Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize
Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.
Guest: Thanks for the review. I've one in mind for a certain fandom, you'll see.
Chapter 113- Just Rewards
Buffy needed to see what was next. Was Spike really back? Or was it something else? She wanted him to be back. She needed him to be back. She loved him.
With that she turned on the next recording.
In Sunnydale, California, The Hellmouth, Nineteen Days Earlier Buffy and Spike were the only ones left in the Hellmouth. Spike was still glowing from the amulet, sending rays of light out into the Hellmouth, dusting the Turok-Han within. Buffy stood in front of him, staring, still holding her scythe. "Go on, then." He urged. "No. No, you've done enough." Buffy told him. "You could still—" Spike cut her off. "No, you've beat them back. It's for me to do the cleanup." The walls were crumbling around them. Buffy was worried. "Spike!" Spike told her. "I mean it! I gotta do this." He held out his hand to stop her, Buffy laced her fingers through Spike's, and his hand started burning up. Looking at him, she said genuinely. "I love you." Spike replied to her. "No you don't, but thanks for saying it."
Buffy was teary-eyed again at the reminder. How could he say that? She did love him.
The others were shocked on seeing this, since they had never known about this little moment between the two.
"Buffy?" Willow called out.
"Yeah?" Buffy asked, struggling not to cry again.
"He does know you love him, he said that so you'd go away and save yourself instead of staying with him and risking your life", Willow explained why Spike had actually said that, and Buffy looked at her with a face which was a mix of gratefulness and sadness.
"Thanks Will", Buffy said hoarsely, grateful to have a friend like her around, then turned back to the recording, even though it was hard.
There was another earthquake as Buffy let go of Spike's hand and he said. "Now go!" Buffy ran up the stairs. "I wanna see how it ends." Spike stood in the crumbling Hellmouth with light shining down on him from above, grinning from ear to ear and laughing as he burned up from the sunlight. He dusted slowly—first his skin singed, then his muscles, then his bones—then he was gone. The Hellmouth crumbled in around him.
Buffy was in tears again now as Dawn had to hug her big sister to calm her down.
"He….he saved the world", Xander muttered, finding the whole thing weird for himself, but knowing that had happened.
"Sure did", Tara muttered. Spike's redemption truly was complete.
Giles was now wondering what could have happened had he gotten Spike killed. Of course he didn't know of the amulet, but well, things would have been terrible.
Now he was actually glad he'd failed at having Spike killed, even if he still didn't like Spike. In spite of what he'd just seen, and he still didn't get why Buffy loved him.
If only he could see why.
In present day, Spike doubled over in pain, gasping, as he materialized in Angel's office at Wolfram & Hart. He looked around him, panic-stricken, at the unfamiliar faces. He saw Harmony, Lorne, Fred, Wesley. "What...what..." Harmony's hands were on her hips. "What the hell are you doing here, Spike?" Wesley said. "Harmony, please." Gunn sneered. "This is Spike? The Spike?" Fred started. "Wait a minute. Who's-" Lorne said calmly. "Easy, slim. Easy. No one's gonna hurt you." Gunn shrugged. "Speak for yourself, green jeans."
"Hey, don't hurt him!" Buffy now snapped, feeling protective of Spike after seeing him alive and well again.
Fred started. "OK, would somebody please tell me who—" Wesley explained to her. "William the Bloody. He's a Vampire. One of the worst recorded. Second only to—" "Me." Angel said as an angry Spike turned to face Angel. "But you're dead." Harmony gestured widely, rolling her eyes knowingly. "Well, yeah. Who here isn't?" She looked around. "Besides him", she said to Wesley, "and him", she said to Gunn, "and her", she said to Fred "and..." she turned to Lorne. "What are you again?"
"One of the greatest singers of our time, little girl", Giles sneered at her, and that made the rest chuckle, even Buffy, who needed that.
Spike, still staring at Angel, transformed into Vampire facade and lunged angrily at Angel, snarling fiercely. Angel braced for impact, but Spike went right through him. Spike stopped, turning around, then looked down at his body—his legs had disappeared inside Angel's desk. Spike looked up and frowned. "Bugger."
"What the….?" Xander trailed off.
"No", Buffy whispered, her hope from a second ago fading away. "This can't be…he just came back…"
"Maybe there's something else, it's just a temporary problem", Tara assured Buffy.
"Don't!" Buffy shook her head.
"Don't what?" Tara asked.
"Don't give me hope", Buffy begged, and everyone looked at her sadly. Seeing Spike again was clearly hard for her, and now they could see how broken up inside she still was over losing him.
So they just continued watching the recording, hoping Spike was truly back and the incorporeal thing was a temporary problem.
Spike was shocked as Harmony called him a ghost which he denied but she pointed out he was sticking out of a desk, while adding he couldn't talk to her like that since they weren't going out anymore. Wesley realized he'd come from the amulet, and Angel mentioned he'd given it to Buffy, as Spike asked about her, and Angel assured she was fine, and in Europe. Spike wanted to see her and talk to her but Angel said it'd be tough, so Spike scoffed Angel couldn't keep her from him.
"Uhh, he's not", Buffy said, her voice still raspy from the tears she was holding back.
"I think it's just their issues with each other coming around again", Dawn assured Buffy.
Angel said she wasn't his to keep, or Spike's, to which he snarled Angel had no idea what they had. Angel said Spike never had her, but he said he had Buffy more than Angel. Harmony was disgusted Spike and Buffy had actually done it, and walked away with 'yecch'.
"Shut…..up", Buffy snarled angrily at Harmony, choosing not to say much about the whole feud between Angel and Spike over her.
When Spike did have her, it was toxic, but when they could have truly had something beautiful, pure and healthy, they just never got the chance, and she lost him before they could get one.
She still cared about Angel, but he definitely had no idea what she and Spike were like after he had gotten his soul back, and he probably wouldn't like it, so best to not give him the details.
Spike said he must be in Hell but Lorne said it was LA and people made that mistake. Fred started asking about Spike and Buffy as Wesley said they were allies for a time, and that's all Angel had told them. Gunn asked if Spike was a good guy Vampire like Angel, and Angel said they were nothing alike, Spike agreeing and asking what Angel had done to him, before asking about the place, who the rest were, and what was happening.
"The only thing in which they are alike is that they have their souls", Tara commented to the rest. "But counting that out, they are quite different as people, even if both are good."
"Why is he incorporeal though?" Dawn wondered.
"I think we are going to find that out soon", Willow told them.
In the science lab, Wesley looked through a microscope while Fred scanned Spike with a beeping instrument. Lorne called the whole thing regarding Angel, Spike and Buffy a story, since he could sell it to the studios, and have Depp and Bloom in the role, and he saw them a lot due to running the entertainment division.
"Hey! No! No selling! It's private!" Buffy snapped at Lorne, as the other sighed.
"Buff?" Xander called out.
"Yeah?"
"He was joking."
"Oh!"
"Okay, the whole privacy thing aside, while I can see Orlando Bloom as Spike", Dawn was lost in imagination for a second, crushing on Bloom. "But Johnny Depp as Angel, not so much, nothing against him, he's amazing, just don't see him as Angel. Angelus, maybe."
"So I'm guessing Keira Knightley will play you", Tara quipped, looking at Buffy, who sighed, while the rest shared some chuckles, imagining the actors in those roles.
Fred introduced herself to Spike, mentioning Wolfram and Hart which Spike said was a law firm that represented the worst evil in the Universe, but Angel said now he was in-charge. Fred said she got electromagnetic readings consistent with spiritual entities, but there was no ectoplasmic matrix which made ghosts visible to the human eye, so they shouldn't be able to see Spike, plus she was detecting brainwave activity too, amusing Angel who said brainwave activity from Spike was weird.
Buffy rolled her eyes at their rivalry and also felt a little better now. "So, not a ghost then, right?"
"I don't think he is", Willow said to Buffy. "I mean, remember the time you guys couldn't see me and I couldn't see you? Doesn't mean any of us became ghosts."
"What is going on then?" Xander simply wondered.
"That is what we are here to see", Giles sighed.
Fred added ghosts absorbed heat and light energy so it made the area cooler while Spike was radiating heat, and he smirked he was hot as she said he was lukewarm, just above room temperature.
All chuckled a little as Dawn said. "Nice burn."
"So, he is not a ghost", Buffy sighed in relief, smiling. "He is real, but he is incorporeal. But most importantly, he is alive."
"Yes, we can see that", Giles muttered, still uncomfortable by her feelings for Spike.
Wesley said Spike's essence was clearly tied to the amulet, and asked if Spike had a memory of a strange sensation when it released its energy, and Spike described his brutal death in graphic detail before adding sarcastically there was no memory, thanking him for asking.
Buffy winced at Spike's graphic description of his death, imagining how he was feeling, as Dawn asked. "You okay?"
"No, I'm not, but I have to watch this", Buffy told her.
The rest didn't comment.
Angel remembered the amulet was buried deep in the Hellmouth and wondered how it had ended up here, Fred suggesting Spike would be here for a destined reason, sent by the Powers to help. Now Spike scoffed and paced. "Who gave them the bloody right to do that? Can't a man die in peace without some high almighty deciding it's not his time? Let's have a little more fun with him, eh? You think that saving the sodding world would be enough to earn me a rest. You'd think—" Spike started fading before their eyes, and on Fred calling out his name, he looked at his body. "Oh balls." He disappeared as Fred scanned where he'd been.
"NO!" Buffy screamed. "No, no, don't do that!"
The others wanted to reassure her that it was fine, but they had no idea what was going on themselves, so it would not be genuine.
Fred then asked what Spike meant by 'saving the world' as Angel said Buffy did most of the work and Spike helped.
"He closed the Hellmouth forever, that's more than 'help', Angel", Buffy said, annoyed by his immaturity regarding Spike, not that Spike was helping either.
Then Spike rematerialized, everyone confused as he blamed Angel for his predicament, since he'd brought the amulet to Sunnydale and would have used it till he chickened out, abandoning the woman he claimed to love. Angel said it was Buffy's call, not his.
"Yes, it was my call, and he doesn't love me, not in that way at least, he loves Cordelia", Buffy said, sighing in relief. "And Spike's back."
"I think you should be ready though", Willow warned Buffy.
"For what?" Buffy asked.
"Well, this disappearing act, it still might go on", Tara pointed out to Buffy, who gulped. "It clearly has something to do with how Spike came back."
"It is probably due to that amulet", Giles told them.
Spike scoffed he didn't give a piss about atonement or destiny now. "Just because I got me a soul doesn't mean I'm gonna let myself be led around by-" "E-excuse me?" Fred cut him off. Wesley asked. "Did—did you just say— Spike has a soul?" He turned to Angel. "You never said." Angel lamely said. "Didn't seem worth mentioning, you know."
"Angel", Buffy said in a forced polite tone, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
"Huh, he is really immature", Willow quipped about it.
"Well, as long as I get comedy", Xander quipped, since the two were really fun.
Gunn frowned. "Seems to be a lot of that." Spike corrected. "Or maybe Captain Forehead was feeling a little less special. Didn't like me crashing his exclusive club—another Vampire with a soul in the world." Angel got into Spike's face. "You're not in the world...Casper." He walked away.
Xander and Dawn were both laughing now while Buffy groaned.
"Well, Spike is right about what he said", Buffy said, remembering Angel's reaction on finding out Spike had a soul.
And she still had no idea why she'd kissed him then, it was so stupid. Probably because he was in the right place at the right time so she used him in the moment to make herself feel better.
He deserved better than that, and she should have done better than that.
"So, Spike's incorporeal, and he and Angel are fighting, funny", Dawn chuckled.
"Let's just see what else comes of this, I'm sure it will be explained soon", Tara assured the rest.
Angel walked down the lobby, passing a masked employee carrying a cart as Spike materialized behind him, commenting he could see why Angel got rewarded with this place. Harmony then told Angel he'd a meeting scheduled at three o'clock while Spike quipped how Angel even had Harmony to get him coffee. Spike then told Angel that he might think that he and the rest were using the company to fight the evil of the world from inside the beast's belly, but they couldn't see they were getting digested.
No one made a comment, but what Spike said was what everyone was concerned about.
Team Angel were trying to use Wolfram and Hart's resources for the greater good, but there was a risk involved for sure, they could lose themselves here forever, due to the corrupting nature of power.
They hoped that didn't happen though.
Spike taunted Angel more when a Grox'lar Beast stepped out of the elevators. Angel kicked, then decked him thrice, then tried to punch again but was blocked and hit in the stomach before being thrown into the wall as he fell down. Spike tried to punch but his fist went through the Demon's head. "Oh, brilliant."
"Sucks for him", Xander quipped, since souled or soulless, Spike loved a fight, and now he was unable to get into one.
"Angel's on his own here", Buffy sighed, though she knew he could do it.
The Demon pinned Angel to the wall but he freed himself and pushed it back, then spin kicked it, and kicked it again before blocking and dodging some blows, but was pushed back. He then blocked another blow, decked it twice, and grabbing its neck, ran over the wall, before flipping and twisting its neck, then threw it into the wall, knocking it out.
"And he did it", Willow said as they sighed in relief that this threat was down.
"The place must have really bad security though", Dawn commented. "If something like that was able to arrive."
"Not wrong there", Xander agreed.
Angel was annoyed the Demon had gotten past security, telling the taunting Spike he'd a business to run when Harmony revealed this was Angel's three o'clock, making Spike laugh while Angel was mortified as these ate babies. Harmony corrected it was just the heads and Angel was supposed to open negotiations with their clan. Gunn arrived, saying the negotiations were to make them stop eating baby heads. Angel realized it was bad but Gunn said their clan respected someone who took a strong opening position, adding he also knew Demon laws now, and he'd have briefed Angel about this but got side-tracked by Spike. He was also implementing the staff overhaul, having fired 40 employees in the past 2 days, so there was anger, tears and venomous death threats.
"So, he was meeting with that? Whoa!" Dawn said, now freaked out badly.
"To get them to stop eating baby heads", Tara reminded her. "So, it was a good thing."
"Would they stop though?" Buffy wondered.
"Well, at least he's trying", Willow pointed out. "And they're firing the more evil staff as well."
"Just hoping it sticks", Xander shrugged.
"Knowing them, they will want revenge", Giles said grimly.
Harmony wanted to talk to Spike but he left without acknowledging her so she called him 'Slayer-loving freak' under her breath.
That brought some chuckles as Buffy said. "If loving me makes him a freak, then I'll gladly consider that term positive."
"She is still soulless, so still shallow", Willow pointed out. "Not that having one made her any less shallow, she is just the same either way."
"And she sucks either way", Xander added.
Gunn revealed a voodoo likeness of himself to Angel in the office, as Spike arrived, interrupting them. Gunn told Angel they were ruffling many dangerous feathers so there would be a backlash, and Angel said they'd have to ride the ripples, when a guy in a loud blue dress shirt and spotted yellow tie arrived. His name was Novac, and he asked Angel why the Internment Acquisition Division was being shut down, and Gunn revealed it was grave-robbing. Angel was intent on shutting it, though Novac said they were under contract to provide fresh bodies to Magnus Hainsley, who was one of their oldest clients, but Angel told Novac to tell Magnus that there would be no grave robbing anymore, so he walked to the door, shuddering.
"So, Angel and team are making the place better", Buffy pointed out. "See? Evil employees are being fired, and they're getting out of the grave robbing business too."
"But they are pissing off a lot of people, it's going to be bad", Willow reminded Buffy, and she nodded, conceding. "But yeah, it does prove they are uncorrupted by the place so far."
"And Angel is cutting off a really old client for the right reasons", Tara added. "Which is also a good thing."
"Yes, but just these basic steps won't do much, they have to do a lot more if they want to turn this place upside down", Giles told them all.
Spike said now all Angel did was delegate the dirty work to spineless, low-level flunkies, while telling Novac he meant no offense, and added the mighty hero was reduced to a bloody bureaucrat, wondering if a certain Slayer could see him now, but Angel told him to get out as Spike said he would, as being stuck in here was punishment enough, but he wasn't going to spend his afterlife in this place.
"The Slayer can see him right now, and she can see he's trying, and she knows why he took over", Buffy told Spike. "So don't make judgment calls here."
"I think he's just annoyed at being brought in front of Angel so he's taking it out like that", Willow told Buffy, who nodded, conceding.
"So, he is leaving the place, why didn't he come to me?" Buffy wondered.
"Again, there must be a reason we aren't seeing yet", Tara said, and Buffy nodded, conceding.
Angel sat in his office, staring out the window when Wesley arrived, and Angel told him it was supposed to be him who wore the amulet, since Wolfram and Hart gave it to him, and it meant they knew it'd do to him what it did to Spike, and Wesley caught on, both thinking why Angel had been handed the keys to the kingdom if they were going to do that to him. Wesley suggested perhaps there was a dissent in the Senior Partners' ranks, or there was another player.
"Yes, that is true", Giles pointed out to the rest. "They gave Angel the amulet, so they clearly expected it to do to him what it did to Spike."
"Doesn't make much sense though", Dawn added. "I mean, like Wesley said, why give him the firm if they planned on doing that to him?"
"So, the whole thing is basically a contradiction", Xander quipped.
"Or maybe we don't have all the variables yet", Willow suggested to the rest. "When we do, we can finally figure out."
"Yeah, let's wait for it", Tara agreed.
Then Angel noticed Spike was back, standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here? I thought you left town." Spike responded. "Don't think I didn't bleeding try. Every time I got as far as the city limits I kept popping back here like my insides are getting yanked." Wesley realized. "Hmm. I suspected as much. The amulet's Wolfram & Hart's property. It's bound to this place, and since Spike's connected to it..." Spike snapped. "Hey! I'm nobody's bloody property, Percy. So what? I'm just stuck here forever?" He turned to Angel. "I bet you're loving this, aren't you?" "Knowing you'll be haunting me till the end of time?" Angel smirked. "Hmm. It's a dream come true."
The fighting made everyone chuckle as well as roll their eyes before Tara pointed out. "So whenever Spike got to the city limits, he was yanked back."
"The amulet is bound to Wolfram and Hart", Willow realized. "Which means….."
"They were going to make Angel incorporeal, and bind him to Wolfram and Hart, and he would never be able to leave the city", Buffy said, everyone's eyes (or eye, in Xander's case) wide in realization. "Oh boy!"
"And since you had Spike wear the amulet, it ended up foiling that plan", Dawn said to Buffy.
"Great job, Buff", Xander quipped.
"If they had succeeded, Angel's situation would have been even harder than it is", Giles realized.
"Well, nothing from them comes for free", Buffy sighed. "And I guess my decision to have Spike wear it did save Angel, but Spike…"
She trailed off, feeling responsible that he was like this now.
"Hey, it's not your fault, okay? Spike made that choice", Willow pointed out to Buffy.
"And besides, the amulet was sent to Angel by someone, so a third party is involved here", Tara added, and now all were interested in seeing who that was.
"You're right", Buffy agreed. "We need to see more about that."
Harmony arrived and informed Novac was back, and Angel asked to send him in, and then two men brought 3 buckets full of sloppy red liquid, one with Novac's tie hanging over the edge, covered in blood. The buckets were placed on Angel's desk as Spike smirked, saying they were doing a bang-up job.
"Oh my God!" Dawn covered her mouth, horrified, just like the rest.
"Good Lord", Giles sighed, this much brutality disgusting even him.
"Guess it is harder than we thought", Buffy sighed, feeling bad for the lawyer guy, even if he probably wasn't a good person.
"Pissing off powerful people always has consequences", Willow told Buffy, and she couldn't disagree.
Angel arrived at Harmony's desk, asking for Novac's contact list, and also saying they'd to be discreet. Gunn arrived with Magnus' file, saying he was a rich sorcerer who owned some respectable shares of the firm, and Angel noted he was a necromancer, Wesley realizing that's why he was provided with the bodies.
"So they robbed graves to give this bastard fuel for experimentation", Xander scoffed in disgust, speaking for them all. "Good thing Angel's shutting down this division then."
"Yup, but the necromancer clearly doesn't like it", Tara pointed out grimly.
"Time for him to get a visit then", Buffy snarled.
"Hopefully, it is fruitful", Giles said.
Angel then saw Spike on his chair and asked him to get out, while Gunn asked what was in the buckets as Spike quipped Novac had been downsized. Angel decided to go pay Magnus a visit, walking to his private elevator but Wesley reminded him of his armed personnel, Angel saying they cramped his style and when Wesley said an 'eye for an eye' escalation was unwise, Angel shrugged he wasn't going for the eyes. "I know what you should go for." Angel stopped the elevator doors before they closed as Gunn smirked. "It'll hurt him. Bad."
"Now that's interesting", Dawn commented.
"Whatever it is, here's hoping it works", Buffy hoped.
"Him as a lawyer does seem to be beneficial so far", Willow suggested to the rest.
"Yes, so far, so good", Tara agreed, though she still had a bad feeling about it.
"Just stop him", Xander muttered.
Angel arrived at the garage, opening the door of a black Viper but Spike was in the passenger seat, saying he knew Angel would pick that, calling him predictable. Angel asked him to get out but Spike refused. "This haunting-you-till- the-end-of-time idea of yours is starting to sound appealing. I could drive you completely starkers, right out of your gourd. Yeah, and you wouldn't be able to do a sodding thing about it." Angel slammed the door and walked over to the next car, a silver Camaro. Spike was sitting inside the car in the passenger seat; Angel groaned. "Fancy a road trip. This'll be fun, eh? You and me together again. So...where are we off to?" "To see the wizard." Angel started the car and drove away.
At this point, everyone was chuckling at the comedy Spike was providing.
"So, Spike haunting Angel, and he can't even haunt him to death, since Angel's already dead", Dawn commented in between laughs.
"Road trip with them, if Spike was corporeal, I think the car wouldn't survive it", Buffy commented, since she knew a good deal about how much they really hated each other.
So Spike was alive, and he was providing comedy already, though it involved annoying poor Angel too, but still, Buffy felt happy now.
"So, two of them against a necromancer", Xander thought.
"Not two, just one, Spike is useless right now", Giles shrugged to the rest.
The butler let Angel and Spike into Magnus' house, and Angel said. "We're- I'm from Wolfram and Hart." Spike added. "I'm his date." Angel rolled his eyes.
The others were in hysterics once more as Buffy said. "Well, these two get along better than I thought they would."
"The comedy is gold", Willow agreed with a nod.
"So, buddy cop with Angel and Spike, both Vampires with souls", Dawn commented, and the idea had them all laughing even more.
"We'd all see that, right?" Tara asked.
"I would", Xander said, especially if Spike was put in place, he thought to himself.
"Well, they're here now", Giles brought their focus to what was important.
The butler said Magnus didn't like interruption while dealing with customers, but Angel wasn't interested so the butler went off, as Spike quipped about the life of the elite. Angel hoped to avoid a body count and Spike looked into another room, saying he kept one on hand. They walked into the adjacent room decorated like a Victorian parlor, complete with a few dozen people standing around posed, as if it were a wax museum. Spike scoffed Magnus liked to play with dollies, but Angel noted this was a showroom, turning on the light to reveal the whole thing in full.
The Scoobies were horrified and disgusted once more, since they had rarely seen Demons this disgusting.
"My God!" Buffy said, and Dawn looked a bit scared, though this time she controlled herself, just barely though.
"Whatever Gunn asked Angel to do, hope it works", Xander muttered.
"Yeah, me too", Tara agreed with a nod.
"Sick bastard", Willow snarled angrily.
"We can see that", Giles scoffed in anger and disgust.
A woman was lying on a table in the center of a red pentagram painted on the floor, with Magnus chanting over her as a Demon stood nearby, casually saying he'd gone with pretty at the end. Magnus stuck his hand in the woman's belly, then reached one back to the Demon, and his hand glowed orange as the Demon's essence passed through him into the woman, while the butler arrived, informing him that men from Wolfram and Hart had come, so Magnus asked to kill them, and he went off to oblige.
The horror just kept increasing for the poor Scoobies. They had seen dark stuff, but nothing this dark.
"So, he passes off Demons into human bodies", Willow summed it up. "To make a fortune out of it."
"Yikes!" Xander shuddered at the whole thing.
"And he keeps the bodies in the showrooms so these Demons can choose which one they like", Buffy added with another shudder, disgusted.
"This is very wrong, you are using a dead person's body and putting someone else in it, it will hurt the person's loved ones, not to mention the laws of magic it goes against", Tara said, clearly not okay with the whole thing, and even disgusted, which said a lot.
"Just stop them please", Dawn wished to Angel.
Angel and Spike looked at the showroom, Spike making a joke of how Magnus was lonely and showed one of these a good time, and they wouldn't mind, but Angel said he would. Spike bitterly said it was over for them since no one was shoving them back into the world against their will. The butler then arrived. "Mr. Hainsley has asked that I send you back to Wolfram & Hart, gentlemen." He revealed that he was holding butcher knives behind his back. "In a manner of speaking."
"So he is the one who sent back Novac", Giles realized, straightening his glasses.
"Messing with the wrong one now though", Buffy smirked.
The butler played menacingly with the knives trying to intimidate Angel and Spike, the latter quipping. "Uh-oh. Looks like its buckets for you." Angel reached for a tiny teaspoon being held by a posed person beside him. He threw the spoon at the butler, and it landed in his forehead. The butler screamed. "A spoon?! That's just..." the butler reached up to his forehead, pulled the spoon out, and turned toward Angel angrily. "Well, OK, that's more..." the butler collapsed. "Disappointing, really."
"A spoon?!" All of them went together as well.
"Well, that was disappointing", Xander commented.
"And kind of weird, it'd make more sense with a knife", Dawn added.
"But threat's down, that's what matters", Willow pointed out.
"In a lame way, but yeah, next", Buffy sighed.
Angel requested. "I know you can't help me, but could you maybe not root for the other team?" Spike replied. "Hey, I'll root for anyone with half a chance of taking you down a notch." Angel demanded. "What is your problem?" Spike walked up to Angel. "You are, ya ponce! You're my problem. You got it too good." Angel walked away, Spike following. "You're king of a 30-floor castle, with all the cars, comfort, power, and glory you could ever want, and here I save the world, throw myself onto the proverbial hand grenade for love, honor, and all the right reasons, and what do I get? Bloody well toasted and ghosted is what I get, isn't it? It's not fair." Angel stopped, turning to Spike angrily "Fair?! You asked for a soul. I didn't! It almost killed me. I spent a hundred years trying to come to terms with infinite remorse. You spent 3 weeks moaning in a basement, and then you were fine! What's fair about that?!" Spike was fading again. "Are you getting blurry, or is it—" He disappeared. Angel grunted from frustration, then walked away.
"Well, wanting a soul when he didn't have one does make him better than Angelus", Willow muttered with a shrug.
"Yeah, I can never see Angelus wanting to get a soul, even for a girl, Spike I guess without a soul was in a battle against the Demon inside, only he failed to win at day's end", Buffy sighed, since that was what she'd figured out about the whole thing.
Outside of Willow and Tara though, the others were still weirded out by Buffy's love for Spike since to them, it felt like she was making excuses for him.
But they didn't know she was right, they hadn't seen what she had seen. Well, Dawn did get along very well with Spike, but after what he'd attempted to do to Buffy (without a soul but she still wasn't over it), their relationship had been strained and never fixed.
"He's disappeared again", Xander muttered.
"I hope he comes back soon", Buffy hoped.
Angel broke the door down to Magnus' workshop, who quipped Angel could come in since it was open, and was shocked it was Angel himself. The woman, now having the Demon inside her, got up to walk off but Angel grabbed her by the arm. Her eyes glowed red as she snarled at him but he knocked her out, then told Magnus his body supply was being cut off, only for Magnus to freeze him in place with a flick of his fingers. He turned his hand, causing Angel pain, and pulled him towards himself, reminding him what he was.
"Necromancer", Giles muttered. "They have power over the dead, and Angel is-"
"Dead", Tara finished for him, as the atmosphere now plummeted badly.
"This is going to be harder than we thought", Xander realized.
"Come on", Buffy muttered.
Spike suddenly appeared, and Magnus was incredulous Angel had brought a ghost as backup, but Spike shrugged he just haunted Angel. Magnus eventually let Angel go, deciding not to kill him as the Senior Partners wouldn't overlook it, due to having plans for Angel. Angel said he'd plans too, calling Gunn and telling him to do it. Magnus wondered if an air-strike had been called but Angel revealed. "I just froze all your bank accounts, terminated your paper assets, and turned your books over to a very motivated contact we have at the I.R.S. 5 minutes from now, you'll have nothing but this house. 10 minutes from now, that'll go into foreclosure." Magnus frowned. "You can't do that." Angel shrugged. "I'll let myself out." "It's not legal. You think you can get away with that?" He chuckled scornfully. "I'll sue you to hell." "Good luck. We're your lawyers." Angel walked out. "This isn't over, vampire."
"Hell yes!" Dawn cheered, as everyone felt satisfied now.
"Try coming back from that", Buffy sneered to Magnus too.
"Well, at least he has been cut off", Tara agreed there. "But will it get him to quit?"
"What do you mean?" Xander asked.
"A guy that bad and motivated, just cutting him off won't make him quit", Willow pointed out.
"So this might not be over yet", Giles realized as they all groaned.
Spike quipped to Angel if he'd fight evil by calling the IRS, mimicking the whole thing before disappearing, to Angel's relief, and he reappeared in front of Magnus, who'd used his power to bring Spike to him, and he said being a ghost was a horrible way to be, so now he could give Spike a corporeal body if he did something for him. "Hurt Angel, that it? You want me to hurt Angel?" Spike grinned devilishly. "You've come to the right ghost."
"No, no", Buffy shook her head in disbelief. "Spike would never-"
Giles and Xander were about to say something but Buffy raised her hand. "Just because you two don't like him doesn't mean he's bad, okay?"
"I think I agree", Willow said to Buffy. "He hates Angel, we can see that, but he wouldn't team up with an obviously evil guy just to get back at him."
"So, is it a plan?" Dawn asked, unsure about the whole thing.
"Has to be", Tara told her.
"It is", Buffy said in a tone that left no room for argument. She knew Angel and Spike didn't like each other, but none of them were gonna go evil to get back at the other.
Immature, yes, but not evil.
Later, Gunn assured he'd wiped out all assets of Magnus he could find, as Wesley and Fred arrived, Angel telling them Magnus was out of business for the time being, because he might have something on mind, then asked about Spike. Wesley said they couldn't release Spike from the amulet in the conventional sense, but the unconventional was something he'd asked for- eternal rest.
"What?" Buffy asked, her hopes being dashed once more. "Eternal….."
Tara started. "Buffy-"
"How can they send him back, and then take him away again?" Buffy asked, angry now, just barely holding back tears. "This is unfair!"
Dawn started. "It's going to be-"
"No it's not", Buffy told her. "If they hadn't sent him back, I would be fine, but now he's back, and he's going to die again, it's just-"
Buffy just stopped herself from talking anymore, and controlled herself, turning to the screen with a scoff.
Spike appeared in the lobby and walked by Harmony's desk, who made snippy comments again, saying she'd thought he'd be different with his soul, but a leopard never changed his stripes, only for Spike to correct that leopards had spots. Harmony sarcastically called it a breakthrough as Spike walked to Angel's office, overhearing them talking about him. Wesley said it was an exorcism of sorts while Fred said they were talking about killing him.
"Don't….." Buffy whispered, trailing off.
The others wanted to make a comment, but Buffy was clearly too shaken up about all this, and so they decided to stay silent for now, and see more of where this really led to.
Fred told the rest that Spike would be gone forever if this happened, and it didn't feel right, while Wesley said keeping him trapped between realms with no control over his own fate was wrong too, so letting him cross was merciful. Angel just wanted to know how it could be done, and Wesley said the amulet was protected by magic, only it wouldn't work on hallowed ground. Gunn suggested a church and Wesley said a cemetery would work too, so Angel finally decided to sleep on it. Fred placed the amulet on his desk and they left as he picked it up.
"Is there no other way?" Buffy asked. "Can't he be…..well, here forever, and corporeal?"
She knew she was being selfish, but she didn't want Spike to go again after just having come back.
"Well, Angel is sleeping on it", Willow told her, which showed some maturity. Immature Angel would just go ahead and destroy the amulet.
Angel got ready for bed in his apartment, climbing under the blankets when Spike appeared, to his dismay. Angel told Spike to haunt him during business hours, not here, but Spike assured he hadn't come for a fight, and revealed he'd heard Angel and the rest talking about him. Spike then revealed Magnus had tried to make a deal with him, that he would return his body and soul if he used their close personal relationship to double-cross Angel, before saying he didn't play for that side anymore, and even if Magnus could do it, Spike trusted him about as much as Angel trusted Spike himself. Angel asked. "What do you want from me?" "I can't live like this, Angel, being useless", Spike sighed. "Being nothing, I want it to end."
"Does it really have to be the end?" Buffy wondered sadly.
"Maybe, there is nothing else to be done", Tara told her gently, and Buffy was now trying her best to keep it in check, since she was about to lose Spike all over again after getting him back.
"At least he didn't make a deal with the bad guy though", Dawn pointed out.
"Yeah, that's a good thing", Xander agreed. "But I guess he'll be going."
Angel and Spike walked through a cemetery together, and when Angel asked if Spike really wanted this, he said he wasn't interested in being the wisecracking ghost sidekick forever, so this was for the best. Angel picked up an urn from a nearby grave. "I'm glad it's you, though. Finally doin' me in. Feels right. You being my grandsire and all. Circle of death, eh?" Angel bid farewell. "Good-bye, Spike." Spike assured. "See you around, Angel."
"There's not enough time", Buffy rasped, as Dawn wrapped an arm around her, while Giles put a hand on her shoulder.
The others just watched, thinking they were going to see Spike die again.
Angel picked up the urn and aimed for crushing the amulet, but hit himself in the head instead. "Uh, I think you missed." Angel hit himself in the face again, and then was picked up off the ground unable to move. Hainsley stepped out of the shadows, eventually knocking Angel out as Spike snapped he'd been close to death. Magnus assured Spike was the plan's linchpin, and he said he wouldn't be used, but Magnus said he would, and get his reward too.
"Okay, what?" Buffy asked in horror and disbelief. "This can't be."
"Spike did make a deal with the bad guy?" Dawn asked, just as shocked as Buffy. While her opinion of the guy wasn't too high now, she didn't think he'd stoop this low.
"Old habits die hard, huh?" Xander scoffed.
"Looks like it", Giles muttered.
"Guys, we still haven't seen the full thing yet", Willow pointed out to them all.
"So I suggest we see it all before passing judgment", Tara agreed with her.
They just watched now, trying not to make any comments.
Angel later lay on the table in Magnus' workshop, Magnus using his power to keep Angel down. Angel pointed out Magnus couldn't kill him, since the Senior Partners wouldn't like it if he turned up missing, but Magnus said he'd still show up to work, and also reverse the seizure of his personal assets while reinstating the Internment Acquisitions Department, Spike appearing and revealing it'd be him in Angel's body. "And to think I didn't trust you." Angel scoffed. "Come on, Angel. What choice did I have? Bloody exorcism? Letting you and yours banish me to oblivion? No, thanks. Necro here's gonna give me my body back... after I take yours for a test drive, fix his little problems. And here's the kicker: I go in, and you go... pfft! Off to never-never-come-back land. And then... yours very truly will be running the show. Your cars, your fancy digs, everything—everyone—I deserve...will be mine." Spike was wistful. "And maybe I'll have a go with that Fred. She looks like a goer, and she seems to really look up to you." Angel snapped. "Shut up." Spike agreed. "You know what? You're right. Enough talk. Let's do this, already. I'm itchin' to get physical." "I've never installed anyone in a conscious dead body before. I imagine this is going to be extremely painful." Magnus chuckled.
"This….doesn't sound like Spike at all", Buffy said to the rest.
"Really? I think it does", Xander said.
"So, you're going to forget the time he stopped Caleb from taking more than your eye?" Buffy asked, and now Xander shut up, looking away.
"But he does talk like this", Giles pointed out.
"Without a soul. You don't know what he's like with one, you haven't seen what I have seen", Buffy said to him Giles, and now he was silent too.
Hainsley started his eerie chanting again, then plunged his hand inside Angel's belly. Hainsley reached back toward Spike, and absorbed Spike's energy into his own body. Spike disappeared, and Hainsley's hand glowed orange. The orange glow flowed through Hainsley's body toward Angel's belly, but stopped short. He said to the orange glow in his arm. "Unh! What? What...are you doing?" The orange glow went back up Hainsley's arm and disappeared into his chest. Angel asked. "Spike...would you mind?" Hainsley pulled his hand out of Angel's body. "No! Noooo!" Angel decked Magnus, then flipped up and kicked him across the room. "Can touch you now, Hainsley." Hainsley tossed Angel across the room with his power. "Think you're clever, eh? But—unnnnh!— Your ghost can't control me for long. I hold the power. I rule the dead." He reached toward Angel, but couldn't control him anymore. "Not today."
"Told you", Buffy said with a proud smile. Spike had done the right thing again.
"I had a feeling this was off, Spike wouldn't do this after getting a soul", Willow agreed with Buffy there.
"So, the necromancer is going down then", Dawn smirked.
"Yes, he is, thanks to Spike's and Angel's plan", Tara agreed there.
Giles and Xander didn't speak, realizing now Spike had proven them wrong as well.
Angel decked Magnus twice, then punched his chest before pushing him into a nearby table, knocking him down to the ground. Hainsley got up again after a second and decked Angel twice, then blocking a blow, punched his face and kicked him back. Angel picked a blade and hurled it at Hainsley, cutting his head off. Hainsley's head fell to the ground, and Spike's head floated above Hainsley's neck. "Oh, bollocks." Hainsley's body fell to the ground. "I was just getting warmed up." Angel asked. "That was you hitting me?" Spike shrugged. "The last bit, yeah. Hainsley's been dead since he hit the table." Angel frowned. "Oh, come on. Had to get a few licks in, didn't I?"
Now that made everyone laugh a little as Buffy said. "Yeah, now that's Spike. Hates Angel, but a good guy."
"And the necromancer is gone too", Xander sighed in relief.
"So the grave robbing business has been shut down properly at last then", Giles noted. "That is a good thing then."
"And?" Buffy asked them with a raised eyebrow.
"Sorry", Xander said.
"My apologies", Giles said at the same time as Buffy nodded with a smirk.
"So, I'm guessing Spike's staying, and there will be more comedy", Dawn said excitedly.
"He just needs to be corporeal again", Tara pointed out.
"Yeah, that's the pain here", Willow sighed.
Later, Wesley was told that Spike had come to Angel with a plan, Angel telling him that their trap had fallen into place once Spike had learnt Hainsley used himself as a conduit for body transfers. Harmony handed Angel a file as Wesley noted it'd be prudent of Spike to share his plans with the rest if he stuck around, and Angel said Spike didn't share very well, Harmony adding he was preaching to the horse's mouth.
"Well, he's not the only one", Buffy muttered, since she didn't share very well either, though she was trying to work on it now.
"But all's well that ends well", Willow shrugged to the rest.
"Yes, at least the plan worked", Tara agreed. "And Spike did share with Angel of all people, so that's progress."
"Guess so", Xander sighed.
Fred walked into her office in the Science Department. Spike was standing in the doorway. "Spike. What are you...can I help you?" Spike asked. "Well, that's the heart of it, isn't it? The crux. The nub." Fred was confused. "I'm sorry" Spike asked her. "You're the smart one, aren't you? The go-to girl who knows all about this ghost mumbo-jumbo." "Um..." Fred laughed nervously. "Well, actually, Wesley's the occult expert. He—he was trained as a Watcher. He knows about the supernatur—" Spike pointed out. "Yeah, but you're the science queen. The hows, the what-ifs—that's your cup of tea. You figure things out in that cute little noggin of yours." Fred replied nervously. "I guess. What... I-is there something..." Spike revealed. "I'm slippin'." "What?" Spike told her. "Don't wanna go, but it's like... It's like the ground underneath me is... splitting open and my legs are... straddling both sides of this bloody big chasm. It's getting wider, pulling me in."
"What?" Buffy wondered now, dread creeping over her now. Dread for Spike.
"Something is pulling him in", Willow noted, eyes narrowed.
Fred asked Spike. "Is that... is that what's happening when you keep vanishing" Spike faced away from Fred. "I know what's down there—where it's trying to take me—and it's not the place heroes go. Not by a bloody long shot. It's the other one. Full of fire and torment. And it's happening. And I'm terrified." He faced Fred. "Help me?" The screen went black.
"What is it?" Buffy now thought. "What is haunting Spike?"
"Must be really bad", Dawn commented.
"Fred will help him", Willow assured Buffy.
"At least he is sticking around though", Tara said to Buffy with a smile, and Buffy now had a matching smile.
"Yeah, looks like he's gonna be in this world after all", Buffy said happily, and now she knew why Spike hadn't come to her either, considering the amulet pulled him back.
"So, next one then?" Xander asked.
"I believe so", Giles agreed.
"Sure", Buffy said, lifting the remote to get to the next one.
One episode in, and Spike has already made this Season funnier than the last one and a half. He's an icon.
And I was really pissed off that they removed Buffy's 'I love you' as well as Spike's 'No you don't, but thanks for saying it', so I kept it, like in the actual Buffy series finale.
Next chapter, we meet Nina Ash, and while I wish we'd gotten more of her as well as her relationship with Angel, I did like her, as well as their relationship.
After all the crap Angel had gone through with Jasmine and Connor in the last Season, he needed someone like her. She was his most normal relationship (well, as normal as a relationship between a Vampire with a soul and werewolf can be).
And I really wish we'd gotten a Nina/Oz interaction as well.
Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!