FUTURE IMPERFECT

Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Nick, Callie, and Hope.

CHAPTER 25-OKAY, I WON'T KILL YOUR HUSBAND-YET

Angel pulled the SUV up to a stop in the alley between two empty warehouses a couple of blocks away from the wharf where he was going to investigate.  With the Initiative being as spooky as they were he really didn't want to just go barging in with both guns blazing.  He decided that it was best to try to sneak around and see if he could catch someone important in a time of momentary weakness and then kidnap them and interrogate them somewhere.  Ever since he had first heard Buffy talk about the Initiative and after meeting Riley Angel had wondered just how tough its soldiers were and if his old methods of persuasion would work.  He didn't admit it openly but he knew that a small part of that wonderment was Angelus trying to worm his way out.  Angel stuck to the shadows and made his way towards the warehouse that he guessed that Riley had set up his headquarters in.  He crouched down behind some empty boxes and an old fishing net and waited for an opportunity.  To his determent however he was found out first as he felt the presence of someone behind him.  Whirling around on his toes Angel gracefully dodged a bullet and swept his attackers legs out from under him.  The Initiative soldier went down hard onto his back before growling in pain and rolling out of the way of Angel's first attempt to grab him.  Angel growled in anger as he leapt to his feet and waited for the Initiative soldier to attack. The soldier leapt to his feet and snapped out a similar baton to the one that Riley had used against him years earlier before taking a well aimed swing at him, catching Angel on the left side of his chin.

Angel took a couple of staggered steps backwards before he regained his footing and was ready for the soldiers next attack, blocking it with one hand before he landed a punch to the soldiers stomach, luckily knocking the wind out of him.  But before Angel could take advantage of the situation another soldier came around the corner and spotted Angel.  Rather than spoil any chance that he had at a surprise infiltration Angel used the first soldier as a springboard and tackled the next soldier just as he fumbled with his radio.  In the scuffle that followed Angel fought against the Initiative soldier for a bit before he caught movement out of the corner of his eye behind him.  In a swift move he rolled the Initiative soldier over and grabbed one of his guns that had a silencer on it.  Just as he did so the first soldier that he had attacked squeezed the trigger of his gun because he thought that he had a good shot, instead Angel leaned just enough to one side to avoid the bullets.  Unfortunately in his haste Angel didn't calculate where his movement would place the first soldier that he had begun fighting.  With a look of shock on his face Angel took in the sight of that soldier being riddled with bullets.

*                    *                         *                               *                           *                      *

After they had left Wesley and Faith's house Spike had been good on his word and taken Buffy and Dawn to see a show and held his tongue throughout most of it, even though a couple of times he had been forced to bite his tongue.  They had let Dawn pick the show and even though she had picked a good one even Buffy had been checking her watch every few seconds near the end with a pleading look on her face as she looked to Spike.  After the show the three had driven around until they found a small diner that was still open and went inside.

"You want something luv…Bit," Spike asked softly with a tired look on his face as he guided Buffy and Dawn over to the first open booth that he saw.

"Uh…just water for me thanks, my stomach's acting up again," Buffy replied with a slightly queasy look on her face as she accepted the seat and slid into the booth with Spike soon behind.

"You're going to regret that offer Spike, I'm starving," Dawn said with a mischievous smile on her face and glint in her eye as she crossed her arms in front of her on the table and leaned forward.

"Hey kiddo…elbows off the table…," Buffy started to say with a very serious and threatening scowl on her face before she blanched and smiled awkwardly.

"Yes mom…," Dawn joked with a daring smile on her face as she looked first to Spike, who had to clench his jaw shut tightly to keep from laughing at the look on his angel's face, and then to Buffy, whose face flushed red before she closed her mouth tightly to fight a fit of giggle's that tried to come out.

"So I wonder what's good here…maybe the special of the…," Spike started to say with a bored look on his face before the window that they were sitting beside shattered loudly, showering Spike, Buffy, and Dawn with thousands of shards of glass.  "Buffy," Spike shouted with an angry and worried tone to his exclamation as he did his best to cover her with his body as the shower of glass reigned down on them.  Dawn screamed in shock and dove under the table while Buffy could only attempt to cover her head with her hands.  When the shower of glass ceased Spike hazarded a glance out of the window.  The sight that befell him caused his heart to skip a beat as he then quickly pulled Buffy underneath the table with him.

"What's going on," Dawn shouted her question with a slightly panicked look on her face as she scooted over a bit so that Buffy and Spike could sit down beside her.

"Vampires…a whole bloody gang of them I think, and they don't look like they're interested talking about this over a nice cup of coffee," Spike replied with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he started to move out from under the table before he had to pull his leg back as one of the terrified waitresses rushed by and spilled the contents of the tray that she had been carrying.

"But why did they…," Buffy started to ask before one of the vampires interrupted as he took a step forward away from the rest of his brethren.

"Spike…we know that you're in there, get your ass out here before we come in after you," The vampire shouted with an angry and hateful scowl on his face before the other vampires cheered their leader.

"Bloody hell…thought he'd been staked in thirty four," Spike mumbled with a slightly sarcastic and frustrated scowl on his face as he slipped out from underneath the table.

"Spike no…wait, what's going on here," Buffy demanded with a very serious look on her face as she grabbed the collar of Spike's shirt and made him look at her.

"It's that bloody fool Depp…," Spike replied with a critical scowl on his face as he gently laid his hand overtop of Buffy's.

"Johnny…," Dawn started to ask with a joking smirk on her face before an icy glare from Spike stopped her.

"No not the actor, Depp's a vampire that I did business with here in New York back in the nineteen thirties, nothing big bud we had it better than everyone else…," Spike added with a combative look on his face as Buffy had to tighten her grip on his collar to keep him from bolting out into the fight.

"So you're old friends fine, but what about the window and the threatening," Dawn asked with a nervous look on her face as she slowly started to slink her way back up to the seat of the book, not minding the worried glare that Buffy cast her way.

"Skipped out of town before I paid him back the debt that I owed him…heard he was sore about it but I never thought that he'd go this far," Spike answered quickly with an angry frown on his face as he peeked his head up over the sill of the window to look out into the street but had to duck down quickly as a flaming tired flew into the diner and just missed the top of Spike's head by a few centimeters.

"Why am I not surprised by this revelation," Buffy groaned with an annoyed look on her face before one of the vampires kicked the door of the diner in off of its hinges and turned towards the cowering waitresses and customers with an eager grin on his face.

"Hmm…tasty…," The vampire said with a delighted smile on his face as he licked his lips and slipped into full game face before he took a step towards the nearest customer, a frightened six year old girl, who huddled closely to her mother with tears streaming down her cheek.

"Don't you know that you're supposed to watch what you eat, the food in here is nothing but grease and gristle," Spike ad-libbed with his usual air of arrogance as he leapt from beneath the table and grabbed the vampire by the arm and spun him away from the girl.

"Who the fuck…Spike," The vampire started to shout with an angry look on his face as he barred his teeth before he saw who it was that had stopped him and growled Spike's name in seething anger.

"Nice to see that Depp at least has someone around him that has more than two brain cells," Spike joked with an amused smirk on his face before the vampire became enraged and leapt at him.

"To slow," Buffy exclaimed with a frustrated frown on her face as she drove the point of the stake home into the vampire's heart and he exploded into a cloud of dust. 

"Thanks luv," Spike said with an excited smile on his face before Buffy bumped him out of the way and dusted the next vampire to enter the diner.

"Thank me after we live through this Spike," Buffy said with a very serious look on her face as she glared over at Spike for a few seconds before throwing her coat off and setting her feet. 

"Would you two stop arguing…we do have more important matters to attend to…," Dawn exclaimed with a frustrated scowl on her face as she grabbed a mop handle on her way to stand beside Buffy.

"Come out and face me Spike," Depp shouted with an arrogant smile on his face as he took a crowbar from one of his underlings and tapped the end against his flat palm.

"Really original mate…what's next, we got you surrounded," Spike shouted out with a smile of pure glee on his face as he was almost daring the vampires outside to storm the diner.  Depp started to growl something back before he shrugged his shoulders and waved his entire force forward into the diner.  Acting impulsively Spike leapt at the first vampires to enter the diner, an act that brought out an angry grunt from Buffy before she ducked under the punch of one of the next vampires and smashed her elbow into his face, smiling gleefully at the sound of bone breaking.  Dawn lunged forward and jabbed the end of the mop handle first through the stomach of one vampire and then through the heart of another. 

"This is fun…," Dawn joked with a jubilant smile on her face before a vampire took her by surprise and his weight forced the two to the ground.

"Dawn," Buffy shouted in shock and alarm before she leveled a side kick to the stomach of the vampire directly in front of her and then turned to help Dawn.  No sooner had she turned to help Dawn and started to bend over then another vampire leapt onto her back and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms down at her sides.  "Dawn…Spike…," Buffy growled with an angry frown on her face as she tried her best to break free from the vampire's grasp.  Sensing that she didn't have much time left Buffy took a sudden step back and slammed her attacker straight back into the edge of the counter.  She continued to ram the hapless vampire into the counter until she heard his spine snap in two and his arms drop off.  By that time Dawn had recovered enough to ram her knee into the vampires chin, causing him to instantly stop attacking her and grab his jaw. 

"Get off me," Dawn shouted with an angry scowl on her face as she did her best to fling the vampire off of her and get back to her feet.  During that time Spike had managed to get himself mobbed by not three but four vampires, each intent on ending his life.  He kicked and scratched against the quartet as they slammed him through the wall, coating them all in dust and grime.

*                       *                          *                             *                          *                      *

Not waiting for the Initiative soldier to have the time to reload Angel flung the dead soldier off of him before he leapt back to his feet and struck, snapping the but end of the rifle first into the soldiers stomach and then nose. The Initiative soldier dropped the gun instantly and screamed as he clutched his nose and tried to stop the torrent of blood rushing out of it.  Angel smirked silently before he spun around on his heel and knocked the guard unconscious with a hard blow to the back of the head.  Angel took a few steps back towards the alley but stopped when he heard footsteps approaching.  "Whoever you are show yourself right now," Angel shouted with a very serious look on his face as he tensed up and waited for the attack to come.

"Nice effort there kid, I have to admit, you scared me a bit," An oddly smiling Whistler joked as he slowly stepped out into the dim light and adjusted his hat.

"What are you…," Angel started to ask with an angry scowl on his face before the next shift came to relieve the two guards that Angel had fought.

*                           *                       *                        *                      *                         *

"Do you think he saw us," Anya asked with an excited smile on her face as she pulled Xander back into an alley and pressed herself up against the wall.

"Who saw who…," Xander asked with a completely oblivious look on his face as Anya did her best to push him up tight against the wall at her side.

"Mr. Saburon, that guy that Wesley said that Nick and Callie had talked with about the problems in his shop," Anya replied with a caught up in the act look of exhilaration on her face as she took a chance and poked her head out around the corner.

"And why exactly are we following him again, when we're supposed to be…," Xander pondered aloud with a confused and frustrated frown on his face before Anya placed a nervous finger on his lips. 


"We're following him because he's going to lead us to Nick and Callie…," Anya answered with a frustrated expression on her face as she lightly glared back at Xander.

"And just how pray tell do you know that An…," Xander asked softly as he pushed Anya's arm aside and stepped away from the wall.

"How…ooh I know the shifty look that he gave earlier before he crossed the street…and then how he yelled at that bike messenger that almost hit him…and need I say any more than when he went into the pet store and bought a bunny…if that alone doesn't prove that he's a spawn of Satan then well…nothing will," Anya answered in earnest as she pleaded her case before scrunching up her face in disgust at the mention of bunnies.

"Have you stopped and thought about the possibility that the rabbit is for a friend of his…and look, we just lost him," Xander asked with a bored look on his face as he poked his head around the corner and then shrugged his shoulders.

"What…damn…c'mon," Anya exclaimed with a frustrated and almost panic-stricken expression on her face as he jumped out of the alley and looked all around before she grabbed Xander's hand and pulled him along after her as she tore through the crowd.

*                        *                       *                     *                           *                             *

Angel barely had time to react before the next shift showed up.  The closest guard fumbled to turn the safety off on his weapon and Angel saw his chance and took it.  Unfortunately for Angel the other guard didn't have the same problem, and squeezed the trigger on his gun, spurting off a round or two of bullets.  Angel felt like a palette of bricks was dropped straight onto his chest.  Sure he had been shot before, more times than he cared to remember.  But this time was different; leave it to the Initiative to use special bullets that were designed to not pass through someone's body that had been hit.  Angel gasped in anger and pain and soon was curled up in the fetal position on the ground clutching his chest.

"Johnson, get on the comm. and…," One of the guards started to say before being abruptly stopped by a well placed strike to his throat.  The guard instantly grabbed his throat and dropped to his knees, opening himself up to a roundhouse kick that left him unconscious as he slumped forward. 

"Dad," Connor shouted in alarm as he left the side of the unconscious guard and rushed to Angel's side.

"C…Connor…," Angel grunted out with a very pained look on his face as he clenched his hands into fists and gritted his teeth against the pain.

"How bad," Connor asked with a worried look on his face as he pulled Angel up to a seated position and didn't shy away when Angel reached out a bloodstained hand and clamped it down on his shoulder, squeezing almost hard enough to shatter the bone, muscle, and cartilage underneath.

"I'll be…fine…just get me up," Angel replied with a painful wince spread across his face before he tried to get to his feet, with Connor having to help him in the end.

"Did you plan on getting shot or do you owe me one," Connor asked with a sarcastic smirk on his face as he helped Angel stagger a few steps before leaning him back up against one of the buildings.

"I'm going to have to owe you one son, but I can't continue like this, help me back to Wesley's SUV, he's going to just love trying to get the blood out but it can't be helped," Angel answered with a frustrated and angry scowl on his face as Connor helped him towards the SUV.

"Stop where you are…," An angry voice from behind shouted as both Angel and Connor caught the low click of a bullet being loaded into the chamber of a gun.

"Or what…you'll shoot me again," Angel asked in mock jest as he fully put all of his weight back onto his own legs, and even though every movement wracked his body in spasms of pain, turned around and tried to not let it show how badly he was hurt.

"No…stop where you are right now or else someone else will see you and then we'll never have the chance to talk," Sam replied with a serious and very nervous look on her face even though she tried her best to hide her feelings.

"Who are you," Connor asked with a great amount of disbelief in his voice as he positioned himself in between Sam and Angel.

"My name is Samantha Finn, Riley is my husband…," Sam started to say with a hesitant expression on her face as she kept her finger on the trigger before both Angel and Connor looked about ready to attack her and she stopped.

"That bastard…," Angel growled with a very angry scowl on his face as he took a threatening step forward and clenched a fist as the bullet wounds screamed at the effort.

"Is going about things all wrong, and I can't stay silent any longer and let it continue," Sam said with a very serious and straightforward look on her face as she slowly lowered her gun.

"You expect us to believe that…," Connor started to declare with a very angry grimace on his face before Sam held a hand up and smiled.

"It doesn't matter whether or not you believe me right now Connor, but if we agree to call a truce between us I can get you the antidote…today…to the poison that's killing your girlfriend, without Riley or the Initiative knowing," Sam replied with an equally serious frown on her face as she put her gun back in its holster and crossed her arms, awaiting Angel's answer.

"If you're lying you won't live through the night," Angel stated with a very serious and threatening scowl on his face as beside him Connor couldn't believe his ears.

"I'd expect nothing less from the mighty Angelus, but we should go, another patrol should be coming soon and you need some help," Sam agreed with an almost odd smile on her face before she hurried forward to help Connor get Angel back to the SUV.

END OF CHAPTER 25