Disclaimer: I don't own Angel
Hey, sorry I just re-uploaded this chapter because I misspelled Xander, and I'm a perfectionist
Chapter 2: Potentials
A few hours later, Spike took a much needed walk down to the warehouse district in Los Angeles. A few hours after waking up he had received an urgent call from Angel, asking Spike to meet him here. Normally Spike would have made some snide remark, and refused to show up, but Angel said it had to do with Buffy.
"You look awful," Fred commented, as she met Spike at the door of an old warehouse. "You look sick. Can Vampires get sick? Maybe you just need rest. Do Vampires have to sleep?"
"I'm fine," Spike replied coldly, though he was anything but. He hadn't had more than half an hour of consecutive sleep because of the dreams. He felt like crap. "Why'd Angel call us here anyway?" He asked, hoping to change the subject.
"I don't know," Fred admitted. "I think it has something to do with the call he got from Giles the other day."
"Well, I guess we'll find out then. Won't we?" Spike stated, opening the door for Fred.
The inside of the warehouse looked far different from the outside. Outside it was run-down, and dilapidated. Graffiti covered the walls, and it looked like the building might have been set on fire at some point in time. Inside, however, it was clean and state-of-the-art. There were hundreds of girls in their teens training on many different kinds of equipment. There were punching bags, free weights, weight machines, and stationary bicycles. It was every exercise buff's dream.
"The potentials," Spike explained to Fred. "There are a lot more of them this time."
"So what's going on?" Fred asked Wesley, as her and Spike joined him next to Giles. Angel, and Gunn walked up soon after. "Why are we here and what are they doing?"
"Now's not the place to explain. Buffy and Faith are upstairs. We'll explain in a minute. Follow me." Giles led the group up a staircase and through a door into another training room. This one was a little different than the one downstairs. The only thing in the room was a large, blue mat on the floor.
Inside, Faith, Buffy, Xander, Dawn, and Willow stood around the mat watching two combatants duke it out. Buffy motioned for the new arrivals to join them around the mat. Angel stood to the left of Buffy, and Spike stood on the right, both glowering at each other over her head.
Ignoring the testosterone battle, everyone else focused their attention on the combatants in the room. One of the fighters, the one who seemed to be losing, was a male about nineteen years old. He had long hair that flopped around his face as he fought with his opponent, a girl about the same age. The girl was quite a bit shorter than the male, maybe four or five inches. Both fighters were in good shape, lean and muscular, so the fight was entertaining to watch.
The two sparred for another couple of minutes, alternating punches, kicks, and other evasive maneuvers. Finally, after about five minutes, the girl directed a front kick, directly at the boy's chest. The male fighter, caught off guard, stumbled backwards against Angel, knocking him to the ground.
"Angel?" the boy asked, suddenly getting a good look at the people watching the fight.
"Connor?" Angel said shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"Sweetheart, are you ok?" the other fighter interrupted, running over to her opponent. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to kick you that hard. Sometimes I just forget that you're not Stephen."
"It's ok Eliza. I'm fine."
"Vampire?" Eliza, the other fighter said, suddenly getting a good look at Angel's face. "Angelus…William." Suddenly Eliza pivoted to face Spike, who had been standing behind her. In one fluid movement, she aimed a round-house kick at Spike's head, catching him off guard, and sending him to the floor. Next she broke the leg off of a nearby wooden chair, and advanced on her prey.
"How dare you come back here? How dare you? You took my life, my future!" Eliza continued to scream at Spike as she pummeled him with her fists, the stake lay forgotten by her side.
"Eliza! No," Buffy chided, pulling her off the Vampire. She passed Eliza off to Connor, allowing him to hold her back. "Spike, are you alright?" she asked concerned.
"Are you insane? He's a vampire!" Eliza yelled, struggling for freedom.
"He has a soul," Buffy explained, helping Spike to stand on his feet. "Follow me; I'll explain why I brought you here." Buffy ordered to the Angel gang and they followed. Behind them, Eliza remained struggling against Conner's grasp.