Freak Show

Chapter 1: Static Shock

Cleveland, near the Hellmouth...

Two girls aged roughly sixteen fought. On the ground lay the body of a middle aged man, dressed in a suit. Sticking from his back was a curved dagger.

"You killed him Tina!" yelled one of the girls. "You murdered our Watcher!"

"It was his own fault, Jenny." said the one called Tina. "He refused to tow the line. I was only following orders."

Jenny lashed out at Tina with a vicious roundhouse kick, but Tina was too fast for her. She dodged the kick, and drove her knee into Jenny's stomach. Jenny stumbled, and as she fell to the ground next to the dead Watcher, she pulled the blade from his back to defend herself.

"You are going to pay for this Tina! When Buffy finds out..."

Tina calmly pulled another dagger from her belt, and thrust it at Jenny.

"Buffy won't find out anything."

Jenny blocked the dagger thrust, but failed to notice the blade in Tina's other hand, until it was driven into her stomach. Jenny fell, and slumped into the dirt.

"Not yet, anyway." said Tina.

Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles...

"It's too bloody quiet." said Spike. "I don't like it."

"What would you prefer?" Angel said. "We could always try and kill the Senior Partners this time, you know, really piss them off, if you are that bored.."

Spike brushed off Angel's comment and continued, "You know what I mean. Can't you feel it? Something ugly is coming this way."

Suddenly the doors of the hotel swung open. In the doorway stood a beautiful woman with long brown hair, wearing tight black leather trousers and matching top. Her lower arms were covered completely with long black gloves.

"Well, maybe not ugly..." Spike said.

Spike looked at the woman and made his way over to her.

"My name's Spike and I'm in charge here." he said, reaching for her bare arm. "How may I be of serv... ARRRGH!"

Spike was blown across the room with a massive electrical burst.

Angel looked at the blonde vampire with a slight smirk on his face.

"Spike," he said. "Meet Gwen Raiden."

"Angel," said Gwen. "Its been a while."

Spike got up from the floor and made his way over to Angel and Gwen.

"What the bloody hell was that?!"

"I'm a freak," said Gwen. "My whole body is electrically charged. You can't touch me without getting a bit of a shock."

Spike looked at Angel with anger in his eyes.

"You sodding knew about this?"

"Whoops. Must have slipped my mind.." said Angel. He turned back to Gwen.

"Anyway, I thought you had that device that stopped that from happening now? Wasn't that what you and Gunn stole?"

"Yeah, but it ended up breaking down. Looked like the thing was only a prototype, designed to work for a little while. It was fun while it lasted."

"So what can we do for you now then?" said Spike.

"I need help Angel." she said. "Something is killing off all the freaks in L.A."

"Is it a demon of some kind?"

"No. Its human. Some kind of genetic purity Nazi group."

"I think I have heard of these guys." said Angel. "They're not big fans of vampires, werewolves or other demon half breeds either."

"It's not just me that needs help this time as well Angel. I have been working with some other freaks. Ones that live in the sewers. They call themselves the Freak Show. They keep out of everyone's way, don't harm anyone, and just use their powers to survive. Recently some of the members have been disappearing while they were out getting food."

Angel had never seen such a look of concern on Gwen's face before.

"Spike, go get Oz, Laura and Faith. It's time to go to work."