Title: Finding Her Angel
Author: Cordy's Bitch
Posted: 04-09-2003
Email:
Rating: PG-13
Category: Crossover BtVS, Time Travel
Content: C/A, remnants of B/A & C/X
Summary: To save the future, Cordy must endure the past
Spoilers: Maybe some for the season finales of Season
Disclaimer: The characters in the Angelverse were created by Joss Whedon & David Greenwalt. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Distribution:
Notes:
Feedback:Part 1
Fred held up two sheets of paper. “What do you think, Angel? This one…or this one?”
Angel grunted.
“Angel!”
“What…oh…it doesn’t matter, Fred. Whichever one you like.”
Fred frowned. She had spent five hours that morning working on the new layout for the A.I. business card. Angel had been insistent yesterday that they kept the logo, but other than that, he had given her carte blanche to redesign the corporate letterhead. It was something she could do, and dammit, she was going to do it well.
“Oh…okay,” she said, turning back to the computer. “Well, what about…this?! Angel?”
His desk sat empty. His cup of blood still sat steaming on the blotter.
12 hours later.
“So he’s disappeared?” said Gunn.
“Apparently,” said Fred. “You checked with…”
“She hasn’t seen him all day,” said Wesley, shutting his cell phone.
“And Sunnydale?”
“Not since he went up two months ago,” said Fred.
“Well, where is he?”
“I don’t know,” said Wesley. “But I don’t like this.”
“Lilah didn’t know anything?” asked Gunn. He gave Wes a pointed look.
“No,” said Wesley. “Lilah didn’t know.”
Fred walked over and kneeled at the refrigerator. “Well, if she doesn’t know…guys?”
“Yes, Fred?”
“Help?!”
Gunn and Wesley walked over to where Fred crouched in front of the open refrigerator. She sat entranced by her hand.
“What is it?”
She moved forward to grab one of the soft drink cans inside. Her hand passed easily through.
“Oh,” said Gunn.
The doorbell rang while she was in the shower. She quickly pulled on a robe, and still drying her hair with a towel, she put her eye to the peep-hole. “Oh.”
She opened the door, letting Wesley in.
“What is it, Wes?”
“I’m sorry to disturb you. You feeling alright?”
“Yeah, almost back to 100%. What is it?”
“Angel’s disappeared.”
She flopped down on the couch, letting the towel fall onto her lap. “He hasn’t been here. I told you that.”
“I know, Cordelia. But that’s not our only problem.”
She sat waiting for the punchline. “So?”
“Fred’s disappearing.”
“She ran off, too? Well, maybe she just took him to the…”
“NO. Fred’s disappearing.”
“Oh, you mean…disappearing disappearing."
“Yes.”
“What do you think it is?”
“Lorne brought in a shaman. There’s been some kind of temporal disturbance at the office.”
“Temporal?”
“Yes. Someone’s ripped Angel out of time.”
“So why is Fred…”
“She was the last to join us. Most likely she is being ‘reset’ to the state she was in before she met us. Before she met Angel.”
“You mean in Pylea. A slave.”
“Yes.”
“Wait, Wes…if Fred’s gone, that means…”
“Connor’s already gone. I had Lilah check on him. He disappeared two hours after Angel.”
“And you’re sure Angel’s been all…time ripped?”
“Actually, Lorne’s man thinks he was …time napped?”
“Time napped?”
“Yes, he thinks he’s been taken somewhere in time.”
“I don’t get it. If this whatsit can travel in time, why not just go back to 1950 and kill Angel then? Or back to 17whatever and kill him as a human?”
“I’m thinking they need him to live to a certain date for some reason. Lorne found a spell that will return him to this time.”
Cordelia stood and walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. “So can we zap him back?”
“That’s the rub, Cordelia…”
She opened her door. She had changed into some jeans and a light sweater. Carrying her shoes in her hand she sat on the couch and pulled them on. “That’s the what?”
“The rub. Apparently the spell can only performed from the destination locus.”
“Interpret.”
“It has to be performed at whatever time they’ve ‘zapped’ him to.”
“Oh. That’s a problem. Is there any chance you can follow him?”
“Me…no.”
“Why not? We can do the spell, right?”
“Yes. That’s not the problem. Lorne says a spell of that power creates enough residue that it'll be easy to re-create.”
“Then what is it?”
“According to Fred, humans don’t have sufficient molecular temporal cohesion to stay more than a few moments in another time, not without causing a temporal paradox.”
“Again, interpret.”
“If Gunn, Fred, or I went back, both we and our temporal counterparts would explode. So not only would we be dead, we’d cause another paradox by killing our counterparts in that time.”
“Explode…ugh…that could be a problem.”
“Yes. And they’ve most likely moved Angel in that time period away from the locus of the spell.”
“So he won’t be where he was zapped to…”
“No.”
“Well, what does it matter if we can’t go get him?”
“I didn’t say we couldn’t.”
“You just said…”
“I just said that Gunn, Fred, or I can’t go. Only demons can survive the transition.”
“Oh, well, then…oh.”
“Yes.”
Cordelia inhaled, and looked away. After a moment, she looked back at Wesley.
“So when do I go?”
Some other time
Pulling the black duffel bag up on her shoulder, she looked around. It was early morning, and the lot sat empty. They stood in a green field, set up against the hills.
“Huh,” said Lorne. “Guess this was pre-faboo office park.”
“Guess so,” said Cordelia softly.
They walked a little way up until they came to a road. There was a strip mall not far away.
“So what’s the plan, my illustrious leader?”
“The plan is to find Angel, and get the hell back.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. What’s the first step?”
Cordelia leaned down next to a newspaper machine, and looked at the date.
“I guess the first step to finding Angel…is to find Angel.”
The night had been a long one. They’d found a demon ritual in mid-swing at Sunnydale Meadows and the fight had gone on for a good thirty minutes. He had a large gash taken out of his mid-section and as he made his way up the hill toward the mansion, he thinks he must’ve broken his ankle. As he got to the garden, he could see a low light flickering from inside. Stepping around the corner, he saw a green demon in a red suit looking at the fireplace. A woman with short hair sat facing away from him on the couch. Her scent was somehow familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.
“Who are you, and what do you want?!”
They turned. The demon smiled. “Well, look who’s home…I gotta say, Angelkins, love what you’ve done with the place. Very ‘Lion in Winter’.”
It was then that Angel noticed the woman walking toward him. The hair was different, and she was older, but he knew that face.
“Cordelia??”
“Hi, Angel…”
“What…”
“We’re here…so you can find yourself.”
Part 2
Angel threw another log on the fire. He looked back at Cordelia, who sat smiling up from him at the couch. The demon, who he’d been told to call Lorne, stood with the same obnoxious smile on his face.
“So you’re telling me…you’ve come from the future to find me…”
“Not to find you per se, muffin,” said Lorne. “Our version of you.”
“Your version of me.”
“Yeah,” said Cordelia. “If we don’t all our friends…even Co—“
“Honey,” interrupted Lorne. “Ixnay on the Onnorcay.”
“Right,” nodded Cordelia. “All our friends our going to disappear.”
“Disappear?” asked Angel, sitting on the opposite corner of the couch.
“Yes. Our friend Fred…”
“Lambkins!”
“Oh, screw it, Lorne, according to Fred if we get this right, he won’t remember anyway. If we don’t, there won’t be anything to go back to so it won’t matter.”
“Love that optimism, sugar.”
“Well, ya know…”
“Okay, let me get this straight. In order to save your…time, you had to come back and save your version of me and return him to your time.”
“Uh huh…”
“So they sent you…and him?” he said, motioning to Lorne.
“Uh huh…”
“Why not Buffy? Or Faith, or somebody…..”
“Slayery?”
“Well…yes.”
“No can do. Humans can’t come back. Although I don’t know, Buffy might not qualify now that you mention it...”
“Humans can’t…”
“No,” said Cordelia. She blinked. Was he always this dense?
“But you’re here…”
“Oh…yeah.”
They simply stared at each other for a moment.
“Oh…yeah, I’m not totally human anymore, so that’s…”
“That’s the difference in your scent,” said Angel. “You’re part demon.”
“Actually, I don’t wear Chanel anymore, so that might be it, but yeah…I am part demon.”
“How’d that happen? The Cordelia I know….”
“You don’t know Cordelia,” she said. “Not yet.”
“So why did you come to me?”
“We needed muscle. Muscle we could trust. You’re it. We’ve got to find you in….how many days, Lorne?”
“Six…”
“Six days, or we’re stuck here. Okay?”
“Why should I trust you?” asked Angel.
Cordy glanced up at Lorne, then leaned in and whispered in Angel’s ear.
Angel leaned back, stared at her for a moment before haltingly saying, . “Okay…I think we should…”
Cordy rolled her eyes. “Oh, God, if we have to…”
She watched them from the hallway. Xander, Buffy, Willow, Oz,…herself…all sitting around the library table, eating pizza, having a good time. God, had she ever been that innocent? She looked up to see Wesley, prim and proper in an off-white suit emerging from the office with Giles. Faith wasn’t there yet.
Angel looked back at her. “Are you ready for this?”
“I guess so.”
They stepped through the swinging doors. No one looked up except for Buffy. She smiled at Angel. Until she saw who was with him.
“What…what’s going on?”
Xander turned to her. “Buff, what are you talking abouuut. Oh, God, that’s….”
“Me,” said the younger Cordelia. “And I’m butch!”
Cordy just smirked at the younger version of yourself. “Nice to see you, too.” She looked at Lorne, who had a ludicrous grin plastered on his face. She elbowed him in the ribs.
“What, this is fun! Are Brenda and Dylan here? Gonna hang at the Peach Pit?”
“Shut up,” said Cordy.
“Angel,” said Giles. “Not to belabor the obvious…but what is going on? Is this truly…”
“Cordelia Chase, 2003, at your service,” said Cordy.
“Cool,” said Oz.
“Time travel?” said Willow. “That’s …oh, my gosh…”
Buffy stood and approached her. She bent to the side, looking at her from couple of different angles, then looking back to the Cordelia at the table, who looked frightened.
“I’ve aged well, haven’t I?” said Cordy.
“Uh…yeah, I guess,” said Xander, now standing next to Buffy.
“Angel?” asked Wesley.
Angel motioned to Cordy to have a seat at the table, instead, she hopped up on the library counter.
“I came home last night, and they were waiting for me. She says she’s from the future. I believe her.”
“Well…yes,” said Giles, glancing up at the new Cordelia. “I would think you might. And this is?”
“Oh, I’m Lorne. Pleased to meet you folks.”
Everyone mumbled greetings, then fell silent.
“So…” said the Cordy on the counter…
“So,” said Buffy. “What are you doing here, and what do you want?”
Cordy slipped off and walked toward Buffy. Five years did a lot for the intimidation factor. “I’ve come to get my Angel back. Mind if I borrow yours for a while?”
Buffy blinked. The possessive ‘my’ hadn’t gone unnoticed. The younger Cordelia looked up from the table.
“Did she say…?”
“Yes,” said Buffy, grimacing, “she did.”
“Kick ass,” smiled Cordelia, leaning back and folding her arms in triumph.
“Buffy, you don’t have to go,” said Cordy. “But I need your Angel…and Wesley,” she said, looking up at the neophyte watcher.
“Me?” asked Wesley, surprised.
“Yeah, you, Wes…”
Xander looked over at the younger Cordelia. “I guess some things never change.”
Lorne put a hand to his shoulder. “Oh, believe me, cupcake…they do…they do.”
Buffy walked into the mansion around eight that night. Angel was in the bedroom, packing some clothes into a small bag.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
“Kind of weird, huh?”
“Yeah,” he said, glancing up. “Listen, Buffy, I know this is …awkward, but I believe Cordy. I do.”
“Huh. She’s got you calling her ‘Cordy’.”
Angel winced. “She said that’s what I call her.”
Buffy sat on the bed, and stooped to look up at him, trying to get him to face her. “So you call her Cordy, and she says she’s looking for ‘her’ Angel.”
Angel stopped packing, and looked at her. “What do you want me to say, Buffy?”
“Say she’s wrong. Say you don’t trust her.”
“I didn’t. At first.”
“And what changed?”
Angel closed his eyes. “She told me some things,” he said, and reached for another shirt to stuff in the bag.
“What kind of things?”
He turned away. “Things only I know, okay? Things she wouldn’t have known unless I had told her…”
“Like what?”
He stood silent for a second, judging whether or not Buffy could take this. “Private things.”
“Oh. Things you couldn’t tell me, then…”
Angel zipped up his bag forcefully and stepped back. He sat down on the bed and put his face in his hands. “Buffy…these are things I thought I’d never tell anybody…not just…”
“Not just me.”
“Buffy…Cordy….Cordelia…whoever she is…she knows me.”
No one else had left the library. Faith had come in, and lamented that she’d missed the big arrival.
“I’d have paid money to have seen B’s face when she said ‘MY Angel.’”
Willow looked up from where she sat researching on the computer. “I’m sure you would, Faith.”
Faith shrugged. “I’m just saying, must’ve been hella funny.”
“It wasn’t,” said Xander, busily researching. Giles had decided that this was Angel’s personal business and only Buffy and of course Wesley would be allowed to go with him. They still had the Mayor to worry about.
Faith looked up to see Lorne staring at her.
“What do you want?!”
Lorne sighed. “Nothing, honey. Just thinking ‘bout the last time I saw you. And what’s going to happen in the meantime.”
Faith smiled. “If I’m still around, I must be doing pretty good…”
Lorne grinned, a sad lightness in his voice. “Oh, yeah. You do good.”
“So why you look like you’re sorry for me?”
“Because,” he said, “I am.” He pointed to the hallway. “Little demon’s room out here?”
“Yeah,” said Faith quietly. “First door on your right.”
“Thanks.”
Wesley stood putting books in a bag. He didn’t see the future Cordy walk up to him. She smiled at him, a black bag over her shoulder.
“Hey,” she said.
“Oh…hello,” he said, nervously. “I’ve gotten all I could find on temporal manipulation so that once we find him we might…”
“Don’t need it,” said Cordy. “You already gave me the spell,” she said, pulling a sheet of paper out of her pocket. “Got the ingredients right here in my bag.”
“Oh…that’s good,” he said, taking the spell from her hand. “This looks…fairly simplistic, I’m sure I can handle it.”
“I’m sure you can,” said Cordy, setting her bag on Giles’ desk. “But that’s not what I came to give you.”
“Oh, then what…”
She turned to face him, two .45 Glock pistols in her hands. He looked up at her, warily.
“Guns? I don’t think that…”
She pulled the shoulder harness out of the bag, and tossed it to him. “Trust me…you’re a natural.”
He set the harness down and turned away, taking the books out of the bag and placing them back on the shelves. “No, I don’t use guns. They’re too….”
“Effective?”
“No,” he said, turning back to her. “Barbaric. A good sword is all I’ll need. Watchers…don’t use guns.”
Reaching back into the bag, she pulled out a short barreled pump action shot-gun, and pumped a round into the chamber. “You will.”
Xander glanced up from his book, and looked at Cordelia sitting across from him. She kept looking at the office.
“You want to talk to her, talk to her.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Ask her what life is like in the 21st century. Ask her who wins the Super Bowl next year.”
“Or why she cut her hair,” said Willow.
“Yeah,” said Cordelia, gathering her courage. “I do want to know that. But she’s so…mean.”
“Seemed nice enough to me,” said Oz.
“Fine,” said Xander. “I’ll talk to her.”
“Ooh, remember to ask her about my hair,” said Cordelia.
“Sure,” said Xander. He walked carefully up to the office door and peered in the window right as Cordy pumped the shotgun. He stood back and acted nonchalant as she walked out of the office. She walked over to the edge of the counter, and started to flip through a magazine. Finally, she set it down and said, “What do you want to know?”
Xander looked up, startled. “What? Me? I don’t need to know…okay, fine,” he said, stepping toward her. He leaned down conspiratorially. “I got to know. What’s the deal with you and Angel?”
“I told you. I need him to help me find…”
“No. Your Angel.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, I mean, why are you here instead of future Buffy?”
Giles had just stepped back into the library and heard Xander’s question. “Yes…I’d be interested in that answer as well…”
Cordy thought about her answer for a minute. “We work together.”
“You work together,” said Xander. “You work with Angel?”
“Yes. We run a detective agency in Los Angeles.”
Xander smirked. “Okay, what are you, his secretary?”
“I was his office manager, yes. Now we’re more…”
“Yes?” asked Giles.
“Partners,” said Cordelia. “We’re partners.”
Xander started to laugh. “You and Angel, partners?”
Cordy’s voice froze. “Yes.”
Xander backed off. Teen authoritative Cordy was one thing, this mature version scared him. “Okay.”
“So you investigate demons, I take it,” said Giles.
“Yes. Angel, Wesley, Lorne, and our friends Gunn and Fred.”
Lorne stepped through the door. “Honeymuffin, what are you telling them?”
Cordy held up her hand. “It’s okay, Lorne. Fred said they won’t remember any of this.”
“If we get back, and that’s a big if.”
She looked at him, and smiled. Through her teeth, she said, “If we don’t, I don’t give a rat’s ass.”
Giles brought Cordy’s attention back to him. “In Los Angeles, you said. So the Hellmouth is closed.”
“No, Hellmouth’s still open for business.”
“So, I’m still here…at the school,” he said, crestfallen.
Cordy smiled. “No. At the end of the year, you blow it up,” she said, and headed out the door.
Giles stood there, stunned. “I…blow it up?”
Part 3
Cold water hit his face, and floodlights slammed on. He looked up into the face of his captor.
“Ethan Rayne…”
Ethan laughed. “You remember me…”
“What do you want? Why…”
Rayne circled him to the right. Angel looked up, and saw that he was chained spread eagle against the wall. In the shadows behind Rayne he could make out the shapes of vampires lining the wall. Henchmen.
Rayne moved into his line of sight, drawing his attention. “Oh, it’s nothing personal, chap. Just business.”
“Business?”
“Yes, the esteemed Mayor of Sunnydale hired me to do away with that pesky little slayer. Now I was going to do it with style, and have her spontaneously explode when I brought her double back from the future. But funny thing, that. It seems that in the future either the slayer’s DNA has changed…which I think is highly unlikely, don’t you? Or she’s dead. So I’ve had to improvise. I thought I’d simply kidnap someone close to her and lead her into a trap. That turned out to be harder than it looked. Every time I had my boys attack one of her little group, either she or you…the present version of you, that is… would show up and save the day. But then I thought, why let all my preparations go to waste? So here you are.”
“She won’t come.”
“Oh, I think she will,” said Rayne, taking a Polaroid camera off of the table. “Say cheese,” he smirked as the flash went off. He held the picture out in front of him and watched it develop. He showed it to Angel. “After all,” he said, “it’s curiosity killed the cat.”
Buffy slammed the library door open, and stomped over to the table. She dropped an envelope in front of her, and looked across at the future Cordy. “Yours, I assume? It was at the house.”
Looking at Buffy out of the corner of her eye, Cordy reached down and opened the envelope. She pulled out a polaroid. “Yes, that’s him,” she said, and tossed it down.
Cordelia and Willow both reached for the picture, with Willow grabbing it. “How can you tell?”
“The shirt.”
“It’s blue!” said Willow, surprised. She looked up at Buffy. “Look, it’s blue! Angel never wears blue.”
“I bought it for him last Christmas,” said Cordy.
The other Cordelia looked up at her. “It looks like silk.”
“It is,” said Cordy, still locked in a stare with Buffy.
“Nice,” said Cordelia.
Cordy broke the staring contest, and again reaching into the envelope pulled out a sheet of paper. It had an Orange County address, and a time. Midnight tomorrow. She showed it to Giles.
“Obviously, they expect Buffy to come after him.”
“Obviously,” snapped Buffy.
“So now we know where we’re going,” said Lorne.
Cordy walked into the weapons cage, and picked a sword off of the wall. “Was Angel ready to go yet?”
“Almost.”
“I’ll go get him. You go get whatever you need and be ready to go.”
Before Buffy could say anything, Cordy was out the door.
Xander stepped up, and put his hand on Buffy’s shoulder.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” said Buffy. “I just don’t know who put her in charge.”
"Uh, Buffy," said Willow, hurriedly carrying her book over,"there's something I think you oughtta know."
Cordy walked into Angel’s bedroom to find him digging in the drawer of his bedside table.
“What are you looking for?”
Angel looked up, surprised. “Oh, hey…I was just looking for my car keys.” He stopped and faced her. “I do have a car, you know.”
“Yes, I know,” said Cordelia, walking over to where Angel’s coat lay on the bed. “A black 1967 440 GTX Plymouth convertible.” She reached into his coat pocket and tossed him the keys. “And you always leave the keys in the same place. And you always forget.”
He caught them, and glanced up at her sheepishly. “Huh. Guess you know that kind of thing about me.”
“I know everything about you, Angel.”
He almost looked embarassed. “Everything?”
“Everything,” she said. “The good…the bad…everything.”
“And you’re still…”
“There? Yeah. Can’t get rid of me. I’m family.”
“How’d that happen?”
They both sat down on the bed. She looked up at him, and taking a deep breath, she said, “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Here goes. Right now you don’t know it, but Cordelia…your Cordelia…is in a bad place.”
“She sure doesn’t act like it.”
“Well, she is. Her Dad got arrested for tax evasion. He got out on bail, and he and my mom skipped out to some island in the South Pacific.”
“They left her alone?”
“Yeah. Not only that, but the government seized the house. As we speak, she’s probably opening the door to her room at the Sunnydale Motor Inn.”
“That place? But it’s …”
“Scummy? Yeah, it is. Xander buys my prom dress.”
“I still don’t see what that has to do…”
“With you? Well, after graduation, we both move…separately…to LA. I end up living in a cockroach infested apartment and surviving on party favors. If I hadn’t run into you at one of those parties…I’d be dead …or worse.”
“So I helped you?”
“You gave me a job. You gave me everything.”
“Then we’re close?”
“Yeah. Yeah, we’re close. We’ve both picked each other off the floor too many times not to be.”
He studied her for a moment. “Are you happy?”
She thought about it. “Yeah. I guess so. It’s not easy.”
“It never is.”
“No, I guess not….but enough of that, it’s time to go. You ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, let’s roll, then…”
They picked up Wesley and Lorne from the library, and pulled up in front of Buffy’s house ten minutes later. Buffy stood for a moment, looking at the car.
“Angel? Is this yours?”
“Yeah. I had it in storage.”
Buffy looked to where Cordy sat in the front seat. Oh, this was getting annoying, she thought.
Cordy didn’t notice. “C’mon, Buffy, get in. We don’t have all night.”
Buffy climbed over the back and sat between Lorne and Wesley. Angel looked up and saw her irate face in the rearview mirror. This was going to be a long drive.
“Where are we?” asked Buffy as they walked down the alley.
“It’s a bar,” said Cordy. “Called Caritas.”
“A bar?”
“My bar,” said Lorne. “And here we are! Ah, these were the glory days…” he said, ushering them through the door.
“How many times do we have to apologize for that?”
“I just like hearing it, puddin’.”
Buffy and Wesley froze. “What kind of place is this?”
“This,” pronounced Lorne proudly, “is the hoppinest joint in town.”
“Hoppinest demon joint,” mumbled Buffy as Cordy brushed past her and headed for the bar. She signaled to Lorne, and he followed her over.
“This is like Willy’s,” said Buffy. “If it was owned by Liberace.”
“I kind of like it,” said Angel. She looked up at him, confused.
“You do?”
“Yeah. Hey, look, they’ve got karaoke!”
Wesley was watching Cordy and Lorne. “Who are they speaking to?”
“It looks,” said Angel, “like Lorne is talking to….Lorne.”
Cordy motioned for them to sit and a table and a couple of minutes later, she joined them. Angel was busily looking through a book.
“Is that the karaoke list?” asked Cordy.
“Yeah,” said Angel.
“No.”
“What?” asked Buffy.
“No. He’s not singing.”
“He can sing if he wants to.”
“He can’t sing at all…”
Angel looked crushed. “But…”
“One word,” snapped Cordy. “Mandy.”
“Mandy??” asked Buffy
The two Lornes ambled up to the table. “Oh, believe us, honey, you don’t want to know.”
The other Lorne, clad in a pastel blue, took in the group before him. “Boy, don’t you have a crew here…”
“Hey,” said Cordy, “You going to help us or not?”
“Sure, honey, I’ll help. From what my reflection here says, I’m going to owe you in the future, and it’s never too soon to start paying on your debts.”
“So is she in town?”
“I think so.”
“Got an address?”
“She’s working tonight Word on the street is she’ll be here,” he said, taking a napkin and jotting down an address. “Better hurry or you’ll miss her.”
“Thanks,” said Cordy, pocketing the napkin.
“Who was he talking about?” asked Angel
The shadows in the auction house were deep, the windows covered by rich tapestries.
“Again,” said Buffy, “I gotta ask, what are we doing here?”
“Getting some more help,” said Lorne.
“What kind of help?”
“Well,” said Cordy, “At this point in time Fred’s in a different dimension…and Gunn’s just right of Attilla the Hun when it comes to helping demons…so we’re going to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel.”
Buffy snorted. “What kind of help are we going to get at the bottom of the barrel?”
“The sneaky kind,” said Cordy as they rounded a corner. In front them a woman stood emptying a safe. “Isn’t that right…Gwen?”
Part 4
Gwen turned around slowly. “You know my name…I don’t know yours.”
“I’m Cordy. You don’t know me yet, but you will.”
“Will I like you?”
Cordy shook her head. “No.”
“Oh, okay.” Facing them, she dropped her head and a low hum could start to be heard.
“Angel, grab her!” yelled Cordy.
Angel engulfed her in a bear hug, and rode out the current. He looked at Gwen, confused.
“What the…”
“Gwen’s special, aren’t you, Gwen?” said Cordy
“Oh, yeah. So special I’ll fry your…”
“You won’t do anything. You’re going to help us.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Uh,yeah,” asked Lorne, “why would she do that?”
“Because,” said Cordy, “I’m going to tell her how to fix her little condition…”
Gwen stopped her thrashing. “What?”
“Oh, yeah. I know the magic words. A little bird told me…”
“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Buffy. “What condition? Her bad perm?”
“Gwen knows what I’m talking about, don’tcha Gwen?”
Gwen glared at her silently.
“That’s what I thought. Tomorrow night. The Hyperion Hotel.”
Gwen shrugged out of Angel’s grasp. “You’d better be telling the truth.”
“And you’d better be there.”
Buffy looked up at the hotel. “This place is a dump.”
“It’s deserted,” said Angel. “But it’s not a dump. I stayed here once.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Oh, 45 years or so,” he said.
The sound of a window breaking caught their attention. Cordy was standing at the door reaching her hand through the hole she’d just made. “Voila,” she said, catching the knob and opening the door. “Entrez-vous.”
Lorne led Buffy and Wesley up the stairs to look for viable rooms. Angel dropped his bag to the floor, and stood looking up at the balcony.
Cordy saw the distance in his eyes. “Memories, huh?”
“What,” he said, distracted. “Oh…yeah…I stayed here once.”
“I know. And you will again.”
“I will.”
“Yep. This is home sweet home. For a while, at least.”
He looked around the lobby, taking it in. “I could see that.”
“You want to see your room?” she asked.
“My room?”
“Where you’ll live…in a few years.”
“Yeah…yeah, I’d like that.”
Buffy heard the voices echoing down the hall. Quietly approaching the door, she opened it a crack. She could see him inside. He was laughing. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever heard that before. Then she realized that he wasn’t the only one laughing. She was telling some kind of story.
Closing the door, she walked down into the lobby. A dusty old phone sat on the counter. She picked it up, and was surprised to find a dial tone. She dialed using the old rotary dial, and waited.
“Willow…hey, it’s Buffy…yeah, we’re okay…tell me what you found.”
The next morning Buffy came down the stairs to find Wesley and Cordy laughing over a box of donuts. Apparently Wes was in the club, too.
“So what’s the plan?”
Cordy took a sip of her coffee and shoved the box of donuts toward Buffy. “You, Lorne and Angel stay here.”
“Where are you and Wes going?”
“We’re going to scout this place out.”
“You don’t want me going…for like…tactics and stuff?”
“Nah…Wes can handle it.”
Buffy rolled her eyes and grabbed a donut. Oh, yeah, she thought, Wes and Cordelia are making the plan. This is going to be genius.
“Where’s Angel?”
“Upstairs in his room,” said Cordy.
Buffy headed to the stairs, and turned back. “Uh…which room is his?”
She found him sitting on the bed, just looking at the walls.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
She sat next to him, and reached for his hand. Before she made contact, he stood and began to pace.
“I just don’t know whether to believe it or not.”
“Cordy?”
“Yeah. Everything she tells me about the way my life is going to be…I just don’t know it’s really possible. According to her I’ve got a business, friends, a home…”
“And you don’t have those in Sunnydale?” she said, dropping her head.
He simply looked at her.
“No, I guess not,” she said. “I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t compete.”
He sat next to her and took her hand. “There’s no competition…” he said, pulling her close.
Looking up at him, she sat back. “Isn’t there? One day everything’s great, you’re back, Angelus is gone…we were okay, weren’t we?”
“Yes, we were…we are.”
“But she shows up, telling you how things are going to be….and I haven’t heard her mention me once.”
“No…she hasn’t.”
“What’s that mean, Angel?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you think, Wes?”
He dropped the binoculars and looked at her. “It looks to be a chemical plant. Electified fences. Metal walkways. It’s a trap.”
“Well, duh…”
“And if they’re strong enough to keep Angel in there, there’s obviously going to be demon guards of some sort.”
“Yeah…well, what do you think of this idea?” She proceeded to outline what she thought should happen.
Wesley sat stunned.
“So it’s good, huh?”
“Cordelia, first you give me guns, now this?”
“Trust me, you’ll love it. It’ll be fun.”
“Are you really Cordelia?”
“Oh, yeah, Wes…just think John Wayne in Rio Bravo…”
“Oh…I can do that.”
Gwen showed up at the appointed time. Buffy couldn’t believe how much leather she was wearing. Bottom of the barrel was right.
They began to pile into the car. Buffy was surprised when Cordy got behind the wheel.
“Sit in back with Gwen and Buffy, Angel. I’m drivin’.”
“What…okay..” Hee slid in all the way to one side. Gwen beat Buffy to the punch and slid into the middle. Buffy rolled her eyes, exasperated, and got in.
“OUCH!”
“What?” asked Cordy, turning around.
Buffy looked down at her arm where her bare skin had rubbed against Gwen.
“What do you got, some kind of cattle prod on you?”
Gwen wouldn’t look at her. “Something like that. Can we just get this show on the road?”
“Sure,” said Cordy. “Orange County, here we come.”
They stood outside the fence and looked up. Tall fence.
“Okay,” said Buffy, “Angel and me might be able to jump over. How are you guys getting in?”
“We’re going through,” said Cordy.
“Didn’t you see the sign?” she asked. “It says right there, ‘HIGH VOLTAGE’.”
“I could rip it open,” said Angel, thinking.
“Buffy’s right,” said Wesley. “There must be fifty, a hundred thousand volts running through that.”
Gwen walked toward the fence, slowly taking off her gloves. “Not a problem.” She reached out and grabbed the fence. Buffy took a step toward her, but Angel reached out and stopped her.
“Just wait….”
Electricity began to visibly arc around the fence, snapping and crackling. Sparks rained down. Buffy looked up as a massive transformer suddenly exploded.
“What the…”
Gwen turned, and raised her hand with a flourish, as if she was turning a letter on Wheel of Fortune. “Like I said, not a problem.”
Wesley stepped forward, and cut through the fence with a pair of bolt cutters. They were soon inside. They walked up a fire escape and opened a door on the second floor. They stepped in to find themselves on a catwalk. Below them several vampires were sitting around, waiting. Cordy looked up at the ceiling and smiled.
“Okay…Buffy, let’s you and me go make our presence known. Angel…uh…go find yourself.”
Gwen raised her hand. “What do you want me and stuffy here to do?”
“You and Lorne sit here and cover our exit. Wes, what we talked about this afternoon…go get ready.”
Wes nodded, and disappeared the way they’d come. Angel nodded, and dropped off the catwalk.
“You ready?” asked Cordy.
“You aren’t seriously going to fight, are you?”
“You betcha…”
“Now I know you’re not Cordelia.”
Part 5
Cordy and Buffy strode out into the middle of the floor. Buffy looked over at Cordelia. At least she looked like she knew how to carry that axe.
“Feel anything?” asked Cordy.
Buffy looked around. “Yeah.”
“WELCOME SLAYER!”
Buffy looked up. Ethan Rayne stood on a catwalk running along the far wall. He smiled. “You that are about to die…I salute you!”
A crinkle formed in Buffy’s forehead. This guy was just annoying. “Ethan Rayne.”
“Huh,” said Cordy. “Long time since I’ve seen him…I think he’s…”
“Cordy…”
Cordy brought her attention back to the floor. Vampires emerged from the woodwork, having hidden behind the huge vats of chemicals. “You take the left, I take the right?”
“Sure…”
Angel could hear the sounds of fighting on the other side of the door. Suddenly he felt someone beside him. He turned to see something he hadn’t seen since Pylea. His own face.
“Oh…hey…”
“Uh, hi,” said his counterpart. “I guess we better get you out of here.”
“Who’s that fighting?”
“Buffy and Cordelia…”
“Cordelia?”
“Yeah…yours,” he said, removing the chains. The future Angel slumped. The other helped him up and lifted him to help him walk.
“My Cordelia? She’s here?”
“Yeah…”
“Huh…hope she’s having fun…”
“Uh, huh.” The healthy Angel looked back, and then turned the other way.
“Something wrong?”
“No…I just don’t remember which way I came in.”
Buffy was impressed. Cordy could fight. But with these odds, it wasn’t helping much. Buffy had managed to take on the majority by retreating into a corner and letting them come after her. She was the target after all. She thought she must have killed twenty vampires, but they just kept coming. She’d lost her sword somewhere along the way, and she was down to a stake.
“Buffy!”
Buffy turned to see Cordelia pulling a gun from underneath her coat.
“Get out!”
The gunfire echoed through the cavernous room as Cordy started blasting the vats, spilling chemicals out, covering the floor. Buffy turned and headed for the catwalk. Knocking away vampires trying to drag her down, she looked up to see Wesley standing with something in his hands. Was that…?
The flamethrower burst alive in Wesley’s hands, immolating the vampires below. Flames licked the floor. Soon the whole building would be on fire. Buffy looked down, reading the signs on the vats. ‘Highly flammable.’ No kidding. She got to the catwalk, but there were still vampires behind her, some still aflame. Suddenly Buffy was wet. Looking up, she saw the sprinklers were on. The vampires began to laugh as the flames were doused..
A voice from behind her said “Get down.” Turning, she saw that Wesley had switched the flamethrower for a shotgun. She hit the deck. Wesley strode toward the vampires, pumping shell after shell into their bodies.
“What the hell are those things?” gasped Gwen.
Buffy scrambled next to her. “Vampires.”
“No crap?”
“No crap.”
Wesley stepped back out the door into the night air, still firing. The vampires kept coming.
Gwen smiled. “Step back.” She reached down and grabbed the walkway. Electricity flew across the metal flooring. The wet vampires began to jerk and bounce as the voltage ravaged their bodies.
“Jesus…” said Buffy.
Gwen grinned. “Give it enough juice, even a dead froggy’ll hop.”
Buffy heard the sound of a door opening, and looked down to the foot of the stairs, where Angel was carrying a beaten version of himself. Buffy hustled down the stairs, and took his other arm.
He looked down at her. “Oh, hi, Buffy….”
She looked up at him, incredulous.
They heard the sound of a horn honking. Buffy looked up to see Lorne sitting behind the wheel of the Plymouth, just outside the fence. He was motioning for them to hurry.
They got to the car, and carefully slid the injured Angel into the back seat. Buffy looked up at Lorne, who was staring back at the factory.
“Hi, Lorne,” said Angel, waving weakly.
“What? Oh, hi, crumbcake.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Buffy.
Wesley and Gwen stepped through the fence.
Lorne moaned. “Uh…”
“Lorne,” said Angel from the back seat. “Where’s Cordy?”
They had to cover their ears as explosions started to rock the factory.
“Damn,” said Buffy, jumping back out of the car. “Angel, you’re with me. Wes, Lorne…take care of…Angel,” she said, slightly confused.
Angel took the downstairs door, Buffy the upstairs. Looking down, she could see the floor still in flames, although they seemed to be dying. She didn’t know where the door Angel had gone into led, but there was nothing upstairs, so she took a deep breath and jumped down into the fire. She could see burning vampire carcasses everywhere, not yet dust. Normally they just exploded, but burning took a little longer. She’d made her way across half the floor when a door at the other end of the room, opened, and Cordelia stepped out. She was holding her arm to her side, and she was bleeding. She met Buffy in the middle of the room.
“Hey…did you find Angel?”
“Yeah…we did.”
“Good, good…let’s get out of here before this whole place goes.” She moved to step toward the exit. Buffy grabbed her arm.
“No. I don’t think so.”
Cordy looked up, confused. “C’mon…let’s go.”
“No. We’ve got something to settle. And this is as good a place as any.”
“Really? ‘cause I’d prefer to do whatever this is in a place that isn’t about to go all Hiroshima…”
“Willow told me.”
“Willow told you what?”
“Humans can’t time travel within their own lifetime. They don’t have the ….well, something all scientific. You’re not human. You’re a demon.”
“What? Oh…yeah…part.”
“I’m not letting you do whatever you’re trying to do.”
“Oh, will you just…God, let us get out of here, and I’ll arm wrestle ya, okay? That make you feel better?”
“You’re not Cordelia. Cordelia may be a lot of things, but she’s human…”
“Can we just…” she tried to jerk away. Buffy grabbed her and threw her against the nearest wall, which realistically wasn't that near. Buffy was on her in a second. Cordy looked up as Buffy pulled her arm back. Cordy closed her eyes in preparation for the punch.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Cordy slowly opened her eyes to see Angel, her Angel, with his arms around Buffy from behind, holding her back.
“She’s a demon!” yelled Buffy.
“I know,” said Angel. “I know. But she’s Cordy.”
Suddenly a vat blew, and all Cordy saw was darkness.
Opening her eyes, she saw stars. Lifting her head, she saw she was lying in the back of a van. Someone was sitting across from her.
“Angel?”
“I’m afraid not, dear,” camed a clipped English voice. Ethan Rayne’s face emerged from the shadows.
“Oh…crap.”
Continue on...