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-Act Nine-
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[SETTING : The empty Hotel. The front doors are thrust open and the team rush in, Wesley in the lead. They all seem to be arguing at once. Wesley disappears down a hall (with Angel following) while Cordelia heads for the weapon's cabinet and Gunn vanishes down the cellar. We stay with Cordy. ]
Cordelia [yelling to Wesley] : I told you guys these things were gigantic! And I was right! You wouldn't have to underestimate if you had listened! [is looking through the different drawers]
Wesley [yelling back at her OS] : They're not gigantic-the griffins are. These are far smaller in comparison.
[Cut to Wesley and Angel-Wes is unlocking a bottom drawer in another cabinet-most likely his personal weapon's cabinet. Angel is watching anxiously. ]
Wesley [still half-yelling at her] : I can only judge as well as I can with the information I had to work with.
[We hear a scoffing sound from her in the other room. ]
Wesley [immature response to her scoff] : Besides, the picture made them look incredibly small and. . . . docile! The artists don't do them justice at all. . .
[Angel wrinkles his brow at that and seems to of realized something. Wesley finally gets the drawer unlocked and it jumps open with his 'ah-hah'. ]
Angel : Wesley, say that again.
Wesley [looks up] : Hm? What? I said ah-hah. I got the damn drawer open.
Angel : No, I mean before that.
Wesley [looks puzzled] : The gryphants looked small in their picture?
[Slowly a look of concern forms on Angel's face. ]
Angel [muttering mostly to himself] : Picture. . . could it of been?How could I of overlooked that?
Wesley : Overlooked what?
[Angel looks to him a brief moment, seems more worried by the moment. ]
Angel : I'll be right back, Wesley-I got to check on something. [starts to head out of room in a fast walk]
Wesley : Angel! Bit in the middle of something here! What's going on?
Angel : I know-I gotta check on Fred-it could be important. I'll explain it later. Just, don't wait up for me, ok?
Wesley [turning back to dig something out of the drawers] : Do it quickly then.
[The vampire has already vanished. ]
[Cut to Cordelia, still rummaging about; Gunn comes back from the basement, with several large wooden clubs in tow. ]
Gunn : When in doubt, get a larger stick, I always say.
Cordelia : I can't find anything bigger in here. I can't believe that was our best axe Angel busted up-
[Angel suddenly swifts past them; as he reaches the stairs he bounds up them three-by-three. ]
Cordelia : Woah! What's with the high-speed traffic impression?
[He pauses at the top to glance at them and then just takes off down the hall. ]
Cordelia : Humph. Fine, pretend you didn't hear that.
[Re-enter Wesley; he is carrying (with much difficulty) several very LARGE, bulky sheets of metal, one of them is dragging along the floor. Cordy and Gunn come up to help him with the load. ]
Gunn [grabbing one] : Ho! That is one chunk of metal. What are these, Wes?
Cordelia : And were the Hell's Angel off to?
Wesley : These- [leans one against the table, knocks on it soundly with his fist] -are accurately produced replicas of the same shields used by the Roman Empire. Interesting little things I came across recently, thought it might be worth obtaining someday.
Gunn : You're kidding me. Shields? Where'd you find them?
[Gunn hoists his shield up to test it out-they're very tall, so it easily covers most of his height. The shields look to be made of an old metal and are covered in ancient-looking figures and pictures. ]
Wesley : Er, online auction, actually. eBay.
[Gunn laughs. Cordelia attempts to hoist up her shield. ]
Cordelia : Um, Wes. . . these things are like lead weights.
Wesley : Well I told you they were accurate replicas.
Cordelia [lets it clunk back to the floor] : And you still haven't told us what fire Angel was off to.
Wesley : Oh! Yes, he's checking on Fred, was muttering something about. . . not sure, he had some kind of haunch, I think. Seemed to think she was in possible danger.
Cordelia : You're just toying with me, right? He chooses now of all times to go all protective of the damsel-in-distress mode?
[Wesley gives a slight frown, unable to come up with a reply to that. ]
Gunn : But the more important question here is, do you honestly think these'll work?
Wesley [picking his shield back up to show them] : I think it has a good chance. I haven't seen any possible use for them until now. They give us very good coverage, so we have at least half a chance going up against an army of these creatures-as we don't have an easily accessible army ourselves.
Cordelia : But you ever consider maybe that an army is exactly what we need? Like, the army? [they look to her] What if we've met our match this time? [sits on the table, laughing shortly] Because, let's face it, two guys, a girl, and a vampire can only do so much.
Wesley [nodding] : It's true that we have our limitations in the good fight, but I'm afraid that we're really the only ones around qualified to do so.
Cordelia [shortly] : It could be suicide. Then there'll be nobody qualified for this line of work.
Gunn [looking carefully between the two] : Wes, not to rip on your new shields. Or, um, old shields. They look great. It was a great idea. But. . . what if she's right? What if it's gonna take even way more than the best weapons and gear we got? We could be in over our heads this time. . .
Wesley [sharply] : Do you two have any better ideas, then, because I'm certainly listening!
[There is a pause, nobody says anything. ]
Wesley : Shall we let them run amuck on the streets of LA? See how long it takes for their numbers to reach our part of town? Hide out and hope they go away? [clunks his shield on the ground] These are our best shot, and although we sometimes like to think otherwise, we really have no choice in the matter! Now are you people going to sit about wishing it were different or are we headed back to the park to make a final stand?
[There's a group silence and Cordelia nods solemnly. ]
Cordelia : We're with you, Wes.
Gunn [agreeing] : The full way. But I would like to make one comment.
[Wesley watches him expectedly. ]
Gunn : I really would prefer to have Angel on our kamikaze-team.
Wesley : Agreed. [looks up the stairs] What is he up to?
[Scene Change; Angel skids to a halt in front of Fred's door, and stops to gaze at the doorknob a moment, and then holds his ear against the door. ]
[Camera cut to inside the room; Angel opens the door, looking in cautiously. ]
Angel : Fred? Are you-
[A WHITE BLUR jumps on him and attacks! Cut to a close-up as Angel and the creature wrestle- it's beating it's wings in his face. There is a lot of angry hissing and screeching from the demon, and Angel is struggling to tear it off of him. The two wrestle into Fred's room a few feet, stumbling. ]
[Cut to; FRED, approaching the two fighters, looking upset. ]
Fred [shouting] : Hey-stop! Seraph! Stop it!
[The demon pauses to glance at her and growls. Angel tries to get it around the neck but it angrily blocks him and they start battling again. ]
Fred : Angel! Both of you-stop fighting! [pauses, voice gets harsher] Right this instant!
[They both instantly halt, looking at her, shocked. ]
Fred [makes a clicking sound with her tongue] : Seraph, now.
[The white gryphant jumps down from Angel and bounds a few feet away from him, towards Fred. It gazes over it's shoulder at Angel and growls. The vampire watches the demon just as carefully. ]
Angel [quiet, but with an obvious warning tone] : Fred, listen to me carefully. That animal is very dangerous. You need to slowly back away-
Fred [reassuring] : No, Angel, it's all right-
Angel [inching towards it] : Just slowly back off-try not to catch it's-
Fred [clicks again, very firm tone] : Back!
[The gryphant makes a noise, jumps to the air and lands on top of the spider-cage, as Angel jumps back a few paces at the same time. ]
Angel [surprised, watching the demon] : How-how'd you do that?
Fred [smiling slightly] : Now do you believe me? It's ok, Angel, really. You just, startled him.
[Angel looks to her, as if unable to speak a moment. ]
Angel : Fred, I've been fighting those things-they're, they tried to kill me.
Fred [is shuffling around in one of her piles of junk] : Oh, not this one, he's-he wouldn't hurt anybody. He's just-a little lost, I think.
[She pulls out something wrapped in paper and unwraps it-it's part of a subway sandwich. The gryphant rears up on it's legs excitedly when it sees it, chirping. Fred takes a piece and tosses it to him, which is of course immediately snapped up by it's impressive beak. She looks back to Angel who was watching and gestures with the sandwich. ]
Fred : What, you want one? I still have one left, if you're hungry. . .
Angel [waving it off] : No. . . Fred, how did this thing get in here?
Fred : Well I don't know, really. . . [smiles in it's direction-it is perched quite comfortably on the cage, watching the two attentively] I think he's been around awhile already, hasn't come out of hiding until now. I told you, I told you I could sometimes hear him. . .
[Angel looks at her with surprise. ]
Angel : You mean. . . you think he's. . . . from the sketch? My-my drawing?
Fred [nods] : I knew it was as soon as I saw him.
[Angel turns back to the demon, watching it, appearing torn. ]
Angel [hesitant] : Can. . . I mean, will he. . . let me, come closer?
[Fred approaches the gryphant from the side, standing about a foot away from the tarantula cage it's perched on, and smiles at it reassuringly. ]
Fred [still watching the bird] : Yes. . . it's all right. Just walk slow. . . he'll let you.
[Gradually the vampire approaches the gryphant. . . eventually he is standing almost as close as Fred is, although face-to-face with it.
Close-up on the demon; it's a very pure white, all over, and the feathers that coat it's entire body almost seem to be interlaced with fur, unless it is just a very fine coat of down feathers underneath. It looks young; younger than any of the other gryphants we've seen, very streamlined, almost like a housecat, and delicate, like a dove. . . and yet it's also obvious of the power that radiates from it. It's face holds the expression of a very intelligent animal, as it maintains eye contact with Angel. We can see it's eyes are a pale pink color. ]
Angel [speaking quietly so as not to startle it] : I thought I heard you call him something.
Fred : Yes. . . Seraph. It, well-just a word I remembered, supposedly one of the entities in the order of angels or something-he just reminded me of it.
[Angel looks to her, with quiet amazement. ]
Angel : You really have befriended him, haven't you? That's amazing. He's- [looks back to it] A potentially dangerous animal. And he. . . how do you do it?
Fred [looking down, a bit embarrassed] : It's, it isn't much. His intentions are pure, so it's only a matter of-well, listening. If you listen to them, they'll listen to you.
[Angel watches her, expression still one of appearing remarkable. Then something seems to dawn on him. ]
Angel : Winifred. . .
[She looks up immediately at him. ]
Angel : Do you think. . . you and Seraph can do a favor for me?
[Scene Change; Back in the Hyperion lobby, the three musketeers-er, the three from the halo-crew look very impatient. ]
Wesley [getting on the foot of the stairs] : That's it. We can't sit about and wait for him.
[He is about to climb the steps when the phone rings. Cordelia, nearest to it, grabs it once more and has a short, terse conversation. When she hangs it up she looks seriously at the guys. ]
Cordelia : We have to go. Now.
Gunn : But Angel-
Cordelia : Will have to catch up when he can. There are people in danger.
[They react instantly. Soon the crew is gone once more-we watch the door of the hotel crash shut. ]