The Night Remembers - Part 30
When Buffy and Angel finally joined their friends in the hall of the
mansion, Gunn's friends had returned too. The only ones missing were Faith
and Spike but Cordelia assured vampire and slayer that the other two
fighters were just somewhere sparring.
The whole room was bouncing with activity and one could almost hear the
adrenaline pumping through everyone's veins. Gunn and Wesley were checking
weapons, Cordelia and Willow were busy printing out maps of the Sunnydale
sewer system for those not familiar with the location, while Tara was trying
to memorize spells.
Giles had already explained that because of the location of the hellmouth
they would move towards the ruin of Sunnydale High from different angles.
That meant they would be operating in groups and timing would be extremely
important.
Kate shut down her cell phone and joined the little group in the middle of
the room discussing the situation. "None of the lawyers left L.A.," she
informed them, but her eyes were on Angel. "I called one of my contacts who
- as you asked me - was watching the building. They're still there."
The vampire looked thoughtfully for a moment, and then said, "That's
what I thought. None of them wants to be directly involved, they just
provided the vampires with the information needed."
"They might be evil, but nobody said they were stupid," Wesley crossed his
arms in front of his chest. "Unfortunately, dealing with them would be a lot
easier if they weren't that clever."
"Hey guys, ready to rambo," Faith said, entering the hall from the back. Her
voice was unnaturally high and she avoided looking at anyone in particular.
Behind her Spike appeared wearing an expression well known to his
grand-sire.
Angel narrowed his eyes at them, a growl erupting from his chest. Startled
the others turned towards him. "Angel?" Buffy asked confused.
"It's okay," he replied, but didn't look at her, his eyes never leaving the
bleached blond vampire. "Spike," his voice wasn't more than a warning hiss.
"Peaches," his grand-childe grinned. That grin was enough to send Angel over
the edge. With another growl he was on other vampire's throat in an instant,
pinning the blond against the wall. Game face firmly in place, Angel hissed,
"If we didn't need you, I'd kill you right now."
Spike laughed, "What, you can get laid and I can't?"
"Don't. Push. Your. Luck," the older vampire warned. "Or I'll think twice
about your value."
"Why? You had your fun too - didn't think I could smell it."
"That's different, but why do I bother to explain this to you? You're
nothing but a filthy demon." With a disgusted sound Angel let go of the
younger vampire and turned away, his eyes meeting Faith's.
The brunette slayer could see the question in them and she shrugged, "Hey,
I'm a big girl, Angel."
"I know," the dark-haired vampire replied, putting a hand on her arm, "I
just don't want you to get hurt."
A half-grin appeared on her face, "Hey, it's not like he means anything to
me," she said, but her voice didn't sound convincing. "We had fun. I can
handle it, okay?"
He sighed, "Okay. But please be careful." He shot his grand-childe a
sidelong glance, that held another warning and was surprised to see
something close to hurt in Spike's eyes.
"I will," she assured him, squeezing his arm. "I will, okay?"
Angel looked at her for a long moment, then nodded and turned back to the
others who had followed the whole exchange with curious eyes. The vampire
could see understanding on the most faces, and the expected disgust on
Cordelia's. He saw she was about to comment, and slightly shook his head.
The brunette sighed, but obeyed. Now wasn't the time to mock. But she
certainly wouldn't forget about it. There was just too much yuck-factor
about the image.
"There are the plans," Cordelia pointed at the sheets on the table.
"Please everyone," Willow said, loud enough to be heard properly, "These are
the maps of the sewer system. If you aren't familiar with them, please take
one. We all need to know where everyone is at all times. Cordelia and I
tried to give you an estimate about how long you will need for the different
distances. Timing is utterly important."
"Willow's right," Angel agreed, "We also need to form groups. Spike I want
you to go with Faith and Kate. Take Xander with you."
"I suppose this isn't open for discussion," Xander tried to joke, not
looking forward to spending the night with Spike and maybe dying by his
side. Dying wasn't a nice thought in the first place, but dying with Spike
near by... well, talk about bad luck.
Angel ignored his comment and went on, "Gunn, you and your friends form one
group. Stay together no matter what. No lone stunts, is that understood? We
need to operate on our plan."
"I know," Gunn, replied, his eyes serious.
"Wesley I want you to go with them and you too, Giles," he addressed the
older watcher.
"Alright," they both nodded.
"Willow and Tara will go with Buffy and I. We will be the one closest to the
hellmouth and they need closeness for their spells to work."
"Plus we need supernatural protection while casting the spell," Tara came to
stand beside her lover. "We'll be quite helpless during the chanting."
"What about me?" Dawn asked feeling a little bit left out.
"You go home and wait until we're back," Buffy snapped.
"Hey," her sister protested, hands at her hips. "No way I'm just going
home."
"You go with Giles and Wesley," Angel interrupted their argument, giving his
lover a pleading glance. The dark-haired vampire would have usually
preferred to send the slayer's sister with one of the slayer groups, but
they would be closest to the danger and for this Gunn's group would be the
safest. If you could anything call safe tonight.
"Alright," Dawn said with a smile, and shot her sister a nasty look.
Buffy just rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay," she turned back to Angel.
"We're guessing that the whole thing will start around midnight. Willow and
Tara have calculated a constellation for that time that favors their plans.
The spell they worked out has to be cast exactly two minutes after midnight,
which means we need to get them in position at that time."
She looked at Spike and Faith, "We need you to create a distraction. It is
important that they only notice us the last possible moment. That gives Tara
and Willow more time to cast their spell unbothered." She checked her watch.
"It's exactly ten o'clock now. That gives us two hours to find our way
through the sewer system. We thought about approaching the hell mouth above
earth, but the sewer system is even closer and they might not expect us that
way."
"What about me?" Cordelia asked, realizing just now that her name hadn't
been mentioned when forming the groups.
"I want you to go to Buffy's house. Vampires can't get in. We need someone
to stay with the computer to help us if needed. And to coordinate our
actions," Angel replied.
She raised her brows, "And you think I can do that?"
"I know you can," he said calmly, giving her a smile.
After a moment she nodded, "I can," she said firmly. "Talking about
coordination. Didn't Riley say anything about coming tonight?"
****
"How serious is this?" Graham asked sitting beside his friend who was
driving a four-wheeler through the dark streets of Sunnydale.
"Serious," Riley replied, not taking his eyes from the road. He really
wasn't looking forward to the upcoming events, and even less appealing was
that he had to fight side by side with Buffy and Angel and probably watch
them. All he wanted to do was leave - as fast as possible. Of course it wasn't an
option.
"Well, you could be a little more specific," the other commando, said a
little bit annoyed. "Are we talking about serious or deadly serious?"
"Deadly serious, then add ten times more and you can guess," Riley said, his
voice grave.
Graham let his head fall back against the headrest and closed his eyes,
"Next time I ask," he said, "Just shoot me."
His reply was a short unhappy laugh, "I hate to say this, but it might not
be necessary after tonight. There is a very real possibility we - and with
us all humanity - might not survive the night."
"Did I ever tell you that our job sucks?" his friend said opening his eyes
again. "I would give a lot for some nice cold beer and a... WHOA," he
exclaimed, when suddenly someone appeared in the headlights of their car and
Riley stomped on the breaks, bringing the four-wheeler to a screeching halt.
"Are you crazy, stopping like that!" Graham shouted.
"Shut up," Riley snapped, jumping out of the car. "Are you alright," he
asked the girl who was looking at him with wide eyes.
"Y-yeah," she stuttered. "I'm sorry about this," she said, "but I recognized
you and I need to find Xander. Do you know where he is?"
"It's your lucky day," Riley grinned, "we're about to meet him. Just jump
in."
Anya gave him a grateful smile, and then climbed on the back seat while the
commando re-buckled his seat-belt and started the car again. "You know each
other, don't you," he asked Graham.
"Uh ... yeah. You're Xander's girlfriend," the brunette commando said.
"His fiancée," Anya replied haughtily. "But yeah. That's me. What are you
doing here?" The question was directed towards Riley.
"Our squad was moved, we were informed of the increasing energy of the hell
mouth."
She nodded, and leaned back into the seat.
"And you?" Riley asked. "Xander said you both had an argument."
"Did he?" she raised a brow. "Well, I guess we did. I told him it was stupid
to stay around for this, but of course he was digging in his heels and gave
me the whole speech about friends and stuff." She rolled her eyes, and then
let out a short laugh. She still wasn't quite sure why she came back. There
she was, a ticket to Hawaii in her hands and the very last second she hadn't
been able to go through with it.
"And why did you come back?" the blond commando asked after a moment.
"Beats me," she said, closing her eyes, "but I suppose I'm stupid too after
all."
... to be continued
When Buffy and Angel finally joined their friends in the hall of the
mansion, Gunn's friends had returned too. The only ones missing were Faith
and Spike but Cordelia assured vampire and slayer that the other two
fighters were just somewhere sparring.
The whole room was bouncing with activity and one could almost hear the
adrenaline pumping through everyone's veins. Gunn and Wesley were checking
weapons, Cordelia and Willow were busy printing out maps of the Sunnydale
sewer system for those not familiar with the location, while Tara was trying
to memorize spells.
Giles had already explained that because of the location of the hellmouth
they would move towards the ruin of Sunnydale High from different angles.
That meant they would be operating in groups and timing would be extremely
important.
Kate shut down her cell phone and joined the little group in the middle of
the room discussing the situation. "None of the lawyers left L.A.," she
informed them, but her eyes were on Angel. "I called one of my contacts who
- as you asked me - was watching the building. They're still there."
The vampire looked thoughtfully for a moment, and then said, "That's
what I thought. None of them wants to be directly involved, they just
provided the vampires with the information needed."
"They might be evil, but nobody said they were stupid," Wesley crossed his
arms in front of his chest. "Unfortunately, dealing with them would be a lot
easier if they weren't that clever."
"Hey guys, ready to rambo," Faith said, entering the hall from the back. Her
voice was unnaturally high and she avoided looking at anyone in particular.
Behind her Spike appeared wearing an expression well known to his
grand-sire.
Angel narrowed his eyes at them, a growl erupting from his chest. Startled
the others turned towards him. "Angel?" Buffy asked confused.
"It's okay," he replied, but didn't look at her, his eyes never leaving the
bleached blond vampire. "Spike," his voice wasn't more than a warning hiss.
"Peaches," his grand-childe grinned. That grin was enough to send Angel over
the edge. With another growl he was on other vampire's throat in an instant,
pinning the blond against the wall. Game face firmly in place, Angel hissed,
"If we didn't need you, I'd kill you right now."
Spike laughed, "What, you can get laid and I can't?"
"Don't. Push. Your. Luck," the older vampire warned. "Or I'll think twice
about your value."
"Why? You had your fun too - didn't think I could smell it."
"That's different, but why do I bother to explain this to you? You're
nothing but a filthy demon." With a disgusted sound Angel let go of the
younger vampire and turned away, his eyes meeting Faith's.
The brunette slayer could see the question in them and she shrugged, "Hey,
I'm a big girl, Angel."
"I know," the dark-haired vampire replied, putting a hand on her arm, "I
just don't want you to get hurt."
A half-grin appeared on her face, "Hey, it's not like he means anything to
me," she said, but her voice didn't sound convincing. "We had fun. I can
handle it, okay?"
He sighed, "Okay. But please be careful." He shot his grand-childe a
sidelong glance, that held another warning and was surprised to see
something close to hurt in Spike's eyes.
"I will," she assured him, squeezing his arm. "I will, okay?"
Angel looked at her for a long moment, then nodded and turned back to the
others who had followed the whole exchange with curious eyes. The vampire
could see understanding on the most faces, and the expected disgust on
Cordelia's. He saw she was about to comment, and slightly shook his head.
The brunette sighed, but obeyed. Now wasn't the time to mock. But she
certainly wouldn't forget about it. There was just too much yuck-factor
about the image.
"There are the plans," Cordelia pointed at the sheets on the table.
"Please everyone," Willow said, loud enough to be heard properly, "These are
the maps of the sewer system. If you aren't familiar with them, please take
one. We all need to know where everyone is at all times. Cordelia and I
tried to give you an estimate about how long you will need for the different
distances. Timing is utterly important."
"Willow's right," Angel agreed, "We also need to form groups. Spike I want
you to go with Faith and Kate. Take Xander with you."
"I suppose this isn't open for discussion," Xander tried to joke, not
looking forward to spending the night with Spike and maybe dying by his
side. Dying wasn't a nice thought in the first place, but dying with Spike
near by... well, talk about bad luck.
Angel ignored his comment and went on, "Gunn, you and your friends form one
group. Stay together no matter what. No lone stunts, is that understood? We
need to operate on our plan."
"I know," Gunn, replied, his eyes serious.
"Wesley I want you to go with them and you too, Giles," he addressed the
older watcher.
"Alright," they both nodded.
"Willow and Tara will go with Buffy and I. We will be the one closest to the
hellmouth and they need closeness for their spells to work."
"Plus we need supernatural protection while casting the spell," Tara came to
stand beside her lover. "We'll be quite helpless during the chanting."
"What about me?" Dawn asked feeling a little bit left out.
"You go home and wait until we're back," Buffy snapped.
"Hey," her sister protested, hands at her hips. "No way I'm just going
home."
"You go with Giles and Wesley," Angel interrupted their argument, giving his
lover a pleading glance. The dark-haired vampire would have usually
preferred to send the slayer's sister with one of the slayer groups, but
they would be closest to the danger and for this Gunn's group would be the
safest. If you could anything call safe tonight.
"Alright," Dawn said with a smile, and shot her sister a nasty look.
Buffy just rolled her eyes and sighed. "Okay," she turned back to Angel.
"We're guessing that the whole thing will start around midnight. Willow and
Tara have calculated a constellation for that time that favors their plans.
The spell they worked out has to be cast exactly two minutes after midnight,
which means we need to get them in position at that time."
She looked at Spike and Faith, "We need you to create a distraction. It is
important that they only notice us the last possible moment. That gives Tara
and Willow more time to cast their spell unbothered." She checked her watch.
"It's exactly ten o'clock now. That gives us two hours to find our way
through the sewer system. We thought about approaching the hell mouth above
earth, but the sewer system is even closer and they might not expect us that
way."
"What about me?" Cordelia asked, realizing just now that her name hadn't
been mentioned when forming the groups.
"I want you to go to Buffy's house. Vampires can't get in. We need someone
to stay with the computer to help us if needed. And to coordinate our
actions," Angel replied.
She raised her brows, "And you think I can do that?"
"I know you can," he said calmly, giving her a smile.
After a moment she nodded, "I can," she said firmly. "Talking about
coordination. Didn't Riley say anything about coming tonight?"
****
"How serious is this?" Graham asked sitting beside his friend who was
driving a four-wheeler through the dark streets of Sunnydale.
"Serious," Riley replied, not taking his eyes from the road. He really
wasn't looking forward to the upcoming events, and even less appealing was
that he had to fight side by side with Buffy and Angel and probably watch
them. All he wanted to do was leave - as fast as possible. Of course it wasn't an
option.
"Well, you could be a little more specific," the other commando, said a
little bit annoyed. "Are we talking about serious or deadly serious?"
"Deadly serious, then add ten times more and you can guess," Riley said, his
voice grave.
Graham let his head fall back against the headrest and closed his eyes,
"Next time I ask," he said, "Just shoot me."
His reply was a short unhappy laugh, "I hate to say this, but it might not
be necessary after tonight. There is a very real possibility we - and with
us all humanity - might not survive the night."
"Did I ever tell you that our job sucks?" his friend said opening his eyes
again. "I would give a lot for some nice cold beer and a... WHOA," he
exclaimed, when suddenly someone appeared in the headlights of their car and
Riley stomped on the breaks, bringing the four-wheeler to a screeching halt.
"Are you crazy, stopping like that!" Graham shouted.
"Shut up," Riley snapped, jumping out of the car. "Are you alright," he
asked the girl who was looking at him with wide eyes.
"Y-yeah," she stuttered. "I'm sorry about this," she said, "but I recognized
you and I need to find Xander. Do you know where he is?"
"It's your lucky day," Riley grinned, "we're about to meet him. Just jump
in."
Anya gave him a grateful smile, and then climbed on the back seat while the
commando re-buckled his seat-belt and started the car again. "You know each
other, don't you," he asked Graham.
"Uh ... yeah. You're Xander's girlfriend," the brunette commando said.
"His fiancée," Anya replied haughtily. "But yeah. That's me. What are you
doing here?" The question was directed towards Riley.
"Our squad was moved, we were informed of the increasing energy of the hell
mouth."
She nodded, and leaned back into the seat.
"And you?" Riley asked. "Xander said you both had an argument."
"Did he?" she raised a brow. "Well, I guess we did. I told him it was stupid
to stay around for this, but of course he was digging in his heels and gave
me the whole speech about friends and stuff." She rolled her eyes, and then
let out a short laugh. She still wasn't quite sure why she came back. There
she was, a ticket to Hawaii in her hands and the very last second she hadn't
been able to go through with it.
"And why did you come back?" the blond commando asked after a moment.
"Beats me," she said, closing her eyes, "but I suppose I'm stupid too after
all."
... to be continued