Rulesverse fic: One for the Team (No, come back, it's not schmoop!)
It's time for Angel in the Rulesverse. This is something of a WIP, but the end is in sight. I've had ideas about what was going on in LA for some time, but haven't done more than touch on them, though I’ve said pretty much from the outset that the Rulesverse goes AU from Chosen. This fic starts to unravel some of that AU, so here’s a quick summary of the changes which are already known: 1) Roger Wyndam-Pryce is dead, as are most of the Watchers (in fact, only two survive, apart from Giles... and Wesley). 2) Wesley survived Not Fade Away, as did Gunn, Illyria, Spike, Lorne and Angel. We knew it was a smaller, less deadly battle than in canon; we now discover (3) that someone also non-canonically helped them. (4) You’re Welcome definitely never happened. (I’m on the fence about Lindsey's role at all, and will think on it. Anyone want a nice Eve cameo...?)
This is part of the world-building side of the Rulesverse, schmoop-free and on the admin!fic side so far. I hope it's diverting nonetheless. There will be magic and emotion in the later sections, promise!
Author Brutti ma buoni
Title One for the Team
Rating This part PG
Characters Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne and others coming up
Word count c3000 overall, this part c1100
Angel had a headache.
It was three weeks since he and his band of heroes had taken on the might of Wolfram and Hart and survived. Made the bad guys run away, in fact.
It had been one hell of a good day. And night. And day after. Fighting like heroes. Wounded, persevering, victorious. Seeing the enemy withdraw. Knowing that they had wounded Leviathan. Yes, it was a token, but if you get enough tokens together, they matter.
They had collapsed into the Hyperion and the waiting casualty detail (thanks, Harmony), laughing and victorious. Then slept for a week while they healed.
*
Since then a number of things had happened.
Spike had taken Illyria off to Scotland. To see Buffy. And, it had to be faced, to stay.
City Hall had sent Wolfram and Hart a vast bill for street repairs and cleaning. Wolfram and Hart had auto-forwarded it to Angel via change of address.
Angel, Wesley and Gunn had shredded the bill and considered jumping on the pieces. Then they had broken out the booze.
*
After the hangovers subsided, the wounds had been re-dressed for the eighth time, and the (empty) bank accounts considered, Angel picked up the phone.
“Buffy? Can we talk?”
It was time to stop being rogue demon hunters and join the Establishment.
*
Buffy sounded uncertain. “Angel... You know I’ll always help you when you need, but... Is this a good idea? Do you really want to come and live with us?”
With me and Spike, said the clear subtext. Almost a subtitle, it was so obvious. And no, he really did not.
“Thought I could maybe solve some of your training issues?”
“Really? Do tell me what you can offer.” Buffy had grown into leadership. Sometimes, maybe a little too much.
He knew the castle setup wasn’t ideal. Very isolated, too much like a boarding school, too vulnerable if they focused all their efforts in one area. There were many mystical protections on the site, but simple arson could end it just as the Watchers had been ended.
So, “Thought we might teach new Watchers. We have Wesley, for the book stuff, and Lorne, for the emotional intelligence, and Gunn and me for tactics, strategy and physical training. Thought it made sense we could help out. Giles must be desperate for support.”
Yes. Because helping Rupert Giles out was his motivation here.
*
“You sure this is a good idea? Seems like it could go bad for us. Pretty much like the last time you signed us up to a global corporation without asking first.”
Angel was getting a little tired of the ‘is this a good idea’ question. Just because there had been some contract issues with Wolfram and Hart...
“Yes, Gunn. Yes, this is a good idea. Buffy isn’t evil, okay? And we need some support. If I learned anything from being part of an evil law firm, it’s the power of having a really big corporation backing you.”
“Slayer Council looked pretty small and flakey last time they passed through.”
“True, but they’d just exploded a Hellmouth and were all homeless and new. They’re tougher than you’d think. Also richer and better connected.”
Wesley was looking wary too. “I’m not about to recreate the Council hierarchies and failures.”
“So we don’t. We make it better. You know Buffy’s lot have made big changes. The old Watchers are dead.” Including Wesley’s father, of course. “We can build in the good of the old. We have new knowledge from Wolfram and Hart. We need to share that.”
It was possible Wesley had thought of keeping the enchanted codexes for himself. But Angel wouldn’t ever trust one man with the consolidated knowledge of the world. Men were too fragile.
*
They took on the management of the Council’s North American operations as well as setting up the new training system. It seemed like a good idea when Buffy suggested it; the Council was desperately stretched and Robin Wood had been having trouble coping with running the continent’s operation. Plague of frogs: nasty. Plague of Slime Slugs: unforgettable, and, they intended, unrepeatable. So Wesley and Angel were deeply involved in long distance conferences and crisis-detection.
Plus, of course, this brilliant idea Angel had of starting a training college for a crew of motley seers, demon experts and research buffs. Which was scary enough, even with Robin to head it up, and Lorne to recreate his Jasmine-days as den mother to dozens. There was a hell of a lot of work to be done. They needed places for people to stay. To experiment. To study. To organise. To create magicks in safety and use weaponry without danger and without attracting too much attention from the neighbours.
The Hyperion had 1950s-style power and one ADSL line. The roof had caved in during the battles, so the fifth floor was out of commission.
Angel was starting to think that this had been a really bad idea. Or at least, that he’d have to go crawling back to Slayer Council for lots more money. Possible, but embarrassing.
But now, an alternative was presenting itself. Angel could feel another migraine brewing. This one, he was familiar with.
“So, there’s this huge giant hi-tech office sitting here empty and I thought, why not? I’m a resourceful kinda gal, right?” Harmony smiled her impossibly, brilliantly, shallow smile, and jingled the bunch of keys yet again.
Yes. Resourceful is exactly the word I would use. “We can’t use Wolfram and Hart, Harmony. It’s evil. And owned by someone else.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Nuh-uh. We all got full severance packages. They’re ceding you LA. Kinda fed up with fighting, I think.”
Evil does not get tired of fighting. But then again, evil also doesn’t come and ask for a job as personal assistant to the fight against evil. Except Harmony did it. Twice. And she’d helped them in the past; seriously helped them with her double-agenting in the great Wolfram and Hart battle. She'd earned a modicum of trust. Only a modicum, mind.
Also, she had a point about the state of the art office block with necro-tempered glass in an ideal location in LA. The Hyperion could be more of a dorm, and they had time to fix that up... It would work.
(Unless it was an evil plan.)
Angel took the keys to Wolfram and Hart LA. It felt worryingly like coming home. Though to a home that might cave in on his head someday.
*
Part two is here
This is part of the world-building side of the Rulesverse, schmoop-free and on the admin!fic side so far. I hope it's diverting nonetheless. There will be magic and emotion in the later sections, promise!
Author Brutti ma buoni
Title One for the Team
Rating This part PG
Characters Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Lorne and others coming up
Word count c3000 overall, this part c1100
Angel had a headache.
It was three weeks since he and his band of heroes had taken on the might of Wolfram and Hart and survived. Made the bad guys run away, in fact.
It had been one hell of a good day. And night. And day after. Fighting like heroes. Wounded, persevering, victorious. Seeing the enemy withdraw. Knowing that they had wounded Leviathan. Yes, it was a token, but if you get enough tokens together, they matter.
They had collapsed into the Hyperion and the waiting casualty detail (thanks, Harmony), laughing and victorious. Then slept for a week while they healed.
*
Since then a number of things had happened.
Spike had taken Illyria off to Scotland. To see Buffy. And, it had to be faced, to stay.
City Hall had sent Wolfram and Hart a vast bill for street repairs and cleaning. Wolfram and Hart had auto-forwarded it to Angel via change of address.
Angel, Wesley and Gunn had shredded the bill and considered jumping on the pieces. Then they had broken out the booze.
*
After the hangovers subsided, the wounds had been re-dressed for the eighth time, and the (empty) bank accounts considered, Angel picked up the phone.
“Buffy? Can we talk?”
It was time to stop being rogue demon hunters and join the Establishment.
*
Buffy sounded uncertain. “Angel... You know I’ll always help you when you need, but... Is this a good idea? Do you really want to come and live with us?”
With me and Spike, said the clear subtext. Almost a subtitle, it was so obvious. And no, he really did not.
“Thought I could maybe solve some of your training issues?”
“Really? Do tell me what you can offer.” Buffy had grown into leadership. Sometimes, maybe a little too much.
He knew the castle setup wasn’t ideal. Very isolated, too much like a boarding school, too vulnerable if they focused all their efforts in one area. There were many mystical protections on the site, but simple arson could end it just as the Watchers had been ended.
So, “Thought we might teach new Watchers. We have Wesley, for the book stuff, and Lorne, for the emotional intelligence, and Gunn and me for tactics, strategy and physical training. Thought it made sense we could help out. Giles must be desperate for support.”
Yes. Because helping Rupert Giles out was his motivation here.
*
“You sure this is a good idea? Seems like it could go bad for us. Pretty much like the last time you signed us up to a global corporation without asking first.”
Angel was getting a little tired of the ‘is this a good idea’ question. Just because there had been some contract issues with Wolfram and Hart...
“Yes, Gunn. Yes, this is a good idea. Buffy isn’t evil, okay? And we need some support. If I learned anything from being part of an evil law firm, it’s the power of having a really big corporation backing you.”
“Slayer Council looked pretty small and flakey last time they passed through.”
“True, but they’d just exploded a Hellmouth and were all homeless and new. They’re tougher than you’d think. Also richer and better connected.”
Wesley was looking wary too. “I’m not about to recreate the Council hierarchies and failures.”
“So we don’t. We make it better. You know Buffy’s lot have made big changes. The old Watchers are dead.” Including Wesley’s father, of course. “We can build in the good of the old. We have new knowledge from Wolfram and Hart. We need to share that.”
It was possible Wesley had thought of keeping the enchanted codexes for himself. But Angel wouldn’t ever trust one man with the consolidated knowledge of the world. Men were too fragile.
*
They took on the management of the Council’s North American operations as well as setting up the new training system. It seemed like a good idea when Buffy suggested it; the Council was desperately stretched and Robin Wood had been having trouble coping with running the continent’s operation. Plague of frogs: nasty. Plague of Slime Slugs: unforgettable, and, they intended, unrepeatable. So Wesley and Angel were deeply involved in long distance conferences and crisis-detection.
Plus, of course, this brilliant idea Angel had of starting a training college for a crew of motley seers, demon experts and research buffs. Which was scary enough, even with Robin to head it up, and Lorne to recreate his Jasmine-days as den mother to dozens. There was a hell of a lot of work to be done. They needed places for people to stay. To experiment. To study. To organise. To create magicks in safety and use weaponry without danger and without attracting too much attention from the neighbours.
The Hyperion had 1950s-style power and one ADSL line. The roof had caved in during the battles, so the fifth floor was out of commission.
Angel was starting to think that this had been a really bad idea. Or at least, that he’d have to go crawling back to Slayer Council for lots more money. Possible, but embarrassing.
But now, an alternative was presenting itself. Angel could feel another migraine brewing. This one, he was familiar with.
“So, there’s this huge giant hi-tech office sitting here empty and I thought, why not? I’m a resourceful kinda gal, right?” Harmony smiled her impossibly, brilliantly, shallow smile, and jingled the bunch of keys yet again.
Yes. Resourceful is exactly the word I would use. “We can’t use Wolfram and Hart, Harmony. It’s evil. And owned by someone else.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Nuh-uh. We all got full severance packages. They’re ceding you LA. Kinda fed up with fighting, I think.”
Evil does not get tired of fighting. But then again, evil also doesn’t come and ask for a job as personal assistant to the fight against evil. Except Harmony did it. Twice. And she’d helped them in the past; seriously helped them with her double-agenting in the great Wolfram and Hart battle. She'd earned a modicum of trust. Only a modicum, mind.
Also, she had a point about the state of the art office block with necro-tempered glass in an ideal location in LA. The Hyperion could be more of a dorm, and they had time to fix that up... It would work.
(Unless it was an evil plan.)
Angel took the keys to Wolfram and Hart LA. It felt worryingly like coming home. Though to a home that might cave in on his head someday.
*
Part two is here