Author's Note:

This is my version of the post-Whedon Buffyverse. It is rated Mature for some dialogue, sexual themes (non-graphic), and violence. I assume you've seen or read all five seasons of Angel and all seven seasons of Buffy. I don't consider anything except aired episodes as canon.

My continued thanks to everyone who's put me on any sort of update list, and to the people who have posted reviews or sent a message.

This entire project is dedicated to my loving wife and research assistant. Pleasing you is why I get up in the afternoon.

Wolfram & Hart's iconic edifice dominated this street a few days ago, back when it was still standing. Several cars were still parked against the curb, one of them turned up on its side. The streetlights threw sparks down on the sidewalk below, the bulbs destroyed by the massive surges they had been subjected to in the past few minutes. Without their steady glow, and with no moon or stars to speak of, the area was in near total darkness.

But the dim shadows were occasionally thrown into stark relief as a sudden glow brighter than the sun coursed through. All around Gwen the clouds erupted with the most fearsome barrage they could manage. Every so often one would strike her directly and renew the energy shooting out of her fingertips. The continued destruction of her long dead enemies was totally out of her control.

She stood at the top of a short flight of steps, the ruins of the L.A. branch strewn across several blocks behind her. She felt the ionized air burning a path from her body into the sky and knew that another strike was imminent. Gwen's only chance was to wait for the streamer to hit another step leader and then somehow get the charge to follow it up.

There was normally no way to guarantee the path such a surge would follow, but Gwen was far from normal. The air molecules themselves exploded, compression manifesting as sound, and the echoing thunder from the terrible strikes boomed throughout the suddenly silent city.

But it was done… the local charge equalized. Gwen fell to her knees; smoke pouring from her charred clothing. After kneeling for a moment she fell onto her side. Her leathers were almost completely destroyed, hanging on to her body by just a few threads. The skin revealed beneath her clothes was a light, beautiful pink and the tantalizing glimpses were sexier than if the leather had fallen off completely.

As she lay there, looking down at the pile of dead demons that had started this entire thing, she saw something glinting on the sidewalk nearby. After a few minutes, she stood up and went to check it out, finding a small ring. She wasn't sure what it was, but it might have been valuable once, so she slipped it into her pocket.

It was obvious to her now that staying this close to the source of the storm was a bad idea. Any minute now more demons could appear and the terrible ordeal would start all over again. She could also tell that Angel wasn't here anymore and the only other place she could think of to look was back at the hotel.

The streets were oddly quiet, with only the sound of a barking dog somewhere in the distance accompanying Gwen's footsteps. No traffic, no people, no signs of civilization at all. Debris from the ravaged buildings littered the sidewalk, making Gwen's route look like one of little Billy's adventures in Family Circus.

Two hours after they left Rome, Xander and Dawn found themselves with a significant layover in Paris. They sat at a café inside the airport, simply killing time and waiting for their flight.

"We're a pair, aren't we?" Dawn asked. She sat swirling her straw around in what was left of a nearly empty latte.

"What do you mean?" Xander replied. He had a plate of muffins in front of him, which he had been sharing. He tore the top off one of the last ones and popped a piece in his mouth.

There were dozens of other diners, either waiting for another flight or scarfing down some food before they left for whatever business brought them to the City of Lights. Not a single nearby table was empty, but the overall din of the people kept the conversation private enough.

"Neither one of us has any powers, or skills, or really even any potential," Dawn said. "Yet we're the only ones who are even trying to help."

"Maybe that's enough," Xander said, quickly swallowing his food. "It's true we don't have any powers, but that just means we don't have any responsibilities. Your sister knows what she's doing."

"Somehow I doubt it," Dawn said. She wasn't sure what was going to happen to her in L.A., but she did know that it was going to be the start of something entirely new. She hadn't slept in a building without Buffy since her big sister had come back from college. Since their mother died.

"You'll be fine, kiddo," Xander said, offering Dawn a weak smile.

"Somehow I doubt that, too," Dawn muttered under her breath.

"Why are you going?" Xander asked.

"I'm not going to try to break up an old fling and her new beau," Dawn said, venom in her voice.

"Easy on there, soldier," Xander said. "I'm not attacking you, I'm just asking…"

"How much longer until the plane leaves?" Dawn asked, ignoring his attempts to apologize and cutting him off.

"Two hours," Xander said, letting the silence settle between them. It never used to be like this between them. He remembered nights… no, that's not quite right. The monks created those.

The empty and strangely silent streets above them were bad news in Angel's opinion. Every time they passed a grate or other opening to the surface he checked, hoping to see something terrible. There was no way Wolfram & Hart had given up already. That meant that this was the calm before the storm. Ironic, given that the weather was the one attack that was unrelenting, and the sewers were slowly filling with water.

Connor was in the lead again. Illyria walked beside him, a column of Gunn's people separating them from Angel and Spike who were bringing up the rear. They were prepared, if attacked, to swing into a four-way defense or any other pattern an attack would require. Specifically they had discussed what to do if they were surrounded, and then Illyria and Angel would both slide to their left, leaving Connor at the front, Spike at the rear, and the other two on either side.

Whatever sort of maneuver they deemed necessary could be used. Gunn's people had been living under siege, under discipline, for most of their lives. They were at risk, but they were far from useless.

During the time in which the refugees had been preparing to leave they took down as many booby-traps as they could, carefully packing them to be set up again later. All the weapons they could muster had been passed out, so that nearly every one was armed, though some were forced to share. Each bowman had someone with him carrying arrows, but in general all of them should be able to defend themselves for a few seconds, at least, which should be long enough for one of the champions to reach them.

There were several people among Gunn's crew who looked like they could more than hold their own in a fight. All things considered, it could have been worse, Angel thought.

Bethany didn't flail as she flew through the air. The strangely quiet city passed by beneath her, oblivious to her presence. Though she didn't know of its existence, she was lucky enough to be spared the dragon thus far. The worst she'd encountered on her trip had been a strange concentration of lightning near the old law offices. The storm seemed to have been getting worse, but it had slackened back into its more usual torrential downpour instead.

She easily landed on the hotel roof. She had left her socks at the mall theater once they'd been puked on, and her bare feet splashed through several inches of water that covered the tar and gravel roof. A narrow tower, just shy of ten feet tall, enclosed the top of the stairwell that led into the hotel proper.

She found her way into the building, but was stopped by the door that Illyria had sealed. It didn't hold her up for long, simply shattering off the hinges under the force of her will.

Inside it was dry in places, at least. She immediately headed to the room she had lived in before, hoping that maybe she had left some clothes there. If not, maybe she'd find something in someone else's old rooms.

Spike heard them coming, but he couldn't yet manage to call out a warning. Instead he grabbed Angel by the shoulder and spun him around, just in time for Angel to get punched in the face. It might have been marginally better than being hit in the back of the head but Spike would have to wait until later to ask. He jumped forward to tackle their second attacker while Angel fell under the first.

The chrome helmets and the armor beneath their robes were instantly recognizable to Angel as he looked up on the demon kneeling above him. These things were going to be hard to put down, and it was unlikely that there was only the pair of them.

Spike's style of fighting was highly mobile, using his reach and strength to keep his opponents off balance. But that really wasn't an option here, because of the confinement of the sewers. Instead he switched to a grappling style, trying to maintain control of his enemy directly instead.

Angel flipped the Nahdrah off of him, rolling over to dive on top of the demon himself. He didn't have any sort of time to try to get his sword out, so he just wrapped his meaty hands around the demon's throat and began to squeeze.

Spike smashed his opponent off of an oversized pipe that ran from the floor to the ceiling right beside the wall. Illyria and Connor pushed through the crowd as the fight was ending.

"What happened?" Connor asked, ignoring the obvious.

"Get back up front," Angel said, still sitting atop the demon and choking him. "This could be a diversion." As he said it, they heard shouts coming from the front of the column. "These guys are smart, so watch yourselves."

Illyria ran through the crowd, not caring who got knocked out of her way. The only time she paused was when she stepped right up against a woman carrying a small child. The woman stood frozen, not sure what was happening. Illyria managed to squeeze around her without touching and continue on her rampage towards the attackers.

A group of six or seven more demons were menacing the refugees. Some of them stood between the demons and the others, trying to form some kind of phalanx to keep them at bay. Behind them, archers took potshots at any demon who was in their line of sight, although the heavy chrome armor made their shots highly ineffective.

"Smart?" Illyria asked as she stepped between the humans and the demons. Connor didn't offer a word, standing silently but just as dangerous beside her.

"You will flee. Now," Illyria said. "Or you will die. Choose, but quickly."

Connor didn't bother trying to look tough beside the goddess, the demons could think whatever they wanted about him until the combat started. Which wasn't long. Two of the demons broke off from the others and charged forward. Illyria ducked down and swept her right foot forward, knocking one of them down. She continued the spin, coming up as she did so to smack the flat palm of her hand into the chest of the second Nahdrah. He stopped moving instantly, falling over dead. Illyria finished the spin and brought her heel down with a sickening squish.

Connor didn't wait for the others to decide. He jumped over Illyria and immediately laid into them; his fists and feet moved faster than any human should've been able to. Several of Gunn's people swarmed around Illyria with their swords and staffs striking wherever there was opportunity. At the rear of the column, Angel and Spike were battling again, this time against several more that had shown up.

"It's time," Xander said, standing up and picking up his tray. "We can go check in now."

Dawn stood up without a word, leaving her trash on the table. Xander glared at her as he put her cup on his tray.

"What's with you? I'm here, helping you get…"

"You're not helping me at all!" Dawn snapped. "You're just going to see Faith, and I happen to be along for the trip." As she spoke, she snatched the tickets out of the front pocket of Xander's shirt. She dropped one on the table and took off with the other.

"This should be a lovely nine hours," Xander said to himself as he followed her.

Gwen could see lights on inside the hotel. Someone, or something, was moving around on the third floor. She stood on the street staring into the pouring rain to look at that light, trying to decide if it was worth going in or not. She couldn't think of anywhere else to look for Angel. She could think of a lot of bad things that could be in there. If they would just pass by the window again, maybe she could get a better look.

The building would act as a sort of shield against her electrical field, protecting her from the storm. Anything inside there had more reason to fear her. She rattled the door into the lobby, debating.

She'd been inside before, and she never went anywhere without scoping it out as much as possible first. There was another door around back that would be much easier to break, if she could just clear the wall or the gate.

Inside, Bethany clearly heard the door. She had stopped pacing and was listening intently. Whatever made the noise had stopped now. She stormed out of the room, determined to investigate.

They met in the lobby, as Gwen's foot sent shards of glass flying into the lobby. Bethany stopped them, and began to put the door back together when Gwen tried to step through.

"Wait, stop!" Gwen yelled, backing out onto the patio.

Bethany stared out into the darkness, but couldn't make out who was there. "I'm looking for Angel," she said.

"So am I."

Angel stared up at the dignified, boldly painted sign proclaiming this to be the TNIF Credit Union. There hadn't been any sewers with direct access to the building. That would be good when they were trying to defend it, but it meant that the entire group had to risk running through the open.

He held the machine gun in his hand, but his finger was against the guard, not on the trigger. His sword remained on his back. No one understood why he or she weren't instantly set upon, but there had to be a reason. Gunn's people talked almost silently amongst themselves, speculating.

Illyria and Connor were at the head of the column; her masterful running retreat as she led the refugees here going totally unnoticed, apparently.

"What will we do when we get there?" Connor asked.

"I will open the portal to Vahla ha'nesh," Illyria said. "Once the others are inside we will have to find food for them."

"There isn't any in your place?"

"My kingdom. It is in ruins. The land is infertile."

"What happened?"

"I was betrayed." Illyria cocked her head to see Connor's reaction, a slight smile on her face.

Spike and Angel again brought up the rear. Most of Spike's voice had returned, and he was practicing his speech on Angel. "This place looks like it ought to be quite cozy," he said. "Once we evict the roaches, that is."

"We're going to have to find out what's inside there before we can be sure we even can evict them," Angel said.