Chapter Five
Sunday, November 10, 2002 – Hyperion Avenue, a number of blocks from the Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles; early evening:
Naturally, Ratty and the rest of the punks in Stringy's little gang caught up with her before she got much further than a half a block. { Stupid heels, } Cordelia swore to herself, { I am so gonna wear flats from now on... }
Something grabbed her by the back of the belt and jerked her to a halt, and Cordelia screamed, stumbled, and then spun around with her hand coming up to find Ratty and the other four street thugs pounding to a halt behind him. She swung hard at Ratty's face, only to have him catch her wrist and block the punch.
He yanked her forward by the wrist and shook it, throwing her off-balance again. "Hey! Stop that, chica. Or we'll have to quit playin' with you."
"Let go of me, you jerk!" Cordelia's eyes narrowed dangerously, and she kicked at Ratty's shin.
He stepped back, letting go of her wrist in the process, and she turned to run again; only to be caught around the waist and lifted off her feet by one of the bigger punks. She kicked back with both heels, and wriggled in his grasp trying to break loose, screaming again.
"Damn, she's a feisty one," the thug holding her said, laughing. He shook Cordelia, hard, and added, "Shut the hell up and quit struggling, bitch!"
"Let go of me!" Cordelia yelled, refusing to obey the asshole. "You let go or I'll... "
"You'll what?" Ratty demanded dangerously.
Cordelia glared at him and let out a scream that put the one in the hotel lobby, which had made Angel flinch, to shame. Her captor instantly moved one arm from her waist and clamp a hand over her mouth.
"Mrrph!"
"Man, oh man! Nice set of lungs on the bitch, huh?"
"Hey, those ain't lungs, man. We need to get you a remedial Playboy subscription so you can tell the difference?" one of the others asked.
Ratty rolled his eyes and gave the guy the finger, then half-turned as Stringy came limping up behind the group. Since the one holding her had his hand pressed to her lips too tight for her to bite, and kicking didn't do any good, Cordelia simply glared at him and Stringy.
"Hey, mano," Ratty said as Stringy came to a stop, glaring at Cordelia. "What you want to do?"
"Haul her back to the car," Stringy said, sneering. "We'll take her someplace private and get... better acquainted."
"Mmmph!" Cordelia's eyes widened over her captor's hand. Looking around frantically, she saw that the drivers and passengers in cars going along Hyperion Avenue were blithely ignoring the whole scene. Just like Sunnydale. { Figures. Someone, help me! }
"Heh. As hard as she package-checked you, man," one of the others said, "you'll just be watching us get acquainted."
"Hey, maybe he likes to watch," another one tossed in.
"Shut the fuck up!" Stringy yelled, rounding on the others. "Come on – drag 'er back to the car."
Nearly back to the spot where they'd first accosted her, the entire group abruptly came to a halt – when a slim male figure dropped down off of a nearby fire escape to land in a crouch in front of them.
"Let her go," the male teen said as he stood up, his eyes narrow and his voice full of menace.
"Oh, crap," Ratty said in annoyance. "Dude thinks he's a freaking knight in shining armor?"
"Yeah? Well, I got something to fix that," Stringy said, stepping forward. A butterfly knife came out from his back pocket, and he whirled it open around and into his right hand.
The male teen took it away from him so fast that his hand appeared a blur to Cordelia's eyes. He punched once with an equally fast jab, and Stringy fell backward, immediately clutching both hands to his face. The newcomer then glanced down once, quickly, at the knife and rolled his eyes. "Cheap steel. Lousy knife," he said contemptuously, before snapping it in half and throwing both halves to one side.
"Ow! He bwoke my nobe! Geb 'im!" Stringy said, clutching his nose.
Two more gang members jumped the new arrival from the sides, and he put both of them down, hard; with equal speed and dispatch, before stalking forward to face the one holding Cordelia.
"Let her go," he said, again.
Cordelia's captor responded by simply throwing her at the teen, who caught her awkwardly. Then they both staggered, as the bigger thug stepped forward and punched Cordelia's rescuer in the face. They both went stumbling back and down, Cordelia sprawling on top of her savior.
He rolled her off of him and to one side, saying, "It's OK, I'll take care of this," and then the guy jumped up and charged into the three remaining gang members.
Cordelia began to scramble back, but then reversed direction and lunged to grab her fallen handbag before completing her retreat. She watched, wide-eyed, as the teen exchanged blows and kicks with the three thugs.
Less than thirty seconds later, the gang of street criminals began running away – the less injured ones helping the others run. All of them piled into a car parked by the curb near where Cordelia had first encountered them, Stringy cursing bitterly all the way.
The male teen stood there, watching them go as the car peeled away from the curb. After they had turned a corner down the block, he headed back toward Cordelia. "Are you all right?" he asked, holding out his hand.
Cordelia scrambled to her feet, clutching her handbag in front of her. "Yeah. Fine. Uh... thanks."
"You're safe now," the guy said, pausing awkwardly when she didn't move to take his proffered hand.
Nodding, Cordelia said, "Like I said, thanks for the assist with those... thugs. Jeez. They were gonna haul me off somewhere, and try to rape me!"
"I kind of figured," he replied, examining her curiously. After a moment, he dropped his outstretched hand and stuffed both of them into his pockets. "Cordy? Are you OK?"
Cordelia blinked. "Wait, you know who I am?"
The guy – she still didn't know his name! – blinked back at her, looking surprised. "Yeah, of course I do!"
"Uh... OK," Cordelia said, cocking her head. "And how do I know you, exactly?"
"Cordelia! It's me, Connor!"
"Right," Cordelia said, looking dubious. "And I figurethat totally makes sense to you here in Bizarro World, but... "
"Cordelia? What's wrong with you?" the Connor guy frowned, looking at her hard.
"Me?!" Cordelia unleashed a brittle laugh and shook her head. "Oh, gee, why would anything be wrong? Let's see... I woke up in some creepy weirdo hotel with Brit Boy, Miss Stoner Conspiracy Girl, Mr. Wesley Snipes Wannabe, and, oh, yeah – before I forget: Angelus, the Scourge of Europe! I don't know where the hell I am – well, I think it's L.A. but not any part I've ever been before, which means I'm like a hundred miles from home! I've been attacked, and now I'm playing Teen Jeopardy with you! Hey – nothing's wrong!"
Cordelia pulled up, suddenly realizing that she'd been stalking forward with every word, getting louder and louder, until she'd been practically screaming in this guy's face, with him retreating step by step ahead of her.
Connor blinked and took another step back from her outburst. And then another. "Uh... you're in Los Angeles, Cordelia."
"Ummm... thanks," Cordelia said, in a much more normal tone. Taking a deep breath, she let it out in a big sigh and focused. "Look, Connor. Thanks for saving me from a fate worse than home room, I mean I'm really grateful and all that. And hey – nice moves."
"Thanks?" Connor said, smiling a bit hesitantly. He still looked a bit confused, and what the hell, Cordelia couldn't blame him. She herself didn't fully know what was going on, after all.
Cordelia smiled back, taking a moment to examine the guy more closely. OK, not bad. Pretty much verging on salty goodness if you liked the slim, wiry and intense look – which she kind of did. And hey, really intense blue eyes; almost like Tor Hauer's back in Sunnydale.
"You're welcome," she said, smiling a bit more broadly. "And, yeah. Never seen anything like that; well, except for Buffy. And she's, well, not a guy."
Connor nodded, but still looked confused. "Buffy?"
"Buffy?" Cordelia frowned. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer? In Sunnydale?"
Connor shook his head, looking confused again.
She sighed. "Well, anyway, that was really brave," Cordelia said, smiling at him again. Looking him over once more, she found herself licking her lips. "So you do kinda deserve a reward."
"Really?" Connor's eyes widened, and he grinned at her, his eyes flickering down to her cleavage and lingering. "You mean, like... "
"Yeah," Cordelia said, starting to lean forward. The sudden rush of hormones and lust that she was now feeling took her by surprise, and almost made her head swim. "I mean – you did save me from those assholes, and you deserve, like, an appropriate reward."
"You mean that, don't you?" Connor said, starting to lean forward as well – obviously aiming for her lips.
"Oh, yeah! Hoo doggy!" Cordelia replied, leaning forward until her lips were almost touching his.
{ Wait up. Hoo doggy? Who the heck even talks like that? } Where the hell did that come from? Not even her boyfriend was that lame. And her suddenly wanting to kiss this Connor guy, and, and... { What the hell? }
"Whoa!" Cordelia jerked back as if she'd been scalded by hot water, leaving Connor frowning and looking confused and frustrated. "The hell was that?"
She took a step back, her eyes wide, and then another as Connor stepped forward. He asked her, "Cordy? What, uh, what's wrong?"
"No! I mean, back up," Cordelia told him, shaking her head. "Whoa," she said again, putting a hand up.
"I, I... I don't understand," Connor said, looking more confused than ever.
"Look," Cordelia said, sighing. "I don't know what just came over me, OK? I mean, yeah, you're kinda cute, and with the danger-saving and the adrenaline rush – but hey! That's more or less how I got my current boyfriend, and I so do not need to cheat on him the very next adrenaline time that comes around. Even if he is a big dork."
"What are you... you have a boyfriend now?!" Connor started scowling.
Having no idea why Connor was scowling so ferociously over the word 'boyfriend', Cordelia met his frown with one of her own and raised him a glare. "Well, duh! That's what you call it when you make out all the time with a guy, and don't date anyone else!" She laughed, waving at herself, and said, "And besides, can you look at all this and picture me not having a boyfriend?"
"So, you've gone back to him? I thought you'd chosen me!" Connor said, heatedly.
"Chosen you? Of all the nerve! Whoever the hell you are, I'll have you know that I'll date whoever I want to date – no matter how lame he is!" Cordelia retorted angrily.
For some reason, hearing that made the guy brighten up considerably. { Gee, } Cordy thought to herself, { bipolar much? }
Then she frowned as Connor said, "Really? You think Angel is lame?"
"Angel?" Cordelia blinked, gaping at him. "Why in God's name would that guy be my boyfriend?"
It was Connor's turn to blink, and gape at her. "Well, uh... I thought... "
"You thought what? Jeez. Seriously – do I look like some bottle-blond bimbo of a so-called Vampire Slayer?" Cordelia retorted. "I mean, really. I like my men with a pulse! And body heat. And not so much with the murder – "
"If you're not with Angel," Connor cut her off, starting to sound exasperated, "then how do you have a boyfriend?"
"Well, duh! Xander?" Upon seeing Connor's deepening scowl and puzzled expression, Cordelia gave him a scowl of her own. "Hey, I thought you said we knew each other – no, hang on, wait a minute – how do you know me, anyway?"
Connor shrugged. "You were nice to me once. Uh, more than once. A lot. Real nice."
"Oh yeah?" Cordelia said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "How nice are we talking here? I gave you a ride somewhere? Let you cheat off my homework?"
"Uh, no... " Connor shook his head and then shrugged helplessly. "I mean, you kissed me earlier tonight. And we've been sleeping together – "
"Whoa!" Cordelia instantly took a step back, her eyes going wide. "And no, I am totally sure that didn't happen! Well, except for the almost-kissage just now, but that was danger and hormones or something and – "
"It did!" Connor interrupted, almost yelling now. "And we have! I'm not lying!"
"Whoa, easy there bucko," Cordelia said, her eyes flashing. "Don't you yell at me!" She then went on, "And yeah, you are lying! Because I haven't even slept with Xander yet! Well, almost, but then there was me kicking the parking brake on my Miata, and then the werewolf thing, and I'm pretty sure that blowjobs in the janitor's closet don't count – well, not according to Xander anyway, and – "
Connor shook his head again, scowling and interrupting her. "Cordelia! What's wrong with you? You're not making any sense!"
"Oh, yes I am!" Cordelia yelled back. Her eyes suddenly widened and she backed up even farther. "Wait – unless you're in on the kidnapping and memory loss and brainwashing thing. Oh, crap, you mean you mean Stoner Girl was right with the whole conspiracy scenario?"
"No! There was no kidnapping! I wouldn't, I mean I – " Connor abruptly shut himself up, before holding his hands up defensively. "OK, there's something really wrong here. Look, I'm sorry Cordelia. Let's just get you home where it's safe and then we can figure this out, alright?"
"Finally! That's the first thing anyone's said recently that I actually agree with," Cordelia said fervently. "Come on, let's go! You have a car?"
"Huh? Why would I have a... no," Connor said, looking confused again. And way out of his depth, oddly enough... "No, we live over that way," he added, pointing back and away from the hotel.
"Huh? We? What's this we riff?" Cordelia demanded.
"Come on," Connor said, taking a step forward. "You remember. Don't you? We live in the attic above the Natural History Museum. We've been living there together pretty much since the day you came back," he said, starting to look a bit desperate.
"No... I don't remember any such thing," Cordelia told him, slowly and distinctly. "Because I live with my parents. In a house. A mansion. Not some el creepo museum loft, eww."
Sighing, Connor took a fast step forward, and he grabbed hold of Cordelia's wrist. "Come on, I'll show you. Your st– "
"Let go of me!" Cordelia shrieked immediately, pulling away and yanking at her wrist. She might as well have been yanking at a steel vise, though, and she started to get scared again. "Let go, you super-powered freak!"
"I'm not going to hurt you," Connor said impatiently, pulling her forward and ignoring the insult.
"Damn right you're not!" Cordelia yelled. She hit him with her handbag as hard as she could, right across the side of the head.
"Ow! Stop that!" Connor yelled, flinching. He didn't let go, though. "Hey! Cordelia, stop it! I just want to show you – "
"You're not showing me anything, you asshole!" Cordelia yelled, cutting him off. She swung the handbag again, causing Connor to jerk away. Unfortunately, as he didn't let go, she was yanked along with him. She screamed as his vise-like grip tightened, hurting her wrist slightly.
"Stop that! Stop hitting me!" the unmitigated asshole scowled, attempting to avoid the handbag.
Over Connor's shoulder, Cordelia saw an LAPD cruiser turn the corner three-quarters of a block down Hyperion Avenue, and she swung the handbag again, screaming. He jerked back again, and she yelled, "Help! Police! Help me, damn it!"
The area was suddenly bathed in blue and red flashing light as the cruiser put on a short burst of speed, and then screeched to a halt. The loudspeaker on top came on, blaring out, "Let go of the woman! Let go and step away from her!"
Startled, Connor half-turned toward the loudspeaker, and his grip slackened. Instantly, Cordelia jerked her hand out of his grasp, and, when he turned back toward her with a startled expression, she kicked Connor between the legs with the toe of her strappy sandal as hard as she could.
"Oof!" Connor doubled over, and she started off toward the police cruiser as the doors opened and the two cops spilled out, with their hands on their pistol butts.
"Help! This guy is crazy!" Cordelia screamed at them.
Many hours later – 141 Embury Street, Silverlake, Los Angeles; evening:
Appearing out of the shadows, Amy reached for the doorknob to Apartment 3C once she'd satisfied herself that no one else was in the corridor. As soon as her hand closed around the knob, though, there was a bright flash of white light; and the lock made a loud clicking noise.
{ Well, crap. } Amy quickly turned the knob and pushed – only to have the door stubbornly refuse to open. Stepping back, she sighed and glared at the closed door. "Hey! Ghost Boy. Open the goddamn door – I'm here to talk to you!"
Silence. Amy grew annoyed and said, "Look, I'm kinda on the clock here, Dennis. And if we're gonna be honest, I'm also getting tempted to do a quick 'alohomora' and then exorcise your ghostly ass! Now, you gonna let me in, or what?"
The apartment door opened so fast that she thought the ghost might have nearly yanked it off its hinges. Smirking to herself, Amy stepped inside – only to be pushed to one side of the door frame and shoved against the wall by an unseen force. The invisible force then swung the door closed.
As it clicked and locked, Amy got mad. Her hands started glowing orange with magical power as she choked out, "Depello!"
The pressure on her throat eased at once, and there was a flash of orange light before a loud, unearthly scream sounded in the apartment. Amy glared at empty air before saying, "OK, we need to get something straight – namely, don't try anything like that again. Or else one of us is going to regret it, and it won't be me! Understand?"
After another long pause, Amy calmed down and said, "All right. Well, this is going to be awkward, especially since we've totally gotten off on the wrong foot this way. But the thing is – I'm here to talk to you about Cordelia, you idiot spook!"
Amy gestured, and a big whiteboard on an easel appeared off to the side of the room. She also created a black marker pen and said to the ghost of Dennis Pearson, "Right, well, you've probably got questions, and I'm in no mood for a séance or whatever. So, ask away."
The marker pen rose up into the air, apparently up on its own, and scribbled, 'Who are you?'
"Name's Amy Madison. I was one of Cordelia's classmates during high school, back in Sunnydale – and yeah, before you ask, I'm a witch. Kinda obvious, isn't it?"
The marker pen then wrote out, 'What do you want with Cordelia? And where is she?'
"Well, as for the first question, that's complicated. Mostly because I don't know everything yet, that Whistler guy kinda has me working on a need-to-know basis right now," Amy sighed, calming down a bit more. "Anyway, with regards to Cordelia's whereabouts – she's in Sunnydale. The good old Hellmouth itself. And according to the game plan, that's where she needs to stay."
'WHY?' the marker pen traced out in large, capital letters.
"Why? I'll tell you why – because that spoiled princess has all the brains of a challenged gnat, that's why!" Amy growled. "Still can't believe what Whistler told me, how Cordelia deliberately let the visions damage her brain to the point that she would have died, if that two-faced demon creep Skip hadn't transformed her mind and body when he did! Sheesh, when she and I were little kids, they warned us about the dangers of accepting presents from strangers. But did she listen? Obviously not... "
'I don't understand,' wrote the ghost of Dennis Pearson.
Amy exhaled loudly. "Like I said, it's complicated. OK, listen up, this is gonna take a while to explain properly... "
She quickly launched into the story and eventually said, "So anyway, Cordelia came back from the Higher Realms recently – but she came back wrong, understand? Her body got invaded by a... a hitch-hiker, I guess you could call it, while she was Up There. It was all part of the evil plan that was set up by that rogue PTB. And now Cordelia's in deadly danger – "
'WHAT?' Phantom Dennis quickly scrawled on the whiteboard.
"Yeah," Amy admitted, looking kinda sheepish. "I wasn't involved in that part of it, but I heard that Cordelia's body eventually descended despite all of the major players' attempts to stop it. Really fills me full of confidence about how those so-called higher beings are looking out for us Up There, ya know? Anyway, bottom line, Cordelia's at the center of a plot that I'm not sure what all of the ramifications are, but I can tell you that there's nothing good in store for her – "
'How can I help?' the marker quickly wrote on the board.
Amy finally smiled and said, "Hey, I thought you'd never ask! See, now that Cordelia thinks that she's seventeen again – which apparently is a good thing, by the way – "
The marker pen moved, making her shut up as it wrote out, 'Why?'
Amy shrugged, "Well, somehow, it makes her useless for whatever purpose that Skip guy and his boss set all this up for. I don't know details – all I know is it's important that Cordelia can recall having a home, family, friends, and most especially a boyfriend, that has nothing to do with her life here in this city. And that she doesn't remember any of the emotional baggage that set her up for coming to Hell-A in the first place. "
'I don't understand,' the ghost of Dennis Pearson wrote slowly. 'Why would any of that be important? Can't you at least give me a hint?'
"No," Amy shook her head at once. "See, this is where it gets even more complicated. Now that Cordelia's returned to Sunnydale, apparently there's gonna be at least one Big Bad that won't appreciate having a Seer like her dropping in uninvited. And that's where you come in, actually."
'Me?' the marker pen wrote, and to Amy's eye, in a fairly skeptical way. 'What do you need me for?'
"Supernatural backup, of course," Amy replied, rolling her eyes a little. "I can't stay there in Sunnydale twenty-four/seven to babysit Cordelia personally, even if I wanted to – which I don't. Besides, what's that old saying about home being where the heart is? Don't you want to join your old roommate on the Hellmouth, instead of spending the rest of your eternity in here all alone?"
'Of course!' the marker pen wrote out immediately. 'But I can't leave the apartment. I'm not only earthbound, I'm confined to the barracks as well.'
Amy shrugged and replied, "Well, yeah. But I've got a plan for dealing with that little problem, believe it or not."
Placing her hand out in front of her, Amy concentrated for a moment – and a smallish glass sphere appeared in her right palm. "It's called an Orb of Thesulah," she said, holding the Orb up a bit higher. "A spirit container, if you wanna be technical about it. It can be used to break your anchor to this place, and transfer you to Cordelia's new home in Sunnydale. So, are you in?"
'How do I know I can trust you?' Phantom Dennis wrote out slowly. 'I just met you, after all. How can I be sure this isn't an elaborate plot of some kind to harm Cordelia?'
Amy shrugged, "I guess you don't. Or, if you like, I can swear on my magic that everything I've told you is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Either way, what I can tell you for sure is that if you don't come with me, the odds are Cordelia's gonna get killed. And sooner, rather than later." She held the Orb up a little higher. "You decide, right now. And just so you know, if you decide to stay? I won't come back to make this offer again."
Amy stared at the globe in her palm, and after a moment, it began to glow. A few moments later, it filled with a swirling radiance, and then there was a bright white flash that ended with the Orb containing a white, swirling, smoke-like substance. Dennis Pearson's soul.
"Well, that was simple enough," Amy said, nodding. "Just gotta hope that everything else falls into place as easily as that... "
TBC…
A/N: To all the Xander fans reading this fanfic, sorry how he didn't make an appearance in this chapter - but he will be back in the next part, we promise! And all the other chapters after that; the world-building is almost complete, just a few more things to cover and we can really get stuck into the main part of the fic. And WesGeorge, you were right about the 'shaking out the plot and backstory' thing, there are going to be a LOT of plot threads in this one before we're done. As for the mish-mash thing, sorry if parts of the fanfic seem a little confusing! Not everything is in chronological order, after all. And thanks as always to everyone who's reading and reviewing the story - you guys truly inspire us to do better! Please, keep it coming...
