HEY ALL AVES HERE ONCE AGAIN. I KNOW LAST CHAPTER WAS EXTREMELY SHORT, BUT I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THAT WAS SO. THIS ONE MUCH LONGER AND I THINK ONE OF THE MORE FASCINATING OF THE STORY IN TERMS OF CHARACTER DIALOUGE. ANY WAY HOPE YOU ENJOY R & R AS ALWAYS.
TITLE: THE END OF ALL THINGS
AUTHOR: AVES
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN CHARACTER (EXCEPT MARCUS HE'S A PRODUCT OF MY DEMENTED LITTLE MIND). BLAST THE WB FOR CANCELLING THE SHOW (COLD MOUNTAIN? JACK & BOBBY? I GOT A SHOW FOR YOU IT'S CALLED "FIRE ALL WB EXECS")
CHAPTER 15
SECRET WEAPONS
Hamilton smirked in satisfaction as he saw the shocked expressions on Angel's face. "I see you remember my new friend," he shouted at them. "Our army is complete Angel, however we shall not wait until tommorow to show you our might, this begins now!" Hamilton raised his hand signaling an attack and a group of about two hundred demons rushed toward the hotel only to be vaporized right before they reached the building. "What the hell just happened? Hamilton screamed.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Spike yelled. "What just happened?"
"It is not time," Cordelia responded whose eyes had turned solid white and she was glowing.
"You're doing this?" Buffy asked.
"The champions of both good and evil have been revealed. There will be no more bloodshed until the appointed time," Cordelia replied in an angelic voice that reached the ears on not only Angel and company, but all of Hamilton's forces as well.
"Well looks like Hammy's going to have to play nice," Angelus taunted as the lawyer's face turned bright red.
"I should have sent you on the attack!" Hamilton snarled. "At least then I'd be rid of you!"
The vampire chuckled amused at Hamilton's rant. "Now, now Hammy watch the blood pressure we all know how tense you get."
Hamilton growled at his irritating ally and turned back toward the hotel. "Enjoy your stay of execution Angel, when all this is over your blood will be on my hands. Let us go." he said to the army and all turned to leave except The Master who shouted at Buffy.
"I look forward to us reuniting Slayer," he smiled evily and then turned away joining his allies.
Marcus watched his brother as he left and then turned to Angel, "It seems you managed to make my brother hate you even more then he does me. Congratulations, that's no small feat."
"Yea, give me a medal if we survive this," the vampire replied.
Angel turned to Cordelia whose eyes had returned to normal and had stopped glowing. "You ok?"
"Yea," she replied obviously tired by her display of power. "I'm just glad I won't have to do that again."
"What do you mean?" the vampire asked.
"Is it time my lady?" Marcus asked.
Cordelia smiled at the young warrior, "Yes Marcus," she said as she stroked his cheek. "Good luck, and take care of my vampire, andyourself." Marcus replied with a slight bow and turned away. He looked at the others on the rooftop.
"I believe it would be best if we all went inside."
Buffy looked past the warrior at Angel and Cordelia who were now facing each other holding hands. "Yea, sure everyone inside we've got to talk about tommorow."
Spike moved next to the Slayer, "You ok pet?"
"Yea," she said with a nod. "I'm just thinking that some things should stay in the past."
Spike put his arm around her, "Come on Slayer we got a world to save."
"You can't leave," Angel pleaded. "I need you here."
Cordelia smiled tears in her eyes as she touched his face, "My task is complete Angel. I have nothing left to offer."
"I don't want to lose you again Cordy."
Cordy gave him a small laugh, "At the risk of sounding corny I'll always be with you Angel, never forget that, and never forget that I love you."
Angel closed his eyes as she kissed him. "Goodbye," she whispered.
"I love you Cordy," he said as he opened his eyes only to find her gone. "Goodbye," he whispered.
"How are we supposed to stop that?" a slayer named Miranda asked.
"There's only a couple hundred of us and thousands of them," another agreed.
"So what? You ready to give up?" Spike growled at them. He turned and stared at Buffy. "Your little crew hasn't changed much pet, first sign of trouble and they all ready to throw in the towel."
Rhoda, another slayer got in his face, "Listen fang boy, I'd drop the attitude if I were you, we saved your sorry ass, we didn't give up then."
"Yea, so why you now?" he replied.
"Who says we are?" she snapped back.
"You did," he said. "You caught that crew in the alley by surprise, you had the advantage, when they attacked us in the hotel it was instinct to fight, no time to think. Now that you see what's coming you all want to turn tail and run."
Rhoda looked like she was ready to hit him, "Why you arrogant,"
"Be silent all of you!" Marcus shouted. The bickering stopped at the demand of the warrior who did not look pleased. "You are supposed to be warriors not spoiled bickering children!"
"Hey just who do you think you are?" Rhoda protested.
Marcus got in her face and stared her down, "You will be silent or I will silence you," he said darkly.
"He'll do it too," Spike taunted.
Marcus turned and glare at the vampire, "Spike I'm just starting to like you. Don't ruin it by being yourself." The warrior looked at many of the others. "I don't think you all understand what is at stake here." he looked at one of the youngest girls who couldn't have been more than fourteen. "Do you have a family? A mother, father, sister perhaps?"
The young girl nodded. "A little sister, she's nine."
"Do you want her to be defiled and tortured in Hell the rest of her life?" he asked bluntly.
The question almost brought her to tears, "No! How can you ask me that?"
Buffy started to stop him but was interrupted by Spike, "Let him work luv," he whispered. "Trust me."
"I asked you that because I want you to realize what will happen if you do not fight." Marcus continued. "I am sure you all have someone in your heart. A friend, a family member, a lover. Whoever it may be if you do fight one of two things will happen, either that loved one will die or they will suffer an eternity of torment. The only way to avoid this is to fight."
"He's right," they all heard Angel say he returned from the roof.
"Where's Cordy?" Buffy asked.
"She's gone," he replied flatly and paused before addressing the entire group. "Her work is done, ours is just beginning." He pauses again looking over his group of allies. "Some of you I have fought with, some I've cried with, I've even fought against some, and some I have never even met until this battle began. None of this matters now because all of us in this room are united by one purpose, to fight the good fight. It's not about some task set before us by the Powers That Be. It's not about a prophecy, or some great promised reward. It's about the fight. It's about a battle we must fight because no one else can. Now I will be honest with you, I really don't care if this is the apocalypse. It doesn't matter if this is a battle that has been prophesied since the beginning of time. All I know is that we have a war to win. A few days ago I was ready to die so our world would have a moment of peace. Now I want to survive to guarantee that there will always be a hope for peace. If you believe in that hope, if you think that is worth fighting for then you believe in the good fight and there is no power in this world or in any other world that will be able to stop us." He looked at Giles, "Giles we've got some details to finalize, the rest of you do whatever you need to do to get ready for tommorow. Pray, train, or just goof off. Tommorow we go over our final battle plan and tommorow night we all fight the battle of our lives, and while we're at we might just save the world."
"Blasted, interefering witch!" Hamilton spat. Angelus had spent the last thirty minutes watching the lawyer rant about the scene at the hotel and the vampire had to admit it was damn funny.
"Maybe it would be wise to stop ranting and start preparing," The Master said his opinion of Hamilton's fit obviously not the same as that of Angelus.
Hamilton glared at the ancient vampire. "The plan is to kill them! Kill them all!"
"Oh come on Hammy," Angelus taunted. "Where is that cool, calm, snotty prick we all know and loathe."
Hamilton spun on his heels to face Angelus. "You are truly starting to annoy me, even more than your other version did."
The vampire replied with a wicked grin and a chuckle. "Maybe the pressure is getting to you Hammy. I mean my alter ego wants a piece of you, little brother wants to kill you, maybe you're just feeling a tad nervous about all this." he paused to sniff the air. "Why Dru, I do believe I smell a little fear on our friend."
"Mmm," Drusilla moaned, "It's all so positively intoxicating."
Hamilton roared and punched Angelus knocking him to the ground. "I am not afraid of Angel, my brother, their pitiful little army or anything!"
"Me thinks young Hammy doth protest too much," Angelus said trying to shake the cobwebs out his head.
Hamilton raised his fist to hit Angelus again but stopped when he felt razor sharp nails at his throat. "You must be nice to Daddy." Drusilla warned. "His little girl won't let you hurt him."
"You are all behaving like children," The Master hissed. "There is plenty of blood to spill besides our own."
Hamilton lowered his fist as Drusilla removed her nails from his throat. "Very well," he said obviously still very annoyed. "Tommorow night is the appointed time for the battle. The Senior Partners will raise their new headquarters on the old L.A. office site while you are leading the assaults on the three Hellmouths. Drusilla you shall leave the Cleveland force, The Master will shall take his old home of Sunnydale, and Angelus shall attack the Hellmouth in Mexico. You will all have an army of demons at your command plus a special lieutenant specially created for this battle."
"What special lieutenant?" Angelus asked. "I thought all are forces were decided in that revealing thing."
Hamilton smiled at the vampire's ignorance. "The champions were revealed however what kind of lawyer would I be without figuring out a loophole that would work to my advantage."
"All right these lieutenants?" Angelus asked again.
"They are a special mix of science of magic," Hamilton explained. "Two of our dearly departed best, Knox, from our science department, and Cyrus Vail, one of our Black Thorn members began work on this projectwhen Angel first took over the L.A. branch and completed it just a week before Know was killed."
"Been planning this party for awhile?" Angelus asked.
"You have no idea," Hamilton replied smugly. He motioned at a demon standing guard at the door. "Bring in the projects."
"These projects," the Master said. "How will they help us?"
"See for yourself," Hamilton replied as three monstrosities entered the room. Each stood nearly seven feet tall. Thier skin seemed to be armor plated. There were similarities in the three creatures but they were not identical. They seemed to be part organic and part machine.
"Such interesting toys," Drusilla said. "How do we play with them?"
Hamilton ignored Drusilla's remark and began to explain the strange beings. "Vail, a very powerful sorcerer conjured these little nasties out of some hell dimension or somewhere, details aren't important. They killed twenty of our warrior demons ordered to contain them two minutes after Vail conjured them."
"How did you control them?" The Master asked impressed by the creatures' appetite for destruction.
"Enough tranquilizers and binding spells will eventually bring down anything." Hamilton replied. "Anyway when we finally got the beasts under control Knox added all the scientific necessities. Cybernetics that enhanced thier abilities and made them more willing to serve us. Now they are for you to use to eradicate Angel's forces."
"Tall monsters will help me kill nasty slayers?" Drusilla asked.
"Yes," Hamilton replied. "Each creature is equipped with a variety of weapons and each contains a lovely destruct device that will go off as soon you are able to get them into the Hellmouths."
"So let me get this straight," Angelus began. "We each take one of these cute little creatures here to our Hellmouth they go boom and the world ends?"
"That is the general idea," Hamilton answered. "While you're doing that the Senior Partners will raise their new office that will focus all the Hellmouth energy thus allowing them to remold this world in their own image."
"And just what will you be doing during this?" Angelus asked.
"I shall be implementing our back up plan," the lawyer responded.
"Which is?" the vampire demanded.
Hamilton took a breath before responding, "The Senior Partners have passed a very specific order. If we can not rule the world we are to destroy it. If any of you fail I am ordered to open the doorway to all dimensions and throw this world into chaos."
"How shall you do this?" The Master asked.
Hamilton gave his allies an evil smile. "The doors to all dimensions are virtually locked. The very act of us trying to open the Hellmouths will destabilize the doorways however to open a lock you still need a key and our acts will provide that chance. I am sure that the slayer will not allow her precious sister to be involved in our little war. I will lead a force to take the key and have her ready in case in of you fail. I don't care if we have to carve her into pieces we will find out how to use her. Whether ruled by the Senior Partners or thrown into chaos this world ends tommorow."
COMING UP NEXT CHAPTER
Friends enjoy a final night together before the battle begins in Chapter 16 of The End of All Things: Moments to Cherish
