And Make a Lost World Thy Home: Chapter Ten

[jesterladyfic]

Chapter Ten

Logan drove Veronica, Spike, and Buffy to LA. Cordelia and Wes had naturally gone with Angel, while Mac had insisted on driving her own car and Tara had offered to accompany her. Logan couldn’t say he disapproved of the driving arrangements, but it just meant that he was the only one who had something to do with his hands in his vehicle.

Veronica sat staring at the window and he wondered where her mind was. Was she seeing every inch of the miles they were traveling before it happened, locked in some epic chess game, a few moves ahead of everyone else? It was hard to see her in this light because while Veronica had always been somewhat of a prodigy in her chosen field, it had all been natural. At least, he’d always thought so.

Logan directed his attention to the backseat since there was no reason to brood about his wife’s proclivity toward fortune telling. Spike and Buffy sat close together and she leaned against his chest while he idly played with her hair. It warmed Logan to see them together again. They had always been the couple he rooted for and so it was nice seeing fate give them an extra chance.

“You got any plans for after this?” he asked them and immediately regretted it when both of them stiffened.

“Yeah, I think we’ll just take it one day at a time,” said Buffy.

“Right,” said Spike, without really looking at either Logan or Buffy.

Logan looked back at Veronica and she gave him her best I Can’t Believe What An Idiot I Married look. He shrugged and kept driving.

They arrived quicker than he thought they would. Angel really had a lead foot and Logan had enjoyed attempting to keep up with him.

When they pulled into the back of the hotel it was dark and Logan parked where Angel directed him. They all grabbed bags and headed into the hotel.

Wesley started switching on lights and opening doors.

“Fred called me,” he said. “Apparently there’s been quite an uprising of vampire activity over the last few days. She and Gunn are out helping his crew quell the attacks and expect to be wrapped up with that.”

“Why would that be happening now?” asked Mac.

Angel shrugged.

“Standard way of getting me…” he paused. “-Spike to react to their plan. Draw out the good guy to stop the bad guys, then bag the good guy.”

“All on me then,” said Spike. “Keep hurting the girl,” he muttered.

“Spike,” said Buffy. “None of this is your fault. In fact you’re probably least to blame of anyone. We have to keep you safe.”

“Like the crown jewels,” he said, but he stopped grumbling.

“So what’s the plan then?” asked Veronica. “Our plan to stop the bad guys and their plan?”

“I say we go to Wolfram and Hart and figure out how they intend to use Spike and the amulet,” said Angel. “I’ll just grab Lilah, maybe her current boss.”

“Didn’t we already try that?” asked Veronica.

Angel shifted his weight.

“It’s always worked for me before,” he said.

“Maybe that’s why they’ve changed tactics,” said Veronica.

“Look, you don’t know them,” said Angel.

Veronica shook her head and focused her gaze somewhere over his shoulder. Logan’s eyes widened with interest and he watched her closely.

“I may not know them,” she said, “but I can see what’s coming more clearly than anyone here. Lilah’s been told the plan now, but the way to get at that information is not brute force.”

“What’s your plan?” asked Tara.

“A little old-fashioned PI work,” said Veronica, smiling broadly.

Logan found himself a little bit turned on and wished there weren’t quite so many people around.

“I happen to know a little bit about being a detective,” said Angel.

Wesley and Cordelia suddenly developed coughs that they turned their backs to deal with. Angel glared at them when they turned around again.

“We need to be sneaky about this,” said Buffy. “Wolfram and Hart is too big for us to come at them from the front.”

“They’re going to expect Angel to go to them,” Wesley pointed out.

“Ahh, that’s the beauty about using the side approach,” said Veronica. “You disguise it as the frontal assault.”

“Hands up everyone who thinks that’s a good idea,” said Logan.

Everyone but Angel raised their hands. Wesley and Cordelia shook their heads and stepped to the side.

“Not my place really,” said Wesley.

Cordelia simply smiled a little smile and looked incredibly pleased with herself. Logan had to wonder what was going on in that head of hers that she wasn’t telling them. She was, after all, a direct link to the Powers and much more experienced at unraveling their riddles.

“Still, a vast majority vote goes to the brainy blonde in the front,” said Logan, flourishing his fingers towards Veronica.

“Then gather around, people,” said Veronica. “Mac, break out the laptop and get ready to hack. Here’s what we’re going to do.”

***

Veronica leaned back against the counter and folded her arms, watching the busy lobby at work.

Wesley and Mac were deep in discussion over her laptop with Tara writing next to them. Cordelia had Buffy and Logan over in the corner and was holding up clothing next to them. Spike was on the phone behind her. Meanwhile, Angel was brooding.

Veronica sighed and headed over to where he was standing with his back to everyone, looking out at the garden.

“Is there anything else you can tell me about Wolfram and Hart’s security?” she asked.

Angel shook his head.

“The only surety is that their shaman will alert them when a vampire enters the building. Since I’m the vampire in question, that won’t really be a problem.”

“Angel,” Veronica said, choosing her words carefully. “You and I aren’t friends and I don’t really know you and this wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I’m pretty sure that Spike and I being used by the Powers doesn’t mean you’re any less important to them or their end game.”

“Being chosen by them isn’t exactly a fun gig at times,” said Angel.

“And is fun your main goal in life?” asked Veronica. “I’m actually curious here.”

Angel quirked a slight smile.

“You could say I’m more of a stay at home type.”

“Not today, partner,” said Veronica. “Today you get to storm the castle.”

“Well, word to the wise,” said Angel. “Seeing as how Wolfram and Hart are changing their tactics like you suggest, I’m thinking they’ll change their security, too.”

“Just what I’m counting on,” said Veronica.

She headed over to where Buffy and Logan were now arguing with Cordelia.

“I can’t fight in this,” Buffy said loudly.

“You’re not there to fight,” said Cordelia. “This isn’t exactly a brawl you’re going to.”

“Anything can be a brawl,” muttered Buffy darkly.

Veronica shot a look at her and then back at Angel before shrugging her shoulder and interrupting.

“The earbuds okay?” she asked.

Logan nodded and tugged on his ear.

“You know how much I hate things in my ears,” he said.

“I do not even want to know,” said Cordelia. “Wardrobe a success?” she asked Veronica.

“They look great,” said Veronica. “Follow me.”

Mac was still rapidly typing, but pointed wordlessly at the table next to her. Veronica picked up the keycards and ids and handed them to Logan and Buffy.

“They have a file on the Slayer, you know,” said Wesley.

“Not for long,” said Veronica.

“How did you get all this stuff?” asked Buffy, fiddling with the pin on her suit.

“Let’s just say it pays to have Q on your payroll,” said Veronica, smiling at Mac.

“Done,” said Mac. “That’s all I can do from outside.”

“Thank you,” said Veronica. “Okay, guys, gather around because it’s time you all became spies.”

***

Buffy nervously adjusted her hair as she and Logan prepared to walk into Wolfram and Hart.

“You’re doing great,” said Veronica in her ear.

“Your wife is something else,” said Buffy to Logan.

He just smirked at her and held the door open.

Buffy smoothed down her suit and once inside, pushed down the button Mac had shown her on her new cellphone.

“You’re copying every scrap of data you come across,” Mac said into her earbud. “Keep moving and be ready for the handoff.”

Buffy and Logan walked down the hall, through the metal detectors, directed by Mac and occasionally Wesley or Cordelia. Men and women in suits were everywhere, talking on phones, exchanging files, or simply getting to their next destination.

“Okay,” Veronica said. “Angel’s getting ready for his entrance, which is good because I imagine Buffy’s picture being blown up and investigated any second now.”

A large shattering and shrill sound interrupted her and Buffy looked toward the bottom of the stairs. Angel had just thrown a park bench through the glass doors and people were scattering.

Guards converged on the entrance and Buffy and Logan began ducking into offices and planting bugs and flash drives on all the computers they found.

“Angel’s moving to your position,” said Mac. “Get back out into the hall.”

A large man in a suit moved in front of Buffy and she bumped into him.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Ma’am, stay here for your own safety,” he said, barring her way.

“But I have a meeting to get to,” she said, annoyed.

“There’s a security breach to the building,” he said.

Buffy looked over her shoulder and widened her eyes at Logan. He took her hint and inched back out to the hallway. A loud growl and the sound of fists hitting flesh sounded from out there.

“None of these matter,” said Angel loudly, coming into frame in the doorway. He was dragging Logan by the collar. “I don’t care how many of you I have to go through until you send Lilah down here.”

He shoved Logan away from him and barreled down the hall.

The large security guard nodded at Buffy.

“Stay here,” he said, and headed off after him.

Logan got up from the floor and Buffy whispered to him.

“Are you okay?”

“Are you sure he was acting?” asked Logan, putting a hand to his wrist.

“Back to your offices,” said a second security guard.

“Did you get it?” Buffy asked, as they moved toward the staircase, directed by Mac.

Logan nodded and they disappeared into the stairwell.

“Fourth floor,” said Mac.

Buffy nodded and pulled a suddenly hesitant Logan after her.

“Couldn’t they keep their evil lair of evil in the basement like all demonic law firms?” asked Logan, breathing hard on the third set of stairs.

“Quiet,” said Veronica in their ears. “Lilah’s office is directly ahead of you.”

Buffy peeked through the doorway until she saw Lilah and three other lawyer-looking types exit the office and head down the hall where she could just hear Angel yelling again.

She nodded to Logan and they silently slipped down the hall to Lilah’s office.

Once in, Logan settled down at the computer and quickly stuck the device, which Angel had brought in and passed to him since it would trigger the alarms, into the USB port.

“Give it a sec and I’ll be in,” said Mac.

Buffy looked down at the whirring, blinking device and felt really old for a second.

“You got it?” Veronica murmured.

“I got everything,” said Mac. “Logan, type this,” and rattled off a string of words Buffy didn’t understand, but Logan apparently did.

“I don’t see anything on the amulet,” said Logan. “But the hard drive is copied.”

“It’s okay, that was just a dream for this job,” said Veronica. “Now get out of there.”

Logan pulled out the drive and Buffy finished planting the last of her bugs. They quickly slipped out of the office and back down the stairs.

They walked into the main lobby and stopped at the security checkpoint.

“It’s a frisk for everyone,” said the guard. “Security breach.”

“It’s okay, man,” said Logan, holding his hands up. “I read my contract, I know the drill.”

Buffy rolled her eyes and submitted to her own frisk.

“They’re going to find the device,” she muttered when she was done.

“Good thing I sent a Slayer then,” said Veronica.

Just when the guard was about to reach Logan’s jacket packet Buffy spun and kicked him in the head.

“Run,” she said.

Logan vaulted over the checkpoint and ran for the doors. Buffy punched her guard in the jaw and slid under his punch through the metal detectors. She ran, ducking another security guard and drive piling another. Logan reached the doors and stopped. She gestured him on and he left. She exchanged blows with two more security guards. Two more got behind her with guns. Buffy frowned and evaluated her options.

“Buffy, are you okay?” asked Logan, panting as he ran.

“Just keep going,” said Buffy.

“Keep cool there,” said Veronica. “Help coming in behind you.”

The guards with guns suddenly jerked backwards as their legs were pulled out from under them. Shots rang into the air and Buffy lunged forward, slamming the guards in front of her together. Angel ran up behind her and they escaped through the doors together, running down the street as fast as their supernaturally powered legs could carry them.

“Buffy, are you out?” asked Veronica, the only tinge of fear coming into her voice that Buffy had heard the entire time.

“Relax, you mastermind you,” said Logan, appearing in front of Buffy and Angel at the rendezvous point. “They got out.”

“Then come on home,” said Veronica, sounding relieved.

Buffy felt her adrenaline start to cool down and exchanged grins with Logan. Even Angel looked a little bit happier than before. She guessed he’d gotten to crack a lot of heads up there.

“You talk to Lilah?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Angel. “Now that we’ve done it the sneaky way, she can’t possibly know we’re coming for her.”

“Wes and Tara were able to help Mac figure out the magic security system around the servers and she hacked in,” said Cordelia. “Now we’ve got the information we need.”

“Wouldn’t a vision have sufficed?” grumbled Angel and they headed back to the hotel.

***

Spike had been rather annoyed at needing to stay at the hotel while everyone else got to go off and do the fun ‘breaking into the evil law firm’ thing. He could see the sense in the plan obviously, he wasn’t an idiot, but he was certainly bored. That much hadn’t changed, which was actually slightly encouraging. It still wasn’t any fun to go through.

It did give him an interesting look at Veronica’s abilities and how much she had grown. She commanded the entire mission with ease, speaking into her ear bud, peering over Mac’s shoulder, double-checking blueprints, directing Wesley and Tara’s efforts with the books. It was like watching someone you’d known as a little girl suddenly becoming an adult. Not that Veronica hadn’t been capable and knowledgeable even when he’d first known her, but somewhere in the five years he’d been gone, she’d really come in to her own and not even the sudden visions were altering that. He was saddened by having missed so much, but very grateful to be here now.

As soon as Buffy came back he restrained himself from running over to her, but pulled her into his side once she approached him.

“I’m back and all scratch free,” she said, exhibiting her hands.

He gestured to a split along one of her knuckles.

“What’s that, love?”

“That was from hurting the other guy,” she said. “It doesn’t count.” She stuck her lower lip out and he bent to kiss it before a throat clearing interrupted them.

“Good job, guys,” said Veronica, winking at them before turning back around. “I think we got what we needed.”

“They know we were there,” Angel said.

Veronica nodded.

“They were always going to know we were there. Hopefully, they’ll just think we were there for you to vent off some frustration. The virus Logan planted on the server should serve its function to wipe out the security camera footage and erase the data they had on Buffy.”

“The venting was kinda nice,” Angel said, shrugging.

“So, what’s next?” asked Tara.

“Now comes the boring sifting of information,” said Veronica. “Mac’s already hunting through their servers, setting up search algorithms for anything to do with the amulet or Spike. Then we can go through Lilah’s hard drive.”

“As soon as we find out what they’re planning,” Mac said, poking her head over her laptop, “Tara, Wesley, and I can figure out a way to disrupt the ritual.”

“Do the rest of us get a break then?” asked Logan.

The sound of clicking heels on the tile outside the door cut him off. Veronica made a quick gesture to Mac who tapped a few keys on her laptop and slid the device with Lilah’s hard drive on it into her pocket. Wesley covered his books and Spike found himself being shoved by Buffy behind the counter and into Wesley’s office.

“Oi,” he said. “Watch it.”

“Shh,” she said. “We don’t know who that is.”

The sound of a door opening came next and Spike and Buffy peeked through the gap of the doors to see Lilah coming in accompanied by two men in suits.

“I see it’s been a busy day for you,” said Lilah.

“What do you want?” growled Angel. Spike had to admit, Angel had a way of cutting to the heart of a matter.

“Well, in conjunction with the sudden influx of injuries to our medic stations, we also discovered an alarming breach of our security systems. Learn a few new tricks, did we?”

Cordelia mimed a yawn.

“Nothing gets past you, does it? You’d better scurry along then and fix the damage.”

“It doesn’t matter what you found,” said Lilah. “Events have moved past the point of no return. Wolfram and Hart is bigger than all of you put together.”

“Did you really come here just to say that?” asked Logan. “How do evil lawyers actually get anything done?”

“By proxy,” said Lilah and smirked at him. Spike had to wonder what she meant by that exactly.

“What’s your point?” asked Wesley, folding his arms.

Lilah’s face contorted for a second and then she smiled again.

“You should just let us have the vampire now. After all, you can’t defend him against the might of the Senior Partners. That’s what it will come down to and no amount of petty larceny is going to change that.”

“Never going to happen,” said Angel. Spike rolled his eyes. Trust Angel to be the most loyal and annoying thing on the planet.

“Your loss, my gain,” said Lilah. “I felt I did owe it to you to at least try. After all, everything’s about to change.”

Angel made a motion like he was going to rush her and Lilah flinched slightly, but backed up, her two men in suits moving in front of her.

“Goodbye, Lilah,” said Wesley.

“Goodbye, Wes,” she said almost sadly. Spike made a mental note to wonder what had happened there.

Lilah left and Angel secured the doors after her.

“Well, nobody’s leaving here,” said Buffy, coming out of the office. Spike followed her out. “Not until we know exactly what’s going to happen.”

Spike sighed and looked down at his already tapping foot. Another round of boredom for Spike.