Watcher 10 - Whatever It Took
"Wakey, wakey boy."
"Name's Xander bitch, don't you forget it because I'm the guy who's going to be ramming a stake into your heart." Xander glanced around quickly, his heart sinking as he took in his predicament. As situations went he'd been in better. The Master's Lair, the She-Mantis' den, the showdown with Angelus, the confrontation with the Zombie gang, and facing Faith in the alley - all preferable to this.
He was hung by his arms from the centre of the ceiling of a cold, grey wall, dangling just inches from the floor. He'd been stripped to the waist and facing him stood a woman who made Drusilla look like a poster child for sanity and rational behaviour. "Good to see the old Harris luck is holding," he muttered. His blood chilled as he noticed the table stood next to the silver-haired vampiress. On it lay a variety of ghastly instruments - a selection of whips, a set of electrodes, a hammer, a blow- torch, a number of knives as well as a.
He shuddered at the ice-cold touch of the vampiress' hand on his face. "You broke my nose," the demon said softly.
Xander forced a grin. "I don't suppose you'd accept my apology and a bunch of flowers?"
"Oh, I don't mind," the vampiress purred as she raked her long nails down his chest, drawing blood and making him hiss in pain. De Sade leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "Means you have spirit, I like breaking those with spirit, when they shatter they make the most beautiful noise."
"Lovely," Xander felt his lips dry, "what it is with me and women? They all seem to work on the kill or cure principle." He swallowed as the vampiress glided over to the table and picked up a knife. "I don't suppose we could just go for a coffee, maybe take in a movie?" he forced a note of levity into his voice. "This is a little heavy for a first date, I don't usually crack open the bondage gear until at least the tenth date."
"Jokes, jokes. All very amusing," the vampiress laughed softly before turning a pair of ice-cold eyes on him, "but how will the jester amuse us without his tongue?" Xander let out a gasp of fear as the vampiress ran the blunt edge of the knife across his face.
* * *
"Listening to the whelp's screaming is all very entertaining but I still reckon it'll be better if he," Spike indicated the seated Angel who returned his sneer with a helpless glare, "was in the same room watching."
"Yeah, you're right." Mr. Trick started towards the ensoulled vampire.
"Just one problem." Spike slammed a stake into the back of the African- American vampire. "You're dust." The vampire turned to his grand-sire. "Well bloody help Peaches!"
Angel leapt off his chair and lunged towards Cheng only to be knocked to the ground by a kick to the stomach. Seizing his opportunity, Spike leapt forward, his stake arcing downwards at the Oriental vampire's heart only for his adversary to grab his stake hand and throw him to into the wall. "Bloody hell," he cursed as he slid down the wall. "Bugger's strong."
Spike rose to meet the Oriental only to be caught by a knifehand to the throat that sent him to his knees. Seeing his grand-sire rising behind his adversary, Spike lunged forward, taking a hard knee to the face, catching his opponent around the waist, and knocking him backwards into the splinter wielded by Angel. The instant Cheng exploded into dust Spike was caught by a thunderous punch to the jaw that sent him back to the floor. "What's your game Spike?"
"Bloody hell mate, suspicious aren't you? Try and help a bloke," he dabbed gingerly at his bloodied lip. Getting a soul didn't appear to have made his grand-sire's punches any lighter. "One, I remember blondie dropping an organ on me for hurting you, from what I've heard of the whelp's bird that's one bint I really don't want to piss off. And two, Dalton doesn't remember it but he tried to kill me and Dru in the twenties. And three, he's planning on opening the hellmouth, I like the status quo too much to risk the world." He waited warily until Angel offered him his hand. Taking it he climbed to his feet. "So what's the plan?"
* * *
The door to the cell crashed open under a single kick. Angel's eyes hardened as he saw the boy's wretched state. "You're dead De Sade," he grated before charging forward, his demonic face showing.
De Sade leapt towards the tool ridden table, her fingers for the blow torch lying there. Just as the vampiress' fingers closed on her target, the table was knocked away. The vampiress looked up in shock. Spike shrugged and smirked. "Sorry pet."
Even as De Sade lunged for the bleached blonde vampire Angel threw a stake to his grand-childe. The torturer's eyes widened in shock as she ran onto the stake and exploded into dust. Satisfied that the threat was over, Angel spun around to face Xander.
"Oh no," the words came out as a whisper as he surveyed his friend's wretched condition. Blood was streaming down from the boy's nostrils, both his eyes were swollen shut, and his jaw was covered with bruises. His back was bloody and raw from repeated whipping, while his front was covered in bruises, burns, and knife wounds. Climbing up on a near-by chair, he untied the youth and eased him down, cradling him in his arms. "Bloody hell Peaches, I've never seen you treat anyone 'cept the Darla and Dru like that. Hey, that shiny soul of yours hasn't turned you qu-."
"Be careful Spike," he growled, "be very careful. Otherwise I might just forget to tell Buffy and Faith that you helped me." Angel turned back to the comatose youth. "Xander? Can you hear me?"
"Bloody hell, can't you hear his heartbeat?"
"He might have brain damage."
"With him how would you know? Look mate we have to get out of here."
Angel nodded before lifting the youth over his shoulders. "Let's go."
* * *
"Leaving so soon Angel? And Spike, changing sides?"
"Never liked you much Dalton?" Spike shouted back before whispering at Angel. "Peaches, you big poof, I hope you've got a plan."
"Ever watch westerns," he replied with a smile as he watched the twenty or so vampires surround them.
"Westerns? What the bloody hell you talking about?" A door at the back of the factory crashed open and half a dozen figures rushed in.
"Cavalry's arrived Spike."
Spike grinned wolfishly at him. "Put down the whelp, poofter. It's time to fight back to back."
Angel laughed, feeling the demon inside him rejoice at the thought of violence. "Takes you back doesn't it?"
* * *
Faith looked anxiously through the brawling melee, searching for any sign of her boyfriend; she didn't know what she'd do if anything had happened to her baby. A smile flickered across her face as she spotted him guarded by Angel only to disappear when she registered his condition and the numbers encircling his protectors.
"Nobody's hurting my baby," she snarled before starting forward, slamming a side kick in the gut of a vampire approaching her from left. Even as the vampire crumpled, she sidestepped another's charge leaving her stake for the vampire to run on before spinning round, kick the first vampire square in the balls before staking its descending body.
She turned back towards her love and started forward. Suddenly a pair of hands encircled her neck from behind. Before her attacker had a chance to tighten their grip she slammed her head backwards, shattering her attacker's knee, and drove her right heel into the vampire's shin. Faith pulled away from the vampire's loosening grip, turned, blocked a left cross on her shoulder, and staked him.
"Well you're a fiery one. You must be the Bostonian Slayer I've been hearing about."
Faith's eyes flickered around; the fighting had broken down into groups, the largest number surrounding her boy and his protectors, before resting on the vampire stood before her. He was short, an inch or so shorter than her, but thickly built with a face that had begun to show a vampire's age. Her eyes rested on the sword in the vampire's hands she drew her own and allowed her stake to clatter to the floor. "You're going to pay for what you've done to my boy, ugly."
The vampire laughed mockingly. "Yes you've done about as good a job protecting him as you made of protecting your first Watcher."
Faith felt a surge of rage engulf her. Darting forward, she ducked under a sword swing from the Master vampire and into a knee to the face. Rocked by the impact she staggered backwards, twisting away from an attempted thrust at her heart only for the blade to slice through her shoulder, ripping open a bloody channel.
Biting her top lip prevent from screaming her pain, Faith gazed at her grinning opponent. "You're not very good Slayer," he taunted. "Ah well. Perhaps your counterpart will be better."
Just the mention of Buffy got her competitive juices flowing, she was sick of being disregarded, considered as second-best, only Xander thought of her as number one. "You'll never find out." After feinting with a head slash she thrust at Dalton's belly but the vampire sidestepped and countered with a swing at her knees that she leapt over before landing a drop-kick in the vampire's chest and smoothly backwards somersaulting to land on her feet ten feet away.
The vampire winced and staggered but remained on his feet. "Better than I thought," he taunted, "but you're still going to die." Suddenly the vampire thrust at her neck, she twisted away from the attack only to let out an agonised scream when the vampire pulled a dagger out of her belt and thrust it into the forearm of her sword-arm causing her sword to clatter to the floor.
"You'll be my fourth Slayer," taunted the vampire as he back-handed her to the floor. She stared up defiantly at the vampire. She wouldn't beg or grovel, it wasn't her style and it didn't do any good with humans or vampires anyway. She'd meet death head on; she just wished she'd told Xander how much he meant to her.
"Not bloody likely!" Suddenly a crossbow quarrel hit the Master Vampire's in the right eye. As the screaming vampire staggered backwards, Faith rolled towards her sword and, ignoring the pain in his arm, lifted the blade and quickly decapitated the vampire.
A grin on her face, she turned to thank Giles only for her mouth to drop open at the sight of Wesley coolly re-loading his crossbow. "Wes."
The young Watcher smiled a most unweslike smile. "I couldn't let him get my Slayer could I? Now go and see to your young man."
"Damn straight!" A grin on her face, Faith dived back into the fight. Xander was going to be five by five. Whatever it took.
"Wakey, wakey boy."
"Name's Xander bitch, don't you forget it because I'm the guy who's going to be ramming a stake into your heart." Xander glanced around quickly, his heart sinking as he took in his predicament. As situations went he'd been in better. The Master's Lair, the She-Mantis' den, the showdown with Angelus, the confrontation with the Zombie gang, and facing Faith in the alley - all preferable to this.
He was hung by his arms from the centre of the ceiling of a cold, grey wall, dangling just inches from the floor. He'd been stripped to the waist and facing him stood a woman who made Drusilla look like a poster child for sanity and rational behaviour. "Good to see the old Harris luck is holding," he muttered. His blood chilled as he noticed the table stood next to the silver-haired vampiress. On it lay a variety of ghastly instruments - a selection of whips, a set of electrodes, a hammer, a blow- torch, a number of knives as well as a.
He shuddered at the ice-cold touch of the vampiress' hand on his face. "You broke my nose," the demon said softly.
Xander forced a grin. "I don't suppose you'd accept my apology and a bunch of flowers?"
"Oh, I don't mind," the vampiress purred as she raked her long nails down his chest, drawing blood and making him hiss in pain. De Sade leaned forward and whispered in his ear. "Means you have spirit, I like breaking those with spirit, when they shatter they make the most beautiful noise."
"Lovely," Xander felt his lips dry, "what it is with me and women? They all seem to work on the kill or cure principle." He swallowed as the vampiress glided over to the table and picked up a knife. "I don't suppose we could just go for a coffee, maybe take in a movie?" he forced a note of levity into his voice. "This is a little heavy for a first date, I don't usually crack open the bondage gear until at least the tenth date."
"Jokes, jokes. All very amusing," the vampiress laughed softly before turning a pair of ice-cold eyes on him, "but how will the jester amuse us without his tongue?" Xander let out a gasp of fear as the vampiress ran the blunt edge of the knife across his face.
* * *
"Listening to the whelp's screaming is all very entertaining but I still reckon it'll be better if he," Spike indicated the seated Angel who returned his sneer with a helpless glare, "was in the same room watching."
"Yeah, you're right." Mr. Trick started towards the ensoulled vampire.
"Just one problem." Spike slammed a stake into the back of the African- American vampire. "You're dust." The vampire turned to his grand-sire. "Well bloody help Peaches!"
Angel leapt off his chair and lunged towards Cheng only to be knocked to the ground by a kick to the stomach. Seizing his opportunity, Spike leapt forward, his stake arcing downwards at the Oriental vampire's heart only for his adversary to grab his stake hand and throw him to into the wall. "Bloody hell," he cursed as he slid down the wall. "Bugger's strong."
Spike rose to meet the Oriental only to be caught by a knifehand to the throat that sent him to his knees. Seeing his grand-sire rising behind his adversary, Spike lunged forward, taking a hard knee to the face, catching his opponent around the waist, and knocking him backwards into the splinter wielded by Angel. The instant Cheng exploded into dust Spike was caught by a thunderous punch to the jaw that sent him back to the floor. "What's your game Spike?"
"Bloody hell mate, suspicious aren't you? Try and help a bloke," he dabbed gingerly at his bloodied lip. Getting a soul didn't appear to have made his grand-sire's punches any lighter. "One, I remember blondie dropping an organ on me for hurting you, from what I've heard of the whelp's bird that's one bint I really don't want to piss off. And two, Dalton doesn't remember it but he tried to kill me and Dru in the twenties. And three, he's planning on opening the hellmouth, I like the status quo too much to risk the world." He waited warily until Angel offered him his hand. Taking it he climbed to his feet. "So what's the plan?"
* * *
The door to the cell crashed open under a single kick. Angel's eyes hardened as he saw the boy's wretched state. "You're dead De Sade," he grated before charging forward, his demonic face showing.
De Sade leapt towards the tool ridden table, her fingers for the blow torch lying there. Just as the vampiress' fingers closed on her target, the table was knocked away. The vampiress looked up in shock. Spike shrugged and smirked. "Sorry pet."
Even as De Sade lunged for the bleached blonde vampire Angel threw a stake to his grand-childe. The torturer's eyes widened in shock as she ran onto the stake and exploded into dust. Satisfied that the threat was over, Angel spun around to face Xander.
"Oh no," the words came out as a whisper as he surveyed his friend's wretched condition. Blood was streaming down from the boy's nostrils, both his eyes were swollen shut, and his jaw was covered with bruises. His back was bloody and raw from repeated whipping, while his front was covered in bruises, burns, and knife wounds. Climbing up on a near-by chair, he untied the youth and eased him down, cradling him in his arms. "Bloody hell Peaches, I've never seen you treat anyone 'cept the Darla and Dru like that. Hey, that shiny soul of yours hasn't turned you qu-."
"Be careful Spike," he growled, "be very careful. Otherwise I might just forget to tell Buffy and Faith that you helped me." Angel turned back to the comatose youth. "Xander? Can you hear me?"
"Bloody hell, can't you hear his heartbeat?"
"He might have brain damage."
"With him how would you know? Look mate we have to get out of here."
Angel nodded before lifting the youth over his shoulders. "Let's go."
* * *
"Leaving so soon Angel? And Spike, changing sides?"
"Never liked you much Dalton?" Spike shouted back before whispering at Angel. "Peaches, you big poof, I hope you've got a plan."
"Ever watch westerns," he replied with a smile as he watched the twenty or so vampires surround them.
"Westerns? What the bloody hell you talking about?" A door at the back of the factory crashed open and half a dozen figures rushed in.
"Cavalry's arrived Spike."
Spike grinned wolfishly at him. "Put down the whelp, poofter. It's time to fight back to back."
Angel laughed, feeling the demon inside him rejoice at the thought of violence. "Takes you back doesn't it?"
* * *
Faith looked anxiously through the brawling melee, searching for any sign of her boyfriend; she didn't know what she'd do if anything had happened to her baby. A smile flickered across her face as she spotted him guarded by Angel only to disappear when she registered his condition and the numbers encircling his protectors.
"Nobody's hurting my baby," she snarled before starting forward, slamming a side kick in the gut of a vampire approaching her from left. Even as the vampire crumpled, she sidestepped another's charge leaving her stake for the vampire to run on before spinning round, kick the first vampire square in the balls before staking its descending body.
She turned back towards her love and started forward. Suddenly a pair of hands encircled her neck from behind. Before her attacker had a chance to tighten their grip she slammed her head backwards, shattering her attacker's knee, and drove her right heel into the vampire's shin. Faith pulled away from the vampire's loosening grip, turned, blocked a left cross on her shoulder, and staked him.
"Well you're a fiery one. You must be the Bostonian Slayer I've been hearing about."
Faith's eyes flickered around; the fighting had broken down into groups, the largest number surrounding her boy and his protectors, before resting on the vampire stood before her. He was short, an inch or so shorter than her, but thickly built with a face that had begun to show a vampire's age. Her eyes rested on the sword in the vampire's hands she drew her own and allowed her stake to clatter to the floor. "You're going to pay for what you've done to my boy, ugly."
The vampire laughed mockingly. "Yes you've done about as good a job protecting him as you made of protecting your first Watcher."
Faith felt a surge of rage engulf her. Darting forward, she ducked under a sword swing from the Master vampire and into a knee to the face. Rocked by the impact she staggered backwards, twisting away from an attempted thrust at her heart only for the blade to slice through her shoulder, ripping open a bloody channel.
Biting her top lip prevent from screaming her pain, Faith gazed at her grinning opponent. "You're not very good Slayer," he taunted. "Ah well. Perhaps your counterpart will be better."
Just the mention of Buffy got her competitive juices flowing, she was sick of being disregarded, considered as second-best, only Xander thought of her as number one. "You'll never find out." After feinting with a head slash she thrust at Dalton's belly but the vampire sidestepped and countered with a swing at her knees that she leapt over before landing a drop-kick in the vampire's chest and smoothly backwards somersaulting to land on her feet ten feet away.
The vampire winced and staggered but remained on his feet. "Better than I thought," he taunted, "but you're still going to die." Suddenly the vampire thrust at her neck, she twisted away from the attack only to let out an agonised scream when the vampire pulled a dagger out of her belt and thrust it into the forearm of her sword-arm causing her sword to clatter to the floor.
"You'll be my fourth Slayer," taunted the vampire as he back-handed her to the floor. She stared up defiantly at the vampire. She wouldn't beg or grovel, it wasn't her style and it didn't do any good with humans or vampires anyway. She'd meet death head on; she just wished she'd told Xander how much he meant to her.
"Not bloody likely!" Suddenly a crossbow quarrel hit the Master Vampire's in the right eye. As the screaming vampire staggered backwards, Faith rolled towards her sword and, ignoring the pain in his arm, lifted the blade and quickly decapitated the vampire.
A grin on her face, she turned to thank Giles only for her mouth to drop open at the sight of Wesley coolly re-loading his crossbow. "Wes."
The young Watcher smiled a most unweslike smile. "I couldn't let him get my Slayer could I? Now go and see to your young man."
"Damn straight!" A grin on her face, Faith dived back into the fight. Xander was going to be five by five. Whatever it took.