Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Cinematic Universe, Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.

Thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for the help again with this chapter.

Chapter 7- Lullaby

Hyperion Hotel

"Holtz." Angel said in horror. "My god."

Holtz calmly countered. "You have no god, demon."

Angel started realizing what was going on. "The Tro-clon - the prophecy - raised up from darkness to bring darkness. That's you. Holtz, whatever brought you here..."

Some of Holtz's Grapplar demons stood up and caught Angel's wrists and neck in some metal clamps on the ends of long sticks, holding him fast.

"You did. - You and your demon bitch." Holtz told him and revealed. "For two hundred years I slept. For two hundred years - I dreamt of nothing –" He lay a sword against Angel's throat, "but this moment."

Angel commented dryly. "Which would explain why you look so well rested."

Holtz pulled the sword back. "You haven't changed."

Angel told Holtz. "Actually, I have. While you were sleeping, a lot changed."

"Really?" Holtz threw holy water at Angel's face, and it face morphed into vamp face for a split second, then back to human. "Somehow things seem the same to me."

"You're wrong."

Holtz put the sword tip against Angel's throat again. "I will have justice."

"No." Angel rasped. "I don't think you will. - There is no justice for the things I did to you."

Holtz reminded Angel. "You didn't do them to me. And you didn't do them alone."

Holtz turned away and addressed the other Grapplar demons. "Find the female. If he's here, Darla can't be far." He turned to look at Angel. "Or are you going to tell me that's changed, too?"

Darla was screaming with pain in the backseat of Angel's convertible.

Gunn warned the rest. "She's gonna pop right here."

Wesley noted grimly. "The contractions, they're coming more frequently now."

Cordelia was holding a stake. "You think?"

Wesley told the rest. "Angel's not back with the scrolls yet, and neither is Matt with him. I'd feel a lot better if we had the ancient prophecies to guide us."

Cordelia quipped. "Please! Women have been giving birth without ancient prophecies for years!"

Gunn said to them. "What we could really use right about now is some Vaseline and a catcher's mitt."

Darla let out another scream.

Fred noted. "I don't think she's ready to deliver yet, but she's moved into the active stage of her labor."

Wesley looked around. "We have to go. We can't stay here. It's too exposed. Angel and Matthew should have been back by now."

Gunn realized. "Something must have happened."

Wesley concluded as he walked back to the car. "Now it's up to us to protect Angel's unborn child. - Darla, we're trying to take you out of here. Relax. The trick is to breathe. Something like this", Wes demonstrated short panting breaths, "Heh, heh, heh, hoh, hoh, hoh, heh, heh, heh..."

"I! Don't!" Darla sat up and sent all four of them flying backwards, away from the car, morphing into her vamp face. "Breathe!"

Darla broke down in a fit of crying.

Hyperion Hotel

"You're still human. How'd you manage this?" Angel asked as Holtz put the sword back into the weapons cabinet.

"So, the question becomes - now that I have you - what's the best way to get her?"

Angel realized. "Only dark magics could have brought you this far."

Holtz remembered. "She was always the trick, you know, not you. Darla was the unpredictable one."

Angel asked. "Was it a demon - or something else?"

Holtz pointed a stake at Angel's chest. "What if I just - kill you now? Would she somehow sense it? Would she then come running?" He walked away from Angel. "Would that bring her bursting through those doors, I wonder?"

Angel continued his questioning. "Did something come to you, or did you seek it out?"

Holtz was still continuing his monologue. "She might show herself in the service of revenge. - It can be a powerful motivator."

Angel agreed but continued. "Yes, it can. What did you have to give up for this second chance?"

"Give up?" Holtz turned to face Angel. "I had nothing to give up. You saw to that."

Angel said remorsefully. "We took a lot from you, that's true. But we didn't get everything. We couldn't take your soul."

Holtz asked scathingly. "What do you know of a soul?"

Angel said to him. "I know yours will be destroyed if you allow yourself to be used in the service of evil. - You're a good man, Holtz. A righteous man - and you're being used - for some purpose - other than justice."

Holtz wondered. "Could it be you really have changed? - I don't remember you ever pleading so cravenly before."

Angel countered to him. "And I remember you used to work with men."

Holtz hit Angel hard across the face.

Then suddenly Matt burst in through the broken window as the Grapplars sneered at him and charged.

Matt punched one back, then another before kicking a third and blocking the next one's strike, punched his chest before punching his face, sending him down, and spin kicked another one out.

Holtz watched, impressed by Matt's fighting skills as he asked Angel. "A new friend of yours, Angelus?"

As another Grapplar grabbed Matt by the waist, he elbowed that one on the back twice, then kneed his face before spin kicking him down.

Another charged with a punch but Matt blocked, punched his chest twice, then punched him away before kicking another down. One got back up and charged but Matt blocked and punched twice, sending him down.

As another one charged, Matt pushed him back and with a leap, kicked him away, then dodged the next one's strikes before grabbing his fist, punching his head, and pushing him off.

One grabbed him from behind as a Grapplar punched Matt twice, but then Matt leapt in the other one's grip and kicked that one back.

Another tried to punch but he moved his face out of the way, and so the one grabbing him was punched, freeing him, and he punched that Grapplar twice, throwing him down, then turned and ducked to avoid the next one's punch and decked his abdomen, punched his face and kicked him down as well.

One leapt with a roar, punching Matt back, but he blocked the next strike, decked his abdomen, grabbed and twisted his arm before punching him twice back, and picking a stool, slammed it on his head, finally taking it down.

Another attacked from behind but he turned, blocked, then punched his face multiple times before slamming him into the wall, taking him down too.

He then realized Holtz had called Angel as Angelus and asked. "You lost someone to him?"

"I lost everything to him", Holtz countered as he and Matt circled each other, sizing up their opponent.

"Your vendetta is pointless, Angelus is gone, he was cursed with his soul by gypsies, and he feels remorse for everything he has done, he has paid for the last 200 years", Matt told Holtz, who looked surprised by the info, but still unmoved.

Instead of responding to that, Holtz asked Matt, looking into his blind eyes. "What kind of Demon are you?"

Matt responded. "The Devil."

Holtz suddenly took out Holy Water and splashed it on Matt's face, but nothing happened as Matt wiped his face while Holtz was shocked.

"You're just a….." he trailed off when more Grapplars came rushing in.

"Matt?" Angel called out.

"Yeah."

"Deck him."

Matt decked Holtz hard across the face, sending him flying across the room with a split lip, then ran past Angel.

And then Angel flipped a grenade he'd managed to get between his feet from a dead commando's hand, catching the pin in his mouth. He shook his head and the grenade flew free from the pin.

The top came off the grenade as it landed on the floor and it exploded a moment later, blasting Angel back.

Holtz picked himself up and looked at the man-shaped hole in the elevator doors. He ran over to them and looked down the empty elevator shaft.

"Search the grounds!"

Cordelia, Wesley, Fred and Gunn were fighting Grapplars that had come after them. Darla started the car. She put it into gear and mowed down the two demons standing in front of it, then slammed on the breaks, backed over one of the Grapplars behind the car, then squealed out of there leaving her defenders to stare after the disappearing car.

"What are we looking at?"

Everyone turned to stare at Angel and Matt.

"Darla's gone", Matt sighed.

"Holtz?" Wesley asked after Angel had finished explaining.

Angel sighed. "Yeah."

Wes trailed off. "The vampire hunter that tracked you and Darla..."

"Through the late seventeen hundreds, yeah."

Gunn asked. "Sure it wasn't his great, great, great-grandson?"

Angel confirmed. "No it was him."

"And he called Angel as 'Angelus', his beef is personal, it is Holtz", Matt told them.

Fred then theorized. "Maybe he's part of what's supposed to rain down ruination upon mankind. The Nyazian Prophecies did say that the Tro-clan was going to be a confluence of events."

Cordelia realized. "And the sudden appearance of an eighteenth century vampire hunter in the twenty first century does seem pretty confluey."

"Guess the chances of me bringing judgement day on mankind is slipping, slightly", Matt quipped with a shrug.

Gunn asked Angel. "You think he's here for the baby?"

Angel told him. "I don't think he even knows about it."

Fred theorized again. "He wouldn't have to. That's the tragic beauty of a cosmic convergence. I-I mean, he just plays his own small part. He-he comes here looking for Angel and Darla, and in the process ends up finding Angel's unborn child, who, as it turns out, wasn't evil at all as we feared, but was actually meant to be some sort of Messianic figure. But Holtz kills it before it's even born and his vengeance somehow triggers the end of the world!" She smiled at the others, who just looked at her.

Matt muttered. "Heard about half of that."

Fred then added. "Or not! It could go either way. - Have you thought of a name yet?"

"I think that can be done after the mess dies down", Matt sighed.

Wesley pointed out. "We need to find Darla before Holtz does."

Angel said. "I can find her a lot faster on my own."

"And both of us together can do it even faster", Matt pointed out, and Angel nodded, conceding.

Wesley nodded. "Of course."

Angel then said to them. "If you guys could just find some place safe for her to have this baby, we'll come to you."

Gunn assured. "We can do that."

Matt and Angel turned to go.

"Hey!" They turned back as Cordelia said. "Be careful."

They turned to go.

"Angel", Angel turned back. "The scrolls, you didn't manage to..."

"No." Angel and Matt left.

Wesley sighed. "I'm sure we'll be fine without them."

Hyperion Hotel

Lilah entered the Hyperion, noticing the carnage, and pulled out her phone. "Harvey? It's Lilah. I've got a job for you. Angel Investigations."

She leaned on the reception desk and seeing the remnant of the Nyazian scroll, picked it up and played with it while continuing to talk. "Yeah. Full cleaner service." She stopped to twist the piece of dark gray material and stared at it. "Thanks."

Lilah put her phone away, glanced around and quickly picked up a picture frame lying on the counter and put it over the piece of the scroll and some memo pads. Glancing around she picked the whole stack up and turned to the doors.

Holtz was back in the chamber he woke up in. "You knew. You knew and you didn't tell me."

The Demon defended himself. "Okay! So I left out one teeny weeny little detail. It didn't seem all that important."

Holtz asked. "Not important? Angelus with a soul?"

"It doesn't mean anything!"

"It means everything."

"See?" The Demon asked in annoyance. "This is why I didn't mention it. So Angel has a soul. Big whoop! So did Attila the Hun! Not to mention a heart as big as all outdoors when it came to gift giving. He is still a vampire! Angel, not Attila."

Holtz said. "He's not the same vampire."

The Demon argued. "Of course he is! His hair is a little shorter, a little spikier. He's using product. But it's the same guy."

Holtz shook his head. "No. He's changed. He's - different."

The Demon told Holtz. "Look. I don't know what kind of moral mind games you've been torturing yourself with, but can't let this soul thing get in the way of what you swore to do."

"Get in the way?"

"That's what this is about, right? You find out Angel has a soul, now you're wondering if things are a little murkier - ethically speaking."

Holtz revealed to him. "Things - have never been clearer. Releasing his soul to suffer for all eternity only makes his destruction more just, more fitting."

"Oh. Well, then what's the problem?"

"You've had me hunting the wrong prey", Holtz said to him finally.

"Ah! Right. Because an Angel with a soul is going to be a slightly different challenge from an Angel without a soul."

"I must know everything."

"Right. No, gotcha. My mistake."

"The human warrior that fought alongside Angelus, tell me about him", Holtz now asked, and for the first time, he saw fear cross the Demon's face.

"He is something beyond either of us", the Demon warned.

"He was just a human", Holtz scoffed. "Skilled enough to defeat the army you gave me, yes, but he was still human."

"He is not human!" The Demon snapped.

"He is", Holtz smirked as he turned away. "And I shall kill him."

Now the Demon came in his way. "You want to kill him? Daredevil? The Devil of Hell's Kitchen? The Bane of the Unholy? Not only can I tell you how stupid it is, along with how many beings, smarter and more powerful than either of us have tried, but we mess with him too much, not only would there be a risk of waking the Devil inside, but we would be in jeopardy of the ire of an even more dangerous Devil. And I, for one, would not dare cross Mephisto."

That name alone was enough to send chills down Holtz's spine as he finally got the point that trying to do anything to this Daredevil would be a terrible idea.

Darla was standing on top of a building looking over the city below, her hands cradling her pregnant belly.

"You always did love a view."

Angel stood behind her, Matt some distance away.

"Look at it. Listen to it. Can you smell it? This world. This horrible world. Why would anyone want to bring a baby into it?" Darla asked.

Angel pointed out. "To make it better, maybe?"

Darla reminded. "Or to destroy it finally."

Angel was annoyed. "Why is it everyone insists on planning my son's future before he's even born?"

Darla turned and walked past where Angel was standing. "Alright then, how's this? It doesn't have a future. Not with me."

Angel followed her. "Darla..."

"Angel, I can't have this baby."

"What?"

"I can't let it out. I-I can't."

Angel started. "Okay, not sure you have a lot of choice in the matter..."

Darla said to him. "Look, I know. It wants to come out. I can feel it. It's ready. It's just - I can't let it. I can't let because... because..."

Angel realized. "You love it."

Darla revealed. "Completely. I love it completely. I-I-I don't think I've ever loved anything as much as this life that's inside of me."

Angel reminded. "Well - you've never loved anything, Darla."

Darla nodded. "That's true. Four hundred years and I never did - till now. - I don't know what to do."

Angel assured her. "Well, you-you'll do the only thing that you can do. - You'll have it. You'll have it and then..."

Darla asked. "What? We'll raise it?"

"Why not?"

"It's impossible."

Angel pointed out. "This whole thing is impossible, Darla, but it's happening."

Darla asked him. "What do I have to offer a child, a human child, besides ugly death?"

"Darla."

"You know it's true."

Angel assured Darla. "No. What I do know is that you love this baby, our baby. You've bonded with it. You've spent nine months carrying it, nourishing it..."

Darla shook her head. "No. No, I haven't been nourishing it. I haven't given this baby a thing. I'm dead. It's been nourishing me. These feelings that I'm having, they're not mine. They're coming from it."

"You don't know that."

Darla snapped. "Of course I do! We both do. Angel, I don't have a soul. It does. And right now that soul is inside of me, but soon, it won't be and then..."

Angel started. "Darla..."

"I won't be able to love it. I won't even be able to remember that I loved it." Darla started to cry. "I want to remember."

Angel pulled her against him. "Shh..."

Angel closed his eyes as he held a crying Darla.

After a while, they stood beside each other on the rooftop, both facing a different way as Darla asked. "You won't let me hurt it, will you? You'll protect it, right? From me, I mean."

Angel's cell phone then rang as he answered it while Matt walked next to Darla.

"What's the matter?" She asked him.

"I wanted to give you two privacy but my ears are too good, so I ended up hearing it all", Matt told her with a sigh.

"And?"

"I grew up without a mother. Lost my dad before I was ten, but I knew he loved me. This child, your child, it's life won't be easy since he has both enemies and followers even before birth, and life never is easy, but all it takes is just one showing of love, to show how much you love this baby, and that will be all that matters."

Darla looked at Matt, conflicted and touched as Angel arrived. "Hey - Darla? We should - get going. I feel a storm coming. You okay?" He noticed her face scrunching up. "Another contraction?"

Darla said grimly. "No. It's something else."

Matt was horrified as he realized what it was. "Angel, we need to get to Caritas, fast! Right now!"

Noting the urgency in his voice, Angel nodded as they started helping Darla away.

Later, Caritas

Matt and Angel led Darla down the stairs. "Just a few more steps. That's it. Okay. All right."

Wes walked over to them.

"Guys. A chair. Chair."

Wes pulled a chair out for Darla as Gunn asked. "Jeez, what happened?"

Angel helped Darla into the chair. "Easy."

"Thanks."

Gunn looks from Angel to Matt to Wes. Matt motioned with his head to the corner of the room and he, Angel and Wes walked away.

Cordy said to Darla. "You're welcome."

Fred told her. "You gave us quite a scare. - But - I guess you're used to that, what with being a scary thing and all."

Thunder rumbled outside.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I don't know what got into me." Darla started to laugh quietly to herself as she looked down at her belly.

"Matt, what is it? What did you feel from her?" Angel asked him.

"It is not contractions, is it?" Wesley asked and Matt shook his head grimly.

"The baby's heartbeat is faint", Matt said in concern. "I don't think Darla's body can give birth."

Darla suddenly hunched over with a moan of pain as Cordelia called out. "Angel!"

Angel hurried to her side. "Darla?"

"Angel!"

Lorne urged. "Let's get her into my bedroom. Come on."

He and Angel helped her up and lead her away as Lorne said. "Easy. Easy now. Come on, sweetheart. We'll get you right in there."

Fred looked down at the chair Darla was sitting on and noticed a little puddle of dark blood on the seat, which Matt sensed too, his expression turning grimmer.

Later, Darla lay on Lorne's bed as Angel asked Matt. "So, she can't give birth?"

"No, her body is not equipped for it", Matt said sadly.

Angel was in denial. "So-so, what-what are you saying? We just let it die?"

Cordelia suggested. "Ah, what about a c-section?"

Fred pointed out. "Normally that's exactly what we'd do in this instance, but... the mystical forces that's been protecting the pregnancy..."

Thunder rumbled outside.

"...is gonna end up killing it." Angel finished.

Wes nodded. "That's my fear."

Angel sighed, and rubbed his eyes. "This doesn't make any sense. I mean, this whole thing has been a miracle, right? You don't just get half a miracle, do you? - I mean, the Powers - they brought her this far, they protected the baby all this time..."

Gunn now spoke up. "We don't know that. We don't know that it's the Powers that's been protecting it. Angel, I'm sorry, but what if what Darla's carrying is the thing in the prophecies? That scourge of mankind that's supposed to plunge the world into ultimate darkness? - What if - what if what's happening to Darla now, what if that's the Powers? Finally stepping up to the plate and doing something for once!"

Angel was staring straight ahead. "How? By killing my kid?"

Angel walked towards Lorne's bedroom as Matt said to Gunn. "The baby is Angel's and Darla's second chance."

Gunn was about to speak but Matt didn't let him. "Angel suffered through trials, so he earned it, or the Powers are going back on their word. The baby's an innocent."

Then Matt emphasized. "And if anyone thinks otherwise, they'll have to go through me."

Gunn sighed as Matt said. "Next time you say something like that, you get a punch."

"Oh no, I'm not getting punched by you till I get bulletproof skin like Luke Cage", Gunn said, shaking his head. "And besides, I feel like I've been punched by you before for some reason."

"Really? I don't think I've done it", Matt told him.

"No, I just said I feel like it is all", Gunn told him.

Cordy shrugged. "I can slap him."

She reached out to slap Gunn on the arm, but her hand was repelled by a blue force field.

"What? Hey! Hey, it-it worked! I fixed it!" Lorne said happily.

The others continued to look glum.

"Ah, yay, me?"

"Yay, you", Matt sighed as he told the rest. "He did tell me about it while we were driving here, while we weren't singing that is."

Angel stood in the doorway of Lorne's bedroom and looked at Darla for a moment before walking over and sitting down on a chair beside the bed. Darla stirred, opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Hi. How 're you doing?" Angel asked.

"He finally stopped kicking."

"Did he?" Angel leaned forward and lay one hand on Darla's belly. "I guess he figured he finally got your attention."

He then pointed out. "You called him a 'he.'" He smiled slightly at her. "I think that's the first time you've ever done that."

"He's dying."

Angel's smile melted away, but he refused to look away from her. "Isn't he?"

Angel said after a beat. "No."

Darla told him. "You lied much better when you didn't have a soul. - I can feel the life slipping away from me."

Angel begged her. "Then don't let it. You have to fight for this. - Please."

"I don't know how. My boy." Darla stroked her belly. "My darling boy. - I told you I had nothing to offer this kid. Some mother", there were tears in Darla's eyes, "can't even offer it life."

Gunn got up off his stool. "Maybe I should go in there, apologize."

Wes took a hold of his arm. "Best to just stay here, wait this out."

Cordy agreed. "I think both Angel and Darla just need a little time alone."

Fred asked. "This isn't gonna end well, is it?"

Lorne told them all. "Okay. Everybody's drinking. I'm buying."

He got up from his chair and saw Holtz walk into the bar. "Oh, hello."

Matt took a second, then leapt off the table with a roar, aiming a superman punch at Holtz, but a blue force field appeared in the way, sending them both flying back as Matt rolled away, Cordelia and Fred running to support him.

"Matt, Matt?" Cordelia called out as Matt staggered up, while Holtz got up and ran upstairs as well.

"What's the matter?" Fred asked him.

"That's Holtz!" Matt revealed to their horror, then sniffed something. "We need to go!"

Wesley started. "Why?"

"Just go! Come on!" Matt urged. "Run!"

All of them ran off, clearing the area.

Then a red metal barrel tumbled down the stairs and came to rest just on the other side of the metal security doorway. A grenade bounced down the steps and came to rest beside it.

A beat later the grenade exploded and big fireball swept through the club, destroying everything in its wake.

Angel was supporting Darla beside the bed as the others ran in. "What's going on?"

Wesley revealed. "We're being attacked."

"Attacked?" Angel asked, then turned to Lorne. "I thought you had double protection sanctorium spells?"

Lorne then explained. "I do. It's a thing with the door and the stairs and the world and the thing. Never mind!"

Gunn said. "Apparently you can be outside and shove stuff in."

Lorne reminded. "I just said that."

"Who said what doesn't matter now", Matt sighed as a burning beam crashed through the ceiling beside Angel and Darla.

Darla let out a little scream.

"It's Holtz", Angel told her.

"What?" Darla asked in shock and horror.

"Come on. We've got to move the bed." Lorne said as the others went to help Lorne.

Darla was confused. "How's it possible?"

Angel revealed to her. "He's here. I would have mentioned it before, but I didn't think it was the right time."

Darla sank down onto a chair. "No. No, it's the perfect time."

"The wall's hollow", Matt realized as they pushed the bed away.

Darla remembered remorsefully. "What we did to him."

Angel agreed. "I know."

Gunn asked. "You got an ax, a hammer or anything?"

"We don't need those", Matt said as with a roar, he started punching and kicking the wall hard with all of his strength, his fists bleeding and cracking as the others watched in concern, but he managed to batter it down at last, panting a little.

Darla muttered to Angel in shame and remorse. "That's why this is happening. His family, his children... - what that must have been like for him. Doesn't seem so funny now, does it?"

Angel asked. "Darla?"

Holtz walked into the burning remains of the club.

Cordelia stepped through the opening Matt had made into a back alley where it was raining very heavily, followed by Wesley, Lorne, Fred, Gunn and Matt. Then Angel half carried Darla through it as she rambled. "No. No. Go on. I can't. It doesn't matter anyway."

Angel assured. "I'm not leaving you, alright? Easy. Alright." He pulled out his keys and tossed them towards the others. "Go get my car. It's out front."

He lowered Darla to the ground and crouched down beside her. "I got you."

Cordelia made to move to join him but he said. "Go!"

All of them turned and hurried off except Matt, Lorne holding two pieces of cardboard over his head to keep some of the rain off himself, but after a few steps Fred stopped and ran back to crouch beside Angel and Darla, Matt standing nearby.

"Matt, Fred, go with them", Angel requested.

Fred told him. "It's okay. They'll come back for us."

"We're staying with you", Matt said as Angel took off his jacket and slung it around Fred's shoulders to shield her from the rain.

He turned to Darla. "You're gonna be okay."

Darla denied. "No. No, I don't think so. Once he's gone, I won't be okay. I won't be okay at all. - I don't know what I'll be. - Angel... Our baby is gonna die right here in this alley. - You died in an alley, remember?"

Angel nodded. "I remember."

Darla told him regretfully. "I wanna say I'm sorry. I wanna say it and mean it, but - I can't. - Aren't you gonna tell me it's okay?"

Angel told her. "No."

Darla asked. "No? It's really not, is it? We did so many terrible things together. So much destruction, so much - pain. - We can't make up for any of it. You know that, don't you?"

Angel said after a beat. "Yeah."

Darla then said to Angel. "This child - Angel, it's the one good thing we ever did together." Angel lifted Darla's hand between both of his and pressed it against his lips. "The only good thing."

Angel buried his face in his hands, still holding onto Darla's, takes a sobbing breath.

"You make sure to tell him that." Darla then remembered Matt's words and repeated them. "Just one showing of love."

Darla was holding one of the splinters of wood and buried it in her chest, gasping. Angel lifted his head and stared as Darla turns to dust, and Matt heard a baby crying while sniffing dust.

Where Darla was, there was now a naked human infant lying in the rain, crying.

Holtz stepped into Lorne's bedroom with flames flickering all around him and lifting his crossbow, looked around.

Angel carefully gathered up the baby. Holtz stepped through the hole in Lorne's wall into the alley, lifted the crossbow and aimed it at Angel as Angel slowly stood up, cradling the crying infant.

Fred handed Angel's jacket back to him and he wrapped it around the infant to shield him from the rain and warm him.

Matt then stepped between Angel and Holtz right in the crossbow's line of sight, shielding Angel with his body.

'No son is losing his father tonight', Matt thought to himself as his blind, black eyes locked themselves in a staring contest with Holtz's cold blue, the fire in their eyes matching each other's.

A Grapplar was now at the mouth of the alley behind, as Angel looked from it to the baby, then Matt. His car pulled behind two Grapplars at the alley's other end as Wesley got out.

Matt and Holtz continued staring at each other for a good while, then Holtz finally blinked, slowly lowering his crossbow, though Matt stayed between him and Angel still.

After a beat Angel slowly walked past Holtz, Fred clinging to his right arm, and Matt positioned himself between Angel and Holtz while walking in case Holtz raised his crossbow again.

During that time, a button on Matt's shirt was undone as Holtz noticed the Hell-Mark on his chest, feeling a chill run up his spine.

Holtz then watched as Angel, Matt and Fred pass between the two Grapplars.

"Do it! Now's your chance. Do it! Finish it while you still can! You can't just let him walk away! Not now! Not after what you swore to me!" The Demon now snapped at Holtz as he appeared.

Holtz watched as Matt, Fred and Angel got into the car.

"I swore that I would show no mercy", Holtz watched Angel's car drive away. "And I won't."

Done at last, man, what an episode this was! One of my most favorite episodes in this whole show.

Poor Darla, finally got the best kind of redemption she could get, and at least she died on her own terms.

Hope you all liked Matt stepping between Angel and Holtz at the end, I wanted to do this scene for a long time, even while I was writing 'A Devil in the City of Angels' I had this scene in mind. Now it has come to fruition.

Also, Gunn saying he felt like he's been punched by Matt before was actually a 4th wall breaking moment since it was a reference to my story 'The Devil and The Hood' which was a Daredevil/Arrow crossover where I had Matt beat the crap out of Mr. Blanks, also played by J. August Richards, in Arrow 1x20.

Next chapter, Angel being a daddy, and Matt being an uncle.

Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!