Title: Weekend at Lorne's
Players: Angel, Alison, Gunn, Lorne, and a cameo by Cordelia
Rating: PG-13, violence, occult
Summary: The AI team takes out the demon that is infesting the
Hyperion hotel, with an unexpected twist at the end, courtesy of
Wolfram and Hart.

At the appointed time, just after sundown, Angel is waiting in front
of the Hyperion for the rest of the team to arrive. He carries a
short-handled, double-sided axe and a notebook with the instructions
for the raising spell written inside. He paces in front of the
building, every so often pausing and looking at it with a mix of
apprehension and excitement. Kicking some demon butt is a good way
to spend an evening, in his opinion - especially a demon that's
annoyed him as much as this one has. His long black coat flaps
slightly with the wind generated by his pacing, but otherwise the
evening is still. Not quiet - the sounds of LA are never quiet - but
still.

A blue pickup truck pulls out of traffic, stopping in front of the
Hyperion. Out of the driver's seat pops Charles Gunn. He comes
around the truck "An-/gel/!" he calls out in greeting. "We ready for
business?" Though the truck is not battle prepped (no wooden posts
or stake launcher), the bed houses a half dozen various handheld
weapons, ready for the taking. "Got what you asked for," he says,
indicating the weapons. "Both things, actually..." and something
calls his attention away, as he looks towards the passenger
door. "Roll up your window, man." Shaking his head, he grabs his
broadsword from the back and walks towards Angel.

Inside Gunn's pick-up truck, indeed, is not only a mass amount of
hack-`n'-slash tools, but as well a totally different animal. "Is,
ah... this thing... insured?" The Host is a bit... "on-edge" isn't
quite the right term. It's simply not /enough/. However, you'd never
know -- not yet, anyway. The horned demon gives a wave and a
friendly-but-nervous look at Angel after the truck slides in. After
a second's delay, he rolls up the window like the driver said and
promptly (read: quickly as possible) exits, carefully closing the
door behind him. "Ready, set, `n' go?" `Cause he's not, but he's
pulling off the acting cool thing rather well. Lorne crosses his
arms, barely wrinkling his colourful suit in the process. "Where's
the rest of the flock?"

As if on cue, Alison runs up, a little out of breath and waving a
large bag in front of her. "I got it all!" she calls as soon as she
figures she's close enough for Angel to hear. "I got it..." She
almost trips, catches herself and stumbles to a halt. "I got the
stuff," she pants. "Even the water. Sorry to take so long but I was
doing a bit of shopping around to get us the best deals and then I
saw this DARLING sweater I had to try on too, and of course on the
way here I realized you might want a lighter to light the candles
with so I picked up a couple of those along with a tiny flashlight
and then I bought myself a couple granola bars because I remembered
I hadn't really had dinner and oh HECK I never grabbed any
weapons... can I borrow some?" This last towards Gunn, as he was
weapons man, and she hasn't clued in that they're in his truck.
Alison now stops to breathe, and Lorne gets a brief smile in
passing; she's not sure why Jaffa's here.

"Almost," Angel says to Gunn, lifting his axe in a little
wave. "Cordelia's not coming yet. I've got her doing something last-
minute for me." He crosses over to the truck and inspects the array,
choosing a wicked-looking knife to supplement his axe. He nods next
to Lorne. "I need to ask you something," he says, crossing over to
the green-skinned demon. "The last time we were inside - you didn't
go crazy. Almost, at the very end, there was something ... but you
didn't. What was that?" While waiting for Lorne's answer, Alison
comes running up, and Angel looks at her with a smile. "Help
yourself - Gunn's brought an arsenal," he says to her. He tucks the
knife away in a deep pocket of his coat and reaches out to take the
bag of ingredients. He empties it on the hood of the truck and
checks everything against the list he has in his hand to make sure
it's all there.

Gunn isn't quite insulted by the demon's lack of confidence in his
pride and joy, but he does throw her an appreciative smile just in
case she is. He's about to speak out at the Cordelia info, but holds
his tongue. Not that he'd count on her too heavily, but he'd rather
have a full crew tonight, just in case. Still, this is Angel's
operation, not his, so it's his call. Oh, but look, here comes
someone else. The girl who he's yet to see in battle, and for all he
knows, has never held a weapon before. As Angel motions her towards
his arsenal, Gunn calls out with pride, "All shapes and sizes." Then
after a beat, he adds, "Just... you might want to stick to the
lighter shapes and smaller sizes." At least it'll be difficult for
her to break anything.

"Hi there, sweets! Welcome to the party!" Lorne says to Alison in an
exuberant voice and even pairs it with a wave – it's more like he's
greeting her at the door of a soiree and there's an expensive bottle
of wine in the paper bag, not a bundle of supplies to kill a nasty
demon. He's quick to discount that fantasy, however, by adding with
a darker tone: "I'm sure it's gonna be a bash." He takes a few
casual steps back toward Gunn's truck/arsenal, peeking at the array
of pointies while he replies to Angel with an off-the-shoulder
shrug. "Yeah. Guess I got a Get Out of Jail Free card for whatever
reason. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, `cause you guys were
diving into some crazy waters in there! Forget /your/ wacky
phantasms – hello! I'm not keen on the idea of going crazy and
seeing visions of Billy Ray Cyrus and Paul Anka everywhere." Lorne
tucks his hands into his pants pockets, then adds, "Could be because
of the whole demon angle – not to say that, ah, you're not demon
enough for the insanity-makin' monster in there, Angelcakes!"
Because calling him `Angelcakes' really helps with that whole dark,
brooding image. "Or it could be a psychic thing. I'm better, you
know, with the blocking – I have more practice. Do you think I'd
look better with a scythe or a hand-axe?"

Alison hands off her bag, grins a bit more broadly at Lorne after
his greeting to her, then looks towards to Gunn. "Yeah... Pip kinda
said the same thing to me once." She grabs what looks like a short
sword from the truck; not too different from what she had last time,
so maybe she can handle it. Attention now returns to Angel. "Soooo,
if you're... if you're SERIOUS that we're going back in there, last
time I mostly latched a death grip onto a single thought and let the
insanity warp around it. That thought being getting people out.
Meaning what should I wrap my head around this time? Staying alive?
Because there's still that whole weird portal thing Cordelia saw
which I keep wanting to relate to the TV show 'Sliders'." She frowns
slightly. "And I hope this time I act more 'Samuel Beckett'
than 'Maggie Beckett'."

"It's a soul-sucker," Angel explains. "It only has power over people
with souls. You must be right - maybe your psychic abilities give
you an edge over it, or maybe it's only human souls, and not demon,
that it can eat. Either way, we have to count on you, Host, to get
us out if things start going bad. We're all going to be needed for
this spell, but I mean it - first sign of me going all Angelus, and
you get us out. Stake me if you have to." He points to the
truck. "Gunn - give him a stake. I seem to be the only one whose
insanity is dangerous ..." He looks at Alison as he says this. "Wrap
your mind around finishing that spell at all costs. We can't kill
this thing unless it's corporeal. If you have to stake me, everybody
leave the hotel and wait for Cordelia - then go back in and finish
this thing. Giles told Cordelia that anything will kill it once it's
visible, so give it everything you've got." He looks around at the
group, and packs the supplies back into the bag. "We ready?"

When you think about it, Gunn's probably the least prepared for
what's about to go down. Everyone else has been inside the hotel
once before. But he doesn't show any apprehension. Heading back to
his truck to oversee the division of arms, he nods at Alison's
choice. "That's a good one. Chopped off a deramite's pinchers with
it last week." He then quirks an incredulous eyebrow at Lorne's
question. "With that outfit?", he asks as if it's the most obvious
choice in the world. But then he catches himself and "I, uh... have
no idea," he shoves the axe towards the demon, roughly, but not too
roughly, then tosses the stake to him at Angel's prompt. Finally he
spins again towards the Hyperion. Gunn doesn't pay a whole lot of
attention to the spell stuff, just the parts that involve him. He
knows what he's there to do. "Alright, let's do this."

"Great. A soul-sucker. Perfect for a Monday night." Lorne takes the
axe from Gunn (and if one watches carefully, he flinches just a
little – `not too roughly' is rough enough in Lorne's world!). He's
much is farther from ready to catch the stake that's tossed at him –
he fumbles between the dull and sharp end of the weapon for a few
dastardly seconds of one-sided `Hot Potato' in which he seriously
fears losing a toe or two before he actually gets a grip on
it. "Ah... I'm ready if you guys are ready!" Armed, the finely
suited demon holds both weapons in an a sort of awkward, loose
manner, a pretty good indication that if Angel goes all maniacal
again, /this/ demon won't be the Biggest Help Ever. Still, at least
it's something: paired with his sanity, it's definitely better than
nothing. Maybe.

You walk up the steps and push the glass doors open to step into the
Hyperion Hotel.
Lobby - Hyperion Hotel - Los Angeles(#2215RJ)

Before you is a grand sight. A large Waterford crystal
chandelier hangs from the vaulted cathedral ceiling, casting light
on the spacious room below in the evening hours. off to the right, a
marble hotel front desk stands, a computer sitting behind the area.
A large sitting area dominates the room, a round conversation sofa
in the center of attention. Cozy velour couches and Victorian style
armchairs are dotted around it, creating an easy resting and casual
gathering place for visitors and patrons.

A grand staircase curves gracefully up to the second floor,
the landing of which overlooks the lounge below. Large vases filled
to the brim with wildflowers are placed strategically here and
there, on various pedestals and sofa tables. A grand piano nestled
off in a crook in the lobby is available to be played by anyone.

Obvious exits:
Upstairs <UP> Elevator <EL> Office <OFF> Downstairs <DS> Out <O>
Alison has arrived.
Lorne has arrived.
Gunn has arrived.

The group enters the Hotel, Angel in the lead, to find everything
exactly as they left it. No power, no people, no demon. No visible
demon, anyway. He immediately starts giving orders, knowing that the
group is under a tight time schedule. "Alison - take these
instructions. Give everybody a candle and fix the ritual bath in the
center of the floor." He reaches into the bag and withdraws some
chalk, before handing the bag off to Alison. "Gunn - start the
incense burning next to the ritual bath. I'm going to draw the
pentagram. Host - stand ready and watch for any of us to start
acting oddly. It took a few minutes last time before it really hit
us - hopefully this won't take that long."

No people. Ha. That would be just too easy for all of them. From the
second floor, just down the hall from the landing stretching out
over the lobby, a single word carries over the silence of the
hotel: "DAD!" It's drawn out, seeking, hopeful, but with heavy
overtones of resignation. "Daaaad, *please*, please just tell me
where you are..." One door swings open upstairs, then closes again;
then another; then another. The plaintive voice draws nearer to the
lobby now, and shuffling across the carpet in sad, languid steps, a
young girl moves across the landing just barely containing sobs. For
those of you keeping track, she just might be recognized as the girl
from Cordelia's vision... only Cordelia isn't here to point that
out. Oh, blissful timing. "Come on, Da--" Her attention snaps to as
the front doors open, and suddenly she's grabbing hold of the
railing, peering out at the lobby below in surprise. Still, even as
she flashes the fabulous four below a bewildered look, there's a
flash of both delight and victory in her eyes. Just a flash.

Gunn walks through the doors and surveys the area. Doesn't look too
bad. In fact, it looks pretty nice. Except for all the trash and
vandalism. Hell, he's stayed in places a lot worse off than this.
But Angel's commands pulls him away from the decor. "Incense.
Gotcha," though he seems a little displeased with the task.
Whatever, if it'll make a demon for them to kill, guess it's gotta
be done. He heads over to Alison, who has the supplies. Then he
hears the call and looks over towards its source. "That was quick.
You all hear that?" He looks over to Angel, turning away from the
landing as the girl walks across. "Thought this place was empty?"

Lorne follows the team inside, opening the left side of his coat as
he does so - a lavender hue tonight, red satin-lined, which isn't to
say he's taken the fashion advice of Angelus about the blue - and
tucks away the stake to free up at least one hand. It'll be ready if
he needs it, even if it is kind of uncomfortable and... stabby... in
the meantime. He, for one, doesn't hear the current guest of the
hotel as he enters as one of the new arrivals; he's too busy talking
to hear anything but his own voice. "So last night, the plan was
that I was gonna fill you all in on what I read from this lawyer –
usually I don't go fessin' up to what I read in people, but seeing
as there was you and Wolfram & Ha–-there's a ritual bath? Dare I
ask... what is it we're bathing?" Upon Angel's oh-so-authoritative
commands, stands `on guard,' so to speak - it's no different than
how he normally stands and he's no more alert than he would be
otherwise (because hello, dark, creepy abandoned building), but
he /does/ nod affirmatively. "It's not empty?" Lorne's eyes scan the
shadows, looking for anything out of place. "Look, this guy was just
file folder - literally - so I didn't see much. We're not standing
in this dark and musty hotel by coincidence."

Alison blinks as the bag is shoved at her and quickly pulls out the
candles. She randomly hands a black one to Lorne saying, "West" and
a pink one to Gunn saying, "East", keeping two white ones for
herself and Angel; North and South, one might presume (correctly).
Gunn also gets the incense and a lighter. Alison then starts
prepping the bath o' many herbs, which she holds up slightly to non-
verbally answer Lorne's question. He should be able to see it even
given the very dim lighting inside the place, and Alison is worried
about talking, fearing what she might say. As to the hallucination
from the bad B-movie, she ignores that... except... okay, Gunn can
hear it too? "I'm... I'm not her dad. I'm ignoring that," she
states, worried that she's being thrown a curve in her 'finish the
spell' directive.

Angel moves quickly, bending down to begin drawing the pentagram on
the hotel's floor. But then he hears the voice, and looks up, his
brows drawing together. "Damn. Host - get her out of here," he
orders, brusquely. "We can't afford any distractions." Left unsaid
is the fact that we could all - with the exception of Lorne - go
insane at any moment. He goes back to quickly drawing the large
pentagram, saying for Gunn's benefit, "I guess I forgot to mention
that. Cordy had a vision ... some girl lost her father in here. He
probably went insane and had his soul eaten by the demon ..." He
trails off as the Host's words penetrate his awareness. "Wolfram and
Hart," he says, sitting back on his knees. "I should have known.
Those bastards. Is this a trap, then? What did you get from this
guy?"

"Wait!" the girl calls from the landing, holding out one hand in
a 'stop what you're doing right now' gesture. She descends the
stairs swiftly, never so much as faltering in her step, with one
hand barely brushing the railing along the way. "I-I lost someone."
Oh, this girl is very much real, and not at all a hallucination
anyone might be having. She moves, despite the weaponry, down to the
lower level with the group of strangers, circling around them until
she's standing near Angel - the very man who just ordered her taken
out. She tilts her chin back, imploring in a way, then asks: "Are
you going to find him?" A shake of her head, and his short
description of the demise of her father sends her reeling backward a
step or two. "W-what did you just say? Sucked... his soul? N-no,
he's upstairs, he is." Then she looks to the weapons, as if for the
first time. And the people. And the green one. And even though she
saw them all before, there's a new, frantic kind of look that
crosses her fac. "You're all... you're all crazy!" No distractions,
indeed. It takes the girl exactly one second to turn on her heel and
dash back up the stairs, creating a wide circle around all of them
so as to avoid anyone making a heroic grab for her. Oh, she's gone,
alright; they can go after her, and her sobbing resonates through
the hallways some distance, but they won't find her. She just needed
to make an appearance.

Incense? Check. Lighter? Check. Pink candle? Reluctant check. Gunn
listens to Angel's addendum, but it doesn't really change what he
has to do, so he heads off towards the ritual bath. Wolfram & Hart
doesn't mean a whole lot to Gunn, so he doesn't skip a beat at their
mention. His arms are now heaping with the supplies, and he still
caries his sword, so when the girl descends, and calls for them to
wait, he's already pretty immobile to begin with. He watches her,
glancing over questioningly at Angel halfway through her utterances.
When she finally runs off, he's helpless to follow. Again, to
Angel, "This change anything?" He sets the stuff on the ground all
at once, whether to continue with the setup, or chase after the
girl, whatever the order may be.

Lorne dutifully holds the candle in front of him with one hand - the
one that doesn't poorly wield an axe. His gaze drifts through the
dusty gloom, obviously a bit on the reluctant side to get the girl
out of here who is, evidently, up there. And there she is! ...and
there she goes. "Should I..." he waves his hand - and axe - in the
direction the girl went off to, wordlessly questioning with a bit of
worry if whether or not he should follow her and somehow ease her
histrionics so she doesn't interrupt the ritual. "I'm candle-
holding. She seems, uhm... upset." No, really? A pause later, in
regards to Wolfram & Hart, "Probably," he says distractedly, "ah -
better late than never, right? There's not much I can tell ya. We
might be sittin' pretty in the middle of a big bear trap, but the
fella who sang, well... he was just a paperwork lackey. Low
clearance type. Atrocious vocal ability. You can't get an immediate
future so drab as filing files. Thing is, your name in particular
was on those manillas, so was the name of this hotel and so was the
word `portal.' Did Cordy get a portal in /her/ vision? `Cause let me
tell you right now, I only like portals if they come in /this/
direction."

Alison manages to finish preparing her bit with the bath as people
around her talk of things she's not quite sure she gets. In fact is
pretty sure she doesn't get, except for: "There was a portal!" she
puts in. "I think I mentionned that outside. Though if you're
referring to the... lawyers? Well, they didn't seem so bad to...
to..." And then the last word the little girl had spoken starts
resonating in her mind. Crazy. Craaaazy. Ohh, crazy good,
yeah? "Angel?" she says, looking at him even as she hurries over,
carrying things. The look in her eyes says it all, before she
twitches slightly and intones, "And so it begins..." (shouted after
the little girl) "There is a hole in your mind!" (to Angel) "What do
you want?" (to Gunn) "No one here is exactly what he appears." (to
Lorne) "Nothing's the same anymore." She's off, but somehow holding
it together in the way she feels she's able. Should be good to do
her part, but best to get a move on and not go girl chasing.

"Leave it," Angel says, quickly finishing the pentagram. "We do our
jobs, and kill the demon, and she'll be fine." He rises, inspecting
the lines he's drawn carefully to make sure they are all complete,
and then steps to the north end. He's about to reach for his white
candle when Alison goes all insane, and he groans. "We've got to do
this now!" he says firmly, crossing to Alison and manhandling her
into the south position, where he quickly lights her candle and
says, "Stay here, Scully." Lord only knows why he says that, but he
hopes it works. Then he takes his candle and assumes the north
position, lighting it quickly. "Gunn - East. Host - West," he says,
pointing out the directions and tossing Lorne a lighter. "Now,
people!" He holds his candle aloft with one hand and reaches into
his pocket with the other, to pull out the paper with the latin
written on it. He starts chanting even before the candles are all
lit - this thing has to be repeated a few times and time is one
thing we're all short on. "Sol, qui flammigeris mundum conplexus
habenis, volvis inexhausto redeuntia saecula motu, sparge diem
meliore coma, crinemque repexi blandius elato surgant temone
iugales. Efflantes roseum frenis Igata spumantibus ignis iam nova
germanis!"

Gunn doesn't understand most of what Lorne's talking about, but he
doesn't like the sound of it. Bear trap? Great. He itches at his
back, then his head. But at least he doesn't have to worry about the
girl, according to Angel. So with his incense lit and the girl
ignored (as requested), Gunn moves towards his designated spot,
obsessively careful not to step on any of the cracks in the floor.
Once more giving the pink candle a dirty look, he lights it and
steps into place. A couple questions spring to mind, like how long
this is gonna take, where the demon's gonna be, and whatever
happened to that red bike he used to have, but he doesn't ask, cuz
Angel's busy with the Latin. At least he's not the one who's gotta
read it. Damn, this sweatshirt is hot. Can't breathe...

Lorne, giving a confused but unsurprised look to Alison, steps into
formation, following suit to head West as Gunn heads East. He
quickly lights the wick and tucks away the lighter in one fluid
movement, holding his candle up as Angel starts spouting Latin. All
that Latin talking really makes one feel out of the loop! The
congenial demon lets his gaze wander a bit as the citing of the
spell's words go on (because you can never be too careful in a place
like this); his attention, though his staunch candle-holding never
falters, bounces to the other members of the Angel Investigations
crew in his presence, watching for signs of imminent insanity that
might require use of brute force that he doesn't have nor wants to
attempt.

"Commander Sinclair is being reassigned." "Why don't you eliminate
the entire Narn homeworld while you're at it?" Alison continues
mumbling quietly the rest of the B5 fifth season theme to herself
(SHAME on those who don't recognize it), however she also lets slip
a "The Truth is Out There" when Angel speaks directly to her.
Despite the insane chatter though, she stands rigidly in her
position, only rocking on her heels slightly as the Latin is spewed
opposite her. One hand holding a short sword, the other a candle,
the flashlight having been shoved back inside her pocket at some
point. She refuses to allow herself to jeopardize the spell.

Angel only makes it through one recitation before the madness
finally impacts him. It takes form in a different way than the last
time, though - and everyone can be quite grateful for that. "Look
out!" he yells, dropping candle and notebook to dive at Lorne,
tackling the demon around the waist and bearing him to the ground
roughly, at which point the vampire rolls them both to the side. For
some reason - there certainly isn't anything about to fall on or
attack the Host. At least he's trying to save Lorne and not kill
him - though the difference might just be moot, depending on how
hard Lorne hits the ground.

He can't take it any longer. Just as Angel's supplies hit the floor,
Gunn starts to freak. But instead of dropping his candle and sword,
he neatly sets them next to each other on the floor. All the
Angel/Lorne action is ignored in his state of concentration.
Unencombered, he begins to yank his sweatshirt over his head, but
stops halfway though. Again, he bends over, only to switch the
position of the candle and the sword. But before standing, he's
already dissatisfied, and switches them back to their original
positions. By the time he's upright again, he's visibly sweating,
and wastes no time taking off his sweatshirt. As soon as it's over
his head, he takes a moment to neatly fold it (Gap-style, mind you),
set it on the ground, then he begins his freak-out proper,
maniacally itching all over. He cracklessly tip-toes towards a
pillar, scratching the whole time, then leans his back against it,
rubbing up and down along the cool smooth surface. "Ohhhh /yeah/!"
he calls out once, a satisfactory grin taking his face.

Lorne's careful watching of his comrades pays off – in the way that
he realizes something is definitely up with Angel, seeing as the
vampire barreling at him, but his watchfulness certainly doesn't
provide him with anything particularly useful. "Look out? For
what?!" He looks up frightfully, trying to see what the heck is
apparently about to fall and smush him or come flying out of
nowhere, only to see... nothing? Before he knows it, the force that
is Angel has sent him plummeting into the floor, all crash and no
flash. Lorne's candle goes a-flying in a horrendous display of anti-
fire-safety, as does his axe, which slides dangerously close to the
ritual bath but, luckily, doesn't succeed in shattering or spilling
a thing. His horned head /bounces/ when he tumbles, promptly making
him see little chirping birdies around his head. At least is Angel
well-meaning this time, even in insanity. Lights out for Lorne!

The tale of the last of the Babylon stations trails off just before
they are about to place President Clarke under arrest, because
Alison is now seeing everyone else, well, kind of freaking. But...
the SPELL! Shocked momentarily back to her sort of senses, she
mutters, "Frell! Bad frell!" and snatches up the paper Angel was
reading from. Does she know Latin? Only enough to recognize it, but
they do that sort of chanting in bad movies. "Sol, qui flammigeris
mundum..." she begins, working her way through it. Whether that's
enough to work, or whether everyone has to get themselves back into
positions before it can take effect, that's anyone's guess really.

The shock of hitting the ground startles Angel into sanity - that
was a pretty quick episode, all things considered. He pushes himself
up to his knees, and then all the way, looking around for a moment
with confusion. The spell! He scrambles around for his candle, and a
lighter, and lights the white candle as he gets back into his spot,
quickly. But Gunn's not in his spot! And Lorne's not in his! This is
just ... a disaster. Angel quickly blows out his candle and then
rushes over to Lorne, grabbing The Host by the feet and dragging him
over to the West position. "Keep chanting, Alison!" he calls
encouragingly, as he pulls and tugs Lorne into a sitting position.
The Host winds up with legs extended in front of him, slumped over -
but at least he's sitting. "Gunn! Get back in position!" Angel
calls, grabbing for Lorne's candle and sticking it cock-eyed into
the Host's hand, as he lights it quickly.

Gunn is in his own little heaven right now. The pillar is satisfying
all his needs, so he's way too busy itching to hear, or even care
about, Angel. However, he catches something out of the corner of his
eye that doesn't sit well at all with him. His candle's dripping.
Though he'd much rather remain in this place of joy, he pulls
himself away and walks the careful tip-toed path back to where he
was previously standing. He leans over to fix the candle, but it's
an awkward angle, so he just picks it up. Odd numbers are
uncomfortable, so he picks up the sword as well, tucking it under
his arm as he uses his finger to scoop up the dripping wax from the
candle. So there he stands in his cardinal East position, holding
the candle, but he's completely oblivious to all else that's going
on around him as he tries to remold the candle to perfection. His
face twists in concentration, showing all the emotion of a kid
battling through the final level of a video game.

Alison continues to chant, resisting the strong urge she has to add
in little words of her own amongst the written ones. Once she
finishes, she just starts over; she's in chant mode now, and frankly
not paying much attention to what Gunn, Angel or anyone else is
doing. Might not even have noticed Lorne's visiting lala land.

While any other spell may have been somewhat selective about
success, given the half-hearted attempt from Gunn to participate
and - is that an *unconscious* fourth over there? - this particular
spell apparently has no standards. At all. As the recitations draw
to a close and Angel returns to his position, several things happen.
The first is the wind - a powerful gust of wind, which rarely
implies anything good, that blows the flame out of each and every
candle in the room. How cliche. The second is a sudden and intense
flash of light, with a distinct 'powering on' kind of sound. As soon
as the initial shock recedes, however, it ought to become apparent
that that powering-on *kind* of sound was, in fact, exactly that.
Every single light, from desk lamp to chandelier to hallway lights
to lights outside, has suddenly snapped on. And there, towards the
front desk in the lobby, is what they called. Human-like, after a
fashion, and female as well - apparent in its figure. But there's
something very decidedly wrong about two things: its arms, meaning
that they're more so tentacles, dripping a vile substance, and
there's, well, four of them; and its legs, in a similar tentacle
form, and also a pair too many. And the shriek - oh, is that sound
just pain wrapped up into a single note. Oh, and she, well...
floats. That's right. Just above the ground, held there by some
effortless power. She shrieks again, for good measure, and then
lashes out with two of her teal arms for the nearest corner.

Success! Angel spins on his heel, shouting, "Gunn! Snap out of it!"
before leaping for his axe. His eyes close involuntarily with the
sudden surge of light, the brightness stabbing at them painfully.
Blindly, he actually slides on his knees across the polished floor
to sweep the axe up from where he laid it earlier, much like a
baseball player sliding into home. He grabs up the weapon, coming to
a standing position in a lithe half-leap that lands him with both
feet firmly planted. He's got only two fighters he's sure of -
himself, and Gunn - but that's not really unexpected. Even with
Lorne conscious Angel didn't count on him for the fighting aspects
of the evening - and Alison, well, he's never really seen her in
action. Here's hoping for the best. He opens his eyes partially, but
he's in a bad position for fighting until his eyes adjust to the
flood of light. With a grimace, he fixes the demon's position in his
mind and draws back his arm. He hurls his axe, sending it hurtling
end-over-end towards Igata just as she starts screeching. The axe
actually leaves his hand prematurely as he instinctively reaches up
to cover his ears, throwing his aim off.

As his candle is extinguished, Gunn's rationality begins to return.
He remembers where he is, what he's doing, all the important stuff
like that. But he didn't realize the spell had been completed, so
the appearance of the demon startles him. He almost immediately
chucks the pink candle at the demon with an "Euaagh!", more a reflex
than an actual battle tactic. Then he sees Angel's axe go flying as
her shrieks grate against his ears and sanity, and Gunn backs away,
raising the sword in defense. If he could have a chance to think, he
might be able to do some good here. But that sound is preventing any
kind of grasp on reality that he could get.

"... inexhausto redeuntia saecula motu ..." Alison is still
seriously focussed on this latin stuff, because as far as she's
concerned that's the be all and end all of her existance right now.
However, the second shriek is REALLY offputting, so Alison looks up
and over, a ringing in her ears and glare in her expression. That
immediately shifts into shock. "Oh hess! What the yotz is that?" she
sputters, candle falling from her hands as she finally keys in to
the fact that her eyes are hurting because the lights are on. She
jumps over to shake Lorne's shoulder. "Hey, Jaffa!" The shaking
succeeds in slumping Lorne over; fortunately, his candle avoids
jabbing him in the nose. "Frell!" Alison finally makes an effort to
take in what's happening in the room, sword coming up, and head
twitching slightly as she spots Angel and murmurs, "Michael Knight,
a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent,
the helpless, the powerless..."

The resounding shriek overtakes the entire hotel, and at that, a
familiar face slips onto the landing and waits, banking on their
distraction by the demon below. And the Igata, having an axe hurled
at it, simply swings away to one side to evade a premature
decapitation. The axe is poised, however, to take out one of her
arms - and that it does, with a sickening sound, as it flies past
and into the far wall. If they thought the first two screams from
her were terrible, this new screech of pain is twice as horrific.
She lurches forward with renewed fury, her remaining three arms - no
cliched regrowth of the tentacle here! - reaching out to strike
Angel where they can. After all, it was his axe. Her stump, along
the way, continues to lose an unsightly sort of demonic blood, the
same teal hue as her skin. It's just generally an unattractive scene.

Angel is being attacked! For a moment, he embarasses himself
completely by slapping at the tentacles, waving his arms around his
head in constant motion, trying to keep the tentacles away from
himself. "GUNN!" he bellows. "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND HELP ME!"
He has to shout over the noise of the demon's shrieking. A weapon.
He needs a weapon! The only thing he's got left besides his fangs -
and bite that slimy thing? No way! - is the knife he stuck in his
pocket what seems like hours ago. He grabs for it, and one of
Igata's tentacles manages to catch his other hand around the wrist,
and yank him forward. He makes a strangled sound as his arm feels
like it's being ripped out of its socket - luckily, it only /feels/
like it. He whips the dagger out and one-handedly removes it from
its sheathe, allowing the demon to drag him forward. Once he's
within striking distance, he strikes out, burying the dagger in
demon flesh. It's not a mortal wound - not yet - but it causes quite
a bit of pain. The demon reacts, shrieking anew, and sending Angel
flying away from her to skid across the hotel floor, and slam up
against the wall on the far side.

Gunn nearly drops his weapon at the pained screech, but as the
monster rushes towards Angel, Gunn sees his opening. He takes off to
intercept the demon, sword poised at the ready. Unfortunately, he
gets tripped up on his neatly folded sweatshirt which laid directly
in his path, so he misses his initial opening. Once he's righted
himself and resumes his path to the demon, Angel goes flying right
past him. But this doesn't stop Gunn as he charges into demon range.
A tentacle swings furiously at Gunn as he nears in, slamming against
his shoulder and this time he does drop the sword. Ducking the next
swipe and rolling to retrieve the sword, he blindly swings the sword
upward. He feels it catch on something and glances up to see what
just in time to catch a face full of demon blood. Clutching at his
eyes, he drops the sword again, as yet another demon limb falls to
the ground.

Alison watches as David Hasselhoff gets menaced by a demon. She
would go in to help, really she would, if it weren't for the ick
factor and the fact that she LIKES this pair of jeans a LOT and
would rather they not get, well, icky. Doesn't mean she can't be
helpful though, as she sets her sword across Lorne's lap and starts
dragging him back out of the middle of the lobby where he might get
hit by a flying appendage. Or a flying Angel. "Oh, Michael!" she
gasps in horror. But Gunn is charging in. "You get him RC III!" she
whoops. Except he seems to be in trouble too, and wait, that's not
RC III! What is she, insane? Alison drops Lorne to the ground. "Li!
Oh my God, I'm coming!" Scooping up her sword, the feelings she has
for Li outweigh her earlier apprehension, and holding the sword out
in front of her like some sort of staff, she charges forwards. Her
eyes narrow. Fortunately for her, some of the demon arms have
dropped off or been injured by now, so they can't manage to grab
her, while she's able to leap over the tenacled foot that almost
trips her up as she comes in close. "Clow Card!" she
screams. "Return to your power CONFINED!!" Which is when she slips
on a piece of demon blood on the floor and falls forwards, her short
sword plowing into Igata and continuing something of a downwards
stroke as Alison drops towards the ground, holding tightly to the
hilt.

Nothing is quite going as planned. The girl in white cranes her neck
over the railing, watching the battle unfold below her with a muted
hiss. Down below, the Igata demon has lost two limbs and has been
stabbed. The shriek, albeit painful, is not at all affecting their
spectator. As the demon receives yet more wounds, the girl above
pulls herself to her feet, gripping the railing tightly. No, no,
this is not supposed to happen. And what is this woman shouting as
she comes dashing across the lobby for the demon? The moment
Alison's sword pierces the Igata's flesh, another ungodly wail
escapes the beast, this one drawn out and sorrowful. There's a flash
of light again, another gust of wind, and when all is said and done,
the Igata slumps down onto the ground. No levitation, no tentacles
flailing, just that unsightly body and that obscene muck associated
with it. But in the distraction and harshness of the Igata's death,
the girl from the landing slinks down the staircase unseen,
positioning herself squarely in front of the doors. "Well done," she
growls to them all, yet even as the words are forming, her hands are
lifting in front of her and being thrust outward. She tosses her
head back, lifting her voice in an incantation that is neither human
nor benign. "Krv drpglr pwlz chkwrt strplmt dwghzn prqlrzn
lffrmtplzt!" No shred of innocence, sweetness, or humanity in her
tone as she yells the words to the room - just malice, coupled with
a tearing sound and another rustle of wind as an interdimensional
rift opens where the Igata had been. And it's pulling, slowly but
forcefully, at nothing at all - except for all of them.

Angel gets to his feet relatively quickly and grabs up his axe from
where he dropped it earlier, only to be greeted with the fact that
it's entirely unnecessary. "She killed it ..." he says, more than a
little disbelief in his tone. "Did everybody see that?" He's so
proud of his little protege! "Alison Vunderlande killed the Igata
demon!" Never let it be said that Angel is a glory hog - no sir! He
laughs with relief, and crosses over to Gunn to offer him a hand up.
It's as he's standing there, left hand outstretched to Gunn, right
hand holding an axe, and the dying demon's wails filtering out, that
he hears the girl in white begin to speak. Slowly he turns to look
at her, his brow furrowed with confusion. This must be what Lorne
was talking about - she's a Wolfram and Hart plant. Oh that's just
fabulous. He's about to scream something very impolite at her when
she herself starts screeching what sounds to Angel like nonsense,
and a portal opens. A sudden vaccuum fills the lobby, sucking at
everyone inside, and Angel is dragged backwards, arms flailing
helplessly.

Gunn manages to clear his eyes, and they shoot off towards the
nearest ally, Alison. "Is it dead? Did we win?" There's still blue
goo on his face and hands, so he reluctantly takes Angel's hand when
he approaches. Maybe he doesn't want to get him all goopy, or maybe
he's just too embarrassed with his previous actions. Either way,
he's on his feet. Once he hears the chanting begin, he looks over to
see the evil little girl. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me." And
then he's being pulled right behind Angel. His sword is still lying
on the floor to his right, but there's a decorative railing to his
left. Glacing between both options, Gunn lunges for the railing just
as the sword gets sucked back towards the portal. "Angel!" he calls
over his shoulder, but he can't see anything that goes on behind him.

Alison lands on the ground in GOO and immediately lets out a SHRIEK
to rival that of the demon as she is shocked back to herself. She
jumps up and stumbles back, sword forgotten as she tries to wipe her
jeans clean. It doesn't really help. So horrified is she by her
situation that she doesn't immediately register that the Igata is
dead until Angel's words sink in, and even then she's
dubious. "Actually, I think I was Sakura Kinomoto at the time..."
But what's that child doing back now? Speaking a language she
doesn't recognize, apparently. Then there's this whole portal and
Alison lets out a yelp. Sure, she's always dreamed of cool portals,
but she doesn't want to go through one NOW, her clothes are a wreck
and she's still probably feeling a bit insane! Desperately she dives
forwards to grab Lorne by the leg. Added mass helps, but it's not
like The Host is anchored to anything, so it's really just a matter
of time before they're both sucked back into it.

And Angel is the first to go. Dragged backwards, flailing his arms
in a /most/ unmanly fashion and nearly beheading /himself/ until he
remembers he's still holding an axe, he disappears. His body goes
first, quickly, but time seems to slow - at least visually - when
all that's left of him is the axe he holds. It inches through the
portal, bit by bit, until at long last the blade, too, is gone.
There's a slight 'splurch'ing sound, another flash of light, and
Angel is ... somewhere else. The portal doesn't close, however. It's
not finished.

Alison and Lorne are starting to get sucked backwards now... and
Alison is starting to babble on account of that. Sad part is, she's
pretty much sane for this part of the soliloquy. "My name is Alison
Vunderlande, a secretary!" she cries out to no one in particular. "A
technobabble wave hit, and I got shot through a wormhole! Now I'll
be lost in some distant part of the universe on a ship, a living
ship full of strange alien life forms! Help me! Listen, please! Is
there anybody out there who can hear me...?" The rest is lost within
the portal, accompanied by a flash of light and some nifty special
effects that would cost the Jim Henson Company a mint. (Less, after
they sue for copyright infringement.)

As late as ever, Cordy bounds in, gasping in deep breaths from her
rush. "I'm SO sorry, Angel!" She apologizes, not even looking up as
she scuttles in hurriedly, heels clicking against the floor. "There
was this shoe sale - 50 percent off, can you believe? - and I just
had to-- Holy frijole!" Portal! Vortex! "Oh my God, what the hell--
OUCH!" Stupid tables, getting in the way. And while Cordy should
probably be paying more attention to the goings on, she's more or
less lost to gravity as she stumbles over her own heels, immediately
latching on to Gunn as she trips. Hey! He's there! And big! Thus,
she expects the stability of all but falling on the man to counter
her own ... accidental ungracefulness.

Gunn is holding on for dear life when he catches sight of Cordelia
coming through the door. "Cordy, get out!" he calls out, but it's
too late as she's already begun her tumbling act. And she comes
tumbling straight into him, so he reaches an arm out to grab her.
But an inconvenient puddle of demon goop slips up his footing, and
he loses his grip on the railing as they both crash to the floor.
His one arm is still securely around his newly arrived colleague as
they slide along the the ground towards the portal. His free hand
grasps for some hold on the floor as they get pulled ever nearer to
the portal, but there's no purchase. Finally realizing it's
fruitless, he gives in to the pull, throwing Cordelia a very annoyed
look.

Having stood aside once the portal was open, immune to the pull of
gravity, the girl in white watched as each of the members of Angel
Investigations was thrown through to another world. She watched as
Cordelia came hurtling through the door and sabotaged what little
hope they had left. And now, in the empty hotel, the girl lifts her
hands again. "Krvbzt hmldst," she calls to the air, and the swirl of
wind drops away suddenly. The edges of the portal begin to draw
closer together, then closer, and finally, the portal closes. Her
job done, the girl now moves to the door and steps out into the
night air; she makes a signal with her hand, and a team of men in
black file inside to 'clean up' after the battle with the Igata.
Let's see them get out of *this*!