Disclaimer: Just borrowing, I'll give them back.
Feedback: OK, so I was kind of expecting those last responses, but don't say I didn't warn you. I'm sorry, but it had to be done. Keep your opinions coming, though; it's nice to see that you guys actually care about what I write!
I was reading some other stories on this site and it suddenly occurred to me that I had used Xander's surname for my demon! It was totally unintentional I assure you! Just thought I'd better mention it seeing as how it kinda freaked me out a bit…
PART 12.
Cordelia screaming and kicking in his grasp, it was all Angel could do to stay upright, flying down the corridor with all the speed he could muster. Startled businessmen and women were knocked to the side with vehemence when they strayed in his path, only to be trampled flat again when they moved out to watch and were mown down by the oncoming mob in pursuit.
Ignoring the shrieks of the unfortunate onlookers and the predatory roars of the angry demons, Angel reached the elevators just as a cab had been summoned. Gunn, Wesley and Lindsey were already waiting, Gunn giving unfriendly glares to anyone daring to poke their heads out of their offices and complain about the noise. When the doors slid open, he darted in and yanked the two passengers and their briefcases out with force.
"Hey!"
"What the…?"
Pushing them aside, Angel dragged a very reluctant Cordelia in by her waist, slamming his hand on the 'shut doors' button when everyone else was safely stowed. The painfully slow doors weren't going to close in time, and Angel's mind raced when he saw the leader of the group round the corner and dive forward to put out a deadly paw, trying to prevent them from sealing shut completely.
With no time to even blink, Angel ripped the axe from Gunn's hand and sent it spinning through the ever shrinking slit, striking the demon between the eyes and forcing it backwards with a wail. It allowed the doors to continue their course without interruption, even if it had meant sacrificing their only effective weapon. They still had a handgun, but they were only too aware that would be of little use against self-regenerating poison demons. Angel repeatedly thumbed the button labelled 'basement', despite his earlier insistence that they make for the parking lot, which was situated on the floor above.
"Angel man, that ain't gonna make it move any faster", Gunn commented with slight irritation, annoyed that his favourite axe was lost forever, "Besides, I thought we were goin' for the sewers?" Sticking to the practicalities, he thought he would have a hope of concealing his anxiety and hold himself together. If he lost it too, Angel would have to cope with everything by himself, and that was way too much of a burden for anyone to have to handle right now.
Angel's hand shot upwards and he ripped the surveillance camera from its mooring, crushing it in his fist. He put a finger to his lips and gave Gunn a meaningful look, nodding when the man responded with a noiseless 'oh'.
Angel stared intently at the countdown lights as they flicked through the floors. He regretted the situation intensely, wishing that he had the time to comfort Cordelia as she sobbed hysterically at his side, or to take the proper care of Wesley as he sank deeper into shock.
Putting on a frustrated frown, he hovered his fingers over the control panel as they neared their destination.
"Gunn, get ready", he whispered harshly, and Gunn braced Wesley and Lindsey against the side of the elevator, ready for the jolt.
When the yellow light blinked over 'garage', Angel engaged the emergency brake, bring the cab to an awkward stop before they descended any further. He forced the doors open with difficulty to reveal that they had almost ended up between floors, and that even Angel would need to jump and cling on to the exposed ledge to haul himself up.
Scrambling his way through the not too generously sized gap, he took a quick scan of the parking lot before being satisfied that they were yet to be discovered. As he had suspected, the morning had already broken, and soft rays of sunshine were infiltrating their way down through the entrance to illuminate at least a small portion of the extensive, pillared area. Parked cars obscured the view of the other half of the garage, and concealed their activities from the mouth of the fire escape staircase. This wouldn't count for much if they lingered around to long, so Angel wasted no time in extracting his colleagues from their temporary cell.
Lindsey was the first to be pulled out, handed up by Gunn with only the minimal amount of grunts and cursing. Doing nothing to neither help nor hinder them, he was like a dead weight, making no effort to stand when Angel dumped him to the side. Angel didn't have the time or the inclination to worry about him at the moment, and continued his rescue with indifference.
Cordelia was next, shaking with grief but managing to at least put out a hand for Angel's convenience. She pretty much scrambled her own way up once Angel had a hold of her, leaving dented scratch marks on the wall where she had kicked out with her heels. Pulling herself to her feet, she made a point of helping Angel, despite her uncontrollable crying fit, for Wesley's sake, if not to take her mind off of Harris for the briefest of moments.
Angel had to reach down and hook under Wesley's shoulders, Gunn hoisting him up as far as he could from underneath. The sensation must have weirded him out slightly because he refused to let go of Cordelia's sleeves once he was pulled free, convinced that he was falling and was unable to stop.
Gunn needed little assistance himself, but accepted Angel's hand when it was offered in aid. He gave a grateful nod and crouched next to his friend, intending to inquire about their next step. He opened his mouth to speak, but Angel cut him off.
"Can you hotwire a car?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Gunn countered, an offended look on his face.
Angel heaved a frustrated sigh and used his no-nonsense tone of voice. This was no time for flippancy, and he was a little annoyed that Gunn didn't seem to be taking things very seriously.
"Gunn, can you do it or not?"
Gunn puffed out his chest indignantly and turned to the nearest car with what Angel swore was a slight pout. Finding the door to be inconveniently locked, (suspicious people, these lawyers, Gunn mused), he motioned for Angel to put his vampire strength to some use. A stylish little black number, it was a shame to have to smash in a window, but Gunn didn't have the time or the patience to test every car door in the garage until he found one whose owner had been stupid enough to trust to the good will of his fellow men.
Throwing himself into the drivers seat, Gunn disengaged the central locking so that Angel could go about loading her up. He fiddled around with the appropriate wires, dusting off the cobwebs that clung to his memory.
"I'm a little rusty at this", he mumbled to the others when they had finally all piled in, Angel being careful to secure their straps and taking the front passenger seat last of all. "Why couldn't we have just taken your car in the first place?"
"I thought we went through this already", Angel replied, the impatience seeping through his voice.
"Yeah, I know, they might be watching, it's what they would expect, blahdi blahdi blah. I'm just sayin' that it would've saved a whole lot of effort, know what I mean?"
"Look, I didn't expect to have to get back to the hotel with the extra-" He ended that sentence when he noticed Cordelia had fallen quiet, obviously listening to their heated conversation. Not wanting to open that particular can of worms and unleash Cordelia's wrath, he decided to leave the 'I-thought-I-told-you-to-stay-behind' issue to rest. It wasn't what she needed to hear right now, and would only lead to another painful reminder of what had just happened.
"Bingo!" Gunn cheered as the vehicle coughed into life. Angel pulled his coat up over his head to shield him from any stray beams of light that would soon be threatening to incinerate him as Gunn brought the car around, heading for the exit ramp. Speeding past the enraged security guards that were spilling from the staircase doorway, Gunn made short work of the wooden restriction barrier, snapping it in two over the bonnet.
The sleek car screeched into the sunlit streets, sending its passengers veering to the left as it took a sharp corner before joining the ever-flowing river of LA morning traffic.
"Sorry", came the apology from the driver, aware that certain members of their group were in no condition for swerving and weaving. He slowed it down a bit when it looked as though they weren't being followed at the moment, considering a speedy retreat to be of little consequence since Wolfram and Hart knew where to find them anyway.
"Just head straight back to the hotel. I'm not running and hiding from them, they could find us if they wanted to anyway. We need to get back and sort this mess out, and all our books and weapons are there. It's as safe a place to be as any right now."
"Are you sure?" Gunn asked when Angel had finished, doubtful of the best course of action himself.
Angel nodded silently, deep in thought.
This whole thing had shaken him, and he needed a chance to collect his wits and decide what to do. If they could just get everyone settled back in the Hyperion, he might be able to come up with a solution. Right now, too many things were preying on his mind and worrying him, and he was too tired to plan ahead.
All this had been his fault, if indirectly, and he needed to find a way to end it, to make sure that Wolfram and Hart wouldn't come back after them. OK, so maybe that was an impossible task, but he should at least make sure that the game was put back in its place and things returned to the way they were before. It had gotten out of hand and the lawyers had overstepped the mark. They were out of line, even in evil terms. Was there no honour left in anything anymore? If this was going to be some ongoing cat and mouse dance, they needed to understand that it didn't involve the others. He couldn't help but feel responsible for Harris' death, and it ate him up inside to think that he was unable to protect his own friends, his family.
It involved a delicate balance, this game, and each player understood his boundaries. The lawyers deal a blow, Angel would dodge it, and at the end, he'd be left in peace for a short while to get on with his mission whilst they conjured up a new tactic. That's the way it was meant to be. If they came for them in the hotel now, after Angel had beaten them fairly, it would upset the rules. They didn't want him dead, only dark, so surely even they understood that pushing this any further was pointless. He was in the loop now, so nothing more they could do regarding the issue would have a hope of working. They were safe, for the moment.
The car passed through the shadow of one of the taller buildings, the early morning sun stretching it to way beyond the buildings true length. Angel took the opportunity to pull his coat back a bit and studied the scene in the side mirror that Gunn hadn't bothered to properly adjust. His own reflection absent, he was able to get a good view of the backseat without giving himself away.
Cordelia was huddled against the door, staring nonchalantly out of the window. The tears slipped silently down her face now, and she was lost in her own grief, numbed to the outside world by her pain. Her hands were curled awkwardly on her lap, the dried blood not even registering to her anymore. She was present in body, but not in spirit, leaving behind a shell that matched the theme of the car, her mind wandering off to somewhere that no one else could go. Wherever she was, it was obviously far more appealing to her than the real world, or was helping her to cope with cruel reality.
Lindsey was on the other side of the car, behind Gunn, still in a world of his own. He frowned down at his hands, wringing them continually in some kind of attempt at constancy. Angel recalled seeing such behaviour before, often in people recovering from emotional shock. It was like they needed something to concentrate on to convince themselves that things were in their control, to reassure themselves through uncertainty. Angel guessed that whatever Lindsey had been through before now, it had been traumatic. Being blown across a room and then dragged through a building teeming with people who wanted to kill him probably hadn't helped to improve his emotional state, unstable as he already was. What they would do with him once they got back Angel could only imagine.
Then there was Wesley. Wedged in the middle of the other two, he looked as though he was trying desperately not to let the car's movements topple him over completely. Clutching onto the seat with whitening knuckles, he was leant over slightly, his eyes flitting randomly over the floor. He looked confused, like he was sorting something out in his mind, trying to think of something to say. If Angel hadn't known better, he would have thought that he had recovered slightly from the ordeal and was preparing to explain away everything that had happened. Of course, he didn't. He was far too out of it to even care about the fact that he was still bleeding everywhere.
The car lurched over a lump in the road and knocked everyone forward with a start. It shook Cordelia from her drift, and she turned to see Wesley gag, fighting the urge to retch. She shot daggers in Gunn's direction and put out a tender arm to rub Wesley's back, squeezing his hand in hers.
"It's OK, we're nearly there now" she soothed, drying up her tears. She was surprised when he responded to her touch, turning to look at her with distraught eyes.
"I'm so sorry…I'm sorry I killed him, I didn't mean to. I couldn't see… I lost my glasses."
His child-like statement started Cordelia off again, and she smiled at him through her sobs. Pulling him close and stroking back his hair, she closed her eyes against the sorrow and managed a plaintive laugh.
"You didn't kill him, Wesley, it wasn't your fault. It just…happened…"
'Don't cry', she thought, 'or I'll never be able to stop.'
He shivered in her grasp and fell silent again, his too fast and shallow gasps the only indication of how he felt. Isn't that what Harris had thought? That he had hurt people again? They were both frightened of what they could do, frightened of themselves. She supposed fear was an inevitable symptom of shock, and his skin felt icy cold to the touch. He was confused again; he didn't know what he was saying. But his self-doubt reminded her too much of her demon friend, and she suspected that it was the power affecting him, not just his injury. If it were her, she'd want rid of it, and she decided that whatever had happened to block Wesley's power in the first place had done him a favour.
A distinct sense of relief swept over her when she spotted the Hyperion in the distance, and she made an effort to slow her breathing and calm down. Crying wouldn't solve anything, and she had someone else beside herself to take care of for a change. It wouldn't do to let Angel see her like this for long. He'd never let her come along on another mission again!
What she didn't know was that Angel had watched her intently throughout the car journey and had come to a different conclusion. She was stronger than he'd given her credit for, and had saved their asses back there, even if she didn't realise it yet. As for Harris, she'd trusted him and seen his potential where no one else had. She'd given him the chance to achieve atonement, a rare thing, if Angel knew anything about it.
He looked over at Gunn to direct him to a shadier parking spot than usual, and noticed his stiff face. He wasn't deaf. He had heard everything that was said, and he was trying desperately not to show that it had affected him, staring rigidly ahead and concentrating on driving. Angel saw through his hardened exterior, though, and felt relieved that he wasn't the only one to have been moved. He didn't want to seem like a great big soft touch or anything.
It seemed that Gunn didn't need any guiding, and he found the perfect place to stop just round the corner. Anxious not to hang around for too long and push his luck, Angel helped Cordelia and then Wesley out of the car, encouraging him to get on his feet again with the promise of a lie down when they got inside.
Gunn pulled Lindsey out with a little less compassion and nodded at the abandoned vehicle before Angel scurried away with his ward.
"What are we gonna do with that? We did kinda steal it, y'know."
"We'll worry about that later. As for stealing it, I shouldn't let it worry your morality, Gunn. It belonged to a Wolfram and Hart lawyer."
Gunn took Angel's point and smiled slightly at the thought. No doubt dirty money had been used to buy it anyway, and its owner could afford a new one. Theft was unethical, sure, but this was sweet justice. He shrugged it off and followed the others inside, pushing Lindsey along in front of him.
* * *
Lilah had seen it all.
Employees had come and gone from this place without so much as a blink of an eye from anyone. And when she said gone, no one doubted that she meant shot, burnt, decapitated, pushed from a building, car crash, murder, 'suicide', 'accidental death', whatever. Nobody walked away from Wolfram and Hart. There was no such thing as a honourable discharge or dismissal. When you got fired, it was taken literally. This was for life, and that's exactly what they took from you.
She'd been in this position before, trembling with fear before the result of her competition with Lindsey was announced. Terrified for her life when she knew she had displeased the senior partners, maybe failing in one of her endeavours or messing up some task or other. It's just that, then, she'd always had something to fall back on. Someone else to blame if the worst came to the worst. Only this time, it was all her fault. She had made the mistake, and everything had been her own idea. There was no wriggling out of this one and she knew it.
So, when she had come up against the criticism of the senior partners for this particular slip up, she hadn't been completely unprepared for their reaction.
Pain. Oh, she knew it well. Anything in the line of duty, right? Her 'punishment' had been swift after she had been shown the full extent of her inadequacy, courtesy of video surveillance footage. The escape of her captives, the loss of a valuable and powerful individual on which many expensive resources had been spent, the death of a very highly paid employee and the failure to turn their target. All they had to show for their efforts was one dead Neshtu demon and a large damages bill.
Is if to rub salt into the wound, Lilah had been informed of the company's next intended move and told that she would be required to play no part in it whatsoever. Not that she'd be in any fit state to for a while yet anyway.
On her way down to the garage in the elevator, she considered herself lucky to have escaped with her life. She put that down to her otherwise spotless record and her position in the firm.
She sighed to the walls and the scuffmarks still autographed there as if to remind her, mocking her. She looked down at her shaking hands, the pain still present despite the several painkillers she had already downed. Who needed real finger nails anyway? She knew a good manicurist who could…
Oh, who was she kidding? Sometimes her job really sucked.
And the worst part of it was that she would have to risk another 'conditioning' in order to save her skin, this time by going behind the company's back and meeting with the enemy. Could her day get any worse? Apparently it could.
The doors slid open with a jerk, protesting at their earlier maltreatment. Lilah stepped out with only a discrete limp and was greeted with something she hadn't counted on before now, when it seemed glaringly obvious and suitably ironic.
"I don't believe this", she groaned, "Where's my car?"
To be continued…
