Angel Season Six and a half.

"Oh no..." he whispered, unable to help himself. It was only a memory of a moderate earthquake for the sportscasters, a happy day at a game that was marred by an unwanted interruption. No one had died (that the public was aware of) and the damage to the stadium had not been too severe. But only a handful had seen the true sorrow and pain that the earthquake had heralded that day.1

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He hadn't been there himself, but the telepathic contact -- the first of its kind among vampires -- swept him along in Angel's memories, bringing the event to him in a rush of clarity and painful images. He could see the programs, and the cheap blue and orange plastic watches that each of the fans had received. He smelled popcorn, beer, and sweat from ten thousand or so fans, and from the cool darkness of the doorway, he could see the sun's brightness and hear crowd's cheers as the ball flew through the air towards...3

The ground rippled -- waves of earth rolling out from the center of the field. There was confusion for a second -- an earthquake here? And then, as the announcer himself began to realize what was happening and began calling out a warning to the stands, the fans, responding to some inner intuition of panic, ran for the exits, rather than diving under their seats to avoid the slight debris that fell from the partial overhang high above.4

The tremor increased, almost imperceptibly, and in the center of the field the ground dipped slightly. Angel felt his jaw clench, but he knew it was nothing to match his stomach at the moment. He glanced around quickly, shielding his eyes from the still-present but somehow darkening sun. Where was she? They had discussed flight as a possibility the night before. They could always regroup and then bring the fight the next day, when the other Slayers had time to join them. But now, in the middle of the crowd's panic, it didn't seem right somehow. But as he frantically scanned what he could see of the rapidly-clearing stadium, he knew that he couldn't make the call himself. He had to--5

"Angel!" He whipped around at the shout. 6

"Rubber or glue?!" Buffy called, and he heard the slightest tinge of fear and foreboding that was all but overridden by the Slayer's determination to see her friends as well as thousands of complete strangers through the fight that lay ahead. He looked toward the sound and saw her just to his left and up one level, steadying herself against the steel back of a folding seat while she had her hands behind her head, pulling her hair up out of her face. "Angel--!" she called again, now focusing on him, their eyes locking. "Rubber or glue?!" 7

"Glue." He barely raised his voice, unable to quite steel himself for what lay ahead, her unspoken fears also his own.8

She heard him nonetheless (?), and, as if to borrow from him conviction that he did not feel, she repeated the word, half-aloud. "Glue." 9

"We stick."10

She stood for the barest instant, gathering her will about her like armor, her hair tied up and her arms thrust downward, ending in reluctant fists that clenched tighter and tighter until that fleeting moment passed, and she was off, racing back toward the exits. Dodging through the fleeing crowds, she turned back at the opening to the parking lots and doubled back to the underground labyryinth that led to the security center. She didn't need the camera feeds there to find her quarry -- it was in plain sight, right in front of her. A crack in the floor had widened enough to reveal it after centuries in which it had lain hidden, undisturbed by humans. Unearthed by the tremors and awaiting blood, the door -- the Seal -- was ready to open. Cleveland was about to join the late town of Sunnydale in a very small, exclusive club, and she was ready to give her life again (how many times was it now?) to stop it.11

As she crashed through the door into the room, skidding to a stop just before the Seal, another door opened in the ceiling and someone (something?) dropped in to join her. "Ange--" she started, but it wasn't. 12

"Gunn, isn't it?" she regrouped, vaguely remembering him from the alley in L.A. the year before. She had seen him for only moments, and then Kennedy and another Slayer had pulled him away from the fight there. 13

"Yeah," he said, not taking his eyes off of the Seal in the middle of the room. "Angel's right behind--" and another shape dropped in between them. 14

"All right," Angel looked around at Buffy for a just an instant before turning to Gunn. "Where's Wesley?"15