Chapter 6
Several muscle cars were parked in a row alongside a small park bench where Buffy, Angel, Dawn, Gunn, Lorne, Wesley, and Fred were gathered. Dawn look completely bouncy tonight and Buffy smiled slightly.
"Hey, uh, who wants some mu shu? I got beaucoup mu shu here." Lorne said.
"I'll take some, thanks." Fred said.
"Angel, this little picnic was such a good idea." Buffy said.
"Yeah, man. Why haven't we done this before?" Gunn asked.
Fred scanned Wesley while Lorne operated the machine out of a silver briefcase. Angel shrugged and took Buffy's hand. "Well, you know, you've all been working so hard.."
"Has anyone seen the plum sauce?" Wesley asked.
"Ew!" Dawn said. "Why would you want that?"
Fred stopped scanning Wesley and put the scanner back in the briefcase on the picnic table. "We're clean. Nobody's listening."
"You were late." Angel said to Wesley.
"Thought I was being followed." Wesley said.
"I get that we have to be careful, but feels weird hiding from the company we're supposed to be running." Gunn said.
"We're not hiding, we're being safe." Buffy said. "There are factions at Wolfram & Hart, people who want to see us destroyed."
"But still, it's not like everyone there's evil. I mean, we work with these people. Some of em I see more than I see you guys, at least lately, anyway." Fred said.
"And you think you can trust him?" Wesley asked. Fred gave him a look. "Them."
"What?"
"These.. people, the ones you're spending so much time with lately. Knox, for example."
"Uh, we're, you know, heh heh, friendly, but he's under me.. or I'm on top of him. Professionally. All I'm saying is, he.. he's not evil."
"I think we're all agreed that the senior partners are." Angel said. "They put us in charge for a reason. What we need to know is.. why?"
"You've only been there a couple of months." Dawn said.
"Turns out running a company doesn't leave a lot of time for, you know, covert ops." Buffy said.
"Yeah, I'm up to my horns in schmoozin' starlets and boozin' hipsters, Angel." Lorne said.
"What about Gunn?" Wesley asked.
"What about Gunn?" Gunn asked.
"It's.. well, what they put in your head. All that law knowledge and whatever. Maybe you know something, more than the rest of us." Dawn said.
"The alteration to your mental capacity.." Wesley added.
"My capacity's the same as it's always been." Gunn retorted. "The good doctor just revved up some idlin' brain cells, set em in motion."
"It's a legitimate concern. You gave them access to.." Angel started.
"I made a deal. We all did. Seems like I'm the only one who's willing to accept that. Everybody here got something out of this."
"Fear, mistrust.."
"A great motor pool." Dawn added with a chipper smile. Buffy smiled at her little sister who had just gotten her license. It was hell on Buffy and Angel, but Dawn was overly excited.
"I got the Nancy Sinatra collection. Original 45s." Lorne said.
"I did get a rather nice pen." Wesley said, taking the pen out of his pocket. "Sterling. Has my name on it. Which is not the point at all."
"No, the point is what, that I'm some spy for the senior partners?" Gunn asked.
"Nobody's saying that." Buffy said.
"Just thinking it."
"No, Charles.." Fred said.
"The point is, the senior partners have a plan for us, and if we're not prepared.." Angel said.
"Angel, it's not like we don't want to be ready. We just have, you know, plates.. big, heaping, full plates."
"Between running our departments, handling clients, dealing with Spike.." Wesley said.
"Spike is a distraction. As soon as he's released from his ties from Wolfram & Hart.." Angel said.
"That could take years."
"Using the amulet to destroy the hellmouth, it turned Spike into.." Fred said.
"A spook?" Lorne asked.
"Well, he's more than a ghost. He's something unique." Buffy said. They all looked at her. "We've been hanging out a lot when he's not all disappear-y."
"Regardless, whatever binds him.." Wesley said.
Angel's ears perked up and then Buffy sensed it too. Angel held out his hand to Wesley. "Can I borrow your pen?"
"Uhh, sure." Wesley handed Angel the pen and Buffy and Angel took off.
Nearby, a woman screamed as a growling hairy monster followed her, knocking her down to the ground. The monster attacked the girl, slashing her shoulder then biting her neck. Angel pulled the monster off of the girl and began fighting with it himself. "Angel no! That could be Oz!" Buffy screamed as she caught up. Before he could stop the downward plunge, Angel jammed Wesley's silver pen through its chest. The creature fell back to the ground and immediately turned back into the shape of a man. It wasn't Oz. The girl ran away during all the commotion, and the next sound was that of car tires screeching as she drove away.
"Damn it." Angel said.
"Angel, you need to think before you just go killing random werewolves." Buffy scolded. "What if that had been Oz?"`
"Well, sweetheart, I was kind of thinking more along the lines of saving the screaming girl."
"I know, but.. Next time let's use a bit more thinking."
"I promise."
Angel, and Gunn were talking as they walked through the lobby of Wolfram & Hart. Angel held a sketch of the girl from the park. "She was bitten. I smelled her blood on him."
"Tonight's the second night of the full moon, which means 2 more nights for her to go all dog-girl." Gunn said.
"12 hours till moonrise, and then.. If she hurts anyone.."
"She won't. We'll find her."
"We better. She won't even know what's happening to her."
Gunn pushed the elevator button. "Well, she'll figure it out soon enough. McManus did. The guy you.. killed. I pulled his credit card records, cross-checked 'em with police reports. He left his wife and kids a couple years ago, kept moving, staying in the middle of nowhere most of the time. First year or so, a few mangled bodies showed up here and there, but the last 6 months, guy was leaving corpses like bread crumbs." They all stepped into the elevator.
"Probably tried to control it for a while and just gave up." Angel said. "Thought he had to fight it alone, ended up with nothing worth fighting for. But this girl, she's not alone. She's got us."
"Yeah. She's got the two best warriors protecting her."
Angel smiled and got off the elevator on his floor. "I'll catch up with you in Fred's lab."
"Later." Gunn headed off.
Angel walked up to the door of his and Buffy's office and opened the door. Music was playing from speakers around the room and Buffy was standing in front a window dancing slightly and reading a file. Angel chuckled and closed the door. "Is this a private dance, or can anyone join?"
Buffy turned, her face flushing slightly. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Don't worry. I'm the only one that was here." She smiled. "So, what're you reading?"
"Oh, we got a new set of sais in today. They're mystical. I'm doing my homework."
"Good girl."
"I was also thinking of letting Dawn work with Fred." Angel stared at her. "I know, evil law firm and all, but I can't just keep leaving her home alone all the time. She's old enough to have a job and Fred likes having her around in the lab. They make a good team."
"Shouldn't you talk this over with Fred?"
"She's the one that asked if Dawn would like to help her out after school."
"Oh."
"What do you think?"
"Whatever you want to do." Angel smiled tightly, a little nervous to let his sister-in-law work at the evil law firm.
"We're useless. Is that what you're trying to tell me? All this resources.." Angel said.
"We're doing everything we can." Wesley said.
"2 years of history on a dead guy and we can't get one lead on a living, breathing girl."
"Fingerprints.. have his, don't have hers." Fred said.
"There must be something at the attack scene." Buffy said.
"So far, not even an earring." Wes said.
"Bloody shame, letting the girl run off like that. Somebody's slipping." Spike said, appearing on the stairs.
Angel handed the sketch over to a lab worker. "I want people on the street with this in 15 minutes. You find anybody who's seen her, you let me know." He turned to Fred. "Tire prints?"
"I'm working on it. It takes time, Angel." Fred said.
"Psychics are working on traces of the girl's blood. They picked up images, imprints." Wesley said, handing Angel a sketch.
"Must be her bedroom. Can they make it clearer? Maybe they could.." Angel said.
"It's not like a photograph."
Angel turned toward a doctor inspecting the man Angel killed in the park. The man Angel killed had a fuzzy graying beard and was rather hairy for a man. "Pretty rare breed you've got here." The doctor said.
"Dr. Royce is the cryptozoologist on my staff. I brought him in to tell us what we'll be dealing with when we find the girl." Wesley said.
"Lycanthropus exterus. Undocumented in North America.. until now, obviously."
"How is it different from your everyday Joe werewolf?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, biped, for one thing. Walks upright. Canines are a bit longer than normal. Arm span is.."
"I don't care about that. All I care about is the girl." Angel said.
"That's rough. Cause here on out, she's in the kill-or-be-killed club." Spike said.
"Here on out, she's under mine and Buffy's protection."
"If you find her before she turns. Catch her after she goes all growly, won't be easy taking her out. I had a wee spat with a werewolf myself once. Fought for over an hour. Brutal, vicious." Spike held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. "Almost lost my.."
"Angel killed him with a pen." Buffy said.
"Hmph."
"Spike, you're not helping."
"I know." She gave him a look. "Where'd you want me to go? I'm kinda stuck here."
"I know that. Just, try to not talk too much. This is serious." Spike gave her a look. "Don't give me puppy face." Spike smiled. "Just.. If you have a smart ass comment, hold it in till later and then just tell me."
An hour later, Fred was looking at a photo of tire prints on her computer as Lorne looked over her shoulder. "Those fine lines? Bad for the car, good for us. Apparently, they mean old tires, at least 5 years."
"Nice sketch. Somebody saw your girl last night.. East Hollywood." Gunn said.
"All right. We're looking for a mid-size sedan, at least 5 years old, somewhere in the Hollywood area." Angel said.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock. The moon's a-risin', ladies and gents." Spike said to Buffy. She glared.
"I'm in the DMV database, but there are thousands of possible matches." Wesley said.
"Color me clever." Lorne said. "Sister gets slammed around by a werewolf, she's putting pedal to metal. I mean, red light, green light, same diff."
"Traffic cameras." Buffy said. "Are we networked?"
"Yep." Wes said.
"I'm looking at the cameras." Gunn said. "You get set to run with it if I find a match. Course I might leak the info to the senior partners, 'cause we're tight."
"Just do it." Buffy said.
"Is the van ready?" Angel asked.
"Yep. I triple checked." Fred said.
"Good, cause we got less than an hour."
"A lot of fuss over one girl. Other things to do around here.. important things." Spike said.
"You know that whoosh thing that you do when you're suddenly not there anymore? I love that."
"Angel." Buffy warned.
"I don't have time to coddle the smart ass ghost Buffy. We've got less than an hour to find this girl."
"Fine, but don't expect anything outta me tonight after that smart remark."
Spike chuckled and Angel was starting to retort when Gunn walked in. "10:19 last night, 1992 Honda Civic ran a red light at Western and Franklin. Blond woman." He handed a printout to Angel.
"That's her." Angel said.
"License number: 2ABM-543."
Wesley typed it in. "Address: 2315 Harvard. Name: Nina Ash."
"All right. Buffy and I'll go." Angel said. "Buffy, get a tranq gun from your arsenal. You're in charge of knocking her out if we don't get there in time."
Buffy rolled her eyes and headed off to her weapons room. Just as she opened the door, a wave of dizziness came over her and she grabbed the inspection counter to hold her up. Spike was behind her. "You ok luv?"
Buffy pushed herself upright, but still held tightly to the counter. "Um.. Yeah. I guess I'm just moving too quickly and I'm a little frustrated with Angel."
"You sure? You look a little pale."
"This coming from the ghost."
"In all seriousness Buffy, are you gonna be ok?" Buffy looked at Spike, her eyes showing him that she didn't know.
Several muscle cars were parked in a row alongside a small park bench where Buffy, Angel, Dawn, Gunn, Lorne, Wesley, and Fred were gathered. Dawn look completely bouncy tonight and Buffy smiled slightly.
"Hey, uh, who wants some mu shu? I got beaucoup mu shu here." Lorne said.
"I'll take some, thanks." Fred said.
"Angel, this little picnic was such a good idea." Buffy said.
"Yeah, man. Why haven't we done this before?" Gunn asked.
Fred scanned Wesley while Lorne operated the machine out of a silver briefcase. Angel shrugged and took Buffy's hand. "Well, you know, you've all been working so hard.."
"Has anyone seen the plum sauce?" Wesley asked.
"Ew!" Dawn said. "Why would you want that?"
Fred stopped scanning Wesley and put the scanner back in the briefcase on the picnic table. "We're clean. Nobody's listening."
"You were late." Angel said to Wesley.
"Thought I was being followed." Wesley said.
"I get that we have to be careful, but feels weird hiding from the company we're supposed to be running." Gunn said.
"We're not hiding, we're being safe." Buffy said. "There are factions at Wolfram & Hart, people who want to see us destroyed."
"But still, it's not like everyone there's evil. I mean, we work with these people. Some of em I see more than I see you guys, at least lately, anyway." Fred said.
"And you think you can trust him?" Wesley asked. Fred gave him a look. "Them."
"What?"
"These.. people, the ones you're spending so much time with lately. Knox, for example."
"Uh, we're, you know, heh heh, friendly, but he's under me.. or I'm on top of him. Professionally. All I'm saying is, he.. he's not evil."
"I think we're all agreed that the senior partners are." Angel said. "They put us in charge for a reason. What we need to know is.. why?"
"You've only been there a couple of months." Dawn said.
"Turns out running a company doesn't leave a lot of time for, you know, covert ops." Buffy said.
"Yeah, I'm up to my horns in schmoozin' starlets and boozin' hipsters, Angel." Lorne said.
"What about Gunn?" Wesley asked.
"What about Gunn?" Gunn asked.
"It's.. well, what they put in your head. All that law knowledge and whatever. Maybe you know something, more than the rest of us." Dawn said.
"The alteration to your mental capacity.." Wesley added.
"My capacity's the same as it's always been." Gunn retorted. "The good doctor just revved up some idlin' brain cells, set em in motion."
"It's a legitimate concern. You gave them access to.." Angel started.
"I made a deal. We all did. Seems like I'm the only one who's willing to accept that. Everybody here got something out of this."
"Fear, mistrust.."
"A great motor pool." Dawn added with a chipper smile. Buffy smiled at her little sister who had just gotten her license. It was hell on Buffy and Angel, but Dawn was overly excited.
"I got the Nancy Sinatra collection. Original 45s." Lorne said.
"I did get a rather nice pen." Wesley said, taking the pen out of his pocket. "Sterling. Has my name on it. Which is not the point at all."
"No, the point is what, that I'm some spy for the senior partners?" Gunn asked.
"Nobody's saying that." Buffy said.
"Just thinking it."
"No, Charles.." Fred said.
"The point is, the senior partners have a plan for us, and if we're not prepared.." Angel said.
"Angel, it's not like we don't want to be ready. We just have, you know, plates.. big, heaping, full plates."
"Between running our departments, handling clients, dealing with Spike.." Wesley said.
"Spike is a distraction. As soon as he's released from his ties from Wolfram & Hart.." Angel said.
"That could take years."
"Using the amulet to destroy the hellmouth, it turned Spike into.." Fred said.
"A spook?" Lorne asked.
"Well, he's more than a ghost. He's something unique." Buffy said. They all looked at her. "We've been hanging out a lot when he's not all disappear-y."
"Regardless, whatever binds him.." Wesley said.
Angel's ears perked up and then Buffy sensed it too. Angel held out his hand to Wesley. "Can I borrow your pen?"
"Uhh, sure." Wesley handed Angel the pen and Buffy and Angel took off.
Nearby, a woman screamed as a growling hairy monster followed her, knocking her down to the ground. The monster attacked the girl, slashing her shoulder then biting her neck. Angel pulled the monster off of the girl and began fighting with it himself. "Angel no! That could be Oz!" Buffy screamed as she caught up. Before he could stop the downward plunge, Angel jammed Wesley's silver pen through its chest. The creature fell back to the ground and immediately turned back into the shape of a man. It wasn't Oz. The girl ran away during all the commotion, and the next sound was that of car tires screeching as she drove away.
"Damn it." Angel said.
"Angel, you need to think before you just go killing random werewolves." Buffy scolded. "What if that had been Oz?"`
"Well, sweetheart, I was kind of thinking more along the lines of saving the screaming girl."
"I know, but.. Next time let's use a bit more thinking."
"I promise."
Angel, and Gunn were talking as they walked through the lobby of Wolfram & Hart. Angel held a sketch of the girl from the park. "She was bitten. I smelled her blood on him."
"Tonight's the second night of the full moon, which means 2 more nights for her to go all dog-girl." Gunn said.
"12 hours till moonrise, and then.. If she hurts anyone.."
"She won't. We'll find her."
"We better. She won't even know what's happening to her."
Gunn pushed the elevator button. "Well, she'll figure it out soon enough. McManus did. The guy you.. killed. I pulled his credit card records, cross-checked 'em with police reports. He left his wife and kids a couple years ago, kept moving, staying in the middle of nowhere most of the time. First year or so, a few mangled bodies showed up here and there, but the last 6 months, guy was leaving corpses like bread crumbs." They all stepped into the elevator.
"Probably tried to control it for a while and just gave up." Angel said. "Thought he had to fight it alone, ended up with nothing worth fighting for. But this girl, she's not alone. She's got us."
"Yeah. She's got the two best warriors protecting her."
Angel smiled and got off the elevator on his floor. "I'll catch up with you in Fred's lab."
"Later." Gunn headed off.
Angel walked up to the door of his and Buffy's office and opened the door. Music was playing from speakers around the room and Buffy was standing in front a window dancing slightly and reading a file. Angel chuckled and closed the door. "Is this a private dance, or can anyone join?"
Buffy turned, her face flushing slightly. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Don't worry. I'm the only one that was here." She smiled. "So, what're you reading?"
"Oh, we got a new set of sais in today. They're mystical. I'm doing my homework."
"Good girl."
"I was also thinking of letting Dawn work with Fred." Angel stared at her. "I know, evil law firm and all, but I can't just keep leaving her home alone all the time. She's old enough to have a job and Fred likes having her around in the lab. They make a good team."
"Shouldn't you talk this over with Fred?"
"She's the one that asked if Dawn would like to help her out after school."
"Oh."
"What do you think?"
"Whatever you want to do." Angel smiled tightly, a little nervous to let his sister-in-law work at the evil law firm.
"We're useless. Is that what you're trying to tell me? All this resources.." Angel said.
"We're doing everything we can." Wesley said.
"2 years of history on a dead guy and we can't get one lead on a living, breathing girl."
"Fingerprints.. have his, don't have hers." Fred said.
"There must be something at the attack scene." Buffy said.
"So far, not even an earring." Wes said.
"Bloody shame, letting the girl run off like that. Somebody's slipping." Spike said, appearing on the stairs.
Angel handed the sketch over to a lab worker. "I want people on the street with this in 15 minutes. You find anybody who's seen her, you let me know." He turned to Fred. "Tire prints?"
"I'm working on it. It takes time, Angel." Fred said.
"Psychics are working on traces of the girl's blood. They picked up images, imprints." Wesley said, handing Angel a sketch.
"Must be her bedroom. Can they make it clearer? Maybe they could.." Angel said.
"It's not like a photograph."
Angel turned toward a doctor inspecting the man Angel killed in the park. The man Angel killed had a fuzzy graying beard and was rather hairy for a man. "Pretty rare breed you've got here." The doctor said.
"Dr. Royce is the cryptozoologist on my staff. I brought him in to tell us what we'll be dealing with when we find the girl." Wesley said.
"Lycanthropus exterus. Undocumented in North America.. until now, obviously."
"How is it different from your everyday Joe werewolf?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, biped, for one thing. Walks upright. Canines are a bit longer than normal. Arm span is.."
"I don't care about that. All I care about is the girl." Angel said.
"That's rough. Cause here on out, she's in the kill-or-be-killed club." Spike said.
"Here on out, she's under mine and Buffy's protection."
"If you find her before she turns. Catch her after she goes all growly, won't be easy taking her out. I had a wee spat with a werewolf myself once. Fought for over an hour. Brutal, vicious." Spike held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. "Almost lost my.."
"Angel killed him with a pen." Buffy said.
"Hmph."
"Spike, you're not helping."
"I know." She gave him a look. "Where'd you want me to go? I'm kinda stuck here."
"I know that. Just, try to not talk too much. This is serious." Spike gave her a look. "Don't give me puppy face." Spike smiled. "Just.. If you have a smart ass comment, hold it in till later and then just tell me."
An hour later, Fred was looking at a photo of tire prints on her computer as Lorne looked over her shoulder. "Those fine lines? Bad for the car, good for us. Apparently, they mean old tires, at least 5 years."
"Nice sketch. Somebody saw your girl last night.. East Hollywood." Gunn said.
"All right. We're looking for a mid-size sedan, at least 5 years old, somewhere in the Hollywood area." Angel said.
"Tick-tock, tick-tock. The moon's a-risin', ladies and gents." Spike said to Buffy. She glared.
"I'm in the DMV database, but there are thousands of possible matches." Wesley said.
"Color me clever." Lorne said. "Sister gets slammed around by a werewolf, she's putting pedal to metal. I mean, red light, green light, same diff."
"Traffic cameras." Buffy said. "Are we networked?"
"Yep." Wes said.
"I'm looking at the cameras." Gunn said. "You get set to run with it if I find a match. Course I might leak the info to the senior partners, 'cause we're tight."
"Just do it." Buffy said.
"Is the van ready?" Angel asked.
"Yep. I triple checked." Fred said.
"Good, cause we got less than an hour."
"A lot of fuss over one girl. Other things to do around here.. important things." Spike said.
"You know that whoosh thing that you do when you're suddenly not there anymore? I love that."
"Angel." Buffy warned.
"I don't have time to coddle the smart ass ghost Buffy. We've got less than an hour to find this girl."
"Fine, but don't expect anything outta me tonight after that smart remark."
Spike chuckled and Angel was starting to retort when Gunn walked in. "10:19 last night, 1992 Honda Civic ran a red light at Western and Franklin. Blond woman." He handed a printout to Angel.
"That's her." Angel said.
"License number: 2ABM-543."
Wesley typed it in. "Address: 2315 Harvard. Name: Nina Ash."
"All right. Buffy and I'll go." Angel said. "Buffy, get a tranq gun from your arsenal. You're in charge of knocking her out if we don't get there in time."
Buffy rolled her eyes and headed off to her weapons room. Just as she opened the door, a wave of dizziness came over her and she grabbed the inspection counter to hold her up. Spike was behind her. "You ok luv?"
Buffy pushed herself upright, but still held tightly to the counter. "Um.. Yeah. I guess I'm just moving too quickly and I'm a little frustrated with Angel."
"You sure? You look a little pale."
"This coming from the ghost."
"In all seriousness Buffy, are you gonna be ok?" Buffy looked at Spike, her eyes showing him that she didn't know.