Connor had fought five arena battles in ten days. His cell was becoming filled the trophies he cut from his opponents after defeating them.
On each of his “days off” from the arena, Connor spent at least four hours being tortured by Dr. Corvino.
“I have a surprise for you,” Eve said with a grin as she entered the hallway outside Connor’s cell.
“Is it a sword?” Connor asked, laying casually in his bunk.
“It is,” Eve said, somewhat disappointed that Connor already knew what she was bringing. Damn vampire hearing. “We figured you might like to have a weapon for today’s fight. We had your opponents brought in from another dimension.”
“Quar’Toth?” Connor said hopefully. He missed fighting demons from Quar’Toth.
“Sorry, sweetie,” Eve said. “The Junior Partner’s don’t have the weight to move things out of Quar’Toth. But I think you’ll find your opponents today are sufficiently vicious. Good luck.”
Connor sat up when Eve turned to leave. “Eve,” he called to her. She looked back. “I really like your earrings.”
Eve forced a saccharine smile while suppressing a shudder. Any reference to her ears reminded her of Connor’s desire to cut one off and Corvino’s belief that the boy someday would.
*
“Several of the offices have rebelled,” Giles said to the small group. Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Faith, Xander, and Kennedy were his audience. “Tokyo, Mexico City, Panama City, and Cleveland have all split off. The European offices have formed an association amongst themselves. The others have remained under the control of Wolfram & Hart’s Junior Partners.”
“Call me class conscience if you like, but Junior Partners doesn’t have quite the same ominous ring as Senior Partners,” Xander said.
“How do we know all this?” Buffy asked.
“Rutherford Sirk,” Giles said. “When the old Watcher’s Council collapsed, Sirk went to work for Wolfram & Hart.”
“Doesn’t that make him evil?” Xander asked.
“Not at all. He’s been discretely forwarding me information ever since. And doing so under the nose of Wolfram & Hart’s security is neither easy nor safe.”
“Does he know where they have Connor?” Dawn asked.
“No. And Connor is a very high priority individual for Wolfram & Hart so I’ve discouraged him from looking into it. Doing so would arouse too many questions.”
“Then how do we find Connor?” Willow asked.
“We look for a lower priority individual who I have reason to believe may be relatively close to Connor,” Giles said, smiling at his own brilliance.
“Janice,” Dawn said, also smiling at Giles’s brilliance.
*
Rutherford Sirk, current Deputy Director of Wolfram & Hart’s Department of Texts, Relics, and Acquisitions, sat in his New York City office reading over a report on the Scrolls of Cardiff. As he suspected, the scrolls were a hoax.
“Mr. Sirk, I have Eve Sherman on the line from Los Angeles,” Sirk’s secretary, Michael, rang over the intercom.
“Put her on, please. Eve, what can I do for you?”
“Rutherford,” Eve’s voice came over the phone. “I just received a 419 from your office about a girl from Sunnydale.”
“Ah, yes,” he said in his most casual voice. “I’m tracking down several people from Sunnydale. To which 419 are you referring?”
“Janice Jacoby.”
“Jacoby. Yes. The Jacoby family settled in Sunnydale soon after it was founded in 1899.” He shuffled through some papers. “The girl is the fifth generation of Sunnydale Jacoby’s. Her second cousin, twice removed was Henry Jacoby, city Director of Finance under Mayor Richard Wilkins, Jr. in the 1940’s. We here in TRA believe he may have owned certain objects of interest related to the Wilkins Administration.”
“How’s that involve the girl?”
“Henry’s children died without producing heirs,” Sirk explained. “The girl Janet-”
“Janice,” Eve corrected.
“Yes, of course. Janice is one of several possibilities to be in possession of Henry’s effects. Our latest information for Janice is that she’s a student at UC Berkeley, so I thought I’d ring your office for information. Do you have anything on her?”
“Not really, but I can check into it.”
“She’s not the most likely person to have the objects, but I’d still appreciate a prompt response. The sooner we can rule her out, the sooner we can concentrate on the more likely relatives.”
“No problem.”
“Just out of curiosity,” Eve added. “What is the object?”
“Send an approved 419 approved by the Senior Partners and I’ll tell you,” Sirk said. Sirk knew if he was too forthcoming with information, he’d look desperate or suspicious.
“Don’t you mean Junior Partners?”
“Ah, of course. I apologize. I still haven’t gotten quite used to our new situation.”
“I can’t believe after all we’ve been through, you’re making me go through official channels.”
“I think I’ve don’t you quite enough favors over the past couple years, my dear. Wouldn’t you agree?”
Eve laughed. “I’ll call you as soon as I have any news on Janice.”
“By the way,” Sirk added. “I sent you 419’s for Janice’s parents and cousins as well. Why didn’t you ask me about them?”
“Her mom’s a doctor and her dad’s a lawyer. We spy on doctor’s and lawyers all the time. But college kids usually have to be pretty extraordinary to warrant the New York office to send out a 419.”
“Of course. Again, Eve, thank you. We should get together for drinks the next time you’re in New York.”
“Or the next time you’re in L.A.”
“Consider it a date.”
As Eve rung off, Sirk picked up his phone and buzzed his secretary. “Michael, can you call Andrea in the Travel.”
*
After getting off the phone with Sirk, Eve headed to the luxury box to watch Connor’s latest fight. She was joined by Corvino and a couple other Wolfram & Hart personnel. The crowds loved Connor and he was making Wolfram & Hart (and Eve) a lot of money. Still, Eve hoped that the demons the boy fought today would finally do him in.
Connor walked into the ring, filled with faux marble columns, holding the sword Eve had given him. Despite his perfect record in the arena, he never entered with a swagger or any other sign of confidence. He was, as always, vigilant and suspicious.
He immediately sensed he was fighting two creatures. This was followed by the realization that one was behind him. Connor spun and swung his sword at the creature. It blocked the sword thrust with a long, blade protruding from its wrist. The blade was sharp and strong. It easily snapped Connor’s sword in half.
The creature took another swing and Connor rolled back away from it. He looked up at Eve’s box, making eye contact with her. He grinned knowingly with a malevolent look in his eyes. Eve smirked back at him, internally laughing at his situation.
“Oh dear,” Corvino whispered in a frightened tone.
Connor jumped from his spot and ran away, still holding the handle and bottom half of the sword. The audience booed at his apparent cowardice, then began to fill with bloodlust as they realized the clueless boy was running toward the other demon.
The first demon pursued Connor as he ran away. Eve couldn’t help but notice that Connor was running nowhere near his top speed. She understood just before Connor made his move. He wasn’t clueless at all. Those damn vampire senses had told him exactly where the other demon was.
As he charged the second demon, the first demon pursued Connor as hard as it could. Just as the two demons lunged for him, Connor hit the ground and rolled out of the way. The two demons impaled each other each their large spikes.
The crowd roared furiously as Connor took the remains of his sword and began cutting off one of the demons’ forearms. For Eve, this was the definition of irony. She had insisted that both demons be in the ring tonight so she could be sure they’d finish Connor off. But if she’d let the game master put in only one, Connor probably wouldn’t have survived. Instead, he’d won the battle more quickly than any other gladiator in this arena’s history.
“Oh, gross,” one of the younger staffers said as Connor began scraping the innards out of the forearm he severed from the first demon.
Eve glanced back at Connor and gave a derisive snort. “He does like his trophies.”
“So,” Corvino whispered as he watched Connor rip out the bone and blood vessels. “This is how it ends. So soon.”
“It was a disappointing fight,” Eve nodded.
“Not the fight,” Corvino said as Connor slipped the hollowed out forearm over his own like a large glove. “Connor’s captivity.”
Connor leapt up, sprung off a column, and landed on the dome of Eve’s box as he had his first night in the arena. The only difference was that he now wore a demon’s forearm attached to a blade that could cut through almost any substance on earth.
Connor stabbed the blade quickly into the dome and cut a hole around him. His weight, slight though it was, was sufficient to force in the hole he cut. He collapsed into the box and quickly spun around, holding the blade out, and cutting all of Eve’s guests in half at the waist.
Eve recoiled in terror. Connor pointed the blade at her neck.
“Where’s Janice?” he growled.
“Just down the hall to the right.”.
Connor nodded. “I decided on the left. It’s prettier.”
Before Eve had a chance to wonder what he was saying, Connor quickly slashed the blade along the side of her face, severing her left ear. Eve clapped a hand to the side of her head. She shrieked and writhed in agony as Connor picked up his trophy.
Connor kicked the door of the hinges and charged into the hallway. Guards opened fire on him, but he managed to deflect the shots with the demon’s blade.
Connor slashed the blade and decapitated the guards. He grabbed one of their pistols with his free hand and continued down the hall, following Janice’s scent. He slammed the blade into the door and pried it from the hinges. He entered the room, firing three shots on instinct and killing three more guards.
“Janice!”
“Connor?”
“Here,” he said, handing her the gun. “We’ll need this to get out.”
“This way,” she said, taking the gun and leading him the way she’d come in. Since coming to this place, she’d been confused about Connor, about his nature with regard to good and evil. But for the moment, he was rescuing her again. And she was willing to go along with that.
They ran down a corridor toward an exit. Janice fired shots blindly in front of her. It was the first time she’d ever fired a weapon. But she knew she was fighting for her life and had no hesitation.
Janice ran past another hallway. Connor, who trailed her, stopped as reached it. He looked down the dark hallway.
“Connor!” she called. “This way.”
He looked at her, panicked, then back at the dark hallway. “Go without me,” he said before bolting down the side hallway.
“Screw that,” Janice said, turning and trailing him. Even if he was going back into the belly of Wolfram & Hart’s headquarters, she knew she was better off with Connor than on her own.
*
“Oakland,” Giles said as he rushed into the room.
“I’m on it,” Faith said, hopping to her feet.
“I’m going,” Buffy said, turning for the door.
“I know this kid. I’m a familiar face.”
“Not to be argumentative,” Willow said. “But you’re a familiar face that beat him up.”
“This is Angel’s son!” Buffy barked. “He’s . . . he’s all that’s left of Angel. I’m going.”
“The two aren’t mutually exclusive,” Dawn said. “And if we’re dealing with Wolfram & Hart, I think we need as much firepower as possible.”
“Rocket launcher?” Xander yelled cheerfully.
“Always with the rocket launcher,” Willow shook her head.
“That was my bright shining moment of genius, Will,” Xander said.
“Quite true,” Giles said. “But a bad idea in this particular place. We’re trying to rescue Connor, not blow him up.”
“We take everyone,” Dawn said. “Just to be sure.”
“A wise course of action, to be sure,” Giles agreed.
“Time is short and this guy still needs eight words just to say yeah,” Xander mocked as he stood up. “Let’s roll.”
*
“What do I do?” Connor asked as he looked at the bloody body writhing in the cage. He’d already killed the collection of guards and scientists he’d found in the room. He’d known exactly what to do with them. But the man in the cage was another issue.
“They’re keeping him here,” Janice said. “We need to save him.”
Connor looked back at her. He didn’t want to do what she said. But he knew she was right. Connor slammed the blade into the door and pried it open. Then he slipped his hand from the demon’s forearm and handed the makeshift weapon to Janice.
“I need to carry him,” Connor said. “Can you handle this?”
Janice nodded and took the weapon as the man in the cage stumbled through the exit and into Connor’s arms.
“Connor!” he said, his voice full of joy. “I knew you’d escape, Connor. I knew you would. I always said you could do anything.”
“You know him,” Janice said. It was a statement, not a question, but Connor nodded to confirm.
“Who is he?”
“My father,” Connor answered as he slipped his back under Angel to support the vampire’s weight. “Let’s go.”
Trivia
Janice’s surname, Jacoby, was taken from a character actress Amber Tamblyn’s father Russ played on the cult television show “Twin Peaks.” Amber played Janice in the one episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” that actually showed Janice, season six’s sixth episode, “All the Way.”
Rutherford Srik was the former watcher who worked to convince Wesley to join Wolfram & Hart in the Angel season four finale “Home.” He was also in a season five episode where he apparently aided Eve and Lindsey, then disappeared.
Eve’s surname, Sherman, was taken from the character actress Sarah Thompson (who played Eve on “Angel”) played in Cruel Intentions 2, the direct-to-video sequel to Sarah Michelle Gellar film.
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