapped into a black cloak. Cordy: "Lorne!" Lorne: "Uh, sorry it took so long, kids. Mistress Meerna is a *very* difficult woman to find." Lorne looks around for his companion, who is no longer beside him. Cordy turns as we hear footsteps. It's Meerna coming walking down the stairs from the first floor. Lorne: "There, you see what I mean? It's been like that all day! One of the nasty side effects of specializing in dimensional magic. What I wouldn't do for a lasso and some crazy glue." Angel: "Steven." Connor pulls on Tyke's leather jacket, never taking his eyes off Angel. Angel: "Okay. - Steven. - It's a good name. - Not Irish, but... - Look - I know we haven't gotten off to a great start here, but if we can just - take a minute. - That'd be good. - Please, just..." Connor is glancing past Angel to the door. Angel: "Don't run away from me, alright? I lost you once already. - There's just - there's just so much I wanna know, so much I need to know. - Okay?" Connor just stands there. Angel: "You been okay? I mean - what was it like there? - Did you have any friends? - Okay, I mean, not friends. (Sighs) It's not like you were at summer camp. I mean, you were stuck in a - hell dimension. - Connor - I'm so sorry. I tried to get you back. I did. I tried to come after you. I would have done anything. I just... I just... I couldn't find a way in." Connor: "I found a way out." Angel: "Yeah. - You did. - You sure did. - I should've - I should've tried harder. I - I shouldn't 've quit. But you're back. And-and - and that's what's important, you know? You-you came back to me. I wanna know everything, son. I wanna know everything. Everything about you, you know, what your life's been like? You - must have a million questions." Connor: "No." Angel: "No?" Connor steps closer to Angel: "My father told me everything." Angel after a b*at: "Your father. - Holtz isn't your father. He's..." Connor hits Angel across the face, hard. Connor: "You don't get to say that name! You don't even get to think it!" Angel straightens back up and just looks at Connor. Connor: "I know - everything. He told me all about you. That you're a - a *thing* that kills and drinks blood. You're a vampire." Angel: "What do you know about vampires?" Connor: "Decapitation, stake in the heart, daylight, f*re - did I forget anything? - You have a second face. A face for k*lling. - Show it to me. I wanna see it." When Angel just stands there looking at him, Connor starts punching Angel in the chest. Connor: "Come on, show me! Show me the face you used to k*ll my father's family. Show me! Come on! Show me!" Connor aims his next punch at Angel's face, but Angel catches his fist and holds it still. Angel, quietly: "Looks like this, son." Angel morphs into his vamp face and Connor pulls his fist free and stumbles a couple of steps back. Connor: "That's what you are." Angel: "It's part of what I am. (Morphs back into his human face) A part I hope you will be able to accept one day." Connor: "You'd have to k*ll me first." Tyke: "Well, that's a plan." Angel turns around to see Tyke follow by a couple of his g*ons entering the motel room. Tyke pulls out a g*n. Tyke: "But I've got a better one." Break Tyke: "Chamois man." Connor tries to get to Tyke, but Angel holds him back. Angel: "No, no, no. Don't." Tyke, touching the bandage on the left side of his head: "Where's Sunny?" Angel: "Would that be the d*ad girl in the bathroom?" Tyke motions for one of his guys to check the bathroom. Tyke to Angel: "Who are you?" Angel: "I'm his father." Connor: "No, you're not." Angel: "Let me handle this? (To Tyke) Let's find a way to work this out. Talk through it. (To Connor) Which is a thing we do here. (To Tyke) There's no need for v*olence." Tyke slugs Angel across the chin with the butt of his g*n. Tyke: "I'm sorry. Did you say 'no need for v*olence?' You may wanna speak up, you see (points at his bandaged ear and screams) I don't hear so good any more!" Goon comes back: "Sunny's d*ad in the can. O.D." Tyke to Angel: "You know, I begged her to get help. Oh, well. One down, one to go." Angel: "We can make this right." Tyke: "You can give me a new ear?" Angel: "Well - maybe you can wear a hat." Tyke: "Maybe I can blow your head off. (To Connor) That's my coat and I want it back. And whatever's not in Sunny's body better be in those pockets." Angel: "Son, give him the coat." Connor to Tyke: "You k*lled her." Tyke nods, but before he can say anything a third goon enters. Goon: "Tyke, cops, man, they're looking for you. They're everywhere." Tyke looks at Angel, how raises his eyebrows at him. Everyone is watching Meerna as she kneels on the floor of the Hyperion's lobby, examining the area above the pentagram Meerna: "I hope this pentagram wasn't some dark attempt to close the fissure." g*n: "Ah, no, that was a dark attempt to open one. (Meerna turns to glance at g*n) Different one. - Long story." Fred: "So, you think you can close it, then?" Meerna: "Oh, I'm sure. That's not the worry." Fred: "You have worry?" Meerna: "How did it open in the first place? There are no portals to Quor-toth, and for good reason. It's not a place anyone should ever go." Fred: "I... If there aren't any portal's, what is it?" Meerna: "A tear in reality. Big cosmic no-no." Fred steps back and Meerna goes back to feeling the air in front of her. Meerna: "Something punched its way through. Something I really don't wanna meet." Cordy lets out a shriek startling g*n and Groo, as Meerna suddenly says "Excuse me" and walks out from behind them. Meerna: "Sorry." Lorne walks up to her, carrying a metal bowl. Lorne: "Here you go. Just the way you asked." Meerna pulls out a pair of safety glasses and puts them on. Lorne: "Should we leave, or get behind something?" Meerna: "Nah. It's pretty routine. (Flips up the hood of her cape) Just sometimes I get a little 'schmutz' in my eye." Meerna takes the bowl from Lorne with a sigh and moving one hand above it in a circular motion begins to chant quietly. Meerna: "Forras. A ka ul do. In tempor lyta." She takes some of the powder-like contents of the bowl and tosses them into the air. A purple, glowing mist forms. The rift crackles, then everything gets sucked to a center point and disappears from view. Meerna puts down her hood and takes off the glasses while turning to the others. Meerna: "It's closed." Cordy: "Can you tell if anything else came through it?" Meerna hands the bowl back to Lorne. Meerna: "Not sure. And I'm not sticking around to find out. Bye." With that she walks away. Police with flashlights are moving around the outside of the motel. One of the cops is talking to another squatter. Tyke is aiming his g*n at Angel. Angel to Tyke: "d*ad body in the river. Another one in the bathroom. This just doesn't bode well for you, does it? (Angel turns to look at Connor) Well, you see, son, v*olence just always ends up bad..." With that Angel starts to att*ck the Tyke and the g*ons, with Connor quickly joining in. Connor: "Hey!" Connor hits Tyke on his bandaged ear and he falls to his knees with a suppressed scream. Police, carrying g*n with flashlights mounted to them are closing in on Sunny's motel room. Angel, dropping the last of the g*ons turns to his son. Angel: "Connor, we got to get out..." The trails off as he sees that Tyke is holding Connor like a shield in front of him. Tyke: "*I* got to get out of here." Angel: "Don't. Use me. I'm bigger. I'll make a better shield." While Tyke hesitates, the cops start to punch at the door. Tyke spins to sh**t. Angel grabs a hold of Connor and pulls him down on the floor with him as b*ll*ts begin to fly. One of the g*ons is sh*t and falls, but Tyke and the remaining g*ons keep sh**ting. Angel looks up at the light shining in through the many holes riddling the walls by now. Another goon is h*t and goes down. A stray b*llet shatters the glass in the window opposite the door. Angel to Connor: "Out that window! Go! Out the window!" Connor gets up and runs towards the window. Angel: "Stay down! Stay down!" The door is kicked open and a cop comes in, spinning to aim his g*n at Connor's back. Angel jumps up and takes the b*llet full in the back. The cop loads the next b*llet into the chamber but has to take cover as Tyke starts to sh**t at him. Connor, crouched on the window sill, stares at Angel lying on the floor. Angel raises his head and looks at Connor. Angel: "Go!" Angel pushes himself up and launches himself at Connor, sending both of them tumbling out through the window, while the firefight continues behind them. Angel is running hunched around his middle down a deserted street, Connor following close behind. Connor: "Do you need to stop?" Angel: "I'm okay." A police car with lights and sirens going turns into their street and Angel pulls Connor between two parked cars. Angel: "Behind here." The police car passes and Angel lets out a groan as he tries to straighten up. Angel: "Maybe I do need a second." Angel leans on the hood of the parked van. Connor: "What you did..." Angel: "Are you hurt?" Connor shakes his head. Angel: "You know, if you want, you can come back to the hotel." Connor stares at Angel for a moment then his eyes look every where but at Angel. Angel: "No pressure or anything." Connor starts to move past Angel. Connor: "No, uh..." Angel: "But if you, you know, if you need a place to stay." Connor turns to look back at Angel: "I have to go." Angel: "You're not alone. - You know that, right?" Connor: "Yeah. I know." With that Connor turns and runs off, leaving Angel standing by the van, looking after him. After a long b*at Angel slowly, carefully moves off. Connor is running down a narrow alleyway. He slows and straightens as he comes up to a dark opening. After a moment a figure steps out of the darkness. Holtz: "Hello, son." Connor: "Hi, dad." BLACK OUT.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x20 - A New World"}

foreverdreaming

Cordelia: Previously on Angel: Holtz: "I want you to go out and find others like you." Holtz pulls out the awl pinning Justine's hand to the tabletop. Angel to Justine: "I'm not your boyfriend. Find somebody else to smack you around." Lorne: "Wesley's taking the baby away for good." Justine slits Wes' throat and runs off with Connor. Holtz to Connor: "Hello, son. I'm your father." Sahjhan: "What you're looking into is the Quor-toth, the darkest of the dark worlds." Holtz pushes Justine aside and jumps through the rift in the air with Baby Connor in his arm. Lorne: "To punch through to Quor-toth would require dark, dark magics." Cordy: "There's almost always some price to using primordial power." The monster drops through the fissure above the pentagram in the lobby, followed by Connor, who beheads it and points his stake launcher at Angel. Connor: "Hi dad." Angel: "Connor." Connor: "My name is Steven." Angel slams Connor up against the wall: "Listen to me." g*n: "A couple of weeks ago he was wearing diapers, now he's a teenager?" Connor slams Angel up against the wall: "No!" Angel: "I lost you once already." Angel to Connor: "You're not alone." Connor: "I know." Fred: "We're just supposed to sit here with a fissure from a hell dimension in the middle of the lobby?" Meerna: "It's closed." Cordy: "Can you tell if anything else came through it?" Holtz steps out of the shadows in front of Connor. Connor: "Hi dad." Fred walks up to the rest of the g*ng waiting in the middle of the Hyperion's lobby. Fred: "Still no answer on his cell phone." Cordy: "That could mean something if he actually knew how to use it." g*n: "Maybe we should head back out, start where we last saw him, see if we can pick up the trail." Groo: "A wise plan. I will assist with tracking." Cordy: "No." Fred: "But if something *did* come out of the portal, and if it *is* looking for Connor, and if Angel did find him..." Cordy: "He did." The lobby doors open and Angel limps in. Groo: "Angel." Cordy: "Oh my god." g*n: "Bro, you're hurt." Angel: "I'm okay." Cordy: "You found him." Angel: "Yeah." Cordy: "And?" Angel: "And - we talked." Angel drops down on the settee with a sigh. Cordy: "Looks to me like he likes to talk with his hands." Angel: "Oh, he didn't do this to me. Not most of it, any way." g*n: "So, is it for sure then? That kid really was Connor?" Angel: "Steven. His name is Steven now. - He's still my son." Fred: "So - where is he?" Angel: "Not sure. But he knows where I am. He'll be fine." Fred: "Actually - he might not be." Angel: "What do you mean?" Cordy: "Something may have escaped from Quor-toth before we had time to close the portal." g*n: "Lorne's dimensional magic expert was picking up some seriously bad vibes." Angel: "So nobody actually saw anything else come out." Fred: "Well, not exactly." Angel: "And if my son was the last thing that came through..." g*n: "Right." Fred: "But what if it was some vengeance-y else thing that's after Connor?" Angel: "He survived Quor-toth this long. He can take care of himself." Fred: "Okay. So he survived and unspeakable hell dimension. Who hasn't? You-you can't just leave him alone in the streets of Los Angeles!" Angel: "He's got to come back on his own. And he will. Just as soon as he realizes what he needs." g*n: "And what's that?" Cordy: "A father." Connor: "A room." Connor walks up to the reception window of a motel and drops a handful of money on the counter. Connor: "I need a room for me and my father." Connor turns his head and looks at Holtz coming up beside him. Intro We get an outside sh*t of the French Cottage Motel in the morning sun. Connor walks out of the office carrying a newspaper. He sees a man take a bag of candy out of the vending machine standing against the side of the motel, and bite into it as he walks away. Connor walks over to the machine and starts to push the buttons. When no food comes out he rattles the machine, then picks the whole thing up and slams it down. Connor enters motel room 204 carrying the newspaper and an armful of junk food. He closes the door and drops the stuff on the table. Connor: "I found food in a big metal box outside. - Dad?" Holtz comes out of the bathroom. Holtz: "Oh, good boy. You got it." Connor hands him the paper. Holtz: "Now. Let's have a look at the date." Holtz stares at the paper then drops down on the end of one of the beds. Holtz: "Days. We've been gone only days." Connor: "I don't like this place. So many people. It's not like home." Holtz: "Quor-toth was never our home, son. It was our prison. I should have known that one day *you'd* find a way out." Connor: "The cracks were there already. I just made the sluks show me. That's all." Holtz gets up: "Frightened rats, forced to flee to daylight. (Pats Connor on the cheek) My boy's smart." Connor: "You shouldn't have followed me here." Holtz sits down on a chair: "How could I not?" Connor crouches down in front of him, putting a hand on Holtz' knee. Connor: "I would have come back to you, after I k*lled him. (Straightens up and turns away) I'm sorry I couldn't." Holtz: "Of course you couldn't. It's not in you, son." Connor: "I've k*lled lots!" Holtz: "Only when you had to, only to survive. (Gets up) And that's not the real reason why you worked so hard to get here. You wanted to see him." Connor: "No." He walks past Holtz and sits down on the end of the bed. Holtz: "It's alright son. There is no shame in it. I knew this day would come. That's why I never lied to you. I've always told you the truth about what you're parents were (Crouches down in front of Connor) how you and I came to be together." Connor: "God gave me to you." Holtz: "Yes. God delivered me to you, that I'd keep you safe and lavish upon you all the love that I could never give my first children." Connor: "Because he took them from you." Holtz: "That's right." Connor: "I wish I *had* k*lled him." Holtz: "If you had, then you wouldn't be the boy I raised, or the man I know you'll be one day. There's more for you to learn, Steven, much more." Connor: "And I want to." Holtz: "Good. (Stands up) Then you must go to him." Connor: "What?" Holtz: "Walk in his world, learn all you can. (Puts a hand on Connor's shoulder) Discover what of him is in you that you might fight against it. (Puts a hand under Connor's chin and makes him look up) But be on your guard. Remember what I've taught you. The devil will show you bright things, many colors." Lorne turns a crystal shimmering with many colors in his hand as he holds it out to Fred. Lorne: "I would have been here sooner, but I had to stop and get it enchanted. Cedrian Crystals don't actually come that way." g*n: "Will it work?" Fred: "It should. Cedrian crystals are said to contain millennia of stored mystical energy and it's about the size of a "D" battery." Cordy and Groo walk in. Cordy: "That's gorgeous." Fred: "And priceless." Lorne: "Though in this instance priceless meaning 'without price' as in free. A six-horned Lach-Nie owed me a favor. Don't ask." Cordy points at the contraption on the desk in front of Fred: "I meant that." Fred: "Oh. Standard issue army surplus Geiger counter." g*n: "We picked it up at a yard sale." Cordy: "Shiny." Groo: "What it is purpose?" g*n: "We're gonna use it to see if scary monsters came through the portal." Fred: "Anything that came out of Quor-toth should have left behind a kind of para-plasmic radioactivity. Of course, I'm working of the principal that everything in nature seeks a relaxed and s*ab state." Lorne: "I know I do." Cordy to g*n: "Hey. So, how is he?" g*n looks towards the stairs: "Well, still being all mature." Cordy: "Really. Where?" g*n: "Upstairs." Cordy: "I'm gonna go talk to him." Groo watches Cordy walk towards the stairs, letting out a sigh. Angel is in his apartment practicing against the punching bag. Cordy: "Hey. - I guess Fred is working on a way to determine if anything else came out of the portal." Angel steadies the bag, but doesn't turn to face Cordy. Angel: "That's good." Angel goes back to practicing. Cordy: "So, maybe if we're very, very lucky, later today we'll be able to k*ll something. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Angel: "Sure." Cordy: "Okay. Well, I just wanted to check in and let you know that I was on the clock and tell you that you're doing the right thing." Angel stops punching the bag, but doesn't turn around. After a b*at Cordy starts to leave. Angel: "What if he doesn't come back?" Cordy stops and they turn to look at each other. Groo is standing in the garden courtyard. Lorne walks up to him. Lorne: "Hey. Something troubling you, bubby?" Groo: "Indeed. I am confused." Lorne: "About what?" Groo: "Angel. His inaction puzzles me. When Connor was taken from him he moved heaven and Tarkna to try and win him back." Lorne: "Yeah, he sure did. Hence our weekly scrubbing of the lobby floor." Groo: "But now that his son is here, he does nothing." Lorne: "Well, sometime nothing is the best something. If a thing is meant to be somethimes it is best to just let it happen rather than try to force it." Groo: "But if a thing is meant to be then how can it be forced?" Lorne: "Well, I guess it can't." Groo: "And if a thing is not meant to be?" Lorne: "Well, then it really can't. Just because someone hops a dimension or two is no guarantee that things will work out. - Well, aren't you just sneaky with the subtext?" Groo walks out into the middle of the court and looks up at the sky. Groo: "It is a beautiful day. If my princess asks, tell her I've gone for a walk. - If she asks." Angel: "He feels further away from me now than when he was first taken. All that time I don't think I ever really believed that I'd lost him - not really. Then he shows up again and I knew I had." Cordy: "It's only temporary." Angel: "Yeah. Everything's temporary. There's just so much I thought we'd be able to do together before he, you know..." Cordy: "Grew up?" Angel: "Hated me." Cordy: "Angel, he doesn't hate you. He doesn't even know you. - But he will. He's gonna come back, Angel." Angel: "How do you know?" Cordy: "Because - he has to. Because he's family." Wes is sitting at the table in his apartment, opening the plastic on a TV dinner (almost burning his fingers) and pouring himself a glass of red wine when his computer beeps. After a b*at he walks over to it and opens the message he just received: 782 W. Palm Terrace. 8:30 p.m. Come alone.' Fred is walking around the Hyperion with her modified Geiger counter, the others following behind her. Fred: "Getting a good, strong reading here." Lorne: "Should we be wearing lead? 'cause I actually have something." Fred: "Okay. This is approximately where the portal was, so it makes sense that I'd be getting a reading here. Uh, mark that." g*n marks the floor with a piece of chalk, as Fred moves on, eyes on the readout of the Geiger counter. Fred: "Okay, looks like something might have come in here. (Keeps moving forward not looking where she's going) Or - here. (The clicking of the Geiger counter increases as she turns to the side) Wait a minute. Wow. Something here is pretty (looks up see Connor standing in front of her) hot. - Angel's son! Hi. I didn't mean to click at you." She turns the instrument off, throws a glance back at the others then hurries to stand next to g*n while Angel steps closer to Connor. Angel: "Hey." Connor: "Hey. - I - ah, I thought I'd come by like you said." Angel: "I'm glad you did. (Turns) Everyone, ah, this is ah, this is Steven. Steven this is Fred, g*n, Cordelia and that's Lorne." Lorne: "Hello, young man." Angel to group: "So, are we about done here?" Fred: "Oh! Yeah. I - I think we've covered everything." g*n: "Maybe we could take this outside." Fred: "Yes. We should do a perimeter search then recalibrate for some wider areas." Angel: "That would be a good idea." Fred: "It was very nice to meet you, Steven." g*n and Fred leave. Lorne: "Uhm, yeah, I - I have a thing." Lorne walks past Connor and upstairs. Cordy: "Yes, so, uhm, I just be sure to hold all your calls. You just - you guys take your time." Angel: "Thanks." Cordy walks towards Wes' office and Angel turns back to face Connor. Both of them fold their arms in perfect unison while not even looking at each other, both shift from foot to foot. Angel: "So... - You hungry?" Connor: "What do you have?" Angel: "We can go out." Cordy: "What!? Where?!" Angel turns to see Cordy coming towards him, one hand cupped behind her ear. Angel: "Cordy." Cordy yelling: "Angel! It's a bar! Vampires. A g*ng of them!" Angel: "Cordy..." Cordy: "Angel, can you hear me!?" Suddenly we see Angel the way Cordy does, standing in the middle of a dimly lit bar, surrounded by people, music blaring loudly. Cordy: "I can see her. A woman. Angel! (Cordy sees Angel's lips move, but can hear what he's saying) She's all alone. She doesn't see them. Angel, you have to hurry!" Suddenly the bar is whisked away leaving only Angel standing before her in the lobby. Angel: "Slow down." Cordy looks around for a moment. Cordy: "There is a woman at a bar there is a g*ng of vampires that are after her. You have to help her." Angel: "So much for holding my call, huh?" Cordy: "Sorry." Angel to Connor: "Listen, uhm, - I - I, ah, have to go out for a while." Connor, backing to: "It's okay." Angel: "It's kind of my job." Connor: "Yeah. Whatever." Angel: "It could be kind of dangerous. There's a lot of k*lling and v*olence. You wanna come?" Connor stops and looks back at Angel over his shoulder. Break The bar from Cordy's vision, the camera pans past people dancing with light sticks in their hands, up to a balcony overlooking the main floor. Wes steps up to the railing and surveys the crowd. Lilah: "I see you got my invitation." Wes: "Lilah. (Tuns to face her) Obviously." Lilah: "I thought the 'come alone' was a particularly ironic touch. I mean, how else would you come?" Wes starts to walk past her, but Lilah holds out a hand to stop him. Lilah: "Don't rush off. Just look over there." Wes looks and sees Justine sitting at the bar. Lilah: "I went to a lot of trouble to arrange this little show for you." Wes: "Good bye." Wes starts to walk away. Lilah: "Okay, but leave now and you'll miss her big death scene. (Wes stops and turns back) Don't tell me you wouldn't like to see the bitch that slit your throat and left you to die get a little of her own back.' Wes: "What's going on here, Lilah?" Lilah: "Some source - can't imagine who - tipped her off that tonight this place would be filthy with vampires. Which, as it turns out, is true." Wes: "Right. Because that same source tipped off the vampires that *she* would be here." Lilah: "Seems she has been pissing off a lot of undead Americans lately." Wes: "And you thought I'd enjoy a box seat for her slaughter." Lilah smiling brightly: "Well - yeah." Wes: "You really don't know the first thing about me, do you?" Lilah: "Probably not." Wes turns to walk off and Lilah steps up close to him. Lilah: "Like, will he go straight to his car, or will he stop to warn her first?" Wes stops, but doesn't turn or speak. Lilah: "He has to think about it. That's good. That's all I really needed to know. (Turns away from him) You can go." Wes takes a step after her: "A *test* Lilah?" Lilah: "Oh, don't look so grim. I just needed to know whether or not I was wasting my time. And to prove we're still friends, I'll have her pulled out of there before anything *really* lethal happens. That way you don't have to t*rture yourself as to whether or not you did the right thing." Wes looks past her to floor below and takes step closer to the railing. Wes: "I don't think that will be necessary." Lilah steps up next to him and sees Angel moving through the crowd. Angel: "Well, you wanted to k*ll a vampire. This might be your chance. (Unobtrusively hands a stake to Connor) Here take this. Just make sure that when you use that thing go straight for..." Connor: "...the heart. I know. My father taught me." Angel: "Yeah, I'm sure he did. Look, there are a lot of innocent people in here. Just don't go nailing anybody until they show their game face, okay?" Connor: "Will it look like yours did?" Angel: "Yeah." Angel spots Justine drinking at the bar. Connor: "So why do you do it?" Angel: "Do what?" Connor: "Why k*ll them if they're like you?" Justine spots Angel and gets of her barstool. Angel: "They're not like me, Connor." Connor: "I'm not Connor." Bartender to Justine: "Ready for another?" Angel to Connor: "Just stay right there." Justine: "No, I'm done." The bartender and the two guys sitting on either side of her vamp out. Bartender, grabbing a hold of her arm: "You're not wrong." Vamp: "She thinks she's a Slayer." Bartender: "She's about to learn different." The bartender pulls Justine up onto the bar even as she turns and kicks one of the vamps away and straight onto Angel's stake. Connor watches as the vamp turns to dust. The bartender throws Justine into the shelves of bottles behind the bar. A vamp catches Angel's right hand as the stake descends towards his heart, but Angel simply stakes him with the one in his left. Three other vamps att*ck Angel in the small space that has cleared around Angel as Wes watches from the balcony. Justine screams as the bartender takes a hold of her. Connor runs forward, jumping to land in the clear space next to Angel. Angel: "Nice... Ah, take the one on the..." Connor runs past to att*ck the vamp holding Justine. Angel: "Well, yeah. That-that makes more sense." Angel gets tackled by one of the vamps and turns his attention back to the fight. Lilah watches Connor dust the bartender. Lilah: "Who's the boy wonder? He moves just like..." Wes: "...his father." Lilah stares at Wes for a moment before turning back to watch the fight. Connor helps Justine up and the two of them stare at each other for a b*at before he leads her around the bar. Justine stops to stare again, but Angel pulls Connor away. Angel to Justine: "Go. Get out of here. Go!" After one last look at Connor Justine runs off, while Angel and Connor turn back to back to fight off the remaining vampires. There is short lull in the fight and they glance at each other, a small smile appearing on both of their faces, before they return their attention to the vamps. Lilah: "Now tell me you're not interested." Lilah turns to look at Wes, only to find him gone. One of the vampires turns to run and Connor takes off after him. No more vampires attacking, Angel moves to follow Connor. Connor slowly moves out of the backdoor of the bar into a dark and deserted alley, stake at the ready. Suddenly he spins and slams the stake home - only to have his wrist caught in Angel's hand before the stake can penetrate his heart. They remain frozen in that position for a moment, Connor breathing hard. Then Angel turns the hand holding the stake and hauls back to h*t Connor's arms, causing him to spin around and dust the vampire standing behind him. Connor slowly turns back around, looking everywhere but at Angel, while we can hear a pounding like a heartbeat overlaid over the scene. Angel: "They don't need to breathe or make any sound. You gotta be careful. - You know you were - you were good in there. (Connor looks up at Angel) I mean, normally I'd take you to a ballgame, or a museum, or - something. But it's - it's good to know that you can handle yourself in a fight." Angel mock-att*cks Connor. Connor jumps back, then smiles. Angel: "It's good to know you can do that, too." Connor throws a fake punch at Angel. Angel smiling: "Woah." Laughing and smiling the two of them start dancing around each other, throwing fake punches, jumping up on the trash containers sitting along the wall of the alley, horsing around. The camera pulls back to show us Holtz stepping out of the shadows on one of the emergency ladders on the houses lining the alley, watching them from above. Connor is sitting in Holtz' motel room eating an Oreo cookie. The door opens and Holtz walks in, stops in front of Connor and looks down at him. Connor: "Father. - He was everything that you said. He tried to trick me. Thought that he could deceive me by saving people. It didn't work. I've seen his true face." Holtz: "And I've seen yours." Cordy is lounging on Angel's bed while Angel is sitting in a chair across the room. Angel: "The kid was born for it. The way he anticipated, I'm telling you, it's in his blood." Cordy: "You don't say." Angel: "There we were and it was like we had never been apart. He felt it, too. I know he did. You should have seen us together." Cordy: "I did." Angel: "What do you mean, you did?" Cordy: "Ah - after you left, I went back into my vision." Angel: "You went back in?" Cordy sits up: "Don't ask me how. I don't know if it is part of my new semi-demoness, or - or if they just let me go back in. But I was there. I saw the whole thing, you and your son together. It was beautiful." Connor: "Stop saying that!" Holtz is sitting across the table from Connor, holding his hands. Holtz: "It is true, son." Connor: "You're wrong!" Holtz: "I'm not wrong. Anyone who saw you together would realize - that's where you're meant to be - at his side." Connor: "No!" Holtz: "It was your need for him that drove you across the dimension." Connor: "I don't need him!" Holtz: "Go back to him, Steven." Connor: "Why are you doing this? Why? God gave me to you." Holtz: "Yes. It was god's plan for us to be together. Nothing will ever persuade me otherwise. But now it's time for me to give you back." Connor: "He's a demon." Holtz: "And you're the bastard son of two demons." Connor: "Then I'm a demon." Holtz: "You're not. God help me, I don't know what you are, but I'm not the one to give you answers, and there *are* answers. Go and find them out." Fred and g*n pull up across from the French Cottage motel, still following the readings of Fred's modified Geiger counter. Fred: "Okay. Except for the hotel the strongest emissions are coming from somewhere in this vicinity." g*n: "Now what? We go door to door and ask if anyone's seen any inter-dimensional boogies?" Fred: "I'm not sure. I don't even know if we should be looking above ground or not." Connor pulls his hands out from under Holtz'. Connor: "You told me not to be deceived. But you've let yourself be deceived." Holtz: "If I could stop this, I would, son. But we were brought here by forces beyond our control." Connor jumps up and heads for the door. Connor: "You're wrong." g*n spots Connor storming out of a door on the upper level of the motel. g*n: "Hey. Check it out." They watch as Connor reaches the end of the balcony and after quick look around drops down over the railing to run off. Fred: "Looks like we've been following Angel's son's emissions the whole time." g*n: "Now there is a sentence I don't ever need to hear again." Fred: "But it's good, right? It means there was no big scary that came out of the portal." g*n turns back to look at the room Connor ran out of and sees Holtz appear in the open door. g*n: "How about a short scary?" Holtz slowly closes the door. Lorne, wearing a dressing gown, is pouring himself a drink. He turns and sees Connor standing in the middle of the hotel lobby. Lorne: "Oh, hey, kiddo. I didn't see you there. You looking for your dad? Come on. He's upstairs. I'll show you the room. - This way." Connor: "I'm not going anywhere with you, demon." Lorne: "I'll tell you what, since you were raised in a hell dimension by a psychopath, and since that happens to be a topic that I know a little something about, we'll just let that slide. Now I'll fetch your pop for you." Lorne turns to continue up the stairs. Connor: "Filthy demon." Lorne turns back: "Actually, that's *uncle* filthy demon to you. It wasn't that long ago - like a week - I was changing your diapers, you little..." Cordy: "Hey!" Cordy walks in and walks over to stand between them. Cordy: "What's the problem?" Lorne just looks at Connor. Cordy: "Steven?" Steven never takes his stare off Lorne. Cordy: "Steven." After a b*at Connor lets himself be lead over to the settee and sits down with Cordy, but he keeps staring at Lorne. Cordy: "I know you haven't been in this world very long, and I imagine that things are pretty wild west-y where you're from, but Lorne's a good guy. Honestly." Connor: "It's a demon." Cordy: "Right. True. *He* is. But 'demon' doesn't always mean 'evil' in this dimension. I mean, look at me. (Connor's eye track from Lorne to look at her) Well, I'm part demon. Yeah. By choice. I did it so that I could help people. (Turns to look at Lorne) And so that the back of my head wouldn't..." Connor draws his Kn*fe and lunges to s*ab Cordy in the heart. Break Lorne: "Cordy!" Cordy and Connor stare at each other as Cordy keeps Connor's Kn*fe hand from descending on her. Cordy's eyes begin to glow with and intense white light. The light spreads, moves up her arm and into Connor, dissolving the blade of his Kn*fe and leaving him holding just the handle. Cordy: "Let it go, honey. - Just let it go. You don't need that. You don't need any of that." The light leaves Cordy, suffusing Connor instead, as Cordy sits back up across from Connor. Cordy: "That's right. Just let it go, baby." The light disappears all together, leaving Connor panting and staring at Cordy. Cordy: "Shh." Cordy reaches up to run her hand over Connor's cheek. Cordy, whispering: "It's okay, sweetie. That's right. It's okay." Connor's eyes close and he leans his head against Cordy and cries into her shoulder. Cordy holds on to him. Cordy: "I know. Shh. - It's okay. - It's okay." Connor sits back up and Cordy turns to look up at the balcony overlooking the lobby to see Angel standing at the railing. Angel watches from the door to Wes' office as Lorne hands Connor a cup, then turns back to face Cordy, sitting at the desk. Angel: "How do you feel?" Cordy: "Okay. Drained. But okay." Lorne: "Well, you got some serious mojo going on, girl. Whatever deal you struck with the Powers, it looks to me like they gave you the full package - all the extras. That kid was toxic when he came here tonight. Heavy on the 'ick'." Angel: "What actually happened out there?" Lorne: "In my professional opinion? Well, Miss demon-y britches here gave that child some kind of 'soul colonic'. Flushed him out but good." Angel: "Flushed what out?" Cordy: "It was that place, Quor-toth. It crept into every part of him. He was sick with it." Angel: "When Fred was taking her readings..." Lorne: "He nearly broke the needle. My guess? She wouldn't even get so much as a click off him now." Angel crouches down in front of Cordy. Angel: "Thank you. Thank you for doing this for him." Cordy: "I know what it was like for him there, the darkness and the confusion. He thought it was where he belonged." Angel slowly walks up to where Connor is still sitting on the settee. Angel: "Hey, pal. How 're you doing?" Connor: "I might have tried to k*ll your friend." Angel: "Yeah, well - she's used to it." Connor: "I think I should go." Angel goes to sit down on the settee next to Connor. Angel: "Look - why don't you just - stay here? - I know it doesn't feel like it yet - but this could be home for you." Connor, staring straight in front of him: "I don't have a home." Angel: "That's not true. You just don't remember, that's all. - Your home is here. This is where you're supposed to be, son." Connor: "You speak as though you're my father." Angel, smiling slightly: "Well..." Connor: "He said the same thing. (Angel's smile melts away) He said, we came back for a reason." Angel: "Did he?" The doors open and Fred and g*n come hurrying in. They stop as they see Angel and Connor, and g*n clears his throat. Holtz goes to look through the peephole in the door of his motel room, in response to a knock. He opens the door to reveal Justine standing there. Justine: "Daniel." Holtz just looks at her. Angel walks into Wes' office where g*n and Fred are waiting. Angel: "I told him you two were going to take him out, spend some time with him." g*n: "And he's good with that?" Angel: "Yeah, he seems to be." Fred: "Where do you want us to take him?" Angel: "Some place were this world isn't as ugly as he thinks it is." g*n: "How long you need?" Angel: "A couple of hours should do it.' g*n: "Hey, uhm, what if he asks where you're at?" Angel: "Don't tell him." g*n and Fred file out of the office and Angel grabs his coat. Cordy: "Wait. Angel, before you go we have to do that thing." Angel: "What thing?" Cordy: "That thing we do. You know that thing where I say 'are you sure you know what you're doing, Angel, please think about this' and then you ignore me and rush head long into trouble?" Angel: "Right. That thing. - Okay, are we done?" Cordy: "Angel, please think about this. In fact, don't go there at all." Angel: "I have to." Cordy: "I know. But don't." Angel: "I'm not gonna k*ll him even though he deserves it." Angel turns to go. Cordy: "Oh, I don't care if you k*ll him. (Angel stops and turns back to look at Cordy) He stole Connor's childhood, so k*ll him. But don't lie to your son. He's been here like a day. Way to build the trust." Angel: "I'm not lying to him." Cordy: "No, you're just sending him off to be distracted while you go confront the man he thinks of as his father." Angel after a b*at: "I'm his father." Cordy watches him turn and walk out. Justine: "Before you there was nothing. I was d*ad. They'd taken my sister. They'd taken a part of me. You gave me a reason again - even if it was all lies." They are sitting on the two beds, facing each other. Holtz quietly: "Not all." Justine: "I still think I'd do anything for you. I'd have followed you into hell if you would have let me." Holtz stretches out on his bed: "Thank god you didn't." Justine: "I can't believe you survived it. - How did you?" Holtz: "My hate kept us alive." Justine: "Hate gets a bad rap. It can keep you going sometimes when nothing else will." Holtz: "Yes. I found I had to stay alive that I might pass on my legacy of hate. But something happened in that place, Justine, something changed. Amidst the most unspeakable ugliness the hate turned into love. Love for a son. Hate is not enough. I found that love is far more powerful. Now there is just one thing I need you to do for me and then I can finally be done with vengeance." Connor is standing on the beach watching the waves roll in. Connor: "What is it?" g*n: "The ocean. Pacific." Connor: "Ocean. My father taught me about oceans. He never said it was so..." Fred: "Big?" Connor: "Empty." Fred: "It's not. It's just all under the surface. A whole 'nother world actually." Connor: "Everything's so different here." Fred: "I know how you feel. (g*n looks down at her) I got lost once like you. - When I came back nothing seemed real. Like I was seeing everything from the bottom of the ocean." Connor: "I don't remember being lost." Connor walks away from g*n and Fred up to the edge of the surf. g*n: "Ah, Steven? Yo!" Fred: "Maybe we should just give him a minute." g*n wraps an arm around her shoulder and Fred leans against him. Fred: "I wish Angel was here." g*n: "Yeah. His kid seeing the ocean for the first time, too bad he had to miss it." Fred: "That's not what I meant. I just - feel sort of creepy, keeping him busy and distracted while Angel..." g*n: "Confronts the kidnapper?" Fred: "Well, if you're gonna put it like that. - What do you think he'll do?" g*n: "I don't know. I know what I'd do. But Angel will deal with Holtz in his own way." Connor turns from watching the surf to look back at them. Fred: "Uh-oh." g*n: "No way. He couldn't have heard us." Fred: "He did." Connor runs off. Break Cordy turns out the light in the office as she picks up her coat and purse to go home. As she walks towards the doors she sees a figure wearing a black leather jacket and starts to smile. Cordy: "Angel. Oh my god, do you know how happy this makes me? I ask you not to go and you didn't go? I'm so glad to see..." She runs up to hug him, slowing as the man steps out of the shadows. It's Groo. Cordy: "...you. - Hi." Holtz is sitting at the table in the motel room. He folds a piece of paper and sticks it into an envelope. Holtz: "I can't recall - would you require an invitation for a place like this?" Angel is standing in the open door behind Holtz. Angel: "Public accommodation? (Steps across the threshold) No." Holtz: "No. You'd think I'd remember something like that. It would have seemed important once. (Stands up and turns to face Angel) Details begin to escape me." Angel gives the door a push so it closes behind him then grabs Holtz by the throat and slams him up against the wall. Angel: "You stole my son." Holtz: "I kept your son alive. You m*rder mine." After a b*at Angel slowly backs off and withdraws his hand from Holtz' throat. Angel: "I was different then." Holtz, reaching up to touch his throat: "Yes. So was I. - You feel remorse. You feel remorse yet you can't express it." Angel: "You want me to say I'm sorry? How can I? It wouldn't mean a thing." Holtz: "It would mean a little. Not much, but it would be something." Angel: "Then I'm sorry. For whatever little it might mean. It's all I've got." Angel stands still, looking straight ahead, not at Holtz. Holtz, lowering his hand: "Not all. - You had a son. - So - there it is. (Sits down) I thought by depriving you of that son it would allow me some measure of justice. I was wrong." Angel: "Taking Connor from me was never justice. It was vengeance." Holtz: "Or maybe vengeance is what I do now. Give back what I took." Angel: "What?" Holtz stands up: "I'm an old man now. I have nothing to offer the boy. You can give him what I can't - his purpose. But every time you look upon his face - every time he calls you 'father' - you will be reminded of that which you took and can never give back. - And if that is vengeance, I find I have no taste for it." Holtz picks up the letter and holds it out to Angel. Holtz: "All I ask is that you give him this. It's not sealed. I expect you'll examine it. You should." Angel: "Why are you doing this." Holtz: "I thought I'd made that plain. I love my son. (Angel closes his eyes for a moment) And this is the only way I know to ensure that he will go on loving me." Angel takes a hold of the letter and turns to look at Holtz. After a moment he pulls the letter out of Holtz' hand and turns to leave. Holtz: "He won't accept this at first. He'll try to find me. (Angel stops with one hand on the door) - He never will." Angel opens the door and slowly walks out. Connor is running down a dark alley. Angel stops his convertible at a deserted stretch of beach road. He takes out the letter and starts to read it. Holtz voice over: "Dearest Steven, (We see Connor running down a street) this is a most difficult letter for me to write. You mean more to me than anything in this world or any other. But your best interests must come first, which is why by the time you receive this, I will be gone. (Holtz takes one last look back at the motel room) I hope one day you will be able to forgive an old man's weakness, (Connor runs down the middle of a street, cars dodging around him) which compels him to say these things in a letter. (Holtz looks at Justine) But to attempt a good-bye in your presence (Connor running, jumping over a car) would be impossible for me. I fear I would never let you go. And I must let you go. (Angel reading the letter) I know that if I didn't you would only end up hating me. And that I could not bear." Justine slams Holtz up against the side wall of the motel: "Don't make me do it. I can't." Holtz has his hand wrapped around Justine's right hand and the awl she is holding up between them. Holtz: "We already know you can. You promised. You said you'd do anything for me. Come on, Justine. I'm not asking you to follow me into hell. Just help send me there. (Shakes her) Do it!" Crying, Justine, her hand still covered by Holtz', s*ab him in the side of the neck with the awl. Angel is reading the letter. Holtz voice over: "Your destiny lies with Angel. I know that now. (Holtz slides down the wall, still holding on to Justine) You will have a better life with him." Holtz to Justine: "Again. Again!" Crying, Justine s*ab Holtz neck a second time just below the first puncture. Holtz voice over: "I'm comforted by that certainty and the knowledge that with him (Connor running) you will discover your true purpose and come to know who it is you are meant to be." Angel folds up the letter and returns it to the envelope. Connor runs. Holtz, staring up at the dark sky, whispers: "Steven." Angel, wearing the trace of a smile, quietly: "Connor." Connor bursts into the motel room: "Dad!" Looks around the empty room: "Dad?" Holtz voice over: "My only prayer is that I have prepared you well enough for whatever lies ahead." Connor backs out of the motel room and hurries down the balcony. Holtz v.o: "I trust that I have. Be brave. Lovingly, your father." Connor runs through a metal gate and stops as he sees Justine, running her hand over Holtz' head resting in her lap. He runs up to them and drops down nest to Holtz, putting his hands on Holtz shoulders. Justine slowly raises her head to look at him. Connor stares at the two puncture wounds on Holtz' neck. Connor: "Angelus." BLACK OUT.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x21 - Benediction"}

foreverdreaming

Angel: "Previously on Angel:" Angel morphs into vamp face and baby Connor calms and smiles at him. Cordy to Fred: "Angel's feelings are the only ones I care about." Groo overhears and turns away. Cordy: "I got dosed with demon DNA for that man." Skip turning her into a demon. Cordy lighting up like a Christmas tree in "The Price" Lorne: "Wesley's taking the baby away - for good." Wes gets his throat slashed by Justine. Justine runs off with Connor. Holtz pushes Justine aside and jumps through the rift with the baby in his arms. Justine: "Daniel!" Sahjhan: "What you are looking into is the Quor-toth." Connor drops through the rift in the lobby and levels his stake launcher at Angel. Connor: "Hi dad." Angel: "You're not alone." Connor: "I know." Angel pushes Holtz up against the wall: "You stole my son!" Holtz: "I kept your son alive." Fred: "What do you think he'll do?" g*n: "Angel will deal with Holtz in his own way." Justine: "I can't." Holtz: "You said you'd do anything for me." Crying, Justine s*ab Holtz in the neck with the awl. Hyperion, night, Groo walks into the lobby carrying a tray decorated with greens and two glass-mugs on it. Cordy: "Hi. What you got there?" Groo sets the tray down: "Well, I know you had grave concern for Angel's welfare, so I made some Mock-Na." Cordy: "Oh. Mock-Na. Which is..?" Groo: "A soothing brew to relieve tension." Cordy: "Ah. Kind of looks like muddy water." Groo: "Yes! (Picks up a mug and smells it) The mud gives it body and flavor. Of course there is no Plockweed in this dimension, so I made due with creeping fig and sour cress in the garden. Though it is not true Mock-Na, it is very close to the real thing." Cordy smiling brightly: "So it's mock Mock-Na." Groo offers her a mug: "Please." Cordy takes it with a smile at him and takes a tiny sip. Cordy: "Well, that's, ah... I mean, I can feel the tension draining already. (Hands the mug back to Groo.) And a little sediment going down the wrong... (Coughs a little then smiles at him brightly) Hmm, tasty." Groo: "And might I further relieve you by at first gently then more rapidly rubbing your Schlug-Tee?" Cordy looks at the grin on his face. Cordy: "Ah, I don't really... uhm. Maybe later at home." Sees Groo's smile melt away and steps up close to him. Cordy whispering: "I don't feel comfortable doing *it* in the office, Groo." Groo: "Doing 'it?'" Cordy: "Sex." Groo: "Oh, you wish to have sex?" Cordy, throwing a quick look around: "What? No! Shh!" Groo: "I was proposing a massage of your Schlug-Tee, your tense neck muscle, but - it is always an honor to make sex with you. (Smiles then leans closer and whispers) Later,at home. I understand perfectly." Cordy stares straight ahead: "Angel." Groo pulls back with a sigh: "Is not who I am, princess." Cordy: "I know. He's back." Cordy walks past Groo out into the lobby where Angel stands. Cordy: "You didn't happen to hear..." Angel: "Hear what?" Cordy: "Good. So, how did it go?" Angel: "I found Holtz." Cordy: "And?" Angel: "I didn't k*ll him." Cordy: "Maybe you're growing as a person. What did you do?" Angel: "We talked." Cordy: "About Connor-ah, Steven." Angel: "Yeah. Did he - come home?" Cordy: "No, he's still out with g*n and Fred. You - said home." Angel: "Yeah. It's a long story, but Holtz wants what's best for him." Cordy: "And what's best for him is living here with us?" Angel smiles just a bit and Cordy throws her arms around him, pulling him into a hug. Cordy: "That's great! Oh, my god, I'm so happy for you." Cordy pulls back and she and Angel smile at each other, while Groo leans against the counter, sipping Mock-Na, watching them. Groo: "Yes. It is a happy time." Connor is holding Holtz' body cradled against him, crying. Justine: "This didn't have to happen. Your father was gonna leave. He just wanted to talk to Angelus." Connor: "Leave?" Justine: "Angelus won. He could have just walked away." Connor: "It's my fault. (Justine looks at Connor) He'll pay." Justine: "I'll help you k*ll him." Connor: "No." Justine: "You don't wanna k*ll him? After what he did? What do you wanna do?" Connor looks up into the camera, face grim. Intro Hyperion, night, Angel opens the door to one of the rooms and turns on the light. Angel: "This one might work better. He'd have southern exposure. Not too close to my room. I don't want him to feel like I'm - hovering." Cordy watches from the door with a smile as Angel walks around straightening up the room. Angel: "But not too far. I wanna keep an eye. - What do you think?" Cordy: "I think it's just as good as the last five we looked at. It's not about the room it's about Connor... (sighs) I still can't get used to calling him Steven." Angel sitting on the bed: "Neither can I. It's what Holtz... it's what he wants to go by." Cordy: "Okay, Steven, Connor, whatever. But, it's about your son living here, getting to know his father." Angel: "I don't even own a TV. (Gets up) He's gonna wanna watch TV. Not too much, I mean, after homework and chores. He's gonna need clothes, weekly allowance... What's good nowadays? Fifty cents, a dollar?" Cordy: "Yeah. If you're Tom Sawyer painting the fence." Angel drops back down on the bed: "See? I'm so out of touch. (Sighs) He's gonna hate me." Cordy comes to sit next to him: "No, he's not. He's gonna love you." Angel: "How do you know?" Cordy: "Because you're you." Angel: "Me. A vampire." Cordy: "You, a vampire." Angel: "Who drinks blood, keeps to the shadows, and is older than everybody he knows put together." Cordy: "You're all those things, plus tight with a buck. But none of that matters." Angel: "Why not?" Cordy: "Because you have the biggest and best heart of anyone I've ever known. He's a smart kid. He'll figure it out. It's gonna be alright." Angel looks at her and she gives him a smile. Angel: "You really..." Cordy: "Aren't I? (Laughs) Feeling better, or do you need to keep looking at rooms?" Angel: "Both." Lorne from the open door: "Hey, he can have mine." Cordy: "What do you mean?" Lorne: "Leaving - on the midnight train to Georgia. Actually it's the nine eighteen flight to Vegas tomorrow, but where is the poetry in that?" Angel: "Is this because of Connor? - Steven." Lorne: "This is because of me. A buddy of mine has a club just off the strip, and he needs a singer and a seer. I could maybe do a little good." Cordy: "Well, what about rebuilding your club here?" Lorne: "That's a great idea, pixie-cat. Except every time I do, you all seem to destroy it." Cordy: "It was only - three times." Lorne: "You know, I got the big love here, and I'm grateful for the hospitality, but it's - it's time to move on." Angel stepping closer: "But some of this is because of..." Lorne: "The not so little nipper? I'm not gonna lie. Kid's in the mix. Clearly not loving the demon kind. And-and I know it's the way he was raised, and I loved that little baby - I just wouldn't, ah..." Cordy: "What?" Lorne: "Turn my back on him any time soon." Night, a pickup truck pulls into a deserted meadow and comes to a stop under some trees. Justine and Connor get out and walk around to the back of the truck. Connor: "No white cliffs?" Justine: "Not in this neck of the woods. Sorry. Still looks like where he came from though." Connor: "Eng-land? Maybe it's like the ranch." Justine: "The ranch?" Connor: "Where I was supposed to grow up - in Utah." Justine, smiles: "He told you about that? That was our dream." Connor: "He always told it, before sleep. Him and me, where no one else could ever find us." Justine swallows, no longer smiling: "Yeah. We should - we need to bury him." Connor: "No." He opens the back of the truck, throws a tarp aside, and lifts a blanket to reveal Holtz' body. Justine picking up a shovel: "I'll do it." Connor: "No. He was bitten by the beast. He may rise again." Justine looks at the two neck wounds and we get flashbacks of her k*lling Holtz. Holtz: "You said you'd do anything for me." Justine puts the shovel down. Connor leaning over Holtz: "I will do as you taught me. I will cling to the good - and I will lay waste to the evil. (He leans down to kiss Holtz' brow) Sleep now, father - and forgive me." Connor throws Holtz' body onto the ground and picks up a sledgehammer (?). Connor swings and we hear a crunching noise as Justine turns her head away. Lilah walks through a dingy, half-empty bar to a table where Wesley sits staring at the beer and sh*t glasses on the table in front of him. Lilah: "Mind if I join you?" Wes: "On many levels and with great intensity." Wes pours a sh*t into his beer. Lilah sits down: "How's your throat? Need a lozenge? Life's something, huh? One day you're a pivotal figure in the big battle, next thing you know, you're thrown out on your lonesome. No one even cares what you think any more. Well - I care." Wes: "You care." Lilah: "As one human being to another. (Smiles and raises an eyebrow at Wes) Just kidding. I care that your great big brain is going to waste. Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't Angel Jr. a thing without precedent in human history?" Wes: "You're wrong. (Takes a sip of his beer) Mesopotamian, Greek, Hindi, Celtic myth, the bible, even Darwin, all support the coming of something that wasn't possible before." Lilah: "Okay. - The impossible is here. But what does it mean? Is it the herald of a new age, better things to come or - the mass-destruction of everything we hold dear?" Wes staring straight ahead: "Yes. Every child born carries into the world the possibility of salvation - or slaughter." Lilah: "And one born to two vampires carries it in spades. Now, my people will be rooting - for slaughter. And your people... sorry - your *former* people, they won't know what to do if things turn sour." Wes looks down: "No." Lilah: "So, if the kid's the next Stalin, do you k*ll him? You can't! He's Angel's son. But on the other hand, if you just watch while he up and kills Angel or somebody else - that cure girl from Texas, say? - Wow, times like this? Glad I don't have a conscience." Wes: "I think you should leave now." Lilah puts a hand up to her throat: "What was it like? When she cut you?" Wes grabs her by the throat: "You terribly anxious to find out?" Connor and Justine stand and watch Holtz' body within the flames of the pyre they have built. Groo is lying on the settee in the lobby. g*n and Fred hurry in from outside. g*n: "Nobody's here." Fred: "Good." g*n: "Bad. We got to find Angel and tell him we screwed up. (Fred looks at him) Okay, get your point." Fred: "Where is everybody?" Groo gets up: "I'm here. - Cordelia and Angel are upstairs trying out bedrooms. (g*n and Fred stare, then look at each other) For Angel's son." Fred, g*n: "Oh." They hear voices from upstairs. Cordy and Angel walk down the hall together. Cordy: "I'm not telling your sixteen year old boy that." Angel: "Well, someone has to make sure he knows the facts of life. My track record with the whole man/woman thing isn't, you know... I don't wanna use the words 'tragic farce' but..." They turn to walk down the stairs into the lobby. Cordy: "Why not? You're still telling him." Angel: "You could help fill in the blanks. He's gonna have questions. Like, what do you do with a woman's Schlug-Tee again?" Cordy gasps: "You and your vampire hearing! Next time you eavesdrop I'm gonna..." Takes a hold of his ear and whispers into it as the other watch. Angel: "Easy there, sailor! You use that kind of language at home?" Angel walks over to g*n and Fred. Angel: "Where is he?" Fred: "Ah..." g*n: "He ran away. He overheard us saying you were going to Holtz." Angel: "Then that's where he went." Fred: "We were just there. We didn't see either of them." Angel sighs: "All he's gonna find is an empty room. He won't know what's happened." g*n: "What's happened?" Cordy: "Holtz left. He wants Steven to live here with Angel." Fred: "That's good! - As long as we find him and tell him before..." Groo: "He's here." Cordy: "How can we tell him before..." Their heads turns as the door opens and Connor walks in. Cordy: "Oh." Angel takes a few steps closer to Connor, who has stopped at the top of the landing. Angel: "Hey. - You all right?" Connor: "I went to see my... - He wasn't there." Angel: "Yeah. I'm sorry. He's - he left, Steven. - He gave me this letter to give to you." Angel hands him Holtz' letter and Connor reads it. Connor: "He says my place is here now - with you." Angel: "It wouldn't have to be forever. Maybe just - give it a try for a while." Connor after a b*at: "Okay. - We'll give it a try." Break Connor sits in the sun shining on his bed, rereading Holtz' letter. There is a knock on the door. Angel: "It's me." Angel opens the door. Angel: "Can I come in?" Connor looks over his shoulder at the door but stays silent. Angel picks up a bookcase and carries into the room. Angel: "I brought you a bookcase and some of my favorite books when I was your age. (Sets the bookcase down) So - can I get you some breakfast? Are you hungry?" Connor: "Not really." Angel: "We can go out. (Looks at the sun shining in through the window) I'd have to wear a Burka or something. Hey, you know, we'll stay in, hang out together, tonight we'll - do something special. You ever been to a movie?" Connor puts the letter in the drawer of his nightstand. Connor: "No." Angel: "Oh, we'll go to an action movie. You'll love it. Anything else you wanna see or do - just say the word." Connor stands up and turns to face Angel. Connor: "There is one thing." Angel: "What?" Connor lunges for Angel, but Angel easily captures and deflects Connor's hands. Connor: "I wanna know how you do that." Angel: "Fight?" They break apart. Connor: "Yes." Angel: "I think you got that down pretty good already." Connor: "I wanna learn - to be like you." Angel with the slightest smile: "Well, there might be a thing or two that I could show you." Angel is training Connor down in the lobby with the help of g*n and Fred, who are both wearing a seat cushion on their chest. Angel: "Stake." Angel tosses a stake and Connor catches it. Angel: "Vampire!" g*n lunges at Connor and Connor 'stakes' him. Angel: "Behind you! (Connor spins to 'stake' Fred) Civilian! Civilian! (Connor pulls his blow) Protect her, protect her!" Angel comes in to exchange a flurry of quick blows with Connor while Fred helps g*n back to his feet. Angel: "Where is your balance? Where is your balance? Huh? You lose it (grabs a hold of Connor and pushes him over backwards so he rests awkwardly on Angel's arm) you lose. Don't worry, I got you. I got you. (Helps Connor back up) You're doing good, kid. You've got heart." Fred raising her hand: "I wanna be the vampire!" g*n: "I wanna be in a hot tub." Cordy: "I wanna know who's cleaning this stuff up." g*n points at Fred, who in turn points at Angel and Connor. Angel: "Yeah. It has been a long day. (To Conner) Had enough?" Connor: "No. I wanna learn." Angel smiles: "Is this kid a chip off the old block or what, huh?" Gives Connor a playful punch which Connor half ducks. Cordy: "He's chippy." Angel: "Hey, Cor, we're going to the movies tonight. You wanna come?" Cordy: "Yeah! I mean, I'd like to, ah, I can't. Groo and I are supposed to - have some one on one time. So..." Angel: "Oh. Right. You should do that. (Turns and points at Fred) Okay. Vampire." Fred raises her hands like claws and lets out a growl. Angel: "Vampire. You're not in 'Cats.'" Fred pulls her hands in and lets out a small, questioning 'grr.' Angel points at g*n: "Innocent by-stander." g*n: "By-sitter." g*n drops down onto and overturned, stuffed chair. Angel to Connor: "Close your eyes. Feel it. Where is the att*ck going to come from?" Connor fends off Angel's blows with his eyes closed. Angel: "Good. Good." Cordy enters her apartment. Cordy: "Hi, honey. It's me! And I got your favorites: Tuna and ice cream. How about tonight you try *not* mixing it together? (Drops her stuff on the table and turns to see Groo standing in the bedroom, wearing a brown leather jacket) Oh, there you are. Wow. You like nice!" Groo slowly raises his head to look at her. Cordy: "What's wrong?" Groo: "I am. Wrong. For you." Cordy: "What?" Groo: "I am not the one you love. He is." Cordy: "He is? Who he?" Angel goes to answer a knock on his door. Angel: "Yo. Hey! Lorne. Come on in." Lorne: "Well, you're in a good mood." Angel: "Yeah. I'm taking the kid to the movies. He's gonna love it." Lorne: "Oh. No subtitles or dreary Leitmotive, all bloody action?" Angel: "You bet." Lorne: "Oh, he'll love you for it. Well, I thought, I'd stop by and say arrivederci, Angel-hair." Angel after a b*at: "You're really going." Lorne: "I'm really going." Angel: "I'm sorry." Lorne: "Don't be. (Holds out a CD) Here, I got you a little something to remember me by." On the CD is a picture of Lorne, smiling while holding a microphone. Angel reads the title. Angel: "Songs for the love - Lorne. Oh, I get it. Lovelorn, because your name is Lorne." Lorne: "Yeah, my publicist's idea. Her name is mud now but the tunes are good. And, ah, and that's not my real gift. This is: it's mutual." The camera rushes around to change focus from Lorne to Angel and we hear a whooshing sound. Lorne: "The way you feel about Cordelia is pretty much *exactly* how she feels about you." Cordy: "I love Angel? What are you talking about? I - love... you know... us." Groo just looks at her. Lorne: "You two are so obviously connected." Groo: "You finish each others... Lorne: "...sentences. You laugh at the same..." Groo: "...jests. When he grieves, when he is hurting..." Lorne: "...her heart breaks for you." Groo: "In my heart I have known the truth for some time. I've just been - struggling - to find the courage to do what is right." Lorne: "Bubela, all I'm saying is: stay open. Connor's back. Your whole life is coming together. Sometimes things do work out. I got to skiddoo." Angel: "Take good care of yourself - and keep in touch." Lorne: "I'll drop you a line. Let you know where to send the gift basket." Lorne waves over his shoulder as he walks towards the door. Cordy: "I don't know what to say, Groo." Groo: "Tell me I'm wrong. - That I should stay. - That you love only me." Cordy blinks away tears but stays silent. Blend into Groo picking up his bags. Blend into Cordy just standing there. Blend into Groo walking to the door. Blend into Groo turning to look back at Cordy just standing there. Blend into Groo leaving. Blend into Cordy standing there. A helicopter streaks by, launching some rockets and sh**ting its g*n. The camera pulls back and we see that the expl*si*n are taking place on the huge screen of a drive-in movie theater. Angel and Connor are sitting in the front of his convertible, g*n and Fred are in the back. Angel: "Pretty cool, huh?" Connor staring at the screen: "Uh-huh." g*n: "You emptied the jumbo tub?" Fred pushes the tub at g*n: "Free refills." g*n: "I love this woman." Angel: "Shh." g*n levers himself up out of the backseat and jumps out over the side of the car. Fred handing him the tub: "Don't skimp on the butter." g*n walks off to refill the tub. Connor jumps as an airplane apparently streaks right at them. Angel: "Sorry. It's just make believe." A real helicopter with a searchlight pointing down comes flying up over the edge of the movie screen. Connor: "How'd they do that?" Angel and Fred stare at the helicopter. g*n stops and turns to stare as well. Some lines are lowered out of the side of the helicopter and three guys in nondescript combat uniforms start to rappel down them. Break The searchlight centers on Angel's car. Angel to Fred: "Get down! (To Connor) Out!" Angel and Connor jump out of the car as g*n bowls down two of the Commandos. In a van parked a little ways from Angel's car Linwood and Gavin are watching the fight on a couple of screens. Linwood: "Tie me up, thr*at me with sharp objects, but don't let me go. Chowder head!" Gavin: "Kid's pretty good." Linwood: "Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on him, cut him open, see what makes him tick." Angel steps between Connor and two Commandos. Angel to Connor: "Get back." Connor pushing Angel aside: "No!" Linwood: "He wants to protect his son." Gavin: "We were counting on *that*." Linwood: "What weren't you counting on?" Angel: "Stay behind me." Connor pushing Angel back: "No!" Gavin: "The kid wanting to protect him so badly." The fight continues. g*n gets thrown over Angel's car. As the commando jumps up to follow, Fred, lying on the back seat, kicks him in the crotch. g*n: "Hey, thanks!" Fred: "Welcome!" A voice comes from the external speaker on the helicopter: "Abort! Abort! - Abort! Abort!" The commandos melt away and the helicopter veers off. On the screen in the van Linwood watches Angel walk straight at him and his eyes widen. Linwood: "Drive! Drive!" The driver jumps behind the wheel, but Angel rips the back doors of the van open before he can get the engine started. Angel reaches in and pulls Linwood out. Linwood: "Hey! Yeah, okay. Easy. Easy. Easy. Now we're even." Angel: "Now you're d*ad." Linwood: "What - you're gonna k*ll a human in front of your son, set an example?" g*n: "I vote yes!" Angel: "You're not human." Police sirens start to come closer. Linwood: "We should probably both get out..." Connor suddenly pushes Angel aside and takes a hold of Linwood. Connor: "Stay away from my father." Connor throws Linwood into the back of the van. Linwood: "I'm not your enemy. We can help you, Steven." Connor after a b*at: "My name is Connor." g*n and Fred exchange a look and a smile. Angel puts a hand on Connor's shoulder and Connor lets himself be lead away. Gavin reach out to help Linwood up, but Linwood shrugs his hand off. Angel: "Let's go home." Cordy looks at a photograph of herself with Angel and Wes on either side. Cordy: "I don't feel... And even if I did, it's impossible." Cordy's voice: "It's ridiculous." Cordy: "That's right. It's... (Looks up) Woah!" In the window across from her is an apparition of herself, framed in white light. Phantom Cordy: "Maybe on some level I've always known it's true." Cordy: "I have? It is?" Phantom Cordy: "I'm in love!" Cordy: "I am? I am! - With Angel, right?" Phantom Cordy: "With Angel!" Cordy: "Just checking." Phantom Cordy: "I'm scared. But I know it's right. I know somehow it's all gonna be alright." Cordy: "It is? Really? (The apparition vanishes) Thanks for the tip." The phone in the lobby is ringing just as Angel and the others walk in. Angel: "I got it!" Angel runs across the lobby, whistling. g*n: "He's whistling. I've never heard him whistle." Fred: "He's happy." Connor closes the door behind them all. Angel to phone: "Angel Investigations. We can help you. I *know* we can!" Cordy: "Hi. It's me." Angel: "Hi! Cor. How are you?" Cordy: "I'm good. You?" Angel glances at Connor: "I'm pretty good." Cordy: "Uhm, Angel, I sort of need to talk to you, in person." Angel: "Is it something - bad?" Cordy: "No! No, it's something good. I think. Well, it sort of depends on how *you* feel." Angel: "About what?" Cordy: "Well - about me." Angel: "Oh." Cordy: "Could you meet me tonight?" Angel: "Tonight? Sure. Okay. Where?" Cordy: "I've always loved Point Dume. There's a viewpoint. It's the first turn north of Kanan. Really pretty spot." Angel as he writes down the directions: "Point Dume. Viewpoint. First turn, north Kanan. We'll meet there. - About an hour?" Cordy: "Yes." Angel: "Okay." Cordy: "Okay." Angel: "Yes." Cordy: "Good. Okay then, we'll do that." Angel slowly hangs up the phone. Cordy hangs up the phone and looks around her room. Cordy: "Oh, god, oh, god." Angel slowly takes his hand away from the receiver and turns to find everyone looking at him. Angel: "I've got to go out for a while, son." Connor: "With Cordelia?" Angel: "Yeah. - Will you be all right?" Connor: "She's beautiful. And she cares about you. I like her." g*n and Fred exchange a look. Angel: "I'm glad." Connor: "It's good to see you happy, dad." Angel turns away with a smile, humming a little tune. g*n: "*Now* he's humming." Fred: "He's *really* happy." Fred, still clutching her jumbo tub of popcorn, gets up from the couch and grabs the stake lying on the sofa table. She walks over to Angel and starts to poke him with the stake. Fred: "But not perfectly happy, I hope!" Angel: "No! Ouch!" Fred holding up the stake: "Just checking." Angel slowly walks out, no longer smiling or humming. Wes, not wearing any clothes rises into the view of the camera. Wes: "Hmm. You know that sinking feeling you sometimes get the morning after?" Wes rolls off Lilah and lies down on his side of the bed. Wes: "It arrived early." Lilah stretching: "It's like a little death. Several, in fact." Wes: "Get out." Lilah roll out of bed with a little laugh: "What? No sweet kiss? No 'when can I see you again?' (Wes gives her a look) Watch the dirty looks. That's what got me going in the first place. (Lilah begins to pull on her clothes) I'll give you this: you sure know how to channel your rage, frustration, and hate. Always a bigger turn on than love." Wes: "You still here?" Lilah chucking: "I'm starting to like you, Wes. Don't go making more of this than it is. I'm not one of the doe-y eyed girls of Angel Investigations. - Don't be thinking about me when I'm gone." Wes: "I wasn't thinking about you when you were here." Lilah: "So - your former boss - has a soul - and you're losing yours. - Why, you're just new all over - aren't ya?" Lilah picks up her jacket and her bra and walks out of Wes' apartment. Wes lies staring at the ceiling. The camera pans from the rolling surf, up a short cliff to a sign reading Dume, and Angel's convertible pulling up beside it. Angel gets out, sighs, then checks the smell of his breath. Cordy, driving down a crowded freeway, honks at the car in front of her then pulls all the way from the right, across the middle and into the left lane. Cordy: "Slow poke! I'm late. I'm late. And it's not a date." Cordy lifts a hand in front of her mouth to check her breath. Angel walks up to the edge of the cliff and checks his watch. He sighs, checks his hair, then pulls out his cell phone. He flips it open and begins to dial, but the phone tips out of his hand and tumbles down the side of the cliff. Angel looking after it: "I hate those things." Cordy: "We're just gonna talk like two grown-up adults. I have some feelings. You may have some feelings. He may not even know I'm insane until he hears my feelings." Suddenly Cordy begins to glow from the inside. Cordy: "Oh, no! No, no, no! Not now!" The camera shows Cordy's car, white light streaming out of its windows, pulling across traffic and over onto the left shoulder while everything around it slows and comes to a stop. Cordy, no longer glowing, looks around her and sees that her fellow motorists are frozen in time. Cordy: "Oh, sh..." Angel, at the edge of the cliff, checks his watch again. He pulls out his keys and starts to walk back towards his car - only to see Connor walking up beside it. Angel: "Connor." Connor: "Dad." Angel: "What are you doing here?" Connor: "We're family. And I wanna show you how I feel about that." With that Connor launches himself at Angel and they both tumble over the edge, down the side of the cliff and onto the beach below. Break Angel and Connor pick themselves back up off the sand. Angel: "Connor. Connor." Connor att*cks Angel, who fends off his blows. Connor: "It's all about balance. You lose it (Tosses Angel onto the sand) you lose." Cordy (dressed exactly like the earlier apparition of herself was) gets out of the car and walks over to look into the window of a car at a woman frozen in the act of fixing her lipstick. Skip: "Don't be (Cordy jumps and gasps) frightened." Cordy: "It's a little late for that!" Skip: "Sorry. You remember me? I'm..." Cordy: "Yeah. Skip. You tend to remember your demon guides. What is going on?" Skip: "I think you know." Cordy: "I'm dying." Skip: "No. No, you're not - dying." Cordy: "Not dying?" Skip: "No." Cordy punches him: "Say that part first!" Skip: "Sorry. It's not the end. It's the beginning. You're a great warrior, Cordelia. The battle that we're all a part of is fought on many different planes and dimensions. You've outgrown this one. You've become - a higher being." Cordy: "Me?" Skip: "You. You took on the visions, and even when you could have traded them in for a happy, normal life, even when they were k*lling you, you wouldn't let them go. The big test came when the Powers made you part demon. They bet the farm on you. Power corrupts. And they gave you a lot of power." Cordy: "The glowy thing." Skip: "Which you used well - to fight evil, and heal Connor." Cordy: "And only that one time as a night light. - Bad dreams. - Skip, I don't understand." Skip: "I think you do." Cordy: "It's ridiculous. - I'm just a somewhat normal girl - who - has visions, glows, and occasionally blows things up with her crazy new power. (Skip looks at her) I'm a higher being." Skip: "Yes." Cordy: "And when you say I've - outgrown this level, that sort of implies..." Skip: "You're moving on to a new one." Cordy: "Now I'm really scared." Skip: "I know. But I also know you're ready." Cordy: "Oh, no, I'm not." Skip: "Ah, the universe begs to differ. And deep down inside, I think..." Cordy: "Yes! All right? Stop saying I know! - Maybe I do know. *Maybe.* If given enough time, I might even get *used* to the idea, but - I don't have enough time, do I?" Connor kicks Angel across the face. Angel: "Easy. (Catches Connor from behind in a nelson) Talk to me! Talk to me, okay?" Seeing that he can't get free Connor stops struggling. Connor: "Okay." Angel lets go of him. Connor pulls something out of his pocket, then turns and zaps Angel full in the face with a tazer. Angel flies back, landing in the surf. Connor jumps on him and starts to slug him across the face. A wave rolls over them, and Angel uses it to roll on top of Connor. He holds Connor's face under the water for a moment then pulls him up. Angel: "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you but you're gonna talk..." Connor slugs him across the face with the tazer. Angel drops to his knees, and Connor keeps zapping him until Angel lies facedown in the water, no longer moving. Pulling a flashlight from his back pocket, Connor turns it on and signals to a boat waiting off shore. The boat flashes a light in response and we see Justine steering the boat closer to shore. Cordy: "No, of course not. Why would the Powers give me time to have the most important conversation of my life? I'm on my way to... (Skip just looks at her) I'm in love! With Angel." Skip: "What you're being called to do - transcends love." Cordy: "How is that fair? I can't leave without telling him! I won't. - He has to know how I feel! Why does this have to be now?" Skip: "There is work to be done in the higher realms." Cordy: "Can you at least tell Angel for me?" Skip: "Sorry. Not allowed." Cordy: "Then I'm not going. - How can they possibly do this to me now? - This is the last test, isn't it?" Angel wakes to the sound of a screw-g*n. He is lying on his back inside a metal casket. Connor is tightening the screws on it. Thick steel cables are wrapped over Angel's ankles, thighs, abdomen and chest, confining his arms at his sides and holding him motionless. Angel: "Connor. - Why are you doing this?" Connor: "You m*rder my father." Angel: "No. I didn't. I swear." Justine: "He's lying." Angel: "I'm not lying. And she knows it." Connor: "You're the prince of lies." Angel: "That's why you wouldn't let them k*ll me at the drive-in. So you could." Connor: "k*lling is to good for you. You don't get to die. You get to live - forever." Skip: "Cordelia." Cordy turns to look at Skip and he taps his left wrist. Cordy: "I ever come face-to-face with those Powers That Be, we are going to have a talk, a big talk." Skip: "You're doing the right thing." Cordy: "I'm scared. - But I know it's right. I know somehow it's all gonna be alright. (Sighs) What do I do?" Skip: "Just say yes." Cordy: "I already have." Golden sparkles appear around Cordy as she starts to float up in a corridor of white light. Connor is still tightening the screws on Angel's coffin. Angel: "Some day you'll learn the truth - and you'll hate yourself. Don't. It's not your fault. (Justine looks over at Connor and Angel) I don't blame you." Connor: "Liar!" Angel: "Listen to me. I love you! Never forget that." Connor and Justine go to pick up the lid of the coffin. Angel: "Connor?! Connor, never forget that I'm your father and that I love you." Justine and Connor start to lower the lid in place. Angel: "Connor? Con..." Angel's voice is cut off as the lid comes down. Connor looks down through the wire-mesh glass window at Angel's face, then he and Justine slide the two rods that lock the lid in place into their channels, and Justine welds them into place, while Connor keeps looking at Angel. Justine looks at Connor. They move to one end of the coffin and push it off the back of the boat. Connor and Justine watch as the casket floats for a moment, then one end dips down the casket sinks straight down leaving behind a small trail of bubbles. Connor looks over at Justine, then back at the spot where the casket went down. The engine of the boat revs up. Connor stays at the stern, watching, as the boat pulls away into the night. The camera focus on the shore beyond the boat then zips across the distance into LA. g*n walks down the steps to the lobby, cell phone in hand. Fred: "Connor didn't want to come with us for a midnight snack? (g*n just looks at her) It's okay. I'll just scrounge something up here." g*n: "He's not in his room. You - didn't see him?" Fred: "No. He's gone? Again? Did you ask Lorne if... No, because Lorne doesn't live here anymore. Not used to that yet. - I'm sure Connor will... I'm sure it's nothing, but - we should probably get a hold of Cordelia or Angel." g*n: "Yeah, I've been trying. No one's answering." Fred: "I don't like the sound of that." The camera pulls up to show them standing all alone in the lobby. Fred: "Where did everybody go?" We get a sh*t of Skip watching Cordy rise up inside the cone of light. Then see the metal casket drifting deeper into the ocean. We get a dim glimpse of Angel's face through the window as the casket passes in front of the camera during its descent. Then a look of Cordy's smiling face as she passes in front of the camera to disappear above with a small flash of light. We see the top of the casket disappear into darkness, then hear a soft thud or swoosh (the coffin hitting bottom?) BLACK OUT.

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "03x22 - Tomorrow"}

foreverdreaming

Previously on Angel: Angel: "Darla." Darla: "We did so many terrible things together." Flashback to Angelus and Darla. Cordy: "Did you and Darla..." Angel and Darla doing the nasty. Angel: "Once. It was a very dark time." Darla, looking like she swallowed a basketball. Angel: "This is impossible. Vampires can't have children." Darla: "We did." Wes looking at the sonogram. Wesley: "It's human. You're carrying a boy." Angel: "I'm gonna have a son." Darla: "Our baby's gonna die." Darla staking herself, the baby left behind as the dust settles. Darla: "This child is the one good thing we ever did together." Angel taking Connor for a checkup. Angel: "I'm Mr. Dad!" Holtz walking into burning Caritas. Lilah: "Daniel Holtz. Angel massacred his family and he spent the rest of his life seeking revenge." Holtz and Justine fighting in the cemetary. Holtz: "I want you to go out and find others like you. People who have suffered like we have." g*n and Fred find Wes' notes. g*n: "Wes thought that Angel..." Fred: "...was gonna k*ll Connor." Justine slits Wes' throat. Lorne: "He's taking the baby away - for good." Holtz, holding Connor, jumps through the portal into Quortoth. Holtz: "I'll take good care of him as my own son." Angel tries to smother Wes at the hospital. Angel: "Son of a bitch! I'll never forgive you! Never!" Fred visits Wes. Fred: "You should have trusted us. Don't come back to the hotel - ever!" Lilah at Wes' apartment. Wes: "You're going to offer me a job. Not interested." Lilah and Wes in bed. Lilah: "Don't pretend you're too good to work for us." Fred and g*n kissing. Fred: "What is it about you that makes me melt?" g*n: "Maybe it's the I love you." Connor drops out of the rift. Angel: "Connor." Justine: "Don't make me do it!" Justine s*ab Holtz in the throat with an ice pick. Connor cries, holding Holtz' corpse. Cordy phoning Angel: "I sort of need to talk to you." Cordy driving: "I'm late! I'm late." Connor walks up to Angel at the bluff. Angel: "Connor. What are you doing here?" Connor att*cks Angel. Skip: "What you are being called to do transcends love. You've become a higher being." Cordy: "Me?" Connor locking Angel into his coffin: "You m*rder my father." Angel: "I didn't. She knows it. Connor! Never forget that I'm your father and that I love you." Justine and Connor push Angel's coffin into the ocean." Cordy, ascending in a glowing white light: "I know that, somehow, it's all gonna be alright." Angel sinks into the deep. Connor: "You don't get to die. You get to live - forever." Lorne hands Fred a bowl full of mashed potatoes across a laden Thanksgiving table. Lorne: "Here you go, darling." Fred: "Thanks." g*n: "You're gonna eat all that?" Fred: "Until I'm fat and happy." Lorne: "Hmm, these look good, too." Cordy: "How about that stuffing?" Connor: "What are those?" Cordy: "Sweet Potatoes." Lorne: "Oh, pass those over here, doll." Cordy hands Connor a bowl full of sweet potatoes. Connor: "Are they good?" Cordy: "Try them." Lorne: "Back in Pylea they used to call me 'sweet potato.'" Connor: "Really." Lonre: "Yeah, well, the exact translation was 'fragrant tuber' but..." The group chuckles at his joke. Cordy: "You're not hungry?" Angel: "No! I'm starving. It's just... I wanna freeze this moment. You - Connor - all of us - safe - and happy - and together. Considering what we went through over the summer..." Wes leans forward to raise his glass in a toast: "To family." Angel, smiling, raises his own glass as the others follow suit: "To family." Lorne: "As long as it is not mine!" Everyone laughs and clinks glasses. Cordy picks up a water pitcher and holds it over Angel's glass. Cordy: "You can't toast with an empty glass." Angel: "It's not bad luck, is it?" Cordy: "Angel, relax. It's over. Things are back the way they should be and nothing is ever going to break us apart again. (Leans closer towards Angel) And if anything tries I'm gonna have to go all glowy and personally kick it's ass." Angel, leaning closer: "I like it when you glow." Cordy, leaning closer still: "Well, play your cards right..." They're close enough to kiss, smiling into each other's eyes. Connor: "Do I have to watch this part?" Angel reaches over to ruffle Connor's hair. Angel: "I could poke your eyes out." Connor, chuckling, finger combs his hair back: "Come on, dad! It'll stick up like yours." Angel: "You should be so lucky. Let's eat!" Fred: "Rolls?" g*n: "Hmm. Those look good." Cordy: "Careful, those are hot." Everyone starts eating, passing more food around, but somehow nothing ever comes within Angel's reach. g*n: "Yeah! Now we're talking." Connor: "I like this stuff." Cordy: "I thought you would." Angel: "Can I get the, ah..." Wes: "Delicious." Fred: "Pass the carrots please." Cordy: "Smells so good." g*n, as Fred snags a bean from him: "Hey, get your hands out of my plate." Lorne: "Can I have the rolls?" Wes: "Pass the salt please." Fred: "k*ll me now before my stomach explodes." Cordy: "Hey, try the gravy." Lorne: "Yeah, look, it comes in a little boat." Angel: "Could I get that..." Angel grabs a platter as it is passed in front of him and sets it down on his plate, but when he looks down at it all that remains on it are some juices. Angel: "Cordy, what..." Angel moves his hand and knocks his water-filled wineglass to the floor, where it shatters into a thousand pieces. Cordy: "Now look what you've done silly." The warm, festive light is suddenly replaced with a bluish watery glow as Angel stares down to find his feet ankle deep in water. Angel's skin has turned pasty white and cracks have appeared on his cheeks, chin and forehead. Connor: "Freeze the moment, dad. It'll last forever." The camera pulls back to show the table stripped of food and deserted. Angel's eyes snap open. He is lying in his coffin at the bottom of the ocean. Intro: Fred and g*n are running down a dark alley, they round a fence corner and pile into g*n's truck. g*n: "Are you okay?" Fred: "No. You?" g*n: "No." Fred: "It's nice we still do these things together." g*n driving off: "How're we doing?" A vampire lands on the hood of the truck. Fred: "About the same." The vampire smashes the windshield in with his fist. Fred: "Charles!" g*n: "Hang on!" g*n swerves crazily, finally managing to dislodge the vamp. g*n stops the truck. A red convertible pulls up and three more vamps get out of it as g*n and Fred get out as well. g*n: "Now you're ass better be insured!" Bald vamp helps the downed vamp to his feet: "Now you ought to be worried about your own ass, mister! Couple of warm bloods rolling down *my* street, hustling my hermanos? Ain't gonna fly, homey!" Fred: "We're just looking for the girl." g*n: "Tell us where she is and we're gone." Bad vamp: "Who? Marissa? I thought you guys were supposed to be a couple of detectives. Or was that before your buddy Angel went bye-bye?" g*n: "We found you, didn't we?" Bad vamp: "Yeah, and look what it got you!" Fred steps forward, aiming a crossbow at Bald vamp: "We just want to talk to her, that's all." Bald vamp, after a quick look around: "Condemned building on Figueroa, top floor, and tell her I want my CDs back, yeah?" g*n: "We'll pass it along." Bald vamp: "Nah, you know what? Better yet - I think I'll tell her myself!" Fred sh**t, but the vamp deflects the bolt. Fred drops one crossbow to pick up another, loaded one, while g*n att*cks, but Bald Vamp grabs her by the throat before she can finish. Bald Vamp: "I see Angel left you a little toy toy, huh?" Fred: "More than one." Fred stakes him using Angel wrist-stake-launcher, then picks up the loaded crossbow. Fred: "Charles!" g*n twists aside and Fred sh**t the vamp his was pummeling. g*n grabs the arrow as the vamp dusts, and stakes the third vamp with it, leaving only one. This last one snatches g*n's hubcap-ax from the ground and throws it at Fred. Before either Fred or g*n can move, Conner suddenly appears out of nowhere, snatches the ax out of the air before it can reach Fred and launches it back at the vamp, decapitating him. g*n stares up at Connor, whose face splits into a grin. Connor: "Did you see that? Wasn't that cool? (Laughs) That was cool!" Flashy transition cut to the Hyperion. Fred, Connor, and g*n enter the lobby. Fred: "You're not supposed to run off like that when we're supposed to be working, honey. We've talked about that." Connor: "The rest of the g*ng was getting away." g*n: "Then let them. What you don't do is divide your strength." Connor drops on the settee: "Sorry." Fred: "We know things were different in Quortoth, but you're in Los Angeles now. Your taking on a big responsibility." g*n: "Connor, you've got to start thinking about more than just yourself!" Connor: "I know. - I know." Connor glances up at g*n and smiles. Connor: "That thing with the ax was cool, huh?" g*n and Fred exchange a glance. Fred turns away with a smile. g*n with a slight smile: "Yeah, that was tight. (Hands the ax to Connor) Now you get to clean it." Connor: "Vamps dust, nothing to clean." g*n: "Two coats of polish." g*n enters the office and watches Connor through a crack in the door, then turns to Fred, sitting at the desk. g*n: "We gonna tell him?" Fred: "I don't wanna get his hopes up again." g*n: "What about yours?" Fred: "We have to keep trying." g*n: "I'm not saying that we shouldn't but we've spent the last three months chasing one d*ad end after another trying to find Angel and Cordy, and the only thing we're closing in on, is an eviction. Be a whole lot easier to handle this crap if Lorne was pitching in. Where is our future-reading, empath demon when we need him?" Fred: "Mr. Big-h*t-in-Vegas is too busy danke-schon-ing the tourists to care about us." g*n: "Did you try him again?" Fred: "Like sixty times. He's lost the mission, bro." g*n: "Well, we're about to loose this whole place and you know you can't say bro. - Alright. You need to start hustling up some paying clients." Fred: "We will. As soon as I find Marissa. Can I say dawg?" g*n just looks at her and Fred hurried turns back to her laptop. Fred: "Oh, this looks good. Condemned tenement on Figueroa. Could be her." g*n: "Evil d*ad was probably just messing with us, and even if she's there, not much chance she knows anything." Fred: "Angel's car was found down by the bluffs. That used to be her feeding ground. She might be able to tell us what happened - if we can find her." Connor: "Find who?" Night, Ocean waves break against the shore at the bottom of the bluff, sending up plumes of white spray. Angel turns away from the view - only to find Cordy, all in flowing white, waiting for him beside his car. Angel: "Cordelia. - I didn't think you were coming." Cordy: "You know me better than that. Better than anybody." Angel gives slight laugh and sticks his hands his pockets. Angel: "I don't know if that's true." Cordy: "Yes. You do." Cordy slowly walks over to the edge. Cordy: "It's so beautiful here." Angel, watching her: "Yes. Yes, it is. - Just the way it should be." He frowns as we get a quick flash of him and Connor tumbling down the bluff. Angel: "But it's not. This isn't how it happened." Another flash of him and Connor, fighting. Cordy: "I know. - I like this version better." Angel: "It was Connor. He was here. He..." Flash of Connor tazering Angel. Cordy puts a hand against the side of Angel's face. Cordy: "I can't remember what it was like - not knowing you, not being close to you. I'm in love with you Angel. Deep down I think I have been for a long time. I needed you to know that." Angel pulls Cordy into a kiss, then pulls back to look at her. Angel: "I need you, Cordy. I need you." He leans in to kiss the side of her neck, then vamps out and sinks his teeth in. Cordy gasps as Angel gulps down her blood. Angel pulls back: "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Cordy lets out a scream as Angel returns to feeding - only to wake up wide-eyed and screaming in his watery grave. Connor: "So why didn't you tell me?" Fred: "We wanted to be sure." g*n: "We don't even know if this Marissa girl saw anything." Connor: "But she could have." Fred: "Maybe. We're gonna go talk to her and find out." Connor, hefting g*n's ax: "I'm coming with you." g*n: "No. It's only one vamp. We can handle it." Connor: "He's my father! If she knows what happened to him I..." Fred after a b*at: "Okay. Go get your w*apon." Connor flashes her a quick smile before running from the room while g*n turns to look at Fred. g*n: "You think that's a good idea?" Fred: "I'll keep an eye on him." g*n: "Getting information is a finesse job. He's a blunt instrument!" Fred: "You wanna tell him no? You saw how much he's hurting." g*n: "Well, how's he gonna feel if all vampirella saw is sand and seaweed? This is it, Fred. No Angel, no Cordy. We can't find Holtz. His psycho girlfriend's gone. We got nothing." Fred: "There's still Wolfram and Hart." g*n: "Right. We just stroll into their heavily guarded law offices and ask Lilah, the evil bitch queen, for help finding out what happened to their archenemy, but, we're kinda broke, so it'll have to be pro bono." Fred: "I didn't say it would be easy." g*n: "How's impossible? They're too big. Without Angel we can't afford pissing them off." Fred: "Maybe we should think about asking..." g*n: "No." Fred after a b*at: "Well, I'm glad we talked it over." g*n: "We already asked him for help twice." Fred: "Then we'll ask him again." g*n: "Fred, Wesley doesn't give a damn about us." Fred: "Have we given him a reason to?" g*n: "He's made his choice. Now he has to life with it." g*n turns and leaves the office. A sweaty Lilah sinks down onto an equally sweaty Wes, both naked in his bed. Lilah with a smile: "Hmm. That didn't suck. - Well - maybe just a little bit." Wes: "Perhaps that is something we can expand on next time." Lilah: "What makes you think there will be a next time?" Wes: "Because you can't resist me." Lilah pulls Wes head back by his hair and licks the side of his face. Lilah: "I think you have that backwards." Lilah rolls off him and gets out of bed. Wes: "Where are you going?" Lilah: "Snack break's over. Time I get back to work." Wes: "And Wolfram and Hart does its best work after dark." Lilah, getting dressed: "Sun's bad for your complexion. Ask Angel. Oh, right. You can't, because of the whole 'wanting to smother you with a pillow' thing." Wes: "Wouldn't think kidnapping his son would have such a negative effect on our friendship." Lilah: "You thought you were doing the right thing. I hear that can be confusing. - Have you tried talking to him? Maybe when he gets back you can..." Wes laughs. Lilah: "What?" Wes: "I have no idea where Angel is, Lilah, or what happened to him. - And I really couldn't care." Lilah: "Wow. That was cold. (Goes to sit on the edge of the bed) I think we're finally making progress. Come on. Doesn't it bother you just a little bit? The not knowing?" Wes: "That part of my life is d*ad. - Doesn't concern me now." Lilah, looking at him: "No, it doesn't." Lilah leans down for a quick kiss goodbye, but Wes grabs a hold of her hair and pulls her back for a deeper kiss. After a moment Lilah pulls back and Wes watches her walk out of the room. As soon as she is gone he pulls on his pants then goes to unlock the safety bolt on his closet door. The door swings open to reveal a second one made of metal bars. Wes: "It's time." Wes looks through the bars at a shackled and gagged Justine. Wes: "Let's go for a boat ride." Break Wes steers a small ship across the dark ocean. Justine: "So, what's it gonna be tonight, captain? Bicycle, old tire, or maybe we'll get *real* lucky and catch us nice shopping cart. Here's a wacky thought: why don't you swim down there yourself?" Wes flips a switch and looks down at a readout. Wes: "No contact. We'll try the next grid." Wes walks over to the map laid out on the table and makes some markings. Justine: "You really think finding Angel is going to change anything?" Wes: "Everything changes." Justine: "Well, I guess anything is better than sitting around in my cage all day with nothing to do but to fill my bucket." Wes: "Perhaps you should have considered that before slitting my throat." Wes walks back to the steering wheel. Justine: "The great Wesley Wyndham-Price, the shining beacon of all that's good and pure. But wait, no! That's before he started banging the enemy and keeping sl*ve-girl in his closet." Wes: "You were always a sl*ve, Justine. You just couldn't see the chains." Justine: "Thanks, Swami, I'll meditate on that." Wes: "You think she would be disappointed?" Justine: "Who?" Wes: "Your sister. (Justine turns away) That's where it all began, isn't it? Sister m*rder by a vampire, consumed by a need of revenge..." Justine, spinning to face him: "For justice!" Wes: "Is that what you call it? Turning a son against his father." Justine: "Angel got what he deserved." Wes: "We all get what we deserve. - You and Holtz deserved each other. You two have so much in common. Pain, loss, deep seated lack of anything approaching humor." Justine: "I don't know. We had a few laughs. Getting you to steal Angel's baby, now that was a good one." Wes: "Better than tricking Connor into sinking his father to the bottom of the ocean?" Justine: "Well, that was worth a couple of yuks, too." Wes: "Not much of a plan though, was it, really? Easy to figure out which door to kick in when Angel went missing. And not much harder to persuade you to betray everything Holtz had given his life for. Not that it was worth very much. Well, you should know. You're the one that ended it." Justine picks up the wrench that was holding down the maps and hauls back to h*t the back of Wes' head. Wes, without turning to look: "I'll take away your bucket." Justine tosses the wrench back on the table. Connor bursts in, sword in hand, through the door of Marissa's lair. g*n and Fred follow him in. g*n: "Or we can do it the loud way." They look around the cluttered but empty room. Fred: "Doesn't matter. Looks like she's out." g*n: "Man, this is just nasty. I don't know how people live like this." Fred: "Helps to be d*ad." g*n: "Yeah, one more reason to stay pink and rosy." Fred: "Word. - So, what do you think? From the smell I'm guessing she still lives here. Should we wait for her to come back, or..." Connor: "No." Connor flips back a blanket and picks up some headphones from which we can hear music playing. Connor: "We won't have to." At that moment Marissa drops down from the ceiling, knocking Fred and g*n to the floor, and runs to att*ck Connor. They exchange some blows then Connor pushes Marissa up against a pillar and lays his sword across her throat. Fred: "Marissa, stop! We just wanna talk." Marissa: "I don't know anything." g*n: "You psychic?" Marissa: "No." g*n: "Then shut up and let us ask the question first." Fred: "You know the bluffs down by the beach?" Marissa: "No." g*n: "You used to feed there." Marissa: "Oh. Those bluffs." g*n: "Three months ago a friend of ours went missing down there." Marissa: "Tall, good looking, weird hair?" Fred: "You saw him?" Marissa: "I see a lot of things. What do you care." Connor: "He's my father. If you know what..." Connor pulls the sword back from Marissa's throat and she punches him in the gut, then runs past him and launches herself through the closed window across the room. Connor jumps up. g*n: "You never let your guard down! How many times do..." Connor launches himself after Marissa out the window. Fred: "Connor!" They run to the window, but there is no sign of either of them in the alley below. g*n: "If he ain't d*ad I'm gonna k*ll him." Marissa runs down a dark alley, takes a quick look around, then scales the side of one of the buildings - only to find Connor on the roof, waiting for her. Connor: "What did you see?" Marissa: "Look, whatever I saw, whatever didn't see, it doesn't matter, okay? (Morphs into her human face and smiles at him) Come on, handsome. It'll be our little secret." Connor pulls out a stake and dusts her. g*n: "Connor!" Connor quickly rips his shirtsleeve then scores his arm using the stake. Fred and g*n burst out of the stairwell onto the roof, stakes in hand. g*n: "Connor!" Fred: "Are you alright?" g*n: "Where is she?" Connor: "She att*cked me. I had no choice." g*n: "Maybe you would have if you weren't always running off, playing hero! Do you know what you just did?!" Connor tosses the stake down and runs to the edge of the building. Fred: "Connor!" Connor drops of the edge. g*n: "Three months of this and he dusts our only lead!" Fred: "You know how much he wants to find Angel. How do you think he feels?" g*n: "How am I supposed to know? It's not like he talks to me." Fred: "After everything he's gone through, you need to be a little more patient, Charles. He's just a boy." g*n: "Are you sure about that? Offspring of two vampires. Last time I checked that's not supposed to happen. And - jumping off a six-story without busting your coconut kind of sways me to the side of not just a boy. I mean, come on, Fred. His nickname back in Quortoth was the destroyer. And unless you put Conan in front of that, I'm guessing it's not a good sign." Fred quietly: "He's Angel's son. That's all that matters." Fred walks towards the stairs and after a b*at g*n lets out a sigh and follows her. Connor is crouched on the edge of a roof, overlooking the city. Angel: "Beautiful, isn't it?" Connor: "The way it should be." Connor turns to face Angel. Angel: "What, no hug?" Connor: "Just get it over with." Angel: "What's the rush? I'm not going anywhere." Connor: "No, you're not." Angel turns to see some vamps come towards him and starts to laugh. Connor laughs with him. Vamp: "What are you laughing at?" Angel: "I'll tell you later." The vamps att*ck and Angel swings into action, as does Connor. Their eyes meet during a short lull before they turn back to the business of fighting the vamps. On of them comes up on Angel's blind side with a stake and Connor calls out a warning. Angel bats the stake aside and they quickly finish off the vamps, Connor tossing the last one over the side of the building. Angel, smiling walks up to Connor and puts his hands on his son's shoulders. Angel: "Thanks." Angel grabs a hold of Connor's head and snaps his neck with a quick twist - only to wake up screaming and straining against his bonds back in his coffin. Lorne, wearing a furry blue coat is getting his face powder in a Vegas dressing room. Lorne: "Now, go easy on me. Remember they're paying to see the green." A beefy looking guy comes walking in and hands Lorne a cell phone. Guy: "Two minutes." Lorne: "Oh, thanks, sweetie. (To phone) A bon soir." Fred: "Lorne? Lorne! (She signals to g*n to join her) Hey, it's Fred. I've been trying to get a hold of you." Lorne: "Oh, I'm sorry, hon, I've been booked out the wha and past the zoo. If I get any hotter they'll have to stamp me out." Fred: "Lorne, I know you're busy, but we really need your help. We had a lead but it, ah - kind of died. Did you talk to your connections? Have they heard anything about Angel or Cordy?" Lorne: "No, not a peep. But if I miracle ear anything I'll send up a smoke signal. (beefy guy points at his watch) Ah, that's my cue. Take care of yourself and ah, and make sure fluffy is getting enough love." Fred: "Lorne!" Fred hangs up the phone with a sigh. g*n: "Did he have anything?" Fred: "No. And who's fluffy? Are you fluffy?" g*n: "He called me fluffy?" Fred: "He said make sure... Wait. You don't - think he was referring to anything of mine that's fluffy, do you? Because that would just be inappropriate." g*n: "Like deserting us? No leads, no clients, pretty soon no roof over my smooth delicate head." Fred: "I could make you a paper hat. (Laughs, then lets out a sigh) It's gonna be okay. Angel and Cordy are out there somewhere and no matter what the Powers-That-Screw-You throw at us, we're gonna find them." Wolfram and Hart office building, night. Lilah: "You found Angel?" Linwood: "Young Gavin's had a breakthrough with the psychics." Lilah: "Brain boys finally earning their keep. So, where is he?" Gavin: "Well, I haven't pinpointed his exact location yet, but I have ascertained that he's safe and immobilized." Lilah: "Really. Maybe you can lead them in a rousing chant and get them to muster up a little more vague." Linwood: "He's contained and out of play. Which suit our purposes just fine." Lilah: "If our purpose is to get caught with our prophecies down. Angel is supposed to be a major player in the apocalypse. The little pet project the Senior partners have been working on since, oh, the beginning of time? Three months and all you've been able to ferret out is - nothing!" Linwood: "Lilah, Gavin's work with the psychics has uncovered some invaluable intel in a variety of unexpected areas. - Care to enlighten us?" Lilah: "What I do on my personal time is none of Gavin's business." Linwood: "But everything is my business." Lilah: "I'm not sleeping with him for information." Linwood: "Please don't tell me it's the chiseled jaw. If you have his confidence we can play it to our advantage." Lilah: "He doesn't know anything. There's nothing to take advantage of." Linwood: "Except you. Staff meeting in an hour. Don't be late. Gavin." Lilah watches and Linwood and Gavin enter the elevator. The radar on Wes' boat beeps. Wes: "Solid contact. Definitely metallic." Justine: "Probably more junk. Could be anything down there." Wes: "Better have a look then." Wes tosses a diving mask at Justine, who catches it. The beam of Justine's flashlight plays across the lid of Angel's coffin, illuminating his pale and cracked face, and making him blink. Wes and Justine watch as the ship's hoist slowly hauls the coffin aboard. Wes lights a blowtorch and burns through the welds securing the sidebars. Wes: "Justine. Come on." Wes slides the bars out and he and Justine lift the lid off the coffin. Wes cuts the steel cords holding Angel immobile. Justine: "Congratulations. You're the *big* hero. Maybe your friends will throw you a party. I wonder what the cake's gonna look..." Suddenly Angel's hand sh**t up and grabs Wesley by the throat. Angel's eyes snap open. His brow draws together in a slight frown as his eyes focus on Wes. Break Wes takes a hold of Angel's hand, and Angel lets him pull it away and lay it back down on his chest. Wes lays Angel down on the table in the main cabin and pulls out some glass jars filled with dark liquid. Justine: "Blood?" Wes: "Animal." Wes lifts Angel's head and tries to get him to drink some of the blood. Justine: "What's the hurry? It's not like he's going anywhere." Wes: "A vampire can exist indefinitely without feeding, but the damage to the higher brain functions from prolonged starvation can be catastrophic." Angel starts to cough. Wes: "Slowly." Justine: "All the energy you've wasted to save that thing. For what? A happy ending? Everything like it was? He *hates* you. They all do. And they're never going to take you back." Connor walks into the lobby of the Hyperion to find g*n and Fred sitting on the settee waiting for him. Connor: "Is this going to be the yelling thing again?" g*n and Fred stand up. Fred: "No. No yelling." Connor: "He looks like he's gonna yell." g*n: "I do not." Connor: "He always looks like he's gonna yell." g*n: "I'm not gonna yell!" Fred: "Where have you been?" Connor, walking past them: "Out." g*n: "We were worried." Connor stops and turns back to them. Connor: "I'm sorry. I shouldn't run off alone. You'd think I'd know that by now." g*n: "It's that big, thick mellon!" g*n taps the side of Connor's head, smiling. g*n: "Your dad's got one just like it." Connor's smile melts away. g*n: "Angel's always flying off, getting himself into trouble." Connor: "I'm not like him." g*n: "You're not as strong yet, but..." Connor: "Like I care what you think?" g*n: "What did you say?" Fred steps between them: "It's been a long night. Why don't you go wash up." Connor looks from g*n to Fred. Connor, quietly: "I'm fine." Fred and g*n watch Connor take the stairs two at a time. g*n: "I try to be nice and you see what he does? He just keeps pushing. It's like - it's like he wants me to lose it." Fred: "He's testing you. With Angel gone, you're the alpha male." g*n: "Damn straight." Fred leaning against g*n's chest: "Don't let it go to your head." g*n, pulling her closer: "That's not the direction it's flowing." They kiss. The phone rings and Fred pulls back. g*n: "Let it ring." Fred, leaning in for another kiss: "What if it's a client?" g*n pulls away with a sigh: "Then the big dog better close the deal." g*n picks up the phone: "Angel Investigations." Angel is lying on the table in the ship's cabin a rolled up blanket under his head another covering his body. Angel: "Why is it like this?" Lorne: "Well, that's the age-old, bubby. I'll f*re you off a postcard if I'll noodle the answer." Angel: "Life should be beautiful and bright. But, no matter how hard I try, everything I touch - turns to ashes." Lorne: "Well, there goes that encouraging hug I was planning. Snap to, buckaroo. The only one turning to ashes is that patricidal pup of yours. Hell, I'd take him out myself if I wasn't just a crappy hallucination." Wes comes down the stairs: "How is he?" Lorne: "How do you think?" Justine: "He won't shut up." Angel: "I have to stop him." Lorne: "You wanna bitch-slap sour-puss over there for practice? I'm your cheering section." Wes walks up to the table. Wes: "Angel?" Angel: "I have to do it." Angel tires to get up and Wes puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Wes: "Shh. You need to rest now." Lorne, singing: "Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Mamma's gonna buy you a mockingbird. And if that mockingbird don't sing..." Angel looks up and sees Connor standing over him. Angel: "I should have k*lled you." Wes looks down at Angel as Justine breaks out laughing. Justine: "And me without my camera." Wes: "He's been down there too long. Pig's blood isn't enough. He needs more substantial nourishment." Justine: "Like what?" Justine, handcuffed to the wall, stares wide-eyed at the Kn*fe Wes pulls out. Justine: "Oh, screw you. I'm not feeding that thing." Wes: "Your blood's too thin." Wes slices across the inner side of his left forearm then moves to the table and holds the cut down over Angel's lips. Angel's hands come up and he holds Wes' arm in place as he drinks, but he doesn't morph into his vamp face. Lilah is alone in the meeting room. She stands behind Linwood's chair and caresses the headrest. The doors open and Lilah moves down to a place about halfway down the table as people move to take their seats. Linwood: "Alright, we've got a lot of ground to cover, so let's get right to it. Let's talk about Lilah. Everybody had a chance to review her file? (Nods around the table) Good. Recommendations?" Lilah raises a hand: "If I could just have a few minutes to explain..." Gavin: "I think your record speaks for itself." Linwood: "Volumes. Your failures at Wolfram and Hart outstrip your successes by and uncomfortable margin. Perhaps you would fair better at a less central office." Gavin: "One of the third world dimensions maybe." Lilah whispers: "I'm sorry." Linwood: "What was that?" Lilah: "I said, I'm sorry. I've made mistakes, but *fear* was never one of them." Linwood: "Is there something you would like to share?" Lilah: "Why haven't we contained the vampire offspring for study?" Linwood: "We're assessing that situation." Lilah: "The same way you're assessing Angel? Then why aren't we trying to pinpoint Angel's location?" Linwood: "Lilah, this is *my* corner of the sky. *I* decide when the sun rises and when it sets. Lack of long-term vision has always been one of your shortcomings." Lilah stands up, holding a Palm-pilot and stylus. Lilah: "And lack of courage has always been one of yours. You're afraid - of Angel and his son. And that's the reason for your daring strategy of 'wait and see', isn't it? You're afraid. And fear breeds weakness." Linwood: "Oh. I'm hurt. Is that *really* what you think of me?" Lilah: "Yes. And Mr. Suvarta agrees with me." Linwood: "You spoke to a Senior Partner?" Lilah: "He was really very helpful. He had some great hints on office furniture." Linwood: "This is outrageous! Are you actually telling me that you went over my head?" Lilah touches her stylus to the palm-pilot in her hand. We hear an electronic beep - then a blade whips out of the backrest on Linwood's chair slicing quickly and neatly through his neck. Lilah: "Just under it, actually." Linwood's head, staring eyes fixed, slowly tumbles forward and rolls down the table. Lilah: "Mr. Suvarta didn't think Linwood's sky was sunny enough. You're all reporting to me now. (Sits down) Get out." Everyone quickly and quietly gets up and files out the room. Lilah: "Gavin." Gavin freezes. Lilah gives him a slight smile, then indicates the decapitated head with her stylus. Lilah: "Please - remove that." Connor is stretched out on the bed in his room playing a handheld video game. There is a knock on the door. Connor: "What?" Fred is standing in the open doorway, holding a tray with a sandwich and glass of milk. Fred: "Brought you a snack." Connor: "I'm not hungry." Fred laughs: "You're always hungry." Fred walks into the room and Connor lowers his game. Connor: "What is it?" Fred: "Bologna." Connor: "No tomatoes?" Fred: "No tomatoes." Connor sits up and reaches for the tray, but Fred pulls it back. Fred: "What do you say?" Connor looking at her: "Thank you." Fred: "Your welcome." Connor tears into the sandwich. Fred sets the tray down on the nightstand then strokes Connor's hair. Connor: "Is he still mad?" Fred: "What so you think?" Connor, softly: "Sorry." Fred: "I can't imagine what you've been through, Connor, being taken away by Holtz, raised in that place. It must have been horrible. I know you're still hurting but - I promise, it's not nearly as much as you're gonna hurt for what you did to your father." Connor stops chewing and looks up at Fred, who pushes a tazer against his chest and fires. Connor arcs back in pain. Break Connor sits in the office, tied to a chair with Fred standing over him, tazer in hand. Fred: "You think that's what Angel felt? When you did it to him? Did he scream like you?" Connor: "Why are you doing this?" g*n: "Nah-ah. Don't even try it." Fred: "We got a call form an old friend tonight." g*n: "Been playing a little Ahab. He's out there right now puttering around on his boat." Fred: "With Angel." Connor stays quiet. g*n: "That's right, Sparky, Daddy's coming home. And I'm guessing there's going to be a spanking." Fred: "He's been down there, all alone, for three months - and you knew!" g*n: "Is that what you did to Cordy? Stuff her in a box some place?" Fred: "How could you do that to us? (Fred steps closer to Connor the tazer in her outstretched hand shaking a little) We took you into our home. We cared for you, and all this time... How could you do that?!" When Connor only looks at her, Fred suddenly buries the tazer against Connor's chest. Connor arcs back, screaming. Fred: "How could you do that?!" g*n pulls her back: "Fred!" Fred buries her head against g*n's shoulder and starts to cry. Wes deposits Angel in the passenger seat of his car then looks down at Angel's pale and cracked face. Angel's eyes drift open and their eyes meet. Justine: "He'll turn on you!" Wes closes the passenger door and walks around to get into the driver's seat. Justine: "He won't be able to help it. That's what he is. Sooner or later he will turn on you - and all your friends!" Ignoring Justine, who is handcuffed to a net-draped railing, Wes gets into the car, buckles up and starts the engine. Justine: "You're just gonna leave me here?" Wes holds up the keys to the cuffs, looking at her, then tosses them at her feet. Wes: "You can continue to be a sl*ve, Justine - or you can live your life. Your choice." Wes drives off, leaving Justine behind. Fred is sitting in a chair in the outer office with g*n rubbing her back. Fred: "I would have done anything for him. Now all I wanna do is hurt him." Connor, through the open door of the inner office: "Go ahead. Hurt me some more, Fred." Fred: "Shut up!" Connor: "You think I care? You get used to it." Fred gets up: "You don't feel anything, do you? There's nothing inside." Connor: "Why don't you open me up and find out." Fred: "How could you do that to your father?" Connor: "That thing is not my father." g*n quietly: "Yes, he is." Connor: "He got what he deserved." Fred quietly: "And how soon before we deserved it?" Connor just looks at her. We hear the lobby doors open and Fred and g*n run out to see Wes, one of Angel's arms draped over his shoulder helping Angel down the steps into the lobby. Wes: "I believe you're looking for this." Angel raises his head and looks at them. Fred: "Angel." g*n and Fred hurry towards them and g*n helps Wes lead Angel to the settee. Fred: "Oh, my god." g*n: "Is he gonna be all right?" Wes: "In time - maybe." Angel drops onto the settee with a groan, his head rolling to the side against the headrest. g*n: "He's out of it." Fred: "Oh god." g*n: "It's okay." Fred: "Look at him." g*n: "It's gonna be okay." Angel slowly looks up at them. Wes begins to back away from them towards the doors. Fred: "What do we do? Wesley..." As Angel's eyes slide shut again, Fred turns, only to see that Wes is already on the landing. Fred: "Where are you going?" Wes stops and turns back. Wes: "I'm done here." g*n: "What took you so long to tell us about Connor?" Fred: "You knew what he could do to us." Wes: "You're human. He wouldn't have hurt you. I thought you were safer not knowing." Fred: "We were safer? You really don't care anymore, do you?" Wes only turns to walk towards the door. Wes: "He'll need more blood. I'm fresh out." The door closes behind Wes. Angel lets out a sight groan. Fred: "It's okay. God, he's freezing." g*n: "I'll get some more blankets." g*n turns to go, but stops as we hear the sound of a chair toppling coming from the office. Fred: "Connor!" g*n and Fred run for the office. Connor is waiting for them and easily tosses g*n to the side. Fred tries to tazer him, but he grabs it away from her and uses it against her instead. Fred drops to the floor in a heap. Connor turns - only to find Angel standing in the doorway. Angel: "Sit - down." Connor backs up a little never taking his eyes off Angel. Connor: "You're too weak to take me." Angel: "You really think that?" Connor looks at Angel for another moment, then turns, picks up the chair, slams it down on the floor, and sits facing Angel. g*n begins to stir and sit up. Angel lowers himself into a chair across from Connor with a slight sigh. Angel: "So - how was your summer? Mine was fun. Saw some fish. Went mad with hunger. Hallucinated a whole bunch." g*n quietly helps Fred back to her feet. Connor's eyes never leave Angel. Connor: "You deserved worse." Angel: "Because I k*lled Holtz - except I didn't. I tried telling you that while you were busy offshore dumping me, but I didn't know the whole score. - Holtz k*lled himself. Actually - he had your buddy Justine do it with an ice pick. Just to make you hate me." Connor after a b*at: "Even if - you still deserved it." Angel: "What I deserve is open to debate. - But understand there is a difference between wishing vengeance on someone - and taking it. - So now - the questions becomes: - what do you deserve?" Connor suddenly umps up from his chair and runs for the door, but Angel intercepts him, tossing him against the wall. Angel, calm: "Daddy's not finished talking." Angel crouches down next to where Connor sits, scrunched up against the wall. Angel: "Wesley told me everything that's been going on. So, as far as I'm concerned what you *deserve* rests on one answer: (Angel leans in closer) Did you do something to Cordelia?" Connor: "No." Fred: "He's lying." Connor, looking at Angel: "No, I'm not." g*n: "No way she just *happened* to disappear the same night." Connor, never taking his eyes off Angel: "I'm telling the truth, okay?" Angel, quietly: "I know. - I can tell." Angel slowly straightens up and backs away a little. Angel: "You've done enough lying for me to know the difference. The truth has a better sound to it, less nasal, you know? - Get up." Connor stands up. Angel: "What you did to me - was unbelievable, Connor. - But then I got stuck in a hell dimension by my girlfriend one time for a hundred years, so three months under the ocean actually gave me perspective. Kind of a M. C. Esher perspective - but I did get time to think. About us, about the world. - Nothing in the world is the way it ought to be. - It's harsh, and cruel. - But that's why there's us. Champions. It doesn't matter where we come from, what we've done or suffered, or even if we make a difference. We live as though the world was what it should be, to show it what it can be. - You're not a part of that yet. - I hope you will be. (Angel moves to stand in front of Connor) I love you, Connor. (Quietly, after a b*at) Now get out of my house." After a b*at Connor leaves and Angel lets out a slight sigh. We hear the lobby doors close. Angel sways on his feet then leans against the wall. Fed and g*n run over to him. Fred: "Angel!" Angel: "All that talking really takes it out of you." Fred: "You need rest." Angel: "I need Cordy - now. Wherever she is, whatever she's going through, we have to find her." The picture blends into a panorama of glowing, heavenly clouds. We close in on a bright, white light. Cordy's face becomes visible in the center of it as heavenly music swells. Cordy: "God, I am so bored."

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "04x01 - Deep Down"}

foreverdreaming

Fred: "Previously on Angel:" Woman: "Fred disappeared five years ago. They never found her." Wes: "Cordy has been sucked into the portal. She is in the Host's dimension." Fred: "They use you as a sl*ve." Fred: "Handsome man. Saved me from the monsters." Cordy: "So - we know each other?" Angel: "Yeah. Really well." Fred: "Not to sound all movie of the week, but I think you might have some kind of amnesia." Angel: "I think there is a way we might be able to sort this out. Pick a song." Fred: "So Lorne can read you." g*n: "You sing. He sees your future." Cordy sings: "Because the greatest love of all..." Lorne: "Great! Enough!" Angel: "What did you see?" Lorne: "Go away!" Angel: "If it's that bad, I need to know!" Lorne: "It's that bad. Evil's coming, Angel, and - it's planning on staying." Lilah on phone: "You're sure that it's her? Put an extraction team together." Wes: "Wolfram and Hart are planning to extract Cordelia, and I doubt your boy will be able to stop them." Angel and Co stop W&H commando team from taking Cordy. Angel: "We should probably get you back home." Cordy: "Actually - I'd like to stay here - with Connor." Fred: "Oh my god!" Angel: "Lorne?" Fred: "Is he alive?" Angel: "Who did this?" Lorne: "W.. - W.." Angel: "Wolfram and Hart?" g*n: "But why?" Angel: "They must have known Lorne read her. They weren't after Cordy. They were after what Lorne saw when she sang." Wes: "You played me." Lilah: "Free will. Look it up." Wes: "Lilah." Lilah: "You're the one who decided to take what you overheard and give it to the good'n'plenty's." Angel: "How much did they get?" Lorne: "All of it." LA, night. A woman's screams ring through the dark halls of the Hyperion hotel. Fred whoops again and throws herself into g*n's arms in their hotel room. g*n: "Ah! That's my girl! (g*n puts her down) Alright. Hand this thing over. Let me check it out." Fred hands him a magazine. Fred: "Page nineteen. It's not a big article. Not like it's featured or anything." g*n: "Got it. "Supersymmetry..." Fred: "...and P-dimensional subspace" by Winifred Burkle. - You don't have to read it." g*n: "Of course I'm gonna read it. Right now." g*n sits down on the bed. Fred sits down next to him. g*n: "In multi-dimensional superstring theory - uh - distance scales inverted by T-duality apply to heter..." Fred starts to climb into g*n's lap and kiss him. g*n: "...heterotic theories. The pictures are..." They drop back onto the bed and g*n tosses the magazine aside. g*n: "Nice." They start to roll around on the bed, kissing. Lorne: "Ah, give it to me, sweetness. Right there." Lorne is reclining in bed, band-aid covering the hole in his head. Angel sets a food tray down on the bed. Angel: "Here you go. How's your head?" Lorne: "Smashing. Listen. I know I've been a wee bit jumpy the last couple of days, but - did I hear a scream?" Angel: "Oh, it's just Fred. I think it's a Texas thing." Lorne eats a little of the soup, then sets the tray aside. Lorne: "Well, it's all too much Sturm and Drang for my appetite. Cordelia shacking up with your hell-spawn - no offence - and the hole between my horns." Angel: "And you're probably a little on edge because of the whole 'slouching towards Bethlehem' thing." Lorne: "No." Angel: "No? That's good, because..." Lorne: "Sorry. I jumped ahead. That 'no' was the one that comes after you asking me to read Cordy again." Angel: "I wasn't - going to ask you that immediately. I was gonna build up to it subtly." Lorne: "I appreciate that, sugar pie, really, but - the answer is no. I'm not a champion. I'm just a regular, old Karaoke-singing empath demon." Angel: "You saw something. If we knew what it was..." Lorne: "Wolfram and Hart would come after me again. And maybe they wouldn't stop with a little gray matter." Angel, turns away: "I'm listening." Lorne: "Hey, death just doesn't look good on me. I wish I could tell you what was coming and when, but..." Angel is standing by the open door to the hall. Lorne: "When you say 'listening' you don't mean to me. You heard something, didn't you?" Angel: "It's probably just Fred." Lorne fumbles a small ax out from under the blanket covering him. Angel walks out into the hall. Lorne echoing after him: "I got your back." Angel hears sounds of someone moving around and tracks them down to the room they put Cordy's things into. He slowly opens the door and sees someone rummaging through a box of Cordy's things. Angel lunges and throws the person up against the wall. It's Connor. Angel: "Oh. Hi. (Lets go of Connor) Sorry." Connor pulls his shirt straight: "I'm used to it." Connor picks up one of the boxes and sets it on a table. Angel: "The front door is always open, Connor. You don't have to sneak in." Connor putting things into the box: "Cordy wanted some of her stuff." Angel: "How - is she doing? Cordy. Anything coming back to her?" Connor: "Nothing about you." Angel: "Is she alone right now? Because..." Connor: "She's safe! I can take care of Cordelia. - Can I go?" Angel: "Sure. Sorry." Connor moves past Angel, carrying the box. Angel: "Wait! You should take her fuzzy slippers. (Puts them into Connor's box.) Her feet get cold." Connor: "I know. She always stealing the covers." Intro Hyperion, day. Angel slowly walks down the steps into the lobby, hands stuck in his pockets. Passes g*n's feet protruding from the settee. g*n: "You don't wanna go in there." Angel looks over towards the window into the office and sees Fred talking animatedly to Lorne. g*n: "The girl kept me up all night. She is un-stoppable." Angel: "More than I need to know." Fred spots Angel and comes rushing out of the office. Fred: "Did Charles tell you?" Angel: "He-he didn't describe it." Fred: "I've been asked to present my article at the physics institute! P-dimensional subspace has always been a fascinating area, but I had no idea there would be so much interest. Can I practice my speech for you? I think Lorne's a little conked." Fred hurries back into the office. Lorne takes another sip of his drink: "Oh, yeah. We're back." g*n to Angel: "That - all night. (A small smile spreads over g*n's face) Well, mostly that." Angel: "I didn't know Fred was getting back into physics." g*n: "Yeah. I don't think she wanted anyone to know. Think she was afraid she lost the knack." Angel: "Hmm. She seems over that." They follow Fred into the office. Angel takes a seat next to Lorne, while g*n leans against the wall behind them. Fred: "It's nothing big, really. Just a little breakthrough in quantum particles. Emphasis on little. Probably be disproven in no time. It's just - I used to dream I'd discover some revolutionary concept, and - oh, it's silly." Angel: "Doesn't sound silly." Fred: "I-I guess I just wanted all those people I looked up to - I wanted them to see me, too. And then I got sucked into Pylea, and, well, when you're a cow-sl*ve you don't want anyone to see you at all." g*n: "Everybody will be watching you now." Fred stares at g*n, eyes wide. She sucks in a deep breath and looks down at her cue cards. Fred: "I've got to practice. - You-you'll be there?" g*n: "Cheering you on. Right?" Lorne makes a face. Angel is looking at the desk in front of him (lost in thought?) g*n looks at both of their backs, while Fred looks from Angel to Lorne, shifting on her feet. Lorne: "Ah, the little nipper dropped in for a midnight visit last night." Fred: "Connor was here?" g*n: "I hope you don't wanna kiss and make up, because that..." Angel: "He picked up some of Cordelia's things." Fred sits down on the edge of the desk. Fred: "She's just trying to put the pieces back together. It'll work out and it'll all be for the best." Angel looks at her. Fred: "It will! Five years of unendurable t*rture and mental anguish aside, if I hadn't been sucked through that portal I never would have figured out my string compactification theory." g*n: "Exactly. 'cause, you know, strings need - to compactify." Angel and Lorne look from g*n to Fred, who is pressing her lips together (in an effort to keep a straight face?) Wes is sitting in front of his sofa table reading a magazine when there is a knock on his door. The knock comes again before he pulls his eyes away from the article. He checks his watch as he gets up to answer the door. Lilah is standing there holding a box tied with a bow. Lilah: "Surprise." Wes: "A bribe. How thoughtful." Lilah hands him the box and walks past him, taking off her jacket. Wes: "No, it can't be a bribe. Must be a setup." Lilah, smiling at him: "Can't it just be - a gift?" Wes just looks at her. Lilah: "Open it." Wes sets it down on the table and opens it, while Lilah watches him closely, still smiling. Wes pulls out the full helmet of a medieval armor. Lilah: "We seem to be butting heads lately. Now you'll have the advantage." Wes examines the helmet. Wes: "This must have cost a fortune." Lilah's smile widens and she steps closer to Wes. Lilah: "Yes." The takes the helmet out of Wes' hands, puts it back in the box, then runs her hands up Wes' chest. Lilah: "It'll take you - hours - to thank me properly." Lilah kisses him softly. Wes kisses back. Lilah: "Fortunately I've taken the afternoon off." Lilah reaches for the buttons of his shirt, but Wes captures her hands and holds them still. Wes: "I have to leave actually." Lilah stares at him as he moves away from her and grabs his jacket off a hook by the door. On the way out Wes turns back to her. Wes: "But thank you, Lilah, for the gift." Lilah watches him leave, then lets out a sigh, shaking her head slightly. Picks up the paper that covered the helmet and sees the magazine - open on 'Super Symmetry and P-Dimensional Subspace' by Winifred Burkle. The camera pans past a picture of Fred and g*n dressed up for the ballet pinned up on a wall. Over a picture of Cordy and Wes with a little paper labeled 'me & Wes' to a picture of a couple labeled 'my parents.' To Cordy in the process of pinning up a picture of her and Lorne smiling into the camera. Cordy surveys her handiwork. Cordy: "There. Almost done." She walks over to the bed and looks through the box Connor brought over from the Hyperion. Cordy: "Connor?" Connor: "Yeah?" Cordy: "How come there is no picture of Angel?" Connor walks into the room, hair wet, and in the process of pulling on a shirt. Connor: "Ah - I didn't see any." Cordy: "Hmm. Well, it's okay. You got all the other important stuff." She smiles as she lifts up one foot to show she is wearing her fuzzy slippers. She pulls a piece of sheer fabric out of the box and uses it to cover a round table in the room. Cordy: "Apparently I'm a nester, because this place is starting to look not entirely un-home-y." Connor watches her, then pulls on, and laces his shoes. Cordy looks around and lets out a sigh. Connor: "What?" Cordy: "Nothing. (Shrugs) Except... (Sits down on the bed) Well, I thought I'd feel different. I mean, I have my pictures and slippers and super luscious peau the soie blouse, but... (sighs) Why does it still feel like something is missing?" Connor looks around, sees a hand ax lying on a dresser. He picks it up and hands it to Cordy. Connor: "How does that feel?" Cordy: "Uh - woodsy." Connor shrugs: "Maybe you miss the action, the thrill of the k*ll. You know you used to be a demon hunter. (Cordy gives him a look) It's true. You're just out of practice. It'll come back fast, though. I can train you." Connor moves away. Cordy calling after him: "What should I wear?!" LA, night. g*n straightens Fred's cue cards and hands them back to her as they both ride up an escalator at the institute. Fred: "Thank you." They get off the escalator and move through a crowd of academics. Fred: "At least I remembered the uniform." g*n: "All these people here to see you?" Fred: "I'm just a minor speaker. Oh, god!" Fred walks over to the list of speakers. Fred: "I'm between Ed Witten and Brian Greene?" Fred stares back at g*n and Angel, who just look at each other, then back at her. Fred: "Think Nomar Garciaparra and Sammy Sosa." g*n whistles. Angel: "Fred's skipped the minors and went straight to the show." Fred: "This can't be right. Somebody must have made a mistake!" g*n: "Listen up - all this stuff about particles and - stuff - it's gonna blow them away. Nothing to worry about." Fred: "Well - what if my theory is wrong? (Spots someone) Professor Seidel?" Seidel: "Winifred! (Turns to a blonde) Laurie, I'll meet you back at the lab. (Laurie leaves) There you are. It's been, what? Two years, or so." Fred, smiling: "Yeah. Heavy on the 'or so.' Wow. It is great to see you. (Her smile fades) Are you - gonna be in there?" Seidel: "I'm introducing you. I had to arm wrestle the chair of the department for the honor." Fred: "Oh." Seidel: "Winifred, you have done some great work. You don't have anything to worry about." g*n clears his throat loudly. Fred: "Oh, ah, these are my friends: Charles and Angel." g*n and the professor shake hands. g*n: "Hey." Angel and the professor shake. Angel: "Hello." Fred: "I was gonna be a history major, and then I took Professor Seidel's physics class, and, well..." Seidel: "Winifred is a natural. By the end of the first semester she was taking on w.i.m.p.s." g*n: "You should see her now! k*ller left hook." Fred: "Wimps are weakly interactive massive particles." g*n: "Oh, yeah, ah, just kidding." Seidel: "Do you remember that Higgs Scalars tutorial? I still remember your take on spontaneous symmetry breaking." Angel to g*n: "You know, it's, ah, filling up. I'm gonna go find and save some seats." Seidel to Fred: "Why don't you stop by the office. I'd love to talk about your article." Fred: "Is - tomorrow too soon?" Seidel: "Tomorrow is perfect. I have some questions about how Kaluza-Klein models fit with your theory." g*n watches as the professor move away from him deep in conversation. Fred: "Oh, okay, because string regularization kind of vital to what I'm proposing..." Angel puts his jacket over the back of one of the seats in the front row of the far from completely filled auditorium. A guy wearing a comic book T-shirt bumps into his arm with the backpack he is carrying as he makes for a seat in the row behind Angel. Guy: "Oh, sorry about that." Angel glances around the room as he sits down and spots Wes taking a seat in the back. The Professor and Fred come down an aisle, trailed by g*n. Seidel stops by a guy in a suit. Seidel: "Oh, Doctor Shepherd, I want you to meet one of my best students, Winifred Burkle." Fred: "Hi." g*n looks at the group for a moment then moves down the rows to where Angel is sitting. Shepherd: "Oh course. I read your article. Intriguing. Nice to meet you." Seidel ushers Fred on down the aisle. g*n hands Angel his jacket as he sits down in the chair was reserving with it. g*n: "Listen, man, I'm gonna need simultaneous translating on this thing. You know, like the president with the Russians, but just give me the highlights." Angel: "No problem. Of course, I have no idea what she's talking about." g*n: "Will you tell Fred that? If she thinks we're both stupid, I won't stand out as much." The lights dim as the professor walks up to the podium, trailed by Fred. Seidel: "There have been many recent insights into string theory, but few have so elegantly tied together the disparate threads as the one you will hear tonight. As a student Winifred Burkle showed outstanding intellectual rigor." We get a sh*t of g*n smiling as he watches the stage. Then of Wes with a soft smile on his face a well. Seidel: "Her work continues to exemplify the highest standard of academic excellence." Lilah walks into the back lecture hall. Angel turns his head and sees her looking around. Seidel: "Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce Winifred Burkle." Polite applause as Fred steps up to the podium. Fred: "Thank you professor." Fred puts on her glasses, clears her throat and looks at her cue cards. Fred: "This one just says 'open with joke.' But - I forgot to think of one. But it's possible that my theory will take care of that." Polite chuckles. Fred: "There are, uhm, there are several competing dimensional theories, and while each provides insights, physicists have long searched for a unifying theory." Lilah spots Wes, his eyes riveted on the stage. Fred: "One that can account for both the behavior of the smallest subatomic particles, and the largest forces of nature. If space time can undergo massive rearrangement of its structure, which I believe it can, tearing and reconnecting according to a predetermined disposition..." Angel watches as Lilah pulls out her cell phone and makes a call as she leaves the lecture hall. Fred: "...then T-duality would allow for the compactification of extra space dimensions. Consider the non-perturbative properties of superstring theory. In D-Branes, especially as it applies to Dirichlet boundry conditions with dual open strings that are t-transformed, this..." People begin to notice a disturbance forming in the above Fred. Fred: "...in turn leads to the conclusion that strings can only end in P-dimensional dynamical..." Fred notices the commotion spreading through the hall and looks to see what everyone is looking at. A bundle of long, snake-like tentacles, each ending in a tooth-filled beak suddenly reaches out of the hole in the air and take a hold of Fred, while Seidel quickly ducks away. g*n and Angel jump out of their seats and head for the stage as Wes also gets up from his seat at the back of the hall. g*n: "Fred! No!" Break Fred is screaming as the tentacles wrapped around her try to pull her up into the hole. g*n is holding on to Fred's legs. Angel is s*ab at the monster with the microphone stand. g*n: "Hang on baby. I got you!" Wes moves through the fleeing masses towards the stage. The guy in the comic book shirt that was sitting behind Angel and g*n is snapping pictures of the monster with a small camera, a big smile on his face. g*n: "Hang on!" One tentacle wraps around Angel's neck and lifts him off the floor. The teen is still snapping pictures. Angel: "Yeah. Vampire, strangling. Not gonna happen." Angel reaches down into his boot and pulls out a Kn*fe. He cuts through the tentacle that holds him. As he drops free, the monster lets out a scream and draws back, letting go of Fred. Fred and g*n fall to the floor, g*n holding her tightly. Wes, dagger in hand, stops as the hole closes behind the monster. g*n: "It's over, baby. You're fine." Lilah drives down through the parking garage in a silver Mercedes convertible. Suddenly the top is ripped away. Lilah stops and hesitantly sticks her head out through the hole. Angel: "That's cool. The top just comes right off." Lilah drops back down into her seat, then gets out of the car. Lilah: "Hey, if this is about the jolly green demon, I could have had him k*lled, but do I hear a thank you?" Angel: "Before we get to that, how about you tell me why a portal happened to open up over Fred's head right after you slithered out of the auditorium?" Lilah smiling a little: "Tragedy struck Gidget? Really? Did she go to that place in the big Texas sky?" Angel: "g*n and I took care of it. Of course if we hadn't been there, I'm sure your good friend Wesley would have stepped right in." Lilah: "Come on. If I were gonna k*ll the twig, would I do it in a room full of people and then make a conspicuous getaway so I looked extra suspicious?" Angel: "Add video tape, sounds like vintage Wolfram and Hart. (Lilah just shrugs) Except this time somebody else deserves the credit." Lilah: "You're quick." Lilah ducks back into her car. Angel just as quickly sticks his head in before she can close the door. Angel: "About Lorne, there's going to be a conversation." Lilah: "You know, Angel, coming from you, idle thr*at are so - well - idle." Angel sticks one hand down through the hole in the car's roof and wiggles his fingers in front of Lilah's face. Angel: "Do you remember when I ripped your car in half?" Lilah starting the car: "Yeah. Hulk smash." Lilah peels out of there, tires screeching. Angel lets her go. Hyperion, night. g*n rolls over in bed and wakes up when the spot beside him is empty. g*n sits up: "Fred?" Fred is squatting in a corner, writing on the wall, and muttering to herself. Fred: "P versus NP, where NP is nondeterministic polynominal time. This is NP. Lost time. Time spent." g*n comes up behind her: "I never liked the paint in here. Hey, lets - lets redo the place, really make it ours." Fred turns away from the wall holding her throat with one hand. Fred: "I was just - I couldn't sleep." g*n takes a hold of her hand and softly pulls it away from her throat. g*n: "Fred, demons, portals - that happens. Doesn't mean that you're going back to Pylea." Fred: "Every time I close my eyes I see it. Like it's happening all over again." g*n: "I know, baby." Fred walks past him her hand going back up to her neck. Fred: "Five years of hiding in caves and scrounging for food, wearing that collar. You don't know! You couldn't." g*n: "You're never going back to that place. You're safe now." Fred: "I was safe in the library until I opened that book and read those words, and then wham! I was hurling through dimensions." g*n: "Come back to bed. Alright? It'll all look different in the morning." Fred: "Morning? As in tomorrow, which as of now is today, which means..." g*n slowly back towards the bed softly pulling Fred along with him. g*n: "You're gonna talk to your professor friend just like you planned 'cause nothing has changed." Fred: "It has! He was there! He saw the... - He probably thinks..." g*n: "That you're incredibly brilliant. Just like I do." Fred climbs back onto the bed: "He can't see me. Not like this." g*n climbs in beside her: "There is nothing wrong with you. Like this or any other way." Fred: "Yeah, to you, maybe." g*n: "Look. Go. Okay? Forget about all this and talk about strings and whimps and whatever. Angel and I will take care of all the demony portal stuff. No problem." g*n kisses her bare shoulder then snuggles up to hold her. Hyperion day, g*n comes down the stairs to find Angel standing in front of row after row of chairs set up in the hotel lobby. g*n: "Great. My girl is not the only one redecorating." Angel points at a chair: "You were there." g*n sits down: "Okay. - What are we doing? Playing musical chairs?" Angel looks past g*n and suddenly the lobby with its chairs morphs into the lecture hall and the people sitting around and behind g*n. Dimly we can hear Fred lecture from the podium on the stage. Angel pointing: "Nerdy guy. - Older nerdy guy. - Girl in black there." All the people except for the ones Angel just named wink out of their seats. g*n: "Okay. Catching on - sorta. How come you never pulled out this parlor trick before?" Angel: "It's not an a*t*matic reflex. It just kicked in when I saw Lilah." We see Lilah making her phone call. g*n: "Hold up. Lilah was there? Not a huge leap thinking she opened the portal." Angel is concentrating on Lilah. Sees her looking over at Wes. Angel: "She was just stalking Wesley." g*n: "Wesley? He came to see..." Angel looks to where the nerdy, comic book shirt, guy is sitting. Angel: "He was waiting." g*n: "Wesley?" Angel: "Guy in the second row, center seat. The guy wearing a tan T-shirt that said 'Thwack!'" Angel turns towards the stage behind him where the tentacles reach out of the portal, then back to the teen. Angel: "He had a camera." g*n gets up out of the chairs. The lobby back to its actual appearance. g*n: "I think I know where to find him." Angel: "Whoa, whoa. Ho, ho! Hang on. Daylight. I need a coat." g*n: "Well, get on it. Because when my girls not happy..." g*n screaming into the teens face: "...I'm not happy!" g*n slams the guy up against a stand of comic books. Teen to Angel: "Is he gonna hurt me?" g*n: "Think Daredevil one eighty one. I'm Bullseye, you're Electra. One wins one dies. Get what I'm saying?" Teen: "Yeah. But we're kind of crushing the Dark Horses." g*n pulls him away from the comic book stand and lets go of him. g*n: "You were taking pictures of my girlfriend. Why?" Teen: "Because the ceiling was like ripping apart!" Angel: "Why were you there? You always hang with the physicist crowd?" Teen: "I wanted to see if it was true, if she was really one of them. You know, one of the students who disappeared." g*n: "One of?" Fred and the Professor are walking through a door into a lab at the university. Fred: "Pylea was a hell dimension, actually. Not as bad as Quor-toth, but - if Angel and g*n and the rest of them hadn't rescued me, I'd probably be d*ad by now." Seidel: "Winifred, I'm a theoretical physicist, completely open to the idea of other dimensions, but - you're naming them." Fred: "I know. It took me a while to believe it, too, and - I was there." The blonde that was with the professor when Fred first spotted him at the lecture hall is standing over one of the machines. Seidel: "You know Laurie Drummond, don't you?" Fred: "You were the TA for high energy physics." Laurie: "I still am. Not all of us are geniuses." Seidel: "I'd be lost without Laurie." Laurie: "Welcome back." Fred smiles at her then follows the professor into this office. Seidel closes the door then walks over to a filing cabinet. Seidel: "I've been holding on to something for you." Fred looks at the sheaf of paper he hands her. Fred: "Oh. The last test I took before... - A minus?" Seidel: "Well, I would have given another student an A plus, but with you - I had to use a different standard." Fred: "Now he tells me." Seidel sits down on the edge of his desk: "I'd love another crack at it. Teaching you. You have a gift that shouldn't be wasted." Fred: "It - it's been so long. I mean, writing the article was great, but - I've another life now." Seidel: "Sounds like a life you stumbled into, not one you chose." Fred: "I guess it kind of chose me." Seidel: "Now, I don't know - what I saw yesterday. There are studies about subconscious suggestion, mass hysteria. But I know what I see right now." Fred: "You do?" Seidel: "A very talented young woman, who deserves to live in the world she was meant for." The teen comes out through a bead curtain back into the main store where g*n is waiting by the counter while Angel is reading a comic book. Teen: "You guys know how it is. Like you hear things from the friend of a friend's room mate. You don't know if they really happen." g*n: "Like the story about the girl, the cat and the peanut butter." Angel: "That one's true. (g*n looks at him) Long story." Teen: "Yeah, like, you're Angel, right? There are whole forums on you in chat rooms, man! Who knew you actually, like, existed?!" g*n: "The disappearances?" Teen: "Ah, supposedly there were three before your girlfriend and one since." Angel: "What do you know?" Teen: "Just rumors. They're all science types, like these weren't your everyday kidnappings. Hey, maybe I can help you guys. Be your Intern." g*n: "We're full up on interns. But the decoder ring's in the mail." g*n starts to leave and Angel follows him. Angel: "They talk about me in the chatty rooms?" Fred is flipping through her test paper. Seidel pulls out a book from the shelf behind his desk. Seidel: "You really should read 'Quantum Cryptography'." Laurie opens the door to the office. Laurie: "Professor Seidel the oscillator's tweaked again." Seidel: "I'll have a look. (To Fred) Would you write down your numbers for me? I don't wanna lose track of you for another six years." Fred laughs as the Professor roots through the stuff on his desk. Seidel: "You laugh. I do have a system." Seidel walks out of the office. Fred goes around his desk to write something down on the paper the professor pulled out for her. Fred walks over to take a look at the titles on the bookshelf. Fred: "'Plasma and Fluid Turbulence' in with Nutrino books? That's just - wrong." Fred pulls the book out and flips it open. Inside there are archaic looking symbols and charts. She flips a couple of pages and comes across an illustration of what looks a lot like the monster reaching down through the hole in the lecture hall. She hears Seidel's voice coming from outside. Seidel: "I'll meet you back there. I have some..." Fred quickly puts the book back on the shelf and turns around as the professor walks back into the office. g*n is pacing behind Angel, who is looking stuff up on the computer. g*n: "I don't like this, man. I got a bad feeling." Angel turns and looks at him. g*n: "What? Angel: "Here. The thing all the students had in common." g*n: "Oliver Seidel. As in the guy she's with right now." g*n turns to hurry out the office and almost runs into Fred standing just inside the door. g*n: "Fred. Thank god. Look, there is something we got to tell you. The portal..." Fred: "It was professor Seidel." g*n: "Yeah." Fred: "And he's done it before." Angel: "That's right. There are others." Fred: "No. To me. He's the son of a bitch that sent me to Pylea." g*n: "What?" Angel: "We're gonna get this guy." g*n: "Count on it. He's gonna pay." Fred: "No. He's gonna die." Break g*n: "What do you mean, die?" Fred: "I don't know yet - but it's going to be about pain." Fred opens the w*apon cabinet. Fred: "The halberd could work." Fred picks it up and makes s*ab motions with it as she turns back to g*n and Angel, who back up a little. Fred: "Acting like I'm all addlebrained talking about other dimensions. Pylea, never heard of it. Right! How about a flail whipping? Would that take a nice long time?" Angel: "Hours if you do it right. (Fred picks a flail form the cabinet and whirls it around) Not that you should do it (Angel steps up and carefully takes the flail away from her) at all. - Ever." Fred: "He's a k*ller. And he's just sitting there smiling, telling me I'm so gifted and how he wants to teach me. Oh, there is going to be a lesson, all right." g*n: "Alright, Fred, lets calm down." Fred: "I idolized him and he sent me to hell. Me and god knows how many others who didn't make it back, so -so sure! I'll calm down - when he's d*ad!" g*n: "Fred, a few years ago I would have done in the guy myself. But this? It isn't what we do." g*n tries to take the halberd away from Fred but she pulls out of his reach. Fred: "We k*ll monsters every day." g*n: "We help people. Fred, if you do this, the demons you'll be living with won't be the horned, fangy kind, they'll be the kind you can't get rid of." Fred: "You're wrong." Angel: "He's right. Whatever you do now, is nothing compared to how it'll be afterward." g*n: "What you're talking about goes against everything you believe in, everything *we* believe in. Fred, you idolized him, but don't let him be defining what you are now." g*n holds out a hand. g*n: "Can I have the ax?" After a moment Fred lets him have the ax. Fred: "I'm sorry, Charles. I guess I kind of lost it." g*n: "You want a drink? I could make you some cocoa." Fred: "No. Thanks. I'm just - gonna go lay down - for a few days." g*n watches Fred walk up the stairs, then turns to face Angel. g*n: "So what are we gonna do to this guy?" Angel: "No idea. But let's do it fast." g*n: "We got to get to him before Fred changes her mind. 'cause vengeance? It can get ugly." Wes walks over to the table in his apartment, opening a couple of beer bottles. Wes: "Vengeance - sounds good." Fred: "Angel and g*n want me to be all sweetness and light. Cute little Fred, she'll turn the other cheek like a good girl. (Fred takes a bottle from Wes and sits down on the sofa) I mean, they saw what professor Seidel is capable of! He opened that portal right in front of them." Wes sits down across from her: "They dealt with it handily enough." Fred: "You were there?" Wes: "I read your article, saw you'd be speaking. Was an excellent piece. Although I'm not sure I understand how Pauli repulsion is so readily reversed. - Layman's opinion." Fred: "You've been keeping track of me." Wes: "Yes. - Well, about this professor Seidel, what did you have in mind?" Fred: "Beyond pain, I'm not really sure. That's why I came to you." Wes sets his bottle down and leans forward. Wes: "Fred, you do know that everything Angel and g*n told you is true. Vengeance will have a price - and once you've acted you can't go back. You'll have to live with your actions forever." Fred: "He's a serial k*ller." Wes gets up: "Alright then. (Walks over to his books) I'm sure we'll find - an appropriate solution." Fred comes to look over Wes shoulder as he flips through the pages. Wes gives her a quick glance. Wes: "Ah, here is something interesting. Once practiced in ancient Egypt." Fred: "Is that his tongue?" Cell phone chirps and Fred pulls it out. She flips it open to see some strange looking symbols on the display screen. A wind starts to whip her hair around and Fred looks up to see that a portal is opening right in front of her and Wes. Wes grabs a hold of Fred, letting go of his book, which is sucked into the portal, then throws both of them over the back of his sofa. Their roll blends into Connor and Cordy rolling on the ground, Cordy ending up on top. Cordy: "Thanks." Connor: "Anytime." There is a growling sound and Cordy rolls off Connor. Connor catches the boot of the vampire stomping down on him and throws the vamp back onto the ground. Getting to his feet, Connor pulls Cordy up as well, then turns to confront the vampire. The vampire slashes at Connor, but Connor jumps straight up, clinging to some pipes along the ceiling for a moment before dropping back down and trying to stake the vamp. Cordy: "Can I help?" The vampire bats Connor to the side. Cordy: "Uh, that hurt." Cordy moves in with her hand ax. When the vampire knocks it out of her hand she kicks the vamps w*apon out of his hand, and dusts him in one smooth motion. Cordy looks from her stake to the dust cloud. Cordy: "I did that. I did that. Oh! I did that!" She turns around and throws herself at Connor, who catches her in a big hug. Cordy laughs as he twirls her around, then leans in to plant a quick kiss on Connor's mouth. Then a second one, which turns into something longer. After a moment Cordy pulls back, looking at Connor and putting one hand up next to her mouth. Hyperion, night, Angel and g*n are in Fred's empty room. g*n: "And I'm asking her if she wants cocoa. Stupid!" Angel: "She's gonna k*ll him." g*n: "If he doesn't k*ll her first. You know where she went." Angel: "Look, I'm faster on my own." g*n: "Go. I'll meet you there." Angel: "She'll be okay." Angel jumps out the window. Fred, sitting in the passenger seat while Wes is driving, fits an arrow into a crossbow. Wes: "You remember everything we went over?" Fred: "I do. And I'm gonna give him exactly what he deserves. Thanks to you." Wes looks at her then away. Fred: "What?" Wes: "I was just thinking, uhm - not that I don't get his point, but I'm surprised g*n's not here. No matter what the consequences." Fred: "Charles doesn't have it in him. It's part of what I love about him." Wes: "You can still back out - if you think g*n's right." Fred: "It's not about what's right. - Pull over there." Wes does. Wes: "I'd ask to tag along." Fred: "But you know what the answer would be." Wes watches as she gets out of the car. The professor is in his office taking papers out of his filing cabinet and putting them into a cardboard box. He hears the door open and turns to see Angel walk in. Angel: "Going somewhere?" Seidel backing around his desk: "No. No. I..." Angel tosses the desk between them to the side. Angel: "I hear Pelican Bay's nice this time of year and I'm sure the inmates will just love your lectures." Seidel pulls a book from the shelf. Seidel: "Get out of here." Angel: "See, I can't do that. Fred's a friend of mine, and that little sabbatical you had planned for her? Not nice." Seidel: "You don't have any evidence on me, you can't..." Angel: "Oh, but I can. And when I'm done I'm guessing there's gonna be a full confession..." The professor opens the book and begins to read from it: "Barathrum copeo lacero. Increpito immanis barathrum copeo lacero." Angel: "Great." A portal forms next to the professor and an ugly gray demon steps out of it to att*ck Angel while Seidel runs out of the office and straight into the butt of Fred's crossbow. Fred reverses the crossbow and aims it at Seidel trying to pick himself up off the floor. Fred: "You know what they say about payback? Well, I'm the bitch." Break In Connor's lair Cordy is putting her clothes away. Connor walks up and puts his arms around her from behind. Connor: "How about some more training? Then tomorrow we can..." Cordy: "Ah, Connor... (She steps out of his arms and turns to face him) We need to talk." Connor: "Okay." Cordy: "Okay." They walk over to the bed. Cordy: "Sit down." Connor does and Cordy sits down next to him, letting out a sigh. Cordy: "About what happened - earlier. The - non CPR mouth to mouth." Connor: "When you kissed me." Cordy: "Right. - I shouldn't have." Connor: "But..." Cordy: "Connor. I don't know who I am, much less where I belong or who with. And there is a picture over there when you were a baby and it's only eight months old. There is a lot I need to figure out. - I'm sorry." Connor sighs. Cordy: "So, I'm gonna..." Connor gets up: "You're going back to him, aren't you?" Cordy gets up: "I just need some time to think. Okay?" Connor watches her walk out, then turns and hits the wall with his fist. The gray demon flies into the bookshelves behind the professor's desk. Angel grabs the phone off the desk and hits the demon with it repeatedly. Angel straightens up and picks some crud off his jacket as he turns to leave the office. Angel: "Oh man..." The gray demon grabs a hold of Angel's ankle and topples him to the floor. Angel looks back: "What the..." The demon tosses Angel against a wall. The professor sits up and looks at Fred. Fred: "Stay right there." Seidel slowly gets up: "Winifred. Fred. Please. Let's talk about this." Fred: "Talk? Sure, let's talk. Because you gave *me* the chance to... - oh, wait, no you didn't. Oh, well. No talking." Seidel: "Fred, I know you. You're not capable of hurting anyone.' Fred: "You don't know me. Not anymore. Five years of pain and suffering in a hell dimension will make a girl capable of a lot of things." Angel is standing in the office, the demon's head held in one hand. He looks from it to the rest of the body, which is once again beginning to stir. Angel: "Come on! I'm *holding* your head!" The demon stands up, a new head popping up between its shoulders, and att*cks Angel again. Fred still has her crossbow aimed at the professor. Fred: "Kind of funny thinking thr*at you were by me back when I was a grad student. That's why you sent me and the others away, isn't it? You couldn't handle the competition." Seidel: "Fred..." Fred: "And that's why Laurie is still around. She's not smart enough to overshadow you, is she? Not like me. I'm special. Special on a Pylean platter with a side of you-make-me-sick!" Seidel: "Why don't you just let me..." Fred: "Go? Well, since you asked so nicely. Sure. I've even practiced a good-bye speech. Klyv mat chyvma klyvma chyt." A portal opens in the floor between them. The professor holds onto the lab table behind him to keep from being sucked in. g*n walks into the lab. g*n: "Fred! No!" Fred: "Go away, Charles! You asked me not to k*ll him and I'm not. - Not exactly." g*n: "Sure you are. No way he can survive that." g*n takes the crossbow away from Fred. g*n: "Fred, don't let him do this to you." Fred: "How dare you? You don't know. You don't know what it was like!" g*n looks at the growing portal. Seidel: "Please help me!" g*n: "I promise, we'll stop him. We'll find some other way." Seidel: "Fred! Winifred, please! Help me!" Fred: "You see? He'll never stop! He'll do it again!" g*n: "If you k*ll him, I'm gonna lose you." Seidel: "Help me! Help me!" g*n runs over and pulls Seidel away just as the table is sucked into the portal in the floor. Fred: "Charles, no!" g*n looks at Fred. He takes a hold of Seidel's head, breaks his neck then lets the body drop into the portal, which closes behind it. Fred and g*n face each other across the spot where the portal was only moments ago. Angel walks out of the office. Angel: "What happened to the professor?" g*n, never taking his eyes of Fred: "It's taken care of." Fred looks down at the floor between them. Hyperion, night, Angel walks into the lobby followed by Fred and g*n. Angel: "Sucked into his own portal. Wish I could have seen his face." g*n heads for the stairs: "Yeah. I'm gonna..." Fred following g*n: "Good night." Angel watches them walk up the stairs. Angel, quietly: "Good night." Angel turns and see Cordy standing just inside the garden court door. Cordy: "Hi." Angel: "Cordelia." Cordy points over her shoulder with her thumb. Cordy: "Can we...?" Cordy walks out into the garden court and sits down on the dry fountain. Angel trails after and sits down next to her. Cordy raises a hand to the wound on the side of Angel's head, but Angel shies away from her touch. Cordy: "You should have somebody look at that." Angel: "It'll be okay. Run-in with a Voynok demon. Turns out they have nine lives." Cordy: "Like a cat?" Angel chuckles: "Only less stand off-ish." Cordy after a b*at: "We were friends. - I know that. - Not just from the pictures, but... - And I know that's why you lied before - to protect me. - Well, I - I staked a vamp today." Angel: "Connor took you..." Cordy: "And what I realized is - whoever I was before - I'm still her. She didn't need protecting, and neither do I. - So no more lies?" Angel: "No more lies." Cordy: "Good. Because - there is something I need to know. - Were we in love?"

{"type": "series", "show": "Angel", "episode": "04x05 - Supersymmetry"}

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