Title: The Dark Avenger and Boy Wonder
Author Name: Kaliflower
Rating: K+
Warnings: None. Spoilers through season 2.
Disclaimer: I do not own this; many other people like Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, and the good people at Fox own these characters and this show. I just play in the sandbox
Summary: It's a dark and stormy night. Unfortunately, it's Southern California and no one expects that.
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There was no lightening flash across the sky. To give the proper drama to the dim silhouette next to him, there should have been lightening, Wesley thought. Thunder would have helped intensify the atmosphere as well. Unfortunately, there was only rain. A torrential downpour actually. That he, like all other people in Southern California, was horrifically unprepared for. Tomorrow, when he listened to the small radio he kept on his kitchen counter, there would be reports of flooding and possibly some homeless man or drunken teenagers would have been swept away in a flash flood as it tore down the usually dry river gullies. It was a night all his instincts said he should be inside drinking a tumbler of whiskey and researching a demon or two.
Tonight, however, Angel and he were on top of an abandoned warehouse, waiting for the vampire gang, Angel Investigations had been stalking for a few days, to show up. Angel would then swoop down, his jacket billowing behind him with as much flair as the most Dracula-inspired cape and Wesley would be back up; shooting his crossbow with precision from this dark vantage point.
He looked to his right. Angel's hair was cemented to his brow with the rain. His eyes were focused on the single spot of brightness provided by the security light on the building opposite the corrugated steel warehouse they were watching from. His dark clothes, soaked and clinging to his body, blended with the blackness of the night. That and his ability to crouch perfectly still made Angel blend in with the shadows. If Wesley hadn't known he was only a few feet away, he wouldn't have seen him.
Wesley kept checking the small bright spot across the alley every few minutes with his binoculars – fancy ones he's purchased from the Amateur Intelligence catalogue. Honestly, Wesley could see the target area perfectly well without the them, but he figured if he had them, he might as well use them.
Reaching down, Wesley fumbled for the binoculars hanging around his neck. Shifting his weight backwards too much, he could feel himself loose balance as his legs, sore from crouching, were too stiff to adjust. With a sloshy thump he landed on his back. He managed to keep his grip on his new binoculars and held them up, keeping them safe from damage, but he couldn't say the same thing about his trousers. Before they had been uncomfortable and wet, now they were soaked through with the god awful mixture of tar and mud that had been on the top of the roof.
Angel glanced back at his fallen friend. "Wes, you okay?"
"Yes." Wesley looked down at his unsalvageable khakis and said, "although I do believe that I'm out another pair of trousers."
"Good." Angel continued without a pause. "Well, not good about your pants, but good that you're okay. The vamps are here. I need you to take point while I go down."
Wesley hurried to sit up as Angel glided down from the rooftop, appearing almost to float, as if he had the wings his namesake suggested. He landed, pausing a moment to recover from the three story fall. From his view, Wesley could see a blur that must have been Angel running towards the vampire gang. Angel slammed into one of the peripheral minions, stake jumping out of his jacket sleeve, and the minion exploded into dust before any of the other members had time to realize what was going on. Wesley realized that he couldn't just sit there and watch, he had a job to do. He grabbed the crossbow resting at his side and loaded it. He took a calming breath and tried to forget the wet pants clinging uncomfortably to his legs and the rain clouding his glasses. He aimed at the other minions protecting Lorenzo Masterati, the new Master in this part of town. He took aim across the crowd from Angel and squeezed the trigger. The crossbow kicked back and almost sent Wesley tumbling again, but his legs were prepared this time and he rocked back into his stance. He saw one minion turn to dust as he loaded another arrow and aimed again. He fired and another vampire was gone. He continued to load, aim, and fire. Trying to stay clear of Angel and his fight. His last bolt took out the remaining frightened looking minion and he saw Angel grab the Master Vampire's collar.
Even though they were both vampires, Angel seemed shrouded in the dark, as if he was bending the light away from him, making the circle from the security light an oblong instead. Wesley placed his binoculars on the bridge of his nose to see what was going on, even if he couldn't hear it. Angel threatened the Master for a few moments. Through the binoculars Wesley could see Masterati pleading, but the fangs made it impossible for him to lip read. Outside the narrow focus of his binoculars Angel's arm snaked in and staked the other vampire. As with most older vampires he dusted slowly, skeleton hovering in mid-air for the briefest moment before dissolving.
Wesley placed his binoculars and his crossbow in the satchel he had brought up the roof. He also grabbed the axe Angel had left to rust in the rain. He walked over the opposite side of the building and lowered himself on the grappling hook ladder he had shot up earlier in the evening, before the rain had started. Climbing down, he felt something of a gymnast, more coordinated then he had ever felt in all his years preparing to be a Watcher. Certainly, more so than in Sunnydale when he seemed to have two left feet and the coordination of a toddler.
When he got down to the ground he gave the rope ladder a waggle that would disengage the grappling hook from the side of the roof. "Good job with the crossbow Wes." Angel said, walking out of the shadows.
He tried not to appear to startled, but he let the grappling hook hit the cement and its metal clash rang out into the night air that smelled of the nearby ocean. He ignored his miscalculation and began coiling the rope ladder. "Thank you, Angel. Good work yourself. I suppose we got the information we were looking for?"
"I've got the address." Angel said tapping his temple.
"Even so, we should probably write it down when we get back to the car." Placing the ladder into his satchel along side the other tools of the evening, he said. "I'm just glad you convinced me not to take my motorcycle as well. I would have hated driving home in this rain."
"I kinda liked the rain tonight." Angel said as he slapped Wesley on the back. "Made it seem like the movies."
"Well, considering where some of Masterati's money went in this town, I suppose it should."
"All these great toys, the rain. It's like a Batman movie." Angel had a goofy grin spreading across his face, breaking the dark avenger look he had been wearing all night. "Not the last two, though. The Burton ones."
"What does that make me? Alfred?"
"I figured you were more like Robin: loyal sidekick."
"Sidekick?" Wes said with a concealed smile. "I'll remind you I was a Rogue Demon Hunter and am an ex-Watcher. I am no sidekick."
Angel took the keys out of his pocket and opened the driver side door. "Fine," he said sliding in and unlocking the passenger side door. As Wes sat down in the front, flinging his satchel into the back, Angel continued. "I guess you could be Alfred then. Warm me up cups of blood, sew up my wounds, and keep my Batcave clean."
Wesley pretended to contemplate a new life as Alfred. "I suppose I wouldn't mind being a sidekick. We could let Cordelia be Alfred."
"As long as I'm not the one telling her." Angel said.
Avoiding the subject, Wesley adopted an enthusiastic American accent. "Holy first gear, Batman. Let's get the Batmobile back to the Batcave before Alfred yells at the both of us for taking too long to dust some stupid vampires."
Angel peeled out of the alleyway into the empty streets of a wet predawn LA, heading back to the office.