Present Day – Starling City

"Ow!" Felicity grunts as she lands flat on her face on the mats which Buffy had placed in her living room for this training session.
Buffy arches a brow as she stares down at her cousin, a small sly smirk of amusement crossing her face as she does "You suck at this."

Felicity rolls her eyes before taking Buffy's hand as the blonde Slayer offers to help her up.
Felicity rolls her shoulders before shrugging "My mind is a temple my body...not so much."

Buffy shakes her head before sighing, she needed Felicity to take this seriously, she was hesitant enough about involving Felicity in this world, but if she was going to continue to do it then she would be damned if her cousin didn't have something to protect herself with.

"The trick is to keep your weight evenly distributed..." Buffy tells her as she walks past Felicity towards the bo-staffs in the corner of the room right next to her Katana.

"I thought the trick was to not get into fights...especially with super powered demons that could and would kill me." Felicity points out flatly as she rubs her sore shoulder while turning to face her cousin who was twirling a bo-staff in her palm.

Buffy sighs before turning to face the genius as she places the end of the bo-staff on the ground leaning her jaw on the tip as she stares at one of her few family members left "Look, humans that work for demons can be just as dangerous. Especially if they find you. Which is why tomorrow I'm gonna show you how to shoot a gun."
"You hate guns."
"Doesn't mean I don't know how to use one."

Felicity sighs before her eyes widen in panic as Buffy tosses a bo-staff at her, she yelps slightly before clenching her eyes shut as she catches the bamboo stick.

At Buffy's small chuckle Felicity glares at her before looking at her seriously as the Slayer approaches her, she was still curious about the demons thing. She wanted to know more, it was the hacker part of her brain begging to dig deeper for the intel.
"So what actually happened in Sunnydale, with the whole Grand Canyon remodel?"

Buffy sighs before swinging her bo-staff down at Felicity causing the blonde to yelp again before raising the staff blocking Buffy's with her own.
"My ex blew it up." The Slayer says simply before twisting Felicity's staff to the side before tapping her backside causing Felicity to cry out in shock.

Buffy laughs loudly as she circles around her cousin before spinning around swinging the bo-staff again, this time Felicity didn't yelp but she merely raised the her staff again blocking Buffy's blow.

"Good." Buffy tells her before spinning away and swinging her staff at Felicity's legs sending the bottle blonde tumbling to the ground.

Felicity groans knowing that she was likely going to be covered in bruises tomorrow morning, she sighs before pulling herself back onto her feet and turning to her cousin smiling slightly, it was nice to see Buffy smile. One of the last times she had seen Buffy smile was before Celia's death after that Buffy had been more distant. Honestly, she hadn't really realised how much she had missed Buffy till she had wondered into her office the other week.

"How did you go from badass Slayer – to medic- - to Vigilante?" Felicity asks curiously as Buffy puts the bo-staffs away while she grabs her water bottle feeling very out of breath.

Buffy's jaw clenches slightly, her journey from Slayer to whatever the hell she was now was not one she wanted to revisit. Ever.
"I'm not a vigilante." She answers flatly, her voice completely void of emotion as she avoids Felicity's question.

Felicity turns to Buffy as she moves to sit down on the chair she had dubbed as her own with an arched brow, Buffy chooses to go out on the streets in a suit with a mask, if that didn't mean vigilante then she didn't know what did "Well..."
"Liz." Buffy says sharply cutting her off, she didn't want to talk about this.

Felicity clearly did not hear the anger in Buffy's voice so she merely continued "Well just in basic terms...you do wear a mask."
Buffy groans and rubs her forehead in frustration "Dear God."

As Moira and Frank enter the meeting Xander glances up from his phone where he had been pretending that he wasn't playing angry birds for the past 10 minutes, which was surprising more difficult than he thought. Maybe he should stop fist bumping the air every time he passed a new level.

Xander sighs before focusing on Moira, he had yet to tell Dig what he had found out yet, he really did need to update him on the whole Moira wants Malcolm dead shindig.
Speaking of the douche in a suit Xander turns his chair to face the American psycho impressioner as he continues to stand in front of the floor length windows.

"I have very welcome news to share with all of you." Malcolm says as he turns to face the board "Thanks to Queen Consolidated's Applied Sciences Division and the recent acquisition of Unidac Industries, the undertaking we set for ourselves is only months from fruition. There's hope of the horizon for everyone in Starling."

Xander arches a brow no one had let him in on the whole Undertaking thing yet "What exactly is the Undertaking?"
"It's hope Mr. Harris. Our way of making sure Starling City has a future." Merlyn says with a grin, which made a shiver go down Xander's spine, one he hadn't felt since the days of Snyder "We won't fail this city."

"And I think I speak for everyone here when I say we're all with you, Malcolm." Moira says with a small smile, however when she notices Xander attempting to raise his hand again she glares at him making it clear to put his hand down.
The young man gulps before sinking slightly into his chair, what could he say...the woman could be scary.

"Barrera's got cobalt-level encryption on this phone." Willow says with a small whistle as her fingers continue to fly over the keys of the computer before a frown crosses her face "It's not going to be easy to break." She shrugs slightly though and clicks her fingers this was nothing she couldn't handle "But hey if I can break into city plans for Buffy when I was 16 I can do this I am the queen of code breaking. If there was a title I would totally own its ass."

Diggle smiles in amusement, understanding more about why Buffy always spoke so highly of the redheaded genius.
Oliver glances at the red head with a frown "Why were you breaking into city records for Buffy?"

Willow's eyes widen and she curses her big mouth, sometimes she wish she could just duck tape her babble mouth shut herself "What huh? Did I say that I don't think so...I think your finally losing your mind Oliver..."
"Willow..." Oliver warns but she laughs loudly before pointing at the computer screen so happy that she had something to get his mind off this "Well would you look at that."

"What is that?" Oliver asks her now completely focused on this, the thought of Buffy's mysterious past pushed to the back of his head, but not gone completely.
"Just the last number he dialled."
"Which was?"
"A restaurant in Chinatown. Jade Dragon. I guess even hired killers enjoy the city's best chow mien." She says with a small smirk as she smirks at Dig who merely arches a brow at her "Jade Dragon is a front for the Chinese mafia."

"Call the restaurant..." Oliver tells Willow drawing her attention "...make a reservation for tonight. You need to decrypt that phone." He orders her as he turns to face her fully.

"Yes captain." She sasses as Oliver walks away from the table, she rolls her eyes before leaning over to Diggle "You know Buffy gets free Chinese at the restaurant near the hospital right?"
Slowly a grin covers his face as he remembers that the owners refused to charge Buffy for food despite the fact that she always ordered absurd amounts, they were just so grateful that she had saved their daughter.

And now he was in the mood for some free Chinese "Mm."

Buffy runs a hand through her hair as she closes up the back of the ambulance, tapping it she sighs as it drives off.
Glancing down at her blood covered top she couldn't help but groan slightly, not from disgust she was so used to her clothes being covered in blood that it didn't bother her anymore...unless it was expensive and white...then it did really bother her.

But she was annoyed by what had happened on this last call, this poor kid had been shot thirteen times during a drive by and she hated it...hated that this poor kid suffered for no reason other than the fact that he had been caught in the crossfire.

Rubbing her freezing arms she grabs her jacket from her bag and quickly slips it on as she makes her way inside the hospital, to fill out the paperwork before she could head back onto the road ready for her next call.

"Miss Summers?" A voice says from behind her and the voice made her freeze, it felt so familiar yet she couldn't place it, but it did send a shiver down her spine one that she hadn't felt since Snyder.
Frowning she turns her head only to spot a man with dark hair in a suit moving towards her "Umm...depends...do I owe you money."
The man chuckles "No."
"Did I beat up your son in high school?"
"Possibly but I doubt it."
Buffy lets out a small breath "Then Buffy I am. Now...who are you?"

The man clears his throat before holding out a hand towards her "Malcolm Merlyn, CEO of Merlyn Global Group."
Buffy stands there frozen in confusion for a moment before clearing her throat and shaking his hand being careful not to break it. She was just in shock, what the hell did he want to speak to her about.

"Is this about Xander?" She asks suddenly "Cause I swear he's not playing angry birds during meeting he just gets really enthusiastic."
"I'm sure." Merlyn says with a small laugh before reaching into his jacket and holding out a small envelope "Actually Miss Summers I'm being honoured by the Starling City Municipal Group. They are bestowing me with their annual humanitarian award."

Buffy merely arches an eyebrow in confusion; he still hadn't explained why the hell he was talking to a random medic "Congratulations?" She replies but it ends up sounding more like a question than anything else.
Merlyn merely smiles at her before handing the envelope towards her "For the woman who saved Walter I would like to invite you to the event."

Buffy's eyes widen at that as she stares at the invitation, he had to be kidding right? She opens her mouth intent on saying thanks but no thanks however when she looks up Merlyn was already heading off in the other direction.

"The Triad have hired a contract killer." Oliver says bluntly through the Hood phone the second that the clearly annoyed Lance answers.
"Yeah?" Lance asks clearly no too happy with the Hood calling him again "You mean the one you put in the morgue. Congratulations, you're the talk of the station again."
"They hired one, they're going to hire another, detective." Oliver says as he walks across the street towards the public library, there was something he wanted to do before his plans tonight.
"Who's the target?"
"I'm trying to find out. I've been hitting dead ends. I need you to put your people on it."
"My people don't work for you. And neither do I come to think of it."

Oliver rolls his eyes before walking up the steps towards the library "It's not about you and me, detective. It's about saving a life."
Oliver waits listening to Lance sigh before finally he speaks "Call me when you get a name."

Oliver smirks before putting the phone back in his pocket and walking towards the historical section, as he does the first thing he picks up is a book with one name on it which may help him find answers.

SUNNYDALE, CALIFORNIA – THE CURSED TOWN.