Angel

From Angelsacolyte.com :

At the end of the business day, Fred walks down an empty hall of Wolfram & Hart, headed for the lab. She enters the lab and passes the last tech leaving for the evening. She bids him good night as he exits and continues on into the lab where she pauses to read from some paperwork she’s carrying. She senses something, turns abruptly to look behind herself but sees nothing. She turns back and finds Spike standing in front of her. She drops her paperwork, throws her hands up into the air and screams, unconvincingly.

Spike dejectedly asks how long she was aware of his presence. She admits, "Just since the lobby" and adds, in an attempt to be encouraging, the popping up behind her was scary, noting she dropped her papers. Spike appreciates the effort. As Fred stoops to retrieve her papers from the floor, Spike notes he’d offer to help her but — He moves his hand and passes it through some lab equipment, illustrating assisting would be a bit difficult.

Fred retrieves her papers and stands back up, noting Spike’s display and the fact he still can’t interact. He confirms that, can’t move anything, can’t scare anyone, kind of a pathetic ghost. Fred reminds him she’d told him before, he’s not a ghost. Spike sarcastically says that’s great and asks for a hug. Fred figures he knew what she meant, he’s more than a common "spectral disturbance", he’s something unique. She picks up a handheld scanner from the table and moves it over Spike, noting with concern his "radiant heat signature’s dropped .2 degrees." Spike thought there was a bit of a chill.

Fred puts the scanner down and stammers to find the right words for her question. Spike saves her the effort, knowing what she’s wondering about. He asks, "Feeling the tug of eternal damnation ?" He reckons perhaps that’s why he can’t touch anything, it’s taking all of his energy to keep from sliding into hell. Fred assures him she won’t let that happen. She’s been working on a hunch, she thinks she’s getting close. Spike asks, "To making me a real boy ?"

Fred chuckles and answers, "As real as a vampire with a soul can be." As she writes something down, she adds absently, "It won’t be like Angel’s thing with the prophecy but ..." That gets Spike’s attention, he asks what prophecy. Fred answers, "The shan-shu-ha something or nother. It says if Angel helps enough people he gets to be human again." Spike is underwhelmed, responding with a snide, "Oh. Really. Goody, for him."

Fred has an epiphany about the readings she took from Spike. He wonders what she’s figured out. She explains it in technical terms, the heat loss is due to a "lack of particle cohesion. It’s almost as if your essence is straddling a dimensional void which may be the key, assuming that the amulet used to save the world was some sort of trans-reality amplifier capable of focusing massive quantities of mystical energy." She picks up the amulet and examines it as she ponders her theory. Spike just wants to know what she said, in English. Fred simplifies, if she can defy most of the laws of nature, there’s a chance she can make Spike corporeal. Spike smiles shyly, telling her there might be a "hug in your future after all." He leans against the table and passes through it, disappearing. Fred calls his name.

Spike falls through the basement ceiling, onto the floor. He gets up and notices a slicing noise. He follows the sound through the dark to its source. He finds a man in a suit, sitting at a table, his back to Spike. The area is illuminated only by a bare bulb suspended over the table from a wire in the ceiling. The man continues slicing something.

Spike approaches, apologizing for the interruption, asking if the man could tell him the quickest way back to the lab, "as the ghost flies." As he gets closer to the man, he sees the man is using a large knife to slice his own fingers off of his hand. The man turns abruptly to look at Spike, revealing he has no face, only the partially decayed remains of one.

The man vanishes, leaving a nervous Spike alone, looking around the basement. He’ll take the disappearing act as a "no" to his question.

---

Lorne is walking down the hall at W&H, on his cell phone with a client. He assures her it’s okay that she’s gained a few pounds since casting and urges her to put the pills down. He’s sure he can straighten things out and if he can’t, he offers to take some of those pills himself. He waves to Fred as he passes her in the hall and walks on into his office.

Fred walks into Wesley’s office, tears a sheet off the legal pad she’s carrying and lays it on his desk. She tells him she needs those as soon as possible and starts to leave. Wes mutters, "Hello Wesley, nice to see you." Fred stops and turns back toward him. She apologizes, saying she’s a bit "preoccupied." Wes reads from the list she’d just given him, "’The Magdalene Grimoire’, ’Necronomicon des Mortes’, ’Hochstadter’s Treatise on Fractal Geometry in 12-dimensional Space’." He looks up at Fred, thinking "preoccupied" may not be the right word to describe her.

Fred wants to know how quickly she can get the materials. Wes says half of the books on the list are extremely rare and offers if he exploits every connection he’s made over the past month as the "new head of research and intelligence", he should have them to her in about 20 minutes. Fred is happy to hear that and asks him to let her know when they’re available as she starts to leave. Wes tells her there’s one condition. Fred asks what that is. Wes answers, "Dinner." Fred stammers uncomfortably. Wes clarifies, he just meant she had to have a real dinner. He wonders how long it’s been since she had anything besides "day old takeout" or slept more than a quick nap in the lab. Fred assures him she’s all right and asks, "Twenty minutes ?" Wes nods. Fred tells him not to worry and again assures him she’s okay.

As Fred turns to leave, Eve appears in the doorway, startling Fred who screams. Eve asks if she has a minute.

---

Fred is sitting opposite Angel’s desk as Angel looks over some papers and clears his throat. Eve is standing next to his desk. Angel hesitantly offers he understands it’s been difficult adjusting to the move from a small detective agency to running W&H, they’ve all been trying to adjust but —

Fred interrupts, telling him Wes just had a chat with her. She promises she’ll eat a good meal and sleep for a few hours so everyone can stop worrying about her. She’s fine, really. Angel smiles, saying that’s good. It’s clearly not what he brought her in to talk about. He glances toward Eve and finally manages to get to the point, there’s been some concern about how much money Fred’s department has been spending.

Fred admits she may have gone over her budget projections "by a few —" Eve interrupts, "$800,000." That’s how much Fred is over her quarterly budget and the quarter isn’t even over yet. Fred acknowledges it’s a lot of money, but she’s trying to do something that hasn’t been done before so, "Yeah, attempting to recorporealize Spike —"

Angel stops her and asks what it is she’s trying to do. Fred answers, trying to make Spike corporeal again, like Angel asked. Angel tells her he asked for her to find a way to get Spike out of W&H. Fred reminds him they accepted the offer to take over the firm because they thought they could use it to make a difference, to do good. Angel wants to know what that has to do with Spike. Fred answers, "He just saved the world, vampire with a soul fighting for the good of humanity. Ring anything ? He’s just like you, a champion."

Angel responds, "God, I really hate that word." Fred thinks Spike would be an asset, fighting on their side. Angel tells her he won’t be, he knows Spike better than anybody, he only cares about himself. Fred adds, "And Buffy." Angel rolls his eyes. Eve finds the conversation taking an interesting turn. Angel admits Fred is right, Spike does care about Buffy. He asks where Fred thinks Spike will head for "as soon as his fresh new feet hit the ground." Fred wonders if that’s what this is about, Angel afraid Spike will come back and "try to hook up with your ex again ?" Angel is concerned about Fred, he knows Spike can be charming when he wants to be.

Eve notes he is nice to look at. Fred agrees with that then asks if Angel thinks she’s stupid. She knows Spike’s been "playing" her with the looks and the smiles, informing him she’s not "some idiot schoolgirl with a crush." Angel asks what it is then. Fred says it’s about doing the right thing. She wonders if Angel remembers that. Angel tells her as the head of the department, it’s her decision. He warns her not to be disappointed if it doesn’t work out, "Some people can’t be saved."

---

Spike is in the empty lab, lamenting the lack of a "mad scientist" when he could use one. He looks at the amulet laying on a table, alongside some notes, and hopes whatever Fred is working on, she gets it done quickly. He notices one of the lab magnifying lights on a nearby table flickering on and off. As he walks up to it, the light goes out. He notices a shadow pass quickly behind him. He thinks it’s No Face, the finger chopping guy from the basement. Spike wonders if he got tired of hanging out down there and decided to come upstairs for a few laughs. He notices a buzzing sound and the fluorescent office lights beginning to flicker. He scoffs at the attempt to shake him, noting he’s a vampire ghost, "Bloody well invented afraid of the dark."

He walks out into the hall and notices the overhead lights shutting off, one by one, leading down the hallway. He hears the sound of a woman, softly sobbing. He walks toward the sound, admitting he was lured by the "creep show" and wonders what comes next. He sees a young woman, dressed in late 19th century attire, crouched on the floor against the wall. She stands and asks him to "Please, hold me. Hold me, please." A rattled Spike notices the woman’s arms are severed at the elbow. As she walks slowly toward him, he backs away. She suddenly comes flying toward him and then vanishes. Spike looks down the hall, his eyes darting around nervously.

---

Angel steps off the elevator and enters his apartment, reading from a sheet of paper. Spike is already there, sniping. "What’s on the agenda ? Rousting a nest of venomous retirement plans ?" Angel tosses the sheet of paper aside and pours himself a glass of blood from a crystal decanter. He tells Spike, "Shop’s closed" and suggests he return to haunt him tomorrow. Spike notes the air up there is "too rarefied" for his tastes anyway. He reckons Angel thinks he belongs "down with the dregs." Angel isn’t happy Spike is still there. Spike thought maybe they could hang out for awhile, "Couple a vampires from the old days, doing our ... hangy thing."

Angel realizes Spike is starting to feel how close he is to hell. Spike gets defensive, saying it’s not like it’s a big deal, if Angel could break out — Angel corrects him, he never escaped from hell, he only got a "short reprieve" and he’s not even sure how that happened. Spike would prefer Angel drop the martyr act, saying Fred told him about the prophecy. "Pile up all your good deeds and get the brass ring handed to you, like everything else." Angel tells him the one catch with that is the prophecy "is a bunch of bull, they all are." He says nothing is written in stone or fated to be, "You save the world, you end up running an evil law firm." Spike counters, "Or playing Casper with one foot in the fryer."

Angel wonders if Spike really believes any of it matters, noting all that will ever count is the things they did, the lives they destroyed, "So yeah, surprise. You’re going to hell. We both are." He walks over and takes a seat on the couch. Spike wonders why bother trying to do the right thing, trying to make a difference, if hell is still waiting. Angel asks quietly, "What else are we gonna do ?" Spike reckons that’s it then, he really is going to fry. Angel welcomes him to the club.

Spike sighs and takes a seat next to Angel on the couch, noting at least he’ll have company. They banter back and forth for a bit.

Spike : "You and me, together again. Hope and Crosby. Stills and Nash. Chico and the —" Angel (impatiently) : "Yeah, are we done ?" Spike : "Never much for small talk, were you ? Always too busy trying to perfect that broody block of wood mystique. God, I loved that." Angel : "Not as much as I loved your nonstop yammering." Spike : "The way you always had to be the big swingy, swaggering around, barkin’ orders ..." Angel : "Never listening..." Spike : "Always interrupting .." Angel : "And your hair .. what color do they call that ? Radioactive ?" Spike : "Never much cared for you, Liam, even when we were evil." Angel : "Cared for you less." Spike : "Fine." Angel : "Good."

There’s a moment of silence between them, then Angel admits there was one thing he liked that he never told anyone. Spike asks eagerly, "Really ?" Angel says he liked Spike’s poems. Spike scoffs, contemptuously pointing out Angel liked Barry Manilow.

Spike looks up and sees a man’s corpse hanging from the ceiling. Angel wonders what he’s looking at. Spike asks if Angel sees it. Angel looks to where Spike is looking but sees nothing. Spike asks if he doesn’t see it. Angel doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Spike looks back across the room, the Hanging Man has vanished. He tells Angel never mind, "Too much talk of fire and brimstone." The Hanging Man appears standing next to Angel as a shaken Spike stares.

---

Angel and Spike are in the lobby. Spike is trying to tell Angel there are ghosts there as he yells at them to leave him alone. Wes and Fred join them. Wes asks who he’s talking to. Angel answers, "Ghosts." Fred wonders where they are as the Hanging Man walks behind her. An agitated Spike tells her they’re everywhere. He continues shouting at them to go away. Gunn and Eve arrive. Gunn says they checked security. Eve notes they do sweeps frequently to defend against "spectral intrusion." Angel wonders how many ghosts they’re dealing with. Gunn says the last security sweep was done ten minutes earlier and showed only one ghost in the building, Spike.

The Armless Woman appears across the lobby and whispers, "It’s coming for you." Spike urges the others to check again for ghosts. Fred suggests going back to the lab. Spike snaps at her they’re there, he wants them to check again, something is happening. The Hanging Man appears in front of Spike and whispers, "It’s here ..." As Spike pleads with Fred to find a way to get him out of there, he fades out and disappears. From Spike’s perspective, he’s still there, but the others can’t see or hear him.

Eve asks where he went. Angel tells her it’s okay, this happens sometimes. Fred suggests they split up and find him. Spike wants to know what’s going on as the others separate and depart. Spike shouts after Fred, telling her he’s still there but nobody hears him. He’s left standing in the lobby, alone. A British accented male voice warns,"She can’t help you now, William. No one can." Cue evil laughter.

Spike nervously wonders if this is where he’s supposed to ask, "Who’s there and then something creepy happens ?" He notes a shadow swiftly move behind him. He walks up the stairs, moving in the direction in which the shadow disappeared. He reaches the top of the stairs and walks down the hallway. He continues walking, turning down another hall. The bell on the elevator next to him dings as the doors slide open. Spike ponders that a moment, then resignedly steps inside. The doors slide shut.

---

Wes, Gunn and Fred enter Wesley’s office. Wes notes Angel was right in that Spike has been disappearing more and more frequently. Gunn says, "Give him 20 minutes, he’ll be popping up next to you in the bathroom, making cracks about your —" Wes and Fred shoot him a quizzical look. Gunn wonders if he’s the only one that gets that treatment from Spike.

Fred knows Spike has disappeared before, but reminds them they saw how he was, agitated and hallucinating. Things are different this time. Wes notes they’re dealing with something unique, dementia may not be out of the realm of possibility. Fred is sure Spike isn’t crazy. Gunn says shouting about invisible people is grounds for commitment, citing case precedent. He cuts himself off, apologizing. He explains the law that got stuffed into his head sometimes just clicks in.

Fred tells them they don’t understand what Spike is dealing with, where he goes when he disappears. She says he told her, he’s sliding into hell. Gunn and Wes figure that’s logical, where else would he go ?

---

Spike steps off the elevator and finds himself back in the basement. He walks down the hall, hearing the slicing sound again. He notes he played this scene already, he won’t be rattled by doing it a second time. He continues down the hall. He returns to the area of the table, chair and bare light bulb overhead. The sound of slicing continues but there’s nobody there. Spike walks over to the table and leans over it, examining the knife, blood and severed fingers on top of it. The fingers twitch.

A woman sings in the shadows, "It’s gonna get you." She giggles. Spike wonders what "it" is. She continues singing and giggling as she walks toward him, "Reaper’s gonna take you." Spike mockingly asks if the "Reaper" is what this has been about, "Tall, grim fellow with a scythe ?" She steps into the light revealing a woman coifed and attired 1940’s style. She has a large, jagged shard of glass embedded in her left eye. The woman moans, "It hurts." Spike notes he’s been ghosting it up for months, must have slipped through the cracks. The woman tells "William" not to worry, he hasn’t been forgotten. She pulls the glass shard out of her eye and slashes Spike across the cheek with it, much to his surprise leaving a bloody gash. The woman vanishes.

---

Fred is in the lab, working out equations. Spike appears behind her and tells her he thinks he knows what he’s been seeing. Fred is still unaware of his presence. Spike thinks the ghosts are the welcoming party, hell got tired of waiting, someone has been sent to retrieve him. It knows his name, it knows how to hurt him. He quietly tells Fred he wanted to thank her for trying to help, he needed to let her know what that meant to him before —

Fred congratulates herself on figuring something out. Spike is cocky again, thinking Fred has earned him a reprieve. Fred dejectedly realizes her solution will end up liquefying half of L.A. Spike’s hopes are brought crashing back to earth. Fred fears she’ll never figure it out. Spike tries giving her a pep talk, he’s sure she can work it out. As he pleads with her not to give up, he grabs her arm. A small jolt of electricity crackles where he touched her. Fred turns around suddenly in response, but sees nothing. Fred calls out to an unseen Spike. He tells her he’s still there, he knows she felt the touch, just as he did.

The lights go out. Spike shouts Fred felt him, he’s not going to be taken yet. Fred tells him to let her know somehow if it’s him. She turns and finds Angel standing behind her. A startled Fred wishes everyone would stop doing that. Angel apologizes, he just wanted to let her know —

Fred interrupts, telling him something was in the lab, it touched her, she thinks it was —

Angel gently tells her the mystics did another spectral sweep of the building, but nothing showed up. Spike is gone. Fred doesn’t care what the mystics say, she knows she felt something. She tells Angel they have to find Spike before he’s gone permanently.

---

Angel, Fred, Gunn and Wes are seated at a table in Angel’s office conference room. Wes thinks perhaps they should reconsider. Gunn agrees with that, noting he’s seen enough horror movies to know these things never turn out well.

Eve opens the door, a young blonde woman enters. Gunn looks her over, impressed, and is suddenly willing to reconsider. She tells the others Eve has apprised her of the problem, they’ve lost a "ghostie". She and Eve both take a seat at the table. Fred notes Spike isn’t exactly a ghost. The medium isn’t interested in hearing the details. She has a pilates class early in the morning and wants to get this over with. She tells the others she’ll say some words to get them "into the zone" and hopefully they’ll find their lost ghost. She directs them to clear their minds as she looks around the table and notes that shouldn’t be too difficult. Fred asks if they should hold hands. The woman answers, "Only if you’re lonely" then tells them to be quiet and let her do her thing.

She takes a deep breath and starts her spiel. After a bit, she senses a presence, close by. Spike is standing next to her, impatient. He wants her to get to it, get him out of there. The woman senses pain, "The dark soul, so much suffering." Spike figures that sums it up as he moves to the other side of her, sharply urging her to get the others to help him.

The woman repeats, "It’s coming." Spike says he’s already there and wonders what she’s talking about. The woman continues, "I can feel it. The dark soul. It’s here. It’s the R ..." Spike shouts, "The Reaper !" He wants her to tell them. The woman suddenly clutches her throat and gasps as blood trickles from her nose. The others wonder what’s happening. Angel tells Spike to stop. Spike denies he’s doing anything, but nobody can hear him.

The woman stops gasping and moves her hands away from her throat. She sits quietly a moment. Fred asks if she’s okay. She vomits blood all over Fred and collapses onto the table.

---

Wes and Gunn are in Angel’s office. Gunn notes he understands Spike was known as "William the Bloody" but he doesn’t get why Spike would kill the medium. Wes knows he wouldn’t, there was no advantage for him in killing someone who was trying to help him. Gunn wonders if Wes thinks it was an accident. Wes offers perhaps the "dark soul" she contacted wasn’t the one they were expecting. They realize if it wasn’t Spike, it was something else. Wes adds, "Something else a hell of a lot worse."

---

Fred is in a shower stall in the lab, washing off the medium’s blood. She senses something and turns to look through the glass of the shower stall, but sees nothing. Spike is standing on the other side of the glass, wondering why the Reaper killed the medium. He figures it couldn’t have killed her because she was going to help him since she didn’t even know he was there ... unless it wasn’t about him. Spike comes to a realization and tells Fred he figured out why it killed the woman, it did it to hide something. He presses his hand against the glass of the shower stall and notices his hand doesn’t pass through. He reaches out to touch it again, but it passes through on the second attempt. Spike realizes he needs to focus as he reaches a finger out to the glass and writes in the condensation clinging to it, "Reaper."

Fred turns off the shower, grabs a towel, wraps it around herself and starts to exit. She notices Spike’s message on the glass. The glass suddenly shatters and Spike is thrown through the wall, ending up on the floor of the landing, above the lobby. He hears footsteps approaching. He’s ready to finish this as he gets to his feet.

He sees the source of the footsteps as a man dressed in a suit, carrying a briefcase, reaches the top of the stairs. Spike is amused to see it’s a lawyer. The man turns to face Spike, revealing the half of his face Spike couldn’t see in profile is a bloody mess. He whispers, "William" as he walks past.

Spike backs away, right toward the Armless Woman who appears saying, "Please." A rattled Spike rushes down the steps into the lobby where he finds himself face to face with the Glass Woman, moaning "It hurts.". The ghosts disappear. Spike is through playing games with minions. He challenges whatever is behind it all to come out into the open and deal with him. He figures it’s a weak spirit who has to get others to do its dirty work. He doesn’t believe this is the "Reaper", come to take him to hell.

Spike shouts as he’s yanked back into the basement. As he lies on the floor, the male voice taunts, "Oh yes, take you screaming. An eternity of suffering for your sins. But first, I get to play." The man reveals himself as he steps up next to Spike, a pale corpse with rotted teeth, dressed in 18th century attire. He holds up a scalpel and suggests they get started as a frightened and shaking Spike looks up at him.

---

Gunn, Wes and Angel are poring over books, looking for information on the "dark soul." Gunn has found something. Angel asks what the book says. Gunn notes a lot, considering there are "over 3,200 different references and 4 of them are about you." Angel gets up and takes the book from Gunn, reading the pages. He defensively says that isn’t fair, he didn’t even have a soul when he did that. Wes thinks there must be a way to narrow down the search.

Fred comes in and tells them to cross reference with "Reaper". Gunn asks where she got that from. She says it came to her in the shower. Angel finds the reference, "Matthias Pavayne, dark soul #182." He says there isn’t much in the book as he reads from it, "European aristocrat, 18th century, he was a doctor nicknamed ’The Reaper’ for performing unnecessary surgery on his patients." Fred wonders what kind of surgery.

Wes moves over to a laptop and answers her question, "The kind you don’t recover from." He notes there’s a file on Pavayne in the classified histories section of the internal archives. Gunn wonders if Pavayne worked for W&H. Wes tells what he’s found ; Pavayne fled to California when it was still under Spanish rule, his arrival coinciding with a rash of ritualistic murders. He notes pieces of the victims were arranged in a way suggesting comprehensive knowledge of the "dark arts." He goes on, saying the killings continued for twenty years, the killer was never caught by the authorities. Angel wonders if Wes is saying W&H killed him. Fred asks why they’d do that. Gunn notes Pavayne "sounds like their idea of employee of the month."

Wes continues reading from the computer screen, W&H needed Pavayne’s blood. Representatives from the firm were looking to build in what would become L.A. A Spanish mission already existed on the site their seers chose. They needed the right sacrifice to "deconsecrate the grounds", Pavayne.

Fred is repulsed by that, asking if the building is constructed on the blood of "a mass murdering psychopath ?" Wes confirms it seems that way. Gunn doesn’t understand why Pavayne wasn’t burning in hell long ago, considering his crimes. Angel recalls Wes saying something about Pavayne’s expertise in the dark arts, offering perhaps he found a way to cheat hell. Fred thinks that may explain why the mystics can’t find him. Angel still doesn’t understand where all the ghosts are. Wes notes there aren’t any. Angel says that’s the point, it’s a high risk environment, people die there often, there should be a lot of ghosts around. He wonders what happened to them. Gunn suggests maybe Pavayne is "munching on ’em". Fred says whatever he’s doing, they need to get Spike back before he’s next.

---

In the lab, Spike is crawling on the floor, bleeding from numerous cuts, while Pavayne taunts,"Vampire soul. Watch it struggle. More fun than the others." Spike tells him to go to hell. Pavayne notes that’s Spike’s destination, not his.

The lights come up. Pavayne turns and sees Fred enter her office as he looks through the window from the lab floor. He notes her passion for trying to save Spike, perhaps he’ll "have a taste one day." Spike gets to his feet and takes a swing at Pavayne’s head but his fist passes through. Pavayne turns to mock his efforts, letting him know he makes the rules there.

Spike finds himself back in the basement as Pavayne tells him reality bends to his will, "the way it was meant to." Spike realizes he didn’t just fade away, Pavayne was responsible. Pavayne tells him it’s "Just parlor tricks, to amuse. Like your blood." Spike’s bloody cuts disappear. He touches his hand to his now healed cheek. Pavayne continues to taunt him, saying nothing happens there without will, "Your voice. Your body." The Armless Woman appears and adds, "Clothes you think you wear." Spike finds himself suddenly standing naked as Pavayne continues, "William the Bloody, scourge and destroyer, but scratch the surface —" The Armless Woman walks past him, "Little Nancy, still crying for his mother." Pavayne knows his secrets, all the bloody things he’s done, falling in love, winning a soul and no more bloody things, he thinks he’s special. The other ghosts appear and surround Spike, joining in the taunting ; "Thinks it matters", "Hell still waits", "Knows he deserves it, like all the others".

Spike reckons Pavayne was responsible for the deaths of those whose ghosts surround him. Pavayne says no, they died there, in service to W&H, "little ants, scurrying from the flames." Spike realizes the spirits hung on, trying to avoid falling into hell until Pavayne pushed them in. Pavayne tells him they’re burning now, screaming as he will.

Spike tells Pavayne if the ghosts are already in hell, then they can’t be there so it’s just more of his trickery. They aren’t real. Pavayne assures him they’re "real enough" as one of the ghosts pops up behind Spike and stabs him in the back with a large dagger. Spike falls to his knees. Pavayne says hell hungers for the wicked and it’s feeding time.

---

In her office, Fred is frantically scribbling on the windows. Angel, Gunn and Wes enter as Angel notes this isn’t a good sign. The walls of the office are also filled with equations. Fred explains she’s not crazy, she just ran out of white board to write on. Angel wonders if she thinks she’ll be able to bring Spike back. She starts to explain it in technical terms. Angel stops her, saying they’ll get Spike back first, then figure out how to deal with Pavayne. Fred says she’ll need a "massive surge of dark energy to catalyze the process" if her plan is to work. Angel wonders just how massive. Fred answers, "The equivalent of nuclear evil ?" Angel wonders where they’re supposed to find that.

Wes ponders a legend he’s heard about a volcano, "deep in the forbidden forests of South Africa —" Gunn offers he knows a place a bit closer.

---

Angel and Gunn are in the White Room. Gunn wonders why it’s called that and how they can still be in the building when they’re standing in a room that technically doesn’t exist. Angel realizes this was Gunn’s idea, he wants to try to "snip off a piece of the conduit that connects Wolfram & Hart to the other dimensions." Gunn concedes "want" may not be the right word. Angel recalls the last conduit took the form of a "creepy little girl", he wonders what form the new one takes. Gunn tells him it’s not so bad as the panther’s growl reverberates through the room. Gunn adds, "if you like cats." Angel quietly admits he’s actually more of a dog person. The panther growls. Gunn suggests they not talk dogs there.

Angel calls out to the conduit, assuring it they aren’t there for any trouble. He holds up a clear cylindrical container he’s carrying and notes cautiously they "were just wondering if maybe we could borrow a couple of whiskers or —"

The panther snarls. Gunn takes the container from Angel and reminds the cat who he is. He reckons the cat knows he wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t important, he’s just looking for a little help, a personal favor.

The cat growls softly as it fades into the White Room and walks up to Gunn. He smiles and reaches his hand out to the cat, "Yeah, who’s a good kitty ?" Angel looks on nervously.

---

Spike is still in the basement, still naked, still being tormented by Pavayne. As Spike lies on his side on the floor, Pavayne kneels behind him, noting his disappointment. He expected more from a vampire soul. He wonders if there’s too much conscience weighing on it.

He draws Spike’s attention across the room, to a dark portal opening. Long, tentacle-like extensions snake from the outside of it. He figures Spike understands it now, "The soul that blesses you .." Flash to a quick image of Spike, wrapped in barbed wire, bleeding as he’s being shredded by it. Pavayne continues his thought, "... damns you to suffer forever." He grabs Spike by the hair and jerks his head up, telling him to go now, so he can stay. As Spike struggles, Pavayne assures him it won’t change anything, he’s going to get what he deserves.

Spike agrees he does deserve to go to hell, "But not today." He reaches up and punches Pavayne, knocking him back. Spike stands, the portal closes. Spike realized the answer was in Pavayne’s comment about bending the reality to his will. Just as he managed in writing on the glass of the shower stall, if he wants it enough, he can make it happen. He looks down at himself, his clothes reappear on his body. He looks at Pavayne and asks, "And guess what I want to do now, you prissy son of a bitch."

Pavayne comes flying through an office wall and ends up on the floor. Spike follows him in, noting he had a pretty nice racket going, sending other spirits to hell to keep himself out of it. Pavayne gets up, Spike punches him. Fight ensues as the two battle each other, passing through furniture and walls as the fracas continues. Spike reckons Pavayne doesn’t enjoy it as much when the ghosts can hit back. Pavayne is starting to as he punches Spike and sends him flying through another wall.

Gunn and Angel arrive in the lab where Wes and Fred are setting up the recorporealization machine. Gunn hands her the container and tells her to make it count, they won’t be able to get any more. Fred puts the cylinder into the machine as Wes checks the gauges. Angel wonders how they let Spike know about the machine. Wes says they won’t have to. Fred adds anything spectral within range will be made aware of it when they power it up.

They watch the metal circle, segmented into three pieces with symbols on top, in the center of the room as the machine is turned on.

Spike and Pavayne are still fighting. Pavayne notes Spike picking up a few of his tricks won’t change anything as he kicks him across the office. He says he’s cheated hell for hundreds of years, it left him alone, let him get stronger, as he stalks toward Spike. Pavayne tells him he’s God in this realm and Spike is "wood for the fire" as he pulls him to his feet.

As he’s about to punch Spike, he’s distracted by a whoosh as the recorporealization machine is powered up. Spike hits him and runs for the lab. Pavayne follows.

Fred checks a reading on a piece of equipment and tells the others Spike is there. She urges him to step into the center of the circle, they only have one chance to make this work. She suddenly grabs her throat and starts gasping as Pavayne has her in a choke hold. He wonders why he’d want to do that. Angel, Gunn and Wes realize it’s not Spike in the lab, it’s Pavayne. They head for Fred but are thrown backward by an unseen force as Pavayne continues his attempt to kill Fred.

Spike arrives. Pavayne notes he has a decision to make as he looks at Fred and then at the recorporealizer. Spike can’t choose both. Spike looks at the metal circle on the floor. Pavayne smiles, thinking there’s hope for Spike yet. Spike isn’t so sure of that as he appears next to Pavayne, startling him and causing him to let go of Fred. Spike punches him, knocking him into the center of the recorporealizing ring.

Pavayne is made flesh as the machine explodes. He isn’t happy with his new state and threatens the others with severe bodily harm for what they’ve done. Angel would like him to shut up as he punches him, sending him flying across the room, into the wall.

Spike, who is once again visible to the others, reminds Angel not to kill Pavayne, if he becomes a spirit again they’ll never be rid of him. Angel understands the no killing, but he intends to put a beat down on Pavayne as he punches him again.

---

Wes and Gunn are helping Fred clean up the remnants of her machine. Wes asks if she’s okay. She says she is. Gunn suggests she take a break. Fred thanks them and goes upstairs, into her office. Spike arrives and asks if she’s built a spare, his tone indicating he already knows the answer. She says most of the parts used were "practically nonexistent to start with." She tells him even if they could be replaced, she doesn’t think there’s much of a chance of finding another source for the power required. She apologizes.

Spike tells her not to be sorry, it was his choice to make and he made it. He wouldn’t do it differently. Fred offers there are other, riskier, options they could consider. Spike doesn’t want to end up like Pavayne, cheating hell any way necessary no matter who gets hurt in the process. Fred reckons that proves what she’s been telling everyone. Spike asks, "That I’m a handsome devil who brightens the place up ?" She answers, "That you’re worth saving." Spike is touched by that. He tells her being a ghost isn’t so bad. He’s got lots of room, good company and he’s learned some new tricks. He reaches out and picks up Fred’s coffee mug from the desk. She smiles. Spike figures there are worse things than being a ghost.

---

In the vaults of Wolfram & Hart, Pavayne is imprisoned in a metal box, paralyzed, metal bands holding him up. Angel asks Eve if she’s sure it will hold him. Eve assures him "If there’s one thing Wolfram & Hart excels at, it’s keeping their unmentionables unmentioned."

Angel congratulates Pavayne, "You get to live forever. Unable to move, to touch, or to feel ... or to affect anything in the world around you, but don’t worry, I had ’em give you a window." He slams the metal door shut revealing a small slit in the door at Pavayne’s eye level. Angel tells him, "Welcome to hell" then turns and walks away with Eve.

---

From Slayerverse.de :

All the W&H employees have gone home, it’s evening. Only Fred is in after closing time and works on something. She goes to her own lab. Fred’s scans indicate that someone is in the room. But she can’t see anyone. Spike appears. Fred tries to be surprised by the ’scary ghost’. Spike doesn’t believe her. Fred reveals that she felt him since she walked down the lobby. Fred shows Spike that she’s truly trying to help him out of his situation. Spike tries to pretend that he’s cool and can deal with the situation. But he can’t. He reveals that he fears that he’s not got much time left and that his next disappearance could be his last. He feels that he could be imprisoned in the hell dimension for good. During tests he falls through the wall and discovers himself in a basement.

Suddenly a weird noise begins to interest Spike. He locates the origin of the noise. It’s a man cutting his fingers off with a weapon. The man soon disappears.

Fred is in Wesley’s office and asks him for several very rare magical books. She mentions that she needs them in order to find out how she can help Spike. Wesley is concerned about Fred since he believes that she hasn’t had enough free time. She rushes out of the door with the books in her hands. She meets Eve who is takes her to Angel’s office. Angel makes it pretty clear to Fred that he’s not pleased with her attempts to help Spike. Eve adds that it may be best just to let him disappear completely. Fred understands that Eve doesn’t care much about Spike but she cannot believe what Angel said. Indeed the two vampires both have a soul and have had a similar past. But Angel becomes angry at being compared to Spike. He believes that Fred has feelings for him and that’s the reason why she wants to help him. Fred agrees but iunderlines the fact that she thinks it’s the right thing to do.

Spike is making his way through the dark and cold halls of the W&H basement. He happens to talk to a crying woman. As he moves forward to her, he realizes that she has no arms and hands. She tries to jump on him, wanting him to hold her. She suddenly vanishes.

Spike goes to Angel. He finds him busy in his new role as a business man. Spike and Angel argue a little about the same old story : Who is the best and smartest vampire ?...

During the conversation Spike discovers a man hanging from a noose. As Angel cannot see him, they come to the conclusion that something is not right. It is time for a meeting of the fang gang. They discuss the strange happenings centering around Spike and ghosts. Spike assumes that he will soon be pulled into a hell dimension.

A voice answers him, telling him that he is completely right. While Spike is speaking he disappears. But he is not brought to another dimension. He’s surprised. The others start looking for him.

Spike tries to follow the voice. And again we see him in the basement. He sees the fingers of the ghost No Face on the table. They are still alive ! ! ! Suddenly an attractive woman with a piece of glass in her eye stands behind him. She warns Spike about the Reaper coming to get him. As Spike laughs aloud, the woman hurts him with her glass. Spike is bleeding. He wonders why he as a ghost can be hurt.

Back at Fred’s lab : Spike knows that his time has probably come. So he starts saying goodbye to Fred and thanking her for everything she has done for him. He knows that Fred can neither hear or see him. Fred comes up with an idea for solving Spike’s problem. Soon she discovers that this solution would lead to half of LA being destroyed. Fred gives up her attempts. Spike tries to change her mind. He tries desperately to touch her and he achieves this aim. WOOOOW ! ! ! He could feel something for the first time since he became a ghost and Fred felt it too. Angel comes along and tries to comfort Fred as he believes Spike is lost. But Fred tells him that Spike is still around even if the scanners of W&H do not show him on the screen.

Eve has organized some help : Her friend Claire is trying to hunt and locate all ghosts by the means of an old ritual. She sits with the others in a corner. She starts the ceremony and states that she feels a "dark soul". Spike observing this ritual thinks she means him and becomes a little angry. Then we see that she could not have meant Spike because she feels uncomfortable. The Reaper, to which the woman with the glass in her eye has referred to at the beginning, appears and cuts her throat. The whole fang gang and Eve are shocked. Gunn accuses Spike of having done that. But Wesley defends him by saying Spike has no reason to do this kind of murder.

Fred takes a shower in order to wash Claire’s blood away from her body. Fred is completely nude. Spike tries to communicate with her. But as she cannot become aware of him he writes "Reaper" on the mirror. Fred sees this sign before the mirror breaks.

A spirit attacks Spike. He finds himself around a lot of spirits. He begins to think how hell will be and then Spike is tortured with nails and everyone plays with him. Later we will see Spike completely nude and being massively bedevilled. Angel and his gang look at demon databases for the key word "Dark Soul". They have too many hits.

Fred enters the room and searches for the word "Reaper". And Bingo.... only one hit.

The Reaper is also known as Pavayne and he worked as a doctor around 1700. He was very cruel and so the government hunted for him. He left for California and continued his deeds till W&H showed up and needed the blood of a dark soul to get the new branch started. Pavayne was the appropriate victim for this plan...

Meanwhile, Pavayne beats Spike up. Spike is bleeding everywhere and seems to be hit hard. Spike cannot prevent Pavayne from harming him because it becomes clear that Pavayne controls an alternate reality. Suddenly Spike finds himself in the basement. He comes up with the theory that Pavayne only creates illusions.

Pavayne tells Spike that he is not different from the other ghosts even if he has a soul and has fallen in love. He is sure that Spike has to go to hell. Spike agrees with him, but mentions that the day for his going to hell has not arrived yet. He fights him back.

Fred continues her research attempts. Fred has the idea of building a machine which can give Spike his body back. But she needs some dark energy as a fuel for the machine. Gunn says that he can get some. Angel is not pleased that Gunn has connections to the "evil" underground.

In the basement Spike figured out that Pavayne is right, spirits can influence the world and they fight. In the same time Fred starts the machine. Spike and Pavayne fight in various offices. Fred feels that someone is in the machine room. She says that Spike should go in the circle but Spike is not there. It’s Pavayne and he does instead. Fred suddenly struggles to breathe. She touches her throat. Angel and Gunn come into the lab, to stop him..to save Fred. But an invisible force pushes them back. Spike arrives. But Pavayne has a choice for Spike, become a ghost again or save Fred. Spike hits him back into the circle. Angel tries to kill Pavayne but Spike stops him. He explains to Angel that only if Pavayne is alive he’s a man. Angel decides to beat the crap out of Pavayne.

After the Fight, Wesley and Gunn are cleaning Fred’s Lab with her. It’s the first relaxed day for a while. Spike comes in and says they can’t rebuild the machine. It’s sad that the machine parts can’t be replaced. They don’t know if they’ll find a new power source. Spike says that he’s not like Pavayne to risk another life to become real. Fred answers that she was right and the others were false..Spike saved her. While this is going on, Angel is with Eve in the Basement. Eve explains to Angel that they can rest Pavayne in this metal coffin inmobile and alive..forever..Angel closes the coffin and the two leave...

---

From Leoffonline.com :

Night-time at Wolfram and Hart has Fred walking through the halls, looking all researchy. She says goodnight to a co-worker as she enters the main lab. Ominous music and stuff makes it seem like she’s being snuck up on. Then "Aaahh !" she gets scared by newly popped-up Spike ! Only not really cause she was humoring him, knowing he was following her since the lobby. The two talk, with some light flirting, about how she just can’t figure out how to get him back, and how he is using all his strength to keep from slipping into hell. Fred briefly mentions the Angel Shanshu prophecy which gets a "figures" reaction Spike. Looking at some figures, she gets excited at an idea of how to get Spike back, which momentarily gets him happy. He leans casually against a lab table...

... and falls right through the table, through the ground, all the way to the basement ! Dark, creepy, dusty, he starts walking down a hallway and comes upon a man sitting at a table cutting... something. Spike comes up behind the man and sees he’s cutting his own fingers ! The man turns to show a scarred up, beastly face, then he dissapears ! Spike is, naturally, freaked a bit.

Opening Credits : Nothing new (at least to you all, anyways. it’s REALLY new to me. :) )

Assuming it’s the next evening : Lorne is on the phone to clients as he passes Fred in the hall into an elevator. Fred marches determined into Wesley’s office and hands him a list, saying she needs the items on it as soon as possible. Upon a "hello Fred" from him, she turns and apologizes for the shortness, she’s been occupied. He looks at the list and sees some very rare, mystical items on it, saying if he used all his contacts, he should have the items for her in about 20 min. Wesley lays down one condition to her as she starts to leave. He wants her to have dinner. Apparently she hasn’t been sleeping or eating well, buringing the midnight oil almost constantly. She promises to have a good meal. She turns to leave with a smile, but is surprised by Eve.

Eve takes Fred to Angel’s office where Angel is very business like in his talk towards her. Fred believes he is worried about her late nights and bad meals, but Angel says the problem is how much the science department has been spending. She overspent $800,000 in this quarter’s budget. She apologizes, saying that she’s just been trying to find a way to get Spike back to normal. Angel says he really wanted to find a way to get Spike OUT. Fred argues that Spike is worth saving for all the good he has done, he’s a champion just like Angel. Angel says he still doesn’t trust Spike. Some back and fourth (during which Buffy is brought up), but Fred wins the discussion by saying "it’s about doing what’s right." Angel concedes, but tells her not to be dissapointed if it doesn’t work, some just can’t be saved.

Spike walks around the lab alone, looking concerned, waiting for Fred, when weird things start happening. Lights flicker, shadows flash by. Spike tries to act cool, but he’s rattled a little. Flashing lights in a hallway almost direct him down a path to where he finds a woman standing at the end of a hall. "Please.... hold me ? Hold me, please" the woman says as she stands from a crowching position. The woman is dressed in 1800’s garb and... only has stumps for arms. She then quickly rushes towards and through Spike, who’s startled, then she dissapears.

Angel walks into his office and Spike is there to greet him. Angel’s sick of him popping up, but Spike says he just wants to "hang" for a while. They talk about Angel’s escaping from hell, Spike’s getting sucked into it, the Shanshu prophecy, but basically it’s all just some back and fourth barbs with Angel taking a very defeatist attitude, declairing that they’re both going to hell eventually. Angel sits, tired and annoyed, as Spike "sits" next to him, trying to talk over old times they had together. Instead they start to list the things that annoy the other. They both act like babies, but Angel does concede one thing : he likes William’s poems. "YOU like Barry Manalow" Spike fires back. Just then, Spike looks off into a corner of the office and sees a body hanging from a noose. A second later, it’s gone. Angel asks him what’s wrong, but Spike tries to pass it off as nothing. Spike sees a second body, a zombie-like person, walking up behind Angel. Spike starts to freak.

And freak big time ! Fred, Gunn, Eve, Wesley, and Angel are all gathered in Angel’s office as they all watch Spike go all freaky, seemingly talking to himself, yelling for "them" to shut up and leave him alone. The others cannot see that he is talking to various dead people who walk around the office, taunting Spike. Gunn says that they did a spiritual sweep of the building and that the only ghost-like entity was Spike, no-one else. "It’s here..." one of the ghosts mumbles, which sends Spike pleading to Fred for help. Spike then fades from sight... or rather THEIR sight. Spike still walks around the office, wondering why the others suddenly can’t see him. The others all split up to look for Spike or anything weird as Spike is left alone, except for the ominous voice of a stranger : "She can’t help you now... no one can. Bwwaaaah haaa haaa !"

Commercial Break : I really think you should try Jacks Frozen Pizzas, particularly the Natural rising sausage type, because damn, it’s good. Really ! I gobble em up ! And you don’t have to wait for the oven to pre-heat either ! Just throw that sucker in and... oh... sorry. Back to the show.

Still spooked by passing shadows and weird sounds, Spike heads up from the lobby of Wolfram and Hart and walks down an empty hallway. As he passes an elevator, it opens, and suspicous, Spike enters.

Fred, Gunn, and Wesley talk about how Spike is dissapearing more and more frequency, and how he’s acting strange, more agitated. Fred seems very concerned, saying that Spike said that he’s slipping into hell. the other two men "kinda figured."

The Elevator stops at the basement and Spike says that he’s already played the chopping finger guy senario out already. Spike does hear the chopping sounds, but sees no one but a knife and fingers on a table. Suddenly Spike is startled by a new form, a woman dressed up in a business dress, saying "Reaper’s gonna get you." She walks up to Spike, taunting him. He sees that she has a large piece of glass stuck in her left eye, which she slowly pulls out and slashes Spike across the face with. Spike is shocked a bit that he was just hurt !

Fred is in the lab doing some techno-geek figuring stuff. She’s working hard to try and crack the Spike dissapearance problem. Spike comes up behind her and talks to her, even though she can’t see or hear him. Spike talks about the Reaper coming to get him and how he’d like to thank her for at least trying to help him. Fred then starts to get momentarily excited at an idea to save Spike, but it is quickly found to be bogus. She turns and starts to walk away, frustraited, as Spike reaches out to her, telling her not to stop trying. Spike touches her shoulder and ZAP, a bit of a shock between them. He touched her ! Fred can’t see him, but she knows its him. Spike then starts to feel "them" taking him and just as he dissapears, Angel startles Fred, letting her know that the mystics of W&H can’t pick up any other ghosts or anything strange.

Moments later, the group is gathered in a meeting room, along with Eve, as she brings in a clairvoyant-mystic lady who is a little bit of a smart-ass. they all sit as the woman tries to get in contact with Spike to find out what’s up. While Spike does appear in the room (only to us, the viewer), The woman does come into contact with some dark force, but it isn’t Spike. Spike thinks it’s him at first, but then realizes it isn’t as the mystic says a "dark soul" is there. Just as she’s about to tell the group it’s the Reaper, she is throttled by some unseen force, blood streaming from her nose. She then vomits up blood and falls dead on the table.

Back Wesley’s office, He and Gunn talk, saying that it probably wasn’t Spike who killed the mystic, but something else evil at W&H.

Fred is in a shower near her lab, tired and exausted. Spike appears (again, unseen to Fred) and wonders why "it" killed the mystic. He talks aloud to himself and Fred from outside the shower. As he tries to tell Fred that he thinks "it" is trying to hide something from her (that’s why "it" killed the mystic), he reaches out to her and... touches the shower door ! Spike concentraits and finds that he can touch things with enough effort. He slowly draws something in the steam on the shower door. Fred finishes her shower to turn and see "REAPER" written on the door, but only for a second, before the door glass shatters, throwing Spike back into the lobby of W&H.

Spike gets to his feet to find a figure aproaching him, a lawyer-ish looking man with a bloody, burned face ! The woman with the glass in her face appears again, trying to scare Spike, but he says he’s had enough ! He’s tired of talking to flunkies and wants to talk to the main guy. Suddenly Spike collapses in pain as a new figure shows up, a man dressed in an old coat, not looking dead, but definitely evil, saying that he is going to take Spike to hell, kicking and screaming, but first, he wants to "play."

Commercial Break : Windex makes it SHINE !

Gunn, Angel, and Wesley pour over books, looking up references to "dark souls", but there are too many references to even start. Fred walks in, hair still wet, telling them to cross-reference with the word "Reaper." They quickly find a reference to a being named Pavaine, around in the 18th century, a doctor who did unauthorized surgery and torcher and who was referred to as the Reaper. Turns out that, long ago, when the Wolfram and Hart firm was just getting started with the Los Angeles firm, the ideal spot to put the building on was concecrated ground and they needed to "de-concecrate" it by using Pavaine’s blood, which is, like, really evil. An appropriate sacrifice. Pavaine was involved in the dark arts and the group reasons that he is trying to stay out of hell by coughing up the souls of others in his place.

Crawling on the floor in the lab, Spike is badly beaten and cut up, many cuts on his face, trying to get away from the man we now know is Pavaine. Pavaine taunts Spike, then, upon seeing Fred in the lab, taunts him further by suggesting he might want a taste of Fred. Spike takes a swing at Pavaine out of anger, but it still does no good, he’s in Pavaine’s world now. Reality bends to his desire. His rules, his reality. He transports Spike down...

... into the basement, then toys with him. Pavaine makes the scars and cuts on Spike’s face dissapear, then makes Spike’s clothes dissapear (whoo hoo, girls !), and taunts him with Spike’s horrid past and more recent gentleness with a soul. The beings of the others now appear to Spike, the armless woman, the disfigured lawyer, the woman with glass in her face. All are people who have been sent to hell by Pavaine. Pavaine then has one of his ghostly beings stab Spike in the shoulder with a knife, pronouncing "it’s feeding time."

Wesley, Angel, and Gunn walk in on Fred who has just finished final calculations of what she needs to do to get Spike back. TONS of figures and mathematics are scribbled all over whiteboards and windows. She tells the three men what she’s going to need is some massively large "evil power source", a catalyst to make the thing happen. Wesley, Angel and Fred don’t know where to find something like that, but Gunn does...

"The White Room ? ! ?" Angel says, surprised. He and Gunn stand in the mysterious white void, there to collect a piece of the strand that connects Wolfram and Hart to the evil senior partners. The black panther appears, striding towards Gunn calmly, as Gunn bends down and pets the "kitty."

Spike now lays naked and in pain on the floor in the basement with Pavaine taunting him still. Suddenly a black, tendrilical void appears on a wall, opening up. A mouth to hell. It’s ready to swollow Spike as Pavaine says "you go now William, so I can stay."

Commercial Break : Tired of annoying bill collectors, phone solicitors, and anyone else who just pisses you off ? Come on down to Pavaine’s House of Hell. For a small fee, he’ll gladly see your annoyances off to meet their icky destiny ! And no mess !

Pavaine grabs Spike by the hair and keeps him down, saying that Spike deserves to go to hell. Spike suddenly feels strength and confidence within, saying that Pavaine is right, he does deserve to go to hell, "but not today." Spike throws Pavaine off, suddenly able to "touch" his foe. Spike stands up, strong and ready, as Pavain hears him say "Reality bends to desire. I just have to WANT it bad enough." Spike concentraits and suddenly his clothes start to appear on his body as the big hole to hell closes up behind him. Spike is PISSED and starts to beat the crap out of Pavaine, punching him, knocking him through the walls into the next office, kicking and punching him more. Pavaine does fight back, getting a lick in here or there, but Spike’s got the upper hand.

Wesley and Fred prepare lab equipment as Gunn and Angel walk in with a large glass container filled with... evil ? Looks like burned pudding, but it’s evil. Fred hooks it up to a machine in the lab and, now that they’ve got their catalyst, they’re ready. Fred turns a switch, we hear the hum of machinery, as the camera pulls back to a mystical-type circle in the middle of the floor, with wires running from quarter-cresent bricks that surround the circle.

Now Spike... doesn’t have the upper hand. He falls into the Lobby of W&H and Pavaine vaunts over a now beaten up Spike. Pavaine raises Spike up, ready to really whollop him when a wave of energy comes over the entire room, distracting Pavaine. Spike punches him, Pavaine releases his grip, and Spike runs, heading towards the lab. "This won’t do... this won’t do at all !" Pavaine says as he heads after Spike.

Fred yells out into the air, telling Spike to get into the circle, saying it’s the one shot they’ve got at making him corporeal again. Suddenly her words are cut short, she is unable to speak. Invisible to the others, Pavaine has grabbed Fred around the throat as he throttles her. Wes, Gunn, and Angel try to intervine, but Pavaine easily throws them aside. Spike finally shows up as Pavaine says he’s got an interesting dilemna... Save Fred or become whole again. Spike stands there, looking at Fred and the circle, wondering what to do. Spike keeps eyeing the circle... "There’s hope for you yet, dear boy." Pavaine says, but then Spike appears behind Pavaine, saying "not really !" Spike punches Pavaine into the circle, just as it does it’s big bright flashy explosion thing. Pavaine gets up, starting to swear his head off, realizing he’s corporeal again ! He vows vengence on them all, but Angel comes up and punches him hard, shutting him up quick. Spike tells Angel not to kill him. If Pavaine becomes a spirit again there will be no stopping him. Angel agrees, and instead just punches Pavaine again.

Fred, Wes, and Gunn clean up the lab slowly, but Fred is distant and tired. Gunn tells her to take a break, so she walks up to her office. Spike appears "don’t suppose you built a spare ?" Fred tells him that the pieces to build this one machine were rare and there’s no power source. Spike is down, but still thankful to Fred for trying. Fred tells Spike that she knew all along that he was worth saving. Spike then says he doesn’t have it so bad. he’s not dissapearing anymore, and he learned some new tricks. He picks up a cup to show Fred that he can now touch. "I guess there’s worse things than being a ghost..."

"Permanent Storage. If there’s one thing Wolfram and Hart excells at, it’s keeping their unmentionables... unmentioned." Eve and Angel are down in a sub-basement, looking on at Pavailine, who is bound by coils and inside a box, very alive, very awake. Angel closes the box’s door, muttering "welcome to hell." Pavaline’s eyes glair out in shock through a small window in the door, trapped forever in the box.

Grrr... Arrrg...