Angel Investigations: The Next Generation
Episode 1: A New Destiny
Teaser
Los Angeles, 2009
After the fight with Wolfram and Hart, the news of Angel's disappearance had hit Connor hard. But he knew that he had to make a life for himself after college. Connor decided to follow in his father's footsteps and reopen Angel Investigations in the very same building where Angel, Cordelia and Doyle first started. Connor had a tough time getting started. With the help of Spike and Nina, Connor was able to steady his feet on the ground and run a pretty thriving business as a private investigator.
As Connor propped his feet and read, light foot steps made their way to the door of Angel Investigations. The sound of the creaking door hinges didn't detour Connor from the book that he was engrossed in. "Keeping busy?" Connor looked up from the page to see Nina standing in front of him. She was a very beautiful young woman. The light shown through her light blonde hair. Connor could see in her what Angel had felt for her. Connor turned his wrist and looked at the watch that he was wearing and then directed his attention back to Nina.
"You're cutting it close." By the tone in his voice Nina could tell that he wasn't that worried.
"A half an hour until sunset isn't cutting it close. I'm just fashionably early."
"At least you're not fashionably late." Connor laid the book down on the front desk and lead Nina down to the underground apartment. Connor wasn't a full blown vampire, but the apartment was just fine for the twenty four year old to keep his privacy, and to keep Nina locked up during the full moon. Connor and Nina headed to the cage that Connor had installed in the sewers to house Nina during the change that she experienced every full moon. Nina made her way into the steel cage and Connor put a pad lock on the door behind her and then another lock after that. He figured that he'd rather be safe than sorry.
The monthly routine had gotten to Connor. He put his hands on the cage and he could feel his lungs fill up with air as he took a deep breath. Connor could feel the soft touch of Nina's hands as she put them on top of his. "Don't worry, everything will be alright." Nina was trying to comfort Connor, but she could tell that all of her efforts weren't working. Connor slipped his fingers out from underneath her's and headed back up the entrance to the apartment. Nina sighed as she watched Connor's feet disappear to the apartment above. She felt a deep sinking feeling. Nina knew that what happened had affected Connor deeply, but she didn't know the extent of his pain. "Like father, like son," she whispered under her breath. Nina began to disrobe. The whole werewolf thing did a number on her clothes if she didn't take them off.
Connor grabbed a bottle of water before starting up the stairs to the offices of Angel Investigations. After he took a drink, Connor noticed a familiar face. "Hello, Spike." Spike lifted his eyes off of the newspaper that he was looking at. Spike never really read the newspaper. All the articles were about some corrupt celebrity or the violence that had plagued the streets of Los Angeles as long as Spike could remember.
"Done tucking Wolfgirl into her cage?" Connor just gave Spike a look of frustration, and then pushed Spike's feet off of the table. As Connor looked at Spike, he saw the vampire fidget in his seat. "Well...?"
"No."
"Oh bollocks, like you even know what I'm going to ask." Spike only got a little pissed off that Connor dismissed his question before he even got to finish asking it.
"You were going to ask if I found out any information on why the Senior Partners decided to keep you alive and slaughter everyone else. And just like I told you a million times before, I haven't figured out anything. As soon as I do I will inform you, but for now, your guess is as good as mine." Connor sat in one of the chairs just in front of the desk and took another drink of his water. Spike continued to pretend to read the newspaper, while Connor went back to reading his book. The two of them sat in silence until the familiar creaking of the door interrupted their 'quality' time together.
Connor looked up to see that a young woman had entered the offices. Her black hair was made a little bit livelier by the hot pink streaks scattered throughout. By the look of her Connor guessed that she was a raver. "Is this Angel Investigations?" Her voice shook as she inquired about the offices.
"Don’t you have eyes?" Spike said with a bit of irritation in his voice.
Connor got up from his seat and then whispered to the vampire. "Not now, Spike." Connor then directed his attention to the young woman. "You've come to the right place." Connor moved to the side so that the girl could have a clear path to sit down in one of the chairs. "Why don't you sit down and we'll take care of your needs." The young woman did as Connor suggested.
The girl just sat there a few seconds and didn't say any thing. Connor could tell that she was spooked. To Connor's surprise, Spike took the initiative. "My name is William and this is Connor. And you are?" The girl looked up at the two men and laughed nervously.
"My name is Sarah Wyatt. Ummm... The last couple of days I feel like some one has been following me. I just....” Sarah paused to collect her thoughts. “Whenever I walk home from a friend’s house or take a walk on the promenade, I see a guy following me. I'm not sure who he is, but he gives me the major creeps."
"We major in the creeps...” Spike thought to himself. “Can you describe the guy who's following you?" Spike took a pad of paper from the front drawer of the desk and started to write down everything that Sarah said.
"The only thing that really stood out about him was three scars on his face. They looked as if they were made by some sort of animal. He had light blonde hair, and he was a little over six feet tall." The girl paused while she tried to think about any more distinguishing characteristics. Connor watched as Spike took down everything that Sarah said. After a while, he became lost in thought.
Act 1
Los Angeles, 2004
As the steady rhythm of the windshield wipers were going back and fourth Connor found himself sitting in Nina's driveway. He felt the butterflies in his stomach going full speed. The nervousness that He felt caused him to begin to thump his fingers on the steering wheel. He had no idea how to explain to Nina what had happened. He took one final deep breath and took the keys out of the ignition. He felt the rain starting to come down on him as he stepped out of his parents’ SUV. He stood in front of the door for a few moments after ringing the doorbell. As she opened the door, the light from inside poured out onto Connor.
"May I help you?" Nina asked.
Connor looked through his rain soaked hair and saw a young woman in her twenties standing inside. Connor could only guess that Nina was the woman who was standing before him.
"I need to talk to you." Connor paused taking a deep breath. He was having a hard time with the cold and the news that he had to break to Nina. "It's about Angel." Nina felt her heart beating inside her chest at the mention of Angel’s name.
"Come in." Connor felt relieved to be out of the rain, but that feeling quickly went away when he saw the worried look on Nina's face. "Hold on a sec." She went into the hallway and paused as she got a towel from one of the shelves. She knew that Angel had pushed her away for some reason, but he never told her what it was. A sinking feeling began to grow in Nina's stomach. She knew that the news that Connor had come to tell her wasn't going to be good.
Spike looked in from one of the main windows as Nina brought Connor a towel. He knew that the next few moments were going to be intense. Spike had felt the same way when he broke the news to Connor. Emotions had been running high for weeks after the fight with the Senior Partners. Spike still had many unanswered questions himself. Why had he been the only survivor? Wolfram and Hart had gone through so much trouble to take down the team and then just left him alone. Spike stood out in the rain. He could see that Nina’s tears were coming down just as hard as the rain. He knew at that moment that Nina had truly cared for Angel. Then he wondered about how Buffy would react. Would she even cry for Angel? Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies had abandoned them.
"Connor." Spike gave the boy a bit of a shove to stop him from daydreaming and to concentrate. Connor read the notes that Spike had taken and then shifted his attention back to Sarah.
"I'll go out and see if I can't find anything on this guy." Connor shifted his attention back to Spike. "Will she be alright here?"
"Sure.” Spike replied. “I'll just play babysitter." Connor wasted no time; he grabbed his coat, opened the top drawer of the file cabinet and slipped a stake suspiciously into one of its pockets. After going out into the frigid air, he decided to put on his coat. It didn't take Connor long to get to the club. He could hear the steady pulse of the music as he pulled into a parking space. After turning off the engine, Connor made his way into the club to meet his informant. Connor always arranged meetings in crowded places, just so the bitch didn't try any thing. Connor entered the club and made his way through the crowd. The people swayed to the beat not knowing about the dangers that surrounded them. Connor then sat down at the bar.
The bartender made his way over. "How can I help you?"
"Whiskey."
"I.D., first." Connor took out his wallet and showed the bartender his driver's license.
"So you still get carded." A cold voice drifted over the noise of the club and into Connor’s ear. He looked to the right of him to see Eve standing there. She looked a lot better since the last time that he saw her. She sat down next to him. The bartender turned his attention to Eve. She lifted her cosmopolitan. “I’m five.” The bartender left to get Connor's drink.
"Here." Connor slid a piece of paper into Eve's hands.
"So how long do you think that you can keep these little meetings a secret? Spike or Nina are bound to find out sooner or later." Eve stopped talking until the bartender put down Connor’s drink and left. "Being friends with the enemy can be dangerous. Your father found that out the hard way."
"I'm not like my father. It's the whole keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, thing."
"Yeah and ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. We can throw as many clichés sayings at each other as you want. That won’t change the fact that you’re hiding things from the people that trust and care for you. And when they find out it will be my ass that they come after. Not yours. My boss doesn't want that to happen."
"Just turn the description into the research department." Eve’s eyes widened with surprise as she looked behind her. Whatever made her uncomfortable also made her leave. Connor took a sip of his whiskey and then looked back to see what had made Eve uncomfortable. Spike took the now empty seat next to Connor.
"What was she doing here?"
“For a drink obviously.”
“Fine. Why?”
"It's still a free country." Connor took another sip of his whiskey. "What happened to your charge?"
Spike turned around and said, "She's occupied." Connor followed Spike's gaze to see Sarah dancing to the beat of some techno music that the club’s DJ was playing. "What were you and Eve talking about, Connor?"
"Stuff it, Spike. Just take care of Sarah. I'm going to see if I can't find any information on her stalker." Connor drained his glass and headed out of the club. Spike watched him as he left. Angel had been able to keep secrets from him as well. Connor could deny it all that he wanted, but he was becoming more and more like his father.
As Connor made his way to his car, he thought about what Eve had said. He knew that he shouldn’t lie to Spike and Nina. As he sat in his car waiting for his whiskey to go through his system, he heard a woman scream in the side alleyway of the club. Connor grabbed the stake from his coat and ran to towards the alley. As he turned the corner, Connor saw a gigantic werewolf standing over Spike and Sarah. The vampire stood between the werewolf and Sarah. “Get back inside!!” Spike yelled out. Sarah shook in fear as Spike swung a pipe at the werewolf. After a few swings he landed a hard blow to the jaw of the werewolf.
With the creature’s attention directed towards Spike, Connor took his chance and threw his stake into the werewolf’s side. The werewolf howled in pains and its baleful eyes turned to Connor. The werewolf growled from deep within its gut. Connor had no idea what to do now; he was unarmed and was faced with a very pissed off werewolf. “Spike, a little help over here!” The werewolf approached Connor, causing him to take a few steps back. Without warning the massive beast howled in pain once more and whipped around. Spike had grabbed the stake and was moving it around in the wound. The werewolf whirled again, flinging Spike into a near by dumpster. Connor found himself pressed against the wall of the club, as the werewolf pushed past him and out of the alley.
“Are you okay?” Sarah helped Connor get to his feet. He could feel the tremor of fear in her hands.
“I’m fine.” As he stood in the alleyway, Connor’s thoughts turned to Nina. I thought I locked her up tight. Maybe two locks weren’t enough. He knew that the three of them had to get back to the offices not only to dress their wounds, but to check on Nina.
Act 2
Jason felt the rays of the sun beating down on his face as he awoke underneath a bush. What happened last night? And where the hell am I? As he sat up, Jason could feel something lodged into his side. Then without any warning someone pulled a stake out of his side.
"You were careless, Jason."
Jason looked up at the voice. The rising sun silhouetted the form making it difficult to see. Jason squinted for a few second, trying to adjust to the light. When he could see, his attention was riveted by the three claw marks that marred the man’s face. The white scars gleamed in the sunlight.
"Who are you?" Jason quickly rose to his feet and stumbled backwards, falling with a soft thud into the dewy grass. He was weak from the fight the night before.
"You'll know soon enough. Now go to this address." The man gave Jason a calling card.
"Angel Investigations? Why should I go there?"
"You'll find what you're looking for there, but before you go there you might want to get dressed." The man threw a paper bag at Jason and then left. Jason slipped on the clothes that the strange man had given him and then headed back to his home. I'd better patch up before I start the day.
Connor could fell his pain lessen as the ice was pressed up against his skin. He felt the aches and pains of the night before when he woke up that morning. After he had gotten changed, he headed upstairs to the office. "So... What are you two reading?" Spike and Nina looked up from the books that they had laid all over the desk.
"Catching up on the big fluffy puppy with bad teeth, is all." Spike looked back down into his book. Connor made his way further into the room and saw Sarah asleep in the office. His attention was averted by the touch of Nina's hand on his shoulder.
"Are you all right?" Nina’s concern was echoed in her gaze.
"I'm fine. Just a few cuts and bruises." Connor knew that Nina wanted to know more, but he wasn't ready to share his feelings. "Has anyone told Sarah about what happened last night?" Connor was worried about whether she knew about the supernatural horrors A.I. tackled every night.
"Spike told her that it was a wolf suffering from gigantism."
"What else did you want me to tell her?" Connor rolled his eyes. He made his way to his smaller office, having decided to research in his own way. Eve sounded surprised to hear from Connor again.
"So you still haven't told them?"
"Just give me the information. Stop trying to give me the run-around." Connor had been getting annoyed by Eve's constant prying. Connor knew that Wolfram and Hart couldn't be trusted, but he couldn't afford to have them as an enemy despite what they had done to his family.
"We have no idea who he is, we think he is new in town. Which means that it will only take a little longer than usual. Don't worry we'll get your guy."
"Thanks. I appreciate your help, even though I usually don’t act like it."
"I know, Connor. I'm not surprised that we are helping each other, after what the Senior Partners did to us." Eve knew that she sounded sappy, but the Senior Partners had taken everything away from her just because she had fallen in love with Lindsey. "I'll call your cell when I find anything."
Jason patched his wound as well as he could. He couldn't figure out where it had come from or how he had gotten outside. As he sat on his bed trying to remember what had happened the night before, Jason heard a knocking on his door. "I'm fine, Patrick," he called out.
"I wasn't worried about you. I just wanted to tell you that your mom called. She wants you to call as soon as possible." Jason listened as his roommate headed away from his bedroom door. He took the Angel Investigations calling card and began to flip it through his fingers. Finally he came to the conclusion that the best way to figure out anything was to follow the clues he’s been given. First he had to fulfill is obligations.
As Connor hung up the phone, Nina made her way into the smaller office. "Are you alright, Connor?"
"You don't need to keep asking me that Nina. I told you I'm fine." Connor looked up from the desk. "I know that you're worried about me, but you don't need to be."
"I can't help but be worried. You lock yourself in this office all day, and don't talk to anyone. You barely say two words to me and the few times you do talk to Spike it's about a case you two are working on." Nina knew that Connor was probably not going to pay any attention to her opinion, but she needed to say it. She placed herself in a chair on the other side of Connor's desk.
Connor knew that he had to say something to her. "I know that you feel like you have to take care of me since Angel is gone, but Angel already made sure that I would be taken care of by the Riley's. With the spell that changed my memory, Angel gave me a family. Plus being the child of two vampires has its perks. Why don't you help Spike with the research? It wouldn't hurt to know a little bit more about lycanthropy." Connor opened the drawer of the desk and began to take out the necessary papers that he needed to make up a case file. Seeing that she wasn't going to get anything more out of him. Nina eventually made her way back to the books.
Eve walked through the newly staffed Wolfram and Hart. Things had gotten back to normal after the confrontation with the Senior Partners. The law firm was able to keep the same clients even though it was under new management. Eve was about to head into the lounge when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see one of the people from the research department with a worried look on his face. "What is it Johnson?"
"I think that you need to see this, ma’am." Eve followed Johnson into the head of the research department's office.
Spike watched as Nina came back to the desk defeated. He knew that she cared for Connor. Spike felt the same way. Since Angel was gone, Spike was the closest thing to a blood relative that Connor had. Spike rose from the chair a mere moment before a young man opened the door of the office.
"Sarah, what are you doing here?"
Sarah woke up at the sound of the man’s voice. "They were just helping me, Jason.”
"Mom is worried sick about you. She even called me looking for you."
Sarah got up from the couch and walked over to Jason. "I just thought that I would get help with my stalker."
"No one is stalking you. Why do you have to be so paranoid?" Jason turned his attention to Spike. "Sorry about all of this. She's always making up stupid stories."
"They aren't stories, Jason. I know that this guy is following me." As the two siblings argued, Spike glanced over to see Connor take an incoming call. It must be his informant. Spike could see Connor's expression change as he kept the cell placed to his ear. Spike knew that the news wasn't going to be good.
"I don't think that she is making it up," Nina interrupted. Spike could only hope that she didn't say anything that she shouldn't. "Last night your sister was attacked."
"By what?" Nina watched as Jason began to get red with anger.
"By you." Jason looked in Connor's direction.
"What are you talking about? I would never attack my sister."
"You work for a man named Joseph Webb.”
"So? I work in the mailroom of his newspaper. What does it have to do with anything?" Spike wondered what prompted Connor's outburst. He realized that Connor might have better connections than he thought.
"Don't worry Jason everything will become clear in a few seconds." "That's him," screamed Sarah. Joseph Webb stood in the doorway of Angel Investigations.
"Don't worry, Jason. You will serve your purpose." Webb glanced down at his watch, and fingered the edge. He turned to leave. "Good bye, Connor." As Webb pressed a button on his watch, Jason's screams filled the room.
Act 3
With every new scream Jason’s body jerked and changed as the inner wolf made itself present. Everyone in the room was frozen. His clothes were ripped as his body increased in size. He let out a howl that filled the room. No one expected his transformation except Connor.
"Spike there's a chip placed at the back of his neck. We have to remove it from Jason so that he will shift down." The claws were so close that Connor could feel the wind of their passing as he went to go and reach for his weapon. He bobbed and weaved as Jason aimed another swipe at his head. Then one of Jason’s swings was cut short as a chair smashed into his back. Connor could hear Sarah scream something but he could not make it out over the werewolf’s howls. “Nina,” Connor yelled over the commotion, “get her downstairs!”
Nina grabbed Sarah and bolted downstairs. Spike threw another piece of furniture at Jason drawing the werewolf’s attention. Using all of his strength, Connor jumped onto Jason's back. Connor knew exactly where to reach, because of the information that Eve had given him. But before he could pull the chip free, Jason threw Connor through the window of the lobby. Getting to his feet, he found himself in the hallway of the business building. Webb was nowhere to be seen.
Dashing to the front door of Angel Investigations, Connor saw Spike reaching for the chip on Jason’s neck. Connor was about to yell out, when he realized that Jason was sinking under the vampire's weight. As Jason's unconscious body fell to the floor, Connor could see Nina a tranquillizer gun. Connor sighed in relief. When Sarah poke her head around Nina, Connor said, "Don't worry we will help your brother. Nina get a blanket."
Nina handed Spike the tranquillizer gun and headed back down the stairs. "What happened to him?" Sarah’s query was edged in tremulous fear.
Connor knew that someone had to tell Sarah the truth. "Spike, stay with her. I'll go and take care of Webb." Connor went out into the sunlight and headed to his car.
Spike stood in the lobby of Angel Investigations. He knew that he couldn't follow, so he figured that he would tell Sarah everything that was happening. No used in telling her a lie, after all.
Nina grabbed a blanket off of Connor's bed, but then hesitated a bit. Connor knew way too much. Spike finished telling Sarah about her brother's condition, and there was still no sign of Nina. Spike headed into Connor’s bedroom where he saw Nina lost in thought. “What’s wrong with you?”
Nina snapped out of her train of thought and gave Spike her attention. “I was just thinking about Connor. He seemed to get the information that we needed pretty fast. Could he have gotten it all from one phone call?”
Spike just shook his head. “I don’t know what that boy has gotten himself into. Hopefully he isn’t as thick as Angel was. We should get going, take care of the young ones.” The two of them headed back to the two siblings. Nina put the blanket on top of Jason and then found the chip just behind Jason's ear. After pulling it out Jason shifted into his human form. Sarah knelt down next to her brother.
"Will he be all right?" Nina could tell that Sarah was concerned about Jason. Nina could see the closeness between the two.
"He'll be fine, Sarah. All he needs now is rest. Spike, you should probably carry him down to Connor's bed. Sarah, you can help me pick out some clothes for your brother." Spike handed Nina the tranquillizer gun and picked up Jason with the blanket pulled tightly around his body. All of them headed down stairs to help Sarah and her brother.
Connor entered the offices of Wolfram and Hart. He walked as fast as he could to an upstairs conference room. After only a few seconds, Eve hurried to catch up. "You can't do things this way, Connor.”
Her voice was as cold as ever, but now it was edged round with scorn and held a touch of apprehension. “You can't just barge in." Connor kicked down the doors of the conference room and found Webb sitting at the head of the table.
"Nice to see you, Connor. How are you?"
Unamused by Webb's lack of reaction. Connor walked into the room. Eve stood in the doorway as Connor confronted the man.
"Like Eve said before you came in and started to rip the place apart, there is a method to Wolfram and Hart's madness. If you kill me, you will disrupt it. I pay my taxes and I'm part of the system. I can do anything that I want. You are nothing, but a vigilante." Webb’s distain dripped like oil into the tension.
"There is more to me than meets the eye." Connor made his way to Webb and placed his foot just on the edge of his chair. "What about you?" With all of his strength, Connor pushed Webb’s chair. With a resounding crash, Webb’s chair shattered the window and plunged down the side of the building, carrying the man with it. Connor stood in the conference room until he heard Webb's screams stop. Walking over to the broken window, Connor looked down. All that he saw lying on the pavement was a broken office chair. He backed away from the window and looked back at Eve, who had just gotten off of her cell phone.
"He will see you now." Connor followed Eve down the hallway and into the office of the new President and CEO of Wolfram and Hart.
"Thanks for the information, Lindsey."
Lindsey McDonald turned his chair to face Connor. "Here is the rest of the information on Joseph Webb. It should be sufficient in making a believable case file."
"Why did Webb come after me? That's the only part that I don't get."
"Webb was a vampire that Angelus sired only a few decades before Drusilla. The only reason that I can guess is that Webb felt that your father had damned him."
"Now that my father is gone, I have to pay for his past mistakes." Sarcasm crept into Connor’s voice, “isn’t that a comforting thought...”
"We're still trying to find out what happened to Angel."
"I know, Lindsey. Thanks." Connor left Lindsey's office and headed out of the law firm.
Spike watched over Sarah and Jason as they talked to Nina. They were sitting at Connor's kitchen table. He listened as Jason gave Nina advise on trying to control the beast within. Connor heard the tail end of their conversation as he came down the stairs into the underground apartment. Seeing that Connor was detached from the group he decide to take a seat next to Connor at the bottom of the stairs. "How are they?" Connor inquired.
"Doing just fine. Turns out that Jason knew about being a werewolf all along. The only thing that he couldn't remember was Webb taking control of him. He's talking to Nina about helping her control herself so that her change isn't governed by the lunar cycle." Spike turned toward Connor, who leaned up against the wall with a look of defeat on his face. "What's crawled up your ass?"
"I'm just thinking about my destiny. I was born to bring Jasmine into this world and to kill Sahjhan. I've done those things. So, what now?"
"I bet with your new life, Angel also gave you a new destiny. Or, now that your destiny has been fulfilled, you can do whatever you bloody well please. What you did today for those kids was a good thing, Connor. Who cares what destiny we have?" Spike patted Connor on the back and then moved to claim the last seat at the kitchen table. Connor knew that Spike was right. Screw fate and destiny, he would make his own.
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