Before he even made it passed the threshold to Cordelia's place, before even Gunn or Wesley could get to him, Lindsey was on the ground. Lindsey grunted under the newly arrived Doyle's weight before letting out a soft, nervous chuckle at the situation. Doyle quickly responded to his amusement with further pressure to his arm.
"You guys treat everyone looking for help this way? I have to say this probably isn't the best way to attract them." Lindsey asked sarcastically.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Cordelia asked with disdain, "And how does he know where I live?" she directed to the others.
"Wolfram and Hart likes to keep tabs on people." He said simply, "You going to let me go?" He asked Doyle.
Doyle continued to pressure him to the ground, but looked up to the others. The three others conferred with each other almost wordlessly before Wesley finally nodded to Doyle, allowing him to ease away from his position on top of Lindsey. He reluctantly rose up and allowed Lindsay to get up. After a brief moment to recover Lindsey made his way back to his feet. He fixed his tie, more out of nerves than necessity before picking up a suitcase no one had noticed.
"Can I come inside and speak?" He asked more formally.
"Make this quick." Doyle said angrily as he motioned to the coffee table. Lindsey stared at the man for a moment, he almost wanted to laugh at the man's threatening nature. On the on hand he stood slightly shorter than him and looked more jovial than dangerous, on the other he had just easily taken him down, and though he had never actually met him, knew perfectly well that he was a half demon and probably capable of much more damage to him. So instead he nodded thanks to Doyle and placed the case on the table.
"I would like to hire you for a fairly important mission to me." He said as the all crowded around him.
"We kind of have a rule about our clients...they can't be pure evil." Cordelia retorted. Already prepared to send the man on his way. The rest seemed just as interested to help.
"Okay, that's fair," he relented, "But I think you guys are also a little hesitant just to let people die. Unless you're like your...former boss." He tried, knowing full well about the recent developments of the Angel Investigations team. All four of them stiffened at the implication of his words.
"Right, well I think you guys are already aware of what happened recently at Holland Manner's party the other night. It was a slaughter," He started once more, "Far as I can tell there are only two people that survived that night. Me and my associate Lilah Morgan. Darla...she told me she wants us alive to keep in contact with Wolfram and Hart. Problem is, I'm not really interested in staying at Wolfram and Hart any longer. Besides, whichever one they don't want to kill, I'm guessing she and Drusilla will." He said, trying to keep his cool as he explained his case to the cold crowd.
"You're leaving Wolfram and Hart?" Wesley asked skeptically.
"I'm bored there." He said trying to miserably cover up the obvious real reason he wanted to leave. The group was having none of it.
"It's just no longer beneficial for me to be there. My life is in danger, it's not really something I want out hanging over my head." He said with a sigh. "The number of innocent people who have lost their lives because of me, because of what I've chosen to do. I need to change." He said earnestly. He was skeptical as to whether or not it would work, but the group around him was well aware of feeling guilty about the loss of others.
"So what, you think you're just going to walk out? Everything you know, that's not likely ta sit well with 'em" Doyle remarked.
"No, probably not. That's why I need your help. I want to get out of there without losing my life. I need to start over." Lindsey replied to him. Silence fell over them for a moment as they considered the task at hand.
"We need to confer privately" Wesley said finally after his final look of frustration to Cordelia, having not understood what exactly it was she was trying to pantomime. They met in the next room over, leaving Lindsey alone with Dennis.
"Well, what are we going to do?" Gunn started.
"I don't know, his story's convincing but...it could just be a ploy." Cordelia reasoned.
"To do what exactly?" Doyle countered.
"I don't know, ambush us or something."
"Why us? They want Angel."
"Don't say that name."
"Ah, come on princess that's-"
"All right you two, quiet down." Wesley interjected before Doyle and Cordelia's voices rose any higher. "We don't exactly know what he had planned. We should know a bit more before we make the decision."
"I don't trust him. I say no." Gunn interjected.
"We don't have to trust him just yet. Let's hear him out." Doyle offered. They made their way back to Lindsay and let him continue.
"Right. I just want to leave without them hunting me down. The only way I think I can do this is to either make a plea to the Senior Partners that with everything that happened I'm emotionally scarred or something-"
"Obviously you're heart broken" Cordelia observed sarcastically. Lindsay merely smiled.
"Which is the problem with that plan, they make you go through a lot of psych tests first, be read by empaths...I won't lie to you, I couldn't give a damn about the people who died that night...except for one or two." He said, mumbling the last part under his breath, "I'd never pass."
"So what, you're plan is nothing?" Gunn asked Lindsey as if he was wasting their time.
"There are a few other ways people have tried, none of them had really worked, but-"
"You think you could be an exception." Wesley interrupted.
"I think you guys could. I want to fake my own death." He finished to the scoffs of the rest.
"I know, very b-movie of me, but I've thought this through a bit. Here's how I think it'll work. I would like you guys and I to stage a fight of some sort, public place, quick to the Wolfram and Hart cronies can't interfere. One of you guys take me out. I've got some sources inside the police thanks to my work with Detective Lockley that will be perfectly happy with fixing a few morgue details to make sure it looks like I've died. After that I'll assume a fake name and get out of dodge." He explained.
"Won't the Senior Partners eventually catch on if they ever see you walking around?" Wesley reasoned.
"They're powerful but they're not omnipotent yet. I have a few ways of messing with them."
"How?"
"A few spells to make me invisible to their watch dogs."
"Spells can wear off." Doyle countered. Lindsey snapped his fingers and pointed to him.
"And that's where you come in. You, sir, are a bit of a rogue when it comes to Wolfram and Hart's Angel Investigations dossier. We don't have any information about you almost at all except for your demon heritage." He quickly retorted. Doyle looked at him a bit angrily at bringing this up so bluntly, in the corner of his eye he could see this probably came as a shock to Gunn as well, seeing as how he hadn't ever told the man. Ignoring the discomfort in the room, he continued with his plans.
"Here, I even brought your file." He said, slipping a manila folder out of a pocket of the briefcase. Doyle grabbed it quickly and perused it.
"I'm not a morphological demon. I can't shape shift or anything like that." He said, noting the error.
"I know that, and you know that, but Wolfram and Hart doesn't." Lindsey said with a smile, "I edited that a while back when my employment looked a bit...at risk. Whoever takes over for me won't notice anything big about it."
"I don't get it." Cordelia said.
"I do." Doyle replied a little contemptibly, "He wants to use me as a scapegoat."
"That's a little harsh. I just want to use your identity. Go around as Doyle when I'm out of here, just in case anybody sees me as I am. Extra precaution really." Lindsey countered.
"How could that work, if they all think your Doyle, but he's right here?" Gunn asked.
"Most likely it will never come to that. It's just an extra layer of-"
"And if it does come to that?" Doyle asked.
"Then we're relatives or something. Allen Francis, two names, maybe two people. Error in the paperwork." Lindsey said, slightly reaching.
"And countries. I'm Irish here, Tex" Doyle commented.
"Distant relatives." He said with a shrug. With this they group sat thinking in silence.
"This is kind of up to Doyle isn't it?" Gunn said.
"I'm willing to pay quite a bit for this." Lindsey offered quickly after, opening the case to reveal quite a bit of money lining the entire thing. Doyle stole a quick glance at Cordelia, who couldn't help but let her eyes pop out a bit at the sight of all the cash. He smiled slightly at the sight.
"Well if it's completely up to me, I say we do this." He said, immediately greeted with nods by the rest of the group.
"Then we should do this quickly," Lindsay said, barely keeping his excitement in check, "Tomorrow night. I'll contact you." He said before exiting the apartment and out of the sight of his reluctant partners.
------
The next day Gunn, Wesley, Doyle, and Cordelia awaited the call. Lindsay had left the payment with them and Cordelia took this as an opportunity to find a place outside of her apartment to run Angel Investigations. She had collected the boys in the hopes of agreeing to one particular place when the call came. At first, they were confused as Lindsay didn't specify what the message he sent them would be.
"A client of mine would like to speak to Angel personally please. He would like to meet him at the pier tonight, dock 17. Alone." Lindsay had said before disconnecting. Obviously it was a ruse to get them all to gather at one place. They assumed his phone was probably tapped and he needed to make it sound more official.
Clearly the man had spared no detail to make sure the whole operation went down successfully. When they arrived a demon client was actually waiting, expecting Angel rather than them. Clearly not in on the whole plan and rather another pawn of Lindsay's it lunged towards Gunn. Before it struck Doyle struck it with the broadside of an axe, leaving it stunned. In the meantime Wesley and Cordelia "grappled" with Lindsay.
"What the hell is that?" Cordelia asked between teeth, directing Lindsey's attention to the demon and, now, a few henchmen vampires Gunn and Doyle continued to battle.
"Had to make this look real," He replied simply before receiving a swift punch in the jaw from the incensed woman. The plan was surprisingly solid, however on both sides as Cordelia and Wes grappled with Lindsey Doyle and Gunn ridded the playing field of all but the demon. Already close to defeated the demon took a wild swing at Doyle and landed on the mark, pushing him over the edge and into the water below. Confused for an instant Lindsey looked to where he had fallen and back to the others. Wesley took advantage of the situation and aimed the crossbow at the lawyer's chest, hitting the mark perfectly.
Shock waves and pain tremored throughout Lindsey's body as the betrayal he felt sunk in. Expecting some sort of explanation he looked in each of there faces and saw nothing. Instead, Cordelia approached him and with a gentle nudge he took his own fall into the water. He watched in horror as what he knew to be his own blood mixed with the salty ocean water above him in his line of vision. His eyelids began to shut as he finally welcomed the darkness that had haunted him for much too long.
------
"God, you are an idiot" He heard as his eyes fluttered open again, much to his surprise, "We are the good guys ya know. It was still dark as far as Lindsey could tell, but he sincerely hoped that upon his actual death he would not be met by the Irish demon in front of him now.
"What?" He managed to sputter out.
"We had to make it look convincing." Doyle said in a voice much like his own had been a few moments before. He didn't have to energy to slug the man who had just saved him though. Lindsey looked to his chest and found the gaping hole he expected not there.
"I didn't get shot?" He said, thoroughly confused.
"What? Oh, yeah, you did," Doyle said. "I just had a hunch about my skills... you know, demon-wise. I heal fast, thought if my blood touch yers, it would do tha same thing fer you." He finished casually.
"You were working on a hunch?" Lindsey nearly shouted.
"Quiet down, worked didn't it? Besides, I had a couple of healin' spells with me too." He said, lifting a few ingredients, "Frankly if ya had ta rely on my makin' a spell like this you'd a been in a lot more trouble. Anyway, this is where we get off. I assume ya have some sort of plan now?" Doyle asked. Lindsey nodded, about to explain, Doyle stopped him.
"I don't want to know. Don't tell any of us. Keeps yer whereabouts unknown. Safer that way."
"Thank you." Lindsey said honestly.
"Just make sure you don't make your way back here unless ya got good reason fer starting trouble." He said slightly jokingly.
Lindsey didn't really take it as a joke. He didn't want to come back here ever. He wouldn't come back, that was the main point of his plan. And he sincerely hoped those didn't change like plans were prone to.
OK, I'm really not sure if Lindsey's plan works or not. I kind of wanted to keep that part where he's "Doyle" for later on, but I don't know- I really, really need to know if you guys think that works cuz I might change it (thus the tentative chapter at the beginning) if there's a glaringly obvious hitch or if it's just plain stupid. Please, please let me know if it works or not or just what you think so far and review!