The Big Wide World
Lilah Morgan adjusted the skirt of her immaculate business suit nervously as she sat looking through the hardened glass at the young woman who was seated on the other side. She looked like hell, her long brown hair hanging greasily down around her pasty white face. She looked like a sick doll. Little did anyone save Lilah know that if the girl wanted, she could punch straight through the reinforced glass and break the lawyers neck before the guards could even lift a finger.
She fidgeted nervously with her skirt again.
"So," said the girl, cocking her head slightly, "what brings you to this neck of the woods?"
"Faith." Lilah smiled with a warmth she did not feel. "Why shouldn't I pay you a visit? After all, you are one of our most…" she paused as she searched for the right word. Unstable and psychotic didn't really fit the bill.
"…distinguished clients." She said finally. Faith gave her a cocky grin.
"Oh really." Her voice carried the faintest hint of mocking. "I thought the whole client/lawyer relationship broke down when I killed the assassin you guys sent after me." Lilah's smile disappeared as she adopted a disapproving frown.
"That was an unfortunate occurrence." Said Lilah. Yeah right. The only thing unfortunate about it was that the demon hadn't ripped out her liver and swallowed it whole when it had the chance. "One of my colleagues was disappointed that you did not live up to your part of the bargain. His interests have since lead him along a different path to the firm." Lilah still felt nervous when she thought of Lindsey she got a little nervous. She was always worried that he would turn up out of the blue; grinning and claiming his whole leaving had been a joke the company had decided to play on her. Given the sadistic nature of some of her superiors, she wouldn't entirely put it past them.
"Uh huh." said Faith nodding. "I take it this is the bargain where you said you'd pay me to kill a friend of mine." Lilah raised her eyebrows at that. If she remembered rightly, Faith and Angel hadn't exactly been friends back then.
"What do you want?" Faith continued, her voice dropping to tone that was almost threatening. "Want me to knock off someone else you don't like? An uncle? Maybe an aunty or… hey, even a grandparent or two? Gotta tell you though, my price just went up to the costly level of never!"
"Faith," said Lilah, doing her best to sound hurt, "we just want what is best for you, the same way we want the best for all our clients." Faith looked at her from beneath eyebrows slanted with disbelief.
"I think I've heard enough." She said, waving for one of the guards that she'd finished. Lilah smiled.
"Then I'll see you this afternoon then." Faith's head whipped round to stare at Lilah, open shock spreading across her pallid face.
"What did you just say?" Lilah gave her a chilling smile. It was a smile of triumph.
"I said, I'll be back this afternoon."
"Why?" Faith demanded as one of the guards took her by the arm and began to lead her away from the partition glass. She shook herself free from his grip slamming her arms hard against the glass. Lilah tried hard not to recoil as the glass visibly shuddered under the impact.
"Oh, did no one tell you?" she said, in mock surprise. "You've just received an official pardon for your crimes. You're being freed this afternoon." Faith sagged visibly as she heard the words spoken. She was muttering something under her breath as one of the guards took her gently by the arm and marched her away. Lilah strained her ears to catch what it was. All she heard was something about not being strong enough.
*****
Faith sat on the uncomfortable mattress of her bunk, her knees drawn up under her chin, arms wrapped around them, rocking back and forth softly to the accompanying squeak of springs. She lifted her head slightly and stared out of the window. The angle she was looking from meant she could only see the sky and the sun shining in it. Was she really ready for this? Ready to return to the big wide world? Was she strong enough yet? She groaned at that thought. Just the other week she'd had to refrain from beating one of the other prisoner's to death in the weights room when the woman had decided to earn herself a reputation by challenging the prison hard case.
Faith wasn't the only murderer in here, but she was the only one to who murder and death were occupational hazards. She went back to rocking back and forth on the bed. Why were Wolfram and Hart doing this? It wasn't like she was in their good books or anything right now, and she was almost certain she wasn't going to be invited to the Christmas party. It didn't matter what they wanted. She wouldn't play their game, not this time. This time she wasn't playing anyone's game. Not Wolfram and Hart's and not the Mayor's although that would be difficult given his current state of deadness.
Thoughts of the Mayor immediately brought back thoughts of her time in Sunnydale, hanging with the Scooby Gang. Every time she thought of Buffy and her friends she felt a strange surge of guilt. They'd taken her in when she had nowhere else to be. They'd tried to help her, tried to understand her and none of them had tried any harder to know her than Buffy. But acceptance hadn't been enough for her. She'd wanted it all, everything Buffy had, everything Buffy took for granted. The fact that she didn't realise how much she took for granted had only made Faith angrier. She'd grown to hate Buffy for having so much while she had so little and that hate had driven her straight into the open arms of the Mayor. When she'd joined him in his cause she'd lost something, something so small and slight at first she hadn't realised it was gone. It had taken Wolfram and Hart's mission to kill Angel to make her realise that she'd lost it, and it had taken a life times prison sentence to help her find it. In many ways she was still looking.
The loud rapping sounded at the door again.
"C'mon Faith." Said the guard. "Time for the jail bird to fly the coup." With a deep sigh, Faith sprang nimbly down from her bunk and made her way over to the door. She may not be ready for this, but it wasn't as if she had been given a choice in the matter. The least she could do was face it the way she had faced the rest of her life. As the door opened she straightened her back and adopted her confident swagger as she walked out of the room. She was going to face it with balls.
Outside the shadows were the long creeping shadows of late afternoon. The sun was sinking low in the sky, changing from a bright shining light to a dull orange ball. The woman lawyer Faith was already growing to dislike and couldn't remember the name of was waiting for her with a couple of heavies as she stepped out of the gates to the prison, scratching uncomfortably at the tight top she now wore.
"Faith." the woman said, flashing one those fake smiles she did so well, at the same time revealing dazzling white teeth that only the LA elite could afford to possess. "You took a little longer than I expected." Faith eyed the two louts next to the lawyer suspiciously before answering. They were the kind of men who didn't look right in suits. Huge shoulders, bulging biceps and joint-of-meat hands rested uncomfortably with the constraints of a formal two-piece.
"Well, as a free woman I can take all the time I like." Faith replied finally, giving the lawyer a sarcastic smile as she did so. "If I kept you waiting, then good. Life's full of disappointments." The woman smiled again. This time there was no pretend warmth.
"I don't think you really understand. This isn't a release, just a transfer to our own, shall we say, more private facilities. Boys." Before Faith could even react she felt the lawyers two shaved apes grab her arms, twisting them violently together before slamming a pair of handcuffs sharply around her wrists. Each man gripped her tightly just beneath her armpits as they frogmarched her forward. The lawyer looked her up and down, smiling that same perfect smile.
"You didn't really think we'd let you just walk away from us did you?" the woman said. "Have you any idea the amount of time and effort it took some of our top people to come up with an appeal case to get you out. Bill Gates couldn't afford the legal battle we just won."
"You must be so proud." Faith sneered as the two men dragged her off toward the curb. The lawyer took out a cell phone as they walked and tapped in a number. Faith could here the phone on the other end of the line ringing faintly before it was answered. The person on the other end of the line was a man.
"Mr Reed, it's Lilah Morgan… Yes… Yes Mr Reed we have her right here. The car is on its way? Thank you sir." She snapped the phone shut and turned to face Faith. "Sorry to keep you waiting like this, but good transport is so hard to come by in this city." Faith shot her a sarcastic smile that came out as more of a sneer.
The sound of an engine caused her to turn her head as a limousine turned a nearby corner and rolled toward her. She should've known. Wolfram and Harts flunkies always travelled in style, especially this Lilah. The limo rolled to a halt in front of them, the back door swinging invitingly open. She felt the man on her right's grip slacken slightly as he reached over to hold the door open while they manhandled her inside. She didn't pass up the opportunity. Without warning she swung her legs up, bracing them against the limousine's chassis and twisting hard to her left. The man was so surprised by the movement that all he could do was let go of her as she used her momentum to turn and slide down between the legs of the other heavy. She ground to a halt in the dirt right between the man's legs. Without hesitation she rolled back, her feet kicking the man in the crotch as she went by. His breath exploded from his chest as he instinctively released his grip on her so that he could clutch at that most sensitive of areas. Using her existing momentum, Faith continued to roll back until she was balanced on her shoulders and neck. Drawing her legs in close she moved her handcuffed hands around her ankles before righting herself with a back spring. The first of the heavies charged her again. Without even pausing for breath, she ducked his wildly misjudged punch and swung out with her leg, sweeping the man's feet out from under him. As he hit the floor, his jacket fell open, revealing a ring of keys held at his hip. Hurriedly, Faith dipped down, unclipping the keys before turning and haring off up the street away from the slowly recovering flunkies.
Lilah watched as the girl fled. She had no intention of chasing Faith, mainly because of the whole super human strength and speed with which Slayers just happened to be blessed. Still, this would definitely prove an obstacle to her employers. She turned and slipped gracefully into the limo, noting for the first time its tinted windows. So subtle was his presence that at first Lilah didn't realise there was another occupant of the limo. She turned to stare at him, trying her best to hide the surprise she felt at the sight of him.
"What are you doing here?" she said. The man turned to stare at her. The stranger unnerved Lilah. She was used to being put down or treated as inconsequential, but she had never before been treated with such complete disdain. To him, she seemed little more than a particularly nasty stain on an otherwise cleanly planned operation.
"I came to meet the Slayer." He said matter of factly. "It is rare for one of my kind to ever get the chance to truly study one. She would have been interesting."
"Well your going to be more than a little disappointed then." Said Lilah, trying not to meet the man's eyes.
"I take it all did not go as planned." He said, still staring ahead.
"She escaped, but don't worry. We will find her."
"Worry?" the man said, sounding slightly surprised by the suggestion. "Why would I worry?"
"The Slayer is crucial to our plan." Said Lilah, as if talking to a schoolboy, rather than a creature that would probably outlive her whole family line.
"We have already planned for such possibilities and I am certain you forget some of the more desirable aspects of being as I am." For the first time he turned and looked at her. His clear blue eyes were flat and emotionless. "The beauty of being immortal is that you can always come back and try again." He turned away from her again, his posture clearly indicating he considered the conversation at an end. Lilah turned away and nodded to the driver. Slowly the limo pulled away from the curb and sped off into the depths of the city.
*****
Angel stood hunched over the fridge, his eyes travelling over the large containers of blood. He hated days like this. Days where he wasn't certain what he really wanted, where everything was suddenly a decision you knew you'd regret five seconds after you made it were always a bitch to muddle through. This one though he felt fairly certain he had narrowed down. Should it be type O negative or B positive? Decisions, decisions.
"Oh for Gods sake." The voice rang with irritation. A perfectly manicured hand appeared in his field of view, snagging a large plastic container of type A and slapping it into the palm of his hand before slamming the refrigerator door shut. He stared blankly at the tub in his hand for a moment before turning away.
"Corde…" he began. She lifted her hand cutting him off before he had chance to even finish saying her name.
"It was freezing in here with that door open, and besides, it's just blood. Not like you're picking out of a selection of ice creams." Angel didn't even try to explain to that picking out different types of blood was exactly like picking out of a selection of ice creams. Humans never seemed to understand that blood never tasted quite the same way twice. They seemed to think that just because each type of blood looked the same it would taste the same.
"What?" said Cordelia, her hands on her hips in an exasperated manner. Angel glanced up at her.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong? What did I do now?"
"Corde…"
"You've got that thoughtful look you get sometimes." She said, cutting him off again. He looked at her blankly.
"You know, the one where your forehead goes all bumpy and… Well not vamp bumpy just bumpy bumpy." She looked at his blank expression and gave a groan of surrender. "You know the one I mean."
"Not having a reflection, I'd have to say no." he said. Cordelia's shoulders slumped.
"It's always something with you isn't it." Angel ignored her and went back to opening up his tub of type A blood. Slowly he began to sup at it, immediately wishing he'd got the type O when he'd had the chance. Just as he was about to disappear back upstairs the phone at the check in desk rang into life. Cordelia was there in an instant. Angel wanted to know how she did that. The phone never seemed to get two rings before she was on it. She had visions of people in trouble, not visions of when they were going to call.
"Hello, Angel Investigations, we help the helpless, Cordelia Chase speaking, how may we…" her voice trailed off as the person on the other end of the line butted in. Angel turned with surprise. Very few people had the nerve to interrupt Cordelia mid sentence, even those who barely knew her.
"Oh…" Cordelia said, turning to face Angel, surprise etched into her face.
"Who is it?" Angel mouthed silently pointing at the phone. Cordelia held a finger to her lips shushing him to silence.
"Hi Faith." She said.