Slayer Squadrons

[neowhobaz]

I'm not sure if this should be here or under the ATf threads but here goes. In Issue 16 of ATF we see the slayers fight along side team Angel and in his inner Monologue Angel says that he thinks "She" (Buffy) trained them well. That makes me wonder if there was an LA squadron at the end of Angel's tv series and into the fall sitting under Team Angel's nose. Thoughts?

[Nina]

Well we never saw Angel asking the slayers if they were part of Buffy's squad. Actually it suprises me how light he takes it, those girls didn't know him, Spike or by example Lorne. He could've been killed by them if he was a vampire ... if those girls walked into Spike on another place, he would be history. It's really dangerous.

I hope that they are not send by Buffy because that would be really cold. You would expect that she (or any other Scooby) tells the slayers who go to LA about at least Angel.

[AndrewCrossett]

If there was a whole squad in L.A. when it went to hell, we probably would have seen more than 3 of them, and they probably would have been acting as a coordinated group.

[Paul]

Jul 29, 2009 7:26:58 GMT -5 AndrewCrossett said:

If there was a whole squad in L.A. when it went to hell, we probably would have seen more than 3 of them, and they probably would have been acting as a coordinated group.

It's possible there were more of them that died when LA went to hell. Also, this is a while before S8 so the Slayer army would be smaller.

[AndrewCrossett]

It would make sense to have one in L.A. or at least California... there are squads in New York and Chicago and this would kind of balance it. Plus it's Buffy's home territory, and even with the Hellmouth closed there are plenty of demons and vamps in the area who aren't going to leave just because of that.

Any of them that died during the "hellification" of L.A. or in Hell-A would have been returned to life afterwards, so you'd have a full squad.

Maybe the Slayers who showed up with Andrew in "Damage" were the L.A. squad. Assuming Buffy hadn't started her bank-robbing campaign yet, money would be an issue and it would make a lot more sense for Andrew to just use local Slayers rather than having to fly them all to L.A. from somewhere else.

However, I would have thought that when Andrew was trying to recruit Soledad (in #21) there would have been some involvement from the local Slayers and/or Watcher. Andrew is based in Italy and although he does rove around for various jobs, would it really make sense to send him to L.A. to recruit one Slayer if someone else was available locally?

Maybe I'll ask Scott next Q&A if there's an L.A. squad and see if he'll answer (or knows).

[neowhobaz]

Awsome. I mean it would make sense LA is a major metropolitan city. And at the time When Andrew came to get Dana with the other slayers he said that None of buffy's crew trusted Angel anymore because he worked for Wolfram and hart. God Knows if Andrew was just saying that or if it was true. But if that was true it would be all the more reason to want a squad there to make sure things didn't get too hairy.

[Paul]

It's possible Buffy doesn't think LA needs a squad because that's Angel's territory? She might not want to split up her girls to cover an area which already has it's own Champion.

Clearly there's some Slayers keeping an eye on LA, but it might not warrant a full squad.

[AndrewCrossett]

Jul 29, 2009 12:10:35 GMT -5 Paul said:

It's possible Buffy doesn't think LA needs a squad because that's Angel's territory? She might not want to split up her girls to cover an area which already has it's own Champion.

Clearly there's some Slayers keeping an eye on LA, but it might not warrant a full squad.

I guess that depends on how the relations are now between Buffy's and Angel's groups, or if Angel is even still in L.A.

[Hellbound Hyperion]

Jul 29, 2009 12:10:35 GMT -5 Paul said:

It's possible Buffy doesn't think LA needs a squad because that's Angel's territory? She might not want to split up her girls to cover an area which already has it's own Champion.

Clearly there's some Slayers keeping an eye on LA, but it might not warrant a full squad.

Isn't that what the whole "second front" part of their final on-screen meeting in "Chosen" was about? She knows Angel can handle himself.

[neowhobaz]

that might be before she finds out he's working for Wolfram and Hart which Isuspect if she'd never heard of and/or didn't know they were evil, it wouldn't have taken someone in the group to long to research it and figure that out. In fact I seem to remember in the first season of Angel, right aroudn the finale, Willow helping Cordelia hack encrypted Wolfram and Hart files and there would have been no reason for Cordelia not to say to Willow when she called for help that she needed to decrypt files from an evil Law firm known as Wolfram and hart.

[Skeptic]

I guess I really need to buckle down and read After The Fall. Because I really don't understand what's happening in L.A. What I was given to believe is that the hellification all happened in a rift created by W&H, to kill Angel, but that it was part of a larger prophecy? I have started and stopped with AtF, mainly because the artwork's so... meh... I can hardly recognize anybody. And it's distracting when trying to read. So I put it away.

But, FWIW, I just assumed that the slayers in L.A. are operating with their own agenda, just like the other squads in other cities, but they all pretty much operate autonomously, and only report in to Scotland if there's a special problem or a change in routine.

But the whole Hell-A thing is big, so it doesn't make sense to me that Buffy wouldn't know exactly what was happening with it. And accordingly, how Buffy wouldn't also know that Spike was alive, or that Angel had become human. The demon-fighting community in L.A. isn't that large, so surely some word would have gotten back to Scotland of these big changes, especially because the L.A. squad would probably know that that's Buffy's home turf, and Angel is (was?) her friend...

Unless maybe they were told to report to Giles instead, since Buffy doesn't trust Angel anymore. Or so said Andrew, in... whatever ep that was... "Damages"?

[Nina]

Well Buffy not knowing about Hell-LA is not that weird because it only happened to the people in LA, in the world outside no time passed. ATF ends right after NFA.


And if the slayers were there to help Angel, the Scoobies should have told them about Angel being a good vampire who should not be staked. If not, they are more a danger for Angel, Spike & Lorne than a blessing.

[neowhobaz]

I hadn't considered the slayers acting autonomously. I mean Buffy could have trained them and then they left for LA never to be heard from again or they report to buffy sparsly.

[buffystar]

The Slayers could have been late bloomers like how Soledad was one. If Buffy did put a squad in LA then that would count as the 10th squad in the world and last squad in the world. As stated in TLWH, there's only 10 squads.

[neowhobaz]

Maybe angel just assumed they were trained and just were together because Gunn captured them as a part of his fake visions.In captivity they could've bonded considering they died an insane amount of times.

[Skeptic]

I don't see a reason why they specifically would not act autonomously. Apart from needing to supply information to Scotland about major issues that may affect their squad, or any problems that come up that are more than a local or regional threat, there really is no reason to keep constant contact with Buffy. And that's what Xander is for, anyway - he's Tigh to her Adama, he manages the CIC, he knows who's doing what, he gives orders, he watches troop movement. (Sorry, went BSG for a moment. )

And he'd be the one who'd tell her what's happening in other squads, if they even had to report to him in the first place.

S'what I'm thinking anyway.

But like I said, they may be reporting to, and operating under, Giles for all we know, and Giles may be withholding information from Buffy about what's going on in L.A. because he doesn't want her to know Spike is alive. Remember he thought she jeopardized the entire mission by protecting him in S7, and that rift seemed to extend into S8.

Or am I way off base?

[neowhobaz]

unless Andrew told Giles about Spike being alive, which he probably wouldn't due to their unspoken brotherly bond, Giles most likely doesn't know. The slayers wouldn't know to report it either if they were newbies and had no idea who he was...unless the ywere like Dana who had the dreams of Niki and Boxer Rebllion slayer...then maybe.

[Skeptic]

Oh, I don't doubt for a moment that Giles knows Spike is alive. It's one of the bombshells I'm waiting for to land. I don't know spoilers or anything - I just feel like Giles has a secondary agenda this season, and it involves keeping Buffy out of the loop on something.

[neowhobaz]

That really would be a shocker. I mean he has done that whole I hid this to protect you thing since the first season. If he ever wants Buffy to man ( or woman) up he really has to cut that out.

[Malsad]

Yet I highly doubt that G knows or even suspects any thing of the sort