Sacrifice
(Hyperion – Room – Night)
(Pick up where we left off at the end of ‘Magic Bullet’. Connor has just yelled down the hallway for help. The rest of the group stares at him in shock.)
Angel: Connor, you have to listen to us.
Connor: (angrily) Listen to you? You're the ones who lie. You're the ones who hate.
Fred: No, Connor—
Angel: Jasmine's controlling you, controlling your feelings.
Connor: You're wrong, dad. About me, about her, everything. It doesn't matter anymore what you say. (Looks down the hall at the approaching mob, then back at Angel.) We're gonna tear you apart.
(Angel lunges at the door, slamming it shut, locking Connor and the approaching mob outside. Angel leans against the door with all his force.)
Angel: Run! Get the car! Get out of here. I'll hold him off. Someone who knows the truth has to live through this. (the gang hesitates) Go!
Wesley: Come on.
(Fred, Lorne, and Gunn follow Wesley out the window to the fire escape. Connor's beating the door from the hallway outside. Angel holds him off. )
Connor: I'm finally part of something! I belong! I won't let anyone ruin that! (Angel punches through the door and grabs Connor.) Ow!
Angel: I know, son.
(Angel busts through the door into the hallway, punching Connor to the ground. Angel pummels Connor's face as the mob approaches them. Angel's beating Connor with a ferocity he's never used against Connor before. The mob grabs shards of the smashed wooden door.)
(Alley – Behind Hyperion)
(Wesley pulls the car out back behind the fire escape and screeches to a halt. He's got Fred, Gunn, and Lorne in the car with him.)
Fred: This is all wrong. There has to be a way we could—
Gunn: We could cut the power, create a diversion.
Wesley: No, she has hundreds of followers in there all acting with a single, focused will. We can't risk going against that. Not now. Someone—
(Connor lands on the hood of the car, face down. Angel lands on the hood of the car on his feet. Angel jumps down and pulls Connor's body to the ground. Angel jumps in the car, in the front seat beside Fred.)
Angel: Drive.
Gunn: Angel—
Fred: We can't just leave him, he's your—
Angel: I know what he is. Wes, drive.
(The mob, followed by Jasmine, approaches the car. Wesley puts it in reverse, screeching the tires as he pulls away.
Jasmine watches them go.)
(Car)
(The gang drive along the highway listening to the radio.)
Radio DJ: And in an impromptu speech today, the mayor—I really love that guy, don't you?— The mayor declared Los Angeles the first "Citadel of Jasmine," a cradle of civilization which will usher in a new age for all of humanity. In related news, the L.A. Archdiocese has stated to the press that it will remove all false idols from its churches, replacing them with images of she who walks among us. Way to go, Catholic Church. Yes, it's a great day to be alive.
Lorne: Well, talk about media bias. Well, not that I wanna talk about media bias. It seems rather moot right now. Speakin' of moot, what about us? Anyone else feel like the last feisty wife in Stepford?
Fred: What are we gonna do? What can we do?
Wesley: There has to be an answer.
Angel: There has to be a way. We just need time.
Gunn: To hell with that. We need a damn break. But the universe don't seem to be handing breaks out to the underdog lately. No leads, no database, no weapons, no shelter.
Wesley: And very little gas.
Fred: We should've taken Connor with us. He looked so— What if he doesn't wake up?
Angel: What if we took him and he did?
(Hyperion – Jasmine’s Room)
(Five people are undressing in Jasmine's room. A wounded and beaten Connor rests limply in a chair in her room.)
Jasmine: (os) Thank you. Now, please come to me. (She glows green again, her green glow reaching out toward Connor. Connor wakens.) Connor, you're awake.
Connor: You're... indescribable.
Jasmine: I know. (reaches out to touch Connor and magically heals his wounds)
Connor: (touches his face, sits up) They tried to turn me against you. They cut me... and rubbed blood into the wound.
Jasmine: The hateful always have one or two wretched tricks to play. (Connor starts to stand, but Jasmine holds him back.) You must rest now. We have nothing to fear from them. They are alone, we are many.
Connor: But Gunn and—and Wesley and Lorne... They've all been turned. We have to stop whatever they're—
Jasmine: We will. Connor...(smiles) there's nothing they can do. Every moment that passes I grow closer to my followers. I feel what they feel, I see what they see. We're fusing together like the cells of a single body. They're my eyes, my skin, my limbs, and, if need be, my fists.
(Gas Station)
(Wesley drives the car off the road near a gas station where the team checks out the people there.)
Lorne: Oh, I don't know, kids. That's a whole lot of pod people.
Angel: Well, it's better than the last three places. We won't make it out of the city without any gas.
Gunn: So that's our big plan? Just keep runnin'?
Lorne: I hear good things about Belize. (shrugs)
Wesley: If we could get out of the sphere of Jasmine's influence, we might be able to warn people, prepare some form of resistance.
Fred: Look at 'em. They're all so happy.
Gunn: Yeah, they'll be happier when they're gouging out our eyes and stompin' us 'til their shoes get sticky.
Angel: That's why we have to do this fast.
Gunn: Fast works for me.
Angel: Gunn, they're just under her spell. All right? But if it does come down to a choice between us or them—
Gunn: Believe me, I'm there. (A man pre-pays for gasoline at the pump and turns to put the nozzle in his SUV, but Gunn punches him out and takes the nozzle from the man.) Sorry, bro. It's for your own good. (Wesley backs the car up to the pump; Gunn addresses the other people there.) That's right. It's the big, bad free will gang, gassin' up!
Angel: (steps out of the car) All right, stay back. We don't wanna hurt anybody.
(A young Asian man steps away from his car and speaks to them with Jasmine’s voice.)
Asian Man: But you are hurting them, Angel, just by being.
Angel: Ok. That's new.
Asian Man: (speaking with Jasmine's voice) You're a disease in the body Jasmine, and you'll be purged.
(The young Asian man lunges toward Angel, trying to punch him, but Angel easily knocks him down.)
Lorne: (pointing behind Wesley) Soccer mom, 12 o'clock!
(A woman swings a huge wrench at Wesley, but he punches her down. A man dressed in camouflage breaks the bottom off of a bottle and stalks Fred.)
Man: (speaking with Jasmine's voice) You can't outrun my love. It has wings made of radio—
(He jabs at Fred with the broken bottle, but Fred punches him down. An SUV pulls up behind Gunn. A little girl in the back seat rolls down her window and addresses him.)
Little Girl: (speaking with Jasmine's voice) My love sings over the wires that bind this world.
Gunn: Ok, gettin' a little creepy.
Jasmine: (vo) The city is mine, vampire. All the tools are mine.
(A man carrying a wrench walks purposefully toward Angel.)
Angel: Yeah, we're workin' on that. (Angel jumps in the car, followed by Fred.) Ok. Pit stop's over. Let's go.
(Wesley, Lorne, and Gunn also get in the car.)
Lorne: No snacks? I thought snacks...
(Wesley puts the car in gear and drives off just as the man with the wrench reaches the car. The man rolls off of the hood of the car and falls to the ground as they drive off so fast the tires screech. Two police cars follow them with sirens blaring. The man with the wrench sits up and watches them go, laughing in Jasmine's voice. Jasmine's laughing back in her room at the hotel.)
(Highway)
(Wesley pulls the car off to the side of the road and stops the car.)
Gunn: Man, never seen so many cruisers.
Wesley: Technically, we're the only criminals left.
Angel: There's no way we're drivin' out of this. It's time we disappeared.
(Alley)
(Angel's car is parked in an alley behind a building. The police helicopters shine their spotlights on the car, but it's empty. Pan over to show a sewer man-hole cover.)
(Sewer)
(Angel's leading the others through the sewers.)
Lorne: (panting, exhausted) Yeah, I'm movin', Angel cakes. Might not look like it, but inside, where it counts, I'm runnin'. Full speed ahead, believe me.
Angel: It won't take them long to figure out— (Looks around to see that Lorne, Wesley, Gunn, and Fred are all exhausted, barely keeping up with him. He relents.) One minute.
Fred: I doubt anyone under her control knows these tunnels better than you.
Angel: Yeah, it should buy us some time.
Gunn: Time to do what? Get all stanky and starve to death? I mean, what are we doin'?
Angel: You know what? I don't know what we're gonna do, Gunn. I don't have a plan. Now, I guess this whole Jasmine world order thing kind of took me by surprise.
Gunn: Well, I ain't eatin' no rats.
Angel: Good. Neither am I.
Gunn: All right, then, plan's comin' together.
Angel: Glad to see you're on board.
Fred: Oh, god. All—all the chasing and the chaos—
Wesley: Cordelia.
Fred: I can't believe I almost forgot about her.
Angel: (grouchily) Do it. Forget about her. We all have to now. We don't have a choice. Minute's up. (walks on, the others follow)
(As they walk away, pan down to a vent near the floor. Something behind the grate is making an eerie clicking noise.)
(Hyperion – Cordelia’s Room)
(Connor's sitting on Cordelia's bed, holding her hand tightly with both of his hands. Jasmine walks in.)
Jasmine: Connor.
Connor: Look.
(He flips over Cordelia's hand to reveal her bandaged wrist.)
Jasmine: I know. I saw it through you.
Connor: It was them, wasn't it?
Jasmine: It horrifies me to see what they're capable of. How far they've let their hate take them. They cut into her while she lay sleeping. Her precious blood stolen for their black, deceitful, cowardly magic.
Connor: They're always using magic.
Jasmine: Leave me. I want to be alone with my mother.
(Connor stands and walks to the door. Jasmine sits on the bed beside Cordelia. Connor pauses for a moment at the door, but finally leaves.)
(Sewer)
(Angel is still leading the gang through the sewers. Lorne and Fred are lagging behind.)
Lorne: You look a little down, sugarplum. Is it Cordy?
Fred: (depressed) I can't. I don't care what he says.
Lorne: I know, kitten. It's strange, but under that blood-feeding creature of the night facade, he seems a bit heartless lately.
Angel: Hearts get in the way.
Lorne: Hearing as good as ever, though, boss!
Angel: If we don't gut ourselves and burn out everything inside that gave her power over us, then we're lost.
Lorne: I hate to say it, Dr. Pep, but I've been lost for, like, 2 hours.
Wesley: Still, I miss her. I miss the warmth and the knowing what's right and that you're doing it just by loving her.
Gunn: Tough drug to kick cold turkey.
Fred: I remember the first time she took me aside at that fight at the bowling alley. Me, pale, frail Winfred Burkle, sitting with a goddess, and she was asking me what her name should be.
Wesley: Seems strange now. A being of her immeasurable age. You think she'd already have a name.
Lorne: Well, maybe it was embarrassing, like Hester or Peanut.
(Angel and Wesley, who were walking out front of the gang, fall through the floor into a huge hole.)
Fred: Angel!
(Wesley manages to hold on to the floor so he doesn't fall to the bottom of the hole. Gunn reaches out to grab Wesley's hand.)
Gunn: I got you.
(Whatever Angel grabbed onto didn't hold, and Angel fell to the bottom of the hole. He looks up and sees Fred and Lorne turn around, surprised at something. Then a gang of teenagers comes up to the edge of the hole—the kids point sharp wooden poles at Angel.)
Angel: Wesley?
Wesley: I'm all right.
Young Man: (threateningly to Wesley) No. You're not all right till I say you're all right. Holly, you good?
Holly: Yep.
Young Man: Trip. (referring to Lorne) That ugly-ass beastie so much as breathes wrong, you stick him.
Lorne: Ugly ass—hey!
Angel: You know, I kind of have a thing about people pointing sharp wooden— gimme that. (In one swift movement, Angel leaps up out of the hole and lands on his feet in front of the young man. Angel, Gunn, Fred, and Wesley fight the group of kids. Angel stops them.) Enough! Enough. (To a young boy he knocked down.) You ok?
(Angel reaches out a hand to the boy to help him to his feet.)
Boy: Yeah. (stands)
Angel: It's ok. They're not under her power.
Young Man: Her who?
Gunn: We'll ask the questions.
Wesley: Angel, are you sure?
Angel: Well, they're not exactly fighting like a well-oiled, mind-controlled army of love, are they?
Gunn: (still holding his opponent's back against the wall) Hell, no. More like a bunch of little punks.
Young Man: (indignant) Punks?
Angel: Gunn, let him go. (Gunn backs off)
Young Man: Gunn? Charles Gunn.
Gunn: I say you could use my name?
Young Man: I say you could use my ride without payin' the piper?
Gunn: What? Payin' the— Tommy Golden's little brother? Randall? (chuckles) Little ass Randall Golden, man. This punk stole my car when he was 12 years old.
Golden: What are you doin' down here, man?
Gunn: Like I said, son, we'll ask the questions. (hears an eerie distant noise) Startin' with what the hell was that?
Boy: It's back.
(Hyperion – Cordelia’s Room)
(Connor walks into Cordelia's room to see Jasmine, who's sitting on the edge of the bed.)
Connor: I'm sorry. I just couldn't be— (sees Cordelia's empty bed) Cordy.
Jasmine: Connor, Cordelia's blood is a danger to us. If she falls into hateful hands, the hate can spread.
Connor: But where is she?
Jasmine: She's where I want her to be. (stands, touches Connor's face) And so are you. Now come. (walks toward the door, Connor doesn't follow) Connor...
(Connor follows her out the door.)
(Sewer)
(Angel and gang follow the group of kids into a grated-off and fenced-off alcove in the sewers.)
Gunn: Wow. Really like what you've done with the place.
Lorne: Yes, this is homey.
Angel: (inspecting the grate) So, it's secure?
Golden: It's held so far.
Angel: (doubtful) Uh-huh.
Fred: Held against what?
Golden: Don't know exactly. Never have gotten a clean shot. But it's not like anything I've ever seen.
Gunn: Golden's brother used to soldier in my crew back in the old days. (pats Golden on the back) Then he broke off, went solo.
Golden: Yeah, Tommy was running our unit when the sun went out. Stayed topside as long as we could, tried to hold some ground, but there were too many of 'em. We go out every day and check the traps, but I don't think we've caught anything today...
Boy: (to Angel who's inspecting the grates) They're your crew, aren't they? You're the leader. I'm Matthew.
Gunn: (os) (to Golden) You guys really know how to live.
Matthew: It's ok. All the other ways in are grated off. We checked.
Angel: Well, now I'm checkin'.
(Angel walks to another grate leaving Matthew standing there.)
Fred: (looking at Matthew) He's so young.
Golden: We found him in a pile-up on La Brea. Vamps laid tire traps on the road, havin' themselves a car-wreck picnic. He watched them murder his parents. They were comin' after him when we showed up.
Angel: (looks at his bloody knuckles) Matthew, you got any water in this place?
Matthew: Yep. We tapped a clean water pipe right over here.
Holly: (to Fred and Lorne) Anyway, I knew about this place. I used to crash up here nights when the missions were full.
Golden: So we hit a supermarket that hadn't burnt down yet and got some supplies and went under. Been down here ever since. About 2 weeks and some change.
Lorne: No offense, but, uh, 2 weeks down here and I'd be ready to move back in with my mother.
Golden: Yeah, well, we were holdin' our own. Occasional baddie lookin' for a place to sleep, nothin' we couldn't handle. Till that thing out there moved into our territory. It's been pickin' us off ever since.
Holly: Got Tommy almost a week ago. He was out resetting the traps.
(After washing them, Angel wipes off his hands on a towel.)
Matthew: Whose blood is that?
Angel: Somebody I knew. (Flashes back to images of Angel punching Connor.) Somebody who tried to do bad stuff to my friends.
Fred: (to Holly and Golden) I can't believe you stayed down here.
Holly: Worse up there, ain't it? The world is ending. What does it matter where we go?
Golden: Besides, whatever that evil son-of-a-bitch is, it killed our people, killed my brother. We're gonna kill him right back.
Fred: It's weird, really, us running into you like this. I mean, we—we're professional monster killers. (looks around, then seems sad) Or we were.
Angel: Are, Fred. We are. (picks up a sword)
Golden: Hey, that belonged to Tommy.
Angel: Well, now it belongs to me. Let's go get professional on this evil son-of-a-bitch's ass. (walks out)
Gunn: Heard that.
(Everyone follows Angel.)
(Hyperion – Jasmine’s Room)
(Jasmine is talking on the phone at a desk in her room. Connor is standing nearby.)
Jasmine: (into phone) Yes. Of course. Drop by any time. And thank you for calling. (hangs up, chuckles)
Connor: The police lost them hours ago. (Jasmine stands, walks away.) Let me go out. I'll bring them down, I promise.
Jasmine: (walks toward window) Soon. Soon you'll go out with all of my strength behind you... but first we have to celebrate. (smiles) That was the Governor on the phone. Very agreeable. He's dissolving his administration tonight. The time of the politician is over. This state now answers to me. (laughs) Ohh! It's happening. Don't you feel it? This world is about to kneel before me and shed all its avarice, all its woe. (turns to face Connor) I will free them from the loneliness, (walks to Connor) from the empty horror of their lives. (laughs softly) They won't know what hit them.
Connor: I'm sure of that.
Jasmine: And you'll be there, at my side. We will live in a palace built by the love of billions. It will make the pyramids of Giza look like the headstones in a pauper's graveyard. We'll be a family, Connor. Together, as one, forever. (touches Connor's face) It's going to be beautiful. (hugs Connor)
Connor: Yes.
Jasmine: Then why aren't you smiling? (pulls back from the hug)
Connor: I don't know.
Jasmine: I think I do. To belong, to truly be a part of something, you have to surrender to it—completely. Cordelia has done that, but you...
Connor: I want to, really.
Jasmine: There's a part of you that you've kept from me—your pain.
Connor: I don't understand.
Jasmine: Pain has been the only constant in your life, the one thing that has never abandoned you. (takes Connor's hand, palm up, in her hand) You think that pain is yours to keep and bear alone. But it's not. (digs her fingernails into Connor's palm) I want it. I want everything you are. Connor, father, let it go. (low, mean) Let me have it.
Connor: (nearly crying, submits) Ok.
(Jasmine pulls her hand off of Connor's palm revealing several semi-circular bloody marks where her nails pierced his skin.)
Jasmine: Ok.
(Jasmine holds up her hand then, and the bloody marks are on her palm now, and they fade away.)
(Sewer)
(Angel's gang and Golden's gang walk down the sewer tunnels purposefully.)
Fred: They're just kids.
Angel: Strength in numbers.
Fred: Angel—
Angel: They just wanna strike back, Fred, at something, anything. I know how they feel.
Lorne: (holding a hockey stick as a weapon) I ever tell you I suck at sports?
(The group rounds the corner, and they stop walking.)
Matthew: This is where Tommy got taken.
Fred: What's that smell?
Angel: It's ammonia.
(Some creature makes a growling sound and snatches Golden up into a vertical pipe.)
Golden: Aah!
Holly: Golden!
(Angel leaps up into the pipe after Golden. After some noises that sound like fighting can be heard, Golden drops down out of the pipe onto the floor. Holly goes to his side. Angel jumps down out of the pipe in vampire face, seen by Matthew, who runs away frightened.)
Angel: Matthew, it's ok!
Golden: Matt!
Angel: (runs after him) Matthew!
Fred: (something grabs Fred) Aah! Aah!
(Angel swings his sword at whatever grabbed Fred. The thing lets Fred go.)
Holly: Golden? Sweetie...
Angel: (to Gunn) If Matthew reaches the surface...
Gunn: We'll get him.
Angel: Right.
Gunn: (to Fred) Come on!
Fred: Matthew!
Angel: That thing is really pissin' me off. Lorne, Wes...
Lorne: Jawohl.
Angel: Where's Wes?
(Demon’s Lair)
(The creature that snatched Wesley drops him on the floor and looks at him. The demon is gray and skinny and makes an insect-like clicking noise. It has pincers for hands, and four legs and two arms. It walks up to Wesley.)
Demon: We loved her first! (clicks angrily)
(Sewer)
(Angel is squatting, inspecting the floor around where the monster took Wesley. Lorne is standing beside him.)
Lorne: It got Wes?
Angel: Yeah. It must've looped around behind us. It knows these tunnels better than me. And it's fast. Look, I'll track it down. Lorne, take the others back to the fort. Wait for Gunn and Fred.
Lorne: Ohh! If you insist.
Golden: (holding weapons to Lorne and Angel) Uh-uh, Dracula. Not ok.
(Demon’s Lair)
(The insect monster has brought Wesley to it's cave.)
Wesley: All right, f-fine. You loved her first.
Demon: Before your kind was, my kind loved her. Stood stone on stone, built the temple. Always making ready. (squeals) Ohh... (cries, looks at the ceiling) But she came here.
Wesley: She? Jasmine?
Demon: (cocks head to the side) Eh?
Wesley: Jasmine. That's what we call her. The... (the demon clicks) superior being that—that you loved first.
Demon: (angrily) Pfah! You name her. Filthy little mice! She is the devourer... the song... the peace... the whole... (moans) and you try to name her. (A glob of bloody viscera falls to the ground in front of Wesley; the demon looks up and groans.) Work to do. (Walks away, then snaps his head back to Wesley.) We loved her first!
(Wesley watches the demon go back to work. It crawls up the wall and grabs a torch. Wesley stares at the bloody guts that splatted in front of him.)
Wesley: And how does your kind define "love"?
Demon: Same as all bodies. Same as everywheres. Love is sacrifice.
(Sewer)
(Fred and Gunn are following Matthew's trail trying to track him down.)
Gunn: Matthew? Matthew!
Fred: Matthew! You sure he went this way?
Gunn: Definitely heard splashin'. It's gotta be him.
Fred: Unless it was another one of those skittering creatures.
Gunn: Yeah, well, it better skitter its hindquarters outta my way, 'cause I ain't in the mood.
Fred: Or it could just be rats.
Gunn: (stops walking) Now what did you have to go and say that for? Damn!
Fred: Sorry, I wasn't— I'm sure if it's not Matthew then it's probably some horrible monster, but definitely not—
Gunn: Look at us. Where we are. I mean, yesterday we were happy. Happier than I ever thought possible. Now we're trudging through sewage, huntin' some 13-year-old kid to drag his ass back down here so he doesn't find out it's Shangri-la-la land up there.
Fred: He's scared, Charles. Think how he feels.
Gunn: You heard Angel. Feelings don't enter into it anymore.
Fred: (irritated) That the world we're fighting for? The right to be heartless, an uncaring shell? To be dead inside?
Gunn: We're gonna be dead, period, if Jasmine gets a hold of that kid. We're fightin' for our survival. (walks away)
Fred: That's not enough, Charles, not for me. May-maybe you can turn off your feelings like Angel can, leave the people we care about behind.
Gunn: Yeah, well, you had no trouble turnin' off your emotion chip when—
Fred: (angrily) When what?
Gunn: Nothin'.
Fred: What were you gonna say?
Gunn: Forget it.
Fred: No, when did I ever—
Gunn: (stops walking) When you and I killed a man. (backs off) I mean, when I did.
Fred: (softly) We did.
Gunn: Whatever. Point is, when the circumstances called for it, you did what you thought you had to. Didn't matter what anybody else thought.
Fred: You're right about all of it except for one thing. What we did, I felt it. Every bit of it. And, you know, sometimes when I allow myself to think about it, it eats me up inside.
Gunn: Yeah, me, too.
Fred: Well, I don't know about you, but... I'd take that over being a shell any day.
Gunn: (looks away) Come on. There's a scared kid out there we gotta find. (they walk on)
(Another Sewer)
(Golden and crew are pointing sharp objects at Angel and Lorne, not letting them pass.)
Golden: You think I didn't see that back there? You're one of 'em.
Angel: Uh, Golden, it's not like that.
Lorne: Yeah, he's telling the truth.
Golden: Excuse me. Not talkin' to horned demon, talkin' to vampire. Thank you.
Angel: All right, what you saw, yes, I can't deny that, but—
Lorne: (dismissive) But he only drinks pig's blood!
Angel: Lorne...
Lorne: Well, it's true! You gotta give an undead fella points for that, right, huh? I mean, unless you're into the whole kosher thing, but, I mean, you're not— well, you don't look— (Golden pushes the weapon closer to Lorne's neck.) OK, horned demon shutting up.
Angel: Look, I don't blame you for feelin' this way, but I'm not gonna justify my existence to you. I wouldn't be able to. But what I can do is take that spear away from you and snap it into kindling and break your neck in half the time it would take for you to give it a good push. Or you can step aside and let me go help my friend.
(Sewer Pipe – Day)
(Gunn and Fred exit the sewer pipe and find themselves on the street in the city. They round a corner looking for Matthew. A boy on a skateboard passes by them, but they hide so he doesn't see them.)
(Demon’s Lair)
(The demon is fast at work, focused on his task of carving up bodies that are hung on his cave wall.)
Wesley: (looks around the cave) That door is open.
Demon: Yes.
Wesley: Aren't you worried I'll just run away?
Demon: Hm. Not worried. Good at catching furries.
Wesley: Yes... clearly. So... not from around here, are you?
Demon: (stops working, turns around in a huff) No. Other world. Older world. (Wesley looks at a blue orb sitting in the corner.) You go. Go on. Use my key. Visit. (laughs) What we breathing there burn out little mouse lungs before you can make a peep.
Wesley: (stands) Fair enough.
Demon: (imitating) Fair enough. Fair enough-enough. (goes back to work)
Wesley: Are you preparing a spell?
Demon: Mmm, this blood magic. Flesh magic. Older than words. More much power. This magic she will hear. She will hear and remember her true ones.
Wesley: So no incantations, then?
Demon: No words. (scoffs) She gives no care about words. Word magic.
Wesley: Really.
Demon: There is only one word she—
Wesley: One word?
Demon: Shh!
Wesley: What word... does she give care about?
Demon: You is talky meat. Don't make me come down there.
Vampire Victim: Aah! My god! What is it with you, man? This is disgusting.
Demon: You!
Vampire Victim: Just drop the cliche serial killer crap and stake me already! Please!
Demon: I tear your guts all inside out. I stitch your guts every all over. Why don't you go dead?
Vampire Victim: Why don't you go f— (the demon attacks him) aah! Aah!
Demon: Pssh! More talky meat. (throws the victims's tongue over to Wesley)
Wesley: You can't kill him, not that way. He's already dead. He's a vampire.
Demon: Hmm, vampire. Like the one with the angry steel?
Wesley: Angry steel?
Demon: The one that hurt me in the tunnels back there.
Wesley: (nods) Angel.
Demon: Eh?
Wesley: That's his name, the one who attacked you.
Demon: (scoffs) You creatures! Throwing your names all over all the time! That's why you're so weak. Too many are knowing your names, takes your power away.
Wesley: It doesn't work that way here. With us— (beat) So that's the word, isn't it? The word she gives care about?
Demon: (stops working, turns to face Wesley) Shut.
Wesley: It's her name.
Demon: (shouts at Wesley) Shut! Shut! Shut! Shut! (pushes Wesley against the wall) Shut! Shut! Shut!
(Street)
(A garbage truck rolls by with two men on it. Matthew was standing behind it. Fred and Gunn run up to him.)
Fred: Matthew! It's ok. We don't want to hurt you. We just want to talk, but it's not safe here.
Matthew: (looking at the sky) You didn't tell me the sun came back out.
Gunn: Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you. Sun came back out.
Matthew: Angel, he's a vampire like the ones who—
Fred: Matthew, we can't explain it all up here, but we're the good guys, I swear, and we need you to come with us.
Matthew: No. No, I won't go!
Gunn: Sorry, son, but we ain't asking.
Matthew: (shouting out) Help! Help!
(Gunn punches Matthew, knocking him out. Fred stares at him, stunned.)
Gunn: Fred...Fred!
Fred: What?
Gunn: Get his feet.
(Demon’s Lair)
(Wesley's lying on the floor, backing away from the angry demon.)
Wesley: She has a name, and it has power over her! That's why she keeps it a secret!
Demon: (turns away from Wesley) La-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la! I'm not listening!
Wesley: (stands) And somehow her true name prevents her from choosing a false one? So one of us had to do it.
Demon: (punches Wesley, then gets up in his face) What it matters, eh? Eh, talky meat? I don't keep the name. High priest keep the name! And you about to go dead, about to be a smear on my flesh spell. (grabs Wesley by the neck, choking him) I just messenger from the ones who love truly.
Angel: Well, then... (the demon turns his head to see that Angel just walked into the cave) I guess it's time to shoot the messenger. Or, you know, chop the messenger into little bitty pieces. Whatever.
(The demon drops Wesley and charges toward Angel. They fight, Angel using the sword.)
(Sewer)
(Lorne is talking to Golden's gang like they're little children.)
Lorne: And that's why when we use words like "ugly-ass" and "beastie," we can sometimes do more damage than we intend to. It ain't all about sticks and stones, my young friends. That's all. A little life lesson— One to grow on. (points) Knowing... knowing is half the—
Golden: Man, shut up!
(Fred and Gunn bring in the unconscious Matthew.)
Holly: Matthew?
Golden: Gunn, what the hell happened, man?
Gunn: He'll be ok.
Fred: I'm sorry. We had no other—
Gunn: Fred!
Golden: What is she talking about?
Gunn: Nothing.
Golden: Gunn, I'm not liking what I'm not hearing. What did you do to my boy?
Gunn: (stands) Son, there's a whole new world of bad going on upstairs, and your boy was walking into it blind. Now, we did what we had to, and frankly, I ain't interested in your opinion on the subject!
(Matthew chuckles. He laughs out loud, but it sounds more like a woman's laugh.)
Holly: Matty? Honey?
Fred: Oh, no.
Matthew: (in Jasmine's voice) I see you! Holly, look what they did to Matthew. They hit him again and again until he lost all consciousness. He just wanted to see the sun.
Gunn: Fred, Lorne, time to go.
Matthew: (in Jasmine's voice) Golden, my love, don't you want to hit them? Don't you want to kill them?
Golden: You know... that just might make my whole damn day.
Gunn: (to Fred and Lorne) Go!
(They leave the room and run out into the sewer tunnels.)
(Another Tunnel)
(Gunn, Lorne and Wesley are running away from Golden's gang, but they run into another mob in the process. Connor walks out to the front.)
Connor: (in Jasmine's voice) Hello again, children. I believe you've met my father.
(Demon’s Lair)
(Angel and the demon are fighting. The demon throws Angel across the room. When Angel stands up again, the demon stabs him through the gut with his sharp pincers.)
Demon: Little mice. They always soft inside. (Angel stabs the demon's arm with his sword, cutting off a part of his pincer.) Wretched little— (the demon takes the sword away from Angel) Time to go dead, mouse. (Wesley charges the demon, but the demon knocks him away.) Wait your turn, talky!
(While the demon is screaming at Wesley, Angel picks up the pincer he cut off the demon and stabs the demon in the neck with it. The demon screams in agony and falls to the floor.)
Angel: Little soft yourself in there.
Demon: Devourer...this meat...I give...unto thee. (dies)
Wesley: Angel, that creature, it came from a world that's worshipped jasmine for millennia, a world that we can reach through this. (holds up the blue sphere)
Angel: What?
Wesley: I think the universe just handed us our first break.
(Sewer Tunnel)
(Gunn, Fred, and Lorne are running through the sewers, fleeing Connor and the National Guard.)
Lorne: (whining) I really hate today.
Gunn: More worried about tomorrow myself. Come on!
(Demon’s Lair.)
(Wesley and Angel inspect the demon's sphere.)
Wesley: No inscriptions, no markings of any kind, no moving parts, far as I can tell.
Angel: So this high priest holds the true name?
Wesley: Exactly.
(Sewer)
(The mob is close behind Fred, Lorne, and Gunn.)
(Demon’s Lair)
(Wesley and Angel are still inspecting the demon's blue sphere.)
Angel: What else do we know about him?
Wesley: I'm just guessing that he's bigger and meaner than our big, mean friend over there.
Angel: Wouldn't surprise me. What about— (hears something in the distance) Wes, something's going down.
Wesley: Something?
Angel: Something bad. (frowns) Connor.
(Sewer)
(Running among the crowd, Connor stops and grins.)
Connor: Angel.
(Hyperion – Jasmine’s Room)
(Jasmine stands alone in her room and smiles.)
Jasmine: Angel.
(Sewer)
(Fred, Lorne, and Gunn are running through the sewers, trying to escape the mob that's after them.)
Fred: Angel!
Lorne: Oh, god, are we dead yet?
(Angel sees the others running down the sewer in front of him.)
Angel: (calls out to them) Guys!
(They follow Angel.)
(Demon’s Lair)
(While Angel is fetching the others, Wesley paces in the demon's lair trying to figure out how to use the sphere.)
Wesley: No words. No word magic.
Fred: (running into the lair with Angel, Gunn, and Lorne) Angel, it's Connor. He's here.
Angel: I know. (shuts the door behind them)
Lorne: And, uh, the National Guard, I think.
(Connor and the mob have followed them and are just outside the door, pushing on the door trying to get in.)
Fred: (holding the door shut with the others) Aah! No!
Wesley: (to himself) No word magic—powerless. Much more power in... blood magic?
(Wesley touches a wound on his head, then touches the bloody fingers to the sphere. The sphere glows and sends out lightning bolts to open a portal nearby.)
Wesley: Angel, I got it!
Angel: (holding the door) Ok, I'll hold this. You guys get going!
Wesley: No. No! We can't go! Only you!
Angel: What are you talking about?
Wesley: That thing's world, the atmosphere will kill us. (helps hold the door) We can't help there.
Angel: But—
Wesley: Someone who knows the truth has to live through this. Angel, that's you.
Angel: I can't.
Fred: Hearts get in the way, right?
(Angel runs toward the portal while the others hold the door shut.)
Wesley: Angel, wait! (tosses Angel the sphere)
(Angel walks into the portal.)
Wesley: (holding the door) We can't hold it.
Gunn: Time for the big fight scene.
(Tunnel)
(Connor addresses the mob as he approaches the door.)
Connor: Move aside.
(Demon’s Lair)
(Gunn, Wes, Lorne, and Fred try to hold the door shut as Connor's forces continue pushing on it.)
Gunn: Count of 3—, 2—
(Connor kicks down the door. He and his mob rush into the room. They engage Wesley, Lorne, Gunn and Fred in a huge fight using all manner of swords and such.)
(Hyperion – Jasmine’s Room)
(As Jasmine's warriors fight, she's at home in her room receiving their wounds on her body and healing them instantaneously. She laughs out loud gleefully as this happens to her.)
(Demon World.)
(Angel looks around as the harsh landscape on the demon world is covered with hundreds of creatures like the demon that Angel killed. Angel looks around in astonished horror at the demons as they encircle him, clicking angrily.)
Angel: Oh, hell.
Season Four Guide