The Motel
Their trip to Shorty’s was short lived; despite both being highly trained law enforcement officials, Alex and Maggie struggled to stick around with lots of guys in plaid shirts leering at them. Having rapidly ascertained that Purgatory didn’t have much to offer beyond Shorty’s, they’d wound up back in the Sheriff’s department. Maggie had found Alex a chair - she’d liberated the one remaining one from the waiting area - and was attempting to make coffee with the temperamental machine in the kitchen when Wynonna burst in through the door swinging Peacemaker around on her index finger.
“Let’s go losers,” she announced, ducking to avoid her gun smacking her in the head, “we’ve got a live one. Or rather a used to be live one.” she smiled to herself before clapping to hurry them all along.
“That’s Wynonna,” Maggie murmured to Alex.
“I figured,” Alex muttered back.
Wynonna looked around the room at Nicole’s obviously deserted desk, “looks like it’s just me and the city cops. You must be her girlfriend,” she said, looking at Alex, “I would say nice to meet you but there’s no time.”
Alex glanced at Maggie as they were forced to sprint out of the office, looking for an explanation that Maggie didn’t have. Wynonna bundled them into the truck and Alex was squeezed in between the two of them. Before Maggie had shut her door, Wynonna had pumped the gas and swung the wheel violently starting off a hair-raising u-turn. Alex braced herself against her girlfriend and tried not to think about the gun that Wynonna had left in her lap especially as it looked far too old to have a safety.
“Are you going to let us in on what’s going on, then?” Maggie asked, glancing past Alex at Wynonna.
“You mean I didn’t tell you? My bad,” Wynonna said, taking her eyes off the road for an alarmingly long time, “There’s a bad guy and we need to send him back to hell.”
“That’s all we’re getting?” Alex asked incredulously.
“That’s all I got.”
“Great,” Maggie said and she reached for the hand of Alex who had visibly paled at this information, or absence of it. Alex’s job was high-risk but everything she did was thoroughly planned; she wasn’t really a fan of chaos and Maggie was beginning to think maybe it wasn’t the best idea to have invited her especially as she hadn’t had a chance to find Alex her own gun. Things got worse when Wynonna made such a sudden right turn that Maggie worried Alex was going to be sick. She drove a bit further at break-neck speed before stamping on the brakes and bringing them to an abrupt halt outside a sketchy looking motel.
“Ok, here’s the deal,” Wynonna began, “I have no idea what the deal is. Nedley just told me to get my ass here. My ass is now here so I’m guessing we’ll just figure the next bit out together.”
Neither Alex or Maggie had any words left to respond to this. They all clambered out of the truck and made their way towards the entrance of the motel. The door was blown open by a gust of wind from within and Maggie grabbed her gun in shock. Alex grabbed Maggie. Wynonna just laughed and kicked the door fully open and stepped into the dingy reception area. The carpet was matted with chewing gum and other suspicious substances and the counter was covered with a thick layer of dust. There was no sign of life, revenant or otherwise.
Maggie could see that Alex was readying herself to carry out a stealth search by eyeing the floor plan that was pinned behind the desk but Wynonna had other ideas. She snatched Maggie’s gun and fired two rounds into the air. The ceiling was low and she was greeted with a chunk of plaster which narrowly missed her head, “I had a big lunch,” she explained, “the revenants can come to us.”
All three of them stood, unmoving, ears pricked for any sign of movement. Alex had positioned herself with her back to Maggie - a standard operational tactic - but Wynonna had elected to lean nonchalant against the counter. This meant that she only noticed the revenant coming up behind her when Maggie started firing at her head, “What the hell!” she yelled as she crouched down to avoid the hail of bullets. Then she noticed the other pair of feet beneath the counter. They were clad in sensible brown lace up shoes with rubber soles and woollen stockings had bunched up around the ankles. Wynonna wrinkled her nose at the offensive combination and threw herself backwards so she was lying on the floor, giving her a clear view of her target. She fired upwards and scrambled backwards until she collided with Alex’s knees as the mouth of hell opened up.
Just then Nicole burst into the already cramped reception area and took in Maggie with her weapon drawn and Wynonna sprawled on the floor. She pointed her own gun at the standing pair until Wynonna started laughing hysterically, “Wait, do you think,” she said between gasping breaths, “do you think they attacked me?”
“Well, you are on the floor and I heard gunshots,” Nicole said as she sheepishly tucked her gun back in its holster.
“Nope. Just a standard revenant situation.”
“Did they come in through the ceiling?” Nicole asked looking first at the gaping hole above her and then at the chunks of plaster everywhere.
“That would be me,” Wynonna grinned.
Nicole’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “You came in through the ceiling?”
“No. I know how to use a door, dumbass,” Wynonna retorted, “I just needed to do something so they knew I was here.”
“And you couldn’t have just rung the bell?”
The three of them looked across at the counter where Nicole was pointing at the bell that was now partially buried under dust. Wynonna just smiled and shrugged at Nicole.
“Anyway,” Nicole said, blinking in despair, “did you get him?”
“Her,” Wynonna corrected, “and we did. Those shoes alone were reason enough for banishment.”
Nicole rolled her eyes and turned on her heel, “We better get going before we end up trying to answer a lot of awkward questions.”
“You ok?” Maggie asked as she squeezed Alex’s hand.
Alex took a breath before answering, “That. Was. Awesome.”
“Really? ‘Cos there was at least one moment where I thought you were going to throw up.”
“Me too. I mean, this is nothing like the DEO but it’s so much fun.”
“I know. I’m just worried we’re gonna get arrested. And we need to find you a gun if there’s going to be a next time.”
“It happens a lot,” Wynonna said, butting in, “but we’ve got our Haught cop over there to smooth things over. And she’ll probably get you a gun too.”
“You can’t rely on me too often,” Nicole called across at them.
“We can,” Wynonna said so that only Maggie and Alex could hear.
“I cannot wait for dinner tonight,” Alex said.
“Why?” Wynonna said, “are you going anywhere nice?”
“I hope so. You’re hosting,” Maggie teased.