Disclaimer: Nothing you recognise is mine, although I like to think that I came up with an interesting central concept for the plot of this part of my trilogy...

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The Satan War

A few hours later, their training session complete and Satan's deadline only a few minutes from expiration, the newly-expanded Coven stood around the centre of their training area as Angel prepared to address them.

"Good work," he said simply, his tone solemn as he addressed his new and old teammates alike; the training had been rushed, but all of the assembled team now had a few interesting ideas and stratagems about how they could work together that should be interesting to see in action when the time came. "Just so there's no misunderstanding later, this is likely to be a one-way trip either way; if we succeed, there's a possibility that there won't be anywhere for us to come back to, and if we fail... well, given our destination, we're probably going to be stuck somewhere fairly unpleasant on top of everything else we'd have to deal with. If anybody has any objections, or wants to stay behind, say so now, and we won't hold it against you."

The silent stares he received from the rest of his team told Angel everything he needed to know about his team's commitment to the task at hand.

None of them might have any definite idea what they could do to Satan when they got down there- or even if what they were about to attempt would make any kind of impact on anything-, but it was better than doing nothing and letting the world be destroyed by the personification of everything they'd always fought to defeat.

"Are we going to do this," Hellboy asked, checking his gun one last time before he fixed his gaze intently on the vampire in front of him, the cold rage at the thought of facing the people who'd murdered his teammates at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence obvious in his eyes, "or are we just going to talk about it?"

"We're doing it," Angel confirmed, before he turned to nod at his team's teleporters. "Let's go; we've got a spell to cast and only a limited amount of time to launch our attack before Satan's expecting us to respond to his offer."

Nodding in response, Leo, Cole, Paige, Spawn, and Raven reached out to take hold of the other members of the team as they triggered their various methods of teleportation, Spawn and Raven's cloaks spreading out to envelop their assigned 'passengers' while the other three merely shimmered into light...


As they arrived outside the remains of Halliwell Manor, Paige tried not to show too much emotion at the sight of the building that had become her home lying demolished around them; it was bad enough that she had to live through it, she didn't need to see it too (Particularly since the brief glimpse she accidentally caught of an arm out of the corner of her eye made it obvious that nobody had moved her sisters' bodies yet).

"It's upstairs," she said, awkwardly indicating the remnants of the stairs leading up to the attic, before an ominous creaking sound prompted her to glance apprehensively at the damaged ceiling. "That is, unless the part of the floor it was on fell down already; there's really no way to know what's still standing after the kind of beating we took earlier..."

"I'll scout around, see what I can find; I'm not much use if things get into a fight here, and I can't make anything fall down if something bad happens up there," Deadman added, flying up towards the ceiling as he vanished through the wood.

"Right," Angel said, drawing his sword as he looked around at the others, "Willow, Paige, Spawn, you and the teleporters get to work on preparing the portal; everyone else, fan out around the building and establish a defence perimeter-"

"Isn't that a little sodding optimistic?" Spike interjected, raising a hand as he glared at Angel. "I mean, hate to sound like a cynic, but if we're dealing with Satan here-"

"Anything we can to do establish some kind of means of slowing him down when he shows up can't hurt our chances," Angel said resolutely. "With time the way it is, any kind of barrier we can set up might make the difference between success and failure when we start preparing that spell; just because we don't think it will do much good doesn't mean we can't try."

"Can't fault that logic, anyway," Constantine said, checking his Holy Shotgun's ammunition before he headed off towards the nearest door, the rest of the group heading off to other parts of the house as Angel, Paige and Hellboy stood around Willow and Spawn. The large red-skinned demon hadn't liked the thought of waiting behind when the greatest potential for a fight was outside the house, particularly given his own strength level, but if anyone came to the Manor before they were ready, keeping Hellboy inside was the best way to stop anyone registering that he was there; Johnny Blaze had also agreed to remain in human form until the fighting started to avoid attracting more attention than they needed, despite the potential risk if he was caught off-guard.

"On the bright side," Deadman said, drifting back down from the ceiling to join the small group in the middle of the manor's remains a few moments after the rest of the group had left the building, "everything seems to be intact up there; I wouldn't want to stay longer than I had to if you're sending someone up there, but if I was right about what sword in a stone's Excalibur, should be safe enough to orb it down here."

"Well, we don't have an abundance of that kinda thing in storage, so I'll assume you're right," Paige said, smiling slightly at the ghost as she waved her hand. "Excalibur!"

As soon as she'd spoken, a burst of white lights flowed down from the ceiling to settle in front of the group of six, coming together to form a large rock with a simple sword sticking into the side of it, a brown handgrip with a golden hilt at the end of a simple metal blade.

"Anything we should know about this thing before we start trying to use it?" Spawn asked, glancing inquiringly over at Paige.

"Well, I'm not sure if anyone can actually pull it out of the stone right now- Wyatt was meant to be the guy who was destined to wield it when he grew up and Piper was the new 'Lady of the Lake' after the original was killed before we got custody of it; according to the old Lady, anyone else who tried to wield it would get corrupted by its potential to conquer if they could get it out in the first place-, but it should be able to be that 'focus' you said you needed; it's pure enough on its own from what I've seen," Paige said, looking over at Willow with a slight shrug. "Sorry I can't give you any better news..."

"It's fine," Willow said, nodding at Paige with a reassuring smile. "Like you said, the sword itself is intended to be used for a pure purpose, which is the main thing I need for charging a spell like this; since we're not actually going to be using it, I don't think we'll have a problem with... the other stuff."

As Willow turned her attention back to the spell at hand, Angel made a mental note to adjust his plan regarding his brief speculation about using Excalibur as more than the conduit for Willow's energy. He didn't know Paige that well, but after everything Leo and Cole had told him about her capabilities as a witch, he trusted her judgement enough to be fairly certain that she was telling the truth about the side-effects of sing that sword if you weren't its destined wielder.

Great... Angel reflected to himself, looking at the sword with a slightly frustrated glare as he took in what he'd just learned. We find one of the most legendary weapons in the world, and we can't even use it.

He still believed that his previously-conceived plan was the best chance he had of stopping Stan's conquest of this Earth and the planned reign of terror he was intending to unleash on the multiverse, but that didn't mean that he couldn't wish they had a few extra tools available for when the real action started...

"You OK, boss?" Hellboy said, the large red demon walking over to stand beside Angel.

"Yeah, I'm fine; just... apprehensive, I guess," Angel said, shrugging awkwardly as he looked at the rubble around him. "I mean, we're going up against a guy who can do this, with pretty much everything in existence at stake, and... well, what are we but a bunch of demons who got stuck together to keep some guys occupied while some paranoid archangel killed a baby?"

Noting Hellboy's indignant glare, Angel raised his hands in a halting gesture. "I know that we've become more than that- we've definitely pulled off a few interesting saves since we started working together on a full-time basis-, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm basically taking a bunch of reformed demons into Hell to try and turn the tables on the guy who basically created us; I think I'm entitled to be a bit worried..."

"Yeah, you're entitled; take an idiot not to be scared right now," Hellboy said, slipping his gun back into its holster as he looked at the vampire. "Let me ask you something, Angel; you ever wondered why I take orders from you?"

"Uh... well, you never objected to me taking charge when we first came together..." Angel said, suddenly feeling awkward; when he actually verbalised his thoughts on the issue of Hellboy taking orders, he realised that he'd taken the demon's willingness to be part of a team for granted.

"Yeah, I didn't," Hellboy said, his gaze resolute as he looked at Angel. "Look, I'm not one for speeches, so I'll just come out and say it; I took orders from you- and even took time off from the Bureau to take them- because you were worth taking orders from."

"Really?" Angel said, looking at Hellboy in surprise.

"The guys I work with at the Bureau are fine, but ever since my father died everyone in charge back there's been prats at best; always about giving orders to put me in situations that the paper-pushing bastards're never going to deal with themselves," Hellboy clarified with a dismissive shrug. "You, on the other hand- and as you can see, I got a pretty good other hand- know what it's like out there, know what it takes to get through this kind of crap, and don't give a shit about playing 'nice' with official paperwork or regulations so long as the job gets done."

"You know, under normal circumstance, I do prefer us to avoid attracting more attention than we have to..." Angel began.

"Hey, I'm pretty good with that too," Hellboy, nodding at Angel in a brief confirming manner. "My point is, you tell me everything up-front and don't just give me what you think I need to know to pull it off; like everyone else here, I'm part of a team that's accomplishing something good, and I'm treated as just part of the group rather than the guy you only bring in when you need me. You give the orders because we know you can give good ones, and we obey you because we trust you'll see us through whatever crap we're up against; stakes might be higher now, but that just means we need that bit more faith in you."

Despite the still-grim situation they were facing, Angel smiled back at the large red demon.

"Thanks," he said.

"I try," Hellboy replied.

Angel was turning around to ask how much longer Willow and Paige were going to take preparing their spell when the sound of what was probably not a 'conventional' thunderclap resounded throughout the mansion, followed by a powerful sensation in Angel's brain that something profoundly evil had just appeared outside.

"Shit; he's here," Hellboy said, voicing Angel's own thoughts as he looked back at the two witches and the armour-clad ex-black-ops operative. "Don't suppose you're done yet, huh?"

"Just need a few more minutes..." Willow muttered, her gaze fixed on a point between her and Paige, just a few inches above Excalibur, where a small orange-black hole was beginning to appear, Spawn's armour occasionally shooting bursts of green energy at the portal that served to make it gradually larger. "We've got the where; we just need to ensure that we've got the when..."

"Well then," Hellboy said, raising his gun as he looked at Angel with a smile, "shall we go and see if our 'guest' is in the mood for a chat?"

Drawing his sword, Angel smiled slightly at Hellboy before his gaze returned to the others.

"We'll try and buy you what time we can out there," he said. "Just focus on the spell and let us know when you're ready."

"Sure thing," Spawn practically grunted, his concentration focused on maintaining the portal before them.

As Angel and Hellboy emerged from the manor, Angel was only slightly surprised to see Danny, Raven and the now-transformed Ghost Rider were standing in front of the others, their hands outstretched and supporting a massive barrier of flaming green and black energy. Judging by the sound of things hitting the other side of the barrier- along with the slight 'ripples' Angel could see being generated by the impacts on this side-, Satan had brought a few associates along to help him out in his attempt to 'recruit' the Coven to his side, but right now Angel had more immediate issues to worry about than that.

"Everything OK?" he asked, as he and Hellboy hurried over to join their teammates.

"Been better, but I've been a hell of a lot worse too; why?" Blue Devil asked, smiling over at the vampire in a manner that was probably intended to be more nonchalant than it appeared.

"Just checking," Angel said, before he turned his attention back to the barrier in front of them. "Satan!"

With that call, the assault died down, leaving the two children and former biker to lower their barrier as the black-clad form of Satan stood nonchalantly in front of a large group of assorted demons and warlocks, various energy attacks and weapons obvious in their hands as he stared at his opponents.

"So, Angel," he said, looking nonchalantly at the vampire as he walked up to the original location of the barrier, "have you considered my offer yet?"

"No offence, but attacking us right off the bat isn't exactly the best way to win me over..." Angel pointed out.

"Oh, that was just a show of strength; you weren't in any actual danger, I assure you, I just wanted to make sure you knew that you were siding with the winning team when you made your choice," Satan said, smiling slightly at the Coven members before his eyes narrowed. "Well, the time I gave you is up; will you take my offer?"

A last glance at his teammates was all that Angel needed to confirm that the rest of his team were in total agreement with him about their next course of action.

"You want our answer?" the vampire said, his grip tightening on his sword as he and his teammates glared at Satan. "Here's our answer; we'll never join you."

For a moment, Satan simply stared at the vampire who'd gone by the name of Liam when he was alive, until he sighed dejectedly.

"You know," he said, shaking his head in an exaggerated sense of disappointment, "you just keep disappointing me..."

"Y'know, we've made careers out of disappointing your kind of people; why should that change just because you 'won'?" Danny interjected, his hands blaring with brilliant green energy as he glared at their latest opponent. "You killed practically everyone we ever cared about; you really think we're going to just sit back and take that?"

"Well, I'd think that you would be more... inclined to my way of thinking, Mr Fenton," Satan said, looking at him with a slight smile. "After all, you already did go that way in one timeline-"

"What he did in another version of history doesn't count; what matters is what he does in this one," Raven said, her gaze solemn as she looked at the powerful demon. "We've all made mistakes, but we're not going to repeat them just because it looks like we don't have a choice; we might not be human, but we don't have to live like demons just because we're partly demonic -"

"You don't 'have' to live like demons?" Satan repeated, rolling his eyes as he looked at Raven. "You cannot go from one side of this particular metaphorical fence to the other and expect to be completely unaffected by it, my dear Raven; you will always be affected by your demonic heritage-"

"We are influenced by our paths, Satan; that does not mean that we have to be defined by them," the Ghost Rider said, the flames around his head briefly intensifying as he stared at their foe. "We have stumbled on the path at times, but what we are does not define who we are and what we do."

"He's right," Blade said, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses as he tightened his grip on his sword. "We're not perfect, but we'll never give up trying to stop anyone else going through what we went through-"

"Why?" Satan yelled, laughing almost sarcastically at the small Coven in front of him. "You've already lost; there's nothing you can do to stop me-!"

"Like I said months ago," Angel said, his eyes narrowing as he flexed his fingers over the sword handle in his hands, "the people who don't care about anything... will never understand the people who do."

"In other words," Deadman said, floating over to stand beside Angel as he extended one arm forward to give Satan the finger, "get lost and stop trying to understand what you'll never get, you prat."

It was unquestionably the tone of Deadman's voice that prompted such a violent reaction from Satan for such a minor insult. As soon as the last syllable had passed Deadman's lips, Satan's forces had once again resumed their previous attack, leaving the Coven with no other choice but to re-erect their barriers and grit their teeth against the barrage.

"PAIGE!" Leo called back into the manor as the rest of his allies prepared for the inevitable fight that would ensue once those maintaining their makeshift barrier ran out of power to do so. "We're running out of time here; we need to get that portal up and running NOW!"

"Working on it!" Paige called back. "We just need a few more minutes-!"

"We can barely give you ONE minute-!" the former army medic began to yell.

Before he could say any more, the world around the Coven suddenly seemed to stop, the pressure on the barrier that they had erected ceasing along with the sound of the previously-attacking demons.

"Huh?" Spike said, looking around at his teammates in confusion. "What the Hell just happened?"

"I just gave you the time you needed... along with a few other things, of course," a voice said.

Spinning around, the Coven found themselves staring at a figure dressed in a light purple-coloured robe with blue skin and red eyes, his appearance shifting between a young child, a well-built adult, and an old figure with a long white beard, a long staff in his hand with a claw-like shape with a clock in between the two parts on one end, smiling at them in a reassuring manner.

"What the... Clockwork?" Danny said, looking in surprise at the figure.

"You know this guy?" Faith asked, voicing the thoughts of the rest of the Coven as they looked at their new teammate.

"Yeah, he's like the 'Ghost Master of Time' or something like that; I met him during this thing where he set up this whole thing where I'd be able to stop a timeline where I'd become a destructive psycho after my family were killed because I screwed up..." the teenage ghost replied, before he shook his head in exasperation as he looked at Clockwork. "That's not important right now; what the Hell are you doing here, you're-?"

"A bit late to help you save anyone?" Clockwork finished for Danny, a solemn expression on his face as he addressed the young boy. "I apologise about that, but I had no advance warning; Satan is one of the few beings in this world capable of concealing himself from my sight, and now that he has achieved full power he is too strong for me to confront him directly even if I was permitted to do so-"

"OK, can we get past the bit where you talk about what you can't do and focus on what you can do?" Dante said, shaking his head in exasperation as he looked at the ghost. "I mean, if you just came here to give us time to catch our breath, as much as we appreciate the rest-"

"I can focus the time spell you were planning on using so that you reach your target date now," Clockwork replied, looking over at Willow and Paige. "It would have worked on its own, I assure you- you had already 'aimed' it for the correct dimensional location despite the odds; you shall arrive on the barrier between Hell and Purgatory-, but it will have taken more time than you currently have available to you; with the damage Satan's presence on this Earth is causing the fabric of the multiverse, every second that you can spare is vital."

"So... does that mean this plan'll pay off?" Danny asked, looking slightly apprehensively at the time-controlling ghost. "I mean, I get that you probably can't know what's going to happen if all that stuff you said about Satan's true, but-"

"You have a chance," Clockwork said simply.

After a moment's silence as the Coven looked expectantly at the new arrival, Blue Devil shrugged.

"Well, anything that gives us an extra shot at victory in a mess like this is good with me," he said at last, looking grimly over at his new teammates. "Let's get on with it."

"Of course," Clockwork said, pointing his clock-headed staff at the small portal that Willow, Spawn and Paige had already generated, shooting a quick burst of blue energy into the swirling vortex that made it grow even larger and more defined around the edges than it had been before.

"Is that-?" Spike began.

"Secure and stable, as far as we can tell," Willow said, Paige and Spawn nodding in confirmation of the red-haired witch's assessment of their creation.

"That simple?" Deadman said, smiling in approval at the enlarged portal. "Nice..."

"Thank you," Clockwork said, before he moved back slightly so that he could more easily address the entire Coven. "Good luck down there, Coven of Reformed Supernaturals; the foes you are about to face will not fall easily, but you will have more allies down there than even you could expect."

"We'll... keep that in mind," Angel said, nodding briefly at Clockwork before he turned back to address his team. "Is everybody ready?"

"I shall weave a crown from Satan's spine," Illyria said solemnly.

"Bit more elaborate than what I was thinking, but the sentiment's sound enough," Eric added with a slight smile, his crow landing on his shoulder as he looked at his team. "Let's rock!"

As though the immortal ex-singer's words had been a cue, the Coven all dived through the portal, Clockwork fading away back into his realm as time started up again...

Satan barely had time to register that the Coven had gone before he ceased to exist in the state that he had existed in previously.

From outside of time, one of the most powerful ghosts in existence could only sit and wait to see how things would unfold from here on in...


AN: Well, next chapter begins with the Coven on the outskirts of purgatory; if anyone has any good suggestions for dead characters who lived generally flawed lives but did the right thing when it counted (Preferably when facing supernatural evil) to serve as allies that the Coven could recruit at this point- I've got Jericho Caine of "End of Days" and John Milton from "Drive Angry" on the list so far- to give the Coven a few extra allies, I'd be grateful