Everything either belongs to Joss or it should, no infringement is intended and no profit is to be made. When you get right down to it I'm not really worth suing anyway unless you want a share of an underpaid civil servants wages and it just wouldn't be worth the hassle trust me.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Hyperion Hotel – Los Angeles – July 2003
'Isn't all this… well honestly isn't it a bit paranoid?' Rona asked looking around the dining room. 'I mean this is LA, tremors aren't that unusual right?' she pointed out reasonably. It looked like they were getting ready to go into the hellmouth again, heck they didn't have half this gear when they went after the First. That arms-dealer guy had been delivering hardware like there was no tomorrow, of course the reason for the hardware was maybe otherwise there wasn't.
It seemed like the entire room suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked at her. 'Giles do you remember what happened when you said something like that once?' Buffy asked looking over to him.
The Watcher nodded. 'Shortly after I reminded you we were in Southern California and said there was no reason to believe anything was going to happen, we were trying to stop some Vahrall Demons ending the world as I recall.'
'And Spike nearly helped them' Xander pointed out with a smirk continuing to load magazines for his M16A2.
'You really love throwing that in my face don't you' Spike complained bitterly stabbing a finger towards Xander. 'It was a bleeding accident' he protested for the umpteenth time.
Faith chuckled, sometimes it was hard to remember that even Rona was a newbie by their standards. 'It's not whether you're paranoid but whether you're paranoid enough' she said inspecting one of the daggers laid out on the table in front of her.
'It's not so much being paranoid as being prepared' Wesley opined as he unlocked one of the crates bought up from basement storage. 'Okay who's been playing with the Night-Vision goggles?' he asked. 'There's a pair missing and they weren't signed for' he said checking the sheet taped to the inside of the box lid.
'Connor took them' Angel replied, he was trying to track that Eve girl but she's a tricky one. 'He lost her again earlier, he told me he's heading back here.'
'He's got to sign for things when he takes them' Anya stated loudly. 'If we don't follow proper procedures we'll have anarchy' she declared and went back to counting crossbow bolts and tying them into bundles keeping a careful tally of how many she was preparing for distribution. These things cost money and she was sure the Slayers didn't take enough care of the things they were issued.
'We're still short on Incendiary Grenades and 40 millimetres for the Launchers' Vi noted going through the inventory. 'We did get the final shipment of shotgun shells yesterday though, a few of the girls are loading bandoliers down the hall' she told Wesley.
'What mix of shells?' Wesley asked as he started to strip and clean the first assault rifle he'd retrieved from the next crate.
'Thirty-two Buckshot, sixteen Flechette and eight Brenneke Solid Shot just in case' she answered.
'Perfect' Wesley replied. Buckshot would stop most things and was great up close but if they needed some more range the cluster of tiny darts in the flechette cartridges gave a closer grouping at a distance. The solid shots gave even more effective range but their main purpose was penetration and impact, they hit like a wrecking ball and although recoil was high that sort of thing wasn't a problem to a Slayer.
'We checked the data coming out from the USGS' Fred declared as she bounded into the room, Knox following close behind carrying a computer print-out, 'The seismic activity looks a little off' she said. 'Knox says he recognises the anomalies as being typical of supernatural involvement.'
'Back at Wolfram and Hart we always kept our eye on natural disasters, especially the ones we caused' Knox joked but it fell flat which disappointed him. He was also still slightly annoyed at having to rely on data from someone else rather than having their own seismograph but they did have a bare-bones Laboratory in the building now and a computer with enough power behind it for proper number crunching when required. Knox had put in a request for additional funds to be directed to the science team, which meant himself and Fred, but he hit a brick wall in the form of Anya who insisted that as large a percentage of their funds as possible be used to play, or rather cheat, the stockmarket.
'USGS?' Faith mouthed to Wesley.
'United States Geological Survey' he whispered back.
'Where was the epicentre?' Giles asked.
'Reseda just like the big quake of 1994' Knox replied. 'As a matter of fact it looks like exactly the same place' he continued, 'nowhere near as powerful though.'
Wesley frowned, now why was his brain trying to remind him of something? 'Eureka' he said loudly.
'He really says that?' Buffy asked Angel quietly who shrugged in response.
'The Scrolls of Aberjian' Wesley said. 'I never did cross-reference that, I kept getting caught up in more urgent issues' he said to nobody in particular.
'Aberjian?' Angel said. 'The Shanshu Prophecy?'
Wesley shook his head. 'Not that section' he replied. 'Earlier in the Scrolls it mentioned a powerful demon that would arise in 2003, presumably it was noteworthy as something the Vampire with a Soul would have to face' he theorised. 'It was described as the Beast of Amalfi.'
'I hope you're going on more than that' Giles said.
'According to references from other texts it was due to arise in Reseda' Wesley told him.
Angel snapped his fingers. 'I made that joke about thinking it would be Tarzana instead' he remembered. 'Didn't one of your teams run into some trouble in Tarzana the other night?' he asked Buffy. The two San-Fernando Valley districts bordered each other. Reseda was just to the north of the wealthier area.
Buffy sighed, this was moving beyond coincidence territory now,'Okay I'm sold' she said. 'What do we know about this guy?'
'Not much I'm afraid' Wesley replied apologetically. 'It was merely described as a "razor toothed, six-eyed harbinger of death" as I recall.'
'Well he'll stand out in a line-up anyway' Xander quipped.
'Harbinger you say' Giles said scratching his chin. 'You don't think it could have any links to the First?'
'It honestly never occurred' Wesley replied. 'Certainly possible I suppose. Perhaps it was destined to rise before the First unleashed its army? Or it could just be a coincidence of course.'
'Someone want to run this by Illyria, see if she knows anything?' Buffy asked.
'I'll go up and see her' Fred replied heading off.
'You know there's something strange about a chick that spends her free time on the roof playing computer games' Xander noted.
'If you think that's remotely the strangest thing about Illyria I'm wondering what dimension you've been in the last few months because it sure wasn't this one' Buffy told him. 'Where's Willow? Anyone know?'
'With the Guardian' Giles replied in a tone that indicated he wasn't too happy about that.
'Again?' Xander exclaimed. 'If they spend much more time together Kennedy will be getting jealous.'
'I sincerely doubt they spend their alone time in the same way' Wesley told him. 'At least the idea that they don't is too horrible to contemplate' he deadpanned.
'Realistically I think Medousa has designs on Willow in the successor rather than any other sense' Giles said. 'And thank you for bringing an image into my mind that will have to be heavily repressed Wesley.'
Wesley put on a fake frown. 'I hope you aren't saying that relationships with massive age gaps are wrong because I think I may have the all-time record there.'
'Yeah he puts Buffy's things with Fang and Casper the Unfriendly Vamp to shame there' Faith agreed cocking her head towards Wesley.
'You're the ultimate toyboy' Xander agreed. 'There wasn't even a thousand years between me and Anya.'
'Isn't' Anya said coldly.
'What?' Xander responded.
'You said "wasn't" you should have said "there isn't even a thousand years between me and Anya".'
Xander suddenly felt all eyes on him.
'Are you back with Anya?' Buffy asked quizzically narrowing her eyes.
'Yes' Anya said.
'No' Xander said, 'Well not really.'
Anya glared at him. 'Are we, or are we not, sleeping together' she asked angrily.
Spike grinned. 'Did you think that you could really get the milk for free without buying the cow' he asked Xander. 'It don't work that way, not in the long term, at least not for them.'
Xander took an uncommon interest in the box of 5.56 millimetre rounds on top of the table in front of him. If he was lucky the apocalypse might kick off any second and save him from the rest of this conversation, come on Amalfi you bastard he thought desperately as Anya's eyes seared into him.
'I think he's waiting for divine intervention, or maybe demonic' Wesley said. 'I've always found that nothing fails like prayer and generally the demon showing up just delays the inevitable.'
'Rather fatalistic Wesley' Giles told him.
'I might run a rough draft of my autobiography past you one day Rupert' Wesley replied with a wry smile. 'It's amazing I'm still as optimistic as I am.'
'Stop looking at those bullets and bite one' Giles advised Xander quietly. 'What's the worst that could happen?' he asked rhetorically before realising they were surrounded by lethal weaponry and remembering that Anya was a recovering vengeance demon.
Why do I put myself in these situations, Xander asked himself despondently as he looked up and turned to face Anya, and more to the point why do the Powers-That-Be not step in for me sometimes? Do they only use me for comedy relief or something, he wondered sadly?
Fred found Illyria exactly where expected. She was sitting on a chair up on the roof playing a game on a laptop PC and seemed engrossed in the action though she paused the game and looked up when Fred approached. 'Good game?' Fred asked.
'Max Payne' Illyria replied. 'I enjoy the use of bullet-time, it makes the game seem more realistic' she replied. 'Do you want something?' she asked her double.
'Wesley thinks that something called the Beast of Amalfi is going to rise in Reseda, that's where that tremor was centred' she said. 'We wanted to know if you knew anything about it.'
Illyria shook her head. 'Neither the tremor nor this Amalfi featured in the original timeline' she replied.
Fred pursed her lips. 'That's kinda odd' she said. 'Because it was predicted to and the changes you've made to the timeline should be stopping those kind of prophecies happening not causing them.'
The God-King frowned. 'Is this prophecy reliable?'
'It's from the Shanshu one' Fred replied. 'We hope it's reliable or otherwise Angel will never become human.'
'Destiny is pliant, even for those who are not as powerful as I' Illyria told her. 'It is possible that another force prevented this Amalfi rising in the original timeline and my presence has inadvertently restored the prophecy by a convoluted route.'
Fred had always believed in the concept that destiny could be screwed if you wanted it bad enough, in many ways Illyria was proof of that belief, she bent the universe to her whim and refused to contemplate the idea that she was merely a pawn in somebody else's game, for that matter even as a King she was damn sure nobody was ever going to put her in check, screw the rules about only being able to move one square at a time. 'If it got a mention in the Scrolls of Aberjian Amalfi must be powerful' Fred noted. 'We might need your help.'
Illyria looked back down at her laptop. 'If my assistance is required let me know and I will teach this Amalfi what "powerful" actually means' she declared like the God she was.
Fred would have done a lot of things to be that unshakably confident, but maybe not the hair colour and the dominatrix outfit.
Reseda – Los Angeles – July 2003
'More Skilosh' Connor said quietly, taking off the night-vision goggles and leaning into the open drivers-side window of the SUV, he had gone off for a quick check of the area and had returned quicker than the team expected. 'That's the second group we've run into tonight' he said. 'We going to take them out?' he asked.
'We're supposed to take one alive for interrogation' Kennedy replied from the drivers seat. 'Orders from Buffy' she explained.
Connor looked thoughtful. 'They're not going to be easy to sneak up on' he told her. 'It's not just the extra eye, they looked really edgy' he continued. 'I couldn't get close enough to listen in but they were talking among themselves a lot.
'How many of them?' Kennedy asked.
'Only four' Connor told her, 'they're holed up in an alley behind that church there' he pointed out.
'Residential area' Kennedy said looking around. 'I know it's late but if we make a lot of noise somebody is going to come out and see what's happening' she said. 'We're supposed to be low profile, we don't want the LAPD showing up.'
One of the two other slayers in the back leaned forward. 'We've got a couple of crossbows in the trunk and I've got a silencer for my pistol' she said. 'We take out three of them at once and Connor gets the drop on number four' she suggested. 'He can get closer than we can and let's face it, he's quicker.'
Kennedy considered the plan, the fact was that Connor was a bit faster than a Slayer, if not quite as strong, and he was certainly a damn sight better at sneaking up on things. 'You got a Taser?' she asked.
Connor grimaced, having been shocked himself he wasn't a fan of stun-guns. 'No but I could try the blunt object to the back of the head technique' he replied looking around for a brick or something.
'You'd have to get too close for that' Kennedy replied leaning over to open the glove compartment and pulled out a Taser Gun handing it to him. 'Get within ten yards and pull the trigger' she told him. 'Once it's stunned then you can knock it out' she told him.
Connor agreed reluctantly and stuck the Taser in his jacket pocket. 'You know one day we're going to get pulled over by the Cops and they won't like what they find we carry on these patrols.'
Kennedy grinned. 'Already planned for that' she said. 'The evidence would mysteriously disappear from the Police Station' she told him. 'There's not a lockup built that can keep out people who can just teleport or portal in. Buffy was more worried about the ATF turning up at the Hyperion one day asking about Grenade Launchers but Willow put a glamour on the door to the armoury so it would look like a wall when we want it to.'
Connor smiled back. 'Okay so let's bag ourselves a three-eyed demon' he said moving back from the car so Kennedy could get out. 'Hey it they might be able to see behind them but at least they've got crappy depth perception that way.'
Kennedy pulled on a set of night-vision goggles and took a crossbow that was offered her testing the laser sight that was attached by putting a dot on a nearby wall. Pre-Industrial and Space-Age technology melded together. Come to think of it that was the new slayer way, swords and shotguns, magicks and machine-guns, the choice of a new generation of the chosen.
'Happy hunting' she told the two girls with her as one loaded a bolt into her own crossbow and the other screwed a silencer onto an automatic pistol.
This job is just awesome Kennedy thought happily as she put on her game face and got to work.
Hyperion Hotel – Los Angeles – July 2003
The Skilosh woke up secured to a chair with a headache and a black eye, the one in the back of his head as it happened. It looked around, in all directions, without having to turn its head like one of the many humans surrounding it would have to, and prepared for the inevitable.
'I'm telling you there's no such thing as a Pirate Skilosh with an eyepatch on the other side of its head' one of the humans was telling another in an exasperated tone and an unusual accent. 'Oh hang on it's awake' it added. 'I was starting to think Connor had given it major concussion.'
'Might be worth dissecting one to see how thick the skull is' a slim female human suggested.
'Might be worth vivisecting this one while it's still alive to see how the third eye connects up to the visual cortex' another replied. A male this time he was wearing a white lab coat which added to the inherent threat there.
They all looked very much alike to the Skilosh but you could sometimes tell them apart by height, build and hair colour and the captive started to assign the ones surrounding it names based on that. Short and blond pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of the demon just out of tongue range. 'So what do you know about Amalfi?' the human female asked.
The Skilosh failed to prevent a look of recognition flashing across its face and inwardly swore in its own language, it spoke English of course but it thought and dreamed in Skiloshi and cursed itself for being so stupid blaming the headache for preventing it thinking straight.
'Okay so I think we hit paydirt here' the blond female said with a smug grin. 'So are you going to spill or do we start burning out eyes with a red hot poker?' she asked.
The demon might have thought that an idle threat if another human wasn't standing behind her heating up a metal rod with a blowtorch, the one that had denied the existence of pirate Skilosh earlier in fact. It was wearing thick gloves to protect itself from the heat and certainly looked serious. The Skilosh knew enough human history to know there was no limit to what some of them were capable of, his clan were considered evil by them but there was nothing in Skilosh history to remotely compare to the worst excesses of humanity. It was spoken of in many demon myths that one day the plague of humanity would put the universe to the torch and it was their destiny to fight to keep the monsters in check, Amalfi was part of that legend, if the humans got too strong it would rise to restore the balance.
'We will defeat you' The Skilosh said defiantly. 'Amalfi will lead us to victory.'
The blond female smiled. 'We've beaten Gods, forced warlocks to run for their lives, beaten armies of things that could tear your kind to pieces, hell we've saved the world so many times I'm starting to lose count' she replied. 'Your Amalfi is just another wannabe big-bad with some third-rate footsoldiers' she told him confidently. 'Now if you tell us everything you know it'll be quick' she promised cocking her head towards a brunette holding a chrome and metallic red scythe, otherwise it'll be slower than you can imagine.'
The Skilosh broke out into a broad grin. 'We know of your Slayers, your magicks, the traitors to demon kind that fight alongside you, they are as nothing compared to Amalfi' it said. 'You have never even faced a pure bred demon, the last to walk this world was vanquished by the weapon there centuries past' it told her recognising the scythe for what it was. 'Amalfi is beyond what you can imagine.'
'This dude is well informed' the female holding the scythe remarked.
'Cocky too' the blond responded. 'So if this Amalfi is as powerful as you say why not tell us when he's due to show up and we'll test your theory.'
The Skilosh looked her in the eyes. 'Soon' it answered, 'and then the City of Angels will fall into the pit' it said. 'It is foretold, it will happen, the blood of slayers will run in the streets like a river. It says so in the ancient texts.'
'Care to give us an exact time so we don't have to hang around waiting?' the blond asked. 'If I make them wait around for longer than a standard eight-hour shift the girls start asking for overtime rates' she said. 'The next thing you know they'll be forming a damn Union.'
The Skilosh closed its eyes, it was more than willing to die for the cause, for the cause was just. 'Kill me' it told her. 'Maka hanua, maka hanua glarmii' it howled.
'My life, my life for the Clan' the one with the blowtorch translated.
Buffy got up from her chair and turned to Wesley holding the blowtorch. 'Torture it' she said.
