Chapter Three: Hurly Burly
"So why should I trust you?" asked Wesley. "Why should I trust anybody who has worked for Wolfram and Hart?"
"What have you got to lose?" asked Eve. "I'm just asking for protection, for a chance to change sides. I don't expect you to tell me all your deep dark secrets." She smiled. "Not yet anyway."
"So this isn't yet another plot by Wolfram and Hart?" replied Wesley. "Why am I having trouble believing you?" As he spoke Wesley folded his arms and leant back in his chair. He hadn't met Eve previously but he had spoken to Cordelia and Connor since Eve had asked him to meet her and he knew all about Eve working for Wolfram and Hart with Lilah Morgan.
"Don't you help people in trouble?" asked Eve. "Well I'm in trouble and it's all your fault, or at least the fault of your friends."
"How do you work that out?" asked Wesley, genuinely puzzled.
Eve ran her hand along the chain that she was wearing around her neck and held out the amulet that was attached to it, showing it to Wesley. "Remember this?" she asked. "I presume you were briefed all about it, all about Faith forcing it on me."
"I'm wearing one just like it," said Wesley pulling out his own Willow empowered amulet. "Or at least one that looks just like it," he added glancing from one to the other and back again.
Eve sighed and put the chain and amulet back inside her blouse. "It's the same," she said. "You can get one of your witch friends to check it out later. It's because of the amulet that I've been able to break with Wolfram and Hart. That's why I'm in trouble. If I didn't have this amulet I'd still be happily under their control. As it is I've got back my free will."
"That doesn't explain why you want to change sides," said Wesley. "Why don't you go back to your previous life? I presume you had one," he added sarcastically.
"You don't get it do you?" said Eve. "You can't really be that innocent?"
"Exactly what do you mean by that?" demanded Wesley. As he spoke his suspicions about Eve remained on high alert. Did she ask for me because she thinks I'm a soft touch he wondered.
"If you really think somebody would be allowed to just walk away from Wolfram and Hart, think again," replied Eve. "The only way I have any chance away from them is with you people. Send me away and you're sending me to my death, or worse. Believe me, I've seen it happen."
"Well you made the decision to work for them in the first place," said Wesley still suspicious.
"I don't think I did," said Eve. "I don't think I had any choice in the matter. Anyway there's another reason why you should help me."
"And that is?" said Wesley.
"I think I'm a slayer," said Eve.
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The attack came without warning. One minute everything was quiet, the next a group of five black clad and masked gunmen stormed into the foyer of the Hotel. It was the middle of the morning and only Fred was on duty. Angel was sleeping in his room upstairs and the only other members of Angel Investigations on the premises were Wesley and Gunn. They were also upstairs in a room talking to Eve.
Fred immediately darted into the office and locked the door behind her. As she did so she sounded the alarm. She now picked up the phone to speak to Angel. Meanwhile she heard battering on the door of the office.
Things were already going wrong for the team of attackers. One of them had fired at Fred as soon as he entered the hotel to stop her from raising the alarm only to find that his gun didn't work. He assumed that there was some sort of mechanical fault. He and his comrades didn't yet know that the hotel had been made subject to a magic protection spell which prevented guns from working and explosives from going off.
The door to the office did not look particularly robust but it too had magical protection. Without a mage to help them the team would not be able to break down the door. They didn't yet know they were wasting their time in trying.
After an examination of the security monitors and a quick exchange of information between Fred, Angel, Wesley and Gunn on the phone Angel and Gunn headed downstairs to deal with the intruders. Wesley remained with Eve who it was thought might be the target of what was probably a Wolfram and Hart attack.
With their weapons useless the team of intruders were swiftly handled by Angel and Gunn despite their high level martial arts training. By the time they realised that all of their weapons were useless two of them were already down to the attacks of Angel and Gunn.
The remaining attackers were soon knocked unconscious. All five were disarmed and tied up ready to be turned over to the police later. Although none of the attackers, after they woke up would say anything it was assumed that they worked for Wolfram and Hart.
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"That was ridiculous," said Wesley after everybody gathered to compare notes afterwards. "Did Wolfram and Hart really think an attack like that would succeed? No magic users, no demons, just a group of soldier boys. I almost feel insulted." What's Lilah up to now he thought? She knows better than this.
"Maybe it was some underling who doesn't know us very well," suggested Fred, "or maybe it's meant to lull us into a false of security before the real attack."
"Perhaps it's nothing to do with Wolfram and Hart," said Gunn. "They're not the only players in town."
"Or maybe it's a trick to make us think they want Eve back when all they're really doing is trying to make us trust her," said Angel thoughtfully. "It's an old trick. Try very hard, but not too hard to get somebody back when really you want them to stay right where they are."
"You're right," said Eve. "That's exactly what that was, a trick to try to get you to trust me. I worked it out with Lilah. The plan was for me to defect to you, and for Wolfram and Hart to try to get me back but fail. This puts me in deeper with you guys on the grounds that you have to keep me around to protect me."
"So why are you telling us this?" asked Gunn. "Why shouldn't we throw you out right now?"
"Because I really am defecting to you," said Eve. "I'm double crossing Lilah and Wolfram and Hart. I only pretended to go along with them. It's how I've stayed alive since I got the amulet. If I'd simply walked out I'd be dead by now, if I was very lucky. As it was I think I made them suspicious by going AWOL for a few days after I got the amulet. That's why I've waited all this time before coming to you."
"Why didn't you tell us all this before the attack?" asked Angel suspiciously.
"Because she wanted to see our defences," suggested Wesley. "See how we coped." Well that failed he thought. Wesley had stayed in the room with Eve who had seen nothing of how the attackers had been disabled.
"If you couldn't cope with an attack like that you're not the people to help me," said Eve.
"How come you've still got Willow's amulet then?" asked Fred. "I don't see Wolfram and Hart being happy for you to keep working for them while you have that."
"If they knew about it they wouldn't," said Eve. "But Lilah wants to keep hers so she hasn't told anybody else about them."
"And why exactly does Lilah want you on the inside with us?" asked Angel who quite clearly did not trust Eve at all.
"Oh come on," said Eve. "Take your pick. She wants to know what you know. She wants to be able to stop you doing anything she doesn't like. She wants to feed you false information. If she's got something more specific in mind she didn't tell me. Need to know and all that. At this stage she just wants somebody near to you she can take advantage sometime in the future."
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Later after Eve had been secured in an upstairs room, with suitable safeguards the gang discussed what to do.
"How do we know she's telling us the truth?" asked Fred. "I really don't trust her."
"If Cordy were here she could do a truth spell," said Gunn. "When does she get back?" Cordelia was away visiting her mother and grandmother.
"She said she'd only be gone a few days," said Fred. "She should be back early next week."
"Anyway there are ways around truth spells," said Wesley, "if you know somebody's going to do one on you. All a truth spell can do is confirm you believe what you say at the time. I'm sure Wolfram and Hart would have made preparations to get round any truth spell we use. She could be primed to temporarily forget certain things."
Nobody suggested asking Lorne to read Eve. They knew that Wolfram and Hart knew all about Lorne. The example of Angelus had shown that there were ways around Lorne's talent and it would be foolish to assume that Wolfram and Hart didn't know what they were.
"Have you checked out what she said about being a slayer Wes?" asked Angel.
"Well she's definitely not a slayer," replied Wesley. "But I think she was probably a potential when she was younger. The trouble is a lot of records were destroyed when the old Council was blown up. I think Wolfram and Hart may have found a way to activate her and that's why she was able to go toe to toe with Faith."
"Whatever happens I want Eve out of here," said Angel. "I'd like to send her somewhere she'll be safe but where she can't betray us if that's what she wants to do."
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"And what's to stop us calling the police as soon as we get the chance?" asked Phoebe. "Kidnapping's a federal offence I think."
"We will of course pay compensation," said Major Grant. "This is all a big misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding!" exclaimed another young woman. "We've been drugged and abducted. Where's the misunderstanding? We don't have to put up with this."
Phoebe had taken a cab home from work. Her next memory had been waking up on a plane on the way to who knows where. She assumed that she had been drugged. Several other women on the plane had had a similar experience.
The person delegated the task of placating the women was Major Susan Grant who was attached to the NID. At the moment she was silently cursing the idiots who had kidnapped the women rather than trying to recruit them legally.
Major Grant knew why it had happened. Somebody had decided that failure was very much not good for their career in the NID and he was probably right. He had been ordered to produce witches and had taken a decision not to risk being rejected. Maybe he'd already been rejected by some of the witches on his list. He had done his job and it was now somebody else's problem.
"Why us?" asked Phoebe.
"And how much compensation?" asked one of the other women.
Major Grant explained that the government had an important project which required input from those with special skills and abilities. The women were amongst those who they believed might have such abilities as it was believed that they all practiced as witches.
"The government's recruiting witches!" said another woman. "I don't believe it."
"I think the term witches is what's caused the confusion here." said Major Grant. "For some reason the people instructed to contact you thought you were some sort of a threat. That's very wrong. We simply need your help. If you're not able to help us, or you don't want to help your country we'll supply transport to take you home."
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General Hammond had at first decided to hold the meeting with the NID and their alleged witches at a hotel, in fact the same hotel where SG-1 had recently been carrying out their interviews. He was persuaded to change his mind by Jack O'Neill.
Jack was still convinced that the mystery woman who had jumped out of the hotel window, Teal'c's vampire, was part of an NID scam. "I bet they've got something set up to make these so called witches look good," he said. "They'll pull some sort of Flim-Flam. We'll think we're getting somebody special and it'll be completely bogus."
"The Colonel's right sir," Sam added. "We can control events in the SGC. Out there we might have all sorts of magician's tricks thrown at us by Colonel Maybourne and his people."
"If there's no such thing as witches, real witches, a good magician might be the next best thing." suggested Daniel.
"No," said General Hammond. "We're not going down that line. If we can't come up with the real thing then that's the way it'll have to be. These things have a way of coming back to bite you. We're not in this to scam anybody whatever Colonel Maybourne might think."
As they left the room Teal'c had tapped Daniel on the shoulder to ask about the difference between magicians and witches.
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Now the time for the meeting had arrived and SG-1 were waiting in the meeting room with General Hammond for the NID party to arrive. Sergeant Mackay entered the room to announce their arrival.
Colonel Maybourne introduced Major Grant and the three young women who formed the rest of his party. He simply gave their first names: Mary, Elise and Phoebe. "I'll give you their full details if you decide to take them on," he added.
"That's if we decide we want to work with you," said Phoebe, one of the three women. "Coming here wasn't our idea. None of us are looking for a job."
The three women had been the only ones aboard the NID plane who had not insisted on being taken home immediately. Some of them denied being witches or any knowledge of witchcraft. The three left had agreed to come to the meeting but they had all been very sceptical about what they had been told and had remained so until they arrived at the Cheyenne Mountain Base when they had realised that there really was official backing for what was happening.
Arrival at a military base made Phoebe start wondering whether there was some connection to her vision of the little metal monsters and their battle with military personnel so she continued to play along and persuaded the other two witches to do the same.
"When shall we three meet again..." muttered Daniel who looked up to find everybody looking at him. Most of them got the reference. "Sorry, I was just thinking out loud. Three witches, is there something about the number three with you people?"
"Perhaps you'd better tell us what the hurly burly's all about," said Phoebe. "Us people are regular people, just like everybody else. If there's a good reason to help that's what we'll do but we need to know what this is all about first."
"First we need to know if you have the skills we need," said General Hammond. "We're dealing with some people who are comfortable dealing with what they call witches. I understand that you all, uh practice as witches. Exactly what is it you do?"
"We mostly sit around stirring big black cauldrons chanting bad poetry so we can turn princes into frogs," said Mary sarcastically.
"What is the point..." began Jack.
"Show them what you can do," said Major Grant. "What you showed me on the plane."
Elise did a short musical chant. The lights in the room gradually dimmed and went out. Mary clapped her hands and they came back on again. "That what you had in mind?" she asked.
"How do they do that?" Jack asked Sam.
"I don't know," said Sam. "Maybe one of them has some sort of interrupter that..."
"OK," said Phoebe standing up. "We can play this game all day. Us doing some little thing and you trying to come up with some sort of scientific explanation. Things are too serious for that so we'll cut to the chase. What I'm going to show you is to remain a secret and is not to be passed onto anybody else outside this room. If it is then all bets are off."
"What exactly are you going to do?" asked General Hammond as everybody, including the other witches looked curiously at Phoebe.
"First turn off all your recording equipment and give me your agreement to keep all this confidential," said Phoebe. "All of you," she added looking around the room at the members of SG-1 and the NID.
This is it thought Jack. This'll be what they've been rehearsing to persuade us they can do magic. Should be fun. I bet having a hot babe like Phoebe center stage is all part of the distraction. Classic conjurer's trick.
The General gave his agreement and the others nodded. He left the room briefly and then returned. "Right, there is no recording or surveillance equipment in operation. You can speak freely," he said and sat back down.
"Over to you," said Jack determined not to be fooled.
"First I need a cellphone," said Phoebe. "Mine was taken from me on the way here."
Daniel pulled his cellphone out and handed it over. "You can use this but I'm afraid it can't pick up a signal this far underground."
Phoebe took the cellphone and briefly smiled at Daniel. "It'll do," she said. "With a little magic."
Phoebe now did a short chant and then dialled the Halliwell Manor. To the surprise of everybody else she received a reply. Jack wasn't the only one to lean forward to try to hear if she really did have somebody on the other end of the line or whether it was a pretence.
Phoebe had turned away and had begun speaking quietly into the phone, explaining what she wanted to the person on the other end. "Look, trust me in this," Jack heard her say. "It's all to do with one of my visions. We need a big demonstration. We don't have the time to mess around."
A minute later Paige orbed into the room to the surprise of everybody present except Phoebe.
"This is my sister Paige," said Phoebe to everybody in the room. "Paige is also a witch and as you can see she has quite a lot of power of her own."
"You're right," said General Hammond. "That was a big demonstration but..."
"We're already familiar with teleportation devices," said Jack sounding very unimpressed.
"So I'm a device am I?" asked Paige, somewhat put out by this casual dismissal. "Can your devices do this? Papers!" she commanded holding her hands out towards Harry Maybourne. The papers that Maybourne was holding in his hands disappeared and reappeared in Paige's hands.
"Hey!" yelped Maybourne jumping up. "Give them back!" He rushed over to Paige but before he reached her she orbed away and reappeared on the other side of the room, in fact on the other side of the table where Maybourne couldn't easily get to her.
"Now this is getting more um, magical," said Daniel.
"Indeed," agreed Teal'c. "Perhaps we have found our witches."
"Your witches!" said Mary. "We're not..."
"Listen to this," interrupted Paige who had been reading Maybourne's papers. "'Phoebe Halliwell, youngest of three sisters.' Well you've got that wrong, Phoebe's older than me. 'Writes the 'Ask Phoebe' column in the San Francisco Bay Mirror and ..."
"That's you?" asked Sam Carter surprised. Phoebe smiled and nodded. Jack gave Sam a 'you don't read that sort of stuff do you?' look. Sam looked away.
"We can if necessary put pressure on her via her sisters to make sure she co-operates with us," continued Paige quoting from Maybourne's papers. Silence descended on the room as everybody glared at Harry Maybourne, even Major Grant.
"Let me see that," said Phoebe grabbing the papers from Paige. "Mary Crane: has a circle of friends including fiancé Michael Zimmer. Should be no difficulty in persuading her to do whatever is necessary. Elise Montgomery..."
Phoebe completed the reading of the papers. It was quite clear that the NID intended to blackmail the witches if necessary in order to get them to co-operate.
"I can assure you we knew nothing of this," said General Hammond. "You are all free to go. No pressure will be put on you to work with us, I will make absolutely sure of that." The General turned to Maybourne. "We'll talk about this later."
"OK," said Mary standing up. "Let's go."
"What about the compensation?" asked Elise.
"We can't just..." began Sam.
In fact everybody started talking at once. They were interrupted by the sound of the emergency alarm klaxon sounding, a sound that was familiar to Phoebe from her vision.
General Hammond and SG-1 rushed out of the room. As they left, Sam turned back to the witches and the NID members. "Stay here please. This may not be as serious as it sounds." Of course that immediately convinced everybody that something very serious indeed was going on.
