Lighting Jack's lamps, when he already had his own lamps that needed lighting, was rather more burdensome than Angus would ever let on, especially to Jack. Of course, Jack already knew; he'd covered for other leeries before himself. There had been one horrible winter when they'd all been stretched so thin from illness (and death, it had been a hard winter), that they'd been obliged to leave some of the lights lit day and night just to get through the rest in a reasonable time. It burned at their pride (not to mention, burned up extra fuel) and friends of friends helped lighten the load without expectation of pay wherever they could, but there was one dark corner of London that saw light all winter long, day and night. It could, just barely, be justified because it was a shadowy street.
There was no need for such extreme measures that spring, but covering for even one man was tough. In fact, by quick arrangement (no questions asked), Angus split the route with four other leeries who happened to cross routes with Jack. Two of them didn't even know Jack well; they heard a leerie was in trouble and needed a hand, and they jumped to it. Two did know Jack and did have questions, questions Angus hadn't been able to answer at the time, but no questions about whether or not they were willing to help out. They just wanted to know what was wrong.
So the five leeries performed a sort of dance that morning and again that evening, as they took on the bits closest to their own route, nodding their hats to the others as they passed each other, seemingly at random and yet, somehow, not one of Jack's lamps was likely to be missed.
Angus hated to leave number 17 as the afternoon turned towards evening, but unlike Jack, he wasn't injured and the lamps did need lighting. There was no reason to create the unnecessary burden of Angus's route on top of Jack's. Anyway, the others really did deserve to know what was going on with Jack, Fred and Chalky especially, but all his other mates as well.
Luckily, Jack was asleep again as he left, so no one had to argue with Jack about whether or not he was well enough to do his job. Knowing Jack, he'd want to try, and knowing the Banks, they'd sit on him (gently) before letting that happen. Ellen may or may not have timed an innocent cup of medicated tea that led to his falling asleep at almost the time for Angus to leave, but perhaps it was lucky coincidence. She certainly wasn't admitting to anything. Bert watched Angus go, clearly wishing he could offer to take Jack's route himself, but Jane was still fast asleep and he wasn't about to let her down and just leave, no matter how safe the Banks and Jack really were locked inside the house.
Angus started backwards from the way Jack usually went, considering he was already at the wrong end and there was no point going in circles and creating extra work. He swerved off his own way a couple of streets down, tipping his hat to a passing leerie and going around several streets before going aside again to do some of Jack's.
What happened next was so entirely unlikely that Angus would have nightmares even a year later over what should have happened.
He never should have converged at a certain lamp at almost the exact time as Fred. That is to say, if they were going to cross paths, that would have been the place to do it, because Fred was set to take on a bit of Jack's route just there, just where Angus was set to go down a shortcut through a wall and on to his own route, with only a little bit of backtracking needed to manage. But them actually both managing their routes so that they crossed at almost exactly the same time was incredibly unlikely.
What should have happened was one of two scenarios. Angus should have reached a certain lamp first, and the confrontation that was inevitable should have happened to him, and there shouldn't have been anyone about to intervene. Or Fred should have reached it first, alone. They should have faced the lamp alone, either of them, because it was a lamp at both their cross roads and whoever reached it first would have felt obliged to light it.
It was a somewhat familiar lamp. Angus had watched Jack staring at that lamp for some five minutes once, as though willing it to ignite without his doing a thing. The lamp was next to a dark alleyway in a remote, shadowy corner with no businesses nearby and no doors opening on the street and not even much in the way of windows.
It was the perfect place for an ambush. And a young omega leerie, being alone, could easily be grabbed by an irate alpha, and very likely even if the omega did shout for help, no one would hear. Especially if the alpha were quick to silence any cries.
Fred or Angus should have been that lone omega. Like Jack was.
What happened was Fred rode up to the lamp alone. He wasn't wary in the slightest; it was near there that he'd run down the alpha trying to drag Jack away but not at the lamp and he hadn't made the connection.
He wasn't wary but he was anxious. Not over being attacked, but knowing that Jack had been attacked. He was very much preoccupied in knowing his friend was injured. He remembered how Jack had trembled, how he had looked so unlike himself so…so small. And the horrid policeman who didn't seem inclined to run after the alpha, not even seeing Jack's eye, just asking his questions and tsking when Jack wouldn't (couldn't) answer.
They probably should have made Jack go to hospital, but when Jack would speak it was to ask to go home, and the horrid policeman had said 'well, if he wants home, he can't be that bad off'.
And then Jack lied, and they all knew it was a lie because it wasn't just his eye, it clearly wasn't; he was holding his arm all the while and holding himself all stiff and…and it was all just horrible and Fred kept looking to Angus to make things right, because Angus was the one who always knew what to do (when it wasn't Jack who knew what to do). And Angus did know what to do.
"He needs his alpha," he said, and Fred was ready to run for Chalky in a moment, only Angus held him back. "Not Chalky…his alpha. His Chimney Stack." Angus meant his Pack.
That had hurt, just a bit, because Fred saw his own Pack as being Angus and Chalky and Jack, only Jack had found a new Pack and he was still their friend but he was no longer theirs.
"He won't go," Fred had pointed out.
"Oh yes, he will," said Angus. "Just wait until it's time to trip the light. His route goes right by the Banks' house. And not a one of them would let him just ride off having seen that."
"He can't possibly do his route!" Fred had protested, a bit aghast at the very idea. And he was certain he was right, and Jack himself would admit defeat. (Jack, who was still shaking, at once curling in on himself and holding himself so stiff and rigid, Jack who still wasn't speaking, not really, just holding to himself, holding himself away from them). There was no way Jack was well enough to light the lamps that evening. Angus, it seemed, knew Jack better. Jack insisted he was fine. Except he wanted to trade routes with Fred.
If he hadn't spoken to Angus first, Fred might have assumed Jack wanted to trade because he was attacked while doing his own route, and he would have traded in a heartbeat. After talking to Angus, he knew better. Jack was avoiding his Pack. Fred refused the trade. He felt a bit like he was betraying Jack in that moment, but he trusted Angus so he stuck with it.
Then Angus came back and Jack didn't, and Angus explained to him and Chalky that it had worked and Jack was with his Pack and unlikely to do his route in the morning.
"You should have gotten me," Chalky had growled, irate at being left out, irate that his omega had scampered off to a new Pack that Chalky didn't know, and so he couldn't judge if they were good for Jack. Irate that apparently his omega had been attacked, and he didn't know. Irate that if he did what his instincts were screaming at him to do, the court might well say he had no right and turn against him.
"You should have already known," Angus growled right back, which Fred thought unfair but Angus meant it.
Usually, Chalky had his own place and the three omegas had theirs, but that night Chalky stayed. He wasn't about to let Fred or Angus out of his sight. He mostly cuddled with Fred, as Angus was too prickly and growled away any attempt at comfort.
Fred rather thought Angus truly did blame Chalky, at least a bit. Worse though, he blamed himself. Between all the blaming, Angus neither felt inclined to take comfort from Chalky, nor felt he deserved the comfort in the first place.
Then the next day, Angus went to see Jack and didn't return. Chalky, who didn't go to his own work, still hovering, lamented that he was losing all his Pack.
"I'm still here," Fred had said.
"Until you meet some nice alpha who sweeps you off your feet," Chalky had said, then held up a hand when Fred tried to protest. "And that's as it should be; you all were always meant to move on from me in the end. It was just nice…being needed."
It grew later and Fred left to light his lamps, as well as the lamps of Jack that were allotted to him. Chalky didn't like him leaving, but he'd never been the sort of alpha who ruled over his omegas, and he allowed Fred the choice.
Fred wasn't about to let the other leeries down, not even for Chalky.
He had Jack in his mind as he went on his way, remembering the last time he'd seen him, which was not the nicest picture to hold in his head. It was hard not to think about Jack when he was swinging away from his own familiar route to follow Jack's path.
He came to the lonely lamp and clambered up his ladder and lit it.
He wasn't expecting hands to grab him from behind and drag him away from the light, into the darkness of the alleyway.
"Hey!" he shouted, surprised more than scared, and he tried to twist away, only to be thrown instead so that he ended up half fallen against the wall.
"Where's my omega?" growled his attacker, and in an instance, Fred understood. Before him was the same alpha that had been intent on dragging away Jack, and now he wanted to do it again, only it was Fred who had come instead.
Fred would be lying if he said he didn't feel fear in that moment, because he did, a deep and primal sort of fear. It's just, that fear was almost entirely overshadowed by something much stronger; an incandescent rage.
"Jack is not your omega," Fred growled right back, crouched against the wall as though ready to spring, whether at the alpha or in the other direction to escape, not even Fred was certain. He wanted to attack…but the parts of his mind that were still rational knew it would be stupid to do so, that he was in very real danger of being hurt like Jack had been, if not hurt worse, if not killed.
Part of the anger wasn't just in that the alpha had attacked Jack, either. It was in what the alpha had intended to do. Because he had been dragging Jack away, and Fred had spent half the night imagining what could have happened if no one had stopped him.
The best thing to do would be to run. Failing that, he should scream and shout and raise a fuss so someone would have to come.
Unfortunately for Fred, who felt a helpless fury he knew he couldn't act on, and who fully intended to follow through with those self-preserving plans, he had, with his words, ignited a similar fury in the already irate alpha before him. The alpha who was, in fact, blocking the way out of the alley and who was, by nature, much stronger than Fred, and now was stronger yet, fueled by his rage.
So before Fred could attempt to flee or shout, he was pushed to the ground with such force it knocked the air out of him, making any attempts to shout for help impossible, and in that terrifying moment, when the alpha became as big as the world, looming over him, Fred was certain he was about to be killed.
"Try to keep my omega away from me, will you?" the alpha snarled. "I'll teach you what happens to stupid rude omegas who don't know how to respond to their betters!"
And he cast about for something to beat Fred with. With Jack, he'd used Jack's torch, but Fred's was back with his bike, out of reach. His belt might have done, but his hands trembled in his rage, and undoing the belt in that moment seemed far more difficult than it was worth, and would certainly take too long. So the alpha might well have simply given in and used his fists and feet with devastating results, only his eyes swept the alley first and alighted upon an old umbrella, doubtless broken or rusted shut, for why else would it have been left in an alley?
The alpha grabbed it by the handle and raised it, intending on raining down blows enough to teach the omega a lesson not soon forgotten, before he'd again demand the location of his omega.
Only the umbrella bit his hand.
"Yah!" he shouted, dropping it, and then staring at the blood that now coated his palm. Alpha and omega both stared at the umbrella. One was thinking 'umbrellas don't bite, not even umbrellas with parrot head handles, it must have a sharp bit sticking out I didn't see, no wonder it was abandoned'. Fred's thoughts were rather simpler and pretty much boiled down to 'I know that umbrella' and 'this is going to be good.'
In the meantime, Angus, who, by all probable odds, should have missed out on everything, due to being too early or too late in passing the lamp, happened by very shortly after Fred was dragged into the alley.
Angus saw the lamp was already lit, saw the abandoned bike, remembered the lamp as being the one that Jack had actually been afraid to light, and came to the reasonable conclusion.
The smart thing to do would be to shout and scream and go running for any help he could find.
Not quite as smart, but the course Angus went with, was to grab up his heavy torch, light it, give a loud and piercing whistle that echoed throughout the neighborhood, and then charge into the dark alleyway with a war cry.
Fred was only just pulling himself up, and Bill was only just about to make a move to kick him down again, when the whistle caught their attention. Fred, who recognized a call for aid, grinned.
This was pretty much all the warning that the alpha had before a lit torch was being swung at his back with all the force the omega could muster. Angus might have been no alpha, but that didn't mean he was nearly as weak as society liked to pretend, and at any rate, a strong torch can make up for quite a bit of weakness.
It didn't catch Bill in the back, but the side, because he'd started to turn. The surprise of it, along with the heaviness of the blow, was enough to knock him clean off his feet. The fact that the torch was on fire didn't actually help or hinder much, but it certainly intimidated when he rolled over to face his attacker and was met with a swinging ball of flame.
With an enraged growl, the alpha rolled away from the torch, and naturally grabbed at anything at hand to defend himself. In this case, it was, once more, the umbrella.
The umbrella bit him again, even harder this time. Only this time, it didn't let go.
He howled, waving his hand around that had a parrot's beak firmly clamped to it (that was no sharp bit sticking out, the umbrella was biting him!). And so he did basically nothing to ward off the oncoming blows from not one, but two directions. Angus had his torch. Fred had his feet. And the alpha was still on the ground.
By the time two leeries and a sweep showed up, drawn by Angus's whistle for help, the only help needed was in deciding whether it was proper for them to kill the alpha themselves, or if he shouldn't be saved for their alphas.
The law would actually find it more questionable for omegas to kill an alpha (at least with no children involved) than if an alpha did it, which wasn't particularly fair, but also not the reason they hesitated (because if it came to it, the leeries and the sweep could also have been a help in getting rid of the body).
"Miss Banks won't feel right if she doesn't see it done," Angus decided, which was the real reason they left off before administering the killing blow. So instead they tied him up and then sort of just looked at him, not really certain what to do next.
Despite the way he now had a bloody nose and the beginnings of a black eye, (and a bleeding hand, and a rather bad burn across his shoulder…and those were just the obvious wounds that could be seen) Bill glared furiously at the crowd of omegas and betas that surrounded him.
"If you do not let me go this instance," he said, his voice oddly proper despite the cold tone it was delivered in, "I will see you all before the judge. In fact, I believe I will see you all there, regardless. I know him well, and he looks down on those who keep an alpha from his omega, and as for omegas who go around attacking their betters…he may well have you put down like the mad dogs you are!"
"Why didn't we gag him, again?" Angus asked, not sounding particularly worried by the threats.
"Nothing appropriate to do it with," the sweep answered, equally as unconcerned. "We could try knocking him senseless?"
"We should fetch a pork chop," Fred suggested, to the general disapproval of the others, who had less kind opinions on the police and didn't trust they'd be on their side.
"Here, what's going on?" said a suspicious voice that didn't belong to any of them, and an electric torch was shone down the alley, going from the leeries, to the sweep, to the generally respectable looking, if rather beat up alpha, trussed up on the ground and glaring coldly at everyone. They hadn't had to fetch a cop after all; one had found them.
To Fred's annoyance, it was a familiar policeman. He began to feel the others might have the right opinion after all. It was the same man who hardly seemed to care that Jack had been attacked. And the alpha at their feet was the first to answer him.
"These barbaric thugs attacked me," he said. "Arrest them at once."
"He attacked me first!" Fred protested. "And he attacked Jack and tried to kidnap him. You know, the omega you helped walk home who you thought didn't need real help because he wasn't fallen unconscious on the pavement."
The others didn't speak. They just stood there, making five of them to the single policeman.
The policeman might have thought them guilty or he might have thought them innocent, it was impossible to tell with the way his light shown at them, making it hard to really get a good read on his face. What the policeman was not, was stupid, and he did not attempt to arrest five men on his own. Not even at the words of a man it was soon evident he knew.
"What is going on here, Bill?" he demanded. "What's all this talk about you kidnapping your omega, anyway? Why were you having to drag him home? Surely it's better to let a bad one go than get into all this trouble?"
"He's mine!" the alpha growled furiously in response. "Whether I have to drag him or not!"
"Is that what all this is about?" asked the sweep. And then, "I've changed my mind; should have doused 'em when we had the chance."
Which wasn't exactly how a leerie would have said it, but close enough that none of them mistook him for wanting to take the alpha out to dinner. The policeman might or might not have understood, but either way he changed tactics from suspicious to trying to calm everyone down.
"Look," said the policeman in what he clearly meant to be a consoling tone, "The boy had got knocked around a bit, sure, but he was standing and talking and, well, Bill wouldn't do him real harm."
"No real harm?!" Angus exclaimed. "Cracked ribs, welts all across his back, and bruising from head to toe bad enough the doc warned about pissing blood, and you say not that bad?!"
There was a longer moment of silence.
"Anyway," Fred added. "Like I told him. Jack has an alpha. And if you think us letting him live is a mercy, just wait until Miss Banks comes for him."
"Now see here…" the poor policeman tried to say, only he clearly didn't know what he wanted them to see, as became apparent when everyone waited for him to come out with something coherent and intelligent and he just opened and closed his mouth for a long moment.
"Just you arrest them all!" shouted Bill. "Or better yet, get me out of this, and I'll teach them myself the meaning of real discipline!"
"Not much of a lesson if you die from it," one of the leeries pointed out.
"I think you should all come with me," the policeman tried to order, only it came out as more of a suggestion, and he clearly avoided mentioning arresting anyone. "I will call for backup," he added, in case they didn't think his suggestion intimidating enough.
"I was rather wondering why you hadn't already," Angus said. "Isn't that what cops do? Wander the streets in gangs?"
"We protect the innocent," the policeman answered, indignant. And then he blew his whistle and everyone tensed. Instinctively, at least half of them wanted to run, but they knew the best thing really would be to stick together and make their case. The law didn't favor omegas or betas attacking alphas…but it also didn't look kindly on alphas who attacked omegas first, and it really was not favorable to those alphas attempting to steal another alpha's omega.
When new person did enter the alleyway, everyone tensed, no one knowing what the new policeman would think. Only, it wasn't a cop.
"Oh good, a strong, brave policeman," said a woman's cultured voice. "I'm so glad I ran into you. You see, I seem to have mislaid my umbrella and was rather hoping you could help me find it."