A/N: The coinciding Angel fiction I was planning to run alongside this has been scrapped. I thought about it, then looked at my current track record. I'm not going to keep up two stories running parallel. I just don't have it in me at this point. As such, I'm moving on to Plan B, and I hope I receive a lot of support for this. Praise to me most groovetastic (I solemnly vow to never use that word again) betas, Ultrawoman and Ezekeiel Rage. I hope I pull this off half so well as I hope too.
Timeline: This chapter begins half-way through Benediction, and I'll be including some of the important scenes that will be directly addressed by this fic. Bear with me, this is my first attempt at capturing the cast of Angel in character. That's why over half of this is stolen -- AHEM, I mean borrowed material.
Disclaimer: WARNING:
This chapter will have no William or Buffy.
No Dawn, no Spike, nor Giles the stuffy.
This chapter heralds the beginning of something new,
a something I sincerely hope will entertain you.
END QUASI-MUSICAL WARNING
XXX
Ripple effect
Los Angeles
Steven gripped the stake tightly, stepping into the dank alley cautiously. The vampire had sprinted out here after the brawl, but now there was no sign of him. The alley was filled with the scents of a hundred people and there was no other indicators around. Spinning suddenly, the stake was already on it's downswing towards the sound when Angel gripped his wrist, twisting Steven's arm behind his back and punching the stake into the heart of the vampire about to lunge at his back.
"They don't need to breathe or make any sound. You gotta be careful," Angel began, releasing his son. "You know you were - you were good in there." Angel paused, before looking slightly embarrassed. "I mean, normally I'd take you to a ballgame, or a museum, or - something. But it's," Angel smiled, "it's good to know that you can handle yourself in a fight."
Angel threw a quick, playful punch at Steven, who jumped back quickly, before grinning.
" It's good to know you can do that, too," the vampire told his son warmly. Steven mischievously punched at Angel in retaliation. "Whoa!"
The pair laughingly danced around each other, throwing fake punches and doing acrobatics, bonding for the first time since Steven's return. Holtz looked down on them from his perch on the fire escape for a moment, before walking away.
XXX
Steven was sitting at the table in the seedy motel room when Holtz returned.
"Father. - He was everything that you said," the boy began haltingly. "He tried to trick me. Thought that he could deceive me by saving people. It didn't work. I've seen his true face."
"And I've seen yours," Holtz responded gravely, sitting down opposite the child he'd raised.
"Don't say that!"
"It is true, son," Holtz informed him sadly.
"You're wrong!" Steven snarled desperately.
"I'm not wrong. Anyone who saw you together would realize." The vampire hunter looked Steven in the eye. "That's where you're meant to be. At his side."
"No!" the boy barked, slamming his fists on the table.
"It was your need for him that drove you across the dimension."
"I don't need him!" Steven assured Holtz frantically.
"Go back to him, Steven," Holtz ordered quietly.
"Why are you doing this? Why?" Steven asked, pained. "God gave me to you."
"Yes. It was god's plan for us to be together. Nothing will ever persuade me otherwise," Steven looked hopeful for a moment. "But now it's time for me to give you back."
"He's a demon," Steven argued, trying a different tack.
"And you're the bastard son of two demons," Holtz retorted.
Steven stared at the floor before saying sullenly, "Then I'm a demon."
Holtz grabbed his son's hands. "You're not. God help me, I don't know what you are, but I'm not the one to give you answers, and there are answers. Go and find them out."
Steven snatched his hands from the older man's. "You told me not to be deceived but you've let yourself be deceived," he sneered venomously.
"If I could stop this, I would, son," Holtz said sadly. "But we were brought here by forces beyond our control."
Steven jumped up and stormed to the door, where he stopped and looked at the man who raised him. "You're wrong."
XXX
Lorne pulled his robe on tighter and sipped his hot chocolate as he ambled back to his room. He saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. "Oh, hey, kiddo. I didn't see you there. You looking for your dad? Come on," Lorne said, gesturing with a shake of his head. "He's upstairs. I'll show you the room. - This way."
"I'm not going anywhere with you, demon," the young man muttered menacingly.
"I'll tell you what," Lorne began, the smile on his lips belying the taut timbre of his voice. "Since you were raised in a hell dimension by a psychopath - and since that happens to be a topic that I know a little something about - we'll just let that slide. Now I'll fetch your pop for you."
Lorne turned to head back up the stairs when Steven snarled at him again. "Filthy demon."
The green demon turned around. "Actually, that's uncle filthy demon to you. It wasn't that long ago - like a week - I was changing your diapers, you little-"
"Hey!" Cordelia cried out, entering the room. "What's the problem?" Lorne gestured towards Angel's son, who still stood glaring at the demon. "Steven?" The glare continued. "Steven!" Cordy barked.
The glare continued for a beat before the boy allowed Cordy to lead him over to the settee and sit next to him.
"I know you haven't been in this world very long, and I imagine that things are pretty wild west-y where you're from," Cordy said understandingly, "but Lorne's a good guy. Honestly."
"It's a demon," he muttered scornfully.
"Right. True. He is," Cordy said emphatically. "But 'demon' doesn't always mean 'evil' in this dimension. I mean, look at me." Steven looked at the seer curiously. "Well, I'm part demon." Steven tilted his head in question. "Yeah. By choice," Cordy emphasised. "I did it so that I could help people." She threw an amused look at Lorne. "And so that the back of my head wouldn't-"
With a feral snarl, Steven drew and knife and lunged at Cordy, who grabbed his arms and struggled against the boy.
"Cordy!" Lorne cried out, rushing towards the grappling pair.
A white glow began to emanate from behind Cordy's eyes, quickly enveloping her whole body before spreading to cover Steven. "Let it go, honey," Cordelia murmured softly. "Just let it go. You don't need that. You don't need any of that. That's right. Just let it go, baby," she crooned. "Shh. It's okay, sweetie. That's right. It's okay." Steven closed his eyes and rested his head on her shoulder. "I know. Shh. It's okay. It's okay."
XXX
"How do you feel?" Angel asked his seer, concerned.
"Okay," Cordy replied. "Drained, but okay."
"Well, you got some serious mojo going on, girl," Lorne said with an impressed grin. "Whatever deal you struck with the Powers, it looks to me like they gave you the full package - all the extras. That kid was toxic when he came here tonight. Heavy on the 'ick'," he finished with a distasteful smirk.
"What actually happened out there?" Angel asked with a head tilt.
"In my professional opinion?" Lorne checked. "Well, Miss demon-y britches here gave that child some kind of 'soul colonic'. Flushed him out but good."
"Flushed what out?"
"It was that place, Quor-toth," Cordy said with a grimace. "It crept into every part of him. He was sick with it."
"When Fred was taking her readings-"
"He nearly broke the needle," Lorne cut in. "My guess? She wouldn't even get so much as a click off him now."
"Thank you," Angel murmured sincerely. "Thank you for doing this for him."
"I know what it was like for him there, the darkness and the confusion. He thought it was where he belonged," Cordy said, horrified.
Angel nodded solemnly and head out to where Connor-- Steven now, he reminded himself, sat. "Hey, pal. How 're you doing?"
"I might have tried to kill your friend," he murmured detachedly.
"Yeah, well," Angel said awkwardly. "She's used to it."
"I think I should go," his son said despairingly.
"Look, why don't you just… stay here?" Angel asked tentatively, sitting down next to his son. "I know it doesn't feel like it yet, but this could be home for you."
"I don't have a home."
"That's not true. You just don't remember, that's all." Angel looked at Con- Steven. "Your home is here. This is where you're supposed to be, son."
"Angel," Cordelia called out suddenly. "We've got big trouble."
"What is it?" the vampire asked, quickly walking towards his seer.
"A motel down town," Cordelia began. "There's a demon. Big, black, furry, and strong. He can flip over a car."
Gunn and Fred returned through the door and Angel cast them a brief look. "We've got trouble. Mount up."
"Right," Gunn agreed, fetching his axe and Fred's crossbow as Angel returned with a pair of swords.
"Where's Steven?"
XXX
"Come, Destroyer," the bulky demon bellowed, overturning a car with a powerful sweep of his clawed hand.
Street light shone down on the demon, his black skin seeming to suck the light out of the air, creating an aura of darkness around him. It stood over six feet tall, with thickly muscled arms that ended it razor sharp talons. A heavy pelt of midnight-blue hair covered his chest, stomach and back that made him look like a demonic gorilla.
"Destroyer! Face me!" he roared again, punching a gash into the wall of the seedy motel. Black robed men from the demon's ally rushed in and dragged out a pair of the worthless humans. "If you do not show yourself willingly, then perhaps killing these mortals will draw you out."
The demon's arm darted out, catching the first human, a spawn, in the throat, it's blood splashing out over the ground and the other human, who shrieked. The demon's malevolent green eyes glittered with sadistic glee as he crushed the second human's skull.
"Bring me more humans," he ordered the robed figures. "I'll entertain myself until the Destroyer faces me."
The demon watched impassively as the robed servants of his ally burst the doors of the rooms open and dragged out kicking and screaming humans. His lip curled in disgust as he smelled the rank cowardice flooding and the incessant pleas for mercy that came from all of them - except one.
Intrigued, the demon glided forward in a liquid fashion, coming to a halt before the seemingly fearless human. He reeked of evil in the most delightful way.
"You do not fear me, human," he began. "Why?"
The old man looked at him contemptuously. "I have faced worse than you and lived to tell the tale, monster."
"Then it must pain you to know that I am the one to kill you," the demon replied, punching two clawed fingers into the human's fleshy stomach. He relished the look of shock and pain on the human's face and drove his claws deeper.
A sharp, unexpected impact to the demon's midsection sent him sprawling across the car park. Rising to his feet, the demon turned angry eyes towards his assailant. He appeared to be a young boy, not much more than a spawn, but his scent told the demon he was much more. The Destroyer.
The Destroyer was huddled over the dead or dying form of the fearless human. His head snapped up, his eyes red, and he snarled, "You killed my father!"
The Destroyer rushed the demon, throwing his fist forward with wild abandon. The demon grabbed the Destroyer's fist mid-air and began to squeeze, before landing a crushing body blow to the Destroyer.
"I am Artulus," the demon pronounced before hurling the Destroyer away from him.
The sounds of a battle rang out suddenly, and Artulus spun to see where it was coming from. A small group had attacked his robed minions. A dark-skinned one wielding a big axe, a particularly frail one wielding a crossbow, a female of their species wielding a sword and a Champion. This was… unexpected.
The Destroyer charged Artulus again, tackling him to the ground and punching him repeatedly. With a grunt, Artulus slammed a fist into the Destroyer's chest, sending him flying through one of the windows of the building behind him. Rising to his feet, Artulus barely managed to deflect the sword the Champion sent hurtling at his face. Lashing out quickly with his foot, he managed to propel the Champion fifteen feet away.
A stinging pain in his neck signalled that the others had finished the robed ones. Plucking the crossbow bolt out, Artulus stabbed the axe-wielder in the shoulder with it, ignoring the painful gash he left on Artulus' stomach.
The sword-wielding female lunged at Artulus as another crossbow bolt punctured his chest. Swaying out of the way of the thin blade, he punched at the woman and scoring a glancing blow that sent her spinning to the ground.
Artulus suddenly pitched forward as the Destroyer tackled him once again and the bolt in his chest snapped painfully. Rolling quickly, Artulus gained the upper hand and drove a knee into the Destroyer's stomach before slamming both fists onto his chest.
Searing pain struck him as the axe bit deep into his right arm, but Artulus wrenched his arm forward, dragging the wounded axe-wielder with it and a quick jab opened a second hole in the man's leg. A third crossbow bolt struck him, this time below the knee, as the axe-wielder collapsed to the ground.
Rolling backwards on instinct, Artulus managed to miss the sword the Champion had thrust at Artulus' temple, but not a forth crossbow bolt, which lodged itself in his lower back. Ducking under the Champion's follow-up swing, Artulus drove all five claws deep into the Champion's stomach and back-handing the corpse so it knocked the axe-wielder to the ground again.
Artulus' claw snapped the fifth crossbow bolt out of mid-air and he began to walk towards the last remaining warrior, flexing his talons powerfully. She darted underneath him, these damn wounds slowed him more than he thought they would, and he turned to follow only to halt.
The Champion was already on his feet, sword in hand. The female sword-fighter was helping up the Destroyer and the crossbow-wielder was handing the axe-wielder his weapon. The annoying thing about the forces of good was their endless persistence, it seemed.
"I'll be at the Hellmouth. Face me when you've grown tired of hiding behind your women, Destroyer," Artulus taunted before sprinting off into the night.
XXX
A/N: Well, this is a few firsts for me. It was my most ambitious action scene to date, and my first (serious) attempt at writing the Angel cast. My lacklustre response to the last chapter of Denuo - one which I personally thought was great - did inspire me to churn this chapter out, but if some of you didn't review in the hopes that this would happen (shame on you!) I would have been doing this chapter next anyway. It just took longer as few people showed interest in my stuff. Review.
P.S. I have an idea for a new fic, and I am curious to see if any of my readers would be interested. The idea is, essentially, me telling the story of a (completely home-made) vampire, with a slight twist. It would take place in a mix of flashbacks and current events (which is where the twist is) and it would explore my opinions on the Jossverse vampires. It would be different to my usual stuff as it would mostly be completely original, simply using the world of Joss. It'd be my stepping stone to original fiction. If you'd be interested, just say so in a review, and if not don't worry about it.
But please, review.
