Cardiff, Wales
10.30.am
Alliances made
(old friends and ghosts from the past)
Giles and Joyce were the first to come. As promised, a silent man met them at the aiport and led them to a private jet. They were welcomed onboard by a stewardess and the captain. Everything was done to make their flight as comfortable as possible. And after a while they began feeling like royalty. They almost forgot why they were on their way to Wales. Almost.
The thought that somewhere, someone was experiencing now what they had 17 years ago made their hearts ache with symphatie and sorrow." And as a tag of fear in them was the thought: What if The Invulnenerable were still alive, and teamed up with Enya? Neither Rupert, nor Joyce thought they could bear seeing The Invulnerable again.
Not to mention that she would probably torture them to death.
Finally they landed on Cardiff airport, where a black limo waited for them. Driving them to Christopher's mansion. Giles hadn't seen or spoken to his little brother for many years now. They had parted after all that the Council had done to Buffy, and later Faith when she tried to get control over her life again.
But now they were forced to meet again.
A butler greeted Rupert and Joyce, telling them that Christopher was sleeping upstairs, but that they should feel free to walk around the first floor and garden. The garden, or rather the park, so big was it, was absolutelly beautifull, and they lost themselves there for a while. As they walked through the house, Rupert was impressed, by the elegant taste his brother had shown when furnishing and decorating the house. But when they entered the livingroom, he allso noticed a table with one chair for each of the Slayerettes, plus one more. And on the table at each setting, laid a bottle of holy water and a wooden stake. A sight that again brought their thoughts back to why they were there in the first place.
They were in the garden again, when the others began to arrive.
Within the span of an hour the whole gang was together for the first time since Buffy died. It would have been a happy reunion under different circumstances. After a brief exchange on their lives for the past fifteen years, they where led upstairs by the butler.
Giles hesitated a moment before he walked in to his brother, mentally preparing himself for what he would be seeing. Then he opened the door and they stepped in.
Christopher lay in a bed surrounded by hospital equipment."He sat against a mountain of pillows, various tubes and wires connected to him." He was pale and sweat drops ran down his forehead. His face twisted in obvious pain.
"Rupert," he said to his older brother.
"I have been a jerk. You were right all the time. Saying the Council should be more closely in touch with the Slayer. The old ways need to be changed. I can't say how sorry I am for all the damage I have caused. But there is nothing I can do about it now. Done is done. Now the only thing left to do is to try and save what's possible to save. But to do that I need you and your friends' help. And I need you to cooperate with the most unsuspected ally."
"Because the one I can thank for keeping my life is no other than The Invulnerable. Why she helped me, I do not know. I just know that she says that she isn't that keen on world destruction. But after all her Sire was Spike. And he was known to fight against world destruction. He said he liked the food supply or something like that. There is no reason to trust her on anything else. But this time I think we can. And the fact is, we don't have a choice. She is the only one powerful enough to go up against Enya."
"Are you insane," Giles shouted. "There is no way that I will work with that monster. I don't want to end up like some mutilated corps or worse!"
"You have to," his brother hissed and started coughing. When he finally could breathe normally he looked up at his older brother. "Rupert, we don't have a choice. We have to save the world remember. And the only way to do that is this. But I really think she will help us, as crazy as it sounds. She said she had unfinished business with Enya. And never have I seen such hatred, as what she directs toward Enya". What ever has happened, it's personal between the two of them. But now you must go down. Its time for my daily bandage change," he said as a nurse came in. "Go to the living room and wait there for her. I have laid some supplies there to make you feel a little bit more secure. And later if you should need anything, just ask my butler. Now. Good luck," he said and waved them out.
Giles looked at all the familiar faces that surrounded him. They had all been called to the leader of the Council in a hurry. Plane tickets paid, transport from the airport and everything. All of them were as frightened as they could be. They walked into the luxurious living room. The butler told them to wait there, and Ms Summers would arrive soon.
They looked around and found the table with one chair for each of them and the extra one they now knew was for The Invulnerable. Giles had this creeping feeling down his neck the moment before a door opened, and a woman came in.
Clad in unfrigthening jeans and a sweater, the woman still sent shivers of fear run down their spine. This woman they knew all too well. In front of them stood The Invulnerable. A vampire that once had been their dear daughter, friend, lover, love, rival, lifesaver, surrogate daughter and Slayer, Buffy Anne Summers.
Giles was the first one to recover from the shock. How dare you show your face again, you bloody bich!, he shouted in pure rage. Quickly he grabbed the stake and attacked with all the powers of Ripper
It was like running into a wall of steel before he was thrown to the floor, several feet away. Dizzy, he tried to rise, grabbing an outstretched hand that simply lifted him to his feet. Even though he was scaired to the core, he lifted his eyes and looked defiantly into the eyes of The Invulnerable.
"Shut up and listen," she growled. "What ever you might think, I am not the same as I used to."
"I don't care if you were Mother Theresa," Giles shouted before he attacked again. He released a roundhouse kick that sent her flying into the wall. Before she could rise he was over her, slamming her head against the wall with all the rage from 17 years of hating her. Then he found himself again flying down the floor after a powerful blow to his cheek. Cold chills of fear broke through his barelly controlled rage, as he saw her eyes starting to glow. Now he would see if she really were going to play nice. In an instant Buffy was back on her feet. Her eyes now bright yellow, she floated centimetres above the floor, towards him. shit! What have I done, he thought. I should know better than to provoke the most deadly creature on earth. She stopped in front of him. Then she closed her eyes and sunk her head, as if in deep concentration. And when she again looked up, her visage was gone.
"My oh my. Testing The Invulnerable? You still got guts. Well I passed, but don't push your luck. Even though I have fed, I could always swallow down another gallon of blood."
Giles felt the breath of death when he locked eyes with The Invulnerable. "I don't believe you. What sick games are you up to?"
"I`ll tell you what sick games I'm up to. I am going to save the fucking world, and destroy that Enya bitch once and for all."
"But for now," she said with a almost genuine smile. "Its lunch time." Servants appeared and served them a tasteful meal. The mood around the table was so tense and awkward that you could cut the air with a knife. When they finally were finished, the vampire took the word.
"I'm sorry Giles, about Christopher." The Invulnerable said with an odd mix between a smirk and sorrow. "I didn't know he was your brother. But nevertheless, his health comes second to what I have to tell you," she said.
Then she suddenly smiled evilly. "So Cordy. How is it going after your miscarriage in January? A sad story indeed. You always said I was perverted to love a dead guy, and then you go and marry him. That's what I call a 360 degrees turn. Well, maybe 180, since Deadboy no longer is a deadboy. But what the heck! Nice catch.
"And Willow and Oz, the cutest couple in history of mankind. You got married. And you are making like what? Eight digits a year, on your band Spellbound? Way to go! And as it wasn't enough, now you can share the wonders of full moon together. With the little difference that Willow can control her wolf form."
"The Invulnerable turned to Giles and Joyce. "Well Mom," she said in a mocking tone, "I guess it wasn't enough for you with the candy incident. You had to marry my Watcher. And you didn't even care to tell me that I have a brother. Rude, very rude."
She looked at each of them in turn, and smirked. "Yeah I have watched your every move. Just in case you tried anything."
Now she became serious.
"Well enough chit-chat. These are dark times, Giles."
"Two years ago the Slayer was turned. Since then she has been wreaking havoc all over Britain. Five days ago she attacked the Councils tower. She wiped out nearly every Watcher there, as well as their families. Chris managed to escape with a few Watchers and the Council. The Watchers and council members fled. And at the moment we dont know where they are."
"You know I hate The Watchers Council, but it is of the utmost importance to find the rest and get them to safety. This is because there is a prophecy that says Enya will rule the world when the Council is gone.
"Now! Council members are carrying tracking devices, so it should be possible to track them down. But time is of the essence. That's where you guys come into the picture. Together you and me are gonna get the Council safe, and then me and Enya will have the catfight of the millennium. Quite frankly I'm looking forward to it.
"My God, how I'm looking forward to it," she hissed. And in an instant she had vamped out.
Then she saw the frightened looks on their faces. "Sorry," she said. I have some unfinished business with her. Now well! I had promised myself never to bother you guys again. I got tired of your resistance. But now I have to. I can't do this myself."
The silence was deafening, as everyone's eyes fixed on her. Then Xander walked up to her. "Do you really expect us to just believe that you've suddenly gotten nice again? Well I, for one, don't. I think this is some scheme of yours so that you can have fun killing us."
"No. Its not." The Invulnerable hissed. "And I sure as hell ain't nice. But I have one thing in common with my late Sire: I like this world, and I don't want it to go under. As Spike said, it has a nice foodsupply. And if working with you guys is needed to save the world, then I'll do it. "Any more objections?" She looked around with an evil gleam in her eyes. "Now then, here`s what you`ll do.
"Now! Willow and Oz. Your job is to hack into one of NASA's satellites, and use it to track down the members of the Council."
"Hey! Who do you think we are? Trinity and Neo? To do such a thing, requires a hell of a machine!" Willow was scared beyond anything she had ever experienced. The Invulnerable was demanding too much of them. Willows brain worked overdrive coming up with all the terrible forms of torture she and Oz would suffer when they failed.
"Relax Willow." The Slayer Vampire let out a short laughter. "I think that you'll find that the hardware issue is taken care of. Or what do you think about an Ochton Three. With a 70000 MHz engine, 350 gigabyte Ram, and a 64 terabyte hard disk, touch-sensitive screen and an extra light pressure keyboard?"
The Invulnerable chuckled lightly when she saw the expression of excitement in the couple's eyes. "Okay then. The other of us will split into teams of two. As soon as we know where the Council members are, we will split up into these teams:"
"Giles goes with Joyce. Cordelia goes with Angel. And Xander goes with me."
"No way!!!" Xander shouted. "I'm not going with you. I don't have a deathwish!"
The vampire turned to him, and smiled wickedly. "I see you haven't changed. You still speak before you think. You know, I can make you roll over and play dead dog if I want. My hypnotic powers are equal of those of one of the ancient ones. If I decided to, I could make you jump out the nearest window. So don't tell me what you will and won't do, 'cause I got that covered. But I would appreciate it if you came with me out of your own free will.
"And to ease your concerns. I had a full meal this morning. Meaning you get to keep your blood. I promise I will behave as long as we are on this mission. And when we are finished, you won't see any more of me."
"Why this kindness?" Xander looked at her sceptically. "Normally we should have been laying on the floor in a pool of our own blood by now. I smell something rotten here."
"I'll tell you what's rotten," The Invulnerable said. "It's you and your stupid mouth. I suppose you shut up and stop tempting me. Or do I have to remind you that your blood type is AB Negative. The favourite of all vampires."
Suddenly she turned away from him, changing the subject.
"Oz and Willow, the butler will show you to the computer room. You others, meet me in the gym. I want to evaluate your fighting skills. But first, you will be shown your rooms so you can freshen up after the travel. So we'll meet again in an hour – no, make it two," she said with a short look at Giles and Joyce.
And with that she left without a sound. As if from thin air servants appeared and showed the shell-shocked guests to their rooms.
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5 June.2014. Location: Cristopher Giles MansionThe scoobies rooms
11.30.am
Facing the past (Dealing with ghosts, split ends and broken nails)
As soon as they got to their room, Joyce broke into tears. To see this monster that wore the body of her daughter was pure torture.
"Oh God! How am I supposed to work with her and not go insane," she sobbed. To see her and constantly be reminded of Buffy was more than she thought she could bear. "You heard what she said! She has been having an eye on us all of these years. I had hoped to prevent her from knowing about Ashley, But no. You heard! She even knew about Cordelia's miscarriage. What else does she know?"
"I don't know," he said, "but we have no choice but to work with her. She seems to be more controlled now. Maybe she really can be trusted until this is finished. But then we better run like hell. Cause I don't give a shit for her promise to leave us alone. But as long as she needs us, I think we are safe.
"Now. You take the shower first, and I will unpack. Perhaps it will all work out. And remember. I will always protect you. I love you."
Joyce looked up at him and whiped away her tears. "Me too. I love you." Then she headed for the bathroom.
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In Cordelia and Angel's room, the situation was similar. But it was Cordelia that comforted Angel, although she felt as if her heart was breaking.
"Oh God! When she mentioned your miscarriage. There she stood and talked about it like it was a joke. God help me, I nearly went for her throat. But I couldn't. I couldn't because of the face she is wearing. I know now, at least a bit, how difficult it must have been for Buffy to kill me that time when I lost my soul. I mean, we weren't in love with each others when she was turned. But we were still best of friends. And even after seventeen years, that was enough to stop me.
"So how she managed to send me to hell, being still in love with me, I don't know. But it shows her extreme strength. The strength that made her such a unstoppable vampire; the strength that made her capable of standing against our attempts to return her soul. And now we have to work with her. I don't know if I can do it."
"Shshsh, angel of mine," she murmured. "Don't worry, together we are going to get through this. Now lets take a shower. Everything will feel better when we get rid of the travel dust. I swear the air at the airport was some of the dirtiest I have seen. My hair will suffer for weeks," she said as she put her arms around him and steadied him to the bathroom.
Oh God help me!! She thought as she put on her flirtatious Queen Cordy act. God give me strength, to be strong for him, as he did when I needed it. Cordelia knew it without a shadow of doubt. This was it: her trial. That would show if she really could call herself a slayerette. She had always envied the others' strength and good heartedness, and she had tried to become like them. Now was the time to see if she had succeeded.
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"Oh gosh!! We are gonna do it. It can't be real. We are actually gonna steal one of NASAs satellites. Oh dear, oh dear. I can't do this. Oh wait a minute. I already have once. But that was only for five minutes. I won't! I can't!! Look at me Oz!!! I'm shaking all over." Willow stopped her rambling and ferocious pacing on the floor, and looked over to Oz that were sitting on a chair. Strumming a guitar.
"But an Ochton Three, Oz!! With a machine like that there is no limits. It's so exiting," she said and actually jumped with joy. Then she suddenly got serious again, and sat down before him. "But what about The Invulnerable. What do you think? Can we trust her?"
"No absolutely not," he said and set aside the guitar. There is something fishy here. Something about her seems. . . not right. I actually think she will go up against Enya. But whom are we best served with? Enya, who has her mind set on world dominance and destruction, and is extremely powerful? Or The Invulnerable, who doesn't want to destroy the world but is even more evil and powerful?
"I fear that she is using us as puppets in order to get world domination for herself. But as you know, we have no other choice than to work with her. If not, the world will certainly go under."
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Xander sat on a chair with his feet on the seat, and his arms curled tightly around his knees. Slightly trembling.
Oh God, Oh God. She's not Buffy. She is not Buffy. "She is not Buffy!!!" This time, he said it aloud, jumped to his feet and started pacing the floor. But every time he thought of her his heart bled. He had called Buffy a pervert to think that Angel was attractive, and now found he himself hopelessly attracted to The Invulnerable. His heart and body screamed Buffy! While at the same time his mind screamed no! She is not! .As much as he was attracted to her, he hated her deeply. Hated her for all the evil deeds she had done and for what she was.
He was so confused because every time he looked at her, all he could see was Buffy. And now he was supposed to fight to save the world. With an effort he suppressed his feelings, and started unpack. Then he started doing Tai Chi. slowly he felt his soul gain some peace. And when the time came for him to get ready his mind was focused and his body relaxed.
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5 June.2014. Locationd: Cristopher Giles mansionThe mansion gym
13.30.pm
The Invulnerable was waiting for them in the living room and led them into an impressive gym. "So, are you ready?
"Oz, Willow, I changed my mind. I want to evaluate you too. Added to your task of tracking down the Council members and see to the communication between the teams, you will also need to protect Christopher Giles and the other Council members when they get here. I want to see if I need to hire extra guards."
"Now, who do I test first?" She looked around. "Mom," she said with an evil grin.
"No!" Joyce said. "I'm not going to fight you. I can't."
They all saw the irritation in the eyes of the vampire. "Well then, Angel would you be kind enough to fight her? Just so that I can see if she can handle herself."
Angel looked over to Joyce. She nodded and they both stepped out on the mat. The vampire watched as Angel attacked and continued to attack for about five minutes. And all were stunned to see that Joyce were an expert in avoiding kicks and blows.
She didn't get in many blows and kicks herself but neither did Angel. Of course, he hadn't used his vampire strength but even without that he was a formidable opponent. Still it was long between each time he scored a hit, and even then they watched how she roled with the punches, minimizing their impact. She moved with a floating feline agility that witnessed of countless hours of meticulous training on footwork and balance. She was using a nearly flawless form of Capoeira that compensated for much of her lack in strength.
Finally Joyce collapsed to the mat, exhausted.
"Not bad, not bad at all," the vampire said as Joyce stumbled to her feet. "That was rather impressive for a fifty year old. You are a much better fighter than you were in my Slayer days."
"Well, I have been training with Angel and Rupert," Joyce said. "I finally got fed up with being a sitting duck in Sunnyhell."
"Well let's see. Angel! Come to mama." The Invulnerable started to circle the ex-vampire. Then she attacked with a ferocious roundhouse kick combined with a fist to the sternum. He gasped in pain but stepped aside and swept her to the floor with one leg and returned the chest strike. She was back on her feet almost instantly and gave him a double stroke to the kidneys and a forehead that made him dizzy for a moment. But now Angel was pissed off. He dug up all he had, stood up and performed a flying spin kick before he locked his legs around her neck and spun her around in the air. Even before she hit the floor he loosened his grip, rolled around and was back on his feet, graceful as a tiger. Still he was unprepared for the storm of kicks and blows she sent at him. So quick that the others had difficulties seeing it, she was back on her feet and attacked with the ferocity of a predator that smells blood.
They traded kicks and blows for a couple of minutes, before The Invulnerable simply grabbed his throat and squeezed. "Hold it. Enough Angel. I said enough!" she loosened her grip on his throat and gave him a flathand stroke to the cheek. "Calm down!" Angel fought back the battle rage and again realised that this wasn't a real fight. He tore himself free and stepped back, with tears running down his cheeks.
The Invulnerable let out a short laugh. "If you had been that good some seventeen years ago, the world would have been swallowed by Achatla. And there would have been no Invulnerable.
"Now lets get on with it. Xander!"
For the next hour she tried out the rest of them. Xander proved to be a great surprise for the vampire. Not only was he far stronger and faster than she had anticipated. He also easily shifted between Judo, Jiu jitsu, kung fu, Karate, Aikido and something that almost looked like Slayer fighting.
Oz and Willow also proved to be good fighters, not to mention the advantages their wolf form provided. Added to that, Willow was now a full-fledged sorceress, with all the powers that came with that.
The biggest surprise was still Cordelia. As she stepped onto the mat, she was almost unrecognisable. Gone were the makeup and the ice queen act. She was wearing camouflage coloured jeans, boots and a T-shirt with the picture of a vampire with a stake through the heart. And beneath stood:
Stakem, slicem, chopem. Just get rid of 'em.
Her face bore the expression of a warrior when she attacked. She moved like a panther. Quick and silent, she moved with a grace none of them had seen since Buffy died. After five minutes of fighting at an incredible tempo, she finally chased The Invulnerable with a series of roundhouse kicks towards the end of the mat.
The Invulnerable tried to sweep her to the floor. But Cordelia jumped into tiger position and landed on the foot that was meant to throw her to the floor. The Invulnerable gasped in surprise. "Where the hell did you learn the moves of a slayer, Cordelia?"
The former Prom Queen smirked. "Well, let's see. I was friend with a slayer, I am friend with a Watcher, and I'm married to an ex-vampire that has been helping training slayers for about fifty years.
The vampire laughed a little. "Okay, I get it. Well, I think that concludes our training session. You all passed. But Cordy, and I don't like to say this. Some of the tricks you pulled, are simply impossible for a normal woman to do. I think, Giles, we've found the next slayer. Even though she's twice the age they usually are when they get called."
"Well, I guess desperate times call for desperate solutions. So, welcome to the club, Cordy. Once again the Scooby Gang has a slayer amongst them."
"Damit!" Cordy said. "That's what I was afraid of. I do feel a lot stronger than I usually do. Damit!! I never asked for a future of broken nails and split ends. Bloody hell!!!" She shouted and left the room, leaving the others laughing. Then they grew somber, and Angel voiced what the rest of the gang were thinking.
"Poor Cordy."
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5 June.2014.Location: Christopher Giles' mansion.Afternoon.
A whole lotta catching up to do.
(Willow and Oz are drooling over the computer)
The day continued with Willow and Oz working on hacking into the NASA satellite, while the rest of the gang inventoried weapons and such, trying to avoid thinking about what was to come. They were let into an armory that was like nothing they had ever seen. Xander was like a kid in a candy store.
Giles day was saved when he lost himself in the library.
And the few breaks Oz and Willow took, they spent in a room stacked with instruments and notesheets.
All too soon, dinnertime arrived. When they entered the dining room? Angel was already there, playing the Olympic song from Seoul.
"Whoa," Oz said. "What the heck? Have you been taking lessons with Richard Claydeman?"
"Nope," he said, "but you can pick up much in about 260 years." Then he grabbed a guitar, and treated it with the same virtuosity, as he played an acoustic version of the guitar boogie.
"You see," he said. "A vampire doesn't need to sleep. They just learn to spend the day in a sleep like state. But mostly they are bored out of their mind. So therefore I had plenty of time to practise."
"Now how is it going with the satellite?" he asked as Cordelia came in and sat down on his lap.
Willow shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, I guess. We have managed to hide our tracks so far, and have accessed the satellite. What remains is to break the usercode, so that we can control it. So far all our attempts have failed. They have upgraded the security since last time I did it."
"Do you mean that you have done this before?" A shocked Angel asked.
"Yes, I did, once. But only for five minutes. Then I had to go. You see, it was this computer shop that showed off this mega computer as an appetiser for the customers. That day there were very few customers, and I got to use it the whole day." Just as she finished telling, the butler came in, telling them that dinner was served.
Dinner was eaten in a somewhat lighter mood as they discussed what had happened since they last met.
Giles was teaching history at Sunnydale High, and the library was fully automated -- something that had forced him to join the computer age. And to his great surprise he found himself liking computers.
When Buffy died, Joyce and Giles had had a hard time dealing with Buffy's death and the arrival of The Invulnerable. Supporting each other as best they could, they found themselves falling in love. They had married and got one son, Ashley. Joyce had done very well with her art gallery. And she had started a successful netshop for antiques. They were the only ones of the Scooby Gang that had stayed in Sunnydale.
Angel and Cordelia lived in Los Angeles. They were the owners and leaders of Angel Investigations, the best private investigation agency in the country. They had branches in every major city, with connections to investigation agencies all over the world. Mostly they took on normal cases, but cases of a supernatural nature still cropped up on a regular basis.
Ten years ago, Angel had finally had it with the mission of vengeance of the Gypsy clan Calderash. They made a great mistake when they kidnapped Cordelia in order to get to him, thinking he had lost his soul again.
It was a huge misunderstanding. They had sent someone to watch over him, and that person saw him beat a human into a bloody pulp. He jumped to conclusions and informed the Council of the Elders. What they didn't know was, the person he beat up was a notorious killer and rapist that Angel had been chasing for weeks. He had followed a trace of mutilated corpses across four states until he finally got to him.
When the Gypsies kidnapped Cordelia, Angel lost the last of his patience. He had sought them out and, barely controlling himself, he had told them a few truths. But now he knew how their minds worked. So he knew that this time they wouldnt bother with the soulcurse again. They would simply kill him. For hours he debated with them and defended himself against their attempts to kill him. But this time he had with him a protection spell that Willow had made, this to the greate frustration of their mages. Finally he got them to understand what a huge mistake they had made in making the curse the way they did.
After heated discussions amongst themselves, they had decided to return his humanity. Since he had been a vampire for so long, he had kept his Vampiric powers and visage. But otherwise he was completely human. A year later he and Cordy had married.
Cordelia had proven to be quite a good detective. After, that is, she got over her prom queen syndrome. She helped whenever she had time. She had become a famous writer of movie manuscripts. She had successfully starred in several of the blockbuster movies too. But to her own surprise she found herself fonder of the writing than the actual acting.
And Xander had become one of the best lawyers in the states, with a reputation for taking on the impossible cases – and winning. They called him The Tiger. After the way he took down his opponents: quick, straightforward, and with no mercy.
When Faith woke after five years in a coma, he was the one that had her cleared of all charges. That was his first victory. For some reason even he couldn't tell, he had helped her through the hard months of recovery. And he had found a completely changed Faith. It was discovered that the Mayor had her under a spell that broke when he died. For a while they were lovers, but in the long run they were too different for a relationship to last. And then there was that thing with him never really getting over Buffy. But they parted as friends, which they had stayed ever since.
After being a lawyer for six years, he had been recruited by FBI. He had quickly risen in the grades, and was now one of the leading agents of FBIs New York section.
Willow and Oz were now married for their fifth year. Their rock band Spellbound had become world famous over night with the hit: Cursed Soul,
a song they had dedicated to Angel. That was the first of many hits to come from The Magic Duo, as the couple were called.
By an accident Willow had been turned into a werewolf. And they found that her being a sorceress gave her full control over her wolf self, and to be able to "wolf out" any time she wanted. She was currently working on giving Oz the same capabilities. As they were often on tour, they were pretty much living all over the world, but kept a penthouse apartment in New York.
The dinner became a pleasant oasis of relaxation in a desert of tension. And at the end of it they had almost forgotten why they were there.
Afterwards their fear and tension returned with multiplied force. But at least, to the whole Scooby Gang's relief and wonderment, they saw nothing of The Invulnerable the rest of the day. They were just left in peace to finish their preparations for the task to come. Finally, in the evening they heard a yell of excitement and Willow came running out of the computer room with an almost as exited Oz behind her. Finally they had cracked the user code. Everything was ready for tomorrow.
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6 June.2014. Location: Christopher Giles mansion.The mansion living room
08.30.am
The Slayerettes goes into action
(Where the hell are the Watchers? And who is getting who?)
They were eating breakfast when The Invulnerable sat down at the table. Every eye was fixed on her as she let out a cold laugh.
"Yeah, people. It's time for some action. I've located the Council members." She threw a bunch of pictures on the table."
"Their names are: Patrick O`Malley, Erick Crighton, Alicia Saunders, Arthur Antonov, Constanza Gonzales, Andrea Peters. Ishmael Anderson, Rose Camden, Indra Lightfoot, Katharina Sorenson and Wesley bloody Wyndham Price.
"Giles and Joyce, You get to pick up the ones that are still in Swansea. Those are Camden, Antonov and Gonzales.
"Angel and Cordy, You're going to London to pick up Anderson, Peters and Saunders.
"Finally me and Xander are going to the states; specifically, to New York to pick up O`Malley, Crighton, Lightfoot, Sorenson and bloody Price. Well, I'll give him that much. He had brains enough to get out of the country.
"You will all be given trackers so that you can pinpoint the exact position of the runaways. We will keep contact through secured cellphones directly connected to a transmitter in the computer room. Did everyone get that? Okay then, be ready in an hour. Oh, and guys… Good luck."
With that she walked away. Leaving the others stunned, again.