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. Lindsey tells them that the contracts are spells in physical form but he does not know exactly how to destroy them, and decides to call Gwen to retrieve them. Angelus finds and releases Sahjhan, then convinces him to try to kill Connor. Wesley and Fred go to collect Cordelia from hospital, but find that she has been taken by the thing Drusilla awoke (Connor). Gwen arrives and agrees to help them, and removes LISA. Angelus is contacted by the Order f Taraka, and he tells them to kill all his enemies, not just Dru and Connor, then leaves in a helicopter. In Belize, Buffy, Willow and Sam arrive at the lair of the creature controlling the Suvoltes, where it is sending them away by plane. Willow is telepathically attacked by the creature, and Buffy and Sam attack at once. Professor Walsh intends to find Buffy and Willow's power sources, and tap them. A person called the Master appears in Barrington. Buffy encounters Angelus in Belize. They fight, and he saves the Suvolte controller and flies away. Willow's magic doesn't seem to work on him. A Tarakan assassin attacks the Hyperion, killing the Slayer Giles brought. Spike appears at the Hyperion. Buffy calls and informs them about Angelus, saying she is returning home. Spike tells them that he has a place where they will be safer from the Tarakans, Drusilla's lair, and they agree to join him. Gunn, completely possessed, warns Angelus that he had better strike soon or he will be replaced. The Master attends the school Halloween party, and tries to kidnap Dawn. The student she is with, Jared, turns out to be a demonic servant of his, and prevents Amanda from interfering while he fights Faith. He beats and hospitalises her, but Buffy arrives back and he runs. At the Watcher's Headquarters a warlock attacks and steals the Scythe. Willow says she isn't sure she can beat him, and can't find him. Amanda suggests that he was trying to kidnap Dawn in an attempt to draw Buffy into one-on-one combat. Buffy orders that Dawn be guarded. Wood discovers that the press in Barrington aren't as gullible as those in Sunnydale. Jared claims that they can't kill him, because he appears human. Spike delivers AI and associates to Drusilla, then leaves to see Buffy. The Master tries to make Xander accept Anya's death, and says that when the time comes he will be on his side. Sahjhan leaves to kill Connor. Buffy meets the Master in a demon bar, who offers to fight to avoid their conflict killing lots of Slayers. They fight and she defeats him easily. It turns out to have been Jared, magically disguised, making sure she isn't at the Council building. The Master sets his warlock to attack the Watcher's Council. He fights Willow, and when she appears to be beating him, kills Kennedy, and uses some of her blood to power him. Her eyes turn black and she beats him easily. She tries to kill him, but he manages to push her hand into Kennedy's blood, changing her hair and eyes to black and red. He reveals he works for Wolfram and Hart before she drains his power, kills him and is sucked through a portal. Dawn, with Xander and three Slayers escape through the sewers. They are intercepted by the real Master, who kidnaps Dawn and leaves the others unconscious. He tells Jared to go home, and Dawn that they were never after Buffy, it was her, because she is the Key. He starts to bleed her. A black ops group including Matthew Walsh contacts AI. The Master uses the Scythe, which is left on the ground afterwards, and Dawn's blood in a ritual to bring in a being from another world, leaving her to be rescued. As a result of this she gains the ability to see into other dimensions. The Master is Connor, and the ritual was to awaken Cordelia. Sahjhan comes to Buffy claiming to have been sent by the PTB, and offering to help her fight The Master. Willow talks to the demon which brought her through, which sends her to LA to try and cause chaos. Cordelia appears not to remember anything after Jasmine's conception. Sahjhan tells them the Master will try and leave town, and sends them to guard public transport. Willow attacks the Suvolte controller, causing it to lose control and creating enough chaos for Gwen to reach the contracts room. She takes the Angel file, but is distracted by the First for long enough for Angelus to get to her. She manages to escape with the file. Professor Walsh kidnaps the exhausted Willow in their flight. Angel says that Lindsey knows how to destroy the contracts, though he claims not to. Angel's contract is not in the file, it's empty apart from Jasmine's. They decide that it's too risky to experiment on her contract. Spike arrives in Barrington with Tarakan assassins after him, and he and Buffy continue their relationship (Sorry Shahid). Willow escapes quite easily by controlling Professor Walsh. Cordelia cows some vampires who are sceptical about her usefulness with demonic powers, but isn't ready to travel. Xander talks to Rona about her disobedience, and Buffy offers him a job as a Watcher.
Drusilla's Lair-Night
Willow: Hi guys.
Wesley: Willow.
Willow: I'm back.
Wesley: Evidently. How?
Willow: Using magic against someone who doesn't believe in it is pretty easy. I left him with his car.
Wesley: You let him go?
Willow: Well, what were we gonna do with him, hold him hostage? Way too much trouble. Anyway, I think he may've realised his approach doesn't work.
Wesley: I assume we've lost the aid of the military group?
Willow: Probably. What contracts did you get?
Wesley: Yes, that's unfortunate.
Willow: What?
Wesley: Well, firstly Angel's contract wasn't there, I would assume it's been moved to a more secure location, quite possibly on a different dimension. When you're feeling up to it a locator spell would be useful. The only one that was there, was that of "Jasmine Angel".
Willow: Do you have any idea who that is?
Wesley: Yes, Cordelia's… daughter, for want of a better word. And apparently Angel's as well, though I don't entirely understand how that could be possible. When Angel comes back, he will have some questions to answer. I the meantime, as Cordelia was kidnapped by a creature which I suspect is the vampires Miracle Child, we can't find out.
Willow: Why would it do that?
Wesley: I'm not sure. But it has some kind of connection to us. When it first came here it knew my name, it acted as though it knew me. I asked Fred to talk to Drusilla, but all she's come up with is bizarre ramblings about family and Snow White. At a guess it's trying to wake her up, by why I have no idea.
Willow: Hm. Have you seen Oz?
Wesley: No he's out killing things. I don't know if it's because you or just his wolf nature. I'll tell him when you get back. Anyway, Gwen is having her reunification with LISA.
Willow: That's good. I don't really have any nice shoes with rubber soles.
Wesley: Yes, she seemed oddly eager to get it back. I don't know precisely what happened to her in there, but it shook her quite badly. I'm not sure she'll be there if we need her again.
Barrington-Night-Bar
(Spike sits down next to a demon. It looks at him in irritation, then its eyes widen.)
Demon: Hey, are you…
Spike: That's me.
Demon: I heard you were dead. Big self-sacrifice.
Spike: Not any more mate. Resurrection.
Demon: Cool.
Spike: So, heard there's a new Big Bad in town. Know about him?
Demon: Oh I've heard of him alright.
Spike: Annoying little bastard?
Demon: How stupid do you think I am? You're a vampire. You think I'm gonna badmouth him to you?
Spike: You ever hear what happened to the Anointed One?
Demon: Oh yeah, you've got a bit of a thing about authority figures.
Spike: You might say that. Anyway, I'm looking for him.
Demon: Again, how stupid do you think I am? He collects BITS of people. If I tell you…
Spike: Yeah. On the other hand, I've been doing it a whole lot longer than he has. And you do know where I got my name, right?
Demon: Oh. You didn't hear this from me, but he's got a warehouse down the north side of town.
Spike: A warehouse.
Demon: Yeah.
Spike: A warehouse. Has the kid ever heard of bein' bloody original?
Demon: Wasn't your old hideout a warehouse?
Spike: Yeah, but I'm not claiming to be the Dark Messiah. Thanks for the tip.
Demon: You're welcome.
Warehouse-Night
Connor: Okay that's good. Small steps.
Cordelia: Yeah. One small step for me, one giant leap towards wreaking the coma patient recovery curve.
(A scream sounds nearby.)
Cordelia: That's not good.
Connor: Guessing they've found us. We can get out through the sewers.
Cordelia: Could someone, somewhere, someday, possibly come up with an escape route that doesn't involve slugging through filth?
Connor: Here. This should help.
Cordelia: What, is it a magic mace that grants its bearer superhuman strength and immunity to sewer waste?
Connor: I don't think so. I meant you can use it to help you walk.
(He helps her to a trapdoor, and they go in a few seconds before the doors burst open.)
Buffy: He's gone.
Spike: Left in a hurry. Light's still on.
Buffy: Remind me to explain to Joanna that if you stake them instead of cutting off their heads, they've still got time to scream.
(They both look at the trapdoor.)
Buffy: Know where that comes out?
Spike: I've only been here a day. And now that I'm not a vampire, sewers fail to thrill me.
Buffy: Let's spread out.
Spike: Right.
(He walks off into the night.)
Alley-Night
Connor: There's someone still after us.
Cordelia: Since when did Buffy have thirty other teenage girls running around doing her bidding?
Connor: They're Slayers.
Cordelia: There's only one Slayer. Well two, but-
Connor: You go down there. I'll stop her.
(She nods and walks around the corner. Their pursuer reaches him.)
Connor: Wasn't expecting you. You're not as fast as the rest of them.
Spike: Hundred years of practice count for a lot.
(Connor draws a long knife out of his sleeve.)
Spike: You've got a name besides the Master.
Connor: Yeah. What of it?
Spike: I think I know who you are.
Connor: You don't. You can't.
Spike: Connor Liam Angel. Right?
Connor: Stephen Holtz.
(Spike blinks, then shrugs and brings his axe into position.)]
Spike: Sorry my mistake. Die then Stephen.
Connor: Connor.
Spike: What?
Connor: Connor Stephen Holtz.
Spike: That wasn't always your name.
Connor: This is my fourth.
Spike: But you are Connor, right? Miracle kid, son of two vampires. Angel's son.
Connor: He's not my father. Not anymore.
Spike: Why not?
Connor: He disowned me. How do you know who I am?
Spike: Let's just say I've got sources. I don't think you're evil. Though you'd fool most.
Connor: I just don't give good first impressions.
Spike: You smashed Faith's head in against a wall, set an army of corpse things under the control of your pet evil warlock on the Slayers, got Kennedy killed, and slit open Dawn's wrist. That's not just a bad first impression, it's a bad second third and fourth.
Connor: Who's Kennedy?
Spike: A Slayer. Your warlock killed her.
Connor: What? But that wasn't…why?
Spike: He felt like it? How should I know? I can't let you go on.
Connor: So you're what? Gonna bring me in?
Spike: You think you could take me?
Connor: Probably. But I know I don't have to.
(He leaps backwards and handstands over the wall.)
Outside Drusilla's Lair- Night
Gwen: Well, see you around sometime if we don't all die.
Lindsey: What did you see in there?
Gwen: What makes you assume that has anything to do with it? It was a job.
Lindsey: I know that before you went you were fighting what's happening, instead of running away.
Gwen: It's my life. I'll do what I like with it.
Lindsey: It won't be for long if this isn't stopped. You can't just skip countries and expect to survive if we fail.
Gwen: I can't be part of this. This, unnaturalness.
Lindsey: What did you see? It helps to talk about it.
Gwen: Some dead people. Some of my victims.
Lindsey: You're a thief, not an assa-
Gwen: A killer? I am, it's in my nature.
Lindsey: Wait. Just dead people?
Gwen: No, Gunn's still alive.
Lindsey: Oh. That's interesting.
Gwen: Yeah, well you may think my electrocutee slash partner in crime slash lover is interesting,
Lindsey: Electrocutee?
Gwen: Yeah. I killed him. Restarted his heart.
Lindsey: You saw the First.
Gwen: Whatever. Could you maybe get out of my way?
Lindsey: The First Evil is an ancient, powerful, incorporeal being which takes the forms of the dead, and uses them for manipulation. It tries to destroy people, driving them to despair and suicide. It was just trying to throw you off.
Gwen: Well, it worked.
Lindsey: It lies. It always lies.
Gwen: Goody. It was right. It's in my nature.
Lindsey: So you can kill people. Everyone can kill people. You're just better at it.
Gwen: If that's meant to make me feel better, it's not working.
Lindsey: This is where you belong.
Gwen: Oh really. Why?
Lindsey: You're a freak.
Gwen: WHAT?!
Lindsey: You really shouldn't be so touchy about that. But it's not surprising. Surrounded by normal people, you're a freak. Here, everyone's a freak. Which makes you normal, a person.
Gwen: Get real.
Lindsey: You belong here. With people who can understand you, who know that your abilities don't make you any less of a good person than you are.
Gwen: You think I'm a good person?
Lindsey: You didn't take the job.
Gwen: Don't spread that around. You think I'm a good person because I didn't steal a book from some old guy? I didn't refuse because it was wrong, I refused because it was an insult to my abilities. He didn't even have a security system.
Lindsey: He was a powerful magician. And I don't think you're a good person because you wouldn't work for us, I know you're a good person because I know you.
(They look at each other. He slowly pushes her hair back behind her ear, and rests his hand on her neck. She leans forward and they kiss. Time passes.)
Gwen: Have you met it?
Lindsey: Huh? Oh, the First. Once.
Gwen: What did it look like to you?
Lindsey: My brothers. The ones who died of fever. The first man who died because of something I did. My parents.
Gwen: What happened to them?
Lindsey: My mother worked herself to death. My father drank himself to death.
Gwen: Nice family history you've got there.
Lindsey: We're thinking of having a competition. The only problem is deciding whether if you murder your parents you can still say they mistreated you. So, are you staying?
Gwen: Alright. I'll stay. But I'm keeping this thing.
Lindsey: I like that thing. Being electrocuted is not my idea of a good time.
Gwen: What is?
Motel Room-Night
(Cordelia is sitting on the bed and Connor walks in. They look at each other.)
Connor: So you know.
Cordelia: I forgot you'd be able to smell me.
(He looks at the floor and steps clear of the door)
Cordelia: That was what you did to bring me back, wasn't it?
Connor: Yeah. That was it.
Cordelia: So what? You thought I'd appreciate you murdering a couple of people? There was that girl. The one you told me about at the birth, and I know you were being manipulated like the rest of us, but I didn't realise you were going to turn it into a thing we have, where we try to make all our problems better by sacrificing virgins and sluts! Incidentally, what kind of a spell needs that?
Connor: You think I killed them?
Cordelia: That's what Spike said, and although he's not exactly the most reliable source of information,-
Connor: No. I didn't. They're alive. Kennedy, or whatever her name was is the one I killed.
Cordelia: You sounded surprised when he told you about her.
Connor: That wasn't what was meant to happen. I told him to drive Dawn out and keep them distracted long enough for me to get her, not start killing them. But it's my fault.
Cordelia: You told him not to kill them and he did, and you're entirely blaming yourself for it.
(He turns to the wall, unable to face her)
Connor: I knew what sort of person he was, I should've realised something like that would happen.
Cordelia: How bad was he?
(He spins around, eyes blazing insanely)
Connor: He took away people's lives! He destroyed everything that made them themselves, everything that made me me, and gave them lies in exchange! For the first time in my life I looked for truth, looked for something real, and he locked me in that fake world he made for the son he really wanted! Sorry. I'm getting off track.
Cordelia: He was human. It was his decision.
Connor: That's not-
Cordelia: Connor, if you blame yourself for everything that another human being does, then you're gonna end up like Angel. And if you don't stop shouting, then someone's gonna tell us to leave, or phone the police, 'cause yelling at the top of your voice about this kinda stuff. Not a good way not to attract attention.
Connor: Sorry.
Cordelia: So, what did happen to Faith and Dawn?
Connor: I needed Dawn for the ritual to bring you back. She's the Key.
Cordelia: Not a clue what that is, but I'll let it pass. He said you smashed Faith's skull in.
Connor: I heard something crack when I was hitting her against the wall. I mean first her arm, but later.
Cordelia: I meant why.
Connor: She was in my way. I was trying to get Dawn, before any of the other stuff happened. We started fighting, and I knew that 'cause Angelus beat her, I'd have to be able to before I could.
Cordelia: Okay, I guess that's logical in an insane kind of way.
Connor: I did say I went a little crazy.
Cordelia: Yeah. And the only way to beat her was to smash her head repeatedly against the wall?
Connor: I got mad. She. She was so…sure. Always assumed she had the right plan, and now look! Angelus is back, and he's a lot more powerful, and all she did was mean the not-you was in a hurry to be born. You can go.
Cordelia: You're throwing me out?
Connor: I mean, I won't stop you. If you want to leave.
Cordelia: I don't. An' I'm not repulsed.
(She reaches out and takes his hand.)
Cordelia: So you went kinda crazy. You've been in a very dark place, again,
(She draws him down facing her and puts an arm around him)
Cordelia: You've suffered. Things can get better.
(She leans forward. He tears away from her and stands.)
Connor: (Furiously) Do not pity me!
Cordelia: I don't. I never have.
Connor: You did.
Cordelia: I told you, everything I tried to say came out wrong.
(She grabs his hand and pulls him back down. He sits across from her, her with one hand holding his and the other on his shoulder. He glances at her questioningly, and she holds his gaze. Her hand slides over his shoulder and pulls him to her.)
AN: By some extraordinary coincidence, our Internet got knocked out AGAIN. Fortunately, it didn't take us so long to fix it this time. Did I mention I crave reviews? Please. Still applies.
