Warped Reflection
Part Two: Cat and Mouse
by Ruth Quist

SUMMARY: What would happen if you looked in the mirror and you weren’t there?

RATING: FRT [V] [L] [A] [AU]

DISCLAIMERS: This fan fiction is copyrighted (2004) by the author. No infringement on the rights of Mutant Enemy, Inc., Greenwolf Corp., Lazy Dave, Kuzui Enterprises, Sandollar Television, Twentieth Century Fox Television, UPN or The WB, or any other legitimate holders of copyright for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, or any other characters contained therein is intended. This material is produced entirely for the entertainment of fans. No profit is made.

SPOILERS: Spoilers for up to the end of Season 4 (In fact, it is assumed that you’ve seen Season 4. It will be hard to read this if you haven’t.). Minor spoilers for Season 5. Mostly related to characters introduced this season.

DISTRIBUTION: Please ask if you want it.

ASSUMPTIONS: (Spoiler warning!) They still haven’t explained how the Connor related mind wipe works. For the purposes of this fiction, it is assumed that all the events that happened are remembered exactly how they happened. Conner was simply edited from those memories. (i.e. Justine cut Wesley’s throat and he remembers that, but he doesn’t remember the baby being in his arms or her taking Conner.) As you can imagine, this leave’s weird gaps in everyone’s memory. People don’t question this because, as a part of the magical process to create the mind wipe, they were told not to question it. This also means that everyone’s emotional state is pretty much the same as it was before the mind wipe. Aren’t I nice to tell you? Now if Joss would just tell us!

They watched from the lobby area as Wesley made his call.  He paced nervously while he spoke.  He abruptly stopped, straightened up, his face stressed as he talked urgently.

Angel, watching the silent conversation impassively, stiffened suddenly.

Gunn, standing at his elbow, said softly, “You can hear him, can’t you?”

The vampire nodded slightly. “Yeah.”

Gunn waited a few seconds. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

Angel nodded again.“Yeah.”

Gunn’s face grew grim. “Damn.”

Angel sighed, “Yeah.”

*******************************************************************

Wesley snapped the cell phone closed and stood for a second, trying to regain his composure. 
These conversations were always unpleasant, but this one was particularly difficult.  He looked out the window of the office at his friends.  Their faces showed their worry and curiosity, and a certain expectancy, since he finished his call.

He took a deep breath and opened the door of the office.  “Perhaps we could talk in here?”  He moved one of the chairs facing the desk to a wall and sat down.  Then he tried to get his thoughts in order. 

Everyone settled into chairs and looked at him questioningly.  All except Angel.  Angel’s eyes kept shifting away and his face was grim.  Wesley suspected Angel already knew. 

Wesley took another deep breath and began, “After Gunn’s comment about 'Junior', I had an idea that I knew the identity of the vampire.  I just called my father.  He…admitted my suspicions were correct.  My older brother, Winston, disappeared a couple of months ago while on Council business.   Because of some…things going on with the Council at the time, my parents assumed he was dead.”  Wesley mused a little sadly, “I suppose he was.”

Fred’s shock showed in her voice, “He disappeared and no one told you?”

Wesley hesitated for a moment and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “Well, my…relationship with my father has always been…problematic at best.  Our communications are, um, limited.  In the absence of specific information, I doubt my father would consider it necessary to impart any speculation, unless a funeral was imminent.  Wesley took a deep breath and sighed, “Also, nearly the entire Watchers Council was destroyed over the past year by an evil group called the Bringers working for the First Evil.  Entire facilities were blown up and individual watchers and potential slayers were hunted down and murdered.  I guess I wasn’t very high on my father’s priority list.  Not with two active watchers in the family.”

Angel sat up, a look of concern on his face, “The Bringers?  Isn’t that the group Willow was talking about that they’re fighting in Sunnydale?  They destroyed the council?  What about Buffy?” 

Wesley shrugged. “When I talked to Willow, she indicated things were a little hairy in Sunnydale.  However, she also said the Bringers weren’t actually targeting Buffy much.  They were more interested in killing off the potentials, than killing off the active slayers.

Gunn interjected, “Well, I guess it’s lucky Faith went to Sunnydale.  I mean, at least they know all about these Bringer guys there.  It would be just our luck to end up fighting another mysterious big bad and not know why.”

Wesley looked at Gunn thoughtfully. “Actually, Faith was attacked in prison, probably by forces working for the First.  When she told me about it, I briefed her on everything I knew about the situation, including the attacks.”

Everyone’s head swiveled towards Lorne in surprise as he spoke up, his gaze intense, “And when did these Bringers come after you, Crumpet?”  Wesley’s eyes widened in surprise briefly, but the rest of his face was impassive as he looked at Lorne and then looked away.

Fred stood up and spoke heatedly, “Lorne’s right isn’t he?  You did get attacked by them.  Are they still after you?”

Wesley leaned back in his chair looking slightly confused, “All this concern is touching, but I really was in no danger.  The Bringers stopped attacking the few watchers left some time ago.  My understanding is, after they eliminated the bulk of the watchers, they concentrated their actions on all the remaining potentials slayers.  I was targeted some time ago, but after the one incident, they left me alone.”

Wesley’s small humorless smile reminded the others of the undeniable changes Wes had undergone in the past year.  “I think they gave me up as a bad job and moved on to more…lucrative targets.”

Wesley stood up and moved to lean against a wall,  “But really, I think we’re getting off-topic here.  I was explaining about the vampire likely being my older brother.”

Gunn shifted to look Wesley in the eye. “Excuse me Wes, but he didn’t look like an older brother, he looked like you!”

Wesley suddenly looked tired as he explained, “We’re monozygotic twins. But he was born first by a minute and a half.” 

“What in the heck does “monozygotic” mean?” Gunn asked impatiently.  Angel looked like he wanted to ask too, but restrained himself.

“It means they were identical twins,” Fred answered.

Gunn muttered, “Why didn’t he just say so.” 

Angel broke in, “Ninety seconds doesn’t seem like enough to warrant calling him your older brother, Wes.”

“Ninety seconds is a lifetime in my family.  You see, my father had the estate entailed.”

Angel nodded his understanding, murmuring “Ohhh.”

Gunn, looking irritated, said, “Are you trying to make me feel stupid?!?  What the hell does ‘entailed’ mean?”

Fred patted his hand comfortingly. “Don’t feel bad, I don’t know what it means either.”

Wesley looked apologetically at them both.  “I’m sorry, I’m just so…  It means that, by law, the family estate, in its entirety, goes to the eldest liv…living…”  Wes’s voice choked on this word, “…son.  It means he was the sole heir.” 

Gunn interjected, “That would be you now, right?  Oh man!  I’m sorry Wes.  I didn’t mean it to come out like that.  I mean…I’m sorry about your brother.  Believe me, I know what it feels like to have family vamped.”  The two men’s eyes met silently for a moment in clear understanding.

The sadness in Wes’s voice was apparent as he looked at Gunn, “No, no, that’s all right.  This is a lot for anyone to get used to, and it’s not like any of you knew I had any siblings.” 

Fred asked, “Do you have any other brothers or sisters, Wes?”

Wesley looked at Fred steadily, “Yes, I have an older sister, Mary.  My father assures me she is all right.  She’s apparently been on some long-term, covert Watcher mission and just returned recently.”  Wesley leaned over, elbows on knees, rubbing his face tiredly: “Fortunate that, she’d probably be dead if she’d been in England.   She did say she was going away for a while last time I spoke with her.”

Angel stood up and moved over to Wesley, “Maybe you should let us handle this, Wes.”

Gunn took a deep breath, “Yeah, man, why don’t you let us do this for you.”

Thank you, both of you,” Wesley’s gratitude shown in his eyes, “But I can’t do that.  If my brother is here, it’s because of me.  That makes anything he does here at least partly my fault.”

“It’s not your fault Wes.”

Angel’s comment was almost drowned out by Gunn’s “No way, man!  This ain’t your fault!” 

Wesley stopped leaning against the wall and said emphatically, “Charles, when your sister Alona was turned, would you have just stepped back and let someone else take care of the situation for you?”

Gunn looked at Wes for a moment and then sat back down, “No.  Never.”  He paused and then said, “But it still ain’t your fault.”

Angel put his hand on Wesley’s shoulder, “We want to help, Wes.  We can stop him faster together.”  Wesley nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement.

“So, if your brother’s a vampire,” Angel spoke hesitantly, “what else do we need to know about him?

Wesley moved over to the doorway, and gripped the frame tightly for a moment, gathering himself.  Then he turned around, “Well, for one thing, my brother was a brilliant strategist.  Our family has always been known for its scholars, but he was always such a terrible researcher.  He would have made an excellent soldier, if my father would have allowed such an outrage in the family.”

Angel spoke quietly, “You said he’s here because of you.  What exactly do you think he wants?”

“To kill me, I imagine, preferably after embarrassing and hurting me as much as possible.”

Fred looked puzzled, “Why would your brother want to do that?  I mean, I know vampires go after their families a lot, and are all with the ‘kill, maim, destroy’ stuff,” she made clawing motions with both her hands, “which is terrible and everything…but why so…involved?  You know, the hurting and embarrassing and all.”

Wesley, his face a mask, said flatly, “It’s very simple really.  My brother hates me.”  The group looked appalled at his bald statement.

He paused for a second and took a deep breath, “Look, this isn’t getting us anywhere.  We need to find him.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.  Now that I know it’s not you, I can probably track him.  I was trying to follow your scent and wasn’t getting anywhere.”  Angel strode over to where he’d put his broadsword down and picked it up. 

Wesley and Gunn opened the weapon’s cabinet and Gunn started to take out his axe.  Wesley stopped him, speaking softly so the others couldn’t hear, “Perhaps it would be better if you stayed here.  My brother would want to attack those people I care about most and Fr…”  Wesley looked away. 

“Yeah, we’re kinda ground zero here, aren’t we?” Gunn spoke just as quietly.  He spoke louder, so everyone could hear, “Maybe I better take Fred and Lorne over to Wolfram and Hart for a little while.   Just until we know somethin’.  They’ve got a lot of security there, and then I could join up with you guys after.” 

Angel, who’d heard the entire conversation, said, “Good idea.  Take em’ to my new apartment.” 

“Good, I’ve been wanting to see your new Fortress of Brooditude, Angelcakes.”  Lorne spoke enthusiastically. 

Fred frowned at the men, “Well, not good!  I know you just want to protect me.  But I’m not some little girl that needs the big, strong men to save me from the terrible monster!  I’ve fought along side you and, unless you plan on putting me in some impenetrable fortress for the rest of my life, I’ll keep taking risks in this business just like the rest of you.” 

The force of her determined speech seemed to take something out of her and she clutched at the back of the chair.  Wesley’s emotions almost overwhelmed him at this slim, waiflike, brave, gir…er…woman, with a bandage on the side of her neck and beautiful eyes that seemed bigger framed by her pale face.

“Fred!”  Wesley spoke as though the words were forced out of him, “Nobody’s questioning your willingness to fight or your value on the team.  You’d be in Texas if we didn’t believe in you.  But my brother knows…things about me.  He’ll…use any advantage, my…friends, anything, and he’ll plan accordingly.  When we see him again, he’ll be ready, and he’ll strike using any perceived weakness—and right now, in your current condition, he’ll strike at you.

Fred looked uncertainly at the men, “But I thought I could go with you guys.  I just want to help too.”

Angel put his arm around her shoulders, “You will help Fred.  But you just got attacked.”  He ignored Wesley’s wince at this statement.”  You can either rest, or if you want, figure out how Wolfram and Hart might be able to help us.  We may need to use some of their resources before this is over.” 

Fred nodded emphatically, “I’ll be ready if you guys need anything.”  Angel smiled, “Great, let’s get you folks going and then Wes and I’ll get down to some tracking.”

*******************************************************************

“Sorry about the flower pot.”  Angel and Wesley stood among the wreckage of the ceramic fragments in the hotel’s courtyard. 

Angel replied absentmindedly, “Sure, it’s okay, too much jasmine back here anyway.”  Startled at the comment, both men looked at each other briefly.  Angel pointed out the gate, “I think I’ve got the scent.  He went out that way.”  Wes nodded, and they started off. 

*******************************************************************

“Took them long enough,” the minion, Dave, spoke with a modicum of impatience, while standing next to his sire, Winston.  Winston had removed the tie and glasses he wore earlier and looked down from their rooftop vantage.  The tiny stick figures of Angel and Wes moved out into the alley cautiously and walked silently past the dumpsters and trash.

Winston pulled the earphone out of his ear and turned off the listening device “It certainly took my dear brother long enough to figure out who the vampire was.  And to think he was head boy at the academy.”  Winston smiled with real mirth, “Just forcing him to talk to dear old dad was worth the wait.” 

“Head boy!” the minion started laughing.

With lightening speed Winston grabbed the underling by the throat and lifted him off the ground.  “You fail to understand your place in this family.  I plan to play with my brother like a cat with a mouse.  But after that, he will be your master, second only to me!” 

With that, Winston flung Dave across the flat roof.  Winston’s face, normally amazingly like Wesley’s, bore a look on his face that none of Wesley’s friends would have recognized—pure evil.  He snapped a walkie-talkie up to his mouth, “The mouse has left the hole, repeat, the mouse has left the hole.  Mouse and rat are following the cheese.  Forty-five minutes to contact.  4-5 minutes.”  Winston lowered the radio and muttered, “Cat and mouse, Wussley, cat and mouse.”

*******************************************************************

Angel kept a watchful eye out as they moved slowly down the darkened backstreet, while listening to Wesley’s conversation on the cell phone, “Good Gunn.  So what do you think?  Five minutes?  Right. See you there.” 

Wesley snapped the phone shut, “Gunn’s meeting us just ahead.”

“Right.”  They reached a junction where an alley stretched dimly to the right.  Angel pointed down the alley, “He turned here.”

Peering down the gloomy alley, Wesley asked, “Can you see anything?”

“No, but I’ve cleaned out a couple of vampire nests down here.  It’s popular because of the number of empty warehouses in the area.  I think this alley dead-ends, but there are side doors to two or three of the warehouses along it.  Fairly popular entrances for the vamps I’ve met in the past.”

“Maybe we should wait for Gunn” Wesley looked at his watch briefly, “He’ll be along here any minute.”

Angel started down the alley, “You wait here. I’m just going to scout ahead and see if I can figure out which warehouse he went into.”

“Angel!”  Wesley hissed softly, but the vampire was gone, lost in the enveloping darkness.

Nervously checking his crossbow to make sure it was loaded properly; Wesley looked both ways down the street impatiently.  “Come on Gunn, come on.”  He jerked his head towards the alley at the sound of Angel’s choking cry, and ran without hesitation towards the sound with his crossbow ready.

*******************************************************************

Angel silently followed the scent of his quarry down a turn in the alleyway.  Moonlight filtered down the alley a little better here.  If he could figure out which warehouse Wesley’s brother was using, he could scout it out before they went in.  Maybe he could even take Winston beforehand.  Wesley had enough pain to carry without…

He heard a noise from above just in time to dodge partly out of the way. 

Six figures dropped from a warehouse roof.  One of them struck a glancing blow to Angel’s head using his feet.  Angel couldn’t help the cry of pain he made at the sudden impact as his sword skittered across the alley out of his grasp. 

As he staggered, dazed, he shook his head desperately trying to clear it.  Blood dripped over his eyes making it difficult to see.  He heard a growl, and using instinct more than anything else, popped out his retractable stake and stabbed towards the sound.  He felt something solid take the blow and then disintegrate, the familiar smell of vampire dust wafting to his nose. 

Knowing he was a sitting target, he rolled to his right and made contact with a building wall.  Promptly shifting his back against the wall, he wiped his blurry eyes and braced himself for the attack he knew was coming. 

He heard the crackle of a radio; a tinny voice said “Here comes the mouse.”  It sounded like Wesley’s voice.  Angel could dimly make out figures in front of him and when he shifted his feet for better balance, heard metal scrape the asphalt – his sword! 

He swooped it up and swung decapitating one and nearly doing the same to another.  His eyes cleared and he saw the vampires had dodged back.  Footsteps pounded up the alley towards him as he pushed off from the wall.  The radio, now on the ground, chirruped “Scatter!”  The vampires broke and ran down into the dark alley.

“Angel, look out!” Wesley barreled towards Angel at full speed.  Angel’s mouth gaped open, what was Wesley doing?  Wesley slammed into Angel like an American linebacker tackling a quarterback and almost carried Angel over his shoulder several yards until they both collapsed to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

Angel looked back in time to see a giant deluge of clear liquid hit where he’d been standing and splash in all directions.  Drops splattered on him and burned like acid as they traced a path down his face and hand.  Wesley, lying on top of him took the brunt of the splash effect, his legs and lower back soaked.

“Wes!”  Angel dragged himself up as Wesley groaned and slipped off him.  Angel gripped the shoulders of Wesley’s coat.  “Wes!”

Wesley pushed himself up and gritted his teeth:  “We’ve…got to …” Wesley gasped in pain, “get out of…here Angel!  Right now!”

Hearing movement above them, Angel jerked Wesley up, ignoring the man’s agonized cry, threw him over his shoulder and ran.

© April 2004

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