Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. Joss's and ME's. Hope they don't mind me playing with them.
Summary: Angel realises how far he's strayed from his mission since his days at the Hyperion and is determined to fix it. He thinks he's alone but some unexpected allies are aligning themselves as Spike finally realises his purpose.
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BeginningsChapter 8
"Come on, Angelus. No fun if you won't fight." The vampire grinned down at him.
"You want a fight. You're in luck, Liselle. So do I."
She turned quickly, to see to see a black garbed figure outlined against the entrance of the alley.
"Well, if it isn't little William, all grown up! You haven't changed a bit. Still the same weak little fledge I remember, always tucked safely under Angelus' wing." She stroked Angel's head, then viciously grabbed a handful of hair and lifted his face up.
"But where are you going to hide now? He's all broken."
"You haven't changed a bit either." Spike replied walking confidently towards her. "You always were stupid."
He lashed out with his foot and kicked the stake out of her hand and with the follow through managed to manoeuvre himself in front of Angel.
"And I don't hide."
"Oh what a dear little one you are! Trying to protect your sire from someone who is older," she moved towards Spike, "stronger..." an uppercut knocked Spike to one side, "...and more vicious than anyone you'll ever meet." She gave a shrug. "Not that I expect you to be meeting anyone after I've finished with you."
She punctuated her speech with a brutal backswing that sent Spike flying into the wall. He used the wall to propel himself forward feet first and launched into her bodily. She went down and he had the chance to end it. He looked across at Angel who appeared to be watching the fight without any emotional response. Liselle took advantage of his hesitation to recover her position and began to lay into Spike with punch after punch, his defence was weak and he was beginning to give ground.
"You really shouldn't pick fights you can't possibly win, little one."
She gave a spinning kick that cracked against his jaw and sent him flying into the wall. Without taking her eyes off the downed vampire she picked up her abandoned stake, her movements were leisurely and sure.
"It was really nice seeing you again, William. But I'm afraid this is goodbye."
Spike could only watch, wide-eyed as she drew back the stake.
Only to explode into dust before his eyes. Revealing the powerful figure of his sire standing behind.
"Goodbye." Angel said as he twitched the stake at Spike.
"Never leave home without one."
Spike let his human face emerge and shut his eyes to take a moment to calm himself.
"Come on, Spike. You didn't really think I'd let that two bit vamp stake you, did you?"
Spike shook his head, took the proffered hand and got to his feet.
"You did it on purpose didn't you?" Angel offered conversationally. "Stopped fighting?"
Still Spike said nothing.
Angel suddenly vamped out and grabbed Spike by the front of his shirt and finally let his rage and frustration show.
Rage at Spike, at Buffy, at the world. He leant close to Spike's ear and growled,
"And supposing, I didn't recover in time. Supposing the bitch had staked you? Not yours, Spike. Your life is not yours to give away. Mine. Your life is mine." His golden eyes glowed with anger. He drew back slightly, only to strike with teeth and bite deep into his neck.
Spike growled back and with a strength that belied his previously defeated stance he broke away from the other vampire's grasp. Leaving Angel gasping as he was ripped away, his bloody fangs gleaming.
"Then next time, you fight! You're my sire. Mine! Next time, you defend yourself and you'd better frigging win cus you don't get to leave me. Not again." Spike raged. He dashed an arm across his face in distress.
Angel felt the demonic rage slip away.
"Spike?"
"I thought I was going to be too late. I'd just started to get everything figured out and then...I thought you'd gone."
"I'm here, Spike."
"For how long this time?"
"No one lives forever. Not even us."
"You've never given up before. You've had a hundred years by yourself with nothing to live for but still survived."
"I know." Angel's brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't know what happened. Everything seemed so dark."
"It's that bloody place. It's seeping into you and corroding you. Eating away at you."
"Maybe. But what can I do? I made a deal for my son and that still stands."
"You need to spend some time away from there. We'll think of something."
"We? You're not going to Italy?"
Spike shot him a look.
"If you're going to eavesdrop, may as well listen to the whole conversation."
"Yeah..." Angel looked at the ground sheepishly.
"Is she well?" He finally asked,
"Yeah. You know, she always used to remind me of those old spinning tops when they're out of control, spinning fast and erratic around the centre, you wonder how they don't topple. She's not like that anymore. She's balanced. She's found her centre."
"Uh huh. But has her cookie dough finished baking?"
"She might be balanced but I worry about you sometimes, Peaches."
Angel laughed.
Spike looked at him.
"You should try that more often."
"You're good for me, Spike. You do know that don't you? Sometimes I fly to extremes, you pull me back. You keep me balanced. You make me laugh."
"Make you laugh? Could have fooled me, you hate my humour."
"On the outside. But I'm laughing inside."
"You're one strange vampire."
"Guess you do take after me then. Childe."
"I suppose I could be your childe...when there's no one else around. Tell anyone and I bite you."
Angel looked at the healing fang marks on Spike's neck.
"You owe me one, anyway."
"Look. I have to go..."
"Yeah. I get it. Buffy. Uh...you never did answer my question about Italy..."
"No, I didn't, did I? Anyway, must go...she'll be waiting for me." He grinned and left.
After the stunt Angel had pulled tonight he deserved a bit of a wind up.
Spike whistled softly to himself as he left. He finally had a sense of rightness - felt it in his bones. He'd made a good choice tonight when he'd chosen Angel. The scary vamp had found him instead of his slayers, which meant that the girls would have been ok facing the nest, particularly with Buffy watching over them.
Spike returned to a houseful of chattering and hyped up slayers. He cast a glance at Buffy.
"Was he really in trouble?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah. He really was. So how did you get on?"
"Your slayers did a good job, Spike." She replied in a voice loud enough to allow the slayers to hear her praise.
"I dropped in to watch their style. They covered each other well and they're getting some fine moves together."
"Yeah? Anyone hurt?"
Two girls came forward. One had a couple of sutures crossing a cut that ran up her cheek. The other was limping.
"What happened?"
"I misjudged the reach of one of the big vamps. I ducked under him but was too slow; he managed to tear across my face. Before I staked him."
Spike nodded.
"And you?" He turned to the girl with the limp.
"We were outnumbered and two of them came for me. I was concentrating on the closer one but the other swung in and kicked my legs out from under me. He threw himself on top and I managed to get the stake up so that he landed on it. Neesh got the other. She watched my back."
Spike nodded again. Surveyed them all and gave a tight vicious smile that reminded Buffy of the pre-chip Spike.
"That's my girls."
They straightened almost to attention and returned his tight lipped smile. Buffy shivered, she grabbed Giles by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen.
"Giles. He's going to be training our slayers right?"
Giles nodded.
"I think we're handing him an army. I saw them fight tonight. They were fighting for him. Because they thought he trusted them with this mission. In a few years' time he'll have a loyal, maybe unbeatable, army."
"Buffy? Do you trust Spike?"
She considered and slowly nodded.
"Funny enough so do I and when I took him on here I always saw this potential. It's partly why we need him. We're just humans but he's something else. When you're lead by a supernatural being it lends the mission an authority, a sense of higher purpose. He can unify the slayers in a way you and I could not. He'll be a thread through the years. When we're gone he will still be here, making sure our original mission stays on track."
"If he ever lost his soul..."
"He'd still respect your wishes, Buffy. There's just something within him that's always been a little...human."
"You see it too?"
"Only with hindsight. It was a pre-soul Spike who stopped Angelus from torturing me and a pre-soul Spike who loved Drusilla for all those years...and I think you mean even more to him."
"Sometimes, Giles, you can still surprise me."
"Sometimes I surprise myself."
"And wouldn't life be dull without any surprises?" She studied him. "You look a bit pooped; I'll put the kettle on and make you a nice cup of tea."
"You make a 'nice' cup of tea? Now that would be a surprise. Thank you for your offer but actually, I am rather tired. I'll have a nightcap and then hit my bed."
Spike popped his head around.
"You two around tomorrow? Got things to discuss."
"Couldn't you just tell us now?"
"Uh, uh. I need you fresh and clear headed. Bring the boy too."
"Spike? What is it?"
"Tomorrow, Buffy." He replied as he left. -
Angel spent the night wandering the streets, visiting some of his old haunts and talking to some of the contacts he knew from his previous life, until he finally ended up back at the Hyperion. He found himself sitting in Cordelia's chair and thinking, something he seemed to have so little time for these days. Wolfram & Hart kept him busy but he never seemed to get anywhere. Here in this place everything seemed just a little clearer. So many memories bound up here, so much had happened. Some good, some bad but all of it real, more real than fast cars, leather chairs and sunlit offices. He fell asleep in his old office, mulling over the changes.
He awoke the following morning with an energy he hadn't felt for a while. Whether it was the rush of tasting family blood, being away from the corporate fold or just that he'd hit the bottom and now found himself rebounding back up, he couldn't say.
He returned to his life with some of his old enthusiasm, immediately calling a meeting and waiting for the team to arrive. He templed his hands and watched them all file silently in. He had some bridges to rebuild.
When they were all seated he began.
"Firstly, Wesley, Fred, Gunn, I need to apologise. I'm sorry for threatening you. What can I say? I lost it. But we have to get over it. We have to pick up our work again."
Gunn cleared his throat.
"Pick up our work? We can't do much more, Boss. We're putting in twelve hour days as it is."
"I'm not talking about Company business. I'm talking about why we're here. We're losing sight of our mission. We need to be more pro-active. You know, the way we used to work when times were quiet. If we had no cases and Cordelia had no visions we used to try to find the bad in the city. We should be look through newspapers and finding suspicious reports. Going out on the street and talking to our contacts, getting a feel for what's happening. What we should not be doing is sitting here and waiting for the Senior Partners to feed us whatever tidbits they want us to deal with."
They looked at him in astonishment.
"Angel? You seem different today. What's happened? Has Spike returned?" Wesley asked.
"No, he hasn't. And you know? It's okay. I've realised, we're going to live a long time. One day, may be another hundred years down the line, he's going to need me again and I'm going to be here, still souled and still working my ass off on the side of good. And that's only going to happen if we stop letting ourselves be yanked around like puppets and start taking control. From now on, every day we're going to work on at least one case that hasn't been filtered down through Wolfram and Hart. We have to win back some of our integrity. So today we have a new beginning."
Wesley nodded in approval.
"Good plan. I like it, Angel. It makes sense."
"Well...I have something, which is a little weird." Fred offered tentatively. "There have been these cases recently, all involving children. They're ending up in hospital, in a coma, with these horrible rictus grins frozen on their faces. Nobody knows what's causing it."
Angel smiled at her. Of them all, she was the least affected by their transition to the Company.
"That's great, Fred. This is just the sort of thing we need to investigate. Can you dig around and see what you can discover?"
"On it." She replied.
"I'll see what I can find out about them, too." Wesley said and got up to leave.
Gunn stood by himself, looking at the floor. He needed to say something. He took a deep breath. "Uh...I have to tell you..." He looked up...to find that they had already left and he was standing alone.
Angel walked into the lobby.
"Hey, Nina. That time already."
She nodded.
"Yeah, I guess." She looked good, as usual.
He liked seeing her; she was one of his successes. Not a Wolfram and Hart case, just a woman in trouble. Now technically a werewolf, so obviously not a 100% bona fide success.
"I'll see you to your suite." He said with a smile, which she returned rather nervously. They walked down to the basement to a barred cell.
"I'm getting to quite enjoy these visits." Nina said. "Well not the being locked in the cage but some bits...like seeing you."
"I...umm." Angel stuttered.
She caught his eye and continued, "I look forward to that."
"I...uh...should probably shut the...uh...cage door now." Angel replied falling over his words as she looked up at him through her lashes.
She could feel the moment slipping away and quickly carried on before she lost her nerve, letting her words tumble out.
"And I was wondering what are you doing for breakfast tomorrow?"
"Breakfast?" What was happening, couldn't she tell he the sort of guy he was.
"Oh...you know...drinking blood." He fumbled awkwardly.
Nina nodded in embarrassment.
"Of course. Yes. I understand."
"I have to lock the door ..." He gave a nervous laugh.
"What?"
"Insurance purposes. Well. Bye."
She felt so stupid as she watched him rush from her cell.
He felt like an idiot as he almost ran back up the stairs.
-
"So Spike. What's this urgent meeting for?" Giles asked as they settled into the privacy of the basement room."You know you told me that if I stayed here it would maybe give me a chance to find myself? Find my place in the world?"
Giles nodded.
"I've found it." Spike said, "And I don't belong here."
Giles looked at Buffy and then back to the blonde vampire.
"What does that mean? Are you going back to Europe with Buffy?
"No." He glanced at Buffy. "Much as I'd like to..."
"Then what are you talking about?"
"I'm just saying, being here isn't my place."
The others stared at him in surprise.
"But, Spike. Who else can teach the slayers? I mean, not just all the ninja fighting skills, but everything! You can't leave us...them." Andrew protested.
"I think you'd better explain." Giles told him.
"Didn't realise at first. You remember how I was, there were so many victims screaming in my head, I didn't notice at first that some victims weren't mine. They were happening in the present and I didn't realise." He hung his head.
"What didn't you realise, Spike?"
"Didn't realise that I was having visions."
"How...?" Buffy started.
"Why...?" Giles spoke at the same time.
"Yeah. Good questions. I've only got vague memories of Prom Queen..."
They looked at him in confusion.
"That Cordelia bint?"
Andrew frowned and made as if to speak. Spike cut him off.
"She was a seer. Came to us the day before she died. Must have passed the visions on to me."
"Good heavens! So you're having visions. But that's good. It can only help us in our quest..."
Spike shook his head.
"No, Rupert. The visions, so far, have all involved Angel and his people. I'm Angel's seer."
"Is that how you knew Angel was in danger last night?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah. You know, I was torn about which way to jump but in the end I followed the vision and it turned out to be the right thing to do. My slayers proved themselves and I got to Peaches in time."
Giles took off his glasses and looked down at them as if examining them for flaws.
"Is this what you wanted to tell us? Because I have to say it's a blow."
"No, I wanted to discuss something else. If the Powers That Be are sending me visions for Angel then that must mean he's still their champion. Yeah?"
"Well, yes. You're point being?"
"My point being that, despite the choices he's made, its time for you to accept that he still wears a white hat."
"So he's not evil...yet."
"With a bit of support and encouragement he might actually make it through and out the other side."
"What do we need to do?" Buffy asked. Spike smiled at her, she always came through for him.
"It's about connection. Wolfram and Hart have isolated him, we need to pull him back. I'll help Angel, but I'm not going to work for the lawyers. I'd actually like to continue training my slayers."
"Well, I don't see a problem with that." Giles said in some relief.
"My terms are that you include Angel. He may not agree to it but you have to see how useful he could be. He used to study the old lore, I doubt if you'll ever meet anyone who knows as much about demons and rituals as he does."
"Spike...I'm not sure..."
"What is the problem? We've already agreed he's a champion."
"He works for Wolfram and Hart and..."
"When he loses his soul he becomes Angelus." Buffy clarified. "He'd destroy the whole system we've been putting in place, probably within his first couple of days."
"Ok. First point. Have you thought that the Wolfram and Hart contact might be useful? The Council lost their library recently, yeah? Well the lawyers have access to just about every ancient text in existence. Put it to use. Use the contact. If you act quickly you might be able to get copies of your lost information before the Senior Partners even realise what you're doing."
Giles nodded thoughtfully.
"Yes, I can see that. But what about the second point? What about Angelus?"
"Buffy could you take Angelus out?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure."
"Ok. Do you think you and I together could take Angelus?"
"Yes."
"In a year's time I'm going to have eight fully trained slayers. Myself and eight Buffy clones. Do you think we could take him?"
"You'd be toying with him." Buffy replied.
Andrew frowned.
"Angel will be training the slayers. Supposing..." he glanced nervously at Buffy, "...they like him so much that when he turns 'grrr' they hesitate taking him down."
Giles removed his glasses and massaged his forehead with his fingers.
"It is a possibility, Buffy. You have to admit."
"Supposing they don't have to stake him, just disable him? We could make it a part of their training." Spike suggested.
"Yes. Put protocols in place for just such an emergency." Andrew agreed. "Teach them how to render him inoperative if he turns all evil again."
"What do you think?" Giles asked looking at Buffy.
"I think we've got all our bases covered. You've got to admit he'd be valuable. And if it helps to save him then I have no choice. I say we go for it."
"Spike, do you honestly think we can pull Angel back from the brink?"
"I'm almost certain of it."
"What about the others? Wesley and the others?"
"I think the Senior Partners are still busy finding a lever for each of them. Although I doubt if the girl, Fred, has one. They're planning to kill her. This is why I have to return. I can help."
"We're here to look after the slayers not to save souls."
Giles looked at Andrew, waiting for him to speak. Despite his overblown rhetoric he sometimes had insight.
"I agree with Buffy, we should do it." Andrew said. "As I understand it, the first act of the original Watchers was an act of cruelty, when they chained up the girl and forced her to accept the demon spirit. And control of the slayers through the ages has been achieved through tyranny."
"That's pretty much how I'd describe it." Buffy agreed.
Andrew swelled with confidence at having her support.
"I don't know the Vampyre Angel or his cohorts personally. But I do know we're at the beginning of a new age for the Council, we're attempting to build something here, something good. We should show our faith in the higher powers that guide us. Spike has been put here, at this time and in this place, for a purpose. And I believe it's so that we can prove what we can be and give direction to our future. Let our first act be one of mercy and of faith." He pleaded.
"If we turn our backs on these souls then our group will always be tainted by original sin, just as the first watchers' coercion, tainted all that followed. I think this choice has been sent to us as a test and we need to prove ourselves, we need to rise to the challenge. Also I've thought of a really cool logo – sort of like the Charlie's Angels one. Three girls, but they'll each be holding stakes and in front we should have Spike and Angel, crouched back-to-back in full vampire face, guarding the girls, protecting each other and, you know, it wouldn't look so good with just Spike."
Spike bit back a sarcastic comment, after all, the boy had come through for him and when he thought about it...
"You're right that would look pretty cool."
"Well, thank you, Spike." Andrew smiled.
It was left to Giles to roll his eyes.
"I have my doubts but, God help me, I find myself agreeing with much of what Andrew said. We define ourselves by our actions."
"Does that mean we're agreed, then?" Spike asked.
The other three nodded.
"Agreed. Was there anything else you wished to discuss?"
"Well yeah, actually..."
Anyone passing the door might have been able to make out Giles voice raised to an unaccustomed level, as he asked incredulously.
"You want us to do what!"
-
"Okay, Fred. What have we got?" Angel asked."Children's epidemic. Seven kids, comatosed, each with a semi-rictus of the facial muscles. I haven't been able to isolate a causative agent."
"You think it's mystical?"
"Well, I've been down the strictly physiological route, number-crunched all the victims' charts, even had our hospital contacts send over blood samples. I've pulled all their plasma apart. No indicators on the cellular or subcellular levels.
Angel flipped through the files.
"TV."
"What?
"Parents said all the kids collapsed between 7:00 and... looks like 7:30 a.m. And all of them in front of the TV."
"Huh. That could be something, but I'd still like to get a handle on the pathology."
"Good. I'll—I'll follow up on this lead. I'll need to clear my schedule. These kids need help." Angel said as he hurried from the lab.
"Wow." She turned towards Wesley. "He really jumped on that one."
"Yes, he is a bit jumpy. He's realized Nina has feelings for him."
"Well, took long enough." Fred grinned.
"He can be rather dense."
"Um..." Fred smiled at Wesley, "by the way, my car is in the shop again, and I was thinking..."
"Of course." Wesley picked up the phone.
Fred gave him a flirty smile and attempted to finish her sentence, "Maybe you and I, we could..."
Wesley held up his hand and smiled back, as he talked into the phone.
"Yes, Ms. Burkle needs a driver to take her home tonight. That's right. 511 Windward Circle."
Fred sighed. She must really suck at this flirting thing.
-
"You want us to buy you a house?" Giles asked, slightly more calmly."Look, I could be working for you for the next thousand years. The least you can do is buy me a sodding place to call my own. Don't be so bloody stingy Rupert. I know that you've got access to all those Council funds, so why make a big deal out of it?"
"It's the principle of it! You've worked with us for what – a week?"
"I just need somewhere I can down my blood in private, a room where the bints aren't going to burst in on me and a safe place I can take Angel to. Don't want the evil ones to have a hand in it, so I'm asking you to find me somewhere and ward it, make it a place where we can't be influenced or manipulated. This is an act of trust on my part, Rupert. I'm asking you cus I trust you. The three of you. Right?"
"How far is Angel under their influence?" Buffy asked in concern.
"He's fighting it but he works there all day and his apartment is the pent house above the offices. He never leaves the damned place. He's so involved that he's become blinkered. They've put him on to a hamster wheel and then just set him away. Letting him run his heart out and get nowhere."
"Welcome to corporate life. It's called a treadmill, Spike and 95% of adults in the western world are trapped on it."
"No. Well yeah...but it's more than that. It's insidious. He needs time away from the place."
"I don't like to throw a spanner in the works but after all that's happened, do you think he'll agree to it?"
"I'll leave him no choice." Spike replied grimly. "So? Your decision?"
Buffy and Giles exchanged a glance, Buffy nodded and Giles spoke.
"Fine. You win. We'll find a place and we'll make it safe. And we'll provisionally invite Angel to join us on a freelance basis."
"Cheers. Nice doing business with you."
"I'm not sure about doing business." Giles muttered. "But I have a definite feeling that I've been done."
-
Angel met with the others to discuss where they were with the case. The contrast to this morning was remarkable as they laughed and chattered. Then he realised what they were laughing at as he heard Lorne's voice."Oh the signals were there. Nina definitely wants a piece of Angelcake."
"Can we just get back to the job in hand." Angel pleaded.
Lorne gave a nod and examined the photos of the eerily grinning children and then started to flick through the file.
"Oh. 7.00 to 7.30 in the morning? This would be funny, I mean, if it wasn't..."
"What is it?"
"A really popular children's show. It's the right timeslot. Hits the right demographics."
"What's it called?" Angel asked.
Lorne held up a picture of one of the children.
"Smile Time."
"So it looks like the cause could be mystical. Okay. I'll investigate the studio."
"I still think it may have a more mundane source, so I'll continue examining it from that angle." Fred replied.
"I'll hit the books and see if I can discover any similar occurrences." Wes said.
They turned to Gunn, who had been unusually quiet. He realised they were looking at him.
"Right and I...I'll..." He looked at Fred.
"And I need to tell you something." He said quietly. "There's something else we need to be working on too."
"This is great. Go on, Gunn." Angel enthused.
"No...not so much of the great. I've done something stupid. No...more than stupid. I've done something...we need to fix it."
"What is it?" Wesley asked.
"You know my upgrade?" They nodded. "It's been downgrading for a while now. I've been losing bits and pieces of knowledge. A date here, a name there. Then I began to make mistakes. I went and got it checked out yesterday. They could fix it. For a price."
"What was the price?" Angel asked he knew this couldn't be good.
"All they wanted was my signature. Sign a form to allow some relic through customs."
"And you did it."
"I did it." Gunn agreed.
"But how could you? I mean these relic things are so dangerous. And if Wolfram and Hart want it, I'm pretty sure we don't. I mean it could do anything. What were you thinking?" Fred asked in concern.
"I was thinking that I liked being smart, that I liked getting respect. Anyway, not sure it's the Senior Partners, the way this doctor guy was behaving, all sneaky and secretive; I'd say it's his own personal agenda."
"No you're wrong. People may think they're acting of their own volition but I believe everything in this place comes back to manipulation. We're all just puppets." Wesley said.
"I don't know, maybe you're right. Anyway," Gunn took a deep breathe. "I've found out what the relic does."
"And that is?" Angel asked tensely.
"It kills Fred."
Wesley had the powerful black man bent backwards across the desk, hands around his throat. Gunn made no move to defend himself.
"Wesley. Let him go." Angel ordered.
"He's going to kill Fred." Wesley hissed.
"No. He's not. Like you just said he's been manipulated. But all that's really happened so far is that he's uncovered a plot to kill Fred. If they hadn't gone to him they would have found another way to get to her. Now let go of Gunn. NOW!"
Wesley slowly backed off.
"If she dies..."
"She's not going to die." Angel turned to Fred. "You're ok, we've found out in time. You're not going to die."
She was staring at them all, open mouthed in shock. Wesley realised and went to her.
"You're not going to die, Fred. We'd never let that happen to you."
She looked up at him.
"Kiss me, Wes." She asked.
"Oh, Fred!" He pulled her close and kissed her as though their lives depended on it.
Angel coughed.
"Right. What we have to do is trace this thing, find out where it came from and where it's being stored. Fred you're to have nothing to do with it. I don't want you within a hundred yards of that thing. Wesley and Gunn, you work on it together. Gunn you're to share with Wes everything you know. We need that information. Meanwhile, Fred and I will try to find out what's happening with these children. Ok?"
They all nodded.
"Right. Lets go to it."
-
Spike suddenly clutched his head. "Bloody hell!""Again?" Buffy asked in concern.
"Looks like." He groaned shaking his head as though he was trying to shake the pain off.
"What is it?"
"Puppets...puppets on TV. Kid touching the TV screen. Oh God...stealing...stealing their life force."
"Puppets?"
"Yeah. A dog, a kid with a baseball hat and this really annoying thing that keeps hooting."
"You mean Smile Time? Not that I've watched it...well not deliberately." She qualified. "You know. Just sometimes a bit buzzy after a night of slayage and used to switch on the TV for half hour. Anyway, Smile Time."
Spike thought of the kid falling back from the TV with that parody of a smile on his face.
"Yeah. That would make a nasty sort of sense. Can you find out where the studios are? It's time to let Angel know he's a champion again."
Buffy moved towards the computer and started a search."
Spike meanwhile attempted to contact Angel. He rang his mobile and was just going to give up when it clicked into life.
"Spike? Everything ok?"
"Yeah. Look I don't want you asking any dumb questions you just need to get yourself to..." he looked at Buffy in query.
"Got it." She directed Spike's attention to the screen.
"Ok. The KTCE studio at..."
"Already ahead of you. Just pulling up now."
"Yeah? How? Well, good. Hang on, I'm on way - don't go in without me. I'll explain when I get there."
Buffy looked at him.
"I thought this was Angel's gig?"
"He's already on the way. So I figure it's me they're trying to drag there. Anyway, I'm beginning to think it's not safe to let him out on his own."
Buffy looked at him in amusement.
"He's a big boy now, Spike. All grown-up."
"Too damned grown-up. When I'm his seer, and I've got him used to doing as I say, there will be a little less brood and a bit more fun."
"Which alternate reality do you live in?"
She wrote down the address, before logging off. "Here. Will you be ok?"
"Yeah. William the Bloody and Angelus together again, what could go wrong?"
"Right. Catch you in the morning." She yawned.
Spike picked up Giles' car keys and headed off.
The street outside the studio perimeter was dark and deserted. Except for the incongruous sight of a shiny Viper parked carelessly, half on the sidewalk. No sign of the dark haired vampire. Spike cursed and scaled the high fence landing lightly in the studio lot. He could just make out a dark figure skulking near the doors.
"I told you to wait for me." Spike hissed.
"I did." Angel told him.
"How did you know..." They both began. Spike nodded at Angel, encouraging him to answer first.
"Fred noticed these weird reports in the papers. We did a bit of research and came up with this. You?"
"You know the Prom Queen? I remember her from Sunnyhell. She wasn't a seer then, was she?"
"What?" Angel looked at him, not quite getting the connection between his question and Spike's reply. Then he realised that Spike was serious and waiting for a reply..
"No she wasn't. Doyle was. He was dying and passed the visions to Cordelia with a kiss."
"Uh huh. So Cordelia, that day she returned, the day she was really dying, did she kiss anyone?"
Angel thought back. He had been pleased to see her but they hadn't actually kissed.
"I'm trusting that you're going somewhere with this. And the answer is no, we didn't kiss."
"Not talking about you. Was there anyone else?"
"Well apart from the peck on the mouth she gave you. Not really a kiss, more a sympathy thing..."
Spike just looked at him as though expecting him to get something, and finally realisation struck.
"Spike? How did you know to come here?"
"You know she could have bloody asked. Supposing I didn't want to be tied to you forever?"
"Forever?"
"You'd better start listening to me, mate. When your seer says jump you ask 'how high?' right?"
His poor old sire must be really feeling his age tonight. His forehead was furrowed and he kept repeating himself.
"You're my seer?"
"Yeah."
"You have to stay with me?"
"Yeah."
"And you're my seer?"
"Still yes."
"I'm still a champion?"
"Angel?"
"Huh?"
"We'll talk about it later, yeah? Meanwhile, down to business?"
They broke into the KTCE building, heading towards a section marked "Closed Set. Absolutely NO VISITORS". They walked noiselessly down the empty office hallway. Spike tapped Angel's shoulder and they both listened to a squeaking sound coming towards them. A janitor came into view, pushing a wheeled trashcan around the corner. They stood frozen to the spot, expecting to be challenged, but the janitor walked past them without noticing. Angel waved his hand in front of the man's face, but got no reaction. The janitor simply continued on his way.
"Now that was weird." Spike commented and Angel nodded in agreement.
They finally found the "Smile Time" offices, which were decorated with a smiling sun and cardboard cut outs of the show's puppets. Whilst Spike had a poke around, Angel investigated a throbbing rumble coming from somewhere nearby. He looked around the room, following the noise until he saw a rattling file cabinet on one wall.
"Hey." He called to Spike. "Got something."
They moved the cabinet away from the wall to reveal a hole, cut in the wall behind. The rumbling noise grew louder. They glanced at each other and Angel walked through the hole into the secret hall beyond it.
As Angel flipped on a buzzing light, Spike went on ahead, the rumbling sound growing louder and louder, until he found himself standing in front of a set of doors at the end of the hall, with a label, which simply read, "Don't".
"Yeah. Right." Spike muttered as he twisted the padlock off the door and pushed it open.
Angel caught up and they cautiously entered the room beyond. At the far end, they saw a man sat, hunched over resting his elbows on his knees and wearing a towel over his head. He appeared to be sitting underneath a large, metallic, egg-shaped, glowing thing. Angel approached the man, but got no response. Suddenly, the man's hands started twitching, and he struggled to speak.
"You shouldn't... be here." His voice was weak as though coming from a great distance.
"Angel..." Spike warned directing his gaze above the man.
The rumbling sound had increased and the egg shaped thing was beginning to slit open along its bottom curve, white light poured from the gash. It opened wider until it formed a bright, glowing, crescent-shaped opening. When the "smile" was fully formed, there was a flash of light and a sudden jolt of power, which threw the two vampires across the room and, into some boxes that were stacked against the wall. The metal oval object stopped smiling, and the rumbling noise returned to a dull roar. Angel shook off the boxes and looked at his hands.
Spike stared in astonishment.
In front of him was a puppet and as it pulled free of the boxes it revealed that it looked a lot like Angel. Black hair sticking straight up, wearing the same clothes and the familiar black leather duster.
It appeared to be looking at its hands in confusion.
"Angel?"
The puppet looked up at him.
"Oh god, it's really you! You're a wee little puppet man!" Spike finally burst out gleefully.
Angel's voice cut through his gales of laughter,
"Spike? Have you seen yourself?"
Spike took a glance down at himself and closed his eyes.
"Oh! Bloody hell."