As Jocasta and Katherine look for evidence to tie Tyrell to Project 314, they watch a news net report.  In it, Lisa Lance describes a fourth grisly murder, in which a man’s chest was savagely ripped open.  Jocasta decides to call the Police Commissioner about getting the Council involved in the investigation.  Meanwhile, the cybernetic killer arrives at his basement, where he opens a cooler and reveals a human heart lying on a layer of bloody ice.

 

While Jocasta and Katherine continue their research, the Police Commissioner returns Jocasta’s call and encourages her to contact the homicide detectives in charge of the case.  Katherine seems to have something on her mind and attempts to tell Jocasta, but gets interrupted by the phone.  She finally tells Jocasta that she can’t see her tonight because she has patrol duty. 

 

Giles calls a meeting with Jocasta, Katherine, Lex, and James.  They discuss their progress in the case against Tyrell.  Livia and Antonia haven’t reported in and can’t be reached.  Jocasta summarizes what they have, which isn’t much.  They discuss their upcoming testimony at the hearing.  Giles says that they should tell the truth, even about the Progenitor Chamber, although they will keep James’s name out of it.

 

In the Council Chambers, Tyrell calls the meeting to order, but Veronica maneuvers him into allowing her to preside since he stands accused.  Then Veronica turns things over to Giles, who calls Katherine as his first witness.  After he has led Katherine through her testimony about the cyber-vamp she and Rayne captured, Tyrell is given the chance to cross-examine her.  He attacks her for disobeying the direct orders of her Watcher and manages to completely fluster her and discredit her.  Next, Giles calls Jocasta and gets her to explain how they gained their information about 314.  When Jocasta admits to accessing the Progenitor File (the Willowgram program), the Council erupts in outrage, and Jocasta and Tyrell end up in a shouting match.  When the Council is finally quieted, Giles asks Jocasta to explain what they learned about Project 314 and how they eventually defeated it.  When it is Tyrell’s turn to cross-examine, he tries to snag Jocasta about her access to the Progenitor File, but Jocasta holds her own, claiming that she only used the Progenitor File as it was originally designed.  Tyrell changes his tactics and questions Jocasta about her academic background, implying that with a triple major in demon biology, human cybernetics, and computer science, Jocasta would be the perfect person to fabricate the existence of a cyber-demon.

 

With their part in the proceedings over, Jocasta and Katherine go to the Cleveland Police Station to meet with the detectives.  They learn that all four victims were male, with no connections between them, each with a different body part taken.  Victim #1 had his spine ripped out, Victim #2 was castrated, Victim #3 had his stomach taken, and Victim #4 had his heart removed.  While Jocasta and Katherine are still there, the detective in charge receives a call about what looks like Victim #5.

 

Back in the Council Chambers, Giles shows the video of Tyrell’s conversation with the Hubris representatives and tries to get permission to search the storage facility, but is blocked by Tyrell.  When Veronica presses Giles for real, physical evidence to support his claim, he falters.   But then Livia bursts into the room, dragging the cyber-vamp she captured in Sunnydale.  She illustrates its ability to withstand direct sunlight and then points her finger at the monster’s creator: Tyrell.

 

Meanwhile, Jocasta and Katherine examine the body of suspected Victim #5, who has had his throat ripped out.  When Katherine touches the body, she is hit by a jolt of black magic residue.  As a result, Jocasta institutes an immediate Gray Sector takeover.

 

Back in Chambers, the Council is in total disarray until Livia leaves with the cyber-vamp.  Giles asks for and gets a recess until the next day so that the physical evidence can be secured. 

 

That night, Jocasta and Katherine work on the murder case and finally see a tenuous connection between the victims and the manner in which they were killed.  But then Katherine has to leave to go patrolling with Brianna.  After Katherine leaves, Jocasta tries to enter the Progenitor Chamber, but finds it blocked by guards who were ordered by Tyrell to give no one access.  Jocasta recruits Giles and James for a secret mission to free the Willowgram from the Progenitor Chamber.

 

Meanwhile, Katherine patrols with Brianna, who playfully teases her about her relationship with Jocasta.  Brianna also presses Katherine about whether or not she’s told Jocasta her secret.  Katherine says she hasn’t, and Brianna warns her that things could get bad if she doesn’t. 

 

With the Progenitor File’s mobile processor safely stowed in her office, Jocasta gets the Willowgram to assist her with the murder investigation.  Meanwhile, the cyber-killer stalks his next victim, a psychic.

 

The next morning, Katherine returns to Jocasta’s office to work on the case.  Jocasta updates Katherine on Victim #6, the psychic.  Together the three of them finally figure out what’s going on: the cyber-killer is actually a very powerful mage who is collecting body parts representing the seven chakras so that he can perform a ritual which will make him a super-mage or demi-god.  In the Computer Center , James, Lex, Antonia, and Anyabot continue researching for Giles’s case, pouring through hours of security video.  They finally find something.  Meanwhile, Jocasta and Katherine follow up on the murder investigation.  When they touch base with the detectives, they learn that the cyber-killer, via teleportation, has kidnapped his seventh and final victim.  Next, they head to the demon bar to find out what they can about one of the spell’s ingredients.  The bartender tells them it’s the blood of a Vritrani demon; she tells them that there’s only one in town and that it lives at the now-condemned Sisters of Grace charity hospital.

 

Back in the Council Chambers, Giles has reached the end of all his evidence, and he has still not proven a connection between Tyrell and 314.  Anyabot arrives just in time with a data rod for him.  When he plays it, it shows Tyrell and Rayne openly discussing their 314 plans.  Tyrell objects, calling the video a fabrication, but no one believes him.  When it’s clear that he has lost, Tyrell takes the opportunity to go off on his fellow Council members.  While he rants, Giles and Veronica make a motion to remove Tyrell from office, and it passes, and Tyrell is dragged from the room by guards.  Veronica immediately takes advantage of the situation and nominates Giles to replace Tyrell.  The High Commanders nominate Travers.  The election is set for that night.

 

In a secret meeting with the pro-Tyrell High Commanders, Travers assures the group that it’s a win-win situation.  Even if Travers loses to Giles, they will have Giles in a position where they can keep a very close eye on him.

 

That night, while the cyber-killer mage goes to retrieve his final ingredient, Travers and Giles give their speeches to the Council, and the voting period for the position of Chair begins.

 

Meanwhile, Jocasta and Katherine track the mage inside the hospital.  They find him standing over the dead body of the Vritrani demon, having already claimed his final ingredient.  They pull their pistols on him, but he uses magic to rip the guns from their hands and turn them on the two women.  They use magic to defend themselves, but are no match for the mage.  He blocks the exits and starts a fire, then teleports, leaving Jocasta and Katherine trapped.  They manage to combine their magical powers and blast their way out of the room, but then the entire area explodes, and they have to run for their lives.  They manage to get out just in time.  As soon as Jocasta and Katherine get out of the building, they are hounded by news net reporter, Lisa Lance.

 

Back in the Council Chambers, the vote is over, and Giles has won.  Before passing over the gavel, Veronica gets a motion passed that forgives Giles and his colleagues for any illegal actions taken during the investigation into Tyrell and 314.

 

The Council meetings now over, Giles retreats to his office, where he happens across a news net report.  In it, he sees Lisa Lance interviewing a local resident, who complains about the Council’s refusal to do anything about the demon haunt that was the charity hospital.  Then he sees Katherine shoving Lisa Lance aside when she persists in questioning Jocasta even after she’s said “no comment.”  An unhappy Giles calls Jocasta and Katherine and tells them to submit their reports first thing in the morning.  When he tells them that he did win the election, Jocasta rejoices, saying that now they can really get things done, but Giles warns her that things will probably be harder now, not easier.  Jocasta and Katherine then head to Jocasta’s apartment to work on their reports.  When Katherine asks what they should say about the fight with the mage, Jocasta says that telling the truth is best.

 

Back in his basement, the killer has returned from the hospital.  He is now ready to claim the final body part: the seventh victim’s brain. After doing so, the killer begins his long ritual by anointing each body part and tossing it into a sacrificial fire.

 

The next morning, Giles calls Jocasta and Katherine into his office and tells them that they are being written up for using illegal magic and will have to face a disciplinary hearing before the High Command.  Jocasta goes off on Giles for crippling her operations and storms out of his office.  When Katherine tries to ease the situation, Jocasta goes off on her as well, telling her to go home if she isn’t willing to fight fire with fire.  Later, back in Jocasta’s office, the redheaded Watcher mopes, regretting her earlier behavior with Katherine.  Willowgram encourages her to apologize, and when Katherine appears, Jocasta does just that.  Katherine agrees to help Jocasta take down the mage, even if it means using magic and getting in trouble; she also shares her idea about how to locate the mage.

 

By nightfall, the body parts sacrificed by the mage have been fully incinerated.  He sweeps out the ashes and begins rubbing them on his body, as a continuation of the ritual.

 

Employing Katherine’s idea to use the Council’s portal project prototype, the Gatekeeper, Jocasta and Katherine locate the mage’s home.  They enter the basement and interrupt the ritual.  When the mage attacks them with a magical fireball, they cast a spell that turns the mage’s magic back on him, and the mage is destroyed.

 

The next day, Jocasta and Katherine face the High Command.  Giles announces that, in a unanimous vote, the High Command has found them guilty of illegal magic use and has sentenced them to two weeks in a correctional battalion.  When the sentencing is over, Giles tries to soothe the furious Jocasta, but Jocasta is having none of it.  She goes off on Giles, saying that he’s already become “one of them.”  Giles watches sadly as Jocasta and Katherine leave.

 

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