Alex Dane was feeling pretty good as he made his way from the parking lot to the set. He'd had pleasant dreams, the Mirabanna script was approved which meant that Cordelia and hopefully Willow would be back on the set, and there hadn't been more that two cars ahead of him at Starbucks. As he neared the set, he frowned, noticing that Fred Kwan's van was already here. What would bring Fred and Laliari in so early?
With a casual nod to the security guard, he slipped inside. The sooner he found them, the sooner he could hope to be reassured that it was no more than a restless night. Or at least, the sooner he could find out what was happening.
"Alex… we may have a slight problem." Fred's drawl was the sort of laid back calm that would have prompted some people to just nod and say 'deal with it', fooled by Fred's laid back behavior.
Alex wasn't one of those people. He knew better. Fed had once said 'They think the engines might blow up. Just thought you might like to know.' while they were on a real space ship in the middle of cold, unforgiving space with the exact same casual air. If Fred was calling something a 'slight problem', it was something that would have a more normal person running in circles panicking. "What's wrong?"
"Well, Laliari got a call last night from Malthesar. It seems there's a group pf trouble makers in our part of the universe, up to the usual tricks. He was worried they might cause some trouble here." He shrugged, his dark eyes alert and full of unreadable calculations. "Good thing I got that coffee, we may need it."
Knowing that he wouldn't like the answer, Alex looked at Laliari. "What are the usual tricks?"
She was frowning, her skin sort of rippling. Perhaps she was trying to imitate a shiver? "Piracy, theft of dangerous artifacts and technologies… weapons smuggling. They want… they want to remove the proper authorities and rule planets. The Protector is one of several ships sent out to various areas looking for the escaped prisoners, to take them back for execution."
"No trial?" The question emerged as he was trying to calculate the potential problems of the situation.
"They had trials, and were sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of their lives on a hostile, uninhabited world. They… umm… escaped." She looked at him, her eyes glimmering purple and worried.
"Escaped. You mean to say that a group of prisoners… pirates and would be world conquerors armed with advanced technology have escaped, and are hiding in places unknown? And the assorted forces…. Nobody's quite certain where they've gone?" Alex blinked, trying without success to wake up from a horrible nightmare. Surely this was just a bad dream. Then, the words slipped out. "How could matters get any worse?"
"They may have the procedure to summon Goriknak." Laliari's words were not reassuring in the least.
"Wonderful." Alex closed his eyes, only belatedly remembering something that Willow had said had been one of several mottos from Sunnydale – 'Never ask how things could get worse, because they always can.'
As he walked on in, Alex nodded towards the various technical people, and offered a small wave towards Tawny. At least things looked like they were running smoothly on the set. No more equipment failures or sabautoges.
Jason sauntered over, a big grin on his face. "We start working on the new episode rehearsals today. With our trip back to the world of Mirabanna."
"And will Cordelia be joining us today, or later this week?" Alex smiled a little, looking forward to watching the way Cordelia and Jason interacted. Intensity, there was plenty of that, and frequent conflict.
"I hadn't heard yet." Jason tried to look uninterested, as if he was above all of that questioning. It didn't quite work.
"Well, we shall just get to work. They will arrive when they arrive." Alex smiled, trying to push away the news of Malthesar's return, of escaped pirates. It would be best to just focus on what he could control for now.
End part 5.
Angel growled with frustration as he continued through the sewers, Wesley trailing behind. Cordelia had a vision, and she'd described the room rather well. Unfortunately, there had been nothing to tell him where to find that room. Nothing. He'd been searching through warehouses all night, retreating to the underground network as the sun rose.
Angel hated the sewers.
Wesley was muttering to himself, about all the reasons why sewers were unhealthy. He'd insisted that Angel might need someone to watch his back, and had gone out, armed with a crossbow and a sword. Now, Angel was reminded of the benefits of solitude. And what if those ritual casting vampires hurt Wesley?
Something prickled at his attention. Was that sound chanting, or the scurrying of many rat feet? Did he smell some sort of unpleasant incense, or was that just the varied scent of the sewers? Could they finally be drawing close to their quarry?
"Wesley. I think there might be something ahead. Stay close, and move quietly." He gestured, hoping that they had fund them. Hoping that their search was about over, so that he could go back to the hotel, take a shower to remove the sewer stench, and have some blood before getting some sleep.
Nodding, Wesley moved closer, a resigned expression on his face. "How many did she say there would be?"
"She said that she saw six, but had the feeling there were more in the room." Angel made a slight shrug, at this point not worried with how many, as long as he could just get it over with. He was tired, he was hungry, and he despised sewers.
Softly, they drew closer, and Angel was now certain that it was definitely chanting. But… it wasn't Latin, or Greek. Not Russian or French or any other language that he could recognize, which included several demon tongues as well. There was a doorway, with a solid looking lintel and a slightly rusted fire door.
Reaching out, Angel tried the door knob, surprised when the handle turned easily. If they're conjuring something, why wouldn't they take a few seconds to lock the door behind them?
Angel flung open the door, already moving to attack the first vampire as Wesley was still in the hall. He smiled, amazed at just how caught up in all of this they were. Now to kill theses idiots and go home…
It wasn't until all of the chanters had fallen to dust that Angel looked carefully around the room. The lines were scuffed, the chanters dead, and the idol… where was the idol? It must have fallen from the pedestal during the fight. Could it have broken?
There was a short of cracking noise, not unlike something hatching. It was followed by a series of almost meaty pops and stretching noises, and little grunting sounds. Angel had a bad feeling about those noises. "Wesley? What's the word Goriknak mean, and what happens if it's conjured up?"
"Actually, the term isn't familiar to me." Wesley sounded as if he was trying to catch his breath. "But… I don't think that thing from the alter is stone anymore."
There was a squealing noise, and something stood up, glaring at them with little beedy eyes. Yellowed tusks emerged from a wide mouth, and there was this sort of smell… It's head came nearly to the height of Angel's waist, and it's body was all wiry muscles covered in a leathery bluish hide with bristly hairs.
"And I rather think it's omnivorous." Wesley stated.
Naturally, that was the moment the piggish thing decided to attack. With a fearsome squealing, it charged towards Angel, the tusks looking sharp as the creature's head moved side to side from the motion of it's body.
Angel rolled to the side, eyes darting around as he sought a weapon. "Omnivorous and hungry. There's a reason why I never liked pigs…"
It charged again, apparently not having noticed Wesley yet. This time, Angel neatly sidestepped, his sword opening a gash along it's side.
With something halfway between a squeal and a roar, it spun around, hooves clicking on the floor as it glared at it's intended prey and tormentor. Something about it seemed different. It looked a bit lighter, a bit… was it taller now?
"Wes, you're the expert on conjured things, should it be getting bigger?" Angel felt a bit of worry go through him. The thing wouldn't be too bad at waist high, but… what if this was still the baby version?
"I wish I knew." There was the sound of motion, as if Wesley was trying to do something… picking something up from the floor perhaps?
Squealing, the thing charged again. With a growl, Angel slashed at it with the sword, this gash a full hand span lower on it's side than the first one. It was definitely taller now. It spun around, as if it was gaining coordination as they fought. Not an encouraging sign.
With a deep snort, it prepared to charge, the tusks now longer and darker. Was it poisonous? Did it carry infections? Angel prepared his sword, ready to try yet again to kill this… goriknak pig. There was a twanging noise, and a crossbow bolt was suddenly embedded in one of the creature's eyes.
It made a shrill noise that sounded remarkably like a scream, and charged towards Angel, it's movements clumsier. Growling, Angel slashed out, almost severing one leg and causing the creature to topple over. After that, it didn't take much for him to finish it off.
"Well, now that that's over with, let's go home." Angel grinned, more than ready to leave.
"Yes, by all means let's go." Wesley staggered towards the door, just as eager to leave.
They were in such a hurry that neither of them noticed the groaning noises. They did hear the sound of stone falling, but thought little of it. After all, they had killed the vampires, and the monstrous pig thing that the idol had become. What more was there to worry about?
Possibly the mass of rock and stone assembling itself into a crudely humanoid shape over the site of the ritual, the large alter-block now forming part of the creature's chest. But nothing had prepared either of them to expect anything like that.
End part 6.
With a casual nod to the security guard, he slipped inside. The sooner he found them, the sooner he could hope to be reassured that it was no more than a restless night. Or at least, the sooner he could find out what was happening.
"Alex… we may have a slight problem." Fred's drawl was the sort of laid back calm that would have prompted some people to just nod and say 'deal with it', fooled by Fred's laid back behavior.
Alex wasn't one of those people. He knew better. Fed had once said 'They think the engines might blow up. Just thought you might like to know.' while they were on a real space ship in the middle of cold, unforgiving space with the exact same casual air. If Fred was calling something a 'slight problem', it was something that would have a more normal person running in circles panicking. "What's wrong?"
"Well, Laliari got a call last night from Malthesar. It seems there's a group pf trouble makers in our part of the universe, up to the usual tricks. He was worried they might cause some trouble here." He shrugged, his dark eyes alert and full of unreadable calculations. "Good thing I got that coffee, we may need it."
Knowing that he wouldn't like the answer, Alex looked at Laliari. "What are the usual tricks?"
She was frowning, her skin sort of rippling. Perhaps she was trying to imitate a shiver? "Piracy, theft of dangerous artifacts and technologies… weapons smuggling. They want… they want to remove the proper authorities and rule planets. The Protector is one of several ships sent out to various areas looking for the escaped prisoners, to take them back for execution."
"No trial?" The question emerged as he was trying to calculate the potential problems of the situation.
"They had trials, and were sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of their lives on a hostile, uninhabited world. They… umm… escaped." She looked at him, her eyes glimmering purple and worried.
"Escaped. You mean to say that a group of prisoners… pirates and would be world conquerors armed with advanced technology have escaped, and are hiding in places unknown? And the assorted forces…. Nobody's quite certain where they've gone?" Alex blinked, trying without success to wake up from a horrible nightmare. Surely this was just a bad dream. Then, the words slipped out. "How could matters get any worse?"
"They may have the procedure to summon Goriknak." Laliari's words were not reassuring in the least.
"Wonderful." Alex closed his eyes, only belatedly remembering something that Willow had said had been one of several mottos from Sunnydale – 'Never ask how things could get worse, because they always can.'
As he walked on in, Alex nodded towards the various technical people, and offered a small wave towards Tawny. At least things looked like they were running smoothly on the set. No more equipment failures or sabautoges.
Jason sauntered over, a big grin on his face. "We start working on the new episode rehearsals today. With our trip back to the world of Mirabanna."
"And will Cordelia be joining us today, or later this week?" Alex smiled a little, looking forward to watching the way Cordelia and Jason interacted. Intensity, there was plenty of that, and frequent conflict.
"I hadn't heard yet." Jason tried to look uninterested, as if he was above all of that questioning. It didn't quite work.
"Well, we shall just get to work. They will arrive when they arrive." Alex smiled, trying to push away the news of Malthesar's return, of escaped pirates. It would be best to just focus on what he could control for now.
End part 5.
Angel growled with frustration as he continued through the sewers, Wesley trailing behind. Cordelia had a vision, and she'd described the room rather well. Unfortunately, there had been nothing to tell him where to find that room. Nothing. He'd been searching through warehouses all night, retreating to the underground network as the sun rose.
Angel hated the sewers.
Wesley was muttering to himself, about all the reasons why sewers were unhealthy. He'd insisted that Angel might need someone to watch his back, and had gone out, armed with a crossbow and a sword. Now, Angel was reminded of the benefits of solitude. And what if those ritual casting vampires hurt Wesley?
Something prickled at his attention. Was that sound chanting, or the scurrying of many rat feet? Did he smell some sort of unpleasant incense, or was that just the varied scent of the sewers? Could they finally be drawing close to their quarry?
"Wesley. I think there might be something ahead. Stay close, and move quietly." He gestured, hoping that they had fund them. Hoping that their search was about over, so that he could go back to the hotel, take a shower to remove the sewer stench, and have some blood before getting some sleep.
Nodding, Wesley moved closer, a resigned expression on his face. "How many did she say there would be?"
"She said that she saw six, but had the feeling there were more in the room." Angel made a slight shrug, at this point not worried with how many, as long as he could just get it over with. He was tired, he was hungry, and he despised sewers.
Softly, they drew closer, and Angel was now certain that it was definitely chanting. But… it wasn't Latin, or Greek. Not Russian or French or any other language that he could recognize, which included several demon tongues as well. There was a doorway, with a solid looking lintel and a slightly rusted fire door.
Reaching out, Angel tried the door knob, surprised when the handle turned easily. If they're conjuring something, why wouldn't they take a few seconds to lock the door behind them?
Angel flung open the door, already moving to attack the first vampire as Wesley was still in the hall. He smiled, amazed at just how caught up in all of this they were. Now to kill theses idiots and go home…
It wasn't until all of the chanters had fallen to dust that Angel looked carefully around the room. The lines were scuffed, the chanters dead, and the idol… where was the idol? It must have fallen from the pedestal during the fight. Could it have broken?
There was a short of cracking noise, not unlike something hatching. It was followed by a series of almost meaty pops and stretching noises, and little grunting sounds. Angel had a bad feeling about those noises. "Wesley? What's the word Goriknak mean, and what happens if it's conjured up?"
"Actually, the term isn't familiar to me." Wesley sounded as if he was trying to catch his breath. "But… I don't think that thing from the alter is stone anymore."
There was a squealing noise, and something stood up, glaring at them with little beedy eyes. Yellowed tusks emerged from a wide mouth, and there was this sort of smell… It's head came nearly to the height of Angel's waist, and it's body was all wiry muscles covered in a leathery bluish hide with bristly hairs.
"And I rather think it's omnivorous." Wesley stated.
Naturally, that was the moment the piggish thing decided to attack. With a fearsome squealing, it charged towards Angel, the tusks looking sharp as the creature's head moved side to side from the motion of it's body.
Angel rolled to the side, eyes darting around as he sought a weapon. "Omnivorous and hungry. There's a reason why I never liked pigs…"
It charged again, apparently not having noticed Wesley yet. This time, Angel neatly sidestepped, his sword opening a gash along it's side.
With something halfway between a squeal and a roar, it spun around, hooves clicking on the floor as it glared at it's intended prey and tormentor. Something about it seemed different. It looked a bit lighter, a bit… was it taller now?
"Wes, you're the expert on conjured things, should it be getting bigger?" Angel felt a bit of worry go through him. The thing wouldn't be too bad at waist high, but… what if this was still the baby version?
"I wish I knew." There was the sound of motion, as if Wesley was trying to do something… picking something up from the floor perhaps?
Squealing, the thing charged again. With a growl, Angel slashed at it with the sword, this gash a full hand span lower on it's side than the first one. It was definitely taller now. It spun around, as if it was gaining coordination as they fought. Not an encouraging sign.
With a deep snort, it prepared to charge, the tusks now longer and darker. Was it poisonous? Did it carry infections? Angel prepared his sword, ready to try yet again to kill this… goriknak pig. There was a twanging noise, and a crossbow bolt was suddenly embedded in one of the creature's eyes.
It made a shrill noise that sounded remarkably like a scream, and charged towards Angel, it's movements clumsier. Growling, Angel slashed out, almost severing one leg and causing the creature to topple over. After that, it didn't take much for him to finish it off.
"Well, now that that's over with, let's go home." Angel grinned, more than ready to leave.
"Yes, by all means let's go." Wesley staggered towards the door, just as eager to leave.
They were in such a hurry that neither of them noticed the groaning noises. They did hear the sound of stone falling, but thought little of it. After all, they had killed the vampires, and the monstrous pig thing that the idol had become. What more was there to worry about?
Possibly the mass of rock and stone assembling itself into a crudely humanoid shape over the site of the ritual, the large alter-block now forming part of the creature's chest. But nothing had prepared either of them to expect anything like that.
End part 6.