Author: Amazon
Email: .com
Rating: Pg-13/R
Spoilers: Anything is fair game
Parings: Warren/Betsy, Remy/Rogue
Disclaimer: Hey I don't own them, wish I did but I don't Hey if ya'll want it you can have it just please, please let me know where it's going...I've had a few surprises lately :)
Authors Note: This story has been in the works for about five/six years. I personally haven't written anything in about four years. (I hope I remember how to do this) This story is floating around out there on the internet on a few other sites. I've changed the parings slightly and it might be listed under Amazon, and not CCAmazon. Also there is a different email address with it. So please don't accuse me of plagiarizing, cause I'm not. With that said please enjoy. Thank you.
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Until the End of the World
Part I: Introductions Are In Order
Fred sighed as she rifled through the stack of blank paper sitting in front of her. To say that things were slow for Angel Investigations would be a major understatement. Things weren't just slow. They were dead. They hadn't had a case in weeks. Much less Cordy hadn't had a vision in nearly a month. Fred was starting to think that the end of the world had happened and they had just somehow missed it. Of course she knew better than that. She had seen too much to know that if the Apocalypse happened they'd certainly know about it.
~Anything would be better than this. ~ Fred thought to herself.
As if on cue the front doors to the Hyperion swung open and a couple quietly walked into the lobby of the hotel. Fred briefly thought that their boredom was over, but the more she looked at the pair she realized they weren't there because of some creepy, crawly thing terrorizing them. They were too put together for that to be happing. They were an odd looking couple, it wasn't that their appearance was odd, they just looked odd together. The man was tall, broad shouldered with shoulder length blond hair and was dressed in a pair of charcoal gray pants with a matching jacket and a white polo shirt. The woman he was with, on the other hand, was dressed simply in a black blouse and a pair of dark jeans. She had long purple hair that was set off by the darkness of her clothing. The fact that she was Oriental just seemed to pull the look together.
"Can we help you?" Fred asked when they had stepped completely into the room.
The man flashed her a hundred watt smile and held out his hand, which Fred shook timidly, as he introduced himself.
"Hi I'm Warren Worthington and this is Betsy Braddock," Warren started.
"I'm Fred. Are you in trouble?" Fred asked quickly.
Warren cocked an eyebrow at the brunette in front of him. "Trouble? Um...No. We're interested in the Hotel."
"What about the Hotel?"
"A friend of ours is interested in buying it." Betsy spoke up, and watched the girl visibly relax at her response.
"Oh!" Fred giggled nervously. "Um you'll have to talk to Angel about that. He owns the Hyperion. I think."
Warren chuckled slightly to himself. "Where is Angel?"
"Oh he's up stairs. If you wanna wait here for a moment I'll go get him." Fred smiled and dashed up the Hyperion's main staircase.
Warren laughed and turned to look at Betsy. "Angel?"
"A bit ironic, don't you think?" Betsy grinned.
"Is this place still giving you the creeps?" He asked, turning around slowly taking the entire room in.
Betsy nodded slowly, doing the same as Warren. "This place has ghosts, Warren."
"Ghosts?"
"Shadows of people's psyches are imprinted all over this place. Like some great tragedy has left them screaming in the very foundation." She shuddered, wondering if this is what Rogue went through.
"You scare me sometimes, Betts, you know that?"
Betsy smirked at him. "I try."
"Angel will be right down." Fred called out as she walked back down the steps. "Can I get you something? I'm pretty sure we've got coffee. I can make a pot in no time flat."
"No thank you, we're fine." Betsy replied, idly wondering if Fred was always that nervous or if it was her and Warren's presence.
"I'm not sure Angel is going to want to sell this place. He's got a lot of...um...memories tied here." Fred continued.
"That I do."
The deep male voice caused both Betsy and Warren to jump and turn to face the speaker. Betsy was having a hard time believing that she had been surprised like that. It was a well known fact it was hard to sneak up on a telepath, but somehow the tall dark haired man before her had. Suddenly Betsy understood why, she couldn't pick up on anything from Angel. He was a complete mental blank slate, causing Betsy to put her guard up.
Angel looked both visitors up and down as they had done to him. Fred was right, they did look like lawyers from Wolfram and Heart, but certainly didn't smell like the typical slime the evil lawyers sent their way.
"Fred says you're interested in buying the Hyperion." Angel stated as he walked past him to the front desk.
"Not us, actually, a friend of ours Professor Charles Xavier. He's the one interested in the Hotel." Warren replied.
"I've heard of him. Why does he want the Hyperion?" Angel asked.
"He wants to open a branch of his school out here on the west coast. He thinks the Hotel would be suitable for that."
"I'm not so sure..." Angel started to protest when the doors to the Hyperion burst open again and Gunn, Cordelia and Wesley came running in. The three had been on a food run and had apparently run into some kind of trouble, since there were no fast food bags in their hands. Gunn and Wesley went to the weapons cupboard while Cordy tried her best to block the doors.
"What's going on?" Angel asked as Gunn tossed him a sword.
"We ran into some vamps on Third Street, only three of them, but when me and English went to dust them they tossed us around like rag dolls. One of them didn't even touch us, the other seemed to have twice the strength as a regular vamp and the third seemed faster than normal. It was like they were hopped up on something."
Warren and Betsy exchanged a look as the young black man continued on about his encounter.
"They were still following us when we turned...who are they?" Gunn looked over at the pair, waiting for an answer until the barricade that was in front of the door toppled over and the glass doors shattered.
"You guys may want to take cover." Angel said turning toward them, but was taken a bit off guard when he saw them in a battle ready stance as the three uber vamps walked into the lobby.
Betsy's left hand started to glow a dark pink color that seemed to extend down to a point like a blade. Warren had discarded his jacket and was pulling his shirt off exposing a large pair of wings. He quickly unhooked the harness, letting his wings unfold and stretch. He gracefully lifted off the ground, the high vaulted ceiling gave Warren enough room to move about but it was still a bit close for comfort.
"Watch out for Warren." Betsy called out as she watched a crossbow bolt nick one of Warren's wings.
"Sorry." Cordelia shouted. "But I can't control it."
Betsy nodded in understanding. The vamp Cordelia was aiming must be the telekinetic of the three. She took a moment to concentrate on the brunette with the crossbow, enveloping her in a protective shield.
"Now!" Betsy commanded.
Cordelia shot another bolt off, hitting the vamp in the heart. Instead of the vamp turning to dust like it should have it fell onto its back twitching. Betsy turned her attention toward the vamp that had Angel and the two other men boxed into the corner she used what ninja stealth and snuck up behind him, ramming her psi-blade into his head and watched as he crumbled to the ground.
"Cool." Gunn replied as he looked at the heap in front of him.
"Where's Warren?" Angel asked, looking around trying to make sure everyone was alright.
"He took off after the other vamp." Fred replied, rubbing her neck. The third vamp had her pinned until swooped down and knocked him off of her, the vamp then made a b-line for the door causing Warren to fly after him.
"Why didn't these guys dust?" Cordelia asked looking down at the one she had shot.
"They're not vampires." Betsy and Angel replied at the same time.
"Ok that was weird." Cordy replied looking up at the two. "If they're not vamps then what are they, cause they sure look like vamps to me."
Warren chose that moment to fly back into the hotel lobby, landing gracefully next to Fred. He smiled at her, glad to see that she looked alright.
"Got away?" Betsy asked.
"Got away." Warren confirmed.
"Ok hold on a minute." Gunn commanded. "I want to know who the hell you two are and if these aren't vamps then what are they, cause they sure as hell look like them to me." Gunn replied staring down into the twisted face of their attackers.
"Start with the second question please." Cordelia spoke up.
Angel shrugged. "They don't feel like other vampires. They still felt somewhat human."
"Angel's right. I could still make out their thought patterns. Of course they were fairly faint." Betsy responded.
"I'm guessing by their abilities that they were mutants as well." Wesley interjected.
"That's what we were thinking." Warren replied.
"Great! Not as if we have enough problems with the normal creatures of the night, but now they're mutants too." Cordelia huffed, and then quickly turned to their visitors. "No offence."
"None taken."
"Cordelia these people weren't turned..." Angel was cut off as both of their attackers started to scream in pain before erupting into a cloud of dust.
Warren shot Betsy a look, causing her to sigh. "So much for some time off. I'll go call the Professor."
Part II: Some Explanations and More Introductions
"I'm telling you this guy gives even me the creeps." Lilah Morgan said into her cell phone, while she shuddered to herself. She turned a corner and started down a dark corridor. "No the Senior Partners haven't told me anything, excepted that he's part of the grand scheme of things. Listen I'll talk to you later my cell's about to cut out." She shut her phone with a click that seemed to echo in the darkness. Lilah took a deep breath and continued down the hallway. She hadn't been lying when she said the man behind the double doors at the end of the hallway had given her the creeps. He even scared her a bit, not that she was going to admit that one, and she'd rather be sitting in her nice comfy office instead of making sure he was settled in. Unfortunately the Senior Partners thought he was extremely valuable to their future plans.
Lilah pushed open the swinging double doors and shuddered again. The large room was bathed in stale florescent light and smelled of sterol disinfectant. There was a low humming that came from the lights as well as a soft gurgling coming from the rows of glass tubes that lined the back of the room. Lilah could make out human forms with in the tubes, all at varying stages of development. She was half expecting the agents from the X-Files to show up demanding to know what kind of conspiracy was going on, but all it did for Lilah was to prove that her life was really that weird.
"Checking up on me already I see."
Lilah jumped at the deep voice that called out to her from the shadows of the room. "No. Just making sure you have everything you need here."
There was a soft chuckle as the figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light. "Is that so, Ms. Morgan?"
"Yes." Lilah nodded a bit nervously. "I was told to get you whatever you needed."
He regarded her for a moment before he replied. "In that case I'm going to need some better quality test materials. The material I was supplied with has yet to stand up to anything I've put them through."
Lilah nodded. "So the tests are going well I take it?"
"They are progressing." He replied, turning toward a work bench.
"OK." Lilah breathed. "I'll just go now. I'll see what I can do about getting you better test materials."
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"So let me get this straight," Gunn said looking at Warren. "You two are mutants from New York, where you live in a mansion with a bunch of other mutants who save the world from other mutants or humans depending on who wakes up on the wrong side of the bed."
Warren looked up at the young black man as he took a seat in a chair and nodded. "Yeah that about covers it."
"And I thought our lives were out there." Gunn muttered.
"Different zip code different weird shit." Cordelia replied as she walked out into the lobby from Angel's office. She walked over to Warren, setting down a step stool and holding out a bottle of alcohol. "Betsy said one of us should clean the cut on your wing, and since I was the one who hit you I volunteered."
She stepped up on the stool, coming nearly eye level with the tops of Warren's left wing. She took the bottle and gauze from him. "Do I bandage?"
"No just clean it really well. OW!"
"Oh cut it out, you baby. It's only a scratch." Cordelia chastised Warren as she gently tried to clean the place where the crossbow bolt had nicked his wing. "You're worse than Angel."
"You see why I said I wouldn't do it." Betsy replied with a smirk as she walked out of Angel's office.
"What did the professor say?" Warren asked without looking. He gently flexed his wing, causing Cordelia to jump.
"He wasn't there but I talked to Storm. She's going grab Hank and get here as soon as they can."
"Just her and Hank?" He asked looking up.
"She said they were the only ones available right now. The professor got called into Washington at the last minute, Scott and Jean went with him. The others are enjoying their down time like we were supposed to be doing." Betsy sighed and flopped down on the round sofa.
"Last time we agree to do a small favor for the professor." Warren grinned.
"So we're only getting two more reinforcements?" Fred asked as she joined the small group gathered in the lobby.
"Yes for now." Betsy replied, sitting up a bit as Angel came down the steps. He had gone up to his room to use his privet line.
"We'll have more help here in about two hours." He informed the group as he reached the lobby floor.
"Sunnydale group coming?" Gunn asked.
Angel nodded. "I've got a feeling there are more of those things out there and we're going to need every bit of help we can get."