Room 406, Friday evening

[fh_jackass]

Continued from here.

Logan staggered down the hallway of the fourth floor, using the wall to keep himself upright. He had a backpack over his shoulder and a bright orange watergun in his right hand. His left arm hung limp and broken and his nose was swollen and distorted. He bled from dozens of cuts on his arms and legs and had two brutal holes in the side of his neck.

It had not been his best day ever.

Logan knocked on the door to room 406.

Comments

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander put down his notebook, laying his pen down atop the scratchily-printed list headed Interview Questions: 1. so about that knives for fingers thing..., and headed for the door. Halfway there, he glanced at it, paused, then reached into his desk drawer, before walking the rest of the way over. If it was the roomie returning home, well, he might not need an invite, and that door wouldn't keep him out if Xander didn't open it, but Xander could damn sure meet him with a welcome he wouldn't enjoy.

He yanked open the door just wide enough to shove a cross between himself and whoever stood out in the hallway. "Welcome to Chez Harr--oh."

Not Angelus. Very not Angelus.

[fh_jackass]

Logan leaned against the doorway. "Got any wooden stakes?" he asked weakly.

[soldtoarmenians]

"A suitcaseful," Xander answered, his eyes widening as he took in the bloody, bruised condition of Logan's face. "And you don't look like you could lift one, let alone use it. What the hell happened to you?"

[fh_jackass]

"Angelus came back," Logan said simply. "Can I come in?"

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander opened his mouth to say yes - then closed it.

He backed inside, pulling the door open all the way as he did, stepping out of the way. "I don't know - can you? Without me inviting you in?"

[fh_jackass]

Logan smiled. "I knew I came to the right place," he said and staggered inside the room.

He propped himself up against the wall. "How do I kill him? Will a stake do it?"

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander ticked them off on his fingers. "Stake, fire, cut off his head, pour holy water down his throat..." He glanced at the darkness outside the open windowblinds. "Command the sun to rise if you happen to have freaky astronomical powers..."

[fh_jackass]

"Yeah, I'll get... right on that last one," Logan said, still braced heavily against the wall. "Stakes? Please? Wanna... get this guy... before he chows down on anyone else."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander reached past Logan for the handle of his closet door, nodding - then stopped as he caught sight of the wounds on Logan's neck. "Jesus, Mary, and various other people they sell cheap plastic statues of in Tijuana."

[fh_jackass]

"Have I mentioned that time... may possibly... be a factor here?" Logan pushed himself away from the wall and wavered in place for a few moments before lurching over to the closet. He leaned against the wall near the closet and tried to catch his breath after the effort.

[soldtoarmenians]

"Like the amount of time before you collapse on my floor and die?" Xander asked, putting a hand on the closet door handle to block it from turning, and reaching for Logan's shoulder with the other. "Dude, you're in no shape to go after Angelus. Hell, I'm in no shape to go after Angelus, and I'm not the one bleeding profusely from the throat."

[fh_jackass]

"Look, are you going to help me or not?" Logan asked with a burst of strength. "He killed Kitty. He nearly killed Rory tonight and if I don't stop him, he'll kill more people. Now would you give me a damned stake already?" He stood up straight and wavered on his own two feet for nearly five seconds before pitching forward.

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander caught him before he planted face-first into the laundry-and-random-crap-strewn carpet, but only just.

[fh_jackass]

Logan swore as his broken arm was jolted. Xander lowered him carefully to the carpet.

"Fuck," Logan moaned. "'Kay... Plan B... you... lure him here."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander stared at him. "He sucked all the oxygen out of your brain, didn't he."

[fh_jackass]

"Plan C," Logan began. He paused and stared up, looking at about thirty pencils stuck to the ceiling. "We... get him in here... shake... the room... one of them's... gotta... hit the heart."

[soldtoarmenians]

"Okay, not saying that wasn't the thought behind numbers three, four, and seventeen, only more with the accidental falling on him so I could claim it was just because I got bored doing homework, which actually does explain the rest of them, but you do know you're delirious, right?"

[fh_jackass]

"Plan D," Logan said, still staring up at the ceiling. "Invite him... out... for coffee... and make him a Frappachino... with crushed holy ice."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander looked down at him. "That plan has both grace and style, and I say we keep it as the backup if Plan Get Echolls To The Clinic Before He Turns Into Fandom High Fatality Number Two doesn't work out." He leaned over and held out a hand toward the arm that Logan wasn't favoring.

[fh_jackass]

Logan let Xander help him up. "Plan, uh, what letter am I on now?"

[soldtoarmenians]

"I think we're on E for Emergency Echolls Evacuation," Xander answered. He scooped up Logan's backpack from the floor and slung it over his right shoulder, offering Logan his left to lean on.

[fh_jackass]

"Plan E," Logan said as Xander helped him out of the room. "Live to kick ass another day."

[soldtoarmenians]

Xander stuck his head back through the doorway --

"Jeremiah...uh. Stay. And if Angelus happens to come home while I'm gone, play dead. Don't be a hero - I told you how far that got Willow's fish, remember."

The ribbit that came as he closed the door sounded reassuringly subdued.

{continued here}