The fist hit Andy's nose, effectively breaking it in a split second. Angel
growled deeply, hitting the man again, smiling when he heard the sound of his
nose crushing on impact. Andy stumbled away, glancing up. "What's going
on?!"

"Well, you're what's going *off*," Xander said. Oz raised his eyebrows and
Xander shrugged. "Not enough time to think up a good pun."

Oz glanced at Angel and then slid his eyes over to Giles. "Go to it."

"Go to what?" Jake ventured, his voice cracking with nervousness.

Giles replied calmly; too calmly. "Making you pay."

Angel didn't speak. With a simple nod, he hit Andy in the stomach and, as
soon as he was bent over, kneed his chin with vicious accuracy. Andy's head
snapped back and, with a grunt, he slipped to the ground.

Jake charged.

Giles cleared his throat, easily intercepting him. "I don't think I could
let you attempt what you were about to... attempt."

"Why's that?" Jake sneered.

"Because then Angel would have the pleasure of watching you scream," Giles
growled, making him fall with a heavy blow to his eye. Jake spun as he
crashed to the ground, rolling a few feet away.

The Watcher and the vampire positioned themselves over their wounded prey,
waiting for one or the other to get up. In a swirl of the black leather of
his coat, Angel crouched down, harshly lifting Andy's chin with his fingers.
Andy looked up, his face bleeding in four places, his jaw swollen and very
obviously broken, and his lip nearly bitten off by his own teeth.

Angel smiled.

Jake rolled over and Giles walked with him, staring down at the pathetic man
for a moment. Then, with surprising speed, his foot snapped out, connecting
with Jake's ribs. Giles heard a crunch and kicked him again, and again,
until Jake could no longer howl; only whimpers would be released from his
lips.

"I'm guessing," Oz said to Xander as they watched the Watcher in all his
brutality, "That this is how he got the name Ripper."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy's keys clattered to her night table and she sat down on her bed
heavily. Hitting the button on her answering machine, she sat back and
waited to find out who had called seven times.

"Buffy, it's Cordelia. Want to do something tonight? Call me, okay?"

Buffy looked at the machine, confused. Cordelia had called her? She
listened through the length of the messages and realized that Cordelia was
the only one who had called, sounding more disturbed each time. Quickly, she
picked up the phone and dialed Cordelia's phone number.

She answered instantly. "Hello?"

"Cor, what's going on?"

Cordelia sighed. "I wanted to go out with you tonight. Maybe shopping.
Something. What are you doing now?"

Buffy laughed incredulously, glancing at the clock. "It's almost midnight!"

"Yeah, I know." Cordelia forced a laugh. "And you weren't supposed to
patrol until now. Why were you out so early?"

Buffy sighed, wishing she'd prepared that ice pack before she had gone
upstairs. Though she was feeling better than she had in a while, better
about herself and life in general, she could tell that a massive headache was
about to come on. "I had things to do," she said lightly. "Why are you so
worried?"

"I, um...." Cordelia's voice squeaked for a moment. "I'm not. I just
thought I could give you those fashion tips you're always begging for."

Buffy raised her eyebrows to herself. Though the words were trademark
Cordelia, something wasn't right, or too right. As if Cordelia had been
reading the words from a script. "So," she said slowly, "Where's Xander?"

Cordelia coughed loudly, suddenly, hurting Buffy's ear. "He went out.
Probably asleep by now or something, though."

Buffy's eyes widened for a moment as things fell into place. Even though she
didn't understand exactly what she was thinking, she suddenly felt very
assured and confident.

She felt very safe.

Buffy smiled. "Okay, Cordelia. Why don't you come over for a while?"

Cordelia laughed again in what sounded like relief. "Sure. Be there in a
few."

They disconnected, and Buffy looked around her quiet room as she was left
alone with her thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andy, upon regaining consciousness, looked up at Angel. "Why you doin' this?
For that whore?"

Xander gave a low whistle from behind Angel, comfortable in his position as
spectator. "That really wasn't smart."

And indeed it wasn't. Angel tangled his fingers through the man's hair and
yanked him into a standing position. "For Buffy," he corrected through
gritted teeth, doing nothing to stop the Change from coming over him. His
eyes glowed gold. "And because you're going to be too afraid to ever come
after her again. Too afraid to ever touch another woman again, whether or
not she wants you to."

Angel pulled his hand back, and with it, a chunk of hair came off. Angel
looked down in surprise before a grin spread over his face; feral, pleased.
He shoved it into the other man's grip. "For you."

Giles was concentrating on Jake's midsection. Kick the ribs, the kidney, the
pelvic bone, the ribs again and again. He thought he might be having far too
good a time. "Have you ever loved someone?" he asked conversationally, "More
than you love yourself or your life or your home or job? Have you ever seen
them feel completely helpless? Have you ever seen them feel like they
deserved what men like you," he enunciated with another sharp jab to the
already broken ribs, "Did to them?"

Jake coughed; blood splattered against the pavement.

Oz and Xander exchanged a cautious look. Neither man was apparently doing
well. At best, they were experiencing several broken bones each, at worst,
they could die. Xander cleared his throat. "Uh, Giles?"

Giles ignored him, aiming a kick at Jake's skull. Xander was alarmed.
"Giles!"

Finally the Watcher looked up with a dark gleam in his eye, and then back
down at the terrified man on the ground. Giles, breathing heavily, stepped
away and turned to Angel.

Angel was breaking his bones one my one, experience with that sort of torture
finally being allowed to rule his mind. His demon raged because, although it
was very close to breaking free, Angel was tempting it with something it had
not had in so long. Angel let a laugh go and realized a moment later that
Giles was speaking his name.

"Angel," Giles said again calmly.

Angel's eyes burned as he let Andy slide to the ground and begin shuddering.
"Yeah," he said roughly, recognizing the cautious order.

They had gotten the point across. It wasn't something that needed to be done
after Buffy had seen them, but they had still done it. And... Still enjoyed
it.

The group of four, falling silent in the night, walked away, two of them
nursing sore body parts. Angel would heal quickly, Giles would not, but
nothing mattered except the fear that had drifted into the air, the fear of
those they were paying back for a crime more brutal than taking a life-- The
murder of innocence.

So the silence reigned, and the men went their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oz looked at Xander sideways as they loaded into his van. "So, you know what
he was going to do, don't you?"

"Deadboy?" Xander asked. "Yeah, it was pretty obvious. Anyone with half a
mind would have been able to see it when he looked up from beating on that
guy. It was one of the only times I didn't mind seeing him in full vampire
form. In fact, I kind of dug it, you know? Not that I'd want to trade
places."

"Yeah," Oz said mildly. "Think Giles knew?" He started up the van; they
began driving.

"I'm pretty sure," Xander started thoughtfully, "That Giles knows way more
things like that than any of us give him credit for."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Angel didn't even like the pretense of leaving. He was almost certain that
the others knew he was going to come back, anyway. But, in honor of keeping
up appearances, he left, and quickly doubled back as soon as Giles and Xander
and Oz were out of sight.

Andy and Jake still lied on the pavement, bleeding, a hoarse weeping and
whimpering escaping their mouths. Blood occasionally bubbled out of a cut or
a cough. And Angel wasn't tempted to drink.

Because how could he drink that blood? The blood of the men who had caused
all of this was bound to be vile, and Angel, vampire though he was, wanted
absolutely nothing to do with it.

Instead, he lifted them until they were sitting up. He carefully looked in
Andy's eyes and then into Jake's. He wondered for a moment too brief to
time. He placed his hands on their chins.

And he calmly snapped their necks.

Then he walked away without having spoken a single word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy was asleep, and so was Cordelia. Angel didn't want to disturb either
of them, but he slipped in the window anyway, silently. He walked over to
the bed and looked down at Buffy for a long time, sitting on the mattress.
He surreptitiously wiped his hands on his coat, not wanting to sully her skin
with any of the blood or grime that came from that fight.

And he touched her hair, her lips, her eyelids as they fluttered.

Angel pressed his mouth to hers in a tender kiss. He was two-hundred and
forty-five years old. She was going to be nineteen in three days. And yet
he loved her, as quietly as he could and more than he was allowed to.

And he watched her sleep.


Epilogue will follow
~~~~

Author's note: Sorry for making you come all the way down here to read this.
:)

I wanted to state simply, for the record, that I don't now nor have I ever
condoned vigilante activities. While I think that rape is the worst crime on
record, I wouldn't ever recommend that someone who has been raped go after
their attacker. This ending seemed to fit this story, so I apologize in
advance if I've offended anyone with this solution.

If you or someone you know has been raped, call the Rape, Abuse, and Incest
National Network (RAINN) at 800-656-HOPE; or visit the Web site at
www.rainn.org. This round-the-clock hotline will connect you to a counselor
in your area.