The More Things Change
Chapter 2: Reach out and touch someone
Author: RoguesKnight
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Never have, probably never will. Just borrowing them for awhile and will return them to their respective homes none the worse for wear ( I hope ). If any lawyers for Fox, Mutant Enemy, Marvel, or Joss Whedon are reading this please don't sue. And if you know of any openings in the companies you represent...I wouldn't turn down the job.
Author's note: I never really paid attention to Angel: The Series so things on that front may be a little sketchy. To those who wonder what the Scoobies are doing in L.A. I just figured that would be the most natural place to go after the destruction of Sunnydale. And finally, to my reviewers who've been so kind, thank you!! It's amazing to wake up mere hours after posting something to see such encouraging words. I do it all for you guys.
Xander Harris swiftly turned around in the lobby of the Hyperion, his one good eye quickly searching the room. He couldn't quite explain it but he had the strangest feeling that someone had been watching him. " Hello?" he called tentatively. Getting no reply he shrugged and turned back around and continued on to the desk that had been set up for him. * Too much time spent around the supernatural * he thought, pushing back his plush leather desk chair and sitting down. It had been a mere week and a half since Sunnydale had been sucked into the depths of the hell that had spawned it and already he had a place with Angel Investigations. He hated to admit it, but coming to stay with Deadboy and his crew had been the most logical thing to do with everything in Sunnydale buried under a ton of rubble. The hotel had more than enough rooms to accommodate the new Slayers that were being brought in on almost a daily basis and there was enough evil in the city for them to get used to fighting in relative safety. Buffy and Faith, along with a few of the others who'd survived the battle against the First had organized group patrols of new Slayers so they could get used to fighting and working as a group, which had quickly become the new model for slaying. The upside was that with all of the new Slayers, the forces of evil in Los Angeles were kept in check to the point that Deadboy's agency actually attracted more mundane cases as well as the supernatural ones, which meant paying customers more often than not which thrilled Cordelia to no end. The down side was that with more super-powered people around to fight the good fight, he was more often than not pushed to the edge of the group.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Cordelia had noticed the growing estrangement and offered him an actual job with the agency. He'd accepted in a heartbeat, figuring that he could get a cool trench coat to accent his eye patch and would hang out in bars trying to beat information out of people. Cordelia, it seemed, had had other plans, which was how Xander found himself sitting at a desk waiting for the phone to ring. * At least the accommodations aren't half bad * he smiled, stretching his legs beneath his desk and leaning back against the soft leather upholstery. The sound of the front door slamming open caused him to bolt upright and try to look productive, shuffling papers on his desk. The source of the commotion was, not surprisingly, Cordelia and Gunn having another one of their arguments about god only knows what. Xander nodded a greeting to the pair that went unnoticed as they continued squabbling past his desk and headed off into the depths of the building, probably to find and annoy Angel with whatever their dispute was about. At a more leisurely pace came Wesley, looking a bit bedraggled. Unlike the first two he not only acknowledged Xander's greeting with a nod and smile of his own, but grabbed a nearby chair and rolled it over to the younger man's desk. " So, what were the dynamic duo fighting about this time?" Xander asked, nodding his head back in the direction that they'd gone."
The former Watcher slowly ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh before answering, " What else? The business of course. I believe Gunn's feeling a bit put out by the new Slayers taking over so much of the actual evil fighting and he believes that in taking on so many non- supernatural cases we've lost sight of the point of Angel Investigations. Cordelia on the other hand, thinks that we should not only continue taking on mundane cases but should expand our services perhaps to include protection as well."
Xander blinked, " Protection? You mean body guarding? You can't tell me that Cordy actually thinks that we're going to attract big name clients who would want us as body guards when they can hire people with actual experience." He grabbed the cooling cup of coffee on the desk and took a long sip as he waited for the answer.
Wesley actually chuckled, " You're going to love this. You've noticed how most of the new Slayers are rather, ah, attractive young women, I'm sure." Xander nodded, a grin tugging at his lips, even though Wesley hadn't been a Watcher for years now, there were moments when he still reminded Xander of the tight assed British guy he'd been when they first met. " Well, Cordelia believes that they could be more effective than most body guards not only because of their enhanced abilities but because no one would ever suspect a beautiful young woman to pose the kind of threat that our Slayers could."
Xander gaped in astonishment, his mouth working soundlessly for a few moments before he found his voice again. " I'd say that you're joking but in the entire time I've known you, you haven't made a single decent joke. That's insane. Has she forgotten the wonderfully fun events when Faith decided that there was nothing wrong with taking on humans?" Off Wesley's wince, Xander quickly apologized, " Sorry, forgot for a second who I was talking to man. But there is no way that anyone could possibly agree that this is a good idea. Whole packs of Slayers who wouldn't necessarily see the need to limit their fighting to the supernatural baddies out there."
Wesley nodded in agreement, " If there was a way to ensure they wouldn't go rogue on us it wouldn't be a bad idea, it would certainly give them a little more than constantly fighting for their lives but sadly we can't make any such guarantees." He sighed resignedly and glanced at the papers Xander had been shuffling on the desk. A slow smile crossed his features, " So, judging by our work sheets I gather that we have a meeting with tic tac toe later on, and this one for hangman, is that today or tomorrow? Really Xander, when such important individuals call you should be sure to get all the necessary information."
Xander smiled sheepishly and gestured to the phone, " Well, you know how hard it is to keep track of everything the way that thing keeps ringing every five minutes. I tell ya, I'm going to need a prosthetic ear if the business keeps up at this pace." The two men shared a smile. " Seriously though, we did get a message from Giles. He's in Guam right now, and he's found yet another Slayer and miraculously this one had a living Watcher with her. He's trying to convince the Watcher to come back with her to serve as an interpreter."
" That would be a blessing," Wesley conceded, " If I get sent on another run to every bookstore in town trying to find an English to whatever language we need dictionary, I'm going to scream." He pushed back from the desk and walked over to the coffee pot, grabbing the cleanest mug he could find and hesitantly examining the dark contents of the pot. " Is this any good?" he asked dubiously
"Well Wes," Xander grinned, folding his arms behind his head, " good around here is a relative term. I mean come on, we work for a guy who was once the most feared vampire to ravage the European countryside and with a chick responsible for a few murders and beating you to a pulp. I think we can only ask so much of the coffee. Especially when you consider that it was made by one of the new Slayers."
Wesley made a face before setting the mug back down and walking back to the desk empty handed. " Too true," he conceded, " and yet you're willing to drink it?"
Xander leaned forward conspiratorially, " Let me tell you something Wes, loosing one eye kinda puts the whole idea of going blind into a different perspective. So I take my chances with Slayer brewed coffee.I mean, if I'm this productive with one good eye just imagine how much more I can get done without sight at all."
The older man opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of the door opening. As one the two employees turned to face the sound. A well dressed man, not too much older than Xander from the looks of him had stepped into the office. He wore a dark black suit with a matching tie and sunglasses, Xander almost made a crack about the Men in Black finally looking in on their operation but decided that it wouldn't be the best idea in the world to piss off potential clients. " This is Angel Investigations, is it not?" the man asked, pulling off his sunglasses as he strode towards Xander and Wesley and revealing eyes almost as dark as the rest of his attire.
" Yes, yes it is," Wesley said, standing and offering his hand to the stranger, " How might we be of service to you, Mr.?" The stranger regarded the proffered hand silently and sat on the edge of Xander's desk without taking it. Xander and Wesley shared a quick glance before focusing their attention on their visitor.
" Rivers, John Rivers," the suited gentleman replied blandly, " I've heard that your agency is willing to handle .ah.problems that the normal law enforcement is either ill-equipped to address or simply won't admit exist, is this true?"
" You've heard correctly Mr. Rivers ," Xander said jovially, " I'm Alexander Harris, and this is Wesley Wyndham Price, unfortunately our employer Angel is unavailable at the moment if you're looking for him. However, we'd be happy to help you in anyway possible ourselves while the boss is on another assignment. What seems to be the problem?"
Rivers' dark eyes traveled from Xander, to Wesley, and back again coldly. After an awkward moment of silence he spoke again, " I wasn't looking for anyone in particular so you to are fine, provided you can actually handle my problem." If either man was insulted by the comment they didn't let it show. " I'm sure you're both aware of the mutant problem facing the world today," Rivers continued, almost spitting the word mutant, " especially after their recent global strike against humanity. I belong to an organization known as the Friends of Humanity and we're dedicated to solving the problem the government refuses to properly address. The only difficulty is, we don't know where they all are. That's where you come in. We're willing to pay quite handsomely if you'd do a little investigating and find every mutant and mutant hide out in our fair city here and turn the names and addresses over to us, no questions asked. What do you say, think you can handle it?" he smiled condescendingly.
Like a shot, Xander flew from behind the desk with a grace that belied his handicap and slammed a fist into the side of Rivers' head, knocking the man off of the desk. Before Rivers had time to recover from the assault, Xander grabbed him by the lapel of his jacket and smashed him against the wall. " Listen here dirtbag," he growled dangerously, " This isn't Nazi Germany. Mutants have just as much a right to life as you or I do. We're not going to do your dirty work so you can kill innocent people, now I suggest that you take your racism and condescending attitude and get the hell out of this office before I kick your ass so hard you have to take your shirt of to."
" Xander!," Wesley cried, finally getting over his shock at the outburst of violence in the normally easy going young man, " A simple no, we won't take the job would have sufficed. Now let him go before we have people coming out to see what all the commotion is up here." He stressed the word people and Xander seemed to take the hint, lowering Rivers to the floor and releasing him. The tension in the room was like a living, breathing thing until Rivers picked up his fallen sunglasses and stormed out of the building without another word. Wesley let out a breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding. " Now, would you mind telling me what that was all about? I'll grant you that I disapprove just as strongly of his group as you do, but that was uncalled for Xander."
" Actually Wes," Xander began, " I would mind telling you what that was all about. Let's just leave it at I don't like assholes coming in here and asking us to help them kill innocent people just because they're made up a little bit differently. Mutants aren't necessarily monsters anymore than demons are, you've got your good and bad in everything. However, if groups like the Friends of Humanity really want to do the world a service, they should all commit suicide and rid the world of their hatred." With that he turned and started for the stairs up to his room.
Wesley tried to think of something to say, something that might calm the young man, when the phone rang on Xander's desk. Automatically Wesley picked it up, " Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless," he said. There was a pause, " Ah, yes he does work here. Hold on one moment please and I'll see if he's available." He set the receiver on the desk with a curious glance and ran to the stairs, catching up with Xander. " It's for you," Wesley said by way of explanation, " some girl. She sounded rather relieved to hear that you indeed work here. You're not going to bars and just claiming to be a detective to pick up women again are you?"
Xander ignored the lame attempt at humor and quickly headed back to the phone, curious as to who possibly could be calling for him. It wasn't as if he'd been doing much dating since Anya died. " Ummm.hello?" he asked, lifting the receiver to his ear.
" Hello yourself Xander" came the reply, a warm softly accented woman's voice.
" Who is this?" he asked. There was something familiar about the voice that began stirring things in his head but he couldn't put the pieces together.
" Let's just say that Ah've stopped running," the voice teased. A sudden realization struck him and his hand involuntarily tightened on the receiver.
" Marie," he said, the name coming out as the faintest whisper.
Author's note: Yes, that's right chapter two ends in a cliffhanger. Aren't I evil?
Chapter 2: Reach out and touch someone
Author: RoguesKnight
Disclaimer: I don't own them. Never have, probably never will. Just borrowing them for awhile and will return them to their respective homes none the worse for wear ( I hope ). If any lawyers for Fox, Mutant Enemy, Marvel, or Joss Whedon are reading this please don't sue. And if you know of any openings in the companies you represent...I wouldn't turn down the job.
Author's note: I never really paid attention to Angel: The Series so things on that front may be a little sketchy. To those who wonder what the Scoobies are doing in L.A. I just figured that would be the most natural place to go after the destruction of Sunnydale. And finally, to my reviewers who've been so kind, thank you!! It's amazing to wake up mere hours after posting something to see such encouraging words. I do it all for you guys.
Xander Harris swiftly turned around in the lobby of the Hyperion, his one good eye quickly searching the room. He couldn't quite explain it but he had the strangest feeling that someone had been watching him. " Hello?" he called tentatively. Getting no reply he shrugged and turned back around and continued on to the desk that had been set up for him. * Too much time spent around the supernatural * he thought, pushing back his plush leather desk chair and sitting down. It had been a mere week and a half since Sunnydale had been sucked into the depths of the hell that had spawned it and already he had a place with Angel Investigations. He hated to admit it, but coming to stay with Deadboy and his crew had been the most logical thing to do with everything in Sunnydale buried under a ton of rubble. The hotel had more than enough rooms to accommodate the new Slayers that were being brought in on almost a daily basis and there was enough evil in the city for them to get used to fighting in relative safety. Buffy and Faith, along with a few of the others who'd survived the battle against the First had organized group patrols of new Slayers so they could get used to fighting and working as a group, which had quickly become the new model for slaying. The upside was that with all of the new Slayers, the forces of evil in Los Angeles were kept in check to the point that Deadboy's agency actually attracted more mundane cases as well as the supernatural ones, which meant paying customers more often than not which thrilled Cordelia to no end. The down side was that with more super-powered people around to fight the good fight, he was more often than not pushed to the edge of the group.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Cordelia had noticed the growing estrangement and offered him an actual job with the agency. He'd accepted in a heartbeat, figuring that he could get a cool trench coat to accent his eye patch and would hang out in bars trying to beat information out of people. Cordelia, it seemed, had had other plans, which was how Xander found himself sitting at a desk waiting for the phone to ring. * At least the accommodations aren't half bad * he smiled, stretching his legs beneath his desk and leaning back against the soft leather upholstery. The sound of the front door slamming open caused him to bolt upright and try to look productive, shuffling papers on his desk. The source of the commotion was, not surprisingly, Cordelia and Gunn having another one of their arguments about god only knows what. Xander nodded a greeting to the pair that went unnoticed as they continued squabbling past his desk and headed off into the depths of the building, probably to find and annoy Angel with whatever their dispute was about. At a more leisurely pace came Wesley, looking a bit bedraggled. Unlike the first two he not only acknowledged Xander's greeting with a nod and smile of his own, but grabbed a nearby chair and rolled it over to the younger man's desk. " So, what were the dynamic duo fighting about this time?" Xander asked, nodding his head back in the direction that they'd gone."
The former Watcher slowly ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh before answering, " What else? The business of course. I believe Gunn's feeling a bit put out by the new Slayers taking over so much of the actual evil fighting and he believes that in taking on so many non- supernatural cases we've lost sight of the point of Angel Investigations. Cordelia on the other hand, thinks that we should not only continue taking on mundane cases but should expand our services perhaps to include protection as well."
Xander blinked, " Protection? You mean body guarding? You can't tell me that Cordy actually thinks that we're going to attract big name clients who would want us as body guards when they can hire people with actual experience." He grabbed the cooling cup of coffee on the desk and took a long sip as he waited for the answer.
Wesley actually chuckled, " You're going to love this. You've noticed how most of the new Slayers are rather, ah, attractive young women, I'm sure." Xander nodded, a grin tugging at his lips, even though Wesley hadn't been a Watcher for years now, there were moments when he still reminded Xander of the tight assed British guy he'd been when they first met. " Well, Cordelia believes that they could be more effective than most body guards not only because of their enhanced abilities but because no one would ever suspect a beautiful young woman to pose the kind of threat that our Slayers could."
Xander gaped in astonishment, his mouth working soundlessly for a few moments before he found his voice again. " I'd say that you're joking but in the entire time I've known you, you haven't made a single decent joke. That's insane. Has she forgotten the wonderfully fun events when Faith decided that there was nothing wrong with taking on humans?" Off Wesley's wince, Xander quickly apologized, " Sorry, forgot for a second who I was talking to man. But there is no way that anyone could possibly agree that this is a good idea. Whole packs of Slayers who wouldn't necessarily see the need to limit their fighting to the supernatural baddies out there."
Wesley nodded in agreement, " If there was a way to ensure they wouldn't go rogue on us it wouldn't be a bad idea, it would certainly give them a little more than constantly fighting for their lives but sadly we can't make any such guarantees." He sighed resignedly and glanced at the papers Xander had been shuffling on the desk. A slow smile crossed his features, " So, judging by our work sheets I gather that we have a meeting with tic tac toe later on, and this one for hangman, is that today or tomorrow? Really Xander, when such important individuals call you should be sure to get all the necessary information."
Xander smiled sheepishly and gestured to the phone, " Well, you know how hard it is to keep track of everything the way that thing keeps ringing every five minutes. I tell ya, I'm going to need a prosthetic ear if the business keeps up at this pace." The two men shared a smile. " Seriously though, we did get a message from Giles. He's in Guam right now, and he's found yet another Slayer and miraculously this one had a living Watcher with her. He's trying to convince the Watcher to come back with her to serve as an interpreter."
" That would be a blessing," Wesley conceded, " If I get sent on another run to every bookstore in town trying to find an English to whatever language we need dictionary, I'm going to scream." He pushed back from the desk and walked over to the coffee pot, grabbing the cleanest mug he could find and hesitantly examining the dark contents of the pot. " Is this any good?" he asked dubiously
"Well Wes," Xander grinned, folding his arms behind his head, " good around here is a relative term. I mean come on, we work for a guy who was once the most feared vampire to ravage the European countryside and with a chick responsible for a few murders and beating you to a pulp. I think we can only ask so much of the coffee. Especially when you consider that it was made by one of the new Slayers."
Wesley made a face before setting the mug back down and walking back to the desk empty handed. " Too true," he conceded, " and yet you're willing to drink it?"
Xander leaned forward conspiratorially, " Let me tell you something Wes, loosing one eye kinda puts the whole idea of going blind into a different perspective. So I take my chances with Slayer brewed coffee.I mean, if I'm this productive with one good eye just imagine how much more I can get done without sight at all."
The older man opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of the door opening. As one the two employees turned to face the sound. A well dressed man, not too much older than Xander from the looks of him had stepped into the office. He wore a dark black suit with a matching tie and sunglasses, Xander almost made a crack about the Men in Black finally looking in on their operation but decided that it wouldn't be the best idea in the world to piss off potential clients. " This is Angel Investigations, is it not?" the man asked, pulling off his sunglasses as he strode towards Xander and Wesley and revealing eyes almost as dark as the rest of his attire.
" Yes, yes it is," Wesley said, standing and offering his hand to the stranger, " How might we be of service to you, Mr.?" The stranger regarded the proffered hand silently and sat on the edge of Xander's desk without taking it. Xander and Wesley shared a quick glance before focusing their attention on their visitor.
" Rivers, John Rivers," the suited gentleman replied blandly, " I've heard that your agency is willing to handle .ah.problems that the normal law enforcement is either ill-equipped to address or simply won't admit exist, is this true?"
" You've heard correctly Mr. Rivers ," Xander said jovially, " I'm Alexander Harris, and this is Wesley Wyndham Price, unfortunately our employer Angel is unavailable at the moment if you're looking for him. However, we'd be happy to help you in anyway possible ourselves while the boss is on another assignment. What seems to be the problem?"
Rivers' dark eyes traveled from Xander, to Wesley, and back again coldly. After an awkward moment of silence he spoke again, " I wasn't looking for anyone in particular so you to are fine, provided you can actually handle my problem." If either man was insulted by the comment they didn't let it show. " I'm sure you're both aware of the mutant problem facing the world today," Rivers continued, almost spitting the word mutant, " especially after their recent global strike against humanity. I belong to an organization known as the Friends of Humanity and we're dedicated to solving the problem the government refuses to properly address. The only difficulty is, we don't know where they all are. That's where you come in. We're willing to pay quite handsomely if you'd do a little investigating and find every mutant and mutant hide out in our fair city here and turn the names and addresses over to us, no questions asked. What do you say, think you can handle it?" he smiled condescendingly.
Like a shot, Xander flew from behind the desk with a grace that belied his handicap and slammed a fist into the side of Rivers' head, knocking the man off of the desk. Before Rivers had time to recover from the assault, Xander grabbed him by the lapel of his jacket and smashed him against the wall. " Listen here dirtbag," he growled dangerously, " This isn't Nazi Germany. Mutants have just as much a right to life as you or I do. We're not going to do your dirty work so you can kill innocent people, now I suggest that you take your racism and condescending attitude and get the hell out of this office before I kick your ass so hard you have to take your shirt of to."
" Xander!," Wesley cried, finally getting over his shock at the outburst of violence in the normally easy going young man, " A simple no, we won't take the job would have sufficed. Now let him go before we have people coming out to see what all the commotion is up here." He stressed the word people and Xander seemed to take the hint, lowering Rivers to the floor and releasing him. The tension in the room was like a living, breathing thing until Rivers picked up his fallen sunglasses and stormed out of the building without another word. Wesley let out a breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding. " Now, would you mind telling me what that was all about? I'll grant you that I disapprove just as strongly of his group as you do, but that was uncalled for Xander."
" Actually Wes," Xander began, " I would mind telling you what that was all about. Let's just leave it at I don't like assholes coming in here and asking us to help them kill innocent people just because they're made up a little bit differently. Mutants aren't necessarily monsters anymore than demons are, you've got your good and bad in everything. However, if groups like the Friends of Humanity really want to do the world a service, they should all commit suicide and rid the world of their hatred." With that he turned and started for the stairs up to his room.
Wesley tried to think of something to say, something that might calm the young man, when the phone rang on Xander's desk. Automatically Wesley picked it up, " Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless," he said. There was a pause, " Ah, yes he does work here. Hold on one moment please and I'll see if he's available." He set the receiver on the desk with a curious glance and ran to the stairs, catching up with Xander. " It's for you," Wesley said by way of explanation, " some girl. She sounded rather relieved to hear that you indeed work here. You're not going to bars and just claiming to be a detective to pick up women again are you?"
Xander ignored the lame attempt at humor and quickly headed back to the phone, curious as to who possibly could be calling for him. It wasn't as if he'd been doing much dating since Anya died. " Ummm.hello?" he asked, lifting the receiver to his ear.
" Hello yourself Xander" came the reply, a warm softly accented woman's voice.
" Who is this?" he asked. There was something familiar about the voice that began stirring things in his head but he couldn't put the pieces together.
" Let's just say that Ah've stopped running," the voice teased. A sudden realization struck him and his hand involuntarily tightened on the receiver.
" Marie," he said, the name coming out as the faintest whisper.
Author's note: Yes, that's right chapter two ends in a cliffhanger. Aren't I evil?