Cordelia's Apartment | Los Angeles, CA | Monday Night Fandom Time
And so Wesley, Angel and Gunn proceeded to Chinatown to investigate the five herbalist shops Fred had found in the phone book. This wound up taking quite a while, since it was only once they reached the fifth shop that they managed to find and acquire the key (it involved slaying a pair of Cantonese Fook-beasts). Once they finished, they were on their way back to the hotel when they received a somewhat urgent phone call from Fred, letting them know that Cordelia was decidedly not okay and that they were needed at her apartment immediately.
Cordelia
Cordelia hated, really hated, how this entire night was making her reconsider the concept of how enjoyable attention was when applied to her. Because really-- when, back in Sunnydale, would she ever have spent this much effort trying to get people not to take care of her when she was sick?
...Well, actually, she still might have. She'd never been a big fan of people paying attention to her while she was sick.
In any event, Fred had been completely outstaying her welcome a while ago when Cordelia had suddenly collapsed with another vision. This one, however, had left her with a set of bulging, hideous boils on her face, and right now she was seriously rueing the day she'd cut her hair, because there was no way those things weren't visible to the whole damn team right now.
"It was a demon," she rasped. "An icky, boil-covered demon. A storefront downtown on the corner of fifth and... something. And there was a key. I should probably draw you a picture of the key."
Angel
"Cordy," Angel tried to interrupt her, but Cordy wasn't having it. She tried to get up, and when Angel intercepted her, she shut her eyes fast and turned her head; Angel, interpreting this as reluctant permission, took the opportunity to tuck her hair behind her ear so that he and the others could fully see the boils her hair had just been covering.
When everyone responded by looking ashamedly away, Angel just took a(n unnecessary) breath. "Cordy, we should talk about this."
Cordelia
"What's there to say?" Cordy-- well, squeaked, and she really hated that these things had apparently messed up her voice, too. "Besides 'gross,' 'yuck,' and 'unclean.'" She looked up, even more frustrated when no one else would meet her eyes. "Like you weren't all thinking it."
Angel
"Has this ever happened before?" Angel asked.
Cordelia
Slowly, reluctantly, Cordelia sat up, then reached behind her to pull up her shirt so that the others could see the scratch there. "Earlier tonight," she rasped.
Wesley
Claws. Five claws -- like that of the Cantonese Fook-beast in the vision she'd had earlier.
Wesley crouched down beside the bed to look at the scratches, and also so that he could speak to Cordelia softly and gently but still be heard. "Are you saying that your visions had a physical manifestation?"
Cordelia
Cordelia nodded. "Yeah."
Wesley
"And did this new one have anything to do with--?" he started, then trailed off when it occured to him that there wasn't really a nice way to ask her about the bulging pustules on her face.
Cordelia
"The yuck-monster?" Cordelia filled in, since, well, she'd never had that problem. "Yeah."
She slowly stood up, then went toward her mirror, shaking her head all the while. "This must be a mistake," she said, voice almost desperate now. "The Powers wouldn't do this to me on purpose. I mean, I'm a part of their team. Why would anybody do this on purpose?"
Angel
"That's what we're gonna find out," Angel told her. He wanted to put a hand on her shoulder, but under the circumstances right now... he thought he'd better not. "Get some rest."
He and the others filed out of her bedroom after that, and after Angel quietly shut the door behind him, they all congregated in the living room to discuss.
"We have to figure this out, and now," Angel said without further ado. "Anybody? Gunn?"
Gunn
Gunn looked a bit surprised to be called on, but he volunteered, "I had this auntie who used to get this nasty crusty stuff on the back of her neck every summer. Turned out she was allergic to shellfish."
Angel
This did not impress Angel. "That was helpful," he said.
Wesley
It seemed it was Wesley's job to nudge the rest of the group toward the task at hand.
"Well, why would the Powers choose to communicate with Cordelia in this way?" he asked -- one of those questions that he didn't intend to lead to an answer so much as a set of more focused questions.
Fred
"Maybe we could ask them," Fred volunteered.
When everyone turned to look at her, she said, "Y-you used the word 'communicate,' which got me thinking -- everything's made of energy, right? Light waves, radio waves, x-rays, even brain waves are all electric energy. If Cordelia is receiving visions from the Powers That Be, they're being communicated somehow. Maybe we could figure out the frequency and trace the calls."
Wesley
Of course! And tracing the visions would be simple when they had an empath demon on their side-- all it would take was a phone call to Lorne and, pursuant to Wesley's regular visits to Caritas with friendly words and the odd gift over the course of the summer, he'd surely be happy to help.
"Yes, of course," Wesley breathed. "Well done, Fred." Whether Fred's lack of her usual blush-and-smile upon being complimented had to do with the gravity of the situation or the fact that it hadn't come from Angel, Wesley didn't know, nor was he focused on that at the moment. "Gunn," he said, "I need you and Fred to go to the hotel and get me some books. I'll make a list. We need to research that Chinese coin. Angel, you find that demon and get the key."
Angel
Angel shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."
Wesley
Wesley sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Angel, Cordelia's had two visions in the same night," he said quietly, urgently. "You see what it's doing to her. If the Powers That Be are taking such extreme measures, we have to assume that the coin and the key are of great significance."
Angel
"And so is Cordelia," Angel countered stubbornly. "If I go out and find that key, how can I help her?"
Wesley
"By trusting me," Wesley told him. "I have an idea."
Wesley's idea was not only viable, it was rather flawless, if he did say so himself. Sure enough, he called Lorne, and, since in Angel's absence no one had driven a hole through his club or banished him to the hell dimension he regarded as the source of all evil in over three months, he was only too happy to come by and help out Cordelia. Wesley was generous enough to award Fred some of the credit on this, but he thought he himself deserved quite a bit of it as well.
However, Cordelia's aversion to having Lorne in her head presented a slight problem, and they wound up having to wait for Angel to return with the key before they could proceed. In the meantime, Wesley received a somewhat confusing text from Gunn (u happen to know why theres a bunch of unlicensed exterminators in the hotel?), and was just about to follow up on it when Angel arrived.
Well. The text could wait.
Lorne
"Ah," Lorne greeted Angel as the latter stepped through the door, "His Royal Badness. Just in time. Would you talk to this young lady? She's resisting the process."
Angel
"Process?" Angel repeated, hovering near the wall since the space on the bed beside Cordelia was already occupied by Lorne.
Wesley
"Oh," said Wesley, managing to keep all of the smugness out of his voice on account of the seriousness of the situation, "my idea. You see, Lorne reads people's auras to set them on their paths. In some shape or form, that connects him to the Powers That Be. I'm thinking...."
Angel
"Sure," said Angel. "He might be able to reverse the process. That he might be able to use Cordelia in order to trace the call back to the Powers."
Lorne
"Way outside my area of expertise, I should caution," Lorne pointed out. "But hey. Who knew William Shatner could sing?"
Blank looks all around.
"Okay, bad example."
At Angel's continued expectant look, Lorne scooted over on the bed so that Angel could have a seat next to the supine Cordelia.
Cordelia
"Did you find it?" Cordelia asked Angel weakly. "Because I'm gonna be really ticked off if I'm all--" she pointed at her face-- "Phantom of the Opera and there wasn't a key."
Angel
"It was right where you said," Angel assured her. Once Cordy appeared satisfied by that, he segued, "Why don't you want Lorne to trace the visions?"
Cordelia
Cordy sighed, pushing herself up a bit so she could better look at him. "It's not like I'm against letting a demon into my subconscious for a quick looky-loo," she said. "Hey, might be fun. But with the Powers That Be doing this whole 'book of Job' thing, the last thing I want is more noise in my head."
Angel
"But maybe he can make the noise stop," Angel said. "Isn't that what you want?"
Cordelia
"Yes!" said Cordy-- except too quickly, apparently, because she quickly amended, "No. Well, no. Sure, I hate looking and feeling like this, but... if I lose the visions, I wouldn't be able to help you anymore. You wouldn't need me."
Angel
"That's not why I need you," Angel said, boggling at her as much as Angel could ever boggle at anyone. "You're important. And the visions are just after market extras. Like Hurst shift or Krager wheels."
Cordelia
Cordy blinked. "Did you just compare me to a car?"
Angel
"It was a very nice car," Angel said defensively. Then more gently, "Cordy. Let us try and help. Okay?"
Cordelia
Cordy slowly nodded. "Okay."
Lorne
Thus cued, Lorne shifted back toward the spot on the bed beside Cordelia. "Alright, princess," he said, "it's like I told you earlier. You shouldn't even feel a thing. You ready?"
At Cordy's nod, he set his hands on her temples. For a moment it was quiet, with the exception of Cordy's slow, occasionally wheezy breaths-- but then suddenly Cordelia started to convulse, and Lorne was thrown backward with powerful force against the back wall, shattering a vase. Cordy screamed, and Angel and Wes immediately ran to her to make sure that she was all right, only turning their attention back to Lorne once he cleared his throat loudly.
"Uh, guys?" he interjected, getting painfully to his feet. "Hate to disrupt the disproportionate fawn-fest over there, but I've got some news for you. Out in the hall."
Angel and Wesley followed, with the recently-returned Gunn and Fred gathering around to listen, as Lorne hissed, "Those visions? Not from the Powers, cupcakes."
Angel
Angel didn't look pleased to be dragged away from Cordy just now, but that news bulletin was disturbing enough to capture his attention for now. "Who's sending them?"
Lorne
Lorne shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "But it's local. Earthbound, and pretty authentic. I can see how a layperson might mistake it for the real deal."
Gunn
"Are you saying someone tried to hack into Cordy's head?" Gunn asked.
Lorne
"Transmitting false data through the celestial pipeline," Lorne confirmed. "I know it's probably a mile long list, but I'd start looking at enemies. Who wants to get to you, who has the sizable resources, and who'd be willing to mess up a pretty face like Cordelia's?"
Angel
As the only possible answer dawned on everyone else in the room, Angel's face went darker than Wesley had seen it in a while. "Excuse me," he said, turning toward the door. "I've got to see a lawyer."
[[once again taken and adapted from angel 3x02 "that vision thing"]]
Cordelia
Cordelia hated, really hated, how this entire night was making her reconsider the concept of how enjoyable attention was when applied to her. Because really-- when, back in Sunnydale, would she ever have spent this much effort trying to get people not to take care of her when she was sick?
...Well, actually, she still might have. She'd never been a big fan of people paying attention to her while she was sick.
In any event, Fred had been completely outstaying her welcome a while ago when Cordelia had suddenly collapsed with another vision. This one, however, had left her with a set of bulging, hideous boils on her face, and right now she was seriously rueing the day she'd cut her hair, because there was no way those things weren't visible to the whole damn team right now.
"It was a demon," she rasped. "An icky, boil-covered demon. A storefront downtown on the corner of fifth and... something. And there was a key. I should probably draw you a picture of the key."
Angel
"Cordy," Angel tried to interrupt her, but Cordy wasn't having it. She tried to get up, and when Angel intercepted her, she shut her eyes fast and turned her head; Angel, interpreting this as reluctant permission, took the opportunity to tuck her hair behind her ear so that he and the others could fully see the boils her hair had just been covering.
When everyone responded by looking ashamedly away, Angel just took a(n unnecessary) breath. "Cordy, we should talk about this."
Cordelia
"What's there to say?" Cordy-- well, squeaked, and she really hated that these things had apparently messed up her voice, too. "Besides 'gross,' 'yuck,' and 'unclean.'" She looked up, even more frustrated when no one else would meet her eyes. "Like you weren't all thinking it."
Angel
"Has this ever happened before?" Angel asked.
Cordelia
Slowly, reluctantly, Cordelia sat up, then reached behind her to pull up her shirt so that the others could see the scratch there. "Earlier tonight," she rasped.
Wesley
Claws. Five claws -- like that of the Cantonese Fook-beast in the vision she'd had earlier.
Wesley crouched down beside the bed to look at the scratches, and also so that he could speak to Cordelia softly and gently but still be heard. "Are you saying that your visions had a physical manifestation?"
Cordelia
Cordelia nodded. "Yeah."
Wesley
"And did this new one have anything to do with--?" he started, then trailed off when it occured to him that there wasn't really a nice way to ask her about the bulging pustules on her face.
Cordelia
"The yuck-monster?" Cordelia filled in, since, well, she'd never had that problem. "Yeah."
She slowly stood up, then went toward her mirror, shaking her head all the while. "This must be a mistake," she said, voice almost desperate now. "The Powers wouldn't do this to me on purpose. I mean, I'm a part of their team. Why would anybody do this on purpose?"
Angel
"That's what we're gonna find out," Angel told her. He wanted to put a hand on her shoulder, but under the circumstances right now... he thought he'd better not. "Get some rest."
He and the others filed out of her bedroom after that, and after Angel quietly shut the door behind him, they all congregated in the living room to discuss.
"We have to figure this out, and now," Angel said without further ado. "Anybody? Gunn?"
Gunn
Gunn looked a bit surprised to be called on, but he volunteered, "I had this auntie who used to get this nasty crusty stuff on the back of her neck every summer. Turned out she was allergic to shellfish."
Angel
This did not impress Angel. "That was helpful," he said.
Wesley
It seemed it was Wesley's job to nudge the rest of the group toward the task at hand.
"Well, why would the Powers choose to communicate with Cordelia in this way?" he asked -- one of those questions that he didn't intend to lead to an answer so much as a set of more focused questions.
Fred
"Maybe we could ask them," Fred volunteered.
When everyone turned to look at her, she said, "Y-you used the word 'communicate,' which got me thinking -- everything's made of energy, right? Light waves, radio waves, x-rays, even brain waves are all electric energy. If Cordelia is receiving visions from the Powers That Be, they're being communicated somehow. Maybe we could figure out the frequency and trace the calls."
Wesley
Of course! And tracing the visions would be simple when they had an empath demon on their side-- all it would take was a phone call to Lorne and, pursuant to Wesley's regular visits to Caritas with friendly words and the odd gift over the course of the summer, he'd surely be happy to help.
"Yes, of course," Wesley breathed. "Well done, Fred." Whether Fred's lack of her usual blush-and-smile upon being complimented had to do with the gravity of the situation or the fact that it hadn't come from Angel, Wesley didn't know, nor was he focused on that at the moment. "Gunn," he said, "I need you and Fred to go to the hotel and get me some books. I'll make a list. We need to research that Chinese coin. Angel, you find that demon and get the key."
Angel
Angel shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere."
Wesley
Wesley sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Angel, Cordelia's had two visions in the same night," he said quietly, urgently. "You see what it's doing to her. If the Powers That Be are taking such extreme measures, we have to assume that the coin and the key are of great significance."
Angel
"And so is Cordelia," Angel countered stubbornly. "If I go out and find that key, how can I help her?"
Wesley
"By trusting me," Wesley told him. "I have an idea."
Wesley's idea was not only viable, it was rather flawless, if he did say so himself. Sure enough, he called Lorne, and, since in Angel's absence no one had driven a hole through his club or banished him to the hell dimension he regarded as the source of all evil in over three months, he was only too happy to come by and help out Cordelia. Wesley was generous enough to award Fred some of the credit on this, but he thought he himself deserved quite a bit of it as well.
However, Cordelia's aversion to having Lorne in her head presented a slight problem, and they wound up having to wait for Angel to return with the key before they could proceed. In the meantime, Wesley received a somewhat confusing text from Gunn (u happen to know why theres a bunch of unlicensed exterminators in the hotel?), and was just about to follow up on it when Angel arrived.
Well. The text could wait.
Lorne
"Ah," Lorne greeted Angel as the latter stepped through the door, "His Royal Badness. Just in time. Would you talk to this young lady? She's resisting the process."
Angel
"Process?" Angel repeated, hovering near the wall since the space on the bed beside Cordelia was already occupied by Lorne.
Wesley
"Oh," said Wesley, managing to keep all of the smugness out of his voice on account of the seriousness of the situation, "my idea. You see, Lorne reads people's auras to set them on their paths. In some shape or form, that connects him to the Powers That Be. I'm thinking...."
Angel
"Sure," said Angel. "He might be able to reverse the process. That he might be able to use Cordelia in order to trace the call back to the Powers."
Lorne
"Way outside my area of expertise, I should caution," Lorne pointed out. "But hey. Who knew William Shatner could sing?"
Blank looks all around.
"Okay, bad example."
At Angel's continued expectant look, Lorne scooted over on the bed so that Angel could have a seat next to the supine Cordelia.
Cordelia
"Did you find it?" Cordelia asked Angel weakly. "Because I'm gonna be really ticked off if I'm all--" she pointed at her face-- "Phantom of the Opera and there wasn't a key."
Angel
"It was right where you said," Angel assured her. Once Cordy appeared satisfied by that, he segued, "Why don't you want Lorne to trace the visions?"
Cordelia
Cordy sighed, pushing herself up a bit so she could better look at him. "It's not like I'm against letting a demon into my subconscious for a quick looky-loo," she said. "Hey, might be fun. But with the Powers That Be doing this whole 'book of Job' thing, the last thing I want is more noise in my head."
Angel
"But maybe he can make the noise stop," Angel said. "Isn't that what you want?"
Cordelia
"Yes!" said Cordy-- except too quickly, apparently, because she quickly amended, "No. Well, no. Sure, I hate looking and feeling like this, but... if I lose the visions, I wouldn't be able to help you anymore. You wouldn't need me."
Angel
"That's not why I need you," Angel said, boggling at her as much as Angel could ever boggle at anyone. "You're important. And the visions are just after market extras. Like Hurst shift or Krager wheels."
Cordelia
Cordy blinked. "Did you just compare me to a car?"
Angel
"It was a very nice car," Angel said defensively. Then more gently, "Cordy. Let us try and help. Okay?"
Cordelia
Cordy slowly nodded. "Okay."
Lorne
Thus cued, Lorne shifted back toward the spot on the bed beside Cordelia. "Alright, princess," he said, "it's like I told you earlier. You shouldn't even feel a thing. You ready?"
At Cordy's nod, he set his hands on her temples. For a moment it was quiet, with the exception of Cordy's slow, occasionally wheezy breaths-- but then suddenly Cordelia started to convulse, and Lorne was thrown backward with powerful force against the back wall, shattering a vase. Cordy screamed, and Angel and Wes immediately ran to her to make sure that she was all right, only turning their attention back to Lorne once he cleared his throat loudly.
"Uh, guys?" he interjected, getting painfully to his feet. "Hate to disrupt the disproportionate fawn-fest over there, but I've got some news for you. Out in the hall."
Angel and Wesley followed, with the recently-returned Gunn and Fred gathering around to listen, as Lorne hissed, "Those visions? Not from the Powers, cupcakes."
Angel
Angel didn't look pleased to be dragged away from Cordy just now, but that news bulletin was disturbing enough to capture his attention for now. "Who's sending them?"
Lorne
Lorne shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "But it's local. Earthbound, and pretty authentic. I can see how a layperson might mistake it for the real deal."
Gunn
"Are you saying someone tried to hack into Cordy's head?" Gunn asked.
Lorne
"Transmitting false data through the celestial pipeline," Lorne confirmed. "I know it's probably a mile long list, but I'd start looking at enemies. Who wants to get to you, who has the sizable resources, and who'd be willing to mess up a pretty face like Cordelia's?"
Angel
As the only possible answer dawned on everyone else in the room, Angel's face went darker than Wesley had seen it in a while. "Excuse me," he said, turning toward the door. "I've got to see a lawyer."
[[once again taken and adapted from angel 3x02 "that vision thing"]]