Fic: Shanshu 3 - In the Jailhouse Now

[dragonyphoenix]

Fandom: BtVS
Original prompt: Spike shanshues
Part 3 of Shanshu
Notes: Written for a prompt at Taming the Muse: elevate. I found a definition of elevate that means to rob.
Note: tira is Mexican slang for police car; the idea is that Will has slang from over a hundred years and all over the world in his head, but, because of amnesia, he doesn't understand why.

From the top of the three steps, as Will glanced down at the crowd bursting out from the sidewalk into the street, a flash of something that must be a memory showed him another scene, an even denser crowd, teens mostly, and his brain supplied a phrase: mosh pit. And then he was back, returned from that not-memory, standing slightly above the crowd and staring at the man who'd called him Spike. “Fuck it.” He shoved through the crowd, ready to let his elbows fly – and where had he learned that trick? – but tricks apparently picked up in a mosh pit weren't needed here. The crowd wasn't as dense as he kept thinking it was. Even so, by the time he cleared the crowd, the tira had pulled away.

As Will stared at the retreating car and wondered why he thought he could catch it if he ran after, a voice called from behind him. “Will?”

Ash was standing a good ten feet away and he wasn't sure if it was simple prudence or if she was mocking him. The first time she'd snuck up on him, well, there'd been a bloody nose and his hand had ached for two days.

“He knew me.”

She stepped closer and stared down the street where he'd been staring but she wasn't looking for a car. She was scanning people. “Who?”

“Some guy. Didn't recognize him but I wouldn't, would I? Fuzz dragged him away.”

Morgan and Jess, having made their way more sedately through the crowd, caught up. “What's going on?”

“Some felon recognized Will.”

“Thank you, Ash.” He didn't mean to snap but nobody had known him, not for six years.

Morgan didn't seem to get it, but Jess caught on. “Recognized as in from before your amnesia?”

“Looks like,” Will said.

“What'd'ya mean, felon?” Morgan asked.

“The police took him away, or at least that's what Will told me,” Ash replied.

“Might not mean anything,” Will said. “People get picked up for all kinds of things. Could have been mistaken identity.”

“Hey,” Morgan shouted out. “Anybody got info on that guy hauled away by the cops?”

It caught the attention of a half-dozen suited youngsters. “Killed somebody, man.”

“No way, it was a fight but nobody died.”

“I think he was a pimp. I saw a couple of girls hightailing it out of here.”

“Bloody wonderful.” Will shook his head. “He couldn't have just elevated a pub.”

“Will,” Jess said. “English please.”

“That was English.”

“Elevated a pub?” she asked.

“Robbed?” he replied. Lovely, another bit of felon slang only he was familiar with.

“So, what are you going to do?” Ash asked.

“Try to find him, I guess.”

“Won't do you any good,” Morgan said. “He's being processed. We're way past visiting hours at the jail.”

“Come hang with us,” Ash offered. “Give yourself a chance to wind down before heading home.”

“Thanks, but no.”

“Will, much as I hate to admit that my sister is right, this is big. You sure you don't want company. You sure you want to cog this on your own?”

Will gave her a wry grin. “Won't be on my own.”

“Where are you?” Ash started. Then she caught on. “Millay? Are you sure?”

“She'll be up,” Will said with a shrug.

“And she can hack into the PD's system,” Jess added.

Morgan snorted. “She probably already has.”

“LAPD? I bet she hacks their system as a warm-up.”

“Was counting on that,” Will replied.