The Groosalugg, brave and undefeated as always, flies into action on his winged horse. A demonically-possessed jetliner glides towards him, but with a flurry of excitement, Groo cuts it down. His group of warriors, made up of Spike’s followers, are taking a beating – for some reason, this army doesn’t want them in Gunn’s lair. Why not? They don’t have time to ask, as another volley pushes them back further.

Inside, Spike is looking the injured Angel up and down: “Not too bad. Beat up, stabbed, bones broken, arm kind of going the wrong way.” He insists that they’ve come back from worse – heck, he was a pile of ash once. Connor looks at him. Spike hasn’t been told. Spike’s face says it all when he’s told the truth: Angel is human now. And Gunn’s a vampire. Spike stops. He looks down at the unconscious Angel, not aware that he can hear them. He sits for a while, sniffs his nose, clearly upset. His attitude changes in minutes – he shrugs it off, but Angel can tell he’s upset and nervous – any minute now, he’ll be asking for a smoke.

“I knew he gained weight,” Spike retorts sarcastically. He brings up the Shanshu, but Wesley confirms this isn’t it – although they do now know how, and for whom, that prophecy refers to. Spike insists he doesn’t want to know – he’s not bothered. He starts to leave the room – he’s desperate for a cigarette.

Elsewhere, Charles Gunn looks down at the injured and dying Fred. He tells her that her looking like that is kinda bothering him. As Illyria maintains Fred’s look, he threatens her – I know you’re there, he tells her. You killed my friend, so don’t sit there and act like her. He isn’t buying it. She responds, demigod voice coming out of Fred’s tiny form: “Why are you doing this?”

Gunn carries her off in his arms as they head back towards his base. They pass Cordelia the dragon, dead in the streets – it’s been too much for her. Illyria, still looking like Fred, laments the loss of a good opponent. Gunn chuckles. That’s better. It’s Illyria we need. As he walks along the street, time suddenly shifts for a moment: for just a second, he can feel his lungs fill with air again – but it’s too little. Time goes back. Hell. Gunn wants more. As they approach his building, he sees the chaos surrounding it – they’ll have to get in there intact first. He draws Fred’s form closer. He whispers to her that it’ll all be okay – they don’t want them. They want Angel.

It’s always about Angel.

Inside, Spike has led Connor and Wesley to the basement with the injured Angel. He reckons that he has the answer: Gunn had been collecting magical artifacts in Hell – like the Cat’s Eye he took from Kr’Ph in Westwood. Turns out that this had an effect on a localised area in the basement – a time loop. That’s how Spike returned from ash and how the Slayers have survived – Gunn has been training, by killing and reviving them. Spike believes this will heal Angel – but he’s got one problem. The loop loops every five minutes and Angel was injured more than five minutes ago. Connor is exasperated – what can they do? There has to be another way. Spike says there is and turns his vampire face on. If he sires Angel here and now, what happens? Connor says no – that’s exactly what the Senior Partners want! If they were to sire Angel here, wouldn’t that simply make him Angelus again? Wesley says no – the Shanshu vision is not Angelus – it’s Angel himself, alone, bitter and twisted, with nothing but bloodlust left. The Senior Partners may need him a vampire, but it’s the ensouled Angel they want to corrupt. They will ensure that it’s Angel who comes back, not Angelus.

Connor is torn. The decision is made for him, as the army of the Senior Partners breach the walls: large red demons, all hissing in a sickening voice, all conduits for the Senior Partners. Connor, Spike and the Slayers launch into battle, whilst Wesley overhears some interesting talk from the Partners: this is severely depleting their resources. Curious, Wes questions one of the demons, but he insists – give us Angel. We need him. There is an easier – and more importantly, cheaper – way of resolving this.