Another War

AN: I forgot to last chapter; but I must give credit for that lovely line about wearing someone's ribcage as a hat. It goes to the writers from Buffy.


Chapter 3. New Jobs

Sonja loved Seattle. She had been there for less than a day; but she loved it. She figured her wanderlust would kick in eventually, and she'd have to go somewhere else; but for now she was happy.


She didn't like Angel's friend however. She'd walked into the police station amidst cat calls and flashed a look around stating that she wasn't just eye candy. She sincerely wished she could rip out the throats of a few of them who were oggling her unrestrainedly.


Going up to the shabby front desk, she'd asked after Detective Jones. The pudgy man behind the counter had leered at her and called the Detective. Sonja sighed. She knew she was fresh meat. She'd just have to make her presence felt as a tough woman and a good cop.


Sonja was an extremely fast learner. She'd gone over procedure and code books Angel had lifted for her on the way up. She knew enough to get by until she had gone through them thoroughly.


The detective came out and surveyed her. "You Angel's girl?"


"Well, I'm not his girl; but he sent me here," she said with a scowl.


"Easy there, kid. I didn't mean anything by it."


Sonja was sure he had.

"Got your papers?" He asked lazily.

Sonja extracted them from the inside pocket of her leather trenchcoat. She handed them to the man trying not to touch him.

"Allright, Sonja Corvin, sector police. Lookin' good." He perused the rest of her record without comment.


Sonja didn't like his greasy tones. How Angel could call this git a friend she would never know. Especially after she had spent about five minuets with him and already couldn't stand him. He reminded her of someone she'd only met briefly. Kraven.


She and her father had been out one night, in the park. He was teaching her to hone her senses. It was a game they liked to play just for some father daughter time. He would hide and she would stand in the middle of the park and try to figure out where he was without using her eyes.


She was very good at it and was getting ready to tell him where he was hiding when she sensed something else. A vampire was around.


Suddenly he was before her. He was tall and dark. Not ugly; but not very attractive either. He was dressed nicely; but he emitted a vibe that Sonja didn't care for at all. He looked down at her with something she couldn't place in his eyes.


Before he could say a word, her father was standing in between them fully changed into his hybrid form, and obviously very angry.


"I'll go!" The suddenly frightned vampire had squeaked. Obviously he knew who and what Michael Corvin was.


Her father had growled low in his chest and watched the vampire run away as fast as his powers allowed.


When her father turned to her, back in human form he took her by the shoulders. "If you ever see that vampire again, get away from him as fast as you can and come to me."


She had nodded. "I don't like him dad. He made me feel nervous."


"He should. He tried to kill me when I met your mother."


She gasped. Suddenly she wanted to find the dark git and pump him full of UV bullets. "Why did he come out? He must have known who I was."


"He was probably thinking he could take you before I could do anything. Obviously he was wrong. Come, we need to go home now."

Her father had refused to tell her much more about Kraven until she was older. She now knew the whole story and hated the man with a vengeance.

She was brought back to the present when the detective prodded her shoulder. She stepped away from him quickly.


"I said you need to go get yourself a locker," the detective said in annoyance. "And you might want to save your daydreaming for non work hours."


She gave hiim a scathing look and wished with a vengeance that she could teach him a lesson. But without this job, she'd have to go back to LA, and she didn't want to have to go running back to Angel. Especially not to have to tell him that the reason she was back was because she got fired for assaulting his friend.


"God I should have gone to Budapest," she muttered angrily.

Jam Pony-


"Hot run!" Normal shouted as Max ran in the door. She was about five seconds from being late.


"Good you're here. Two of my best riders are out sick." Normal threw her her sector pass and pointed to her bike. "You can use that. If you want something nicer, I suggest you save up and buy it yourself."


Max didn't care what the bike looked like. She had a sector pass! She grabbed her bike and Normal gave her a package and her clipboard, spouting off the address.


"Hi I'm Theo. Said a nice looking asian man. I'm going that way. I can show you if you want."

"Thanks," Max said gratefully. "I'd hate to waste my tryout day being lost."


Theo told her how things worked as they rode. Max thanked anyone who might be listening that she was adept on a bicycle. She'd learned back when she was living with Lucy, who was lucky enough to have one.


Her first delivery went off without a hitch and she and Theo rode back together. She worked hard the rest of the day, learning streets and delivering packages.


During luch she surveyed a newspaper, looking at the want ads.


"You looking for a place?" Asked Theo.


"Yeah. I live at a shelter right now; but I'm looking for a permanent place," she grinned.


"There's a girl down the hall from me lookin for a roommate. The place is allright. We're squatting; but if you pay the cop who patrolls he won't turn us in."


Max nodded. "Think you can introduce us?"


"Sure, you can follow me home after work," he joked.

"Thanks Theo. I owe you big."


"It's no problem," he waved her off. "I'm happy to help."


Normal assessed her work when the day was over. He said he was pleased with how she handled herself and he would have a permanent sector pass made for her the next day.


Max happily followed Theo home. She had a job and maybe a place to live.


Theo knocked on the door of an apartment.


"Just a second!" Rang out from inside it.


Max heard somethings rattling around and after a moment the door opened to reveal a pretty blond girl that must have been nearly her own age.


"Hi Kendra. I got a canidate for ya. This is Max. She needs a place."


"Hi Theo. Hi Max." She held out her had for Max to shake.

Max did, liking the girls sweet smile. She had interesting tastes in clothes, and was currently wearing a pair of tiger striped pants and a black baby doll t-shirt with tiger stripes rippling across the chest.


"Come on in Max. Theo, want some coffee or something?"


"Nah, gotta get home to my lovely wife," he grinned. "See you two later."


Max waved to Theo and followed Kendra into her apartment.


"This is nice," she said, admiring it. She didn't approve of some of Kendras' designing tastes; but it had a kitchenette, and a bathroom. It wasn't too bad a place considering.


"So Max, do you work with Theo?"


She nodded. "Yeah I do. I started today."


"Well, I do a lot of odd jobs, I have a lot of skills in research and I teach Japanese."


Max nodded. "That's cool."


"So what are you looking for in a place?"


"This is nice," Max said with a smile.


"Well then, you want to give it a trial week? See how we get along?"


"Yeah. That'd be great. I have to warn you though, I don't sleep a lot, so I'll probably be coming in at all hours. You most likely won't even hear me though. I try to be really quiet."

"That's fine," Kendra smiled. "Do you need help getting your stuff?"


"No, I dont' have much. I'll be back in about an hour. Is that okay?"


"Sure."


Max left, happy in the knowledge that she had a place, even for a week. She liked Kendra already and hoped they got on well enough to live together.

AN:Okay, more sucky-ness, I know. But it'll be better soon. I do hope that you all enjoyed the little scene with Kraven. And yes, he WIll be back.