Heroes 1.12 - To See if I Still Feel

Baldev, the god-king brought back in the body of the Lorq’vir demon by Ethan Rayne and the Xof brethren, is waking up. He is confused by his surroundings, but ascertains that Ethan is his Qwa'ha Xahn. Baldev informs Ethan that he must feed, much to the master of chaos' delight.

At the headquarters of the Renraw cult, Nivel is still trying to convince Illyria to allow them to worship her properly. Illyria does not give him an answer yet, but does get some interesting information -- Renraw only ever had interest in Wolfram & Hart insofar as their facilities were able to help Knox awaken Illyria. Nivel admits that Knox only chose Fred as Illyria's shell because of his affection for her. Illyria leaves Nivel still unwilling to make a decision about her position as an object of worship.

Buffy is coming back to Willow and Dawn's apartment from her recon mission with Angel. It is near sunrise, and she is exhausted. Thinking no one is home, Buffy’s excited to have some peace and quiet... that is, until it becomes clear someone is hiding behind the front door. Assuming it's Spike, Buffy addresses him and gears up for a somewhat uncomfortable conversation. She's shocked to find that the intruder is instead Faith.

Baldev is out on the streets of San Diego pondering the strangeness of modern society and feeling constrained by it even though technically he is now free of the deeper well. Suddenly, he spots a young man walking down the street and, with very little warning, Baldev devours the man's head in one single bite. He is in better spirits now that he is nourished.

At Xander and Spike's apartment, Xander is hovering over Andrew, who is recovering from the effects of his portal spell and painkillers to help with his broken hand. Angel arrives, Willow and Dawn serve up coffee, Spike is asleep, and Buffy and Gunn are the only folks MIA. Dawn jokingly implies that perhaps they're off together which fails to amuse Angel and Xander.

Gunn is sitting in a park, trying for some alone time to process the news that Illyria showed herself to Xander in the guise of Fred. Suddenly, what he thinks is the Lorq'vir demon is bearing down on him, and with one punch, Gunn is flying through the air, landing in a heap. Illyria arrives on the scene, and she and the Lorq’vir converse. Gunn hears the Lorq'vir call himself "Baldev," and he figures out that this isn't the Lorq'vir after all -- it's merely his body being used to house an old one, just like Illyria is using Fred's body. Baldev and Illyria threaten each other, and Baldev sprints off into a wooded area. Gunn asks Illyria for help getting up, but apologizes and goes into the trees after Baldev instead, leaving Gunn on the ground.

Buffy and Faith catch up, and Faith says she's just in town to hang out, since Buffy and the others are the closest thing she's ever had to friends. She asks Buffy why she thought it was Spike behind the door, and Buffy tells her he's actually alive, which Faith finds surprising. Faith can sense something about this line of discussion makes Buffy uncomfortable.

Gunn is able to get himself back in his wheelchair with minimal effort. He allows himself only a moment of triumph before calling Dawn and alerting her that something weird is going on.

Buffy calms down after Faith backs off from her query a little, and the two talk about how being a slayer can start to numb one's emotions a little too much as time goes on.

At Xander and Spike's apartment, Gunn fills the group in on what he saw, and that the Lorq'vir's body is now home to a new god-king. Everyone figures out that the soldiers they assumed Riley had sent from the Initiative to collect the demon must've been affiliated with something else entirely. Spike, now awake, speaks up and expresses his lack of shock that another god-king could've gotten loose. After all, Angel was among the last people to see Drogyn, the keeper of the well, and Spike intimates that perhaps Angel killed him to appease the Circle of the Black Thorne. Angel is tense and refuses to talk about the final events in LA, leaving the apartment abruptly to return to his office.

At Willow and Dawn's, Buffy and Faith continue to discuss Buffy's reluctance to talk to Spike, he arrives at the apartment and nervously informs her that Angel might very well have caused something catastrophic.

Nivel is having coffee with Ethan, and he reveals his frustration with Illyria's reluctance to align with Renraw. Ethan advises him to get her some legions, saying that Renraw's brethren are hardly the grand scale of worshippers to which she is accustomed. Nivel cagily reveals that he has a plan for something like that already.

Faith is shocked at Spike's revelation that Angel might have killed the guardian of the deeper well, and Buffy is reluctant to believe it without proof. Spike theorizes that Angel might be on his way to England to check things out himself. Faith seems bent on stopping this as she flees from the apartment.

At his office, Angel is online, seconds away from booking airline tickets and flashing back to the murder of Drogyn, when Faith sweeps in. She tries to be amiable and offers herself as help to the gang in fighting the cults, but Angel is brusque and tells her to leave. She goes on the offensive, telling Angel that going to the well to guard it himself is a kind of prison, and that redemption is a state of mind. If he's determined to go to England, Faith says she'll go with him. Angel can't help but remember a time he helped Faith at her lowest point, which eventually led to her turning herself in to the police. He feels conflicted, but tells Faith not to do that. This is Angel's burden alone. Faith wonders angrily if Angel isn't doing this more to look like a hero than actually be one. Through a heated confrontation, Angel figures out that Faith knows more about a lot of things than she'd been letting on. It comes out that she isn't in San Diego just to visit -- she's there on the Council's command, much like Andrew, to keep an eye on things. Faith comes clean, but says she really is there to help. Calmer, Angel tells her she'd be safer elsewhere. He promises that he won't go to England now if she'll agree to get out of harm's way. With some measure of regret, Faith agrees to this plan.

Nivel tells Ethan he plans to raise a horde of demons to help fill out Illyria's pool of potential worshippers, and he asks Ethan to help him summon them. Ethan is more than happy to oblige, but gets a phone call in the midst of their meeting. The call, which Ethan takes out of Nivel's earshot, is from one of the Xof brethren, who reports that Baldov has returned to their camp after a confrontation with Illyria that left him in a bad mood. Ethan tells the man to prepare for the summoning of Nivel's demon army, and to be ready to summon a group of Rehbhorns, who are apparently not exactly the kind of demons Nivel has in mind. Ethan is clearly working both sides, planning to use Xof to destroy Renrawand Illyria, even as he stays chummy with Nivel. He goes back into the coffeehouse and tells Nivel that summoning his army is no problem. "We're a go," he says amiably. "Tonight, Illyria will have what she so richly deserves."

Full Fiction Version of Heroes 1.12 - To See if I Still Feel