"Okay, you've told us everything you know. We appreciate the help.
Now, go home."
Connor looked at Angel disdainfully. "How about a little appreciation? Some respect?"
"We appreciate you, Junior. Daddy just said that. But I don't think you want to get involved in this." Now it was Lorne's turn to receive the looks.
"I am involved. These guys come from the place where I grew up and I'm the only one who knows anything about them." There was a moment of silence. "Fine, I'm gone."
Connor turned and left the Hyperion feeling his usual emotions of anger hurt and rejection.
"He could have stayed," Cordelia said to Angel after Connor had left. "He's a good fighter, and we could use all the help we can get trying to figure out what those demons are after."
"I don't doubt that he's a good fighter, Cordy. I know he is. It's just. . ."
Fred finished Angel's sentence for him. "It's just that you can't stand it that he knows more about something than you do."
"That's not it," argued Angel. "I just. . . oh, forget it. We have work to do. Let's go see if we can find any of those guys. It might help us figure things out."
"Right," Gunn said. "Cordy and I will start looking at the east end of the city. Fred will go with Angel on the west side. With so many of them around, they shouldn't be too hard to find. Lorne can stay here in case any of them tries to come back."
They all armed themselves with silver swords, hatchets with silver blades, and daggers, silver being the only thing that can penetrate their thick skin, according to Connor.
~~~
"Damn. The one thing I actually know something about, and they don't even want-"
Connor's loud-spoken thoughts were cut off abruptly when I tight fist hit him in the face. Reacting immediately out of reflex, Connor kicked his foot out and hit someone in the stomach. His assailant fought back, and while Connor defended himself, he wondered why he didn't feel another presence there when he first came into the apartment. Taking another blow to his nose, this time by a foot, Connor realized it must have been because he was so upset. It made him unprepared.
Connor finally managed to pin the person's arms in front of him, making it look like the man who was attacking him was hugging himself. There was a brief moment of pitiful struggle before the man dressed in black flung his head backwards, hitting Connor in the nose with the back of his skull and throwing him off balance before running through the open door. Connor lifted his hand up to feel blood running out of his nose.
"Damn," he repeated.
~~~
"Anything?" Fred asked Gunn and Cordelia when they met later at the Hyperion.
"You didn't find anything either?" said Cordelia exasperated. "You mean I ruined one of my favourite pairs of shoes for nothing?"
"They couldn't have just disappeared. . . unless they aren't in this dimension any more. Let's go talk to Lorne. Maybe he knows something."
Angel found Lorne on the back patio of the hotel. He was standing in a fighting position. At first Angel couldn't see why Lorne would be in that stance, but when Lorne turned, Angel could see a person dressed fully in black clothes, wearing a black ski mask so that his face was covered.
The person looked up, saw Angel, turned, and ran toward the gate. On his way out, the person ran into Connor, who was on his way in. Before Connor could react, the person pushed him out of the way and continued running.
"What was that all about?" Angel asked Lorne. "Was it Wolfram and Hart again?"
"No," answered the demon. "I don't know who it wasn't but it wasn't Wolfram and Hart. The tactic was all wrong."
"It's the same bastard who attacked me in my apartment," said Connor, walking fully through the gate.
"You were attacked?" asked Cordelia.
"Yeah. He was hiding at my place when I got home."
There was a moment of silence before Fred asked, "How do you know it was a man?" Everyone stared blankly at her. "I mean, no one's seen this person's face, so who's to say that it's a man?. . . for sure, I mean."
"Yeah," agreed Cordelia enthusiastically. "Girls can kick butt too. Besides, she wasn't built like a guy."
"Neither's Connor," put in Gunn, but before Connor could speak anything in a defensive or angry way, Gunn continued. "No, seriously. If Connor were to dress up like that, would you really be able to tell him from a girl just by his frame?"
Fred and Cordelia looked at Connor grimly, knowing that what Gunn had said was true, while Connor pursed his lips with the effort of not punching Gunn in the nose.
"Okay," said Angel slowly as if the whole conversation was pointless. "So the attacker could be male or female. At least we've narrowed down our options. . . " Angel raised an eyebrow after his sarcastic statement. "Now all we have to do is figure out why he, or she," he added pointedly at Fred and Cordelia, "attacked Connor."
"Let's not forget Lorne," said Lorne raising his hand.
"But it looked like you were just circling each other," noted Fred. "Did she actually attack you?"
Lorne paused. "Well. . . no. . ." he finally answered, looking confused. "Why didn't he attack me? He attacked Connor."
"Yes, we're all aware that he attacked Connor!" said Connor, still angry at what Gunn had said. "But he dropped this while he was fighting."
Connor reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper that looked as though it had been crumpled up, dropped in some mud, and then stepped on repeatedly before someone picked it up and tried to wash it off.
"What is it?" asked Angel, taking the paper and starting to unfold it.
"I don't know," replied Connor. "Some sort of map."
The six people went inside the hotel to look at the map. After spreading it out on the counter, they gathered around it and peered at it. All except Connor, who hung back and stood in the shadows.
"It's an old map of L.A.," said Angel sounding a little surprised.
"And it looks like our man has some favourite hangouts," commented Lorne. "But why the two different colours?"
On the map there were places circled in either blue or purple marker; there were three blue circles and about seven or eight purple ones.
"Hey, look at this," said Cordelia pointing at one of the blue circles. "This is where the Hyperion is."
At this Connor became interested. He slowly made his way over to the rest of them and peered down at the map. He hadn't paid much attention before, but now he was curious.
"That blue on there is the street where my place is," Connor said blandly, not pointing, but gesturing vaguely with his hand.
"There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern," Fred pointed out. "It looks to be completely random."
"These purple circles are all over alleyways and not so nice areas of town," said Lorne. "A lot of big meanies there."
"Like those ugly, grey ones?" asked Cordelia. "Could they be there?"
"It's worth a shot. We might as well check them out," said Angel breaking away from the table.
"I'll take that alley," Connor said, pointing at the last blur circle.
"You're not going alone," Cordelia stated matter-of-factly.
Connor smiled gently at her. "Don't worry," he said. "I know these alleys, I fight there all the time. I can handle it." Connor walked over to the weapons cupboard and pulled out a long sword. "Just in case." And he left the hotel.
"Okay," said Angel. "Let's get going."
~~~
Connor reached the first of two alleys that he frequently went in search of things to kill. The alley looked completely empty and desolate, so Connor knew there had to be something there.
He began walking down the alleyway. He wasn't more than a few feet in when three vampires jumped out from behind garbage dumpsters and attacked him. He fought them off with minimal effort, and staked them all, one right after the other. That was the sole battle of this alley.
"That was eventful," Connor said out loud as he turned down the other alley.
He hadn't taken more than three steps in when a dark figure jumped in front of him. Although Connor was unable to see his face, he was sure that it was the same person who'd attacked him before.
"Not you again," he muttered. "Might as well make this quick." Connor made to kick the person in the stomach, but the person was fast and jumped out of the way of Connor's foot. Connor tried again and hit the person, but the man in black retaliated almost immediately by hitting Connor with a series of punches followed with a swift kick in the groin.
Connor doubled over in pain, was left exposed, and his attacker had plenty of opportunity to finish him off, although Connor was prepared to use his sword if he had to, (if he could.) Instead the person gave him one last look and then ran out of the alley.
~~~
Angel, Fred, Gunn, and Cordelia decided to keep themselves together and not go off into any groups, in case they ran into more than one Greerimeen demon at a time. As experienced as they were, they'd never had to block their thoughts from a demon before, and weren't sure how they'd manage.
They arrived at a place that was circled in purple on the map that Connor had found, and wondered what was so important about it. It was nothing more than a large parking lot behind an old, run-down plaza, and it appeared to be completely deserted.
"Maybe there's some sort of secret hiding spot, a secret gateway, and you can only get in with a password, a secret password," said Cordelia. Fred gave her an odd look.
"Well, there's got to be something," said Angel. "But what?"
"And why?" added Fred.
Just then they heard loud noises, voices, coming from an area that had four cars in it, the only cars in the lot. Two Greerimeen demons stepped out from behind one of the cars. One of the demons said something in a language they couldn't understand, and the car from behind which they'd come moved to reveal a large hole in the cement, out of which came three more demons.
"I told you there was a secret gateway," whispered Cordelia excitedly.
The same demon said something again, and the hole closed up. If they hadn't seen it themselves, they would never have believed it was there.
"Remember what Connor told us," Angel whispered the group as they walked toward the group of demons. "Block what you're really here for, and then the spot of dripping goop in the middle of their foreheads."
"It should be real easy to stop them from knowing what we're here for with all of these in our hands," said Gunn sarcastically, indicate the various sorts of weaponry they were carrying.
At that moment the demons looked in their direction and moved forward quickly in angry attack.
"Right, well, either way," said Angel, and the group ran to meet the demons, and a slightly outnumbered battle broke out in the middle of the abandoned parking lot.
The battle was a hard one, at least for the good guys. Some hope was revived, however, when somehow managed to push her sword through the skull of the demon that towered over her. Surprise and excitement allowed her to forget to turn around, and the demon exploded, not only covering Cordelia's front with blood, but showering everyone else with it as well.
It took another quarter of an hour for the number of demons to diminish to two, leaving two angry looking demons more determined than ever to kill them.
Feeling tired and desperate, the group lashed out with their remaining energy. Fred forgot and then remembered about the small dagger that was hiding on the back of her belt. She pulled it out quickly and threw it at the monster's head. It missed the dripping center by half an inch.
"Uh oh," muttered Fred quietly.
"What is it?" shouted Gunn right before the second demon knocked him out of the way.
"I missed!" shouted Fred frantically. "I missed!"
The Greerimeen demon in front of Fred scowled and bared his sharp pointed teeth. Fred began beating it again, pounding the demon with her fists. From behind her, Fred heard the other demon explode, and felt the warm, thick wetness as blood splattered her back. She stopped attacking the remaining demon and stood back to look at it.
"Okay, so you missed," Angel said nonchalantly. "It's four against one now. I think we can handle it.
Angel made to pierce the demon's head with his sword, but Fred stopped him. "What is it?" Angel asked, confused.
Fred simply pointed in response.
They all stepped back and looked at the demon. It was growling and drooling profusely, and yelling at them in the same language that it used to open the secret tunnel, but that's all it was doing. It wasn't attacking them.
"What's wring with it?" asked Cordelia, poking it in the side.
They all stopped and stared curiously at the immobile demon. "I- I don't think it can move," muttered Gunn.
"That's great," said Cordelia. "Now we can kill it without any more problems." Cordelia swung her sword.
"No, Cordy, wait!" shouted Gunn, but it was too late. Cordelia had already struck the demon and killed it.
"What did you do that for?" shouted Gunn. "He couldn't move!"
"Exactly," replied Cordelia. "That means no fight, and now I can go home and have a scented bubble bath."
"But don't you get it? IT COULDN'T MOVE. But it could talk. We could have used it to get information, like, say, why they're here."
"Oops," replied Cordelia meekly.
"I'm sure there are more of these things around," said Angel logically. "Fred can tell us how she paralysed that thing, and we can do it to another one."
"But, I don't know how I did it," Fred replied quietly. "I threw my dagger at it and missed, but then it couldn't move."
They thought for a moment and then Angel replied, "Maybe you hit close enough to the mark to paralyse it, but not close enough to kill it."
"It makes sense," offered Cordelia.
"Well, let's get back to the hotel and check that map again. Maybe another one of those marked areas will have more of those mind-reading bastards hanging around," Gunn said, feeling angry and tired. "We really have to figure this thing out."
~~~
When Connor returned to the hotel, it was to find it nearly empty. Lorne sat in the office mulling over the map.
"Find anything?" Connor asked.
Lorne replied sullenly. "No. There's nothing. I cannot find even the most remote of patterns in here. Why there are two different colours, I don't know either."
"What about Cordelia and the rest? Do you know about them?"
"I haven't heard a thing," Lorne replied. "What was that?"
There was a noise in the lobby, but when Connor and Lorne looked out of the office window, they couldn't see anything. Quietly they left the office and looked around. They couldn't see anything, but Connor was sure he could hear something on the second floor.
"I guess it was nothing," Lorne said, turning to re-enter the office.
"No," stated Connor firmly. "Someone's there."
Lorne and Connor stood and listened for well over a minute. There was no noise being made, but Connor insisted that someone, besides them, was in the hotel.
"Connor," began Lorne, "I really don't think-"
But he was cut off when someone jumped into the lobby from the railing on the second floor.
For a moment no one moved. The person looked over Lorne and Connor, judging them, sizing them up, while Connor and Lorne looked over the person dressed in black, face completely covered by a black mask.
Connor and Lorne questioned sarcastically the person at the same time. "Not you again?"
The person's green eyes sparkled lightly as if the mouth under the mask was smiling too, laughing at the lightly. The intruder looked around carefully, making sure to monitor the movement of the person and green demon in front of him. Distracting them by beginning to fight, the person in black managed to move Connor and Lorne so that they were no longer blocking the door to the office. Seizing the opportunity that presented itself, he ran to the office door and closed and locked it before either defender could follow him.
Connor ran right into the door, and began kicking it, trying to break it open.
"Connor!" he heard from behind him. "What are you doing?" Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, and Fred were back and they were bruised and covered in blood, obviously not their own.
"Our mystery, non Wolfram and Hart attacker is back and has locked himself in the office," Lorne answered.
"Well, he's not there any more!" Gunn shouted.
The intruder had the time to leave the office when Lorne and Connor had their backs turned. He was already at the door by the time Connor had caught up with him.
"He took the map!" Lorne yelled from the doorway in the office. Connor reached out to grab the person's arm in hopes of trying to stop him, but the person ducked out of the way. In doing so, however, Connor was made able to grab the mask that the person wore. As he ran out the doors of the hotel, the mask the person wore came off in Connor's hand.
Everyone stared as long, thick, wavy lack hair fell down the person's back. No one moved, save for the intruder, who ran directly through he doors, over the patio, and away into the darkness.
The room was silent. No one spoke, no one moved. Connor could feel the eyes of everyone there staring at the mask he held in his hand, and started to feel extremely embarrassed as a realization came to him. He got beat up by a girl. Twice.
Connor looked around the room, his ears turning red from embarrassment. Everyone wore and expression that was a mixture of shock and confusion; everyone except Cordelia.
"I told you it was a girl!" she said.
Connor looked at Angel disdainfully. "How about a little appreciation? Some respect?"
"We appreciate you, Junior. Daddy just said that. But I don't think you want to get involved in this." Now it was Lorne's turn to receive the looks.
"I am involved. These guys come from the place where I grew up and I'm the only one who knows anything about them." There was a moment of silence. "Fine, I'm gone."
Connor turned and left the Hyperion feeling his usual emotions of anger hurt and rejection.
"He could have stayed," Cordelia said to Angel after Connor had left. "He's a good fighter, and we could use all the help we can get trying to figure out what those demons are after."
"I don't doubt that he's a good fighter, Cordy. I know he is. It's just. . ."
Fred finished Angel's sentence for him. "It's just that you can't stand it that he knows more about something than you do."
"That's not it," argued Angel. "I just. . . oh, forget it. We have work to do. Let's go see if we can find any of those guys. It might help us figure things out."
"Right," Gunn said. "Cordy and I will start looking at the east end of the city. Fred will go with Angel on the west side. With so many of them around, they shouldn't be too hard to find. Lorne can stay here in case any of them tries to come back."
They all armed themselves with silver swords, hatchets with silver blades, and daggers, silver being the only thing that can penetrate their thick skin, according to Connor.
~~~
"Damn. The one thing I actually know something about, and they don't even want-"
Connor's loud-spoken thoughts were cut off abruptly when I tight fist hit him in the face. Reacting immediately out of reflex, Connor kicked his foot out and hit someone in the stomach. His assailant fought back, and while Connor defended himself, he wondered why he didn't feel another presence there when he first came into the apartment. Taking another blow to his nose, this time by a foot, Connor realized it must have been because he was so upset. It made him unprepared.
Connor finally managed to pin the person's arms in front of him, making it look like the man who was attacking him was hugging himself. There was a brief moment of pitiful struggle before the man dressed in black flung his head backwards, hitting Connor in the nose with the back of his skull and throwing him off balance before running through the open door. Connor lifted his hand up to feel blood running out of his nose.
"Damn," he repeated.
~~~
"Anything?" Fred asked Gunn and Cordelia when they met later at the Hyperion.
"You didn't find anything either?" said Cordelia exasperated. "You mean I ruined one of my favourite pairs of shoes for nothing?"
"They couldn't have just disappeared. . . unless they aren't in this dimension any more. Let's go talk to Lorne. Maybe he knows something."
Angel found Lorne on the back patio of the hotel. He was standing in a fighting position. At first Angel couldn't see why Lorne would be in that stance, but when Lorne turned, Angel could see a person dressed fully in black clothes, wearing a black ski mask so that his face was covered.
The person looked up, saw Angel, turned, and ran toward the gate. On his way out, the person ran into Connor, who was on his way in. Before Connor could react, the person pushed him out of the way and continued running.
"What was that all about?" Angel asked Lorne. "Was it Wolfram and Hart again?"
"No," answered the demon. "I don't know who it wasn't but it wasn't Wolfram and Hart. The tactic was all wrong."
"It's the same bastard who attacked me in my apartment," said Connor, walking fully through the gate.
"You were attacked?" asked Cordelia.
"Yeah. He was hiding at my place when I got home."
There was a moment of silence before Fred asked, "How do you know it was a man?" Everyone stared blankly at her. "I mean, no one's seen this person's face, so who's to say that it's a man?. . . for sure, I mean."
"Yeah," agreed Cordelia enthusiastically. "Girls can kick butt too. Besides, she wasn't built like a guy."
"Neither's Connor," put in Gunn, but before Connor could speak anything in a defensive or angry way, Gunn continued. "No, seriously. If Connor were to dress up like that, would you really be able to tell him from a girl just by his frame?"
Fred and Cordelia looked at Connor grimly, knowing that what Gunn had said was true, while Connor pursed his lips with the effort of not punching Gunn in the nose.
"Okay," said Angel slowly as if the whole conversation was pointless. "So the attacker could be male or female. At least we've narrowed down our options. . . " Angel raised an eyebrow after his sarcastic statement. "Now all we have to do is figure out why he, or she," he added pointedly at Fred and Cordelia, "attacked Connor."
"Let's not forget Lorne," said Lorne raising his hand.
"But it looked like you were just circling each other," noted Fred. "Did she actually attack you?"
Lorne paused. "Well. . . no. . ." he finally answered, looking confused. "Why didn't he attack me? He attacked Connor."
"Yes, we're all aware that he attacked Connor!" said Connor, still angry at what Gunn had said. "But he dropped this while he was fighting."
Connor reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper that looked as though it had been crumpled up, dropped in some mud, and then stepped on repeatedly before someone picked it up and tried to wash it off.
"What is it?" asked Angel, taking the paper and starting to unfold it.
"I don't know," replied Connor. "Some sort of map."
The six people went inside the hotel to look at the map. After spreading it out on the counter, they gathered around it and peered at it. All except Connor, who hung back and stood in the shadows.
"It's an old map of L.A.," said Angel sounding a little surprised.
"And it looks like our man has some favourite hangouts," commented Lorne. "But why the two different colours?"
On the map there were places circled in either blue or purple marker; there were three blue circles and about seven or eight purple ones.
"Hey, look at this," said Cordelia pointing at one of the blue circles. "This is where the Hyperion is."
At this Connor became interested. He slowly made his way over to the rest of them and peered down at the map. He hadn't paid much attention before, but now he was curious.
"That blue on there is the street where my place is," Connor said blandly, not pointing, but gesturing vaguely with his hand.
"There doesn't seem to be any sort of pattern," Fred pointed out. "It looks to be completely random."
"These purple circles are all over alleyways and not so nice areas of town," said Lorne. "A lot of big meanies there."
"Like those ugly, grey ones?" asked Cordelia. "Could they be there?"
"It's worth a shot. We might as well check them out," said Angel breaking away from the table.
"I'll take that alley," Connor said, pointing at the last blur circle.
"You're not going alone," Cordelia stated matter-of-factly.
Connor smiled gently at her. "Don't worry," he said. "I know these alleys, I fight there all the time. I can handle it." Connor walked over to the weapons cupboard and pulled out a long sword. "Just in case." And he left the hotel.
"Okay," said Angel. "Let's get going."
~~~
Connor reached the first of two alleys that he frequently went in search of things to kill. The alley looked completely empty and desolate, so Connor knew there had to be something there.
He began walking down the alleyway. He wasn't more than a few feet in when three vampires jumped out from behind garbage dumpsters and attacked him. He fought them off with minimal effort, and staked them all, one right after the other. That was the sole battle of this alley.
"That was eventful," Connor said out loud as he turned down the other alley.
He hadn't taken more than three steps in when a dark figure jumped in front of him. Although Connor was unable to see his face, he was sure that it was the same person who'd attacked him before.
"Not you again," he muttered. "Might as well make this quick." Connor made to kick the person in the stomach, but the person was fast and jumped out of the way of Connor's foot. Connor tried again and hit the person, but the man in black retaliated almost immediately by hitting Connor with a series of punches followed with a swift kick in the groin.
Connor doubled over in pain, was left exposed, and his attacker had plenty of opportunity to finish him off, although Connor was prepared to use his sword if he had to, (if he could.) Instead the person gave him one last look and then ran out of the alley.
~~~
Angel, Fred, Gunn, and Cordelia decided to keep themselves together and not go off into any groups, in case they ran into more than one Greerimeen demon at a time. As experienced as they were, they'd never had to block their thoughts from a demon before, and weren't sure how they'd manage.
They arrived at a place that was circled in purple on the map that Connor had found, and wondered what was so important about it. It was nothing more than a large parking lot behind an old, run-down plaza, and it appeared to be completely deserted.
"Maybe there's some sort of secret hiding spot, a secret gateway, and you can only get in with a password, a secret password," said Cordelia. Fred gave her an odd look.
"Well, there's got to be something," said Angel. "But what?"
"And why?" added Fred.
Just then they heard loud noises, voices, coming from an area that had four cars in it, the only cars in the lot. Two Greerimeen demons stepped out from behind one of the cars. One of the demons said something in a language they couldn't understand, and the car from behind which they'd come moved to reveal a large hole in the cement, out of which came three more demons.
"I told you there was a secret gateway," whispered Cordelia excitedly.
The same demon said something again, and the hole closed up. If they hadn't seen it themselves, they would never have believed it was there.
"Remember what Connor told us," Angel whispered the group as they walked toward the group of demons. "Block what you're really here for, and then the spot of dripping goop in the middle of their foreheads."
"It should be real easy to stop them from knowing what we're here for with all of these in our hands," said Gunn sarcastically, indicate the various sorts of weaponry they were carrying.
At that moment the demons looked in their direction and moved forward quickly in angry attack.
"Right, well, either way," said Angel, and the group ran to meet the demons, and a slightly outnumbered battle broke out in the middle of the abandoned parking lot.
The battle was a hard one, at least for the good guys. Some hope was revived, however, when somehow managed to push her sword through the skull of the demon that towered over her. Surprise and excitement allowed her to forget to turn around, and the demon exploded, not only covering Cordelia's front with blood, but showering everyone else with it as well.
It took another quarter of an hour for the number of demons to diminish to two, leaving two angry looking demons more determined than ever to kill them.
Feeling tired and desperate, the group lashed out with their remaining energy. Fred forgot and then remembered about the small dagger that was hiding on the back of her belt. She pulled it out quickly and threw it at the monster's head. It missed the dripping center by half an inch.
"Uh oh," muttered Fred quietly.
"What is it?" shouted Gunn right before the second demon knocked him out of the way.
"I missed!" shouted Fred frantically. "I missed!"
The Greerimeen demon in front of Fred scowled and bared his sharp pointed teeth. Fred began beating it again, pounding the demon with her fists. From behind her, Fred heard the other demon explode, and felt the warm, thick wetness as blood splattered her back. She stopped attacking the remaining demon and stood back to look at it.
"Okay, so you missed," Angel said nonchalantly. "It's four against one now. I think we can handle it.
Angel made to pierce the demon's head with his sword, but Fred stopped him. "What is it?" Angel asked, confused.
Fred simply pointed in response.
They all stepped back and looked at the demon. It was growling and drooling profusely, and yelling at them in the same language that it used to open the secret tunnel, but that's all it was doing. It wasn't attacking them.
"What's wring with it?" asked Cordelia, poking it in the side.
They all stopped and stared curiously at the immobile demon. "I- I don't think it can move," muttered Gunn.
"That's great," said Cordelia. "Now we can kill it without any more problems." Cordelia swung her sword.
"No, Cordy, wait!" shouted Gunn, but it was too late. Cordelia had already struck the demon and killed it.
"What did you do that for?" shouted Gunn. "He couldn't move!"
"Exactly," replied Cordelia. "That means no fight, and now I can go home and have a scented bubble bath."
"But don't you get it? IT COULDN'T MOVE. But it could talk. We could have used it to get information, like, say, why they're here."
"Oops," replied Cordelia meekly.
"I'm sure there are more of these things around," said Angel logically. "Fred can tell us how she paralysed that thing, and we can do it to another one."
"But, I don't know how I did it," Fred replied quietly. "I threw my dagger at it and missed, but then it couldn't move."
They thought for a moment and then Angel replied, "Maybe you hit close enough to the mark to paralyse it, but not close enough to kill it."
"It makes sense," offered Cordelia.
"Well, let's get back to the hotel and check that map again. Maybe another one of those marked areas will have more of those mind-reading bastards hanging around," Gunn said, feeling angry and tired. "We really have to figure this thing out."
~~~
When Connor returned to the hotel, it was to find it nearly empty. Lorne sat in the office mulling over the map.
"Find anything?" Connor asked.
Lorne replied sullenly. "No. There's nothing. I cannot find even the most remote of patterns in here. Why there are two different colours, I don't know either."
"What about Cordelia and the rest? Do you know about them?"
"I haven't heard a thing," Lorne replied. "What was that?"
There was a noise in the lobby, but when Connor and Lorne looked out of the office window, they couldn't see anything. Quietly they left the office and looked around. They couldn't see anything, but Connor was sure he could hear something on the second floor.
"I guess it was nothing," Lorne said, turning to re-enter the office.
"No," stated Connor firmly. "Someone's there."
Lorne and Connor stood and listened for well over a minute. There was no noise being made, but Connor insisted that someone, besides them, was in the hotel.
"Connor," began Lorne, "I really don't think-"
But he was cut off when someone jumped into the lobby from the railing on the second floor.
For a moment no one moved. The person looked over Lorne and Connor, judging them, sizing them up, while Connor and Lorne looked over the person dressed in black, face completely covered by a black mask.
Connor and Lorne questioned sarcastically the person at the same time. "Not you again?"
The person's green eyes sparkled lightly as if the mouth under the mask was smiling too, laughing at the lightly. The intruder looked around carefully, making sure to monitor the movement of the person and green demon in front of him. Distracting them by beginning to fight, the person in black managed to move Connor and Lorne so that they were no longer blocking the door to the office. Seizing the opportunity that presented itself, he ran to the office door and closed and locked it before either defender could follow him.
Connor ran right into the door, and began kicking it, trying to break it open.
"Connor!" he heard from behind him. "What are you doing?" Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, and Fred were back and they were bruised and covered in blood, obviously not their own.
"Our mystery, non Wolfram and Hart attacker is back and has locked himself in the office," Lorne answered.
"Well, he's not there any more!" Gunn shouted.
The intruder had the time to leave the office when Lorne and Connor had their backs turned. He was already at the door by the time Connor had caught up with him.
"He took the map!" Lorne yelled from the doorway in the office. Connor reached out to grab the person's arm in hopes of trying to stop him, but the person ducked out of the way. In doing so, however, Connor was made able to grab the mask that the person wore. As he ran out the doors of the hotel, the mask the person wore came off in Connor's hand.
Everyone stared as long, thick, wavy lack hair fell down the person's back. No one moved, save for the intruder, who ran directly through he doors, over the patio, and away into the darkness.
The room was silent. No one spoke, no one moved. Connor could feel the eyes of everyone there staring at the mask he held in his hand, and started to feel extremely embarrassed as a realization came to him. He got beat up by a girl. Twice.
Connor looked around the room, his ears turning red from embarrassment. Everyone wore and expression that was a mixture of shock and confusion; everyone except Cordelia.
"I told you it was a girl!" she said.