Angel looked up as Faith walked in, holding the head of the demon she'd been hunting. Gunn was behind her, looking slightly bemused and only a little muddy from the fight.
"So," Faith said, placing the head on Angel's desk. "Why did you need this?"
"There's a proper ritual that needs to be carried out to destroy it," Angel replied. "And right now, it's leaking it's..."
"Head juices," Gunn put in helpfully.
"All over my desk." Angel carefully lifted it and placed it in the box he'd kept next to his desk for it. "We have something else, also."
"Phew," Faith said, settling down on one of the lounge chairs in front of Angel's desk. "I know I'm off house arrest and all, but I would like a few minutes to recover."
Gunn sat down in the other chair, rubbing his head. "Do you need me on this one?"
"I think you're too well known for this one," the vampire said. He steepled his fingers together. "Faith, you've managed to stay fairly under the radar - "
"Me? Awesome."
"Well, it's common knowledge we have a Slayer working among us, but it's not clear who she is. So, your identity is fairly quiet for now."
"If you have a point it would be great if you could get to it," Faith replied.
"I need you to go undercover. You'll be crashing a cocktail party," he told her.
"Nifty. What's the what?"
"James Wilkins, you know him?" Angel asked.
Gunn leant forward in his chair a little. "Local politician, has been making some pretty radical promises. Nothing we haven't seen before. Why, what's his deal?"
"Apparently, he's planning a mass human sacrifice. To appease the demon he is paying tribute to. And, in doing that, he clears the path to his own transformation," Angel said carefully.
"So, I go, and get everyone out?" Faith asked. "Easy."
"Not as easy as you'd imagine. I'm assembling a team to help you once they're out, but you're going to have to do a majority of the fighting alone. Sort of."
She raised an eyebrow. "Sort of?"
"Well, you'll need a date," Angel went on. "And as the CEO of Wolfram and Hart, they're going to be pretty suspicious if I turn up. Gunn is too well known. Wesley, perhaps?"
"No one will ever believe Wesley is my date. He looks like he could be my father," Faith protested. "And Lorne is green. So, I'm screwed, yeah?"
Angel hid his smile and he pressed the intercom for Wesley's office.
"Yes Angel?" came the Brit over the line.
"Wes, if Mr Winchester is in with you, could you possibly bring him out to my office? We may need him to do us a favour." Angel leant back in his chair.
"Sam's really busy," Faith protested, somewhat lamely. "He's researching. And you know what those book types are like when they're reading."
~*~*~*~
Wesley looked at Sam.
"If you have no objections?"
Sam
Sam shook is head, curiosity winning out.
He bookmarked the book he was reading and kept it in his hand as he left Wesley's office, and made his way to Angel's.
He strode through the door to find Angel, Faith and Gunn. He couldn't help but wince a little at the state of Angel's desk, wondering what had died there.
"You called?" he looked to Angel.
Angel and Faith
Angel noticed Sam's look. "You can thank Faith for that mess."
"Hey." Faith held her hands up in protest. "You told me to bring back it's head. So I brought it back."
"Anyway," Angel went on. "We may need your help on something..."
And with that, he began to explain to Sam the problem.
Sam
"Is this guy human?" Sam cut in before Angel got to the party bit, looking between he and Faith.
Angel and Faith
Angel and Wesley shared a look.
"Theoretically," Wesley answered. "Only, it would appear that he is several hundreds of years old."
Faith looked at Angel and then at Wesley. "Wait, you said... you said Wilkins."
Angel nodded. "There is a distant relation to Richard Wilkins."
Her eyes hardened. "Ok. So we kill him. No big deal. He's not human."
Sam
"Fine with me," Sam shrugged.
"But what do you need me for? You guys seem to have handled this before."
Angel, Gunn and Faith
"Well, she needs a date," Angel explained, somewhat awkwardly.
Gunn was trying not to laugh, while Faith was still stewing on the little tidbit of information Angel had only just shared with her.
"He's got this thing about - "
"Germs?" Faith asked sarcastically.
"No, but another OCD type," Wesley said gently. "He needs his numbers to be even. Faith would throw the balance out. He has made sure everyone is bringing a partner."
Sam
"You know what?" Sam winced again.
"I really don't have a good rep for this kind of stuff. But I could call Dean and see if he's interested, he's pretty good..."
Angel, Gunn and Faith
"Unfortunately," Angel began. "It's tonight. And Dean has disappeared, so..."
"We wouldn't ask unless it was an emergency," Gunn put in. "It's just, Angel and I, we're too well known. And Lorne... he's green. And Wes is a little too old to be convincing."
"Hey!" Wesley protested.
"It really is true, sorry Wes," Faith said absently.
Sam
Sam looked like he was going to protest, but he nodded.
"Then I guess I'm it. You need to get this guy, right?"
He cleared his throat.
"What's the game plan?"
Faith and Angel
Faith then looked like she was going to protest, but she fell back against her chair at Angel's look.
"We're thinking he'll have some sort of basement room set up for the sacrifice," Angel said. "We're going to have teams assembled outside for back up, but for the most part, we need you two to get everyone out."
"And we kill him, yeah?" Faith looked interested again.
"We're hoping he can be killed," Wesley said gently. "It's possible that he's already undergone the ritual and made himself impervious to harm. Like... like Mayor Wilkins did."
"Right now, we're just worried about getting those people out. He's invited some major LA players in order to get them out of the way."
Sam
"Right," Sam nodded.
"But I take it that it won't be as easy as pulling a fire alarm," he added, "so how do we get them out? Especially if it's a large number of people. And if it's a big and important sacrifice, do we know what measures he'd have taken to stop them escaping?"
Angel and Faith
"As far as we know, his security is mostly humans, although he has a few vampires thrown in there too, so - " Angel looked at Faith.
"I'll have to be reasonably careful not to get too close to any until I kill them," Faith finished. She turned to Sam. "Slayers and Vampires can always sense each other. I have it easier in that I know exactly who I'm targeting, while they don't know me until I strike. So, I'll have to pick them off one by one."
"We have ear pieces for the two of you," Wesley said. "Fred's just finished them this morning and they work perfectly. Also, they won't show up on the metal detector. Neither will the weapon you'll be carrying, Faith."
"So... metal detector? How am I going to sneak a weapon through?" Faith questioned.
"You'll be sneaking two in. Three, if you want to be technical," Angel told her. "Two wooden chopsticks and one dagger disguised as a hair pin."
"Nifty."
Sam
"So... am I just going in there naked?" Sam asked, worried.
"I mean if there's any demons around I know some exorcisms off by heart, and I can carry Holy water easy, but aside from that..."
Faith and Angel
Faith blinked at Sam's first question, then shook her head slightly.
"We're certain that it's mostly vampires," Angel said. "They blend easily."
"And," Wesley pointed out. "It's a cocktail party, there will most likely be silver serving utensils. Be creative."
"We'll get you fitted for a suit," Angel said to Sam. "Faith, you'll have to get fitted for a dress."
"Really? I can't wear pants to this?"
The men in the room just stared at her.
"Ok!"
Sam
Sam took a deep breath and nodded.
"Then I guess we have no time to waste," he went to return the book he was holding to Wesley's office.
Faith and Angel
Faith got up from her chair. "Ok, I'm going to go get fitted."
Angel smiled slightly. "You do that."