Summary- Angel loses his soul due to the contract with Wolfram and Hart. Lilah warns Wesley, and he, Fred and Knox escape from Angelus. Gunn has been possessed by the panther in the White Room. Robin Wood is offered a job at Barrington High, near Sunnydale, and the others decide that a new Watcher's Council is needed. Oz is sent to deal with Gunn. They decide that Lindsey may know how to destroy the contracts, and resolve to contact him. Drusilla visits Angelus, and he rejects her. A military group appears, and Buffy blackmails their general into meeting her. Angry and lonely Drusilla finds Connor and takes him to the warlock who originally altered his memories. Spike appears out of a portal intended to produce a Tarok-Han as a human, but exhibits superhuman strength in escaping from the disappointed cultists. The warlock requires an object from Connor's old life, and Drusilla goes to the Hyperion to get it. Buffy meets the general, who tells her that they are trying to create supersoldiers to fight Suvolte Demons (As You Were), who are becoming inexplicably smarter. Riley Finn is dead, and his wife Sam has gone on a vengeance mission against them. She says that someone may be controlling them, and takes him back to Willow. AI follow Drusilla, and try and fail to prevent her from restoring Connor. He runs away, and Drusilla follows him and tells him how Angelus abandoned her. They find themselves in harmony. Spike's reaction to his resurrection is to get very drunk, and is picked up by a Wolfram and Hart lawyer, and taken to see Angelus. Giles comes to LA to ask Wesley to be part of the new Council. He refuses, but tells him what has happened with Angelus and Drusilla. Drusilla has restored Connor's memories, but not their memories of him. Giles calls the new Watcher's Council, and is told that Buffy and Willow have gone to Belize in a helicopter with weapons, spell ingredients and the troll hammer. Lindsey arrives in LA. Connor and Drusilla launch an attack against Wolfram and Hart. Drusilla senses and rescues Spike, and Connor and Angelus fight. He nearly kills Angelus, but in the end Drusilla saves him by throwing Angelus out of the window. He takes his contract and one other thing, after having a conversation with the First. Angelus has the Order of Taraka sent after them both, and tells them to find Sahjhan.
Hyperion Hotel- Day (BTW, do you think I should put a day of the week to keep things clear?)
Lindsey: The contracts aren't entirely paper at all. They're binding spells in physical form, which look like contracts because it's more convenient for them.
Wesley: So, to destroy them we need some kind of counterspell.
Lindsey: Yeah, but no-one has a clue which one we need, and we'll need to get hold of the contracts first.
Giles: When Willow gets back she will almost definitely have the power to destroy them.
Lindsey: We'll have to get hold of them first, and that won't be easy. Especially now.
Wesley: Yes, the attack last night will certainly have put them on their guard. It's a pity we couldn't have co-ordinated out attempts with theirs.
Fred: Should we put out a word or something? I mean if they're enemies of Wolfram and Hart too, shouldn't we be on the same side?
Wesley: Well yes, apart from the fact that they have vampires working for them. They may be the lesser of two evils, but I expect they'll kill us just the same.
Lindsey: We'll have to act soon. You hear about it underground. The demons can sense something starting.
Giles: Forces are being gathered, and the struggles between various sides are actually making the news. If that's happening it must be something big.
Lorne: Yeah, I mean when was the last time evil made the news? Oh yeah, when the sun got blotted out and turned LA into the playground of darkness.
Lindsey: I'd say that this time we have a definite advantage. (Gestures towards Sandra) One Slayer prevented Apocalypse about ten times, think how much we can do with thirty.
Wesley: How do you know about that?
Lindsey: You think I never asked Gwen about Angel's old girlfriend?
Fred: The electricity girl? What does she know about Buffy?
Lindsey: No, the other Gwen. Files and Records at Wolfram and Hart.
Wesley: You give your files names? I've heard about guns, but that seems a bit much.
Lindsey: She's human. Well mostly human. Apart from the implants in her brain.
Giles: You took a living human being and turned her into a talking filing cabinet?
Lindsey: She did get expenses.
Wesley: Oh well I suppose that makes it alright then.
Fred: Speaking of Gwen, we do need someone to get us our contracts.
Wesley: I don't think we can afford her. But she does effectively owe Angel several million dollars for the Axis. I'll see if I can contact her.
Lindsey: Or I could call her. I still have the number somewhere.
Wesley: You've met?
Lindsey: She's a thief, we needed things stolen, I was joint Head of Special Projects. Of course we've met.
Wolfram and Hart-Angel's Office- Day
There is a knock at the door.
Angelus: Come in.
Lawyer: We have found it sir. (He places the urn Justine trapped Sahjhan in on the table. Angelus picks it up and examines it.)
Angelus: You know the saying they don't make 'em like they used to?
Lawyer: Yes sir.
Angelus: (He throws down the urn and it smashes) Turns out they didn't make 'em that well back then either.
(A cloud of smoke rises from the urn, and condenses to form Sahjhan.)
Sahjhan: Angel?
Angelus: Guess again.
Sahjhan: I see. How long was I in there?
Angelus: Oh, a year and a half or so.
Sahjhan: In that case I am free. In that amount of time Connor will have died on Quor-Toth.
Angelus: Oh, I'm afraid not. (He picks up a picture on his desk) You see this is what Connor looks like today. Takes after his mother, doesn't he?
Sahjhan: By the First!
Angelus: Not a good thing to say in this building, Sahjhan.
Sahjhan: How?
Angelus: Well, I'm afraid Angel made an attempt to get him back. It failed, typically, but it did leave a certain… weakness in the dimensional fabric, and I'm afraid Connor found his way back through that.
Sahjhan: He was meant to die there.
Angelus: Yes, well I'm afraid that Holtz proved even more determined to kill me than any of us had expected. He raised the boy, taught him a few choice facts about dear old Dad, and sent him back to kill me. I'm afraid that instead of preventing him from killing you, you may have put it forward by, oh, about seventeen years. Pity that.
Sahjhan: I suppose you want me to help you kill him.
Angelus: You sound reluctant.
Sahjhan: I can travel across the dimensions, get so far away from him that he'll never even hear of me.
Angelus: He'll find you. He found me. No matter how far you run, you can't escape him. Your only chance, is to kill him first.
Sahjhan: It is prophesied that he will grow to manhood and kill me. Why would I hasten my death further my attacking him?
Angelus: Destiny can be changed. Not often, but it can happen It has happened. And you do it by doing something unexpected. Like falling in love. The skin conditions could make it a little difficult for you though. If you bring about your conflict, you may change the outcome.
Sahjhan: I want help.
Angelus: Of course. All I can spare.
LA-Private Hospital-Day
Wesley: Yes, Ms. Cordelia Chase. She should be in the coma ward.
Receptionist: Oh her. I'm afraid you should probably speak to intern Julie about that.
Wesley: Well where is she?
Receptionist: She's recovering in one of the wards. You see her father's quite rich, and he wanted her to get some experience of things, she's going to be a doctor you see, and as they all use this hospital-
Fred: Recovering? What happened?
Receptionist: We're not really sure. One of the janitors found her unconscious, and Ms. Chase had disappeared.
Wesley: May we speak to her?
Receptionist: Unless you're family, then…
Wesley: We're detectives. We believe she may have vital information leading to the apprehension of a serial killer.
Receptionist: Really? Detectives? What kind of serial killer? Does he mutilate all his victims in the same way?
Wesley: (Slightly taken aback) No, no he doesn't. May we speak to her?
Receptionist: She's in ward 9. Julie Sulfridge.
Wesley: Thank you.
(They walk up to the ward)
Fred: Should we really be able to talk to her just because we belong to a private detective agency?
Wesley: Definitely not. Ah, Ms. Sulfridge. We would like to ask you a few questions about the attack.
Julie: I don't really know much of what happened.
Wesley: Well, what do you know?
Julie: Well, I was turning the patients, and when I got to her bed she was gone, and she had just been torn out. The wires were all loose. Whoever it was had no idea what they were doing.
Wesley: Do you think she could have woken up and freed herself?
Julie: No of course not! Though actually… no it's stupid.
Wesley: What?
Julie: I don't know, she just never seemed the same as the others. I mean we take good care of our patients, very good care, but it's inevitable that people who never move become a little, well…
Wesley: Wasted.
Julie: Their muscles atrophy and everything. She never seemed quite like that. I don't know why, but she always seemed like she'd just come in.
Fred: (Whispers in Wesley's ear) The half-demon thing? (He nods)
Julie: But I don't think she woke up, because of what I saw when I turned around.
Wesley: What did you see?
Julie: Well, I saw she was gone, and I turned around, and there was this person standing there. I just saw it for a moment, I wasn't even sure if it was a man or a woman. It was really thin and pale, wearing black. Then when it hit me I didn't even see it's arm move, just a blur of motion, and when I woke up I was here. Is that a help at all?
Wesley: It could be a great help. Thank you. (They walk out)
Fred: Pale and wearing black. Sounds a bit like Angelus, but it wouldn't have been him, would it?
Wesley: I expect if he wanted her he would just have her checked out legally. And if he didn't would have killed the intern.
Fred: So if Wolfram and Hart don't have her, who does?
Wesley: Well actually, I do have an idea. The thing that Drusilla awoke. It was thin, pale, and had an effeminate enough face that I'm not surprised she couldn't tell the difference under the circumstances.
Fred: So an insane vampire and her demon thing have Cordy.
Wesley: It's likely.
