Title: From Sunnydale, With Love (Chapter One)
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Meet Xander Harris. His new incredible enemies. His new
incredible adventures. The same incredible woman.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-3
This follows _The Hellmouth is Not Enough_, so you should read
that story first.
Category: B/X
Rating: PG-ish- nothing worse than what's on the show.
Feedback: Yes please.
*****
The girl flinched back at the sight of the demon in front of her.
"Wh- what are you?"
The vampire's face twisted into a hideous parody of a human smile.
"Your worst nightmare."
The pair were distracted from each other by the sound of clapping
from the shadows.
"Good, good. The line was a little cliched, but the delivery was
top notch." Angel's tone was appraising. "I mean, I've heard
better- hell, I've done better- but that was very scary."
Spike watched from above as the vampire launched himself at Angel.
The fight was soon over, and Spike couldn't help but speak mockingly
as he watched Angel comfort the girl below.
"How can I thank you, you mysterious, black-clad hunk of a night
thing?" He said in a high pitched voice.
"No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me.
You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse
defanged me. Now I'm just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth."
Spike lowered his voice to mimic Angel's.
The girl stepped closer to Angel. Angel stepped back, warding her
off with his hand.
"No, not the hair! Never the hair!"
"But there must be some way I can show my appreciation."
"No, helping those in need's my job- and working up a load of
sexual tension and prancing away like a magnificent poof is truly
thanks enough!"
"I understand. I have a nephew who's gay, so..."
"Say no more. Evil's still afoot! And I'm almost out of that
Nancy-boy hair-gel that I like so much. Quickly, to the
Angel-mobile, away!"
Spike lit a cigarette while he watched Angel lead the girl away.
"What happened to you, Peaches?" He sighed. "I wish I had the time
to try to beat some sense out of you, but it'll have to wait. Maybe
after your precious slayer dies you'll see things my way."
---
"One more innocent life saved." Angel said to Doyle as he entered
the office.
The Irishman downed a couple of asprin tablets and chased them with
a shot of scotch before replying.
"I'm so glad my splitting headache wasn't in vain."
Angel smiled in reply and sat across from Doyle. The two sat in
silence for a while. After a few minutes of this Angel began to
feel a little uncomfortable. He was used to long stretches of
quiet solitude, but sitting still and watching his usually
gregarious friend silently nurse his drink was a little unnerving.
"Isn't this about the time when you try to drag me out to a sports
bar?"
"Huh?" Doyle looked up, startled. "Nah, I'm going to stay in
tonight and get quietly sloshed."
"What's eating you?" Doyle started to speak, but Angel interrupted.
"The Sluggorth demon was last week- and he only nibbled."
The comment brought a slight smile to Doyle's face.
"I don't know. I mean, it's great that we have somebody here to
help and all, but the last thing I needed was another pretty face
for 'Delia to swoon over."
"Xander?" Angel shook his head. "Not much chance of him stealing
Cordy away- he and Buffy are pretty tight."
"Your Buffy?"
Angel nodded.
"That's rough, man. I mean, you thought she was the love of your
life, and she's already dating some other guy. Some other guy that
you have to work with..." Doyle trailed off.
"Yeah." Angel paused. "Why don't you pour me some of that?"
Doyle pulled down one of the other glasses and splashed in a
generous amount of the scotch. Wordlessly, he slid the drink across
the desk to Angel.
Angel took the glass and slugged back the scotch in one swallow. As
a vampire he could hardly taste the stuff, but he still grunted as
he felt the alchohol burn its way down his throat.
Angel held out his glass for Doyle to refill. This time Angel
sipped his drink as the two men fell back into a comfortable
silence. Suddenly, a question occured to Angel.
"Doyle? Why are you so sure Cordy wants a rich, handsome man?"
"I've met her."
"I think you may have misjudged her. Hell, she dated Xander back in
high school."
"Let me guess: head cheerleader and quarterback of the football
team, right?"
Angel laughed.
"I forgot, you just met Xander. I think I have some old pictures of
the gang around somewhere." Angel finished off his drink. "A girl
of many layers, our Cordelia."
---
"So then I thought this blouse would go better with this jacket, but
the other blouse matches these shoes a lot better, so I went with
this ensemble. What do you think, Xander?"
Xander was in a bit of a daze. Somehow going out for coffee with
Cordelia to catch up on old times had turned into a full fledged
shopping trip. Right now they were in the largest clothing store
that Xander had ever set foot in- or at least the largest that he
had ever explored in such detail.
"I think it's almost lunch time. Would you please decide what
you're going to buy so we can go eat?"
"Buy? Please." Cordelia sniffed. "This is a strictly a scouting
trip. As if I'd want to buy any of this."
Xander caught a brief glimpse of Cordelia's vulnerability before she
was able to put up her haughty facade. He remembered hearing about
her father's troubles with the IRS.
"Tell you what, Cordy. Since we're working together now, I'll pick
up the tab this time. Call it a gesture of international goodwill."
Some time later Xander followed Cordelia out of the store,
staggering under the physical burden of her purchases and the mental
burden of trying to figure out how he was going to justify this one
to M. They'd probably wind up taking it out of his paycheck. He
sighed. There went his bonus for saving the world last month.
At least Cordy seemed happy. Xander came out of his reverie when he
thought he heard her say something important.
"What was that?"
"I said that I wondered what ever happened to Harmony- I haven't
seen her since graduation."
"No, before that."
"Oh, that's Wolfram and Hart's building over there." Cordelia
pointed.
"Hold these for me, will you? I'll only be a minute." Xander
handed the packages off to Cordelia and made his way to the Wolfram
and Hart building.
Entering through the double glass doors, Xander was confronted with
an imposing monument to corporate success. The enormous lobby, with
its high ceiling and corporate artwork, was clearly intended to
impress visitors. Constant streams of Wolfram and Hart employees
were moving to and fro across the marble floor, each employee
showing purpose in their stride.
Xander made his way through the crowd to the large circular
receptionists' area in the middle of the room. The girl behind the
counter looked up at his approach.
"Can I help you, Mr..."
"Harris, Xander Harris. And yes, I believe you can. I'm in town on
business, and I need to retain someone for legal purposes while I'm
here."
"Well, it's not our specialty, but I can refer you to several firms
that do good work in corporate law."
"Forgive me, I did not make myself clear." Xander held the girl's
gaze. "I have certain... special needs. My sources assure me that
your firm is best qualified to aid me in those areas."
"I see." The girl's demeanor shifted. "I'm afraid everyone in our
Special Projects division is currently occupied. I could have them
call you to make an appointment."
"Good."
Xander gave her the number for the hotel where he was staying, and
made his way back outside to where Cordelia was waiting.
"What was that all about?"
"I just wanted to talk to them about employing their services."
"You what?"
"Relax. I figure I'll at least get a look around inside while they
give me their sales pitch."
"Oh."
Cordelia acknowledged the merits of this idea with a nod before they
both turned and began to make their way back to Angel
Investigations. Neither one of them noticed the figure that slipped
out of the doors of Wolfram and Hart's building and began to
carefully shadow their path.
---
"There you are, 007."
A distinctive voice greeted Xander as he and Cordelia entered the
office of Angel Investigations.
"Q! I didn't know you ever left the lab."
"You're not the only one that gets to have some fun in the sun once
in a while."
"I see." Xander took a moment to take in Q's Hawaiian shirt and
board short outfit.
"Well, don't just stand there. Come help me unpack."
Xander followed Q out to his car, which was packed to the roof with
trunks and suitcases. Xander grabbed one of the suitcases, and was
reaching for a long round container when Q stopped him.
"I don't think you'll be needing that, 007. Unless you think you'll
be shooting down any small aircraft?"
Xander shook his head, bemused, and grabbed another case. The two
men made their way back to the office, and took the gear downstairs
to Angel's training area. As soon as everything had been unloaded,
Q went into his lecture mode.
"First things first. You have your briefcase with you?"
Xander handed it over.
"New standard equipment. As you know, if the suitcase is not opened
in the proper manner-" Q rotated the latches ninety degrees before
popping the case open- "This cartridge, here, explodes, deploying
the tear gas stored inside."
"Now, this new cartridge-" Q pulled it out of his pocket- "Still
looks like an ordinary stick of deodorant. But now, the tear gas
inside the cartridge has had the water component replaced by holy
water for increased effectiveness against the undead."
"Clever." Xander was impressed.
"Very. Also, the throwing knife-" Q pressed the hidden button on
the side of the case, causing the spring loaded compartment to pop
the knife out from the side of the case. "Has been replaced by a
new model."
Q pulled a knife out of his pocket and handed it over to Xander.
Taking a closer look at it, Xander could see that the knife was the
same size and shape as the one it was replacing, but the new knife
had a line of crosses running down the center of the blade.
"Nice decoration."
"More than just decoration, 007. As you know, a mere image of a
cross would have no effect on vampires. Each cross you see in the
blade is actually an individual wooden cross embedded in the metal.
It took us years to come up with an alloy strong enough to still be
an acceptable knife with the cross inlay."
"Good to see you're always innovating." Xander commented as he
removed the old knife and slid the new one into the briefcase. "But
do you have anything that will be a bit more help for this specific
mission."
"I thought you'd never ask." Q opened one of the trunks behind him
and withdrew a computer disk. "Here."
Xander took the disk from his hand and examined it closely, rotating
the disk to attempt to divine any hidden secrets.
"What is it, some kind of explosive?" Xander started pulling at the
metal tab on the bottom of the disk, trying to get a look inside.
"Don't touch that!" Q grabbed the disk out of his hand. "This disk
contains a very sophisticated computer program. The company that
supplies Wolfram and Hart's security systems is a... friend to the
crown. If you can get this disk into any computer on the same
network as the security system, it will insert you as an employee of
Wolfram and Hart with full access to their vault. Here."
Q handed over a security pass with Xander's picture on it. "David
Somerset, research intern."
"Nice."
"I thought so. Also, the program will disable their alarm systems
for about an hour, so you should be able to replace the scroll with
this." Q pulled out a metal cylinder. "This is the same size and
weight as the container holding the scroll, and should delay any
reaction from Wolfram and Hart."
"Of course," Q continued, "things might not go as smoothly as we
hope. Here's your contingency plan."
Q handed Xander an Altoids tin.
"What, charm them with my minty fresh breath?"
"Hardly. Look inside."
Xander opened the tin. Inside were about twenty gel cap pills.
"If you squeeze one of the pills until you hear a cracking sound,
five seconds later it will dissolve into a knockout gas. Anybody in
the room will be out cold in about ten seconds, and stay under for
about an hour. Of course you'll also want these."
Q handed Xander what looked like a pack of chewing gum.
"The chemicals that we've added to the gum will neutralize the
knockout gas as long as you're chewing on it."
"Nifty." Xander gestured at the trunk. "This stuff is all pretty
light. What else do you have in there?"
"Oh, just some odds and ends."
---
"Interesting guy, your friend there." Doyle commented after Q had
left. "We talked a bit while he was waiting for you."
"Yeah, he definitely is unique." Xander agreed. "He's made this
job look remotely possible. Still, it would be nice if we had
somebody on the inside."
"What, you mean a Wolfram and Hart employee?" Doyle snorted. "Not
much chance of that. They're pretty much a 'check your soul at the
door' kind of place."
"They hate us. We hate them. It's never going to change." Angel
added from behind his desk.
Just then there was a knock at the door. Everybody in the office
turned to look at the sharply dressed visitor, who the Angel
Investigations team recognized as Lindsey McDonald.
"I want out."
---
Paul Norman groaned as he swam back to consciousness. Or at least,
he tried to groan. He soon realized that the reason that no sound
was coming out of his mouth was that it was duct taped shut. Paul
tried to remember how he got in this situation as he took stock of
his surroundings.
Wolfram and Hart checked out all prospective clients as a matter of
course. He was one of many trackers that they employed. He had
been following some guy named Xander Harris. The guy was pretty
well dressed and looked like a legit client.
Then he had followed him to... Angel Investigations! That was it.
He had been about to report it in when everything went black. Then
he woke up here, tied to a chair in what looked like some kind of
garage.
"Well, well, look who's awake."
Paul's head snapped around to see the other man in the room with him.
High cheekbones, leather jacket, English accent. Paul didn't know
the guy, although something about the way he carried himself told
Paul that he was in a bad situation. He decided to try to reason
with his captor.
"Mm mm mm."
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Spike chuckled. "I kill
me."
"Look, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm going to torture you, then
I'm going to kill you. It's something I enjoy. It... amuses me."
Spike paused to light a cigarette.
"Mmm mm!"
"You might as well save your energy. I don't really care what you
have to say. The only thing you can do is pray for a quick death-
which you aren't going to get." Spike sighed and took a step back.
"Right now, you're probably wondering what you did to deserve this.
The simple fact is, you were about to expose Harris and ruin my
whole day. I mean, I don't want to have dyed my hair back to its
original color and bought all that tweed for nothing."
Spike put out his cigarette on Paul's exposed arm.
"Mmm!"
"I know, it might look a little suspicious that you disappeared
right after you went out to follow the boy- especially if it looks
like he killed you. But, you know, LA is a dangerous town."
Spike walked over to the work bench at the side of the room and
picked up a hand saw. He grinned evilly as he hefted it in his
hand and tested its edge with his thumb.
"All those demons out there- a guy's liable to get dismembered if
he's not careful."
***
Tada. Man, this one took a while.
--Randy
Author: Randall Stone
Disclaimer: All characters are belong to someone else.
Summary: Meet Xander Harris. His new incredible enemies. His new
incredible adventures. The same incredible woman.
Notes:
Spoilers: S1-3
This follows _The Hellmouth is Not Enough_, so you should read
that story first.
Category: B/X
Rating: PG-ish- nothing worse than what's on the show.
Feedback: Yes please.
*****
The girl flinched back at the sight of the demon in front of her.
"Wh- what are you?"
The vampire's face twisted into a hideous parody of a human smile.
"Your worst nightmare."
The pair were distracted from each other by the sound of clapping
from the shadows.
"Good, good. The line was a little cliched, but the delivery was
top notch." Angel's tone was appraising. "I mean, I've heard
better- hell, I've done better- but that was very scary."
Spike watched from above as the vampire launched himself at Angel.
The fight was soon over, and Spike couldn't help but speak mockingly
as he watched Angel comfort the girl below.
"How can I thank you, you mysterious, black-clad hunk of a night
thing?" He said in a high pitched voice.
"No need, little lady, your tears of gratitude are enough for me.
You see, I was once a badass vampire, but love and a pesky curse
defanged me. Now I'm just a big, fluffy puppy with bad teeth."
Spike lowered his voice to mimic Angel's.
The girl stepped closer to Angel. Angel stepped back, warding her
off with his hand.
"No, not the hair! Never the hair!"
"But there must be some way I can show my appreciation."
"No, helping those in need's my job- and working up a load of
sexual tension and prancing away like a magnificent poof is truly
thanks enough!"
"I understand. I have a nephew who's gay, so..."
"Say no more. Evil's still afoot! And I'm almost out of that
Nancy-boy hair-gel that I like so much. Quickly, to the
Angel-mobile, away!"
Spike lit a cigarette while he watched Angel lead the girl away.
"What happened to you, Peaches?" He sighed. "I wish I had the time
to try to beat some sense out of you, but it'll have to wait. Maybe
after your precious slayer dies you'll see things my way."
---
"One more innocent life saved." Angel said to Doyle as he entered
the office.
The Irishman downed a couple of asprin tablets and chased them with
a shot of scotch before replying.
"I'm so glad my splitting headache wasn't in vain."
Angel smiled in reply and sat across from Doyle. The two sat in
silence for a while. After a few minutes of this Angel began to
feel a little uncomfortable. He was used to long stretches of
quiet solitude, but sitting still and watching his usually
gregarious friend silently nurse his drink was a little unnerving.
"Isn't this about the time when you try to drag me out to a sports
bar?"
"Huh?" Doyle looked up, startled. "Nah, I'm going to stay in
tonight and get quietly sloshed."
"What's eating you?" Doyle started to speak, but Angel interrupted.
"The Sluggorth demon was last week- and he only nibbled."
The comment brought a slight smile to Doyle's face.
"I don't know. I mean, it's great that we have somebody here to
help and all, but the last thing I needed was another pretty face
for 'Delia to swoon over."
"Xander?" Angel shook his head. "Not much chance of him stealing
Cordy away- he and Buffy are pretty tight."
"Your Buffy?"
Angel nodded.
"That's rough, man. I mean, you thought she was the love of your
life, and she's already dating some other guy. Some other guy that
you have to work with..." Doyle trailed off.
"Yeah." Angel paused. "Why don't you pour me some of that?"
Doyle pulled down one of the other glasses and splashed in a
generous amount of the scotch. Wordlessly, he slid the drink across
the desk to Angel.
Angel took the glass and slugged back the scotch in one swallow. As
a vampire he could hardly taste the stuff, but he still grunted as
he felt the alchohol burn its way down his throat.
Angel held out his glass for Doyle to refill. This time Angel
sipped his drink as the two men fell back into a comfortable
silence. Suddenly, a question occured to Angel.
"Doyle? Why are you so sure Cordy wants a rich, handsome man?"
"I've met her."
"I think you may have misjudged her. Hell, she dated Xander back in
high school."
"Let me guess: head cheerleader and quarterback of the football
team, right?"
Angel laughed.
"I forgot, you just met Xander. I think I have some old pictures of
the gang around somewhere." Angel finished off his drink. "A girl
of many layers, our Cordelia."
---
"So then I thought this blouse would go better with this jacket, but
the other blouse matches these shoes a lot better, so I went with
this ensemble. What do you think, Xander?"
Xander was in a bit of a daze. Somehow going out for coffee with
Cordelia to catch up on old times had turned into a full fledged
shopping trip. Right now they were in the largest clothing store
that Xander had ever set foot in- or at least the largest that he
had ever explored in such detail.
"I think it's almost lunch time. Would you please decide what
you're going to buy so we can go eat?"
"Buy? Please." Cordelia sniffed. "This is a strictly a scouting
trip. As if I'd want to buy any of this."
Xander caught a brief glimpse of Cordelia's vulnerability before she
was able to put up her haughty facade. He remembered hearing about
her father's troubles with the IRS.
"Tell you what, Cordy. Since we're working together now, I'll pick
up the tab this time. Call it a gesture of international goodwill."
Some time later Xander followed Cordelia out of the store,
staggering under the physical burden of her purchases and the mental
burden of trying to figure out how he was going to justify this one
to M. They'd probably wind up taking it out of his paycheck. He
sighed. There went his bonus for saving the world last month.
At least Cordy seemed happy. Xander came out of his reverie when he
thought he heard her say something important.
"What was that?"
"I said that I wondered what ever happened to Harmony- I haven't
seen her since graduation."
"No, before that."
"Oh, that's Wolfram and Hart's building over there." Cordelia
pointed.
"Hold these for me, will you? I'll only be a minute." Xander
handed the packages off to Cordelia and made his way to the Wolfram
and Hart building.
Entering through the double glass doors, Xander was confronted with
an imposing monument to corporate success. The enormous lobby, with
its high ceiling and corporate artwork, was clearly intended to
impress visitors. Constant streams of Wolfram and Hart employees
were moving to and fro across the marble floor, each employee
showing purpose in their stride.
Xander made his way through the crowd to the large circular
receptionists' area in the middle of the room. The girl behind the
counter looked up at his approach.
"Can I help you, Mr..."
"Harris, Xander Harris. And yes, I believe you can. I'm in town on
business, and I need to retain someone for legal purposes while I'm
here."
"Well, it's not our specialty, but I can refer you to several firms
that do good work in corporate law."
"Forgive me, I did not make myself clear." Xander held the girl's
gaze. "I have certain... special needs. My sources assure me that
your firm is best qualified to aid me in those areas."
"I see." The girl's demeanor shifted. "I'm afraid everyone in our
Special Projects division is currently occupied. I could have them
call you to make an appointment."
"Good."
Xander gave her the number for the hotel where he was staying, and
made his way back outside to where Cordelia was waiting.
"What was that all about?"
"I just wanted to talk to them about employing their services."
"You what?"
"Relax. I figure I'll at least get a look around inside while they
give me their sales pitch."
"Oh."
Cordelia acknowledged the merits of this idea with a nod before they
both turned and began to make their way back to Angel
Investigations. Neither one of them noticed the figure that slipped
out of the doors of Wolfram and Hart's building and began to
carefully shadow their path.
---
"There you are, 007."
A distinctive voice greeted Xander as he and Cordelia entered the
office of Angel Investigations.
"Q! I didn't know you ever left the lab."
"You're not the only one that gets to have some fun in the sun once
in a while."
"I see." Xander took a moment to take in Q's Hawaiian shirt and
board short outfit.
"Well, don't just stand there. Come help me unpack."
Xander followed Q out to his car, which was packed to the roof with
trunks and suitcases. Xander grabbed one of the suitcases, and was
reaching for a long round container when Q stopped him.
"I don't think you'll be needing that, 007. Unless you think you'll
be shooting down any small aircraft?"
Xander shook his head, bemused, and grabbed another case. The two
men made their way back to the office, and took the gear downstairs
to Angel's training area. As soon as everything had been unloaded,
Q went into his lecture mode.
"First things first. You have your briefcase with you?"
Xander handed it over.
"New standard equipment. As you know, if the suitcase is not opened
in the proper manner-" Q rotated the latches ninety degrees before
popping the case open- "This cartridge, here, explodes, deploying
the tear gas stored inside."
"Now, this new cartridge-" Q pulled it out of his pocket- "Still
looks like an ordinary stick of deodorant. But now, the tear gas
inside the cartridge has had the water component replaced by holy
water for increased effectiveness against the undead."
"Clever." Xander was impressed.
"Very. Also, the throwing knife-" Q pressed the hidden button on
the side of the case, causing the spring loaded compartment to pop
the knife out from the side of the case. "Has been replaced by a
new model."
Q pulled a knife out of his pocket and handed it over to Xander.
Taking a closer look at it, Xander could see that the knife was the
same size and shape as the one it was replacing, but the new knife
had a line of crosses running down the center of the blade.
"Nice decoration."
"More than just decoration, 007. As you know, a mere image of a
cross would have no effect on vampires. Each cross you see in the
blade is actually an individual wooden cross embedded in the metal.
It took us years to come up with an alloy strong enough to still be
an acceptable knife with the cross inlay."
"Good to see you're always innovating." Xander commented as he
removed the old knife and slid the new one into the briefcase. "But
do you have anything that will be a bit more help for this specific
mission."
"I thought you'd never ask." Q opened one of the trunks behind him
and withdrew a computer disk. "Here."
Xander took the disk from his hand and examined it closely, rotating
the disk to attempt to divine any hidden secrets.
"What is it, some kind of explosive?" Xander started pulling at the
metal tab on the bottom of the disk, trying to get a look inside.
"Don't touch that!" Q grabbed the disk out of his hand. "This disk
contains a very sophisticated computer program. The company that
supplies Wolfram and Hart's security systems is a... friend to the
crown. If you can get this disk into any computer on the same
network as the security system, it will insert you as an employee of
Wolfram and Hart with full access to their vault. Here."
Q handed over a security pass with Xander's picture on it. "David
Somerset, research intern."
"Nice."
"I thought so. Also, the program will disable their alarm systems
for about an hour, so you should be able to replace the scroll with
this." Q pulled out a metal cylinder. "This is the same size and
weight as the container holding the scroll, and should delay any
reaction from Wolfram and Hart."
"Of course," Q continued, "things might not go as smoothly as we
hope. Here's your contingency plan."
Q handed Xander an Altoids tin.
"What, charm them with my minty fresh breath?"
"Hardly. Look inside."
Xander opened the tin. Inside were about twenty gel cap pills.
"If you squeeze one of the pills until you hear a cracking sound,
five seconds later it will dissolve into a knockout gas. Anybody in
the room will be out cold in about ten seconds, and stay under for
about an hour. Of course you'll also want these."
Q handed Xander what looked like a pack of chewing gum.
"The chemicals that we've added to the gum will neutralize the
knockout gas as long as you're chewing on it."
"Nifty." Xander gestured at the trunk. "This stuff is all pretty
light. What else do you have in there?"
"Oh, just some odds and ends."
---
"Interesting guy, your friend there." Doyle commented after Q had
left. "We talked a bit while he was waiting for you."
"Yeah, he definitely is unique." Xander agreed. "He's made this
job look remotely possible. Still, it would be nice if we had
somebody on the inside."
"What, you mean a Wolfram and Hart employee?" Doyle snorted. "Not
much chance of that. They're pretty much a 'check your soul at the
door' kind of place."
"They hate us. We hate them. It's never going to change." Angel
added from behind his desk.
Just then there was a knock at the door. Everybody in the office
turned to look at the sharply dressed visitor, who the Angel
Investigations team recognized as Lindsey McDonald.
"I want out."
---
Paul Norman groaned as he swam back to consciousness. Or at least,
he tried to groan. He soon realized that the reason that no sound
was coming out of his mouth was that it was duct taped shut. Paul
tried to remember how he got in this situation as he took stock of
his surroundings.
Wolfram and Hart checked out all prospective clients as a matter of
course. He was one of many trackers that they employed. He had
been following some guy named Xander Harris. The guy was pretty
well dressed and looked like a legit client.
Then he had followed him to... Angel Investigations! That was it.
He had been about to report it in when everything went black. Then
he woke up here, tied to a chair in what looked like some kind of
garage.
"Well, well, look who's awake."
Paul's head snapped around to see the other man in the room with him.
High cheekbones, leather jacket, English accent. Paul didn't know
the guy, although something about the way he carried himself told
Paul that he was in a bad situation. He decided to try to reason
with his captor.
"Mm mm mm."
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Spike chuckled. "I kill
me."
"Look, I'm not going to lie to you. I'm going to torture you, then
I'm going to kill you. It's something I enjoy. It... amuses me."
Spike paused to light a cigarette.
"Mmm mm!"
"You might as well save your energy. I don't really care what you
have to say. The only thing you can do is pray for a quick death-
which you aren't going to get." Spike sighed and took a step back.
"Right now, you're probably wondering what you did to deserve this.
The simple fact is, you were about to expose Harris and ruin my
whole day. I mean, I don't want to have dyed my hair back to its
original color and bought all that tweed for nothing."
Spike put out his cigarette on Paul's exposed arm.
"Mmm!"
"I know, it might look a little suspicious that you disappeared
right after you went out to follow the boy- especially if it looks
like he killed you. But, you know, LA is a dangerous town."
Spike walked over to the work bench at the side of the room and
picked up a hand saw. He grinned evilly as he hefted it in his
hand and tested its edge with his thumb.
"All those demons out there- a guy's liable to get dismembered if
he's not careful."
***
Tada. Man, this one took a while.
--Randy