It’s a calm night in old London town. No one is walking the streets at this ungodly hour, but the young man can still feel the presence of something, walking behind him, around him, in the darkness.

As he passes the border into Magic Town, what was once called Hackney, he gets slightly more uneasy. He looks around even more as he walks, stopping at the simplest noise.

Then he hears it: the unmistakable sound of wings flapping. Not bird wings, or anything feathered. Like slick leather, slapping against skin. The sounds get louder and louder, and the young man runs as fast as he can.

Rushing into an alleyway, he realises that he’s trapped himself into a dead end, with no exit. An Irish voice, gritted and cruel, comes down from the shadows around him. “Go on, Andy. Did ya really think you could dodge old Corky and his mates?”

Pixies. Purple, small, cackling pixies suddenly fill the air above him, the lead one, Corky, getting in his face with a Irish brogue coming from his fanged jaws, his beady red eyes making the young man shiver. “You holding out on me, Andy? I think you’ve forgotten your place. Maybe you need a reminder.”

The pixies descend down around Andy. There’s dozens of the blighters, pulling at his hair, his clothing, his skin. He waves his arms about, tries to dislodge them, but there’s simply too many of them.

A voice from the shadows stops the pixies in their tracks. Turning, they see Angel emerging from the shadows. He picks up a pixie in his hands, threatening the rest. “I’d say pick on someone you’re own size but what would that be?”

Corky doesn’t look too impressed. He yells at his boys to swarm the newcomer and they react with gusto. “Come on, lads! Show high pockets who runs Magic Town. Give him something to think about.”

The pixie in Angel’s hands bites his way free and rejoins his fellows. They swarm at Angel, but he picks up a trash can lid and throws it in a curve, up into the air like a Frisbee. It collides with several pixies, slicing through some, but angering the others. “Think about this,” the vampire rages, now baring his fangs. Corky is still looking at him curiously from above. He’s wondering what the vampire gains from this, so addresses Angel directly.

Flying down to Angel’s eyeline, he warns him about the new situation in Magic Town. “You walked down the alley, boyo. Vamps are old news. There’s a new world order, and…”

Angel, casually, and without any thought, simply swats the pixie aside. He grabs a hold of another one, and snaps him in half with his bare hands. “If you think I’ll go easy on you because you’re little…”

Corky, however, realises that perhaps his time is not now and orders his fellows to retreat. It doesn’t take the majority of them long to slip out of the alley way, Corky yelling a warning back at Angel, which echoes across the wall in his Dublin accent. “Wing it, lads! We’ll do for you later, yank.”

Angel stares after them for a moment, stunned. “But… I’m Irish,” he calls after them weakly. A groan from behind him in the alley way gets his attention; Andy is, mercifully, still alive.

“Corky… His pixies… They were…”

Angel extends his hand to help the young man to his feet, but suddenly, Andy appears more afraid of him! “It’s okay. They’re gone. My name is Angel.”

“She said not to talk to you!” Get away from me! She said you’ll make it worse!”

Angel is puzzled as Andy gets up and backs away, obviously terrified of the vampire.

“‘She’ who? I’m here to help. You don’t have to fear…”

Andy doesn’t wait. He turns and flees as fast as he can in the opposite direction of Angel, leaving the vampire alone with his thoughts as he leaves the scene.

Gratitude is a slippery thing. It’s not like I insist on being thanked, but a little appreciation never hurts.

Elsewhere, far away from Angel and Magic Town, Faith Lehane is riding shotgun in Kennedy‘s rather expensive rental as they drive to their destination.

“I appreciate the lift, Kennedy. Swanky jet.”

Kennedy grins, knowing that she has ulterior motives. “Part of the sales pitch. We go first class all the way at DeepScan.”

Faith looks around the small town they’ve just entered. Vehicles have been abandoned, shops and homes have been looted and there’s chaos around them. This, as Faith checks on the radio, is Santa Rosita.

“Looks like we’ve arrived at a party that’s already started. Cable news says zompires are ripping up Santa Rosita, so Buffy must be around some…”

A zompire lands on the car bonnet, taking Kennedy by surprise. She attempts to maintain control of the car, but ends up crashing it into a street light. The zompire jumps away from the wreckage and Faith emerges, unharmed, but pissed.

“Boys. I can’t say I’m impressed with your valet skills. Now come here, and get staked, you ugly…” The zompires aren’t in front of her, but Faith can hear them, skittering in shadows. Suddenly she sees two sparks of light, both from circular blades. The zompires fall forward, their heads removed, and instantly evaporate into dust. Faith does not recognise her saviour.

He’s a large demon, with yellow eyes and a thick mane of black hair. The circular blades on his hands appear to be self-generating, the Slayer notes, and his clothing has a tribal sheen to it.

“Okay. Points for a timely assist. You got a name sunshine?”

Before the demon can answer her, Kennedy emerges from the car, weapons checked and recognising the hulking Nitobe Warrior before her. “Koh! What’s the story?”

The Warrior doesn’t smile at Kennedy, but nods respectfully at her. “I am driving them towards the centre of town where Buffy and the others have set a trap.”

Faith looks the Nitobe up and down, surprised and slightly impressed. “A new face for Team America, huh? Looks like I have been out of the loop.”

Eldre Koh looks at Faith and then back at Kennedy. “You can make your own way, I trust. I must finish my tour of the perimeter,” he tells them, and is then racing down the street to his next goal.

Kennedy looks at the demon go and then turns back to their car. “So now we’re walking,” she sighs. She turns to the other Slayers with them. “Holly, you’re with me on point. Leah, make sure nothing comes on our six.”

As Kennedy and her team head towards the centre of town, Rupert Giles, also emerging from the back of the wrecked car, adjusts his glasses and turns to his former charge. “Efficient, aren’t they?” He nods after Kennedy.

“Kennedy’s crew? Supposed to be a regular Slayer Delta Force.” There’s praise in her voice, but also doubt.

“You’re seriously considering her offer?”

Faith turns to Giles, look of indecision on her face. “You know what a polite gal I am, G. I’ll listen to the spiel. But I’ve never been much of a joiner, you know?”

Back in London, specifically the townhouse of the Giles family, Angel has arrived unexpectedly. He sits in the drawing room, while Sophie Fairweather is also sat, watching her sister, Lavinia, struggle in front of a mirror.

“Thanks for letting me duck in here, out of the sunlight. My new place is on the other side of Magic Town.”

“Always happy for a visit, darling. But as you can see, my dear sister Lavinia suffers from a spell gone awry.”

Lavinia is tugging at her hair now, playing with all number of accessories. “It just keeps growing…”

Sophie can’t help but grin at her sister’s pliught. Angel suspects that if the situations were reversed, the conversation would still be the same. “We bought the spell from a seemingly trustworthy gentleman in Magic Town. It was supposed to rejuvenate and remove any gray strands, which it did, to be fair.”

Lavinia screams from her make-up chair. “So much hair!”

Angel looks at Lavinia and then turns to Sophie. “Magic Town. It’s not right, is it?”

Sophie looks at him as if he’s just developed an extra head. “‘Not right?’ Angel, you do have a gift for understatement. You exploded a magic bomb that turned half the place into monsters. There’s plenty of magic. But it’s all a little more… wonky… than usual.”

Angel agrees, telling her about the evening he’s had. Sophie is not surprised in the slightest. “At least the magic in Magic Town works. Everywhere else the magic is even less reliable. Like a bad fluorescent light not quite able to blink itself on.”

“I saved a guy from pixies last night. But he seemed more scared of me.”

“People are afraid,” Sophie tells him, reaching for a glass and a bottle from a cabinet. She doesn’t offer anything to Angel. “They don’t recognise their neighbours anymore. But you aren’t responsible for every single person in Magic Town.”

Angel agrees with her, but his face is telling her different.

In another part of Magic Town, Andy is traipsing through the dark warehouse district. He’s actively searching for the pixies this time. “Hello? Corky? You in there?”

He doesn’t get a response, so he enters deeper into the dark space, talking to thin air, hoping his boss can hear him. “I found as much as I could. It’s getting harder now. But I’ll go back and keep looking. We all will, I promise, okay? We’ve been filling the jars, just like you want.”

Corky’s voice comes down from the rafters towards him and he appears from out of the gloom. “Not what I want, Andy boy. We’ve got customers.”

Andy automatically steps back, begs the pixie. “Please! I’m doing it.”

Corky nods, his red eyes like lasers in the dark. “Oh yes? You talked to that yank didn’t you? We told you what would happen if you opened your trap!”

Andy recoils in horror, tells Corky what happened. “Angel? I didn’t mean to. It’s not my fault!”

Corky comes down now, so that Andy can look him in his ghoulish, impish face. “I believe you, and you know what a forgiving fellow old Corky can be.”

He then points up and thousands of pixies come down from their ceiling roosts. “But it’s the lads you’ve got to convince. And they’re a tough audience.”

Andy barely has time to mouth “Oh no,” before the horde is upon him, flapping their wings ferociously, tearing at the young boy.

Listening to the ripping, Corky grins. “People will learn, oh yes, they will. They’ll learn who runs Magic Town. And too many will choose to learn the hard way. My guess is that do-gooder git Angel will fall into the latter category, but that’s okay.”

He looks at Andy, now completely surrounded, swarmed by pixies. “Because you’re going to help us send a message, boyo.”

Later, after leaving the Fairweather Sisters, Angel uses the cavernous Victorian sewers under London to navigate the streets. He likes it: it reminds him of old times. And better than that, he has time to think.

The thing about tunnels is that they come in handy for a guy with sunlight problems. Sunnydale had its share of crypts and basements and access tunnels. More than it’s share actually, since the place was on a Hellmouth.

But London is an old city. Tunnels built beneath other tunnels. So I can get around most places.

I miss having a partner who could handle daylight errands. I miss a lot of things. Not that solitude is always a bad thing. I’ve spent decades at a stretch coming home to nobody.

This just doesn’t happen to be one of those times.

He enters his office space, a small, tiny cupboard almost, barely enough space to keep a chair and a desk. He hasn’t even got his name on the door.

He smells the problem as soon as he enters. He looks up and sees Andy’s mutilated body, strung up by some wire to the ceiling, blood dripping.

There’s also a message for Angel, written on the newly-painted wall, a phrase written in Andy’s crimson blood.

LITTLE IS THE NEW BIG – MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS YANK!

In Santa Rosita, racing towards the battle between Buffy and the enemy, Faith, Kennedy and the Slayers can hear that the battle has stopped. Faith looks up and around. “Here comes the sun, people.”

Kennedy grins. “That should swing things in our favour.”

Faith stops her for a moment, directs her gaze for Kennedy to follow. “Maybe not. I don’t see any of the bad guys going poof. Let’s hurry.”

About to be taken down by two of the new sun-screened vampires, Buffy Summers yells at her sister Dawn that there’s no one left to save them.

As Buffy arms herself to take on a sudden attack, Faith gets in her way, saving her rival’s life and grinning like heck at the opportunity. Buffy is stunned almost to silence.

“Faith? How’d you..? You’re in London!”

Almost. Faith smiles back at her, smacks another vampire out and turns to her. “About a couple hundred years ago, a couple of dudes invented a machine that flies. Kennedy’s got one that goes wicked fast.”

As Buffy and the Scooby Gang rally with Faith and Kennedy to beat back the new breed of vampire, Faith watches out for her young teacher, concerned, worried for his safety. She yells a warning in his direction. “Get back, G! It’s no time to get all little mister precocious pants…”

But Faith can see now that the young Rupert Giles has already mastered several of his spells now that he’s attuned to his magical destiny. He yells a spell that gets attention from the others. “Apricato!”

Worried about her mentor, Faith turns to take out another vampire, heading for Giles. “Hang on, Giles!” she yells. Staking the vampire and finding her stake not enough, Faith kicks it further with her leather boots and looks confused. “Is it just me, or are these bastards harder to stake than usual?”

“Giles?” When she doesn’t hear back, she turns to Giles and realises why. He’s run across the car lot and is in an embrace on the ground, with Buffy. He’s crying, she’s crying. Faith can’t help but be jealous after all she and Giles have been through.

Kennedy, after talking briefly to Willow, comes to Faith’s side, spots the sadness in her eyes. “Faith? Are you okay?”

Faith doesn’t look back at her. She spits the words out, angrily. “Five. By. Five.” She charges forward without looking back. “Let’s kick some ass!”

Traveling underground after leaving his office, Angel begins his search for Corky back in the tunnels. He’s thinking again, but this time, he’s coming up with a plan.

I suppose it’s wishful thinking to assume that somebody I’d saved would stay saved. But I’m angry enough about it to venture into the daylight and find out why.

So… the usual. I take it slowly at first, observing, ear to the ground.

In an already dangerous world, Magic Town is now probably the most unpredictable place on Earth. Sure, I ask questions. But even when I don’t get answers, I’m moving in the right direction.

Somebody’s always heard something is going on just across the street. Or down the lane. Or around the corner. Or the next block over.

I hit roadblocks, of course. I almost didn’t mind. I’m in a mood. To loosen lips, to sink ships. When you create something like Magic Town, even by some horrible accident, you feel responsible for it.

And I haven’t always been responsible.

So I pick up the trail a piece at a time. A street, a building, a staircase… a door.

After searching various dive bars, drug dens and talking to mystical residents for most of the night, Angel finally finds a lead that could help. He finds an old address, abandoned, and hopes for the best as he kicks the door in. “All right you ugly, pixie, sons of…”

He stops as soon as his foot reaches the floor. He looks up, embarrassed, and finds a group of people, all homeless, he thinks, all waiting and gathered for something. “Uh. Hello. Actually. I think I might be in the wrong place.”

In Santa Rosita, Faith sits away from Giles and Buffy, watching as Xander and Spike greet their old friend back into the family. Despite being there, Faith can never feel like she’s a part of it. Kennedy picks up on her self-isolation and walks over to Faith. She knows what it’s like to try and insert yourself into that tight circle, and has a suggestion for Faith, to move on from it.

“You still handle yourself in a fight as well as I remember. You’ll be a great addition to DeepScan. If you’re interested, that is.”

Faith looks at her, her indecision now a huge grin. “Interested? Hey, you know me. Always up for the next big thing.”

Kennedy grins. “I sent Holly to track down some transport.”

Faith gets up from her sitting and smiles. She reaches out for Kennedy’s outstretched hand and her offer. “Sooner the better. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

In London, an older gentleman with white hair gets up from his seat, one hand extended, the other relying on a cane. He approaches the vampire with a smile on his face. “Hello Angel. We’ve been expecting you. My name is Kent. Welcome.”

Angel is taken aback. “You know me?”

Kent shakes his head, but points in the direction of a room, just to the side the wooden space they seem to be in. “She does. You’ve cut quite a swath through Magic Town to get here.”

Angel takes in the group, watches as one hands out bits of food and drink. “Who are these people?”

Kent looks him in the eyes, gesturing as he struggles on his cane. “The displaced. The afraid. She offers them her comfort and protection in this turbulent time of transition.”

“‘She’ again. Care to tell me who we’re talking about?”

Kent smiles yet again and opens a door, gesturing for Angel to venture inside. “Yes, you have questions, obviously. Best if you just ask her yourself.”

As Angel goes through the door, he is stunned by what, or rather, who, he sees.

“What… You?”

“Ah Angel. At last. Come in.”

Standing before him, better than she looked the last time he saw her, is Nadira Kureishi. She’s smiling at him, half her face as it was before. The burned, scarred side of her face is now smooth and black, almost like it’s made of obsidian. She has green, magical energy snaking up her skin, all the way to her head. It looks bonded to her. She greets Angel warmly, gesturing him to sit.

“Let’s see if we can get you back on the right track.”