"This is a bad idea," Spike says.
The words are enough to make Alex pause. Spike, after all, is the king, queen, and crown prince of bad ideas and half-cocked plans, and if he thinks they shouldn't be doing this, well, then, they probably shouldn't. Come to think of it, this plan was originally one of Spike's, which probably means that they really shouldn't do it. Unfortunately, Alex is trying to save the world. He doesn't really have time for words like 'shouldn't.'
"We need this book," he says. "Unless you know where another copy is...?"
"I'd have bloody well told you if I did," Spike says. "This is the only one I've ever seen, and to top it off, it's been a good while since I did see it. The pouf might've gotten rid of it, even."
"We don't have a choice," Alex says, then corrects himself. "I don't have a choice. You can do whatever you want."
Spike's sudden grin is breathtaking. Alex finds himself marveling for what feels like the thousandth time at how alive the vampire looks.
"I didn't say I wasn't going to come along, pet," he says. "Just said it was a bad idea, that's all."
"Well, thank you for the helpful reminder," Alex says irritably.
"What," Angel asks, in tones of great displeasure, "are you doing here?"
Spike gives him the two-fingered salute, despite the difficulty of doing so whilst being shaken violently by his collar. Apparently the Great Pouf is still brassed off about the spot of torture Spike put him through during their last little reunion. Spike tries for a pithy comment on the subject, but the hand on his collar is cutting off his air, and all he manages is a scornful whisper of 'Peaches' in Angel's general direction. He's not one to let a little thing like lack of air stop him, though, and mouths several cutting insults that Angel understands well enough, if the anger in his face is anything to go by.
Now would be the perfect time for Alex to come racing to the rescue, but Angel cuts that hope short by whirling abruptly and thrusting Spike into the path of the oncoming stake. Alex manages to pull the blow, with reflexes that are almost fast enough to do credit to a Slayer, and turns his attack into a vicious kick to Angel's knee that very nearly lands. The kick is followed by two sharp blows to the side of Angel's head that cause the older vampire to loosen his grip on Spike's collar, and Spike is sliding free with a grin even as Alex switches his stake for his gun, and presses the barrel hard against the soft flesh under Angel's chin.
"That's not going to do you much good, boy," Angel growls at Alex, and Spike, rubbing his throat, grins fiercely and impartially at both of them.
"It'll make a milkshake out of your brain," Alex says, low and deadly. "Hydroshocks, vampire. It's hard to heal if your skull is in a thousand sticky pieces decorating the wall behind you."
Angel seems impressed by the visual, because his facial expression changes slightly. Vampires might be walking bundles of death and destruction by nature, but Alex practices , and it shows.
"I'd listen to him," Spike offers. "He's a professional."
"What are you doing here?" Angel asks again. He lets go of Alex, though, and he sounds more harassed than angry. "Who is this, Spike?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Alex puts in.
"Alex, this is my great poncing wanker of a sire. Angelus, this is Alex. We're saving the world."
Spike's 'great poncing wanker of a sire' is not the oversized, hulking caveman-type that Alex has been led to expect. Angelus is no taller than Alex is, though he's bulkier - an unimportant factor with an opponent who can literally tear your head off. Alex is suddenly very aware that he is the least dangerous thing in the room; quite literally prey.
The sudden lazy-eyed look that Spike sends his way is proof enough that Alex should have considered this earlier. His hindbrain is sending sudden, panicked signals, but Alex has been in worse situations, has faced down and killed things that were even more blood-curdling than the two demonically-animated corpses standing in front of him. He gives Spike his coldest stare, and gets a smirk of approval in return.
Angelus is apparently not unaware of the byplay, though it seems to confuse him as much as Spike's announcement about saving the world.
"Spike," he says evenly, in the tones of a man whose patience has been pushed to its final limits, "you are going to explain what's going on, and you are going to do so in a coherent fashion. Otherwise - " The motion of his hand is too fast for Alex to follow with his eyes, but the vampire pauses for the merest fraction of a second, and that is warning enough. Alex is moving before Angelus is. He doesn't bother with pulling the gun out of reach; instead he takes one long, quick step backwards.
It's almost enough. Angelus snags the gun by the barrel and twists it out of Alex's hand with a wrench that leaves his fingers stinging and aching. He goes for his backup with his left hand, but Angelus has the gun aimed at Spike now, and Alex wasn't kidding about the effect of hydroshock rounds on the human skull. The vampire is the best ally he's found yet, even taking into account the casualties.
"Otherwise," Angelus continues, "I'm going to see just how well your friend's bullets work."
Spike rolls his eyes.
"Fine. Take all the fun out of it, you tosser." He opens his mouth, then stops and looks at Alex.
"You tell him, pet," Spike says. "He won't believe it coming from me."
"What makes you think I'll believe it coming from him?" Angelus asks. Alex thinks this is a valid point.
"Because Alex is serious," Spike says, "which you bloody well know, or you ought to; he not only got the drop on you, mate, but he nearly managed to keep his gun - and how many times has that happened, then? You'll believe Alex because he's a dangerous man - and men that dangerous don't waste their time on the sort of nonsense you'll think we're selling if you hear it from my lips. Besides, he's human. You can tell if he's lying."
Angelus gives him a considering look, then gives Alex one. His eyes are surprisingly human. There is regret there, deep in the shadows of his gaze, and empathy - neither of which has ever shown up in Spike's incredibly varied emotional repetoire. A throwaway comment of Spike's resurfaces in Alex's brain -- besouled wanker. Alex thinks it might explain the eyes.
"All right," Angelus says. "Let's start with who exactly you are, then. And believe me when I say that Spike is right -- I will know if you lie to me." Alex has to give the vampire credit -- he knows enough to let the 'and I won't like it' hover unsaid in the air. He's glad they left Mulder in the trunk. Spike won't particularly care who Alex really is; he doesn't think Angelus will either, save to use as a reference point for his story. Mulder, on the other hand...
"My name is Alex," he begins, then stops. He can't remember the last time he'd told someone who he really was; can't remember if he'd ever told anyone.
"Keep going," Angelus suggests.
"My name is Alexei Nikolaevitch Rasilnov. I was an agent-in-place for the KGB until the collapse of the Soviet Union; afterwards, the political climate and previous position of my family under the old regime made return...inadviseable. At any rate, I was approached by representatives with a private interest; representatives for men in positions of near-unimaginable power both in government and out of it. Instead of reporting to the Directorate, I was to report to them; at first, that's all it was. By the time I managed to escape them, they'd turned me into a paid assassin, among other things."
"But you did escape," Angelus says.
"Yes. And now I'm trying to stop them."
"That's where the saving the world bit comes in," Spike says helpfully.
"Where do you come in?" Angelus mutters. "More importantly, when do you go away?" Alex is fairly sure he doesn't want an answer to either question. Spike, typically, answers the first and ignores the second.
"I was bored," he shrugs.
"Of course," Angelus says dryly, then turns his attention back to Alex.
"So, what are your former bosses trying to do? Summon a demon? Open a Hellmouth?"
"Orchestrate an alien colonization of Earth, the aim of which would be the enslavement of the human race," Alex says deadpan, because he really can't resist. The startled look on Angelus's face is the most emotion he's displayed yet.
