Gunn had spent a late night working on a case. One of their clients had gotten into a bit of trouble with the law recently, and they needed Gunn's wizardry with the law to get him out. Some rock star who worked with the entertainment department had gotten caught with *a lot* of coke in his hotel room, and not the kind you drink from a soda can, either. He was paying a lot of money for Gunn's defense, and should be able to get off with a cushy stay in a rehab/resort.
Of course, Gunn almost wanted the throw the case, simply for the reason that the guy was an asshole. He seemed to think that money could buy him anything. Out of earshot of Fred, he had even mused how much it would take to buy her. The guy just rubbed Gunn completely the wrong way. Of course, if he threw the case, it would be painfully obvious. He was upped with all of the new lawyer knowledge, after all. No excuse to lose.
Maybe that was what was keeping him here. Even though he played it up to others that he loved working here because it made him a different, better person, even he had his conflicts with their clientele and such. Just not a lot that he could really do about it.
Out of the need to talk to someone, he walked up to Angel's suite to see if he was awake and around. Luckily, his light was on, so he took that as a sign saying that he was home. He knocked on the door. "Angel? You in there?"
Angel hastily wiped his sleeve over his lips. Even though his friends knew what he was, he still hated to be caught with blood on his face, fangs showing...he knew he looked the part of a monster when that happened, and with everything else happening lately, he wasn't in the mood for another of those looks.
Gunn was outside the door. He could smell him, even under the expensive cologne and suit. Same old, familiar Gunn. He opened the door, nodding.
"I'm here. Nowhere else to go at night now, considering every time I save someone they get attacked by a dozen lawyers with forms and red pens." Angel said irritably, closing the door behind Gunn.
He glanced at the window, judging the time. Him being awake was normal, but Gunn and the others were usually asleep by now.
"WOrking late?" He asked, picking back up his mug.
Gunn walked in after Angel opened the door. He wasn't too shocked that the vampire was around here. It wasn't like he went anywhere else these days because, like he mentioned, he couldn't save anyone anymore without lawyers descending upon him and the hapless victim.
"I still don't quite understand why they do that," Gunn said. "Well, law wise, I do get it, but it just seems ridiculous to actually go through with all of that." They wanted to prevent lawsuits and such but, in the four years that Angel had been in LA saving people, no one had even tried to sue him, or any of them. The closest they got to any sort of thing like that was when that woman refused to pay him, Wes, and Cordelia for removing the eye on the back of her daughter's head. Well, look where that got her.
"Yeah, just finishing up a case that I have to take care of soon," Gunn said. "Another case of another rock star getting caught with far too many drugs to really be legal." Of course, there were dozens of technicalities to get it thrown out. That was his job, after all. Get cases thrown out on technicalities. He was sure the D.A.'s office had grown to hate the mention of his name on a case.
"Are you working, too? Or are you just pacing the floor because you won't go out?" Just going for a walk would probably do Angel some good. Of course, he'd have guys in black ops uniforms following him everywhere, too.
Angel snarled very quietly, rolling his shoulders back. The place was beginning to feel more like a giant prison than anything.
"I can't go out. I thought of all the places I could go, but if I leave, I'll be followed. And I don't have the patience for it anymore."
After the first few weeks, it got tiring having to put up with a whole crew of humans trying and failing to walk steathily behind him. And killing all of them wasn't an option, although Angelus was pushing for it. Angel could feel him more acutely than ever since he'd taken this job, like he was pressed up against the bars of his cage trying to vent his displeasure.
"No work to be done at this point. Gwen came by earlier and informed she'd fixed our security system, so that job's finished. And I find myself with more free time...funny how I don't want it now that I have it."
Yeah...it was painfully obvious that Angel needed to get out of here, what with the growling and everything. However, he had a point that he'd just be followed again. Gunn heard enough about when it happened the first time that he knew Angel wouldn't allow it to happen again.
"Running a law firm not enough work?" Gunn asked, curious. He would think that, with the cleaning out of all of the too evil people and the restructuring of several departments (like the Department of Child Sacrifices or whatever) that Angel would have at least *something* to do. Guess not.
"Wait, Gwen came by?" That was a little surprising. He hadn't heard from Gwen since the last time that she took off. Another apocalypse was coming, so she had needed to get the hell out of dodge. Girl was smart like that, but Gunn had a few too many morals to do the same. He kind of wondered if she was still around. She had been one of the few to realize that he had intelligence behind the muscle. He wondered what she would think of the new him. Probably freak her out like it had the rest of them.
"Oh, there's enough work. But if I do it for too long I want to break my desk in half."
Honestly, digging through the files and seeing the records made Angel feel dirty. The things that had gone on in this building could make your stomach turn.
"Gwen dropped by earlier to let me know she fixed things up so we now have a more lethal and somehow more effective security system. I guess she did it all on her own, since I know I didn't ask her to."
Gunn nodded when Angel said that he might be forced to break his desk in half. He was sure that the paperwork of fixing an evil law firm was probably, forgive the pun, hell. It certainly couldn't be pleasing to the brain when you found out just what had happened in these not so hallowed halls.
Gwen was a person that he had pretty much never really expected to hear from again. She really wasn't the type to hang around any one place for too long. "She fixed the system?" She would be the one to know a lot more about that stuff, though. Much more than any of the guys that they employed, at any rate.
"Maybe you should actually hire her on, if she'll take the job." He figured it would be a fifty-fifty shot if she would or wouldn't. "If she's really that good with security and all. We don't really have anyone we can trust in there yet, anyway."
"She made it pretty clear that she wasn't going to work for me. Not really a surprise, you know how Gwen is. She'll stick around as long as can get something she wants, and when she gets it, she's gone."
He wondered if Gunn's suggestion had more behind it than just a desire for someone trustworthy (if you could call Gwen trustworthy) around the building. He knew Gunn and Gwen had had...something going on. Maybe that was a factor...Angel shook his head. Regardless, Gunn was right.
"It would be nice to have more people to trust. Lorne's been having everyone sing, but it's like trying to decide which hell dimension is the worst."
"Nah, she never was the type to work for anyone for other than maybe one job," Gunn said. It would have been nice to have someone around here in security that was at least remotely trustworthy. While Gwen had her quirks, he still wouldn't expect her to literally stab him in the back at first availability.
"Weeding out the really bad ones can only do so much," Gunn said. "Maybe we need to start hiring not-so-evil lawyers, if such a thing exists," he said. He wasn't sure if they did, other than him of course.
This place was way too confusing, anyway. Everyone you worked with either wanted to kill you to take your job or wanted to kill you for the hell of it. And those were usually the nicer ones. The really nasty ones wanted to keep you alive for years on end while they tormented you.
"Yeah, we might want to look into public relations if we want to try and repair that image any time soon." Of course, the damage was probably more than permanent. How can you erase years upon years of evil in a building just because there's a new CEO and he wants to hire people who aren't morally repugnant?
"I would say that you might want to talk to someone in that department, but you'd really be better off just hiring an outside source for that." Because using their own PR department brought them right back to the big issue at hand, and that was that they didn't trust the majority of their own employees. It was why Gunn tended to do most of his own research for cases. Who knew what someone else might bring him?
Angel sighed and picked his mug back up, moving to collapse gracefully onto the leather couch.
"The problem with that idea is that the Senior Partners have already frightened off all the outside sources. What person with a right mind is going to..."
He trailed off. They were here, all of them. People with right minds trying to do good. Angel sighed again, shaking his head.
"Hmm...kind of true there," he said. "Of course, most people will do anything if you offer them enough money, and that's something that, for once, we don't have a problem doing."
All of those years struggling with paying the bills while maybe, just maybe, getting enough left over to be able to pay for their salaries. Now, they all have their own places, they all can drive nice cars, and they all can eat whenever they want. Kind of fun, that.
"Apparently, people like us are the ones in their right minds," Gunn finished off for him. Not sure what to think of that.
Gunn thought on that for a moment. Did they do the right thing? Sure, he liked his upgrade and all, but even he saw the really big downside of working for the enemy, especially with the people that he had to defend with his big new brain.
Finally, he shrugged. "I think we did the best with the information that we had at the time," he said to him. Kind of sounded like a 'lawyer' answer to him, but it was the only thing he could really come up with.
Of course, Gunn almost wanted the throw the case, simply for the reason that the guy was an asshole. He seemed to think that money could buy him anything. Out of earshot of Fred, he had even mused how much it would take to buy her. The guy just rubbed Gunn completely the wrong way. Of course, if he threw the case, it would be painfully obvious. He was upped with all of the new lawyer knowledge, after all. No excuse to lose.
Maybe that was what was keeping him here. Even though he played it up to others that he loved working here because it made him a different, better person, even he had his conflicts with their clientele and such. Just not a lot that he could really do about it.
Out of the need to talk to someone, he walked up to Angel's suite to see if he was awake and around. Luckily, his light was on, so he took that as a sign saying that he was home. He knocked on the door. "Angel? You in there?"
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Gunn was outside the door. He could smell him, even under the expensive cologne and suit. Same old, familiar Gunn. He opened the door, nodding.
"I'm here. Nowhere else to go at night now, considering every time I save someone they get attacked by a dozen lawyers with forms and red pens." Angel said irritably, closing the door behind Gunn.
He glanced at the window, judging the time. Him being awake was normal, but Gunn and the others were usually asleep by now.
"WOrking late?" He asked, picking back up his mug.
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"I still don't quite understand why they do that," Gunn said. "Well, law wise, I do get it, but it just seems ridiculous to actually go through with all of that." They wanted to prevent lawsuits and such but, in the four years that Angel had been in LA saving people, no one had even tried to sue him, or any of them. The closest they got to any sort of thing like that was when that woman refused to pay him, Wes, and Cordelia for removing the eye on the back of her daughter's head. Well, look where that got her.
"Yeah, just finishing up a case that I have to take care of soon," Gunn said. "Another case of another rock star getting caught with far too many drugs to really be legal." Of course, there were dozens of technicalities to get it thrown out. That was his job, after all. Get cases thrown out on technicalities. He was sure the D.A.'s office had grown to hate the mention of his name on a case.
"Are you working, too? Or are you just pacing the floor because you won't go out?" Just going for a walk would probably do Angel some good. Of course, he'd have guys in black ops uniforms following him everywhere, too.
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"I can't go out. I thought of all the places I could go, but if I leave, I'll be followed. And I don't have the patience for it anymore."
After the first few weeks, it got tiring having to put up with a whole crew of humans trying and failing to walk steathily behind him. And killing all of them wasn't an option, although Angelus was pushing for it. Angel could feel him more acutely than ever since he'd taken this job, like he was pressed up against the bars of his cage trying to vent his displeasure.
"No work to be done at this point. Gwen came by earlier and informed she'd fixed our security system, so that job's finished. And I find myself with more free time...funny how I don't want it now that I have it."
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"Running a law firm not enough work?" Gunn asked, curious. He would think that, with the cleaning out of all of the too evil people and the restructuring of several departments (like the Department of Child Sacrifices or whatever) that Angel would have at least *something* to do. Guess not.
"Wait, Gwen came by?" That was a little surprising. He hadn't heard from Gwen since the last time that she took off. Another apocalypse was coming, so she had needed to get the hell out of dodge. Girl was smart like that, but Gunn had a few too many morals to do the same. He kind of wondered if she was still around. She had been one of the few to realize that he had intelligence behind the muscle. He wondered what she would think of the new him. Probably freak her out like it had the rest of them.
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Honestly, digging through the files and seeing the records made Angel feel dirty. The things that had gone on in this building could make your stomach turn.
"Gwen dropped by earlier to let me know she fixed things up so we now have a more lethal and somehow more effective security system. I guess she did it all on her own, since I know I didn't ask her to."
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Gwen was a person that he had pretty much never really expected to hear from again. She really wasn't the type to hang around any one place for too long. "She fixed the system?" She would be the one to know a lot more about that stuff, though. Much more than any of the guys that they employed, at any rate.
"Maybe you should actually hire her on, if she'll take the job." He figured it would be a fifty-fifty shot if she would or wouldn't. "If she's really that good with security and all. We don't really have anyone we can trust in there yet, anyway."
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He wondered if Gunn's suggestion had more behind it than just a desire for someone trustworthy (if you could call Gwen trustworthy) around the building. He knew Gunn and Gwen had had...something going on. Maybe that was a factor...Angel shook his head. Regardless, Gunn was right.
"It would be nice to have more people to trust. Lorne's been having everyone sing, but it's like trying to decide which hell dimension is the worst."
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"Weeding out the really bad ones can only do so much," Gunn said. "Maybe we need to start hiring not-so-evil lawyers, if such a thing exists," he said. He wasn't sure if they did, other than him of course.
This place was way too confusing, anyway. Everyone you worked with either wanted to kill you to take your job or wanted to kill you for the hell of it. And those were usually the nicer ones. The really nasty ones wanted to keep you alive for years on end while they tormented you.
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Considering some of the things Angel had come across while going through old files, he was surprised any mortal being had wanted to work here.
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"I would say that you might want to talk to someone in that department, but you'd really be better off just hiring an outside source for that." Because using their own PR department brought them right back to the big issue at hand, and that was that they didn't trust the majority of their own employees. It was why Gunn tended to do most of his own research for cases. Who knew what someone else might bring him?
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"The problem with that idea is that the Senior Partners have already frightened off all the outside sources. What person with a right mind is going to..."
He trailed off. They were here, all of them. People with right minds trying to do good. Angel sighed again, shaking his head.
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All of those years struggling with paying the bills while maybe, just maybe, getting enough left over to be able to pay for their salaries. Now, they all have their own places, they all can drive nice cars, and they all can eat whenever they want. Kind of fun, that.
"Apparently, people like us are the ones in their right minds," Gunn finished off for him. Not sure what to think of that.
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"You think we did the right thing?" He asked. He suspected they didn't all trust him anymore. He just wondered if he was right in that suspicion.
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Finally, he shrugged. "I think we did the best with the information that we had at the time," he said to him. Kind of sounded like a 'lawyer' answer to him, but it was the only thing he could really come up with.
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"You really are a lawyer now, aren't you?"
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