Disclaimer: I don't own the challenge; that belongs to Lee. Buffy and Angel and respective characters belong to Joss Whedon, and Ocean's Eleven belongs to Warner Bros.
Feedback: Please do.
Challenge: Basically, redo the basic plot of Ocean's Eleven with Buffy and Angel characters. Angel should take the place of Danny Ocean, and Connor as Linus Caldwell. The other characters are up to you.
Other Requirements:
Keep the running gag of the Rusty character always eating/drinking something.
All characters should be at the jobs they were in the movie (Frank a dealer in a casino, Basher in the middle of another heist, Rusty teaching movie stars how to play poker, Danny/Angel in jail, Livingston working freelance for the FBI, etc.)
Angel's Eleven
Even as he glanced at his watch to confirm that Angel and Connor were already on their way to their position above the elevator- the plan had gone swimmingly so far, and he had no reason to presume there were any other problems- Wesley was hurriedly examining Giles' unconscious body, pressing his ear against Giles' chest to check his heart and the breath coming from his old colleague's mouth…
Then, pulling back, Wesley sighed and lowered his head, praying that his basic acting skills were up to the task that had been given to him.
"He's gone," he said simply as he looked back up at the casino staff around him. He had only just stood up when he heard the door open behind him, and smiled slightly as he turned to look at the new arrivals; two paramedics pushing a stretcher.
"You're too late," he said simply, trying to make his voice show regret even as he gave them a brief, approving wink. "He's dead."
Groaning, the disguised Gwen- the two Raiden sisters made surprisingly convincing men once some facial padding and some illusionary five-o'-clock shadow were added- turned to look at Faith in frustration.
"I told you to hurry," she said, slapping her 'colleague' on the arm as she rolled her eyes. "Can't you ever go a bit faster?"
As he turned around to help them load Giles' body unto the stretcher, Wesley was already counting out the time left available to them if this was going to work. If everything went according to plan, Angel, Connor and Oz would be inside the vault in approximately ten minutes…
And, after that, the time would be right for him to call Lilah and have her pull the plug on his 'friend's' heist.
As the two of them attached their grappling hooks to the bars above the elevator, Angel smiled casually as a thought occurred to him and he glanced over at his son.
"Who do you like tonight?" he asked, as casually as though he'd just been having a bear with his son rather than facing the prospect of breaking into the most secure vault in history.
"Huh?" he asked, looking at his father in confusion.
"Tyson or Lewis," Angel explained, by way of clarification.
"The fight?" Connor said, looking in surprise at his father; clearly, he couldn't quite believe that Angel was thinking of the fight as they were about to find themselves facing what had to be the most elaborate heist ever arranged in history…
But, on the other hand, it did give him something to think about beyond what would happen if anything went wrong.
"Lewis," he said after a moment's pause.
Angel shot him a look.
"You like Tyson?" Connor asked casually, a slight teasing grin spreading across his face as his father nodded. "How strongly do you feel about it?"
"You looking for action?" Angel retorted, a similar grin spreading across his face as he looked back at his son.
"I'd go in for a buck," Connor said, shrugging casually; he was prepared to bet some minor money, given how much free cash they'd have available to them when this job was over, but he wasn't going to go nuts over something that trivial.
"A buck it is," Angel replied, before he finished attaching his grappling line and glanced down at the shaft below them, infrared lines criss-crossing all the way down.
"Willow," Angel said, raising his left hand to tap his earpiece as Connor finished getting into position, "we're set."
Inside the casino, Wesley raised his own phone to his ear as he and the Raidens wheeled Giles' 'body' through the corridors on the stretcher.
"Willow, we're set," he said simply, unintentionally echoing Angel's voice.
Up in her hotel room, Willow smiled grimly as she heard her old friends informing her that they were ready. She'd been starting to get worried; they were rapidly approaching the moment when Oz's air canister would run out, and if he didn't get out of the container soon he'd end up breathing carbon dioxide.
OK, so the briefcase posed another problem; right now, Willow was more concerned about the continued well-being of her ex.
"Spike," she said, activating her own phone. "We're set."
"Just give me a minute," the demolition expert said on the other end; Willow heard a vague clunk in the background, and guessed that he was finishing attaching the pinch to the top of his van.
"We don't have a minute," Willow yelled over the microphone, trying to contain her fear even as she watched the clock count down towards the moment when Oz would have no more air available. "Oz is going to pass out in thirteen seconds!"
"Then give me thirteen seconds!" Spike groaned in frustration, before there was a brief whistling of air- it sounded like he was jumping a short distance- followed by a short thump as his feet hit the ground and subsequent silence as the call was terminated at Spike's end.
Swallowing anxiously, Willow glanced back at the monitors before her, noting with a slight smile that the fight was about to start on one of them; she'd tapped into one of the ring's security cameras to help her keep a more direct eye on Buffy and Abrams. As the opening bell rang, prompting the two fighters to move out into the field, Willow couldn't stop feeling a brief twinge of satisfaction upon seeing that Buffy shifted slightly away from Abrams as she watched the fight; she'd been good at hand-to-hand back in the day, but she'd never liked watching it…
And, when Buffy had been forced to just watch people in a fight, she'd always gone to Angel for comfort.
If Willow needed any further proof that Buffy didn't actually care about Abrams, she'd just got it; Buffy didn't go to him for reassurance.
As Connor glanced down the elevator shaft below him, anxiously preparing to let go as soon as the beams shut down, a thought occurred to him and he looked back at his father.
"You ever rappelled before?" he asked.
"Never really came up," Angel replied. "You?"
"Nope," Connor said, shaking his head. "Not much call for heights when you're picking pockets."
If the situation had been better, Angel might have made a comment about him finally being present for one of his son's 'firsts', but decided against it; this was no time to make comments like that when Connor was probably still a little annoyed that Angel was even here in the first place…
As she stared anxiously at the timer before her, Willow could only cross her left fingers behind her back, hoping and praying that she'd get the call she was waiting for before everything went to hell…
"Ready," Spike's voice said over the line; if Willow had been younger and in her more 'hetero' phase (And if Spike had actually been in the room with her, of course), she would have kissed him.
"Then hit it!" she yelled, staring anxiously at the timer before her; they only had a second before Oz lost the last of his oxygen.
She heard a brief 'click' over the line, and suddenly, as she turned around to look at her window, the entire Strip suddenly went dark, the lights turning off as though a massive shroud was suddenly being draped over the city before her. Whole blocks of lights disappeared, casinos practically vanished into the darkness, Willow's monitors powered down (She briefly wished she'd been able to find some way to protect herself from that, but short of lead-lining the room there was really nothing that she could think of)…
And, inside the elevator shaft, the infrared sensors automatically shut down as the power was cut off.
"Now!" Angel yelled, as he and Connor dropped a couple of glowsticks to the ground before following them, releasing their lines as they hurtled down towards the ground, Angel mentally counting the seconds they had before the sensors activated…
Then the cords reached their end and rapidly halted, sending Angel and Connor briefly 'bouncing' upwards.
"Aaaaahhhhh!" Connor yelled as loud as he dared; evidently, his straps had been a bit tight between his trousers. Unable to halt long enough to offer his son his apologies, Angel pulled a slim blade out of his pocket and rapidly slashed at the two cords, sending him and Connor falling to the ground as the cords flew back upwards, the two lines reaching the top just as the sensors turned themselves back on.
As her monitors turned back on, Willow couldn't stop herself from grinning slightly as she saw Benedict staring in shock at the scene before him; apparently, with the lights terminated, Lewis and Tyson had decided to just struggle at close range rather than actually try to box with an opponent they couldn't even see.
As Abrams looked around incredulously at what had just taken place, Willow chuckled gratefully; they'd barely even started the actual heist, and already their target had been both literally and metaphorically 'in the dark'…
She could only hope that things would continue to go downhill for him from there as the plan continued.
Back in the elevator shaft, Connor and Angel had already regained their footing after the fall, quickly checking themselves over for any injuries; a couple of light bruises, but nothing serious.
"You alright?" Connor asked his father.
Angel shrugged nonchalantly.
"Been better," he said simply, as he indicated the door before them. "Get the gear; we've got a door to blow."
Inside the vault, as the lights turned back on, the false lid of the cash cart moved slowly upwards, Oz having finally passed his limit and desperate to acquire some fresh air…
He heard something move slightly on the lid, and froze.
If that wasn't Giles' briefcase, he would be very surprised.
Glancing at the narrow crack before him, Oz sighed slightly in relief, both at the fresh air being let into the case and at the handcuff chain visible in front of him. It would require split-second timing, but if he moved fast…
He didn't hesitate; in one swift move, he raised the lid of the case with one hand and grabbed the chain in the other, halting the case before it could go far enough to trip the now-active alarm systems.
Sighing in relief, Oz began to work his way out of the case.
Back up in her room, Willow smiled slightly in relief as she saw Oz deal with the issue of the case before she heard the door open behind her.
"Are they in?" Gunn asked as he entered the room, now dressed in casual clothes rather than his blackjack outfit.
"Just a few more seconds…" Willow said, before she looked back curiously at her new friend. "By the way, I thought you got kicked out?"
Gunn shrugged.
"When the lights go out, people don't really pay attention to who's coming in," he explained simply.
"Ah," Willow said simply, before she turned back to the monitors before her, quickly pressing Play to activate a video. As Gunn watched one of the monitors- showing the overhead security camera view of the corridor before the vault, with three guards, all holding Uzis, standing idly in front of it- flickered briefly before clearing to show the same guards in different positions.
"This tape's from last night," Willow explained, smiling casually as Oz clambered out of the case; at least she didn't have to worry about that part of the plan any more. "Same guards, same shift. Simple enough, really."
"Uh… wouldn't the staff notice the camera shift?" Gunn asked, looking in confusion at the hacker. "Something like that seems kinda hard to miss…"
"With that mess going on?" Willow asked, laughing slightly as she indicated another monitor that showed the casino floor; right now, it seemed like everybody at the gambling tables had taken advantage of the darkness to try and sneak themselves some extra chips, or pretend to throw the dice while getting them in a position that they could use. "They've got far more to concern themselves with than a few guards moving about a bit."
As she turned her attention back to the monitor that showed the actual image feed from the cameras, noting the elevator doors slowly opening that vital few inches as Angel and Connor moved into the next phase of the plan. As she and Gunn watched from the room, the father-and-son team hurled a couple of gas pellets into the corridor before them, waiting just the few seconds required for the gas to take effect and knock its targets out, sending them crashing to the ground in a deep sleep.
As the two of them finally climbed out of the elevator shaft- after spending three years of his life in prison, Angel preferred not to remain in small spaces unless he had to- neither Angel nor Connor could stop themselves from instinctively holding their noses with one hand as they waved the gas before them out of their way; it wouldn't do them any good to lose even the slightest concentration at this stage of the heist.
"You think Oz made it out okay?" Connor asking, looking anxiously over at his father.
Angel shrugged.
"I'm sure he's fine," he said nonchalantly, before he indicated the door in front of him. "You're up."
Nodding, Connor walked up to the door and punched in the code that he'd recently acquired from Abrams. As he watched, the door slid open, revealing the nigh-on impregnable sight of the main vault door behind it, clearly composed of several inches of solid metal.
Despite himself, Connor couldn't help but be impressed.
"Jesus…" he whispered, as he stared at the door.
"Indeed," Angel said, nodding grimly as he studied the door in front of him. "Now then, there's an HIV-positive acrobat with a hundred sixty million dollars behind this door, who is very anxious to be let out; I say we help him to do so."
With that, Angel reached out and slapped one flat hand on the door as hard as he could.
Inside the vault, Oz raised his head as he heard a faint thump from the door behind him, and smiled slightly; evidently his associates had finally reached their target. Casually pocketing the faux 'emeralds' that had been in Giles' case, Oz turned to briefly study the gap between the cases and the shelves, made a couple of quick mental calculations to estimate how his hand would affect the situation, and then turned around to prepare for the jump.
Up in the room, Willow and Gunn could only stare anxiously at the monitors before them, Willow keeping her fingers crossed as she stared at her ex about to take the pivotal leap in his part of the plan.
"Five says he shorts it," Gunn said briefly.
"No bet," Willow retorted grimly; the stakes were just too high for her to even be thinking about stuff like that.
As she watched the screen before her, she crossed her fingers anxiously as her former boyfriend prepared for the leap, crouch, halt for a moment, and then leap across the room…
Only for him to hit the edge of the shelf before him, nearly falling off the shelf; if he hadn't managed to automatically grab the edge of the shelf with the soles of his feet, he would have hit the floor and given the entire heist away.
"Phew…" Willow sighed, as she stared in relief at the scene on the monitor in front of her as Oz clambered back onto the shelves in front of him. "That was too close."
"Tell me about it," Gunn muttered grimly. "We'd better get that money out of here soon…"
Unaware of the close call that the entire team had just suffered, Angel and Connor stood outside the door, casually studying his watch as he waited for Oz to get into position. Finally, after a few moments' silence, Angel nodded and slapped the door again, smiling slightly as a responding slap was heard on the other side.
"We're on," he said, smiling casually back at his son. "Get the explosives set up; we're moving in soon."
Back up in the hotel room, Willow and Gunn briefly glanced around as the door behind them opened, only relaxing when they saw Spike walk through the door, a cigarette between his lips.
As they turned back to the monitor in front of them, Gunn's head tilted slightly to the side as Angel began to unravel several wires connected up to a detonator he'd kept in his pocket.
"That's it?" Gunn asked, looking skeptically over at the young red-headed bisexual. "Would have thought this would've been a bit more… difficult, I guess."
"There's still the five pins and the floor sensor," Willow explained, as she pulled up two different images on the screen before her, one showing Oz's side of the vault while the other showed Angel and Connor. "Not much we can do about that from the Great Brooding One's side of the door, but as for Oz's side…"
"Just a little bit of Semtex should do the trick," Spike explained, as he walked up to stand beside his friends. "Everything going OK?"
"Bit of a close call when he jumped, but nothing serious," Willow replied, as she continued to tap away at her keyboard. "We should be in soon; I just need to make sure everything's ready for afterwards…"
As Willow made the last little tweaks to a previously-installed program, her eyes remained fixed on the main monitor as Oz set the last of the faux emeralds into its place on the door before him, affixing the detonator receiver to the emerald before slapping the door once more to indicate that he was ready. As Angel responded on the other side of the vault with two slaps of his own, he stepped back, the detonator in his hand and the wires now connected up to the vault door.
"Counting down from twenty…" he said over the audio feed as he glanced at his watch, "now."
As the words reached her ears, Willow smiled slightly in relief, but the smile faded as Oz's attempts to move away were halted by his bandaged hand remaining fixed in position near one of the bombs.
"Oh, bugger," Spike groaned as he stared at the scene on the monitor in front of them. "That's not good…"
"Ya think?" Gunn retorted, staring in increasing anxiety at the screen as Oz desperately tugged at his hand; how the hell the dude wasn't falling to the floor at the moment Gunn could not figure out.
"Connor, can you read me?" Willow yelled into her microphone, praying that she'd manage, by some fluke, to get through all the metal walls surrounding her friends and blocking off any unauthorized radio signals. "Connor, if you can hear me, don't blow that door… don't blow the door, you're about to kill Oz!"
"Three…" Angel continued, as Connor continued to tug at his bandage. "Two… one…"
He pressed the detonator…
Willow closed her eyes, not wanting to see the first person she'd ever loved get blown to smithereens…
Nothing happened.
She opened her eyes to confirm it, and was shocked to see that the door was still standing. Oz was now creeping away from the door, having finally managed to free his bandage from the explosive, but, other than that, the scene was unchanged.
"What's wrong?" Connor said, his voice still visible over the monitor's audio feed.
"I don't know…" Angel mused, studying the detonator in his hand curiously. "It all seems OK…"
"Did you check the batteries?" the younger man asked casually.
Spike couldn't help himself.
He burst out laughing.
"The batteries?" he yelled, a grin so wide that it threatened to split his face as he stared at the screen before him. "The great poof goes to all that effort, and he forgot to change the sodding batteries?"
"Who forgot to change the batteries?" Giles asked as he walked into the room, now out of his suit and back in his more familiar tweed jacket and trousers.
"Long story…" Willow said, a relieved smile on her face as she watched Angel remove the batteries from the detonator and toss them aside in disgust as Connor checked his own pockets for replacements.
"You know," the young man said over the speakers, his grin evident as he handed the batteries over to his father, "you lose focus for one second in this game-"
"-And someone gets hurt, yeah yeah," Angel retorted, as he took the batteries and placed them back in the detonator. "Y'know, I don't hear Oz complaining about it; just leave me alone to deal with this, OK?"
With that, Angel slapped the door once more- Oz, now positioned on the far side of the room, ducked out of the line of fire to crouch on one of the shelving units off to the side- and Angel activated the detonator.
As soon as his finger touched the button, Angel heard the satisfying sound of multiple muffled booms on the other side of the vault door, as the faux emeralds, their task fulfilled, exploded.
As soon as the sound of the explosions had faded, Connor, a resolved expression on his face; if Angel wasn't going to show any hesitation, he'd be damned if he was going to do any himself. He stepped up to the door, placed his hand on the handle, and pulled it open, revealing crumbled cash carts, fallen shelves, and blackened but otherwise unmarked boxes of money.
"Damn…" Connor whistled as he studied his surroundings.
"Precisely," Angel agreed, as he walked in behind his son. "Hey, Oz?"
As soon as the words had crossed the former detective's lips, one of the damaged shelves in front of them lifted up, revealing Oz crouched underneath it, looking casually at his friends.
"You took your time," he said simply.
Angel shrugged.
"We had a slight hold-up; the batteries were dead," he explained. "C'mon; let's get this over with."
Meanwhile, out in the main casino, Wesley, standing alone by a slot machine, glanced at his watch, pulled out his phone, and dialed a number.
"He's in," he said, as soon as the phone had picked up. "Call Abrams and let him know; just remember, they're to take out Angel, but let everybody else escape without making it obvious."
"You have my word, Wes," Lilah Morgan said on the other end of the line. "They'll lose the money, but the kid and the acrobat get out intact, you'll come away with a few million in a couple of bags that were 'lost' during transportation, and your former 'boss'?"
She chuckled slightly as she spoke. "Well, he definitely won't be getting out of jail this time around if we can help it…"
Wesley nodded grimly.
"Excellent," he said simply.
With that, he terminated the call, sealing more than one person's fate for the remainder of the evening.