Chapter 2 Wolfram and Hart Laboratory- Day Fred and Knox are working together, and talking about Pylea.

Knox: So you're probably the first physicist ever to have actually lived on another dimension. That's, well I mean, Wow.

Fred: Yeah, didn't seem too much of an achievement back then. Didn't really take advantage of it either. I mean first there were the years of slavery, and then I went and lived in a cave. And, y'know, it was a bit hard to get grants when everyone thinks you're a beast of burden.

Knox: Yeah, but still… I've been interested in other dimensions since I first found out about them. I mean, a whole worlds, some nothing like this one. I used to want to catalogue them, see how they were different, why some were more different than others. Of course, no-one could. It'd take lifetimes, and some of them are too hostile. Still.

Wesley runs in.

Wesley: Fred we have to get out of here.

Fred: Uh, well I'm off for lunch in about ten minutes.

Wesley: Fred we have to go now! Where's everyone else?

Fred: Uh, I think Lorne's performing somewhere. He's out anyway. Gunn keeps on disappearing, I don't know where he goes, and Angel's in his office. He can find out. I'll just call him.

Wesley: Stop! Don't attract his attention.

Fred: Huh?

Wesley: Lilah. She came… showed me. It's possible that Angelus has returned.

Fred: What? But- no! It was just Lilah trying to split us up, stop us from trusting each other.

Wesley: She showed me the contract. I'm not saying that it's definite, but we have to be very careful.

Knox: Um, excuse me? Who's Angelus?

Fred: Angel without a soul.

Knox: Mr Angel… oh. I'll go and alert the rest of the building.

Fred: What? Are you crazy? If he is back the last thing we want is them knowing!

Knox: But if Angelus has returned they'll be in incredible danger. We can't just leave them at his-

Wesley: Do you have any idea what Wolfram and Hart is?

Knox: Of course. It's a multi-tasking operation devoted to the practice of law and promoting understanding of the cultures and powers of other races.

Wesley: It's a law firm run by evil demons, devoted to getting money, corrupting human souls, and bringing about the apocalypse!

Knox: Oh no, the goal of the Senior partners is to bring about a symbiotic relationship between humans and the subterrestrial races where all work together to bring about-

Fred: Armageddon. You got hit real hard by the propaganda stick, didn't you? Okay, I'll call Lorne, and-

Wesley: The phones will be tapped. Do you have a mobile?

Fred: Wesley, we've got a prototype mobile phone able to transmit anywhere on the world and through more interference than any other in existence.

Wesley: Then call them both.

Fred picks up the phone

Fred: Yeah this'll be fun. Our boss might have just turned into a soulless murderer, but we're not sure, so if you're green, make him stand fifty feet away and sing , or just run like Hell if you're not. She stops and listens to the phone for a minute. Well that's weird.

Wesley: What?

Fred: I can't get through to Charles.

Wesley: Maybe he's underground somewhere.

Knox: Uh, it's designed to be able to broadcast through fifty feet of lead. That's so far. We're trying to improve it.

Wesley: Fred you said anywhere on the world. If you can't get through…

Fred: He leaves here every day, no matter where he goes during it. We'll keep on calling. Let him know as soon as he gets back from wherever he is.

Dials Lorne, and gets through.

Fred: Brightly. Hi Lorne! Pause. Yeah sorry to interrupt, but we might have a bit of a huge crisis here. Pause. No not an apocalypse, but, well, Angelus might be back. Pause. Yeah again. Pause.  Look, we have to get out of here. Just stay away from Wolfram and Hart okay. And make him sing if you see him. Be careful. Hangs up.

Fred: Okay, what now?

Wesley: Well, I suggest we make a quick dash to the elevator. Once we're in the lobby we can just walk down to the limos and drive to one of our homes. We can check from there.

Fred: If he is back then security might try to stop us.

Wesley: We can say we're just going out for our lunch break. Unless the entire building has already been told, which I doubt.

Fred: He'll have to call each office individually, unless he announces it over the speakers, which he won't do 'cause he wouldn't want us to know.

Knox: And, uh, what do I do?

Wesley: He'll have to come to us. There are video cameras all over, this is being taped. They'll know he knows.

Fred: Okay, so-

Angel walks in, followed by Gunn. Fred looks around desperately and picks up an object resembling a TV remote on the table, and points it at Angel.

Fred: Panicking. Stay back! I-I'm scared to use this, but I will anyway. Gunn, get away from him!

Knox: But that's- Wesley kicks him on the ankle. Uh, too dangerous.

Angel: Walking forward. Fred… oh. Look, Fred, I'm sorry about what happened when we were under Jasmine's spell, but you know I'd never-

Knox hands her something that looks like an Initiative lightning gun, and when she points it at him he stops.

Angel: Fred please, calm down. What are you doing?

Wesley: Gunn, come over here. We're not sure it's Angel. Stay out of his reach. Gunn goes around Angel and stands next to Fred.

Fred: More confidently. Okay, now we're going to walk out of here, and if anyone tries to stop us I start shooting. If you're really Angel then you can sing for Lorne.

Gunn: Yeah, 'cause that worked great last time.

Wesley: Angel, if it is you, then we'll apologize for this later, now-

Gunn knocks the weapon out of Fred's hands, then backhands her, sending her onto a table. Delicate devices smash, and Angel lunges forward and grabs Wesley by the throat.

Angelus: Willow needn't have bothered to come here.

He throws Wesley into the wall, and turns on Knox. Gunn punches down at Fred, but she rolls to the side, and his hand goes into the table.

Angelus: I deal with the "Rogue Demon Hunter", and you can't even manage an underfed science nerd?

Fred grabs the weapon off the floor and fires it at him. A lightning ray hits him and he falls to the floor. Wesley stands up and walks to Gunn.

Wesley: Gunn, whatever he told you, it's not true. That's not Angel, it's Angelus.

Gunn: I know. It looks as though he slaps him across the face, and Wesley stumbles backwards. When he raises his head there are bloody lines across it. Gunn grins and raises his hand. It slowly changes into a cat claw, then back to a human hand.

Gunn: You wanted to know what I got out of this? Power. He leaps over Wesley towards Fred, whose shot goes wild and hits the wall. Then he knocks it out of her hand. He pushes her to the ground as his eyes turn green and cat-like. He opens his mouth, exposing long teeth, and leans forward. Knox grabs him by the shoulders and tries to pull him off, but Gunn spins around and twists his arm until a shard of bone snaps out of it. Knox falls to the ground in agony, and Gunn grabs Fred and sinks his teeth into her shoulder. Wesley hits him over the head with a chair and it smashes, cutting his head open. He reels away, then stands again. The cut on his head closes as they watch. Gunn looks at them, who are bleeding and tired.

Gunn: Ya think ya can get past me?

Fred: What did they do to you?

Wesley: I suspect Lilah left something out when explaining about the catch

. They look at the gun on the floor where Fred dropped it. It's about halfway between them. They all go for it at the same time. Gunn arrives first and grabs it, then Wesley hits him across the face, distracting him so he can't fire it. Fred stabs the closest sharp object, a ballpoint pen, into his hand and he drops it. Wesley hooks his leg around it and pulls it back. He snatches it up, and points it at Gunn, who punches at it. Wesley fires and he connects simultaneously. He falls backwards with lightning shooting through him, but the gun is destroyed.

Wesley: To Knox. Can you walk?

Knox: Staggers to his feet. Probably.

Fred: Oh my God.

Fred: Draws herself together Okay, we'll need to get Angel and Ch-Charles away from here, and tied up. We can't just carry them past security, we have to distract them somehow. Any ideas?

Angelus twitches and starts to wake up. Wesley smashes another chair over him, but then his eyes open.

Angelus: Mumbling. This is the reception I get?

Wesley: Run.

The three of them rush down to the elevator. They see Angelus standing up and looking at them. He grins as the doors close on them.

Knox: Demons are real.

Fred: You already knew that.

Knox: No. I knew about subterrestrials. But those, those were demons. I thought they were people, or animals. I've never encountered anything like that before.

Wesley: Well congratulations. That was a bad one to start on. Not many people survive him.

The elevator doors open, and they hurry into the lobby. Knox is holding his coat so it covers his arm. As they go towards the door, a security guard comes up to them.

Guard: He looks at their pale faces and bloodied clothes. Excuse me sir, but is there a problem here?

Wesley: No no. We merely had a slight accident on the way down. We were just going to lunch.

Guard: Lunch.

Fred: Oh yeah. There's a great place for Mexican just round the corner. You should see the tacos there. Hmm. And we have to hurry, or we'll miss the lunch special! I mean there's the sauce, they do this special sauce-

Guard: Taken aback by Fred's enthusiasm Uh, fine, fine. I hope you get there on time. Sorry to have delayed you.

Wesley: Thank the Lord they don't choose them for their brains.

As they rush out into the sunlight Angelus reaches the lobby via the stairs. He smiles and waves at them, before grabbing the nearest lawyer.

Angelus: Get me the head of special projects. Now. We have work to do.