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In a sterile medical lab deep in the Wolfram & Hart offices Dr. Maalik is working on
his latest subject, a twisted and deformed figure that had once been a promising young lawyer for the
firm. The lawyer, Thomas Hayes, was assigned to "help" Dr. Maalik after he accidentally revealed
important information to Dana and Lauren. When Travis McCauley arrives to check on Maalik's progress
with Hayes, the evil doctor barely gets a few words out before Hayes dies in a grotesque explosion of
internal organs. With this experiment a failure, Travis inquires about Maalik's other efforts, indicating
the charred corpse of Andrew Cross sitting on a slab in the far corner of the lab. When Maalik tells
Travis that he doesn't think Cross' body will suffice for their needs Travis informs him that they may
have a new candidate and proceeds to hand Maalik a thick file, and the name on the file is Ethan Marsh.
Up in the Hollywood Hills, tensions at the house are on the rise as Dana continues her
extended stay, still unwilling to return to her apartment. Ethan, maddened by the amount of time
it is taking him to recover from his injuries begins a search for healing spells he can use. While this is
going on Patrick decides to go for a drive to clear his head, taking the SUV. Soon after Lauren convinces
Jalen to go with her to buy a security system for the house to help warn them against future attacks. This
leaves just Dana at the house with Ethan, the two of them in the occult library in the basement, though
Dana is doing her own research hoping to discover the nature of the protection spell her mother had placed
on her as a child. When the resources in the basement prove useless Dana heads off to UCLA to use the
library there. She is barely out the front door when a pair of shadow ninjas emerge from a wall in the
basement and ambush Ethan. He is quickly paralyzed with a blow dart and the ninjas carry him off into
the Shadow Realms.
When Jalen and Lauren return Jalen senses the residue left by the ninjas, though at first he
does not realize they were the reason. Only after he voices his concern to Lauren and she uses her powers
to view the attack from hours earlier does he make the connection with what he is sensing and the shadow
ninjas Lauren sees in her vision. He steps in the Shadow Realms through the same wall the ninjas used, but
they are long gone. Meanwhile, Ethan has awakened in the lab, and the first sight he sees is Maalik looming over
him. When Ethan says how hard Maalik seems to be to kill, Maalik comments that the same could be said about
Ethan himself. When Ethan responds with a sarcastic suggestion that the two may be cousins, Maalik seems to
be intrigued. The evil doctor ponders for a moment before grabbing a silver dagger from an instrument tray and
stabbing it straight through Ethan's chest into his heart.
At UCLA, Dana has managed to uncover some information about the spell her mother used. It seems
the spell was designed to bestow a powerful curse on any of the Unseelie (evil faeries) who might try to harm
Dana, even indirectly. So it was not that the Unseelie couldn't find Dana, it was more that they couldn't do
anything to her until the spell had recently begun to fade. Before she can lean any more, Dana gets a phone call
from Lauren telling her about Ethan's kidnapping. At the house, Lauren has used her powers to try and find
Ethan but she only caught a glimpse of Maalik in the vision before it was obscured by an image of an oddly-shaped
ring made of fire. The shape seems familiar to Lauren, but she can't place it at the moment.
Back at the lab Ethan awakens to hear Maalik comment how interesting it was to observe him rise
from the dead once the doctor had sutured up the chest wound. Curious as to how Ethan does not seem to stay
dead Maalik summons one of Wolfram & Hart's resident psychics. With Maalik momentarily distracted Ethan
manages to free one of his hands from the restraints, an effort aided by the fact that he is covered in his
own blood. The psychic arrives, appearing as a normal middle-aged man save for the third eye in the middle
of his forehead. After a detailed examination the psychic discovers the reason for Ethan being unable to
stay dead: part of his soul is missing. Because of this absence, the rest of Ethan's soul seems to be anchored
to his body, so even if the physical body dies, the soul cannot leave. This means that even if he suffers
lethal injuries, Ethan does not completely die and, as long as his body can be repaired, he can "rise".
The downside for Ethan is that he does not heal any faster or better than a normal person, so he is as dependent
on medical aid as anyone else when he suffers traumatic injuries (he just won't die from them). Maalik seems
disappointed by this information and dismisses the psychic.
Once the psychic has left, Ethan makes his move. While Maalik's back is turned he uses his free
hand to undo the other bindings and leaps off the operating table. Maalik turns around just in time for Ethan
to stab him through the heart with the very same silver blade Maalik had used on him hours earlier. Ethan watches
as Maalik collapses, slowly dying from the mortal wound. When the doctor finally falls silent Ethan hopes this
is the last he and the others will see of Maalik. Leaving the medical lab, Ethan finds himself in a prep room
where he trades his bloody clothes for a set of surgical scrubs. He then heads out into a hallway only to realize
that his actions in the lab were captured by a security camera. Knowing the elevators will be full of security by
now Ethan heads into the stairwell and , finding himself around the tenth floor, decides to race down in the hopes
of escaping before security can catch him. When he reaches the eighth floor landing Ethan can hear security in
the stairwell but before he can decide on his next action a door opens and an arm grabs him and pulls
him from the stairwell.
Patrick and Dana have arrived at the house and Lauren tells them about her vision, and that she
remembers where she saw the strange circle symbol before. The symbol had appeared to her before in a vision,
the same vision that showed her the Oracle's death. Patrick wonders if they can track the ninjas through the
Shadow Realm, though Jalen is doubtful. Nonetheless he takes Lauren into the Shadows to see if she can sense
Ethan. Once in the realms, Lauren sees how different Jalen's aura looks. In the real world, his aura is like
a shadow, she can barely see him, but here he glows brightly. Looking away from Jalen, Lauren tries to find
Ethan but there is no trace. Wherever he is she cannot sense him from within the Shadow Realms. Jalen takes
Lauren back into the real world and the group tries to figure out another way to locate Ethan.
Back at Wolfram & Hart, Ethan discovers that it was Alexandra Morelli that pulled him
from the stairwell. She seems surprised to find out that Ethan is the intruder that security is looking for.
She takes Ethan to an empty meeting room where he can catch his breath. When Ethan presses her Alexandra
swears that she did not know he had been grabbed, and adds that it probably has something to do with the
secret project Travis McCauley is working on. When Ethan talks about trying to get out of the building
Alexandra tells him that during a lockdown security are the only people allowed in or out. This gives Ethan
an idea, and he asks Alexandra to show him where the security desk is on this floor. He manages to subdue a
lone security guard at the desk and steal his uniform. The quick disguise works well enough as Ethan is able to
go out the front doors under the pretense of searching the perimeter. As Wolfram & Hart security becomes
aware of the deception Ethan is able to hide out in a nearby coffee shop and make a quick call to the house.
He stays holed up in the coffee shop until his friends arrive to bring him home.
Ethan fills in the group on what happened to him, and how he hopes that Maalik is gone for good.
Lauren, meanwhile, has gone to visit Lorne to see if he can help her identify the mysterious symbol. Lorne
does recognize the symbol and tells Lauren it belongs to a group called the Circle of the Black Thorn. They
are the direct agents of the Senior Partners on Earth, but Lorne thought they had all been killed. If Lauren
is seeing the symbol in her visions it means the Senior Partners have assembled a new Circle, and that
cannot be a good sign.
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