taxonomites | seventeen | location: around taxon | someone who appears to save the day

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seventeen | location: around taxon | someone who appears to save the day

The Doctor hatched a set of handcuffs. They were for him to use. The last time he'd let someone else restrain the Master, the Doctor had held him, still in restraints, as he died. That wouldn't happen this time. The Doctor would save him. Somehow.

Everything was ready. It was just time to move forward.

OOC: Final post for the Master's plot! Everything is in individual threads and threadhopping is encouraged. If you see that this needs another plotty starter thread, drop me a line and let me know!

EDIT: I was requested to put up a note letting everybody know that this is a backdated post.

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Angel is suddenly there, comforting Cordelia, reassuring her. Wesley simply holds her, preparing to help her up once the tender moment passes. But then he senses a change in Angel, as though his inner demon has risen to the surface again, scenting danger.

"Angel's correct, we're not alone. We're going to get you all out. Can you stand?"

He grabs at Angel's forearm, his gaze direct and earnest.

"It's alright. Do what you have to do. I won't let anything happen to her. You have my word on it."

Cordelia nods, keeping her eyes closed even as the vampire kissed her forehead. She wants to turn to Angel, let him hold her - but at the same time, she doesn't want to move. Ever.

At Wesley's question, she nods again - and slightly raises her bound hands, silently asking either of them to free her. Cordelia opens her eyes only when she hears Wesley speak to Angel again.

"Dru...silla," she says, looking at the vampire almost pleadingly. Cordelia makes a feeble move to grab his arm. "She's the one-- the Extras, they-- I couldn't stop any of them..." The words become stuck in her throat, and she almost chokes on them.

Angel sees that slight movement and puts one his hands on hers. "I know," he says, unable to keep that edge of anger out of his voice. "I can smell her." And feel her presence, but that, he assumes, is understood and the last thing Cordelia needs right now his him reminding her of that sire-sired bond he'd made such a big deal out of not too long ago. He knew Drusilla would betray him - it was in her nature, after all, just like it had been in Harmony's and had been something he anticipated - but he hadn't pegged it for something like this.

Taking hold of the wire, Angel snaps it with ease and tosses it aside, freeing her hands. He knows Wes will see to her safety and stands. He's not going with them. This just got personal.

He seeks out Spike's form among the Extras, other rescuers and victims, shouting at the other vampire to get his attention, "Spike!" Once he's got his attention he mouths, 'Drusilla'. She probably knows they're here - she saw them, no doubt, if she didn't already smell and feel them both. Good thing Angel doesn't care about the element of surprise.

It's game face time again as he turns back to Wesley and Cordelia. "Get here out of here, Wes," he more requests of a trusted friend than commands of a co-worker. "I've got some loose ends to tie up."

[ ooc | shana, emma - we can branch off from here for angel/dru/spike shenanigans? ]

Drusilla didn't need to see them, or smell them, or feel them. She'd already seen them coming. She'd seen them coming as soon as the rescuers had started to press up against the edge of her consciousness.

There had been plenty of time for her to run, but she hadn't been able to abandon the Master. Not after he'd been so good to her. She protected the Time Lord - the wonderfully wicked Time Lord! - as best she could, like a loyal hound or a dear friend or something else she couldn't find the name for. If the Angel Beast hadn't arrived, she'd have launched herself at Eric alongside the Doctor.

When he did arrive, she waited. Just waited. Quiet and neutral and ready for whatever he would do next. Cordelia was alive. She could have told them to kill her. She didn't have to give him that.

OOC: Yep, yep. And I'm assuming, for simplicities sake, that the Doctor and Eric are already attempting to tackle the Master.

Spike makes his way towards Angel, gameface on. He is holding Miss Edith in one hand, and he isn't wearing his coat.

"You've got to love the recon job they did here," he growls. "Really good to know about all the nasty surprises that might pop up."

Cordelia seems to be alive, if not well. Spike doesn't ask after her. He can check in with all the victims when this is over. Instead, he holds up Miss Edith. "Got this."

This certainly contrasts a scene a few years ago where it was Spike standing (with Buffy) against himself and Drusilla. Now, it was the two souled vampires against the one without one. He grins at Spike darkly in an approving manner at the sight of Miss Edith in the other vampire's hands.

Angel takes a step towards Drusilla. "So that's why this Master, who had seemingly no qualms with Cordelia, kidnapped her. Because of you. Why? What kind of game are you playing, Dru?"

She tensed when she saw Miss Edith. Her eyes flickered - quickly, uncertainly - across the warehouse in search of Morgana, who was being carried away by a stranger. She wasn't entirely sure why she'd left the doll with her. She wasn't sure who the doll should have been protecting. All she knew that they'd been safe together and this was all wrong.

"Where is she?" she asked, urgently. "They're supposed to stay together."

Oh, Spike. Spike. He didn't understand. He didn't know who Morgana was and who she was going to be.

"It's the Angel Beast," she murmured. "I knew you'd find us." Her head was aching, pounding with a drum beat that wasn't hers. "He does. He found me when Angelus was taken away. He looked after me. They were a present."

He'd kidnapped Cordelia and Godric just for her. Drusilla would never forget - not ever, not if she lived forever - such a kindness. She'd been alone but he'd continued to reach out for her.

"I didn't let them kill her," she offered. "I knew you'd want her back."

Spike follows her eyes and sees that someone found the girl. Good, he'd worried about leaving her like that.

"She's safe," he says. "And all of us know there are things a lot worse than death."

He starts towards her, not quite sure if he's going to attack her or not. It'd be so much easier if this were anyone else. But just chatting about it's not getting anything done.

"Give her back," said Drusilla, who tensed a little more when she spotted the tension in Spike's own muscles. He was a coiled spring and unpredictable force and she knew - knew, like she knew her name and the stars she couldn't see through the warehouse roof - that she couldn't beat him and the Angel Beast if they attacked together. She'd fought too hard to be reunited with Miss Edith. If she was going to be turned to dust, then she wanted to make sure that her beloved doll would be looked after properly.

"She'll need her," she attempted to explain, in a desperate voice, "She'll need her when she wakes up."

The vampire had done her best to look after Morgana without stepping on the Master's toes. If nothing else, she'd kept the attention off her as much as possible and soothed her once the pain started. It was suddenly important that she remembered that. She wouldn't be safe. She'd never be safe. But she'd have Drusilla.

"They didn't hurt her much," she said, like a petulant child that had been caught doing something mischievous. "Just a little."

...she'd kept her alive, for him? But then, Angel's no fool. He understands, now, why exactly she went after Cordelia - but wait. They? Angel lifts his head and searches for something, a scent that's familiar a sound, a - there. ...Godric. She'd had the Master capture Godric, too? Why? Because they took him away from her? The glitch would've ended, eventually, regardless of their involvement in taking him down, but the technicalities don't matter right now.

Not paying Drusilla and Spike's exchange much mind, Angel goes for the nearest wooden thing in the room and smashes it to create a quick, makeshift stake and returns, in flash to Drusilla's side. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't drive this through your heart."

...he won't do it. He can't do it. If he was able to, he would've done so a long time ago. It's somewhat of an empty threat, but a threat he needs to make.

Drusilla wasn't afraid. She could have been - maybe she should have been - but she liked to think that the whispers in her head would have warned her. It wasn't time for her to die. She'd seen the future and she had so much left to do.

Still, that looks in his eyes ... the Angel Beast looked terribly cross, didn't he? She realised, too late, that leaving Cordelia alive hadn't been enough. She'd allowed herself to be carried away by the Master's games and she'd displeased him in the process.

"You've already killed me," she pointed out, still and waiting. She'd never been back to Prague. She'd never apologised to her Spike. "It doesn't matter. You can't hurt me anymore. There's nothing left to hurt."

She'd never seen the stars face to face. She'd never tasted the blood of a Time Lord.

She'd never had the chance to sire her very own Slayer.

She was still so very young. She didn't want to be afraid.

"I didn't let her die. I thought ... I didn't mean to displease ... can't I say goodbye to Miss Edith? I need to say goodbye."

Spike knew from the second he smelled Drusilla here that it might come to this. In a way, he's known since he got his soul, maybe even before. He almost did it himself once. That doesn't make it any easier to see Angel holding the stake to her heart. He doesn't think Angel will do it, not when they can clearly take her without killing her, but it doesn't stop him from picturing her crumpling away into dust. Gone forever. Probably.

Before Spike had earned his soul, when he'd tried to be good for Buffy, it hadn't been that difficult to tell right from wrong. He just had to not do things that would make Buffy want to stake him. Protect humans, fight demons. Simple enough to play nice.

But maybe it isn't for Drusilla. Maybe she really thought that torturing Cordelia was all right if she didn't die. Maybe if Angel doesn't stake her, Spike can help Drusilla understand better.

He walks over and pushes the doll into her arms. But he doesn't move to stop Angel.

...he can't do it. He wants to. He really, really wants to, but he just...can't. While the makeshift stake is dropped, he doesn't step away from Drusilla. In fact, he grabs her and turns to Spike to voice one word: "Nina."

Angel can't kill Drusilla, but after this, he certainly can't allow her to roam free. The cage in the basement of the Hyperion, while ideal, is a no-go. Cordelia wouldn't approve. Not this soon and not for any sort of reasoning he could give her and so soon to this would put Dru in the crossbow kind of danger from a few residents. That's not their only option, though, for there's the cage at Wolfram & Hart that Nina used during the full moon cycles. Hopefully Spike gets what he means by that.

[ ooc | i hope this is okay, emma! if not, let me know and i'll change it up. :) ]

She clutched Miss Edith to her chest because she didn't know what else to do, clinging to the doll as if she was drowning and the tiny figure was the only thing keeping her afloat.

When the stake, such as it was, dropped to the floor, Drusilla sagged in relief and confusion. Her head was swimming. This had all happened so quickly and none of it was right. She couldn't read the things she needed to read.

"Nina?" she asked, pressing her face into Miss Edith's hair because she didn't think that the Angel Beast would want her to hide it in his shoulder. She couldn't stand this. She couldn't stand not knowing. Where was the Master? Too wrapped up in the Doctor. He couldn't have stopped this if he'd tried, but they were going to kill him and she needed to help. She was limp and defeated and confused.

"They're going to hurt him." She tried to pull away. Not away, not to escape, but to try and help someone who had been so good to her. "They can't hear it, so they're going to cut it out."

OOC: Completely fine!

Spike nods. "That should do it," he tells Angel. They'll have to check and make sure there are no tricks someone more clever than a werewolf and less willing to be in a cage than Nina could exploit, but it should hold.

The second Drusilla starts moving, Spike hurries to her other side and grabs her. "You're not going anywhere," he tells her. "Well, that we don't want you to go. Who's going to hurt who?"

"The Master," she replied, squirming more out of frustration than a real desire to escape. She liked the Master. She loved him with the single minded devotion and eerie intensity that only Drusilla possessed. She tried to imagine his eyes gazing blankly at the ceiling, unable to see the stars he wanted to rule. Miss Edith almost slipped through her fingers. "You should speak to him, Spike. You should see the darkness in him ..."

She'd forgotten, for the moment, that she was talking to the wrong Spike. That the hands holding her were controlling, not gentle.

"You need to give Miss Edith back. She needs her more than I do."

Tonight, at least.

Wesley's expression hardens at the revelation that Drusilla, Spike's former paramour, is partly responsible for Cordelia's abduction and current condition.

"If you get a chance Angel, take it." Wesley urges, his gaze unforgiving. He may have a vampire as a best friend, but Angel is the exception, not the yardstick.

He turns to Cordelia. concentrating on getting her to her feet. He'll carry her if necessary. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

She wants to ask Angel to leave Drusilla to Spike, to go with her and Wesley instead, but soon all her efforts are focused on trying to stand. But she's been on her knees for so long that they buckle under her weight. Cordelia collapses against Wesley, using him as support that will, hopefully, keep her upright.

Wesley's arm tightens reflexively around Cordy's midriff and he unceremoniously picks her up off of her feet.

"Change of plan."

He may not be as strong as Angel but he's strong enough to carry her to safety.

Cordelia places her arm around his shoulders, her head lolling back. This time, she doesn't fight the urge to pass out - not when she knows that she's already safe.

She can only pray that the others are, too, before she closes her eyes.

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seventeen | location: around taxon | someone who appears to save the day

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Rescuing the Victims (Just pretend the icon is Cordy <3)

Rescuing the Victims (Pretending away!)