Monday Morning
Connor grabbed the child and leapt from the window, fire bursting out of the window behind him, the building ablaze. Keeping totally calm he dropped ten stories. The child was crying, wailing for its mother. Connor envied the child. At least it had known its mother. Too bad she was dead now, consumed by the fire inside the building. His arm shot out and grabbed the lamppost. It nearly came out of the socket, but he held the pain in like he had been raised to. Using his momentum, he swung upwards doing a flip and landing on the street as various people ran down the street. He grabbed one by the collar forcibly.
"Take the child." Connor commanded.
"Man I got my own problems right now!" the man he had grabbed replied.
The building behind them began to come apart with the immense Baragon tearing through it with a roar.
"No, we all the have the same problems. Take the child before it gets through." Connor ordered the man.
"I don't know anything about taking care of a kid!" the man said.
Connor shoved the child into his arms, "Learn."
The man ran off carrying the child as the Baragon came through the building the rest of the way. Connor stared up at the monster and smiled.
"HEY!" he yelled, getting its attention, "You want a meal? Come on!"
The Baragon regarded the small form of Connor and followed it with its eyes. It liked the way the boy smelled. So it followed. Connor looked over his shoulder at the dinosaur in hot pursuit of him. He could smell the burning flesh in the air; feel the hot breath of the creature behind him. Would it devour him? Cripple him? Cremate him with the flames it shot from his mouth? Connor could care less. He was in complete control. He always was. He smiled at how these things always worked themselves out.
He had spied a construction site up ahead. He ran to the iron skeleton of the building with the massive creature in pursuit. He knew it was closer now. Almost upon him. He could smell the horrible breath of the thing. Its mouth could only be three to five feet away from him. Connor smiled and leapt into the air, grabbing the lowest girder at the site. Using all his strength, he flipped around the girder, twisted in mid-air and landed on the head of the Baragon. He then ran hard and fast down the creature's back as the head slammed into the site, bringing it down on top of it. The creature kept plowing through as Connor ran down its back. He finally leapt off the creature's tail and smiled as he saw it trapped beneath what had to be hundreds of tons of iron and steel.
Connor turned to walk away and saw a group of Turok-Han vampires in front of him. They regarded him with a curious glance, sensing the demon in him. It didn't matter though; they were genetically programmed to kill anything they came upon. They advanced upon him. Connor looked at them and fell into a battle stance.
"Eh. Los Angeles is still more sane than where I'm from." Connor admitted.
The first one was upon him and Connor nailed it with a hard right kick. The Turok-Han absorbed the kick and laughed. Connor was floored.
"Well that was unexpected." Connor thought as it threw a powerful punch at him, flooring him. Seconds later it leapt upon him and brought its jaws down to his head. Connor growled and head butted it, crunching the nose and making the creature howl in pain. Connor then reached for his pocket and withdrew his stake. He slammed it into the chest of his attacker. Connor smiled, and then frowned as he saw the vampire wasn't turning to dust.
"This is not a good day for me." Connor said flipping the Turok-Han off as the others attacked. Connor flipped over them and looked for a more suitable weapon. One was carrying an axe; he grabbed it and twisted low, hacking off the leg of one Turok-Han. Connor backed up, waiting for the others to attack. He was then shocked when they instead attacked the downed Turok-Han and began killing it. Connor smirked and began to calmly walk away.
"I love that pack mentality."
Connor smirked until another Turok-Han was on top of him, then another, then another. He was trapped. Connor tried vainly to throw them all off and couldn't. He felt fear and a rush of panic as the creatures bit and clawed at him. Connor pushed and struggled as the beasts ravened like wolves above him. Then one exploded into dust and the others leapt away snarling and roaring. Another was instantly dust and Connor saw he had just been saved a horrible fate. What's more impressive was that his rescuers were quite the motley crew.
"Won't these things ever stop coming?!" Al Simmons, AKA Spawn bellowed as he tore the head from a Turok-Han and was being mauled by another.
A beautiful redheaded woman wearing little laughed and destroyed another Turok-Han.
"Can't take it Simmons? Maybe we should have left you in New York!" Angela laughed.
"Hey, they got those Avengers assholes and the JSA watching my friends so I figure I gotta go elsewhere. And since you were so fucking kind to invite me along…" Spawn growled at the angel.
"Ignore her. Angels tend to be pretentious assholes." Frank Castle, the Punisher said as he lobbed a grenade at another Turok-Han.
"How would you know Frank?" Spawn asked his old friend.
The Punisher looked at Spawn with a "You idiot" look.
"Oh yeah." Spawn replied, "What's with us getting recruited by Heaven and Hell?"
A Turok-Han was violently webbed up and slammed into the side of a building.
"Less talking. More killing." Venom roared as he tackled another vampire.
"I like him." Spawn smirked as he fired necromantric blasts.
"What the fuck?" Connor asked dumbfounded.
"Please people, let's watch the language." The ivory sight that was the angel of the Eagle Host, Zauriel said.
"Killjoy!" Venom said leaping into the fray.
Zauriel landed on the ground and looked to Connor.
"You did well, but you might want to leave this to the professionals now." Zauriel stated.
"I resent that!" Connor shouted at the angel. He so hated angels.
Suddenly, the explosion drew everyone's attention to the construction site, as the Baragon came charging back out roaring loudly. Connor looked at Zauriel who immediately took to the air. Then he looked to the Baragon. Then to the others who followed the angel's lead. And the Baragon was expelling flame on the streets, making Venom and anyone mortal recoil in pain.
"Okay your point is valid." Connor replied.
Angel threw the injured Gunn into the Hyperion Hotel and quickly slammed the doors behind him and picked up Gunn again.
"This SO sucks man." Gunn said.
"The complaining is not really helping." Angel grunted as he heard the glass doors breaking.
"Yeah but I want to go out with a phrase that underlies how hopeless the situation really is." Gunn said looking back at the Turok-Han vampires tearing through the doors.
"Would rather not die." Angel said hefting Gunn up the stairs.
"Eh you've had a good run. Two hundred and fifty years is good." Gunn quipped.
"Maybe, but I was going for three hundred." Angel said as a Turok-Han bounded up the stairs on all limbs, like an ape would. The Turok-Han struck at Angel, and was suddenly thrown back by an invisible field. It rolled down the stairs and landed in a heap. It got up with a growl before its head exploded and the body crumbled to dust. At the top of the stairs, Wesley stood with a shotgun.
"We managed to raise the sanctuary spell again. No demons can fight in here now." Wesley said firing at the other Turok-Hans that were trying to come up the stair. Some lost their heads; others merely took body shots and kept coming.
"That's great Wes. On the minus side, Lorne and I are out of the game." Angel said running with Wes and Gunn.
"Well at least they can't kill us." Gunn said before an arrow clipped his arm, slicing it, "OW! Damn it!"
"It seems that doesn't apply to projectile weapons." Wes mused, "Minor miscalculation."
Angel grabbed Wesley's gun and began firing on the Turok-Han vampires.
"Back in the game." Angel said as he fired again and again until he had to reload, taking Wesley's spare shells. A determined Turok-Han fired an arrow at Angel in this moment.
Within a split second, Angel threw the shotgun into the air and caught the oncoming arrow. Dropping it, he caught the shotgun as it came back down and blew off the head of the Turok-Han.
"There's too many of them!" Gunn yelled.
"Tell me about it. Go on! I'll try to hold them off!" Angel said firing again.
"Angel—" Wes began.
"Go!" Angel ordered.
"Angel you should really—"
"I said GO!"
"Oh bollocks, just get down!" Wes said grabbing Angel and pulling him down. All three men hit the floor as waves of electricity hit the oncoming group of Turok-Han. The vampires shrieked and fell to the ground in a heap, still alive, but momentarily stunned.
Angel looked up with a smirk at the petite leather clad woman with neon red highlighted in her black hair.
"I didn't know you could do that Gwen." Angel said to the self-proclaimed freak of nature.
"I didn't either, 'till Gunn helped me out that one time." Gwen said with a smirk.
"Explanations later, running now." Wes said as the Turok-Han began to stand again. The quartet ran down the hall to what could only be called the Hotel's panic room. Once inside they met the occupants already inside.
"How is it out there?" Lorne asked.
"Were you around for the riots a few years ago?" Angel asked.
"Yeah?" the demon replied.
"Multiply that by about a hundred." Angel explained.
If at all possible, Lorne became greener.
Fred shuddered, "I can't believe that this all happened within a few hours."
"Believe it. It's only going to get worse." Cordelia said with a frown.
"How do you figure?" Gunn asked.
"It all started with Superman getting maimed. You think it's going to get better as it goes on?" Cordy asked.
"Good point." Gunn admitted.
Rhythmic pounding came against the steel doors. The Turok-Han were outside slamming their fists against it.
"Oh God." Fred shuddered.
"It's alright Fred. The sanctuary spell is up. Even if they get through they can't hurt you." Wesley said, trying to reassure the girl.
"Except with arrows." Gunn said, angry at the attention that Wesley gave his girlfriend…ex…. whatever they were now. Everyone looked at Gunn.
"What?" Gunn asked.
"Even if they can't get through, it's still an annoying sound." Cordy admitted.
Gwen walked over and placed her hands on the door, electrifying it and making the Turok-Han scream in agony and then silence, "Better?"
"Much." Cordy replied.
"I should be out there." Angel said.
"To get yourself killed?" Cordy asked.
"I wouldn't die." Angel said to his lover.
"I gotta go with Cordy here man. I saw you fighting those things. You barely hurt one, much less a whole big group of them." Gunn groaned as he sat, clutching his ribs.
"Neither of us did so hot out there, but people need us." Angel explained, "I can't just sit in here while people are dying."
"None of us like it, but we're ill equipped to face those things." Wesley said, trying to talk some sense into Angel.
"What are they anyway?" Fred asked.
"They look like vampires, only uglier. Kind of like the Master." Cordelia added.
"The Turok-Han. A totally different breed of my kind. Little more than animals mentally. They're the vampires that my kind fear. They attack and kill us just as easily as vampires can kill humans. They don't know fear. Or so the legends go." Angel explained, "Never actually saw one until last night. I thought they were only legends made up to scare fledglings."
"They're no legend. I was a Watcher once. I had heard of these things, but even the Watcher's Council had limited records of the creatures." Wesley began.
"Well do you know how to kill them?" Lorne asked, hopeful.
"The Turok-Han have few weaknesses. Decapitation seems to work. Blowing their heads off is more or less the same thing. Sunlight would seem to be the best bet, but as the world is blanketed in darkness at the moment that would seem rather pointless. Oh yes, stakes through the heart work." Wesley explained.
"I tried that. It kept coming." Angel explained.
"You actually have to penetrate the creature's sternum, which is a task in itself. That particular bone is like steel." Wes explained.
"Zapping them seemed to work." Gwen said.
"Temporarily. Unless you can set them on fire, then it's not a very viable solution." Wesley added.
"Look, I came to you guys for help protecting myself from these things. At least try and come up with a plan or two to do that." Gwen groaned.
"This is the best we have at the moment." Wes said, as the pounding on the doors began again.
"This isn't a solution. It's a death trap. Rats will gnaw through a wall if they know there's food inside. It may take hours or days, but they get through and when they do, they'll devour whatever is inside. The Turok-Han are the rats. We're what's inside." Angel said.
"You have a better plan?" Wesley asked.
"I would have left an escape plan. I don't like being closed in considering I've been buried more than once." Angel said, "Besides, Connor is out there."
"I thought you didn't want your son around anymore." Wesley asked.
"He's my son. I'm going to worry about him." Angel said narrowing his eyes at Wes.
Cordy knew what that meant, "Angel, sweetie, it's alright. Just calm down okay?"
Angel looked at his lover and smiled, but said nothing. He merely took her hand and kissed it. His head then perked up and he began to speak to nothing.
"Say what?!" Angel asked thin air.
"Oh hell, cabin fever's got to him already." Gunn sighed.
"Shh! Say that again?" Angel said to nothing.
"I said am I always going to have to save your butt?" Willow's voice said in Angel's head.
"Yes Willow, I'm helpless without you." Angel smirked.
"I just needed to hear it from your own mouth." Willow's voice said.
"Where are you?" Angel asked.
"Currently phased in between dimensions with Doctor Strange. You're looking a little squeezed in there." Willow's voice replied.
"A tad. Plus I'm getting weird looks from everyone in here. Please tell me you came to get us out of here." Angel asked.
"That we did." Doctor Strange's voice echoed in Angel's head.
"Beautiful. Anything you want us to do?" Angel asked.
"Join hands. It will make phasing you all out easier." Doctor Strange replied.
"Alright. Got it. Guys, join hands. It will get us out of here." Angel said.
"Oh God, Angel's gone insane." Fred whimpered.
"Oh for the love of…Willow? Doctor Strange talk to them so they know I'm not crazy." Angel sighed.
"Aww, but its fun watching you squirm." Willow's voice said, and Angel could swear she had a big goofy smile on her face wherever she was "But okay, hey guys. Hold hands with Angel. We're getting you out of here."
"Uh okay." Cordy said holding Angel and Wesley's hands, "You're not prying around in my head are you? Because I like your hair now! That was Jasmine who hated it."
"Just hold hands." Willow said, frustrated.
The rest of the group joined hands and were suddenly floating in an extremely surreal looking dimension of swirling colors and textures, with Doctor Strange and Willow floating above them.
"That's it, I'm going to hurl." Gunn mentioned, trying to hold it in.
"Nice work Willow. Now what?" Angel asked.
"We're going to Sunnydale, that's what." Willow replied.
"Yeah, I think both groups need to work on this one." Angel said.
"And then some." Willow replied, "We've got some added help."
"God help us all." Doctor Strange mused.
"Why did he say that?" Angel asked.
Willow sighed, "You'll see."
"Wait! Willow…Connor's still out there." Angel explained.
"I thought you wanted him out of your life?" Willow asked.
"Now see that's what I sa—" Wes began.
"Shut up Wesley. This is an extenuating circumstance I think considering the Apocalypse and all." Angel said, "I want to know he's safe."
"Excuses, Excuses." Willow said.
"We'll locate him with the Eye of Agamotto." Doctor Strange explained.
"The what of what?" Gwen asked.
"Don't worry, I'll explain." Angel said.
God the end of the world could be stressful.