CONSEQUENCES

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy and Morgan.

CHAPTER 13-HELL NIGHT

Every air-breathing member of Angel's motley crew reacted instantly to the introduction of tear gas into the lobby. Faith vaulted herself over the bar in a frantic attempt to put as much distance between her and the tear gas as possible while at the same time trying to find something to block out the fumes. Morgan panicked and soon had to be saved from stumbling into the exact center of the fumes by Spike as he dashed across the lobby, grabbed her rather forcibly by the waist, and crashed through a previously locked door into a storage room. Connor had the sense of mind to make a break for the stairs and keep away from the cloud of tear gas, though the whole way he kept looking back to keep track of where Angel was. Angel was the first to go on the offensive, racing towards the canisters of tear gas. Diving down through the choking cloud Angel picked up the canisters and did his best to throw them as far out of the hotel and back into the street as he could.

"Connor," Angel yelled through the smoke as he turned away from the window and did his best to clear the air of smoke from in front of his face.

"Dad…," Connor shouted out through the still thick cloud as he tried to get a good look down into the lobby from his spot on the stairs.

"Connor, stay where you are, wait until the gas has dissipated," Angel shot back with a very nervous look on his face as he tore his gaze away from what was transpiring out in the street and back towards the staircase.

"Here they come," Spike shouted back over the clamor of the area before a squadron of a dozen Wolfram and Hart elite guardsmen tromped through the opening in the window and through the door. Spike instantly left Morgan where she was and leapt onto the first wave of guards that came through the window, knocking them all to the ground by the force of his attack. Angel followed that up by wrenching one of the tables up off of the floor, spinning it up so that in front of him lay the top of the table acting as an impromptu shield, as he barreled forward towards the guards that had broken down the door to gain access.

"Gotta hand it to ya Angel, you really know how to show a girl a good time," Faith exclaimed with sarcastic glee as she emerged from behind the bar with a double-barreled shotgun in her hands.

"What do you think you're…," Morgan started to shout over the noise of Angel and Spike fighting against the Wolfram and Hart elite guards before Faith answered her with a resounding shotgun blast to the closest guards knee, blowing it completely out and almost severing the leg. The next shot tore through Angel's duster, passing within an inch of his hip before crashing through the tabletop and slamming into the thigh of a guard directly in front of Angel.

"Hey…whose side are you on here," Angel exclaimed with some trepidation as he jumped back out of the way of Faith's next shotgun blast.

"Not sure yet," Faith shouted back with a zealous grin on her face before she pulled the trigger again, found that the gun was empty, and ended up using the weapon as a club, breaking the nose of the first guard that rushed at her with the but of the shotgun.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Buffy was immediately up on her feet and at the doorway, headed out before Giles or Dawn had even realized what had happened. Giles started to use the bed for leverage to get himself back up to his feet, just as Buffy flung the door open and rushed outside into the hallway. Before Dawn could get back up to her feet Buffy was off racing down the steps like a crazy woman, not waiting for backup or to even plan any sort of strategy other than to react to whatever had just happened. When Buffy got to the lobby she passed Kennedy, who was carefully trying to help Willow back up to her feet, while barely giving Lorne a second glance before she nearly shattered the front windows on her way out.

"Buffy…," Giles gasped out breathlessly as he doubled over at the bottom of the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing, as he tried to catch his breath.

"What just happened," Kennedy asked with a very confused and startled expression on her face as she helped Willow over to the chair beside the one that Lorne was clinging to for dear life.

"It sounded like an explosion," One of the terrified look potentials answered as she took a few baby steps away from the hotel's front doors.

"Yeah…a big one," Another said with a scared look on her face as she walked up to Giles and looked to him to restore order.

"Willow…stay here with the new slayers, you to Kennedy, while Xander, Buffy, and I check out what happened," Giles ordered with a very serious and determined look on his face as he finally got enough air, straightened up and hurried through the lobby.

"What about me," Dawn started to shout with an annoyed scowl on her face as she started to follow Xander and Giles before the two left the hotel and she could only throw her hands up in frustration and stalk back up to her room, hopeful that something about the explosion would be on the news.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

The fight was going about dead even until whoever was running the show for Wolfram and Hart out in the street caught sight of a few news crews and ambulances. Upon setting his sights on them the cavalry was sent in. For Wolfram and Hart that meant the half human, half demon hybrids. The hybrids served as the shock troops for cleaning up messes that the London branch of Wolfram and Hart didn't want the public at large to know about. Angel was first to face the wrath of the hybrids, as when he collided with the first wave he was sent flying back over the bar and crashing down into the collection of bottles of different kinds of liquor. Spike took up the challenge next but was soon also sent flying through the air and straight down into the piano that he had played earlier, knocking out the lid support in the process and so when the legs gave out and the piano crashed down to the floor it almost looked like an odd shaped coffin. Morgan tried to go to Spike's aid but was grabbed from behind by one of the hybrids. It twisted her arm back around until even the dead heard the unmistakable sound of both bones and tendons ripping and breaking. Morgan cried out wildly in pain and dropped to her knees, almost passing out from the pain, as she fought to keep from throwing up while scared shitless tears streamed down her cheeks. Seeing her in trouble Connor leapt into the fray, only to be thrown back through a door leading to a small bathroom. Faith was able to get a couple of shot in with the butt end of her shotgun before one of the hybrids slammed its fist into her stomach, with the small spike on the back of one of its knuckles burying itself into Faith's stomach. As a result she dropped like a rock, gasping in shock as she clutched her stomach and tried to stem the tide of blood while at the same time fighting back the terrifying members of an earlier similar situation. Angel was just about back up to his feet when an ear splitting howl filled the air.

"Oh no…Nina," Angel started to say with a scared look on his face before the form of a fully transformed, and fully enraged Nina, appeared at the bottom of the stairs. The hybrids seemed to pay her little heed at first. But that soon changed when she sprang into action. She gashed open the throat of the first hybrid with her claws all the way to the spinal cord before knocking three down by tackling them and then ripping another's throat out with her jaws. Angel watched the carnage unfolding in front of him in stunned silence, with it only broken as Spike angrily rolled out of the makeshift coffin and tried to get his bearings. Spike started to get up but kept still at the sight of what was unfolding in front of him. One of the hybrids that werewolf Nina had just killed fell on top of Faith, this time as it fell the hybrid moved just enough so that the spike on the back of its knuckle was sent straight through Faith's chest, collapsing her left lung in the process and barely missing her heart. Spike, finally snapping out of his momentary daze, started to go to help Faith but a stream of arrows that flew silently in through the shattered window halted his progress. By the time that the first volley was over Spike had more than half a dozen arrows jutting out of him, although none near enough to his heart to land a fatal blow.

"What is it with the bloody arrows," Spike growled with a very angry sneer on his face as he pulled one of the arrows out of his shoulder and then flung it to the ground.

"Dad," Connor cried out with a panicked expression on his face as he came rushing back out of the bathroom and helped his father to his feet.

"Where's Nina," Angel shouted back in a hurry as he scrambled around the edge of the bar before having to dodge a bench that one of the hybrid's had thrown his way.

"She just left…and we're in no condition to follow," Spike replied with an eerily serious scowl on his face as he shoved a table off of Morgan and tried to see how injured she was.

"We have to get out of here," Connor added with a scared look on his face as he grabbed Angel's arm and tried to pull him back towards the bar.

"NO…we have to find Nina, she…," Angel started to shout with a very angry scowl on his face as he ripped his arm from out of Connor's grasp and was just about to run out into the street after Nina when Spike's words stopped him.

"Can fend for herself Angel, Faith can't," Spike interjected with a very nervous look on his face as he laid a hand on Faith's shoulder and was nearly knocked over by the strength of the smell of blood. Angel started to shout an angry rebuttal but when he looked down and saw the amount of blood that was collecting on the floor beside Faith his baser instincts of survival kicked in.

"Alright we're leaving, get Morgan to the hospital any way that you can Spike, I'll get Faith there myself…Connor, go find Groo and Gwen and update them…when everyone's safe I'm going after Nina," Angel ordered with a very serious and grim scowl on his face as he bent down and picked Faith up as gently as he could.

"Wait for me Wes…won't be long now…," Faith mumbled very weakly as her eyes threatened to close forever.

"No Faith…you're not going anywhere, I won't let you," Angel stated with a very firm tone of voice before he dashed out of a back door of the hotel and disappeared into the night.

"Well kid good luck and happy hunting, don't go and get yourself killed or anything…ole Peaches wouldn't be able to take it," Spike said to Connor with a very serious look on his face before he ushered Morgan out the same way that Angel had left only moments before.

"And we were having such a nice vacation to…," Connor mumbled with a sarcastic smirk on his face before he ran out of the building, only a few moments before another wave of hybrids was sent in.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

At first Buffy was making good time in getting from her hotel to where the explosion had taken place. She couldn't quite place it but she had a funny feeling that the cause of the blast was anything but a burst gas line or something simple like that. Her feet barely touched the ground for a block before she ran into a full traffic jam. After seeing that the sidewalks were just as jammed as the streets she decided on a different course of actions. Yelling out her apologies as she went Buffy ran from car to car, stepping on the hood first and then putting a hand down to help herself hop over the cab of the cars and trucks before jumping from the trunk lid to the hood of the next car. Xander and Giles did their best to keep up but weaving their way in between the almost bumper-to-bumper traffic proved both difficult and time consuming for them. Buffy was almost to the scene when in her hurried attempt to stop she nearly slipped on the hood of a car and almost went sprawling down into the windshield.

"Buffy…look out," Xander shouted out in shock and fear as a rather furious looking werewolf leapt onto the top of a van and reared back its head before howling loudly, its fur thickly coated with blood.

"This could be a problem," Buffy said with an unpleasantly surprised smile on her face as she took a few cautious steps back, hoping that the werewolf wouldn't immediately notice her. She had no such luck.

"Buffy watch out it's…," Giles started to shout in alarm and warning as the werewolf growled at Buffy and then leapt her way. Had she not been the slayer Buffy's life more than likely would have ended right then and there. But because she was the slayer Buffy was just able to jump out of the way, slide across the hood of a nearby car, and drop off to the ground on the other side while the werewolf shattered the windshield of the car that she had just been standing on. The passengers in the car were not so fortunate, as the werewolf pulled the driver out first and then gutted her without much effort.

"Oh God," Xander mumbled under his breath before fought the urge to wretch all over the sidewalk.

"Don't get to close to it Buffy," Giles shouted out above the clamor of sirens, people screaming, and the sounds of the werewolf killing the rest of the people in the car.

"But I can't just let it…," Buffy began to shout back with a worried expression on her face before she was shoved out of the way from behind and interrupted.

"Nina no, don't do this," Gwen exclaimed with a pleading tone to her voice as she leapt up onto the hood of the nearest car that she could and tried to get Nina's attention while Groo was still weaving his way through the maze of cars.

"What do you think you're doing, you can't just…ow," Buffy started to object to being pushed as she scowled heavily and started to jump back up onto the hood of the car along with Gwen but was stopped when Gwen reached back and gave her a jolt.

"You should stay back fair maiden, this creature while most dangerous is actually a friend of ours who would not wish to harm you in the least, please let us handle this," Groo added with a very gracious smile on his face before he pulled a blue blanket from out of the back seat of a nearby car and jumped onto the hood of a car adjacent to the one that Gwen was on.

"Now wait just a minute I…," Buffy started to yell back at Groo while climbing back up onto the hood of the car beside him before she was interrupted again.

"Nina stop…stay there," Connor exclaimed with a very nervous and slightly unsure look on his face as he struggled to climb over the sea of cars in between himself and Nina while she looked around warily, obviously getting quite anxious at the number of people popping up around her.

"Ya know guys, I really hate it when people keep interrupting me," Buffy stated with a very firm and annoyed tone of voice as she grabbed Groo's arm and started to forcefully make him turn and face her before Nina took the sudden change of surroundings to her advantage and took off down the street over the cars and away from Buffy and the others.

"Damn…I thought you had her," Gwen growled with a very angry scowl on her face as she glared over at Connor.

"Me…you two were supposed to tail them so that something like this wouldn't happen," Connor shot back with an equally angry glare as Groo just shook his head in dismay.

"Would someone please tell me what's going on here…Buffy," Xander asked with a scared and confused look on his face as he finally wove his way up to beside Buffy, with Giles not far behind.

"Buffy…Buffy Summers…the vampire slayer," Gwen asked with a surprised but yet cautious look on her face as more than once she looked back and forth between Buffy and Connor and Groo before sizing Buffy up.

"You've heard of me," Buffy asked with a bewildered look on her face as she let go of Groo's arm and turned to face Gwen.

"More or less…we should get going and find her before she scratches or bites someone," Gwen replied with a look that seemed to say that she could care less about Buffy before she turned back to Connor and looked down the street to where Nina had just gone.

"You mean instead of outright massacring them like these three poor people," Giles demanded with a look of some unhappiness and disgust on his face as he knelt down and gently closed the eyes of the youngest victim.

"One werewolf is more than enough for us, we had enough problems at the hotel, we need to collar Nina until she becomes human again and then find my father, he took Faith to a hospital…," Connor answered with a very grim and deadly serious expression on his face as he made up the distance between them all and amidst the stares of those still in their cars, huddled down in total fear, refused to look at Buffy, Giles, or Xander.

"Faith's hurt…how badly," Giles spoke up with a concerned look on his face as it was obvious that he had gone into full on watcher mode again.

"Pretty bad, she was stabbed twice by two Wolfram and Hart special guards, there was blood everywhere…Angel," Connor started to reply with a steadily growing look of concern on his face before a werewolf howl from a couple of blocks away interrupted him.

"Angel…wait, Angel's here," Xander interjected with a worried look on his face as he turned back to Giles and his face grew pale.

"What hospital, what hospital did he take Faith to, Connor…," Gwen asked with a very pointed look on her face as she slid her glove back on.

"I don't know, he just told us all what to do and left with her, Morgan is hurt pretty badly to…she couldn't move her arm, we need to go," Connor replied with a nervous and hurried look on his face before he turned away from Gwen and raced off down the street after Nina.

"Why did Wolfram and Hart attack you, I thought that you worked for them…," Xander wondered aloud with a confused look on his face as he did his best to not look at any of the bodies on the street beside him.

"Since when did Wolfram and Hart ever need a reason to attack someone, come on…," Gwen shot back with a grumpy pout on her face before she nodded her head sharply at Groo and then took off after Connor, leaving Groo to follow after her moments later before Buffy or Giles could ask another question.

END OF CHAPTER 13