(Untitled)

[slayedthedragon]

Angel and Wesley are sitting in a secluded booth, and while they might be whispering, there's clearly an argument going on:

"Angel, we have got to do something."

"You think I don't know that?"

"It's been over a year!"

"And the City is my responsibility, Wes. I've had a lot more experience with Hell than you have. I know how bad this is, but

Comments

[perfectblue]

"Enough of your bickering. It is bad enough that I have to endure it out there; if you're going to bring it here as well I suggest you get a room."

Illyria glares at both men in turn, and you can be sure that she chooses her words quite deliberately.

[dark_ex_watcher]

"We were not--!" Wesley protests.

"This isn't bickering," Angel growls. "This is me trying to keep him from getting himself killed again."

[perfectblue]

"An admirable goal; however, I believe your efforts are wasted on this one, considering the amount of time he seemed to spend trying to become more definitively deceased prior to his resurrection."

Good thing the Powers and Illyria had different plans for him.

"Besides. I've done the mathematics; there is a better than 65% chance that all three of us will survive more or less intact."

[slayedthedragon]

"Mathematics?" Wesley echoes doubtfully.

Angel's eyes are narrowing. "Survive what?"

Tell me they haven't been planning, tell me they haven't been planning, tell me they haven't been planning,....

[perfectblue]

Yes Wesley, mathematics. And she didn't even need any walls to write on.

Illyria glances at Wesley sharply.

"You haven't presented any of our scenarios to him yet?"

[dark_ex_watcher]

"I was starting to," Wesley grumbles. "He was being obstinate."

"I was being sane, you mean."

Angel wishes his arms weren't crossed already, or he'd be crossing them now.

[perfectblue]

Illyria doesn't cross her arms, but the tone she takes with Angel is rather scathing all the same.

"I believe the time for sanity was a year and seven days ago, when you decided that it was a brilliant idea to challenge forces much stronger than yourself without any thought to what might happen if you actually survived."

[dark_ex_watcher]

Angel opens his mouth, but then closes it in frustration. He can't exactly deny that he hadn't really expected anything to happen after. There wasn't going to be any 'after.'

Wesley, picking up on that, tries to feel smug, but triumph gives way to sympathy. Angel had hoped for a very different fate for L.A., after all.

"Illyria has a point, Angel. You have to admit, we've taken our usual methods as far as they possibly can go."

[perfectblue]

Illyria doesn't even attempt to look less smug at Wesley's first sentence. She doesn't hear it nearly often enough, in her opinion.

"Strictly speaking, your approval was never necessary," she adds. "We've factored your resistance into most of our planning, and if your disapproval compels you to stay behind..."

Illyria deliberately allows the statement to trail off, leaving Angel to picture whatever dire conclusion he'd like.

[slayedthedragon]

Angel slowly slips out of the booth and stands up, his eyes never leaving Illyria.

"If I ever really decided to resist, there wouldn't be any plan."

"Angel," Wesley says quietly. "You know we're right."

The vampire's steely glare slips ever so slightly.

He can't turn this into a confrontation. No matter how much his pride might want him to make his point.

The City can't afford him that luxury.

[perfectblue]

Illyria snarls something incoherent under her breath and for a moment it looks as though she's going to call Angel's bluff.

It has been so long since she's had cause to throw him into or through anything.

She can practically feel Wesley's disapproval in advance, but she can't resist getting one small verbal jab in.

"Do not start yet another battle you cannot win, vampire."

[slayedthedragon]

"Someday," Angel breathes, for her ears only.

"Enough!" Wesley insists, rising and stepping forward.

"Enough," he repeats, and Angel finally looks away from her.

"Hear us out, before you decide. We've earned that. I've earned that."

Angel sighs. There's something else he can't deny.

[perfectblue]

Illyria takes that sigh as her cue to launch into a long, overly-technical detailing of the scenario that she and Wesley had determined had the most merit.

It is, of course, completely audacious, incredibly dangerous, and dependent on a number of conditions that had to exist in their favor.

But between the resources that all three of them can bring to the battle, it's also just barely likely to actually work.

When she's done explaining, she glances over at Wesley as if asking if she's left anything out, even though she's certain she hasn't.

[slayedthedragon]

Angel is silent at first. But then he blinks in surprise.

"Oh," he says finally. "Well, that's--. That's not bad."

"I mean, crazy, but," he shrugs. "No more than all our other plans."

Wesley eyes him. "Ye-es. We will, of course, be using the Crucible of Xerxes. And everything will depend on forging a proper Circle of Power with the Salt of K!artesh. But those and other supplies are already safely stowed in the ruins of the Hyperion."

[perfectblue]

"Safely might be a slight overstatement," Illyria chimes in, looking entirely too cheerful all of a sudden. Maybe that's just because lots of things back home are going to die horribly and loudly, with pretty explosions if they're lucky.

"In any case, we ought not delay much longer. Time passes oddly while we are in here; we might miss our window of opportunity if we are not careful."

[slayedthedragon]

"Wha-? Wait a minute? Now? As in... Now?"

"Now," Wesley replies.

Angel gives both of them a Look. Just how much have they been preparing for this before even telling him?