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"I can't believe it was you all this time, Cordelia," Angel said, closing the gap, "But I knew. You got just a little cocky with Angelus. In fact, I should be thanking him"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cordelia demanded

"You were the one who stole my soul. The one who killed Manny. The one who fought against Willow. It was you all along"

"Gee and it took you this long to work it all out?"

"No. See, Angelus had known ever since you spoke with the Beast personally. He was there, watching you two. Then, when I was talking to you at the hotel, I could sense it. My soul, just hiding out of plain sight. Ashleigh confirmed it to me"

"Remind me to have a talk to the little girl"

"Why are you doing this, Cordy?" Fred asked

"For too long, humans have been ruling this world," Cordelia said, "Corrupted, weak beings, nothing compared to the mighty beasts that once ruled this world"

"Yeah, okay, enough with the speechifying," Angel said, "Your game is over"

Cordelia swung the knife towards Angel's throat, but he caught her wrist, before grabbing her by the throat, his eyes flashing gold, while hers flashed white

CRASH!

Connor came falling into the warehouse. He disarmed Wesley, taking him down with a knife strike to the chest, before manoeuvring Fred's crossbow so she shot Gunn in the leg, then punched her out, as Gunn took aim, but Connor knocked him out with a kick to the jaw. Cordelia broke out of Angel's grip and stabbed the knife into his ribs, as Lorne raised the tranquilliser pistol. Moving fast, Cordelia struck Lorne, the dart hitting Angel and taking him down, as Lorne also went down

"What the hell is going on here, Mom?" Connor demanded

"Come on, Connor, let's go," Cordelia said

"No, not until you tell me why they just tried to kill you"

"Come with me and I'll explain it all"

Connor hesitated, as Wesley began to stir. Deciding quickly, Connor left the warehouse with his mother, but not before looking longingly at his father

††††††††††

Later…

"I can't believe Kid Angel and his Barbie mother kicked our asses," Gunn groaned

"I'm really sorry about your leg, Charles," Fred said

"It's cool. Had worse injuries than this. I'll heal"

"Okay, so why the hell is Cordelia evil all of a sudden?" Angel asked, more to himself than anyone else, "What would turn her like that?"

"Maybe it's the demon blood in her?" Wesley suggested

"Well, there's only one person who would know about that"

††††††††††

The portal died down, as Angel made his way down into the large cavern. A figure could be seen hunched over in the darkness and there was the sound of bones breaking. Silently, Angel crossed the sandy floor, reaching the figure, as it whirled around with a look of surprise on its face

"Geez, Angel, knock next time," Skip said, "You nearly gave a heart attack"

"You're the one who turned Cordelia Chase into a half-demon?" Angel asked

"Yeah, I sure was. Stopped the visions from killing her. Say, how is she?"

"Cordelia? Oh, she's turned evil. I was wondering if you knew anything"

"Me? No, I know nothing. All I did was turn her part-demon to save her life from the visions. As to why she's evil, I wouldn't be able to tell you anything"

"You work for the Powers, right?" Angel asked, "Tell me, were you also the one who sent Piper Combs to the realm of the Powers?"

"Yeah, she had proved herself worthy to the Powers," Skip replied, "So I sent her up. Now she's doing a lot of good up there"

"Piper returned from there about three months ago. She's now dead"

"Oh, that's a shame. But why would she return? No one returns, except a slayer"

"I don't know, Skip, why don't you tell me?"

"Why do you think I would know anything?"

"Because I'm a vampire. I know when someone is lying to you. And you're lying"

Skip's look turned from surprise to sinister

"It took you this long to work it all out? Well, I'm sorry to say, but you're too late"

"What do you know, Skippy?"

"Nothing that I'm gonna tell you"

"Bad idea"

Angel leapt across the room, striking Skip across the face. However, Skip barely flinched from the blow, as he swung his fist and sent Angel flying across the room

"What, you think you could defeat me? Like last time?"

Angel got to his feet and headed over to Skip, before swinging his fist, but Skip blocked and grabbed him by the throat, before lifting him off the ground

"You know how humiliating it is to take a fall like that? To you?"

Skip threw Angel across the room, slamming him against the wall. Angel groaned as he got up, uppercutting Skip on the chin, as Skip retaliated with a blow that staggered Angel, followed by a straight punch. Angel ducked, as Skip's fist smashed into the wall. Striking Skip twice in the torso, Angel moved behind the demon, before grabbing him into a half nelson. Skip reversed and slammed Angel against the wall, before throwing him over his shoulder. As Angel went to get up, Skip booted him in the stomach, sliding him along the long table and off the other side

"It's too late, Angel. You won't win this time. Cordelia is going to restore the world"

"Like hell that's gonna happen"

Angel rose up, his game face on and with a growl, leapt onto the table, charging at Skip and booting him in the face. However, Skip caught his leg and threw him aside like he was a rag doll. Growling, Angel got to his feet, dodging Skips' fist and striking him in the face twice. Skip brought his other fist around, driving it into Angel's solar plexus. Angel groaned, as Skip booted him in the chest, knocking him down. Thinking quickly, Angel threw sand into Skip's eyes, then got up and landed a blow on his jaw that made him stumble. By then, Skip was able to see and he backhanded Angel across the jaw, throwing him across the room

"You're never gonna find out what happened to Cordelia. I promise you"

Snarling, Angel grabbed a nearby chain and swung it at Skip, cracking him in the face, then cracked him again. Skip staggered, as Angel closed the gap, swinging the chain and snapping off a piece of armour near Skip's ear. Rolling the chain up around his fist, Angel delivered several blows to Skip's face with the same fist, constantly hitting him until he fell to his knees

"Looks like you're gonna have to break your promise," Angel growled, delivering a final blow that knocked Skip out

††††††††††

The portal faded away, as Angel stood in the middle of the lobby, an unconscious Skip by his side. Wesley and Fred went to work on a containment spell, as Angel collapsed onto the couch, wiping the blood away from his face

"It's ready," Wesley said, "We can begin questioning"

"Excellent," Angel said, "Let's begin"

††††††††††

The doors to the police station were suddenly blasted off their hinges, as Cordelia strolled into the station. She was wearing a black leather corset that showed off her cleavage, as well as a pair of Angelus' leather pants, knee high boots and one of Angel's long leather coats. Her hair was hanging down around her face in long curls, while her eyes were now gold and orange with black, cat-like pupils

"Who the hell are you?" an officer demanded, "What do you want?"

"I want your best men you've got on the force," Cordelia replied, "Give them to me"

She heard the sound of several shotguns and handguns being cocked. With a small smile, Cordelia waved her hand through the air, red magic flowing from her fingertips. Every police officer in the room cried out, falling to their knees, as Cordelia raised her hands, which were now covered in red magical pentagrams

"Give me your best men now"

"Yes, of course," said a police officer, "Call in the SWAT"

"Good. Now, get ready. There's a war coming"

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