Summary: Angel gets a bit of a surprise.

Notes: Watched a rerun of 'Eternity' the other day, had this silly idea.

Disclaimer: All belongs to the Master Joss. I'm just borrowin' it for a bit...

THE DARK AVENGER

By screaminheathen69

It was one of those incredibly rare occasions.

A slow night. An actual, factual, honest to God slow night. Nothing going on, no apocalypse, no demon uprisings, no prophecies to sort out. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

Our heroes didn't quite know what to do with themselves.

Well, most of 'em anyway. Dawn and Spike, on the other hand, decided it was time to spring a little surprise they'd been saving. So, they suggested having a movie night. Most of the crew thought that sounded like a good idea. (Lot's of shrugs and why-not's, for the most part.) So the popcorn was popped, snacks were acquired, drinks were poured and comfy viewing positions were found. (Or wrestled over. By Buffy and Faith. Faith won.)

As Dawn put in the DVD, Buffy (who was throwing popcorn at the back of Faith's head) asked "So, what're we watching, anyway?"

"Oh, just a little something Spike and I stumbled across," Dawn answered, somehow keeping the smirk from her face. Spike was smirking enough for both of them.

"Oh, God, it's not porn, is it?" Buffy asked, eyes huge. Dawn just shot her a dirty look and hit play.

The title came up in blood red letters: THE DARK AVENGER. As the opening credits started rolling, Angel's eyebrow went up. "Rebecca Lowell is in this?"

Dawn, still fighting the smirk, nodded. "Yup. Why?"

Angel tried to look non-chalant. It came off more constipated-ish. "Nothing. Met her once, that's all."

"Oh, yeah. Tried to kill her too, right?" Dawn asked, all innocence.

"That wasn't my fault!" Dawn just waved a hand dismissively and nodded towards the screen. Angel sat back in a huff. Nina, who was in on the joke, did her best to hide her grin.

The first scene opened up on a woman running screaming down a dark alley, then hiding behind a dumpster. Moments later, the dumpster was shoved aside, and her pursuer, obviously a vampire, grabbed her. After rattling off a few lame lines, the vamp went for her neck.

Just then, a dark figure in a billowing coat dropped down from the roof, grabbed the vampire and threw him across the alley. After a heated, but short, battle, the dark figure produced a stake and dusted the vampire.

The woman, amazed that she wasn't dead, staggered over to the mysterious figure. "Thank you! I thought I was dead! What was that thing anyway?"

Her savior sighed, then turned around to face her. (This would be about the time that Angel's eyebrows tried to climb somewhere above his hairline.) "That was a vampire," said the stranger, now revealed to be Rebecca Lowell. "You should go home. Stick to the well lit streets if you don't want this to happen again." She nodded at the pile of dust at her feet.

As she turned to go, the woman caught her arm. "Wait. Who are you?"

The stranger hesitated, then answered. "I'm Angel." She then leapt straight up, landing on the roof. With a last glance down at the stunned woman she'd just saved, she disappeared from sight.

By now, everybody in the room was staring at Angel. Angel, poor fellow, was completely shellshocked. In fact, he didn't utter a single word though the rest of the movie as he sat there and watched huge chunks of his life unravel on the screen. Right down to and including the Curse.

Spike caught Dawn's attention and mouthed "Toldja he'd be speechless". Dawn grinned happily and went back to watching Angel watch the movie. She wasn't sure which was the more entertaining.

Angel was still speechless as the end credits rolled. Right up until the bit that said 'Story Consultants: William Pratt and Dawn Summers', at which point he looked at the two in question and started saying "But... but... but... but..." while waving a hand vaguely at the screen.

Dawn laughed. "We heard that she was looking for info about you, so we decided to see what she was up to. Turns out she'd pitched this idea to some big-wig producer as part of her big comeback attempt. Next thing we knew, we were hired on as story consultants. They sent us an advance copy so we could check it out. They're releasing it this summer."

"Oughta be quite the blockbuster, don'tcha think?" Spike was giggling at the sight of Angel sitting there still going "But... but... but...".

Dawn nodded, huge toothy grin in place. "They're already talking trilogy!"

Angel finally got a grip. "Maybe I should pay her a little visit," he said, his voice dangerously low.

Nina was fighting back her laughter so hard she was snorting. "Why? snurt You gonna snort put the fear of God in her? giggle"

Angel kept his face carefully neutral. "Maybe."

Gunn, being careful not to let Angel see the huge grin he was wearing, shook his head. "Nah, I got a better idea."

"And that would be..."

"Sue her for royalties. Probably be worth millions."

Angel sat there for a long minute, then an evil grin spread slowly across his face. Several of the people in the room suddenly found themselves having 'Angelus' flashbacks. "Let's have some fun..."

Okay, I just know that somebody is gonna remind me that Cordy called Angel 'The Dark Revenger', but I just like Avenger better.

So there.

hehehe

'To thee no star be dark...'