I did miss Oz a lot. He was an awesome character. (And there should be more crossover stories with him involved with the various werewolf packs in other fandoms.)
And you're right: if Kennedy were alive but kidnapped it would be higher priority. So something else...
How about this: Willow and Kennedy separated amicably but no one really believes it. Everyone else is so used to the melodramatic relationships that they keep expecting more rather than for the relationship to just kind of peter out. Thus, when Kennedy is hurt in the apocalypse (but not killed because injuries can be shrugged off, but the death of an ex would be serious), and then Willow leaves town (in order to detox not because of any fight), everyone (ie. the government) thinks its a bad sign.
Oz is still keeping his distance because he doesn't want to mess things up worse than he feels he already did. But then Willow approaches him:
"Hey Oz. I'm moving to New York. I know you don't come by the Hellmouth, cause of control issues, and well, I'm having them too. Control issues that is. So I'm going to New York to detox for a bit and get my teacher's license. Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'd be there if you happened to be traveling through."
Oz blinks. "I'll be around." And promptly cancels all of his plans to spend the next year backpacking through the Bulkans, and instead tries to score some gigs in NY, NY.
So there they are in NY, and maybe it's been a pet peeve for a while that W&H got away with killing off Angel and his crew. Willow wants to do something to them. Or maybe Oz does. Or maybe Oz suggests that they work together to hack them because he wants to spend more time with Willow and it's a good excuse as well as being an interesting and virtuous thing to do. Since W&H is a powerful supernatural organization so using magic would just set of alarms anyway. So the best way to get into their system is pure computer hacking.
I sort of see H&W as having magical firewalls on their computers (as well as literal walls of magical fire elsewhere, I'm sure), but it's just a way of making it harder not impossible. Willow's own magic could get her through systems but now she has to rely on her knowledge of magic rather than her skills at it. If that makes sense. She knows how to do it the quick and easy way, now she just needs to do it manually.
So then the hackers or the government or someone does something to mess things up and suddenly what was supposed to be a low-key side project on lessening evil suddenly becomes a lot more time sensitive. Or, they discover some time sensitive information while hacking them and now they need to get the full story asap. Or cover their trail or something that requires the hackers to help.
I'm still blanking a bit on what crucial role the hackers will play. What makes Dale, Kate, et al, uniquely skilled? If Willow and Oz are both such elite and focused on subtle methods, why do they need the more chaotic kids? Any thoughts on the matter?
I like the idea of Blade and Razor having family in the old country. And if they're demons it could be a clan culture and all sorts of interesting things. I can't remember what exact ethnicity they were, however. Not Tibetan, Korean, or Vietnamese. I think Japanese, but I'm relying overly on my visual memory from years ago.
Re: Willow and Oz and Hackers
And you're right: if Kennedy were alive but kidnapped it would be higher priority. So something else...
How about this: Willow and Kennedy separated amicably but no one really believes it. Everyone else is so used to the melodramatic relationships that they keep expecting more rather than for the relationship to just kind of peter out. Thus, when Kennedy is hurt in the apocalypse (but not killed because injuries can be shrugged off, but the death of an ex would be serious), and then Willow leaves town (in order to detox not because of any fight), everyone (ie. the government) thinks its a bad sign.
Oz is still keeping his distance because he doesn't want to mess things up worse than he feels he already did. But then Willow approaches him:
"Hey Oz. I'm moving to New York. I know you don't come by the Hellmouth, cause of control issues, and well, I'm having them too. Control issues that is. So I'm going to New York to detox for a bit and get my teacher's license. Um, I just wanted to let you know that I'd be there if you happened to be traveling through."
Oz blinks. "I'll be around." And promptly cancels all of his plans to spend the next year backpacking through the Bulkans, and instead tries to score some gigs in NY, NY.
So there they are in NY, and maybe it's been a pet peeve for a while that W&H got away with killing off Angel and his crew. Willow wants to do something to them. Or maybe Oz does. Or maybe Oz suggests that they work together to hack them because he wants to spend more time with Willow and it's a good excuse as well as being an interesting and virtuous thing to do. Since W&H is a powerful supernatural organization so using magic would just set of alarms anyway. So the best way to get into their system is pure computer hacking.
I sort of see H&W as having magical firewalls on their computers (as well as literal walls of magical fire elsewhere, I'm sure), but it's just a way of making it harder not impossible. Willow's own magic could get her through systems but now she has to rely on her knowledge of magic rather than her skills at it. If that makes sense. She knows how to do it the quick and easy way, now she just needs to do it manually.
So then the hackers or the government or someone does something to mess things up and suddenly what was supposed to be a low-key side project on lessening evil suddenly becomes a lot more time sensitive. Or, they discover some time sensitive information while hacking them and now they need to get the full story asap. Or cover their trail or something that requires the hackers to help.
I'm still blanking a bit on what crucial role the hackers will play. What makes Dale, Kate, et al, uniquely skilled? If Willow and Oz are both such elite and focused on subtle methods, why do they need the more chaotic kids? Any thoughts on the matter?
I like the idea of Blade and Razor having family in the old country. And if they're demons it could be a clan culture and all sorts of interesting things. I can't remember what exact ethnicity they were, however. Not Tibetan, Korean, or Vietnamese. I think Japanese, but I'm relying overly on my visual memory from years ago.