Rupert Giles sat at the desk, trying to calm down the platinum blonde man that was pacing back and forth in front of his desk. William Black -- known by most as Spike -- was the best agent he had but the man was impossible to deal with. Giles had found Black almost five years ago now, when the man was a mere boy of twenty one. Giles had known immediately that he wanted him on his team, to allow anything else was just asking for a formidable enemy. As a senior supervisor at Phoenix, Giles had spotted immediately that the Billy Idol rip off was the perfect mold for a ‘secret agent’ if the term could be used so loosely. The organization was a highly specialized one, only the best of the best, and while not technically involved with the CIA they were funded by the government. Basically, they did the dirty work, the high risk field jobs, the ones that the government didn’t want the public to know they were involved with. To everyone outside of the agency, Phoenix was just a myth, a conspiracy theorists dream. With his bad ass persona, physical strength and sheer stubbornness, Spike made a vital addition to the team when he first came on and was now one of the most prized agents they had in the business.
“Come on now, Spike, you know your on thin ice as it is with the skipping training and meetings and whatnot. It’s a common fact your not big on partners but there has to be an exception. She’s the best we have, you couldn’t ask for anyone who would compliment your skills more.” Giles tried to reason with the still pacing man, his eyes dropping down to the paper that was crumpled into the young mans pale hands. “I don’t understand what the big deal is.”
Bright blue eyes swung to Giles as Spike stopped pacing and tried desperately to get a grasp on the situation that had suddenly been tossed into his face. This was so horribly wrong. What god had he pissed off to deserve this? Sure, he skipped a couple of trainings but really what good was running laps and doing some sit ups when he already had the body of a god? Meetings, the other things he had been skipping lately in favor of more pleasurable activities, those were a waste of time in the utmost degree. All they did was go over useless facts that Spike could have figured out in five minutes after looking at the files. People tried to tell him how to run his assignments, bloody hell, he was the best of the best for fucks sake. On top of all that, after all the shit with Angel they expected him to trust someone else again to watch his back? His chiseled jaw tensed as he even thought about his ex-partner. The little Nancy boy that had stabbed him in the back, literally.
They had only been partners for about a year but in Spikes mind, they had been as close as brothers from the day they met. Angel had been his third partner but the only one that Spike had ever really connected with, the only one he had ever trusted. What a mistake that had been. They had been on assignment, a big one, probably the biggest they had been in charge of since they were put together. The file had been delivered had carried the synopsis:
A small prostitution ring was busted in East L.A. on the seventh of May, 2003. While questioning the ringleader, one Andrew Thompson, it was brought to light that this operation is merely a small part of a much larger ring. After much investigation, it was revealed that Thompson was answering to another operations leader in Southern California. While this man was also apprehended, the case has grown larger and more complex with every target that is apprehended. The ring is allegedly fully operated out of Chicago by a man who currently goes by the name of Luca Vandizio or more frequently just Van. Not only is Van accused of running a prostitution ring but also of smuggling underage orphan girls from Mexico to be used in the ring. Your mission is to find out who Van’s contacts are, eliminate them and ultimately eliminate Van.
At first it had been exciting, their first real big assignment, across country, lots of scandal but it had gone down hill from nearly the very beginning. Things had started out ok but once they got to Chicago, Angel started acting pretty shady, even more broody then usual. He would sneak out at night, skip out on conferences, hiding stuff. It had all built up a dramatic climax when Spike had gone to make a bust on one of the ‘brothels’ only to find Angel there, shagging a girl who couldn’t have been more then fourteen and definitely didn’t speak any English. Spike had given him a chance, turned his back on what he saw and told Angel to clean up and meet him downstairs and he would forget about it. Apparently, Angel didn’t trust him enough to forget though. Spike had ended up with a knife in the back, three months leave from work, and a partner who was spending the next fifty to life in a federal prison. It had kind of tainted his view of healthy partnerships, to say the least. That’s why he had spent the last two years sans a sidekick. He didn’t need that kind of hassle or heartache. He worked better solo now, he’d gotten over most of the betrayal and in the process had become completely self reliant. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been someone else they had tried to put him with but it wasn’t. It was her.
“I don’t need a partner.” He just growled from between clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed as if daring his mentor to argue with him.
“Spike, be reasonable. Angel was the one and only instance we have in the history of this organization of an agent turning, there is no reason why we wouldn’t be able to trust Elizabeth to be a fully reliable asset to your future assignments.” He watched as the other man started pacing again, obviously still irate. “Give me one good reason why she wouldn’t be a good partner for you.”
Spike’s eyes reached Rupert’s again, staring at him for a good second before he spit out the words with a serious, nearly venomous, tone. “She’s my bloody ex-girlfriend, alright?” Could he be blamed for not wanting to spill such a confession? The sound of Giles’ laughter followed Spike as he stormed out into the hallway. People said that Spike was impossible to deal with, obviously they had never dealt with the so called supervisors in this damned agency.