"War Zone"
Based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Episode "The Yoko Factor" Written by Douglas Petrie and the Angel Episode "War Zone" Written by Garry Campbell
The following story is copyright © 2024 by Mark Moore.
A black teenage woman named Alonna Gunn was walking down an alley in a bad part of Los Angeles, scared. She looked over her shoulder from time to time as she sped up. She was being pursued by three vampires. She arrived at a dead end and turned to face the vampires. She heard steps and the sound of a truck behind the vampires.
One of them turned. "You."
Charles Gunn, a bald, black teenage man wearing a black bandana, a pair of black shoes, black pants, and a long black coat and holding a sword, smiled. "You expecting somebody else?"
A blue pickup truck with more armed teenagers pulled up behind him, and another teenager with a loaded crossbow stepped up beside him.
Cordelia, Wesley, and Angel walked into a big Hollywood party going on at a mansion.
"Oh, I miss that smell!" Cordelia exclaimed.
Wesley looked at her. "Camembert, I believe."
"What? No, money; I like the smell of a little money once in a while."
Angel looked at Wesley. "She's not just saying that. Hide some in the office sometime to watch her. It's uncanny."
"Oh, there he is." Cordelia pointed to a young guy, in a plaid shirt and wearing glasses, sitting by himself. She walked over to him. "Mr. Nabbit, hi!"
Nabbit got up. "Hi." He offered his right hand to Cordelia.
Cordelia shook his hand. "Hi."
"Glad you could come."
"Thanks."
Angel nodded. "Thanks for having us."
"It's a pleasure. Who are you?"
"Oh. I'm Cordelia Chase. We spoke on the phone?"
Nabbit held out his hand to shake again. "Oh! Right!"
They shook hands again.
"So - So you - you must be...Angel."
Angel shook his hand. "Yes. Pleased to meet you. And this is Wesley, my associate."
Wesley nodded. "Lovely party."
"Isn't it nice?" Nabbit asked.
Cordelia spotted someone. "Oh, my God, is that Courteney Cox?"
"I-I-I have no idea. I don't know most of...these people. I-I don't even talk to them. They come to the party. I-I think they have fun." He offered them some appetizers. "These are crab."
Angel shook his head. "If this is a bad time, we-"
"Oh, um, Miss Chase said that you could...only meet at night."
"Yeah, it's more convenient-"
"And - And that we'd be less conspicuous during the party."
Angel looked at Cordelia, and she gave him a big grin and shrug before turning away.
"I mean...I think it's good! We probably won't be interrupted. Well, I-I've always said that I would make a billion dollars in the software market and, uh, learn to talk to girls. Still working on step two."
"So why don't you tell us about your case?" Angel suggested.
"Oh."
Angel and Nabbit sat down on the sofa.
"Uh, my case. It, uh, somewhat has to do with...blackmail."
"Go on."
"Are you familiar with Dungeons & Dragons?"
"Yeah. I've seen a few."
"You mean the, uh, role-playing game."
Angel looked up at Wesley. "Oh...game. Right."
"Well, I used to play a lot in high school. You know, it was pretty cool. You get to be someone else for a while - a wizard, a warrior; you know, the whole world is magic, and fighting Troglodytes and romancing exotic...demon princesses, and, you know, it's a rush!"
"Did someone find out you were a big nerd?" Cordelia asked.
Nabbit chuckled. "No, that's, uh, that's actually public record. But, uh, some of us got really into it. Uh, specially the demon romance part. And then we heard about this place...where...the real..." He paused. "The guys were joking about getting some tail."
Wesley stared at him. "You went to Madame Dorion's."
"J-J-Just once."
Angel looked up at Wesley.
"It's a demon brothel."
"Or twice."
"In Bel Air, I believe. The Watchers Council is rife with stories about it."
"Ah, and how many-"
"Twelve...times."
"-people knew about you going?" Angel finished.
"Oh, uh, just my - my friends, but, uh..." Nabbit handed Angel a picture. "...but my security guys already identified the guy with the...pictures. That's Lenny Edwards, but...I just can't find him."
Angel put the picture of a smoking bald guy in his jacket and got up. "Well, we'll see if we can do better."
"If - If my stockholders see these pictures-"
"They won't."
Cordelia smiled. "Don't worry. We are incredibly discreet. We'll, uh, mingle here for a few hours, so no one suspects."
A girl walked by. "Hey, David."
"Oh, hey. Nice - Nice seeing you again. Yeah." David shrugged to the others. "I have no idea. When I moved to L.A., I thought it was all glamour and valet parking, but there is a whole world here that no one ever sees."
Angel stared at him. "More than one."
Back in that dead-end alley, the group of teens were fighting the vampires and actually doing some damage by the stint of sheer numbers and cooperation. One vampire got nailed by a stake gun mounted on the pickup truck as he was about to kill one of the boys. Another one, fighting against five teens, got beheaded by Gunn. The guy with the stake gun nailed another vampire that lunged at him in mid-air, then started kicking the jammed gun. A vampire broke one of the boys' necks, then ran, while a fifth got staked behind him. The vampire jumped on the truck and kicked the gunner.
"Bobby! Bobby!" Alonna yelled.
The vampire and Bobby fought; as the vampire was about to kill the boy, Alonna attacked him with her pike. Charles came running, too, and the vampire took off, with others running after. One of the teens aimed a crossbow after them.
Charles pushed it down. "No, no, no." He pointed after the vampire. "Dog him."
Alonna tried to lift Bobby, who was hanging head-down over the side of the truck. "Gunn, come on. Come on."
Gunn helped her, and they got Bobby into the bed of the truck.
"Go!" Gunn told the driver.
They drove off.
They stopped in front of a deserted building. Alonna and Gunn helped Bobby inside while the others covered the truck with a tarp, then followed.
Gunn looked at Bobby. "All right. Here you go. I got you. All right, you're gonna make it, man. Come on, two more. Easy. Easy."
Alonna nodded. "Right down here."
They eased Bobby to the ground.
"Hey, Gunn."
"Right here, man."
"He picked me up like I was a baby."
"He's dead, Bobby, forget about him."
"I'm not a baby."
Alonna looked at her brother. "He needs a doctor."
Bobby stopped moving.
"Not anymore." Gunn got up. "James, how are we fixed for tonight?"
"Beck and me lifted some canned stuff. Wasn't much in the bins behind Mel's, and we got that." He motioned towards three other teens. "I told them we don't take squatters."
"Everybody eats."
In the Bronze, Giles was sitting on the edge of the stage, playing his guitar for Jenny, who was sitting next to him. Buffy and the Slayerettes backed him up. Tara added her keyboard, and Amy added her drums, but Buffy and Sandy kept their guitars low and minimal to not drown out Giles' playing. Harmony was sitting at a nearby table, her video camera set up on her tripod, recording the intimate concert. Julie sat with her. Buffy, Tara, Amy, and Sandy sang:
"It don't come easy.
You know it don't come easy.
It don't come easy.
You know it don't come easy."
Giles started singing:
"Got to pay your dues,
If you wanna sing the blues.
As you know, it don't come easy.
"Now, you don't have to shout
Or leap about.
You can even take it easy.
"Forget about the past
And all your sorrow.
Future won't last.
It will soon be your tomorrow.
"I don't want much;
I only want trust,
But you know it don't come easy.
"And this love of mine
Keeps growing all the time,
But you know it don't come easy.
"Now, open up your heart.
Let's come together.
Mmm, use a little love.
We will make it work out better.
"Got to pay your dues,
If you wanna sing the blues.
As you know, it don't come easy.
"Now, you don't have to shout
Or leap about.
You can even take it easy.
"Please remember: peace
Is what we make it.
It's here within your reach.
You are big enough to take it.
"I don't have much;
I only want trust.
You know it don't come easy,
"But this love of mine
Keeps growing all the time,
But you know it don't come easy."
Everyone finished playing. Jenny applauded. Giles set his guitar on the stage and hopped down.
Suddenly, Spike barged into the club and over to the stage. "You know, for someone who's got 'Watcher' on his résumé, you might want to cast an eye to the front door every now and again."
"I'll keep that in mind. You couldn't have come at a worse time."
"Oh, yeah? Interrupting your take on that talentless wanker, Ringo? I did everyone here a favor."
"Since you insist on being an incurable tosspot, I'll have you know I was singing George's demo version." Giles removed his glasses, peeved. "What do you want?"
"Buffy."
Buffy chuckled. "Over my gay ass."
"I just might have something you just might want."
"And what might that 'something' be?" Buffy asked him.
"Information. Highly classified. Not cheap word-on-the-street prattle either. I'm talking about the good shit now."
Unimpressed, Buffy set down her guitar and crossed her arms. "Thrill me."
Spike sighed. "It's nothing I know. What, you think I'd come running over, saying 'I've got a secret; beat me till I talk?' There's files in the Initiative. I'm pretty sure I know where."
Giles' interest was perked. "Files?"
"Yeah. Secrets. Mission statements. Design schematics. All of Maggie Walsh's dirty laundry, which I guess would include lots of tidbits about-"
"Adam."
"Well, yeah. Say someone were to risk his life and limb - well, limb, anyway - to obtain said files. It might be worth a little something."
"A-At...this point, a cynical person might think that you're offering just what we need when we need it most."
"That person'd be right, Rupert. Supply and demand. And it won't be cheap this time."
"What do you want?" Giles asked him.
Spike seemed to think about it. "Hmm, year supply of blood, guaranteed protection, merry bushels of cash, and, most important, a guarantee that I'm not to be in any way slain."
Giles put on his glasses. "Done."
Buffy pointedly cleared her throat.
"With a smile and a nod from you? Sorry. Not close to good enough. This deal's with the Slayer." Spike looked at her.
Buffy paused in consideration. "I'll think about it."
Spike stared at her for a moment longer, then turned and left.
Giles cleared his throat, took an item out of his jeans pocket, and got down on one knee in front of Jenny. She gasped in shock.
Giles opened the box, revealing a silver ring. "Jennifer Calendar, will you make me the happiest man on Earth and be my wife?"
Jenny got over her initial shock and shrugged casually. "Sure, what the hell?"
Giles slid the ring onto Jenny's left ring finger. He stood up and kissed her on the lips. They hugged each other. Buffy, Tara, Amy, Sandy, Harmony, and Julie applauded.
Alonna crouched down beside a guy. "See my brother?"
The guy pointed to where Gunn was coming down the stairs.
"Gunn, we need to talk."
"Yeah, what of?"
"What happened to Bobby-"
"No! No. We don't talk about that. That's done."
"We're dying here, Gunn."
"Everybody dies. I'm just trying to make sure that, when we die, we stay dead."
"It shouldn't have gone down the way it did. You're getting reckless."
"I do what I got to do."
"No, you do more than you got to do. Three weeks, G. Three weeks and no teeth, and you had to ring the dinner bell like that? You just couldn't go another day without getting a little death in, could you?"
"You think I like this?"
"No, I think you love it. And you won't quit until you get as close to death as you possibly can."
"You're wrong."
"I hope so. Because I don't want to lose you, too."
Gunn took her hand. "Hey. That's not gonna happen, little sister. All right? It's never gonna happen." He kissed her on the forehead. He saw two guys come down the stairs. "Yo, Chain! You found them?"
"Dead boy led me right to its nest. It's close - practically right around the corner."
"Nice."
"Four blocks, right next to the old blue jean factory."
Gunn shook his hand. "All right. Cool. Now, we got a chance to do some real damage."
A guy hurried down the stairs, loaded crossbow in hand. "Incoming! Moving this way fast. Jumping rooftop to rooftop."
Gunn looked at Chain. "You were followed?"
"No way."
"Let's check it out."
They all headed up the stairs.
Gunn and his gang came up to watch an altercation from behind some iron bars. Lenny was about to get in his car when Angel came up behind him.
"What do you want?" Lenny asked Angel.
"Big question. What do I want?" Angel paused. "Love...family...a place on this planet I can call my own...but you know what?"
"What?"
"I'm never going to have any of those things. And unless these next few minutes go exactly the way I want them to, neither are you. Where are the pictures of David Nabbit?"
"Never heard of him."
"Oh-ho, you only get one lie. I probably should have mentioned that first."
Lenny patted Angel on the shoulder. "Look, pal, you obviously not from around here. But trust me: you do not want to see my bad side."
Angel bared his fangs. "You show me yours, I show you mine." He grabbed Lenny and pushed him up against the car. "Okay, so now I'm from around here. In fact, I'm moving in. Taking over. You understand me? I will dog you every night for the rest of your very short life until you bring me what I want. Are we clear?"
Lenny nodded frantically.
"Yeah. See you tomorrow." Angel gave Lenny a last shove.
Lenny turned to unlock his car door, then looked back. Angel was gone. Lenny got in the car and drove off.
"Vampire is moving in, huh?" Chain asked.
Gunn nodded. "Yeah, well, he ain't gonna stay too long."
The next day, Cordelia and Wesley were standing in front of David Nabbit while he wrote out a check at his mansion.
"Ah. This should take care of your expenses to date. I want you to know I really appreciate what you did at the party."
"At the party?" Wesley asked.
Nabbit nodded, and Wesley and Cordelia looked at each other.
"What we did at the party?" Wesley asked Cordelia.
"It was a wonderful party."
"We talked. We had some good times. It meant a lot to me."
Cordelia looked at Nabbit. "Oh."
Wesley looked at Nabbit. "Yes, but...you were paying us to be there."
"I do that all the time. But you guys actually hung with me. It was...It was special." He held the check out to Wesley.
Cordelia grabbed it. "I'm in charge of the..." She saw the amount of the check and, speechless, showed it to Wesley.
"Good Lord. I think there must be some mistake."
"I'm sure Mr. Nabbit knows how to write a check."
"No, there is no mistake. I just...believe in rewarding good work."
Wesley looked at him. "This is amazingly generous, Mr. Nabbit, but...we are really not finished with the job."
"It's only money, and I got sack-fulls, and it's - it's David. You guys call me David, okay?"
Cordelia smiled. "I like David. It's such a...strong, masculine name."
Nabbit grinned at her.
Cordelia grinned. "It just feels...good in my mouth."
Wesley cleared his throat. "Well, David, you won't be disappointed. We'll earn every cent of your generous confidence in our firm."
Cordelia waved as she walked out. "Bye."
"Bye."
Wesley followed Cordelia out. "Feels good in your mouth?"
"I was flustered!"
In Buffy and Tara's dorm room, Buffy was sitting on the bed, playing with a small black-and-white kitten in her lap. Tara was sitting on the large chest at the foot of the bed. She was looking through the course selection booklet.
"Oh. I keep thinking 'Okay, that's the cutest thing ever', and then she does something cuter and completely resets the whole scale."
"Did you see her yawn earlier?" Tara asked her.
"Yes! I thought I was going to die." Buffy picked up the kitten to look into her eyes. "Oh, I love you, Miss Kitty Fantastico! It's so cool that she's ours."
"You still need an elective." Tara glanced down at the booklet. "How about...Sophomore-Level Psychology?"
"Oh. Kinda psyched out since Professor Walsh. Maybe something fun like Drama. I could be dramatic." Buffy picked the kitten up again in front of her face. "You cannot have more catnip! You have a catnip problem!"
Tara laughed. "Definitely Drama."
The kitten started pawing at Buffy's hair and face. Buffy lowered her to her lap again.
After work, Cordelia went and got a large burrito at the taco stand near Helen's Kitchen, then she walked into the restaurant.
Anne and Faith were busy delivering orders to tables and refilling coffee.
Cordelia walked up to Anne, munching on her burrito. "Hey."
Anne stopped and looked at her, then frowned. "Seriously?"
"What?" Cordelia asked.
"You bring food in from outside?"
Cordelia frowned. "If you can call it food. Retardo Montalbán out there didn't cook it all the way. Anyway, we heading out?"
Faith looked at her. "Not quite yet. Our shifts ain't done."
"Oh." Cordelia took another bite of her burrito.
Anne frowned and angrily motioned at the door. "Go eat that outside. Mitch would have a fit."
"Okay, okay! God!" Cordelia turned and headed toward the door.
In the woods, Buffy was patrolling, walking on a dirt path leading up to a cave entrance. She was carrying the blaster that Professor Walsh had given her. She was heading towards the cave when someone jumped out into the path behind her, and she whirled around to face Forrest Gates. They were pointing their blasters at each other.
"Don't shoot."
Buffy lowered her blaster. She turned and continued to the cave. Forrest started to follow but stopped when she looked back at him.
"I'm checking out that cave."
"My orders exactly."
"Alone?" Buffy asked him.
"We're spread a little thin, so yeah. Family's tearing apart."
Buffy turned and entered the cave, followed by Forrest.
"Welcome."
They looked back the way that they came and saw Adam suddenly standing there.
Buffy sighed. "Oh, shit."
Buffy stepped forward, ready to fire her blaster, but Adam swung his arm and knocked it out of her hands. She quickly struck with a front kick that did little damage and blocked Adam's arm when he swung it at her again. Forrest rushed in to attack, but Buffy was between him and Adam and shoved him back hard.
"Get out of here!" Buffy told him.
As Forrest fell to the ground, Buffy hit Adam in the face with a hard backhand. Adam hardly felt it and grabbed her by the neck, throwing her across the cave. She slammed into the rock wall and dropped to the ground. Adam turned his attention to Forrest, and his Polgara skewer jutted out of his left arm.
Forrest was getting back to his feet. "Not moving." He raised his blaster and fired it at Adam.
Reacting to the blast, Adam arched back, his arms wide as if accepting the charge. The rings of electricity coursed over his body, then seemed to be absorbed within him.
He looked at Forrest. "Thank you."
Buffy saw this and rose to her knees. "Go! Get out!"
But Forrest charged Adam, and the demonoid cyborg met him with the skewer, shoving it through his chest.
"No!" Buffy yelled.
Forrest quickly went limp, and Buffy ran towards them. With his free arm, Adam tossed Forrest's body in the air, and it slid off his skewer and crashed into Buffy, knocking her down. Adam immediately picked up Forrest's blaster.
"Oh, God." Buffy rolled Forrest's body off herself and rose to her feet.
Adam fired the blaster. The charge hit her full-force and sent her flying back, where she collided with a large boulder. She dropped to her knees and, as soon as she was on her feet, bolted for the entrance. Adam tracked her with the gun and fired another blast. It just barely missed her, blowing apart a huge chunk of the cave wall.
Buffy stumbled out of the cave on legs that didn't seem to work right, but she continued to pick up speed as she ran down the hill. She took a quick glance over her shoulder. It didn't look like Adam was after her, but she didn't stop, desperate to escape. She suddenly lost her footing on the edge of a steeper slope and tumbled down the incline. She didn't roll very far before she was stopped by a large rock sticking out of the ground, hitting her head hard. Buffy fell unconscious beside the rock, her head turned to the side, a gash on the left side of her forehead, and a bruise already forming next to her eye.
Anne and Cordelia set the bed frame in place and then grabbed a mattress from the stack on the floor. Meanwhile, Faith did the same all by herself. They heard the front door open and close and walked over to see who it was.
Veruca was standing there. "Hey. I looked for you at the diner and at your place, but..." She offered Anne her car key.
Anne took it. "Took you long enough. Where the fuck have you been?"
Veruca shrugged. "Ran out of gas. Had to work for it."
Anne didn't know or care what that meant. "Whatever."
"Sorry." Veruca paused. "Sandy broke up with me."
Faith rolled her eyes. "Imagine that."
Cordelia shot Faith a look, then walked over and hugged Veruca. Veruca hesitated, then hugged her back.
Cordelia looked Veruca in the eyes. "Would you like to maybe help us set this place up? It'll take your mind off things."
Veruca paused in consideration and then nodded.
That night, the door opened, and Spike rushed into Giles' apartment.
Spike closed the door. "I think I lost the buggers."
Jenny stood up from where she was sitting at Giles' desk. "Any luck with the disks?"
He pulled out a few disks from the pockets of his flak jacket and commando pants and handed them to her. "Took what they had. Should be something useful on one of them."
Jenny took the disks, staring at him. "Hope so." She sat down again in front of her laptop.
Tara was standing beside her. "What are we looking for?"
Jenny slid one of the disks into her laptop. "Anything about Adam."
Giles was sitting at the bar, pouring himself a drink. "Were there any problems getting in and out?"
"No. I mean...a couple of them made me on the way out, but I took care of 'em."
"Gave them a good running-away-from-them, did you?" Giles asked, sarcastically.
Spike shot him a look. "Well, yeah. When do I get paid?"
"When Jenny tells me you've brought us something useful."
Spike stepped up behind Giles. "I could've gone straight to the Slayer, you know? I cut you in, let you pretend you're actually in charge; now, you've got to wait for your girl's permission to finish the deal?"
Giles was seething into his drink. "As soon as we see what's on the disks."
Tara stared at the screen. "It looks like gibberish."
Giles and Spike looked over at them.
"Gibberish?" Spike asked.
Jenny looked at them. "They're encrypted."
"Oh, wonderful." Giles stepped away from the bar and walked down the hall.
"Can you fix 'em?" Spike asked her.
"Crack a government encryption code on my laptop? Easy as really difficult pie. Why?" Jenny asked.
Spike sighed. "You're not exactly the whiz these days either. God, I'm never gonna get paid."
Jenny frowned. "I just need some time."
"Can you hurry up? I've got a deal at stake. Pressing business, ladies." Spike pointed to the screen and tapped it with his finger.
Gunn and his gang lay in wait in their pickup truck, the headlights turned off.
Lenny was sitting on the hood of his car, holding a brown manila envelope in his hands, looking around. Suddenly, Angel was there.
"You're a sneaky son of a bitch, aren't you?" Lenny asked.
"You brought the photographs?"
Lenny held up the envelope. "Of course, I brought them - and a little something extra."
A gray-skinned demon arrived next to Angel and hit him hard enough that he flew a few feet backwards through the air.
Lenny smiled. "Love that."
Angel and the demon fought. The demon was at least as strong as Angel.
"Whatever he's paying you isn't enough, is it, big fellow?" Lenny asked.
During the fight, Angel crashed into Lenny, making him drop the envelope. Angel picked it up and put it inside his coat, then swung around a lamp post and continued to fight the demon. At the end, he managed to break the demon's neck. While Angel caught himself on the ground, coughing, trying to recover from the fight, Lenny ran off.
Chain fired a stake. The stake impaled Angel through his left shoulder, poking out the front. Grabbing a hold of it, Angel looked back to see Gunn's gang with their pickup truck and stake gun. The headlights turned on. He got up, pulling out the stake, and ran - with the truck in close pursuit.
"Get him!" Gunn yelled.
Angel kept zigzagging and tossing trash cans and other stuff in front of the truck to make it swerve and mess up the gunner's aim as he ran down the street. He rolled underneath a partially open warehouse door. The wooden rams mounted on the hood of the truck came through the door, just missing him. Gunn and his gang got out of the truck and entered the warehouse.
Angel ran deeper into the warehouse, stumbling against some boxes. He stepped on a plate on the floor. A pallet with stakes mounted to the bottom dropped from the ceiling, and Angel rolled to avoid getting impaled. A guy with a stake in hand jumped him from behind. Angel grabbed his up-raised hands and, after a short struggle, tossed him over his head, onto the floor in front of him. The guy saw the stake coming for his own heart and froze in fear. Angel took a breath, dropped the stake, and ran on, the guy staring after him in surprise. Angel ran through a trip wire and triggered some crossbows as he ran down a hallway, but Angel managed to dodge the quarrels. The gang attacked him from all sides, and, after tossing a couple around, Angel grabbed a hold of Alonna and used her as a shield.
"Alonna!" Gunn yelled. "Don't shoot."
"What are you people playing at?" Angel asked Gunn.
"We're not playing."
"You're gonna get yourselves killed."
"We're gonna get you killed first!" Gunn yelled.
Chain nodded. "Let's kill him."
Angel looked at them for a moment, then tossed Alonna aside. Alonna fell into a trip-cord, and a crossbow went off. Angel reached out and intercepted the quarrel headed for Alonna with the palm of his hand. Everybody stared.
"Ow! You know, for some reason, I'm getting the impression you don't like me too much!" Angel pulled the quarrel out of his hand. "Maybe I'm just overreacting."
"What? You're gonna pretend that you're different from the rest of them?" Gunn asked.
"Yeah. And then I just pretend that I just saved her life. You put a lot of work into this. Some clever stuff, really. I'm impressed, but I have a few suggestions."
"I don't think we're interested."
"Yeah. You should be. Who do you think that would have killed? We are fighting on the same side."
"The same side of what?" Chain asked.
"I didn't come here to kill you."
Gunn lowered his crossbow and stepped closer. "It don't matter why you're here or what you are. If you ever show your face down here again, don't count on any long goodbyes."
The gang left.
Buffy walked into her dorm room and removed her jacket as she stepped up to the mirror on the wall. Ugly bruising had formed around the gash on her forehead, and she winced as she touched it with her fingers.
Tara walked out of the bathroom. "Buffy?"
Buffy turned and looked at her.
Tara walked over to her. "What happened?"
"Adam."
"I'll get the first-"
"It's fine. I'll heal." Buffy walked into the bathroom, opened the cold water in the sink, and washed away the blood with her fingers. She closed the faucet and headed for the door. "I gotta talk to Riley."
In the office, Wesley was taking the pictures that Angel recovered over to where Cordelia was bandaging Angel's shoulder and middle.
"That's very nice work. I'm sure Nabbit will be greatly relieved to get these back." Wesley sat down next to Angel on the edge of Cordelia's desk, looking at one of the pictures. "Oh, my."
"It's upside down."
Wesley turned the picture around, and they both looked at it as Cordelia put the last piece of tape in place.
"Certainly not something one would want framed."
"How does it feel?" Cordelia asked.
"I can't possibly imagine it's pleasant."
Angel made a face. "Ew."
"I'm talking to Angel."
Angel and Wesley looked at her.
"Oh, right. Sorry."
Angel got up. "It feels..." He winced as he pulled on his shirt. "It feels better."
"You should rest. You look like-"
"Like I've been beaten and stabbed?"
"Want to see the check again?" Cordelia offered.
"I want to find those kids. I don't think any of them have homes. They're probably living together somewhere."
"How many are there?" Wesley asked.
"I'm not sure. Six, seven, maybe more? A couple of them couldn't have been more than sixteen."
Cordelia sighed. "God. Twenty-minute ride from billionaires and crab puffs, kids going to war."
"This isn't something they just started doing. I mean...they were ready. They've been pushed to this."
"In which case, I can certainly understand their...stake-first-and-ask-questions-later state of mind. It's how they survive."
"And the idea of a...vampire in a white hat probably seems a little...give-me-a-breaky?" Cordelia added.
"They're in over their heads. They're going to get themselves killed. If they're hunting vampires, there has to be a nest in the area. Wesley, I want you to find out where those kids live."
"Consider it done."
"I'm gonna find that nest - before they do. It'll have to be close - probably in a ten-block area..." Angel winced in pain as he pulled on his coat. "...and it'll have to be a building with sewer access." Angel stepped into the elevator, still clearly hurting. He turned back. "Can I just see that check again?"
Buffy knocked on Riley's dorm room door. Soon, the door opened, and Riley was standing there.
"Buffy, you look like hell."
"Riley. I have to tell you something. And there's no easy way-"
"Just say it."
Buffy paused. "Forrest is dead."
Riley took in this news.
"I'm so sorry. There was a fight. Adam killed him. I barely got away. I know that there's nothing I can say that's gonna make this better. But we will find this thing and destroy it."
"I have to go."
"Are you sure?"
"I have to go now." He grabbed his flak jacket off a chair and left.
Buffy stared after him, concerned.
At the hideout, Chain shook his head. "I don't want to hear this."
"I'm saying he could be useful."
"Gunn, don't even listen to her."
Alonna sighed. "You know there is something different about him. I'm just saying...he knows shit that we don't, and he didn't have to do what he did."
"And if he hadn't, he would have been dead."
Gunn looked at him. "Maybe."
Chain looked at him. "No maybe. We would have killed him."
"The guy bugs me, Alonna."
"Everybody bugs you."
"You bug me the most."
"What? I'm trying to keep you alive. I'm not saying trust him."
"It just don't play. I mean...if he's not looking to kill, what's he want? And why the hell would he come to a place like this?"
In Giles' apartment, Jenny was still working on the laptop, a tad frustrated. "It's still encrypted."
Buffy and Tara were standing to either side of her.
Tara looked at Buffy. "Well, Jenny's working really hard on it."
"Okay, well, how long before you...un-crypt it?" Buffy asked Jenny.
"Hours. Days, maybe. Anyone suggesting months would not be accused of crazy talk."
The next day, Alonna walked up to Gunn, who was working on some type of machinery.
"Hey. I got some food."
"I'm not hungry."
"Not hungry? When's the last time you ate?"
"Oh, seems like just yesterday."
"Well, Poe went to the market."
"Alone?"
"No, Jason had his back. They got away clean."
"Oh, yeah, like last time?"
"No, no cops this time, no chase." Alonna offered him some bread. "Come on, you eat this."
Gunn shook his head.
"Well, they got some other stuff. They got, uh, hamburger and some apples and lots of other stuff."
Gunn stopped working to listen to something.
"Looks like we're gonna have a home-cooked meal tonight." Alonna noticed Gunn's attention was off her. "What?"
Gunn got up. "Get everybody out."
"What is it?"
"Just do it! Now!"
Alonna started walking. "Everybody get out! Now!"
Gunn picked up a sword, and a smoke grenade flew through a narrow window under the ceiling.
"Get everybody outside - into the daylight. Do it."
"They are coming in? Don't they have to be invited?" a guy asked.
"Chain!" Gunn yelled.
Chain came to stand beside him. "Cops?"
"I don't know."
"Are they in? Where are they?"
"Go! Go! Go!" Alonna yelled at the kids running up the stairs.
"I don't see nothing." Chain paused. "There is nothing."
"Oh, God. Alonna!" Gunn yelled.
They ran up the stairs after the others.
"Alonna!" Gunn yelled.
As Alonna dropped over the railing to the floor of the alley, a van pulled up. A heavily-swaddled guy wearing a gas mask jumped out and grabbed her.
"Alonna!" Gunn yelled.
"No! Help! Help! No. Gunn!" Alonna yelled.
Alonna was dragged into the back of the van, and the doors slammed shut just as Gunn got there. He ran after the van as it drove off and jumped onto the back bumper. He got a view of two vampires snacking on his screaming sister in the back of the van. One of the vampires looked up and put his fist through the back window, knocking Gunn off the van.
Wesley and Cordelia were cruising the neighborhood in Angel's convertible.
Cordelia smiled. "You know, there is nothing like riding in a convertible with the top down to make you see the sun and the sand."
Wesley stopped the car and scanned the area through a pair of binoculars.
"Mmm, smell that salt air!" Cordelia exclaimed.
"That's not salt."
"I don't think it's air either, but reality is a choice, Wesley. You see what you wanna see, and I see what I wanna see."
"A man exiting an alley, pushing a shopping cart."
Cordelia leaned back and closed her eyes. "No, I see a very tan lifeguard type with large-"
"No, over there."
Cordelia opened her eyes, sat up, and looked.
"These kids must have got electricity into their building. They might have tapped into one of the power lines and run it illegally. If I could spot the tap, that would tell us where their hideout is. You go ask this gentleman if he's seen anyone that fits the description of our young vampire killers while I check the power line for any taps."
"Uh, why don't you ask him, and I check for taps?" Cordelia suggested.
"Because...you can imagine him as a scantily-clad, buff, young stud, while I am stuck with the naked truth."
The gang was gearing up for a fight.
Angel came in, pushing James into the room in front of him. "You are going to get a lot of people killed."
Gunn looked at the kid that was on guard.
"I suck, okay?" James admitted.
Gunn looked at Angel. "You don't want to be here."
"Going after them is what they expect you to do."
"I don't need advice from some middle-class white dude...that's dead! You don't know what my life is. You have no idea what it's like down here."
"Some of you will die, maybe all of you."
Chain strapped a flamethrower to his back. "People die all the time - some just for talking too much."
"We're done."
"Look, I can help you. Unless, of course, death is what you're after; then you're on your own."
"I'm always on my own."
"It doesn't have to be that way. Why can't we do this together?"
Gunn pulled a rope attached to the tarp covering the window, and, while Angel shied away from the direct sunlight, he pushed Angel into an old meat locker.
"You figure it out." Gunn slammed the door shut.
Angel banged against it, but it didn't budge.
Gunn looked at the others. "Let's go."
It was dark by the time that the truck pulled up in front of the vampire nest.
Gunn got out of the truck and looked at Chain. "Hold up. Give me ten minutes to check it out."
"What if you're not back in ten?"
"Come on down and kill anything that moves."
Gunn slowly walked down into the lair, stake held in his right hand. He stopped in the middle of a big room as he heard Alonna humming.
"Alonna?"
"Hey, big brother."
Gunn let out a relieved sigh as Alonna walked out.
"What took you so long?"
Gunn walked up to her, smiling. "You're not..." He stared at her unblemished neck and started to frown. "...dead."
"Well..."
Gunn shook his head. "No."
"Shh! Don't be sad. I'm not."
"They killed you."
"Do I look dead to you? I am stronger, faster, and better than ever. Wanna see?" Alonna laughed as she pushed against his chest, sending him sailing through the air.
Gunn landed on the floor, groaned, and got to his feet.
"We were on the right track, just on the wrong team. All that rage and hatred we got? We get to keep all that, only, on this side, there is no guilt, no grief, just the hunt and the kill - and the fun! And come on, how often did we go out in the daylight, anyway?"
"Alonna, I can't do this!"
"You were made for this. Oh, and all that misery and moping? Gone, I promise you."
"I was never gonna let anything happen to you. I was supposed to protect you. You were my sister."
"I still am."
Gunn shook his head.
"So why don't you kill me? Why don't you?" Alonna spread her arms wide.
Gunn just looked at her.
"Ah! You can't! Because you got the guilt, and I got the greatest guilt cure ever. I can free you! We can be together; our family can stay together - forever."
Cordelia saw Angel stick his hand through a hole in the meat locker, but he couldn't reach the handle.
Cordelia reached past his bruised and bleeding knuckles and opened the door. "Trying to open that?"
Angel leaned against the doorjamb, looking at Cordelia and Wesley.
"They locked you in, huh?" Cordelia asked.
"No. I just love old meat lockers."
"You should've tried to call us on your cell phone." Cordelia paused in realization. "You probably forgot you had it."
Angel took his cell phone out and looked at it. "These things hardly ever work. Besides, it was a lot easier and quicker to just..." He mimed punching a hole and grimaced, shaking his hand. "Look, I'm the boss here; I say when we use the cell phones, and people are gonna die, and...I have to go." He left.
"You're welcome!" Cordelia yelled after him.
"Remember when we were kids...in that shelter on Plummer Street, hmm?" Alonna asked.
Gunn nodded.
"Second floor was all rotted out. You used to dare kids to cross, and of course you were the best at it, because you were the - you were the bravest. I wanted to be like you so bad, so I went up, and the floor gave out. I would have broken my neck, but...you'd been watching me the whole time. You were standing right below, and you caught me. Ever since I can remember, you've been looking out for me. But you don't have to anymore, because I'm good, and it's my turn to look out for you now."
"How?"
"Look at you. You're running and hiding, cold and hungry. You call that living?"
Gunn looked down.
"You're the one that's falling now. Let me catch you. Don't you want to stop falling?"
Gunn nodded slightly.
"I'm gonna fix it." Alonna bared her fangs. "Oh, say goodbye to everything you ever knew." She wrapped one arm around his neck and moved to bite him.
"Goodbye." Gunn pushed the stake into her chest.
She stared at him in shock, shaking her head. She fell to the floor, dead, to reveal Angel standing a little ways away.
"Let's get out of here."
The door behind Gunn opened, and the rest of the gang charged in as Gunn let the stake drop from his hand.
"Dude! What are you waiting on?" Chain saw Angel and moved toward him. "How did he get out?"
Gunn held him back. "Yo, don't. We're leaving."
"Leaving?"
Vampires stepped out all around them.
"I don't think so." A vampire stepped up to Gunn. "She was so sweet, your sister, so smooth going down, if you know what I mean. You wanted a war? Well, this is it."
Angel stared at them. "Here is the deal: you can go."
He turned to stare at Angel. "What?"
"If you go now, and I don't ever see any of you again, you get to live."
He chuckled and walked towards Angel. "Are you high?"
"L.A. is my territory; you want to stay out of it for the rest of your eternal lives. These kids, my town, off limits from now on."
"Who the hell are you? You know who you're talking to, you fool?"
"The name's Angelus." Angel staked him. "And I wasn't actually talking to you." He looked at the other vampires. "So...do we have a truce? Or do you wanna die?"
The vampires looked at each other, shifting uncomfortably.
"Truce?" Chain looked at Gunn. "We can take them."
Angel looked at them. "Not without them taking a couple of you."
"Gunn, you came all this way; you're not gonna kill any vamps?"
Gunn looked at Alonna's body. "I already did." He crouched down, picked up his sister's body in his arms, stood up, and turned to go.
The gang and the vampires, one by one, followed his example and just left.
The next day, Wesley stared at the whipped cream mounded on top of the cup that he received from a street vendor. "I asked for a coffee. I know it must be in here someplace." He looked at Cordelia. "Are you all right? You haven't said two words since we left the office."
"Oh, I was just thinking about those kids."
"Yes. That place was pretty awful."
"And I thought my first apartment was bad. Can you believe people actually live there?"
They sat down on a park bench.
"Well, it certainly gives one a sense of perspective, doesn't it?"
"Yes, it does." Cordelia paused in consideration. "And I think, perspectively speaking, I might want to...prostitute myself to billionaire David Nabbit."
Wesley choked on his coffee. "Cordelia."
"What I mean is...he's a nice guy who wants companionship. I could use some security. So when I say 'prostitute', what I mean is-"
"Prostitute."
"For instance."
"Do you think you really could?"
"I don't know. I could probably learn to love him. Looks aren't everything - or chemistry; personality, that's important. And except for a lot of other..." Cordelia paused. "It's not what's on the outside that..." She paused again. "Yeah. Never mind. I'm fine here. Poor. Alone."
That night, near the end of her shift, Anne opened the door into the alley and lugged the trash bag to the dumpster. She heard a sound coming from it and approached it cautiously. She peered inside and saw someone rummaging through the trash bags.
"Seriously?" Anne flung her bag into the dumpster.
Gunn jumped out of the dumpster.
Anne stared at him. "That's fucking nasty, dude."
Gunn didn't say anything.
"You got a name?" Anne asked him.
Gunn hesitated. "Gunn."
"I'm-"
"Anne. Yeah, I can read."
"I...didn't say you couldn't." Anne paused. "Do you need food?"
"Yeah, me and my crew."
"No, do you need food?" Anne clarified. "Let's start with that."
Gunn hesitated. "I could eat."
Anne and Gunn sat across from each other in the diner, eating a late dinner of sausage, bacon, and eggs in silence.
"So how many's in your crew?" Anne finally asked him.
"Why?"
"I'm, uh, I'm opening a teen shelter in Crenshaw. We're still getting it set up, but...paperwork's been filed." Anne stuck a sausage link in her mouth.
"Thanks, but...we got a place."
Anne shrugged. "If you change you mind-"
"Thanks."
"Okay. I just don't want you on the streets. It's not safe out here at night."
Gunn paused. "I know. Plenty of nasty shit out there."
Anne stared at him. "We talking about the same thing?"
Gunn stared at her but didn't say anything.
"Vampires?" Anne guessed.
Gunn was surprised. "Goddamn. I thought only me and my boys knew about that."
"A lot more of us know than you think."
"We've been fighting these motherfuckers." Gunn sipped his coffee. "I lost my little sister to them yesterday. Had to stake her myself."
Anne looked at Gunn in sympathy. "Goddamn. I'm so sorry."
"Thanks." Gunn finished his meal. "Thanks for the grub, Annie. Gotta get back out there." He stood up and walked toward the door.
Anne watched him go. "Take care of yourself, Gunn."
Gunn briefly looked back at her and nodded, and then he turned, opened the door, and walked outside.
Anne finished her dinner in silence.
Gunn stood on the roof of the hideout, looking out at nighttime LA. Angel came up beside him.
"What are you doing here?" Gunn asked.
"Skulking...professionally."
"Look, I'm glad for what you did, okay? But I don't need no Guardian Angel, and I don't need no talking to. It's not gonna change the way things are down here, man. They're gonna keep coming, and we're gonna keep fighting."
"I know."
"That's it? You ain't gonna talk at me, be all daddy figure?"
"What am I gonna tell you...that you haven't already learned?"
"I killed her."
"You didn't."
"Near enough. She was the reason, man." Gunn paused. "How come you do it? How come you're out here?"
"What else are we gonna do?" Angel asked. "I'll be around."
"I don't need no help."
"I might."
After a moment, Gunn looked over, but Angel was gone.