The Painting
by Squirly

35. Action
Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: It's here! The rescue you've all been waiting for. The gang gets a little action.

Reviews: Yes, please. Need reviews more than anything, except maybe a daily dose of Spike. Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!

A/N: I know some of you got a bit frustrated with the slowness of the last few chapters. I'm over that now and I gotta tell you, I'm happy you stuck it out with me. As a reward, you not only get a longer chapter but you get some action.

SpikingJennsAngel: This is a SPIKE/BUFFY FIC. Sorry if it's not your thing but that's the way it's going.

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Spike looked up at the dark-haired slayer standing at the end of the booth. A genuine smile erased the tension from his lean features. "Faith." He noticed the black leather clenched in her hand. "Isn't that mine?"

Faith nodded. "Giles sent it over. Seems he wants us to go help Angel. Like the hair by the way." She grinned as he raised his hand to run slender fingers through the pale gold-tipped curls. Her gazed settled on the others at the table.

"Xan-man, how you doing? Krista, they got you trying to help this hopeless vamp? Lorne. What can I say? Good to see you." She greeted each in turn.

Xander smiled at her. He hadn't seen her in months and he'd missed her take-no-prisoners attitude. "I'm doing good. Got called in to vamp-sit." He grinned at Spike's baleful glare.

Krista scanned Faith with curious lavender eyes. Liking what she saw, she grinned. "I do what I can to help. But I don't think he's hopeless."

Lorne nodded his greeting. The bouncer came over so he excused himself to attend to business. Faith smiled as he stood. "I'll be back later to have a drink. Gotta go kick some ass now though." She patted the green demon on the back as he passed.

Spike slid out of the booth and held his hand out for his duster. Faith watched as the old leather settled on his shoulders. A change came over the Daywalker. He stood a little straighter and his eyes took on a don't-mess-with-me glint. "What does Peaches need help with?"

"He's over where Wolfram and Hart have Dawn, some dude named Jake and some of the rest of the gang. He wants us to go over and help Angel get em back. Could be some bloodshed involved. Are you up for it?" She asked as a smirk crossed Spike's face.

"Sounds like fun. Let's go. Harris? You coming?" Krista slid out to let Xander join Spike and Faith.

The pixie looked up at the trio. "I'll go over to the Hyperion. I think I may be needed later." She said. Xander and Faith, being aware of Krista's methods, merely nodded. Spike sent her a curious glance but got distracted when Faith smacked him on the shoulder.

"Let's go." The slayer led the way out of the club and over to a rental car. Twenty minutes later they were standing next to Angel looking up at a window where they could clearly see Willow's silhouette.

Willow noted the new arrivals from her position at the window. She turned back to the room and smiled. "They're here." She said out loud.

Wesley's blue eyes gleamed with amusement. "Well, I guess it's time." He said.

In the apartment next door, Lilah listened with growing confusion. "Time for what?" She asked Lindsey. He shrugged. He knew nothing of any plans the Angel team may have cooked up. He watched her as she stood up and stalked to the door. The witch still seated at the kitchen table murmured another incantation over the amulet but it stubbornly refused to give up its secrets. She was becoming frustrated over the lack of reaction her magic was having on the supposedly powerful trinket. She could feel the vampire's essence and she'd been trying on Lilah's orders to extract it so the vampire could be controlled by Wolfram and Hart but to no avail. The amulet remained dormant.

"Come with me." Lilah snapped at Lindsey. With a feeling of doom he followed her out the door and to the apartment down the hall. He watched as she unlocked the door and stormed through. The armed guard didn't blink as she passed him, merely standing his post and kept an eye out for the vampire he'd been warned about. Angel.

On the sidewalk outside, Spike searched the pockets of his duster in vain and started when Faith held a cigarette up in front of his face. "Thanks, Luv." He took it gratefully and accepted the light she offered.

"What's the delay?" He exhaled smoke at his sire as he asked the question.

"Just need the sign from Willow." The older vampire waved his hand in front of his face in irritation. Blithely ignoring the fact that he didn't need to breathe and therefore the smoke shouldn't bother him.

Willow watched and made sure Lilah and Lindsey were both in the room and the door was shut. Gunn silently moved over so that he stood between the lawyers and the door. Wesley wandered nonchalantly over to stand next to Buffy, Dawn and Jake. Willow stood by the window. She glanced over at the glass doors leading out to a small balcony. Since the apartment was on the seventh floor, they hadn't bothered to do more than lock the doors.

The redhead extended her telepathy and connected with Angel. 'They're in. Come on up.'

Downstairs, the elder vampire nodded. "It's time." He stated. Pointing up he directed Spike's attention. "Spike, do you see that balcony?" His Childe gaped at the balcony on the seventh floor.

"What about it?" Spike asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"I want you to jump up there." Angel fulfilled Spike's fear.

"No bleeding way! You're the only one I know who can jump more than ten feet and not even you can do seven floors. You're off your bird." Spike threw his spent cigarette down and ground it out viciously with his boot.

Angel grasped Spike's face in his large hand. Adopting his 'Sire's' voice, he compelled Spike to listen. "Look at me. You can do it. It's part of your new skills. Trust me."

"Those words never mean any good coming from you." Spike looked at the balcony then back at Angel. He shook his head vehemently, resistance in every line of his slender body.

Angel moved to stand behind Spike. His hand slid around Spike's throat and held his face up forcing him to look at the balcony. Angel put his mouth next to Spike's ear.

"Close your eyes for a moment and listen." The older vampire's voice took on a faintly hypnotic tone. He tightened his fingers until Spike's blue eyes fluttered closed.

"You can do this. Buffy and Dawn are up there. Reach inside yourself. Feel the power. Let it flow through you." He eased his hand from Spike's throat, moving it to his shoulder.

With a slight shove, he urged Spike toward the building. "Open your eyes. Run then jump. Stay there until you hear the alarm. Now go!"

Spike opened his eyes and followed his Sire's instructions. In a blur of black he was across the street. An effortless leap had him clearing the rail and landing silently on the balcony. He knelt there for a moment and shook his head. He risked a glance over the rail and grinned when he realized he'd actually done it.

Below, Xander was amazed, his mouth dropped open. If he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't have believed it. Spike had jumped seven floors!

Beside him, Faith was shaking her head. "Man, that was so cool." She declared in awe. Extending her hand, she put a finger under Xander's chin and shoved his mouth closed.

Angel concealed his pride. "Our turn, let's go." He led the way to the front door of the building where the security guard was trying to figure out if he'd actually seen someone jump up onto the building. He slipped up behind the guard and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hi." He clipped the guard's jaw with his fist, knocking him out.

The three of them walked into the building, not surprised when Angel's presence set off the alarm. Hearing it, Spike put a foot up and kicked the balcony doors open. He stepped into the living room and took in the scene at a glance. Gunn stood guard at the door. Willow was standing a couple of feet away from the now-shattered balcony doors at the window. Dawn, Wesley, Jake and Buffy all stood off to the side in front of a comfortable looking sofa. A man and woman he didn't recognize stood with their backs to Gunn staring at Spike as if he were a ghost.

The unknown woman had drawn a gun and was wavering between the captives as if she couldn't decide who best to point it at. Before anyone could blink, Spike was across the room with his arm around Lilah's throat. He extended his arm along hers and took her gun away.

"Now, now. Can't have you waving this around, can we? Someone might get hurt and that would piss me off. I promise, you don't want that to happen." He said gently into her ear. He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and faster than lightening, had the gun pointed at Lindsey's head.

"Back off, Mate. Don't want any nasty accidents to happen." Spike glanced over his shoulder. "Gunn, is it? Can you restrain our friend there? We don't want him to make me nervous and accidentally shoot him."

Gunn moved up and pulled Lindsey's hands behind his back holding the lawyer in place.

Lilah huffed an exasperated breath. "How did you get in here? Who are you?" She demanded.

Spike's smile chilled Lilah's blood. "How I got here is my secret. But I will tell you that my name is Spike."

Downstairs, Angel, Faith and Xander were steadily working their way through the legion of guards that had responded to the alarm. Faith realized with some approval that Xander's fighting skills had made a marked improvement since she first met him. Soon they had the floor littered with the unconscious bodies of Wolfram and Hart's guards. They got into the elevator and waited while the tiny box lifted them up to the seventh floor. Angel exited first, dispatching the sentry at the apartment with ease. Faith noticed the witch peeking out of the other apartment and forced her way in to secure the woman to a kitchen chair with a rope. She gagged the witch when she began screaming incantations, none of which worked. The spell Willow had placed on the amulet counteracted any magic, other than Willow's, being attempted within its immediate vicinity.

Angel entered the apartment containing the missing members of his crew, surveying the tableau with gleeful satisfaction. "Spike! I see you got everything under control."

Lilah glared at her enemy. "Spike is in the amulet. He's lying. He can't be Spike." She ranted.

Willow murmured an incantation and two sets of handcuffs appeared in her hand. She handed one to Spike and the other to Gunn. "Well, that's what I wanted you to think. You seriously might want to rethink your screening process for witches. Cause the one in the other room? Not so good." She smiled at the fury on the female lawyer's face.

Once the lawyers were secured, Wesley let Dawn get past him, grinning as she jumped onto the younger vampire. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.

"Oooomph! Bloody Hell, Bit. What have you been eating?" Spike's pained complaint was belied by the smile on his face.

Dawn rained kisses on Spike's face. "I knew you would come and get me." She told him, completely dropping all pretense that she was too grown up for the hero-worship she'd pretended to give up just a couple of years before.

"Anytime Niblet." Spike ran his hand up her back comfortingly.

Jake walked over and grinned at his vampire friend. "Welcome to the party, Will. Or do I call you 'Spike' now?"

Spike shook his head. "Will's just fine, Mate."

Jake tilted his head at the almost imperceptibly tense note in that not-quite-familiar British accent. He noticed that Will's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Jake suddenly had the feeling that his buddy wasn't as calm as he appeared.