March 2002

    "This is the stupidest game I have ever wasted my time on," grumbled Cordelia as she plunked a pawn down on the chessboard.
    Angel smiled, moved his knight, and said nothing.
    "Oh sure, you would like it.  Why wouldn’t a vampire like a game that centers on hunting down and killing people?" Cordelia moved her bishop, a frown on her face.
    Angel’s smile widened as he moved a rook.
    "That’s it, go ahead and sit there with that silly grin.  Maybe you won’t be grinning so much anymore, now that I’ve put you…in check!" she exclaimed as she placed her bishop in line with Angel’s king.  Cordelia clapped her hands once, and eyed Angel triumphantly.
    Still silent, Angel rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  He surveyed the board for what seemed like five minutes before he made his move.  He moved the same rook from before to a space next to Cordelia’s king.
    "Check mate," he said, knocking her king over gently with one finger.  Laughing inwardly at Cordelia’s indignant reaction, he got up and headed for his desk in another room.
    "I’m sure that was a great victory for you, seeing as how I’m a beginner and all!" she called after him.
    "Beginner?  Didn’t you tell me you used to play this game with your father when you were young?" asked an absent-minded Fred who had just walked in the front door of the Hyperion.
    "Shut up, Fred!" hissed Cordelia as she made kill motions with one hand.
    "W-well, didn’t you?" asked Fred sheepishly.
    "Yes, I did, but I’m not much better than a beginner anyway," replied Cordelia in a warning tone.  "So, what daring feat of research will I be attempting today?"
    "Why are you asking me?  I’m in just as much suspense as you are, maybe even more," replied Fred as she placed a new office plant in yet another one of the corners of the Hyperion’s spacious lobby.
    "Is that another fichus?  I am getting really sick of those things." Cordelia narrowed her eyes at the plant.  "Sometimes I think that if I stare at it long enough, it starts to have eyes.  And maybe even a nose.  Creepy little plants."
    "I like them.  The more we have, the more I get to say the word ‘fichus,’" giggled Fred.
    Cordelia rolled her eyes and was about to say something witty yet appropriately snotty when she suddenly lurched forward, one hand on her forehead and the other held out to break her fall.
    "VISION!" shrieked Fred at the top of her lungs.
    Angel shot out of his room with a vampire’s speed and caught Cordelia before she hit the hotel lobby’s floor.  He held her until her body stopped convulsing with pain.  Fred stood dutifully by with a large notepad and a pen at ready.  Cordelia looked at both of them and started to say something.
    "No, don’t.  Wait a few minutes until you’re not, you know, not…" Angel ventured, trailing off.
    "In blinding pain?" muttered the aggrieved Seer.  "Yeah, great idea, Einstein."
    "I thought so, too," Fred whispered in his ear.
    "Hey Cordy, thanks for letting me win," Angel whispered, a smile hovering on his lips.  Cordelia winked and grimaced.
    The next few minutes saw the pertinent information copied down onto Fred’s notepad and handed to Angel.  Several large, brown, potato-like demons were about to feed on a couple of young schoolchildren in an alley somewhere in Westwood.  While Angel searched for his car keys, Fred brought a glass of water and two yellow pills to Cordelia.  After Cordelia had taken the prescription painkillers, Fred helped her onto a couch and put a hot water bottle on her forehead.  This was all done expertly, as Fred had had much practice over the last year.  Fred made sure to keep total silence throughout because any noise caused Cordelia’s headache to worsen.
    Wesley arrived, but promptly turned back around and followed Angel, who had at last retrieved the car keys, out to the car.  The vampire tossed him a battle-axe, ordered him to buckle his seatbelt, and they screeched off.
    Several broken traffic laws later, the alley was found.  Wesley nodded to Angel, and they ran into the darkness, blades flashing.  They were forced to skid to a halt, however, when a lumpy, potato-like demon came flying in their direction.  Normally, this would not have been a great surprise.  Demons would attack the vampire and the Englishman regularly.  What was unusual about this particular situation was the fact that the potato demon was thrown, and was not attacking them.  In fact, the brown lump was dead.
    Glancing curiously at each other, Angel and Wesley ventured further into the alley.  Grunting sounds could be heard.  It seemed that someone was dishing out quite the beating.  Angel ducked as another dead demon flew past his head.  Wesley watched, dumbfounded, as two little boys came running from the direction of the noise.  He caught one of them by the arm.
    "Please, mister, let go!  Don’t hurt me!" screamed the child, seeing Wesley’s sword.
    "Yeah, let him go, or the lady will come and beat you up!" shouted the other boy, pounding on Wesley’s arm.
    "I’m not going to hurt you!" Wesley said in a firm and authoritative tone.  "Tell me what’s happened here."
    "The monsters were gonna get us, but then the lady came and hit them and made them go away," stammered the first boy.
    Wesley was about to question him further, but Angel shook his head.
    "Let them go, Wes.  We’ll figure this out ourselves."
    The two boys ran from the alley, screaming at the tops of their lungs.
    The third and final potato demon fell, gurgling, at Wesley’s feet.  He jabbed his sword into its throat to put it out of its misery.
    "Thanks.  Saves me the trouble of beating him senseless again." A woman’s voice.
    Angel and Wesley looked up to see a woman clad in black bending over to pick up a large billy club.  As she straightened, she tossed her blond hair expertly.
    "Angel, Wesley," she said, nodding to each of them in greeting.
    "Kate?" Angel asked, unsure.
    "Yeah," she replied absently, buckling the club to her belt.  "Hey, I’m glad I ran into you two.  I was wondering, you hiring?"