"Ladies and gentlemen our champion has arisen," Gunn announced.
A topless Angel walked down the stairs and over to the desk where Gunn, Wesley and Fred were standing.
"What are you doing here?" Angel asked, still half asleep.
"You didn't come into work last night or this morning, we were worried," Fred replied. Wesley noticed the bullet wound on Angel's chest.
"What happened?" Wesley asked curiously.
"Justice," Angel answered. Wesley looked puzzled. At that moment a seventeen year old girl wearing Angel's shirt appeared at the top of the stairs.
"What about me?" Justice walked down the staircase towards the group.
"Angel you didn't, did you?" Wesley asked nervously.
"What…no, she's a vampire slayer," Angel replied.
"And I'll ask that again," Wesley said knowing Angel's history with slayers. Angel ignored Wesley and introduced Justice to the group.
"Everybody, this is Justice…Justice this is Wesley, Gunn and Fred." Gunn jumped forward and shook Justice's hand.
"Nice to meet you…so you're a slayer, like Faith?" he inquired.
"Yer, pretty much," Justice answered. Gunn smiled.
"Cool," he remarked. Wesley cut in;
"You're from London, am I correct?"
"Essex actually…And before you ask I've never been blonde, I don't own a pair of white shoes, my IQ is one hundred and thirty eight and I don't have sex in the back of ford escorts." Wesley laughed.
"Oxford?" Justice asked Wesley.
"Cambridge actually," he replied snobbishly.
"I can never tell the difference, they all speak like they've had a wooden stake shoved up their arse, no offence," Justice said with a straight face. Gunn grinned and Wesley looked slightly disturbed.
"I'm just messing with ya mate," Justice revealed. A small smile gripped the corner of Wesley's mouth.
"Good old belittling British humour…how I miss that," Wesley mumbled. Justice looked at Fred.
"Now if Willow told me the truth, you must be the brains of this operation," Justice said to a blushing Fred.
"Well I wouldn't say I was…" Justice interrupted Fred.
"Don't be so modest Fred. It's so not fair, beauty and brains…I'm so jealous," Justice remarked. Fred smiled. Justice looked at Angel's shirt she was wearing. It hung just above her knees.
"You know what, I'm gonna get some clothes on." Justice walked back up the stairs to her room.
"I like her," Fred said excitedly.
"She's rather perky," Wesley added.
"Angel you sure you didn't? I mean she's a babe…I wouldn't blame you…just stake you at the first sign of fangs," Gunn remarked. Fred lost her smile and looked at the floor.
"So what happened?" Wesley pointed to Angel's bullet wound.
"Vampires…guns…motel room in pieces. She said she didn't know who they were; kind of got the feeling she was hiding something," Angel declared.
"Does sound a little bit suspect," Wesley disclosed. Justice reappeared at the top of the staircase. She walked down the steps and over to Fred.
"Fred sweetie…could you do me a really big favour and go on a shopping trip with me? I wouldn't ask but I don't really know my way about yet and I'm in urgent need of some clothes."
"I think work can manage without me for a couple of hours…plus shopping trip, yah!" Fred replied with a friendly smile. Fred linked arms with Justice and they left the hotel via the front door.
"Right I'm gonna call the office…get them to find out if there's any new players in town," Angel announced.
"So what do you think?" Wesley questioned Gunn.
"Great legs, really pretty eyes, she's a babe," Gunn answered back. Wesley rolled his eyes.
"I meant, do you think she knows more about the attack than she's letting on?"
"Probably," Gunn seemed unfocused.
"Great legs," he mumbled to himself. Wesley let out a sigh.
"Yep, great legs," Wesley also lost his focus. Suddenly a rock came smashing through the window. Wesley and Gunn jumped at the sound of the glass breaking. Wesley ran towards the window just in time to see a car with blacked out windows speed away. Angel rushed into the room.
"What was that?" he demanded.
"Brick through the window," Gunn informed Angel.
"There's a note," Wesley uttered. He pulled the paper from the rock and read it aloud;
Slayer, come out and play
134 Oaks street
Tonight.
"They must have followed us back here," Angel said.
"What did the office say?" Wesley asked Angel.
"They're gonna look into it…could take a while," Angel explained.
Justice and Fred laughed hysterically as they walked into the hotel.
"You're kidding…he really said that? What a loser," Justice said continuing her conversation with Fred. Angel interrupted her by holding the note in front of her face. Justice stopped laughing.
"What is that?" She asked. She placed her shopping bags on the floor.
"It came through the window…my guess is, it's got something to do with the vampires from last night…You gonna tell me what's going on?" Angel interrogated Justice.
"I don't know Angel, seriously..." Justice could see by the look on his face he didn't believe her.
"Well come on then, if you wanna know that badly…grab a stake and we'll go find out," Justice insisted.
"That's not a good idea…they could be carrying," Angel warned Justice.
"I'm going…you wanna follow be my guest…if not, whatever," Justice snapped back. Justice grabbed a stake out of her handbag and walked out of the hotel.
"Damn slayers," Angel remarked. He rushed to the weapons cupboard and pulled out a sword and an axe.
"Do you want us to come with?" Gunn asked.
"No, you should go home just in case they are carrying guns," Angel answered. Angel ran out of the hotel to catch up with Justice.
"Thank god, you came," Justice said thankfully.
"You scared?" Angel suggested.
"No, I would have probably got lost," Justice declared.
"Looks dark," Angel said looking at the house. The front door was wide open. Justice and Angel slowly walked through the house. There were family pictures all over the walls of the corridor.
"I don't like the look of this," Angel whispered. They ventured into the living room. The bodies of a woman, a man and a young girl were laid out on the floor; each had bite marks on their neck.
"Oh god, it can't be," Justice mumbled to herself. She looked up at the wall. There was writing on the wall made from blood.
Your next slayer
it read. Justice had a look of pure horror on her face.
"Justice?" Angel began to ask.
"I'm sorry I can't do this," Justice ran out of the house. Angel quickly followed.
"Justice, what's going on?" he demanded. Justice didn't answer. She kept running all the way back to the hotel. When she got there, she ran to her room and collapsed on the bed. Angel wasn't far behind. He tried to enter Justice's room but couldn't.
"Justice invite me in, we need to talk. I can help you," Angel pleaded. Justice looked at the vampire. She thought for a minute and then invited him in. Angel sat on the bed next to her.
"Tell me what's going on, I want to help," he said kindly.
"I thought I got rid of him, back in England," Justice explained, tears welled up in her eyes.
"Who?" Angel asked.
"Drake Trent," she replied. The name rung a bell in Angel's head.
"As in the Trent brothers?" Angel questioned her. Justice nodded. The Trent brothers were sired in the fifties in England Angel recalled. They were like the Krays of the demon world, not very nice at all.
"Why is he after you?" Angel inquired.
"I kind of killed his brother," Justice declared.
"Those bodies…they were a sign…back in England." She continued.
"What happened in England Justice?" Angel asked.
"One night after patrolling, I came home…" Justice was hesitant. Tears began running down her face.
"My step dad and my mum and my little sister were dead in the living room…laid out in the exact same way as the bodies at that house tonight…he cornered me in an abandoned building the next night and tried to kill me…Buffy saved me…I wish she had just let him kill me!" Justice burst into an uncontrollable sob. Angel put his arms around her.
"Shh…it's ok," Angel comforted her.
Angel opened his eyes to see Gunn, Wesley and Fred gathered around the bed. They were each holding a stake and a cross.
"Angelus?" Wesley asked nervously. Angel looked besides him at a sleeping Justice.
"I didn't," Angel announced. Justice opened her eyes and yawned. She looked side to side at the group around the bed.
"Angel, why are your mates holding big stakes?" she questioned.
"They think I had sex with you," Angel Informed Justice.
"Oh…he didn't," she said.
"Are you sure?" Gunn asked still raising his cross.
"Think I'd remember…unless I had a lot to drink, I don't remember doing that either…and I'd really like to know how it's possible to have sex fully clothed," Justice replied. Gunn lowered his cross.
"Sorry man," Gunn apologized to Angel.
"It's just that when Angel gets a happy…" Fred began to explain.
"I know about the curse…I know a lot about Angel…done the reading," Justice announced.
"And besides, sleep with him; you're having a bubble bath ain't ya?" Justice continued.
"Huh?" Gunn said.
"Cockney slang, means laugh," Wesley explained to Gunn.
"Oh, I get it," Gunn looked pleased with himself. Justice got out of bed and started to walk towards the bathroom.
"Hey, why wouldn't you sleep with me? What's wrong with me?" Angel asked desperately.
The sun was going down leaving a beautiful red tinted sky. Justice looked at it from the balcony of her room with interest.
"Thank you Angel…bout time I faced up to things," she said quietly. Angel was standing besides Justice. the sun had gone down far enough for him to venture outside.
"It's going to be ok," his answer was full of clarity, as if he knew for certain he was right. Justice smiled at him.
"I know," she whispered. Gunn burst through the door and on to the balcony.
"I just had the office on the phone…they've found a nest, could be Drake's," Gunn announced. Justice's mood changed, she grew tense and emotional. She snatched the piece of paper Gunn was holding with an address of an old abandoned factory written on it.
"Justice, think about this," Angel demanded.
"I did," Justice ran downstairs straight towards the weapons cabinet and pulled out a large sword. Angel stepped in front of the exit.
"Get out of my way," Justice ordered.
"You need to calm down," Angel pleaded with Justice.
"Don't make me make you get out of my way," Justice warned Angel. Angel refused to budge. Justice grabbed hold of Angel's shirt and threw him across the room. Gunn and Wesley looked on in amazement at Justice's strength.
"You go there in this state, you're gonna get yourself killed," Angel said, still winded from the fall.
"Maybe…very possibly…but you can be as sure as hell I'm taking him with me," Justice said with great certainty. Justice left the hotel and began running towards her target. Angel pulled himself off the floor and took out a sword from the weapons cabinet.
"Angel, what are you doing?" Gunn asked.
"Stopping her from getting dead," Angel replied.
"You coming?" Angel asked Gunn and Wesley.
"Hell yer," Gunn said. The three of them raced after Justice.
Justice burst through the door to find four vampires running towards her. She raised her sword and with a single sweep took off the head of one of the vampires. Gunn, Angel and Wesley were kept busy fighting the other three. Justice spotted Drake Trent sitting on an old couch in the main factory hall. She hid behind a piece of machinery to give her the element of surprise. Her effort was wasted as Drake could already feel her presence.
"Slayer…you found me, thought you would…why don't you come out and pay," Drake demanded. Justice walked out from behind the machine into the vampire's full view.
"You look well slayer," Drake commented.
"Name's Justice…can we just get on with it?" Justice questioned him. The vampire shrugged his shoulders and ran towards her. He tried to plant two punches, both were blocked by Justice. She grabbed his hair and took a right hook catching him on the nose. He went to kick her but she jumped backwards. The vampire grabbed both of Justices fists as she tried to hit him. He was strong; Justice couldn't get out of his grip, so she kicked him in the nuts, sending him to the floor in agony.
"Bitch," he cursed.
"You're so dead," Justice said. The vampire realised he wasn't going to win this fight, she was too hyped.
"You'll have to catch me first," he replied. The vampire defied gravity by running up the tall wall to an open window. Angel looked towards Justice and to his amazement saw her run up the wall after him.
"What the…" Angel exclaimed. Justice Caught up with the vampire and pulled him back down to the floor. They both landed on their feet, and before the vampire could move Justice decapitated the vampire with her sword. Gunn and Wesley staked the two remaining vampires and looked at Angel.
"Get out of here," Angel ordered them. Before they left Angel ripped off a necklace with a cross pendant from around Gunn's neck. He held it by the chain to prevent touching the pendant.
"Go," he ordered again. Angel walked over to Justice.
"Heads up," Angel said as he threw Justice the necklace. As a natural reaction Justice caught the necklace in her hand. Angel waited for her hand to start smoking, but it didn't.
"What are you?" he demanded. Justice looked puzzled.
"We've been over this, I'm a vampire slayer," she answered.
"Don't give me that bull…I just saw you run up a thirty foot wall…no slayer can do that…That's vampire territory."
