Summary: Unexpected meetings, a dangerous plan, and some explanations.
Disclaimer: Not mine, no money, Joss Whedon's, yadda yadda.
Yes, I know, everybody hates me for not updating. I'm just gonna shut up and write, so PLEASE accept my heartfelt apologies and read on.
Ivane looked at the slim, brown-haired man skeptically as he led him back through the overgrown green and rust of the woods to the city proper.
"Pryce," he said curtly, turning to face him as they left the park behind and made their way down a depressingly bleak 5th Avenue. "How do I know that I can trust you? I've heard of you, certainly, but nothing confirmable since the news that you turned traitor, and that hardly softens me in your favor."
Wesley stopped short, his face suddenly white.
"Since the news that I turned what?" He sounded as though he had been stabbed, and was more than ready to lash out a counterattack. Ivane allowed himself a small snort, but his fierce nature denied him the luxury of doubt. This man had more potential for being an enemy than a friend.
"Traitor." When Ivane spoke, an unusual occurrence in and of itself, his voice had the capacity for an immense range of emotion, a capacity, which, though rarely utilized, he demonstrated now to its full potential. His sharp, contempt-ridden words would have cut into diamonds, never mind into the heart of a man who had not experienced the disparagement involved in conversing with a fellow Watcher for several years. Wesley's eyes flashed.
"I would be fascinated to hear the reasoning behind that statement." The cold in his voice would have done an iceberg proud.
"Three words. The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. That should be enough."
Wesley's voice became soft and dangerous.
"You have been appallingly misinformed. And I believe I can guess by whom."
Ivane took one look at the fury of betrayal in the ex-Watcher's eyes and did something almost unheard-of for him; he let out a short, bitter laugh. Wesley started in surprise.
"I highly doubt that." Another short laugh escaped, and then another. "Ha! You think it's the Council spreading that idea." Wesley nodded slowly, eyeing Ivane as though doubting his sanity. "You think that they're the ones spreading the 'Angel was a traitor' theory."
"Yes, aren't they-"
"No. A dead person working from the inside out told me. It is commonly-known fact, Pryce."
"We did not betray-" Wesley's response was furious, but Ivane's was harsher still.
"Wrong! You did betray! You betrayed everything! From the lowest, least worthy person that you ever saved to the Powers that Be themselves, you broke the oath that people like us take the first time we do a good deed, the first time we stand up to say that something is wrong, the oath we must keep to until oblivion claim our bodies or our minds! The moment a Slayer is born, the moment a Watcher family is established, the moment Angelus felt remorse and William the Bloody felt pity, they were bound to fighting evil until either they or their honor gave out. When was the first time you knew?" He paused for an instant, watching Wesley's face. Then his voice bit scornfully. "And when did you decide to betray?"
The door to the decrepit set of rooms opened, revealing an astonishingly bright green head of hair and a pair raised eyebrows.
"Nice of you to join us, Jeffy," said Kearm brightly, using the nickname he knew Ivane hated. "Got someone to introduce to you; Ivane, Lindsey McDonald, Linds, Ivane."
"Now his name is Linds?" Jenna sounded amused.
"The former Wolfram and Harter?" asked Ivane, unblinking as he slid into his usual haunt near the back of the group.
"The same," said Lilah. Her eyes had not left Lindsey yet either, indicating that she had yet to decide just what she thought of this. Trust was the farthest thing from anyone's mind. "You were saying?"
"I was saying that, as weird as it is to be playing Doyle for real now, there's a guy who's powerful, dangerous, and in town, and the Slayer should know because I'm sure as hell not going to go up against him alone, although whether or not you'll let me help you at all is clearly debatable."
Carlotta examined him closely.
"And can the Slayer know this guy's name?"
Lindsey looked her up and down.
"You're her?"
"The one and only. Well, if you don't count the one in Sri Lanka."
"Sirk."
"Eh?" Carlotta had clearly not followed the transition. In fact, the only one who had was Nikki.
"Sirk?" she repeated, sliding down from her perch on the unsteady wooden table. "Old British guy, lives in the wall of a sunken subway?"
"You know him?" Lindsey seemed surprised.
"He gave me a lollipop. Who versed him in Enochian?"
Now Lindsey was confused as well as shocked.
"In Enoch… how much of what I'm telling you is actually news?"
"It's all news to me," said Lilah dryly. "Mind giving us an update, Nikki?"
"Okay," she sighed, as though annoyed by the low I.Q.s surrounding her. It was an odd thing to see, coming from an undergrown, skinny girl of twelve. "You're telling us Sirk is up to something bad. I'm telling you that I totally believe it because he keeps me away from certain books on necromancy. I'm also telling you that he's really, really good at Enochian, and since I'm telling everybody else that those freshly-reinforced marks on your arm are also really good Enochian, I'm putting two and two together and coming up with the theory that you are hiding from the Wolfram and Hart Senior Partners, the Enochian is only there just in case because it would really be a waste of time for them to bother catching you now seeing as they're simply not interested, and you used to work with Sirk at some point, and he picked up his Enochian skills from you, AND now you're worried that he's going to do something big and scary and that it'll be partially your fault.
"The only blanks left to fill in," she concluded, suavely ignoring the amazement on Lindsey's face, "are 'What is Sirk doing?' 'Is he doing it alone?' 'How do we stop him?' and 'Why aren't you dead?'"
Absolute silence reigned for several seconds, broken at last by Kearm applauding.
"Couldn't have said it better myself," he announced. "Actually, I couldn't have said it. Bloody brilliant, Nikki." The little girl beamed.
"Okay…" Lindsey began. Lilah couldn't help but grin at the surprise on his face. Out of habit, she chalked up a point in her favor on the mental scoreboard where she had long ago recorded the constant rivalry between Lindsey and herself. She was surprised to find that it was still there, and that the memory of their wins and losses was as fresh as ever.
"Okay…" Lindsey began again, getting over his bemusement. "I'm not sure exactly what Sirk is doing, I had assumed that he was more or less working on his own, although I can't say for sure, I was counting on the Slayer to have some idea how to stop him since, like I said, I'm not doing it alone, and the reason why I'm not dead is a really long story."
Lilah mockingly checked her watch.
"We've got time."
Lindsey looked around. It was so strange. How had he gone from Wolfram and Hart to playing the role of suspect messenger for the local heroes? There was the Slayer, practically holding court in this small, shabby, unadorned room, although she'd never admit it. The Slayer in front, Lilah by her side, the smart girl now climbing on the demon's shoulders, the other girl sitting cross-legged in the only chair, and the green-haired guy watching everything with the eyes of a hawk. Lindsey felt like he was being put on trial. He began.
"Lilah can probably tell you that I'm supposed to be dead – by the way I'm demanding an explanation for why the hell you're around the second I finish. I was dead, under the loving care of the Senior Partners. Again, Lilah should be able to describe that to you pretty clearly." He smirked, and she automatically smirked back. Carlotta rolled her eyes. "Years ago I hired Sirk to help me take out Angel, among other things. He looked enough like a withered old Watcher to be able to feed them a made-up story about eternal torment and the like. The plan was to have Angel and Spike kill each other. Obviously, it failed, and Sirk ran off. Apparently, though, Sirk had a daughter-"
"He did," Nikki offered. "Emily. I remind him of her. That's why I got the lollipop."
Lindsey blinked a few times, then continued, a little rattled.
"Right. Emily. But she died in the apocalypse, and now he's determined to get her back."
"Bringing back the dead?" asked Kearm skeptically. "That never ends well."
"Agreed. Sirk knew it was risky, so he decided on a test run first."
"You." It was Lilah who spoke this time. "He brought you back to see if he could do it."
"Almost. It wasn't Sirk who actually cast the spell – he's good, but he isn't that good." Lindsey paused. "Have you guys all heard of Willow Rosenberg?"
General nods. But…
"She's dead," Jenna pointed out. "What does she have to do with it?"
"Willow was one of the few people strong enough to bring people back from the dead. At first, she had no idea of the extent of her own powers, but-"
"Like when she brought back the Sunnydale Slayer," Carlotta realized.
"Right. Once she did, she swore never to do it again. So there should be no problem, except now she's dead and there's no one to explain to her apprentice just how dangerous this is."
"She had an apprentice?"
"For the last few years. Sirk had the apprentice bring me back, but, like Willow, the apprentice realized how dangerous it was and refused to do it again. So now, whatever plan Sirk has, it's going to involve either gaining power, or gaining a powerful friend. This guy is dangerous and slightly insane when it comes to his daughter."
The group digested this information for several moments. Then Carlotta spoke.
"It's a friend. He's going to get himself a powerful friend." She looked up. "Me and Jenna met somebody while we were… patrolling." It was best not to mention the invisible man just yet. They still didn't know if Lindsey was trustworthy. "We couldn't see him, but I recognized the voice. Whoever it was had some serious magic at their disposal, but it wasn't Sirk talking. He almost killed us."
"How do you know that Sirk's even involved with this, then?" Lilah asked.
"There was a fantastic illusion spell that was cast directly over an area of sunken subway," Jenna explained pointedly.
"That's our guy," said Kearm brightly. "You said you recognized the voice. Who was it?"
Carlotta shuddered involuntarily, and there was silence for a moment. The Slayer was afraid. Carlotta, who could face anything, was afraid.
"I don't know," she said at last. "I don't think I've ever heard it in real life. Only in dreams. He's killed us. And thousands of others."
"He's killed us… Nora?" Jenna gasped.
"N-no, I meant… Slayers. He's killed two Slayers. I know his voice."
"Two Slayers…" Ivane's voice surprised them all. "William the Bloody-"
"Spike is dead," Lindsey interrupted half-scornfully.
"So were you," came Ivane's quiet rejoinder. "And I know it wasn't him. I also met somebody while patrolling. A former Watcher, famous traitor." Lilah felt a sudden sick feeling in her stomach. "Wyndam-Pryce. He said-"
"Are you sure it was him?" The shock in Lilah's voice stopped them all short. "Are you sure it was him, 'cause I for one am getting really sick of all these dead people popping up. What did he look like?"
"H-he…" Ivane seemed taken aback. "Tall, brown hair, blue eyes… half-grown beard…"
"That's too general. It could have been anybody."
"Scar across his throat. He carried a gun as well. I don't think I've ever seen someone fight demons with a gun before."
Lilah sat down, somewhere between tears and anger.
"It's him."
"He gave me a name before he left. One that fits into this quite well." Even the Slayer had to stop and look at him when he spoke the name that still froze the very marrow in people's bones. "Angelus."
"Angelus," said Kearm at last, breaking the silence. "Damn." No one spoke for several moments more.
"Do we know what he wants?" Jenna finally asked.
"Fun," Ivane responded simply. "Pryce left in a rather understandable huff, but not until he'd told me that he had been watching Angelus for some time. The Scourge of Europe wants to become the Scourge of the New World. Pryce told me that Angelus was working with a powerful wizard. Now we know who."
Lindsey was about to launch into a string of conjectures, but Lilah stopped him short. She knew Ivane well enough to realize that you had to get everything you could out of him forcibly. He was far too reticent to volunteer any information, no matter how important.
"What else did he say?" she demanded.
"That Angelus is as brilliant as ever, and that he sees the Slayer and her friends as the greatest threat to his impending reign. He will try to pick off the opposition one by one, thus dividing their strength."
Lilah looked thoughtful.
"Jenna, where exactly did you and 'Lotta meet Angelus?"
"Um… along Avenue A, right over the subway line."
"All right. Here's a theory," she announced. "By all appearances, they're using the subway as either a base or a getaway. I say we send some reconnaissance to see how many people they have, and as soon as we have a better idea of what we're dealing with, we attack."
"Agreed," said Carlotta curtly. "We need to catch them by surprise. Kearm, get a weapon, you and I are that reconna-thingy. Hold it!" She grabbed Lindsey by the back of his shirt.
"I wasn't going anywhere!" he protested.
"Damn right. You're leading the way."
"You're trusting me enough for that?"
"No, I just figure that if you are lying you won't send us into danger with yourself as the front guard. Lead on. And take a weapon."
Coming soon (hopefully): A mistake, a hostage, and an attack.