Part 34: The Best-Laid Plans
#
Buffy looked around Giles' living room and could not help a little smile blooming on her face. Yes, things were still grim. Last night she had woken up screaming again, the faces of Faith and Jackson King burned onto the inside of her eyelids. She still had very little idea how to handle the fact that, because of her actions, two human beings were now dead. For the moment, though, she was able to put all of that aside.
All her friends were here. This was actually the first full Scooby meeting in a long time, was it not? The last one was probably when the whole gang had gathered at the Summers' home for dinner, the day they had told Riley about the Huntsman. Quite a few things had changed since then.
Willow, Xander, Anya, and the new girl called Tara were sharing the couch. The blonde witch seemed to be a bit awkward about being included here, but Buffy gave her an encouraging smile. Not only had Tara given them valuable insight into the nature of the Slayer and the Huntsman, she had also proven to be quite proficient when it came to research. Giles had already praised her for her help, something that had caused the witch to blush furiously.
Giles was sitting in a separate chair, several pieces of paper and one huge book in his lap. The papers were faxes from the Council, but none of them knew yet what they contained. Wesley was sitting beside Giles, his own lap filled with yet more papers. Doyle was leaning against the wall beside them, looking a bit hung over. He had heard about Willy's bar from someone and spent quite a few hours there last night.
"So, Giles?" Buffy began when everyone had settled down, her and Angel sharing Giles' big armchair. "What's the news from the English guys?"
"We are not quite sure yet," Giles said, indicating himself and Wesley. "As you know the Council has activated the Huntsman for several reasons."
"One of them being extreme stupidity?" Xander asked non-jokingly.
"Less a reason, more an accompanying circumstance, I would say. Nevertheless they did have their reasons. The Council is in possession of several fragments of the scrolls of Aberjan, an ancient collection of prophecies."
Quite a few people around the room groaned when the word prophecy was mentioned, Buffy among them. Prophecies never added up to anything good in her book.
"What translations we have," Giles continued, "are ... inconclusive. It seems there will be a big battle sometime in the near future. A kind of ... well, final battle. Showdown between light and dark."
"The End of Days," Angel murmured. "The Mhora said something about the End of Days coming."
"During my time in Los Angeles," Wesley added, "I have had several ... encounters with Wolfram & Hart, a law firm that represents demons and dabbles in the supernatural."
"Evil lawyers?" Willow asked. "Isn't that kind of ..."
"Redundant?" Xander offered.
Wesley looked at the two teenagers for a moment, but then continued. "With the help of a local cop, a woman who has had her own rather unpleasant encounters with both the demonic and Wolfram & Hart, I was able to ... acquire something from them. Another fragment of the scrolls of Aberjan. Mr. Giles and myself have worked these last few days, trying to fit the two pieces we have together."
"The fragment Wesley brought mentions several key players in the coming battle. We can't be sure at this point, of course, but Wesley and I both believe that," he hesitated a moment, looking at Buffy and Angel, "well, that the two of you are going to be ... in the mix, so to speak."
"In what way?" Buffy asked.
"Uncertain, I fear," Wesley said apologetically. "So far the only thing we know definitely is that there are more pieces of the scroll out there somewhere. We will need them to make sense of everything."
"We should consult the Oracles about this," Angel said. "Doyle, you feeling up for a trip to Los Angeles?"
He had a lot of questions for the Oracles, questions that went beyond these prophecies. Why had they not told him about the Huntsman? Why had they not warned him what would happen to Faith if he and Buffy closed the bond between them?
"As long as you are driving, man," Doyle muttered. "I knew I should have stayed away from that demon brew."
Buffy's smile had faded bit by bit as Giles explained about yet another prophecy, but vanished completely upon the mere suggestion that Angel might be leaving town.
"Aren't we forgetting something here?" she asked the assembled crowd, resulting in everyone looking at her. "Burke's reinforcements are probably here by now and they will be looking to hunt down Team 666. I think that's the more immediate problem, wouldn't you say?"
Giles looked at his Slayer, having seen the brief look of panic on her face when Doyle mentioned Angel driving with him to Los Angeles. He silently agreed with her that it was probably not a good idea to separate the two of them this soon after the establishment of their bond, though probably for different reasons. From the stories they had read Huntsman and Slayer had never reacted all that well to being separated from each other.
"Wesley, why don't you accompany Doyle to Los Angeles and find out what you can from these Oracles."
The other ex-Watcher nodded, looking rather excited. "This should be quite interesting."
"In the meantime," Giles looked at the others, "Buffy is right. We should do something to try and put an end to this situation with Burke's people and Team 666. If for no other reason than to give us some breathing room before this prophecy becomes reality."
"I don't see how we can resolve this without a fight," Angel said. "From everything Burke said he has orders from rather high up to eliminate Team 666. He considers them a threat to national security."
"Burke isn't the one we have to convince to back off. It's those 666 guys who have to go. If we can convince them that this is not a replay of Project Inferno I'm sure they're gonna leave us alone."
"And how are you going to do that?" Xander asked. "They've seen you fight, Buff. They've seen King go mental on them and Burke's men. I'd say that, from their side, this all looks like one big déjà vu from their own bad old days."
"There is also the matter of accountability," Giles reminded her. "While I agree that these people have suffered terribly, that does not give them the right to do what they did. They killed people, Buffy."
And not by accident, he added silently. He was sure Buffy was still blaming herself for the deaths of King and Faith.
"So it's okay to let Burke kill them in turn?" Buffy asked him. "From what he said his superiors don't even consider them human anymore, Giles. They won't get a trial. They won't be sent to prison. They'll be put down like animals."
Even as she said these words Buffy heard her own mind argue against itself. They were killers. They had been wronged terribly. It was all just a mistake. Yes, a mistake that got at least two people killed so far. They were half-demon. They were half-human. They had attacker hed, tried to kill her. It was all just one big misunderstanding.
Below these thoughts she could feel the humming of power nestled deep within her. Ever since the bond with the Huntsman, with Angel, had become fully active she felt that part of herself that was the Slayer more acutely than ever before. It was no longer just something that sprang up in the middle of combat or hummed softly when a vampire was near. It was like another layer of thought, a second set of eyes looking out into the world with its own special point of view.
The Slayer had no conflict of morals in this matter. The members of Team 666 were killers, their hands stained with human blood. They needed to be hunted down and killed.
"What would you have us do, Buffy?" Xander asked. "Let's say you can get these guys to back off. What's to stop them from going postal on someone else who might be a little too interested in the whole demon thing? Hey, the owner of that magic shop has a book on summoning demons. Let's kill him before he might turn some innocent people into half-breeds."
"You're not helping, Xander," Willow chided him, though she looked torn herself.
"If Burke goes after them," Buffy reminded the others, "right or wrong, a lot of people are gonna get killed. Do we want that?"
Everyone present shook their heads.
"We should try talking to them," Angel finally said. "Buffy is right, once they are gone Burke is gonna stand down. If all else fails Buffy and I will have to take them down before Burke can. Then we can try and figure some way to balance the scales here."
"Can you take them down?" Willow asked. "From what you told us about them they sound quite powerful."
"Taking them down will be the smaller problem, I think," Angel said in a low voice. "Doing it without killing them will be a lot tougher."
#
Considering all the thinking that had gone into this plan, such as it was, the first part was almost ridiculously simple. They knew that Team 666 had to be holed up somewhere in Sunnydale, which was not that big a town. Only a limited number of hotels and motels.
After the battle at the warehouse, not to mention her first encounter with the werewoman called Julia, Buffy had a feel for the demonic half-breeds. Every kind of demon felt different to her Slayer senses and these strange soldiers were no different. With her old range of abilities Buffy would still have needed days, maybe weeks to sweep Sunnydale and zero in on them, if it had worked at all.
Now, though, with her senses expanded by the union with the Huntsman, it was only a matter of hours. They took Angel's car and drove crisscross through Sunnydale, following a route that would lead them past all the hotels and motels in the smallest amount of time. It had actually taken Willow more time to assemble and print out the list of possible accommodations than it took them to make use of it and find their prey.
Buffy's senses began to tingle when they passed the Sunnydale Roadside Motel, a cheap establishment near the outskirts of town, not far from the interstate. They drove closer and moments later Angel was able to sense them as well. He had never encountered them before, but the strange, jumbled mass of sensations and scents that seemed to belong to half a dozen demon species mixed together was not easily missed.
Angel pulled into the parking lot and Buffy took out his cell phone, quickly dialing Giles' number.
"We found them," she said without preamble. "You ready?"
"As we can be," Giles voiced came from the other end.
The rest of the gang, minus Doyle and Wesley, had stayed at Giles' apartment and prepared a contingency plan, just in case the whole diplomacy angle did not work out. Xander and Willow had wanted to come along first, but Buffy and Angel had convinced them that this made more sense. The Slayer and the Huntsman combined had all the fighting skill and strength they could ever ask for, and then some. Their friends would only be endangered by coming along.
There was another way they could be of help, though. Just in case worst came to worst.
"Okay, let's go," Buffy told Angel and they got out of the car.
It took them but a moment to zero in on the right room. Their senses were tingling like crazy now, the proximity of the strange half-breeds unmistakable. The predators inside them hungered for combat, but they both kept a strict reign on those urges. At least for now. They would first try and talk.
Angel went up and knocked on the door.
Nothing happened for almost a full minute, then they could hear someone approaching from the other side. Someone amazingly quiet. Mere human senses would never have made out his footfalls. They also heard the sound of several weapons being readied.
Thankfully no one started shooting straight away. The door opened slightly and a voice was heard from inside.
"What do you want here?"
"We just want to talk," Buffy said calmly. "We are unarmed and alone."
The fact that these people had seen her fight before made her statement a little less innocent and harmless than it might have been otherwise, but that could not be helped. Odds were they would consider Angel as dangerous as her simply by association. Trying to appear harmless would not work for either of them.
The door opened another bit and now they could see a face. Mentally subtracting twenty years, Buffy recognized Daniel Stone from the photograph she had seen. According to the file he had been the commander of this team, probably still was.
"Forgive us for being a little lacking in the trust department," he said grimly.
"Considering that your wolf friend tried to kill me without provocation the first time we met, you could cut me a little slack, I think."
Stone's eyes narrowed and for a moment Buffy thought he would be using those telekinetic powers of his she had experienced before. Nothing happened, though. Not yet, at least.
"What do we have to talk about?" he asked instead.
"How about the fact that you think I am a result of this Project Inferno you all went through? How about the fact that you are completely wrong about that?"
He clearly did not believe her, but no one started shooting, either. Buffy took that as something of a good sign.
"Would you not rather talk than start fighting again?" Angel asked. "We can resolve this now without more people dying."
Angel and Stone stared each other down for a long moment, neither of them blinking. Then, without taking his eyes off them, Stone took a step back and opened the door fully.
"Come on in then," he invited. "Let's talk."
Despite the fact that he did not sound like someone interested in amiable conversation Buffy and Angel both followed his invitation, stepping inside.
#
Both Slayer and Huntsman, as well as the members of Team 666, would have inevitably heard, seen, or smelled anyone sneaking up on them. Most magical forms of surveillance would also not have gone unnoticed.
The device fastened to the underside of Angel's car was, unfortunately, one hundred percent high-tech and non-magical. It also told the people monitoring its frequency exactly where it was and allowed them to home in on it.
TO BE CONTINUED
#
Buffy looked around Giles' living room and could not help a little smile blooming on her face. Yes, things were still grim. Last night she had woken up screaming again, the faces of Faith and Jackson King burned onto the inside of her eyelids. She still had very little idea how to handle the fact that, because of her actions, two human beings were now dead. For the moment, though, she was able to put all of that aside.
All her friends were here. This was actually the first full Scooby meeting in a long time, was it not? The last one was probably when the whole gang had gathered at the Summers' home for dinner, the day they had told Riley about the Huntsman. Quite a few things had changed since then.
Willow, Xander, Anya, and the new girl called Tara were sharing the couch. The blonde witch seemed to be a bit awkward about being included here, but Buffy gave her an encouraging smile. Not only had Tara given them valuable insight into the nature of the Slayer and the Huntsman, she had also proven to be quite proficient when it came to research. Giles had already praised her for her help, something that had caused the witch to blush furiously.
Giles was sitting in a separate chair, several pieces of paper and one huge book in his lap. The papers were faxes from the Council, but none of them knew yet what they contained. Wesley was sitting beside Giles, his own lap filled with yet more papers. Doyle was leaning against the wall beside them, looking a bit hung over. He had heard about Willy's bar from someone and spent quite a few hours there last night.
"So, Giles?" Buffy began when everyone had settled down, her and Angel sharing Giles' big armchair. "What's the news from the English guys?"
"We are not quite sure yet," Giles said, indicating himself and Wesley. "As you know the Council has activated the Huntsman for several reasons."
"One of them being extreme stupidity?" Xander asked non-jokingly.
"Less a reason, more an accompanying circumstance, I would say. Nevertheless they did have their reasons. The Council is in possession of several fragments of the scrolls of Aberjan, an ancient collection of prophecies."
Quite a few people around the room groaned when the word prophecy was mentioned, Buffy among them. Prophecies never added up to anything good in her book.
"What translations we have," Giles continued, "are ... inconclusive. It seems there will be a big battle sometime in the near future. A kind of ... well, final battle. Showdown between light and dark."
"The End of Days," Angel murmured. "The Mhora said something about the End of Days coming."
"During my time in Los Angeles," Wesley added, "I have had several ... encounters with Wolfram & Hart, a law firm that represents demons and dabbles in the supernatural."
"Evil lawyers?" Willow asked. "Isn't that kind of ..."
"Redundant?" Xander offered.
Wesley looked at the two teenagers for a moment, but then continued. "With the help of a local cop, a woman who has had her own rather unpleasant encounters with both the demonic and Wolfram & Hart, I was able to ... acquire something from them. Another fragment of the scrolls of Aberjan. Mr. Giles and myself have worked these last few days, trying to fit the two pieces we have together."
"The fragment Wesley brought mentions several key players in the coming battle. We can't be sure at this point, of course, but Wesley and I both believe that," he hesitated a moment, looking at Buffy and Angel, "well, that the two of you are going to be ... in the mix, so to speak."
"In what way?" Buffy asked.
"Uncertain, I fear," Wesley said apologetically. "So far the only thing we know definitely is that there are more pieces of the scroll out there somewhere. We will need them to make sense of everything."
"We should consult the Oracles about this," Angel said. "Doyle, you feeling up for a trip to Los Angeles?"
He had a lot of questions for the Oracles, questions that went beyond these prophecies. Why had they not told him about the Huntsman? Why had they not warned him what would happen to Faith if he and Buffy closed the bond between them?
"As long as you are driving, man," Doyle muttered. "I knew I should have stayed away from that demon brew."
Buffy's smile had faded bit by bit as Giles explained about yet another prophecy, but vanished completely upon the mere suggestion that Angel might be leaving town.
"Aren't we forgetting something here?" she asked the assembled crowd, resulting in everyone looking at her. "Burke's reinforcements are probably here by now and they will be looking to hunt down Team 666. I think that's the more immediate problem, wouldn't you say?"
Giles looked at his Slayer, having seen the brief look of panic on her face when Doyle mentioned Angel driving with him to Los Angeles. He silently agreed with her that it was probably not a good idea to separate the two of them this soon after the establishment of their bond, though probably for different reasons. From the stories they had read Huntsman and Slayer had never reacted all that well to being separated from each other.
"Wesley, why don't you accompany Doyle to Los Angeles and find out what you can from these Oracles."
The other ex-Watcher nodded, looking rather excited. "This should be quite interesting."
"In the meantime," Giles looked at the others, "Buffy is right. We should do something to try and put an end to this situation with Burke's people and Team 666. If for no other reason than to give us some breathing room before this prophecy becomes reality."
"I don't see how we can resolve this without a fight," Angel said. "From everything Burke said he has orders from rather high up to eliminate Team 666. He considers them a threat to national security."
"Burke isn't the one we have to convince to back off. It's those 666 guys who have to go. If we can convince them that this is not a replay of Project Inferno I'm sure they're gonna leave us alone."
"And how are you going to do that?" Xander asked. "They've seen you fight, Buff. They've seen King go mental on them and Burke's men. I'd say that, from their side, this all looks like one big déjà vu from their own bad old days."
"There is also the matter of accountability," Giles reminded her. "While I agree that these people have suffered terribly, that does not give them the right to do what they did. They killed people, Buffy."
And not by accident, he added silently. He was sure Buffy was still blaming herself for the deaths of King and Faith.
"So it's okay to let Burke kill them in turn?" Buffy asked him. "From what he said his superiors don't even consider them human anymore, Giles. They won't get a trial. They won't be sent to prison. They'll be put down like animals."
Even as she said these words Buffy heard her own mind argue against itself. They were killers. They had been wronged terribly. It was all just a mistake. Yes, a mistake that got at least two people killed so far. They were half-demon. They were half-human. They had attacker hed, tried to kill her. It was all just one big misunderstanding.
Below these thoughts she could feel the humming of power nestled deep within her. Ever since the bond with the Huntsman, with Angel, had become fully active she felt that part of herself that was the Slayer more acutely than ever before. It was no longer just something that sprang up in the middle of combat or hummed softly when a vampire was near. It was like another layer of thought, a second set of eyes looking out into the world with its own special point of view.
The Slayer had no conflict of morals in this matter. The members of Team 666 were killers, their hands stained with human blood. They needed to be hunted down and killed.
"What would you have us do, Buffy?" Xander asked. "Let's say you can get these guys to back off. What's to stop them from going postal on someone else who might be a little too interested in the whole demon thing? Hey, the owner of that magic shop has a book on summoning demons. Let's kill him before he might turn some innocent people into half-breeds."
"You're not helping, Xander," Willow chided him, though she looked torn herself.
"If Burke goes after them," Buffy reminded the others, "right or wrong, a lot of people are gonna get killed. Do we want that?"
Everyone present shook their heads.
"We should try talking to them," Angel finally said. "Buffy is right, once they are gone Burke is gonna stand down. If all else fails Buffy and I will have to take them down before Burke can. Then we can try and figure some way to balance the scales here."
"Can you take them down?" Willow asked. "From what you told us about them they sound quite powerful."
"Taking them down will be the smaller problem, I think," Angel said in a low voice. "Doing it without killing them will be a lot tougher."
#
Considering all the thinking that had gone into this plan, such as it was, the first part was almost ridiculously simple. They knew that Team 666 had to be holed up somewhere in Sunnydale, which was not that big a town. Only a limited number of hotels and motels.
After the battle at the warehouse, not to mention her first encounter with the werewoman called Julia, Buffy had a feel for the demonic half-breeds. Every kind of demon felt different to her Slayer senses and these strange soldiers were no different. With her old range of abilities Buffy would still have needed days, maybe weeks to sweep Sunnydale and zero in on them, if it had worked at all.
Now, though, with her senses expanded by the union with the Huntsman, it was only a matter of hours. They took Angel's car and drove crisscross through Sunnydale, following a route that would lead them past all the hotels and motels in the smallest amount of time. It had actually taken Willow more time to assemble and print out the list of possible accommodations than it took them to make use of it and find their prey.
Buffy's senses began to tingle when they passed the Sunnydale Roadside Motel, a cheap establishment near the outskirts of town, not far from the interstate. They drove closer and moments later Angel was able to sense them as well. He had never encountered them before, but the strange, jumbled mass of sensations and scents that seemed to belong to half a dozen demon species mixed together was not easily missed.
Angel pulled into the parking lot and Buffy took out his cell phone, quickly dialing Giles' number.
"We found them," she said without preamble. "You ready?"
"As we can be," Giles voiced came from the other end.
The rest of the gang, minus Doyle and Wesley, had stayed at Giles' apartment and prepared a contingency plan, just in case the whole diplomacy angle did not work out. Xander and Willow had wanted to come along first, but Buffy and Angel had convinced them that this made more sense. The Slayer and the Huntsman combined had all the fighting skill and strength they could ever ask for, and then some. Their friends would only be endangered by coming along.
There was another way they could be of help, though. Just in case worst came to worst.
"Okay, let's go," Buffy told Angel and they got out of the car.
It took them but a moment to zero in on the right room. Their senses were tingling like crazy now, the proximity of the strange half-breeds unmistakable. The predators inside them hungered for combat, but they both kept a strict reign on those urges. At least for now. They would first try and talk.
Angel went up and knocked on the door.
Nothing happened for almost a full minute, then they could hear someone approaching from the other side. Someone amazingly quiet. Mere human senses would never have made out his footfalls. They also heard the sound of several weapons being readied.
Thankfully no one started shooting straight away. The door opened slightly and a voice was heard from inside.
"What do you want here?"
"We just want to talk," Buffy said calmly. "We are unarmed and alone."
The fact that these people had seen her fight before made her statement a little less innocent and harmless than it might have been otherwise, but that could not be helped. Odds were they would consider Angel as dangerous as her simply by association. Trying to appear harmless would not work for either of them.
The door opened another bit and now they could see a face. Mentally subtracting twenty years, Buffy recognized Daniel Stone from the photograph she had seen. According to the file he had been the commander of this team, probably still was.
"Forgive us for being a little lacking in the trust department," he said grimly.
"Considering that your wolf friend tried to kill me without provocation the first time we met, you could cut me a little slack, I think."
Stone's eyes narrowed and for a moment Buffy thought he would be using those telekinetic powers of his she had experienced before. Nothing happened, though. Not yet, at least.
"What do we have to talk about?" he asked instead.
"How about the fact that you think I am a result of this Project Inferno you all went through? How about the fact that you are completely wrong about that?"
He clearly did not believe her, but no one started shooting, either. Buffy took that as something of a good sign.
"Would you not rather talk than start fighting again?" Angel asked. "We can resolve this now without more people dying."
Angel and Stone stared each other down for a long moment, neither of them blinking. Then, without taking his eyes off them, Stone took a step back and opened the door fully.
"Come on in then," he invited. "Let's talk."
Despite the fact that he did not sound like someone interested in amiable conversation Buffy and Angel both followed his invitation, stepping inside.
#
Both Slayer and Huntsman, as well as the members of Team 666, would have inevitably heard, seen, or smelled anyone sneaking up on them. Most magical forms of surveillance would also not have gone unnoticed.
The device fastened to the underside of Angel's car was, unfortunately, one hundred percent high-tech and non-magical. It also told the people monitoring its frequency exactly where it was and allowed them to home in on it.
TO BE CONTINUED