So, this is an idea I had for a while. Don't get me started on how the Reiter storyline in the flashbacks sucked, not to mention how the season in general nerfed Oliver, the only good thing out of it was Constantine, so instead of going to Coast City, Oliver goes to L.A. Originally I planned this as a one-shot, but I ended up stretching this into three chapters.

Takes place in Angel before 'Five by Five' and after the Hong Kong storyline in flashbacks in Arrow. No comment on 'Eternity' though, since that just sadly shows the darker side of the celebrity world and it's not something Oliver would want to see.

Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or Angel.

Cordelia and Wesley were putting some files into boxes, when suddenly, Cordelia gasped, clutching her head.

A man in green hood with a bow and a quiver of arrows was fighting a demon on a rooftop before some spikes protruded from the demon's arms as he grabbed the man by his throat and held him at the edge of the rooftop and pulled out his claws and ripped the man's hear out.

Cordelia gasped as her mind returned to the present, while she held her head. She was wondering if the man looked familiar to her, but before she could place his face, she saw Wesley and Angel nearing her.

"Cordelia, are you alright?" Wesley asked.

"Cordy? What did you see?" Angel asked, looking at her worriedly, realizing she had a vision.

A group of thugs was having a drug deal, when suddenly, some of them were shot down by arrows. The remaining thug ran to the ladder and climbed up the rooftop before he began running and jumping across to another rooftop and he turned around to see an archer in green hood chasing him before he was cornered to the edge of the rooftop.

"You have failed this city." Oliver Queen snarled under his hood as he notched an arrow.

The thug smirked. He had thought it was some demon hunter or a Slayer coming after his friends, but, whoever this guy was, while he had training, it was clear to the thug he was just beginning, otherwise, if he'd had any idea, he would have used different weapons than a bow and arrow.

"I expected a Slayer, not some amateur Robin Hood." The thug taunted.

Snarling, Oliver fired the arrow, but faster than humanly possible, the thug caught it before Oliver could blink and snapped it like a twig.

Oliver engaged the thug as they traded blows but then some spikes emerged from the thug's arms through the sleeves, shocking Oliver before the spikes slashed Oliver across his abdomen. Oliver grunted in pain and seeing an opening, the thug grabbed Oliver by his throat and turned him to the edge of the rooftop, about to drop him.

"Boy, you're so in over your head. You've got no idea what you walked into, do you? None at all." The thug asked.

"What… are… you?" Oliver choked out.

"I'm a demon. Though I'm afraid you won't live long enough to find out what kind." The demon said, brandishing his claws.

"Not if I have something to say about it."

They turned to see a Caucasian man with dark hair and eyes wearing a leather duster and black shirt.

"Pick on someone of your own size." Angel said.

Snarling, the demon threw Oliver away, while he engaged Angel. Oliver watched in disbelief as the two men were fighting with inhuman speed, Oliver not believing his own eyes, when even Slade with Mirakuru wasn't that fast and strong, when Oliver fought him. Angel ducked and spun around, sweeping the feet off the demon as he fell down before Angel picked an arrow from the ground and drove it into the demon's eye, killing him.

Oliver then saw Angel's eyes turn yellow and his face morph, some fangs coming out and Oliver's eyes widened as he backed away in shock.

"Hey. I'm not gonna hurt you." Angel assured, offering his hand before his face turned normal. "You're bleeding. Let me help you."

Oliver suddenly remembered the wound on his abdomen as he quickly assessed the situation. It was obvious that the man was not human, though if he wanted to hurt Oliver, he could have done it already and he saved Oliver's life, so Oliver figured he deserved a benefit of the doubt, even though Oliver wasn't fully sure he could trust the man, considering his past betrayal experiences with Yao Fei, Sara and Shrieve, then Slade's experience with Billy Wintergreen betraying him, but it wasn't like Oliver was in a position to fight back. After a moment he nodded as he took Angel's hand.

"What's your name?" Angel asked.

"Oliver." Oliver said.

"I'm Angel. Come on, my place's not far from here, we'll take a look at the wound." Angel said.

Back at Angel Investigations, Cordelia and Wesley were going over some case files, when they heard the door open.

"Angel, good, you…" Cordelia paused before her eyes widened at the blond man leaning onto Angel, who had a scratch across his abdomen and at this point had passed out due to his wound. "Oh, my God…"

"That's the guy who was fighting a demon on a rooftop earlier tonight." Angel said. "Said his name's…"

"Oliver Queen." Cordelia said.

"You know him?" Wesley asked, him and Angel equally confused.

Cordelia raised her eyebrows as she looked back and forth between Wesley and Angel. "Oliver Queen? The Queen's Gambit? Disappeared about three years ago, when their family yacht went down in the storm in North China Sea?" She then looked at Wesley and Angel as if she was on a completely different planet. "Am I among the neanderthals? Do you even read the news?"

"Not really my kind of news." Wesley said lamely.

"Oh, right, I forgot, unless the article headline says 'Bigfoot sightings' or 'Mysterious murders', you Watchers just skim through the newspapers." Cordelia said sarcastically.

"If he disappeared three years ago in North China Sea, what's he doing in L.A. playing Faramir?" Angel asked.

"Well, I'm not sure if I'd compare Mr. Queen to a Ranger, but he can answer that question once he wakes up, though I think we should treat to his wounds first." Wesley said.

"Never thought I'd compare him to a book character." Cordelia muttered. "I don't think hospital is a good idea, I'm not sure if we want Detective Lockley to ask questions about a guy who's supposed to be three years dead. She'll assume he's another…" she trailed off and Angel and Wesley nodded, their relationship with Kate was at this point strained enough and besides, it wasn't the best idea to report someone who was supposed to be dead to the authorities.

"I'll get the medical kit." Wesley said as he walked off.

Cordelia and Angel took off Oliver's hood and top and Cordelia gasped at the scars on his chest. "Jesus… what happened to him?"

"Whatever happened, it takes incredible willpower to endure all of it. Some of those scars point to torture." Angel said and he and Cordelia felt great sympathies for Oliver, wondering what he had been through in the past three years as she looked at Oliver's scars.

Oliver slowly came to as he looked around to notice that he was on a couch in some office. "Where…" He tried to get up, but grunted in pain before a brunette woman held him down.

"Easy. Easy." Cordelia said as Oliver noticed that he had been stripped of his hood and his wound was wrapped with bandages. "Are you alright, Mr. Queen?"

Oliver looked a bit shocked, but then realized it was not going to be that hard to be recognized in the U.S. before he noticed a man in his early 40s with blue eyes and short hair, wearing a suit.

"Perhaps proper introductions should be in place. I'm Wesley Wyndham-Pryce. This is Cordelia Chase." Wesley introduced himself and Cordelia.

"Don't worry, no one else knows you're here asides from the two of us and…" Cordelia began.

"Angel. That guy that saved me." Oliver said and they nodded, while he looked around. "Where is he?"

"Probably sticking to the shadows. He doesn't do well in daytime." Cordelia quipped.

"Because he's a vampire?" Oliver asked, still having a difficult time processing it, though after his experience with the Mirakuru, he was slowly beginning to realize that in the world there were things that were beyond his understanding. "And here I thought that the closest to the impossible was a Japanese serum from World War II that makes human weapons." Cordelia and Wesley gave him odd looks. "I've seen some things that defy logical explanation before, but this…"

Cordelia and Wesley nodded. Whatever Oliver had been through, he must have seen his share of things as well.

"Why are you helping me?" Oliver asked.

"Would you have preferred if Angel had left you to bleed out to death on a rooftop?" Cordelia pointed out and Oliver had to admit she had him there.

"Sorry… it's just… I've been burned before." Oliver said and Cordelia and Wesley nodded, clearly Oliver had been screwed over before, so he was having a hard time trusting strangers.

"What are you doing here in L.A.? Where have you been?" Cordelia asked.

"Cordelia, I understand you have many questions, but I don't think it's wise to press Mr. Queen with them." Wesley said as they noticed the haunted look in his eyes.

"Sorry." Cordelia said, noticing that Oliver now had in his eyes the same pained look they had seen in Angel's eyes several times.

Oliver sighed. "I guess I can't blame you for asking me those questions, but… let's just say… I've done some things. Terrible things that I'm not proud of."

"And now you're here running from them."

They turned to Angel at the door.

"Can you give us the room?"

Cordelia and Wesley looked at each other and nodded as they left.

"I can't say I've seen that look in my eyes in the mirror, as vampires don't have reflections, but I know what it's like to feel guilt. For it to eat you up from the inside until you can't escape it." Angel said as he sat down.

"I guess you'd know about guilt, given that you're a vampire. I can't imagine you haven't drank from at least one person." Oliver said and Angel didn't even bother denying it. "That guilt must be eating you up, does it?"

"It has been… for over a century." Angel said and Oliver looked at him oddly. "I used to be the kind of vampire you can imagine. A soulless monster with no remorse. For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart, until one day I killed the favorite daughter of one Gypsy clan. As a punishment, they cursed me and restored my soul. Since that day I hadn't drank human blood until… some things happened."

Oliver frowned at first until he looked at Angel's eyes and realized what he meant upon remembering the mention of 'a soulless monster.' That they restored his soul meant that they gave him conscience. Forced him to live with the guilt over everything he had done, making him realize Angel was even more tormented than Oliver was.

"I fell in love. But… my past caught up with me and I hurt her. And other people I care about. I did terrible things. Then I realized that being with her would only hurt her because of who I am, so I came here." Angel said with an understanding look. "I can't see my reflection in the mirror, so I don't know how I must look like, but if I had to imagine the look in my eyes, whenever I remember all the people I killed, what I did to Buffy… the woman I love… I'd imagine the look you have in your eyes right now. But my friends, people who care about me, like Cordelia and Wesley, haven't given up on me. Pulled me back from that edge, when I needed it."

Oliver looked at him in consideration.

"I don't know what happened to you or what you've done and I'm not going to ask you to tell me. But I can tell you this. Running from your past isn't the answer, since it's gonna catch up with you eventually and eat you up. You gotta face it and own up to it." Angel said and Oliver looked down.

"It's not that simple." Oliver scoffed.

"It's not. You can't imagine the day will come that you'll forgive yourself. Well, you have to accept the fact that you may never forgive yourself. That doesn't have to mean your life is over. You may never balance the cosmic scales, no matter how many good deeds you do, but all the lives you can save with your effort will eventually be worth it, if you really want to see your redemption through. What you've done will haunt you, probably for the rest of your life. But your sins don't have to define you for the rest of your life. If you can accept that, maybe one day you can forgive yourself."

Oliver took his words into consideration, silent, though seeing the flicker of contemplation in his eyes, Angel could tell his words got through him. Oliver simply nodded before he laid down tiredly. "Thanks for the bandages."

Angel nodded, knowing he wouldn't get more out of him, though, maybe he helped a good man find his way again.

"You won't mind if I crash here for a couple of days? The place I've been staying at isn't very comfy. I'll just need to pick some things from there tomorrow, if you don't mind." Oliver said.

"Of course." Angel nodded.

In the morning, Cordelia was helping change Oliver's bandages as she looked at his scars. "Jesus, who did this to you? Jack the Ripper?"

"No. You'd prefer if it was Frankenstein?" Oliver asked jokingly and Cordelia shuddered.

"Please, don't remind me. I almost became Frankenstein's bride. Kind of." Cordelia said and Oliver noticed how casually Cordelia brought it up.

"I guess you're used to the supernatural, are you?" Oliver asked.

"At first I didn't believe it either, until high school. Sometimes I wonder if Buffy hadn't come to Sunnydale—" Cordelia began.

"This Buffy Angel mentioned? His girl?" Oliver inquired.

"Well, she's not his girl anymore. Though, frankly, the only thing they had in common was that they were Romeo and Juliet. She was a Slayer, he was a vampire with a soul, supposed to be sworn enemies but fell in love." Cordelia summed up.

"A Slayer?" Oliver asked.

"A girl who gets chosen every generation to fight forces of darkness, imbued with great power or something like that, some prophecy crapola. And Buffy became the lucky Chosen One this generation." Cordelia said.

"Were you two friends?" Oliver inquired and Cordelia sighed.

"'Friends' might be a strong word. We rarely saw eye-to-eye, but we helped each other when it mattered." Cordelia said and Oliver nodded in understanding.

"You two keep in touch?" Oliver asked and Cordelia sighed again.

"Honestly, I just wanted to leave that part of my life in Sunnydale behind me, but it caught up with me here in L.A., when I met Angel." Cordelia said before she looked at Angel. "Don't get me wrong, he's a good friend, but…"

"…can't escape the crazy, can you?" Oliver asked and Cordelia nodded.

"Buffy came to visit us a couple of months ago and from time to time I keep in touch with Willow, one of the friends we have there, we call each other, but… my life's here now. Not there anymore." Cordelia said and Oliver nodded in understanding before she looked at him. "You got the same brooding look Angel has, you know?"

"Is it that visible?" Oliver asked.

"No, it's because I've known Angel long enough." Cordelia elaborated and Oliver nodded. "Can I ask you something personal?"

Oliver sighed. He expected she would ask him this. "Why haven't I come home yet?" He asked and Cordelia nodded before he took a breath. "I'm not sure if I'm ready."

"Maybe you'll know when that moment comes." Cordelia said.

Oliver then looked at Cordelia. "How exactly do you know Angel?"

Cordelia sighed. "Well, that's a long story. It all began around four years ago, when Buffy moved from here to Sunnydale…"

Few days later, Oliver was in his room doing push-ups, when he heard the door open and saw Angel, Wesley and Cordelia enter, all three of them looking shocked.

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

"Was someone here?" Cordelia asked, looking around.

"No new client and I didn't invite a vampire in, if that's what you're asking." Oliver said, wondering what was going on, when Cordelia and Wesley looked outside the windows, looking around before pulling the blinders.

"No sign of her." Wesley said.

"Her who? What's going on?" Oliver asked.

"Remember that psycho Slayer I told you about that tried to kill Buffy and Angel?" Cordelia asked.

"Faith? The one who's in coma?" Oliver inquired.

"Apparently not anymore. She tried to kill me with a crossbow earlier today." Angel said.

"What? Are you OK?" Oliver asked them all worriedly.

"We're fine. Though I need to make a call to Sunnydale." Angel assured.

Angel hung up the phone, when he looked at Wesley, Cordelia and Oliver. "Giles said she left Sunnydale about a week ago and that her mental state's borderline psychotic."

"That explains her outfit." Cordelia quipped.

"This isn't right." Wesley pointed out, leaning onto the wall.

"When a whacked out Slayer tries to kill your boss, it's very wrong." Cordelia said.

"I meant Giles. Why didn't he give me the heads-up? I was Faith's Watcher. When she came out of the coma, Giles should have contacted me immediately." Wesley said, pacing around.

"Maybe he was busy trying to keep her from, I don't know, killing everybody?" Cordelia asked.

"Or maybe he was so focused on protecting Buffy from her, it never occured to him who else might get hurt." Oliver said, remembering his selfish choice about wanting to come back to his friends and family, when he had a choice to stop the Triad in Starling City after seeing how much had Thea, Tommy, Laurel and Quentin fallen in his absence. From what he gathered, Giles seemed like a father figure to the Scooby Gang, but he so often played favorite with Buffy, he seemed to neglect the others, but it wasn't really his place to judge.

"He didn't know she was coming after me." Angel sighed with a nod. "He was worried about Buffy."

"Is she OK?" Cordelia inquired.

"Yeah." Angel nodded.

"What's the plan?" Oliver asked.

"Help me track her down." Angel said.

"I can hit the streets and look around. And don't worry about that someone will recognize me. I know how to be a ghost." Oliver said.

"I hope you don't mean it literally." Cordelia quipped as she turned to Wesley briefly. "What can we do?"

"I want you to check the police reports for beatings, killings, anything within the last week, possibly near bus stations and bars." Angel said as Cordelia began writing down on her notepad. "And then you make yourselves scarce, I don't wanna give her any free targets."

"You've been targeted by a psychotic, I'm certainly not gonna run and hide." Wesley protested.

"I like the plan where I'm scarce." Cordelia said.

"We've got the band together. Strength in numbers." Wesley said.

"Three's a number." Cordelia said, getting up, obviously not wanting to be Faith's target.

"Look, she'll go through you if she has to, it's best if you don't get yourselves in harm's way. If what you told me about her is true, she won't hesitate to come after Angel through both of you, if she gets the chance. We'll stop her, but we need to get ahead of her, while we still can." Oliver said.

"I agree, but you should get out of the way too, Oliver. You have no idea what she's capable of. " Angel advised.

"I took down a former A.S.I.S. agent who was enhanced with a knock-off of a serum that made Captain America, I'm not saying I can beat her, but I'll take my chances, if it comes down to it. I can't stop her, but I have some tricks up my sleeve that will at least slow her down." Oliver said.

Angel considered and nodded. He didn't doubt Oliver's skills, he held his own against a demon, but was most likely caught off-guard, since he'd had no idea what was he getting himself into. "You stay with Wesley and Cordelia, just in case she targets them to get to me."

After interrogating some people and the police, they were on their way to Cordelia's apartment as they walked down the hallway, with Wesley going over the case files.

"There's another assault, just two blocks away. Fight in a bar, several arrests made and a woman fitting Faith's description was involved, however, not arrested." Wesley said.

"She charmed her way out?" Cordelia asked sarcastically.

"Apparently, she managed to break a policeman's jaw with her handcuffs before she disappeared into the night." Wesley read.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say she'd been dosed with the Mirakuru." Oliver said.

"When did my life become like something from a warped Captain America comic book?" Cordelia asked, about to open the door to her apartment but suddenly, it closed shut in front of her. She scoffed and tried again, but with the same result.

"It's a breeze, maybe?" Oliver asked.

"No. Just my paranoid ghost roommate. Don't ask." Cordelia said and Oliver frowned. "Phantom Dennis. Let us in. It's alright. It's only Wesley and Oliver. My new friend."

"Something's wrong." Oliver said lowly, his instincts turning on. "Stay here."

Oliver went outside and climbed up and entered the apartment through the window, trying to be as silent as possible to not alert the intruder. Oliver then reached for a kitchen knife on the counter before looking around in the darkness. Two years on Lian Yu had honed his senses, so he could already tell someone was there with him.

"I know someone's here. Show yourself." Oliver said as he reached for the switch on the wall and turned on the lights. "Come out. You're not gonna hide from me."

Oliver walked down the kitchen to the living room, when from around the corner a dark-haired woman emerged, trying to punch Oliver, who blocked the punch, but it surprised him how fast and strong she was, catching him off-guard and before he could deflect the next blow, the last thing he saw was the fist nearing his face before the world turned black.

When Oliver came to, Angel was shaking him. "Oliver."

Oliver groaned, clutching his face, quickly remembering what had happened before turning to see Cordelia on the floor, also unconscious. "Cordy."

"Cordelia." Angel said, both of them shaking her before she woke up and Angel and Oliver helped her sit down.

"She was already here. I didn't know." Cordelia said in between gasps of pain.

"We came here to pick some of Cordelia's things. I realized someone had broken in, so I went ahead to check, but she got the drop on me. She was faster than I thought, caught me off-guard and knocked me out." Oliver said.

"It's not your fault." Angel assured.

"She was like an animal. She said that you weren't in the game. There was nothing we could do." Cordelia said, on verge of tears.

"Take it easy." Angel assured, holding her.

"Where's Wesley? Is he alright?" Oliver asked, looking around.

"He's not here." Angel said as they realized that Faith had kidnapped Wesley.

After further examining the reported sightings of Faith and pinpointing where was she hiding, Oliver and Angel were on the rooftop.

"What's the plan?" Oliver asked.

"She's not gonna hold back just because you're human. If you give her the chance, she'll kill you. Just get Wesley out of there. Don't fight Faith. You'll lose." Angel said and Oliver nodded. If Faith was anywhere near as fast and strong as Slade was with the Mirakuru, if not more, alongside being a skillful fighter, it was better, if someone who could match in those aspects could take her on.

"You sure you can handle her? Like you said, she's not gonna hold back." Oliver pointed out.

"Then neither am I. I'm not gonna kill her. But I won't make it easy for her either." Angel said.

Angel kicked the apartment door in as he and Oliver marched in, while Faith pulled out a pocketknife, nearing the blade to Wesley's throat as they saw him beaten up, cuts on his face and clothes and tied to a chair, clearly having been tortured.

"About time, Soul Boy. And with a lapdog. You really wanna get your ass kicked, do you?" Faith challenged.

"Let him go. If you want Angel dead, that's between you and him. But leave Wesley out of this." Oliver said.

"Him, I have to kill. Wesley's just for the hell of it. I just might bring you in on it too, Robin Hood and kill you both to be sure Angel's really in for it." Faith said, drawing some blood from Wesley's neck and Oliver sighed. He really hated that nickname.

"This isn't about them, it's about you and me." Angel said, both him and Oliver circling Faith.

"No, baby, he's payback." Faith said.

"Whatever Wesley did for you, torturing him to make him suffer isn't gonna help you. Trust me on that." Oliver said, remembering when he had tortured Shrieve for unleashing Alpha/Omega virus on Hong Kong and Akio's death.

"I thought you were happy the way you are. By the way, you never told me how much I'm worth dusted, just out of curiosity." Angel inquired.

"15,000, plus expenses." Faith shrugged and Angel scoffed, shaking his head.

"You're kidding." Angel said.

"Hey, I'm young. Willing to work my way up." Faith shrugged again.

"As a hitwoman? You might wanna reconsider your line of work." Oliver said.

"So do you, Robin Hood." Faith sneered.

"You feel young, do you, Faith?" Angel taunted, while Faith shook for a moment, looking on edge. "You look pretty worn out to me."

Suddenly, Wesley whipped back, falling down, while Angel kicked Faith in the groin as she fell down on the floor.

"Get him out of here!" Angel ordered, turning to Oliver.

Oliver nodded, kneeling towards Wesley and picking the knife, cutting the restraints off. Faith got up with a wooden stake, about to rush at them, but Angel pulled her away before they traded blows, until Angel threw her to the couch and smashed her stake against his leg, breaking it. Cutting the last of his restraints, Oliver helped Wesley on his feet as they ran out of the apartment.

"That's all you got, vampire? Get in the game." Faith said, kicking the table as it flipped towards Angel, the dishes falling off and shattering before she jumped at Angel, slamming him to the wall and relentlessly punching him, screaming in rage until they both fell down.

"You think he can beat her?" Oliver asked.

"If nothing else, at the very least he'll slow her down." Wesley said.

They were running downstairs until they heard 'crash' outside. They went out and saw Angel and Faith continuing fighting in the alley, with Faith gaining the upper hand.

"YOU'RE GONNA DIE! YOU HEAR ME?! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT EVIL IS!" Faith screamed as she threw Angel against the grating of a window before he fell down. Angel got up, but she wasn't pulling any punches. "I'M BAD!"

Oliver and Wesley were wondering why wasn't Angel defending himself.

"FIGHT BACK!" Faith yelled and Oliver growled. That was it. This had to end, now.

Oliver notched an arrow and waited for a clear shot as Faith continued beating up Angel until he ducked her punch and grabbed her arm.

"Nice try, Faith." Angel said, throwing her to the ground. Faith got up as Angel neared her. "I know what you want." He said, ignoring her punch in his face before he struck her in the face. "And I'm not gonna do it."

Oliver had a clear shot, holding the bowstring, but he was wondering what was Angel planning.

"I'm not gonna make it easy for you." Angel said, while Faith was wildly throwing punches that Angel dodged and blocked, standing his ground and suddenly, Oliver's eyes widened in realization as she began banging on Angel's chest.

"I'M EVIL! I'M BAD! I'M EVIL!" Faith screamed, but it became clear to Oliver it wasn't a scream of insanity and rage, it was a cry of despair begging for help. "DO YOU HEAR ME?! I'M BAD! ANGEL, I'M BAD! I'M BAD! DO YOU HEAR ME?!" Her screams were becoming lower and lower, while her punches were losing strength before she grabbed Angel by his shirt and broke down in tears. "Please. Angel, please, just do it. Please, just do it. Just kill me. Just kill me…" She sobbed and fell on her knees, while Angel pulled her in for a hug, soothing her.

"Shh. Shh. I'm here." Angel assured softly.

Oliver then began to see the parallels between himself and Faith, even though Oliver had not gone that over the edge, he realized he easily could have and not a day had gone by, when him killing Slade or torturing Shrieve wouldn't haunt him and there were times he wanted to die for all the terrible things he did, convincing himself that he had become the monster he was afraid of that deserved to die and now he saw that Faith was going through the exact same thing, but Angel saw through her ruse. If Oliver had not seen the scene for himself, he wouldn't have hesitated to put her down, but it made him wonder, did she deserve help? Was there any chance for her? Was there for Oliver? Angel clearly was willing to try and help Oliver, since he saw something in Oliver worth saving. Oliver still wasn't fully convinced he deserved it, but after learning the things about Faith she had done in Sunnydale and seeing her dark side for himself in L.A. and now her breaking down in tears from how far she had fallen, was she truly too far gone to find a way back to light? Was Oliver?

As Oliver observed Angel comforting the broken girl in front of him, it just made him wonder that perhaps there was even a smallest flicker of light in the darkest of hearts worth saving. But whether Oliver or Faith could actually be saved, right now he wasn't sure if there was an answer to that question. It made him wonder if he had given up on Slade too soon. He had a chance to cure Slade of the Mirakuru, but he'd given into Slade's taunts, took the bait and chose to kill him and there were times, when Oliver wondered if he could have saved Slade, if he'd chosen to cure him instead. He had a choice between a chance for redemption or death. And choosing death was something that had been haunting him ever since. Angel chose to try give Faith a chance, despite that she'd given him countless of reasons to kill her and Oliver could see she was at least worth trying to save her, deepening his regret over Slade.

And that's how Oliver meets Team Angel.

To me personally it's always been a bit tricky to accurately write Cordelia's personality, but I hope she's in character here.

You probably expected Oliver to have a meaningful interaction with Faith, given the similarities between them but that will come in the next chapter, 'Sanctuary'

So, what do you guys think?

Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this so far.

With regards

Bl4ckHunter