"Hero"
Based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode "Something Blue" Written by Tracey Forbes and the Angel Episode "Hero" Written by Howard Gordon and Tim Minear
The following story is copyright © 2023 by Mark Moore.
Buffy was walking through the UC Sunnydale student lounge and saw Riley, who was hanging a banner that read "UC Sunnydale Lesbian Alliance".
A girl smiled at him. "Hey, thanks, Riley."
Riley climbed down off the ladder, taking a look. Buffy walked up behind him.
"Looks good." Riley noticed Buffy. "Oh, hey, Buffy."
"Is there something you want to tell me?" Buffy asked jokingly.
"What?"
Buffy looked towards the banner.
Riley did the same, catching on. "Oh, yes...I am a lesbian."
"Well, it's good that you're so open about it."
He smiled, and they headed off through the lounge.
"You joining?" Riley asked her.
Buffy shook her head. "Oh, no. Not for me. I'm not really into clubs. I've got my own extracurriculars that keep me busy."
That evening, Buffy dragged Spike, still tied up, over to Giles' front door and knocked.
Soon, the door opened. Giles was standing there. He looked at Buffy in bewilderment.
"Your turn to babysit." Buffy grabbed the back of Spike's shirt at neck level and shoved him head first at the doorway.
Spike was repelled and bounced back. Buffy repeated the action over and over again.
"Ow! You fucking bitch!" Spike yelled.
"What? Why?" Giles asked, ignoring Spike's remark.
"Because my mom's in L.A., attending an antiquequities...antiques?" Buffy paused in thought. "Antiquites?"
"Antiquities."
Buffy nodded. "...auction to get some new old shit for the gallery, and no way in Hell am I looking after Spike."
"So you expect me to?" Giles asked her.
"Well, you're not letting me kill him, so...yeah." Buffy kept slamming Spike against the doorway and starting laughing maniacally.
"Ow!" Spike yelled. "Good God, woman!"
Giles sighed. "Buffy, please stop. It's tacky."
Buffy stopped and pouted. "Spoil my fun."
"Come in, Spike."
Spike, who was leaning against the barrier, fell into Giles' apartment, landing on the floor.
In Giles' bathroom, Buffy was sitting on the end of the bathtub in which Spike was chained up.
Buffy was exasperated. "So...you saw their faces, but you can't describe them."
"Well, they were human. Two eyes each, kind of in the middle."
"Uh-huh. And the lab?"
"Underground. I came out through an air vent. I don't know exactly where. I'm done. Put the telly on."
Giles entered, carrying a mug that read "Kiss the Librarian" with a straw protruding from it. It contained blood.
"It's about time. Hope you got it warm enough."
Giles handed it to Buffy without saying a word. She took it, sighed, and made a face as she put it close enough to Spike that he could suck through the straw. He made a big to-do out of it so as to disgust her more. Buffy pulled the mug away, leaving Spike with the straw dangling from between his lips.
"Hey! Give it!"
Buffy set the mug aside. "Okay, that's it. The invalid amnesiac routine is over. The kitchen is closed until you can tell me something useful about the commandos."
"I'm tryin' to remember. It was very traumatic."
"How long are you going to pull this shit?" Buffy asked him.
"How long am I going to live once I tell you?"
Giles looked at Spike. "Look, look, Spike...we have no intention of killing a harmless...uh, creature...but we have to know what's been done to you. We can't let you go until we're sure that you're...impotent."
"Hey!" Spike yelled.
"Sorry, poor choice of words. Until we're sure you're - you're-"
"Flaccid?" Buffy suggested.
Spike gave her a death stare. "You are one step away, missy."
"Giles, help!" Buffy cried sarcastically. "He's going to scold me."
Spike growled, trying to grab Buffy, but the chains held him back.
"You know what?" Buffy asked. "I don't think you want us to let you go. Maybe we made it a little too comfy in here for ya."
"Comfy? I'm chained in a bathtub, drinkin' pig's blood from a novelty mug. Doesn't rank huge in the Zagat Survey."
"You want something nicer?" Buffy leaned her head to the side, exposing her throat to him. "A look at my...poor neck? All bare and tender and exposed...all that blood just...pumping away..."
Giles rolled his eyes. "Oh, please."
Spike, by this time, was all but licking his lips. "Giles, make her stop."
"If you two don't kill each other, I might lend a hand." Giles walked out of the bathroom.
Buffy stood up straight and set the mug on the sink, out of Spike's reach, and she left the bathroom. She headed for the door. "I gotta go."
"What?" Giles asked, surprised.
"I gotta pick up Tara. We've got karate class."
"Well, what I am to do with Spike?"
Buffy shrugged. "I dunno. Go all Ripper on him."
The next day, during a lull between classes, Buffy and Tara were sitting on a bench together outside, Buffy to Tara's right, and silently reading. Suddenly, they heard a click and looked up.
Harmony smiled at them. She was holding a camera. "Don't move." She took another picture of them.
"What's up, Harm?" Buffy asked.
"Taking pics for Photography class. We need to take a few different kinds. Wanna be my models?"
Tara was curious. "What do we have to do?"
"Strike poses in various settings. Maybe do some karate in the gym, band practice at the Bronze, that kinda thing."
Tara looked at Buffy. "Sounds like fun."
Buffy shrugged. "I'm down."
"Down for what?" Amy asked, walking by.
Harmony held up her camera. "Helping me get a good grade?"
Amy smiled, shrugged, and nodded. "Sure."
Buffy and Tara stood up, and the four ladies walked off together.
In his apartment, Giles was on the phone.
"Come on, now! It's telly time!" Spike yelled from the bathroom.
The answering machine for Buffy and Tara picked up. Buffy had recorded the outgoing message: "This is Buffy and Tara. We're not in right now, so please leave a message." The machine beeped.
"Oh, uh, girls..it's Giles. Um...I was hoping you would take Spike off my hands. I really have to-"
"Passions is on! Timmy's down the bloody well! And if you make me miss it, I'll-"
"You'll do what? Lick me to death?" Giles put the handset back up to his face. "Please. Among other things, I'd like to shower sometime today. Alone." He ended the call and then made another.
The phone rang a few times, and then an answering machine message came on:
"This is Amy-"
"And Harmony!"
"We're not available right now-"
"Because we're getting laid!" Harmony declared.
"Shut up, Harm. Anyway, leave a message after the beep."
"Beep!" Amy and Harmony yelled.
The machine beeped.
"Amy, Harmony, oh, Lord, please pick up..."
At Angel Investigations, Angel was sitting behind his desk, looking up at Cordelia, who was holding her new video camera in her hands.
Cordelia smiled. "Okay, we fade up on an aerial shot, downtown, skyscrapers, lights, yada, yada, yada. We hear a narrator, preferably famous - maybe that bald Star Trek guy or one of the cheaper Baldwins - and he says 'It's a big, bad city out there.' Cut to a woman walking down a dark, spooky street - alone. We'll cast some beautiful, young actress, maybe an up-and-coming starlet whose career is on the verge of taking off. Anyway, she's all nervous, right? Mucho vulnerable. The voice guy says 'Danger lurks around every corner.' Boom! She's attacked by a big, ugly goon with a knife. She screams 'Help! Is there no one to help me?' 'Well, now, there is someone to answer your call. He'll protect you, catch you when you fall! You can count on it.' And you say 'And you can count on me, because I'm the Dark Avenger.'"
"I'm the what?" Angel asked.
"The Dark Avenger."
"I'm the Dark Avenger."
Cordelia grinned. "I know, it's perfect! We can do it ourselves on Hi8. I'll charm a post-production house into doing the effects and-"
Angel got up and walked off.
Cordelia followed him out of the office. "Look, I know a little something about self-promotion, Angel, and I'm telling you one commercial like this could get us out of the red...or the black...or whichever one means we're broke, because that's us."
Angel stepped into the elevator and closed the grate.
"So what? I found out you were stalking me and put you into a permanent funk, and I'm just supposed to stand by and watch our business go belly up?"
The elevator went down.
"He's not entirely wrong, you know?" Doyle suggested.
Cordelia walked past him.
"Look, all I'm saying is advertising a superhero that can't really go out in the daylight might raise vampire suspicions, not to mention our pesky lack of an investigator's license."
"And who needs a license when we have no clients?" Cordelia asked.
"We'll manage, princess. We always do."
"We will if we project the right image. And now I'm suddenly thinking that Angel is all wrong for this commercial! He is a larger-than-life character, way too Braveheart for Joe Couch Potato to relate to." Cordelia looked Doyle up and down. "We need someone who's...average, run of the mill, ordinary." She smiled. "You're perfect."
"While I appreciate the compliment, it's just-"
"Come over here into the light, and let's see if we can create some cheekbones."
"Cordelia, I'm not the photogenic type. Plus I get dry mouth."
Cordelia grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him. "Excuse me? This is not a negotiation. This is a necessity. Our boss is in a funk. You know that he's only happy when he's fighting evil. Now, let's drum up some!"
"I don't know what we need evil for when we got you right here."
"I heard that!"
A short while later, after Cordelia had written up some cue cards, she was recording Doyle and looking at him through the viewfinder of the video camera.
"If you need help, then look no further. Angel Investigations is the best! Our rats are low."
"Our rates!" Cordelia corrected.
Doyle pointed to the papers taped on the windows behind her. "It says 'rats'. Our rates are low, but our standards are high. When the chips are down, and you're at the end of your rope, you need someone that you can count on. And that's what you'll find here - someone that will go all the way, no matter what. So don't lose hope. Come on over to our offices, and you'll see that there's still heroes in this world." He paused and cleared his throat. "Is that it? Am I done?"
Cordelia stopped recording. "I don't know. I'm not getting everyman; I'm getting...weasel. We don't want weasel."
"I don't know. I think people will be pouring in as soon as they hear about our low rats." Doyle paused. "I could take another crack at it."
Cordelia took down the cue cards. "I don't think so."
"Weasel factor, huh?"
"Doyle, I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry. I'm just...I feel kind of hopeless with him down there doing the non-profit brooding. How could his heart be so broken?"
"I guess your fight just got him where he lives."
"That's all very sad, but we live here, too."
"I'll talk to him."
Cordelia suddenly thought of something. "Maybe if we get him a costume!"
"A costume?"
"Well, the guy is a bona fide hero; would it kill him to put on some tights and a cape and garner us some free publicity?"
"I don't see Angel putting on some tights..." Doyle took a deep breath and shook his head. "Ah, now, I do, and it's really disturbing."
Cordelia waited a while after Doyle had gone downstairs, and then she went down as well and stayed out of sight, so she could listen in on Angel and Doyle's conversation. Angel was working out against a punching bag.
Doyle walked over to him. "Hey. Is this a private catharsis, or can anyone watch?"
"What do you want?" Angel asked, still punching the bag.
"Well, there's a girl upstairs who's not quite sad enough to cry in my arms, but keep up the dark cloud. I might get lucky."
Cordelia was surprised at that.
"I just need some time."
"Believe me, I know. Last time I saw my ex, she was around for five minutes, and I was a wreck for days. Amazing how they can do that to you. I can't imagine what you're going through."
Angel quit punching. "No, you can't." He sat down on the sofa. "Actually, Cordy and I spent a whole day and night together."
"All right. One of us has been drinking, and I'm sad to say it's not me."
Angel wiped his face with a towel and got back up. "Who are the Oracles, Doyle? Why didn't you tell me about them before?"
"The Oracles? Who told you about the Oracles?"
"The first time the Mohra demon attacked, it got away."
"What first time?"
"Look, I tracked it; I killed it; some of its blood mixed with mine. It made me mortal. That's when you took me to see the Oracles to find out what it meant."
"No, see, I'm going to remember a trip to the netherworld of eternal watching. That's just not something that happens every day."
Angel sat down in a chair. "The Oracles told me that I was released from my duty. Cordy and I were together until...we realized it couldn't be. We don't belong to ourselves. We belong to the world, fighting. So...I went back to the Oracles, and I asked them to turn back the clock...as though that day had never happened."
Cordelia was stunned.
"Human. You were a real live, flesh-and-blood human...and you and Cordy..." Doyle paused. "You had the one thing in your unnaturally long life, and you gave it back?!"
"Maybe I was wrong?" Angel asked.
"Or maybe Cordelia was right about you being the real deal in the hero department. See, I would have chosen the pleasures of the flesh over duty and honor any day of the week. I just don't have that strength."
"You never know your strength until you're tested."
"Come on, you lived and loved and lost and fought and vanquished inside a day, and I'm still trying to work up the courage to ask Cordy out for dinner-"
"Well, the Oracles said something bad is coming. 'Soldier of Darkness ushering in the end of days' kind of bad."
"So much for the security of long-term savings bonds, huh?"
"I feel something coming, Doyle. I don't know what, but I know we're a part of it."
"Well, if it's a fight they want...can't someone else give it to them?"
Angel smiled.
"It seems unfair, you know? You gotta save all the helpless types around here, and now you've got to fight the apocalypse as well?"
Angel got up. "It's all the same thing. Fight the good fight...whichever way you can."
"Tell you what, you fight...and I'll keep score."
Unable to control herself or process this information, Cordelia began to laugh hysterically. Angel and Doyle heard her and exchanged a look. She slowly walked into view.
Angel walked toward her. "Cordy-"
"You son of a bitch." Cordelia kept laughing for a while, but then it slowly got replaced by anger. "What gives you the right?"
"Well, considering it's my body..."
Cordelia hadn't considered that, and immediately most of her anger dissipated. "True. Still, you should have told me what happened. We can't keep secrets from each other."
Doyle nodded. "No, we can't. You know, I've been doing a lot of thinking about secrets and whatnot. I know my marriage would have stood a better chance if me and Harriet really just...talked more, really let each other in."
Cordelia didn't like being interrupted, but she was curious. "So how is she? You two keeping in touch?"
"She's decided to stay in LA."
"Oh. So you'll probably be seeing a lot of each other, then."
"Well, not right away. We both need to get on with our lives."
Cordelia stared straight at Angel. "Getting on is good."
"Yeah, because, if I want a relationship that's going to last, I need to put a few cards on the table."
Cordelia wished Doyle would shut up. "Such as...?"
"The thing of it is...I'm a little bit more than meets the-" Doyle pressed a hand to his head as he got hit by a vision. Ow!"
"Whatever you saw just now...did they look like they could afford to pay?" Cordelia asked him.
In Tara and Buffy's dorm room, Harmony was taking pictures of a naked Amy, who was posing on Buffy and Tara's bed.
"Okay, lick those lips."
Amy licked her lips.
"Now, smile. You're a young, beautiful woman with the world at her fingertips."
Amy smiled excitedly.
The phone rang.
"Excuse me." Buffy walked over and answered it. "Hello?"
"Buffy, it's Giles. Spike's escaped."
"What? How?" Buffy asked.
"It was my fault. I was distracted, and he stole my key and freed himself."
"Shit. Okay, I'll go hunt him down." Buffy paused. "Why are we keeping him alive again?"
"Because he has information about-"
"Oh, yeah, yeah." Buffy paused again. "Can I kill him afterward?"
Giles sighed. "If you wish. Just please find him."
"Fine." Buffy hung up. "Spike escaped. I gotta go."
Harmony was disappointed. "Awww, but I was looking forward to you posing for me."
Tara felt a bit embarrassed. "I was kinda looking forward to that, too."
"Rain check." Buffy kissed Tara on the lips and then headed for the door.
Harmony looked at Amy and grinned. "Okay! Where were we?"
"No one's gonna see these, right?" Amy asked.
"Totally. These are for your private enjoyment."
"What am I supposed to do with them? Masturbate to images of myself?" Amy asked.
Harmony was surprised. "You mean you don't?"
Buffy came across Spike standing outside. "Thought that was gonna take longer."
Spike searched about for something, searching the ground with his eyes. "Hang...Hang on, this - this is it. Wait...no...yes."
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked.
"The lab. Commando lab. The door was right here where I escaped."
He gestured to the ground, which was covered with grass, no sign of a door of any kind. Just a lawn.
Buffy was incredulous. "I don't think so."
Spike fell to his hands and knees, tearing at the ground. "Open up! I'm gonna kill you!"
"Spike, there's nothing there."
"Let me in! Fix me..."
"Okay, drop the act." Buffy grabbed him by the arm.
Spike pushed her away. "Get off!"
"Okay, that's it. I'm gonna gag you."
He punched her in the nose, then yelled in pain. She punched him back in the nose; he yelled in pain again.
Cordelia was sitting at her desk, playing Quake II on her computer.
The phone rang.
Cordelia answered the call. "Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless."
"Cordy, it's me."
"Hey, Angel, I'm totally working."
"I need you to do something for me."
Cordelia walked into the hallway of a building. "Hello? Angel? Hello?"
Some demons stepped into the hallway.
Cordelia gasped and pulled out a little spray bottle. "While this may look like a...popular brand of breath freshener..." She quickly pulled the cap off. "...it's really a cunningly disguised demon repellent!" She sprayed the air in front of them.
A demon sniffed. "Wintergreen."
Doyle pushed through the demons. "Cordy, it's okay. We're here to help them."
Cordy put the spray away. "Oh." She smiled at them. "Oh, hi!" She turned to Doyle. "Where's Angel?"
"He's trying to secure documents to get them out of the country. Did you get the truck?"
"Yes! It's out front. Hey, Doyle, you did notice that these folks are demons."
"Yeah, I know that. That doesn't make them bad people."
"Excuse us a sec?" Cordelia asked the demons. She pulled Doyle around a corner. "Mission statement check: aren't we supposed to be battling the forces of darkness?"
"They're not forces of darkness. They're half-human, and they're in trouble. Now, we don't have a lot of time. Angel wants you to go down to the L.A. harbor, pier 12, ship 4, the Quintessa. Use Angel's name. He knows the captain."
"So...we're booking them on a cruise?"
"Basically, yeah."
"I'm guessing not Carnival."
"The guy runs a freighter. He owes Angel some money. He does this, they're even."
"Ho, ho, hang on! This guy owes Angel money? Why aren't we collecting it?" Cordelia asked.
"Cordy, oppressed demon people here, not getting any safer!"
"So we're sending them on a cruise, and we're paying for it?"
"Please. Just do it? We need to know the ship is ready before we can move everyone."
"Bad things are coming, aren't they?"
"Very bad things. The Scourge."
"Who the hell is that? Cordelia asked.
"An army of pure-blooded demons. They have a big hate-on for mixed-heritage types. Very into pedigree. They hunt them down like animals."
"No one fights back?"
"Sure, they do. All the time. You can kill them, but these guys believe in what they're doing. They're ready to die for the cause."
Cordelia felt sick. "Hard to fight fanatics."
"More like impossible. Please hurry."
Cordelia sighed. "I'm on it."
"Just give me a call on the cell the minute it's done."
"Okay."
Buffy and Spike barged in through the front door of Giles' apartment, Spike once again tied up.
"Hey! Watch it!" Spike yelled.
"One more word out of you, and I swear-"
"Swear what? You're not gonna do anything to me. You don't got the stones."
"Oh, I got the stones. I got a whole bunch of...stones."
"Yeah? You're all talk."
"Giles! I accidentally killed Spike. That's okay, right?" Buffy called.
"Just a minute!" Giles called from the bathroom.
Buffy slammed Spike down into a chair.
Spike stared up at her in seething hatred. "I get this spell reversed, they'll be finding your body for weeks."
"Oh, make a move...please. I'm dying for a good slay."
They glared at each other.
"Spike is a stupid name."
"Oh, really?" Spike asked. "Whereas the name Buffy exudes classic elegance."
"What's wrong with Buffy?"
"Well, it's a terrible name."
"My mother gave me that name."
"Your mother, yeah, she's a genius."
Buffy stared down at him. "Don't you start in on my mother, fuckface."
Cordelia found the ship and told the captain of the situation. She looked around. "Well, it's not exactly the Love Boat, is it?"
"Sorry. We don't haul people. We haul cargo. It's never complained."
"We could bring in some blankets or something. How many are we talking?" the first mate asked.
"Oh,...about twenty?" Cordelia guessed. "Some are short people, you know, children?"
The captain nodded. "It won't be the most comfortable thing in the world, but we'll get them where they're going."
Cordelia pulled out her phone with a sigh. "We'll take it." She called Doyle.
"Hello?"
"It's me. The ship's a go."
"Good. But make sure to stall as long as possible. I might be running late."
"Is there a problem?" Cordelia asked.
"Rieff, a demon boy, has gone missing."
Cordelia sighed. "Fine. I'll work my magic."
Later, the demons were boarding the freighter.
The captain looked at Cordelia. "Look, I've got my clearance from the harbormaster. We have to go now. I have a schedule to keep."
"I'm sure they'll be here, captain. Just a few more minutes."
"Angel said he'd cut my debt in half if I do him this favor, right?"
"Yep, half, that's what he said. Big whopping fifty percent. Quite a deal."
"He takes sixty percent off, then I'll wait."
"You drive a hard bargain."
The captain walked away.
One of the demons walked up to Cordelia. "I can't thank you and your friends enough. I'm sure Rieff is in safe hands."
"Doyle will get him here."
"Yeah, he is a good one. He understands our suffering."
"We both do."
"I apologize. I didn't mean to say that you didn't. It's just more familiar to Doyle. He has to live with a certain amount of persecution. You always do when you're half-demon."
Cordelia was shocked. "Demon?"
"Oh. You...You didn't know?"
"No!" Cordelia yelled. "What the fuck?!"
Cordelia and the captain were pacing the freighter impatiently.
Cordelia heard something and looked. "Someone's coming."
Doyle and Rieff came running up.
"Do you have any idea what you put us through?" the demon asked Rieff. "We got to get out of here!"
"I'm sorry."
"Let's get you down with the others."
Rieff slapped Doyle's hand. "Thanks."
Cordelia stared at Doyle.
Doyle looked at Cordelia. "What?"
"You're alive!"
"And you're not happy?"
"We were worried."
"Oh. Well, it's all going to be okay."
Cordelia slapped him.
"What was that for?" Doyle asked.
"Why didn't you tell me that you were half-demon? I thought we agreed that secrets are bad!"
"I wanted to tell you. I was afraid. I thought, if I did, you'd reject me."
"I've rejected you way before now! So you're half-demon. Big whoop! I can't believe you'd think I'd care about that. I mean...I dated a vampire! Hello?"
"It's true. I just-"
"What do you think I am, superficial? So you're half-demon. That's so far down the list, way under 'short' and 'poor'!" Cordelia paused. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"The half-demon thing is pretty much my big secret."
"Good. That's out. It's done." Cordelia paused. "Would you ask me out to dinner already?"
"Yeah?" Doyle asked.
Cordelia smiled at him.
"Cordelia...would you like-"
Cordelia looked past him. "It's Angel!"
Angel drove up on his motorcycle, got off, and ran up the gangplank. "We have to shove off now."
"What's going on?" Cordelia asked.
The captain looked at Angel. "I can't! I can't find my first mate!"
"You won't. We're going. Get to the bridge."
Doyle looked. "Angel, they're here."
The Scourge was pulling up on the pier in trucks and on motorcycles.
Doyle looked at Angel. "Angel."
Angel looked at Cordelia and Doyle. "Get below. Lock the doors."
"What?" Doyle asked.
"Move! Now! Stay with the others."
Cordelia and Doyle ran into the hold.
Doyle looked at some demons. "Lock the doors. The Scourge is here. We're shoving off. We're gonna make it."
Soon, Angel and the Scourge commander burst through a door and fell down some stairs in the cargo hold. As Cordelia and the others watched, they fell over the railing and landed side by side on a lower catwalk. As Angel got up, he saw a beacon, already lit, being lowered into the hold on a chain.
"It's going to detonate. Get out! Everybody out!" Angel yelled.
The demons scrambled to comply.
The commander grabbed Angel and tried to choke him. "Welcome to a cleaner world. Soon, only the purebloods will be left standing."
Angel broke his grip. "Actually, pure boy, you'll be on your ass." He broke his neck and dropped him.
Doyle tried to open a door. "Ahh! They're locked from the outside. We're trapped!"
Cordelia and Doyle climbed up a ladder to the same level that Angel was on, and they all met on a platform level with the beacon.
"What does that thing do?" Doyle asked Angel.
"Its light kills anything with human blood."
"Well, it's getting brighter, and that doohickey - it's fully armed, isn't it?" Doyle asked.
"Almost. If I pull the cable, I think I can still shut it off."
"How're you gonna do that without touching the light?" Doyle asked him.
Cordelia looked at Angel in horror. "Angel, that's suicide."
Doyle nodded. "There's got to be another way."
Angel looked at the demons in the hold, then at Cordelia. "It's all right."
"No!" Cordelia cried, hugging Angel.
Angel looked into her eyes. "I love you." He kissed her on the lips, then gently pulled out of her grasp and put a hand on Doyle's shoulder.
Cordelia's tears flowed freely.
Doyle put his hand on Angel's arm. "The good fight, yeah? You never know until you've been tested. I get that now."
Doyle hauled back and hit Angel with a hard right fist to the chin, knocking him down into the cargo hold. Doyle turned to Cordelia and kissed her. Cordelia could barely register what was going on.
Doyle stepped back. "Too bad we'll never know..." His face morphed into his demon face, which was very spiky. "...if this is a face you could learn to love."
Angel picked himself up off the floor of the cargo hold, ran over to the ladder, and climbed back up. "Doyle. Doyle. Doyle! Doyle! No!"
Doyle jumped over to the beacon just before Angel reached the platform. He grabbed a hold of its metal frame, turned his head, and smiled at Cordelia and Angel.
"No!" Angel yelled.
Doyle morphed back to human and tried to pull the cable connection apart as the light got brighter and started to melt the skin off his face. Everybody watched, spellbound, as Doyle managed to pull the cable apart just before he burned up into nothing. The beacon went dark. All of the demons stared at the fading beacon in shock. Cordelia continued crying, and Angel pulled her into a hug, teary-eyed himself.
Later, in Angel's apartment, Cordelia and Angel were sitting on the couch, watching the video tape of the commercial that Doyle did in silence. Cordelia had slipped her shoes off and was resting her feet on the couch. She stared at the television screen in despair.
"If you need help, then look no further. Angel Investigations is the best! Our rats are low."
"Our rates!"
"It says 'rats'. Our rates are low, but our standards are high. When the chips are down, and you're at the end of your rope, you need someone that you can count on. And that's what you'll find here - someone that will go all the way, no matter what. So don't lose hope. Come on over to our offices, and you'll see that there's still heroes in this world."
Cordelia stared at his image, memorizing every feature.
Doyle cleared his throat. "Is that it? Am I done?"