ACT TWO

1745—Ireland

INT. LIAM'S HOME

Liam is at the tender age of eighteen, still eight years away from his eventual death. His eyes are clear; he clearly hasn't yet gotten into the habit of drinking every night. His hair hangs loosely around his face, not tied back. He's humming as he walks into the dining area.

LIAM'S FATHER
Been out all night again, I see.

LIAM
Ah, father. Fair Loinnir needed some assistance with a wee issue she was having.

LIAM'S FATHER
And what sort of issue was that?

LIAM
I wouldn't be much of a gentleman if I told you that, now, would I?

A pause. Liam's father's face suggests an epic internal battle. After a few moments he decides to keep his peace.

LIAM'S FATHER
Best wash up. Your cousin Seamus should be arriving by carriage at any moment.

LIAM
(groaning)
Cousin Seamus. A smarmy weasel if I've ever met one.

LIAM'S FATHER
No wonder you got along with each other so marvelously as children.

Liam, in turn, suppresses a remark. It would seem that the father-son conflict is on a sincerely less epic scale than it will be in a few years.

LIAM
Surely you didn't invite him to stay.

LIAM'S FATHER
For a fortnight.

LIAM
You're mad.

LIAM'S FATHER
Hardly. I feel his presence will keep you in line for a spell. Perhaps I won't receive quite as many comments as to your promiscuous behavior.

LIAM
True. You'll likely get double the comments regarding Seamus on the subject.

LIAM'S FATHER
I find that doubtful.

SEAMUS
As do I.

Father and son turn to the doorway to find Seamus standing just outside, smiling smugly. He looks similar to his modern-day appearance, the main difference being that his hair is longer and tied back neatly. In fact, everything about him is neat; he appears to be a very proper gent.

LIAM'S FATHER
Welcome, Seamus. Come in.

SEAMUS
Thank you.

LIAM'S FATHER
You had no trouble, I trust.

SEAMUS
The voyage was most enjoyable.

LIAM
It's no wonder, by the look of the wench you brought.

SEAMUS
That's no wench; she and I are wed.

They glare at each other, Liam angrily, Seamus still painfully pleasantly. Suddenly Liam's eyes widen; he backs up into the hearth and yelps as he burns himself. His father turns to him angrily.

LIAM'S FATHER
Idiot boy! You could have set the house ablaze.

Liam doesn't hear. He glances back at Seamus with clear fright in his eyes. Whatever he saw is gone; Seamus simply stands, looking pleasant. He and Liam's father continue to converse about the girl for a few seconds more until Seamus smiles at Liam cheerily and goes to fetch his wife. Liam watches him suspiciously. He decides he was hallucinating; in the middle of standing tall, we cut to the

Present

INT. WOLFRAM AND HART CELLAR

Angel stands tall in his cell instead. His face is human and very suspicious. For the time being, he seems to have forgotten about Connor.

ANGEL
Get out.

Seamus smiles identically to the way he always has; annoyingly pleasant, like everything is extremely amusing. He leans toward Melody.

SEAMUS
He's always done that. Never wants to discuss anything. I haven't seen this man for two and a half centuries, and what does he first say to me? "Get out." Hardly a warm welcome. Though, what would you expect from a caged vampire? Not much more, I sup—

ANGEL
I was talking to Melody. She doesn't need to be involved in this.

SEAMUS
Oh. Well, now. That's unlike a vampire! Protecting humans.

ANGEL
I think you missed out on a couple of details when you tracked me down, Seamus. Melody. Go.

MELODY
Okay, okay. Geez.

SEAMUS
Now why would you say something to her when you were looking at me? Clearly you were talking to me.

ANGEL
Your cockiness won't get you anywhere here. I'm the boss. Hell, I'm way higher up on the corporate ladder than I want to be.

SEAMUS
Finally better at me than something, cousin. No wonder you're defending yourself so profusely.

ANGEL
Why are you here, Seamus.

Seamus smiles at the non-question and grabs a chair from an open adjacent stall. Angel looks around. He doesn't have a chair. Then he remembers it was made of wood, so it had to be removed. The guilt that had been put out of his mind by the unwelcome visitor twinges in his mind. He forces it back.

SEAMUS
Believe it or not, cousin, I'm here to help you.

ANGEL
You can start by stopping to call me cousin. It's annoying.

SEAMUS
You are grouchy, aren't you? No wonder I was sent.

ANGEL
Why were you sent?

SEAMUS
To get you out of this cage. Your friends are in danger, and so is most of L. A., if you don't get out of this cage and save your friends sometime in the next hour. You owe it to them. I was sent to make sure you deliver.

ANGEL
Sent by whom?

SEAMUS
The Powers that Be.

ANGEL
(laughing sarcastically)
The Powers that Be were the ones who sent me here. They caused the death of people I care about, for absolutely no reason. I think I'm finished talking vicariously to the Powers that Be.

Seamus grins, annoyingly/amusedly. Angel blinks. Seamus suddenly walks down the stairs, at least fifteen feet from where he was standing only moments ago. Angel rolls his eyes. Apparently this is something he's familiar with.

SEAMUS
I would tell you that it wasn't all for nothing, but you wouldn't believe me. I'll tell you again in a few minutes. Now. How is that dear son of yours?

ANGEL
You don't get to talk about him.

SEAMUS
But the man who tried to kill him, in effect, three times, does?

ANGEL
I'm his father.

SEAMUS
Did you bring him up?

ANGEL
No, but…

SEAMUS
And were two of those attempts to kill him directly at your own hand?

ANGEL
Yes, but…

SEAMUS
But what, Liam?

ANGEL
It's Angel now.

SEAMUS
Yes, you and your pseudonyms. Liam, Angelus, and now Angel. Perhaps it's genetic… the Destroyer, Stephen, Connor…

ANGEL
Shut up.

SEAMUS
That wasn't very heartfelt!

ANGEL
I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to be just annoying enough that I'll talk incessantly to defend myself, just as I did when I was human. It doesn't work on me anymore, Seamus. Time has passed. Centuries have passed. I've been evil. I've been good. Now I honestly don't know which one I am.

SEAMUS
Ah, the mid-unlife crisis. How well I remember it.

ANGEL
I'm not having a… a crisis.

SEAMUS
That explains the being locked in a cage after trying to kill your son and reliving it at every possible interval, making yourself semi-demonic, not to mention slightly suicidal, and not talking to any of your friends or coworkers or even bothering to try and save them, even though this dimension is extremely similar and possibly even a little better from the one you guys were in to begin with.

ANGEL
Still having those issues with run-on sentences?

SEAMUS
They just don't go away.

The door opens and Melody emerges, holding a scroll. She presents it to Seamus with a dreamy sort of proud smile on her face.

SEAMUS (cont'd)
Thank you, miss.

MELODY
You're so welcome.

A beat as Seamus unrolls the scroll and flips it over.

MELODY (cont'd)
Do I get to stay this time?

SEAMUS
Yes, please; I can't for the life of me figure this thing out.

MELODY
Oh, sorry. I forgot. I have to do this. Wolfram and Hart employees only.

SEAMUS
First the elevator, now the scroll… you Wolfram and Hart guys are all about your privacy, aren't you?

MELODY
Dimension 5074, please.

The scroll lit up. The same demon newscaster with the same top hat appeared upon it. Apparently the Inter-dimensional only had one employee.

SEAMUS
"Please?"

MELODY
You have to ask nicely, otherwise it gets grumpy and starts mouthing off.

SEAMUS
…Uh huh. Okay. If I roll this up, will the image remain?

MELODY
No. Sorry. Why?

SEAMUS
Dramatic effect. I have a short speech to deliver, and it would be dandy if at the end I could just flick my wrist and the image would appear to him.

ANGEL
Why don't you just give me the scroll and save the speech.

SEAMUS
No! I've been contemplating this speech since I came down those stairs. The second time.

ANGEL
(sighing)
Fine. Let's just get this over with.

MELODY
You could hide the scroll behind your back.

SEAMUS
I guess that'll have to do. Okay, ready?

MELODY
Ready!

Angel just rolls his eyes.

SEAMUS
Liam—Angel, sorry—it wasn't all for nothing. Your efforts to show the Senior Partners what you're made of paid off. Not for you, oh no… but wasn't it always about the helpless? You and your crew pretty much owned a law firm, and you still do. You're not helpless. You, Wesley, Gunn, Illyria, Lorne… even Spike. You all did something monumentally important a few days ago. It wasn't all for nothing.

ANGEL
Are you done?

SEAMUS
You're not getting it. This lawfirm made you selfish, all of you. It was no longer about the helpless. It changed your mission statement. But ultimately, even though your final actions on that plain were for your reasons alone, you achieved something. Not for you, but for them. The helpless. You helped them one last time. Wasn't that what Cordelia was always about?

Angel only looks at Seamus. The sarcasm has left his expression. He's listening.

SEAMUS (cont'd)
The Black Thorn had so many people worldwide under their command, because guess what? There's only one Black Thorn group per plain. It takes centuries to rebuild it properly. You set a great many people free from their captivity, Liam, all throughout that plain. Just as many people in L. A. celebrated as did in cities in China or Australia or Mongolia. You helped the helpless.

ANGEL
Prove it.

SEAMUS
(smiling smugly)
I knew you'd say that.

From behind his back, he pulls the open scroll and hands it to Angel.

NEWSCASTER
…enior Partners worldwide in dimension 5074 are beginning to feel the effects of the mutiny that took place there. Every member of the Black Thorn has been killed on that plain of existence, and that is a huge blow to the Wolfram and Hart clientele. It would seem that over 20 of the clients were not evil and were in fact bound to use Wolfram and Hart as their lawfirm in accordance with one or all of the members of the Black Thorn. The Senior Partners aren't yet sure of this underground organization that was being run under their noses and are looking into it, but are currently focused in rounding up some voluntary clients. In a brief statement made earlier, one among the Partners anonymously revealed that though almost all of their biddings are done in the name of utmost evil, they prefer to keep their clientele evil of their own accord; that is, they must be clearly evil before signing any contract with Wolfram and Hart. This would tend to eliminate actions such as those that occurred earlier this week, where one of Wolfram and Hart's own killed off every member of the Black Thorn. We'll have updates on this story regularly at intervals relative to your perception of time.

Angel slowly and deliberately rolls up the scroll and hands it back to a silent Melody.

SEAMUS
You did good, cousin. You and your friends. Who, might I remind you, are in peril at the moment, so if we could just swing into action now…

Angel looks up in shock. He'd forgotten about the invisible people situation. He takes a minute to consider things.

ANGEL
Melody, let me out of the cage.

MELODY
Sure, boss, but only if you promise not to break any more necks.

ANGEL
I promise. Open up.

Melody hesitantly pulls keys from her hair clip and unlocks Angel. He strides forward with initiative, leaving Seamus and Melody to scurry behind him.

INT. ELEVATOR

Angel presses the button for the sixth floor. Melody and Seamus exchange a nervous glance.

MELODY
Uh, boss… aren't our offices on the eleventh floor?

ANGEL
I'm not going to the eleventh floor.

SEAMUS
But don't you think we should? There's research to be done. We have to find your friends before sunrise! That's in maaaaaybe forty five minutes, if we're lucky.

ANGEL
Thirty eight, but I have something I need to take care of.

The elevator doors open up. It's apparent why Melody and Seamus are nervous; the sixth floor houses the medical facility, where Connor is currently recuperating. Angel steps out of the elevator. As the doors close over his retreating figure, we find ourselves at the

END OF ACT TWO