"Non Zero Possibility"

Author: Notmanos

E-Mail: notmanos at yahoo dot com

Rating: R

Disclaimer: The characters of Angel are owned by 20th Century Fox and Mutant Enemy; the
character of Wolverine is also owned by 20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics. No copyright
infringement intended. I'm not making any money off of this, but if you'd like to be a patron of the
arts, I won't object. ;-) Oh, and Bob is *my* character - keep your hands off!

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As Angel jumped over the desk,a group of commandos burst through the door,and in spite of the beating he had taken,and all the glass cuts he knew he had,he felt remarkably good.With a sudden spasm of guilt,he realized it was probably due to Logan's blood in his system. He glanced over his shoulder to find Logan still laying face down on the floor,clawed hand extended towards the ruin of the machinery.Could he recover from that,or had he been cooked from the inside out,beyond his system's ability to repair itself?

The first commando tried to jab him with one of their supercharged tasers,but he stepped under his arm and smashed a flattened palm into his chin,sending him flying back into a fellow commando,who accidentally tasered his friend on the way down to the floor.

He backhanded another commando across the face and stole his taser,which he quickly turned on the others,and he noticed Flemming trying to make a break for it.He shoved one of the commandos into him a! nd they went down in a tangle of limbs as some kind of alert siren screamed throughout the complex.The remaining commandos tried to swarm him en masse,but he began throwing wild punches and kicks at anything that moved,and soon there weren't enough left to even annoy him.

Suddenly there was a loud electric crack,and something cold and metal bit into his spine,flooding him with electricity that seemed to travel through his entire nervous system,and the next thing he knew he was on the floor,being kicked over onto his back.

Flemming stood over him,holding what appeared to be a rather thick,silver pronged cattle prod under his arm,and a stake in his other hand.

"You may be the first demon to break through the wall,but did you really think we didn't have a contingency plan?"He asked,as something seemed to ripple beneath the surface of his face,disturbing his skin like the surface of a pond as his eyes began to turn a hard and lambent gold.He could smell the change;h! e was a demon,just as Logan had indicated.

It took a great effort, but he finally managed to make his throat work."I know what you are."

Flemming frowned,eyes narrowing as they returned to hard,stony grey."You know nothing,you stupid beast.And it's a shame you can't die on camera;I could have made a mint on the home video market."

He took a step forward,and three metal blades suddenly exploded through Flemming's chest,making him freeze in his tracks.

"I told you you were the dead man,"Logan growled behind him.Flemming made a few choking noises,blood gushing from his mouth,eyes widening in a mixture of horror and disbelief.Logan retracted his claws from his body,and Flemming fell bonelessly to the floor beside him.

Angel managed to find the ability to ask,"Are you all right?"

Logan gazed down at him somewhat harshly,and he knew a sarcastic comment was coming,but at the last second he seemed to change his mind,his expression softening slightly."I just wanna get out of here before I pass out again,"he admitted wearily.

! Angel knew the feeling all too well.

It took Logan a moment to figure out where he was.

He sat up slowly,taking in his surroundings,and the roughly color coordinated and blandly furnished room distinguished this as a hotel room.The memories came flooding back,and he remembered he was at the Hyperion,Angel's hotel(which he still did not get-a vampire who lived in a closed hotel?What the hell was that about?).

He sat up,and found he had gone to sleep in his clothes.Shit,being electrocuted left you exhausted.

The curtains were fully opened,revealing it was still night,the lights of the city bleeding in and casting weird patterns on the carpet as he got up,wondering how long he'd been out.

By the time they made their way through Flemming's underground complex,the sun was just setting,and the commando bastards decided to try and burn the place down with them still inside it.Obviously that hadn't worked,but once he and Angel left the lot,you cou! ld see the black smoke rising from at least three of the warehouses,bl ocking out the remaining sunlight and ironically helping Angel immensely.

But he was too late to help Wraith.

On their way out,they went room to room,hoping to free any mutants or demons still trapped inside the complex,and found what appeared to be an intensive care unit full of mutants on life support machines-machines whose plugs had been pulled.They were all dead,including Wraith,lost in a tangle of tubes and wires at the end of the second row,so pale he almost blended in with the white sheets of the bed.Even in death,he was determined to disappear.

He felt like he had failed him somehow,or that his death had been his fault,even though he knew logically this all would have happened even if he had never come to Los Angeles.But it still made him angry:he wished Flemming would come back to life,just so he could kill him again.

Angel apparently knew what kind of demon Flemming was;according to him,he was most likely 'infected' by a parasitic Lodos demon,a kin! d that slowly but surely took over the host's mind and body.Interestingly enough,the 'infection' was just an 'infant' Lodos,passed from an 'adult' Lodos to the unsuspecting host in,most likely,a kiss - it was the preferred method of transmission. Sneaky and gross,but he still couldn't manage to feel sorry for Flemming.Right now,he could only feel sorry for Wraith.

As soon as he was certain he was ready,he left his room and went downstairs,half expecting(and hoping)no one was around.But as soon as he started down the lobby stairs,he heard voices.

"-where he was transmitting to?"Angel asked.

"As far as I can tell,he was using a satellite Genisystems uses for its wireless systems,"Wesley replied.Logan could see them now,all seated around Cordelia's desk.Angel sat in front,while Wesley and Gunn sat on stools at the side,their backs to him,while Cordy sat behind her computer,hard at work on something."My guess is it was a pay-per-view digital broadcast,available some! where on the internet.We can't expect to find the exact site under Fle mming's name."

"And they'll just have to go back to showing German porn,I guess,since the demon gladiator games are no more."Cordy commented idly,frowning at something on her monitor.

Everyone stared at her curiously,but it took a moment for her to realize it."What?"She demanded.

"German porn?"Gunn repeated.

"Oh,what?You're a guy-don't play innocent with me."She replied,and then she looked his way and saw him.She smiled,her hazel eyes shining with the reflected light from the screen,and said brightly,"Hey Logan."

They all turned to look at him,and he only gave her a curt nod,uncomfortable with the mass scrutiny."Found something new?"He asked,hoping to deflect attention from him in any way possible.

"Not really,"Angel sighed,the ghost of dark bruises hardly visible on his face anymore.He was healing faster than before,probably due to his blood infusion."We just discovered the patently obvious:Flemming was supplementing his already obscene incoming by b! roadcasting lethal demon fights on the web,which explains why he was kidnapping demons.It may have been going on longer than his campaign against mutants,we're not completely sure."

"That complex was pretty extensive,and the pit did smell like it had been hosed out a lot.But what about the Omegas?We didn't get them all."He said,coming down into the lobby.Logan noted the hole he'd accidentally made in the front desk had been hastily patched over,and the wood didn't quite match.

"They're leaderless now,and most importantly,no longer have financial backing,"Angel said,crossing his arms over his chest."I'd be surprised if we ever heard from them again."

"And Safe Harbor?"Logan continued,concerned they had forgotten something,but he wasn't sure
what.

"Closed,"Gunn told him."I swung by it on my way here,and it was shut until further notice,which is a nice way of saying forever."

"It'll probably be liquidated with many of Flemming's secret assets,"Wesley op! ined,pushing his glasses up from the bridge of his nose.

Logan rea lized uncomfortably that he was being accepted as a member of their group,which he didn't want.He didn't want to be a member of anyone's group.Why did people keep trying to include him?He didn't know how to segue,so he was about to say goodbye and simply leave when Cordy suddenly exclaimed,"Oh crap!"

She jolted in her chair,grabbing her head as she arched back,and they all jumped to their feet,surrounding her protectively.Panting with pain,she sat forward,a hand still clamped to her forehead,and gasped,"Nest of vampires having a buffet of runaways in a closed down bar called Pete's,just off Sunset and Vine."

"Got it,"Angel said,retrieving his long leather jacket as Gunn and Wesley gathered strange weapons from beneath the front desk.Gunn grabbed a silver headed axe,shoving a stake in his belt,while Wesley grabbed a crossbow and a quarrel of wooden arrows.

As the three of them trooped past him on their way out of the hotel,Angel paused,and told him,"We've got it,L! ogan,you don't need to come along."

Even though they were already out the door,he replied,"I wasn't gonna come along."

Cordy snorted a small laugh,aborted due to pain,but when he glanced back at her she was giving him a sad smile."You're leaving,aren't you?"

He was mildly surprised,but he didn't know why."You're getting better at the psychic thing,huh?"

"No,I just know how to read men."She paused briefly,her smile fading."Angel told me what happened."

"What?"He asked,trying not to panic.If that son of a bitch told her...

"About your friend.I'm sorry."

Logan tried hard to swallow a sigh of relief."Yeah,me too.So,uh...can I get you something before I go?"He felt bad just leaving her here alone,especially when she was in pain.

"Umm,yeah,there's an ice pack in the fridge.Can you grab it for me?"

He nodded,and came around the desk,searching the compact office fridge before he found the pack of blue ice and brought it over to her.She took it fr! om him with a small,grateful smile,and asked,"Where are you going to g o?"

He shrugged.He hadn't really thought about it."I might head back to Canada,start the search over,or just head East.I haven't decided yet."

She crooked her finger at him,indicating for him to come closer,and he did,crouching down so he was closer to her eye level.To his surprise,she leaned over and gave him a quick,soft kiss on the lips.As he pulled back in shock,she said,"Be careful,Logan.Just because you're mostly indestructible doesn't mean you can't be killed.Take care of yourself."

He just nodded at first,too stunned to say anything."I-I will.You too."He stood and walked away.Deciding it was best to put distance between them,he started to leave,but he had to admit,she might be worth staying for.Out of all of them,she was probably the only one.

"Hey,"she said,and he turned in the doorway,the night air welcomingly cool on his face.

She smiled,the ice pack pressed to her temple."Don't be a stranger,either.If you ever get back to L.A. come on by.You'l! l always be welcome here."

"No offense,but if I ever come back to L.A.,I'll be clinically insane.But thanks for the offer."Logan paused in thought,and added,"If you ever come up East,look me up."

"Sure.But how?You have a number?"

"No.But don't worry;if you show up,I'll find you."He graced her with a rare,genuine smile,and said, "Goodbye Cordelia."

For the first time in two days,he felt strangely optimistic.

Maybe it was a good thing he was leaving Los Angeles.

THE END