Logan sat in his shiny new not banana colored Range Rover and stared at the cellphone in his hands. He scratched the back of his head as he played with the cord of his charger. When he turned on the phone, he'd been happy to see that Veronica had finally called. Not that he was waiting around for her or anything. He just missed her, that's all. Logan laughed to himself. Of course the reason for her call would be badness. She's Veronica Mars. And he, the ever dutiful boyfriend, will go to yon Wallace's house to rescue his fair mother.

Logan put his car in gear and pulled out of the Neptune Grand. Dialing as he drove, Logan whistled a jaunty tune.

Back in LA, Veronica jumped as her cellphone chirped out the opening riff to "Free Bird." They were back in Gunn's room as he spoke on the phone with Xander about Willow's condition. Veronica had been very interested in hearing about a real live curse and it's equally interesting potential remedies. Of course, she couldn't actually hear what Xander was saying, but she could get a good idea based on Gunn's responses. Thankfully, he knew of some people that could help. She had been intently following Gunn's side of the conversation and so, was startled by Logan's call.

Wallace raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes at her own jumpiness. Veronica mouthed 'Logan' to him and motioned for him to follow her out of the room. His eyes grew wide with the thought of finally getting some kind of word about his mom. He nodded his head and went after her.

"Logan?" She asked in greeting.

"Hello darling." Logan answered smartly. "How's the vaycay?"

Veronica smiled at his voice. It was good to hear it. "I'll call you back in a minute. The nurses told me I can't use my phone inside the hospital." Then she hung up.

It was a testament to his concern that Wallace didn't laugh at Veronica's mean trick. The pair made their way out of the hospital and into the parking lot, away from all the delicate instruments that, hypothetically, could be disrupted by cellphone signal. It was irritating, but going out to answer her phone was the only way she would be allowed in the building for when Angel or Spike showed up with information. On the other hand, she would have to stay outside incase the kidnappers called again. Nothing was ever easy.

When they got outside, Veronica called Logan back and put the phone on speaker.

"What are you doing in a hospital?!" Logan practically shouted. "Are you hurt? What happened?"

"I'm fine." Once she heard how worried he was, Veronica felt like a bitch for hanging up like that. Convenient, because Logan was pretty much thinking the same thing.

"Oh my God Veronica. What the hell?" He was seriously pissed off at her.

"Sorry. I'm fine. I just... I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry." she repeated. "If it makes you feel any better, I got a big ass bruise on my face."

"It does actually. Saves me the trouble doing it myself." He told her sardonically. Logan asked what happened again.

Veronica's face grew pinched as she condensed the events of that night. "Wallace and I got mugged and he was hurt while defending my honor."

"Is he all right?" Logan was just starting to like the kid too.

Veronica nodded. "Yeah, he's a big ol' engine of endurance. My boy Wallace stood up to two pillars of rippling man-strength and walked away with only a broken arm." She gave her friend a wink. Wallace puffed up a little and thumped his chest with his good hand.

"That's ... nice?" Logan really wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"It is." Veronica agreed. "Are you at Wallace's yet?"

"Uh... Sweetie? I don't know how to get there. That's why I called you."

"Oh." Veronica was nonplussed. For some reason, she just assumed Logan already knew that information. She told him the address.

They chatted idly about nothing in particular while Logan drove. Veronica was purposely omitting the fact her dad was also in danger. If her boyfriend knew Keith was missing, he would break as many speeding laws there were in order to get to her. He would want to help. She appreciated it, but Veronica felt he would be safer if he stayed in Neptune. It wasn't really logical, considering what happened to Alicia, but she doesn't want him around when Angel and Spike do their hero thing. It's bad enough putting up with a headstrong and insanely worried best friend, but adding a boyfriend who is equally headstrong and insane? Yeah, you put the three of them in a room together and see who comes out alive. (Veronica, in case you were wondering. It's all about the shovel people.) Keeping Wallace from charging headlong into danger was already a battle. One she didn't want to fight on two fronts. Yes, Logan was very much better off where he was.

Wallace listened in on their breezy conversation for a bit. "Y'know, I just about lost my mind worrying my mom and my brother, and we don't even know if they're missing yet. But here you are, knowing for a fact your dad's kidnapped, and acting like it ain't no thing." It was kinda scary how she could do that.

Veronica gave Wallace a very dirty look and braced for the inevitable explosion.

"KIDNAPPED?!!!" Logan shouted.

"Thanks a bunch Wallace." she muttered, and fessed up the 411 about her dad.

-

'I should let him burn. I really should.' Angel thought to himself as he smirked down upon the unconscious and rather beaten form of Spike. It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and soon, the sun would rain it's glorious light throughout the ally he and his fellow champion occupied. If Spike didn't wake up soon, he would catch fire. The older vampire didn't know why the younger vampire was lying face down in a pile of garbage, and, for that moment at least, he didn't care. The only thing Angel concerned himself with was trying to figure out how to get the camera on his cellphone to work.

After a few seconds of frantic trial and error, Angel was rewarded with the satisfying sound of a simulated shutter snapping. He went up to Spike in order to wake him up. Fun is fun, but there was work to be done.

"Spike." He poked at him. "Spike." He poked at him some more. "Spike!" Angel sighed and again looked down at his... Well he wasn't sure exactly how one would define his relationship with Spike. Respectfully antagonistic would probably be a good way. Angel looked down at his antagonist. He seriously considered letting the sun wake him up. It's happened before, and there was shelter nearby, so it wasn't like he would dust. He'd give it one more try.

"SPIKE!" Angel kicked him. That did the trick. And it was satisfying.

"OW! Quit it!" The vampire winced at the sudden movement his rude awakening caused. "Son of a bitch!" Spike glared at Angel. "Thanks for that, ass."

He glared right back. "Sorry Spike. Next time I'll just let the sun do my work for me."

Looking around, Spike seemed to realize where he was. He looked up at the bright afternoon sky.

"Bloody hell! That sun's about to kill me!" He scampered, yes scampered, over to where Angel had taken refuge. He sneered at Angel. "Oh what are you smirking at?"

"You have an orange peel on your head." Angel gleefully reported.

Spike knocked it off, and grumbled a bit. "It's not like this is a regular occurrence y'know. I have my dignity."

Angel let out a snort of disbelief, but his demeanor soon turned serious as he got down to business. "What happened anyway?"

Spike leaned against the wall of the doorway they were in. "Illyria." He watched as Angel turned around and started messing with the door next to them. "I found her." Spike let out an indignant sound. "I go through all that trouble to find the girl/hellgoddess, bring her some quality liquor, and she belts me. Saying how she's better than me and that I insult her very existence." He was really getting into it now. "I told her: 'I don't care what you think. I'm your friend.' Then I show her the booze to prove it, and she hits me again! Can you believe it? I thought chicks loved all that solidarity bull." He looked out toward the ally. "No idea how I ended up here though." When Angel didn't respond, Spike looked back to where he was, to find an open door. "Hey! Wait!" He hurried after him.

When Spike caught up, Angel brought him up to speed. "This building used to be a demon brothel, so it has sewer access." He opened up a hatch and headed down it.

"Brothel, huh? I'll bet you never even thought of treating yourself, did you?" Spike nodded understandingly. "Probably too depressed to get it up."

"At least I was never ... impotent."

The blonde vampire glared at his sire. "That was courtesy of your damn government!"

"Not mine, I'm Irish. Remember?" Angel shot back breezily. Spike resisted the urge to sulk, and managed to ask where they were headed without sounding like a petulant child. "Wolfram and Hart."

Spike's eyes lit up. "Well, won't that be fun."

-

Morgan Walker marched into her office. Her face was buried in her carefully organized files. All of which flew into the air with a terrified shout as she caught sight of one half of the Scourge of Europe. Angel was, once again, in her chair. Spike was wistfully admiring the sunny view.

"Gotta say love, I miss the necrotempered glass. Hell of a thing." He looked over to her. "It'd be a shame to put you through it."

Doing her level best not to panic, Morgan walked backwards toward her door. "I'll ... I'll have my people make up an order for you."

The door slammed shut. She whirled around, slipping on her paperwork and landing on her backside. Angel smiled down at her while leaning on said door. "Gee, that's really swell of you."

"Yeah," Spike agreed, "but I'd rather have the Viper." He told the terrified woman as he walked up to her. He crouched down over her. "So why don't you just hand me those keys, and I promise not to kill you."

"You crashed the Viper!" Angel reminded him. His tone clearly indicated he was still sore over it.

Spike arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, like six of em. So? You ALWAYS had more."

"The ... the ... k..keys for the V...Viper are in the g..garage." Morgan informed them weakly.

She was backhanded for her trouble. "I know that you silly twat!" Her face hit the carpeted floor with a crack. She let out a racked sob.

Angel was shocked. Ok. Not really. But he didn't want to get into the hitting just yet. He grabbed Spike by the elbow and pulled him up. "What the hell are you doing?" He demanded loudly. Might as well take advantage. It's a sad, twisted world with Angelus as the good cop.

Of course, that just means more fun for Spike. "Stay out of it you big browed berk! That bitch lied to you, and you were too stupid to catch on!" He pointed down to the crying woman. "She's responsible for the whole damn mess!" Spike shrugged out of Angel's grip and pulled Walker up off the floor by her hair. "It's her fault that Willow's sick! It's her fault that the girl's father's kidnapped! And it's her goddamn fault that Gunn's in the hospital!" With each declaration, Spike shook her roughly, until her hair actually ripped from her scalp, and she fell to the floor again.

The vampires looked down at her. Spike glanced at the hair still in his hands and dropped them. A look of vague disgust on his face. "Girl needs better conditioner." He muttered aloud.

Morgan watched as her hair fell to the ground. She felt her bloody scalp and an expression of hate formed on her face. She was done pretending. "I'll kill you both for this you, miserable fucks!" She rose from the floor with an almost tangible fury. Her eyes turned dark, and her voice deepened. "Do you think I'm some whimpering little girl?" Lightning danced around her fingertips. "I'm the goddamned CEO of Wolfram and fucking Hart, you idiots!"

Angel rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Then he punched her in the gut. She fell like wet doll, gasping and wheezing for air. He grabbed her harshly by the cheeks. "We know you're a witch. We know how powerful you are, but we don't care." Angel vamped out, and pulled her so close, she could smell the blood on the breath he used to speak. "We've been killing little witches like you since the industrial revolution."

Spike leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Oh my. The bad old days are here again."

That was the last thing she remembered before the bag was placed over her head.

-

Veronica went to the Hyperion Hotel. She wanted to talk with Xander. Wallace stayed behind because; a) He wasn't discharged from the hospital, b) Someone needed to stay behind incase Angel and Spike showed up, and c) She was really, really pissed at him. That last one was primarily the reason for Wallace's not being here. It was his fault that Logan was coming. Veronica had been unsuccessful in dissuading her boyfriend from rushing to her aid. Wallace is the sweetest and most loyal guy-friend a girl could want, but it was times like this that she really missed Lily. She would have know to keep her stupid trap shut. Instead she's going to have to put up with the Logan/Wallace variety hour. Each madcap episode will be devoted to not listening to a word she says, followed by some juggling, ending with anger, frustration and panic as her best friend and her boyfriend fight with her over the right to get themselves killed by monsters. Plus a surprise guest appearance by Dad: The Corpse! Sonny and Cher ain't got nothing on her boys.

She lost her train of thought when she caught sight of the hotel. Her first impression was that it must have been beautiful in it's prime. Veronica walked through the front doors and into the lobby. She stared at the pentagram that was unsuccessfully covered by a rug.

"That's... interesting." And creepy. Can't forget the creepy. Veronica tore her eyes from the unsettling pattern and looked around at the rest of the lobby. She took note of the exits, and wandered into what she assumed was Angel's office. The place was a mess. Papers, open books, discarded files, whiskey bottles, and weapons("Holy crap, does that look sharp!"), just lying everywhere. Not to mention all the dust causing her to sneeze worst than a kid with a cold. When she recovered, Veronica started to peruse some of the documents that were lying around. It was very intriguing. They were all about weird cases, and the labels made no sense whatsoever. Here're some examples. French lady with toupee. Angry octopus demony-thing. David Nabbit ('The computer guy?'). Really ugly thing-beast with violent hair. The biggest file was simply entitled: Visions. She opened it up. The first thing in the folder was a photograph of Angel with a group of people.

They weren't in the hotel, but somebody's apartment. A woman's by the look of it. She recognized Gunn right of the bat, but had no clue who the others were. No wait, that was a lie. She also recognized the nurse that planted the thermometer. This must be Angel Investigations. Veronica picked the photo up. They looked so happy. A pretty brunette with a gorgeous smile was linked arm-in-arm with Gunn. He made a silly face for the camera while she was staring fondly at a pompous, but gentle looking man in glasses. Glasses smiled back at her. He and the nurse, Fred, were sitting side-by-side on the left. Glasses had his arm around her shoulder while she giggled uncontrollably at Gunn's face. Angel was just off to the right. He was smiling too, but it felt sad somehow. Everybody in the picture was touching someone else, except Angel. His hands were in his pockets. Standing separate from everyone.

"The one with the smile is Cordelia." Xander said from the doorway. Veronica nearly had a heart attack. She was so caught up in the picture, she'd forgotten the reason why she came. Veronica glared a slayer-worthy glare at Xander. "Wow. That's ... terrifying. Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I heard sneezing and came to investigate." He made no move to enter the office. He just leaned against the door frame.

Veronica scowled at him. "You should really make some noise when you walk. It wouldn't hurt to whistle or something." Xander shrugged in a 'whatever' kind of way. "Did you know her?" she asked, referring to his initial statement.

He smiled a little sadly himself. "Yeah. We used to date back in high school."

"What about the man in glasses?"

Xander's smile turned a little wicked. "Him I did NOT date back in high school."

Veronica smiled back at him. "What's his name?" she clarified.

"Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. He was Buffy's watcher for like, five minutes. He bit off more than he could chew, and it bit him back worse. I never would have guessed he'd wind up working for Angel. The guy was a serious weeny, but he turned out O.K. in the end."

Veronica stared at the picture for a few more minutes. She placed it reverently on the desk, and turned to Xander. "Can we talk?"

He nodded. "Sure, but you have to shower first. I smelled you before I saw you." Veronica blinked. Then sniffed under her arm. She was not pleased. "You can use the one in Willow's room."

-

Gunn was ready to get out of the hospital, for real. Screw those doctors. He'd be fine. They didn't know about his enhancements. Wolfram and Hart augmented his mind, but that last battle behind the hotel proved it wasn't enough. Gunn would not have survived if Illyria hadn't decided she would grieve for him as she did Wesley. The god-king had picked up his wounded body and thrown it into the Hyperion, where he lay until the battle was over. His wounds healed, but the fact that he was taken out so quickly rankled. Gunn needed an edge. He needed someway to keep up with the high level baddies that he seemed to now be fighting. So he used his contacts to find a black market doctor. The kind who patched up mobster demons when they got hurt. The kind that Wolfram and Hart trained. He found one. Doctor Oliver Wilson.

Wilson knew how do perform the procedures that Gunn wanted. Money wasn't an issue since he didn't ask for any. All the good doctor wanted was an eye. Gunn's eye. The eye of a mortal champion. Lose an eye and gain superpowers? Or tell the doc to screw off and accept the way he was.

It wasn't a hard choice. With his new power, Gunn was able to defend LA against demons that even Angel would have trouble with. He had advanced healing, strength, agility, and durability. The only thing that suffered was his aim. Without his eye, he had no depth perception. He could live with it. Gunn focused, not just on demons, but on crime as well. Batmaning his way through the old neighborhood, and doing what he could to help Anne's shelter in his off times.

Life was good. He didn't need Angel. He didn't need anyone but himself. But then came reports of a vampire matching Spike's description tearing throats out all the way up and down the bad part of town. He tracked down the one man who knew Spike better than Spike knew himself. Angel.

Gunn took that as a good sign. He knew he could take Spike, but he needed help finding the bastard, so he went out and got it. He didn't get arrogant. He didn't try to do it alone first. He put saving the lives of other people over his own pride, and he was proud of that.

Still, when he and Angel found Spike, he wasn't the one who took him out. It was Spike who did it. A different Spike came out of nowhere and staked the one they were fighting. It turned out to be an augmented clone. One programmed to follow the whim of a mad scientist. Fun. They took care of it. Gunn wasn't happy he got beaten by a clone, but he excepted it. Gunn felt that was also a good sign.

The group ended up fighting an augmented clone of every single member of Angel Investigations that had been to Wolfram and Hart. Himself, Fred, Wesley, Lorne, and Angel. They managed to win. Angel's clone was too good a copy. He refused to do the work of his master, and killed him. Destroying himself in the process.

Crises over, the gang went their separate ways again. Angel took off. Spike in the opposite direction. Lorne went back to his talent agency. Illyria vanished. The vampires and Gunn traded cellphone numbers in case they needed to get in touch.

Gunn didn't call. Not until the other night. He was on a routine patrol when he saw two bloodsuckers stalking prey. Gunn leapt into action, but it was a trap. The new CEO of Wolfram and Hart seemed to think that he knew some valuable information and two vamps were tougher than they looked. After a few moments, Gunn started to get confused. He wasn't sure what he was doing. He knew he wanted to fight the demons in front of him, but they were too quick all of a sudden. He managed to get away for a few seconds to call for some backup. The vamps were faster and stronger than him for some reason. But they still fought like ass. Gunn was able to get away again, but not before he got a beating.

He succeeded in escaping the ally, only to pass out in front of two very scared kids. From what Angel told him, those kids are now caught up in some bad juju. Kidnapped parents, being potential champions, even Wallace's arm being broken. All of it was Gunn's fault. If only he'd been better. If maybe he'd seen through the spell the vamps used on him, he might've been able to prevent Veronica and Wallace from being noticed.

He needed to be better.

-

Nothing. That's what Logan found at his house. Sorry, nothing but an open door. His brother was missing. His mother was missing. Wallace had two choices. He could call the sheriff's department and deal with Lamb, or he could put all his trust in Veronica. No contest.

He was heading back to Gunn's room. Veronica had pretty much dismissed him for spilling the beans on Keith's disappearance. It wasn't his fault. Not really. It's tough keeping track of a woman's expectations under the best of circumstances.

Wallace opened the door to the room and saw that Gunn was dressed and looking like he was ready to go.

"You're over 18 right?" the lawyer asked by way of greeting.

"Yeah, so?"

"So check yourself out. We can't stay here. If we get attacked..." Gunn trailed off to let Wallace fill in the rest.

"Damn. Where do we go?" The younger man asked.

Gunn walked by him and headed out the hall. "We go home."

-

"Alicia? Alicia, wake up." She needed to wake up now. She really did. He couldn't understand why she didn't wake up. She has a pulse, her breathing's regular, but she just won't wake up. Her sons need her. Wallace must be going out of his mind right now. And Darrel. Darrel just sits in the corner. He hasn't said anything since they brought him back. He was screaming to burst when they took him. Alicia wouldn't let them do it. She kicked and fought and screamed for her baby.

They laughed. She was trying to protect her son, and they laughed. Their deep and terrible voices rumbled in his chest as they hit her. Alicia went down, and hasn't woken up yet. Keith pulled her close and held her while he stared into the still and vacant eyes of Darrel Fennel.