Release

Plot

Wesley has brought a badly beaten Faith to his home. She says all she wants is a shower. In the shower, we see she is badly bruised and bleeding. She smashes the wall, breaking off the tiles, and screams. Cut to a bar where Angelus is drinking with some fawning fans. A demon at the bar gripes about him bringing back the sun. Angelus goes to beat him up, but before he can really get into it, he hears a voice in his head - the master of the beast. He starts talking to it. Since no one else can hear it, they stare at him like he's crazy. The voice is angry that he killed the beast. Angelus says he thought it might get his attention. Angelus goes into a back room where we see vampires feeding off what look like drugged women. Angelus says he wants to see the voice. Cut to Cordelia talking in her natural voice although Angelus hears a deep voice in his head. Angelus realizes the beast master was manipulating the gang into releasing Angelus and then stole Angel's soul. The beast master says he has plans for Angelus and Angelus says he has his own plans. He taunts the beast master. Connor enters the room and Cordelia goes back to normal. Angelus thinks the beast master has left and he walks off. Cordelia and Connor talk about Faith and what happened. She says Angelus killing the beast means they did the right thing in releasing him. That their family is safer because of it. Connor says he will never let anything hurt Cordelia or the baby. She says no one else needs to know of their happiness. He thinks she's ashamed of him. She says no, the baby is growing so fast it would scare them. That fear might make them want to kill it. She assures Connor soon they will know what is growing inside of her.

The gang are arming themselves with tranquilizer guns. Connor enters and a jumpy Fred almost shoots him. He tells them Cordelia is tired. He stops Fred from going upstairs and says Cordelia wants some soup and goes to get it. They think he's acting oddly and Fred wonders if he and Cordelia are still doing it. Lorne doesn't think so, but he doesn't know what's going on. Fred thinks it was a mistake for Faith to bench Connor. The others disagree, but Fred isn't sure Faith is up to taking on Angel. At Wesley's, Faith says she's ready to go. He just stares at her and she apologizes about the bathroom. He says he's not concerned about that, but he needs to know she's in the game all the way. She says she is.

At the hotel, Fred is looking for runic texts. Angelus arrives. He claims to have a charm which exempts him from the no violence spell. He wants information about the beast master. She says she has none. He says he'll just take all the research materials and figure it out himself. She says the beast master is too tough for him. She sees the charm says made in China and is a fake. She attacks him, but he manages to avoid her shots. She accidently shoots Lorne. Connor attacks him, but the anti demon violence spell kicks in and Connor is knocked down and over the stairs to the floor below. Angelus flees outside where he finds Faith and Wesley arriving. They fight. He grabs Wesley and threatens to kill him if Faith attacks. Wesley tells Faith to go ahead, but she doesn't. Gunn arrives and tosses a gun to Faith. Angelus hurls Wesley at them and flees. Gunn runs after him, Faith runs to Wesley who tells her to go. But Angelus is gone.

Connor rushes into Cordelia's room worried for her safety. She comes out of the bathroom talking of morning sickness. He tells her what happened, but doesn't mention discovering his demon nature. Downstairs, Fred tells Gunn she blames herself for what happened. He says it wasn't her fault and he's just glad the charm was a fake so she couldn't be hurt. Fred starts to talk reconciliation, but Wesley suddenly takes a shotgun out and says there is a change of plans. He says he may need to slow Angelus down so they can tranq him. He asks Gunn to stay at the hotel and guard it. He warns next time Angelus might have a real charm. He and Faith go outside and he wonders whether if they find Angelus she'll just let him escape again. She says he would have killed Wesley had she acted. Wesley says she has to be vicious to defeat Angelus.

Angelus is at an occult bookstore looking through the documents he stole. He isn't making any headway and he's torturing the shopkeeper hoping he can help. Then the beast master starts talking to him again - loudly. It threatens him saying he must never seek out the beast master again and that it knows his every move before he makes it. Angelus wonders what he can do, since he seems incapable of action by himself and only acts through others like the beast. The beast master says they should be friends and Angelus says he doesn't have friends and if he did they wouldn't live inside his head. The beast master says like he lives inside Angel's head. It talks about how Angelus was helpless and trapped there. The beast master reveals that he has Angel's soul. It threatens to return the soul and trap Angelus unless he obeys. Angelus agrees and calls him master. Cut to Cordelia holding the soul.

At the hotel, Gunn and Fred are arming themselves. Fred is down about her failure to stop Angelus. Gunn tries to reassure her. He says if she did make a mistake all she has to do is not repeat it. She asks if it's really that simple. They begin to talk about their relationship. She says she's sorry about what happened with Wesley. He says it's not about that anymore. She says she misses him, that she wants to go back. They kiss. Awkwardly, he says he should do a sweep and leaves.

In the bar, Faith is beating up the demon Angelus was beating up at the beginning of the episode. He doesn't want to talk and thinks they are about to get beaten up, but Wesley shoots the face off an attacking demon. He suddenly remembers who Angelus is. He tells them what happened. They go in the back where they find a lot of drugged girls and vampires. A vampire attacks and Wesley stakes it. At the hotel. Connor is staring in the mirror and trying to see if he can bring on a vampire face. Cordelia sees him and realizes what happened. She points out she is part demon. He says she chose to be and he doesn't know what he is. She says he's a daddy and daddies need to take responsibility. He has to keep them safe. She tells him to go downstairs and that she'll feel better if she knows everything that is going on.

Faith goes to help the drugged girls. Wesley says they did it to themselves. They take the drugs and the vampires feed using the girls as a kind of filter. Both get high. Faith grabs the girl, shoves her against the wall, and asks about Angelus. The girl says she doesn't know anything. Faith lets her go. Wesley stabs the girl. He tortures her and she admits she did see Angelus and tells them what she heard. He realizes the beast master has made contact with Angelus. Faith asks if torturing humans is part of his makeover. He says he did it because she wasn't. He reminds her there was a time she didn't mind torture. He talks about her torturing him in Five By Five. He says she hasn't changed, no matter how much she pretends. That she's sick. That her friends turned on her in Sunnydale because of this. Enraged by his taunts she attacks him. He says that's what she needs to defeat Angelus, she has to take it all the way. She says no, there has to be another way.

Lorne awakens. They tell him what happened. He recognizes the charm and where Angelus got it. Gunn tells Fred to call Wesley and give him this new information. Faith and Wesley enter the shop, hoping the owner can give them information about Angelus. They find his body and Angelus waiting for them. They fight. Angelus gets Wesley's gun and knocks him down and out. He starts firing at Faith. He says she's gone soft. He reminds her of the time she wanted Angel to kill him in Five By Five. He asks if she still feels that way. She says no. He says too bad, goes she's going to die. But not with a gun. They go hand-to-hand. He taunts her, but she just keeps fighting. He says she's a murderer and an animal and she enjoys it just like him. She beats him down and says she's different, that she's not like him. He grabs her, says she will be, and bites her neck.