In their apartment, Dawn Summers pauses. She has a broadsword in her hand and is passing weapons out of a cabinet to the others. She hesitates now and turns to those gathered. “All right. Before I hand out dangerous weapons… is everyone going to behave?”

Buffy looks at her, confused. Giles insists they never fight. The look on their faces says otherwise. Spike tells her to just pass the gear out. Angel hands Xander a crossbow, on account of his vision, but Xander takes the opportunity to apologise to the vampire for punching him in the Seed Chamber years ago. He knows that killing Giles was not Angel’s fault.

Angel gives a slight smile. In a way, it was his fault, he admits. He deserved it. If he hadn’t, Xander would be missing limbs. Xander chuckles, but asks the vampire how he tries to make the world a better place, after doing so much bad. Angel looks at his sword for a moment and then, without looking at Xander, answers him.

He drank and then killed a lot of people. Now he kills demons. That seems to work. Angel also makes time to check that Dawn is okay. They hug — despite the pair of them never actually having met. But her memories are intact, and she’s happy to see him — and get to know him properly. Buffy calls the group together: the mission is go — they have a demon lord to find and an artefact to grab.

Giles explains that they need to find the artefact, whatever it is, that Archaeus is using to access their dimension. Willow has traced the source — in the opposite direction from the demon.

Spike thinks it’s perfect — the demon is separated from his big device and that makes him vulnerable. Angel considers that it may be a trap. Maybe they should split the teams? On the look between the two ensouled vamps, Buffy likes the separating part. They’re going to split into two teams, save the world and hit the town, she says, with a less than confident grin on her face.

Giles and Willow have no means to keep the group in communication though — until Andrew bursts through the doors. He has walkie-talkies, in the shape of bananas. The trio used to use them so they have good range.

Team one will consist of Angel, Xander, Willow and Giles. Angel doesn’t like having all their magic in one place, but Buffy tells him she is not splitting the magic users: they’re going to need all the magic they have. Angel doesn’t agree — he thinks she’s placing him with people who can take him out if necessary. Buffy looks at him, folding her arms. “Did that enter into my thinking? Yeah. You telling me I’m wrong?”

Angel walks out the door without a word.

In the sewers underneath San Francisco, deep in the storm drains, Xander worries about alligators. Giles tells him he’s being ridiculous — it’s the rat spiders they have to watch out for. Willow assures Angel that Buffy does trust him — she’s just being careful. She asks after Faith and Angel explains that they’re having a bit of space from each other. Angel confesses that he messed her life up quite a lot. Willow smiles. “I have a theory about that. I just broke up with a demon sorceress. I’d changed. She hadn’t. I think that might be a common thing with immortal/human relationships. We’re always changing and adapting and you guys just… aren’t.”

Angel reacts badly. He thinks he’s changed. He used to be brooding, a tortured mess, racked with guilt. He’s either withdrawn from the world or jumping in without thinking, with grand gestures that usually blow up in his face. He stops talking, realising his words and sighs. He moves off to guard the rear as Willow’s face softens in sympathy.

Elsewhere, the other half of the group is continuing their search. Spike can understand why seeing Buffy with him might anger Angel. He mentions the vast differences between him and his sire, to which Buffy stares at him. He shuts up, noting that he is English, while Angel is Irish. Buffy yells at him to stop — and to guard the rear.

Dawn puts her hand on his shoulder. He shouldn’t take it personally. Buffy second-guesses herself — that’s what she does. Like she’s accessorising weaponry. It’s a part of her. Spike is grateful, but he shares that it’s only a matter of time before Buffy wakes up and realises he’s not good enough.

Dawn smiles. “Think of all the two of you have been through together. I promise, if she’s concerned about repeating old patterns, it’s because it could be bad for you. But take it from someone with a little distance: what you two have is its own thing. She knows you. Cares about you. Trusts you. Believes in you.”

Spike doesn’t look much happier. “I suppose she does. Wish I could say that makes two of us.”

Ahead of the pair, her eyes blinded by Andrew’s night-vision goggles glaring at her, Buffy admits that she feels like she always realises her mistakes too late and ends up hurting the people she cares for.

Andrew takes the goggles off and looks at Buffy. He has no answers. But does have a perspective from an outsider for her: “From the point of view of a guy who played it safe… buried how he really felt for way too many years… and is only now coming to terms with it… The biggest regrets come from looking back on time you wasted. Time you can never get back.”

He smiles at her. “Thinking about how things might’ve been different if you’d been open to how you really feel… If you hadn’t been afraid, if you’d been honest… The thing is though, ‘what if’ is a question there’s no good answer to. ‘What if’ will eat you alive.”

Buffy suddenly swings and pushes him out the way. Approaching them from the shadows is a creature, part spider, part rat. And it will eat them alive.

In different tunnels, more rat spiders have come from the adjoining sewers, as Angel, Xander and Willow hold them off. Xander thought Giles was joking, but the Watcher has found himself webbed to the nearest wall!

Angel swings his sword, saving Xander from a spider’s mandibles. He tells him that he knows he never liked him when he was with Buffy, but asks for an honest answer: is Spike good to her and does he make her happy?

Xander smiles. “Well… I mean… yeah. Of course he’s good to her. She seems happy but also neurotic, because it’s Buffy. But happier than she’s been in a while, from what I can see.”

Angel nods, slightly hurt. Xander asks if he’s okay, but Angel deflects, asking about Dawn instead. He has some experience in altered memories, having given Connor fake memories. Angel tells him that sometimes the best thing you can do for a loved one is to make memories for them. Real ones. “Whether that means you being in them or staying out.”

He can smell more demons approaching. They’re getting closer.

With Buffy’s group, the team have come up against vampires — the new and improved kind that are hard to stake. Spike warns Buffy as his quarry transforms into a bat and heads for the sky, but Dawn and Andrew are quicker, shining ultraviolet lights at the bat, causing it to dust.

The tunnels have led them to the old San Francisco shipyards. Spike looks at the dilapidated vessels and declares a scrapyard instead. Buffy shakes her head: she’d call it a perfect place for a trap. She warns them to keep their eyes open.

Inside, following Andrew’s map to the magical artefact, they find a chest, carved intricately out of what looks to be bone. Before they can call the others, they emerge from another tunnel — both teams have been led to the same place. As they question why, Xander points out that if they were following different things but came together, that means the demon is here…

The nearest wall caves in as he says it.

Archaeus shrieks at the Scoobies, telling them that they were so easy to manipulate. Spike taunts the demon as Buffy yells orders. She commands the vampires and Willow to her side as she charges at Archaeus, the others racing for the box.

As Buffy runs, she yells at the demon lord. “So you wanna be the demon godfather, huh? Good idea. You’re not the first to have it.”

She looks the creature straight in the eyes. “Let me show you what happened to the others.”

Approaching the box, Xander attempts to smash it with his axe, but the box remains undamaged. Xander’s favourite axe is cracked. Giles studies the box with his magic: it’s from another Hell dimension. Andrew finds that it’s giving off multiple layers of magical frequencies that Giles will have to remove, one by one. Xander tells them they have a problem however, as they’re surrounded by vampire bats.

Bats are also causing trouble for Willow, trying to lift the witch from the fray. She burns them using a spell, but Archaeus is prepared: he fires a blast at Willow, causing the witch to fall and Buffy to go on the attack, her anger surging.

“You’re done, pal,” she spits, swinging the Scythe. “I was killing demon lords before I could vote. You know it too, or you wouldn’t have tried to split us up and pick us off.”

Archaeus dodges her blows and Spike swings his sword. He taunts the demon: he can’t use his powers to take control of him or Angel if they’re both fighting him. Archaeus will fall before their assembled power. His plan didn’t work.

Archaeus stops and laughs at Spike. “DIDN’T IT?“

He gave them time, he tells them. Time for their fears and hates and doubts to rise, making them susceptible to his influence. He looks straight at Angel as he throws Spike effortlessly towards him. “TIME TO BE WEAKENED BY YOUR GREATEST ENEMY.“

He turns and grins, his teeth glinting in the dim light at Angel. “YOURSELVES.“

He cackles loudly now as Buffy turns to Spike and Angel in horror.

Angelus has just pierced Spike’s chest with his sword.