Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Katy, Michelle, and Morgan.
CHAPTER 46-OF DISTRACTIONS AND DECISIONS
"Well this ought to be fun eh Peaches," Spike said with an excited smile on his face just before the first wave of Wolfram and Hart soldiers reached them.
"Shut up Spike," Buffy snapped with a sarcastic scowl on her face before she stepped up in between the two master vampires.
"Come on Wes, we can't let them have all the fun," Faith snickered with a sly grin on her face as she and Wesley helped each other back up to their feet before he gained some leverage by leaping up onto a pile of palates and keeping the swarm of soldiers going after Angel, Spike, and Buffy from becoming to large. Faith used his rain of bullets as cover as she crouched down a bit and sped across the road, slitting the throat of the first soldier to cross her path. Wesley's aim was straight and true as he kept one eye on Faith and kept the other on Lindsey and the guards that surged out towards his friends. Faith used his bullets as a direction finder to tell her which direction to go in. At times she almost broke away from it and started to rush to Angel's side but then the line of bullets had let away and she had followed, wholly trusting that Wesley knew what he was doing.
"Come on Lindsey, you can do better than this," Angel exclaimed with a frustrated and anxious tone to his voice as he kicked away one soldier and then turned to help Nina up after he had inadvertently knocked her down.
"You're right Angel I can, just thought that you might want a little warm up before the real fun begins," Lindsey said back with a proud and confidant smirk on his face before he turned and waved on the hybrids.
"Not these trollops again," Spike groaned with an unhappy and slightly nervous tone to his voice as Buffy hesitated a moment and turned back to question him. She only got a brief look at the expression on his face and the look in his eyes, but from that she was able to garner the fact that the hybrids were trouble, even to the likes of Spike and Angel.
"Trouble," Wesley said in a subtle whisper as Faith leapt backwards and landed at his feet, still in a crouched position.
"You could say that…to paraphrase, shit…meet fan," Faith said back with a sly grin on her face and a slight shrugging of her shoulders as Wesley furiously began to reload before the onslaught overtook them.
"Hey friend, got a light," Gwen stated with a pompous tone to her voice as she casually approached one of the Wolfram and Hart soldiers while pulling a cigarette out of her pocket.
"Who are…stay where you are, don't come any closer," One of the soldiers exclaimed with a very firm tone to his voice as he spun his gun around and aimed the laser sights in the middle of Gwen's forehead.
"Not even if I do this," Gwen asked with a sultry and suggestive tone to her voice as she slowly stepped forward and began to carefully pull down the zipper on her jacket revealing her barely there top.
"Well…I said stay where you," The guard started to reply with a nervous hitch in his voice before Gwen got close enough to take him by surprise with a knee to the stomach and then an elbow to the back of the head.
"She has all the subtlety of a freight train," Connor grumbled with an anxious and annoyed scowl on his face as he shook his head and stepped out of the pub.
"And the sense of a dodo," Morgan grumbled with an unhappy and scared pout on her face as she followed Connor out of the pub, flanked closely by Groo who looked unsure of exactly what any of them were doing.
"I am not familiar with that creature, is it dangerous," Groo asked with a confused and interested look on his face as he and the others got closer to Gwen.
"No it, ah never mind," Morgan exclaimed with an almost annoyed scowl on her face and roll of her eyes before she was interrupted by other Wolfram and Hart soldiers as they saw what Gwen had done to the one soldier.
"Stay where you are," One of the onrushing soldiers shouted with a very firm tone to his voice as Connor stepped forward.
"You know, I've never really been good at following orders, and if I wouldn't listen to my father then you guys are just out of luck," Connor said with a very calm yet determined look on his face as he cocked his head to one side while stepping in front of Gwen and Morgan.
"Get on the ground now," Another of the soldiers shouted loudly as a group of the soldiers began to circle around to either side of the small group.
"Not in this lifetime," Gwen stated with a very matter of fact tone to her voice as she casually zipped her coat back up and then took the initiative and launched herself into the fight by kicking the gun out of one of the soldiers hands before following that up by kicking him in the chest.
"This is so not the way that I wanted this to go," Morgan grumbled angrily under her breath before she threw caution to the wind and tackled the nearest soldier to the ground.
"Shh, quiet," Katy hissed harshly under her breath back to Willow and Paul as the odd quartet edged closer to a corner where at the end of the hallway there stood two armed guards.
"We're being as quiet as we can be Katy," Paul shot back under his breath with a nervous and slightly unhappy frown on his face as he stopped Jamie's wheelchair as silently as he could.
"Well be quieter, if they hear us then we're sunk," Katy shot back in a harsh whisper with a very nervous and scared look on her face as a few splotches of sweat were beginning to show on her scrubs.
"We're aware of that, but we have to get past them, Xander and Giles and the rest of the girls are close, I can feel it," Willow added under her breath in a soft whisper as she slid down the wall and took a seat beside a window.
"Don't worry guys, I'll think of something," Katy said with an optimistic smile on her face, that hid the overwhelming sense of fear that she was feeling, as she squatted down next to Willow.
"What did you have in mind," Paul whispered back with an interested look on his face as he knelt down beside Katy, bumping her shoulder slightly with his own.
"Well there are a couple of gurney's back there, maybe if we push them in front of us straight into those guards then we can take them out before they know what happened," Katy answered with a hopeful look on her face as she leaned on Paul a little.
"We are not going to kill them," Willow stated with a very unwavering look on her face as she immediately collected herself and stared up at Katy, making absolutely sure that the young slayer fully understood her.
"Of course not, we'll knock them out and lock them in a closet, dusting a vamp is one thing, they're evil…but a human being is different, even if they do work for an evil law firm that wanted to cut us open and use us for spare parts," Katy said back with a honest look on her face as she fully turned to Willow and slowly nodded her head.
"Good, so what are Jamie and I supposed to do, I could cast a spell or something to confuse them, it won't knock them out but it may just give you and Paul the element of surprise," Willow offered with a helpful look on her face as he got her second wind and stood back up.
"Good idea, we're going to need all of the help that we can get," Katy said with a scared stiff smile on her face as she grinned over at Paul before dragging him back down the hallway towards the two gurneys.
'This will either end well or with us all dying horrible and painful deaths, bet you're glad that you're unconscious huh Jamie," Willow said softly with a sarcastic smirk on her face as she turned around and checked on Jamie.
"N…not really, not really out…just resting," Jamie mumbled out weakly with an almost ghost like look on her face as she slid her eyes open just a bit and then smiled down at Willow.
"Jamie," Willow started to shriek with an overjoyed smile on her face before she remembered where they were and what they were doing and cut herself off.
"Okay Willow, let's do this," Paul loudly whispered back with a very nervous look on his face as he and Katy got the gurney's back to the corner. Willow started to tell them that Jamie had woken up knew that it could wait and so began to cast the spell.
The initial fight over and the hybrids all around them even Angel was forced to admit that things were beginning to go south. Unlike the common soldiers that Lindsey had sent after them the hybrids seemed to never tire. The only way to take them out was to decapitate them or snap their necks, both of which were easier said than done. Spike, Angel, and Faith had a better time in fighting them as they had tussled previously. Buffy was almost immediately pushed back onto her heels and soon could only fight a defensive battle, never really getting the chance to take the advantage. Wesley had quickly gotten split up from Faith and had been forced back into one of the many abandoned buildings in the hopes of trying to find some way to stem the tide of the battle and not be fighting defensively the entire time. Faith had a slightly better time than the others because for the most part she didn't have anyone to worry about protecting, knowing full well that Wesley could take care of himself. But after several minutes of fierce combat she had looked up and noticed that Wesley was nowhere to be seen. A true moment of panic jolted through her body and her heart skipped a beat. The thought of what if he was dead started to pass through her mind but she quelled it with the fear that she didn't know what she'd do if it were true so that it couldn't be and Wesley was still alive fighting somewhere, she just couldn't see him at the moment. Her answer came shortly after when she heard several gunshots and the pained growls of the hybrids.
"This isn't working," Faith exclaimed with a furious scowl on her face as she hated the fact that they could lose this fight when they were so close to winning only moments before.
"Whatever gave you that idea," Spike shot back with a smug and proud smirk on his face while he leapt up onto the back of one of the hybrids and put it in a headlock, hoping to snap its neck.
"Stop talking and start fighting," Angel growled over the din of the fight as he had his full game face on and was tearing into the hybrids the best that he could.
"Why not just give up now Angel, these hybrids are the best of the best, you can't defeat them, no one can," Lindsey started to shout with an arrogant tone to his voice as he walked back to stand beside Drusilla and Lilah.
"Wanna bet," A musical voice said suddenly from behind them, prompting the three to turn around sharply and be surprised at the sight of Whistler casually standing there looking dressed for a parade.
"Who the hell are you," Lilah growled with a very unhappy and slightly nervous sneer on her face as she looked almost ready to attack.
"You can call me Whistler, sure I'm not much to look at but I'm no wimp…okay actually I am but that's not the point, just admit that you've lost this fight and never bother Angel or any of his friends ever again and I'll go easy on you," Whistler said with at first a very confidant look of power on his face before he couldn't help but smile and admit the truth.
"You must be crazy, we're going to win this fight," Lilah snapped back with an unimpressed sneer on her face as she started to take a step forwards towards Whistler to perhaps wring his neck if he didn't shut up.
"Sorry folks but you've already lost, you just don't know it yet," Whistler chimed back with a highly amused grin on his face as he calmly walked forward, past Lindsey, Lilah, and Drusilla and over to the base of one of the other towers of lights.
"What I know is that in about two seconds you're going to be," Lindsey started to say with a very angry scowl on his face as he walked towards Whistler and was just about to strangle him when Whistler pulled a normal looking file out from behind his back.
"You're serving us papers," Lilah exclaimed with a look of complete and total disbelief on her face as she stepped in front of Drusilla and angrily snatched the file out of Whistler's hands.
"In a manner of speaking, you see boys and girls what you have there is concrete and vital information about what Wolfram and Hart really does on a day to day level, it has information about all of your rich and influential clients, not to mention some tasty little tidbits about the senior partners, doubt that they'd want that to get out," Whistler said with a calm but confidant look on his face as he slid his hands into his pockets and stayed where he was.
"What's this other stuff," Lindsey asked with a nervous and unhappy frown on his face as he pulled out part of the file.
"Not much, just equally damaging data on our friends The Initiative, you see now that Angel and Spike killed their favorite married couple they won't stop until they're both being picked up with a vacuum, and see we just can't have that happen now can we, they both still have so much to set into motion," Whistler replied with a proud smile on his face as he calmly rocked back and forth on his heels.
"You can't be serious," Lilah declared with more than a fair amount of venom in her voice as she glared a hole right through Whistler.
"I'm afraid so…now beautiful our terms aren't that extravagant, the simple gist of them being that you leave Angel and all of his friends alone until they're all dead, and no trying to speed that up, they'll die when it's their appropriate hour trust me, you should see how Spike goes out, it's really spectacular," Whistler answered with a relaxed tone to his voice as he started to walk back past Lilah and Lindsey.
"Why are you doing this, why are you giving us all of this information, why should we even," Lindsey demanded with a slightly haughty laugh as he handed all of the material in the file back to Lilah and turned to face Whistler.
"Maybe because that's not all of the information, that what you have there is just a copy of the dirt that Angel and his friends have on you and The Initiative, just a heads up from me to you," Whistler replied with a soft smile on his face as he casually brushed a bit of soot off of his jacket.
"Wolfram and Hart is an inter-dimensional conglomerate, what makes you think that any of this has any bearing on," Lilah started to grumble with a well-hidden tone of fear to her voice as she stormed up to Whistler and forcefully poked him in the chest before a low and clear voice interrupted her.
"We have a deal puny demon," The voice said as Lilah and Lindsey turned to see a heavily robed figure seemingly materialize out of the darkness and step towards them.
"What…a senior partner," Lindsey said with at first a look of surprise on his face before it changed to one of awe and curiosity.
"A senior partner…hah, don't make me laugh, this is just their emissary, you actually thought that a true member of the senior partners would sully themselves for this," Whistler replied with a hint of mockery in his voice as he smiled and then patted Lindsey on the shoulder.
"Ms. Edith does not like this turn of events, she can't see the stars anymore," Drusilla deadpanned with such a look on her face that seemed to suggest that she had heard absolutely nothing of what had just been said.
"So what now," Lilah said with a stunned look of disbelief on her face as she pushed Whistler away from Lindsey before approaching the robed figure.
"Now the two of you pull back our assets currently being deployed here in London and transfer them to other endeavors, yourselves as well," The heavily robed figure replied without the slightest hint of emotion in its voice before it started to turn away and head back towards the darkness.
"No, this can't be how it ends, I won't allow it, I will have my revenge," Lindsey growled defiantly as he picked up a dropped sword and started to storm towards where Angel and the others were still fighting the hybrids before the heavily robed figure spoke up.
"Not on this night, you will have your revenge…after all, isn't that what loopholes are for, you're a lawyer aren't you…figure it out," The heavily robed figure said softly before it finally turned and walked back into the darkness, snapping its fingers just before fully disappearing. Suddenly and without a sound all of the hybrids and everything related to Wolfram and Hart, save Lilah, Lindsey, and Drusilla, disappeared.
"Just our luck, we get through two guards and what do we find, two more around the next corner," Katy exclaimed harshly under her breath after having taken a peek around the next corner and seeing two more guards.
"I don't think that we can do the whole gurney thing again, we got lucky back there," Paul replied with a nervous and scared look on his face as he checked the locks on one of the doors.
"Maybe we won't have to, I feel a shift in the cosmic aura, something has happened," Willow interjected with a curious but calm tone to her voice as she walked out into the middle of the hallway and looked around.
"A good something…or a bad something," Katy asked with a fearful smile on her face as she stayed tight up against the wall.
"I'd have to say a good thing, the dark cloud that has been hanging over us for days seems to have disappeared," Willow replied with a slightly more relaxed expression on her face as she took in and then let out a deep breath.
"Okay but what about…hey where'd they go," Paul started to ask with an anxious and confused look on his face as he started to peek around the corner but turned back when he didn't see the guards.
"Back to base, the battle's over people we won, time to celebrate," Whistler stated with a very happy smile on his face as he gave Willow a big hug and then marched off down the corridor, merrily singing out loud and off key.
END OF CHAPTER 46
Author's Note: This is not the end of the story; there'll be at least one more chapter if not two. Then comes the partial sequel named Nyet. Still wanting to know if I should make Jamie and Willow a couple and what I should do with Kennedy, Rhett, and Scarlet. Reviews are welcome.