CHAPTER SIX: JUST WORDS
(For many many reasons I'm not just gonna re-write the episode 'Calvary'. First, it's too fricken long, second, it's kinda dull. If I skip from place to place, it's not cos I'm idiotic and didn't watch the whole episode, it's cos a lot of the info isn't necessary)
Wesley, Connor and Cordelia had left the hotel to go and visit the Shaman that had removed Angel's soul, while Fred, Gunn and Buffy stayed at the hotel. Lorne was contacting some of his contacts in case the shaman fell through.
Buffy was tempted to go back upstairs and sleep, but she stayed in the lobby watching the monitor, wanting nothing more than to go ad speak with Angel. Except that Angel was Angelus, and she didn't particularly want to speak with him. It hurt too much to see Angel's beautiful face without the soulful eyes.
"Awfully quiet up there," Angelus' voice came clearly through the monitor. "I've had time to think, and I've realized something important. Being evil is wrong. I want to be good. I want to be Angel again. You hear me? I'm ready!"
Buffy rubbed her eyes tiredly. Angelus was making a mockery of everything that Angel was, and she hated it.
"He knows, doesn't he? That his soul's missing," Fred asked.
Buffy just nodded. "He knows. He can probably hear us from down there."
Fred sighed. She very much hoped that when all of this mess with the Beast and Angelus was over, they would be able to have some sort of a break. She was desperate to see the sun again, and she wanted more than anything to take a vacation.
"I hope that shaman can help us," Fred said quietly.
"That shaman should never have been brought here. Now, instead of just worrying about the big bad Rocky, we got Darth Vampire living in the basement," Gunn said bitterly.
"You got the information you needed," Buffy said, rubbing her hands up and down her arms, trying to get some sort of warmth back into her skin. "It just came too late. That's not anyone's fault."
Gunn sighed. He was tired and annoyed, and more than a little pissed off at the entire situation. He'd walked in on Wesley and Fred seemingly after a kiss. It had led to a fistfight between he and Wesley, and Fred had ended up being hit. Things were looking slightly up though. Fred wasn't even glancing in Wesley's direction anymore, and she seemed to be spending more time looking at Gunn, which in his book was always a good thing. He knew that things had been rocky between them after having killed the Professor, but Gunn just wanted things back to how they'd been before.
"We shouldn't have taken his soul out," Gunn commented.
"You were pushing for it too Charles," Fred said quietly.
"Then maybe I did the wrong thing."
"Like smacking your girl around?" Angelus' voice asked from the monitor. "I betcha Wes would never hit her. He's all proper and English. And that accent - Oh, chicks just love a good accent. Makes 'em all buttery in their nether regions. Isn't that right, Fred? You know, I had a bit of an Irish brogue back in the day. If you'd like, I could use it on you when I rape you to death…or-"
Gunn switched the monitor off in disgust. "Son of a bitch."
"He's just…it's just words," Fred reminded him.
"Yeah."
"And that's the only way he can hurt us. He knows he's never getting out."
Fred looked towards Buffy, a helpless and hopelessly lost look on her face. Buffy didn't seem to be faring any better. In the silence of the hotel lobby, Buffy's cell phone rang loudly making Gunn, Fred and Buffy all jump at the sound. Buffy sighed and reached into her pocket.
"Yeah?"
"Buffy?"
"Giles, what's up?"
"You didn't check in," he reminded her.
Buffy sighed softly. She'd been meaning to call, but she'd got a little side-tracked.
"I'm sorry. I meant to call. Things are a little…well, crazed just doesn't seem to cover how nuts it is around here," Buffy said.
"And Angel?"
"He's Angelus," Buffy explained.
She heard Giles' sharp intake of breath. Buffy closed her eyes, hating that her Watcher was still being affected by what Angelus had done to him so many years ago. She knew that Giles had never dealt with being captured, and she hated that Angelus still held such power over him.
"How bad is it?"
"He's looked in a cage actually," Buffy replied. "They took his soul out on purpose, took all the precautions." Except the one that says to NOT lose the soul while it's out of his body.
"Good, good."
"How're things there?" Buffy asked.
"Quiet," he replied. "The girls were terribly wound up, but they're all sleeping now. And I've received word that another three Potentials will be arriving sometime tomorrow."
"Another three?" Buffy asked. "Where am I supposed to put these girls? The house isn't that big."
"We'll manage," Giles assured her. "We always do."
"You'll call if things get too bad?" Buffy asked.
"Of course. You'll keep me updated?" he asked, a hint of reprimand in his voice.
"I meant to call, honest," Buffy said, pouting slightly.
Giles chuckled and Buffy could picture him shaking his head.
"I'll be in touch," she promised him seriously. She hung up the cell phone and returned it to the back pocket of her jeans.
Gunn and Fred were studying her curiously when she turned to look at them. It was as though they were seeing her for the first time. They hadn't given too much thought as to what she'd left behind her in Sunnydale.
"How bad are things there?" Fred asked quietly.
"Well, we've still got sunlight, which is slightly better than you guys," Buffy replied lightly. "I've somehow managed to become a boarding house for the Potential Slayers. There's about eight other people in my house besides my sister and I. Some big bad evil is trying to kill them all, and I've been elected as their protector."
Fred and Gunn winced sympathetically.
"Talk about pressure," Gunn commented.
Buffy nodded. "It's not entirely fun."
The Slayer sighed and looked at the blank monitor. She looked up at Fred and Gunn and knew that they needed some alone-time in a bad way.
"I'm gonna go downstairs," Buffy said. "Just to watch him."
Neither Fred nor Gunn fought with her, just nodding silently as she left the room. Fred could only hope that they could finally talk about what had been bothering them for the last few weeks. She wanted desperately to crawl into Gunn's arms and stay there.
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Buffy walked quietly down the stairs. She knew she couldn't sneak up on Angelus, but the hunter within Buffy instinctively knew to keep quiet. She wasn't wrong. Standing in front of a cage was a woman that Buffy didn't know and hadn't seen before. Angelus looked past the woman towards Buffy on the stairs. He smiled a little, the seductive half-smile of Angel's that had always made Buffy's breath catch in her throat.
Lilah Morgan turned, wanting a glimpse of whatever Angelus was staring at over her shoulder. She looked up at the stairs but saw nothing there. She turned back to Angelus who was still wearing the creepy half-smile.
"Can you do it, or not?" Lilah asked testily.
"Mmm, why is your thong in such a bunch, counsellor? You're a professional," Angelus said, still looking over Lilah's shoulder to where Buffy stood hidden in the shadows, standing perfectly still.
"Working the sewers. Beast took everything. Killed them all."
"It's all the damage. He does have a flair for it," Angelus replied calmly.
"Not just at the office. Everybody. Field ops. Liaisons. People out sick that day. But not me. Not yet. Why is he picking on us? We're the bad guys!" Lilah said, exasperation clear in her voice.
Buffy rolled her eyes. She'd just worked out who this woman was. She'd been hearing of Lilah Morgan from Wolfram & Hart for years. She had feeling that the woman in front of the cage was she.
"Apparently, not bad enough," Angelus taunted. "But there is a bright side - you have a devoted boyfriend who loves and cares - oh, wait. You don't. Your life really is crap."
"And yet, I'm not the monkey in the box. I want that thing destroyed. You're the only one who can do it," Lilah said.
Buffy couldn't stand it anymore. She'd never been one for passivity anyway. She quietly stepped forward so that she was standing beside Lilah. Angelus smirked when Lilah jumped away in fright, startled by the sudden appearance of the silent girl.
"Lilah Morgan," Buffy said softly. "We meet at last."
Angelus chuckled. "You sound like a detective in a C-Grade film, lover."
Buffy just shrugged nonchalantly. "So?"
Angelus leant against the bars casually, enjoying Lilah's frazzled nerves. The Wolfram & Hart lawyer was usually so calm and collected. Seeing her nervous was always a good thing.
"You're the Slayer?" Lilah asked, Buffy's identity coming to her when Angelus called her 'lover'.
Lilah had seen photos of Buffy Summers, but she'd never taken notice of the fine print. Buffy was a good three inches shorter than Lilah, with a sweet and honest face. She didn't seem like a killer, though Lilah knew better than to underestimate Slayers. After her run-in with Faith, she wasn't about to think lightly of the power that these girls yielded.
"That'd be me," Buffy replied.
"A Slayer mated to a vampire," Lilah commented. "I never thought I'd see the day."
"You might wanna be nice to her Lilah," Angelus suggested. "I mean, if you've got demon problems, then Blondie here's probably gonna be a good shot at getting rid of them. Though I doubt she'd do it just because you asked her to. She's more into the 'saving the people' crap that Soulboy does."
"So eloquent," Buffy commented.
There was a sudden pounding down the stairs and Lilah took off quickly, not wanting to be caught. Gunn aimed the tranquilliser gun and shot at Angelus. The Vampire winced before dropping heavily to the ground.
Wesley made it down the stairs just as Angelus fell to the ground.
"Lilah," Gunn said to Wesley, pointing to where she'd run to. "Ran off into the sewers."
Wesley quickly took off in her direction. Connor went to follow.
"Connor, wait! You should wait here, make sure it isn't a setup. Might be others," Gunn warned.
Connor reluctantly stayed. He was itching for a good fight, and he didn't particularly want to be anywhere near Angelus. He walked to where Buffy stood, watching Angelus laying on the floor.
"Check the locks," Gunn instructed, the tranquilliser gun still aimed at the sleeping vampire. Gunn wasn't about to take any risks.
Connor quickly checked the locks and was satisfied that Lilah hadn't damaged them.
"I thought everyone from Wolfram & Hart was dead," Fred commented.
Gunn had thought something similar. Then again, Lilah Morgan did seem to have a knack for getting herself out of sticky situations.
"Maybe she's working with the Beast," Connor suggested. "Doing it's dirty work."
"It would explain how giant lava boy could tiptoe past us to take out Manny," Cordelia commented.
Fred looked towards Cordelia thoughtfully. "Even though Lilah's evil, I don't see her hacking up all those people."
"OK, maybe it's not just her. Maybe…maybe the big bad Beast had minions doing his dirty work," Gunn suggested.
Angelus woke up and shifted his position a little. "Morons." Fred moved back uncomfortably. She really didn't like Angelus. "The big rock doesn't have minions. It is the minion."
"No, it's not. We've seen what it can do," Fred replied resolutely.
After the rain of fire from the other week, and the blackening of the sun, Fred was convinced that the Beast was one of the most powerful beings of evil that they would ever encounter. Of course, after meeting Angelus, she was beginning to rethink that theory.
"You've just seen the warm-up act," Angelus said.
"What are you saying?" Cordelia asked.
Buffy rolled her eyes and answered before Angelus had a chance. "He's saying that the Beast isn't the big bad. He's the little bad working for a bigger bigger bad."
Angelus laughed at the affronted expression on Cordelia's face. Buffy turned to look at him, giving him a small grin. Angelus couldn't understand why, but he genuinely respected the tiny Slayer, and couldn't help but wonder about why she was so open with him. So completely unafraid around him. It was a distinct contrast to their last confrontation five years ago, and Angelus was relishing it.
"That's not possible," Cordelia said quietly.
"How did you survive this long being so retarded?" Angelus asked mockingly.
Buffy stifled a giggle. It sounded so strange coming from Angel's mouth that she couldn't help but laugh.
"How do you know there's something worse than the Beast?" Connor asked forcefully.
"Cos I have a brain, son," Angelus replied snarkily. Connor refused to give in to the instinct to take a step back at Angelus' tone. He wouldn't show fear to this monster. "The Beast I knew was big into smash and slaughter. Had the brawn to be really good at it too, but the big picture - not his strong point. But whoa! Flash forward. Now he's all rain of fire, destroying the Ra-Tet, blotting out the sun. Big moves for a guy whose head is made out of rock. There's something else out there - more powerful, more vicious - pulling all the strings. Ooh, don't know about you, but I'm just dying to find out what it is."
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Thank you all so much for your reviews! Was not expecting this much of a response for this fic, but I'm absolutely loving it!! Oo, good news. I actually finished writing this fic last night!! How exciting is that?! (Well, it's exciting for me at least…) It's nearly 140 pages and 25 chapters long. *grins* Again, thank you all for your reviews!
Toodles.