Wesley was just making his way outside of the Hyperion when it hit. Doyle was sitting just a few feet behind, probably anxiously awaiting his departure as far as Wes was concerned when he was racked with a vision. He hesitated for a moment but with a sigh re-entered the room and to the half-demon.
He had to admit he himself was looking forward to leaving as well, being that it was just Doyle, Angel and himself. Angel had long fallen asleep and was probably in no mood to be woken up. That left just him and Doyle to entertain themselves. They had both made mild attempts at small talk, but they just didn't have anything to discuss. Wes was content with the thought that they probably wouldn't be getting along for a long while.
Cordelia had long since gone to her place and he was sure he was in the same boat as Doyle with Gunn. He intended to stop home and possibly make a run to the pub by his place. Apparently it was just not in the cards as he helped Doyle to a more upright position in his chair and fetched a glass of water. He looked to where Angel slept. Something told him the man would not be easily stirred.
"Shall I try to wake Angel?" He asked Doyle.
" I don't think we have the time. It's Gunn. He's gettin' attacked."
"All the more reason to wake him up." Wes reasoned.
"Maybe not." Doyle said, stopping him in his move towards Angel's room, "From what Cordy told me he doesn't seem like himself lately. Somethin's up. I think I would feel better if...maybe you just went."
The statement left Wesley a bit speechless. True, Angel was definitely acting out of character. It had taken him a lot longer to take care of the three vampires with Gunn's informant earlier than it would at any point. It wasn't just Cordelia who noticed this. Nonetheless Doyle's confidence in his abilities startled him. It touched him too.
"Just so you can get a head start. I'll try ta wake the guy up in the meantime." Doyle finished.
"Yes. That makes sense." He replied, grabbing a few pieces of weaponry before making his way to the garage and his motorcycle.
------
Reaching Gunn's place as fast as possible he quickly made his way through the dingy apartment complex. From behind the door he heard the sounds of struggle. Thinking the worse, that he might be too late, he quickly placed a hard kick to the door's frame. The door barely touched ground before Wesley was in, blindly swinging the butt of the ax towards Gunn's assailant. He barely had time to notice the circle of people around him, watching the entire situation. He did notice Gunn's look of surprise.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The man asked him, shocked.
"I thought you were in danger." He explained, somewhat confused. From around he could here soft chuckles.
"You just attacked one of my crew!" Gunn exclaimed, incensed,"We were sparring for practice." He said, now close to Wesley's face anger still etched on his face.
"Oh. I'm terribly sorry but-"
"You gotta get out of here man." Gunn interrupted.
"I can't. Doyle's had a vision. You are in danger."
"I'm always in danger."
"How very poignant" He retorted, "But I'm afraid I'm not leaving until we know you aren't in danger."
"I guess you do have to stick around a bit." Gunn conceded. Wesley was suspicious of why he had agreed so fast but thought nothing of it.
"Thank you for seeing it through the bigger picture" He said.
"Bigger picture is someone stole your bike." Gunn said, smirking as Wesley looked to where he had parked his motorcycle only to find nothing there.
"Son of a bi-"
"Come on. I know some people who might-a took it. We get your bike back and we can get you back home." Gunn said, motioning for Wes to follow him to his truck. This was turning into a long night.
------
Meanwhile back at the hotel Doyle made fair attempts to wake the vampire from his sleep. Not a task he relished very much, seeing as how he could probably kill Doyle fairly easy. When general nudging wasn't working he became frustrated. Not one to waste too much time when it came to the visions, least of all those including people he knew Doyle moved to the kitchen.
Filling a glass with cold water in hopes that might raise the living dead- literally- he didn't notice Angel's frame had followed him there. Turning around he was startled by the man, stark naked, eyes still shut. He was clearly sleepwalking. And, in Doyle's opinion, clearly in need of some pajamas. Angel was becoming enraged in his sleep. Something was happening. He began to approach Doyle dangerously. In no position to run Doyle tossed the water at the man's face.
Suddenly awake Angel twitched, his hands moving to his now sopping face. Still angry and disoriented he looked around a bit before finding Doyle. Confused he looked around the room as Doyle tried to place his eyes anywhere but on Angel's unclothed frame.
"Uh, had a vision mate. Wes is already on it but it was Gunn. He's in trouble." Doyle offered Angel, still averting his gaze.
"So what's the-"
"I'd love ta answer all yer questions but I would really prefer doing this with everyone clothed." Angel looked down and embarrassed moved quickly to his room to find clothing.
"Gunn was way outnumbered way I saw it. Wes may not be enough" Doyle hollered into the other room as he waited. Now almost fully dressed Angel came into the room buttoning his shirt.
"Well then let's go." He said simply.
"Right" Doyle said, skeptical of both Angel's competence at the moment and his ability to offer any sort of help in a fight.
Pushing the thoughts outside of his mind he followed Angel into the garage. As he walked confidently Doyle made his best efforts to keep up in his chair, but found his stride too quick. About to tell Angel as much the vampire stopped a few feet ahead of him. As he caught up he noticed the confused look on Angel's face.
"I- I don't know where my car is." He said feebly. It hit Doyle a might bit quicker.
"Argh. Ya lent it ta Cordy after she dropped you off back here." He answered, grabbing his cell phone to give the woman a call, all the while watching Angel barely keep his eyelids up, concerned.
-----
After several fruitless attempts to find his bike Wesley found himself once again out of his element. As the party raged on around him he watched Gunn from the wall, trying to seem less noticeable than he clearly was. He thought of making himself more open, try some of his excellent dance moves or socialize but ultimately left the task to Gunn who was clearly every loved and respected in this environment.
He was beginning to suspect in wasn't just here that he was out of place. Truthfully he only ever truly felt he belonged when he was in the watcher's council. His father may not have respected him but he had several fatherly figures all around him he could try to use to replace him with. Angel Investigations was not something he aimed to be permanent. It was supposed to be a temporary fix until he could get back into the good graces of the council. He certainly didn't expect he would betray them for Angel, least of all Faith. He was here to stay now, he supposed. It wasn't so bad, if he could just get some of the people he worked with to stop hating him so much...
Interrupting his thoughts was the sound of breaking glass and screaming. All around him he saw people frantic to leave. Vampires had broken up the party. To the left of him he saw Gunn struggling with two of them but to his right, more pressing he found a girl being hassled by a third vampire. He turned his attention to her, every confidence that Gunn could hold his own. Besides, some of his crew were already coming to his aid.
Before damage could befall the girl Wesley came up from behind the vampire in an attempt to stake with a piece of broken furniture. Seeing him coming the vampire dropped his attention to the girl and instead lunged at Wesley. Grappling with him Wesley could feel over matched and soon found himself airborne.
He crashed mere inches away from a glass table, narrowly averting possibly fatal glass fragments. Quickly he rose before the vampire could take advantage of his prone situation. After blocking several shots he managed to land a few of his own, sending the vamp reeling. Making quick work he grabbed a sharp piece of wood once again and pushed it deep into the vampire's chest.
He turned briefly to the female victim who stoically gave him a nod indicating she was fine. He looked around to find Gunn finishing off a few more. Once more his glance fell on another person. Desmond, one of Gunn's informants he had pressured early on that night regarding the missing motorcycle was lying slightly injured on the floor. Wesley turned his attention to him Gunn following close behind.
"The bike, it's here." He said wincing as if expecting pressure from the two men. Wesley grabbed the piece of paper from the fallen man and handed it to Gunn.
"I know where it's at. Let's move." He replied after examining the address. Wesley complied, as they walked Gunn spoke.
"And...You know. Good job. With Veronica. For saving her." He mumbled as they moved, clearly actually thanking him would be too difficult.
"Seems I'm not as good ass I thought at this." He added.
"It rarely ever ends happily. There are some that are jut too hard to prevent." Wesley offered, knowing full well Gunn had recently lost a sister to this mess.
"Some shouldn't be." He replied shortly still blaming himself.
------
It had been fairly silent as Doyle and Angel waited for Cordelia, far from pleased to be interrupted from her comfortable night at home, to arrive with the car. Doyle considered speaking to Angel about his recent behavior but by the time he plucked up the courage Cordy had arrived.
"That was quick." He sad to her.
"Yes well let's hope this ends a bit quick too." She replied shortly, something he was sadly all too familiar with in her voice.
"Here's Gunn's address." Angel sad quickly, "Let's start there."
"No need. I talked with Wes a little bit ago. He told me they were headed to this garage for some reason."
"I'm impressed princess" Doyle replied as Angel grabbed the address and they began to load into his convertible. For the first time in a long while she smiled at the pet name he had graced her with. He returned it as they moved out.
------
Now at the garage Gunn and Wesley began to look for his motorcycle among the throngs of other vehicles. All the while Gunn swearing revenge on whoever it was messing with his neighborhood, Wes found his allegiance admirable. Finally Wesley managed to find it.
"Over here." He cried to Gunn who made his way over to where Wes stood.
"Good, now you can head home while I go check up-"
"Not so much there Gunn." A deep voice came from the shadows.
Along with several vampires Deevak, the guy Gunn had been searching for earlier that day came out of the shadows to confront Gunn. Gunn gave his menacing glare to the imposing demon, but his size both Gunn and Wes knew was something to be wary of. Before either knew what was going on Deevak wrapped his hands around Gunn's neck. Trying to gain an advantage by reacting quickly Wesley lunged at the demon with his ax. Swapping it away easily Deevak tried to push Wesley out of the way. Not successful Wesley tried once more with a dagger he had thought to equip himself with. Going low he managed to pierce Deevak's leg. Groaning it loosened its grip on Gunn who aimed high and knocked the demon down with formidable punches.
Working together deceptively well together the demon was very suddenly on the losing side. Taking the ax lost by Wesley earlier Gunn made his way to take Deevak out once an for all. Wesley in the mean time turned his attention to the group of vampires looking on. A few attempted to escape their bleak fates with the two of them but were met by the sudden crash of Angel's convertible as it screeched into the garage. Soon Angel was at the side of Wesley as Cordelia and Doyle made their way out of the car.
A sickening thud came from Gunn's side as the ax landed into Deevak's skull and in a matter of no time the vampires too had been dealt with. Cordelia was the first to his side, asking if Gunn was alright.
"Yeah. Thanks to Wes over there." He offered a nod to Wesley who returned the nod of appreciation. Angel was already making his way to the car to get back home and, they were all assuming, back to sleep. Gunn came up to Wes and gave him a small smack to the back as they all began to move out. Wesley returned with a handshake.
In the meantime Doyle rolled to the body of the deceased demon and took a close look. He looked to Gunn, despite his confidence and joy over the success of the night, Doyle knew he had to tell him. He cautiously made his way to the man, motioning to a questioning Cordy and Angel to wait a moment. He caught up to Gunn quickly.
"Hey" He started.
"Oh, yeah. Thanks for telling them bout your vision" He said offhand. Doyle reached out to stop him.
"It's my job but that's not it" He replied, "That demon. It wasn't the one in my vision."
"Well I'm sure there'll be others." He said coolly.
"Me too. Which is why we're not going away. Wes, Angel, all of us. We're here to make sure this vision doesn't come true but you have to understand its no just us who has to be careful." He looked seriously to Gunn who gave him a matching look of seriousness and respect.
"Be seeing you then." He responded finally, turning to his truck, letting a slight smile spread across his face.
Next one should be up on Monday sometime. Let me know what you guys thought and review...