Author Notes: For those who are confused with the ending of the chapter, there will be an explaination for it later, and no, it's not what you think.

Xev sat outside the conference room, legs crossed, and hand rested on her palm. Stan sat on the floor next to her, legs tucked under him, as Kai stood stoically at their side. "They've been in there for hours," she complained. "What do you think-"

"Shut it!" Spike said sharply. "Vampire hearing doesn't come in handy if you can't hear a ruddy thing!"

The blonde vampire was kneeling at the door, glass pressed to his ear, and fighting what he considered the good fight: Piss off Angel at every chance he got. In this case, he was remarkably sympathetic to the Lexx crew's problem, but of course it didn't hurt for Xev to flash a flirty smile. He could tell he was going to like the "alien bint".

Angel and Gunn had taken Prince into the conference room, and that would have been fine and well, except that Angel ordered the Lexx crew to stay out of trouble, and locked the doors. The wavy glass on the windows didn't help either, since they couldn't even see what was going on. All they could see were a few blurry figures, Prince figure lounging in the chair opposite Angel and Gunn, as he pulled out some sort of paper and handed it to his new boss. From his body language, Angel looked worried.

Prince had been on his best behavior as he introduced himself, meaning that he tried to act as if he was simply there on business, but any idiot could see that he was conniving to get his way. What no one could understand however, was why someone who controlled the ATF would want to work in a law firm, except of course that Wolfram& Hart was an evil law firm. "Hey, doodle bunnies, what's happening?"

Lorne was crossing the lobby in their direction, looking less pained since Wesley took over responsibility of Illyria, and had a glass of alcohol in his hand. Booze was something Stan and Xev knew about. They didn't want to know any more than they did. The green demon looked from Xev and Stan, to Kai, and then to Spike and frowned. "Uh, blondievamp, that's called eavesdropping,"

"Then why don't you run and tell mummy?" Spike said curtly, trying to listen in further.

"What are they saying?" said Stan. "You getting anywhere with that?"

"Something about a dagger," said Spike. "And being good with daggers,"

Lorne looked to the window, and to Spike, and bit his lower lip. Then he finally shook himself. "Ugh, you're doing it all wrong, move over!" said Lorne, kneeling down next to Spike.

He pressed his ear to the door as well, and his red eyes almost bugged out of his head. "Angelcakes, what are you thinking?" he mumbled to himself.

"What?" said Stan, squeezing Lorne between himself and Spike so he could have a listen. "What's going on?" he asked

"This is bad," said Lorne, shaking his head.

"What is it?!" said Xev, knocking Stan out of the way for her to listen.

The door suddenly popped open, and Angel nearly tripped over the eavesdroppers as he yanked the glass out of Spike's hand. They slowly stood up to meet Angel's stern eyes, and Prince's continuous cocky smile. "I believe this is a bad time," he said, voice barely more than a whisper. "I will return shortly to collect the artifact,"

Xev grabbed him before he could escape to the elevator. "What do you want with them, Prince?" she asked adamantly.

"Just a dagger," said Prince. "As it is my job as the stand-in liason for Mr. Hamilton, I have come here to collect the Dagger of Galatea. Odd thing, it is,"

"This Dagger of Galatea," said Kai. "Is it not an evil object, kept by Wolfram & Hart?"

"If you use it, it breaks the barriers between one-hundred and eight Hell dimensions and revives any person you want from the depths of Hell," Angel said distastefully. "And the Senior Partners have it," he added, with a sigh.

"Then why are you guys giving it to him?!" said Stan. "He's an evil person, who'd more than gladly use it!"

"You will be pleased to know that your new friends here at Wolfram & Hart did not betray you, as I expect you are quite used to, but I already had the form signed by their Senior Partners. All Mr. Angel here had to do was know about it and hand it over. If he does not...very bad things will happen,"

As soon as Prince turned his back on them, Angel's face shifted, his forehead becoming longer, and eyebrows dissapearing to give his face a more bat-like appearance, as his eyes yellowed and fangs elongated. Xev gasped, seeing a real vampire for the first time, and Angel looked nothing like Vlad.

He quickly grasped Prince's neck, and snapped it, shouting "Sorry, Prince! No deal!"

As Prince fell limp to the floor, none of the lawyers paid any attention. "Uh Angel, you wanna explain?!" said Gunn.

Angel's face morphed back to human. "I had to do it guys," he said. "If I didn't kill him, then the Senior Partners would have gotten ahold of the dagger,"

"Oh boy," said Stan, pacing back and forth in a panic. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy,"

"What?" said Lorne, sipping his drink calmly. "He was a demon, right? I mean, he wanted to open all the hell dimension! The last thing we need is my mother taking the grand tour of W&H,"

"It's not that easy!" said Xev, kneeling next to the body. "Look,"

The corpse vanished, and Spike's jaw dropped. "Bloody hell! Did you see that?!"

"Yes," said Kai. "He purposely wanted you to do that. Now I suspect that the beginning of your Apocalypse will momentarily begin. The Dagger of Galatea can only be found on another plane of existance,"

"How do you know that?" said Angel.

"I have many memories," said Kai.

The dead assassin turned and went up the stairs toward the lab, no doubt to either rescue Wesley from 790, or 790 from Illyria's wrath. Stan's face screwed itself up in anger as he whined"Now you really did it! Prince is gonna come back, and we have no idea who he's coming back as or where he's gonna pop up!"

"Calm down, Stan!" said Xev, grabbing his shoulder. "I'm sure they have the resources here to track Prince down and stop him. We're safer if we just stay here,"

"I'm not staying here! I say that we have the Lexx eat L.A., then we can-"

"No!" said Xev, catching him in a choke hold. "I'm not gonna let you kill thousands of people-"

"Uh, not to interrupt your tiff here, but don't we have bigger problems like the apocalypse!" said Lorne.

"Yeah, I don't plan on dyin' so soon!" said Gunn.

"He's right," said Angel. "We need you guys here because we're not familiar with Prince, or his habits. Gunn and I will dig up any ATF records and see if they've done bussiness with Wolfram & Hart before. Lorne, take Stanley to the bar on the fifth floor. You know what to do with him,"

Gunn and Angel dissapeared back into the conference room. Lorne took hold of Stan's arm, carefully pulling the unstable security guard to the elevator. "C'mon, Numero Cuartro, it's open mic night,"

"Are there any cute girls up there?" Stan squeaked.

"Plenty," said Lorne. "Green just ain't their color,"

The demon was obviously good at convincing people. As Stan cautiously followed Lorne, he took small steps, looking around fearfully as if Prince were about to pop up at any moment. That left Spike and Xev. "Yeah, and me and Daphne will explore the basement for clues!" he called after Angel.

Xev smiled at Spike. "Who's Daphne?" she asked.

Spike rolled his eyes, seeing that pop culture references were completely wasted on her. "Hey, you ever play Crash Bandicoot, luv?" said Spike, trying to change the subject.

"No," said Xev. "Why?"

Spike grinned, and steered her toward the elevator. "Come with me," he said. "You have lots to learn, and ol' Spike's gonna teach you everything,"

"Oh," Xev said excitedly. "Okay!"

790 blew a raspberry at his captor, leaving Wesley to grab a screwdriver off the counter and squeeze it as hard as he could. "All right," he said. "What if I offered to bring your...dead man in here?" said Wesley, swallowing nervously.

"No need,"

Kai was standing in the doorway to the lab, and came over to 790 and picked it up. "I suspected that he would not comply," the assassin said matter-of-factly.

"Kai!" 790 shouted. "Dismember him, darling!"

Wesley sighed, as 790 began more pathetic gushing. "Is there any way to possibly shut it off?" he asked.

"Why?" said Kai.

"I need to see what he runs on. I would reassemble him as soon as I was finished," said Wesley. "But all he does is scream for you to save him,"

"I see," said Kai. "790,"

"Yes, my delicious dead love for all eternity?" said 790.

"Off," said Kai.

"But-" the robot began.

"Off!" Kai said, with more force this time.

790's screens spontaeneously went blank, and Kai handed him back to Wesley. "That was all?" said Wesley.

"Yes," said Kai. "He only responds to certain people on the other hand. He opens at the back compartment. There you will find a cube containing human brain tissue. It is what gives him his devouted programming,"

Wesley set the robot down on the table, and followed Kai's instructions. He poked and proded at wires inside the head with the screwdriver, and then withdrew the brain cube. He picked up a magnifying lense and peered closely at it to analyze the complexity of the contraption. "So," said Wesley. "What did that white-haired man want down there? You knew him?"

"Yes," Kai said urgently. "His name is Prince. He wants the Dagger of Galatea, a device that can single-handedly destroy your world. Angel killed him, not knowing that Prince cannot be killed, and now Prince's plan of action is nearly complete,"

Wesley put down the screwdriver, and slowly looked up. "You mean..."

"Yes," said Kai, exiting the room.

"But where are you going? You can't leave now-" Wesley sputtered.

"I must inform Illyria. You will find Angel downstairs. He most likely wants for you to research the situation futher. I recommend that you consult anything that speaks of Heaven and Hell. The Dagger of Galatea needs an act of pure betrayl to actually work. It would be wise to be on guard for any...odd behavior,"

Wesley didn't even want to know how Kai held that information, but he didn't have a chance to question the dead man further, because he was already at the end of the hall and on his way to warn Illyria, who had left in a blind rage since 790 called her a disgusting azure imitation of a woman. If this dagger business was enough to worry, for lack of a better word, a person with no emotions or opinion for any situation, Wesley knew the day was a normal one, aliens or no aliens.

Illyria stood alone in the training room once again. The dismembered head had sought to insult her; in her time she would have placed him on a spike simply for still being able to speak, and she would allow the sun to cook him slowly until he was an inch away from death. Then she would procede to eat his cooked flesh while he was still alive. Now her human shell prevented her from being imposing at all. She was just another demon to these humans, and that made resentment build within her until it consumed her.

The doors burst open, and Kai walked into the room. She regarded him with a cold stare, and turned her back on him once again. "You seek to enter combat with me once more?" she said. "Some should know when they are conquered,"

"I did not," said Kai, stepping up behind her. "I came...because I believed you to be in danger. Angel's client downstairs proved to be...disruptive,"

"You presume to protect me?" Illyria said coldly. "I have no need for your petty protection. I could snap you in two if I so desired,"

Kai gently put his hands on her shoulders, making that little flame of anger inside the demoness grow slightly. He rested his chin on her shoulder. "Such pretty blue hair," he said, running his finger down a strand of it. "The dead do not usually notice such things...but I must admit you rouse something that is unexplainable,"

"What is the meaning of this, Dead Thing?" said Illyria.

"You are good with pain as well," he said. "I like that,"

"You desire for a demonstration?" Illyria spat.

"You do not have to hide your weakness from me," he said. "It is obvious that you are enraged. You have every right to be. They took what was most precious from you,"

"Release me now before I force you to, Dead Thing," Illyria said vehemently, fists clenching. "Never without my permission are you allowed to press your flesh to mine!"

"You don't mean that," he said. "Allow me to give you this...and then I will make a deal with you,"

Illyria whirled around, pulling away to face him. "There is nothing you can give me except a pleasing image of your suffering as I mutilate your whining corpse!"

The doors burst open again, and Illyria looked from one Kai to the other, as the one who just entered the room fired his brace and killed the one making advances on her, slicing cleanly throught the back and out through the sternum. The limp body hit the floor with a thud, and the heap momentarilly dissappeared from sight. Kai pushed the brace back into place on his arm. "That was Prince," he said. "We must leave this place. Are you-"

He wasn't prepared for her boot to make contact with his jaw and send him out the swinging doors, into the wall. Illyria followed him and tilted her head, staring at him. "That was for placing your hands on my being without my consent. Your insolence will be punished thouroughly later," she said, turning down the hall. "Now come,"