Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.
CHAPTER 43-BAD ONLY GETS WORSE
"Come on guys, you can do better than that," Angel said with a very clearly mocking tone to his voice as he easily vaulted over an eight foot tall fence while The Initiative soldiers chasing after him struggling to climb up and over it.
"Vampire scum," One of the guards shouted angrily as he waited to get his chance to start to climb the fence while others were just about over the top.
"You guys really need to come up with some better insults, I've heard better from small children," Angel taunted with a smug grin on his face as he casually leaned up against a back door of a restaurant while spinning his sword around with its point setting on top of one of his shoes. The last bit was too much for one of the soldiers as he growled in anger, raised his gun, and then fired off a few shots. Expecting a reaction like that Angel simply spun around the corner and let the bullets harmlessly slam into the brick wall. "Is there something you'd like to talk about friend, you know they make drugs to help with that now," Angel added with a daring grin on his face as he peeked back around the corner and kept and inward count of how many soldiers could be on his side of the fence before he needed to continue the chase. He counted seven soldiers before he made sure that they saw where he went and raced off into the darkness.
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Wesley kept his gun trained down on the front of the building. Lilah and Lindsey had long since gone back into the building, dragging a spaced out looking Drusilla with them, but still no Faith. He had unintentionally stopped firing as he watched her work, admiring each and every move that she made. However when the brief fight had ended she had slipped back into one of the alleys and disappeared and he hoped and prayed that she was all right and that he wouldn't have to go down and search for her. He was just about to get up and go and look for her when she surprised him.
"You ruined my coat," Faith grumbled with at first an angry scowl on her face as Wesley spun around to face her as she was fingering the tear in her coat.
"Sorry…I was aiming for Lilah but," Wesley started to say with a guilty and nervous look on his face as Faith slowly approached him before she looked about ready to say something spiteful in response but changed her mind and instead let out a nervous sigh and laid her head up against his chest. At first Wesley staid still, not completely sure about what Faith was doing. But taking a chance he slowly wrapped his arms around her and held her close, not lightening up until he heard her breathing calm down and some of the tension leave her body.
"Thanks," Faith mumbled softly into Wesley's chest as she allowed herself to just barely reach her arms around Wesley's back and give him a soft hug back before she pulled away far enough to look straight up at him.
"You're not hurt are you," Wesley said with a worried look in his gaze as he slid his left hand up to Faith's shoulder before she shrugged his worry aside.
"Nothing that won't heal by morning, provided that we live that long, get any of them, I was so busy down there that I didn't notice," Faith replied with an equally worried look on her face as she reached up and brushed the back of her right hand against Wesley's cheek, liking the scruffy look on her former watcher.
"Got Lilah pretty well, she should be pretty angry with me right about now," Wesley replied with a sly grin on his face as he repeated the gesture to Faith, though liking instead the smoothness of her skin.
"We should probably get to another rooftop before they're here in mass numbers," Faith said with a reluctant tone to her voice as it as clear that she could easily think of things that she'd rather be doing but knew that this was important enough to push those thoughts to the side until the night was over.
"Right, falling back would be a wise course of action right now," Wesley replied with a serious look on his face before he took Faith's hand and the two ran off of the roof, down the stairs, and then disappeared into the night, mere moments before Wolfram and Hart security officers stormed the immediate area.
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The explosions could be seen for miles. The vampires had hidden themselves well and at first were not that inclined to come out into the open. Though after seeing only Spike and Buffy in front of them their initial fear gave way to anger and so they charged out in droves, forcing Spike and Buffy to change their plans of keeping ahead of them and instead of just running through the streets Spike was forced to hotwire a van.
"Do you know where you're going," Buffy shouted in alarm as Spike took a corner very hard and almost sent her crashing across the front seats into him. Only her slayer strength kept her in her seat.
"What do you think," Spike shouted back with a very serious and concerned look on his face as he slowed the van down just long enough to check in the rearview mirror and see that the hordes of vampires were spilling out into the streets behind them.
"I think you're crazy, but then again when did you ever listen to me," Buffy shot back with a sarcastic grin on her face before Spike took another corner hard and she got caught by surprise and flew across the vehicle and slammed into Spike, just as an explosion blew a hole straight up through the street from the sewer below and dropped the van that they were riding in down into the underground, right into one of the subway tunnels. When the dust cleared Buffy found herself lying directly on top of Spike, who in the commotion had fallen first and now lay on his stomach against the ceiling.
"Buffy," Spike spat out through the remaining cloud of dust as he tried to look over his shoulder and see if she was okay.
"I'm okay…you," Buffy replied softly with a pained look on her face as she sat up and off of Spike before she looked around and tried to figure out where they were.
"Just peachy, what the hell happened, where are we," Spike answered at first a bit of sarcasm in his voice as he pushed himself up to his hands and knees and looked out through the smashed windshield.
"Down in the subway system I think," Buffy started to reply with an unsure look on her face before a blinding light appeared some distance away.
"Bloody hell," Spike said with a deadly serious tone to his voice before he spun around and kicked out one of the doors.
"You've got to be kidding me," Buffy started to say with a scared tone to her voice before Spike grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the van and then up the pile of rubble back up to the street level, just as they started to hear a loud screeching noise that could have only been the subway train noticing that there was an obstruction in the way and slammed on the brakes.
"Move," Spike shouted at the top of his lungs as he and Buffy tore across the street and dove into a nearby alley, mere seconds before the first subway car slammed into the van and began to push it down the track.
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"Are you sure that this is going to work," Connor asked with a confused look on his face as he looked through pub window at the group of clearly drunk men that were all sitting at a table against the far wall.
"Of course, you go in there and tell them that a few guys from one of the other pubs were making fun of them while I go into that pub over there and tell some more drunks the same thing, if all goes well then it'll turn into a big fight and the pubs will empty and the police will come and it'll take awhile for them to restore peace, hopefully long enough for your dad's plan to work," Morgan said back with a proud and confident look on her face as she leaned up against a light pole.
"And you're okay with just walking into a pub full of patrons, some of the them completely plastered, and then hoping that they look past the fact that you're a beautiful young woman and you're all alone," Connor wondered aloud with a very concerned look on his face as he laid a hand on her arm and made her look him in the eye.
"Sure…I mean, what could possibly happen, I'm a slayer right, if anyone starts anything I'll just lay the smackdown on them and then leave, no problem," Morgan said with a forced look of confidence on her face as she began to realize that she hadn't thought through her plan as well as she had thought.
"Every time you say no problem I get a bad feeling," Connor said with a serious and concerned look in his eyes, as he looked first at Morgan and then over the pub that she was going to walk into.
"Everything will be fine, that is unless Gwen has a little to much and gets out of control, I don't think that the police will look to kindly on us if she starts to electrocute anyone that tries to touch her," Morgan said with at first a kind of sarcastic smile on her face before the smile disappeared and was replaced by a look of worry and unease.
"Then perhaps we should tell them the plan before we do anything, that way she and Groo will be ready to…oh damn," Connor started to offer up as an idea before he glanced over Morgan's shoulder and saw a line of familiar Wolfram and Hart jeeps pull onto the square and then a few of them parked on the grass letting several armed soldiers leap out and start to take up positions while still more jeeps passed on by.
"What the hell are they doing here," Morgan exclaimed with a very startled and surprised look on her face as she spun around to look where Connor was looking before she leapt away from the light pole and slid behind Connor.
"I'm not sure, they could be moving out earlier than we had hoped, that or maybe they're not taking any chances and setting up a wider perimeter than we expected, I don't think that they're here for us or even know that we're here," Connor answered with a very serious tone of voice as one of his hands wrapped around behind him to find Morgan's while the other glided softly over the handle of the knife that he had sheathed at his waist.
"We should tell Gwen and Groo," Morgan said with a scared look on her face as she and Connor slowly crossed the street and edged towards the pub that Groo and Gwen had disappeared into.
"You're right, though now we have to come up with a new plan, if we cause a bar brawl here Wolfram and Hart would probably either send their grunts in to keep the peace or just let them fight, the only problem with that is when the police show up to break up the fight and see what looks like an army unit in their backyard things could get very ugly for everyone," Connor replied with a very serious and worried look on his face as they got to the door of the pub and then slipped inside.
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"So what's the prognosis," Lorne asked with a concerned look on his face as he turned to Giles, who was sifting through a large pile of papers on the desk in the library.
"I'm not sure but I think that what Jamie is experiencing is some kind of after effect of having been a host for Illyria, her enhanced strength and other abilities could be permanent changes or fade away over time, I just don't know enough about the ancients to be able to give you a concrete answer," Giles replied with a serious and concerned look on his face as he looked up from reading through one of the folders while Jamie looked on from the corner where she had retreated to after her show of force against Xander. For his part Xander now stood directly behind Giles and kept Willow close by for insurance against a repeat attack. Rhona and Vi had taken the next watch, allowing Katy to try to get some sleep but her nerves had kept her from getting any and so she took the open chair nearest to Giles and did her best to help him figure out what was happening.
"Is she going to be okay, she's not going to change into a demon or anything…right," Isabella asked with a scared look on her face as she took a small step away from Jamie.
"I honestly don't know, although from what I've been able to decipher she shouldn't even be alive after having been a host, the hosts of any of the ancients don't seem to live long after the separation, so I'd say that Jamie's case is unique," Giles replied with a thoughtful look on his face before he did his best to smile at Jamie as she was visibly scared of the idea of turning into a demon.
"In other words you want to drag her back to Rome and make her your little lab rat, running test after test on her, probing and prodding until you know what makes her tick," Katy said with an unhappy scowl on her face as she set her glass down on the coaster on the coffee table and looked squarely at Giles.
"Now wait just a minute," Giles began with a very serious and angry look on his face as he started to get up out of his seat to yell down at Katy but Willow reacted first and laid her hands on his shoulders and stepped in.
"That's not going to happen Katy, I won't let it, Giles is just saying that we don't know enough about any of this to even begin to make a guess at what'll happen to Jamie in the future," Willow interjected with a calming tone to her voice as she also kept a calm look on her face.
"But Will, we don't know what she's capable of, for all we know Illyria could still be in there somewhere, laying low until it's time to strike," Xander said with a nervous and concerned look on his face as he stepped around the edge of the couch and looked straight at Jamie, who couldn't meet his gaze and looked away.
"Illyria is gone Mr. Harris, after you told me what happened I pulled her aside and had her sing for me, she's clean, just Jamie, no Illyria in sight," Lorne interjected with a calm smile on his face as he poured himself a drink and then dropped in a couple of ice cubes.
"And we're just supposed to take your word for it, for all we know you could be," Xander started to argue with a quickly building look of anger on his face before once again Willow stepped in.
"That's enough Xander, Lorne rarely lies and right now he has nothing to gain from lying to us, Illyria is truly gone and we should all be happy about that," Willow snapped at first before calming herself down and speaking softly so as to not lose her temper.
"Though I would like to agree with you Xander I believe what Willow is saying is true, Jamie is now something…someone, very special and…," Giles started to say with a forced look of calm on his face as he continued to sift through a couple of files before Katy jumped in.
"And not going to have her life dictated to her by you or anyone else, if she wants to go back to California with me and return to dancing then you're just going to have to let her," Katy interjected with a very serious and almost threatening look on her face and tone to her voice as she stood up and looked down directly, with an angry glare on her face, first at Giles and then up at Xander.
"Okay everyone, perhaps we should all just step back for a moment and calm down, we don't need to do this here," Lorne said with a concerned and hopefully calming look on his face before he set his glass down on the table beside his chair.
"Stay out of this ya," Xander started to growl with an angry scowl on his face before someone was thrown through, from the outside, the glass doors that made up one wall of the library with such force that shards of glass were sent flying everywhere.
"Ahh," Isabella screamed in shock and alarm as she dove to the ground and covered her head with her arms, tears soon streaming down her face.
"What's going," Xander started to ask with a very nervous tone to his voice as he poked his head up above the back of the couch before several Wolfram and Hart soldiers swarmed into the building, pointing their guns at everyone that they saw.
"Son of a bitch," Katy growled with an angry scowl on her face as she pushed off of the floor and then grabbed one of the soldiers guns and used it to push him back hard into the wall, smiling when she heard a couple of his ribs crack under the pressure. As the soldier began to slide painfully to the floor Katy started to turn to attack the next nearest one when her luck ran out and one of them slammed the butt of his gun into her temple, knocking her out cold.
"Katy," Jamie screamed with a very scared look on her face as she charged into the fray, trying to get to her best friend. She managed to get to Katy's side before Willow leapt into the fray, her eyes blackening over as she stepped around the couch. One of the soldiers saw this and tried to get to her before she could open her mouth. However he only got his gun halfway up before a pillar of fire consumed him.
"Madre de," Isabella started to gasp with a very shocked look on her face before she was hit with a stun gun and knocked out.
"Everyone get out of here," Giles shouted with a very commanding tone to his voice as he took the initiative and lowered his shoulder, ramming into one of the soldiers and driving him back into a few of the others, with them all going down in a huge pile.
"What's going on," Dawn asked with a confused look on her face as she raced into the room before she got her answer in the form of a bullet that slammed into her shoulder and sent her reeling backwards into a table and knocking it and the large potted plant sitting on top of it over and crashing to the ground.
END OF CHAPTER 43