Why we fight

Plot

Frightened men on a submarine in 1943 flee from some monstrous unseen creature. Angel and the gang are meeting late in the evening. Eve has vanished. Angel wants confirmation on the fate of Lindsey. Gunn says they have lost their liaison and the white room is empty. He says a new liaison will be established, then has trouble getting his sentence out and says he's tired. They all have lots of work to do and agree to meet again, even later. Fred says Knox dropped the ball on some work and Wesley says he's unreliable. As they leave, the elevator opens and off steps one of the men we saw on the submarine.

Fred walks into her lab to find the strange man there looking at some of her papers. He knows her name and says he just came to talk. He asks if she likes working there. He warns her not to run and says he came to see Angel, that they were friends back in the day. Cut to Angel in 1943 and men bursting into his room. They are from the government and they want him to join the war effort. They say a German submarine was captured by allied sailors, but something happened and now the sub seems stuck at the bottom of the ocean. The men were attacked by something. They can't send a man that deep, but they can send a vampire. They give Angel intelligence on the cargo manifest of the submarine.

Cut to the sub and the survivors who have locked themselves off. They don't know what attacked them and they realize they only have two days air supply left. The survivors consist of Lawson, Hodge, Spinelli, a German, and some other crewmen. They hear screams from one of the men who was captured and Lawson wants to go rescue him while the others try to stop him. They hear a clanging on the hull. Lawson orders them all to the torpedo room. They hear SOS being tapped in morse in a tube. They open it and out comes Angel. Cut to Wesley entering his office to find a bound and gagged Fred. Lawson attacks him from behind and knocks him out. In the past, Lawson asks Angel how he got down there without diving gear. Angel asks for the captain and is told he's dead. Lawson is in command. Angel issues an order with a coded password and they accept him. Hodge thinks he's like Captain America, a super soldier. Lawson explains they are the only ones left: a helmsman, an ensign, and some petty officers. Angel tells Lawson to keep the men in the room while he goes out. He offers Angel his gun, but Angel says Lawson will need it and he knows what he's up against. He tells him to lock the door and not to open it except for him. He goes further into the sub and meets Spike wearing a Nazi uniform. But Spike says he's not a Nazi, he just ate one. He assumes Angel was kidnapped as was he - at a free virgin blood party in Madrid. He calls him Angelus. He introduces him to the other vampires: Nostroyev and Prince of Lies. Nostroyev is Russian and upset that Angel never heard of him. Prince of Lies is a Nosferatu looking vampire. They say no one is left alive.

Angel says there are other survivors, but they are not to kill them. He says they need them to operate the sub. Spike thinks it's easy to do and goes to the controls, but just sets off an alarm. Nostroyev says they'll leave one alive to work the sub and eat the rest. He moves toward the torpedo room and Angel grabs Nostroyev's axe and stakes him with it. In the present, Lawson walks into Angel's office. Angel remembers him. He says he's been keeping tabs on Angel and can't understand how he's fighting evil and running Wolfram & Hart. Angel says it's complicated. Lawson says everything is these days and he misses the sub, everything there made sense and was simple.

Flashback to Angel leading the survivors forward to meet Spike and Prince of Lies. Lawson sets the crew to work. Spike sits in the captain's chair. Angel tells Prince of Lies to sit down. He asks Lawson to move out the bodies. Lawson says Spike's in the SS and Angel says he isn't, he just likes the jacket. Lawson says they butchered his crew and doesn't understand why they are working with them. Angel says he doesn't have to understand, he just needs to follow orders. Lawson says there's a difference between orders and purpose. He says evil is spreading and he wants to stop it. Angel says they are doing a job which will help win the war. He doesn't need Lawson to understand every detail, just know they are on the same side. He says he'll get them through it safe and sound.

In the present, Lawson echoes those words. He says it's not the time to argue semantics. He wonders if Angel cared about any of it. Angel asks what he wants and he says to understand. As he elaborates, Angel attacks him. But before he can stake him Lawson tells him he has an ace in the hole. Angel lets him go and asks what he did. Cut to them exiting the elevator to the sight of the gang bound and gagged, standing on chairs, with loops of wire around their necks connected to the ceiling. Lawson says Angel doesn't need to understand every detail, just believe he'll get them all through this safe and sound. Lawson says the wire will take their heads off if the chairs get knocked over, so no fighting. He says he thinks blood will be spilled that night, for old time's sake.

In the past, Spike is grousing about not having any fun. He wants to be called captain, since he ate him. Angel tells him to check the torpedoes. Lawson realizes Spike and Angel know each other. They hear screaming. An angry Prince of Lies is attacking the German. He has some papers which have upset him. Angel tries to calm him down and he hits Angel, sending him flying. Lawson shoots him, but the bullets don't faze him. He goes to kill the German, but Angel stakes him. The German thanks him and Angel knocks him out. Some of the men saw this and can't understand how the Prince of Lies seemed to just explode. Lawson says he wants to know and Angel tells him vampire. It doesn't help. They wonder what set off Prince of Lies and Spike holds up the papers and asks if any of them read German. Spike menaces the German while Lawson, who speaks a little German, questions him. They learn they have been experimenting on vampires, cutting into their brains. The German realizes Angel knew this and Angel shouts at him in German. Spike thinks Angel is working both sides, but he doesn't want to be experimented on by the Americans and he threatens Lawson. Lawson says they wouldn't do that. He says you don't win by doing whatever it takes, you win by doing what's right. Angel says he'll give them the ship and the men, but not the research. He hands the papers to Spike and tells him to burn them. Spike lights them and starts singing God Save the King. The ship is rocked by explosions. The enemy has found them and is attacking. Lawson has them dive. There are more explosions and the engines go out. Angel sends Lawson to fix them. They start taking on water and Angel and Spike go and Angel uses his superhuman strength to stop the leak. Spike realizes the German is missing.

Lawson can't find his screwdriver. He turns to find the German with the screwdriver who stabs him. He knocks the German down, but is mortally wounded. In the present, Lawson talks about what goes through your mind in your final moments. He says it's not the special moments of your life but just the thought that this really sucks. In the past, Angel finds the wounded Lawson. He realizes only Lawson can fix the ship and that he's dying. He vampirizes him.

Time has passed, the air is running out, the men are barely alive. Spike is ready to kill Hodge (out of mercy he says) when vampire Lawson finally gets the engines working. Lawson realizes they're surfacing. Angel says the men need air. Lawson says he's hungry. He puts on his vampire face and runs at Angel who grabs and holds him. He tells Lawson they should take a walk. The sub surfaces. Lawson says the men look smaller. Angel says it's 8 hours to sunrise, 20 miles to land. He's kicking Lawson out. He tells him that if he sees him again, he'll have to kill him. Lawson says he understands. After Lawson goes, Spike calls Angel a dick. Angel agrees and makes it clear Spike has to go too. He does.

In the present, Lawson asks if they tortured Angel when he returned. He says he jumped ship off the coast of Maine and went underground until the war was over. Lawson says damning him to save the world was a fair shake. Angel says killing the gang won't change the past. Lawson says it will hurt Angel and that's something. Angel says it's never enough. Lawson says you need a reason to live, even if you're dead. He says when alive he had patriotism. Then he had the demon thing. But all the monstrous things he did left him numb. He asks if this is true for all the ones Angel sired. Angel says he's the only one he sired after getting a soul. Lawson asks if he has one and Angel says he doesn't think so. They fight. Lawson says he got enough of Angel's soul to stop becoming what he should have been. He isn't human, but he's not really a demon. He's nothing because of Angel. He asks for a mission. Angel stakes him.

Later, Spike goes to Angel, he heard what happened. He wonders why Lawson waiting so long for revenge. He says revenge is a dish best served cold but by this time it was likely icy. Angel says he doesn't think that was what Lawson was after. Spike asks what then. Angel says 'a reason'.