Disclaimer: I don't own it. End of story.

Thanks to my Beta, Oxnate.

Dead Man Walking

By Alkeni

Chapter 10: I'm...Free?

Fred and Lorne had managed to convince Gunn to hold off from laying into Wesley while they looked for Angel. To no avail, I might add. He thought somewhat maliciously. Right now they were in the lobby of the Hyperion, both Fred and Lorne behind the desk as Gunn and Wesley had a staring contest with eachother. Wesley had his arms folded in front of him, and Gunn's hands were balled into fists. Right now they were several feet distant.

"Are you just going to glare at me, or are you going to say something?" Wesley began.

"I don't need to say it. You're working for Wolfram and Hart." Gunn said, not bothering to contain his anger. "You gave us that tip off about Connor and Cordelia just so your evil lawyer girlfriend could suck what Lorne read off of Cordelia out of his head."

"And if I hadn't done that, Wolfram and Hart would have just settled for capturing Angel's hellspawn and Cordelia."

"Don't call Connor that!" Fred interjected. "Don't talk about him as if he's some sort of demon."

"He's the son of two vampires. He's not human, or at least not completely so." Wesley said. "And I have every right to call him whatever I want, because I died trying to save him." He nodded. "Yes. You want to know how I just came back to life like that?" He turned to Fred. "Rhinehardt's Compendium. Page," He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, "157. The entry should be labeled 'Lightning Swordsmen'."

Fred turned and removed the book in question from the shelf behind the desk and opened it to the aforementioned page. "Lightning Swordsmen: A class of rare demi-human creatures that though they appear human, are in fact immortal beings. From infancy they age until they experience a violent or otherwise unnatural death, at which point their aging process stops and they become immortal and invulnerable. Any injury done to them heals almost immediately, and it is from this healing that they get their name – there are always reports of blue lightning dancing across wounds, healing them. If they ever suffer mortal wounds, they will die, but then come back to life soon thereafter. There is only one known way to kill a Lightning Swordsman, and that is to cut off their head, which also releases a veritable storm of the blue lightning, presumably the force that animates them." She looked up. "That's what you are?"

"Yes." Wesley replied.

"Sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me." Gunn said, "But that still doesn't explain you sleeping with evil lawyer-bitch, or prove you're not working for Wolfram and Hart."

Wesley flicked his wrist and produced the collapsible sword. "There is a line, Gunn, and you're about to cross it. Insult me all you want, but don't call Lilah that in my presence again. I've no interest in killing you, but I have absolutely no qualms about crippling you for life." He stepped back and retracted the sword. "And you can know that I'm not working for Wolfram and Hart by knowing this: no matter how far gone I am or will be, I've no interest in seeing the world end. And if you'll recall, the apocalypse is rather high on the Senior Partners' to-do list."

"And how far gone are you then, Wesley?" Fred asked, sounding...concerned, a little sad, in her voice now. "What happened to you?"

"I died and all my friends abandoned me. And the only person who cared even the slightest bit, saw me as a person with any value whatsoever-" He was interrupted as the hotel doors opened and Angel walked in, looking like hell, or perhaps like a bus had run over him in hell. Either way, Wesley had no interest in sticking around now that the vampire was back. "I'll be going now. I'll call you if I find anything about this creature." He brushed past Angel as he headed to the door. Something was bothering Angel, he could tell – the man didn't ask about how he'd just up an came back to life. The loss had gotten to him, it seemed. Fred and the others would fill him in.

He fell asleep within minutes after returning home. Physically, he was as uninjured as he had been when he woke up this morning. One of the many benefits of immortality: never again would he have to worry again about lesser injuries incapacitating him for a time, leaving him on the sidelines of a fight. But emotionally and mentally, he was dead on arrival. Dying took a lot out of you, and he's also watched two members of his team – who he'd, rather foolishly, he considered, started to consider friends – die right in front of him at the hands of something he hadn't the first idea on how to kill.

He slept for longer than he usually did, the sun fully risen and the morning well underway by the time he stirred. He was up and ready to go as quickly as usual, however and about to set to work on finding out what he could about this enemy when there was a knock at the door. He opened it to see Lilah, looking like she'd slept in her clothes, and her hair wasn't as neat as usual. A lot of that going around, he suspected. She released sigh of relief when she saw him.

"Okay," She smiled, not smirked. No...it was almost an anxious smile, a genuine expression of happiness. "I was just checking."

"Yes, I'm alive."

Lilah didn't say anything immediately and instead just stepped into the apartment and hugged him tightly, sighting again. "I left you a couple hundred messages last night. Don't feel obligated to return any of them."

"And you're alright?" He asked, withdrawing from the hug a few moments later and closing the door behind her.

"I'm fine. Slept at Wolfram and Hart. FYI – safest place to be in case of apocalypse." She leaned in to kiss him, but he turned his head away.

"Not right now Lilah." He said. He wanted to, but there simply wasn't time. "My team just got butchered by this creature, and I've not the slightest idea on what it is or how to kill it. Nor, do I think, does Angel and company. Speaking of which, what do your employers think of all this."

Lilah scowled. "The Senior Partners have had the brilliant brain-wave to find this creature and recruit it. They have no idea what it is, but its powerful, and they think it can shave a few decades off their timetable, or something."

"They're deluding themselves if they think they can control this creature." Wesley said, "And I'm not stopping until I figure out a way to see it dead." Which reminded him. He needed to place that order with Emil. Maybe it wouldn't work, but then again, otherwise unbeatable enemies had been killed by explosive devices in recent years, so the same should hold true for this thing.

"That hasn't stopped them before. You'd think they'd just decide to give up on turning Angel evil and kill him, at this point. I don't think they understand the meaning of the word 'no', sometimes." She sighed. "I put Gavin on finding this thing. With luck, his incompetence will hold and he'll get absolutely nowhere." She looked around the room, at all the shelves lining the walls. "If all you're going to be doing right now is researching, I'll help you until I have to go back into Wolfram and Hart."

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"That's some mighty heavy ordinance you're looking for, Pryce." The arms-dealer sitting across from him in the full warehouse told him. "You've come a long way from collapsible swords."

Wesley steepled his fingers. "I'm not interested in small talk. Can you get it?"

"Can you afford it? Hardware of this type doesn't come cheap. You going up against tanks? Here in L.A?"

"If you're going to ask questions, can I expect a discount?" Wesley asked tersely. "Because if not, I believe a lack of questions is figured into your prices. You're expensive, but you get results. The faster I can get that, the better for me, and the better for you."

"How is it better for me?"

"You'll be paid more the faster you get it." He named a figure, "If you can get it to me within the next few days, you'll get all of that as a bonus. After that, I'll chop 10% off that number for each day. Once the bonus is gone, well, I still have to pay full price for the product, just not delivery speed."

Emil was not a very emotionally expressive man. But he didn't need to be for Wesley to know that Emil was on, hook line and sinker for the bonus. Emil would get him what he needed. Now they just needed to keep the beast from destroying Los Angeles or the world until the anti-tank weaponry he'd ordered arrived. "You're a man who knows what he wants. I respect that. I'll call you when I get it. Just make sure you have the money when it does."

Wesley's phone began to ring and he looked down at the number. His contact at Wolfram and Hart. He looked back at Emil. "Are we done here?"

"For now."

Wesley nodded and opened the phone as he headed out. "Pryce here."

There was the sound of screaming, and people running, some kind of alarm in the background. "There's some giant rock-skinned demon in the building. Its been plowing its way through the building, floor by floor, killing everyone." His contact, a phase-shifting demon said, with a terrified tone. "And at the moment, the building is wide open for taking anything you want from the vaults. The Senior Partners have ditched the entire branch." The demon paused, then said, "Look, I'm jumping ship from this dimension right now. Got a portal set and everything, so, well, see you never." The phone hung up.

Looting Wolfram and Hart's vault was not the first thought that came to Wesley's mind.

Lilah.

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Lilah woke up with a scream she only managed to stifle at the last moment. Then she realized where she was, and what had happened. I'm dead...I died...that...that thing...it came in...I...I...killed me...I'm dead...why the hell am I breathing? This isn't one of the hell dimensions Wolfram and Hart Employees go to...Standard Perpetuity Clause? Already? She saw movement, then Wesley crouching next to her.

"I was hoping to arrive before you woke up, but this will have to do." Wesley's presence next to her bothered her to a degree it never had...there was a pain in the back of her head, like a storm was going on there, in between her ears...it passed after a moment. Lilah struggled to get up off the ground. Wesley reached down a hand and she grabbed it. He stood up along with her.

"Okay, what is happening Wes? What are you doing here? How did you get in? I...I just I fucking died! And why did I-" Lilah was ever unflappable, but nobody took coming back from the dead well. Unless they were planning on it.

"The creature that created the rain of fire is attacking Wolfram and Hart," Wesley, interrupted, as he began to answer in order, "I'm here for you because my contact here called and told me what was happening. I walked in the front door. And short version: You're not actually human, you are, like me, an Immortal. Or as you might know them more conventionally, a Lighting Swordsman. Or Swordswoman, in this case." Wesley saw the look of recognition on her face. "We can talk more later, right now we need to do two things: Get to Wolfram and Hart's vault, and get out of here before this thing realizes that the way to kill us is to just rip our heads off."

"I can't just steal from the vault!" Lilah was still freaking a bit, but not as badly as a few moments ago. "Its not as if they can't do whatever the hell they want to -"

"They can't do anything to you at all. Not contractually, anyway." He said. "You don't work for Wolfram and Hart. You never have."

"What the hell are you talking about? I've worked for them for years."

"Not technically." He reached into his coat and produced the copy of her latest contract he'd managed to get his hands on. "Look carefully at the department that its filed with."

"Human Resources? So? That's where all my contracts have been-" Then it dawned on her. "I'm not human."

"And since you signed a contract for humans to sign..."

"I'm free..." Lilah said slowly, as if she didn't believe it. And she didn't. But she knew how the contracts at Wolfram and Hart worked...she wasn't human...if Wesley was right, and given the fact that she knew she had died, and yet she was here, and she could hear her own heart pounding...employees brought back to life under the Standard Perpetuity Clause...they didn't have beating hearts.

A series of rhythmic, heavy thumps began to resonate throughout the building, coming towards them.

"What the-"

"Its the fat lady singing." Lilah said with an ironic chuckle. "Whenever the building's under attack, everything locks down."

"When you say – 'locks down'?" His question was answered when steel shutters began to fall down over the windows.

"All windows, doors, vents. Nobody gets in, nobody gets out." Then she smirked. "Except for the escape route on the 3rd floor. Come on, let's hit the vault." She headed for the door. Wesley grabbed her wrist.

"Wait, the building just locked down. Don't we need to-"

"It was your idea to hit the vault." She countered. "We can get out by the escape tunnel into the sewers anytime we like. And you- no, we" She corrected herself, "will never have a chance like this."

"We?" Wesley let go of her wrist and they hurried towards the elevator. Fortunately, the creature seemed to have moved on to a different floor.

"Of course." Lilah said. "At the very least, you still have more explaining to me how this whole 'Lighting Swordswoman' thing works. And we're still dating." She added a bit playfully, then her tone got more serious. "Besides, I've wanted to get free of Wolfram and Hart for years. And now that I am, I'd love for the chance to stick it to them. What better way than taking all the items they have in their vault. Or at least as much as we can carry." They'd reached the elevator by then, and we already on their way down the proper sublevel.

"Will the demon that guards it still be there?" Wesley asked when they reached the floor. The doors opened to reveal said demon's body, crushed to a pulp. "That answers that question. Lilah's keycard got them in the rest of the way. The complete security shut down from the attack made getting into the vault beyond easy, when all was said and done. Lilah immediately went to one of the drawers and pulled out a gaudy crystal amulet. She tossed it to him.

"Take this. Its something Angel, well no, more specifically its something his Slayer ex-girlfriend will need in a few months time." Wesley caught it.

"Why? What is it?"

"Frankly, I'm not entirely sure. There's some kind of big player on the California Hellmouth, up to something, probably its own planned apocalypse. Summers will need that to defeat it. The Senior Partners planned to give it to her in time to stop it from throwing their own plans off-course, but at the last moment, to give whatever it is time to thin out her friends and allies."

"What does it do?"

"I haven't the slightest. They never got around to telling me that, and then this," she gestured widely with her hand, "happened."

"Well then its hardly much use."

"And that's what these are for." She opened another one. Inside were several books. "Source Templates. Just say the title of the book and if its in Wolfram and Hart's archives, it becomes that book." She took one and held it close to her, "Saitama Codex." She opened it up and Wesley saw blank pages suddenly form into the book. She closed it.

"You can just conjure up a book like that?"

"Yea. And you can use it to call up the titles of all the books the archives have on a particular topic." She pulled out several of the books. "Let's keep going." Between the two of them, they grabbed several other artifacts – only ones one or the other of them could identify, apart from the unknown amulet – and hurried back up to the third floor. As they hurriedly searched the supply closet, throwing rolls of toilet paper to the floor haphazardly to find the-

"Found it." Wesley said, pulling the catch. The thundering footsteps of the demon were getting closer. It had obviously realized there was something alive on this floor. The Ex-Watcher grabbed the new Immortal's hand and they jumped through. Landing flat on the ground.

Lilah got up first, and helped Wesley up. "Now what?"

"Now we're going to have to do something I'd rather not and work with Angel and his friends if we're going to have any hope of stopping this thing." Wesley said. Lilah made a frustrated sound and rolled her head back, eyes closed, for a moment. "What?"

"I just remembered. Before the demon attacked, Connor broke into the building and demanded we help him figure out the connection he thinks he has to this thing. Then it attacked, and he went off to go fight it."

"Dammit!" Wesley supplemented that curse with a half-dozen others in as many languages as they both started moving towards the nearest exit from the sewers. Then he sighed. "As much as I'd love to see that pathetic little child die, or at least suffer quite a bit, Angel will go insane with grief if he does die, and like it or not, the bastard is a Champion."

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"-so much as a pothole." Cordelia was saying as the two of them entered into the lobby of the Hyperion. Everyone looked at them as they opened. Gunn spoke first.

"Great, more bad news."

"What are you doing here Wesley? And why did you bring her here?" Angel demanded.

"I know where the demon is." Wesley said. "It's at Wolfram and Hart, killing everyone and everything that moves."

"And yet Lilah here manages to get out-" Gunn said, "What, did you make a-"

"She got out because I went in and helped her escape."

"Why would you do that?" Angel said, "I know you've been-" he changed topic suddenly, "And why here?"

"I saved her because I love her." Everyone, Lilah included looked intently at him at those words. Wesley had said them intentionally, this time. And they were true too. "I brought her here," he continued, "because here is probably the safest place in the city, at the moment, because she doesn't work for Wolfram and Hart anymore, and because you'll need all the help you can get to figure out how to fight this thing."

"Especially since your hellspawn is in there." Lilah added. "and now that the building's locked down, there's only one way in or out."

Wesley raised an eyebrow. "So. Are we going to go rescue your son, or just stand around and talk about Lilah?"

Author's Note: For a Wesley/Lilah pairing to really work long term, either Wesley has to go from just being dark or edgy, to outright evil, or Lilah can't be a straight up black hat. I've always viewed her as someone who got sucked in and got changed by the place, so she became a sort of evil by default, though she was never a white-hat type of person. But no matter what, she'd want out of Wolfram and Hart. I never saw her as a nihilist/insane, so I don't think she really wanted the end of the world, she just was kinda stuck where she was. Don't worry, Lilah isn't and never will be a white-hat, and for that matter Wesley's going to stay pretty gray himself.