This fic is an AR (Alternate Reality). It takes place at the beginning of the ATS Fourth Season. Copacabana is a song owned by Barry Manilow and One More Last Chance belongs to Danny Johnson. There are only a couple of lyrics of each. All characters belong to Joss Whedon. They don't belong to me.
Unexpected Savior
Part One
By Marie Nomad
His right hand twitched as he sat in the living room. After Brad died, he regained most of his movement but occasionally it would send a message. Not that Lindsey mind, Brad had been a very helpful hand.
With both hands, he was working on his latest spell. After he left LA to find himself, he started to dabble in the mystic arts to realize how powerful he could be with it. He doesn't use dark magic that often, just enough to protect himself and the helpless. It had been his new mission, a mission he enjoyed more than his stint at Wolfram and Hart. He dressed up more casually getting rid of his ties and suits. Now, his hair had grown a little more and he was dressed like a cowboy.
All of a sudden, his right hand shook and dropped the pen. Lindsey recognized the signal and yelled, "Kate! I'm getting a message!"
Kate Lockley ran in with a pad of paper and a map in her hands. She met Lindsey while she was traveling to find herself. After the tension that was expected between of a good ex-cop and a formerly evil lawyer, Kate and Lindsey became close. Not romantically close but more like friends/champions. Like Lindsey, she had changed in many ways. Her hair was now cropped short like a boy for maximum efficiency and she had developed muscles from her workouts. "Here." She sat down next to him and the hand grabbed the pen again and jotted down in the usual chicken scratch. 'Save him.'
"Save who?" Lindsey asked annoyed. Brad's messages tend to be short and cryptic. It takes some doing but they usually get the meaning.
Brad wrote down another sentence. 'Save Angel.'
The two looked at each other. "You don't think…" Kate paled at the idea of her savior being in trouble. She and Angel had a very interesting relationship. On one level, it was a typical cop/private eye relationship. On another level, they were friends. On another level, it was a love/hate relationship. She and Angel had a very complicated relationship.
"Well, we better go to LA and find out what's going on." Lindsey said as he got up.
XXX
The car trip was a mostly uneventful one. Neither one wanted to come back to LA, the place of their troubles. Lindsey wasn't sure how the law firm will react once they know that he was back and working for the good guys. The senior partners never paid much attention to him when he was on the road. He figured that as long as he doesn't write to any major newspapers or TV stations that there is a law firm out there spreading evil, he's fine.
"So, what do we do?" Kate asked as she stared out of the window. She hated LA. After she found out about the darker side of LA, she discovered how stupid the police was. No, the police wasn't stupid, just blind. She had to leave LA and find out what to do to make the world safer from the dark forces. She sighed as she looked down at her totem. Why did she go through with the ritual?
"We go to Angel's, see what happened to him." Lindsey replied as he passed through the street. "According to the website, Angel Investigation is still at the old Hyperion Hotel."
"I wonder what happened to him." Kate wondered, "You would think that he can take care of himself being a vampire and all."
"Anything. There are many demons and humans who want Angel dead. Including me."
Kate chuckled. "Don't tell me that you are still sore from that prank he pulled on you."
Lindsey frowned as he remembered that stupid 'Cops Suck' sign that Angel put on the back of his truck. He never thought that anyone over a hundred years old could act so juvenile. "I was this close to being tossed into jail! I was lucky that officer was a corrupt one that I had defended while I was with Wolfram and Hart." Lindsey muttered. "Anyway, here we are."
The car pulled up to an old hotel. It was strange and had an aura of evil in the air. The ex-lawyer and ex-cop got out of the car and stared at the place. "I never liked this place. Too much evil stuff happened here." Kate said as she and Lindsey walked up the stairs. "Like this lynching of a white man in the 1950s whose body disappeared."
"A pain drinking demon was responsible. My lawfirm met up with him on occasion." Lindsey explained. "He's gone now, if he wasn't, we would be hearing whispers of paranoia."
"That's so comforting." They entered the creepy hotel and a slim tall woman came up to them.
"Hi, welcome to Angel Investigations, we help the helpless. I'm Fred. How can I help you?" Fred asked.
"I'm Lindsey McDonald and this is Kate Lockley, Angel probably told you all about us." Lindsey said as he held out his hand.
Fred pondered and shook Lindsey's hand. "Sorry, never heard of you."
Lindsey's jaw dropped. "Come on, didn't Angel ever mentioned a lawyer who was his archnemesis."
"No."
Lindsey scowled and took a deep breath. Kate elbowed him and smiled at the brunette. "We heard that Angel is in trouble so we thought we can help you."
Fred sighed in relief. "Oh thank god, you have no idea how hard it is without Angel and Cordelia. We've been trying so hard to find them and keep this place going but no luck."
"Whoa. Cordelia's missing too!" Kate asked and then remembered Angel's other friend. "What about Wesley?"
Fred looked down and Kate could see tears threatening to form. "He… he left. It's just me, Charles, and Conner."
"Who?" Lindsey asked feeling very bad for being so clueless.
"She's talking about us." Gunn said as he and a tall lanky teenager walked into the room. He glared at Kate and Lindsey and asked, "What are you two doing here? Did you do something to Angel?"
"Who are they, Gunn?" The boy Kate guessed was Conner asked.
"Trouble." Gunn brandish his hubcap ax. "Kate, you're a good lady, why are you going around with lawyer scum like him!" He asked as he pointed his ax at the ex-lawyer.
"Former lawyer. I'm a country singer/champion now." Lindsey said, "We're helping the helpless like you are. We're not here to kill Angel; in fact, we heard that Angel is in trouble."
"From who, one of your Wolfram and Hart buddies?"
Lindsey chuckled. "I haven't spoken to anyone from there in years. I did my best to stay away from anyone from that place just so I don't… disappear if you get my meaning."
"He's right. We had been going around helping people." Kate supported. "And finding ourselves. Trust me, we are just as worried about Angel and Cordelia as you are. Brad has been twitching nonstop since he got the message."
"Brad?" Gunn repeated.
"My… source. He sends me and Kate messages about who needs help." Lindsey said as he looked at Kate. Something about Conner didn't feel right. He didn't fully trust the teenager. He was staring at him with intense blue eyes.
"Maybe, we can help in the investigation." Kate reached into her coat pocket and got out a notebook. "Tell me everything that happened."
"Forget it. We're doing fine by ourselves." Gunn said as he pulled Fred away.
Kate recognized the gesture of mistrust. It was something that was common among those who didn't have good relations with the police.
Lindsey looked down at Brad and said, "Funny, Fred said that you are having a very hard time. If you don't talk to us, fine, we can find out on our own but the longer we wait, the more Angel could suffer. The more we know, the better we can help. Angel may already be dead but there are worse fates than death."
Conner snickered and then shook his head. Kate narrowed her eyes at him. The teenager said, "How do we know it's not some trick?"
"Just trust us. For Angel's sake." Kate pleaded, "You need help."
"Just tell them." Fred ordered as she clutched Gunn's hand. "We've been going nowhere on our own. Maybe they can see what we didn't. They worked with the law right?"
"Yeah, but Lindsey helped people disappear." Gunn said as he glared at Lindsey. "But… but we're running out of funds and I guess it wouldn't hurt. But, if you hurt Angel or Cordy in any way, I'll personally chop off both of your hands."
Lindsey held Brad's wrist as it shook. "Oh no, I don't want that. So, from the beginning. What happened?"
XXX
"My hand is cramped up." Kate said as she looked at her three full notebooks. "I should've gotten a tape recorder." The two were sitting in an empty hotel room in the Hyperion after Gunn was done telling them about what happened since they left.
"She was pregnant, she had actually gotten pregnant." Lindsey repeated in shock. "How was that possible?" He couldn't believe it. He had loved Darla. It was one of the strangest attractions he ever held since that demon in the brothel but he still loved her. How could Conner be born?
"The same reason Angel managed to get in even though I didn't invite him. That guy always defies the odds."
"But vampires don't have babies. They're corpses animated by dark powers and blood. The fact that Conner exists doesn't make sense." Lindsey insisted. "I don't like that kid."
"He does seem to have a very tragic past." Kate flipped through her notebooks. "Kidnapped as a baby, raised in Hell by Angel's archfoe-" She paused when Lindsey stared at her, "okay, one of Angel's other archfoes, brought back here, and had to start from scratch on Earth. The kid has issues."
"I suppose." Lindsey held out a map of LA. "Okay, so Cordellia and Angel were about to meet the night they disappeared to profess their love for each other over here." He put a pin on the spot. "Angel's car was over there and Cordelia's was found over here heading to the rendezvous spot. Let's try to think of who has a motive to keep Angel captive. Which is about half of the demon population and Wolfram and Hart."
"Let's treat this like a regular case. Pretend we don't know Angel and Cordelia. Let's go to the scene of the crime. Point Dume."
XXX
The seagulls screeched as they soared over the sea. Kate and Lindsey looked over the cliff as Kate looked at her notes. "According to this, Fred and Gunn found Angel's cell phone under this cliff and his car just over there. The question is what happened."
"No signs of danger, no blood splatter, just a broken cell phone and a car." Lindsey crossed his arms. "Angel was kidnapped."
"But who? You'd think that if Angel met some demon he would put up a fight. Unless he can't fight him."
"Could be a necromancer, they can control the dead, including vampires. But then, Angel would be used against his friends or someone else and attract attention."
"Unless it's someone that Angel didn't want to hurt. A close friend or a family member." Kate said cynically. "90 of murders were committed by those close to him. Kidnappings by far more."
"True. Fred and Gunn didn't have a motive to get rid of Angel and Cordelia. Lorne went missing but he's not the type to make anyone disappear. That leaves Wesley and Connor." Lindsey wrote out the two names. "Wesley was a watcher and watchers are experts on vampires. He could capture Angel unharmed. I heard of the experiments the Council did."
"Yeah, but Angel nearly killed Wesley the last time they saw each other. If Wesley threatened him, Angel would've clobbered him." Kate figured as she held up a pair of stick figures, one of them with fangs beating the other glasses wearing stick figure with a rock.
"But he would have cleaned up the mess after he beat Angel. We need to see him as soon as possible. There's also Conner. I've got a bad feeling about him."
"Me too. We better be careful around him. I've dealt with nuts that had been through less than that kid and turned out to be more demonic than Angelus." Kate said as she thought of Connor acting strangely.
"But first, Wesley." Lindsey said, "We need to talk to him anyway."
Unseen by the two, Fred listened by the door. Her eyes widened as she thought of Conner. She knew Conner since he was a baby, there was no way he could do anything to hurt Angel.
XXX
The apartment was dingy. Kate and Lindsey had seen better, much better. "So, this is Wesley's apartment." Kate muttered. She closed her eyes, her ears became furry, and her nose flattened slightly. "There's three heartbeats in there. And I smell a lot of sex in there."
Lindsey cocked an eyebrow. "Wesley is having a threesome?"
Kate's ears and nose returned to normal. "No. The third heartbeat is too far away and not in the same rhythm as the others. I smelled fear in there."
"Maybe a prisoner. Can't be Angel, he has no heartbeat. Cordelia?"
"Who knows. I want to know who that other woman is." Kate said as she knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Wesley asked.
"It's me, Kate. Remember me? Can I talk to you?"
"Just a moment." There was some shuffling and Wesley opened the door dressed in a bathrobe. Kate was stunned to see the once clean cut and proper Englishman looking more… down. He was sporting a five o'clock shadow and he wasn't wearing his glasses. "Wesley?"
"Kate?"
Lilah came up from behind him dressed in another bathrobe and Lindsey saw her. "Lilah?"
"Lindsey?"
Wesley saw Lindsey and said, "Lindsey?"
"Wesley?"
"What are you doing with her?" Kate asked Wesley.
"What are you doing with him?" Wesely demanded Kate.
"Have you been sleeping with him!" Lindsey exclaimed as he gestured at Wesley.
"What about you?" Lilah's lips quirked lightly upward.
"We're just friends." Lindsey replied.
Wesley took a deep breath and said, "Perhaps, we should get inside. I'll get some tea."
XXX
The four sat down on the couch with their tea cups in their hands. Lindsey looked at Lilah, she hasn't changed much since he left. She had always been an aggressive co-worker and there were rumors that she jumps into bed to get ahead. He never dreamt that Lilah and Wesley would become lovers.
"So, Lindsey, how is your hand? Is it still evil or do you finally have that thing under control?" Lilah asked in her most professional tone of voice.
"My hand is fine. You?"
"Fine, I've been so busy with my new position. The others have been doing great. They missed you."
"Like I missed them." Lindsey glanced at Wesley. "Wesley, Fred told me all about what happened."
"I see." Wesley took a bottle of scotch and poured it in his tea. "Are you here to ask for pointers about betrayal or to help Lilah get me into Wolfram and Hart?"
"Neither. I'm done with Wolfram and Hart and being evil. I'm here to find out what happened to Angel. My… source told me that he's in trouble."
"Where's Angel?" Kate asked the two lovers. "I know that Wolfram and Hart have been itching to get him for years and Wesley's no longer on his Christmas card list."
"I thought you hated Angel. You wanted him dead." Wesley glanced at her.
"Ancient history. The guy saved my life. He called me several times before I left LA just to make sure I'm doing fine." Kate explained as she shrugged. "You didn't answer my question. Where's Angel?"
"I don't know." Lilah replied smartly. "My people have been searching night and day for him and nothing."
Lindsey narrowed his eyes at her. "That's impossible. Wolfram and Hart have vast resources. We founded Gengis Kahn's corpse, Amelia Earhart, Atlantis, and Jimmy Hoffa."
"You know where Amelia Earthart and Jimmy Hoffa are?" Kate asked.
Lindsey looked away. "That's confidential. Anyway, Lilah, how hard is it to find one vampire with a soul. Can't you use that soul finder?"
"We tried but we kept on homing in on this new vampire with a soul. His very existence just put our Angel project timeline and our prophesy department back years."
"Damn."
"You monitored Angel?" Kate asked Lilah.
"We did until this new vampire screwed everything up just when Angel disappeared. We've been using our contacts but nothing. Trust me, if we found Angel, you would know."
"Or he would be trapped in some hell dimension while you get his soul out. Why should we believe anything you say?" Kate said.
"Because, we don't want Angelus. He is too out of control. The last time he was completely free, he tried to end the world not on our terms. We don't want that. We just wanted Angel broken and evil." Lilah replied.
There was a moment of silence in the air. "Good point." Lindsey agreed.
"I can most assure you that Wolfram and Hart has nothing to do with Angel's abduction." Wesley insisted. "I am conducting my own investigation and if there's anything, I will let Fred and the others know."
"Does it involve Conner?" Kate asked and Wesley just pressed his lips together.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"I think you do." Kate stared at Wesley.
Lindsey took a deep breath and said, "Kate, we better go and ask the local demons. See if they know anything. It's good to see you again, Lilah." He bowed his head. The two left.
They walked down to the stairwell and Kate shook her head. "I don't trust them. Wesley's changed and Lilah has something to do with this. I don't need my supernatural senses to tell me that."
"I know but Lilah was the honest type, mostly."
"I'll just take a quick peek inside." Kate started to take off her coat and shirt to reveal a pair of tight purple tights underneath.
"Hurry before you have to watch them have sex in there." Lindsey advised.
"I'm a big girl; I can take care of myself." Kate focused inward and her body began to shrink. Lindsey couldn't help but feel disgusted and yet intrigued every time she changes. The sounds of bones and flesh moving together filled the air as Kate transformed. Finally, standing there was a small rat. The rat scurried away to find a hole.
Kate never liked morphing into animals but they were the easiest to cope with. She can feel her rat instincts guiding her body. She sniffed around and followed Wesley's scent through the walls and into his apartment. She stopped when a bra fell on her.
'Oh come on.' Kate thought as she ran from under the bra and into the wall next to the closet.
She looked up to see a woman in rags chained up and gagged. 'That's not Cordelia.' She confirmed as she ran out.
After what felt like forever, she finally made it out of the apartment and back in the stairwell. She closed her eyes and returned to her human form. "Lindsey, Wesley is keeping a woman prisoner in there, gag, chains, a poop bucket, the whole enchilada."
"Is she a willing prisoner?"
"No, trust me, she wasn't willing at all. A redhead, hard to see from a rat's point of view, but she had been there for a while, maybe months."
"Do you think that this prisoner was responsible for Angel's disappearance?"
"Maybe but she smelled human and if Wesley could keep her prisoner, she can't be that strong."
The two pondered. "She had help. Someone strong enough to take on Angel." Lindsey said firmly.
"If she does know something, why didn't Wesley tell us or Fred and Gunn?" Kate asked, "They could have worked together with this lead."
"I don't know. Maybe this prisoner and Wesley worked together and he kept her prisoner to keep her quiet. But, he would have just killed her. This case is getting more confusing at every second." Lindsey sat down.
"I know. There's only one way to find out."
"Wesley."
To Be Continued…