Following the fight with the Beast, Wes brings a bloodied and battered Faith back to his apartment. Blood drips from her wounds and lands on the floor. Wes brings a cloth and gently presses it to the side of her bruised face, telling her to hold it there. He looks her over, clearly concerned, and tells her he’ll get some bandages as he heads for another room. Faith tells him she’s okay. Wes reminds her she was almost killed. Faith says she needs a shower. Wes shows her to the bathroom. As Faith walks past, Wes quietly asks her if she’s sure she’s all right. She say she’s "a little sticky" as she hands him the cloth he’d given her earlier and goes toward the bathroom. Faith walks into the bathroom, pausing a moment to ponder the reflection of her battered face in the medicine cabinet mirror. She gets undressed, revealing deep and ugly bruises all over her body. She steps into the shower, turns on the taps, and lets the water cascade over her body, the swirl of water mixes with her blood, washes over her and down the drain. She tenses up, looks at the wall and suddenly starts violently punching it with both fists, screaming, pummeling the tile into dust, opening a hole in the wall. She forces herself to calm down and finishes her shower. At the demon bar from the previous episode, Angelus sits at a table with other vampires. The vamp waitress brings him a drink, telling him it was sent by the female vamp sitting at the bar who is smiling at him. Angelus looks over at her, signals his thanks and tells the other vamps at the table, "Yeah, as if." Angelus continues his tale, telling the others about what happened at the warehouse. One of the vamps notes he’d have liked to have seen the Slayer’s expression when she saw the Beast. Angelus says the Beast wasn’t long on personality but it was a good show, it slapped her around nicely. Another of the vamps asks if it slapped her around "like a little bunny?" Angelus smiles and answers, "Like a bloody, whimpering bunny." He laughs, the others join in. He finishes his story, telling them once the Beast had beaten Faith down, he finished the Beast. It never saw what was coming, "dumb ass." A demon at the bar overhears the story and snipes, "Yeah, soul boy, nice job bringing the sun back." Angelus smiles at the other vamps at his table, who look a little nervous all of a sudden. Angelus approaches the gray, one horned, mouthy demon at the bar who suddenly takes on an obsequious tone and asks Angelus if he can buy him a drink. Angelus puts his hand on the demon’s shoulder and answers, "Maybe after." The demon wonders after what. Angelus responds, "After I rip out your windpipe so it stops making that annoying talky sound." The demon tells him to wait, he has a condition. He starts jerking and barking out noises and obscenities. He says he’s not responsible, he has Tourette’s. He figures Angelus has heard of that. Angelus says he knows it causes "uncontrollable impulses" as he grabs the demon by the throat, "like ripping out throats." As Angelus tightens his grip on the demon’s throat, he’s interrupted by the sound of a disembodied male voice which greets him by name and tells him it’s time they had a talk. Angelus looks around the bar to see who’s speaking, still keeping his grip on the demon’s throat. He asks, "Where are you?" The demon he’s choking thinks he’s the one Angelus is speaking to and tells him he’ll be wherever Angelus wants him to be. The voice answers, "I’m where it’s warm, and soft." Angelus lets go of the demon. He looks around the bar, noting if the voice wants to play hide-and-seek, he’s willing. The voice tells him the games are over, Angelus has been a "bad boy", killing his "favorite pet." Angelus realizes he’s speaking to the Master, telling him he figured that’s what it would take to get his attention. The other patrons in the bar look at each other and at Angelus, thinking he’s crazy, talking to himself. Angelus looks around, realizing he’s the only one hearing the voice. He goes into a back room of the bar that’s being used as a drug den. The Master tells him his initiative is appreciated, but it wasn’t necessary. He’s been watching Angelus for a long time. A young woman approaches Angelus, starts to make an offer. He pushes her aside, demands the others in the drug den get out and continues his conversation with the Master. Angelus demands a face to face meeting. The voice tells him they’ll meet when Angelus is ready. At the hotel, Cordy is in her room, sitting on the bed, speaking the words Angelus is hearing. Her eyes are milky white. Angelus is impatient. He doesn’t understand why the delay figuring everything that’s happened; rain of fire, the sun being blocked out, earthquakes, were all intended to maneuver the gang into bringing him out. The Master mocks his vanity as we see Cordy sitting on the bed, holding a brightly glowing red orb, speaking the Master’s words. The scene cuts back and forth between Cordy saying the words and Angelus listening to the booming male voice in which he hears them. The voice tells Angelus "the whirlwind doesn’t always revolve around you, destruction is sometimes its own reward." Angelus gets that, telling the Master, "You’re preaching to the guy who ate the choir." He realizes for certain it was the Master who manipulated the gang into yanking Angel’s soul, getting them to think it was their idea, and notes it conveniently disappeared afterward. The Master didn’t want to risk Angel’s soul getting restored, telling Angelus there are plans "for my sweet boy."Angelus says the only plans he’s interested in are his own. He thanks the Master for stopping by and starts to leave. The voice becomes angry, asking if Angelus dares to defy him. Angelus wonders what he’s defying exactly, a voice? He offers that he has one too, and in a mocking of the deep voice of the Master tells him, "You can kiss my vampire ass!" He wonders if that got through. There’s a knock on the door of Cordy’s room. As Connor comes in, Cordy’s eyes return to normal, the red orb stops glowing. She stashes it under the bed covers before Connor sees it. Connor covers her with the blanket he’s brought, telling her she needs to keep warm. She takes a few deep breaths, looking a bit spent. Connor asks if she’s okay. She says she’s a bit weak. She attributes it to Angelus shooting her in the leg with the crossbow bolt or "it could be the baby, his way of saying —" Angelus shouts "Hello!", trying to reconnect with the Master’s voice. He’s edgy, saying he has "places to go, friends to kill." He concedes they aren’t exactly his friends but figures the Master knows what he means. He wonders if the Master has anything else to say. A stoned vamp in the corner looks up and offers to give Angelus the girl he’s feeding on if Angelus will share whatever he’s on. When Angelus doesn’t get an answer from the voice, he walks out. In her room at the hotel, Cordy is lying on her side on the bed. Connor is reclining next to her, stroking her hair. Cordy asks if Faith is okay. Connor answers that Wes called and said she was hurt pretty bad "but she’s a Slayer, they’re really strong, right?" Cordy answers, "For a human." She can’t believe Angelus killed the Beast but thinks maybe it means they did the right thing in bringing him out. Connor sits up, not as convinced as she is. Cordy sits up and faces him, telling him "Angelus cannot fight his true nature, it’s who he is." She points out that he did make the world a bit safer by killing the Beast. Things are safer for them and for their family. She rests her hand on her belly, telling Connor he didn’t have that before but he will now. Connor is determined not to let anything happen to Cordy or the baby. She strokes his face, assuring him she knows he’ll take care of them. She tells him the baby is theirs, nobody else needs to know about it yet. Connor asks if she’s ashamed of him. She denies that. Connor doesn’t understand why she wants to keep the pregnancy a secret. Cordy explains that the baby is growing too fast, the others will be scared by that, they might want to kill it the way they wanted to kill Connor. She tells him to trust her, "It won’t be too long. They’re all gonna know what’s growing inside of me." He smiles, she caresses his face. In the lobby, Gunn hands Fred and Lorne each a tranquilizer gun. Lorne wonders if he’s mentioned shots of Tequila are more his style as he examines the gun. Fred wonders if Gunn really thinks Angelus would return, figuring he’d have to know they’d be ready for him this time. Gunn reckons it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. He reminds Fred if Angelus shows up, shoot him with the tranquilizer gun. Gunn heads downstairs to check that the sewer tunnel entrances are secured. Fred figures that’s a good idea, considering Lilah got in that way. Fred responds to a noise by rapidly aiming the tranquilizer gun in the direction of the sound. She finds herself pointing the gun at Connor who’s coming down the stairs. He says he thought Tasers were more her style. Gunn asks how Cordelia is doing. Connor answers she’s a little tired. Fred offers to go upstairs and check on her. Connor stops her, telling her Cordy doesn’t want to see anybody right now. He says she wanted something to eat and heads for the kitchen. Lorne notes Connor’s behavior is strange and getting stranger. Fred wonders if Lorne thinks Connor and Cordy are still — Lorne says it could be that, but he’s not getting the "warm fuzzies" vibe. He’s not quite sure what it is, he can’t get a good read on it. Gunn notes things are tense for everybody with everything that’s happened. Fred offers that perhaps Connor is upset that Faith set him down. She wonders if anyone else thinks that might have been a mistake. Lorne doesn’t think so, unless they wanted Angel back in a "dustpan". Gunn reckons Connor is better off "playing nursemaid or whatever he’s doing with Cordy." He’d rather not know about it. Fred points out that Wes had told them Faith got badly beaten. She agrees that Faith is the best option they have for getting Angel back but wonders what happens if she’s not up to the task. At his apartment, Wes loads tranquilizer equipment into a bag and zips it shut. Faith comes out, ready to go. Wes looks at her. Faith pauses, then apologizes for trashing the bathroom wall. She urges him to get moving. Wes tells her he’s not concerned about the bathroom, though he figures he’s lost his security deposit. He says he needs to know her head is completely in the game. Faith grabs the bag, slings it over her shoulder and answers, "Five by five, boss." She heads out the door as Wes looks after her, concerned. He follows her out. In the hotel’s back office, Fred is talking to herself, searching for a "runic transcription guide." She lays some papers over the tranquilizer pistol laying on the desk and moves to examine the shelves. She finds the book she’s looking for, removing it from the shelf. Angelus notes her talking to herself, saying "A lot of that going around." A nervous Fred tells him they put a demon non-violence spell on the hotel, he won’t be able to hurt her. Angelus feigns disappointment at that news, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out an amulet. As he twirls it around his finger, he notes they are so predictable. He figured they’d do the sanctuary spell which is why he got the amulet which protects him from its effects. He moves toward Fred who tells him she doesn’t believe him. He grabs the book from her, slams it into the wall beside her, pinning her between his arms as he keeps his hands on the wall on either side of her. He wonders if she believes him now. She asks what he wants. He says maybe he just missed her, but since she asked, he wants everything they’ve discovered about the Beast’s Master. Fred says they haven’t found anything. Angelus looks around the office at the papers everywhere. He tells her he doesn’t believe her. He reckons with all the research materials available, a smart girl like Fred must at least have an idea. She says if she did, she wouldn’t tell him about it. He pauses a moment, then moves away from her, figuring he’ll have to work it out for himself then. He keeps the book he took from her, scoops up some papers from the desk and thanks her for giving him nothing. Fred moves toward him, telling Angelus he’s outmatched, "What your up against? He’ll make you his bitch, just like the Beast." She suggests if he’s going to kill her he get it over with. She gets close enough to notice writing on Angelus’ amulet, "Made in China." She grabs a glass water pitcher and smashes him in the head with it. As he’s knocked back, he drops the amulet while Fred retrieves the tranquilizer pistol from the desk, takes aim and fires it. The dart misses Angelus and embeds in the wall. Angelus runs out into the lobby, Fred follows and takes aim again. She fires and hits Lorne who falls to the floor. Angelus leaps up onto the landing above the lobby. Fred fires again. Angelus uses the runic transcription guide he’s carrying as a shield. The dart embeds in the book. Fred fires again, but the gun is empty. Angelus laughs, saying that’s a shame, he was just starting to have fun. Connor comes running down the hall and tries to punch Angelus but the sanctuary spell kicks in, preventing him from connecting, knocking him over the railing onto the lobby floor. As Fred rushes to an unconscious Connor, Angelus looks over the railing and says, "Well, isn’t that interesting." Angelus leaps down onto the lobby floor, pulls the tranq dart out of the book and tosses it to the floor. He tells Fred it was a nice try and suggests she consider how close she came to stopping him "while I’m slaughtering all your friends." He leaves. As Angelus steps outside the hotel, he runs into Faith and Wes who are just arriving. Faith and Angelus fight. Wes tries to get a clear shot with the gun he’s carrying but can’t. Angelus kicks Faith into Wes, sending them both sprawling and the gun flying into the bushes. Angelus grabs Wes and holds him by the throat. He notes the spell is kind of weak, he’d have thought it would at least extend to the sidewalk. Faith tells him to let Wes go, this is between the two of them. Angelus tells her it’s never just the two of them, "Wes will always be in the middle." Faith starts to slowly, hesitantly, move toward him. Angelus suggests she ask herself if she’s fast enough to get to him before he snaps Wesley’s neck as he tightens his grip. He says Wes is "dying" to discover the answer to that one. Wes tells Faith to "do it." Angelus encourages her to make an attempt. He goads her, trying to get her to make a move. Faith continues to hesitate. Angelus tells her "it’s all about choices", the ones made, the ones not, the consequences of both. As Wes gasps for air, Angelus tells Faith not to worry about him, "What’s one more dead body to us? Come on. Where’s my girl?" Gunn comes out of the hotel, shouts to Faith and tosses her a tranquilizer gun. Gunn takes aim as well, but Angelus tosses Wesley into him, knocking him down. Angelus leaps over the fence and escapes as Faith aims and fires. She sees Wes lying on the ground, drops the gun and rushes to see if he’s okay. Wes tells her to go. Gunn opens the gate and looks around noting Angelus has disappeared. Connor rushes into Cordy’s room, calling for her. He looks around the empty room. A flush is heard as Cordy opens the bathroom door and comes out. He asks if she’s okay. She says it’s just morning sickness. Connor is relieved she’s all right. She wonders why he thought she wouldn’t be. Connor tells her Angelus was there again. She reacts strongly with, "Excuse me?" She catches herself, softens her tone when Connor turns to face her and asks lightly, "He was?" Connor fills her in on what happened, Angelus finding Fred alone, using the phony amulet to fool her, then taking all the information they had on the Beast and its Master. Connor sits down on the bed as Cordy mutters to herself, "That son of a bitch." Connor says Angelus almost killed Wes outside of the hotel, but Faith and Gunn ran him off. Cordy halfheartedly says, "Yay for our side." Connor notes that Angelus took Lilah’s book and the information Wolfram & Hart had gotten from Lorne’s brain. He wonders why Angelus wanted it. Cordy is sure whatever the reason, it’s nothing good. Connor says they were lucky nobody got hurt. Cordelia reckons the sanctuary spell must have worked, preventing any demon violence. Connor tells her it did, but doesn’t mention it worked against him, though his expression indicates he’s troubled by it. In the lobby, Lorne lies on the couch, sleeping off the effect of the tranquilizer dart, snoring. Gunn walks behind the reception desk where Fred is seated at the smaller desk, looking at the amulet. Gunn is armed with a tranquilizer pistol and ready to use it, should Angelus show up again. Fred says Angelus got the W&H papers and the book. Gunn assures her it wasn’t her fault. Fred looks toward Wes and Faith who are sitting on the poof couch in the lobby, she thinks they blame her. Gunn offers that neither of them was particularly effective either. Fred doesn’t figure Faith would have been fooled by the phony amulet. Gunn is glad the amulet wasn’t genuine, he wouldn’t want anything to happen to Fred. Fred gets up, looks at Gunn and starts to ask if they can maybe — She’s interrupted by the sound of a shotgun being cocked. At the weapons cabinet, Wes prepares the gun. Faith reminds him they weren’t going to go for the kill. Wes assures her that’s still the plan but he reckons if they get another chance, they need something more substantial to slow Angelus down so they can dart him. Fred wonders if Wes plans to slow him down by "blowing his legs off." Gunn anxiously offers to help with that. Wes hands Faith a tranq pistol and refuses Gunn’s offer, saying he needs someone to stay at the hotel he can trust, someone who can hurt Angelus. Gunn is in agreement with that. Wes looks at Fred and tells her to be careful. He notices the amulet and warns her that Angelus might be carrying the real thing next time. Faith and Wes exit the hotel. As they step outside into the courtyard, Faith tells Wes they’ll start with a sweep of the perimeter, she’ll take point. She reminds him to be aware. She says, "If he’s still in the area —" Wes cuts her off, wondering if he is, if she’ll let Angelus get away again. Faith notes this comment is coming from "the boy hostage?" Wes reckons Angelus was right, Faith should have made the move to take him out. Faith reminds Wes Angelus would have killed him. Wes suggests she consider those he’ll have the chance to kill now because she let that matter to her. He tells her, "Angelus is an animal. The only way to defeat him is to be just as vicious as he is." At an occult book shop, Angelus sits in a chair near the fireplace, looking through the papers he took from the hotel. He looks through the eyeglasses he’s wearing, moves them up and down his nose a bit, then tosses them to the floor, telling the middle aged shopkeeper, Reg, who’s cowering there, the glasses aren’t helping. Angelus gets up and stalks toward the man as he tries crawling on his elbows away from him. Angelus is irritated, some of the information is in an ancient language he can’t translate and the rest of it looks like doodles. He squats down next to the guy, punches him somewhere out of frame, a crunching sound is heard when he connects. Reg screams. Angelus tells him, "Don’t make me puncture the other one." He wants information on the Beast’s Master and, since he’s in an occult shop, he should get some answers there. He reckons it’s Reg’s job to help him out. A terrified Reg says he doesn’t know anything. Angelus thinks he does, reminding him, as he punctuates each point with a vicious punch, the Beast had a penchant for rains of fire, blotting out the sun and getting inside one’s head. The Master’s voice screams Angelus’ name, causing him to jump back and grab his head in pain. He suggests the voice dial it down some. The Beast continues to shout, telling Angelus he isn’t happy. Angelus reminds the Master he’s not deaf. The voice asks if Angelus thinks he’s blind, calling him a "little man." The voice tells him he knows everything Angelus is going to do before he does it and warns him, if he tries to seek the Master out again, he’ll be punished for it. Angelus wonders what the punishment will be, another headache? He’s not impressed. The shopkeeper watches with fear as Angelus rambles on, from Reg’s perspective, shouting at himself. Angelus is angry, noting how typical for all powerful, omniscient beings to send something else, like the Beast, to deal with the dirty work. He doesn’t reckon that’s so spooky. Angelus looks down at the floor, noticing Reg has escaped. He’s further enraged the Master caused him to lose his shopkeeper. The Master takes a softer tone, saying they should be friends. Angelus isn’t interested, pointing out he’s evil, that precludes friendships. He also notes that if he had friends, they wouldn’t be living in his head. The Master wonders if Angelus means like he is forced to live inside Angel’s. [Insert evil laughter] The Master goes on taunting him about the soul, "Because you’re the voice in there, aren’t you? Just beneath the surface, buried under all that goodness. Fully conscious, fully aware, but trapped. Unable to move or speak. Powerless to act on your desires. So thirsty. So helpless. It must be agony." Angelus tells the Master he’s getting bored, but his expression throughout the voice’s taunts says the Master scored with that dialog. Angelus starts to leave. The voice asks him about a game of "show and tell." The voice asks rhetorically who has the soul. Angelus stops and turns, seeing the Muo-Ping glowing with his soul inside. He makes a lunge for it but his hands pass through it. It’s an illusion. The Master notes, "Oh right, me." Angelus is growing weary of the games. The Master concedes it’s showmanship but, "I assure you, my sweet, this very moment I hold the real thing in the palms of my corporeal hands and I will restore it if you don’t behave. I’ll put you back in your box, Angelus, and bury you so far inside Angel, you’ll never claw your way out again." Those words clearly strike a chord with Angelus who looks at the illusion of the Muo-Ping. He reluctantly, with a touch of bitterness, asks, "What do you want me to do ... Master?" In her room at the hotel, Cordy holds the real Muo-Ping in her hands and gazes at it, pleased. At the lobby desk, Gunn loads a tranquilizer pistol and tosses it to Fred. She notes sarcastically it worked so well the last time. Gunn loads the tranquilizer rifle and assures Fred what happened wasn’t her fault. He reminds her she survived it, that’s the important thing. She reckons she only did because Angelus let her and she figures he did because she wasn’t any threat to him. Gunn tells her if she thinks she did something wrong, don’t repeat the mistake, it’s simple. She wonders if it really is. Gunn realizes she’s referring to something else now and quietly answers, "Sometimes." He turns away from her. Fred notes that they always seem to be turning away. Gunn isn’t anxious to get into this discussion but Fred persists. She tells him whatever Wes felt, or thought might happen, she should have told him there was no possibility of it. She wonders if Gunn thinks she doesn’t realize that. Gunn says he wasn’t going to say that. Fred knows it’s what he’s been thinking. She tells him she’s sorry. Gunn responds that it isn’t about that anymore, he thinks she knows that. Fred moves closer to him, telling him she only knows that she misses him. She wonders if they can’t go back to "before any of this?" She tells him that’s all she wants. They kiss. A confused Gunn pulls away, deciding now is a good time to patrol. He arms himself with the tranq rifle, gives Fred a parting look and leaves. At the demon bar, Faith looks for information from the gray, single horned demon Angelus intended to kill earlier. She smashes his head onto the bar. He asks her to take it easy, pointing out he bruises easily. Faith wonders what color he’ll be when she finishes with him. Wes watches her back. One of the vampire patrons gets up and starts to move toward Faith. Wes points the shotgun in his face and suggests he reconsider. The vampire back down. The demon at the bar tells Faith he didn’t know, he was drunk, he thought she was eighteen. Faith tells him she’d prefer not to understand what he’s talking about. She calls him "Lumpy". He tells her his name is "Francis". She slams his head onto the bar again as one of the vamp patrons cheers her efforts, encouraging her to "Break his head open!" Francis wonder if he looks like a piņata. Faith is willing to find out as she grabs him and prepares to slam him again. Francis asks what she wants to know. Wes answers they want to know where Angelus is. Francis asks, "Who?" Faith slams his head onto the bar again. Faith tells him they’ve been to a lot of dingy bars like that one during the evening. Wes adds the trail led there. Francis swears "on my mother’s tumor" he doesn’t know anything. Francis turns and notices another demon sneaking up behind Wes, ready to strike him with a pool cue. Francis gets a spine and defiantly tells Wes and Faith if he knew anything he wouldn’t tell a couple of "flesh bags" like them who were about to "get their internal organs sucked out of their —" Francis is interrupted by the sound of a shotgun blast as Wes fires the gun at the the pool cue wielding demon, dropping him. He looks down at the body and notes casually, "Strom demon. Face should grow back.". He aims the gun at Francis’ face and adds, "Eventually." Faith wonders if Francis thinks his will. Francis suddenly remembers Angelus, telling Wes and Faith he’s in the bar a lot, bragging about his exploits. He says he never liked him, he’s on their side. Faith grabs him and slams his head down on the bar again. Wes asks where Angelus is. Francis says he doesn’t know. He says he was there earlier, telling them about what had happened with the Beast, then he started talking to himself and went into the back room. Faith asks where. Francis points out the entrance to the drug den. Faith and Wes enter the drug den, where there are a number of stoned vampires and humans. Faith starts to ask what’s going on there but before she can finish the question, she and Wes are attacked by a vampire. The vamp knocks Wes to the floor, breaking a piece of wooden furniture. He grabs Faith by the throat and pins her to the wall. She punches him off. Wes retrieves a piece of wood splintered off of the furniture, reaches out and stakes the vamp with it. Faith retrieves the tranquilizer pistol from the floor. In Cordy’s room, Connor examines himself in the mirror, making vampire faces, growling, checking his teeth, looking for some manifestation of demonic attributes. Cordy comes in, noting that most teenagers are more concerned about blemishes. Connor stumbles for an explanation about what he was doing. Cordy tells him she figured he attacked Angelus and the sanctuary spell kicked in, affecting him. Connor says he’s not a demon. Cordy matter-of- factly offers that she is, at least partly so, it went along with the visions thing. Connor notes that was her choice, it isn’t the same. Cordy wonders why not. Connor is confused about the whole who and why thing concerning his existence. He says he doesn’t know what he is. Cordy offers that she does, he’s a "daddy" and as a father he needs to understand the fact that they’re "special", just like their baby will be. She lays her hand on her belly. Connor smiles and ponders impending fatherhood. Cordy assures him she’s confident he’ll be good at it. She strokes his face and tells him the only thing he has to concern himself with is protecting them. They kiss. She suggests he go back downstairs and find out what’s happening, she likes to know everything that’s going on. Connor leaves. In the drug den, Faith tries to rouse a stoned human girl. Wes points out an empty syringe as Faith notices the girls arm has tracks and bite marks. Faith asks Wes what they did to her. Wes explains that she did it to herself. The humans shoot up, the vamps feed off of them using them as a kind of filter for the drugs. He’s heard the effects "can be quite intoxicating, for both of them." The girl notes that Faith is pretty and asks if she wants to make out. Faith grabs her and jerks her to her feet, shoving her against the wall. Faith describes Angelus and what he was doing in the bar, she asks if the girl saw him. Faith punctuates her question with a punch to the girl’s face. The girl says she didn’t see him and tells Faith to stop, she’s hurting her. Faith lets her go and backs off. She tells Wes the girl doesn’t know anything. Wes turns his back to the girl and tells Faith, "Maybe not" as he pulls a knife and rams it into the girl’s shoulder. Faith demands to know what he’s doing. Wes demands answers from the girl, noting that judging by the tracks in her arms it appears she’s been there at least two or three days. She concedes she’s been there four days. Wes figures then she had to have seen Angelus. The girl sobs, admitting she did see him. Faith looks on, shocked by Wesley’s actions. Wes wants to know where Angelus is. The girl says she doesn’t know. Wes works the wound a bit and notes they’d heard Angelus was talking to himself, he asks what he was saying. The girl sobs harder, telling him she doesn’t know, it was like he was talking to someone else about "a rain of fire, pulling strings and a soul." That’s all she heard. She pleads with him to stop hurting her. Wes roughly pulls the knife out, the girl sinks to the floor. Faith checks on her, asking Wes if he’s lost it. Wes wipes the blade clean and casually responds that he "avoided the main arteries" and adds, "She’ll live. If that’s what you call this." He puts the knife away and retrieves the shotgun. He realizes whatever was controlling the Beast has made contact with Angelus and leaves. Faith follows after him, wondering if torturing humans is part of his new "makeover". Wes answers that he did what had to be done because she couldn’t. Faith points out that she did hit her. Wes doesn’t figure that’s anything unfamiliar to the girl. Faith tells him he crossed the line with his actions. Wesley turns on her, reminding her there was a time she didn’t mind torture. He remembers she actually enjoyed it. Faith reacts to that, telling him that’s not who she is now and she figures he knows that. Wes looks at the shotgun and notes it’s comforting having it around, nonetheless. He lets her know he remembers what she did to him, the broken glass, the cuts shallow enough to keep him conscious. Faith asks if he thinks she’s still capable of that. Wes wonders if this is where she tells him she’s "turned over a new leaf, found God, inner peace?" He reckons they both know that isn’t true, she hasn’t changed because she can’t. Faith backs away from him. Wes continues to press, telling her she’s sick, she always will be, it goes straight down to her soul. He says that’s why her friends in Sunnydale turned against her, why the Council tried to have her killed, nobody trusts her. He yells at her, saying she’s a "rabid dog that should have been put down years ago!" Faith punches him, shoves him against a chain link fence and prepares to brain him but stops herself. Wes notes that is what she needs to defeat Angelus. Faith refuses. Wes tells her she has to be willing to "take it all the way". Faith won’t risk killing Angel, not after what he’s done for her. She’s determined there has to be another way. She walks out. In the hotel lobby, Lorne comes to. Fred apologizes for shooting him with the tranquilizer dart. Lorne doesn’t blame her, saying it’s the best sleep he’s gotten since the apocalypse started. He asks what he’s missed. Gunn fills him in. Lorne figures since everybody is alive, the sanctuary spell must have worked. Gunn notes that it did. Connor listens but says nothing. Fred says Angelus got away with Lilah’s book and the information W&H got out of Lorne’s head. She blames herself for that. Gunn explains what happened, how Angelus fooled her. He reckons anybody would have reacted the same way Fred did. Fred shows Lorne the amulet Angelus had brought. Lorne recognizes the amulet as a piece of junk sold by a demon named Maury. Connor asks if Lorne knows where Maury is. Lorne answers with the location of Maury’s place. Gunn tells Fred to call Wes. Faith and Wes enter a cavernous building, searching for Maury. As they walk upstairs, Faith wonders why Angelus would still be hanging around even if he did get the amulet from Maury. Wes figures he wouldn’t, but perhaps Maury can give them some information about his whereabouts. They follow a trail of blood and find Maury’s corpse on the floor, behind a desk. Angelus appears behind them and offers his assistance. He says a voice in his head told him they’d be there. Faith fires the tranquilizer pistol at him but misses. Angelus kicks her backward, into the wall. Wes fires the shotgun at him. Angelus dodges the gunfire, telling Wes he needs to do better. Wes keeps firing, Angelus keeps avoiding getting hit. He stands in front of Wes and offers to give him one more shot. As Wes prepares to fire, Angelus grabs the gun and shoves it upward, sending the shot into the ceiling. He takes the gun away from Wes and shoves him through a railing, sending him crashing through a section of scaffolding to the floor below. Angelus aims the gun at Faith and fires several times. She maneuvers, avoiding getting hit, but falls down the stairwell in the process. Angelus faces off with her at the bottom of the stairs, pointing the shotgun at her. He wonders if she remembers her last fight with Angel, when she wanted him to kill her. He asks if she still has that death wish. She quietly answers, "No." He asks what she said. She answers again, louder. He asks her again. She screams, "No!" Angelus tells her that’s too bad because she’s going to die, but not like this. He unloads the gun. She looks confused. Faith kicks the gun out of his hand, jumps to her feet and begins punching him. Angelus hits her back, enjoying the workout. He continues to enjoy an advantage in the fight as he taunts her. He punches her, knocks her to the floor, then kicks her. He’s disappointed she bleeds so easily nowadays. Faith spits, "Screw you!" Angelus offers maybe they can do that later, "after." He likes his women still. Wes comes to and tries to get his bearings. Angelus calls to him, asking how he’s doing. He mocks Wes, saying he always manages to make a bad situation worse. He stalks toward Faith and notes that she was another of Wesley’s screw ups, but then again, he doesn’t figure Wes had much to work with. Faith forces a laugh and suggests he save the mind games, telling him Wes warned her about his tactics. Angelus laughs, figuring she got the "rousing, stiff upper lip speech." He wonders if that’s all Wes armed her with. She says there was something else as she pulls a knife and throws it at him, hitting him in the chest. She gets to her feet, rushes him and pulls the knife out. They fight, she slashes him a few times with the knife. As they fight, he kicks the knife out of her hand, up into the air. Faith punches him a few times then catches the knife as it falls, and slashes him with it. Angelus kicks her to the floor then leaps up onto the scaffolding. He tells her that hurt, he liked it, then starts to laugh. Angelus taunts her, remaining out of sight. He tells her he knew his "girl" was in there somewhere. He’s enjoying seeing her again. Faith tells him to shut up as she continues searching for him. Angelus tells her he understands how it feels to be forced to be someone you’re not. No matter how hard one tries, there’s no escaping the pain of that. He tells her there’s one way to make the pain stop, "hurt someone else" as he appears behind her. Faith turns and slashes at him with the knife. He grabs her wrist and kicks her, then tosses her backward, up into the scaffolding. She loses the knife. Angelus leaps up into the scaffolding to continue the fight. They go back and forth, leaping from section to section of the scaffolding, exchanging blows. Faith drops to the floor below. Angelus follows her down. He kicks her, telling her she’s not even trying. She punches him several times. He beats her to the floor. He wonders if she’s still looking for someone to "beat the bad" out of her. Faith gets to her feet, Angelus punches her again. He continues punching and kicking her while he tells her he could beat her to death, it wouldn’t change anything. He reckons she’ll always be what she is; a murderer, an animal, and she likes it as much as he does. Faith gets to her feet and punches him in the face. Angelus hits her back. Faith retaliates and finally gets the upper hand in the battle, or so it seems. She punches and kicks him to the floor, then pummels him some more. She stops herself and tells him he’s wrong, she’s a different person now, she’s not like him. Angelus kicks her in the back of the leg, knocking her to the floor. He jerks her to her feet, her back to him, and tells her, "You will be." He morphs into game face and sinks his fangs into her neck. |
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