"That's the problem with a Q'lxzr," Spike complained. "Too bleedin' easy. If you're going to rough up an informant, the least it could do is require a little.., forceful persuasion."
Angel shook his head. "I prefer it the easy way, myself," he remarked. "I wonder if the any of the others have come up with anything yet."
"It hasn't been that long," Spike pointed out. He gave his grandsire a quizzical look. "Shouldn't I be the one who's wearing holes in the carpeting over this?"
"You were only concerned about Rose," Angel replied. "But I had to sit by and worry about both..," He stopped abruptly and bit his tongue for nearly making such an admission.
It was close enough for Spike. "You mean you were..," His voice trailed away too, and his expression was a mixture of both delight and horror. He gulped. "Don't worry, Angel, mate. You're secret's safe with me."
&&&&&&
Wesley hung up the phone. "No go, Rose," he said. "Daria hasn't removed the wards that imprisoned you in her house. My guess is that she's not likely to bother. They're so specific that they're not really going to interfere with anything."
"And maybe she doesn't meet clients, at least first time clients, at the house," Rose suggested hopefully.
"That's a possibility," Wes conceded. "But we won't know until Angel and Spike get done questioning the informant." He glanced at her appearance again. "Do you have to keep that up, Rose?" he asked, a bit irritably. "In all honesty, I'm finding it somewhat disconcerting."
"I'm practicing," Rose replied with a grin. "Besides, I want to see how Spike reacts to it."
Before the researcher could make further comment, Spike and Angel entered.
Both vampires did a double take at the sight of a leggy, stacked blond when they had expected someone else entirely.
"Where's Rose?" Spike demanded. "She was supposed to be here with you, Watcher."
"I don't control her," Wesley remarked mildly. "And you're being quite rude to my guest." He nodded in Rose's direction. "We may quite possibly have someone here who could be our contact with Daria McBride."
Angel gave her another glance and wondered which head Wes was thinking with.
"Hello, gentlemen." Rose broke the silence. Before she could continue, Spike sat down with an audible thump, his eyes glazing over slightly. "Rose," he croaked through a suddenly constricted throat.
"Rose?" Angel was totally stunned.
Rose resumed her normal appearance. "I thought it was a very good disguise," she replied in tones of utter disappointment. "What gave me away?"
"Your voice." Spike had managed to find his again, amongst other things. He stood up. "Listen, luv, if you think I'm lettin' you get anywhere near that bounty hunter bitch, guess again. I don't want you around her any more than you want me around her." He saw the last observation had made his point clear, but for good measure, he added, "Please?"
"It was a good plan," Rose grumbled. But grumbling was obviously all it was. She had conceded the round to Spike, and all present knew it.
"Back to square one, I guess," Wesley sighed. He glanced at Rose again. "It was a good plan, Rose," he consoled her.
Angel was still looking thoughtful. "You changed everything else, Rose," he observed. "Can't you change your voice as well?"
"Now just hang about a minute," Spike interrupted heatedly. He turned on Angel. "You oughta know better than that, you prancing nancy-boy," he said in disgust. "The McBride bird is a predator, like us. And there's a lot more going on than just appearance and the sound of a voice to it, and you bloody well know it."
Angel wasn't sure he cared being lumped in the same category with Daria McBride, but he had to admit that his obnoxious grandchilde had a point. "Mannerisms, the way she moves," he mused aloud.
"And the fact that she's got no scent whatsoever," Spike finished. He looked over at Rose's still downcast face. "Sorry, pet. I know you want a piece of Daria McBride as much as anyone. But it just won't wash." He sidled up closer to the phantom and whispered, for her ears alone. "Besides, the thought of her getting hold of you again gives me the cauld grue. Promise me you won't?"
"I promise," Rose replied meekly. Spike at his most persuasive was something she found impossible to resist. Or even at considerably less than his most persuasive.
"We did get some more information out of the Q'lxzr," Angel said abruptly, feeling the mood in the room was getting too personal for his tastes. "But it's still holding out a bit." He spared another glance for the phantom. "It wants to see Rose."
"Why?" Wesley's whole face was a question mark, and Rose's was a near match.
Spike shrugged. "Says it's because it's never seen a ghost before," he explained. "Still not sure I trust the little, pointy-eared sod, though." He looked at Rose. "You be sure you keep your distance from it, sweetheart," he cautioned. "All it asked was to look, and that's all the opportunity I want it to have."
"A reasonable precaution," Angel conceded. "But the information could be crucial, so would you mind coming down to the holding cells with us, Rose?"
"All right," Rose agreed reluctantly. "You're not going to hurt it, are you?"
&&&&&&&
Gunn hung up the phone. He hadn't actually talked to anyone as yet. He'd merely picked up the receiver, then set it down. That made about an even dozen times now. He finally gave up. He was sure Gwen could handle the job, if she'd take it, and she probably would, if the price was right. But upon further consideration, he seriously doubted if Angel would allow it. The vampire definitely had trust issues where Gwen was concerned.
&&&&&&&
The Q'lxzr demon was shifting excitedly from foot to foot at the sight of the two returning vampires plus the new addition to the party. "That the ghost?" it asked impatiently.
"She's the ghost," Angel answered calmly. "Are you ready to give us the rest of the information now that you've seen her?"
"Prove she is ghost," the demon demanded. It eyed Rose up and down so thoroughly that Spike had to suppress an urge to start growling. "She pretty, but she could be anybody. Show I she ghost."
Rose walked a wide circuit around the Q'lxzr, passing through walls and bars on the way, and finishing by walking through both Angel and Spike, then coming to a stop in front of the demon's cell again, making sure she kept her promise to Spike by staying back by at least an arm's length.
"That proof enough for you, you little freak?" Spike demanded belligerently. He was having a problem with the way that the shifty-eyed bugger was still looking at Rose.
The demon's ears drooped a bit, as it realized that Spike was not a happy camper. "I touch?" it suggested timidly.
"Out of the effin' question," Spike snarled, eyes going yellow. "The show's over, so why don't you start talking before I start ripping things off?" He gave the demon a calculating look. "Think maybe I'll start with the ears," he remarked.
"No pull off I ears!" the Q'lxzr squeaked, covering the appendages with its hands. "I talk, vampire. No need to threaten to pull off I beautiful ears."
"Then maybe you'd better get on with it," Angel suggested. "As you can see, my friend here is not too pleased with you at the moment. You don't want to give him an excuse." His pager beeped at him. God, he hated the thing, plus a lot of the other techy toys that were considered necessary for a businessman to carry nowadays. He checked the message, then pulled out his cell phone. "Fred? Yeah, I'm kinda busy at the moment. I see. I'll be right up when we're done here." He looked back at the demon. "Talk," he growled, out of patience with it. His eyes went yellow, too.
The demon looked from one irritated vampire to the other and realized that even if they didn't have the keys to its cell, they could probably break their way in anyway. It started talking.
&&&&&&
"So, what does Science Girl have on her mind?" Spike asked as they left the cells.
"She said she had an idea about a contact," Angel replied. "But I really didn't give her time to explain. I guess we'll find out soon enough."
Rose seemed to be lost in thought, and some pretty serious thoughts at that.
"Whatcha thinking, luv?" Spike asked.
"It's such a pathetic little thing," she murmured. "You wouldn't really have pulled it's ears off, would you, love?"
Spike suppressed a sigh and rolled his eyes at Angel. "'Course I wouldn't have, pet," he lied.
&&&&&&&
Fred was bubbling over with enthusiasm when they reached the lab. So much so, in fact, that she practically seemed to be vibrating.
"How about a robot?" she asked enthusiastically.
Spike had a sudden coughing fit, and suddenly something that he had said a few months back about people having sex with robots connected for Angel. He grabbed Spike's shirt and lifted him off the ground.
"Tell me you didn't," he demanded. He didn't have to elaborate, he knew Spike got the point.
Spike wasn't about to make an admission right now, if ever. But most particularly not in front of Rose. Besides, the embarrassed look on his face was probably enough for Angel. Still, he cast an appealing glance at his grandsire, then flicked his eyes towards Rose. "Could this wait till later?" he suggested. In the back of his mind was the extremely faint hope that Angel would forget in the meantime.
Angel was already pretty sure that his question had been answered, and he was torn between being pissed and disgusted. But he didn't want to upset Rose either. He set Spike back on his feet.
Fred and Rose exchanged a 'this must be one of those guy things' looks and refrained from commenting.
"Do you think you could construct a robot that's lifelike enough to fool the bounty hunter?" Angel asked.
"They can be made very.., lifelike," Spike interjected cautiously.
"On second thought, cancel that 'later', " Angel said. "I'm starting to think I have more information about that than I really want."
"Have you had much exposure to robots, Spike?" Fred asked. Somehow she couldn't see it.
"Seen a couple that were so real that you'd think they were actual girls if you didn't know better," he confirmed.
"What about scent?" Angel said. "That was a point that you brought up earlier, Spike. And while humans don't generally notice, I think that Daria would notice if a prospective client smelled more like plastic than a person."
"There's ways around that," Fred assured him. "It will take a little while, though." She turned back to Spike. "Do you know who built those robots you were talking about? I wouldn't mind having a consultation with an expert."
"He's dead," Spike said shortly. "And no, you wouldn't want to talk to him. He wasn't on our side."
"I see," Fred said. "Well, I still think I can pull it off, but like I said, it's going to take time. Especially the programming required to make it act like a real person." She thought a bit. "Appearance is the least important thing about the function," she remarked. "But it might make a difference to us as to what kind of image we want to project to Daria McBride. Do you have anything in mind?"
"Why don't you discuss it with Gunn, then I'll leave it in your hands?" Angel suggested. "We're going to need his expertise to create a paper history for our robot, anyway. He can fix it so that Daria can dig to her heart's content, and our robot will seem to be exactly who it says it is."
"Could you get him started on that?" Fred asked. "I won't be ready for that information for a while. I need to get started on the basics first. That gives us both some time until we need to actively cooperate on the project."
"I'll go see him now," Angel promised.
&&&&&&&
Their paths parted as Spike reluctantly conceded that he ought to get some work done for Wesley, and headed to his office. Rose suspected that his real reason might have had to do with the mysterious little contretemps that she had witnessed in the lab. For her own part, Rose was all agog with curiosity, but somehow it just didn't feel right to be asking Angel about Spike. Still, she tagged along with him to Gunn's office. It was something to do, and she was feeling restless enough to admit that she didn't feel like getting into the research right now.
Angel noticed that Rose was trying not to look like she was looking at him. He supposed that he could dance around the subject if she started asking questions. Besides, it wasn't as if he actually had anything concrete, just suppositions. He hated hiding the truth from her, though. He knew how much she hated deception, and she would probably be hurt to think that one of her friends would lie to her. But Rose didn't put him on the spot. Not about that.
Rose felt that the tension needed broken, and decided to find out about something that without substantiation could be attributed to Spike's narrative style. "Did you really fall face down in the pig-sty that time near Dublin?" she asked innocently.
&&&&&&&&
"If there's one thing that Wolfram and Hart is good at, it's creating an illusion," Gunn said. "It shouldn't be too hard to do a complete history from a birth certificate on. Or would you rather have a copy of a big player from out of town? That's even easier, because there's already a verifiable history on record."
"What about another dimension?" Rose inquired. "Admittedly, Daria didn't say much in my presence, but I got the impression that most of her clientele aren't from around here."
"It depends on the dimension," Gunn replied. "Some would almost do away with the need for a paper trail, but wouldn't be usable just because they rely on other folks to vouch for them."
"Since you seem to have all that stuff tucked up in your head," Angel suggested. "Why don't you go for one that would work? We want a background so solid that Daria McBride can't possibly pick it apart."
"It's still going to take a while," Gunn groused. "I do have other work, too."
"It's going to take time for Fred's end of things too," Angel informed him.
Gunn geared himself up for the question. "We could get it done a lot quicker with a real person," he said. "If you're willing to shell out some green, there's Gwen."
"Out of the question," Angel snapped. "Just create a history for the robot, okay, Gunn?" He turned and stalked out with Rose in his wake.
"Knew he'd say no, didn't I?" Gunn mumbled to himself.