Working with Amateurs

CHAPTER 1 – Dreams and Reality

Buffy dreamt. She was in LA, walking down a dark alley. She could hear crying, the crying of a baby. But there was nobody in the alley. She kept walking until she saw two dark hooded figures in the distance surrounded by fog. Or maybe it was steam from the sewers? They were standing huddled together, bent over something. It looked like some kind of exchange. And then there was this crying again. Suddenly, someone came running from behind her, almost knocking her over, oblivious of her standing in the middle of the alley. The man kept running and shouted something at the two dark figures, who took flight as soon as they saw him coming towards them. Buffy instinctively knew who that person was. She would have known him anywhere. It was Angel. He ran after the fleeing people, shouting for them to stop. Buffy ran after him. Angel kept shouting something like "Don't do this!" They were slowly catching up to the two figures. Buffy was only a few meters behind Angel. Suddenly the whole scene changed and the two dark shapes had to stop, otherwise they would have fallen off the top of the building they were all standing on. Buffy could now recognize one of the figures. He had lost his hood while running. It was Wesley. Angel looked at him dangerously, still seemingly unaware of Buffy's presence, and growled at him, "Traitor." Then he lunged himself at the other person and they both tumbled off the roof.

Buffy woke up screaming. She knew it was a prophetic dream. They were always so much more real than her normal dreams – or nightmares. A look at her clock told her it was the middle of the night, everybody else was fast asleep. Somehow she knew that she didn't have time to get Giles and the others to figure out what the dream was exactly about. Time was of the essence. She chose to trust her gut. Putting on some clothes, she grabbed the car keys, scribbled down a note that she would be in LA and would call as soon as possible and left it on the kitchen counter.

When Buffy got to LA, she didn't know where to start. LA had countless dark alleys and they all looked the same. She was terribly afraid that she was too late already. For what, she didn't know. But she couldn't get rid of the feeling that something horrible was about to happen. Should she go see Angel? Maybe it had something to do with one of his current cases. Maybe his appearance in her dream had been symbolic, to let her know who the bad guys were. But then she had known that even before his arrival in the dream. Buffy decided to head for the hotel. Luckily there was hardly any traffic since it was very early in the morning. When she was still several blocks away, a dark figure was crossing the street in front of her in a dash. Buffy knew that was it. She got out of the car and ran after him. There was no Wesley or Angel in sight. But she could feel Angel. He couldn't be far away. Chasing after the figure Buffy made herself known. "Stop!

Surprisingly, it worked. The man stopped and partly turned around.

"Who are you? What do you want?".

"I am disappointed. Has it been so long, that nobody in LA remembers me? Or maybe you are just new in the evil business."

"I am not fighting for the dark side. But I have no time to take care of you, too," the man said annoyed.

"You are on the good side? Try telling that to someone who isn't. And besides, why would you run? What did you steal?"

"I didn't steal anything. I saved a life. I saved this little one from a vampire." He opened his coat and revealed a baby.

"A baby?" Buffy gasped. She took a step closer.

"Don't come closer."

"I am the Slayer."

"The Slayer? You?"

"Let me guess, you expected me to be taller?"

"Um…"

"Who is after you?" Buffy slowly closed the distance between them.

"A very dangerous and powerful vampire. His name is Angelus. I need to save the boy from him."

"Angelus?" Buffy's face showed complete and utter shock at hearing that name. Could he really be back?

"Ah, so you have heard of him?"

"I have met him," Buffy said deep in thought.

"And survived?"

"Obviously." Her confusion over the mentioning of Angelus made way to distrust. Her spidey senses were all over the place. This man was not to be trusted.

"Shame you didn't manage to kill him. My name is Holtz, by the way. I came a long way to protect this child." He slightly relaxed his defensive stance.

Buffy felt strangely drawn to the child and took another step closer. Holtz made no attempt to retreat. So she reached out her hand and touched the baby's cheek. He made her feel just like Angel did. Something was really, really wrong here.

"Since I am the Slayer and we are on the same side, you won't mind handing the baby over to me, would you?"

"Listen, you obviously know what that vampire is capable of. I am only trying to protect the child from a horrible fate. The vampire claims to be his father, but this is obviously a trick."

"His father? A vampire?" Buffy choked out. How could this be? But it would explain the feelings the baby invoked in her. Buffy had trouble not doubling over from this information. It hurt so much. This was worse than… she couldn't think of anything… maybe like when he left her.

"I know, it's hard to believe. But it doesn't matter. I have to keep him safe from that monster."

"I agree. We need to keep the baby safe from harm." Buffy couldn't help but stare at the baby. Holtz mistook Buffy's behavior for genuine concern. No matter if Angel was Angelus or not, this baby needed protection, even if he wasn't Angel's son. Just the thought of it tore at her heart, like razor sharp claws. Scalding razor sharp claws.

"You are right. This innocent child needs protection." In one quick move, Buffy grabbed the baby and pushed Holtz back. Taking up a defensive stance she said, "I will make sure the boy doesn't get hurt. By anyone. That includes you. I don't trust you."

"And I don't trust you." He drew his sword. "Give me the baby."

"Say please," Buffy mocked.

Holtz attacked.

Now that she had the baby in one arm Buffy was less mobile than usual and hampered in her attempts to fight off her opponent.

"Give me the boy. I only want to keep him safe from that monster."

"You already said so. But I am not sure your intentions are really honorable. So you can forget about it."

"Fine, you asked for it."

With that Holtz lunged for Buffy, swinging the sword, aiming for her head. Buffy ducked and kicked at him awkwardly. With the baby in her arms, balance was harder to maintain than usual. Holtz attacked her again, this time going for her legs. Buffy jumped. It seemed like he really didn't want to harm the baby. But that didn't mean he wouldn't use him in some silly ritual and kill him later anyway.

Buffy turned to run, but Holtz managed a deep cut to her arm. She yelped and faced her attacker again. Shifting the baby to her uninjured arm she was able to block the next swing, gaining another deep cut in the process. She couldn't keep this up for long. She desperately wanted to hurt this guy, but the baby was her priority at the moment. Buffy avoided his next assaults by ducking and jumping, waiting for an opening to throw him off his feet and run for the hills. Holtz was relentless, aiming blow after blow at her. When an opportunity finally presented itself, Buffy did a roundhouse kick and hit him as hard as she could. Holtz fell over, loosing hold on his sword. Buffy turned and ran as fast as she could.

Rounding a corner, she didn't get far as her way was cut of by a high fence. She couldn't jump it and with her injuries and the baby, she couldn't climb it either. She could hear running. Holtz was fast on their trail. The only way out was into an abandoned building. Maybe there was a way out on the other side of the fence. Kicking in the already demolished door, Buffy made her way inside. It was an old apartment block. There was trashed and moldy furniture everywhere, syringes were lying on the floor, and the walls were spray painted. The only way she could go was up the narrow staircase. The apartments were deathtraps, full of junk with no room to maneuver. Some of the floors had holes in them. They were probably unstable as hell, and leading right to hell at the same time. The stairs weren't much better. But maybe there was a way down from the top, a fire staircase or something. Buffy had to skip several broken steps and almost got her foot stuck when one gave way beneath her.

Holtz had entered the building as well, screaming at her to give up and hand over the baby. On her way up to the roof, Buffy found a pipe and grabbed it. At least she had a weapon now. But she needed more room to face her attacker. She needed to get to the roof before Holtz caught up with her and could corner her. Maybe she could kick him off the roof.

Holtz reached the top of the building only seconds after her. "No more running now. Give me the baby and I will spare your life."

"Sorry, no deal."

Holtz rushed at her with his raised sword. This time Buffy blocked the attack with the pipe. Gaining confidence she charged at Holtz and made him retreat several steps. The pipe was rusty and chafed at her palm. But it was better than nothing.

"You can't be the Slayer. The Slayer would not play into a vampire's hands. You are probably just one of Angelus' whores. A skilled one, I have to admit, but still just a pawn in his game. Do something good, let me take care of the boy. I will raise him as my own."

"Stop talking. You sound like a complete lunatic. When did you break out of the nut house?"

In quick succession, Holtz aimed several hits at her arm, the one Buffy was holding the baby with. He was good with that sword, as if he hadn't done anything else in his life. The pipe being heavier and not as aerodynamic as a sword, Buffy had a hard time keeping up with his blows. After taking some more cuts, she switched the baby to the other arm again. And she was starting to get tired.

Not too far away, Angel and Gunn were driving through the streets rather aimlessly, desperately looking for Holtz and Connor. Angel was getting frantic with worry and anger. Suddenly he felt… something. Could it be his son? It was different though. It felt like… Buffy. How could that be? He probably just imagined it. It would be too big a coincidence if she was in LA tonight.

"What is it?" Gunn asked, having noticed that Angel was slowing down the car.

"Nothing, we need to keep looking. Maybe we should split up. You take the car. I want to check some of those alleys."

"Okay."

Angel turned off the car and got out. Suddenly, he heard something, metal meeting metal. It sounded like a fight.

"If we can't find them in the next half hour, we should go back to the hotel and regroup. Angel? Did you hear me?"

"Shush, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

They were quiet but the sounds were gone. They listened for a while longer, until the sounds reappeared. In close succession the noise of one metallic object impacting on another one resounded through the night.

"Yeah, sounds like a sword fight or something."

"Let's hope Holtz ran into trouble. Come on."

Angel started running into the alley in a mad dash. Gunn could hardly keep up.

Holtz let his blows rain down on Buffy. She was hardly able to block them anymore. Holtz had forced her almost to the edge of the roof, when one particularly powerful swing broke the rusty pipe in two. Buffy held the baby even closer, trying to protect him by shielding him with both her arms.

"Give me the baby!"

Buffy made another attempt to escape, but Holtz blocked her way. He took aim again and cut Buffy deeply across her shoulder. Turning away from him to shield the precious bundle in her arms, the next blow cut her right across her back. Trying to avert the next attacks with kicks tired Buffy out further. Holtz got in more and more strikes until Buffy was bleeding heavily from numerous cuts to her arms and back.

Standing at the edge of the roof top, she considered her options. Should she try to jump? Would she survive a jump from this height in her weakened state? What if she fell and crushed the baby? Looking down Buffy saw remnants of a fire staircase still attached to the house. Were they stable enough to hold her?

Angel and Gunn had followed the noise until they could make out which building it was coming from. Then abruptly, the metallic sounds stopped. They stormed up the stairs and onto the roof. Angel stopped in his tracks when he spotted a bloody Buffy standing on the edge of the building, clutching Connor tightly to her body, barely being able to stand. She looked completely exhausted and was bleeding heavily from various cuts.

"Buffy?" Angel mouthed inaudibly.

TBC