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- [Blows Land]
- [Grunting]
[Blows, Grunting Continue]
[Moaning, Shivering]
Thank you.
Thank you.
- Mmm. Hey.
- [Sighs, Laughs]
Okay. Where did you learn
how to do that?
- Which part?
- Doesn't matter.
- How are you?
- I'm good.
You're not perfectly happy,
are you?
- 'Cause I got my wooden stake right here.
- [Groans]
That's not a stake.
I know I brought it.
- [Rifling]
- You're safe.
[Inhales]
Okay. And you? Good?
You weren't thinking about
your little Roman friend or
Nina, for the last
- Whoa.
- Wow. Hey.
For the last very long moment,
I haven't had a single coherent thought.
- I'm gonna take that as a compliment.
- You really should.
But now the brow is back.
If she's not
on your mind, then
[Inhales] There's There's a lot
more than usual goin' on.
- Work?
- Always.
You should get away.
Vacation? You know that word?
Go to Cabo, drink margaritas, midnight
skinny-dipping, making love on the beach
Did you catch how I subtly included myself
in your vacation package?
Nina
Too pushy, too needy.
I never even said it.
You should make love
on the beach all by yourself.
- It would be wonderful. I mean it.
- But?
[Sighs]
That there
There are things
that-that I have to do.
Things I've already
set in motion that, uh
[Sighs, Groans]
I know I spent years
fighting to get somewhere
to accomplish something
and now that
I'm close to it
I don't like what I see
who I am.
- You're a hero.
- Not that word.
Well, you're my hero.
I may not always be.
[Spike]
Like you're not even there.
World trembled
before your feet once.
Now, paddin' around a place
you don't wanna be in
and the rabble don't even give you
so much as a polite yawn.
Do not presume I require
any creature's attention.
Wouldn't dream of it, Blue.
Still, you can't enjoy
haunting this place.
Less than what you were,
not knowing what to do with yourself.
- Believe me, I've been there.
- And what do you know of it?
Long and fascinating tale.
Ghost story, in fact.
Short of it is,
take my advice.
Get out once in a while
before you go bats.
- Out?
- Out.
Outside? That place
just on the other side of the window?
I've grown wary of this world
since my powers were depleted.
Strange. Though I've been made
more human
this place remains disconcerting.
Yeah. Well, I'm afraid
that never goes away.
Anyhow, I though Wesley
was giving you a primer on all things human.
He and I are no longer
having intercourse.
Yeah. L
You what? What?
He has ceased
communication with me.
Oh. Oh.
Communi
My recent reversion
to the Burkle persona disturbed him
and he will not
tell me why.
You don't know?
You may not think you're as powerful
as you were, Highness
but looking like Fred,
for some of us
is the most devastating
power you have.
[Chattering]
Ah. And there's
the man himself.
Angel, I'd like you to meet
Senator Brucker.
Senator. Welcome
to Wolfram and Hart.
I go way back with this firm.
Back when Holland Manners was in charge.
You'll find things
have changed a bit since then.
- Charles Gunn.
- Head of our Legal Department.
- Oh. And this is Ernesto, my personal
- Vampire.
Aide. I always forget your kind
can sense each other.
Well, I believe in
diversity on my staff.
- It was a big part of my campaign.
- How commendable.
- Harmony, you mind gettin' us some coffee?
- Coming up.
Oh. Thank you, no.
No coffee.
But if it isn't any trouble,
I think Ernesto might like some blood.
***, if you have it.
Room temperature's fine.
Sorry. We have
a "no human blood"policy.
I can offer you something in a rodent.
We have some fruity, unassuming vole
I think we could make an exception
to our policy this time for the senator.
Couldn't we, Angel?
Harmony, the lab might have something
in the blood bank.
- Why don't you go check it out?
- Okay. You're the boss, boss.
Could I maybe
just have a teeny-weeny
- No.
- Just thought I'd ask.
Well, Senator, if there's anything you need,
please call on me.
Rest assured,
you're in good hands.
Shall we?
- Angel. There's been another fatality in Funville.
- What?
That abandoned amusement park downtown.
Third victim in as many nights.
Teeth marks strongly indicate
a Boretz demon.
Ah, bloody Boretz. Nasty buggers.
Stink to high heaven.
Dress as transients to prey
on the homeless, poor sods.
[Wesley] This last victim
was a teenage girl. A runaway.
- She was ripped apart.
- There's not much we can do about it now, huh?
Angel, we need to find
this demon and destroy it before
Somebody else dies?
Yeah, I know, Wes.
People are dying
every day all over.
- This girl's just one more statistic
- Stacey.
The statistic's name
was Stacey Bluth.
Well, you know we can't save everybody,
and we can't sweat the small stuff.
Small?
Wes, I got a United States
senator waitin' for me
so just find out whatever you can about
this Boretz thing, and we'll talk later, okay?
- "Small stuff."
- Listen
you need some Boretz killing
done, I'll have a go.
I haven't had a decent tussle
since the blue meanie and I stopped sparring.
Yes. All right.
Call me if you find anything.
I'll be in my office,
learning what I can.
He showed no regard
for my presence.
Not that you require
any creature's attention.
Hey, you wanna go
find somethin' to hit?
[Man Narrating]
A Gulf War veteran and Bronze Star recipient
Mike Conley believes
ethics and integrity matter.
Finding solutions to problems in our educational
system, health, and child care services.
Finding solutions to problems in our educational
system, health, and child care services.
And Mike Conley believes
in work and in home.
Your home is his work.
He's looking out for your children's interests.
There. So you can see my concern.
This Conley campaign's
a juggernaut.
Guy came out of nowhere with his
"Your home is his work" crap.
- Women voters are eating it up.
- And they were mine.
I had a lock on the chick vote,
and now my numbers are slipping.
I didn't claw my way up from hell
and get installed in a human body
just to have some ***
steal my Senate seat.
- Wait. He's a ***?
- Not yet.
But the public better think he is
when you guys get through.
- Pardon me?
- Help convince Conley he is.
You've got some sort of brainwashing
capabilities here, don't you?
- What's that doctor's name?
- Sparrow.
That's the one.
This sounds right up his alley.
Yeah, well, it's not up ours.
Look, I don't care what kind of services
you were used to getting with this firm,
but Holland Manners doesn't live here anymore.
We're not about to ruin a man's life
and reputation just so you can
- We can do it.
- What?
Not sure how long a reconditioning
like that would take.
- The election's in November.
- You're not seriously considering
Angel, you just made yourself
a very loyal ally in Washington.
- Angel, we need to talk.
- I'm with the senator now, Gunn.
Boretz demons.
Classifications and case histories.
What am I looking
We got a serious problem.
- It's Angel. He's
- Hold on.
Wes?
[Grunting]
Aw, hell.
Nice one.
- Did I tell ya? Ran into Ed the other day.
- Ed?
The grand potentate whatcha-whosit
of the Fell Brethren?
Right.
How is Ed?
You know the Fells.
All they can talk about is the baby.
"The baby's doin' this now."
"The baby's doin' that."
"What a wonderful ritual sacrifiiice he'll make."
Yak, yak, yak.
Anyway, he couldn't say
enough nice things about you.
- Oh, great.
- Hey, you're really comin' through, big guy.
- There's a real buzz about you.
- So, how much longer do I
have to wait for an answer?
Hey, these things take time.
Trust me. It won't be long now.
See? This isn't so bad now.
Little field trip
out in the
well, what passes
in this city for fresh air.
All we need now is to bag ourselves
a Boretz demon
we got ourselves
a perfect date.
[Illyria]
Angel does not think
the casualties of this creature
are important enough to avenge.
I think corporate living's
made him lose his love for the hunt.
No worries.
More for me then.
[Illyria]
It does not serve his interest.
What are you on about?
I've seen this before
with many rulers.
- Your leader has been corrupted.
- Hey. Hang on.
In the first place,
Angel's not my leader.
And in the second, what the bloody hell
do you mean, "corrupted"?
It always begins the same.
A ruler turns a blind eye to the dealings
or battles from which he cannot gain
and a deaf ear to the counsel
of those closest to him.
As his strength increases, so does
the separation between him and his follow
Shh.
- You smell that?
- The odors of everything in this world of men
are equally repugnant
to me.
Bloody helpful.
You're wrong about Angel.
[Sighs]
Not that I don't think the sod could end up
being a megalomaniacal ***
it's just if he did,
I'd know it.
I'd feel it.
[Illyria]
You'll have proof soon enough.
A corrupted ruler
on such a path
sees treachery and betrayal
all around him.
He cannot suffer intimates.
He will eventually turn against them.
[Chuckles]
Guess I don't have to worry about that
'cause Angel and me
have never been intimate.
- Except that one
- Mark me.
He will ***
one of you.
Actually
he already has.
Drogyn.
- Who is this?
- The guardian of the Deeper Well.
- [Gasping]
- Greenskeeper of your graveyard, so to speak.
My jailer.
- Illyria.
- Boretz.
[Growling]
[Grunts]
Stay away from its mouth.
Its bite is poisonous.
Go for its knees.!
I think there's a weak spot
Okay. Yeah.
That might do it.
Drogyn. What the hell
are you doing here?
Don't give me your "Ask me no questions,
I'll tell you no lies"bugaboo.
- I came to find you.
- Oh, so you tacked up a sign on your tree
waved bye to the Keeblers,
hopped the puddle
and managed to sniff me out
in a city of ten million.
I can find anyone
who's visited the well
be they in this world
or any other.
- [Gasps] I came to to warn you.
- Warn me?
- He's bleeding.
- You're all torn up, mate.
- [Gasping]
- What did this to you? The Boretz, was it?
No.
It was Angel.
That'd look good
on a calf.
- Pardon?
- Thinking of getting a tattoo, right?
Put a little more bad in your bad-boy bank.
It should go on your calf.
Angel, something unusual
came across one of my
Oh, I didn't realize
you were occupied.
If you don't mind,
Hamilton
Actually, Wes, we're kind of
in the middle of something.
Why don't you try me later?
- Yes. Later then.
- Hey, Wes?
Shut the door
on your way out.
Hey.
Is Angel in there?
- He is.
- What's the weather report?
Cold. Icy, actually.
Well, he cut six of my clients loose.
Didn't even tell me.
I spent all day talking them off ledges
and off of pill bottles.
I sense that suicidal celebrities
are beneath Angel's concern.
These are very pretty people
I'm talking about here, Wes.
Four of'em getting in shape
for Young Guns III.
- What'd he say?
- Nothing.
He and Hamilton are in his office.
- They're discussing business strategy.
- Hamilton?
Looks like Angel suddenly started
channeling Leona Helmsley.
- He's not himself, at any rate.
- What's happening to him?
- [Phone Rings]
- Yes?
Spike.
It was a Sathari
part of a clan
of demon assassins.
They fell upon me
last night.
The poison from his four blades
wearing heavy on my limbs
Yeah. Rousing bit of rah-rah, mate.
Get to the goods.
Once I bested him, I tortured
the Sathari for hours
until he confessed
who had sent him.
It was Angel.
Tell 'em why.
He said Angel was afraid
I'd find something in the Deeper Well
something that would uncover
the truth about his involvement.
- In what?
- Helping Illyria escape from her tomb.
I thought the release of her sarcophagus
from the Deeper Well was predestined.
- Yeah. What about that bit?
- That's what I thought at the time
but now I believe
Illyria's resurrection
may have been planned.
- By Angel.
- Oh, that doesn't make a lick of sense.
Why would Angel
want to spring an Old One?
- I don't think that was the point.
- Then what was?
Before he died,
the assassin said something about a sacrifice.
Someone trusted and dear.
Are you saying
that Angel was responsible for
what happened to Fred?
I mean, he may not have
chosen her specifically, but
Whoa.! Let's put a kibosh on that sentence
before it turns into an ***-kickin'
Do you think
I gain pleasure in this?
I held Angel an ally,
a brother.
And you believe
he may have murdered Fred.
I know this is difficult
for you, but Angel was involved.
The information
retrieved from the assassin
- You ever think he was lyin'?
- No one lies when they're
at the mercy of my wrath.
- Then you're the liar, Aragorn.
- He has to tell the truth.
- It's a curse or something.
- How can we be sure? We don't know this guy.
Gunn, this is Drogyn
the Battlebrand
given eternal youth
a thousand years ago.
Demon bane, truth-sayer
Watchers Council.
Percy did a paper.
Bully for him.
Drogyn, any idea
what this symbol means?
- No.
- Where'd you get that?
This afternoon, someone tapped
into the template interface
sent a message to me,
and that symbol.
- Somebody's dropping clues.
- Playing games is more like it.
Put me on the short bus, but I still can't
wrap my head around the notion
that Angel had anything
to do with Fred, or any of this.
Angel's been doing a number of things
out of character lately.
- We all noticed it.
- Yeah, but why is this happening now?
Why the change?
Yes, why the sudden need
to tie up loose ends like Drogyn?
- Unless
- He's preparing to make his move.
What kind of move
we talking about?
There's only one way
to find out. We ask him.
- Drogyn should stay here, under guard.
- I'm not missing the fireworks.
Hey, Illyria. You don't care about
any of this nonsense, do you?
The intricacies of your fates
are meaningless.
Well and good. You mind watchin' over
our friend Drogyn?
Aw, come on.
New place will do you good.
It's nice and cozy.
Help yourself to some beer in the fridge.
Switch on the telly
if you get bored, and, uh
feel free to play a little
Crash Bandicoot.
Give you lot
something to pass the time.
- [Door Closes]
- Crash Bandicoot?
Strike these four clauses and wire it back
to them. See what they make of that.
- Yeah. See what they make of that.
- Angel?
- Long dinner?
- We need to talk to you.
- Now.
- Boy's dead serious.
Are you comin' then?
Okay, what's on your minds?
- The question is, what's on yours?
- Our friend Drogyn's in town.
- Is he?
- Yep. Bit marked up though.
Somebody tried to have him killed.
Know anything about that?
Of course not.
Where is he?
- He's safe.
- Good.
Now, can we get
back to business?
Or was there something else?
"Business." What "business"
are we in, Angel?
Do I really have to
explain this to you people?
We're in the business
of business.
Oil, software, Worldwide Wickets
The product doesn't matter.
It's the game that matters. Get to the top,
be the best, have the most, win.
- Win what?
- You're still missing the point.
That Angel talkin'? 'Cause it sounds
a lot more like Angelus.
Oh, if I were Angelus, half of you would
already be dead, just for the fun of it.
One of us already is.
We havin' fun yet?
You wanna know the truth?
The truth is there's only one of us
who ever understood how things really work.
- Lorne.
- Whoa. Hey, h-hey.
Can I not be the poster child
for your nervous breakdown here?
You didn't judge. You didn't spend your life
obsessed with good and evil.
You do that, you get swallowed
lost in the minutiae.
Good, bad, Angel, Angelus
None of it makes a difference.
I wish it did, but
You know, an ant with the best intentions
or the most diabolical schemes
is just exactly an ant.
And there is one thing
in this business
in this apocalypse that we call a world
that matters power.
Power tips the scale.
Power sets the course.
And until I have real power
global power I have nothing.
I accomplish nothing.
- And how you get this power
- Isn't pretty. Isn't fun.
You think it's Wolfram and Hart
getting to me here
and maybe you're right, because
they've shown us what power is.
From day one, they've been
callin' the shots
and all we've done
is get shot at.
I have a chance
to change that.
And will you?
I mean, not to play an old saw,
but power does traditionally corrupt.
I mean, you get
high up enough, and
well, the people,
they do start to look like ants.
I can't worry about that.
I can't worry about that.
- The small stuff.
- Angel?
That important phone call from
that guy about that thing
It's on line three.
We're done here.
I have to take this.
[Spike]
Yeah. "The guy about the thing."
The "small stuff'
that you can't worry about?
- Would that include Fred?
- I loved Fred.
- That's not an answer.
- Then I guess you don't get one.
There's got to be something
behind all this.
A reason.
It could be a ploy.
- For God's sake, say something.
- What would you like me to say?
Tell you that Angel
loved Fred
and that in an eon of eons
he would never harm her in any way?
I wish I could, Wes.
But if he believes what he's saying,
and I believe he does
Doesn't make any sense.
Angel never cared
about power.
Well, he's never had any
to care about, has he?
Not real power,
even as Angelus.
And then just like that,
he's king of the mountain.
It's quite a view
from up there.
Tends to make people
want things.
Even if they start
with the best intentions.
Angel's seen real power and
he's not lookin' away.
He's gonna go for it, Wes.
[Laughs]
You boys look like you could use a hug.
- [Indistinct]
- Nina.
Angel. Hey.
Mmm. This is a nice surprise.
- Everything okay?
- Can we sit down?
Plane tickets? I don't believe it.
We're getting away?
This is But I thought
you didn't have time.
Um Wait.
There are three tickets here.
We taking a chaperone?
My sister and Amanda?
- I need you to be out of here.
- It's typical.
You sleep with a guy, and he sends
your entire family out of the country.
No, wait. That's actually
not that typical at all.
You couldn't just
not call?
- It's not safe here.
- Is it ever?
I wanna be with you
if there's trouble.
You don't wanna be with me.
You don't wanna be near me.
- Because I might get hurt?
- Because I'm the thing that'll hurt you.
What do you call this?
Look, how can I convince you
I wanna be with you?
Show me a fourth ticket.
Look, if
[Sighs]
If I get
through this intact
I'll come for you.
We'll We'll have time.
[Sighs, Chuckles]
You're the most amazing man
I've ever met
but you're a crappy liar.
Go. I'm not askin'.
I'll go.
Why on earth
would I stay?
[Game Music, Sound Effects]
It is a test
a task of some sort.
You must collect
those crystals
- [Ricochet, Electronic Gulping]
- And fruit.
Why?
Old One
you have no right
to walk this earth.
Your time has passed.
You belong to the well.
Truly.
I wish now I had never been
brought out of it.
Do you?
- [Game Noise, Music Continue]
- I don't know.
I play this game.
It's pointless
and annoys me
and yet I'm compelled
to play on.
Does that not
Well, lookee lookee
who's making friends.
- Marcus.
- Dro? How have you been?
- You're acquainted with this creature.
- Yes.
- We go way back, don't we?
- Too far.
Mmm, the good old days.
So, I hear you're living in a tree now.
The tree is the entrance
to the Deeper Well.
I live in a cave.
It's really quite pleasant.
Sure it's a peach.
Afraid you won't be returning to it again.
You will not harm him.
[Chuckles]
Oh, you mean like this?
Uh!
[Groans]
Uhh!
Hang on, Dro.
This'll just take a second.
[Inhales]
I gotta tell you. I'm a little disappointed.
Didn't think a big scary Old One
bled this easily.
- [Groans]
- Maybe it's this skinny
little body you chose to infect.
Or maybe it's that ray gun they shot you with
to keep you from exploding.
Or maybe
you're just
not that
[Groaning]
- Cool.
- [Cries Out]
[Breathing Heavily]
Yes, that's probably it.
So what are you gonna do?
You gonna beat it out of me?
If you say so.
We all know
how this goes.
Spike beats you to a bloody pulp, you beg
for mercy, and we get what we came for.
- Who needs all that rigamarole?
- I told you.
I don't know why Angel
gave up that kid or anything else.
Me and him,
not too close.
Now can I get back to
my game of solitaire?
- Where'd you get that?
- Doesn't matter.
- What does it mean?
- [Laughs]
Is that what
all this is about?
All these questions
about Angel?
No. No way.
No way they'd take Angel.
- Who "they"?
- Circle of the Black Thorn.
- Sounds like a little sewing club for pirates.
- It's a secret society.
- Never heard of'em.
- That's 'cause they're secret.
There's plenty
of these cabals about.
Usually spend
a lot of time in basements
paddling one another's bums
to prove their manhood.
These are not frat boys, Spike.
Circle's small. It's elite.
They got connections
you boys can't even comprehend.
- They're evil.
- Sure.
But evil's not the point.
Power is.
- Power.
- Okay, we get it. They're badass.
- What do they do?
- [Laughs]
Geez.
You guys always this slow?
Huh? Starts with "A"?
Ends in "pocalypse"?
It's a well-oiled machine,
this circle.
These people grease the wheels,
keep the parts in place
make sure man's inhumanity
to man keeps rollin' along.
I thought the senior partners
were responsible for the apocalypse.
Senior partners
are on a different plane.
Down here, it's the players in the circle
that make things happen.
Hell, you you get tapped
by one of them
that's kinda like gettin' the keys
to the chocolate factory.
That's why you came back
to L.A., tried to kill Angel
to get into the circle.
To be a Black Thorn is to be
the senior partners' instrument on Earth.
Doesn't get bigger than that.
Looks like Angel succeeded
where you failed.
- He doesn't have it in him.
- Doesn't have what in him?
Well, for starters, he's got to give up
the champion angle
quit savin' girls in alleys.
Probably wouldn't even
make it on the circle's radar
till he killed
one of his lieutenants.
The senior partners,
the circle
They're killing Angel
by degrees.
And we all watched it happen.
Guy I knew wouldn't want this
wouldn't wanna be this.
Angel dedicated his life
to helping others.
Not because he had to,
but because it was a path he'd chosen.
If he's been swayed from that
influenced
then maybe
there's still time.
We can bring him back.
He'd do the same for any of us,
regardless of our actions.
Yeah, but what if he's skipped too far
down that evil brick road?
- [Blows Land]
- [Grunting]
[Blows, Grunting Continue]
[Cries Out, Moaning]
[Moaning,
Raspy Breathing]
[Sighs]
Th Th-Thank you.
[Gasping]
Thank you.
[Gasping, Grunting]
[Whimpers, Cries Out]
[Sizzling]
The circle entwined.
[All]
Embrace this worthy son.
The thorn draws blood.
[All] The thorn is the power
and the power is absolute.
Welcome to the fold.
Well done, Angel.
- [Applause]
- Well done.
See, didn't I tell ya
it was gonna happen?
And how about that lamb we got you
for the slaughter? Any idea who that was?
- Drogyn the Battlebrand.
- Damn straight.
We got you some supercharged warrior juice,
not some schmuck. You must feel great.
Okay. Let me introduce you
around to a few people.
Some of these folks you know,
some you don't.
Of course, you're acquainted
with the archduke.
Kudos, child.
I must say, it's gratifying to see
you've returned to form, Angelus.
- It's still Angel.
- Ah. Well, what's in a name, eh?
In the spirit
of our new alliance
you must allow me to throw
a dinner party in your honor.
- You know how I love parties.
- It's nice to see you again so soon, Angel.
Senator. I had no idea
you were so well-connected.
Well, I'm not gonna take
the White House in 2008
on just my sparkling wit
and funding from hostile governments.
- [Laughs]
- [Laughs] I expect not.
Excuse us, Helen. Angel, I've got someone
here who would like to pay his respects.
- Vail.
- You've been looking for me.
Actually, I've been
Iooking like I'm looking for you.
- Appearances, you know?
- [Laughs, Coughs]
See, Cyvus, I told you
it was all good.
- Now why don't you two shake hands? Come on.
- No hard feelings then.
Ultimately everything
worked out for the best.
[Laughs, Coughs]
- Oh, your son, he kills quite well.
- Thanks.
[Raspy Laughing]
- Got a great turnout for your initiation.
- Really?
Oh, yeah. Everybody's here.
Here, let me freshen that up.
[Indistinct]
[Cries Out]
- Might wanna stay down.
- Or what?
Careful. Don't wanna
get yourselves hurt.
We know what you been doin'.
Giving up the baby to the Fell Brethren,
workin' for Senator ***
tryin' to take out Drogyn
to cover up what you did to Fred.
And for what? To get in bed
with the Circle of the Black Thorn?
So you figured it out.
Yeah, a little singin'
from a jailbird we know and loathe.
Lindsey.
- [Scoffs] And you believed him.
- Doesn't have a reason to lie.
- Doesn't need one.
- Unlike you?
What I do here
is my business.
You don't like how I conduct it,
you can leave before I kill you.
Kill us? Hard to believe we're
having trouble trusting you.
- Just telling it like it is.
- Then we have a problem.
I guess we do.
[Gasps]
- We done?
- Let him go.
You don't give the orders.
Lorne, pull this thing
out of me.
Easy. I'm not in a great mood.
[Gasps]
Good. Now, let's finish this.
Involvare.
All right.
We have six minutes.
- Till what?
- The glamour collapses.
As far as anyone outside is concerned,
we're still at each other's throats.
- Aren't we?
- We don't have a lot of time,
so I'm gonna make this short.
Everything you think you know,
everything you've heard is a lie.
- Why should we believe you?
- Because I'm the one who told it.
- Read any good books lately?
- You sent us the message?
- And the assassin to kill Drogyn.
- So that part was true.
I knew Drogyn could handle himself.
I told the assassin just enough
to lead Drogyn to think I played a part
in resurrecting Illyria.
I figured he'd come here
lookin' for allies against me.
Why would you want us
to believe you killed Fred?
- Because they needed to believe it.
- The Black Thorn.
They needed to believe my own
people didn't trust me anymore.
They needed to believe a person as good and
as pure as Drogyn considered me an enemy.
It was the only way
to gain their confidence.
Oh, so this whole Evil Angel
thing's been a big scamola.
Huh. I smell Oscar.
- When did this all start?
- Two months ago, with a kiss.
- Though it didn't hit me till later that night.
- [Gasps]
Cordelia gave you her visions.
One-shot deal.
She put me on the path,
showed me where the real powers are.
But I couldn't see
who they were.
And then Fred died, and I wasn't going to
let that be another random, horrible event
in another random,
horrible world.
So I decided to use it
to make her death matter.
And it worked.
I'm in.
I've seen the faces of evil. I know who
the real powers in the apocalypse are.
So all that
"power tilts the scales" crap
It's true.
We're in a machine.
That machine's gonna be here
long after our bodies are dust.
The senior partners will always exist in one
form or another because mankind is weak.
Do you want me to point
my crossbow at him
'cause I think he's gonna
start talkin' about ants again.
We are weak.
The powerful
control everything
except our will to choose.
Look, Lindsey's a pathetic half-wit,
but he was right about one thing.
Heroes don't accept
the way the world is.
The senior partners may be eternal,
but we can make their existence painful.
You wanna take them on?
We're in a machine.
The Black Thorn runs it.
We can bring their gears to a grinding halt,
even if it's just for a moment.
'Bout time we got
our hands dirty.
This isn't a "keep fighting
the good fight" kind of a deal.
Let's be clear.
I'm talking about killing
every single member
of the Black Thorn.
- We don't walk away from that.
- Do we crawl away at least?
We do this, the senior partners
will rain their full wrath.
They'll make an example of us.
I'm talkin' full-on hell, not the basic
fire-and-brimstone kind we're used to.
- We know the drill.
- No, you don't.
Ten to one, we're gone
when the smoke clears.
They will do everything
in their power to destroy us.
So I need you to be sure.
Power endures.
We can't bring down the senior partners,
but for one bright, shiny moment
we can show them
that they don't own us.
You need to decide
for yourselves
if that's worth dying for.
I can't order you
to do this.
Can't do it without ya.
So we'll vote
as a team.
Think about
what I'm askin' you to do.
Think about
what I'm askin' you to give.
Kill 'em all.
Burn the house down
while we're still in it.
Somethin' like that.
[Exhales]
I'm in.
I'm in.
- Drop him!
- Angel, you don't want it to go like this.
- Drop You and l
- Wes!
- Let him go!
Angel, we've got three people here!
Drop him!
[Shouting Continues,
Indistinct]
Grr! Arrgh!