Note: Superseded by: Red Raider Prologue - Part II

It had been a fairly fruitless trip so far. She'd flown into LAX on an early flight from Tokyo chasing a faint rumor that the Urn of Osiris could be found somewhere in California. After picking up the Harley V-rod that Hillary had arranged for her use while in LA she started working her way through her normally reliable contacts.

The trail appeared to disappear completely. All her contacts could tell her was that over a year ago it had disappeared into the wilds of the Internet after a brief appearance on eBay. This was a place where her tomb raiding skills were less than adequate and finding it now became a task for Bryce.

There was no hurry to move on to the next stage of her trip and her flight out wasn't until very early the next day.

Fortunately, this gave her the opportunity to investigate vague rumors of mystical occurrences in the small town of Sunnydale, a 2 hour trip north of Los Angeles. These rumors had been filtering back to her through a number of sources for the past several years and now seemed like a good time to satisfy her curiosity.

After updating Bryce on her status and directing him to find where the urn had ended up, there was just enough time to ride up to Sunnydale, take a quick look around and head back to LAX for her flight to New York. She was two hours from LA and really in need of something to clear the road dust from her throat. Reaching her destination, the best available choice appeared to be coffee or a coffee-like beverage from one of those interminable coffee houses that dotted the American landscape.

Pulling up in front of Sunnydale's most gregarious example, The Espresso Pump, removing her helmet and dismounting from her bike, Lara paused for a moment to call Bryce before going in.

"Bryce? Yes. I'm in Sunnydale. You were able to get the information I requested? Good. Please send it and I'll look at it in a few minutes and call you back later."

Navigating the crowded shop, coffee in hand, out of long habit Lara grabbed the least exposed table she could find with a view of the entrance. Pulling her small laptop out of her backpack and connecting it to her phone she proceeded to download everything Bryce had been able to find about her current location, briefly marveling at how far technology had come in the 20 years since she first ventured out. With the information Bryce provided her on a constant basis she could move faster than most of her competitors.

Alternating between sips of coffee and scrolling through the information from Bryce, Lara planned the rest of her afternoon. There wasn't much to go on. Of the fourteen cemeteries in Sunnydale, Bryce had narrowed it down to the three that appeared to have the crypts she was looking for. And if the map was anything to go on they were fairly close together. In a stroke of luck, he had also tracked down the last known location of the Urn of Osiris to a small shop just down the street from where she was, 'The Magic Box'.

With only a couple hours to check out the cemeteries and visit the Magic Box before she had to head back to LA to catch her flight, Lara finished her coffee. While packing up her laptop, out of the corner of an eye she glimpsed an unexpected sight in another part of the coffee shop, causing her to pause briefly. A familiar looking, petite redhead appeared to be engaged in an animated discussion with a small blonde woman.

Dismissing the idea that this could be the same redhead she'd been absorbed with the previous summer, Lara finished packing up and headed for the door, intent on quickly getting to the first stop on her list.

Pausing for a moment, Willow looked towards the front and her eyes widened. "Buffy, does she look familiar to you ?", she said motioning with her eyes to the woman now leaving the Espresso Pump.

"No. Why?"

"I know I've seen her somewhere before."

• This is even rougher a draft than the part that follows it. Not sure it even qualifies as a first draft yet.
• Yes, the reason Lara is in Sunnydale changes in the middle of this ficlet and the next. That'll be fixed soon.
• Usual caveat - this is under construction, an experiment in writing, etc. It won't always make sense while in draft form.