Crawford Street Mansion, 1410 hours.
Angel was slouched forward on a couch as he faced the empty fireplace in the large living room of his former home. He knew that it was past time that Willow's flight landed and that Buffy, Giles, and Xander would have picked her up by now. His hands covering his mouth, and his eyes having a faraway look to them, Angel tuned out the young men and women who were at the table to his left discussing tactics, and thought back to that night – the night things changed for everyone. That was the only thing that he could think about every time he was in Sunnydale, and now with Willow having returned home, Angel wanted to beg for her forgiveness.
However, a part of him; a very large part, knew that it was never forthcoming.
Shaking his head of the thoughts of Willow forgiving him, Angel turned his head towards Lily and Doyle… the latter whose life was almost lost in a trap a few days ago. He had received a vision from the Powers of his own death at the hands of a demon, which led to Angel asking Giles for help in protecting Doyle. The help came in the form of Faith, who, together with his team, defeated the demon and prevented Doyle's death. Once Faith had left Los Angeles, Angel started to recruit more people to his cause – starting with a man named Charles Gunn. He and his crew of vampire and demon hunters operated out of Los Angeles, and it was something that Angel had been tracking for some time. The ensouled vampire introduced himself to Gunn by admitting what he was. After a few minutes of the obligatory fight between two misunderstood individuals, Gunn realised Angel wanted to protect people from the darkness that existed in Los Angeles.
And Gunn became a part of his team, and while a few members of his crew broke off in protest of the vampire hunter working with the deadliest vampire that had ever lived, the majority stayed. On the trip to Sunnydale, Gunn had brought twenty of his crew with him, with the others staying in Los Angeles and working out of Angel Investigations to watch over the city; and help the other former members of Gunn's crew if they needed help. Joining them in the Mansion was Wesley, who would be liaising with Buffy and the other Scoobies due to be breaking into the Initiative later that night.
Angel and his team were tasked with preventing one part of Doyle's vision from coming true; the marching of the vampire army into Sunnydale. It was a few days ago that Doyle had come to Angel with the vision of Borzan still alive in the body of a half human-half demon mechanical monstrosity, something that Angel couldn't believe at first. Angel insisted that Borzan was dead, that there was no way he could be alive especially since his head was long gone.
"Borzan's a high-level demon, Angel," Doyle said when they were still in Los Angeles with Lily and Gunn standing around them, "he's a hellspawn, he probably has ways to live that we're not even aware off."
Before making the call to Giles, his contact in Sunnydale since Buffy still was not talking to him, Doyle told Angel about the vampire army. Angel, Lily, and Gunn listened as Doyle told them about watching vampires killing people indiscriminately throughout the city and that he had seen Borzan break the necks of Buffy and Faith, before going on to kill the others. Once he had heard the whole story, he called Giles to warn him that Borzan was alive… and in the body of a half man-half demon machine. It was then that Angel noticed the silence on the other side of the phone line. What he didn't know was that Giles was stunned as he looked at Buffy, Jenny, Joyce, Faith, Anya, and Xander who were researching into the illegal experiment known as ADAM. Graham and Riley put their careers on the line by bringing the Scoobies information on Project ADAM from the Initiative, but it had nothing on why Doyle believed that Borzan was still alive by inhabiting Adam's body.
Giles then told Angel about Adam, and what they knew. He told the vampire that the Initiative had taken Borzan's body for experimentation and that he too had no idea how Borzan could be still alive. Buffy was about to protest against Giles revealing more information to the one who betrayed Willow, but Giles covered the mouthpiece and quickly told her, and the others, about Doyle's vision; about the vampires coming to the city, and about the upcoming disaster in the Initiative.
"The cells are being filled to over capacity," said Graham leaning forward while Faith was standing next to Buffy, "if Adam, or rather Borzan's, plan is to release them then…"
"Angel said that Doyle saw more human-demon hybrids being created," said Giles, "Borzan wants to release the demons and watch the two groups kill each other."
"What's his endgame?" inquired Jenny.
"Like any other demon," guessed Buffy shaking her head before she sighed, "take over the world. Giles, if Angel wants to help, then that's fine… I just don't want him here... at the house.."
And that's how Angel decided to be based at the Crawford Street mansion, with Wesley being the link to the other Scoobies. It would be later that day, the day he warned Giles about Borzan being alive, that the older Watcher called the Devon Coven and notified Althanea of the news.. and the possible results of Borzan being left unchecked. When Giles called Angel just before leaving for Sunnydale, the Watcher told the ensouled vampire that Willow and Althanea were on their way too… and that since Doyle's vision didn't involve Willow, there was a possibility that the white-haired young woman and her mentor would be key in the coming battle against Borzan and the vampires.
It was something that Angel agreed with; as well as Giles' request that he stay away from Willow… at least for the time being. However, over the phone pressed against his ear, Angel could hear Buffy shouting to stay away from Willow for good.
Back in the present day, Angel got up slowly from the couch and walked towards the group around the table. He knew that he wanted to beg Willow for forgiveness, but he also knew that Giles was right – Willow would never want to see him, much less speak to him. Perhaps for the rest of her life. The truth was that Angel had no idea what to do, but for now, he tried his best to push those thoughts away while he stood next to Lily.
They needed to find out the location of the vampires, and then try and strike first. If they could get the vampires off the board, then the team could help Buffy and the others with Borzan.
But they needed to find them, and then dust them all; and from what Angel could see on the map, there were thirty possible places to hide an invading force of Vampires marked out on the map.
"Let's go check these out," said Angel.
The Summers Home, 1500 hours.
Buffy was the first through the door, and was met at the foyer by Joyce and Jenny, who told the blonde Slayer that Faith was with Graham and Riley in the basement, along with Anya; they were cataloguing their weapons supplies. Buffy nodded her head before running off down the hallway, she wanted to call for Faith and the others as Giles walked in with Xander behind him. He was soon followed by both Althanea and Willow, who gave a genuine smile towards Jenny and Joyce before hugging them.
"Welcome home, Willow," whispered Joyce into the young woman's ear as she held on tight. Willow nodded her head on the older blonde's shoulder before looking up the stairs at Tara who was walking down the stairs slowly, with a smile on her face.
"Hi, Willow," said the young witch as she reached the bottom step. Willow returned a small smile before pulling away from Joyce just as Buffy returned with a few people behind her. Willow recognised one of them; she remembered the dark-haired young woman being there during Borzan's initial attack at the hospital, but the young woman's name escaped her.
But not for long, however. Buffy introduced Faith as the newest Slayer to be called after Kendra's death; leading the dark haired Slayer to nod at Willow. Buffy then introduced Graham and Riley, followed by Anya. Willow noticed Xander placing his arms around Anya's shoulder before the woman nodded her head while saying that she and Xander were together and that she couldn't have him. Willow couldn't help but release a chuckle as Buffy rolled her eyes, while Xander gave Willow a small smile. It was then that Jenny closed the door behind them while Giles and Xander, who let go of Anya, took Willow's bags up to the guest room as ordered by Joyce.
Taking a deep breath, there was one thing that Willow hadn't thought about the entire time she and Althanea were on their trip; the question of where she was going to stay. She was in her happy place nearly the entire time during the flight to the States, except when she was flying over Sunnydale and hadn't even thought about her living arrangements.
'Or do I want to stay here?' thought Willow to herself while Riley was telling Buffy that Wesley called, that they and Angel's team were going to check out hiding places for the hundreds of vampires.
"Wesley?" asked Willow confused while looking around. She tried to search for this Wesley, but all she saw were the people she had just met. It was then that Tara said that Wesley was their contact with Angel's group and that he was with the ensouled vampire. Nodding her head, Willow then asked what their plan was to take care of Borzan.
"Perhaps you and Althanea should take a rest for an hour, or…"
"Borzan's pure evil, Giles," said Willow as she looked at the Watcher, while Althanea looked at the ground, and then at Willow whilst recalling whatever details Willow gave her about Borzan during their sessions in Devon. Althanea knew there was more to Willow's knowledge about Borzan. As she stood next to Willow, Althanea recalled Buffy telling her that during the attack at the hospital, Borzan mentioned that Willow was his 'it'. Althanea could only guess at the meaning of the word 'it' given the state that Willow was in when she arrived on Earth, but the former redhead barely talked about Borzan. Althanea could see rage and anguish mixed together when Borzan's name was mention at the Devon Coven. So Althanea didn't push Willow, she wanted the white haired young woman to reveal everything at her own time. She listened to Willow telling them the same things that she had told her; Borzan was powerful, evil, destructive, manipulative – and it was on that word, 'manipulative', that Althanea and Tara glanced at each other… the both of them able to see the anguish in Willow's aura. Willow told them that she didn't want to rest, she wanted to kill Borzan, "he needs to be destroyed, fully destroyed."
Faith recognised the anger and pain in Willow's eyes as well. Ever since she walked through the hallway and nodded at the former redhead, Faith had been sizing her up. She recognised the anger, the hate, and the sorrow in those eyes and in the hands that were turned into closed fists; fists so tight that the knuckles were turning white. Faith recognised those signs because it was something she had seen in her own eyes when she was living in Boston every time she looked at herself in the mirror. But Faith also knew that whatever Willow experienced was a thousand times worse than she ever did when staying with her drunk mother.
"Hey," said Faith taking a step forward with her hands in her pockets. Willow and everyone turned to the dark haired Slayer who then said, "how about we get something to eat. And then we talk about dropping Borzan. I don't know about any of you guys, but I'm hungry."
"Faith's right," added Tara as Willow turned to her, "you… you should at least eat."
"Come on, Willow," said Joyce stroking the back of Willow's head, "let's get something to eat. Angel's team is searching for the vampires, Buffy's got the weapons ready in the basement, and…"
"Giles," interrupted Willow who shook her head. The young woman didn't want to waste any time, even though she found herself being hungry, "do you have my badge?"
"Yes," he answered as Joyce turned to Giles who was fixing his glasses, "once you agreed to return, Anya teleported to Dr Lee's lab but… but it was the day that the lab was being moved to another location. Anya got what she could into the badge, Willow."
"Should be enough," said Willow as she relaxed her hands, "I just need to access my clairvoyance."
"Buffy told us about what happened during Halloween," said Graham while Riley nodded his head, "so it's true? I mean about the whole being able to see the future thing?"
"Yeah," replied Willow, who was wondering what her life would be like if she didn't have Niko's powers, knowledge, and memories. But she pushed those thoughts away and felt herself getting calmer. Glancing at Tara walking towards her, Willow wondered if it was the blonde's doing; keeping her calm. Willow then turned towards Giles and asked him if he had the badge with him.
"Don't you need to know about the body that Borzan's inhabiting?" asked Riley.
"All I need to know is that Borzan is here," replied Willow as she glanced over at Riley, "is the body he's inhabiting a friend of yours? I mean the human half?"
"Actually a human-machine-demon hybrid, but…"
"Then it doesn't matter," said Willow shaking her head, "he's dangerous even if he's inside a cat. He needs to die, and…"
"Angel already burned the head," said Buffy, "all I know is that the Initiative took the body away from the hospital."
"We stole the records that documented his creation," said Riley, "but there was nothing on Borzan, or what the scientists did to place Borzan somehow into ADAM's body."
"ADAM? The name of the hybrid?" asked Willow as Graham nodded his head. Willow then turned to Giles and asked for her badge again. She then turned to Jenny and Joyce and asked them to leave town, that they needed to be out of danger. However, the both of them told Willow that Buffy, Faith, and Giles had already tried to convince them… but they were not going anywhere. Willow shook her head before frowning at the two of them, "Borzan will kill you to get to Buffy and Giles. He will torture you, he will.. will make those you care about to watch as he picks you apart and…"
"Will," said Buffy sternly. But Willow turned to Buffy saying that Jenny and Joyce needed to know what they were dealing with. She then turned towards Joyce and Jenny once again.
"He will watch as other demons tear you apart," said Willow as her anger flared, it was something that Tara and Althanea sensed. Tara recalled the dream she had when she was in Willow's hospital room, it was a dream that she hadn't told anyone since she felt it best that Willow revealed it at her own time, but now.. as she listened to Willow… her skin started to crawl, "he will laugh at the pain."
"Willow," said Giles shaking his head as she turned to look at him.
"You don't get to not hear this, Giles," hissed Willow. It was something that surprised Giles as he looked at the rage etched on her face. She then turned to Buffy and told her the same thing before turning to Joyce and Jenny, "I experienced first-hand what he's capable of. Can you imagine? Dying and resurrecting multiple times in hell, each time you wake up.. you feel the pain of your organs being ripped out of you while Borzan laughs."
"Oh dear lord," muttered Giles before he looked at Althanea. The woman looked back at him with sadness before looking away and walking towards Willow. She lay her hands on the former redhead's shoulders before whispering at her to calm down.
"They have faith in Buffy and the others, Willow," said Althanea, "I need you to calm down, just calm down."
Willow looked over at Althanea before taking a deep breath and closed her eyes. She shook her head and was about to say something else when she felt someone holding onto her hands. Opening her eyes, she saw Joyce, with tears in her eyes, looking back at her before placing a hand gently on Willow's cheek.
"I am so sorry, Willow," said Joyce as her voice broke.
"I just want you and Jenny to be safe, Joyce," whispered Willow, "I know what he's capable of, and.. and the best thing for Buffy and Giles would be for the both of you to get out of Sunnydale."
"Would anywhere be safe, Willow?" asked Joyce gently, "Doyle said that he saw hell on Earth. That Borzan would kill Buffy and Faith, and then all of us... and after that, he takes over the Earth by releasing hell."
"I…" said Willow closing her eyes and shaking her head.
"Willow," said Joyce gently, asking her to open her eyes, "the reason Jenny and I don't want to leave is because if we have to die, we'd rather die with the people we love. If Borzan takes over, there's going to be no place to hide – no place to run. It would by us some time, but he'll come after us. And we don't want to die alone."
"If he brings hell," said Willow, "he will torture all of us."
"We'll take the risk, Willow," said Jenny as Giles ran up the stairs and then turned to the left. She looked at Anya, Riley, and then at Graham who nodded their heads. She then turned to Joyce.
"I can't lose you too," whispered Willow.
"We'll win, Willow," said Buffy as she walked over to Joyce, and held Willow's hand, "Doyle's vision had nothing about you, so you're the one that makes the difference. That's how I know we'll win."
"Willow," said Giles as he ran back down the stairs, and then handed Willow the Ranger badge, "do what you need to do."
Willow looked down at the badge and remembered the very first day that Niko graduated from the Academy. She was walking up the stairs to the stage, and then down to the dais where she received a small, oak box. Willow remembered Niko opening the box to reveal the badge which proved she was finally a Galaxy Ranger. Back in the Summers house, Willow took in a deep breath and then pressed down on the badge. There was the sound of a click, followed by a rush of the Alpha radiation flowing into her Series Five implant and activating her clairvoyance abilities. Willow could feel the already low charge on the badge vanishing as she saw hell on Earth. She saw Borzan, in the hybrid body, throwing her against a wall before tearing Faith in half. She then saw herself tackle Borzan to the ground while Buffy, whose eyes were golden in colour, ducked as Willow was thrown to the side. As she flew in the air, before hitting the wall again, Willow saw a green coloured object on the ground. Then everything went dark before seeing a warehouse full of vampires; it was dark and they were already storming out of it and into the city. Then Willow was back in the fight against Borzan with his fist through Buffy's chest. She heard Borzan roar before dashing towards her, and then everything became dark again.
And Willow found herself in the foyer again surrounded by Buffy and the others. The Alpha radiation charge on the badge exhausted before Willow placed the badge into her jeans pocket.
"I know where the vampires are," said Willow as she tried to Althanea, and then to Tara. She then turned towards Buffy and told her that there was another problem, "even with me, everyone dies."
"Then we change the future," said Riley.
"My clairvoyance always comes true," said Willow looking at Riley, "I saw Acathla's portal open up in a vision, and it came true. I saw the Judge, and it came true. My visions come true, always."
"You didn't tell them about your visions then," said Anya, "now we know, and now we change the future."
"But first," said Giles, "I will call Wesley. And Willow? It would help them greatly if you could give me the details of the vampire's location."
"And then we order some pizza," said Faith, "and we make a plan for the Initiative."
Warehouse 41, Southside of Sunnydale, 1600 hours.
It was four hours until the four hundred vampires in the large warehouse would have their chance to take over the city of Sunnydale. They were promised a bloodbath, and with the Slayers and their allies otherwise engaged, Borzan assured them that they would have all the humans they would ever need or want. The thought of a buffet of humans created a party atmosphere in the massive warehouse as music played while the vampires were dancing, celebrating their coming win.
What they didn't know, however, were the three people on the roof of the adjacent warehouse. The Vampires were so sure that the attack on Sunnydale was going to be a surprise, and a success, that they never placed guards out around the perimeter of the warehouse. The three humans; Gunn, Riley, and Graham picked up the three Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers; all taken from an Initiative weapons cache in Dumont Park. The two former Initiative members took three launchers and then met with Gunn… who Wesley said he would be sending to meet them at the address after having talked to Giles.
Riley used a thermal camera to confirm the presence of the vampires in the warehouse where all the windows were blackened before putting it down. He nodded at the others and then picked up the RPG's, placing them on their shoulders. Aiming the weapons at the warehouse, Riley counted down.
The vampires continued partying up until the explosion which took out a wall. They screamed at the sunlight which then poured in, dusting some of them while the others rushed for cover. However, there was a hiss in the air just before a massive explosion inside the warehouse that shook the entire building. The vampire saw their comrades dusted in the fireball, and then there was another massive explosion that dusted, even more, vampires. The ones that survived were trapped in the warehouse as it collapsed all around them.
Gunn, Riley, and Graham stood up and smiled at the rising dust cloud as the last bit of the warehouse collapsed. They knew that the sun in the clear blue sky would take care of the rest of the vampires, and even if some managed to escape – Angel and his team would be able to take care of the stragglers if any did manage to escape at night.
TBC.