What a Mess...

[g_charles]

Who: Gunn, Wesley, Angel, Spike
Where: On their way to fight some evil
When: Just after they leave the office
What: Of to prevent a prophecy
Status: Complete

Comments

[g_charles]

Before Gunn could make any sort of offer to Spike, Wesley had done it in a quick and curt fashion. So unlike the usually wordy guy, which, once again, gave a head's up that he was incredibly angry with all of them right now. So, there was probably going to be a very long time before he even thought of forgiving them.

Then again, Gunn wasn't too happy with him, either. Yes, they could have been a little more, well, calm about things, but they had been worried about both him and Max. They didn't want anything to happen to him again like last time. They had worried for his own good. Couldn't he see that? Maybe after they figured this all out and they had a few days to destress from it, them maybe he would see the light.

"Well, you're always up for a good fight," Gunn said to Spike after Wesley had already turned away to jump back in the car into the backseat. Gunn wasn't going to sit by him right now, if for no other reason than it would be uncomfortable right now and they all needed to keep their minds clear for the upcoming fight. Being distracted right now would get someone killed.

With a slight shrug, Gunn turned around as well and hopped into the front seat of the car. Angel, obviously, would be driving, which basically left Spike to sit in the back with Wesley, as long as he was actually willing to go. Spike turn down a fight? If he did that, well, then the apocalypse was certainly neigh.

[angelxus]

After Wesley had ended the discussion, not just by laying out a gameplan for the night, but by also leading the march outside to where the car was parked, Angel didn't have anything to say. If he was going to apologize for anything, it would be just for waking Max up, but it was clear Wesley didn't even want to hear that, at least, not from him, not right now. Besides, Wesley could be very stubborn, and if he didn't want to try to understand the real reason behind the upset faces and bickering, there no point in even trying.

He hadn't even protested the part of Wesley's plan when Spike had come up, but he hadn't offered help in locating his "little blood brother", nor did he ask if Spike was due to arrive once Wesley returned back from running in Cordy his keys. And when Spike answered that question by showing up, Angel wouldn't even have so much as a glare to offer him in greeting. Staying silent, following orders like the good little vampire soldier he was, was the only thing he could do at the moment to make sure the mood didn't get any worse.

Angel silently slid into the driver's seat, turning on the engine in nearly the same motion. He didn't really know where he was going to be driving, only that they needed to get there quickly. Max might be safe with Cordelia and Lorne, but it was doubtful other infants of the town would have access to such protection.

Angel risked a glance up at the rear view mirror, only to quickly wish he hadn't: he couldn't see his own reflection, which left all the more room for the picture of a very sore Watcher hanging out in the back seat.

As much as he hated to break his brief vow of silence, they did have a job to do. After a brief sympathetic glance to Gunn, his copilot for the night, Angel tried to be as curt as possible as he made his request for directions.

"Tell me where to go, and I'll get us there." Prophecies tended to delve too much into the mystique to go and reveal full street addresses, as if they weren't inconvenient enough already.

[can_we_rest_now]

Spike looked up when he saw that it was Wesley who had approached him. He wasn't exactly one of the vampire's favorite targets for a good taunting, but he'd do in a pinch. The smirk that had already begun to touch his lips died, however, when he saw that Wesley wasn't in the mood. It wasn't just about randomly being insulted by one of the baby Slayers or about any of the other million little things that could drive the ex-Watcher into a funk. Spike was empathetic enough to recognize quiet rage from depression even before Wesley spoke.

Save Max? Well, that certainly explained Wesley's temperament, but little else was offered in the way of explanations. But though he was quite thankful that he'd never have children of his own, Spike understood why Wesley may not be in the mood for chit-chat. No man is going to take a threat to his own progeny lying down. And if there was one thing Spike had learned over the years, it was that Wesley Wyndam-Pryce very rarely took anything lying down when it involved people he loved.

He hardly registered Gunn's comment - or, indeed, Gunn and Angel's presences at all- as he watched Wesley walk towards the car, contemplatively puffing away on his cigarette. Maybe he had one more purpose to serve out here, at that. Though, to be honest, the thought of the great William the Bloody suddenly swooping in to help save a bunch of kiddies was slightly disheartening.

Then again, he hadn't done much to live up to his former namesake in years, and while he'd never admit it, Spike rather preferred it that way. Standing up, he flicked his cigarette to the ground before strolling over towards the car and smoothly sliding into the backseat. Closing the door after him, he was quite thankful that he didn't need to breathe, as he was quite sure that the tension in the enclosed space was probably thick enough to get in the way of the oxygen.

After a moment of simply looking in turn at each man in the car, Spike leaned back in his seat and stared at Wesley, debating whether or not this tension needed to be sliced through with a bit of sarcasm. Deciding against it, he crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "What do I have to kill, and how hard do I have to kill it?"

[watcher_pryce]

Perhaps, when all this was over and done with Wesley reasoned with himself, he should go away. Just for a little while. Go on a sabbatical or a vacation with Max. He'd never been on a vacation as a child and had always wondered about that. Max was going to have as much as a normal childhood as Wesley was going to be able to give him. So going away for a while might not be such a bad idea. Especially considering the incredibly *tense* situation the watcher and his friends had suddenly found themselves in.

Wesley still didn't understand what the bloody problem was. He had talked to someone this time. Was his friends ego and pride really that large that they let the fact that it hadn't been *them* he had talked to first get in the way? More to the point, Max was *his* son and if Wesley wanted to take him somewhere in the middle of the night then that was *Wesley's* choice. He'd left a bloody note anyway! Yes, a vacation to sort things out sounded better and better.

"To the ruins of the Hymdeman's castle. Just outside town." He replies very shortly to Angel's question. The vampire should know it, it was just about notorious for supernatural thing happening. It wasn't that much of a surprise that some half-mad clan of demons would gather there for their annual bloodbath.

Gunn and Spike also slid into the car and the tension radiating from the front seat was so thick, you'd need a very sharp knife to cut it. Not that Wesley was fairing any better. If he would tense and clench his jaw any more Wesley feared it might break off. In fact Spike seemed to be the only one unaware of what was going on, bless him. Though Wesley had no doubt even Spike could taste and feel the electricity of the tension flowing around them.

"I don't care how hard you kill it," Wesley informed the vampire, "just make certain it's dead. Krachlachdzl demons, you know of them?" he asked, more out of routine then anything else. It was also routine that he then started to explain how to kill aforementioned demon. Go for the knees, that's where the heart it, the ears were also vulnerable. They usually ate just about any meat but this time there was bloody prophecy at play and blah blah blah as Cordelia would say. It hardly mattered to the men in the car with him and at the moment it damn well didn't matter to Wesley.

All they needed to know was that the entire clan of demons needed to be dead and any infants they might have gotten their sharp but luckily not poisonous claws on needed to be rescued, preferably alive and in one piece. By the time Wesley was done explaining, in a rather monotone and still notably angry voice, they had arrived at the castle. From where the car was parked they could already see a few fires burning and as Wesley looked up the moon was climbing fast toward it's key position.

"We don't have much time," he announced as he climbed out of the car to get his weapons. Some demon slicing and dicing might be just what he needed right now.

[g_charles]

Why does everywhere have a castle? Wasn't America founded after the age of castle making? Gunn didn't really know that you could always move castles brick by brick and rebuild them somewhere else, so the thought of going to a castle in this country was just weird for him. Still, right now, no quips, no jokes, this was all business. Well, as much as it could be when they were having to deal with some prophecy about Wes's kid. It did hit too close to other instances.

Gunn had jumped out of the car just before Wes, so, if nothing else, he could get out a little more comfortable without having to partially climb over him to do so. Gunn had a preference for axes, and that was just what he had brought this time. Maybe a little killing of demons was what they all needed. Get rid of all of this tension and then maybe they could all talk like the civilized adults that they were.

That was certainly the hope, anyway.

Grabbing his own weapon from the trunk of the car, he looked toward Wes. "Lead the way," he said simply. Once again, no real time or patience for quotes and such. They were here and they had a job to do. Prevent demons from killing little kids for whatever it was that they were trying to do. Hit them in the knees and ears, apparently. What sort of damn demon had its heart in the damn knees, anyway? That was just weird. Made more sense where Lorne's heart was, honestly.

[angelxus]

"Usually? Are you telling me this isn't just a mass sacrifice, but a mass sacrificial banquet?" He had tried to keep quiet the ride over, but once Wesley had said the demons in question usually weren't picky about what kind of meat ended up in their bellies, Angel had to speak up. Baby eating was a pretty serious offense.

In the end, the particulars of demon ritual and practices didn't really matter much. How to make them all come tumbling down was all they needed to know.

Angel placed a decent enough sword into Spike's hands from the mini-armory he kept in the trunk, before grabbing a pointedly larger broadsword for himself. While its bulk made it more difficult to go holding above your head as you swung away, tonight they had no need to aim so high. It was probably going to be just the thing to get some decent leg chopping done, actually.

And even though he was just as eager as the rest of them to get down to doing that, he didn't rush ahead of the others, and actually seemed to be willing to wait around long enough to hear whatever game plan had already been decided. He had a bad habit of doing that, either snatching control of a situation and barking out orders, or just blazingly rushing out into battle without further instruction. For once Angel seemed ready to listen to someone else's orders, rather than give them-- and not just because he was worried it would upset Wesley further, as if that was even possible at this point. They didn't have a lot of time, sure, but when did they? They were going to be interrupting a ritual, which porobably meant they were going to not only going to be outmatched, but that their opponents were going to be a little more than upset to have such a rude intrusion to the festivities.

[can_we_rest_now]

"Krachlachdzl demons," Spike muttered under his breath once Wesley told him what they were dealing with. "Nasty buggers. Not that I know them firsthand, but they sound it." Though, of course, anything that had a weakness around stupid places like the knees and ears didn't sound particularly scary. Not that he was going to tell anyone else that, of course, considering the rather stilted way Wesley was droning on and on about their quarry.

Unlike Angel, though, the younger vampire wasn't all too concerned about the baby-eating prospect of this particular demon clan. He wasn't all that far from his formerly soulless days, and infants were fair game back then. Sure, now he could see how the entire thing was probably less than wholesome, but demonic scum was demonic scum, regardless of their dietary habits.

Once they were where they needed to be, he accepted the sword from Angel and took a few practice swings with it. He was satisfied enough with it until he looked over at Angel and noticed his was bigger. Quirking an eyebrow, he murmured, "Good thing we don't all have something to compensate for."

Ignoring any failed attempt at a comeback that Angel might try to throw back at him, Spike turned to Wesley and remarked, "Right, then, we've got a plan, or do we just rush on in and kill anything that isn't human-looking? Personally, I like the second one better, but if a bunch of little tots' lives hang in the balance, well, I'll give the first option a go."

[watcher_pryce]

With uncharacteristic impatience Wesley waited for the rest to get their weaponry. He glanced over at the demons with narrowed eyes. Not only did they already have the ritual fires burning, but he could also hear crying children. Damn, he could only pray to several deities that they'd be on time. There was going to be some serious damage done to these demons who had created such large problems for him, mostly with his friends.

Which meant he was stoically looking in front of him at the demons ahead instead of glaring at Gunn and oh so know it all Angel. What did it matter if one called it a sacrifice or a banquet! They were *demons* for gods sake! They *ate* children! It was nothing new. In fact when he had died, Spike had been the one to rush off to safe another child that was about to be sacrificed. If it wasn't blood then there'd be a child involved. Or a virgin, but *that* hardly mattered now as well.

"A plan?" Wesley repeated Spike with a tone of voice he rarely used. Sarcasm had nothing on that tone of voice. "Well here's my plan. Since I can't be *trusted* with any child including my own," Wesley said quietly, giving both Gunn and Angel a quick venomous glare, "I guess you and I will be doing the slicing and dicing, Spike. Then Angel and Gunn can be their heroic selves and rescue the children. Show me how it's done. Good plan? Brilliant! Lets go."

Wesley? Bitter? Heavens no. Which was without a doubt the reason he didn't even wait for any sort of reply. Instead he grabbed his weapon, made certain he had his gun in his other hand and moved full of purpose and boiling anger toward the demon. "Lets move it, Spike. We still have the advantage of surprise on our side," he growled and then rammed the axe through the first demon to turn around and notice him. From there on Wesley moved purely on instinct, anger and frustration.

[g_charles]

Wes was so damn lucky that they had a job to do right now, or he'd get an ear full about that tone with him saying that he couldn't be trusted with children, including his own. Wes hadn't exactly done so well in this situation, either. He had immediately jumped to the idea that they didn't trust him with his own kid, which wasn't quite the case. They knew that he had a tendency to get so wrapped up in something that he seemed to forget reason. Maybe even leaving an legible letter would have been a step up.

Still, now was not the time for angry feelings and resentment. No, kids were in danger and stuff had to be set aside at least until they knew that they would be alright. Gunn rammed his axe into the knee of one of the demons that he saw near the group of kids and then kicked it out of the way so that he could get to work on rescuing the kids in question.

After taking out the nearest demon, he picked up one of the crying children, lifting it up and then turning around to slam the axe into the eat of an oncoming demon and yanking it back out, already making his way around so that he could set the kid in a safe place that wasn't by a fire or a demon that seemed intent upon eating it where he could also see it. Really, eating kids was all sorts of wrong. Didn't they know that?

[watcher_pryce]

They certainly did have the advantage of surprise on their side as it turned out. Wesley had been looking for an outlet for the anger and rage he felt and me most assuredly found that as well. He wasn't so naive as to think in terms of 'they never stood a chance', but with the weak way the demons reacted - in Wesley's eyes - he might as well have.

In his rage, using his gun to shoot left and his sword to slash on the right, Wesley barely noticed that these demons were anything *but* weak and easy to defeat. Wesley didn't notice how the others were doing even if he did keep an eye on them. The only thing he would notice during the fight was if his companions backs needed defending. That's what he focused on in their case, the rest didn't bloody well matter to him.

The fight was brutal and far to short for Wesley's taste. He had no idea how long he'd been hacking and shooting away around him. Only vaguely aware of Angel and Gunn pulling out some infants and taking them to safety. Nor did he notice if after that they had joined the fight. It was as if he was seeing the proverbial red of rage and nothing else. When the ranks of the clan demons became less and less, Wesley only became more and more angry. With himself, his friends, these demons who dared to threaten his sons life...

...At life. At the injustice of it. The anger and the grief he had put deep, deep inside him and never showed any of his friends. Ever. For them he had put up a brave if somewhat depressed at times, front. Anger and grief about losing Fred, twice, about never catching a damn break for *once* in his sometimes seemingly long miserable life, the fact that his friends after all this time *still* hadn't trusted him, that fact that...

So when Wesley caught sight of the leader of the pack, a larger demon who was merely giving directions to the few who remained, a look slid on his face which would make everyone who knew him pose the question if perhaps Wesley had become evil. Before anyone knew what was happening, Wesley had leaped forward, grabbed the demon lord and was pummelling him with his bare fists while yelling at the chap. It was clear to all around him that the usual calm, sensible, patience Wesley was lost so far they'd need bloodhounds to find him.

What was left instead was a man who was urged on by pure rage, anger and bitterness and the power to protect his only son.

[can_we_rest_now]

Spike had raised his eyebrows at Wesley's commentary about how he couldn't be trusted around children, and he shot Angel and Gunn a look. He'd have to get talking to both of them after all this was over; he clearly missed a fairly vital piece of water cooler gossip. That's what he got when he attempted to be all broody and lonesome. Taking after Angel never did do him any good, which explained why he so rarely did it.

Rather than make any sort of snide comment about the two of them being in big trouble with the pissed off Watcher, Spike instead nodded and decided he rather liked this new version of Wesley. Of course, he'd prefer this gung-ho variation to come with a sense of humor, but maybe they could tweak that sometime in the future. For now, all he was concerned about was stampeding after Wesley and cutting off an approaching demon before it could do any damage. Swinging his sword with all of his preternatural strength, he managed not just to strike his opponent in the ears, but to practically give him a scalp job.

"Hat's off, mate," he remarked lowly before turning to the next enemy stepping up to the plate.

His sensitive nose filled with the acrid stench of the demons' blood - blood that was so rancid that Spike was glad all of his fare now came from a butcher's shop and not straight from someone's artery. Even with his vamp face shining through as was his habit during a fight, he was more than happy to be shedding the blood of the bad guys now. It wasn't about redemption or the love of a woman anymore; he'd managed to develop a moral compass that - for all of its tendencies to go a little haywire - actually wanted to do good for good's sake. Spike was able to cope with the sentimental hogwash for one reason only: fighting the good fight meant you still got to kick a little ass every once in a while.

Of course, from the sounds of things, it seemed like Wesley was intent on kicking more than just a little ass. A sword and a gun seemed a little too over-the-top for Spike, even if they were outnumbered and going against a viciously strong opponent. Still, he said nothing of the matter; so long as Wesley didn't accidentally clip him on the shoulder or something, he could use as many weapons as he could get his hands on.

Disengaging his blade from the destroyed kneecaps of a demon, Spike took a moment to look around. The kids seemed to be taken care of, and there were only a handful of baddies running around now. Absently slamming his sword against the head of a demon that had tried to come at him from the side, he searched for Wesley, momentarily wondering if the man had been taken down in the midst of battle.

It was a moment before he realized that what he had initially taken for a pair of demons arguing amongst themselves was in actuality Wesley attempting to duke it out with what looked like the Big bad himself. It was little wonder that Spike hadn't seen it for what it was at first: he could hardly recognize Wesley. Realizing right then that this was beyond just a bit of amusing raging at Angel and Gunn, Spike hardly gave notice to the demon he had to shove away before he could run to join in the fray.

Slamming the hilt of his sword into the side of the demon lord to put a bit of distance between the two of them, he spared Wesley a quick glance, speaking rapidly. "I'll hold him down while you do the honors, or vice versa?" He offered the man his sword, kicking the demon back when it tried to lunge at them. "Choose quick, mate, so's this can end. He's a nasty one."

[angelxus]

Angel barely wasted time on a nod once Wesley had snapped out their orders, before he was following after Gunn as they set off to where the children were being kept.

The demon nannies (dannies?) had been assigned to their duty based on their knowledge for ritual sacrifice preparation, rather than their fighting ability. They were also pretty damn surprised to suddenly have axes and swords coming at their kneecaps. It's not like they were expecting anyone to come crashing in on their festivities, because really, who in their right minds was crazy enough to go and try to take on a castle full of hungry demons?

Still, the demons weren't exactly a pushover, even if they weren't the strongest representatives of their race-- not until you chopped them off at the knees, anyway.

Angel quickly kicked out the knees of one demon, who in desperation was actually about to start off the sacrifice on his own, choosing to use his own gaping mouth and teeth instead of the ritually approved butchering knife. As the demon fell back, he lifted the poor kid up from the demon's claws. Angel carefully cradled the infant against his chest, before turning back to the demon and dealing out a final dispatching blow.

After that, Angel ended up placing the little guy down close to where Gunn had already placed another rescue, so he could rush off to the next child in need.

No other demons were given the opportunity for an impromptu baby sandwich, and it didn't take long for the small group of two rescued children to grow in number. Crying infants was a pretty damn inspiring chorus, after all.

As more and more of the nanny guard fell, it soon became apparent that their biggest problem of the night was going to be a definite lack in the arm to infant ratio. Sure, he had a big shiny sword, but that wasn't going to help him safely transport the litter of infants out of here.
He tossed his broadsword aside, so he could at least safely carry two at a time back to his car.