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Emitter: Staff
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Thanks to draining Erica's brain, Glory now knows Dawn's true identity--and she's come to collect her Key, once and for all.
September 15, 2016
San Francisco, Hyperion Hotel
The lights are on, illuminating the area.
The California-Spanish building known as the Hyperion Hotel was built in the 20s. Through the cast iron gates from the sidewalk is a small front courtyard with a rectangular fountain and a mythological figure holding a bowl from which water flows. Greenery frames the walls and a large set of glass double doors open into a high ceilinged lobby. Dark red carpet descends the four steps to the lobby floor and climb the two sets of stairways that lead to the second floor. The green marble floors are accented with wavy red inserts, as are the walls have a complimentary red border running their length. A set of doors identical to those of the entrance lead to a small enclosed garden.
Cream-colored pillars line two sides of the room, holding up the second-floor balconies that look out onto the lobby and creating arches. Underneath one of them is a large plate glass window that looks into the hotel office - now used as the office and nerve center of Angel Investigations. Nearby, there's a wraparound counter with dark wood paneling and a top the same color as the floor. Behind it are filing cabinets and a pair of desks pushed together. A navy blue circular couch harkening back to a 50s design sits near the back of the lobby. A large wooden, glass-doored cabinet pushed up against the wall holds a large assortment of weapons.
Outside, it's foggy and cool.
Pop music of the kind that would likely annoy anybody over sixteen plays nearby as Dawn has found a place to curl up with a book. Not one of the big research books she's been helping to look through, but a normal young adult fantasy novel, something picked up on her escape from protective custody the week before, the trip that had ended in the vampire attack. She's being just a normal teenage girl, for once.
Not too far away from her teenage years is Cordelia, so the music doesn't bother her. It'll probably annoy anyone else who might stroll through, but at the moment, they're it for the waking population of the Hyperion. Cordy's not working either, at the moment; she's been reading all day, and it's time to look at pictures. So she has a magazine at the front desk she flips through, glancing over at Dawn from time to time. Just to be sure.
It's such a nice, quiet scene, it should really get to last, but, alas--it does not. For, just then, the door is kicked open and a bubbly blonde in a killer red satin dress comes striding into the Hyperion. "Hey, girlfriends!" she greets the other two cheerfully. "Dig the tunes. You guys wanna, like, do the slumber party thing after I used little Ms. Dawn here to unlock the gate and finally set me free?" Her grin is wide and bright, her eyes a trifle manic, and--actually, she's changed her hairdo. The current look is an almost flawless replica of the style Erica Reyes normally wears.
Dawn looks up with a jump as the door is kicked in, and then she's up on her feet, and the book dropping to the floor as she turns to look at the blonde. She looks frightened, but she doesn't freeze, and says, "Sorry, I had other plans." She then turns to Cordy, expectantly, and rather hopefully. She has the sphere, right?
Cordelia totally has the sphere! She just...has to get to it. It sits on the bookshelf, handy -- though handier if she were in the office proper. But it's not like she's unready. The plucky actress vaults over the desk and grabs her crossbow from the weapons case, training it in the direction of the door. "Dawn, run. Get out of here. Nobody should have to witness this kind of crime against fashion."
Glory overtly rolls her eyes at the crossbow. "Oh, puh-leeze, kitten. This dress is couture, and that little toy of yours is ridiculous. You look ridiculous." Approaching Dawn with a self-assured swagger, she says, "C'mon, now, li'l sis! It doesn't have to be all that bad. Just a little ritual, then it's all over. Then, we can go and get smoothies!"
"Yeah, and the whole world will be over," Dawn says, in answer to Glory's suggestion. She looks back to Cordy, and then nods, turning to bolt. She doesn't go for the front door, since Glory is between her and it, but for the stairs up. She can always jump out a window.
"Given," Cordy holds up a hand, keeping the crossbow trained on Glory, "the dress may be couture, but it's not for you. What's really important when selecting a look is to choose an ensemble that suits you--wait. No! You're not distracting me that easily." Her finger tightens on the trigger. "I look fabulous, and you know what? I wake up looking this fabulous. My incredible wardrobe is just the icing on the cake. So if you want to go shopping, that's fine. I will take you to the best boutique I know and we can talk shoes for the next two weeks straight. Just get away from Dawn or so help me, I will perforate you!" Circling to the side and keeping a fair distance between herself and Glory, she crosses in front of the desk.
Glory turns to give Cordelia a withering look. "I swear, you'd fit right in with the Witches' Council. Just another mean girl, aren't you? But you can shoot all the dumb old weapons at me you want. Sticks and stones can neeeveeer huuurt meeeee!" And then she's leaping across the room, just effortlessly, to vault up onto the stairs' landing, putting herself between Dawn and that avenue of retreat. "Hey!" she thunders, "this world was over once disco died! All I'm doing is sweeping up the mess you mortals left behind."
Dawn stops, with wide eyes, as glory lands in front of her. But it's just a split second, then she starts to fight, even if it is futile. A series of punches and kicks putting all her strength into them. She doesn't make any witty comments now, she's too scared. But she fights with ferocity that would hopefully make Giles proud.
Cordy returns the withering look, with bonus added withering. She's had years of practice; even if Glory's some sort of ancient goddess or something, she's only had a couple of months to really be active. "Nessa could teach you a thing or two." When Glory moves, Cordelia opens fire, impressively hitting one of the columns in the lobby. Then Glory and Dawn are fighting, and she can't get a clear shot. "Dawn! Just get out of here! Look, she's going for a Farrah look in 2016, I can help this insane woman and maybe we can end this without bloodshed!" But she glances back to the bookshelf.
Tossing her crossbow down, Cordy springs over the desk again and scrambles to get the Sphere.
Dawn's punches and kick land, and impressively! Glory even takes a half-step back at the last kick, grinning, and says, "Look at you, Tiger! I like your style. You got moxy, kid! But moxy or not, I could snap you in half like a twig--or your fashion-forward friend, for instance. So why don't you just calm down, and we can leave without me having to twist her head off like a bottle of Pepsi--and I mean the classic stuff, not this new recipe or that 'Crystal' crap. Who the hell wants to drink a cola that looks like an uncola?" Where her dated pop culture references come from, who can say? Yet, she seems to find ways to work them into conversation, however awkwardly, all the same, even in dramatic moments like this one.
The threat against Cordy seems to be what makes Dawn stop, as she does pretty much immediately after that. "If I go with you, you won't hurt her?" Not that she truly intends to go willingly, but she's also trying to buy time for Cordy to use the sphere. Then, she gets a confused expression, "Crystal Pepsi? What's that?"
"Before your time." Cordy calls from the office. Then she's over the front desk again, scattering the novelty bell, the phone, the cards everywhere. The Sphere already starts to glow in her hands. "Dawn, I said run!!" Cordelia, for her part, is rushing Glory. "As for you -- come back when you look a lot less like the nineties threw up!"
"'Course not!" Glory says, beaming brightly. "Why would I? She's actually kind of cute in a bitchy-nasty-rude kind of way, and besides... I don't really even want to hurt anyone, Dawnie. I just want to open the big doors and get the heck outta Dodge. So, you play nice with me, and I'll play nice with your little friends, and we can all go together when we gooo!" The words end on a song, though one dated enough that it's unlikely that either Dawn or Cordy will ever have heard of it--but then, Cordelia's rushing her with that damned sphere. Glory actually staggers back, slumping slightly against the handrail to the stairs, and blinks at Cordy. "Damn it," she hisses. "That thing is seriously harshing my buzz." She drops the handbag she's been carrying, dangling from the crook of one arm, into her palm, and reaches into it, withdrawing a small, double-edged blade with a dark handle. She raises it up, blade sideways, almost like a talisman, and snarls, "Get that thing away from me, before I have to cut a bitch!"
Good, the sphere! Now, taking this chance, Dawn runs again, turning straight around to run past Cordy, if she makes it that far, and straight for the exit. She does say to Cordy on the way by, "Be safe!" As if she fully expects to make it to the exit into the safety of the public street.
"Safe as houses!" Cordy answers. Whatever that means. What does that mean? Are houses really safe? Houses aren't really that safe, she's pretty sure. At least, hotels sure as hell aren't safe. And she just knows she's going to be the one to have to clean up all the mess. All those cards. Ugh. She'll just put them in stacks and people can pick one, and whoever they get, well, that'll be the name they get. At least half of them are Cordelia's, so that works out just fine. It's not like Fred ever answers the phone.
But then Cordelia's momentary pause for thought is disrupted and she's pulled back to the present by Glory and her knife. "Oh come on, do you really think I haven't seen bigger and better? That looks like something you picked up at Hot Topic--"
The persistent advance, however, brings the Sphere and the knife -- talisman? -- into contact with each other, and with a bell-clear, almost crystalline ringing, there's a blinding flash of light and Cordelia and the Dagon Sphere are both gone. Vanished into thin air, as if they had never been.
Glory blinks in surprise as Cordelia--and the hated sphere--both just vanish. A wide grin crosses her features, and she remarks, "Well, ain't that a thing!" Then, feeling reinvigorated, she leaps down and dashes into enhanced motion, reappearing just in front of Dawn. "Hey!" she says brightly. "Wanna hear a riddle? What's a magical Key that's gonna open the door to solving all my problems?" She leans close, reaching to seize Dawn firmly by the arm, and stage-whispers, "Here's a hint: It's you."
Unable to help herself, Dawn has to look back at the sound of the ringing. She's hoping to see Glory defeated, but she sees quite the opposite. "Cordy!" She turns to run again, only to find Glory right there in front of her, grabbing her arm. Her eyes are very wide as she looks up, pretty much helplessly now, at the blonde.
Flinging her free arm around Dawn's shoulders, the curious blade still in hand, Glory says, "C'mon, Dawnie! We're off to see that--well, y'know." And with that, Glory sweeps Dawn out the door, to where her getaway vehicle is waiting. The only clues left behind are the scattered contents of the desk, the crossbow bolt embedded in a pillar, and a tacky, rhinestone-studded handbag, laying on the landing of the stairs.
Oh, yes--and there's the faint smell of Nookie in the air.