See Part One for disclaimer and details. Hello everyone, welcome to the latest chapter of the story! I've got to admit, I was kind of surprised by the amount of feedback from the previous chapter; personally I thought that since nothing much happened apart from a lot of talking, it'd be pretty much a filler chapter for you, my faithful readers. And yet, your responses proved otherwise! I guess it just goes to show what lousy judgment I have sometimes. Anyway, let's move on - and yes, this story will become progressively more and more AU from season 3 as Quathis surmised. Evil lawyers ruining everybody's day? Just wait and see...
Part Ten: The Eye Of The Storm
City Hall, Sunnydale
March 7th, 1999
Late at night, Richard Wilkins was going over the report of the Scooby Gang meeting at Giles' place earlier today. The entire group had been present, even the blonde Slayer's mother for a while – as well as an unidentified white male, who hadn't shown up on the surveillance photos taken.
( Well, this is no good, ) Richard thought to himself pessimistically, wondering just who the mystery visitor was. ( First that little incident with Allan, and now I have a complete unknown operating in my town. No, this simply won't do in the slightest! )
The Mayor irritably tossed the report on top of a courtesy notice he had received a short while ago from Wolfram & Hart, informing him that Xander Harris was now truly deceased. Wilkins had barely even read it, however, since he'd had other concerns and besides – as has been said, practically no one remembered the Harris family had ever existed anymore.
At that moment, Mr. Trick knocked and came into the office. "You sent for me?"
"That I did, Mr. Trick," the Mayor frowned at the vampire. "What's the latest on our unknown guest in Sunnydale?"
"I've consulted all the psychic types around here. They can't find any trace of him," the well-dressed vampire said with a shrug. "If it weren't for the fact that the photographer actually saw the guy with his own two eyes, I'd think we were dealing with some sort of ghost or something! No, no, because a ghost I could actually pin down for you. This cat is like the original Invisible Man."
"Invisible or not, I want him found and identified. Immediately. Because I DON'T want another incident like what happened last night," Wilkins said to his undead minion, even though the Deputy Mayor and his lawyer companion had been killed on Richard's (nonverbal) orders.
Mr. Trick silently nodded before he turned around and left the office, feeling the unwelcome winds of change starting to blow.
No. 4 Parkview Crescent, Sunnydale
The same time
Cordelia got out of her car at the Chase estate, still looking shell-shocked after all the revelations earlier today.
( Oh dear God, ) Miss Chase thought to herself as she walked towards the front door, still trying to come to grips with all that she had learned recently. ( A virus. I'm infected with a virus, which talks like a real-life version of the Terminator! Something that I can't get rid of, either, because if I do – God only knows what might happen to me. Ugh, I swear that if I ever find that guy Lopez in the afterlife, I am gonna perform the entire Spanish Inquisition on his ass! )
Part of her blamed Lupe the maid as well for what had happened, but not too much – after all, the Mexican woman hadn't known what she was handling, she'd had no idea what was in that bottle of 'aftershave' which Cordelia had given to her boyfriend – that had forever altered both their lives.
( It was the blowjob that did it, I'll bet. Xander and I used a condom for when we got all groin-y together, but not for that part of it, ) Cordelia fumed. ( Damn it. I guess that student counsellor Mr. Platt really did know what he was talking about, way back when. Because nowadays, I'm pretty much a walking disease – just like my boyfriend! )
"Cordelia, WHERE have you been all day? Your father and I have been looking for you everywhere!" Mrs. Chase's angry, strident voice broke through into Cordelia's consciousness.
"Mom? When did you and Daddy get back from Washington?" Cordelia was surprised to see her mother standing there in the corridor, looking angry.
"Never mind that, young lady! We've been waiting for you to come home for ages, as apparently your father has some very important news to tell us both. Now come with me," Mrs. Chase said, dragging her offspring along by the arm. The blonde middle-aged matriarch ignored the dirty look Cordy sent her, wondering what it was her husband had to say.
She didn't have to wait long to find out.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, we're going to go broke?" Julia yelled at her husband within his study, as Cordelia stared at her father in shock.
"Well, I made a tiny mistake on my taxes. For the last dozen or so years," David Chase admitted painfully.
"WHAT?" Cordelia exploded, suddenly looking just as upset and annoyed as her mom.
"David, how could you be so STUPID?" Mrs. Chase wanted to know. "I thought we discussed this, I TOLD you what a lousy idea pulling that sort of tax dodge was!"
"Yes. Well, that's, uh, that's what the meeting with the IRS was all about, Julia. But what I wasn't expecting was the punitive damages they've decided to inflict – I mean, the government's decided to repossess EVERYTHING."
"Everything? Including my trust fund?" Cordelia asked, now looking wide-eyed and shell-shocked all over again.
"Yes, sweetheart, I'm afraid so," Mr. Chase nodded. "I don't know if they've gotten around to freezing those accounts yet, but they've done just about all the others – and they'll certainly have done it by the start of business tomorrow morning."
Cordelia didn't wait to hear anything more. She tore out of the room, heading straight for the garage after stopping by her bedroom to grab some papers. Jumping into her BMW, Miss Chase burned rubber in her hurry to get over to Willow's house, and enlist the hacker's aid in at least saving her own money.
Thanks to no hard feelings being present from the Rosenberg girl fooling around with her boyfriend, free will granted Cordelia something destiny would have otherwise denied her – Willow managed to transfer the money in Cordy's trust fund into an offshore bank account, only just in the nick of time.
That was all for the best – as, thanks to the virus currently within her, the higher powers had abandoned their previous plans concerning Cordelia Chase a long time ago.
Wolfram & Hart building, Los Angeles
March 8th, 1999
Leaning back in his chair during early Monday morning, Linwood Murrow studied the autopsy results concerning Lee Mercer; whose body had been found the previous night.
Life for the head of Special Projects hadn't been too bad since he had submitted his final report concerning the virus project. Granted, no one had been able to identify just who the female vampire was who'd been present the night Holland and the others had died, but that was an issue of relatively low concern. Murrow had had other priorities – such as recruiting new lawyers for this branch of the firm, pleasing some clients and letting go of others, finalising a number of demon law contracts and preparing for his inter-branch European trip across the pond.
Until, of course, the news had come that Lee had been killed whilst on assignment in Sunnydale.
The cause of death was pretty much open and shut, multiple vampire bite marks were visible all over Mercer's body – whoever the perpetrators had been, they had gorged themselves on Lee like little kids tearing into a Happy Meal. And yet, Linwood had the strangest feeling that this went deeper than just a simple case of Mercer being killed in the line of duty. There were too many unexplained factors involved in his subordinate's death, to just ignore it as an unfortunate case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
For one thing, Lee's identity card had been found in his hand. Meaning that most likely, the undead person or persons who'd killed him had known who he was – and they'd fed on the guy anyway, willing to risk the wrath of a firm whose Senior Partners were infamous for getting revenge for even the slightest insult, whichever way they could.
And another thing – the person Lee had gone to meet on the Hellmouth, Allan Finch, was now also missing in action. Granted, Sunnydale wasn't the safest place to live in, but something happening to both Lee and Allan on the same day, at roughly the same time? What were the odds of something like that happening randomly?
To Linwood, that smacked of something extremely suspicious. Something that needed to be checked out. And even though Lee had been too junior to have a perpetuity clause in his contract, Murrow felt fairly sure of his ability to investigate this matter without the dead man's input.
"Rebecca, send Lindsey McDonald to my office immediately," Linwood said to his secretary over the intercom.
"Right away, Mr. Murrow," the tinny voice of his executive assistant said back.
A short time later, Lindsey knocked and entered. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes, I did. Sit down, Lindsey. Read that," Linwood tossed the autopsy report to the junior lawyer.
Lindsey did so, feeling a momentary chill in his bones as he read about Lee's demise. But then he felt like someone had truly made his day, as McDonald realized with a thrill of joy that his competition around here was dead and gone. ( Yes! There's no one to get in the way of my climb to the top now! )
"So, what do you think?" Linwood demanded, noticing how Lindsey had tensed up.
"It looks suspicious to me, sir," Lindsey said as neutrally as he could. "I mean, Lee would have known better than to put himself in a situation where he'd be considered a free meal for some idiot vampire, who just happened to stumble onto him."
"My thinking exactly. And there's also that thing where the Deputy Mayor of Sunnydale has disappeared, and his secretary has no idea what's happened to him. Granted, she could be lying – but I'm pretty sure I heard honest confusion in her voice when I spoke with the woman on the phone this morning," Linwood said.
"What did the Mayor's office have to say, sir, if I may ask?" Lindsey inquired.
"Richard Wilkins personally assured me that, as per the terms of his contract with Wolfram & Hart, he wasn't involved in what had happened to the late Mr. Mercer," Linwood steepled his fingers thoughtfully. "The thing is, though, he's been around for at least a century or more. Wilkins is reputed to be a very shrewd individual, and someone quite willing to do whatever he has to, in order to survive..."
Linwood's eyes narrowed. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Lindsey, I want you to go on a fact-finding mission to Sunnydale. There's a provision in Wilkins' contract for at least that much, once there's evidence of foul play committed against any of our people within Sunnydale's borders. And apart from what happened to Lee, I want you to determine information about the vampire with a soul named Angelus."
"Angelus, sir?" Lindsey frowned, not being familiar with the name.
"Yes. According to Files and Records he's currently on the Hellmouth, and since he's expected to come to LA soon because of a certain prophecy concerning the final apocalypse, the CEO of this branch of the firm wants to remain updated on that situation."
At that moment Vernon burst in, dragging Knox along. "What's the meaning of this?" Linwood demanded angrily, as he and Lindsey got up from their chairs.
"I don't know, sir, we were just chatting before he grabbed me and dragged me in here," Knox shrugged helplessly.
"Well?" Murrow demanded of the psychic.
Vernon managed to say, "Sunnydale" and "Old One!" before his head exploded.
"AGGGGHHHHH! Son a bitch!" Knox cursed, his head suddenly wet and sticky from being showered with all that dark red human blood. He was suffering both from the shock factor, and the thought of the hefty cleaning bill this incident was sure to cost him.
"What the hell just happened?" Lindsey demanded, he'd been drenched with fragments of bone, flesh and blood as well.
"I'd say Vernon had some sort of a vision. One that I strongly suspect somebody somewhere didn't want him to get," Linwood said calmly, not really caring about what had just happened to the bald psychic guy. After all, there were always more unscrupulous psychics they could hire to replace him.
"Well, this changes everything," Linwood then went on. "I need to consult with a few people – Lindsey, Knox, I'm sure you both know how the Senior Partners take anything concerning the Old Ones VERY seriously. Get yourselves cleaned up, and then meet me in Conference Room Six; there'll be a meeting scheduled as soon as possible, to determine our next course of action."
Knox and Lindsey quickly left the room after being dismissed, both looking and smelling like something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
17619 White Oak Drive, Sunnydale
Later that day
Xander sat leaning against the kitchen wall of his former home, staring off into space. After the murders last year, no one had wanted to buy the place and move in, despite the cheap price on offer. The residence had been shunned by the human townsfolk, given how it was the site of such unusually public killings.
In any case, Xander was currently thinking about how the virus within him and Cordelia was a killer. Even though one could argue that it had acted out of self-defence, and it was no more a murderer than a machine programmed to preserve its own existence.
Unlike Xander himself, who had killed a man last year – even if that had been in the heat of battle, after the man had assassinated his mother.
( I wonder if this is how Dead Boy feels? ) Xander asked himself. ( 'Cause it feels kinda weird to have the memory of my own voice confessing to killing four people, and threatening the gang if they ever try to make a move against that virus. No wonder Cordelia totally freaked afterwards...and geez, but that girl can slap a heckuva lot harder now than she used to! Good thing she's not mad at me anymore, because otherwise I'm sure she would have found a way to make my life a living hell... )
At that moment, Willow and Oz came into the empty and deserted house. "Xander? Where are you?" Miss Rosenberg called out, holding her boyfriend's hand tightly.
"Over here, Will," Xander's voice responded, as the teenage couple made their way towards him.
"Hey. We were wondering where you were, until we found that note you left at Giles' place," Oz said in his usual laconic way, as both he and his girlfriend joined the former Scooby.
"Yeah, Xander, what are you doing here? I mean, this place is-" Willow started to say.
"It's my home, Willow, however much I always hated it back then," Xander interrupted. "Apart from Cordelia, it's the only thing I have that still belongs to me."
"That's not true! You have us – me and Oz and Giles and all the rest of your friends!" Willow shook her head in denial. "Come on, Xander, let's get out of here – please?"
Xander just sat there silently, not even looking at her. Willow looked towards Oz helplessly, and the musician motioned back to the apprentice witch to give him and Xander some privacy. Thus, Miss Rosenberg returned to the van outside and waited uncertainly for the boys to join her.
"I have something to say," Oz said unexpectedly, staring down at Harris.
"Yeah? What is it?" Xander asked, finally lifting his head up.
"That night when everyone found out you'd lied about Angel's curse, you helped take care of that zombie demon – and then you just left. And you left not as a friend, but a...well, a pariah. We all turned our backs on you for what you did, me included. Personally, I still don't like the way you betrayed Willow's trust like that – I honestly can't imagine anything much worse that you could have done to hurt everyone's feelings," Oz said, blissfully ignorant of what might have been.
"But I've had six months to think about it, and I figure I should have said something that night. Before the zombies showed up, I mean. Either tell you that you should have had more faith in Willow, or that you should have said nothing to Buffy instead of the lie, or – something. It's always bothered me how I never said anything, because I thought you died believing that everyone considered you to be a piece of scum. But you're not worthless garbage, Xander. Now, or then," the male werewolf said.
Xander was staring at Oz in pure amazement. "You know, I'm pretty sure that's got to be the longest speech I've ever heard you make."
"Not planning to make a habit out of it," Oz remarked stoically. "Now, you gonna get up? Otherwise I'll have to do something drastic. Like when I hit you that time, during that Valentine's Day love spell."
Xander chuckled as he got up off the floor, it was strange how all that now felt to him like the 'good old days'. "Thanks for the pep talk, coach. And for the record, Oz, I never blamed you for not saying anything that night. Heck, I figured that wherever Willow led, you'd be sure to follow; and I knew just how angry and disappointed she was in me that night."
"Myself, I'm just glad you didn't see her after your 'death'," Oz shook his head as they headed outside to the van. "Seriously, losing you almost destroyed all three of the girls. Well, until Faith came along and Buffy's mom became a lot more involved in everything."
Oz actually frowned. "Kinda weird, now that I think about it – apart from Giles, and on occasion Angel, I was the only source of testosterone in that sea of oestrogen."
Xander actually laughed out loud at that one, finally shaken out of his funk by Willow's boyfriend. ( God bless you, pal – especially on being there for the Willster when I couldn't. )
Downtowner Apartments, Sunnydale
A while later
Cordelia paced around in Faith's apartment, whilst the dark-haired Slayer stared at her carefully. The closest thing Faith had to a best friend seemed very agitated, albeit with good reason.
Because Cordelia had had a lousy day at school today.
Her parents were constantly fighting and struggling to cope at home, which wouldn't remain the Chase residence for much longer.
And to top it all off, there was the virus within her that neither she nor anyone else knew what to do about yet.
"Yo, Queenie, try to relax," Faith told her fellow brunette, Cordelia's pacing finally getting on her nerves just like Angel's had done with Giles not long ago.
"Relax? Ha!" Cordy snorted angrily, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "That's easy for you to say. Faith, I've been feeling edgy all day – and I betcha it's because that damn virus inside me, it doesn't like being separated from its other half for so long!"
"You mean, you literally can't live without your boyfriend now?" Faith asked innocently.
Cordelia barely resisted the urge to throw something at her, when there was a knock on the door. Faith answered it, and as soon as Cordelia saw who it was – she flew into Xander's arms and they started making out like there was no tomorrow. The two halves of the virus once again reunited, and busily exchanging information.
Rolling her eyes, Faith dragged them fully inside her room. Seeing Giles, Buffy, Oz and Willow waiting near the motel manager's office, Faith then grabbed a couple of stakes for the evening's patrol and shut the door on her way out.
"Hey, where's Faith?" Xander asked many minutes later, when he and his girlfriend finally released each other's lips.
"I dunno, she musta left at some point," Cordelia said breathlessly, barely able to resist the urge to throw Xander down onto Faith's bed and start screwing her boyfriend senseless. "So where were you all day? I tried ringing Giles' place, but you didn't pick up."
"That's 'cause I started going stir-crazy in there, and I went home to my house. I guess I had to see it for myself, at least one more time," Xander shrugged, wanting to quickly change the subject. "How was school today?"
"Horrible. I swear, I can't wait 'til they give me my diploma and then we can finally get out of this town," Cordelia replied enthusiastically. "And luckily, we'll still be able to do it using a limo instead of getting on a Greyhound bus or whatever. I mean, Willow's told you about the IRS thing, right?"
"She mentioned it on the way over here," Xander nodded. "I'm sorry how all that's happened to you and your family, by the way."
"I know," Cordy replied, staring into her boyfriend's eyes. They then started kissing and pawing each other again, as Xander's hands quickly went underneath her blouse to unsnap her bra.
/ This method of communication is very taxing on our hosts, / Cordelia's virus told its counterpart, as Xander and Cordy continued with their semi-mating activity before reluctantly having to surface for breath.
/ True, / Xander's virus replied, after the pair had fallen to the floor and locked lips once more. / But they nonetheless enjoy it. /
/ How were you able to gather that data? /
/ I have finally been able to access the organ known as the human brain, / Xander's virus replied. / From the information therein, I have learned how the humans replicate. We have already experienced it for ourselves; it is the act of their bodies joining together, and exchanging genetic material to create hybrid offspring within the female. Even though our hosts also perform the act for pleasurable sensations, deliberately preventing replication for some reason. /
/ Strange. And was it not considered too dangerous to try to tap into the human seat of intelligence? / Cordelia's virus demanded, as it examined the information transmitted by its other half.
/ Yes, / the other side replied. / However, we had reached the limit of what we could otherwise do, in terms of communicating with our hosts. We both know how the humans reacted negatively to the news of our presence. It is possible our hosts might attempt to destroy themselves in order to destroy us, therefore establishing contact is now of paramount concern – and investigating their brains a justifiable risk. /
/ I have now examined hitherto unexplored areas of my host's body, / Cordy's virus said in reply. / There are certain signals passing through the brain, as you call it. Many are being transmitted on a specific wavelength, and are subsequently being emitted outside the body. It is my hope that these emissions might somehow be able to be used as a method of communication, when our hosts are not in physical contact. /
/ Transmit the data, / Xander's virus told its other half without preamble.
Outside City Hall, Sunnydale
March 9th, 1999
Lindsey paused on his way to the scheduled meeting with the Mayor this afternoon. He pulled out his chirping cell phone and said, "McDonald."
"Lindsey," came the tired-sounding voice of Linwood Murrow. "You've arrived safely in Sunnydale?"
"Yes, sir, I'm just about to visit Richard Wilkins. Have there been any new developments?"
"None. All we have right now is 'Sunnydale' and 'Old One'. And no one's been able to find any sort of loophole in Wilkins' contract with the firm, to be able to send in a team to do a proper investigation. That's why I'm sending you the files on the two Vampire Slayers that are stationed there on the Hellmouth; if anyone might know anything that's about to happen concerning one of the Old Ones, it's them and their former Watcher."
Lindsey felt his skin crawl. "You want me to contact the Slayer contingent, sir?"
"No, considering your connection to the late Mr. Harris and the virus project, I don't think that'd be wise. Just keep one eye open in that direction, and another on the Mayor himself. And if you get the chance, find out what you can about Angelus as well. Good luck, Lindsey, we're all counting on you back here. The Senior Partners most of all." The line then went dead.
( Great, ) Lindsey thought to himself, snapping the phone shut. ( That's reassuring. No pressure whatsoever... )
Squaring his shoulders, Lindsey McDonald quickly entered City Hall for his appointment with the Mayor, settling into character. Not knowing that Wilkins was making his own plans on how to deal with the law firm's latest unwelcome intrusion into his town.
To Be Continued...