Spike noticed the sudden drop in the number of vampires, around Sunnydale. He noticed the commandos, now out in a much larger force than ever before, combing the streets of Sunnydale, looking for undead blokes like him.
He took this to mean that his message to the Slayer had failed.
Now, the Goddess was going to be coming after him. And full force.
"This is all the maniac's bloody fault," Spike muttered to himself, as he paced the mausoleum he'd decided to make his home, puffing on a cigarette. "All that reputation I built up for myself, as a Slayer-killer, and I'm about to throw it away, just because that maniac has it in for me."
Nothing for it, though.
Spike knew why he'd failed: he was told to find both the Slayer and the Doctor. He'd only found one.
This time, he had to get himself both.
Buffy didn't know why her cell door slid open. She checked on Dawn — but she wasn't in her cell. She ran over to the Doctor's cell — but he was gone, too. Buffy frowned. She was alone, and — for no real reason that she could see, free.
"Buffy!"
The voice she heard was so kind and so familiar, Buffy felt tears prick her eyes as she turned. There, peaking out around a corner, his face as gentle and handsome as she remembered, was…
"Angel?" Buffy whispered.
Angel beckoned at her to come over, and she ran to him. She swept him into a tight hug, then gave him a long, lingering kiss. The kiss was sweet. It was delicate. It was tender.
It was Angel's.
"I thought the Goddess killed you," Buffy whispered.
Angel shook his head. "She tried, but I ran away. Your spell summoned my alternate-timeline-self back, but it didn't erase me. I'm still here." He held her hands in his. "I've been looking for you for months. I'm here to help you escape."
Buffy looked back. "The Doctor… and my sister, Dawn…"
"We'll come back for them, I promise," said Angel. "But right now, I gotta get you out. If you're not free, they don't have a chance."
She hesitated.
But when she looked into his eyes, she knew… she'd do anything he said. Anything.
An hour later, Buffy breathed the freedom of fresh night air, as she emerged from the Initiative. She wanted to go home, let her mom know she was fine, but Angel stopped her.
"Your mom is fully devoted to the Goddess," Angel warned. "The moment you set foot in your house, the Goddess will know exactly where you are, and she'll take you back. You'll never get a chance to rescue the Doctor or your sister."
Buffy hesitated.
"My place is being watched," Angel said. "But I've found somewhere we can be safe." He turned, and ran through the Sunnydale streets. "Follow me."
Buffy did.
"Huh," said Buffy, as she approached the little log-cabin that she'd never noticed, before, on the outskirts of Sunnydale. "Never took you for a cabiner."
"Desperate times, desperate measures." Angel unlocked the door, held it for her. "Come in. Quickly."
Buffy did.
It was smaller than she'd expected, from the outside. She could only see one room — the one she was currently standing in — which featured a fireplace, a small fridge, and a double bed. Angel locked the door, and stepped up beside her.
He drew her into a long, deep kiss.
"I'm so sorry, Buffy," said Angel. "Everything I did, while I was Angelus — I'm so sorry."
Buffy was just happy he was still here. She stepped out of his embrace and began pacing the cabin. "Okay, strategy time. We've got to find a way to get the Doctor and Dawn out of the Initiative and away from the Goddess. And then, we've gotta find a way to get Dawn back to her normal…!"
Angel stepped towards Buffy, blocking her pacing. "Buffy," he said, gently. "We can do this in the morning."
"No, we can't just…!" Buffy started.
Angel cut her off by kissing her, again — more passionately. "Ever since that night, I've been dying to feel you, again," he told her. "I need you, Buffy. I need you, now."
"Angel, the last time we… then you…" Buffy shook her head, not sure how to express herself. "I can't risk letting that happen, again. Not now. I've got to get my sister and the Doctor out of the…"
He kissed her, again — more roughly, this time. His fingers reached for her bra.
Buffy, with Slayer strength, threw him back, away from her. "What's wrong with you? I can't just leave…!"
That was when Buffy suddenly had a horrible thought. A thought that might explain exactly what was wrong with Angel. A thought that might explain why she'd actually gotten out of the Initiative, alone and separated from the last friend she had, without the Goddess showing up and stopping her.
"Oh, no," Buffy breathed.
Angel's face twisted into his fang-face. "And here I was, thinking I could see what all the fuss was about," Angelus said. He tilted his head, examining her. "That's the pity of it — I'm the Angelus who disappeared when your boyfriend flipped into this timeline. So I don't remember bedding you."
Buffy ran to the door, trying to force it off its hinges — but the door held, fast.
"Still, I've had your daughter, both willing and unwilling," said Angelus, advancing on her. "So I've got a point of comparison, however you and I choose to do the deed."
Buffy ran to a nearby window and slammed her elbow through the pane — to escape. She cried out, as a jolt of electricity ran through her. It wasn't a window, at all. It was some kind of very sophisticated computer screen.
"But before I do that," said Angelus, running to the fireplace and flipping a switch, "how about I set the mood by torturing and killing the lovely Joyce Summers in front of you?"
Buffy rounded on him, her eyes blazing. "What?!"
With the flip of that switch, the walls in the cabin went transparent, showing a second set of rooms, behind, with white, glowing outer walls that looked a lot like the Initiative's decor. Past the fireplace, Buffy could see her mother — Joyce Summers — in one of those hidden rooms that were now revealed. She was tied up to a chair and gagged, looking terrified, trembling as she stared at Angelus.
Buffy felt her anger rising up inside her, as she moved into a fighting position.
"Oh, now look at how scared she is," Angelus said. "Look at how she shakes and trembles. Your mother, Buffy. Your dear, sweet mother — in my hands." He opened a door and stepped into the other room, walking over to Joyce, his eyes predatory. "I can imagine so many things I can do to you, Joyce." He put a finger under her chin and turned her face to look at his. "So many ways you can scream. I could pluck out your eyes…" He tapped each eyelid. "…one by one..." He smiled and took her hand in his. "…or tear off your fingernails and stick your hand into a raging fire…"
Joyce gave a terrified whimper.
"And the best part is," Angelus whispered, leaning down to whisper into her ear, "that you'll get to stare into your daughter's eyes, the whole time, and know that — what I do to her will be so much worse."
Buffy yanked a leg off a nearby wooden chair, and ran through the door, hurtling herself at Angelus.
He grabbed her up, almost effortlessly, twisted her around, and threw her — hard — against the far wall. Buffy wasn't giving up that easily, though. She jumped to her feet, and flipped over his back, thudding her stake down squarely in his heart.
Nothing happened.
Angelus plucked the stake out of his back. "Sorry, dollface. No can do." He laughed. "Can't decapitate me, either."
Buffy punched at him, then kicked him in the face. He grabbed her leg and twisted it, viciously, making her cry out.
"The spirit and energy of your attacks," Angelus admired, breathing it in. "The persistence. The righteous anger. The certain belief that you will find a way to defeat me." He smiled. "It's like torturing and killing your daughter, all over again!"
Then, he attacked her.
Blow after blow came so fast, Buffy barely had time to react. She desperately tried to block as many as she could, but they didn't stop coming, and she couldn't get them all. She felt herself getting bruised, getting beaten, and yet she didn't — couldn't — stop fighting. She couldn't let him win.
"Your daughter had so much fire in her," Angelus said, as he grabbed her by the arm and swung her into a wall. She spun back around, and blocked a punch — but it rammed through her block and hit her. "So much spirit! I can see where she gets it from." He blocked her kick, and slammed a fist into her side, making her reel. "Breaking her was the most beautiful thing in the world, I thought. But you'll be even better." He blocked her next attack, and shoved her into the ground. "I'm going to do things to you that I only ever dreamed of doing to her. Your destruction will be so much more beautiful than hers."
Buffy jumped to her feet and tried to flip over his head and run over to save her mother — but Angelus plucked her out of the air, easily, and slammed her against the floor. Once. Twice. Three times.
Buffy groaned, as she tried to peel herself off the floor. Angelus shook his head, with a laugh. "Disappointing, Slayer. Very disappointing."
He kicked her in the head. Hard.
Buffy felt her world spin.
The last thing she saw, before she blacked out, was Angelus walking over to her mother, sadism evident in his eyes. And the last thing Buffy thought, before she blacked out, was of that recording, and what Angelus had done to Rose…
Then, nothing.