18. Original Episode: A Week of Being the Gem
Wesley groaned and covered his face with his hands as he sat on Giles' couch. Giles placed a glass on the table in front of him and sat next to the younger man. "So explain to me what happened this week again?"
Wesley groaned again and finally dragged his hands down his face and rubbed his forehead in exhaustion. "It was like each day of the week was with a case involving a portal. Some were easy enough, but Rupert, that was just unbearable and exhausting. Do I attract these sorts of problems now?"
"Well," began Giles, taking a sip from his glass. "Let's analyse your week then."
"Well like all cases," said Wesley, finally leaning back on the couch. "It all started with Cordelia, receiving a vision Monday morning."
"This just can't be right," demanded Cordelia as she and Gunn stood in Wesley's office. "I know he's grieving and all but come on, we have a business here! Call him and order him to return."
"It's not like we can rush him, Cordelia," reasoned Wesley as he looked up from the text he was studying. "These things take time."
"Yeah and how fast was it for Giles?" asked Cordelia.
"Well Angel and Giles had a different kind of relationship with Buffy," explained Wesley. "Giles lost a daughter but Angel lost the love of his life."
"Oh just find him another girlfriend," said Cordelia. "We need him here."
"We or you?" asked Gunn with a small smile. "You just need someone to answer to your beck and call again, Cordy."
"I don't—"
Chaos in an abandoned parking lot as teenagers run for their lives. Hooded figures are everywhere. Some chanting spells, other with weapons attacking the teenagers who are running wild.
Cordelia was surprised to find her on a chair as the vision subsided. She looked up to see Wesley kneeling down beside her. Ever since Wesley got his powers, he was just like Angel with his reflexes, able to catch Cordelia before she hit the floor due to her vision.
"What do we have?" asked Gunn, armed with a small notebook and pen.
"Teenagers playing with fire. Hooded figures with some sort of weird weapons. They were chanting spells of some sort," said Cordelia in a rush. Wesley offered her a glass of water and some medicine for her throbbing head.
"That's a bit vague," said Gunn, looking over the things he wrote.
"They were in a parking lot," offered Cordelia, as she drained the glass.
"Why were there teenagers there?" asked Wesley as he made his way to his office to look at some text.
"It looked like they were asked to be there…" said Cordelia, closing her eyes to try and make sense of what she saw. Then she focused on one particular hooded figure who seemed to be the leader…and the figure was also a young man. "I think it's some sort of cult thing. The hooded figures…they were also teenagers."
"Talk about fraternities going rogue," said Gunn, he then turned to shout back at Wesley. "Anything yet English?"
"No," came the reply and soon after Wesley came back out, a deep frown on his face. "I guess we just have to scout. Any idea where this parking lot is?"
"Might if I see it," said Cordelia, already standing to grab her coat and she, Gunn and Wesley headed out. Wesley left a note to Fred that they'd be out for a while and that they'll bring back some food.
They drove through Los Angeles for about an hour when Wesley felt something different in the air. He followed his instincts and drove to where he felt the slight disturbance.
"Where are we going?" asked Gunn who rode shotgun.
"I sense something," said Wesley as they made their way to the more suburban part of Los Angeles. Wesley drove until he passed by a small park which had what seemed to be a parking building behind it. Cordelia leaned forward all of a sudden and pointed at it.
"I'd bet my entire closet that is where my vision took place," she whispered.
Gunn had to hold back a laugh as he and Wesley exchanged a look of amusement. Cordelia would never bet something that important to her if she wasn't sure.
The trio circled the park until Wesley felt another shift in the magic around him. He turned to see two young men conversing in the park. Wesley signalled for both Gunn and Cordelia to get out of the car and they walked in a leisure manner around the small park until they could hear what the two were talking about.
"Everything's set for tonight," said one of them. "Most of the guys are game and can't wait to see what you've got for us."
"I've told you it's going to be one night you'll never forget." Came the reply. "How many are we talking about?"
"More or less ten," said the other. "We'll be able to pull it off. We'll go down in Society history."
Something clicked in Wesley and he soon found himself flooded with images of other young men and women doing some sort of ritual to open a portal to another world but it required the sacrifice of not just ordinary people, but people the young men and women considered as friends.
"Wesley!"
Wesley snapped out of the vision and looked up to the worried faces of Gunn and Cordelia.
"You alright?" asked Cordelia as Gunn offered him a hand and they all got up from their position on the ground.
"Yes," said Wesley urging them back to the car. They had worked to do. "We don't have time to lose."
"What kind of name is 'Society of Powers'?" asked Cordelia as she, Gunn and Wesley waited at the abandoned building beside the park, waiting for the teenagers to come and try to perform their ritual.
"They were a society of over imaginative and reckless young men and women who wanted to travel to different realms and well control all passage of it." explained Wesley. "They managed to do it once but after that and with every generation following, the Society was never able to travel again. The ritual they discovered required the blood of the people the caster cared and felt deeply about."
"So these teenagers are going to sacrifice the lives of their friends because they are curious about another dimension or what not?" said Gunn in disgust. "Why can't they just come to you?"
"Yeah and like Wesley will even grant them that," snorted Cordelia. "So if they know the reasons why their ritual is failing, why did I get a vision now?"
As soon as Cordelia asked that, the group arrived and the trio were shocked to see one girl being aided by one of the boys they saw in the park earlier. The girl was very much pregnant.
"She had a child just to sacrifice it to open a portal?" hissed Cordelia in anger. "Someone needs to teach these kids some manners."
The two agreed and they waited until the ritual was set up and as they were about to start killing, Wesley snapped his fingers and their ritual was dismantled, all magic being sucked out of the parking lot.
"And then of course the group saw us and we had to fight a great deal of them," narrated Wesley. "Nobody died, thank heavens but the worst part of the entire ordeal was talking to the group's parents who were Society members and apparently, they had long stopped the practice of getting the ritual to work."
"But they still exist?" asked Giles. "I thought they had long just evaporated."
"Oh they still exist alright," said Wesley with a annoyed sigh. "They take it upon themselves to try and rid the world of vampires and demons. Was I glad that Angel wasn't with us or else we would have been ran out of that place. Honestly, they looked like one good crossbow pointed at them and they'd soil themselves."
"You do know you're describing yourself the first time you came here?" asked Giles with a mischievous grin that Wesley only repaid with a scowl. "Alright, I'm sorry. So that was Monday?"
"Just the first day."
It was unusual to hear from Kate, especially since she was going to be taking a leave from LAPD in the weeks to come but she had phoned in and had given them a case.
"It's very up your area," explained Kate as she and Wesley talked over the phone Tuesday morning.
"I don't really see how the theft of some potted plants are our area, detective," said Wesley, trying to be respectful. "Why do you say it is?"
"Because the people the owner saw were wearing some weird looking costumes and their eyes and hands were glowing," said Kate like it was not a big deal for her. Well she has seen worse anyway. "And the fact that the owner said he had followed the people and saw a bright white light in the alley he had arrived in and they were gone, vanished into thin air."
Wesley pondered on this. Great, another teleportation demon or maybe another portal case. Wesley groaned and told Kate they'll look into it.
"I hope you guys solve it soon," said Kate and Wesley heard some papers being moved around. "I'm leaving next week and I want all cases to be ok once I do."
"You'll be missed," said Wesley. "But do try and relax and not thing about LA for a bit."
"Oh that is my priority," said Kate and they said their goodbyes.
"Angel should take a vacation more often," said Gunn as he and Wesley sat in the car watching the shop that was broken into. It was a quaint little botanical shop in a safe part of LA. But a magical entity on the lose could prove to be trouble. "Two cases in two days. Maybe we'd get one a day this week."
"Don't count on it," said Wesley as he took a drink from the drive thru they had ordered. Things were fairly quiet and Wesley was thinking of calling it a night when movement caught his attention. The two figures were draped in what looked like monks clothing but this garment had different colours that were quite noticeable even in the dark.
What was more intriguing was that they didn't head for the shop but rather to a small park and were trying to…
"Are they picking flowers?" asked Gunn as he squinted to better see what was going on. "I don't think that's a crime."
Wesley gave him a look and Gunn shrugged as Wesley got out of the car, Gunn following suit and they made their way to the two figures. But they must have sensed their presence because the two soon came charging away and soon Wesley and Gunn were in full run trying to follow. As the two ahead of them turned to an alley, Wesley felt the surge of magic and he was almost too surprised to stop it but good thing he got his bearings immediately and stopped the escape plan of the two figures who were thrown back as their exit plan backfired.
"Please don't," came the scared request as Gunn and Wesley stood over the two. "We were just trying to save our world?"
"World?" asked Gunn and Wesley at the same time.
"They were from a realm similar to our own," explained Wesley as Giles took another drink. "And apparently our predecessor helped them with their atmosphere problem. Plants were able to live that long in their world unlike here were trees could live centuries."
"So their supplies have depleted and they wanted to try and grow plants again?" asked Giles.
"Why they were trying to take plants and flowers," replied Wesley. "I told the two to open their portal in our offices and we'd supply them some seeds and plants they could try and grow for the time being."
"So you found a more long term solution then?" asked Giles with a proud smile. Wesley was infinitely smarter than he was and he was glad to have been witness of it as of late.
"Yes but that came later in the week," said Wesley. "Now that was the easier and the most gratifying thing I dealt with this week."
"That makes me curious about Wednesday," said Giles and had to laugh at Wesley's disgruntled face. "Alright what was terribly wrong about Wednesday?"
"Caritas." Came the reply and Wesley continued on.
"I swear it's like you're a magnet for all magical disasters now," said Cordelia as they made their way down to the bar that Lorne owned. "Or maybe because the universe knows Angel is not here that they give us all the work so that when Romeo comes back everything is peace and quiet."
Wesley fought the urge not to snap at her. He thought it was going to be a quiet Wednesday and it was very close to being that until Lorne rang them up at half past eleven.
"I for one am glad we're not bored," came the argument from Gunn and Wesley had to toll his eyes at the ensuing debate behind him.
Lorne had explained that there was a drunken mage in his bar who because of one too many drinks had manage to cast a displacement spell that manage to bring Caritas to a different dimension. It was still technically here but the shield made it impossible for people to get in and out and the patrons were complaining."
"I'm just glad this call even got through," said Lorne over the phone. "Apparently technology can still travel through dimension even with that idiot did."
"So let me get this straight," began Cordelia as Wesley studied the entrance to Caritas. The door had some sort of translucent barrier covering it but they could still see the people inside, namely Lorne who stood there answering Wesley's questions. "They're still technically here but because of the drunken mage, a barrier was created bringing them to a different dimension?"
"Different dimensions are protected by barriers if you will," began Wesley but Lorne cut them off.
"Take it like this princess," said Lorne. "This white thing is a dimensional barrier that exists between worlds. Why people can't simply travel to different realms and worlds so easily. Idiot mage over there," said Lorne with a jerk of his hand somewhere to his back. "Manage to create a barrier in the small space between the entrance of my bar to the rest of LA."
"How was he able to do that?" asked Gunn. "Wouldn't that have to take a lot of power and magic?"
"Not really," said Lorne. "Right words and right person to say it. Besides, it's just a small space. It's like just creating a magical barrier of any kind. He didn't technically open a portal to a whole different world."
"And like I've said," said Wesley, hovering his hand over the barrier. "Some words have magical properties imbedded in them, especially the older languages."
"So what do we do?" asked Cordelia. "Rather, what should Wesley do?"
"Haven't got the foggiest," said Lorne. "But if I could request you do it fast because some of these folk cannot leave once the sun rises."
"No pressure," replied Wesley, a little sarcastically.
"So what did you do?" asked Giles, trying and failing to hide his amusement.
"Well I managed to open a small portal for some of the patrons to use as an exit so they could leave and I could have more time to finish the problem of studying the barrier to begin with," said Wesley. "It was rather annoying for the patrons to ask if I had done it every 2 minutes and I had the right mind to leave them there."
"I would imagine the barrier was faulty and a mess of enchantments," said Giles and Wesley nodded. "That would have it more complicated to dismantle."
"Exactly," said Wesley. "I was being cautious but no, the patrons were just concerned about getting to another bar and have another drink. Instead of dismantling however, I just sent the entire barrier through a portal."
"A portal to where?" asked Giles, a little concerned.
"Hellmouth," came the cheeky reply and Giles found himself shaking his head.
"The hellmouth would then drain it of its energy and thus rendering the barrier to fade out of existence," said Giles. "Very clever."
"Yeah well some of the patrons didn't think so," came the annoyed response. "Or rather, 'you're an Englishman person, you should have thought of that sooner'. Not one of them even said their gratitude except for Lorne. I had a right mind to teleport them to the Council and let's see whatever happened to them. Ungrateful bastards."
"Wesley, I hate to point the obvious," said Giles, amusement lining his voice. "But they are demons. They are never grateful about anything."
Wesley snorted and drained his glass. "Here I thought I had finally reached my quota this week but I was gravely mistaken."
Wesley knocked gently and waited for the invitation to come in before he opened the door. Fred still had not come out of her room since the day they had arrived back from Pylea. Wesley had stopped trying, knowing that it would be better to let Fred leave on her own will.
Wesley brought her lunch and was surprised at the increase of papers and equations that littered her room.
"Working on something?" asked Wesley as she cleared a table to set down her food.
"Not really," said Fred. "Just trying to get back the things I've learned about physics and other things. Can't waste away that knowledge. You never know when it'll be useful." She started rabbling on and on about numbers and equations as Wesley occasionally nodded his head.
Frankly, he was still trying to figure out how he had heard Fred's voice back when Giles was unlocking his powers. But even so, he wanted to get to know her. But the young woman wanted to focus on her knowledge and field of study and Wesley was just going to have to give her time.
"Well if you need us," said Wesley. "We'll be downstairs."
Fred nodded and Wesley sighed as he closed the door. Another day gone, oh well, maybe she'd opened up more once Angel gets back.
He descended to the lobby and was surprised to see Cordelia on the phone and Gunn looked a little excited. They must have a case then.
"What do we have?" asked Wesley, putting the paper bag he had used to carry Fred's food to her room in the waste bin.
"Some duded trying to breaks the laws of science and magic with a weird potion thing," said Gunn. "Lorne managed to catch the chatter in Caritas this morning."
"We basically stop the person from brewing a potion that will give him the power over the universe," said Cordelia as she ended her call. "Lorne gave me the guy's or well demon's address."
"Did he say what the potion was?" asked Wesley, immediately heading to his office to get a book.
"Nope," said Cordelia, grabbing his arm and shoving his coat in his hands. "Just that we have to stop him ASAP. Come on, we'll just pour water or salt in it and the position will be obsolete…it's just like cooking."
"Which I gladly countered that potion brewing is nothing at all like cooking," said Wesley but only made Giles laugh. "It is nothing like cooking Rupert!"
"Well Cordelia certainly has a way of making things sound simple," said Giles. "I guess that was not successful."
"No," said Wesley as he leaned back on the couch. "The potion was done by the time we arrived in the demon's loft flat and was already emitting a weird glow and power. The demon was already affected by it and he hadn't even took a sip. Cordelia's attempts at pouring any ingredient she could to the mix did nothing and I finally got fed up with the demon throwing me across the flat that I turned to the potion and sucked the magical properties it had through a portal I again redirected to the hellmouth."
"What was left I take it was a weird looking green slime," replied Giles and Wesley nodded. "How do you feel?"
"Like a rag doll thrown around by a toddler," groaned Wesley. "I managed to lessen the pain for myself and Gunn but that was the worst one I had this week. I was glad when Friday arrived but then the other problem resurfaced once again."
Lum and Nox, the two who were caught trying to steal plants back to their own realm, returned on Friday and Wesley gave them another set of plant seeds and fertilizer mix to try. The two had shared that they earlier seeds and potted plants were looking too good and the oxygen levels have once again decreased.
"We really don't know what's going to happen to our world," said Nox as he and Lum made themselves comfortable in the lobby of the Hyperion.
"I mean we can keep on coming hear and getting some plant life to try and grow in our world," began Lum but he shook his head in defeat. "But until we find a plant that can strive in our world...we're on a ticking clock."
"Did you manage to figure out what my predecessor did for your world?" asked Wesley as Cordelia handed the two visitors a cup of tea.
"He did something to a particular land where the trees grew but our elders have said that it won't work again," replied Nox. "Something about the land being immune to magic after all these years."
"Is that possible?" asked Cordelia, as she turned to Wesley. "Something being immune to magic."
"Or maybe it's more like being drained of magical properties," explained Wesley. "That land must have been host to a great deal of magical properties just to grow the plants in your world and with each decade or so that passed, the growth of the plants must have sucked out all magical properties the land could give that even if I renew the magic in said land, it might not work or might not work properly."
"That's exactly what our Elders said," added Lum as he turned to his partner then back at Wesley. "Would it be alright if you talked to them? Maybe with two heads working on the problem, we might find a solution soon. The gateways can only last until the following 7 rotations since the moons are no longer going to be in alignment after that and we won't have any other means of getting back to this plane."
"And when will your moons be aligning again?" asked Gunn.
"After a century and a half," said Nox. "I don't think the Oxygen levels will last until then though...mind you they said we had an Oxygen problem when I was 3 centuries old and now that I'm 9 centuries old is it reaching critical levels."
Both Cordelia and Gunn's eyes widened at the age of their visitors but Wesley was not surprised nor did he pay that information any attention. He was still sifting through his books for a solution. Until his eyes landed on the right page. "I think I may have found something."
"This place looks almost like our own but way cooler," said Gunn as he and Cordelia reveled in the site of the world's citadel. It was a glimmering array of weirdly shaped towers and the one in the middle stood the tallest. Surrounding the citadel were more towers and buildings like that you would see in LA but looked more like the things you see in futuristic movies.
Flying vehicles could be seen in the citadel and different smaller highways that weren't transporting cars but rather small transparent pods that had humans (well human looking) for passengers.
"I'm sure your world is on its way to something like this," said Nox as they stood a few paces from Wesley and an Elder who were in deep conversation.
"I'm sure with the energy from your own planet and back in our world," explained Wesley as the Elder nodded. "The portal will be open for quite some time...maybe even a lifetime."
Wesley found a specific portal that was powered by the nature around it. The catch was, it needed to be located in a body of nature...either a body of land, or water, or fire, or in this particular reason, air. Wesley created one that opened in the atmosphere of their own world and surrounded it with another magical barrier so nothing except air would come through and opened the other end in the other world, again in the atmosphere. Given its natural properties, Wesley won't have to spend his magical energy in keeping it open. After a while, the shield around it will also be sustained by the portals natural energy.
"I must say Wesley," began the Elder as the two looked out to the planet just like their friends. "You are just as clever as your predecessor, maybe even more so."
Wesley turned to the Elder. "You met him?"
"I'm not just an Elder because of my knowledge, my boy," began the Elder with a smile. "I was maybe around Nox's age when he enchanted this patch of land to grow plants. Granted even with our knowledge and technology, we never did find a way to harness Oxygen on our own."
"Well maybe this time you can," replied Wesley as he turned to look at Lum and Nox. "I mean those two are just as geniuses as people in our world. I'm sure they'll think of something."
"Just as you have," replied the Elder as he offered Wesley his hand. "Thank you."
"Talk about ingenious," said Giles with a proud smile. "I should borrow the book in the future."
"It has other spells about portals that can sustain themselves and about how to dismantle a portal that sustains itself," said Wesley. "Might be useful in the future."
"I take it your powers were given a run for their money this past week," said Giles refilling his glass and offering the bottle to Wesley who immediately took it.
"You have no idea, Rupert," said Wesley with a sigh. "I think I'd want to follow Angel's example and run to a mountain or something just to relax."
"Why am I so relieved you didn't say England?" asked Giles with a laugh.
"I did say relax, Rupert," said Wesley, narrowing his eyes for a moment at the older man but joining in his laughter afterwards. "You could just imagine what I'd be doing if I'd taken a trip to England."
"Spent the entirety of the trip hiding or avoiding your father," offered Giles.
"And the Council and a whole lot of people," added Wesley. "No thanks, I'd rather face the week or portals problems then head back to London."
"What about Iceland then? Northern Lights are a good show," suggested Giles with a smile.
"You do know that the Northern Lights is like a battery of magical power and who knows how many demons, mages, warlocks run their just to feel powerful," said Wesley with a scowl.
"Well you needed to blow off some steam as they say," replied Giles, a glint in his eyes. "What better place?"
They continued throwing ideas of a good vacation away from Los Angeles, Wesley finally having some peace and quiet after the week he had.
