Part 7,
The world was erupting in pain and blood as Illyria stood looking in the direction of the on coming arming the followers of the Wolf, Ram and Hart and unleashed towards them. Three had fallen to the side, Leslie the Traitor of the Wolf, Ram and Hart; the fleeing of the Green Jester Lorne, and a person dear to her and Winifred's heart: the sorcerer Wesley. She could feel the pain build up in her heart as she struggled to deal with these feelings of pain. Soon she would find a release in battle. But she turned to look at the dark skinned one named Gunn. He would last mere moments before he fell. Something in her just snapped and she felt her form, her strength in her body. If there was a way to give him a small portion of it so that he could live through this battle, then so be it. She would give up part of her essence.
"Gunn, I need to cut my flesh on your Axe." Illyria said in the downpour.
"Why?" Gunn said as she moved and took her hand and ripped the glove off her royal battle garment and slit the palm of her hand over his blade till there was blood drawn and then she thrust her palm into his wound. Gunn only reacted in shock of what she had done to him.
"Human, your injuries will be halted until the battle is over. I have given you my essence. The one... Fred desires you to live. I have to obey her wishes." With that she took out one of her blades and prepared herself for the onslaught to come.
"Why?" Gunn said but was cut off before he could continue.
"She still cares for you and I must do what she says. Now I avenge Wesley." Illyria said as she took up a stance of a barrier to start to slice her enemies to the ground. Angel and Spike didn't know what was going on but Illyria stated that Fred was somewhere inside of her and she was to be a weapon this world had not seen in a long time. Then they fought.
Above the streets Connor, Son of Angel the Vampire with a soul stood watching the scene unfold. He was still injured from him and his father's fight with Hamilton but he knew that there was something going down. That was when he got on his cell phone and made a phone call to his girlfriend Jo-Ann. Jo-Ann who he had met several days after he learned of his origins of being born to Vampire Parents, having his life destroyed so many times that he had lost count and finally he had been given the chance to live it again, but his density had called him to help the helpless and now it was time to save the helpless in the hopeless.
Jo-Ann he had found in a battle with a demon on the campus. The way she had fought like pure poetry, pure artistic style. Between her moves and her form, she was beauty incarnate. She was a Slayer, having only seen a Slayer once and her name was Faith. The amount of strength and power he had seen was from a knew knocks on the head and his he only knew of them from the stories from his other life as Connor the Destroyer. But with Jo-Ann when he fought her after she had slain the monster it was a moving around each other to see what the other was but when the monster's buddy attacked they both found each other on the same side and defeated the creature. Then there was some comradely that grew between them. So they spent the rest of their patrol together getting to know each other. And over the past few weeks started to date. Heck when a guy learns that you are not the only super being on the campus, things start to get interesting. That and seeing a Sorority house full of girls with superpowers that can bench press as much as you, well this makes the discovery of you having superpowers look tame. Now he needed to call in every being he knew of having superpowers to fight the forces of evil. That was when he decided to attack from behind. Now all he had to do was hold out for ten minutes.
Kate Lockley was paroling in her car and was heading around on a simple errand, to pick up dinner. She was expecting the trip to be short but it had started to rain like cats and dogs, then it started pouring like Jaguars and Elephants, it was almost like it was going to be Noah's flood take two ala James Cameron, John Amel and Rolland Emmeriach. But it was soon to turn into a John Woo and Taoi International action flick when the Godzilla monster stepped right into her path.
"What the..." Kate said as she saw the beast heading in the direction of the Hyperion Hotel. "Angel who did you piss off this time?" With that Kate decided to follow the creature and found a war zone. Creatures and beasts of every sort of description were flooding into an ally and something was fighting them. Then as she stopped her car there was a loud ka-thunk on her hood as some kid wearing sandy khaki pants and a off blue and white shirt landed in front of her and started to run directly into the mess after he nailed one of the stragglers and took the creatures weapon.
"That kid is gonna get himself killed." Kate said to herself and made the decision to pull the kid out of this soon to be war zone. With that she hit the trunk release to her car and got out and proceeded to pull out a broad ax, a shotgun and a no so legal assault rifle and a few grenades. Screw the Holy water, and full speed ahead. With that thought in her mind Kate went down the ally to kick some demon ass. Soon Kate wouldn't be the only police officer going into a battle with monsters.
Across town at the Sigma Lambda Rho Sorority slash Fraternity house on the Berkley campus, Kennedy the Vampire Slayer was helping set up another Base of operations for the Neo-Watcher council. Between the fourteen college age Slayers that had been churned out by Giles and Willow in the Cleveland, Ohio Watcher's base, the plan was this, to ensure that the ever growing Slayer community was kept safe from future threats, there would be teams of Watchers and Slayers working as teams in major centers of supernatural danger. Los Angeles just happen to be one of the hot spots. So to apply a cover Willow came up with the idea of creating a Sorority slash Fraternity house on a college campus so to ensure a cover. Giles said that they were taking a page from the Initiative's handbook doing this. Hey between the Techno-Pagan Watcher Data running Intel with Willow in Ohio and Mera a S-Day Slayer Veteran. Keeping these young Warriors and Magic Throwers in line would be easier than it had been in Sunnydale. But hey, having young Watchers and Slayers learning each other's cultures was a good thing.
All Kennedy wanted to do after this mission of Setting up "Slayer House" as it had been dubbed by many of those in the know, was return to her love Willow for some major Lovin and Snugglin. But she wouldn't get the chance to do so for a few more weeks, and then the call came in. Phone Tree code 51 had been issued. Slayer in distress. A member of the Stanford branch visiting LA had sent a message that they needed Help ASAP. With that she got every She could get her hands and headed out the door to the Alley behind 26 Underhill Road in Los Angeles. Little did she know that the covert military operation known as the Initiative was also monitoring Slayer House as well and they launched a team to get ahead of the Slayers before they would show up? Little did they realize they were walking into a war zone.
Angel was up to his ass literally in Demons. Red ones, Green ones, Slimy ones, dry ones and things that looked like walking sacks of manure. If Buffy's friend Andrew was here he would have said that this was like a battle scene from one of the "Lord of the Rings" movies. In the last ten minutes he had killed at least twenty demons and Spike had done the same as they Sandwiched Gunn between them to form a wedge as they started to slice their way through the forces.
"Angel, Man whatever Illyria did to me, I feel like I might make it through this." Gunn said as he felt that his wounds were healing but they were filling with some sort of blue ooze that was keeping his insides inside of his body.
"Yeah, I see that Old blue doesn't want you die." Spike said as he decapitated another demon with a liberated sword.
"Yeah, I can almost see that she is behaving like Fred on a really pissed off bad day." Gunn continued as he took his battle Axe and sliced through another opponent. Then that was when they started to hear shotgun blasts.
"What the..." Angel said as he looked up to see the demons become stuck in a sort of counter attack from behind.
"I don't know who it is but who ever they are I'm buying them a drink after this brawl." Spike said as he grabbed a demon from the neck and snapped it neck while using the body as a shield as another demon tried to run him through with a sword. With a move he used the weapon the skewered demon had and used it the slice his attacker in half.
"Yeah, I don't know who they are but they are definitely on our side." Gunn said as he saw a harpoon fly through the air and impale the giant demon in the chest then there was a screeching of tires as he saw the giant fell down as several grenades were tossed into the creature's head and a moment later exploded taking down one of the big two creatures leaving only the dragon left to slay.
"Hey Gunn... Annie said that you going to do something stupid. But Man, if it was going to this BIG we would have brought a few more kegs of Beer." One of Gunn's old vampire hunting buddies said.
"Yeah. I know, how many of these guys are left?" Gunn yelled out wondering where his buds were at.
"I don't know but lets just say. Hold on." Then there was a loud boom followed by a few shotgun blasts. "To get back. Can you say enough to seat everyone at a Lakers Game?" The voice said back.
"Well I hope that you brought some more help with you? Because we are going to bloody well need it." Spike said as he and Gunn decided to follow the line of the building then Spike heard the clinking of a gun from above as well as the stringing of a bow. "Gunn I think we should take some cover." With those words a slew of bullets lighting strikes and arrows flew down into the alley slaughtering several hundred demons and monsters in the process. Then there was a battle cry.
"Slayers... ATTACK...." With that at least twenty girls jumped down onto the street. Many of the demons who had heard rumors of the Slayer, had not encountered the full strength of several dozen Slayers all wanting to kick some ass. With that several came from behind while others swung down from above. For Charles Gunn they were all Angels sent down from God or whatever higher being was in the same Union with the Powers That Be.
"I don't know who ever is up there Spike but I get the feeling the PTB's are sending a message. "Don't fuck with Earth."" Charles said as felt his guts. Whatever Illyria had done to him had only slowed his injuries down. He would have to get to a Hospital soon, but his ten minutes had been extended to five times of what he originally had.
"Yeah, I wonder where Angel and Blue are at?" Spike said as a young Slayer no older than fifteen landed in front of them and started to join with them.
"You guys waiting for a pair of stone tablets signed by the Almighty or what? Come and help me." The slayer said as she started stabbing at the big red creature in front of her.
"Will do love." Spike said as he helped the Slayer out as Gunn covered the rear making sure that no one snuck up on them.
"You have a name?" Gunn said as he swung his Axe into the head of an oncoming attacker.
"Yes, its Vi..." With that the small Slayer twisted the creatures neck and it died and Gunn, Spike and the Vi the Vampire Slayer were working their way through the kill zone of the Alley. Elsewhere Illyria of the Prymordium was slashing a swath of death and pain in her wake as she moved towards the Half-Breed Angel. Illyria had not felt this much power or pain in all of her life. Now she knew how Humans had become the dominant species on this planet. Though weak in their bodies, their spirit and fury once unleashed made her former form look weak. Now she knew why the Oracles wanted her to be merged into this small shell, its will once unleashed was like no weapon she had ever held. She was punching, stabbing, killing, mauling with whatever she could get her hands on. There were several Female warriors that were flanking with her and she sensed that she was part of a wave of vengeance. The Followers of the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart would fall for a time but this was not a battle for Victory, it was a message for time in memoriam. They would pay for the Death of Wesley and the other innocents that died over the centuries for just being in the way of the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart.
Wesley, the man who took the god of a god and turned her into a person would be remembered for generations to come.
Illyria could feel that her old jaws were returning as she roared in pain at the thought of these creatures getting away without being punished for this crime to her once cold heart. The hot tears coming down her face made the acid bite of the rain look like it was nothing. Then a warrior wearing Green welding a lighting weapon fired it several times until it finally failed him and he was forced to use it as a club. But the creatures grabbed the warrior and flung him down and the weapon was weakened from his grasp and slid through the puddle of water to Illyria's feet. Illyria would have not heeded this warrior's cries for help but it was the creature's appearance and color that made her act. It was a demon belonging to the Sorcerer Cirrus Vale and pure pain and anger swelled up into her and she moved over, picked up the weapon and proceeded to march over the demon as it was about to kill the human warrior and started to speak as blue electricity started to flow around her as primal memories of pain flooded back to the surface.
"You know what they say about payback? Well, I'm the Bitch?" Illyria said in Fred's voice as she took the Initiative agent's stun rifle and impaled it into the Demon's ass and pulled the trigger electrocuting the creature from the inside out. The warrior just looked up and saw her face and thought he had seen something in pain of humanity showing through the woman's face. With a smooth move she yanked him off of the ground and thrust a weapon into his hand.
"If you want to live... fight to stay alive, or else the scourge here will come those you love." With that Illyria pulled out her own blades and started to slice a path of her own towards Angel. The Soldier just stood there and watched her path of destruction.
"That is one really pissed of Slayer." With that he turned to help out several of his Unit and Gang members slicing their way through this demon horde.
Angel had gotten separated from Gun, Illyria and Spike, but given the number of Slayers around him word had gotten out about him needing help. That was when he saw Connor fighting along side with a girl. He had told Connor to go home and be with his Family, Well if he was here Connor had made up his mind that the Fang Gang was his Family and not the Adopted one he had been with for the past year.
"Connor," Angel cried out as he worked his way through the demon Horde to his son, but Illyria came up beside of him.
"We must conquer this enemy Half-Breed. Gunn grows weaker, but I sense that though their forces are weakening..." Illyria said looking around, "This is just the first volley in a war. Now we must send them a message that we are here to stay. The beast you seek to slay is heading this way. We must find a way to fight it on our own terms." Illyria said as she moved close to Angel with her weapons and hands heavily coated in blood.
"Illyria is it just me or are you telling me that this is the first battle of a war?" Angel said coming to the realization of what he had done.
"Yes it is." Illyria said as they continued to shred through the forces. "The Warriors in the Green, the dark skinned ones like Gunn and the ones called Slayer have provided us an edge, now we must now kill one of their mighty beasts to let them know we will win. You wished to slay it. I shall aid you." With that Illyria pointed up into the air and above the chaos of the battle below there was a News helicopter hovering above.
"I'm with You Illyria." Angel said as he rushed to where Conner was battling side by side with a Slayer.
In a hotel room of Cabo San Luca, Mexico Nina Ash was moving around the bed as she pulled out several swimsuits to try on, but she thought hard about it and remembered her fantasy; she wanted to go skinny-dipping at night with Angel. To feel her nude badly against his muscular frame, but he had sent her away. Why had he done this to her, she felt that she had done something wrong or there was something up that he was reluctant to tell her about.
She just felt like ripping the robe she was wearing over he nude body and howling in anger at him letting the primal being she was possessed by take over. But she stopped and decided to toss several items around the room. Being a Werewolf at times was just plain bad. To feel Civil and primal at the same time, it was confusing but it had given her strength to go on. Angel said, "don't let the monster win." She was trying but she had been wounded in the heart. That was when she sunk down on the floor and most of her robe came undone leaving her exposed. That was when Jill and her daughter Amanda came into the room and saw her sobbing.
"Nina, you okay?" Jill said as she came over to her sister.
"No... It's Angel... He... He...." Nina couldn't hold it in anymore she started crying. With that Jill moved over and held her sister close.
"It's okay, I know the guy is a jerk." Jill said to her sister, "But sheesh, What ever the reason he asked you to get out of town for some time must have been something that he needed to take care of." Jill said as she turned to see her daughter moving over to the television and turned it on and started to flip through the channels and saw something interesting.
"Amanda could you turn the TV off." Jill said to her daughter. It took only a moment her to see Nina's boyfriend on the TV.
"Mom is that Aunt Nina's boyfriend?" Amanda said as she moved away from the TV.
"What the..." Nina said as she got up from the floor and moved over to the Television, on the screen Angel was standing with five other people as they were fighting for their lives. That was when it sunk in for Nina of why he didn't tell her why she had to leave. He wanted her as far away from this battle as he could. He loved so much that to save her from the battle he would endure and probably from being bait for those creatures, he had sent her away to be safe. Hell he probably had the other ticket on him. That was when she saw Angel pull out two of some sort of grappling hook gun and fired it at the news helicopter covering the battle as a mass horde of creatures started to move in as the Army guy with them did the same.
"Carl... It appears that several of the people who are fighting the battle have fired grappling hooks to my helicopter; it is as if they want me to pull them up. And I'm obliging." The chopper pilot said as he started to haul the five people on the three lines on up. Four of which were climbing their way up the to the cabin. Nina just held her breath as she looked at Angel's face as the Camera inside of the chopper that showed the pilot pointed out the face of Angel. He looked like he had been through a fight, his face had scratch marks all over it and claw damage where his black coat had been ripped but next to him was a girl with matted blue hair that looked like she had been through much, and things that would scare the freakin Terminator. She looked like a Goth Terminmatrix Babe and was in a state of wanting to kill, but Blue's eyes look like she had been through a recent loss that shook her soul to its core and Nina knew that it was the loss of a loved one. And at that moment Nina forgave Angel some for sending her away. He knew that if she was there Nina would have been at his side. If she died, then Angel would have felt grief. Now all she wanted to do was to watch as wanting to know what would happen next to her love.
That was when the Army guy got in and started looking around. "Sir we need to requisition this helicopter." The Army guy said as Angel looked around the outside window as the rain still was coming down.
"Listen, We need to find out where all these Demons are coming from." A young girl said from the back Seat as the woman with Matted Blue hair moved almost mechanically around as if she was surveying for something then she found it.
"Angel. The Spawn of the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart are coming from that direction." The blue woman said as Angel leaned forward and adjusted the camera controls on the display system and saw a huge forty-foot in Diameter vortex on the street.
"Crap." Angel said as he got a look at the Blue woman had pointed out. Then it set in for him as he turned towards the rest of the people in back. "Illyria, Is there any way that we can seal that vortex so that we can deal with the forces the Senior Partner's brought here so they are not getting constant reinforcements?" Angel said to the Blue Lady. It took her several moments as she chewed over whatever she knew then she responded.
"Angel, At My current power, I will not be strong enough to close the gateway." Illyria said as she started going over her options. "The odds of our survival are going down even as we debate about it. I would rather smash some more and Avenge Wesley." Illyria said as the girl in the back leaned forward.
"You said that you didn't have enough power to close the vortex, what if you had some additional juice to help you out, would that help you close the vortex?" The blond girl in the back said as Illyria went over thinking about what she said.
"Yes, it would work but the only being that I have encountered that had that type of power was Wesley and he was a Shadowman, a being that you call a Watcher. He is dead now, I do not know if others like him will come to our aid." Illyria said turning to the girl.
"Well, Will like thirty or forty Watchers do for you?" The girl said to Illyria, "Because... Well I didn't just bring Slayers along with me, I kinda of thought that we might need the extra fire power given what Connor said on the phone."
"Yeah, Right. Guys who can shoot lighting, and throw fireballs, Right. Major Artillery." The guy with short mop toped hair said in back.
"Connor. We need all the help we can, here." Angel said to the kid.
"Okay, Jo-Ann Contact Data, I hope that with his skills he might get the rest of the Watchers together and we can form a running wedge to drive these guys back to the vortex." Connor said to the girl as she pulled out a cell phone with a built in Walkie-talkie and start to speak in it.
"Data. Data do you read me??? It's Jo-Ann. Listen we need you to pull and gather what forces you can and move them to the hotel. We need you and the other Watchers, Mages and whatever's you got to use your powers to help us close that vortex." Jo-Ann yelled into the speaker. A moment later there was some static and the creaking of gunfire.
"Read you Jo-Ann, Me and a few of the Locals and the Commandos are heading that way. Hold on." The Voice said over the Speaker and outside there was a large fireball going up.
"Geesus Man. What in God's name was that?" The pilot said seeing the mushroom cloud go up into the air.
"Sorry about that Jo-Ann, me and Tiffany just had to use some major mojo on something you don't want to know about." Data said as there was a pause. "Listen where ever you guys are we could use some air support because this Dragon has us pinned down." The voice said, as Angel knew where they had to head next. With a clear move he took the radio from Jo-Ann's hand.
"Listen, if I give you time to get out of there; can you get your Asses to that vortex and shut it down." Angel yelled into the radio. A moment later he got his response.
"Yes, unless you got some freaking anti-aircraft gun or are some insane skydiver that happens to have a sword to take that fire breathing son of a Bitch out." Data said over the radio.
"Well I'm dropping some of your friends off, I need you to work with them to get to that vortex." Angel said as Jo-Ann and Connor looked at him understanding what they had to do. "Illyria, go with Connor I want you to use your powers with their friends and take out that bottle neck they are coming through." Angel said as the woman in blue nodded in agreement. "Sergeant." Angel said as he turned to the Army guy. You have a radio on you, contact your buddies and have them work with my friends. If we do this all we have to deal with is the stragglers, if not then you are looking at the ground zero of a serious infestation in this city of some really bad and nasty things that are not human tolerant. With that the army officer got on the preferable phone to his buddies.
"Command, I think we found a way to stop this infestation. Several Friendly Sub-Ts and Non-Subs have come up with a plan to stop the horde coming through." The sergeant said.
"We read you sergeant, we have been monitoring local communications and we are in agreement here." The voice said over the military radio. "Give whatever assistance you can, we are sending backup. Hang on and Godspeed son." The voice said as the Sergeant turned back to Angel.
"Sir, I believe that we should land this helicopter near where that explosion when off at." The sergeant said as Angel had other plans in mind.
"Connor, You and Jo..." Angel became stuck as he had a brain fart on the girl's name but just continued on. "Take Illyria here and work your way to the portal." Angel said as he moved and picked up his sword that he had stashed into his jacket. "I have a plan to give you a way through. I'm going Dragon Slaying."
"Okay, well it looks like our stop is coming up." Connor said as he an Jo-Ann held each other's hands and Illyria took a look down at her ungloved hand and looked at the cut she had made to keep Gunn alive.
"Wesley, Fred... Thank you for all you have given me. I will become a better person for your sake." Illyria said in a low whisper that only Angel and Nina could hear with their enhanced hearing. "I will fight to protect the lives of the innocent that you have showed me. Help the Helpless." Jo-Ann moved her hand over as she got up and placed it on Illyria's hand.
"Its good to pray before a battle, it lets you know that you are not alone in this fight." Jo-Ann said as Illyria did her bird tilt of her head.
"I wasn't praying, I was speaking to the dead." Illyria said, as she knew that this was no the time to argue but it was a time before a new battle would begin. That was when the chopper pilot spoke.
"I can't land the chopper, the wind is picking up and we are at least twenty feet up off the ground so unless you know how to repel down those ropes you climbed up on, your stuck with me." Suddenly Connor pulled the side helicopter door open and stepped out on the landing rudder.
"Too high for a human, but me, Jo and Blue here aren't human. Don't worry Dad I'll have the girl home and the car in the garage before midnight." Connor said to the pilot and Angel as he Jo-Ann and Illyria moved in a straight line out of the helicopter and landed from the twenty-foot jump like it was merely a three-foot wall at a skater park.
It only took a moment for the guy in the control room to switch the feed and the audience saw what the pilot saw. Those three were no mere mortals as they proceeded from the rooftop then collectively jumped over the edge of he building and did another twenty-foot fall to the street as they dove into the battle.
"Okay they're down, lets see if we can find a flying lizard and bring its ass down." Angel said as he turned to the Corporal as he took the controls of the chopper.
"Well what are you going to do?" The chopper pilot said as Angel put on his Vampire game face and he got a look at Angel's features and stopped speaking.
"I'm going fishing with a sword and a grappling hock." Angel said, as he knew what you needed to do. "Listen if I don't make it, I want you to track a girl down by the name of Nina Ash, she is an Art Student. Tell her that I have the ticket, she'll know what that means." With that Angel braced himself to dive out of the window when they found the dragon.
"It's time to go fishing." With that Angel braced himself into the hatchway and looked out into the night sky. "The things I have to go through to become human." Angel said to himself as he saw what he was looking for and dove out of the chopper. With that Nina held her breath and put her hand on the screen.
"Come to me Angel." Nina said as tears started to come down her face.
Shawn "Data" Daniels was shooting his nine-millimeter berretta off like mad and throwing fireballs and shields up whenever he could. But he knew that unless they took out these demons air support, he knew that they were screwed. Given who had taken the two-way cell phone walkie-talkie from Jo-Ann stated that there was a plan in motion. Between seeing the Army Guys in supped up paint ball gear and a lady with a mean shotgun things were going from worse to somewhat bad. Man was this like what happened during the D-Day invasion, heck even the recent S-Day attack on the Hellmouth was less messy than this. But that was when he saw Jo-Ann and her boyfriend Connor along with a woman who would have put Kristanna Loken's Terminatrix to shame in sheer attitude.
"Jo-Ann, Connor get your Asses over here." Data yelled as he started to fire a series of rounds at a creature that would have made H.R. Giger want to puke or at least make out with.
"Data, listen we have a plan in action, now were is your secret weapon is because we need it." Data said as he slicked back his black hair and tried to shake his head so that the water wouldn't get into his contact lenses.
"Well I hope that you like this idea, we need to get all the magic throwers we can an hopefully close the gateway these demons are streaming through." Jo-Ann said as Illyria moved over to stand by Data.
"This one has power that will do." Illyria said looking at the human sorcerer in her off side bird like view of things.
"So all we need is someone that can act as a lens for this little plan and hope that they are not torn apart in the process." Data said as Illyria looked over to see Gunn still standing but he was being wrapped in a makeshift bandage that one of the Slayers was making out her shirt as Gunn was aiding another injured Slayer just barely in her teens set her arm behind the wreckage of an overturned car. .
"Charles..." Illyria said as she rushed over to Gunn's side.
"Illyria..." Gunn said as she knelt down beside of him.
"You are still alive... It is good." In that moment the beings that were Illyria and Fred finally merged together into one being. "I still have feelings for you Charles, you don't die on me. I've already loss Wesley, I don't want to lose you too." With that Illyria threw her arms around Gunn and hugged him and she started to cry. "Charles if we get through this, I want you to..." Gunn took her face in her hands and had her look up.
"Blue, you need to do what you need to do. I'll help clean up here." Gunn said, as Illyria knew that she had a mission now to seal the vortex.
"I Will Charles." Illyria said as she kissed him with the human warmth of a human soul. "You be careful and break a few demon legs in the process." She said as she pulled away and returned to Connor and Jo-Ann's side.
"What was that about?" Connor said as Illyria pulled out her blades.
"Something I have to do after this battle." Illyria said as she returned to Shiva mode. "Mage, summon your kin the army of the Wolf, the Ram and the Hart will not continue their flood into this world. I will focus your powers to close the doorway." Illyria said to Data as he reached over to touch his hands free earpiece.
"Data to all Watcher and Slayer forces we are about to do something major. We need to hit the vortex. All Mages and Magic throwers I need you to harness all your powers and toss them in that direction. We have a lens and we are going to use it." Data yelled into his radio.
"Finally, its party time." Was the reply back over the radio.
"Move out people, do you want to live forever." Connor said as he quoted his favorite John Wayne war movie line.
Angel was free falling through the air as he guided himself in the direction of the Dragon. With that he got his grappling hook ready. All of his life since he was a child he had always wanted to slay a dragon like he had heard in fairy tales. Now actually free falling through the sky, it was like a dream mixed with a nightmare. Most of Angel's two hundred and fifty year life flashed before his eyes. The good times, the bad times, the times he wanted to just forget and the times of pure joy. And he thought of Nina. How he had shown her that being something supernatural did not mean you were a monster. You were just different, and had to adjust to things that normal people just didn't have to do. He remembered the last time he saw her naked. Not naked due to her having to change into a werewolf naked, but seeing her in the shower of his Wolfram and Hart penthouse naked. How the water dripped off of breasts and the curve of her cleavage as well as around her hair that caught him by surprise, as he had to shave by touch. It was as if there were parts of the women he knew throughout his life all rolled into her. Darla, Buffy, Kate and Cordillia it was as if they were rolled up into one woman. He remembered when she stepped out of the shower that though naked she wanted to explore some of the black Vampire Veins on his skin with her hand as she wrapped the towel around her head to dry her hair. Nudity for her had lost some of the embarrassing qualities it had for her human self, but she had felt free.
"Angel, you know you being a vampire and me being a werewolf have you ever thought about being a father." Nina said as she moved up in front of him and let her wet body soak his sleep pants.
"Nina, there are some things that I hope that when I get a chance I'll tell you. But with children I don't know how I will do." Angel said stopping as he thought of his son Connor. How he had to give up everything so that his son could have a normal life. But that seemed to had been taken from him. His son had discovered that he wasn't human and that he was Angel's child. He would have to tell Nina about his progeny. That conversation stuck in his mind more than the argument they had later that evening when he had given Nina the plane tickets for her sister and niece to go spend a few days in Cabo. Man there were things that went through your mind. Man did he know how to sulk in self-pity. That was when the Dragon came into Range.
"Time to do some business." Angel said as he fired his grappling hook to the Dragon. It took a moment before the line hit the Dragon's side leaving the creature in excruciating pain. "Oh, Crap..." Angel said as he swung into the direction and he felt that he was skiing behind a speedboat doing a one hundred and twenty miles per hour. But it was more like a scene out of a Batman cartoon Angel had seen while spending his days inside watching TV with him hanging on for dear life as he was dragged behind the dragon as he started to be pulled along on the rope. As he started to pull his way the line he started to hatch his way through so that he could get to the dragon. It took several swoops of the dragon throughout the sky that he knew that this was going to be interesting. Then Angel looked at where the Dragon was taking him. The Dragon was going to attempt to scrape him off by flying though several of the near rooftops in the downtown area.
"Okay I'm getting the feeling that I hit a nerve." Angel said as he was dragged behind the dragon, as he had to swing to avoid missing a water tower. The feeling Angel had was that he had to work his way up the line before he got plastered against some building or some other obstacles. Man Batman and Spider-Man made this look easy.
"Okay that is it Scourge the Dragon; you are going down." Angel said as he grabbed hold of the line and started to clime his way up the line. "Because of you and your master, I am missing out on going to Cabo, apologizing to my werewolf girlfriend, walking with foreside girlfriend on a moon lit beach and making passionate love to her as I massively start to write major apologetic love poetry all over her.... " Angel's train of thought was broken as he grabbed hold of the dragon's leg and stabbed his sword into the dragon to get some leverage on the beasts back as it roared out in pain. "Hey Jerk, now you know how I feel when you guys decided to muck with my life." With that Angel swung the line he had climbed up on over and around the Dragon's neck and started to pull himself forward until he was sitting just far enough behind the creature's back that it couldn't get to him nor fling him off no matter how much it swung him around. "Now lets take you for a test drive." Angel said as he took the line in his hands like a harness and took control of the dragon like he would a horse and started to guide it back to where the portal lay open.
On the ground Illyria was fighting side by side with the Slayers, the "Army Guys" called G.I. Joe, a warrior maiden named Lockley, Spike, Connor, Member's of Gunn's crew and several of the Mages. She felt like she was alive and scared at the same time. This wasn't the need to make violence to be angry or out of pain; this was a fight to help push the darkness away. It had been a slow march towards the portal but several steps along the way Illyria started to feel like she was changing into something different than she had been. Not a God, nor a human, nor truly demon. But something completely different it wasn't until a woman with long dark hair wearing denim garments came in front of her as she slew several of the warriors of the Wolf, Ram and Hart with a small stabbing blade made from wood. Illyria grew to respect this warrior's skill and her method of fighting. If this woman had been one of her acolytes she would have made this warrior one of her head generals just from this one battle.
"Warrior, What is your name?" Illyria said as she took one of her blades and cleaved the heads off of several opponents in succession.
"Kennedy, the Vampire Slayer." The warrior said as Illyria jumped into the air and did a flying drill kick into an ten foot tall Cyclops and left a two and a half foot hole in the creature's chest.
"I am Illyria of the Prymordium." Illyria said as she moved beside this warrior who gave her a grin.
"You fight like a Slayer, that's good." Kennedy said as she looked at Illyria and raised up her small stabbing weapon and threw it to something that was standing behind Illyria and Illyria saw a albino looking creature that smelled of half-breed about to attack Kennedy so with just a glance and understanding among two warriors they threw their weapons at the other's would be attacker. Kennedy's sake flew into the demon behind Illyria and with all of her Might Illyria used the weapon's staring drill pattern and proceeded to shove it through the creature's armored skull that it came out of the other side thus taking out the would-be invulnerable opponent by leaving a huge hole in its skull. At the same time Kennedy ducked to the side as Illyria's blade impacted the Uber-Vamp's neck as the blade expanded and Kennedy grabbed hold of the blade's hilt and twisted the creature around until the creature's head came off and the body turned to dust. Illyria and Kennedy bent down to retrieve the other's weapon and examined it just long enough to know that though separated by culture and design, these were the weapons that a true warrior used in battle that and the weapons were perfectly balanced.
"Your blade." Kennedy said as she handed Illyria's crimson blade back to it master and Illyria handed Kennedy's stake back to her.
"Nice stake, small yet very effective." Illyria commented as several more opponents came to rushing the two. Before they could attack, their attackers were blown apart by what looked like projectile-based magic that emitted pure light. They turned to where the attack had come from to see several of the Mages standing there with weapons similar to the ones that Wesley had used during the battle at the gate of Illyria's temple.
"Will you two get moving, you can talk about battle tactics, kill methods and clothing and hairstyle choices later. We have a vortex to close and bad thingies to kill." Said the Mage called data as he moved past them and started to kill anything that was coming towards him. Illyria moved over to Kennedy and spoke.
"Is he always like that?" The former Demon-Goddess said to the Slayer.
"No, not really. He is just pissed that he has had to pass up the first few days of COMDEX to save the world." Kennedy said to Illyria.
"What is this Comm Dex?" Illyria said to Kennedy as they proceeded to move forward with the forces along side of them occasionally taking down an opponent or two alone the way.
"Some major techno science geeks party where they talk about technology, the newest gear and the latest magical new techno thingies." Kennedy said as she moved and drop kicked half-pint creature in the head before stabbing it in the neck. "My friend Willow is they're doing a bulk looks around at the new stuff so that the Watcher community is up to date with the times."
"Science, Magic. It does the same thing." Illyria said as they moved with the forces. "All I want to do now is kill and hurt those who killed my sweet precocious Wesley."
"Well, I'll help you avenge your friend." Kennedy said as they looked up at the on coming horde rising towards them. Then out of the corner of their eyes they saw the dragon flying towards them. Preparing for the creature to set them on fire, the creature over flew them and started to spray flames onto the demon horde, quickly leveling much of the oncoming forces rising towards them.
Illyria used her sight to see that there was a lone figure on the back of the dragon guiding it into the oncoming horde. It was Angel. Illyria knew where he was aiming the dragon for; he was going to shave the beast right down the throat of the Wolf, Ram and Hart.
"Mages, I order you to focus your powers upon me so that I can close this vortex." Illyria yelled at the top of her lungs. "Data, we must fold the vortex onto itself to seal it."
"Illyria I understand, you want a inside out sleeve." Data said realizing what she was about to do. With that Data and the other Watchers that had magical powers channeled all their magical strength into Illyria and they guided her to fold the space around the portal. Angel seeing what they were doing to the vortex he reigned the dragon in that direction as a very large creature started to emerge from the vortex that made the giant that they had fought earlier look like a mini-me. Taking his sword Angel in his hand he prepared to make a deathblow as she forced the dragon into a full out accelerated rush into the portal. With all of Angel's supernatural strength he swung the blade through the Dragon's neck decapitating the head and with it Angel road the head down like a sky board as the rest of the body collided into the uber-gaint's body causing it to fall backwards into the portal. This incoming mass of the dragon Angel had shoved through the portal along with Illyria's manipulating of the portal caused the event horizon to collapse in on itself. For a moment both the Dragon and the Uber-Gaint exited neither in one place or the other, nor were they merged. But the Uber-Gaint was collapsed in on itself as the fastest moving mass of the Dragon's body forced the vortex to close in on itself.
Up in the Helicopter the pilot and the sergeant were looking at the scene and realized that what had happened was major. The vortex was closed and the war zone that was downtown LA looked like there was sporadic fighting going on, but the major threat had been neutralized.
Angel was riding on top of the Dragon's head as it was freefalling down, he quickly had to devise a way that he wouldn't wind up as a piece of street pizza, so as fast as he was going he had to make sure that his speed was fast enough that he could slide the head down the street and come to a safe stop. Man George Clooney made this look easy in the last Batman film. That was when Angel decided to get out his backup grappling hook out of his jacket and readied him self to fire it as he aimed the head for a section of high buildings near where he could fire the line safely. As he journeyed down he knew that this was just the first battle of many that would have to be fought ahead. Now he had to make sure that the others were okay.
William the Bloody was finishing off killing a few of the stragglers that were attempting to make a feast of the injured forces around him. Vi the Slayer that had helped him and Gunn in the mêlée in the Alley was lying against a wall, her shoulder being dislocated and her arm broken in at least two places. Spike had draped his leather jacket over her to at least keep her dry. He had used part of his shirt and his belt to make an impromptu sling for her arm. But he knew that for a young Slayer battle was a key part of their being, that and going against what your elders told you. Given the large blast that had happened several moments ago, Old Blue had done their thing, now all he had to do was make sure that this young Slayer made it to adulthood, heck even fifty so that she could tell the tell of the time she fought along side a Vampire with a soul and won a battle.
"Stay alive little bobbit." Spike said as he decapitated a head off a demon that had not gotten the sense to get the heck out of Dodge when the vortex was slammed shut.
"Spike, do you think Slayers get a chance to have children." Vi said as she attempted to get up from where Spike had placed her.
"Sure Bobbit." Spike said as she moved over towards her. "I have met the son of a Slayer, so they do have the chance to have children. I hear that there is going to be another Slayer that has one in the oven." Spike said as she leaned over and picked the young Slayer up to carry her to a triage area that had been set up by Gunn and several of the Initiative Guys. "Come on, wee one stay with me." Spike said as he could hear the beating of her heart as it kept beating. "Listen Bobbit at the end of this I'll tell you my life story if you tell me yours." Spike said as he turned to see several other Slayers coming to him along with what looked like EMT doctors. It looked like someone had dispatched the paramedics. Several police officers started to come forward wearing full SWAT gear.
"You took your bloody time getting here." Spike said as he noticed the personnel held up their weapons and started to shoot at something behind him as he dove with Vi in his arms.
"You could have given me some warning." Spike said as he turned to see what was standing behind him. It took only a moment for him to realize that the figure was a Braken demon in full battle transformation with the spikes coming out of his face and he was attempting to say something. Spike handed the Slayer to the EMT docs and moved over to where the Braken demon lay as he was slowly reverting back to his human state. It was one of the Allies that the Slayers had bought with them to the battle to help Connor out, and the Cops had hot him in cold blood thinking he was of the things that was trashing the area.
"Gods, it hurts so much...." the kid said as Spike leaned over to hold the kid up. Behind him several others were coming on up behind him. Several Slayers and other warriors that had helped close the vortex had come. One of the warriors was a young woman with long wet black hair and olive skin who started to run over with Illyria in tow.
"Carlos. Gods what have they done to you." She screamed as she fell to her knees letting the long black athletic leggings she was wearing soak up the over two inches of water that was on the street.
"Kar..." the injured Braken demon said as he started to cough up blood as his face morphed to its spiked form between heaves. "... Mom said that rain was a sign of death for me. Now I know..." the demon boy said as Illyria came over and knelt down and touched him.
"This wound is mortal." Illyria said as tears tore at her face. "How many of the forces of Light do we have to lose this night?"
"I know..." then Carlos turned to look at Kar, "Kar, I have never seen your Demon Half can I see it now." The Braken said as the girl leaning over him started to change her face. The young woman's black hair flowed back and shifted to a slightly lighter tone of brown as her face started to morph into a pinkish red tone as a pair of long green horns flowed from her forehead and clung to the sides of her head as the swept backwards and morphed in a line behind her ears which were pointed. What surprised Spike was that the woman looked almost normal even with those features. Then as he turned he saw that several other non-humans had started to morph their features to their demon forms. One of the Slayers was taking out a tube of lipstick and painting her face with the first three lines of red to represent the First Slayer. Spike moved and put his game face on to honor the kid. Several of the cops and EMT wondered what to do, but one of the Initiative guys stopped them from raising their weapons.
"Thank you...." were Carlos's last words on this plain of existence as Kar let out a wale of pain as she held his body close to her. Charles Gunn moved over and bowed his head as he said a prayer for the fallen warrior. Angel came up wearing his game face and grabbed one of the cops that had shot the kid and held him off of the ground.
"He was one of ours, he was fighting to make sure that the monsters that go bump in the night; didn't eat anyone." Angel said as he looked at the Dragon head that had crashed into the roof of an old 1980 navy blue Volkswagen station wagon. "You had no right... You had no right...."
Charles Gunn started to sway as the loss of blood and the strain of exhaustion set in. Illyria rose to catch him from falling.
"We need to tend the wounded, Angel or others will die from their injuries." Illyria said as she supported Gunn to make sure that he stayed awake and alert so he wouldn't die.
"Blue, you are acting like a true human." Gunn said as Illyria guided him to where the Ambulances were coming in.
"Now I know why Angel fights for the humans even if they are stupid creatures. They have the strength that makes the powers that the Old Ones wielded long ago look like nothing."
At that moment the world knew that not all the things that looked different wanted to hurt them. Some fought to keep their own humanity intact while others sought to explore their own. Funerals would be had, injured would be healed, but the spark that was human will would go on for another day. Like a time long ago this was just a lull in the storm of battles to come.
TBC
Next
Part 8,