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4:40 am, Wednesday – Slayer Base HQ

Buffy lay in her bed, her eyes unable to close. There was nothing in particular that kept her up; she just couldn't go to sleep for some odd reason. Getting out of bed, she decided she'd get a glass of warm milk to help her sleep, as it always seemed to work before when she was a kid. Journeying downstairs she noticed there were noises coming from the lobby area, something the sounded like the TV was on. Walking closer she saw that it indeed was. Seeing a figure on the couch she stepped closer and closer to see whom it was. She relaxed when she saw it was Adrienne. Apparently, the girl had the same problem.

"Adrienne?" she asked.

"Buffy," she replied, slightly startled. "Hey. Sorry, I couldn't sleep. Thought I'd come down and watch a late night sci-fi flick."

"Well, I couldn't sleep either. I was going to warm some milk up. Hopefully it'll help."

"You had trouble sleeping too?" she asked. "Wow, that makes three of us."

"Three?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah," the girl replied. "Willow's down here too. Apparently she couldn't sleep either."

"Hey, Buffy," Willow said, coming from the kitchen carrying a glass of water.

"Willow," Buffy said. "You couldn't sleep either?"

"No," she replied. "I came downstairs to get a drink of water."

"Isn't the water working in your room?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, it is," she answered. "But I needed to walk around a bit. Plus, Kennedy isn't the lightest sleeper in the world. Why are you up?"

"I think my bed is too uncomfortable. Three months in Italy and all of a sudden I'm a softy. Wait, why are you up?"

Buffy noticed that her best friend was looking a little disturbed, like something was on her mind. "Willow, is everything alright?"

"I couldn't sleep because I was feeling... weird."

"What do you mean by 'weird'?" Buffy asked cautiously.

"I mean, like something was off, like something… busted out. It made my flesh crawl. It's still making my flesh crawl."

"Is it local?" Buffy asked.

"No," Willow replied. "It's far off. I mean, it's not halfway around the world far off, but it's not here. I just have a feeling something really bad happened... and I mean really bad."

It was at that moment the office phone rang. Buffy didn't want to answer it yet; she wanted to attend to her friend. But she knew if someone was calling at this hour, it must have been important. Walking into the office she grabbed the cordless phone and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Buffy? It's Julia, out in LA."

"Julia? What's up? It's five in the morning here."

"We've got a situation," Julia said.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, her tone deeply serious.

"Me and the girls have been fighting all night. We went out on patrol and all of sudden got bombarded with baddies."

"Is it an attack?" Buffy asked anxiously.

"That's the thing," Julia said. "It doesn't seem like a coordinated strike. It's like every creepy crawly just came out of the woodwork and started getting antsy. We're holding off as much as we can but it's tough. I had to call you on my cell since the power is out on a couple of blocks. We're still trying to figure out what happened."

"Alright," Buffy said, "just do what you can and report back to me. Get your people back to base when things die down."

"Will do," Julia replied.

Buffy turned off the phone and pondered things. She had no clue what was going on, but a couple of guesses entered her head. The number one guess was Wolfram & Hart, but Julia said there wasn't really an attack on the Slayers themselves. Okay... just what is going on out there?" she thought. She was brought out of her thoughts by the local news brief interrupting Adrienne's movie.

"… In Los Angeles, an office building belonging to the law firm of Wolfram & Hart has collapsed. Police, fire, and rescue crews are on the site of the collapse investigating and looking for any survivors. More details to come on your seven a.m. news. In Seattle..."

All three women were stunned into a brief silence, until Willow turned and worryingly said, "Buffy..."

"Adrienne…" Buffy said, "ring the alarm."

"Right," the young woman replied, anxiety etched on her face. She went over to the wall, lifted up the plastic guard, and pressed the red alarm button. As soon as she did, the klaxons in the building went off.

Walking into the office Buffy closed the door and dialed Sara's number. They would need everyone they could get on the matter. If Wolfram & Hart were making a move, everyone would have to be on their game and ready.

The phone rang as she waited.

Sara lay asleep on her couch, which had been substituting as a bed for the last week or so. She was snoring lightly and peacefully when her cell phone rang. Her eyes closed, she waved her hand around to feel for it. Once she found it, she grabbed it and spoke groggily into it.

"Hello?" she said monotonically.

"Sara," Buffy said.

"Buffy? It's…" she said as looked at the clock, "five in the morning. Please tell me you have a good reason for waking me up at five in the morning."

"I do," Buffy replied. "It's Wolfram & Hart."

"Yeah? What about them?" Sara asked, her tone still uninterested.

"The LA office just collapsed."

"What?" the cop replied in a surprised voice. She was wide awake now.

"The LA branch just collapsed. I'm calling an emergency meeting. I'll put you on conference call." Buffy pressed the button just as the residents in the building gathered near the office.

"Buffy, what's going on?" Kennedy asked. "What's the emergency?"

"Are we under attack?" Rona inquired.

"Everyone listen up," Buffy started. "I just got some disturbing news. Wolfram & Hart's LA office just collapsed."

"Oh, good…" Giles started to say.

"You've got to be…" Kennedy muttered.

"When did this…?" Rona asked.

"Everyone, we need to stay calm," Buffy said as she motioned with her hands. "Right now we're on high alert. Get the word to every Slayer in the city; wake 'em up if you have to. Tell them what's going on." She turned to Willow. "Willow, I need you to get a message to every Slayer around the world. Tell them the status of things." Willow nodded her head. Buffy then spoke aloud to the conferencing system. "Sara?"

"I hear you," she replied.

"We're going to need info on whatever happened out there and why that building collapsed," Buffy said. "Think you can get something from the cops in LA?"

"I can try," Sara said. "But chances are it'll be a couple of days before they have any definitive info. And if that law firm is as bad as you guys say, they'll stonewall the investigation. Once that happens, we're on our own."

"Well, get what you can," Buffy replied. "Let's be careful out there, guys. Patrols stay tight and in groups of three. If things happen, fall back to base. You all know your assignments. Get to it."

As everyone started to disperse, Giles and Kennedy walked up to Buffy, the concern evident on his face. "What do you think happened?" she asked.

"I don't know, Kennedy," she replied, "but whatever it is we need to be prepared."

"What's your plan in case Wolfram & Hart attack?" asked Giles.

Buffy just looked at him silently, the worry in her eyes clear to him; no reply was necessary.

8:03 am, Wednesday - 11th Precinct

The 11th Precinct was busy as normal. Sara had arrived bright and early, intent on discreetly getting info throughout the day from the police out in LA. But she knew she would have to wait until the near the end of the workday to get what she wanted. Not only was there the time difference, but she knew that any data on a building that collapsed less than twenty-four hours ago would be scant. But she saw Buffy's reasoning in requesting her assistance; if they could get even a tiny bit of information on why the building went down, they'd be able to determine early on whether or not the incident posed an immediate threat. And that was worth any effort.


5:34 pm, Wednesday – Johnny Red's Bar & Grille

The bar teemed with patrons, those deciding to have a few drinks after the busy workday. It was slightly hectic, but manageable. Buffy had stepped in and eyed Willy at the bar. He had stopped being an informant as he thought it better for his health, no doubt because of Amy. Buffy realized she had lost a valuable source of info, but was eased by the fact that New York was way bigger than Sunnydale and they could find an informant if they wanted to. It was just a question of time. Still, she had a feeling the bartender didn't completely give up on the info business and approached him in her usual manner.

"What's up, Willy?"

"Buffy! Hey, I told you I don't do that stuff anymore, especially if that Amy chick's involved."

"Oh, come on, you know as well as I do you couldn't stay out of the game if you tried," she said.

"Maybe, but I know who you're after and I not tryin' to cross her."

"Lucky for you, it's not about her," Buffy said. "I want to know about what happened out in LA."

"What happened out in LA?" he asked.

"Willy…"

"Alright, alright. Look, nobody's told me anything about it."

"You've got nothing, nothing at all?"

"Didn't say that. Just said nobody's been telling," he said.

"Okay, so what do you know?" she asked.

"Look around the bar, kid."

Buffy did so and saw all the patrons in the bar, nothing out of the ordinary. She turned back to Willy. "What? All I see is a bunch of people drinking and eating after work."

"It's what you don't see that matters."

"What're you getting at?" she asked.

"Every Wednesday a couple of Wolfram & Hart regulars come in here and throw down a few drinks, maybe grab a bite to eat; a group of lawyers here and there, a few secretaries. You should try the potato skins. They got the cheese all nice and melted with the..."

"Willy!" Buffy yelled, trying to get him back on track.

"Right,'" he said. "Anyway, like I said, a couple of regulars from the firm show up on Wednesdays. But today, nobody's come by from there. And here's the kicker: about a half-hour ago, somebody came by from there for a pick-up order for thirty sandwich specials. The most we ever get from them is ten for the late-working crowd."

Buffy began to see what Willy saw and started to put the clues together. "They're scrambling," she said.

"Seems like whatever went down in LA's got them puttin' in a whole lot of overtime," he said.

Buffy pondered this new information for a moment. If it was true, that meant that something happened that put them on edge. While it still didn't mean she and hers were in the clear, it did open up the possibility that Wolfram & Hart would be too busy to care about them. "Thanks, Willy."

"Just don't be comin' around too often. Still got my health and I plan to keep it that way."


6:30 pm, Wednesday – 11th Precinct

"Detective Singer speaking…"

"This is Detective Pezzini, 11th Precinct, out of NYC," Sara said.

"New York?" he replied quizzically. Brushing aside the oddity of the situation he asked, "Well, what can I do for you, detective?"

"The Wolfram & Hart building that collapsed. I wanted to know any guesses you guys had on the cause."

"Well, it's been less than twenty-four hours; there's nothing much to tell. And even if there was, we're not releasing that info yet."

And you probably won't, once Wolfram & Hart tell you to back off, Sara thought. From her conversations with Giles and Buffy, she had a pretty good impression of the company. She had no doubt the firm would forestall a thorough investigation, offer up some lame excuse for the collapse, and end the whole affair, thus leaving the hard work of dredging up info to people like her and the Scoobies. "Not even to a fellow cop?" she asked.

"What's New York's interest in this anyway?" he inquired.

Sara paused. "NYPD doesn't have an interest in this."

"I see," he replied, understanding things. "Sorry, detective, I can't help you out there."

"Hmm..." Sara replied. "You married, Detective Singer?"

"Yes," he replied cautiously, "and quite happily. With two kids."

"Good. Ever think about taking the wife out to New York?"

"It's crossed my mind. Why?"

"Well, I was just thinking that it might be nice to take her out to see a Broadway play, box seats," Sara replied.

"Really…?" he said.

"Yep. You might find yourself having two tickets on hand, given some circumstances."

"Huh…" he muttered.

"Come on, from one cop to another," she said.

Thinking about the offer for a moment he decided that it wouldn't really do any harm if she knew some of the info and acquiesced. "Alright… I'll bite."

"Cool, so what do you know?"

"Well, we don't have much but some speculations and a few eyewitness reports."

"Give me what you can," she replied.

"The damage pattern doesn't seem consistent with any explosive device, but it could have been detonated underground. We're checking that."

"What about the eyewitnesses?" Sara asked.

"A few people in the area said they didn't hear any explosion. At first they thought it was an earthquake, but nothing else in the area seemed to be taking any damage. One eyewitness also said he saw someone running from the area near the collapse, a male in his late teens to early 20's from what he could gather; medium-build, long-haired. He also said the guy looked pretty beat up. That's about it so far."

Sara busied herself writing down the scant information. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now. "Okay," she said. "Thanks for the info, detective."

"No problem," he replied. "Oh, and uh, the wife has been wanting to see a musical for some time now."

Chuckling, Sara said, "You got it. Take care, detective." Hanging up she wasn't too sure any of the info was of any use. If there wasn't an explosion, and that was a big 'if' considering the investigation was pending, then that left one of three possibilities: Angel and his crew took down the place, a new enemy did, or Wolfram & Hart's head honchos did it themselves. The second possibility didn't scare her too much; if Wolfram & Hart had a new enemy, hopefully they'd be potential allies or too preoccupied with dismantling the firm to bother with the Slayers.

It was the first and third possibility that gave her the creeps. If Angel and his people brought the place down, Wolfram & Hart might come after them thinking they were in cahoots. And if the firm brought the place down themselves, Angel might have pissed them off enough to do it and that still meant she and the Scoobies could be fair game to them. The idea of fighting both Amy and Wolfram & Hart wasn't something she wanted to entertain.

Then there was still the matter of the injured. young man leaving the site of the collapse. Did he have something to do with it?, she thought. All and all, that still left many pieces of a puzzle that needed to be put together.

"And so the plot thickens…" she muttered to herself.


11:00 pm, Friday – Slayer Base HQ

The night had been particularly rainy in the city. Nearly seventy-two hours had passed since first hearing of the incident, and the Scoobies were no closer to figuring out the cause than they were before. The lobby was scrambling with people going to and fro. Some of the Slayers had come back from their patrols in the groups of three that Buffy ordered. Patrolling times were cut to ensure no one was out too long to be ambushed. It made things a little less efficient, but they didn't want to be caught unawares.

In the main office, Buffy, Willow, Kennedy, Giles, and Sara talked about what information had been gathered since the collapse and to figure out new contingencies. Everyone had been putting in massive hours of foot and book work to get info and now they were assessing their progress. Which, to date, had not been much.

"So, what do we know?" Buffy asked.

Sara stood and picked up her notepad and began to summarize the bits and pieces of the puzzle. "Okay, so we have some big incident happening late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. Eyewitness reports say no one heard any explosion. One eyewitness also says he saw what looked to be a male in his late teens/early 20's, long-haired, medium-build, running from the site in pretty bad shape. Soon after the building collapsed the LA Slayers had vampires and demons bombard their patrols. Subsequent patrols found the usual vampire haunts seemingly abandoned. That's about it."

Willow thought about the young man running from the site. He had been on her mind since Sara mentioned him. The description could have been said of any number of people in LA but she kept thinking about anyone who would have been associated with Angel or Wolfram & Hart. Someone in the back of her mind kept popping up but he was too vague. I guess I'll worry about it later, she thought.

"Alright, that's about as much as we have right now," Buffy said. "Let's keep working at it for awhile to see if we can dig up anything else."

"Buffy," Sara said, "don't you think we should be focusing elsewhere, like the stone Amy bought from Post?"

"I know, but I want to make sure we aren't being lined up for an attack."

"Look, Buffy, I know this is a bit… personal for you…"

"I'm not taking this personally," Buffy interrupted defensively.

"Maybe… and maybe not," Sara replied, trying to be diplomatic. "But Wolfram & Hart hasn't made a move against us since the collapse and Amy's got a big head start. I know you want to be cautious with Wolfram & Hart, but let's make sure we're not losing focus."

Buffy heard the cop's words; she knew Sara was right, in some respects. Amy had a big head start on them in the planning department and they were still in the dark about the details. Buffy also knew she'd be lying if she said that a lot of this case wasn't personal. She had fought internally to keep her personal feelings in check about the matter, but at times she faltered. On this, though, she was trying to be as rational and thorough as possible. Seeing everyone's looks and knowing they were coming to the same conclusion as Sara, she spoke.

"Okay, I know you guys are tired and you want to get back to whatever Amy's doing," Buffy said. "I do too. Look, just give it one more day and that's it. If we haven't found anything, we'll just close the case up for another day."

Looking at each other for a few moments, the group nodded and consented to Buffy's request. As soon as Buffy started to speak to give out the new assignments, three loud knocks came from the front door.

"Okay," she said, "so I'll make some more calls out to LA and see what Julia and the others have come up with..."

The three knocks came again.

Buffy continued. "Willow, see if you can find any mystics who may know what happened. Check the web for any chats or sites that might be talking about it. They may know something we don't…"

The three knocks came again.

"Sara, talk to the police again. I know Wolfram & Hart arranged for their own investigators to work it, but see if any cops'll talk about what they found out..."

The three knocks came once again.

Buffy opened the office door. "And will somebody please bother to answer the door!" she yelled out, greatly annoyed.

"Alright, alright," Ling replied. She walked toward the reinforced door to answer it, the person on the other side still knocking in sets of three. "I'm coming, I'm coming," she said in a frustrated voice. She was a little pissed that the person seemed to be getting impatient. She began to mutter under her breath as she started to open the door. "Man, person's gonna keep knocking 'til they're blue in the…"

She finally opened the door and was surprised by the sight of the person in front of her.

"…face," Ling finished in a hushed and surprised tone.

The woman was wrapped in a cloak and drenched with rain; she had a petite figure, though the cloak hid it well. Still, it wasn't surprising that a person knocking on particularly rainy evening in New York was drenched from head to toe. No, the surprising part of the woman was her face; unless her eyes were playing tricks with her, Ling could have sworn it was sporting a blue forehead.

"I wish to speak to Buffy Summers," the woman said in a commanding tone, snapping Ling out her bewildered state.

Still looking at her wide-eyed, Ling yelled toward the office. "Buffy… it's for you!"

Buffy walked toward the entrance, the rest of the gang in tow. "Ling, who is…?" she started to ask as she got closer to the door, only to become quiet when she saw the figure standing at the threshold.

"You are Buffy Summers?" the woman asked.

"Yeah…" Buffy replied cautiously. "who wants to know?"

Lifting her head up more for all to see, the woman stood as dignified as she could in the pouring rain.

"I am Illyria."