Hiding in the sewer at 5:30 in the afternoon is Trepkos, a reddish demon with arcing bony ridges on his forehead and skull that terminate between his eyes. He calmy listens to the sounds of pedestrians on the sidewalk above, especially the feet touching the manhole cover above him. Trepkos leaps up and quickly slides the cover to the side. Less than two seconds later, a woman in her late twenties who is talking to a friend on her cell phone falls through the hole. Her phone drops in the standing water. Trepkos catches her, covers her mouth and carries the terrified woman away.
Shortly after the sun sets, Angel, Connor, Gunn, Wes and Fred head walk down the Venice Beach pier past the colonnade. "Dawn said Santa Monica," Connor reminds his dad.
"She was guessing. We're travelling north. We'll pass by there soon."
"I'm going ahead."
"Connor."
"If I see anything, I can run back and get you." Connor leaps onto the beach and races off.
Cribb, a green lizard demon with a gray ridge above his eyes, waited until dark. The earlier he acted, the longer he'd have to spend with a whining, crying human. A strip mall seemed ideal. Everyone's alone, no one's concerned about anyone else. A man steps out of a red sedan. Cribb sticks out his tongue and catches the keys. Before the man can spot his attacker, Cribb knocks him out with a right hook. He opens the driver's door, drops the man in the front passenger's seat, takes the driver's seat himself and is off.
"If Connor's gonna work with us, ya gotta teach him to follow orders," Gunn says to Angel.
"He's new. He'll learn the value of teamwork soon enough."
"Probably only after lone wolfing it gets him beat within an inch of his life," Fred pessimistically predicts.
"Or, after he misses a great kill because he abandoned us," Angel responds optimistically.
Fulk jogs down the street in sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt. The hood conceals his gray head, which has black spots on top. A car pulls into a driveway. Fulk leaps over the fence and lands in the front yard. He takes a bottle out of his muffler and sprinkles a clear liquid on a cloth. A man, a woman and an eight year-old boy step out of the car. Fulk hides under the vehicle. He grabs the boy's right leg, pulls him down and puts the ether-soaked rag to his mouth. The startled parents turn around. To them, it looks like the boy has vanished. Fulk crawls out from under the car and walks around to come at them from behind. He holds out his hands, each of which has three fingers and a thumb. His palms and the undersides of his fingers are green. Six green blades shoot three inches out from his fingertips. The husband and wife turn around when they hear the noise. Fulk plunges his right hand into the father's stomach, and slashes the mother's throat with his left hand. Once they fall to the ground, the blades flip back around and become flexible at the joints so he can use his fingers. Fulk puts the boy in the trunk and drives off.
A few hours later, the gang's hanging around on the Santa Monica pier. Connor stands apart from the group, looking out at the ocean. "We checked from Newport to Malibu," Gunn reports. "Nothing."
"Well, a purse-snatching near King Harbor and a pickpocket at Hermosa, but nothin' even close to what we're looking for," Fred adds.
"Though Charles and I did manage to kill a vampire near Marina del Rey," Wesley notes. "However, I doubt he had anything to do with the present matter."
Connor rushes over from the edge of the pier. "I smell blood," he tells Angel. Everyone follows Connor to where he was standing. The breeze blowing off of the sea makes it an easy scent to pick up.
"Let's go," Angel announces. He and Connor dive forty feet down into the surf. Several onlookers gasp.
"I ain't going in that way," Gunn quips.
"We need our weapons," Wes announces. They sprint off the pier towards their car. Those they race past turn their heads and wonder what's going on.
The water's only ten feet deep where Angel and Connor splash down, and they both collide with the rocks on the bottom before floating up to the surface. "Dad," Connor says as they bob in the surf. "I can't swim. Is that a problem?"
"Can you hold your breath?"
"Yeah."
"Then it shouldn't be a problem. Get on my back."
"What?"
"Climb on! I'll swim for both of us." Connor reluctantly climbs on, and Angel forges ahead through the waves. The blood is oozing from about twenty feet in front of and thirty feet to the right of where they landed. Angel swims underwater while Connor keeps his head dry, except when he's splashed by a wave. He's never been in the ocean, and the salt stinging his eyes is most unwelcome. Angel can hear a low humming. It's the three demons, doing a sort of wordless underwater summoning chant. As he gets close, Angel can hear the kicking of limbs, presumably the as yet to be slaughtered sacrificial victims. Fulk has already slit the boy's throat underwater, and is letting the blood drain. The other two victims scream underwater. Angel goes directly for the woman. In the darkness, he can see neither the demon he's attacking nor the person he's saving, but he can hear her cries and Trepkos's chanting. He punches Trepkos in the mouth and grabs the woman, taking her to the surface. Without Angel, Connor sinks, but he grabs the man's legs, trying to pull him down away from Cribb. With his strength, Connor yanks all three of them under. Cribb sticks out his tongue and wraps it around the man's right arm. He hits Connor in the face, who responds with ineffectual kicks. Blind and woefully out of his element, Connor hangs tight to the man's legs while wrapping his legs around the lizard demon's chest. The force of the waves pushes them towards shore. The gills to either side of his nose give Cribb a major advantage underwater. But he can't fight Connor too well while still keeping hold of his sacrifice, and Connor, who is also holding onto him, is too strong to be dislodged. The sacrifice must be alive, so drowning both humans isn't an option.
Wes, Gunn and Fred race to the water's edge. Wesley has a shotgun resting on his right shoulder. Gunn has an ax; Fred a crossbow and sword. She looks at the crossbow, which seems woefully inadequate to the task. "Where's a harpoon gun when you need one?"
"Forget that. Where's our scuba gear?," Gunn jokes. This causes Wesley imagine Fred in a wetsuit, which is an unwelcome and distracting thought at this particular moment.
"Where are they?," Wes asks.
"Ain't gonna find out if we stay here," Fred responds, leaping into the surf and quickly swimming out, slicing through the waves. Gunn and Wes, though impressed, don't emulate her. They wade out towards the fight, Wesley making sure to keep his gun above the water.
Connor's back slams into one of the slippery wooden columns holding up the pier. Temporarily letting go of his sacrifice, Cribb pulls the gasping Connor's head up out of the water and slams it into another column. Feeling more comfortable in the shallower water, Connor responds with a right hook. Cribb doesn't know why the human didn't go unconscious. He grabs Connor by the neck and pulls him under, hoping to weaken him enough by lack of oxygen to be able to snap his neck. Fred turns left and makes her way to the scene. She notices a man desperately trying to keep his head above water. His arms are tied behind his back, making this difficult. Fred grabs hold of the man, puts her right arm across his chest and props his head up while trying to navigate the waves and the columns as she makes her way back to shore. Gunn and Wes rush over and drag him to the sand. "I think he's swallowed water," Fred tells them.
"Where did you learn to swim like that?," Gunn asks.
"Swam varsity for two years in high school. Mostly long distance."
"You're drenched," Wes notices, not without pleasure. "We'll have to get you out of those soaked clothes."
"Maybe later. I have to go find find Angel." Fred leaps back into the water.
"What about the sea monster?," a concerned Wesley asks after recovering from Fred's response. The man's coughing, which means he's not dead, which means they can devote themselves to fighting. Once they find what they are fighting, that is.
Trepkos and Angel wail on each other underwater, each oblivious to the identity of his opponent. Unlike Angel, Trepkos must breathe, so he must return to the surface. Angel abandons him and continues his search for whatever is bleeding. He finds the boy, and can feel that he's dead. He hears someone swimming nearby. Having taken his first victim, and unable to find his compatriots, Fulk takes hold of the woman, who is kicking her legs to keep her mouth and nose above water. The demon drags her down and releases one of his finger-knives. But before he can slit the woman's throat, Angel grabs her with both arms and swims away. Fulk immediately gives chase and stabs Angel in the back, pulling the wound four inches upward before Angel knocks him away with a left elbow to the nose. They start to grapple as the sacrifice drifts away. Fred can hear her screaming, and makes her roundabout way out towards the victim. Fulk is more concerned with catching his sacrifice than fighting Angel, who keeps him away from his prize. A frustrated Fulk finally stabs Angel in the stomach with the three fingers on his left hand and swims for shore. Trepkos has already done the same.
"You again," he says to Wesley.
"Ya'al know each other?," Gunn asks. "That's cool. I'm gonna see if anyone needs my help." He assumes that Wes can handle a demon he's on speaking terms with.
"I take it that this time, you're not here to help," Trepkos tells Wes.
"Feeding humans to a Bago. Isn't that a little beneath you?"
"It was Cribb's idea. Anything to keep Mal off our backs."
"Mal is dead."
"Who killed him?"
"Angel."
"Fat chance." Wes cocks his shotgun, but Trepkos is quick, and he knocks it out of Wesley's hands and hits Wes in the jaw with a right hook before he can fire. But Angel blindsides Trepkos with a left hook, sending the demon to the ground.
Once ashore, Fulk hones in on Fred and the man and woman she saved. Fred sees his six finger-knives, and reaches for her sword, which isn't there. It must have fallen out in the water. "Hey Freddie Kreuger!," Gunn yells, causing the demon to turn to his left. "Nice blades. A little small," he taunts, brandishing an ax. Fulk lunges for Gunn and slashes with his right hand. Gunn backs away. He swings with his left for Gunn's throat. He ducks. Fulk stabs with his right hand for Gunn's stomach. Charles dodges to his left, spins round and buries the ax deep into Fulk's skull. "Guess size really does matter."
Only now that they are out of the water do Angel and Trepkos recognize each other. Trepkos laughs. "You wanted a rematch?"
"I really should have killed you when I had the chance."
"What a coincidence! I feel the same way." They charge one another and exchange punches. Angel knocks the demon down with a left cross and a right hook. Trepkos returns the favor with a left jab and a right uppercut.
"Where's Connor?," Fred asks Gunn. Realizing he's not needed against Trepkos, Wes rejoins the two of them. Decidedly out of his element, Connor is having the worst of it in the water. Though strong enough to keep from getting drowned or having his neck snapped, Connor can't prevent getting tossed into wooden columns while underwater, or slammed down into the rocks. He devotes his energy to trying to break free from Cribb so he can make his way to dry land. Angel's friends see Connor when he stands up in water only three feet high. Gunn and Wes rush over to help, while Fred makes sure the two people she saved are all right.
Cribb blocks Connor's right hook and knocks him down into the water with a right hook of his own. He picks Connor up by his shirt and looks at the boy who won't die like a good little human. "Now what the hell do we have here?" Connor spits salt water in his eyes. Cribb has a film that protects his eyes when under water. But since he's above water, the film hadn't been deployed, and the salt stings. He lets go of Connor, who quickly lands a left hook and a right uppercut, staggering the demon. Cribb leaps at Connor, getting on top of him and holding Connor's head under water. Out of his peripheral vision, he sees Gunn and his ax coming from the left, and stands up, putting his right foot on Connor's chest to hold him underwater.
"Bet you ain't as stubborn as this boy," he tells Gunn, optimistic that he can kill this latest attacker.
"You won't get a chance to find out." Connor finally pulls Cribb's leg loose, and he falls down. The lizard demon quickly swims to his right to gain time and space. He stands up on wet sand, where the waves wash over his feet. Before him is an exhausted Connor, an ax-wielding Gunn, and a shotgun-toting Wes.
"Buddy!," he says to Wes before sticking out his tongue and wrapping it around the barrel of his shotgun. He yanks it away, just as he took Wesley's key. Problem is, Wes has his finger on the trigger. When Cribb pulls the gun forward, Wesley's right index finger pushes the trigger back. As Cribb pulls the gun towards himself, it goes off, blowing apart his head.
"He should have learned some new tricks," Wes quips. The sound of the gun is heard by many above them on the pier, and the gasps are audible down on the beach where they are fighting. Connor falls on his hands and knees, coughing.
"I hate being underwater."
"I'm sure your dad felt the same way," Fred responds. Connor glares before falling on his back. He doesn't appreciate criticism, however deserved, when he's hurt. Gunn starts to go over to help Angel. But Wes holds him back.
"I think Angel wants to do this one himself."
"Who is that guy?"
"It's like our first fight never ended," Trepkos says to Angel as they batter one another.
"It's about to," Angel replies, going bumpy and landing a right hook kick and a left cross. Trepkos attacks, but Angel hurls him to the sand. "And this time, I'm playing by different rules." The demon kicks Angel in the chest. Angel responds with a left roundhouse kick to his head. He catches Strepkov's right fist in his left palm and lands three straight right jabs. Strepkov connects with a left hook, but Angel answers with two of his own. The demon looks woozy and winded. Angel seizes the opportunity and leaps on top of him, choking Strepkov before snapping his neck. Looking up in his final seconds of life, the demon could see that this was a very different Angel. He returns to his human face and walks over to join the others. "You okay, Connor?," he asks with concern.
"Water bad," Connor replies, lying on his back and gasping. The bruised Angel sits down next to him.
"You freed these guys?," Gunn asks after hearing the back story from Wesley.
"And myself. It was sort of a package deal."
"You saved the lives of a bunch of evil demons?"
"By breaking up a Wolfram & Hart racket. They weren't the good guys. But they weren't the bad guys in that situation either."
"Having worn an electronic collar myself, I don't know why they didn't mystically equip those bracelets with some sorta self-destruct mechanism if anyone ever tried to remove 'em." Wes and Angel glare at her. "Ah'm jus' sayin', it's an oversight Wolfram & Hart had the means to remedy. Sometimes I wonder if the bad guys are stupid, or just lazy." Todd Rungren's "Bang on a Drum all Day" starts playing.
"Oh no," Wesley comments. "The death knell."
"What death knell?," Angel asks. "We saved the people." He thinks for a second. "Not all of them, though. There was a child's body out there. It was dead before we hit the water."
"The blood," Connor recalls.
"It's going to draw the Bago," Angel notes with concern.
"We have to get these people away from the water," Wesley announces. He and Gunn each carry one of them to safety. They're still suffering from their ordeal, which included several hours of captivity followed by near drowning. They lay the two of them down on benches and return to the shore. Wes reloads his shotgun. Fred picks up her crossbow. Angel and Connor stand up. Angel calls for broad swords. Fred brings them over. Angel wades out into the water. He can smell the body, which has washed up under the pier. This limits the monster's range of movement and gives them a chance to hem it in.
"Whadya say we lure this puppy onto dry land?," Connor suggests.
"It might know better," Angel replies.
"Who are we protecting this thing from killing?," Fred asks. "Not that I'm against monster-killing for the sake of monster-killing."
"It will feed again somewhere else," Wes responds. "As long as it roams the seas, people will die so it can be fed."
"Yeah. That's a given. But say it stays offshore. Are we supposed to swim out after this man-eating monster and take it on — in the dark — where it's strongest and we're weakest?"
"The Powers wouldn't have shown it to me if they didn't want me to kill it," Angel declares.
"They showed it to Dawn," Connor corrects him.
"For my benefit."
"Benefit. So you're glad she's here?," Connor asks with a smile. Angel realized he walked into that backhanded Dawn endorsement. As the bouncy song blares out of the speakers above, a large, shadowy form emerges from the water and devours the boy in three quick bites. Angel gulps.
"I heard that," Fred reports.
"Heard what?," Angel asks defensively.
"I heard it too," Connor adds. He agrees with Fred and Gunn that they served their purpose and shouldn't take needless risks, especially when he and Angel are already injured. After ingesting its meal, the Bago disappears as quickly as it appeared. Angel steps out into four feet of water. Connor stays fifteen feet back, in three feet of water. The other three stay on the beach. Angel can hear the monster zigzagging towards him. He holds still until the last moment. Angel then turns and leaps away as the monster's massive jaws emerge from the water. Connor freezes and thinks of running. Wesley realizes what Angel's up to, and aims and fires. He puts dozens of pellets in the left side of the monster's body, just below its head. The injury prevents it from making a second lunge as Angel's feet hit the ground. He continues back for a few steps, until he's even with Connor. They stand in silence for a few seconds. Then the Bago scurries towards them on its four stumpy limbs at astonishing speed. The slim, eight foot-long muscular creature's jaws open two feet wide, and it emits a deafening honking sound. The speed, noise and teeth scare even Angel, who moves back and to his left. Connor dodges right. The monster heads after Angel, but not before whipping its powerful tail and taking Connor down before he could stab the Bago. Angel swings defensively, lodging his sword in the beast's lower jaw. It swings for him with its claws, and he quickly backs away. Gunn tosses his ax into its back. None of the injuries seem to slow it down. The Bago turns and attacks Gunn, Wes and Fred in a fury. But Connor steps in the way, leans down and drives his sword up through the Bago's brain. To do this, he had to place his head into the beast's big mouth. Wes, Fred and Gunn stare at Connor as he calmy limps away.
"Nothing I haven't done before."
Victor and five other white vampires stroll into an after-hours party in the heart of Watts. "Whassup, my homies!," Vic yells, doing his best clueless whigger impression. The place goes dead silent. Everyone turns around to look. Vic can hear a few guns getting cocked. "Damn, this is just like a movie!" The other five vampires look around nervously.
"Dude, I think we should leave," one of them says to Vic.
"Naw my nizzle! It's a public shizdig. Ain't like we needed to be invited or nothin'." Some murmuring on the other side of the club turns to screaming. "And neither did they. Peace, out!" As bodies start to fall and people panic, Victor's vamps slip out the front, while Lewis's slip out the back. The two quintets disperse in opposite directions. Vic and Lou climb on top a two story building across the street from the sight of the party. They gleefully watch people stream out, some running for safety, others looking for the culprits.
"Tell me again why we did this?," Vic asks Lou.
"We need reasons?"
"Why this place?"
"It's a gang thing."
"I thought we had them all locked up?"
"Only the three majors. There's all sorts of other groups. Most are just jokers. But a few make some serious green. Including the one we got tonight."
"And what makes you think they'll fall in line instead of fight?"
"Because they didn't spot us. Nothing scarier than an invisible killer."
"Toying with the normals, playing marionette, it's fun and all. But when do we go after the big game? Tangle with those Slayers."
"When we're ready."
"Oh, I'm ready," Victor boasts.
"Be cool. You know we can't take 'em on alone."
Connor steps out of the shower and crawls into bed next to Dawn. He stares at her face for a few seconds, running his right hand through her hair. Then he kisses her forehead. She opens her eyes. "You're back."
"You saved two people tonight."
"No. You did. You and Angel. And the others."
"Because of your vision."
"You killed the giant big-toothed weasel?"
"Yup. Put a sword through its brain."
"Are you hurt?"
"Not too bad." Dawn reaches her left hand out and touches his ribs. Connor flinches. Then she reaches touches his face. She can feel a bruise on his forehead.
"Feels bad to me."
"Coulda been worse. Angel got stabbed."
"Yeah, well, it probably hurts a lot less when your insides are dead." Dawn puts her hand on his heart, which starts racing. Connor smiles.
"I'm not too hurt for that." He kisses Dawn on the lips, then on the neck as he puts his left hand on her stomach.
"Connor, I am." She pushes him away. He looks disappointed. "Besides, we have to get up early tomorrow for the funeral."
"The funeral. I forgot about that. What do you wear to those?"
"Suit and tie."
"Oh," Connor replies distressingly. "Guess it's too late to shop."
"We'll figure something out." She puts her left hand on his cheek and smiles. "I'm glad we're here together."
"Me too."
"Big surprise there."
"What's that mean."
"Nothing. Just that, you're, transparent. Emotionally. It's sweet. Especially when you're happy. Which you usually are when I'm around. Sorry to steal your line. Like I said - "
"Aren't you happy?"
Dawn thinks about this. "Happier than I'd be if you weren't here. But you know what would make me even happier?"
"If your knee wasn't broken?"
"Yes. But, also, if you were nice to Buffy. And unlike my knee, you can do something about that."
"Maybe she could be nicer to me," Connor gripes. Dawn yanks at a couple of his chest hairs. "Ow!"
"If you two insist on making me choose one of you, I'll choose neither. You get along, or you get lost."
"But . . . this is where I live."
"Or I'll get lost."
"What if I'm nice to Buffy, but she's still mean to me?"
"Connor, go to sleep."
"But - "
"Good night."
NEXT: Connor and Kate start talking, which can't be good if you're Angel. And Lindsey returns.