Angel and Derek stood in Derek's basement. By most standards, it was a standard basement. There was the required workbench with a neat top with organized rows of tools mounted on pegboard above the table. That was where the stereotypical basement comparisons ended.
Mounted on the far wall was a target board used for knife throwing. Next to the target was a large gun safe. The adjacent wall held several stand up lockers, the kind once seen in middle schools around the country. Derek walked over to the workbench, reached under one corner and retrieved a set of keys. He took a key off of the ring and tossed that key to Angel.
"Here, unlock those lockers and start getting the stuff out. Put it on the workbench. I'll get the safe opened."
Ten minutes later, Angel and Derek stood next to each other, staring at the loosely organized pile of gear they'd placed on the workbench.
"Derek, what do you have in mind for us?"
Derek smiled as he began to sort out the stuff on the bench. "Well, I have enough gear stashed away down here. I'm going to put together some packs for each person. We'll need kind of a 'one size fits all' bag of goodies. Some of this stuff will be more useful than other stuff, but hopefully between what we have, what Wendell says he's bringing, and the cash resources we have, we'll be alright."
The two men began by sitting eight backpacks out so they could put things inside. The packs were roughly the size of the large sized U.S. issue ALICE packs, so they would hold a substantial amount of gear. Next, they began to sort out the various survival items Derek had stashed in his lockers. Small tents, ponchos, MREs, knives, fire starting tools, and other things got packed neatly into the bags.
Once the bags were packed, the only things that were on the table were the bags themselves. Derek walked over to the open gun safe and began retrieving guns and holsters. In a matter of minutes eight pistols, along with holsters and magazines sat next to the bags. Walking back over to the safe, he grabbed several boxes of ammunition to go along with the guns.
Derek smiled as he began loading the magazines. Looking over to Angel, he smiled. "You gonna help or just stand there? Once these are loaded, get 'em in the holsters and put 'em in the packs. Each person who knows how to shoot will teach the others on the run. You know your way around a gun, right?"
Angel nodded. "Yeah, I can hold my own. Listen, what's the time line look like for this. How long do you think we'll need to be on the move?"
Derek thought for a moment as the two men continued to load. "I figure about a month at the most. We can't really stay away from Sunnydale for too long, but left out the way we are now we're too much of a target. On the move, even working back to the Hellmouth, we can keep the collateral damage down. With the four groups on the move, and me doing my thing, it'll be a colossal pain in the butt for anyone tracking us."
Angel nodded. "I think that makes sense. Why are you alone during this thing? Why not just hop into a group and go with them?"
Derek replied, "I have to make a road trip to L.A. I might be bringing someone back to help out with this, and if it works out for us, then we're going to need some time to work some things out; things that don't need to be overheard by others."
Angel's eyebrows arched. "Really? Is it that bad?"
Derek smiled. "Well, not really bad, just awkward and potentially emotional, and it's really only something that the two of us can work out."
Angel nodded and left it at that. Whatever the case might be, if the others needed to know about it, Angel knew that eventually it would come out. He knew that much about Derek just in the day or so he'd known the man.
The bags were loaded, weighing in at about 25 pounds each. Derek and Angel brought the bags upstairs and sat them in the front of the house. The first wave of people showering had finished and were eating, and the other group had begun to clean up and get packed. Giles got Derek's attention as he finished eating the breakfast that had been prepared.
"Derek, go ahead and eat something and get cleaned up. I think everyone's moving towards being ready within the hour."
"Thanks, Giles, I'll do just that." Derek patted the Watcher on his shoulder and went to clean up, leaving Giles, Joyce, and Angel in the kitchen.
"Angel," Joyce spoke to the vampire, "I want you to take good care of Buffy. I know she's got superpowers and everything, but she's a tender heart, and she needs to know that she can rely on you to be there alongside her."
"Joyce, I will. The past three years has shown me a lot. We need to change some things, and I'll do the best I can to be there in a way that's good for Buffy."
The three sat quietly as the other members of the respective teams filtered in. Bags were piled near the door, food was eaten, and they all waited for Derek to get cleaned up and ready. There was a high level of tension in the air, but not directed at any particular person; it merely hung in the air, covering everyone in the room.
Ten minutes later, a freshly showered and dressed Derek James walked into the kitchen. He was dressed in simple jeans and a plain long sleeved t-shirt, with black boots. He poured a cup of coffee and grabbed some eggs and sausage, walking into the living room to join the others.
"OK. Wendell's going to come by in a while with some more supplies for us. Let's take a few minutes to discuss what's about to happen. We're going to engage in a little E&E, escape and evasion. The rules are pretty simple: We're going to stay off the grid for a while, that means no phones, no credit cards, no paper trails. We'll stay under the radar to the point where we won't be leaving our pursuers any little nuggets of information."
Derek opened a bag he'd brought up from the basement and began unloading its contents. The others watched as Derek carefully laid out five stacks of cash.
"Here is some seed money for your trip. I highly advise that you don't try to go directly to Sunnydale on this. It's more difficult on the SOG to have to consider every place we might go. That means that you must avoid your old habits, interests, etc. Don't assume that just because someone's not directly behind you that they cannot track your movement, especially since some of us have a supernatural signature that can be traced.
Remember, we are off the grid here, and pretty secure as a general rule, but those guys were still able to find us here. Consider this money, along with the bags, and whatever Wendell brings, as your only assets. Your goal is to stay on the move, double back on yourselves at times, and generally make any attempt to find you so much of a hassle that no one will be able to do it."
He looked around at the group. All of them were on board with him, at least to the point that no one looked totally lost. Derek went on.
"OK, I've grouped you together so that people who have a little exposure to this kind of thing are with you newbies. You don't have to be an expert. In fact, a little newness just adds flavor to the whole operation, because you might think of doing something so different that anyone trying to track you might not expect it. For those of us who've done this before, sometimes we fall into the same old patterns of doing things that wind up being easy for professionals to spot, so think creatively about how you do things. You newbies, don't act passively and rely on the more seasoned people, add your two cents."
Derek was interrupted by the sound of a horn honking. He looked out of the window and saw three pickup trucks pull up. None of the trucks were brand new and each one had things in the back. Derek smiled as Wendell, Jimmy, and Josie got out of each vehicle. Neither of the three trucks were the same size, year, or model.
The three drivers walked into the living room and handed the keys over to Derek. "Just some things to get you started," Wendell said as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cup of coffee from the pot he knew would be there.
Jimmy and Josie grabbed a place to sit as Wendell walked back to the living room. Derek smiled and continued. "Well then. Where was I? Right, E&E. With what we've got now, I'd say you should take the next month or so and make your way back to Sunnydale. I've said it before, I just don't think that we can overlook the Hellmouth for very long. Sure, it's closed and things are generally calm during the summer, for some reason, but that doesn't change the fact that vamps can turn people frequently without the Hellmouth being open so we need to be back on station ASAP."
Wendell broke in with his thoughts. "Derek, I want to let you know that those trucks are yours to use however you'd like. In the back of each of the trucks are a couple things. There are coolers and bags with food and drinks, and there are also some goodies that the fellas thought you'd need. When you're done we can go take a look, but consider this our gift to all of you, to keep you safe and get you back to California."
No one knew what to say. The overwhelming generosity was just too much to take. There were smiles and nods all around, and Giles was the first to speak. "Wendell, I don't know what to say. You've opened yourselves up to danger for people you barely know. Even though you know some of us, for you to make such a bold statement of support for us… thank you."
Josie smiled as her dad got some compliments. Jimmy nodded, and answered Giles. "Well, we have experience being outnumbered and outmanned so every little bit helps."
Derek nodded and grinned. "Alright, back to the basics. Each person here has a bag sitting right here that Angel and I packed. Make sure that each of you looks through the bag. For you seasoned guys, you'll know what to do with what's in there, guns included. You'll have to teach the newbies along the way. Sorry, it's just gotta be that way. Giles, Wes, Angel, and Faith, come see me. The rest of you start looking into those bags."