Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.
CHAPTER 32-A WORST NIGHTMARE OPENING
Spike felt her presence only a moment before Angel did. At first he believed that his senses were playing tricks on him. But then his gaze fell upon the familiar lithe form and the graceful and calm manner of her step. He blinked his eyes several times in a vain and half-hearted attempt to clear his vision, hoping that she would vanish. But she did not.
"D…Dru," Spike softly gasped out in disbelief after dusting yet another vampire that had tried to dust him.
"My boys, see Ms. Edith, they're both being very bad," Dru stated with her usual sing song tone as she brought her favorite doll up to eye level and whispered into its nonexistent ear.
"Uh Spike, I could use a little help…here," Buffy started to shout at Spike in between punches and kicks before she spotted Dru.
"What are you doing here Dru," Angel called out with a very determined and unhappy scowl on his face before he threw a punch that missed badly, but only because the vampire that he had aimed his punch at jumped back and stopped fighting. Almost instantly the rest of the vampires did the same and soon everyone had an odd and eerie feeling.
"Well now isn't that the million dollar question Angel," A husky voice said from the doorway before Angel looked over and had he a heartbeat it would have stopped immediately upon seeing the figure.
"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled out in shock and awe as he stared straight ahead at the man that he knew to be dead, but yet here he was grinning back at him.
"Shit," Faith grumbled with a confused look on her face as even though she didn't know exactly what was going on she knew that it couldn't be good.
"Lindsey…but how, you're…," Angel mumbled out with a very confused expression on his face as he slowly leaned down and picked his sword back up off of the ground.
"Dead…yeah, thanks for that by the way, you couldn't even kill me yourself, you had to have one of your flunkies do it…and here I thought that you had more balls than that, guess Spike isn't the only dumbass in your family," Lindsey shot back with a mocking sneer on his face as he was dressed in a fine business suit, looking like he had just come from the trial of the century.
"You should be six feet under," Spike said back with an uncomfortable feeling growing in the pit of his stomach as he took a step back away from the former lawyer and turned to Angel.
"I am…well technically at least, you remember don't you, I signed a contract with Wolfram and Hart you fools, death isn't exactly what it used to be," Lindsey said with an almost mocking smile on his face as he walked up to Angel and shook his head.
"The contract, of course…like with Lilah, they signed their lives and souls over to Wolfram and Hart, so that even after death," Wesley staggered out softly as he tried to recover his breath while Faith almost silently raced back up the steps and was at his side before anyone responded.
"Smart man, but you see unlike Lilah I'm not just here to convey a message, I'm here to kill you, but only after you sign over your soul to me…well me and Wolfram and Hart of course, it's not that bad…you already signed it over once, well your right to the Shanshu prophecy anyway," Lindsey
"Shan…Angel," Buffy wondered aloud with a confused look on her face as she stopped for a moment to collect her breath.
"The Shanshu prophecy, it states that after the vampire with a soul has gone through the trials and died…that he will live, as a human being," Wesley said as he answered for Angel while he and Faith made their way down the stairs.
"With no strings, he'll become a real boy," Spike added with a sarcastic pout on his face as he shook his head and glanced in Buffy's general direction.
"But you said that he signed his right away, but then if not Angel then…," Giles started to ask with a deep in thought look on his face before he realized where it was that this thought process was going.
"That it would fall to you, that you could," Buffy started to say, almost in a whisper, before her eyes threatened to fill up with tears and she could not continue.
"I don't know, I'm not sure about that, for all I know the prophecy could still pertain to me," Angel quickly said with an irritated tone to his voice as he took a step forward towards Lindsey and Dru.
"Or you could have signed away your one chance at being human," Nina added with a sad look on her face as she gently laid a hand on Angel's arm.
"Either way it doesn't matter, because this is the end of the line for you Angel, with the information and aide that Drusilla here has given to us it's only a matter of time before we own you, even more so than we already do, you belong to Wolfram and Hart," Lindsey said back with a very serious and proud smile on his face as he slid his hands into his pockets.
"I belong to no one," Angel declared with a very forceful and deadly serious edge to his voice as he almost slipped his game face on for added confirmation.
"We all belong to someone or something Angel, even you," Lindsey replied with an unfortunate pout on his face as he shrugged his shoulders and tried to hold back a smile.
"The only group that I belong to is the human race," Faith shot back quickly, before anyone else could, as she let go of Wesley's arm and looked ready for a fight.
"You're forgetting your little stay in prison Faith, the system owns you, and please don't think that just because I'm dead that you and I aren't going to have a little chat about you taking my place with Wesley here," Lilah said with an only slightly irritated look on her face as she walked into the club behind Lindsey, getting shocked stares from Angel and those that had known her, before she stopped shoulder to shoulder with Dru and directed her gaze up onto the railing.
"This doesn't make any sense," Katy mumbled with a completely confused and scared look on her face as she shook her head and turned to Spike.
"Got that right, what is Jimmy Hoffa next, Elvis maybe," Spike joked with a very sarcastic smirk on his face as he shot Lindsey a very serious gaze.
"You're so funny, gotta remember to mention that at your funeral," Lindsey shot back with a very arrogant grin on his face as he slowly nodded his head.
"What's going on here…anybody, we came here to cast a spell to keep Wolfram and Hart from opening up any more portals and," Morgan exclaimed with a frustrated and anxious expression on her face as she stepped past Connor and looked straight at Lindsey.
"Yeah see…sorry but we're here to make sure that you don't, the Senior Partners wouldn't like that very much, especially when they haven't killed all of you yet," Lilah said back with a mocking pout on her face as she stepped forward and glanced briefly at Faith and Wesley before she made it a point to get Angel to focus on her.
"The Senior Partners can fuck themselves for all I care," Faith growled with an angry sneer on her face as she pulled the shotgun out of Wesley's coat and turned back to the former lawyer.
"A typical response from a worthless excuse for a slayer like you," Lindsey shot back with an energized grin on his face before Wesley had to grab a hold of Faith to keep her from firing at the lawyers.
"Easy…he's just trying to make you mad," Wesley began to harshly whisper to Faith as he took the shotgun away from her and pulled her close before she cut in.
"Yeah well…it's working," Faith grumbled with a very angry scowl on her face as she relaxed just a bit and turned to Wesley.
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"What's going on, who's at the door," Michelle asked with a very worried look on her face as she meekly looked up at Groo.
"I do not know, however Angel seems to know them well, and the frail looking woman has not taken her eyes off of Spike since she arrived," Groo replied with an unsure shrug of his shoulders before Willow looked up from the book.
"Frail looking woman…she wouldn't by any chance have long brown hair, be holding a doll, and look like she's a bit…off," Willow asked with a concerned and worried expression on her face as she looked up at Groo and hoped that she was wrong.
"Yes," Groo quietly replied back with a quick nod of his head as he turned back to Willow and amazed at how she had been able to describe the woman without even looking at her.
"This is worse than I thought, it's Dru…Spike's sire and a childe of Angel before he got his soul, if she's here then we're all in big trouble," Willow said with a very worried and slightly scared look on her face as she walked out from behind the table and up to stand beside Groo and Michelle.
"But…but you're almost done with the spell right, you can cast the spell and then they'll go away…leave us alone," Michelle stammered out with a totally petrified look on her face as she turned to Willow and began to shake with fear.
"Almost, but I'm still going to need a little bit more time to perform the spell, and if they find out what we're doing back here then it's not going to take much time for them to try and stop us," Willow replied with a very concerned frown on her face as she turned away from Groo and Michelle and went back to the spell.
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"This is the end Angel, you've already played your ace in the hole and now it's my…our turn," Lindsey said with a very confidant and arrogant grin on his face as he pulled what looked like a tv remote out of his pocket and pushed the largest button on it.
"That supposed to scare…us," Xander started to shoot back with a scared and sarcastic tone to his voice before a large number of Wolfram and Hart guards walked into the club, their weapons pointed directly at Angel and Buffy and Spike along with everyone else. Outside the guards surrounded the club five lines deep and looked prepared to repel anyone or anything that tried to get past them.
"Good call Lindsey, you've thought this through down to the last letter," Angel started to say with a humble and almost scared look on his face as he briefly bowed his head before Spike jumped in.
"Except you missed the most important little piece of the plan, we haven't played our ace in the hole yet," Spike interjected with a sly grin on his face as Buffy looked on with a confused look on her face as she tried to read from Spike's words and body language what was going to happen next. But it scared her a bit that she couldn't read anything at all from him, Angel either.
"What's that supposed to mean, some inherently heroic last desperate act," Lilah objected with a haughty smile on her face as she was clearly thinking that she and Lindsey had all of the power in their hands and Angel had none.
"Two words Lilah, The Initiative, well maybe more precisely Riley Finn, a former boyfriend of Buffy's that when he's not being a complete idiot he can actually be helpful," Angel countered with an eerily calm and confidant steadily growing smile on his face as he picked his head up and slid his hands into the pockets of his coat.
"Since when," Spike mumbled softly under his breath with a slightly cheesy half smirk on his face as he tore his gaze away from Dru and turned it to Angel.
"We have this entire club surrounded Angel, what help could The Initiative possibly be to you, they hate anything that's not human," Lindsey shot back with a mocking grin on his face as he slid the small remote like device back into his pocket.
"That they do, but as that dogma extends to Spike and I…it extends to the three of you as well, and I'd expect quite a few of your guards, and what do you think would happen if one of your guards were to kill one of their soldiers, they probably wouldn't take it too well," Angel added with a very calm expression on his face as he stepped forward and slightly away from Buffy and Spike before he pulled what looked like a Pez dispenser out of his pocket.
"In fact, they'd probably want a little revenge," Spike added with a sly grin on his face as he looked first to Angel and then over to Lindsey as Buffy looked on with a confused and nervous look on her face.
"This doesn't mean," Lilah started to say with a confidant smirk on her face, even though both Angel and Spike could smell her fear.
"It means exactly this," Angel said with a very determined but yet very calm expression on his face as he politely pushed the button on the top of the small device, mere moments before the entire building rocked violently as several large and small explosions ripped through the city.
"What was that," Morgan exclaimed with a great amount of fear in her voice as the force of the explosions sent her reeling into Connor, luckily he had expected something and had set his feet beforehand.
"The first part of my plan Morgan, the second phase should be beginning shortly," Angel replied with a slowly growing amount of confidence smile on his face as he turned back to her and Connor.
"It won't work Angel, no plan of yours could possibly have any chance of," Lindsey started to counter with an angry scowl on his face before one of the guards walked up and whispered something into his ear. Buffy couldn't hear exactly what the guard was saying but she could tell by the changing look on Lindsey's face that he didn't like what he was hearing.
"Something amiss Lindsey," Spike asked with an almost sing song quality to his voice, as it was clear to everyone that William The Bloody was enjoying the former lawyers distress.
"My boy's have done a bad thing…yes, a bad thing, they must be punished, right Ms. Edith," Dru added softly, seemingly off in her own little world, before she hugged the doll close to her chest and see to whisper something extra to it.
"No…nothing's wrong, everything is completely under control," Lindsey answered with an angry and proud glare in his eyes as he straightened up and ignored the concerned looks that Lilah was sending him.
"Then why do I hear gunshots in the background, they don't sound like Wolfram and Hart weapons, at least none that I'm aware of," Angel shot back with an amused smirk on his face before he covertly checked his watch and tried not to scowl at how few of minutes had passed since they had first entered the club.
"This won't work Angel, this little bluff that you're trying to pull of now," Lilah said with a nervous look on her face even though she tried her best to appear completely confidant.
"Who's bluffing," Angel asked with a daring grin on his face before he slipped his game face on and tore into the front line of Wolfram and Hart guards before they could even get their guns up. Spike followed his example and struck those guards that had only begun to react to Angel's sudden charge. Buffy didn't need to be told to fight as she joined the fray, trying to minimize the number of injuries as best she could, on both sides. Xander and Andrew ducked for cover underneath the closest set of stairs while Connor pushed Morgan behind a set of stacked speakers before he followed his father into the fight.
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Willow very nearly lit her own thumb on fire when the first shots rang out. She had just begun to light the one hundred and one candles that were required for the spell when the first shot rang out. Michelle nearly dove to the floor in fear while Groo tensed up and spun back around to make sure that Willow and Michelle hadn't been hit. Willow waved him off and went back to lighting the candles, but not before checking to make sure that Michelle was okay and that they hadn't been noticed yet. When the candles were all finally lit she allowed herself a moment to relax. Taking a deep breath in and out Willow set the lighting candle down and turned back to the book with the spell in it. She opened up the book and set her finger onto the first line of the spell and started to utter the first few words, giving one last fleeting look across the dance floor, seeing Katy jump towards one of the support poles that held up the second story railing, followed closely behind by the Wolfram and Hart guards.
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"Here's hoping," Katy hope and prayed to herself as she leapt towards a support beam for the second story railing just as soon as the insane idea crept into her head, seeing as how it was the only thing other than fear existing in her mind at that moment. She landed next to the pole and dodged the first swing of an axe by one of the guards before she kicked him as hard as she could where she knew that she would do the most damage. Trying to laugh as he howled in pain and went down Katy missed the next punch, one that caught her across the jaw and sent her stumbling. She would have fallen to her feet, and most likely her quick death, had she not latched onto the pole and kept herself on her feet. Hugging the pole tightly she crouched down and picked her sword back up before she put her hastily thrown together plan into action. Using the slim opportunity given to her by a shudder of the club due to an aftershock of one of the explosions she stayed crouched down until she had built up enough power in her legs. As the guards began to adjust to the aftershock Katy took her chance and leapt up as high as she could, holding her sword in one hand while at the apex of her jump she wrapped her legs tightly around the pole and leaned backwards, arching her back until she was staring at the nearest guards completely upside down.
"Stupid bitch, come down…," The nearest guard started to growl with an angry sneer on his face before Katy clenched her leg muscles tightly and held on as she swung the sword as hard as she could, lopping the guards head off before he could finish the sentence.
"Hope he wasn't human," Katy screamed silently to herself in her head as the thought of killing another human being nearly froze her as she watched the body fall limply to the floor and the shock of what had happened register in the other guards. The loss of one of their own did not take long to affect the other guards as they, on mass rushed Katy. Going more on instinct than any training or actual plan she held as tightly as she could to the pole with her legs and swung at the guards with her sword as they came near and then sat up out of the way of their retaliatory attacks, glad that she had done so many crunches and sit ups before finding out that she was a slayer. After she had killed four more of the guards in this manner she noticed that the guard had gotten wise to her strategy and had somehow come into possession of wicked looking spears. Taking in a sharp and scared breath Katy released her grip on the pole just enough to slide down it almost until she hit the ground, barley missing the first strike with the spears. Just before she let go of the pole and crashed to the ground she swung her sword out one more time and severed the nearest guards feet. Her luck ran out shortly after as one of the guards got a lucky shot in with his spear as he ducked in low and jabbed in into her left leg, just barely outside of her tan line from wearing a g-string to the beach. Katy did her best to not scream like a child but she couldn't help it. Unfortunately for her the scream attracted more guards. The first one up was about to skewer her with his spear when a large hole was blasted clear through his chest. Katy started to stare on in amazement through the tears before she saw Faith kick that guard away and block the strike of one spear with her left arm before she pulled one of Wesley's sawn off shotguns out from behind her back and unloaded it into the stomach of the guard nearest to Katy.
"Katy fall back," Wesley shouted out as he cocked his shotgun for another blast as the guards split up and turned away from Katy, and against Wesley and Faith as the latter jabbed the butt end of the shotgun up into the crotch of the next guard before she flipped it around and jammed the barrel into his mouth and then pulled the trigger, spewing blood and brain matter everywhere, some of running down Katy's stomach and mixing with her bloody, nearly causing her to vomit as she clutched her wounded leg and hobbled away as best she could using only one arm.
"Great plan Wes, now what," Faith shouted out back over her shoulder with a very serious expression on her face as she recovered from killing the one guard just in time to barely be able to block the spear thrust of the next one.
"Don't die," Wesley shouted back with a very determined look on his face as he unloaded his shotgun into the chest of another guard and then used the gun as a club to knock away the next guard.
END OF CHAPTER 32