THREE STRIKES
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Arthur, Elaine, and Jocelyn.
CHAPTER 24-SO HERE'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO
The sun cast oblong shadows through the rusted grate against the sewage slathered wall of the sewer as Angel let out a frustrated sigh. The meeting had gone off better than the two and a half century old vampire had ever anticipated. His plan hadn't taken very long to come up with and he had been expecting those around him, Faith especially, to attempt to wring his neck when she heard it. However the formerly rogue slayer had surprised him and had given the plan her blessing, with one minor adjustment, a promise that if anything went wrong and something happened to Wesley there'd be a stake waiting for him at the end. The empathy seer Jocelyn had bitten her lip hard enough to draw blood to keep from crying at the onslaught of emotions that she was getting from everyone as they heard and mulled the plan over in their minds. The final had been given and the troops had been dispersed, mostly without incident.
And now as he waited for the sun to set, allowing his plan to be brought to fruition, Angel was getting more impatient than usual. Someone on the outside would think that virtually living forever and never aging would allow someone to build up a tremendous amount of patience; however they'd never met Angel or Spike. For the most part neither vampire had much patience with anything, with Angel leading that list. During his glory days Angel had always thought of patience as a waste of time, but now as an axe wielding Wesley walked around the corner Angel wished that he would have tried a little harder in those early years.
"Everything secure," Angel asked with a nervous look on his face as he kept his gaze straight forward across the sewer tunnel, making sure to keep himself out of the way of any reflective surfaces.
"Not exactly…but everything's as secure as we could have hoped for, Oz and Groo are in position in the parking garage, when you give the signal they'll slip out and start to plant the explosives," Wesley replied with a nervous frown on his face before he shivered a bit and coughed loudly.
"Are you sure that we gave them enough c4, because it was all that we could get on such short notice," Angel asked softly with an unhappy scowl on his face as he pulled his coat tighter around him, not for the warmth that he did not need but instead mostly out of habit.
"I believe that it'll be enough to…bring down the house…so to speak, and if what Arthur said is true about there already being a contingency plan that's outcome is the complete and sudden destruction of the building then…," Wesley answered with a very serious look on his face as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes. When he had woken up the sight and feel of Faith nearly clinging to him warmed his heart and gave him the odd sensation that no matter what happened he would see their child come into the world. Initially upon opening her doe eyes his slayer had been very cross with him, mostly for his failure to call her and tell her that everything was alright. But he had been able to dissuade her from venting her wrath on him by trailing a line of kisses from her collarbone up to her earlobe, a trick that he had learned on cold night when he and Faith had been watching a demon haunt. The two had been staking out the old bar for days before anything fruitful had come of their pursuits. Unfortunately the heater had gone out in his SUV that night and the two had been forced to snuggle together to stay warm. That act hadn't been a chore but it hadn't taken long before Faith had gotten frustrated and riled up. He had tried everything before finally hitting the jackpot.
"Our roles in this calamity will be brief and we can all get back to living our lives in some semblance of peace and quiet," Angel said with a peaceful but yet worried smile on his face as he leaned his head back up against the wall.
"Until the next apocalyptic harbinger rears his, her, its, or their ugly head or heads…then this will all start all over again and we'll be right back here with you wishing for a little peace and quiet," Wesley added with a somber expression on his face as he leaned back up against the wall beside Angel and waited.
* * * * * *
Lindsey had been a handful ever since Angel had left the hospital. More than once he had to be threatened with an odd colored liquid in a syringe. Gunn had tried his best to demand to know what exactly was in the syringe. All that he had gotten was that it was something that would calm Lindsey down. The former lawyer had finally calmed back down when Fred had promised to go and keep watch over Elaine. After some more begging and pleading Cordelia had finally been able to convince the doctors that she and Fred were related to Elaine, using the lie that they were cousins that felt more like sisters. The doctor had been weary about their explanation but had been up for over a day and just wanted to finish his shift. As per Angel's request Gunn had recruited his old crew into the war, setting them up throughout the city and directly out in front of the hospital. To Gunn they would serve as his eyes and ears so that he could get word to Angel if anything happened or if anyone or anything from Wolfram and Hart tried to storm or slip into the hospital. After almost biting her tongue off to keep from speaking up Faith had sulked back to the hospital to serve as the muscle for the defense of those at the hospital. In their final heart wrenching exchange before Wesley followed Angel into the sewers Faith had almost shattered all of Wesley's ribs with the force of her hug, an act that she could finally do in front of others. Before that Wesley had knelt down on the sidewalk in front of Faith and laid his hand over her still smooth and flat stomach under her shirt and mouthed the words to a silent prayer, an act which elicited a quick shiver and gasp from Faith at the contact between her warm flesh and his ice cold hand, with an almost sad smile on his face. Angel had begun to formulate a question as to exactly what it was that the former watcher was doing when he caught a pair of tears slip down Faith's cheeks out of the corner of his eye. In a simulated heartbeat he could empathize with Wesley and had turned away and removed the manhole cover before climbing down into the sewer tunnels.
* * * * * *
"Okay now, explain this all to me again please because…I'm not understanding Angel's plan," A very obviously worried Kate asked with an impatient frown on her face as she ran a hand through her hair and turned around to face Willow. The two had stayed behind at the Hyperion in case anyone returned there, mostly the reporter and her cameraman. The Wolfram and Hart guards that had attacked earlier had all been shipped off one of Angel's contacts, with a deal being struck to keep them there until Angel said differently. Willow had snickered at the sight of the former policewoman in a vain attempt to convince herself that she was okay with the plan.
"It's simple, Angel and Wesley create a diversion that draws out whatever it is that Wolfram and Hart is planning to do while Oz and Groo sneak in and set the charges, you have to admit this kind of stuff is fun," Willow answered with at first an almost annoyed frown on her face before her countenance changed to an almost embarrassed smile at the end.
"But what about the kid, Connor, what's he supposed to do," Kate asked as she slowly nodded her head and leaned forward onto the counter that Willow sat behind.
"I…uh…I don't know exactly…Angel didn't really say what Connor was supposed to do, but whatever it is I'm sure that it's something…important, he's probably with Jocelyn somewhere," Willow replied with a nervous stutter and smile on her face as she dropped her chin into the palm of her upturned hands as her elbows rested on each side of her laptops keyboard.
* * * * * *
Upon the sun's final last gasp of light before slipping into nightfall Groo had stifled more than half a dozen sneezes as he and Oz had hid themselves in the back of a delivery truck. Angel and Wesley had helped Oz and Groo to load the back as full of c4 as they could before Arthur had driven the truck into the parking garage and then made a hasty retreat back out to the street where he caught a cab and headed back towards the Hyperion. Oz propped a door leading into the building open with an old chair after he had disabled all of the security cameras that could possibly catch them in the act and alert the guards. Groo had worked as fast as he could to get the c4 from the truck and into the building before Oz sent a message to Angel's pager that everything was going according to plan with phase one being completed and that he and Wesley should begin phase two.
"Well…that's our cue," Angel muttered softly with a very serious look on his face as he turned his head towards Wesley before the two moved the manhole cover aside and crept up out of the sewers.
"Just how big of a diversion were you planning on causing," Wesley asked with an equally serious look on his face as he and Angel ducked down behind the fountain after having run across the street.
"Big enough that we draw out their big guns Wes, our object is to get Penn and the golem out here so that they won't be ready for our little surprise, after the building is destroyed then the golem should cease to be right…," Angel answered with a slightly hesitant look on his face as he cast a quick look up at the Wolfram and Hart tower.
"That's the theory anyway…but this explosion is going to make the one that destroyed our old offices look like a sparkler compared to an atomic bomb, we're going to have to be at least a couple of miles or more away before we set it off, or else they'll be scraping us off of the sidewalk with spatulas…well me anyway, all that they'll need for you would be a broom," Wesley said with a weak grin on his face before he uttered a short laugh but stopped quickly because of the angry glare that Angel cast his way.
"Very funny Wesley, if I didn't know you any better I'd think that you're in the wrong profession," Angel added with a slight snicker as he spun around a bit so that he was now squatting behind the fountain.
"So shall I announce our presence at the mouth of hell," Wesley asked with a quizzical smile on his face as he pulled a makeshift bomb out of his backpack and cocked an eyebrow towards the tower.
"We shall…," Angel whispered back softly with a worried smirk on his face as he edged away from Wesley, who pulled a lighter out of his pocket and lit the fuse. With a quick run up and then throw Wesley flung the bomb towards the front doors of the Wolfram and Hart tower. The explosion that followed blew out the front set of doors and showered the lobby with razor sharp shards or glass. "You think they heard that," Angel asked with an expectant smile on his face as he slid his sword out from underneath his coat.
"I'd say that it's a good possibility," Wesley interjected back with a short laugh as he readied his axe before a furious Penn stormed out of the smoke and debris, followed closely behind by a small army of vampires. With only a slight nod towards each other Wesley and Angel leapt from behind the fountain and charged at Penn.
* * * * * *
"Shit…I should be out there doing something, at least watching their backs," Faith growled with an angry and impatient scowl on her face as she stomped her foot while leaning her forehead against the darkened hospital window.
"You should try to relax Faith, I know that you're worried about Wesley but…," A nervous and slightly twitching Fred started to say with a scared look on her face as she looked up at Faith from her seat on the couch before Faith cut in.
"Worried…Fred…worried, no I'm not worried…I'm not even close to being worried, the only man that I've ever truly loved in my entire life, the man that even after everything that I put him through found it within himself to not hate and despise me…and then to trust me enough to be the mother of his child…so no…I'm not worried," Faith shot back with a very serious and well hidden look of extreme terror on her face as she half turned her head back towards the lithe Texan before turning it back to stare out into the night.
"Okay…not worried…terrified, definitely terrified," Fred mumbled softly to herself as if she expected herself to experience a panic attack at any second.
"Damn straight…I don't think that I can do this…have and raise this child…by myself…if Wesley doesn't make it then…I don't want to make it either, we either both live…or we both die, that's all that there is to it," Faith added with a sunken look of defeat on her face as she turned away from the window and slumped down into the nearest chair, staring longingly at the floor in an attempt to not look Fred in the eye.
"What…whoa now wait a damn minute, Wesley will make it through this and so will you…you just have to keep the…faith…," Fred shouted with a very serious and somewhat angry frown on her face as she jumped to her feet and glared over at Faith, who only half lifted her gaze before returning it to the floor.
"Yeah, you're right…sorry, I guess that all of this negativity is just my guilt bubbling up to the surface and rearing its ugly head, I'm just not sure that…," Faith started to apologize with a sincere look on her face before she stopped speaking abruptly and rushed back to the window.
"What is it," Fred shouted with an alarmed look on her face before she hurried over to Faiths side and looked in the direction that Faith was pointing. Off in the distance, slowly approaching the hospital from first one direction and then the other, was what looked like an endless stream of zombies.
"Shit…shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…," Faith mumbled angrily with a very worried look of awe and surprise on her face before she pushed away from the window and tore off down the hallway, almost knocking over an orderly in the process.
* * * * * *
"Do you hear something…," Kate asked with a nervous frown on her face as she stood in the remains of the blown out front doors of the Hyperion.
"Uh…nope, just the wind and the traffic out front, other than that…just you and the hum of my laptop here," Willow replied with a slightly nervous frown on her face as she leaned back in her chair.
"You mean you can't hear that…it sounds kind of like…Willow look out," Now an even more nervous Kate started to ask with a wide eyed look of concern on her face before a snarling demon tumbled into the lobby.
"Whoa…Kate...," Willow started to shout with a scared look on her face before she scrambled over the top of the counter and rushed towards Kate, who was in the process of going for her gun.
"Willow get down," Kate shouted loudly with a very serious and dramatic look on her face before the snarling demon charged towards the two women.
"Kate…," Willow shouted as she ducked behind Kate and covered her ears and close her eyes tight as three shots rang out. With a hefty splatter of blood around the lobby the snarling demon slumped to the floor, drowning in its own blood.
"Well now…that wasn't so hard…," Kate started to say with a proud smile on her face before a trio of snarling demons rushed into the opposite side of the lobby, enraged at the sight of their dead comrade.
"Then I guess that they should be no problem right…," Willow said with a slightly overwhelmed look on her face as she desperately tried to think of a spell to aid in their defense.
"Sorry Willow but I don't think that I have that many bullets," Kate shouted back with a very serious look on her face as she stared down the enraged snarling demons from across the lobby.
"Then let's hope that you're a good shot…come on," Willow started to say with a scared smile on her face before she grabbed Kate's arm and the two took off up the stairs. The snarling demons in the lobby leapt after Kate and Willow just as the two women got to the top of the stairs and flew around the first corner. The next several seconds and minutes felt like hours as Kate and Willow sped off up through the old hotel, with the three snarling demons in hot pursuit. When they got to the roof Willow had to help Kate push the door shut and lock it before the demons that were following them got close enough.
"Okay we're on the roof, what now," Kate asked with a frustrated and slightly scared look on her face as she ran towards the edge of the roof and looked over the edge.
"Well…we stay here until sunrise…that or until I figure out a spell to help us…," Willow stammered out with an unsure look on her face as she bent over in an attempt to catch her breath.
"Well act fast because…oh my God…Willow," Kate started to say with a nervous and impatient look on her face before she shivered in the breeze.
"What is it…Kate…Kate…oh no," Willow gasped back with a worried look on her face before she hurried over to the edge and looked down. From every direction came a seemingly never ending army of zombies, all seeming to be heading straight towards the Hyperion.
* * * * * *
The battle near the fountain had gone better than Angel had anticipated, an outcome that slowed his and Wesley's push into the building. Penn had started to fight first Wesley and then Angel. But when it started to become clear that Wesley and Angel were going to win the fight Angelus' former protégé had thought twice and raced back into the building, yelling death threats over his shoulder as he went. They had made it down into the first level of the basement before they had run into any problems that couldn't be remedied with a simple swing of an axe or sword. During one of those fights one of the demons got a little to close for comfort with its weapon on Angel and since Angel didn't feel and injuries he killed the demon and pressed on with Wesley close behind guarding his back. The two burst through a pair of heavy doors before Angel slipped on the newly wet floor and was sent tumbling to the ground, with the detonator to the c4 skidding across the floor.
"Wesley…the detonator," Angel shouted with an alarmed look on his face as he tried to contort his body so that he would never let the detonator out of his sight.
"Okay I…," Wesley started to say with a concerned look on his face before a shot rang out and once again Wesley felt the shock and pain of a small projectile of hot lead smashing into his body, this time instead of into his stomach the bullet bit into his left shoulder, sending lighting bolts of pain through his body. Wesley grunted in pain and collapsed to the ground, his right hand pressed over the wound in a desperate attempt to try and stop the blood. Angel shouted in alarm and slipped into game face before he spun around to face Wesley's attacker. Had he been human he very well might have had a heart attack when his gaze met a very serious looking Arthur, detonator in hand, holding a still smoking gun aimed directly at Wesley.
END OF CHAPTER 24