(Untitled)

[sunnydalealum]

The Warehouse (Angel's HQ)
June 9, 2005, 8:30pmWhen your boss is nocturnal and so is most of your clientele, the working day tends to start shortly after sunset

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[sunnydalealum]

Angel returns the nod.

"Here's the thing," he says to Beth, quietly. "I think at some level you know it'd be a bad idea to work for Wolfram & Hart. I think you don't know why, but part of you knows you should stay away from them. That's why you're afraid."

[bloodndnicotine]

That finally gets Spike to full on look at Angel, as he's been avoiding doing all evening, even if he has to crane his neck to do it. He badly wants to ask "did some part of you know that, then? And if so, why didn't you bloody listen?" But now is not the time.

[sunnydalealum]

Gunn shakes his head; not disagreeing with Angel, just not going there on the question of what parts of strange girls barely out of their teens might know.

"What I know is, they were bad news, and not just 'cause lawyers have a bad rep. Whatever good intentions you went in with, that's how they got at you, and once they broke you in, they used you up. And not even for anything worth it. Half the time it was evil and the other half it was petty. Still can't decide which is worse."

[sunnydalealum]

Beth lowers her head and drinks some more tea, hands wrapped tightly around the mug.

"You guys know a lot about them," she says finally, to the tea.

"What are they gonna do if I turn down the job offer?"

[sunnydalealum]

Gunn shrugs. "Probably nothing? It's if you walk after you sign in blood that you got to watch your ass -- they take a real strict view of nondisclosure and noncompete clauses."

He pauses. "Then again, I just came with the Angel package." The tone isn't bitter, just a fact. "For 'highly leveraged assets' like him they don't give up so easy."

[stilljustandrew]

"So the question becomes," Andrew says, "whether or not they think a Slayer is a 'highly leveraged asset'."

[bloodndnicotine]

"Depends how many they've got," Spike says. "And what they're planning on doing with them. Back where there was one at a time, no bleeding question. Now..." he shrugs. "They got some big plan hanging on this, they're gonna keep trying to collect the whole set. But if they're just grubbing up anyone with mojo in case they come in useful someday, they might not bother."

Belatedly it occurs to Spike that this isn't the most comforting line to take.

[sunnydalealum]

Beth shakes her head. "I don't know. I just know I talked to her on the phone and said I'd think about it, and then about ten minutes later one of -- one of the other Slayers who works for her knocked on my door. It's like they're stalking me."

Her voice has gone very thin and tight, as though trying very hard to keep from whimpering. "I'm getting the feeling they don't want to take no for an answer, and if I try to tell them no I don't know what's gonna happen."

[bloodndnicotine]

"Breathe, pet. If they want you that bad, they're not gonna -- do anything that would make you less useful. If they don't, they won't bother to make trouble."

Spike meets Angel's eyes. That speech would do for bucking up the troops, but they both know -- few better -- how very many things you could do to break someone's resistance and leave them functional. Some of them didn't even leave visible scars.

Spike stifles the urge to volunteer to be her bodyguard. Apart from that pesky sunshine issue, he could scarcely follow Beth around while he was already following Angel, and a pet vampire in a dorm room would be bound to stand out.

"There's always the Council," he adds hesitantly. "You could see a bit of Europe till we figure out what this Emma bint's collecting Slayers for. I know you're not a fan, but they'd see you safe."

[stilljustandrew]

"They totally would," Andrew puts in earnestly. "The Academy's probably the safest place in the world -- and you could meet other Slayers there, and learn what it's all about. I've got friends there, and my cousin's one of the teachers, I could tell them to look out for you."

[bloodndnicotine]

Spike wants to take Andrew aside, in case the answer turns out to be no, but Beth is still skittish as all hell, and if they start telling secrets she'll never trust them. So he just says it straight out.

"She doesn't want to kill things," he tells Andrew, trying hard to keep the incredulity out of his voice. "Can you pull strings so she doesn't have to?"

[stilljustandrew]

A pause, and then "...Yeah." Very sober. "Yeah, I can do that."

Or he'll know the reason why.

[sunnydalealum]

Beth's looking from Andrew to Spike and back again.

"The Council," she says warily. "I don't know ..."

Her gaze falls to the tea again. "Emma, um. Said some stuff about the Council."

[bloodndnicotine]

"What'd she say?" Spike is honestly curious, and also he thinks this bit might come better from one of the bone fide vampires in the room.

[sunnydalealum]

She shifts uncomfortably.

"Stuff. Like ... like they're trying to control all of the, the Slayers, and ... they think they have a god-given right to."

[sunnydalealum]

Angel glances at Andrew and Jonathan, his face slightly sardonic.

"She's kind of got a point."