***AUTHOR'S NOTE***
Hey, trying something new with this one as well. Thought I might open my episodes with a quote, not necessarily from Angel, just a quote that reflects the basic theme of what's going to happen. The quote itself might not, in the context of when it was said, actually have anything to do with the episode, but alone, it should be alright. Tell me what you think of it and enjoy part 2 :)
"The era of procrastination, of half-errors, of soothing and baffling expedience of delays is coming to a close. In its place, we are coming to a period of consequences. We cannot avoid this period. We are in it now." - Winston Churchill
Day 8
"There is little over a week left before the whole of LA may possibly be destroyed by your sister and you want to sleep all day? You know you're dreaming, right?"
"I wish I was," said Mirany pointedly. "Although, my dreams at the moment aren't exactly good, but they're better than staying awake and dealing with you all day."
"Get up," Angel snapped, grabbing her arm and all but dragging her out of bed.
"No Angel! If you keep me awake today then I will make it my mission to get drunk so that I'll have a hangover tomorrow. So not only will I be no use to you today, but I'll also be no help tomorrow either."
"Good point," said Angel. "But you can hold your alcohol pretty well so until you do get drunk, do something worthwhile."
Mirany groaned and shook Angel off as he continued to pull her over to the door.
"I can walk by myself," she snapped. "And don't you think that perhaps you could be nice to me for just one day? Just one?"
"Yeah, I could be nice to you for one day, but that day is not today," said Angel.
Mirany muttered a small stream of obsenities under her breath and ducked when Angel tried to hit her for it.
"Is Connor coming around today?" she asked, scowling at him.
"No clue," said Angel impatiently. "Why don't you pick up your phone and call him yourself to find out? And while you do that, I have to go and actually do something constructive, which is a big word that I'm sure you've never heard of before, but it means something useful. When I get back I expect you to do the same with the stuff I've asked you to do."
"But that's like, three entire things," Mriany groaned. "I don't think I've ever worked so much in my life."
"Well, get used to it," said Angel.
Mirany scowled at him again.
"Weren't you leaving?" she asked coolly.
"Yes," said Angel. "I'll be back later and I expect at least one of those things to be done."
He walked out and Mirany gave his back a mock salute as she poked her tongue out at him.
...
"What do you mean, you don't have any?" asked Mirany frustratedly. "You specialise in this stuff, don't you? It's what you sell all the time. How can you not have any?"
"I'm sorry," said the store-keeper, whose name Mirany had forgotten a second after he'd said it, but she was sure it started with a J...or was that a M? "But we sold out of them this morning."
"Look Jack..." said Mirany, struggling to keep her voice level.
"My name's Matthew," said the storekeeper.
"Jack, Matthew, they sound the same, who cares?" Mirany snapped. "You're supposed to have this stuff. Lots of this stuff. Are you seriously telling me that someone came in and bought your entire stock? I thought your stuff was expensive. I mean, it's not every day that you get magically sealed bombs. Aren't your kits like, four thousand each or something? And you've got what? Two hundred of them. That makes eighty thousand bucks. That's not cheap."
"I know, but that's precisely what someone did," said Matthew, sounding relieved that she had figured it out. "It's never happened to me before. Why is everyone so interested in my stuff at the moment? Is something going to go down? Actually, don't answer that. Anyway, a woman came in yesterday, sold us out. Had more money than I think I've ever seen in my life. Sold out the entire shop, not just the bomb kits."
"A woman?" asked Mirany. "Did she leave a name?"
"Uh, yeah," said Matthew. "Mirany. Mirany Hunter. Wait, isn't that your name?"
Mirany snarled and hung up on the man, massaging her temples.
"Damn you Lilah," she muttered. "Damn you."
"Mirany, you here?" asked Connor's voice.
"Hey," said Mirany, looking up as he came in. "I was just about to call you."
"You look pissed. Are you having a moment? Should I come back later?"
"What? No," said Mirany. "And since when do I have 'moments?' Don't be ridiculous. Sit down."
"Okay so...if you're not having a moment then, what's up?" asked Connor, sitting down beside her.
Mirany took off her earpiece and waved it at him.
"Lilah's what's bloody up," she snapped, throwing the piece of electrics on the table angrily. "Angel asked me to see if I could get any bomb disabling kits desinged specially for magical bombs, only every place I've called has said that they're sold out. Guess who sold them out?"
"Lilah?" Connor asked.
"How'd you guess?" asked Mriany sarcastically.
"How many places have you called?" asked Connor.
"At least five. And not only have they been sold out of their kits and stuff, they've been sold out of their entire stock. Everything. I mean, this might be big, but I seriously doubt that the senior partners gave Lilah that much money for it."
"It's Wolfram and Hart, don't try to understand what they're thinking," said Connor, playing with Mirany's hair.
"The worst part of it is that she's using my name," said Mirany. "She's taunting me. She knew what we were going to do."
"Don't let her taunt you then," said Connor. "Don't let her get to you."
"Too late" Mirany muttered dully. "I'm doomed to spend the rest of my life letting her taunt me."
"What about normal places? I mean sure, they don't deal with magic ones, but they might have something useful."
"Way ahead of you," said Mirany, throwing the phone book in front of him and gesturing at the many red crosses on the page. "Sold out by one, Mirany Hunter."
"Okay, I feel taunted now and I'm not the one she's taunting," said Connor. "What are you going to do?"
"Solve the problem," said Mirany.
"Don't even think about calling Lilah," said Connor at once.
Mirany frowned at him.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because it's what she wants," said Connor. "She's probably sitting by the phone, waiting for you to call her so that she can mess with you some more. Every time you talk to Lilah at the moment, you doubt yourself because of something she says. Take a lesson from previous experience and find another way."
"Nobody asked you to be so smart," said Mirany muttered.
"Prerequisite of living with Wesley," said Connor carelessly. "You pick things up. So...what are you gonna do?"
...
Day 7
"Where is she?" asked Angel, pacing frustratedly.
"She said she's coming, don't worry," said Connor.
"She's really not taking this seriously enough," said Angel. "We've got one week. One week to stop Lilah and she's late."
"She is taking this seriously," said Connor quietly. "You just haven't seen her."
Angel an eyebrow at him as Mirany walked in.
"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm late. I was helping Dan. You know that man can heal at an incredible speed."
"How is he?" asked Connor.
"He's still hurting, but he's walking around, pretty much himself again," said Mirany.
"Okay, can we get back to the bomb?" asked Angel impatiently.
Mirany stared at him.
"You could show a little compassion," she said. "Aren't you the one that's supposed to care about Dan and I'm the one that's supposed to care about the bomb? What happened to your niceness?"
Angel rolled his eyes.
"Wesley found it," he said.
"The first one? Doesn't really surprise me," said Mirany.
"The second one," said Wesley, coming out of his office. "Don't ask me how they got it into Angel's apartment without anyone noticing anything, they just did."
"Wow, she doesn't like you," said Mirany, smirking at Angel.
"Thanks for that insight," said Angel sarcastically.
"So, have you figured out how to disarm it?" asked Mirany.
"Well, it's not armed. We can't actually disarm it until the day," said Cordelia.
"I've bene trying to find something that'll break through the spell barriers so we can just take it apart," said Wesley.
"I'm guessing no luck?" asked Mirany.
"He's been from his office to dad's room about twenty times already with all sorts of stuff," said Connor. "He came back down abotu an hour ago with blood painted on his face."
Mirany shuddered.
"You don't mind if I don't join in, right?" she asked Wesley. "I'll just stick to the killing Lilah problem if that's okay with you."
"Right there with you," said Cordelia.
...
Angel walked into his dark office and stopped, staring at Mirany.
"Is there a reason you're sitting at my desk?" he asked, pushing her feet off the surface.
"One week from today, one of us dies," said Mirany.
"Okay, that's probably a fairly morbid way to start a conversation but I'll bite. Why are you at my desk?"
"Seemed like the best place to brood," said Mirany.
"Well, there is years of brooding experience there but I doubt you'd really pick up on it," said Angel. "Mirany, are you okay?"
"I don't know," said Mirany.
"Mirany...why don't you leave?" asked Angel.
Mirany looked up at him.
"What?" she asked.
"Leave LA," said Angel. "Come back when it's all over. Then you won't have to worry about Lilah and stuff."
"Yeah, but then I'll have to worry about you guys," said Mirany. "I could come back and you'd all be dead. I just imagine that going down well."
"Well you need to do something to get Lilah off your mind for a few days," said Angel. "Seriously Mirany, you're acting like me."
"I'm guessing that not a good thing?" said Mirany.
Angel shook his head.
"The last time you acted anything like me you were killing guys in the graveyard every couple of nights," he said.
"Point taken," Mirany sighed. "But...what am I supposed to do? We both know there's no way in hell that could kill Lilah. I can't even kill someone I don't know anymore. I loved Lilah. There's no way I could...what do I do?"
"If you think that you still love her, you'll do what you think is best for her," said Angel. "Whether that's killing her or not is up to you."
"She almost had Dan killed. He said I should kill her."
"No," said Angel. "He said you should stop her. You said the only way to do that was to kill her and he helped justify that. But if you don't think it's right, don't do it."
"Then she'll kill me," said Mirany.
"I said don't kill her," said Angel. "I didn't say don't stop her. Just find another way. And do it in your own office."
...
Day 5
"Security cameras? Really?" asked Mirany. "They've already put the bomb in. What do you need security cameras for?"
"Just in case," said Angel. "Oh, just by the way, you paid for them."
"How?" Mirany growled.
"Here's your credit card," said Angel, handing back the piece of plastic and smirking at her. "Took it from your wallet."
"You stole my card? I'm going to kill you," said Mirany. "What else did you buy?"
"That's it. I stole it when you walked in," said Angel. "Stealthy's my middle name."
"I would have noticed," said Mirany. "My wallet is in my pocket. How could I not notice you take it out, grab my card and put it back?"
"I don't know," said Angel, shrugging. "I guess there is much you still need to be taught."
"I hate you," said Mirany. "You could have just asked."
"Where's the fun it that?" asked Angel, grinning at her. "Patrolling or brooding tonight?"
"Patrolling," said Mirany, scowling at him.
"Good," said Angel. "You don't suit the brooding thing. Where?"
"Somewhere with no one to witness me stab you," Mirany growled. "Couldn't you have bought something worthwhile with my money,r ather than a security system that you won't even know how to review because you're ancient and don't know how to use a computer."
"I know how to use a computer," said Angel indignantly. "And I'm thinking ahead. When someone tries to sneak around, I'll know about it."
"If that bomb goes off, it'll be a total waste of money," said Mirany.
"You've got plenty to spare," said Angel pointedly.
"That's not the point," said Mirany. "You are not going to use them."
"We'll be see about that," said Angel. "So, where am I meeting you?"
"You're not coming," said Mirany. "Connor is. I'm never going patrolling with you again. I always end up in pain."
"It's not my fault you act before you think," said Angel.
"No, but it is your fault for not stopping me," said Mirany. "One day I'm gonna killed when you could have stopped me and then you'll feel guilty."
"I doubt it," said Angel, walking away.
...
"Is Angel insufferable to you too or is it just me?" asked Mirany as they walked through the graveyard.
"Just you," said Connor.
"I suspected as much," Mirany muttered. "Oh hey, vampire, two o'clock."
As Connor moved to intercept the vampire, Mirany followed and watched as he fought with it.
"Why is he so mean to me?" she asked.
"I don't know. I don't pretend to be an expert on dad's head," Connor grunted.
"Maybe he's got a grudge against you," suggested the vampire.
"I'm not talking to you," said Mirany, throwing her stake at him and watching him burst into dust. "Although, he might have a grudge. But why? What did I do to deserve him being such a bastard?"
"Nothing, he just doesn't like you," said Connor, handing her stake back. "I don't know why, I don't know how you can fix it, and I don't know why you care. You don't like him any more than he likes you."
"I know but he's supposed to like me. He's supposed to set a good example," said Mirany. "How am I supposed to learn how to be nice form him if he's always mean to me?"
"Don't know," Connor sighed. "But why don't you worry about this later? Let's kill us some more vampires."
...
Day 4
"Everything is ready and in place ma'am," said the man. "The day before the plan we'll set the first bomb."
"Good," said Lilah. "I guess it's time to give my favourite sister a call."
"Do you have to?" asked Lindsay. "You get all stressed and stuff after talking to her. She gets to you."
"And so I have to take my revenge and get to her," said Lilah, typing a command into her computer and waiting for the connection to come up.
"I think this is a bad idea," said Lindsay.
Lilah ignored him as the screen came up. Mirany was typing with lightning fast speed on her computers, running from one side of the room to the other.
"I thought you were supposed to exercise in a gym," said Lilah.
Mirany jumped and spun around to stare at the screen, putting her headset on.
"Lilah," she said, pulling on the gloves that controlled the main screens in the room. "What do you want?"
"Well, things on my end are going well, I was just wondering if you were having as much luck," said Lilah.
"Um...yeah," said Mirany, flicking at a screen and beginning to move things around on the screen she was facing. "We've found the bomb in Angel's room and disabled it and everything, so we're good to go."
Lindsay swallwoed as Lilah glared at the screen, then at him.
"You've what?" she snarled.
"Disabled the bomb," said Mirany absentmidedly, obviously not paying Lilah much attention at all. "And the one in the shop was no trouble either."
Lilah smirked, knowing that she was lying.
"How, may I ask, did you disable a bomb that hasn't been placed yet?" she asked.
Mirany paused.
"Don't know what you're talking about," she said after a moment. "I'm really busy right now Lilah."
"Yeah, busy trying to find a way to break through the barriers around that bomb," Lindsay muttered.
"Who was that?" asked Mirany, grinning evilly at Lilah.
"No one," said Lilah warningly.
"Oh no, that was a definite someone," said Mirany. "A definite male someone. Is that Lindsay? Am I keeping you from something?"
"I called you," Lilah reminded her.
"Yeah, but you've always been a multitasker," said Mirany carelessly.
"Have fun trying to stop me," said Lilah, cutting the connection. "Why did you have to say something?"
"I didn't think it would pick it up," said Lindsay quickly. "I was muttering to myself really."
Lilah sighed, rubbing her temples.
"What if they actually have disabled that bomb?" she asked.
"They can't," said Lindsay. "No spell in the world can break through those barriers except for the one that you have and we created that spell. They'll never find out. Don't worry."
...
Mirany smirked at the screen as Lilah's face disappeared and continued to sort through the information from several screens.
"There are spells for everything," she told herself. "It can't be that difficult to find a spell that will take down those barriers."
"Tried the Wolfram and Hart data bank?" asked Connor.
"Okay, that is the second time in the past ten minutes that I have been scared by someone I didn't think was there. Am I losing my touch?" asked Mirany, turning around.
"Absolutely not," said Connor. "I'm just really quiet. Who scared you the first time?"
"Lilah," said Mirany.
"Well, she was on a computer screen, it's different."
"What were you saying?" asked Mirany.
"Check Wolfram and Hart's data base. Maybe they've made their own spell."
"I knew that," said Mirany quickly, hurrying over to one of her computers and beginning to type.
"Sure you did," said Connor, sitting down and watching her dash around the room again.
"But seriously, why are you here?" asked Mirany.
"Didn't want to hang around dad and Cordelia. They're having a moment."
"A moment?" asked Mirany.
"You know how you and dad are at each other's throats all the time? Well, occasionaly, it happens with the two of them, only Cordelia always wins."
"Why?" asked Mirany.
"Because he's afraid of what she'll do to him if she loses," said Connor.
"He's afraid of her, but he's not afraid of me?" asked Mirany. "Not quite sure I'm seeing the logic here."
"Cordelia lives with us. She can do all sorts of things to torture him for the rest of her life. He doesn't want that," said Connor simply.
"Ah hah!"
Mirany turned to Connor.
"Ah hah!" she said again, grinning at him. "Behold the magic that is...the magic."
She paused.
"That didn't quite work the way I wanted it to," she admitted. "But still."
She pointed at the screen.
"I found it," she said.
"No, what you've found is a heap of ones and zeros," said Connor.
"Watch the master and learn young grasshopper," said Mirany, slipping on a pair of sunglasses. "This is technology at it's finest."
Connor watched in fascination as Mirany began to type rapidly and the numbers slowly turned to letters, rearranging themselves to make words. After a few minutes, the spell was flashing at him on the screen.
"Awesome," he breathed.
...
Day 2
"After much ranting, raving and cursing, he finally managed it," said Cordelia. "Took him long enough. I mean, he had the spell and everything."
"It's a difficult spell to perform at the best of times," Wesley snapped. "I don't even have any magical powers. It wasn't as if I could just say the words and it would work. There was a ritual to perform and the words aren't exactly easy to pronouce, especially in Latin."
"Ah Latin, one of those dead languages you always mean to learn," said Mirany. "But it worked?"
"It did," said Wesley. "Now all we have to do is figure out how to either take it apart, or disarm it."
"Can't you just throw an axe at it or something?" asked Connor.
"It'd blow up," said Angel. "We're better off trying to disarm it than trying to take it apart. One wrong move and LA could be destoryed a few days early. We chould try to find out all we can about the bomb and try to figure out how to disarm it once it has been armed."
"Wow, he's actually smart," said Mirany. "Congratulations Angel on acquiring a brain."
Angel growled at her and Mirany poked her tongue at him, giving him a daring look, willing him to make a move.
"Once you two are finished," said Cordelia, scowling at them both, "you could maybe go on a round, see if anyone knows anything."
"No one will," said Mirany.
"Yeah, Lilah would ahve been real careful about the actual making of the bomb," said Connor.
"Then get onto the Wolfram and Hart data base and see if you can find anything," said Wesley. "Blueprints or something."
"Already tried," said Mirany. "Either they've hidden it away in a very good hiding spot or they haven't risked putting it into their main frame."
"So basically, we're stuffed," said Connor.
"Wesley, you and Cordelia go and see what you can find about any sort of bomb stuff," said Angel. "Mirany, have another look at Wolfram and Hart, Connor, you and I are hitting the streets."
"This is all going to be pointless," Mirany muttered. "She's going to destroy us all."
...
Day 1
"One more day," said Lilah. "One more day and I won't have Mirany annoying me any longer."
"Let's just pray she doesn't do a really good job of annoying you today," said Lindsay.
"She won't," said Lilah. "No matter how far they've gotten, they'll never be able to get rid of the bomb, even if they somehow manage to get through the barriers. Those blueprints are on paper and there's no trace of them on a computer. The first bomb is in place and even if they manage to stop that one, I can set off the other one straight away. Nothing can ruin my mood today."
"Really? What a shame," said Mirany from the computer.
Lilah jumped and pushed Lindsay away from her at once.
"Too late," said Mirany. "I already saw him. I've been listening in for a while now."
"Which means that you know this call is pointless, so why are you still on my screen?" asked Lilah.
"Just wanted to check in. You know, make sure you were all set for tomorrow," said Mirany. "Just check that you don't want to change your mind."
"If I did, you'd know about it," said Lilah. "And it's not me that you need to worried about. Are you prepared for tomorrow?"
"Uh...yep, I think so. Got my knife, my gun, my trusty stake. I've never been too sure about whether or not you're a vampire. Lindsay, I would keep an eye on that. If she makes a move for your neck, holy water works really well. Of course, both of you working for Wolfram and Hart means that you're fairly evil anyway so holy water might work just as well on you even if you aren't vampires."
"What do you want Mirany?" asked Lilah pointedly.
"Just to make sure that Lily really is gone," said Mirany.
Lilah blinked.
"Goodbye," she said firmly, disconnecting Mirany.
"Lily?" asked Lindsay.
"That was a long time ago," said Lilah. "And it's not important any more."
...
"Mirany, my office is not open for anyone who wants to brood," Angel sighed, leaning against his desk and folding his arms as he looked down at the teenager expectantly. "Why are you here?"
"Just trying to absorb some of the brooding energy so i can take it back to my own study," Mirany lied.
"And the real reason?" asked Angel.
"I called Lilah earlier," said Mirany. "She's completely prepared. She said we'll never figure out the bomb. The first one's been placed. She has a platter for my head. And when I called her Lily...she didn't show any trace of vulnerability. I'm just hoping that my plan will work."
"So you have a plan?" asked Angel.
Mirany nodded.
"I have several," she said. "But I planted the seed for this one, so this will be Plan A. I have plans through to Q."
"And what's this one?" asked Angel.
"Try to find her. Try to reach her."
Mirany looked up at Angel.
"Like you did with me."
"Hmm, as much as I like the 'open your heart again' option, do you really think it's going to work? She's been working for Wolfram and Hart for years. How do you know there's any heart left to open?"
"I don't," said Mirany. "Maybe that's why I'm doing this. I want to find out."
"Plan Q had better be a bloody good plan," said Angel.
*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***
Okay, yes, I skipped a day or two, but I was running out of ideas and I hadn't updated this story in a while. So yeah, tell me what you think about the quote, maybe give me one of your own for season 2, which *segue* is currently being written at the moment. Yeah, so I'm better at the spotaneous ideas than the set course structure :P Anyway, the next chapter is also being written and should be up in the next week or two (sorry if it takes longer, I'm not great at performing on demand either). Don't forget to review :)