Disclaimer: I do not own Angel the Series.
Thanks to Starway Man, my Beta. If you haven't read anything of his, you should, because it's pretty good. I'd recommend 'Knightcurse' as the first one to read. It's old but definitely worth the read.
Author's Note: I am aware that at this point in time, Angel and his friends don't actually know Lorne's name. But I refer to him as such in the narration (and the narration of their thoughts) out of convenience, as it is less clunky than calling him "The Host" each and every time time. When speaking, of course, I don't have them call him Lorne by name before they would actually know that – as you can see in the text.
Exit Strategy
By Alkeni
Chapter 5: Belonging and Banter
Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles
7:34pm, May 2nd, 2001
"Wes, come look at this." Cordelia said from the computer.
What now? Wesley thought grumpily. Which was hardly surprising, of course; ever since Lilah Morgan had, ah, moved into the Hyperion, things hadn't exactly been all roses and puppies, as it were. In fact, as far as the ex-Watcher was concerned, it had practically been the week from Hell almost since the moment the female attorney had defected from the enemy's ranks.
Putting down the book he'd been reading, Wesley walked out of his office and over behind Cordelia, looking over her shoulder at the computer screen. "What did you find - ah. Well, now, is that Wolfram & Hart's file on Angel?" Wesley leaned in a little closer, though he was careful not to invade Cordelia's space too much. He knew she didn't like that, and he wasn't in the mood for an argument with his co-worker.
"Part of it. The whole thing is like, seven of these discs." She gestured to the pile of floppy disks they'd gotten from Lilah. "Anyway, on this one, there's something about Angel and some prophecy. Not that Shanshu one, either." She read aloud from the screen. "Although the evidence is inconclusive at best, there may nonetheless be reason to believe that the prophecies of the Nyazian scrolls have some bearing on the fate of Angel or Angelus. Did I say that right? Nyazian?" Cordelia looked back at Wesley.
"You did." Wesley confirmed. He stepped back a pace, thinking. Nyazian. Nyazian scrolls. Where have I heard that name before?
Cordelia looked back at the screen. "The Nyazian scrolls. Ever heard of them? They sound right up you alley."
"The name does sound vaguely familiar," Wesley answered, "But I can't recall any details. I'll have to do some research."
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, that sounds vaguely familiar."
Wesley bit his tongue before he got into another argument with her. Right now, he really didn't want to sink down to the name-calling and hair-pulling that their arguments usually ended up in after a few minutes. They really did act like juvenile siblings at times, good grief... "Have you found anything else of note in this part of Angel's file?"
"Not really. A whole bunch of memos where everyone keeps covering their ass about all the plans of theirs he's screwed up, or the plans they tried to kill him or bring him onto their side, or whatever it is Evil Incorporated has been doing." She scrolled down some more, grumbling. "Don't worry; I'll tell you, if I find anything apart from a depressingly long and detailed roster of everyone and everything Angelus killed for nearly a hundred and fifty years. Of course, that'll take a while, given just how much crap is in here. I swear, this must be Lilah's evil master plan. Boring me to death with mostly useless information."
"I'm sure that's it exactly." Wesley replied dryly.
"How's the evil bitch settling in, anyway?" Cordelia asked as Wesley started back towards his office.
"Why are you asking me?" Wesley stopped and turned to face her again.
"Because you're the only one who can stand her presence long enough to take food up to the room you locked her up in?" Cordelia offered.
"Well, we can hardly just let her starve, now, can we?"
"I wasn't saying we should, Wes." Cordelia objected defensively. "Still, you've spent more time around her than any of the rest of us, since you let her move in here." She pointed out. "So you'd have the best idea of how she's doing."
Wesley sighed. "I suppose that's true enough." He looked to his watch. "I also suppose I should take her up something for dinner, given the time." He looked to the mini-fridge. "Any of the sandwiches left in there?"
"A couple. Just gonna give her leftovers, then?"
"No one's actually eaten from this sandwich, so technically, it's not a leftover." Wesley said, taking it and a plastic bottle of water out of the fridge. "And yes. While she may be paying rent, I see no reason to treat her to a four-course banquet."
Wesley took the time to grab a book from his shelf as well and brought it, the water and the sandwich up to her room. It took a bit of juggling to keep all three in his hands and unlock the door, but he eventually managed it.
Lilah was sitting on the edge of the bed, her heels off, eyes on her watch when he actually walked in. "You're late." She remarked.
"I'm not your concierge, Lilah. You're effectively a prisoner. Be happy I'm not bringing up prison gruel for you to eat." He tossed her the sandwich and the bottle of water, both of which she caught deftly. He dropped the book on the bed. "I assumed you'd like some new reading material."
Lilah picked up the book and skimmed over the title page. "Oh, God. Is this really what you read for fun?"
Wesley raised an eyebrow, standing in the open doorway. "What, you don't find it fun?"
"Oh sure," Lilah drawled. "I just love books on obscure demon languages as much as the next person, but a change of pace would be interesting. Maybe a book with like, a story or something?"
"You do have a laptop computer, and you can access the Internet connection we pay for. You can order something online and have it delivered here yourself. It's not like you don't have the money." Wesley gestured to the combination-locked briefcase with the money.
"Great idea. Except that no one accepts cash on delivery anymore, and I don't have a credit card to pay online. You know, since if I used one, Wolfram and Hart would know about it and all."
"Don't be ridiculous. Lindsey already knows where you are." Wesley pointed out, looking annoyed. "And according to you, he has every reason to keep you alive."
"Sure, but he's not the only go-getter that wants to kill me. A career could be built on my dead body, Wes. And I'm not going to just rely on you four and Lindsey's sense of self-preservation. You guys have a success rate of what, sixty-forty, and Lindsey has a wonderful habit of screwing up at all the wrong moments." Lilah scoffed. "I'll worry about covering my own ass too, thank you very much."
"You're not exactly free of monumental mistakes yourself," Wesley pointed out. The was the main reason he was always the one to bring Lilah her food, rather than occasionally telling one of the others to do it. He rather enjoyed bantering with the woman. Evil or not, untrustworthy or not, Lilah was able to keep him on his toes during their 'conversations'.
"Most of them being the fault of the happy-happy joy-joy hero gang." Lilah replied. "And believe it or not, I don't have any credit cards to work with right now. So ordering some kind of book online isn't an option." She then looked at him, smirking as if she'd gotten an idea. "Unless, of course, you were willing to let me-"
Wesley scoffed, not letting her finish. "Not a chance."
Lilah rolled her eyes. "Didn't think so. Had to ask. I could just give you a list-"
"I'm not going to be your delivery boy, Lilah." Wesley pointed out. "You have food, and some more reading material. Behave, or perhaps offer us some help on wading through the discs you did give us, and I might consider options to...broaden you reading base." Wesley started to turn back towards the door.
"Oooh, bribes. How fun." Lilah stood up from the bed. "By the way. What happened to your face?" She gestured on her own to where exactly she meant.
"We were hunting a Haklar demon-" Wesley started, not entirely wanting to go into the explanation again, but then he didn't want to just barge out of the room without answering her either. No point in needlessly provoking the woman, even if she was a prisoner around here.
"You let a Haklar hit you? You're getting rusty." Lilah looked at the injury. "And lucky too, if that's all it did."
"If only it was that simple." Wesley drawled. Lilah raised an eyebrow, and Wesley shrugged. "The Haklar was attacking a group of power walkers. After we killed the demon, one of the walkers decided we had disrespected the Haklar's culture by killing it."
"And so she hit you." Lilah laughed, a genuine laugh of humor, no scorn at all. "Well, well. Welcome to the twenty-first century."
"Welcome to Los Angeles, more like." Wesley countered. "I take it you don't plan on being helpful, then?"
Now it was Lilah's turn to shrug. "I'll consider it."
Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles
8:27 pm, May 2nd, 2001
"You mentioned teeth." Angel replied flatly, in answer to Lorne's question. Along with Cordelia and Wesley, he was having trouble taking this problem of Lorne's as seriously as the anagogic demon was. Hungry new demon roaming L.A. was never a good thing, sure...but still, did he need to be this frantic about it?
Lorne wasn't having it, putting his hands out to the side in exasperation. "Are you gonna help me, or do I have to break out my champion rolodex?"
Angel rolled his eyes. "Okay. We can start at Caritas-"
Wesley might have been willing to let Angel take the lead up until now – force of habit, after all – but then he suddenly had an idea. So he interrupted the vampire. "We'll figure out how best to help you if you do a favor for us."
"Wes!" Cordelia protested, looking indignant, the expression on her face saying 'That's not how this works!'
Wesley looked to her. "Cordelia, have you forgotten who exactly we have locked up in a room upstairs?"
Recognition dawned on Cordelia's face. "Ohhhhhh. Okay! Yep, that's a good idea."
"You're locking people up now, Wes? That's a little hardcore, don't you think?" Lorne commented, looking at the former Watcher askance.
"Not at all, considering the personage in question. And before you ask, it's Lilah Morgan from Wolfram and Hart. She's defected from the law firm, or so she says." Wesley shrugged, bobbing his head down a moment. "We can't trust her, obviously, so she's locked upstairs in her own room for now."
Lorne saw where this was going a mile away. He held up a hand, shaking his head vigorously. "No, no, no! Sorry, pudding, but I don't go around reading people and then telling other interested parties what I saw. I'm a professional, plus I have a reputation to maintain...and besides, I have a responsibility to people's destinies." He shook his head again. "It's simply not what I do, slim. It just isn't."
"What if she gave you permission to tell us at least enough to know if we can trust her?" Angel asked. Respect for Lorne's dedication to his work ethic or not, that dedication was causing another headache for him. Again.
"Why would she do that?" Lorne asked.
"Because," Wesley explained. "She's bored out of her skull up there. I told her that if she behaved, I'd see about letting her out of the room some or perhaps expanding the reading material available to her."
"Books on demonic and dead languages not doing it for her, huh?" Cordelia smirked.
"Surprisingly, no." Wesley said with a perfectly straight face.
"What a shocker."
Lorne made a gesture of defeat. "Alright, fine. If she agrees of her own free will that I can tell you about what I get off of her, then I'm in. But after that, you have to help me with this Drokken beast. Agreed?"
" 's a deal, then. I'll go get Lilah." Wesley went up the stairs. After a few minutes, he came back with Lilah walking in front of him. She saw Lorne and immediately turned around, trying to go back upstairs past him.
"No way." Lilah said firmly, as she tried to get around Wesley.
"No way, what?" Wesley replied, blocking her path easily.
"Don't try to play dumb with me, Wesley. You have The Host here. You want me to sing for him. It's beyond obvious you wanna know all my secrets. What, you thought I wouldn't get it straightaway? I can't believe you thought I'd be dumb enough to fall for that." Lilah face-palmed. "Forget it, I'm not singing."
"Lilah, if you want to have some different books to read, or be perhaps let out of the room on a more regular basis-" Wesley countered, voice calm and explanatory, level.
"Screw you, Wesley." Lilah interrupted with a scowl. "You can't bribe me with crap like that. It's not happening."
"Very well then, Lilah, let me put it like this. You've been here a week. But you can't stay here forever - I'm not going to let you stay here forever, if I'm not sure if I can trust you. You say you want to help us against Wolfram and Hart because of the...gun you have to their head, I believe you put it. But you can't help us very much locked up in your room or out there," He pointed to the door, as if he really needed to illustrate his point that way, "vulnerable to someone wanting to build a career out of your dead body, to use your turn of phrase."
"The deal is you give your permission to The Host to tell us what's what, after you hum a few bars." Angel said, glowering at the enemy lawyer. "We don't need to know everything, at least not right now; just that you're on the up and up."
"I shouldn't need to point out that your word on the matter is nowhere near good enough." Wesley added. "Now, what will it be?"
Lilah looked from him, to Lorne, to the doors, and then back. "Fine." She turned back to look at Lorne. "But I'm not doing it where anyone else can hear me."
Lorne shrugged. "Not a problem." He headed up the stairs, and Wesley let Lilah pass to follow him.
It took at least fifteen minutes for the two to come back down. "Happy?" Lilah demanded, her biting tone far from the almost playful sarcasm Wesley – and indeed, all of them – was used to from the Morgan woman lately. Pissed off clearly didn't cover her mood.
Alright...clearly it wasn't – or at least wasn't just – that she didn't want people to hear her sing. In retrospect though, such aversion made perfect sense. Still didn't change that it had to be done.
"I don't know." Wesley answered Lilah's question. He looked to Lorne. "Well?"
Lorne rubbed his forehead a moment. "You can trust that she hates Wolfram and Hart. No doubt about that. Ms. Morgan's definitely not on their side anymore, so she won't stab any of you in the back while she's here...well, unless it's to save her own life, or there's literally no other choice, or whatever. Bottom line is that she's genuine in her...defection."
Wesley nodded. The best we can expect, I suppose. "Alright. Then we'll help you with your Drokken problem. In the meantime, Lilah, I'm taking you back to your room. We can discuss the terms of your expanded freedoms and privileges after the current crisis is resolved."
"Fine." Lilah's tone was unchanged in that reply, and she went back into her room. Once she was in, Wesley locked the door behind her, gathered the troops and they all set off on the Drokken hunt.
Lilah's Room, Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles
12:13 am May 3rd, 2001
Lilah drummed her fingers against the baseboard of the bed, bored almost out of her brain, even though she wasn't tired. Her gaze drifted back to the book Wesley had brought up earlier. She was actually bored enough to giving it a quick read, for lack of anything else to do.
I really need a wider variety of hobbies. Well, actually, more specifically, she needed something to do. Hopefully, once the heroes decided they could let her out of here without having to worry she'd stab them the first chance she got, she'd actually be able to get some things done. Like maybe, just maybe, enlisting someone to help find her mother...
Lilah was drawn out of her annoyed musings by the sound of the door unlocking and opening. She heard Wesley's voice and looked up as he tossed a pair of steel handcuffs onto the bed. "Put them on."
"Oh? Kinky." She smirked. "To be honest, Wes...I didn't know you were into that sort of thing, or that our relationship had progressed to this particular point so quickly." Lilah smirked as Wesley coughed and flushed, unable to reply for many seconds as he struggled to regain his composure.
"No, they're not - they're not for that. We're going somewhere, and for the moment, Lorne's reading aside, my trust in you has limits." Wesley looked down a moment.
"Ooh, a field trip. How fun." Lilah stood up and closed one of the cuffs around one of her wrists. "You know, I can't do the other myself."
"Point." Wesley walked over to her and closed the cuff around her other wrist, her hands now secured in front of her.
"So The Host's name is actually Lorne, I take it?" Lilah asked. "And exactly where are we going?"
"Krevlorneswath of the Deathwok Clan, apparently. Lorne for short." Wesley confirmed. "And do you want the long version or the short one?"
"How about the short one now, long version after that?" She followed Wesley out of the room.
"Cordelia got sucked into a portal and has ended up stuck in a demon dimension, and we're going after her. I'm not leaving you behind to starve to death in the hotel, so you're coming with us." Wesley gestured for her to walk faster, picking up his own pace.
Lilah grimaced."If you think I'm going to- wait, did you say demon dimension? And Deathwok Clan?"