AUTHOR'S NOTE Not much to report here, I don't think. The answer to last chapter's trivia question as well as a new one will be at the bottom of the chapter. Oh, and this chapter comes in a few hours after the end of "Not Fade Away" (the series finale of Angel).

DISCLAIMER I don't own anyone.

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Chapter Five: In Which the Team is Assembled

The Hyperion Hotel

Buffy and Willow received a very different greeting than they had expected. They found Angel, Spike, a black man who Willow remembered as Gunn, and the girl Fred (who looked quite different than before) barricading themselves inside the lobby of the Hyperion. "What's going on?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy?" Spike asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"Buffy." Angel quickly ushered Buffy and Willow behind a protective barrier.

"Angel, what's going on?"

Angel kept a furtive eye on the entrances to the hotel. "Battle. We just barely made it out. I upset Wolfram and Hart's Senior Partners," he explained, his brow furrowed.

"Oh."

Willow looked around. "What's up with Fred?"

Fred, who now had blue hair and unnaturally vivid blue eyes, turned her head sharply toward her. "She speaks of her," was all she said.

"Willow, this is Illyria," Angel said uncomfortably. "Fred is dead."

Her eyes widened. "Oh Angel, I'm sorry!"

Angel nodded, but then cast an eye back to the door. "Later. The Senior Partners could send anything at any moment."

"Well, why don't you just have Wesley put up a protection spell?" Buffy asked.

Gunn and Spike looked sadly at each other. Illyria did nothing and kept her piercing gaze on Buffy and Willow. Angel sank to the ground sadly. "He's dead."

Buffy, in turn, sat down. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Should I even bother to ask whether Cordelia's woken up?" A look from the defeated Angel Investigations told her. "She's dead, too."

"Things have been bad here, Buffy," Spike said, all hope gone from his voice. "I thought Sunnydale was bad, but this is worse."

Willow looked at them all resolutely. "Well now you can get away from it."

"Willow, the demons will kill us the first chance they get. They'll follow us wherever we go," Angel said tiredly.

"They can't follow where we're going," Willow answered firmly.

Buffy sighed. "I guess now's as good a time as any. The Watcher's Council isn't destroyed. They're sending the two of us on a mission. There's a top-secret installation called Manticore somewhere in Wyoming. They're breeding super-soldiers by splicing human, animal, and demon DNA together. In the year 2020, some renegade soldier is going to blow open the place and let all the demon hybrids out. The Council doesn't want that. That idiot Quentin Travers is sending us…" She broke off. "God, I sound so stupid saying this. He's sending us forward in time to stop her."

She was met with blank stares. She shifted uncomfortably. "I was hoping you would come with us to help."

"How?" Gunn asked. "I mean, Illyria was capable of creating time fluxes, but you're talking about years."

Suddenly, a large brown owl swooped into the hotel lobby. It dropped a package into Willow's lap and flew out again. "What was that?" Spike asked.

"Owl post, from the Council," Willow replied. She tore open the package and extracted an hourglass swinging from a chain. "This is a Time Turner. It's been set to turn years instead of hours. It will take us to 2020."

Illyria eyed the Time Turner with what resembled curiosity. "Such power in such a small device," she said. Snapping up to look at Willow, she added, "I will go."

"What is she?" Buffy whispered to Angel.

"She's an Old One. She used to be a God King on Earth before humans took over," he whispered back. "But most of her power's gone. Wesley…" He stopped and let the sentence drop.

Buffy turned to Spike and Gunn. "What about you two? Are you in?"

Spike took a deep breath. "It's better than waiting here to get pummeled again. I'm in."

Angel looked at Buffy. "I should come with you too."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Buffy said with a small smile.

All eyes turned to Gunn. "I can't," he replied softly. "I have no power. I'm not a demon or a vampire or a witch or a Slayer. I won't help."

"That's not true!" Willow said.

"I can't go," he said. "I'm sorry. Angel, you know I should stay here. Someone should stay to keep fighting the good fight."

Those words cut through Angel like a knife. He'd heard so many people say them. Doyle. Wesley. Probably even Cordelia. "The good fight, yeah." He nodded.

"So when do we leave?" Spike asked.

"As soon as possible," Willow answered. "Now."

"Now? So much for long good-byes." Spike shrugged and walked over next to Willow. "What's first?"

"First we have to get to Wyoming. The Time Turner doesn't transport us through space, so we need to be close to where Manticore is."

"Alright." Buffy looked outside. "It's daylight. We can't leave until tonight."

Angel and Spike nodded. "We can take my car," Angel said. "It will fit all five of us."

They spent hours holed up in the abandoned hotel. No one said much, each absorbed in his or her own thoughts. Buffy was glad when night finally fell. Being so close to Angel was uncomfortable.

They stole quietly into Angel's car. Gunn stood by the building. "Good luck, guys."

"Thanks mate," Spike said. And then they sped off toward the north.

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The Answer to the Last Trivia Question

I believe everyone got it right. Anya explained the origins of demons in "Graduation Day Part 1."

Today's Trivia Question Is:

Who first said the line "The good fight, yeah," and on what episode of Angel was it?

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Review Responses!

KIT Correct answer! I liked the Dana episode as well…sigh...I miss Angel being on.

Anna Well, as you can see, it's not the whole gang. Gunn won't be going with them, although we do learn something of his fate later on.

Jade Hunter Not only can't you resist trivia, but you're also right!

Samantha No, you were right, it was Part 1.

Slash-a-Holic Yeah, it may have been a bit of a filler chapter, but I needed to get Dawn safely out of the picture so that Buffy didn't have to worry about her while she's in Seattle. The crossover element starts in the next chapter when Buffy and friends actually go to 2020.

Mixer You're right, too! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far.