Title: No Fate (3/?)
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link. Plus, archived at http://fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=62966
Rating: I'm gonna go say PG.
Spoilers: Up to and through Chosen.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to the almighty Joss. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: Angel comes back in time to save the hope of the future.
Author's Note: This is sort of a fusion with The Terminator. The idea just sort of hit me.
* * *
"Will you be staying tonight?" Maria asked. "The girls will want to see you."
Xander shook his head, "Can't take that risk, Maria. We've got something hunting us, and it's tough. Hell, I don't even know if my stuff'll be enough."
"Here's your stuff, kid," Tom -- the bouncer -- said, as he and Ricardo -- Maria's husband and co-owner of Maria's Nightclub -- carried a metal chest in.
"Thanks," Xander said, crouching and popping open the trunk. Angel crouched beside him as they tallied the inventory.
"What've we got?" Angel asked.
"See for yourself," Xander said, waving at the trunks contents: four Beretta 9mm sidearms, four Colt 1911s, two SPAS-12 shotguns, two P-90 submachine guns, and an M-16 with a mounted M-203 grenade launcher.
It was quite an arsenal. But it still might not be enough.
"The nines aren't gonna do any good, maybe not the forty-fives either," Angel said, shaking his head. "The shotguns are good. They'll put it down, at least for a while. The grenade launcher'll be a big help."
"Good," Xander nodded. "You know how to clean and maintain a gun?"
"Learned from the best," Angel smiled, nodding back at Xander.
* * *
Across the room, two Slayers and a witch sat, taking in the layout. The place was scrupulously clean, the drinks behind the bar locked away. A sign near the entrance announced Happy Hour from seven to eight and Ladies' Night on Tuesdays.
Willow's gaze drifted to the... well, "stage" was the only word she could think of for it. It was a simple design, with two islands -- each with poles to the ceiling -- connected to the back by walkways, elevated about three feet off the ground. She bit her lip as the image of Xander dancing up there popped into her mind's eye. Suddenly, it felt awfully warm.
Oh, she definitely remembered the Speedo incident.
The veteran Slayer's gaze, on the other hand, was fixated on the two men examining the weapons cache.
Angel. Her first love. He was so... different from the man... -pire she had known in high school. Different, even, from the person who'd defended Faith from her and the one who'd given her the amulet. The first was brooding, the second was righteous, and the third was jealous and oh-so-human. This Angel... he was... bitter. Not brooding, not tortured, but bitter.
Angry.
And she couldn't shake the feeling that he was angry at her.
Xander. Her best friend, her emotional rock, the one who had always been there for her even when she'd tried her hardest to push him away. The revelations on the road had shaken her image of him. Now, she shamefully admitted to herself that she _had_ considered him useless.
Only now was she realizing just how wrong she'd been.
Finally, the brunette was watching Willow closely, wondering what was going through her girlfriend's mind.
*Why did I even come?* she wondered. *I barely know Xander.* She shook her head and scolded herself, *He's Willow's best friend; that should be enough for me, and even if it wasn't, he saved my life. I owe him.*
Kennedy bit her lip. She owed him for a lot more than her life and his eye. He had faced down a legendary vampire, unarmed. He had saved the world, twice. And if what Angel said was right, he was going to do it again.
She -- and everyone else -- owed him for the world.
It was a lot more than she'd ever done, and she suddenly found herself wondering just how much of what she knew and assumed about "that guy who fixes the windows" was really true.
And what could drive Buffy and Willow to give up and risk everything for him?
Well, she was going to find out. See what kind of person he was that he could drive them to that.
Stepping aside, she caught Maria's sleeve and asked, "So, how did you meet Xander?"
_That_ caught Buffy and Willow's attention, and they turned to look at them, their faces clearly asking as well.
Maria smiled, "He saved my life."
"Doesn't he always?" Willow said, a warm smile blooming on her face.
*She never smiles like that for me.* Kennedy guiltily squashed that jealous thought.
"Yes, he does make a habit of it, doesn't he?" Maria said with a chuckle, then sobered.
* * Flashback * *
Maria was walking three of girls home. Two of her best girls had turned up dead recently, and she wasn't taking any chances.
"Well, looky here."
Maria and the girls stopped and turned. There were three of them, stalking toward them with the air of predators
But Maria had come prepared.
She snorted, drawing her revolver. "Three of you, six bullets. Seems to add up."
"Oh, please," one them smirked. "Go right ahead."
*Probably wearing body armor,* she surmised. That was the only reason they would be so cocky about a gun. Well, time to fix that. Her eyes narrowed as she leveled the weapon and fired, striking him in the side of the face.
"Bitch!" he snarled, clutching the wound. "That f***ing hurt!"
His companions were laughing at his pain, but Maria simply stared. This couldn't be happening. She leveled the gun again, but one of the others suddenly surged forward faster than she had imagined possible and snatched it out of her hands, tossing it aside.
* * End Flashback * *
"So what happened next?" Kennedy prodded.
Maria laughed, "That's when Alexander arrived. He was driving this old wreck of a car -- don't know how he kept it running -- and he rammed it into the vampires -- pinned them against the wall! -- then jumped out and killed them. He made up some stupid story about 'gang members on PCP.'" She snorted, "_Where_ he came up with _that_, I don't know."
"Hey," Xander's voice interrupted, and they turned. "Time to go."
* * *
Author's Postscript:
Here you go, folks. Another installment of No Fate.
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link. Plus, archived at http://fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=62966
Rating: I'm gonna go say PG.
Spoilers: Up to and through Chosen.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to the almighty Joss. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: Angel comes back in time to save the hope of the future.
Author's Note: This is sort of a fusion with The Terminator. The idea just sort of hit me.
* * *
"Will you be staying tonight?" Maria asked. "The girls will want to see you."
Xander shook his head, "Can't take that risk, Maria. We've got something hunting us, and it's tough. Hell, I don't even know if my stuff'll be enough."
"Here's your stuff, kid," Tom -- the bouncer -- said, as he and Ricardo -- Maria's husband and co-owner of Maria's Nightclub -- carried a metal chest in.
"Thanks," Xander said, crouching and popping open the trunk. Angel crouched beside him as they tallied the inventory.
"What've we got?" Angel asked.
"See for yourself," Xander said, waving at the trunks contents: four Beretta 9mm sidearms, four Colt 1911s, two SPAS-12 shotguns, two P-90 submachine guns, and an M-16 with a mounted M-203 grenade launcher.
It was quite an arsenal. But it still might not be enough.
"The nines aren't gonna do any good, maybe not the forty-fives either," Angel said, shaking his head. "The shotguns are good. They'll put it down, at least for a while. The grenade launcher'll be a big help."
"Good," Xander nodded. "You know how to clean and maintain a gun?"
"Learned from the best," Angel smiled, nodding back at Xander.
* * *
Across the room, two Slayers and a witch sat, taking in the layout. The place was scrupulously clean, the drinks behind the bar locked away. A sign near the entrance announced Happy Hour from seven to eight and Ladies' Night on Tuesdays.
Willow's gaze drifted to the... well, "stage" was the only word she could think of for it. It was a simple design, with two islands -- each with poles to the ceiling -- connected to the back by walkways, elevated about three feet off the ground. She bit her lip as the image of Xander dancing up there popped into her mind's eye. Suddenly, it felt awfully warm.
Oh, she definitely remembered the Speedo incident.
The veteran Slayer's gaze, on the other hand, was fixated on the two men examining the weapons cache.
Angel. Her first love. He was so... different from the man... -pire she had known in high school. Different, even, from the person who'd defended Faith from her and the one who'd given her the amulet. The first was brooding, the second was righteous, and the third was jealous and oh-so-human. This Angel... he was... bitter. Not brooding, not tortured, but bitter.
Angry.
And she couldn't shake the feeling that he was angry at her.
Xander. Her best friend, her emotional rock, the one who had always been there for her even when she'd tried her hardest to push him away. The revelations on the road had shaken her image of him. Now, she shamefully admitted to herself that she _had_ considered him useless.
Only now was she realizing just how wrong she'd been.
Finally, the brunette was watching Willow closely, wondering what was going through her girlfriend's mind.
*Why did I even come?* she wondered. *I barely know Xander.* She shook her head and scolded herself, *He's Willow's best friend; that should be enough for me, and even if it wasn't, he saved my life. I owe him.*
Kennedy bit her lip. She owed him for a lot more than her life and his eye. He had faced down a legendary vampire, unarmed. He had saved the world, twice. And if what Angel said was right, he was going to do it again.
She -- and everyone else -- owed him for the world.
It was a lot more than she'd ever done, and she suddenly found herself wondering just how much of what she knew and assumed about "that guy who fixes the windows" was really true.
And what could drive Buffy and Willow to give up and risk everything for him?
Well, she was going to find out. See what kind of person he was that he could drive them to that.
Stepping aside, she caught Maria's sleeve and asked, "So, how did you meet Xander?"
_That_ caught Buffy and Willow's attention, and they turned to look at them, their faces clearly asking as well.
Maria smiled, "He saved my life."
"Doesn't he always?" Willow said, a warm smile blooming on her face.
*She never smiles like that for me.* Kennedy guiltily squashed that jealous thought.
"Yes, he does make a habit of it, doesn't he?" Maria said with a chuckle, then sobered.
* * Flashback * *
Maria was walking three of girls home. Two of her best girls had turned up dead recently, and she wasn't taking any chances.
"Well, looky here."
Maria and the girls stopped and turned. There were three of them, stalking toward them with the air of predators
But Maria had come prepared.
She snorted, drawing her revolver. "Three of you, six bullets. Seems to add up."
"Oh, please," one them smirked. "Go right ahead."
*Probably wearing body armor,* she surmised. That was the only reason they would be so cocky about a gun. Well, time to fix that. Her eyes narrowed as she leveled the weapon and fired, striking him in the side of the face.
"Bitch!" he snarled, clutching the wound. "That f***ing hurt!"
His companions were laughing at his pain, but Maria simply stared. This couldn't be happening. She leveled the gun again, but one of the others suddenly surged forward faster than she had imagined possible and snatched it out of her hands, tossing it aside.
* * End Flashback * *
"So what happened next?" Kennedy prodded.
Maria laughed, "That's when Alexander arrived. He was driving this old wreck of a car -- don't know how he kept it running -- and he rammed it into the vampires -- pinned them against the wall! -- then jumped out and killed them. He made up some stupid story about 'gang members on PCP.'" She snorted, "_Where_ he came up with _that_, I don't know."
"Hey," Xander's voice interrupted, and they turned. "Time to go."
* * *
Author's Postscript:
Here you go, folks. Another installment of No Fate.