20"I haven't forgiven you lot, you know."
Wesley sighed and took a sip of his coffee. "I, for one, am distraught," he said.
Spike leaned forward in the chair, unphased by his sarcasm. "I mean, here I am, right? Strongest you got after the Slayer. Definitely just as strong as Angel, and don't let him tell you otherwise, man knows it. You go on your big raid and you don't even ask me to come?" He was animated, flailing about like a child whose allowance had been taken away.
Wesley put the mug to his lips again.
"Are you even listening to me?" Spike asked.
He raised his eyebrows. "Oh yes, do go on. Our haste to save a kidnapped woman was very unfair to you, it's only right that you're mad."
"I do understand sarcasm," Spike said, "and you're bloody awful at it."
Wesley placed the mug on the table, looking at Spike for the first time in the conversation. "Well, I'm not sure what you want me to do about it. If you want to be included more, you should take it up with Angel."
"Would that I could, watcher boy. He's off on a date at the moment."
"That's surprising," Wesley said. "With who?"
"Take a wild bloody guess."
The streetlight shimmered in Faith's dark brown hair as she passed underneath it. She paused for a moment and let out a sigh, staring down the street.
"Are you alright?" Angel asked.
"Well, no," she said, "but right now I'm mostly just tired."
The Wolfram & Hart building was coming up on their right. Faith ran her hand across a wall low to the ground and felt the rough texture of the stone scratch her fingertips. When the wall got low enough she suddenly stopped, then lifted herself backwards onto it, scooting back and forth until she seemed comfortable.
Angel turned to her. "Found yourself a good spot?" he asked
"A cold spot," she remarked, looking down at the bricks.
He looked off towards the building. "It's probably warmer inside."
"Let's… not go in just yet." Her voice was suddenly quiet.
With a concerned frown, Angel walked over to the wall and leaned against it, putting his hands behind his head. After a bit of deliberation, he said, "We're all here for you. You know that, right?"
"Of course," she said. "It's not that."
"Just feel like a little chill will do some good?" he said with an audible smile.
Faith chuckled. "No, no, it's just that when we get in there, all the others are gonna come running. And they're nice but, y'know, it's also nice to just be… alone. Sometimes."
Angel frowned slightly. He knew a thing or two about being alone, and it usually didn't involve more than one person. His hands felt colder all of a sudden, and he clutched them tight in front of him. "Yeah," he finally said.
"Man of few words," she muttered.
He shrugged.
A silence fell over the two as they watched cars pass them and speed off further down the road. A mess of lights illuminated the street in patches. People came and went underneath them, plainly lit for a moment, then fading into the evening gloom.
"Past me would have given up by now," Faith eventually said. "Back before you helped me."
He made a thoughtful noise. "I think you helped yourself. I just made a good excuse."
"You would think that," she muttered.
"That might be true," he admitted.
Another bit of silence.
"Hey, A?"
"Hmmm?"
He moved a step away from the wall and turned to face her.
"I was just… Well, you know-" she began.
He cocked his head. "Do I?"
They were closer now.
"I mean, I hope you do."
"That's a lot of pressure."
They moved closer.
Faith was almost whispering now. "It's no pressure, it's just-" She cut herself off.
Closer.
Angel felt a vibration in his shirt pocket. A wide-eyed Faith turned her gaze down to look at the offending phone. With a glare to no one in particular, he pulled it out and turned away from her, pacing a few steps.
"Where are you?"
Harmony.
He sighed. "Just outside. Why?"
"I… think you should come back to the company."
"Is there a problem?"
"That's a matter of opinion." A nervous smile was audible on her lips.
He sighed. "We'll start heading back. Don't do anything stupid until I'm there."
"Pssh, like I would. Have some faith in me, Boss. Jeez."
Not the slightest bit reassured, he hung up.
Behind him, he heard the sound of Faith hopping down and landing on the street.
The two strode through the hallways, greeted with the familiar sickening white walls and even more sickening lawyers milling about. The morning shuffle of rushing in and out of elevators and finding the day's assignments was well underway. They found an elevator heading up and went inside.
"I don't smell any smoke," Angel remarked.
There was no reply.
As they exited the elevator, he moved with the rigid steps and scowling face of someone entering a boxing ring, eyes darting around to find his enemy. When he reached the floor that housed his office, he was met with a distraught Harmony.
"He was just- he came and he- I didn't stop hi-"
"Have you ever actually stopped anyone from coming here?" Angel asked.
She looked meaningfully at the floor. "He's in your office," she squeaked.
With a sigh, he walked past her and headed to the office, spotting trouble plainly through the glass walls. A man in a suit he didn't recognize stood with an arm locked around the neck of Knox, clad in his regular white coat, though it looked rather more disheveled than it usually was. Angel and Faith entered the room.
"Ah, Angel. Just the man I wanted to see," the man in the suit said. His tone was energetic but there was no hint of positive emotion behind them.
"So I hear," Angel coldly said. "Why are you holding my employee?"
Behind them, he heard several footsteps enter the room, and soon after, Gunn, Wesley, Spike, and Fred were standing next to them.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Marcus Hamilton, your new liaison to the Senior Partners."
"You didn't answer my question," Angel said.
Marcus chuckled softly. "Well, while you and your friends were off chasing warlocks, your employee here has been going behind your back."
"To do what?" Faith asked.
Marcus shot her a studying look, as if puzzled she was there. "As far as I know, summoning an Old One to this plane," he said.
"Sounds par for the course," Wesley muttered.
"Well, the course is being redecorated slightly," Marcus said.
With a single, fluid movement, he snapped Knox' neck, and the scientist fell to the floor, dead before he hit it.
Several of the group drew sharp breaths in unison.
"You-" Fred began, pointing a finger in the man's direction.
Angel looked down at the body, then back at Marcus. "You just killed an employee of mine without my authorization."
Marcus made eye contact with him. "I'll make sure to let the Senior Partners know you disapprove," he said, his tone making very plain that he had no such intention.
"You killed him!" Fred exclaimed.
"He would have done the same to all of you if he could. Now, if you'd join me in the conference room," he said, walking nonchalantly past her.
Fred cast an accusatory glance at Angel, who answered with a sullen nod.
As the group exited the office, Harmony came up to them with a quizzical expression.
"Be a dear and get a cleanup crew in there," Marcus told her as he walked by.
Angel came after. "This guy doesn't get to boss you around," he said.
"Aww, Boss. Thanks," she said with a smile.
"Do get a cleanup crew in there though," he continued.
Crestfallen, she muttered, "I'll get right on it."
The group followed Marcus into the conference room, where he stood in front of the whiteboard that covered the wall by the entrance. He gestured for the others to stand facing him.
"Welcome to the meeting," he said.
"You just killed our friend and now you want to hold a meeting?" Fred accused.
"If you're a bit slow on the uptake, he wasn't your friend. Besides, he was the third person I took care of today."
Angel took a step forward. "Hold on, how many of my employees do you plan on murdering?"
"Well, I didn't plan to kill any of them," Marcus said.
Angel couldn't hold a scoff. "Well done, then."
Marcus frowned. "I feel like you have the wrong assumption that I'm some enemy of yours. I'm not," he said. "I became aware of your employees' misdeeds and acted accordingly."
"I thought misdeeds came with the position," Angel snarked.
Marcus smiled. "Of course, we're fine with our employees having their own agendas. The issue comes when they run contrary to company interests." He folded his hands behind his back and began pacing across the whiteboard. "And I believe this is a situation where our interests and yours align."
"In what way?" Wesley asked.
"Well, the reason I found out about those employees is an investigation I've started here. Somebody has been killing several of our clients, and I'd really like to know who. That's where you come in. I know you're partial to… investigation." Marcus gestured towards them.
Faith furrowed her brow. "I mean, no offense, but aren't your clients, y'know, evil?"
"Evil's a point of view," he replied. "And anyone systematically going after the most powerful demons in the city isn't doing it out of the goodness of their heart, I assure you. They're doing it to replace them."
"Devil you know, huh?" Gunn said.
"Very literally, in this case," Wesley replied, not looking at him.
Marcus, seeming not to pay them any mind, walked over to a computer standing beside the whiteboard, hooked up to a projector that hung from the ceiling. He turned it on, and soon after, an image appeared on the board. With a forceful click, the image sprung into movement.
The video seemed to be security footage, showing a demon standing in his office when a young man entered. The picture suddenly got blurry as the two fought, with quick movements and flashes of magic making the encounter hard to make sense of. When it was clear again, only the young man was standing. Next to him lay the body of the demon, very much dead, a fact that was evident even from the grainy footage. The man looked up. He had a skinny build and brown hair, but nothing about him seemed of note. He noticed the camera and made a motion with his hand. Seconds later, the video cut off.
"Thankfully, the video wasn't lost," Marcus commented.
"How many has he taken out so far?" Gunn asked him.
"That we know of? Three."
Wesley studied the static that the video had frozen on. "What do we know about him?" he asked.
Marcus sighed. "Only what's in the video. This is the clearest one we have so far. He's young, aggressive, and powerful like few people we've seen."
"Well, I can think of one," Wesley muttered.
"I'm sure," Marcus said. "Which is why this seems like a case for you. Our people will still be working around the clock to gather more information, of course."
Gunn threw his hands up. "Just what we need. Another super powerful warlock we have to worry about."
Marcus looked at him curiously, but said nothing.
Angel, who had so far been silent, said, "Go to my apartment, I'll meet you back there in a few minutes."
The others complied, leaving only Angel and Marcus in the room.
"You catch on quickly," Marcus said.
"I'm not an idiot," Angel replied.
Marcus walked to the window and stared at the outside. "The Circle needs this warlock gone, and fast. You must realize the urgency."
"Don't treat me like the newcomer here."
Marcus chuckled softly. "The Senior Partners aren't entirely pleased with you."
"I wonder why," Angel snarked.
A resigned sigh escaped Marcus' lips. "Our hope is that our shared goal here will get you… back on track."
Angel shot him a look. "I must wonder how shared our goals are, Mr. Hamilton."
"That's up to you."
Angel headed out of the office.
"Well, if it isn't the man of the hour," Spike exclaimed. "Back from the stern talking to, are we?"
Angel ignored him and went over to stand next to the table that the others had seated themselves around.
"What did you talk about?" Fred coldly said.
Angel looked at her with concern in his eyes. "I wanted to figure out a few things," he said, after some deliberation.
"Like what?" Faith asked.
"Like what we're going to do next."
Faith rolled her hand in a circle motion impatiently. "Which is…?"
With a nod, Angel walked over to a cabinet near the bedroom and opened a drawer, retrieving a stack of papers. He returned to the table and placed them there for the others to see.
Faith picked up one of them and examined it. "These are the slayer papers!" she exclaimed.
"Our work isn't done," Angel said.
Wesley broke in. "But the warlock-"
"Can bite me. We go out there tomorrow, and we get to these girls before our 'purifying' friends do."
"Marcus won't be happy about that," Gunn said, sounding rather unalarmed by the prospect.
"He better not be," Faith said with a smile.
Angel looked at the papers on the table as a contented feeling slowly bubbled inside of him. Best not get used to that, he thought.
