Intro

Back in the interrogation room,Wesley babbling
Wesley: “He helps people, you know? When he’s not in trouble himself. Cordy and I tried to get him out of there. She was with me.
Oh God – Cordelia ?

And now we begin with the beginning of the story


Hyperion

Wesley commenting how great Cordy’s hair looks, Cordy is flattered until Wesley asks her when she had it cut.
Cordy :”Ten days ago.”
Wesley: “Of course! I didn’t want to embarrass you by …”
Cordy : “ … noticing? Nice suit.”
Seems that Wesley is on his way out but wants to check on Angel first, since he doesn’t seem to be doing much with his time lately.
Cordy :” Au contraire. His day is packed. Brood about Darla. Brood about Darla. Lunch! Followed by a little Darla brooding.”
Wesley says this has to stop and he is going to have a little talk with Angel about it.
Moves towards the stairs, stops, staring at the stairs.
Cordy :”Nice posturing.”
Cordy solves his hesitation by informing that Angel isn’t even there, he’s gone with Gunn to see if they could get his cousin Lester out of something illegal. With the Angel worry of his mind Wesley feels free to invite Cordy to a premier Hollywood Party. Cordy puts her hand on his arm and they leave together.

We see Gunn and Angel leaning against the hood of Angel’s convertible looking at a black kid standing in front of them. It is Lester who is reluctant to talk about his problems in front of Angel. Not that he’s prejudiced but he just hates vampires.
Angel : “You’re enlightened, I can tell.”
Lester : “See? See how they do? See man ? They-they mess with your mind, man!”

Gunn tells him to just spill it out, he is losing patience. Turns out that someone named E.J. recruited him as a driver for a big time crew who is planning to break into a museum to steal something supernatural. But now Lester changed his mind and he wants nothing to do with it. And this is not because he wants to stay out of prison but because they are hiring a psycho vampire from Vegas named Jay-Don and his is coming on a downtown bus at midnight. Lester hands them the paper with the meeting location address and to Angel’s annoyance it is Gunn that snatches it. Gunn tells his cousin to go to the meeting and he will be there to get him out before the crime actually goes down later that week. Lester is greatly relieved and hurries off. Gunn asks if he knows this Jay-Don and Angel says he does.

Angel: And he’s a player, big on the nightlife and way too dangerous for you. I’ll take it from here.
Gunn : You’ll what? That’s my cousin’s life we’re talking about.
Angel takes the paper away from Gunn , looks at it: ”which I don’t want you jumping in this thing, guns-a-blazing.”
Gunn : and what am I supposed to do? Sit home and knit?”
Angel : I could use a sweater – Something dark.”
And Angel heads off ; gets into his car , drives away and leaves Gunn behind.

Angels returns to the hotel and as he enters his dimly lit suite he finds a blonde with her back turned to him, it is Kate, who is still investigating Darla because of her involvement in the murders a few weeks ago. Kate has been going through Angel’s mail in the hope to find some clue to where Darla is now.
Kate :”I’m sure you’re gonna tell me she’s innocent.”
Angel ignores her and passes her by.
Angel :” I don’t suppose you have a search warrant?”
She hasn’t one but she carries a wooden cross ending in a long beam sharpened stake. Angel says Darla is not here and that he doesn’t know where she is. Kate tells Angel she will find Darla and when she has her she will go to prison. Angel steps closer, Kate holds the cross up, Angel gives a chuckle

Angel :” Listen Kate, there are forces at work here that you know nothing about.”
They argue.
Kate :”You think I’m gonna stand by while you and your playmate finish the game?”
Angel sends her cross flying into the wall and grabs a hold of her.
Angel :”You get stuck between me and Darla, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”
They look at each other for a moment and then she turns and walks out.


Hyperion

Cordy walks into the lobby, a big red stain down the front of her white blouse, Wesley follows her. Angel is already back and he sees Cordy asking what happened. She assures him it is not blood but it is sauce thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Star-schmoozer Cordy ducks under the counter to change her shirt, while Wesley tells Angel how he spilled the sauce on her right in front of Mr. Fat Chow; Cordy pops up above the counter “Chow Yun Fat!” and ducks back under it.
Angel all impressed :”What you met Chow Yun Fat?!!”
Wesley changes the subject and asks Angel how things went with Gunn’s cousin. Angels informs them all he’s found out so far.
Wesley: “ We should find out which museums in the area have recent acquisitions; This is wonderful!
You’re – You’re on a case! You’re back.”
Angel blinks his eyes as Cordy pops back up from under the counter, now wearing a black top.
Cordy: Yeah! It’ll be just like old times, right Angel? Meeting evil, face to face – kicking evil’s booty! Wes and I’ll crank up the research machine and you’ll… What will you do again?”
Angel tells them they bring in a vampire called Jay-Don. He has a reputation. If he is involved it ‘s a big heist. Wesley says he heard of him; he is a flashy sort of character Angel tells them he ran with the rat-pack thing. Never got over it.

Angel will go at the meeting location.

Cordy presumes Angel will take his place; claps him on the shoulder tells him what a great plan he has. Angel turns to look at her and she steps back to stand beside Wesley.
Cordy :”What better way to get your mind off… things we don’t even need to …. (To Wesley) How loud and flashy?”
They both turn together to look at Angel
Wesley :” Oh, I’m sure you can pull it off; You’re colourful.”

At the downtown station

We see a bus coming in. A guy wearing dark pants and a red jacket dusting himself off and adjusting his sunglasses. Angel laughing comes up behind him. Angel :”This is such an honor! I’m a big fan, you know?” He bounces up and down.
Angel :”When the boss said that Jay-Don was coming in I was just like ‘Whoa, wow!’ Hey, can I see the glasses?”
Angel reaches for them, but Jay-Don wards him off. Jay-Don tells him no one can touch the glasses or the hair, and calls him doll. Angel laughs tells him it is cool says he was supposed to ask him something, bounces up and down hits his forehead with one hand :”Oh god, what is it?” Pulls his fhand down, “Oh yeah” looks around and licks his lips and crunches up his face asking what the password is.

Jay-Don says there is no password.
Angel :”Oh, “

Stretches his right hand straight down, triggering the stake hidden up his sleeve and stakes the vampire while taking the glasses off his face and putting them on.
Angel :”Just checking.”

An ugly, pale faced demon shows up and finds Angel, wearing a flashy green shirt, blue pants, dark jacket and sunglasses on. Angel pretends to be Jay-Don {doing it marvellously }. They drive together to a garage where an other demon and a human security guard from the museum are waiting for them. Ugly slides the door open and Angel steps in, taking off his glasses, and doing his stuff, which gets him a comment from Ugly that he talks too much. Ugly looks around and asks where Lester is. Angel asks who Lester is Bob tells him he is the driver.
Ugly : “He should’ve already been here. I don’t like this.”
Bob says to relax he will show up he is E.J.’s guy.
Angel :”I hate waiting – looks at Bob – You got anybody to eat around here.?”
Bob backs away from him. A car door slams outside. Ugly slides open the garage door and we see Gunn.

Ugly: "What took you so long?"
Gunn: "What took me so long is I'm a professional”.

Angel turns to look at him

“I had to case the neighbourhood, make sure no cops followed me. “

Sees Angel

“ Looks like I'm the last one at the party."
Ugly, Spiny and Bob are standing around a table. Angel and Gunn are leaning against something a little ways away.

Angel: "I told you I'd handle this."
Gunn: "And I told you I don't take orders."
Ugly looks over at them: "Something wrong?"
Gunn: “So what are we looking for? Ming-somethings?
Egyptian-somethings?"
Ugly: "The Shroud of Rahmon. Worth about 2 million on the black market. - Do you want to pay attention now?"
Angel and Gunn glance at each other. Ugly lays out their plan. Bob will get them in, they blow the lock on the vault door and Angel gets to disable the thermal alarm inside the vault. Inside is a big coffin made of consecrated wood, the edges sealed with gold, and the insides of it lined with lead, which will take all of them just to lift it.

Bob and Gunn start to argue. Bob lunges across the table at Gunn but Angel pushes him back. Angel tells the others that Gunn is a troublemaker , that he knows a demon, professional driver, never opens up his mouth.
Gunn :”Yeah, and I know a vampire that better shut his!”
Since Gunn refuses to cooperate in Angel’s scheme to get him safely out of this, Angel tries to hustle him out while pretending to start a fight. This time his scheme is foiled by Ugly pulling a gun on them. Telling them the job is going down TONIGHT !


Hyperion

Cordy is surfing on the net, looking at museums and their recent acquisitions.
She finds what they are looking for a museum research department received the Shroud of Rahmon from a tomb recently unearthed by University of New Mexico archaeologists.
Wesley tells her to get everything form the museum database while he will hit the books.

At the back of the museum
A big white van with “Rehak Moving and Storage” stencilled on the side backs parks.
Angel makes one last attempt at keeping Gunn out of harms way, by suggesting that the driver stay with the truck, but Ugly won’t hear of it.
They go inside where they meet Bob and take the elevator down. When an other security guard comes around on his rounds, Ugly grabs Bob, pretending to threaten him, which distracts the guard long enough for Spiny (the other demon) to throw him hard against the wall. As he steps up to hit him again Angel catches his arm, telling him they have to this clean.
They reach the vault and drill a hole into it, while Angel and Gunn stare at each other.

Meanwhile we see the two cops (from the beginning) explaining how they’ve been shadowing Robert Skale (a small timer) and the pale faced demon, which they think might be one M. James Menlo, who likes to crack bank vaults and think that they may be putting together a heist at the museum where Bob works. But then they pull out a photo of Ugly picking Angel up at the bus station. For some reason Angel is outside of their investigation, but that Carlson thought that she might be interested. Turns out they are talking to Kate, and she is indeed interested.

Ugly is taking a small glass bottle filled with yellow liquid out of a padded box, his hand shaking a little, and moves to insert it into the hole drilled into the door.
Spiny: "You're taking too long!"
Everyone jumps.
Gunn: "Spine-man, chill. All right? This is nitro.
The last thing I want is my body parts mixed up with yours!"
Spiny: "We should have been in the vault by now."
Ugly turns to yell at him: "Shut up! (The nitro slips from his fingers) No!"
Angel stretches out his foot and softly catches the bottle so it comes to rest on top of his boot.

Angel: "Allow me."
Balancing on one foot he slowly reaches down, takes the bottle and inserts it into the door. With all of them standing around the corner of the corridor, Ugly blows the lock out of the door.


Hyperion

Wesley walks into the lobby reading from a book.
He has more information about the Shroud of Rahmon.
He finds out that the shroud is a drive-you-mad thing.
He reads Cordy the history of the shroud.
Cordy :” I get the picture – so in order to take his mind off the torment that is Darla, we sent Angel after a box that makes you crazy.”
They look at each other and run for the door.

Back at the museum

Angel enters the vault with Ugly closing the door again behind him. The big box from the book is sitting in the middle of it. As Angel passes it we hear some low whispering and sees something come over Angel. He takes a deep breath and turns towards the box, eyes wide open. For a moment his eyes turn yellow as if he was about to change, but Angel
shakes it off with some effort and his eyes turn brown again. Spiny is pacing outside the vault while everyone stares at the door.

Angel looks past the coffin towards the control box, then down at the coffin. Steps closer to look down into it through a square glass window over the place where the demon's face has imprinted itself onto the shroud. He morphs into his vamp face.

Gunn calling through the door: "How's it going in there?"
Angel morphs back to human and stares straight in front of him.
Angel: "Everything's fine."
Angel walks to the control box and yanks out some wires. A light outside the vault goes off and Ugly comes in wearing a smile. The others follow.
Gunn: "I feel something weird in here."
Spiny: "Humans always got to *feel* something about everything.
And they always got to tell you about it. 'I'm so happy - I'm so sad - I'm so scared.' Makes me sick."
Angel: "Oh, now, I like it when they're scared! Makes them taste kind of - salty."

We hear the indistinct whispering in the background as Gunn stares down at the image of the demon through the glass square. They all take a hold of the box and Gunn notices that Angel's eyes have gone yellow again.

Wesley and Cordelia enter the museum and are immediately hit by an invisible wave that alters their behaviour.
Cordy: "Maybe we should split up."
Wesley: "Ah, no, too dangerous. We - we better stick together."
Cordy: "Right."
And with that they both go their separate ways.

A slick silver car pulls up to the back of the museum. Kate gets out of her car, pulls her gun and walks up to the museum.

The group is carrying the heavy coffin down the corridor. The shroud begins to affect them all, causing Gunn and Angel to attack each other.
Gunn: "You want to take somebody, huh? (Lets go of his
corner of the coffin) Lets see you take me!"
Bob: "It's slipping!"
Ugly: "Don't drop it!"
Spiny: "Hold it! Hold it!"
Gunn tackles Angel and the box drops to the ground. The glass cracks and a purple mist seeps out.
Bob: "Oops."
Angel had Gunn by the throat and is pushing him up against the wall.
Angel: "You know I'm getting pretty tired of this 'vampires killed my sister so now I'm all entitled' song. Don't you know anything else, like say MacArthur Park?"
Gunn: "Get your hands off my throat."
Again there is an indistinct whispering in the background."
Angel lets go of Gunn and he drops back to his feet.

Gunn pulls out a stake and attacks Angel from behind. Angel bats the stake aside and kicks him into the wall.
Spiny: "Kill him. Kill the human! Kill it!"
Angel cocks back his fist to strike Gunn again, but hears Ugly cock his gun and freezes, then takes a step back. Ugly lays the gun on the coffin. Bob pulls a rope out of Ugly's bag. The whispering is still going on.
Bob: "All righty, partners, it's roping time! Tonight I will be playing the part of the poor defenceless calf. Who gets to be the cowboy?"
Ugly takes the rope and starts to tie the guys hands behind his back.

Bob: "No, wait. You've got to hit me. - Look, somebody's gotta hit me! Come on, man, you got to hit me. Do it. Come on, make it real!"
Spiny walks over to him and twists his head right off, making Gunn flinch.
Spiny to Bob's head: "Looks real to me."
He drops the head and moves back to his end of the coffin.

Kate comes down some steps in the museum, gun in hand. A shadow
flies across and she aims her gun at it while continuing down the steps.
The shadow flies across above her, she spins around, firing in the air and knocking Wesley to the ground in the process.
She asks Wesley where Angel is. Wesley is babbling and his sentences make no sense. There is a whoosh and he reaches up to his head in pain.
Wesley: "The shroud! He's got to know about the shroud!
It will make everybody - it makes everybody - act differently!"

We see Cordy in an other room of the museum admiring her reflection in a glass case.
She is babbling to herself.

Back to Wesley and Kate.
Wesley has trouble keeping focused on his mission to help Angel.
Wesley: "We have to hurry before it's to late."
There is a whooshing sound again and Kate spins around, then grabs the bridge of her nose.
Wesley: "I noticed your hair right away."
Taking a deep breath Kate drops her hand and turns back to him.
She looks around but he is nowhere to be seen.

Back to Cordy
Cordy sees a gray puppet wearing a Native American costume. Cordy: "Oh. Hello, plastic person. You're all by you're lonesome in here. (Sees its necklace) So, (Whispers) I guess you won't be needing this." She takes the necklace off then puts it around her own neck.

Angel, Gunn, Ugly and Spiny carry the heavy coffin out of the elevator.
Ugly suddenly freaks about them having left fingerprints behind, grabs a rag and starts to wipe the walls of the elevator, to prevent anyone from finding them and taking the coffin away.
Angel tells them to ignore him and keep moving, but Gunn can no longer hold up his corner, because he feels like his head is full of flies, much to Spiny’s disgust. Gunn sets his corner down, grabs his head and backs against the wall. The whispering gets louder, Angel’s eyes go yellow again, and he lifts a hand to his head. Wesley comes stumbling along the wall of the corridor. Angel turns to look at him eyes still yellow.
Wesley: "Yes! I had a message for you. And the message
was... (hits his hand with his fist) the shroud! The shroud, very dangerous. It makes people - bad! Although it's amazing how good I feel!"
Angel grabs him by the front of his shirt and pushes him down the corridor.
Angel: "Wesley, get out!"
Wesley: "Is that Gunn? What's he doing here? I never thought of him as the museum type."
Angel: "Wesley - Wesley..."
Kate finds Angel and the others and pulls a gun on them.
Angel squints at her with his yellow eyes.
Angel: "Wow! - Look at you - rushing in here all by yourself!
You're the best cop ever."
Spiny: "Too many humans."
Angel: "Excuse me that is *my* girl."
Kate aiming her gun at Angel: "Stay back."
Angel: "Whoo! Okay. (Laughs) You got me. My life of crime is over.
Spiny watches as Angel, hands up in the air slowly steps closer to Kate
Angel : “ I'm going down. But first - a little impression. “
(Laughs) I'm a cop- with a mission to protect the innocent and rain on everybody's parade and obsessed about my father's death and bother people who are about to steal things!"
Wesley: "Angel..."
Angel spins around, knocking Wesley into the wall, then turns back to Kate.
Angel: "Oh - Katie - what are you so afraid of? - Is it this?
(Morphs into vamp face) Is it the part where I'm gonna kill you?
Because I got to tell you I love that in a woman!"
Kate shoots at him, but he rushes her, grabs her, pointing her gun up at the ceiling and sinks his fangs into the side of her neck.

A police team arrives and finds Wesley leaning over Kate’s body.
And naturally assume that he did it, (which explains the beginning of this story)

The moving van crashes into one of the cars parked in the lot in front of the garage.
Gunn, Angel, Ugly and Spiny carry in the coffin with Angel chuckling maniacally.
They set it down. Gunn to Angel: "You drank her. - Animal! You drank that cop!"
Ugly tells them they will open the coffin , Angel remarks that this is real genius, a good thing they didn’t think about that back at the museum and miss out on all this heavy lifting.

Ugly runs his hands along the coffin’s lid, but Spiny just punches his fist through the glass window, rips the lid right off and throws it aside.
The whispering gets louder and is now joined by some laughter and a soft whooshing sound as the four of them step closer to the coffin and look at the shroud wrapped body inside. Gunn is smiling. Ugly is shaking and reaches for the shroud. They all argue again. Spiny telling them it belongs to his people. They all reach to grab a hold of one corner of the shroud and try to pull it away from each other. Ugly pulls out his gun and shoots Angel. Spiny hits Ugly with a hard right, sending him to the floor. His gun goes off again and Gunn ducks down beside the coffin. Spiny grabs the shroud pulls it away from Angel, almost pulling him into the coffin. Angel catches himself with his face only inches away from the skull of the demon. Spiny runs towards the door. Angel tackles him in on incredible leap before he reaches it and gets the shroud away from him. Gunn snags the other end of the shroud and tries to pull it out of Angel’s hands. They stare at each other as they work their way hand over hand towards the middle. Spiny jumps back up. Claiming the shroud. He runs towards them, but Ugly gets off one last shot in their direction, hitting Spiny in the forehead. Spiny’s body drops onto the shroud held between Gunn and Angel, and all three of them topple to the ground with Gunn at the bottom and Angel on top.

Gunn still clutching the shroud with all his might: "Got it.
Got it. Got it!"
Angel: "Wait! Wait. Gunn, I remember. You have to - trust me. I know what to do with this. Have faith, kid." Gunn lets go of the shroud.
Angel stumbles out of the door of the garage carrying the shroud and Bob's bottle of Whiskey. He drops the shroud and pours the whiskey
over it. We can hear the whispering and laughter again as Angel stares down on the image of the demon's face on the shroud. He pulls out a lighter, and flicks it. Stares at the flame, looks down at the shroud. The lighter tumbles from his hand in slow motion. Angel watches the flames, breathing hard. We still hear the whispering. Angel slowly takes a step back. Suddenly there is a soundless explosion, the flames shoot straight up, Angel flies through the air and against a stack of cement bags behind him, then lands in a heap. The whispering has stopped. The flames die back down and Angel lies there, barely lifting his head of the ground, watching the shroud burn.

Again in the interrogation room, the detectives are convinced that Wesley is the killer. Just as they’re about to arrest him, Kate shows up and tells them to let him go.

We see Kate’s desk and a picture of her father sitting there then up to Kate standing in front of a window beside her desk looking out at the night through the opend blinds. Angel’s bite mark is clearly visible on the right side of her neck. She covers it with one hand and we see Kate remembering that Angel did bite her briefly, but told her to stay down or be killed.

Wesley paces in front of the stairs in the Hyperion’s lobby with his hands buried in the pockets. He goes to sit down on the sofa beside Cordy, who has changed her clothes as well, but is still wearing the necklace she took from the mannequin at the museum.
Wesley and Cordy think about what happened, and Wesley worries that Angel’s bloodlust has been reawakened by the taste of human blood.
They both get up at the same time and leave, turning the lights off.

We see Angel sitting in a chair in his dimly lit suite, leaning back his head with a sigh. He closes his eyes and we blend into a shot of him sinking his teeth into Kate’s neck. We hear Kate pant as he drinks, and see his pale hand flex as he holds on to her shoulder.