Part Four

Cordelia was sat next to Doyle at the computer desk, he was in front of the monitor, she was on the phone. 'OK, Willow, He's back to the desktop, what does he do now?'

'You know it would be quicker if you just let me talk to her,' Doyle interjected.

'No.' She listened for a moment, 'open file,' she said. Doyle clicked. 'OK, he's done that: back to list.' Doyle scrolled down until he found what he was looking for.

Angel sat slumped in the chair across the desk from them, he was massaging the bridge of his nose. He seemed very tense. Wesley entered the office from outside and set down a cup carrier, which held four coffees. 'Any luck?' He asked.

'She's been on the phone for an hour and forty five minutes,' Angel told him.

'Hey!' Cordelia put her hand over the mouthpiece of the receiver to address the men in the room, 'guess what they've been doing all day?'

'Saving the world?' Wesley hazarded a guess.

'Well, yeah. But they've been breaking encrypted computer files too!'

'What are the chances?' Angel said, sounding less than impressed.

'What do I do next, Cordy?' Doyle wanted to know. Cordelia wasn't listening. 'No. no. It was no one, just Wesley.' she said into the phone. 'Yeah … yeah … uhuh.' Wesley and Angel leaned forward in anticipation. Doyle looked at her expectantly, waiting to follow her next instruction. 'Willow says 'hey!' ' she said to the two Sunnydale men. They slumped back. 'Hey.' they said in unison.

'They say 'hey!'' she told the phone.

'Cordelia!' Doyle tried to remind her that there was a job he was trying to do.

'OK, OK, I'm on it, What's next Willow ...' there was a long pause, 'could you repeat that?'

'Just let me talk to her!' he held his hand out for the phone.

'No!' Cordelia moved away, so the phone was out of his reach. 'Tag file,' she told him, he scanned the screen and found it. 'Left click' she said. He clicked. The computer beeped. 'There it is,' she said, pointing to the screen, 'back door, we're in. Thanks, Will.' she hung up the phone. 'I told you she could do it,' she said to the men. Angel and Wesley came around the back of the desk to have a look at the screen.

'Personnel file: Vanessa Brewer.' Wesley read. 'She wasn't born blind. She lost her sight when she was 21.'

'On purpose,' Cordelia pointed out, tapping the relevant bit, 'she did this to herself.'

'Why'd she do a thing like that?' Doyle wanted to know.

'Er - because she's a psycho!' Cordy replied.

'She spent five years in Pajaur, studying the Nanjin.' Angel said, 'that explains her power.'

'It does?' It still seemed pretty inexplicable to Cordelia.

'The order of Nanjin are cave dwelling monks. They believe that enlightenment is seeing with the heart, not the mind.' The watcher told her.

'Are you saying, that crazy, self mutilating, assassin lady achieved enlightenment?'

'Of a kind. She's more sensitive to her surroundings than even a sighted person.'

'Pretty strong assassin! She sounds unstoppable.' Doyle said.

'No one is unstoppable,' Angel replied. 'What's her current job?'

They scanned the screen together …'There,' Doyle tapped the screen. 'Lindsey was right ...kids, man.' He sighed, this hit the teacher part of him particularly hard.

'Three of them,' the British man read over his shoulder when he trailed off. 'Seers, like Doyle. They were found in different remote locations and brought together for the first time, here.'

'They're blind too,' Cordelia said, 'together they have the power to 'see into the heart of things', so not exactly the same as Doyle ...but Wolfram and Hart have shown an interest in acquiring his visions before. They obviously like to collect people with the sight.'

'Yes…' the watcher mused, 'knowing the future, as well as a link to the powers - a direct link to the other side as it were, would be very useful to a firm like Wolfram and Hart. As these children mature, so will their power.'

'Hey, I wonder if the same will happen to you!' Cordelia nudged Doyle, he gave her a dirty look.

Lindsey arrived at the office. 'Sorry I'm late. I hope I didn't worry any of you.'

Cordelia shrugged, 'we just figured you were dead.'

'You got out,' Angel stated, ignoring Cordelia

'Yeah… but only just. It's only a matter of time before they realise which files are missing.' the lawyer told them, 'we have to move fast. When are the children arriving in the country?'

'According to this they arrived here this morning.' Wesley told them, 'they've been taken to a safe house and their mentor will meet them there. They're coming in from the East tonight.'

'The house isn't safe. There's an address. I want you three..' Angel looked at his employees, 'to go and intercept this mentor guy. Me and Lindsey will got to the house. We'll bring the kids to you.'


The three blind children sat on the floor in their safe house. Their guardian placed a tray of hot chocolate and sandwiches on the coffee table in front of them. They reached out for the cups, smiling. The guardian walked away. But he was stopped at the door by Vanessa's cane. He fell to the floor: dead. Vanessa walked into the room, and made her way towards the children. She stood over them as they drank their hot chocolate.

She raised her cane, making ready to stab the first child. The children just sat there, still, not realising the danger that stood above them. She plunged her cane downwards, and then felt her arm being knocked off its course. She was punched in the face. Angel and Lindsey had arrived.


The three members of team Angel ran into the arrivals lounge at LAX. They scanned the board. 'You know,' said Cordelia, ''The East' doesn't exactly narrow down where this guy is arriving from.' She pointed to the board, 'look at all these flights, he could be on any one of them.'

'Well… he must be coming off an Asian flight,' Wesley reasoned 'if he's coming from the East.'

'Except … Europe is East of here.' Doyle pointed out. 'Does it mean 'the East' as in the far east - like China, or the geographical East meaning ...Dublin.' He pointed to the flight that was arriving from his own hometown in the next half an hour.

'Or Frankfurt,' Cordelia added, 'Or London, Heathrow, There's even a flight coming in from Newark, New Jersey. Maybe it just means the eastern seaboard. What are we gonna do?'

'Wait by the gate and hope we spot him.' Wesley told her.

Cordelia snorted, 'now there's a fool proof plan!'


'Get the kids out of here!' Angel shouted at Lindsey. The lawyer moved towards the children but Vanessa Brewer simply threw Angel to the floor and then turned on the other man, punching him in the stomach. Lindsey crumpled. Angel stood up, and the blind assassin turned on him at once, pummelling him with her fist, feet and cane. The vampire could not get a blow in, could not get within striking distance of Vanessa without her striking him first. Lindsey began to crawl towards the children.


'This isn't working!' Cordelia said as she stood at the gate watching people come through customs in dribs and drabs. 'How are we supposed to spot him?'

'Well I don't know about anyone else, But I'm lookin' for the guy who looks most like Mr. Miyagi, yeah?'

'Good thinking, grasshopper!'

They watched some more people come out of the gate. 'I'm bored,' Cordelia said, 'is anyone else bored?'

Doyle smiled at her and put his arm around her. She leant into him as they waited.


Angel was down on the floor again, lying still where he had landed. But rather than pressing home her advantage, Vanessa turned on Lindsey, where he was crawling towards the children, and began to whale on him instead. Angel has just made it to his feet when Lindsey came flying across the room in his direction. He caught the lawyer just before he smashed into the wall. As they disentangled themselves from each other, the blind assassin moved back towards the unprotected children.


'Maybe it's that guy.' Doyle pointed at an Asian man in a business suit coming through the gate. He was short and had a little grey beard; it was obvious why Doyle had picked him.

'Hmm, he seems more capitalist than mystical,' Wesley said, sizing up the arrival, 'I don't see a mentor to a holy triumvirate turning up in a suit.'

'It's Armani,' Cordelia chimed in.

'I expect he's a banker or something, not a mentor. Didn't a flight just get in from Hong Kong?'

'Well I think he looks the part!'

'I say! This one's more likely!' Wesley pointed to another Asian man coming through the gate, this one was wearing a Hakama with a short kimono over the top.

'No way, he's all show, I'm tellin' y' it's the business suit!'

The two men continued to squabble and, ignoring them, Cordelia turned back to scan the crowd…'uh, guys…' she said, pointing out her find. The men stopped squabbling and looked.


Angel dove across the room, to get to the children. He landed behind Vanessa and she stabbed backwards with her cane. She hit him full in the chest and he stumbled back. She swung her cane once more, he managed to block it, but he was then thrown against the wall. He slumped down to the floor and stayed still. She was facing in his direction but she was scanning around, like she wasn't sure where he was... Finally, he understood.


An elderly blind lady was walking out of the gate, tapping her cane in front of her. She had grey hair tied up in a bun, and dark glasses that covered most of her face. She was wearing neither a western business suit or full traditional Japanese dress, but rather something in the middle; a shiny top with a high collar and patterning, that followed the traditional styles of Southeast Asia, with a pair of comfortable black slacks - sensible clothes for a long flight, in fact. She was only short, but she carried herself in such a way that she conveyed a sense of height and authority and, despite her disability, she moved with a confidence that left no one under the illusion that she might require help, or that she was anything but fully independent.

'Oh yeah, that's her, for sure,' Doyle said.

'Almost certainly,' Wesley agreed.

Cordelia smiled a smug smile of satisfaction, and walked towards the old lady.


Angel waited until Vanessa's back was turned and then he sprang into action; landing beside her and thumping her, in a quick, fluid movement. His blow made contact and she fell to the ground. Angel froze up. She could only see him when he moved, like a reptile's vision. As long as he stayed still she was as blind as any other visually impaired person. She got to her feet and made stabbing and cutting motions with her cane. They were in Angel's general direction, but they never even came close. He used his vampire speed and landed another blow, before freezing up again. He kept to her sides, to try and minimise how much of his movements she would pick up on, and kept repeating the same move; hitting her as fast as his super speed would allow and then going perfectly still. She turned, lost, and jabbed her cane out in front of her, hoping to make a connection. Angel grabbed it and turned it on her. Her cane was driven deep into her body and Vanessa Brewer fell to the floor.

Lindsey had used the time Angel was fighting to get the children. He held all three of them in his arms as he looked at the dead body of the blind assassin lying only a few feet away. He was thankful that these children were spared that sight. 'It's OK,' he told them. 'You're all OK.'


'Well it's been quite an evenin',' Doyle said to Cordy as he walked her back to her apartment. 'That was a good spot on the mentor, by you.'

'Duh! I always know what to look for.'

'That you do, darlin'. And your friend, Willow, is pretty impressive isn't she? unencrypting those files, long distance, for us.'

Cordelia snorted, and seemed less than pleased with his words. He looked at her, in surprise. 'What's wrong? You're the one that suggested we ring her.'

'Well yeah, we needed her help.'

'Well I've never seen anything like it,' Doyle told her. 'She really is a step beyond, isn't she? I mean I'm pretty good at searching stuff out and I can break into some secure sites but she …'

'Yeah, yeah. I get it, she's super girl, can we move on now please?'

Doyle stopped walking and turned to look at Cordelia. She didn't seem to want to look at him, so he gently caught her hands and made her stop. 'What is it?' he asked.

'I've just had enough of you raving about cute, sweet, amazing Willow. That's all.'

'I'm not ravin'! I'm just complimenting your friend. What's wrong?'

She still didn't look at him. 'Why didn't you let me talk to her?' Doyle asked frowning… something wasn't making sense.

'Because!' she stopped talking.

'That's not a reason,' he said to her, softly.

She sighed and finally met his eyes. 'I didn't want you bonding with her over computer hacking skills over the phone.'

'What?'

'Just leave it, OK?'

'No, Cordelia, you're not happy and I want to know why… why was it so important I not get to talk to her? ...You can't be jealous? That doesn't make any sense.'

She broke eye contact and looked away, tutting.

'You don't trust me?' he asked, hurt.

'Yes I trust you, of course I trust you. I just don't trust her!'

Doyle looked completely nonplussed.

'She's a total snake in the grass.' Cordelia told him.

'Cute, sweet Willow is a total snake in the grass?'

'Duh! Yes!'

'I thought she was Buffy's best friend?'

'She is. She's the bestest best friend of the slayer, she's a total genius, a computer hacker and a practising witch.' Cordy took a deep breath, but didn't look back at the man in front of her for the next part: 'she's also the girl who stole my boyfriend.'

A look of sympathetic understanding crossed Doyle's face, he held Cordelia's hands more tightly. 'Cordelia, look at me.'

She tutted again, and gazed around for a bit, but eventually she looked towards him, she still didn't make eye contact though. 'I know you've been hurt before, but that isn't gonna happen this time. If your last boyfriend cheated on you with Willow … then he's an idiot, and I don't blame you for not trusting her either. But y' can't think I could fall so madly in love with a disembodied voice at the end of the phone that I'd forget all about you.'

'I guess, when you put it that way …'

'And there's no reason to think that Willow would be interested in me anyway.'

'You've got a foreign accent, and over the phone - she can't see that shirt!' Doyle looked at her pointedly, she shrugged. 'She split up with Oz,' she said, 'and I've not heard that there's any new guy. Besides, she took from me before, why wouldn't she again, if she could?'

'She couldn't. Not this time. But why d'ya think she'd want to?'

Cordelia looked at her shoes. 'I dunno, payback? For all the times I was really mean to her growing up, just because I could get away with it? And then she took Xander and I lost all my friends and it was like...I got what I'd had coming, all those years. I had to pay. It's like...I'd deserved to lose Xander to her, she was owed him. But maybe I'm not done paying yet for all the mean things I said back in high school?'

'No.' Doyle said, simply. 'That's not how the world works. So you were a mean girl in high school? You were a child Cordelia, it's all part of growing up. But you're an adult now, and you know better. And even if the universe wanted to take me away from you … I wouldn't let it.'

'You wouldn't?'

'No way!' He put his hand under her chin and tilted her face so she was looking directly at him. 'You are the kindest, strongest, most amazing woman I have ever met, Cordelia Chase. Sure, you're brutally honest and tact will never be your thing, but you've got a good heart. You choose to help people. Me, Angel, Buffy we don't have a choice, that decision was made for us. Even Wesley was born to this, being a watcher. You could walk away any moment you wanted to, and you choose to stay and fight. Even though you don't have any special powers to help you face the darkness, you face it anyway.

You've been through more horror and bloodshed in your short lifetime than most people will ever know, and you're still standing, you keep coming back for more. You take care of the three of us, we'd be lost without you - our injuries would never heal and we'd be flat out broke. You keep our whole team together, make what we do possible.

You never give up on your friends. You lived through Angel becoming evil when you were still in school and you're still willing to be his friend… and you accepted what I was straight away, even though I hid it from you for so long. I can't even begin to tell you what that means to me. And you're generous! You give up your time for the hopeless types, and you gave all that money to me. You always think of others.

You think you're shallow and vain and selfish but you're really not. The thing of it is, Cordelia, you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life and that still manages to be the least interesting thing about you. How could anyone, even the super hacking wiccan best friend of the slayer, hold a candle to you?'

Cordelia looked thoughtful, 'I guess I am pretty awesome,' she admitted. Doyle laughed, and put his arm around her as they continued walking. 'Nothing would ever keep me away from you, Cordy, not even death itself.' He thought about the beacon he was supposed to have died destroying back in November, and how destiny had changed itself to keep him alive and the beacon powerless, until he had found it the vault that afternoon and completed his fated task. 'The higher powers themselves would rewrite time to make sure we get a chance,' he told her.


Angel sat in his darkened office, brooding. Wesley walked in, 'the children are with their mentor,' he told his boss.

'Good.'

'You did some good work today.'

'I know.'

'And yet you don't seem very happy about it?'

Angel sighed, his feet had been up on the desk and he swung them to the floor, so he could lean forward. 'There was something in the vault at Wolfram and Hart today.' He told the watcher. 'Something that called to me, I couldn't understand it, but I knew it was important and I had to have it.'

'But you didn't take it?'

'No, there wasn't time. Doyle found the Scourge's beacon in the vault as well...we've been searching for months, We had to destroy it ...Doyle had to destroy it.'

'And what was it that called out to you?'

'I'm not sure, it was a metal tube and had these symbols on it… maybe it held something… like parchment?'

'A scroll?' Wesley was intrigued. 'It might have been a prophecy, I suppose. If you were the subject, then that would explain why it spoke to you.'

'It just felt … meant to be, Y'know?' the vampire told him. 'I feel like, both our destinies were in that vault, Doyle and me. Doyle fulfilled his but I've left mine behind.'

'Well, I can do some research for you, if you like,' Wesley offered. 'I'm sure there must be something in the books about prophecies pertaining to vampires, and one with a soul no less ...I'll see what I can find.'

'Thanks.'


Lindsey was at his apartment, turning things over in his mind. You're panicking, he remembered the vampire saying. You can't believe how bad you've let things get. But that's not change. Had he changed? Or had he just panicked? He thought of the shack that he'd called home until he was seven, and his dead brothers, and how hard he had had to work to escape that. You got stepped on or you got to stepping. That was the way it had always been.

I grew up poor ...I used what I'd been through to help people, not to screw 'em. The half breed knew better where Lindsey was coming from than the vampire did. The little demon mongrel might be happy with the side he'd chosen, but he was one of the people that Lindsey and his kind would step on, like a bug. Was the third way a viable way? If you worked hard, stayed ahead of the game?

He thought about his father's face as he signed away the deeds to their home, and he thought about Holland Manners' words: Look deep inside of you. I know you'll find your place. He remembered Lee's body being dragged out of the room and the blood spattered on his own face. He remembered the blind children cowering from the assassin that he had set loose into the world. I used what I'd been through to help people. He remembered the joking with the repo men, his daddy being nice to the bastards that were making his children homeless. I know you'll find your place. He made his decision...


It was late when Lindsey arrived at the office block, but he went on up anyway. He knew he'd still be there. Sure enough, there he was working away behind his desk, late into the night. It was all late night's and long hours here, Lindsey knew that. Long hours and low pay ...being public servants and all.

The D.A looked up from behind his desk and scowled when he saw the Wolfram and Hart attorney standing in the doorway. 'What do you want?' he demanded, not bothering to greet him.

'Actually,' Lindsey said, 'I was hoping you'd give me a job.' …


A/N the next chapter will be part one of To Shanshu in LA - the final episode of the season!