Chapter Four

Escape From hell

Angel and the rest of his team stood up instantly. Buffy automatically stood next to Willow and Xander.

"Did you think a Slayer could come into this building unnoticed Angel?" He said with a grin on his face.

"Not the first thing on my mind," Angel shot back.

"If you think your going to get out of here in one piece then you're mistaken," Hamilton continued.

"Then you don't know who you're dealing with," said Xander, looking at Buffy.

"I think it's the other way round," laughed Hamilton. "And I wouldn't speak again boy. Unless you want to loose your other eye."

With that Angel moved forward at the speed of lightening. He leapt into a roundhouse kick that sent Hamilton flying back out of Angel's office. People looked up and froze as Angel walked out after him.

Hamilton struggled to rise. "You think the Senior Partners don't know what you're up to?"

"Screw the Senior Partners. Bet they didn't count on the fact that I might actually walk out."

He kicked Hamilton in the chest and continued to hit him in the face. Hamilton reached up and blocked him, and then he threw Angel across the room, seemingly with out any effort.

"Angel!" Cordelia cried out.

"You have a contract Angel. You can't just leave!" snapped Hamilton.

"Newsflash, I'm already dead. You won't get me coming back as a ghost to do your work for you. My contract ends the minute I walk out the door."

"We have a problem," said Buffy, pointing out the vampires descending the stairs and emerging from the lifts.

"Get gone!" yelled Angel, still locked in a fight to the death.

"He doesn't look good," said Xander, still shocked that Angel had come to his defence like that. They weren't exactly the best of friends.

Wesley quickly grabbed the weapons hanging on the wall of Angels office and handed them to everyone - a few swords and a couple of daggers.

Willow held up her hand and a magical barrier, blue in colour, appeared before them. "It won't hold long," she said to them.

Buffy looked at Spike for the first time since they'd arrived and it was like they hadn't spent any time apart. She was still mad at him for keeping his secrets, but it still seemed like they knew what each other was thinking when it came to working together.

"Wesley, you try and make it outside. Meet us at the Hyperian, remember to stay out of sight if you can," said Spike rapidly

"We won't just leave you," started Fred.

"You can and you will," Spike told her.

"Xander, you go with them," said Buffy.

Xander knew better then to argue. "The Hyperion's too obvious Spike," said Gunn. "I know a friend who can help us though, remember Anne?"

Spike remembered Gunn talking about his friend who worked in the homeless shelter.

"Right," he nodded. "Cordy, make sure they're ok. If we don't meet you in the next few hours, then we won't."

She nodded and they started to run.

"Willow…." started Buffy anxiously.

She nodded. "One, two, three……"

The first wave of vampires that came at them burst into flames.

Then Buffy and Spike moved forward and began to take them out, moving simultaneously.

Willow hurried over to where Angel and Hamilton were fighting and muttered some words under her breath. Hamilton froze instantly.

"Thanks Willow," said Angel.

She smiled at him. "Anytime."

"Guys, time to get moving," said Angel.

The vamps that Buffy and Spike were fighting turned to stone thanks to another spell.

Buffy and Spike joined Willow and Angel as they ran to meet their friends.

"And we're out of there," said Spike as they burst through the doors along with the rest of the employees who were running with them.

"About god damn time," said Buffy. "Angel, I don't know how you could have spent so much time in there in the first place. Didn't you get claustrophobic with all the evil vibes?"

Angel didn't know himself. Now that he was actually out of the building, he realised just how blind he'd been. He felt freer then he had in a long time.

"No time for that. Spike, were are we going?"

"This way," said the pale haired vampire, running on ahead.

"Some of us don't have super speed," grumbled Willow as she followed the trio.

………………………………...

While Angel and the others were fighting, Wesley and his team were trying to make their way out - and running into trouble of their own.

"You sure you guys know where you're going?" asked Xander. It seemed they had been running for miles.

"It's changed!" exclaimed Fred. "They've moved everything around. I was sure there was an exit down this way."

"Did you see where Harmony went?" asked Gunn as they ran.

No one had time to answer him as they had run into yet another crowd of vampires and demons……..

………………………………...

A few hours later…..

"Where are they?" asked Cordelia for the thousandth time. She was pacing the room impatiently.

"It's been more then a few hours," said Fred grimly.

"I'm not giving up on them yet," Cordy snapped. "And neither should you guys."

They had finally reached the homeless shelter. It was definitely on the cramped side, what with Cordy, Lorne, Gunn, Fred, Xander and Wesley alongside numerous amounts of homeless kids. Anne had kindly let them in and had taken care of any damage with what she had.

"I still don't understand how you made it out," said Anne, handing Xander some water.

"Pure luck is my guess," said Lorne.

"The bad guys slipped up," said Gunn, wincing slightly. He looked a little sadly at the tear in his flashy suite. He could feel the knowledge that he had gained slowly fading away.

"They used their resources mostly against Angel and the slayer, forgot to guard their perimeter. My thinking is they let us escape though. It wasn't going their way so they didn't want to get their hands dirty."

"But its Wolfram and Hart," Fred interrupted him. "It was a lot of evil, but they have to have more in store for us. That can't have been it. I mean, we left. No one just leaves that place alive, right?"

"You might need stitches," Anne was saying to Xander in a whisper.

He glanced down at her as she continued to attend to the deep cut on his arm. "Been through worse," he muttered. "I'll live". Then he softened his tone a little. "Sorry. Hey - I recognise you from somewhere…"

"I hear that all the time," she smiled.

"No really….shantarelle. That's it. You used to live in Sunnydale and…" his voice trailed off as he remembered.

"I was in a bad place back then," she answered. "As you can see, I've got my life back on track. But if it wasn't for Buffy…I'll never forget what she did for me. I hope she's ok."

"She will be," he assured her.

"Angel!" Said Cordelia suddenly, making them all jump.

Xander looked up as Buffy and the others entered the shelter. They looked pretty bad….and that was being kind.

"Sorry about the waiting. We had to take cover for a while to make sure we weren't being followed," answered Angel.

"I'll be ok," said Buffy at Xander's look. "Healing powers, remember?"

That was when she noticed Anne. "You've changed," she said in surprise.

Anne nodded. "You too."

"You really own this place?" Buffy continued in amazement.

Anne smiled. "Yep. Here's some bandages. And food and drink if you want."

"Thanks," said Buffy. Then she turned to Cordelia, trying to ignore the wounds she had recieved during the fight. "So. Where do we go from here?"

………………………………...

At the same time as Angel was escaping from Wolfram and hart, Lindsey gazed out of a nearby hotel room at the city lights below him. He didn't know what was about to happen, but he knew that something would, soon. He didn't know if it would happen in the next week or month, but he could feel it.

He knew that Connor had gone missing. He may have been out of town for a while…ok…four or five years but who was counting? But that didn't mean he didn't hear things through the grapevine. He still had contacts. After all, a man on the run couldn't afford to miss out on anything. And he was on the run. He had left Wolfram and Hart. Once you signed your life away to them, you couldn't easily get it back. And he knew that Connor was a big part of what was about to happen. Just as much as his father. So

Lindsey had come back to warn Angel.

He didn't know why he'd come back. Or why he had this sudden desire to play the good guy. It wasn't like he and the dark avenger were best friends. In fact, their history was... colourful. He still remembered a certain fight where he'd lost a hand. But he owed the guy for making him see sense about where he'd been heading. And Lindsey hated owing anyone anything. He also didn't know that Angel was well aware about his son's sudden disappearing act.

He reached over to pick up a newspaper from a nearby table. The signs of doomsday approaching were all over the place. And he knew that if Angel had really accepted the job at Wolfram and Hart, that the so called champion wouldn't have seen any of the clues. Lindsey knew Angel had to have some trick up his sleeve. Angel hated everything and anything about that place, he wouldn't join them just like that, would he? Unless things had changed more then he'd thought. He remembered something he'd told Angel just before he'd left. Don't let them make you play their game. Make them play yours. Had Angel taken his advice? It seemed not even a little bit!

He looked out the window again and could just make out the tall building that was hell on earth. Actually…it was more like a gateway into hell if you thought about it. Did he really want to go back into that place? Hell no was the answer. He was tired of their games. he wasn't sure if he even wanted to get into this world again, even if it was helping the good guys out. But he didn't see another choice.

Next chapter…Connor and Dawn….