Title: Deadly Connor-tations 3/?

Author: VladtheImpish

Rating: Nothing worse that the show(s)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted in this story, nor will I make any money from writing it. Please don't sue; I'm really not worth it.

Summary: X-Over with Angel, set the summer before Buffy Season 7/beginning of Angel Season 4. After Angel throws him out of the hotel, Connor needs to get revenge and his 'father' Holtz taught him that you take away the things they love the most. Meanwhile in Sunnydale, Buffy, Xander and Dawn are still playing Happy Families but Xander wants them to stop playing and Buffy may finally be on the same page. When Connor captures Buffy, Xander and Angel must work together to find her before it's too late.

Warning: Character Death(s)!!

Crawford Street Mansion,
Sunnydale,
23rd August 2002, 00:45.

As Xander and Angel entered the mansion, Xander was doing his very best not to blow a fuse. He couldn't see why Stephen would use this place to keep Buffy captive, despite the fact that Angel himself had used it at one time. In fact, it was because Angel had used it that he was certain that Stephen wouldn't, given his seemingly all-consuming hatred for his father.

When they had arrived back hom… at Buffy and Dawn's place, Xander had insisted that they explain just whom Stephen was and why he'd decided to get at Angel through Buffy. Angel and the others were reticent to dredge up the recent past, especially as they hadn't really processed everything themselves, but Xander changed tactics and explained calmly that they needed to know more about him to help work out what he might do, and they had eventually acquiesced.

Whilst eating the pizza Dawn had ordered to ensure Xander's stomach wouldn't give away his position during the night, the two Scoobies listened as Angel and the others explained the events leading up to Connor/Stephen's arrival in Sunnydale. Xander's first impulse upon hearing the soap opera that happened to be the last year of their life was to slap them all upside the head; only his own remembrance that it's always easier to see problems when you're on the outside looking in, and Dawn's warning glance as she saw the hard set look settling on his features, stayed his hand and kept him from commenting.

On more than one occasion he would ask Fred to clarify something when he felt that emotions were colouring perception, noting that she seemed to be able to give a more unbiased account of things than the others. He wasn't sure why she seemed to be less emotionally invested than the others, but was glad for it nonetheless, as it meant they had been given as true an explanation of what happened as was possible without Cordelia there.

While he would never describe his ex as tactful, Cordelia was always straight talking and would have given an honest and frank account of what happened. Those who didn't know her as well as he did might perceive her to be biased, but Xander had more than a decade to master the art of reading between the lines when Cordelia talked.

From what he'd been told, he could tell that Stephen, or Connor as they called him, didn't want to be associated with Angel in any way shape or form, which meant that he would steer clear of any place that he would have used while in Sunnydale, as he wouldn't want it to look like he was emulating him. Explaining that to Angel was a little more difficult, however, having already checked Angel's old apartment and the warehouse for Connor's presence.

It hadn't taken Xander long to realise that the former Scourge of Europe didn't have a clue where his son might be, and was grasping at straws. Now there they were, about to search yet another of Angel's former residences, and Xander was close to losing his patience.

It was only his promise to Dawn not to stake Angel unless he was given a legitimate reason to that stopped him from plunging MC Hammer through his chest with all his might, and not even that would save him if they spend too much time chasing rainbows. Dawn had originally asked him to not stake Angel under any circumstances, but he had flat out refused to agree to, in his mind, an absolutely insane suggestion and had eventually hashed out an almost fair concession.

Their experience with Spike had made him swear to himself that he would never agree to such a thing with another vampire ever again, no matter the circumstances, and even though it was Buffy's life on the line, he would not betray his own beliefs. He, very grudgingly, acknowledged the fact that Angel was different to most vampires, and that he could on occasion be of help, but all that meant was Xander wouldn't stake him purely because he felt like it.

"So, do you smell anything or is this yet another wild goose chase?"

Angel growled and muttered something quietly before he answered Xander's question. "Yes actually. I can smell blood; its fresh and human."

"Can you tell if it's Stephen's or Buffy's?" the carpenter asked, knowing that calling Angel's son the name given to him by Holtz pissed him off no end.

"No, there are a lot of different scents in here and I'm having trouble separating them. There's also magic in the air."

"You're not coming on to me are you Deadboy, because I gotta tell you I don't swing that way."

"Can you ever be serious?" he snapped, the emotional turmoil he was feeling over the whole situation making him lose his normal cool exterior.

"You know better than anyone how serious I can be," Xander replied, his tone losing all inflections and reminding Angel once more that he did indeed know how serious Xander could be. "Lets get this over with then; lead on MacDuff."

Angel growled once more before heading off in the direction of the blood he could smell, Xander following a couple of steps behind, a small smile on his face.

Veritas Cemetery,
Sunnydale,
Same Time.

"You know, I've been doing this for a few years now and I think this is the first time I've actually patrolled a cemetery for vamps."

"Well, there's a first time for everything and there is no better place to break your duck than Sunnydale."

Gunn and Wesley were making their way through the tombstones and crypts of the cemetery, the third one they'd been in since they started their patrol/search for Buffy and Connor.

After they'd arrived at the Summers place and explained the situation as Xander requested, it was decided, mainly by Xander, that they would split up. Fred would stay with Dawn, both to keep her company and to act as their communications centre, as there was a specially installed phone used by Willy and other informants they had in the demon community. Xander and Angel would do the brunt of the search, as they had the most experience of the local area, and that left himself and Wesley with the nightly patrol. They had gone to argue the point, but Xander and Dawn had made it very clear that despite the current situation, they didn't want the local vamps to think they had a free pass to run amok, nor would Buffy had she been there, and they reluctantly agreed.

Given the open animosity displayed between Xander and Angel, Gunn and the others had been reluctant to let them search together, but they had to admit that it made the most sense. Dawn, who like most young people thrown into the demon world acted far older than she really was, had gone so far as to request they promise not to kill each other. Angel had agreed, although his voice suggested that he might not hold himself to it, but Xander had flat out refused, stating that he'd already told her he would never make such promises when it came to vampires, but assured her that he wouldn't do anything unless provoked.

That didn't make him or Fred all that happy, but Dawn seemed to be satisfied and left it at that. Wesley also seemed to relax after Xander had said that, and as he and Wesley left to start their patrol, Gunn had asked the former Watcher why.

"While I might not fully recognise the man we met as the boy I knew," Wesley began, "there are some things about Xander that would never change, his word being one of them. If Xander tells you he will do something, he'll do it or die in the attempt. Also, despite his obvious dislike of Angel, he wouldn't allow his own feelings to jeopardise Buffy's safety. As long as Angel can keep his own animosity towards him in check, there won't be a problem."

"I'm not calling him weak or nothing, but he doesn't really think he could take Angel does he?"

"That would not stop Xander from trying. I too never really saw Xander as a fighter, but he has been doing this since he was sixteen and is still alive, so I do not believe you should count him out."

Gunn had little choice but to agree with that; he himself had been fighting vampires for several years and was still around to talk about it. He could remember when Cordelia would talk about her Sunnydale days, and she seemed conflicted on how to talk about her former boyfriend. One minute she would be calling him all the names under the sun, as well as several above and around it, then the next minute she would be singing his praises and telling them how brave he was.

Angel very rarely spoke about his time on the Hellmouth and when he did it invariably concerned Buffy, and Wesley often admitted that he didn't take the time he should have to get more acquainted with the 'Scooby Gang' as Gunn was told they called themselves, so he didn't exactly know what to think of Xander when he met him.

His reaction when he finally had met him was mixed; his open animosity to Angel had made him believe him to be an asshole, and yet the warm and friendly way he had greeted Fred as she introduced himself showed a softer, more caring side to him. The way he was around Buffy's sister Dawn further proved he wasn't as hard nosed as he presented himself to be, and Gunn had started to believe that he could get to like the guy.

He was worrying slightly about what would happen once they discovered where Connor was hiding out with Buffy, as he could tell that Xander had a toe tag with his name on it. While he wouldn't condone cold-blooded murder, he had no problem with killing someone if they were trying to do the same to him, and he knew that Connor would do exactly that once they found him and attempted to rescue Buffy.

Angel however was still seeing Connor as his baby boy, and not the guy that stuck him in an iron coffin and dumped him in the ocean. Gunn knew that Angel would do whatever he could to protect his son, although he wondered if that included going up against Xander and possibly Buffy. Remembering what he tried to do to Wesley when he was defenceless made him believe he might.

As they were passing the grave of the recently buried Elizabeth Gracen, Gunn was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the unmistakable sounds of wood breaking and earth moving. Preparing his trusty homemade battleaxe, he waited for the vampire to rise from its resting place, fully intending to take its head from its shoulders the moment it came into view. However, he didn't want the vampire's demise to be a painless one, so he took a bottle of holy water from his jacket and poured it onto the shifting dirt. He didn't generally feel the need to cause a vampire pain, more focussed on ending its existence and continuing his own than anything else, but there was something about Sunnydale that brought out his sadistic side.

Wesley stood to one side, knowing that his former friend and colleague was more than capable of taking down the newly rising demon, when he too heard the sound of a vampire awakening from its coffin. Moving over to the grave of Peter Wingfield, he readied his sword, not wanting to give the vampire the chance to fully escape its current confinement.

He often wondered why Buffy didn't do the same when she went on patrol, knowing that during his time as her Watcher she would wait for the vampire to be completely free before attacking. He didn't think much of it at the time, as it wasn't his job to wonder why his Slayer did something only that she did it, but once he began actively hunting himself, he found it to be inefficient at best and reckless at worst. It was no doubt the Slayer essence that made her wait, the need for a challenge overriding common sense, but taking such an unnecessary risk wasn't really conducive to prolonging ones life. Of course death wasn't as big an obstacle for Buffy as it was for most people, but even she would run out of luck one day.

A hand suddenly emerging from the ground brought Wesley out of his musings, waiting for the vampire's head to come into view. The moment Wesley could see enough of the head to strike he did so, the vampire attempting to block the strike with its arms but only succeeding in having them severed along with its head. The vampire dusted and the grave caved in due to the void it left behind.

Wesley turned to see how Gunn was fairing, only to see him about to be pounced on by a vampire behind him. He was so focussed on the screams of pain the vampire emerging from the grave was making that he didn't notice the presence behind him.

"Gunn, behind you!" he yelled out in warning.

Gunn span round due to Wesley's warning in time to see the vampire charge into him, the pair falling to the ground in a tangle of limbs. The vampire, probably the sire of the one breaking through the ground, was the first to get up, kicking Gunn once in the ribs hard enough for Wesley to hear at least one crack from the impact.

The former Watcher threw a vial of holy water into the vampire's face as he got closer to the pair, causing it to step back from Gunn in pain, its hand covering its face as its skin sizzled and bubbled due to the blessed liquid.

Although distracted, the vampire was still able to dodge the sword aiming for its neck, but was unable to move out of the way of the strike that severed its leg at the knee, causing it to once more fall to the ground, writing in agony as the stolen blood began pouring from its body. Wesley decided to put it out of its misery and beheaded it, watching the rest of the body crumble to ash to join its leg.

Hearing a noise behind him, Wesley span round thrust his sword through the body of the remaining vampire, which had tried to blindside him in revenge for killing its sire. The vampire moved closer to Wesley, forcing the sword further through its body, determined to snuff out his life in retribution, only to turn to dust a moment later due to Gunn staking him from behind.

"Gunn, how are you feeling?" Wesley asked his comrade, knowing it to be a stupid question but needing an answer in any event.

"I've had worse, and how sad is it that I'm telling the truth? Kinda hard to breathe, but at least my ribs are only cracked and not broken."

"I need to get you back to Dawn and Fred."

"No, I'll be fine."

"Gunn, you're injured."

"I said I'll be fine, the last thing I need is a couple of mother hens."

Despite her young age, both men knew that Dawn was used to tending to the wounds of others, and combined with Fred, who would be buzzing round him like a fly the moment he arrived, neither one knew whether he would actually be better off returning. Eventually, Wesley acquiesced to Gunn's plea, knowing he had little sway over his former friend. Maybe tonight would be the beginning of their reconciliation.

"Fine," he sighed, "but you get injured any further and you'll have to go back, understand?"

"Deal."

Crawford Street Mansion,
Sunnydale,
01:10.

"Oh mighty Mnaorxtoin, here us…"

Xander and Angel were currently hiding in a secret tunnel Angel, or more specifically Angelus, had found in the library during his initial search of the mansion, listening to the dozen or so robed figures that were chanting around a large, ornate mirror.

They had been searching the mansion for the source of the blood that Angel could smell, which he had finally been able to tell was Connor's, and had eventually found it in the basement next to the sewer access. There was a small rag that had been soaked, for want of a better word, in the teenager's blood. This meant that there could be more decoys scattered throughout the town, making it that much harder for them to track him down.

Xander had actually used the handheld tazer Riley had left him as a going away present on the cursed vampire, admittedly on the lowest setting, when he had started to show pride in his son's tactics.

"I hear you sound proud about your bastard child again, and I swear you'll be blowing in the wind before you realise the stake has punctured your shrivelled up heart."

Angel showed enough intelligence not to say anything in retaliation, and actually felt guilty over the way he spoke. At any other time he would be right to feel proud, at least about his methods not his application, but with Buffy's life on the line he couldn't allow himself to lose focus.

It was a couple of minutes later when they heard movement at the front of the mansion, and had decided to keep their presence unknown in case it was Connor returning. They instead saw the robed figures moving to the Spartan library and prepare for a ritual of some sort.

Neither one recognised much of what they were saying, but they knew it was a summoning ritual to call forth a demon lord into this world. Knowing they couldn't let them complete the ritual, as any ritual on a Hellmouth was no doubt not of the good, they had no choice but to stop them from completing it.

"Okay, you take right, I'll take left."

"Why do I get right?" Angel asked.

"Fine, you take left."

"No, no, no, you wanted to take right all along, that's why you said for me take right to begin with. You knew I'd argue and get you to swap."

"Are you sure that coffin was airtight? I'm sure some of that saltwater has affected your already damaged brain."

Finally realising just how juvenile he sounded, Angel just took a deep unnecessary breath and released it, only to have Xander smack upside the head with significant force.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked in a heated whisper.

"What was that for?!" he hissed. "Hmm, let me think… 'I can't perform CPR, I have no breath.' springs to mind. All you had to do was admit you didn't know how, but oh no, that would mean showing weakness to the lowly mortal. You really do make me sick."

Not wanting to be near Angel a second longer, Xander charged out of their hiding place towards the chanting figures, and kicked the nearest one in the side of the head. The figure fell roughly to one side, and his hood moved enough for Xander to see he was human.

While Xander wasn't above, or below depending on how you looked at it, killing humans if they were trying to do the same to him, he wasn't about to kill indiscriminately, so instead he kicked him in the head once more, rendering him unconscious. By now, Angel had followed him and was taking on the robed men and women, using surprise and superior strength to incapacitate them. Both realised they weren't dealing with fighters of any degree and it took no more than a couple of minutes to have all but one of them out for the count.

"What the hell do you and your buddies think you're doing?" Xander asked, his tone indicating that she had no choice but to answer.

"We are worshippers of the Great Lord Mnaorxtoin, and as was written in the sacred scripture of Dgarveiednwalt we were opening a doorway to his home dimension to enable him to once more roam free. Those who follow him are to be rewarded for their dedication and all those who defy his will are to be torn asunder."

"Peachy. Why here?"

"We learned that a demon had been returned to this plane from Hell and decided that this was the perfect place for our lord to be brought across."

A sudden crackling sound caught their attention and they turned toward the mirror and noticed that their reflections, apart from Angel's due to it not being there, were beginning to warp and distort.

"Behold! You are too late! Mnaorxtoin is coming and all those that oppose him shall be but ash in the wind!"

"Oh shut up you daft cow."

Xander punched her full in the face and she dropped bonelessly to the ground, and the sharp crack that resonated through the air as her head impacted with the marble floor caused him to wince slightly in sympathy. He didn't envy the headache she'd have when she woke up.

The sound of twisting metal brought Xander's gaze back to the mirror, no longer seeing any reflection there and instead able to see what looked like the stereotypical description of Hell; minus little red devils with pitchforks. A moment later, a large, magenta coloured demon lumbered up to the doorway, which was what the mirror had become, and poked its head through to no doubt see where it led, before stepping through. The demon grew in size as it emerged on their side of the doorway, standing eight or nine feet tall and five or six feet wide, bony protrusions on each of its six arms and four legs and two tusk like appendages on its large jaw. The demon screamed power and made both Xander and Angel feel way out of their league.

Xander and Angel looked at one another for a moment before readying for what was possibly, or more likely definitely, their death. As they were about to charge it, hoping that a pre-emptive strike would at least catch it off guard, the demon brought its taloned hands up in the universal gesture of halt.

"BE STILL, I HAVE NOT COME TO BATTLE YOU."

"Who are you and what do you want?" Angel asked in a growl, hoping that he didn't look as intimidated as he felt.

"I AM MNAORXTOIN AND I WANT NOTHING FROM LOWER CAST CREATURES SUCH AS YOURSELF. I HAVE LONG GIVEN UP FOOLISH DREAMS OF CONQUEST ON THIS INSIGNIFICANT MUDBALL YOU LAUGHINGLY CALL A PLANET. I AM RULER OF THE SEVENTEENTH DIMENSION OF HELL AND AM QUITE CONTENT TO STAY THAT WAY. WHO HERE CALLED FOR ME?"

Xander waved his hand to indicate the still unconscious people strewn across the floor. "These are your followers, who decided that you should come to our world to rule." He felt rather strange conversing telepathically with a demon the way he was, as the voice was entering his mind directly with such force that he found it difficult to stand. He had also decided that when conversing with a demon that ruled a hell dimension courtesy was called for, which was why he had refrained from injecting any of his usual quips into what he'd 'said'.

"THE ARROGANCE OF YOUR RACE, THINKING THAT YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO SUMMON AS IMPORTANT A BEING AS MYSELF. I WILL SEE TO IT THAT THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN."

With a wave of its hand, the followers began screaming in tremendous agony even in their unconscious state, as their flesh and bones seemed to melt away, leaving only their skeletons behind.

"THERE ARE NOW NO MORE OF MY 'FOLLOWERS' LEFT ON THIS PUNY PLANET, AND ANY THAT TRY TO BECOME ONE WILL SUFFER THE SAME FATE. AS YOU TRIED TO PREVENT THEM FROM COMPLETING THEIR CEREMONY, I SHALL SPARE YOUR LIVES. HOWEVER, WERE WE TO MEET AGAIN I SHALL NOT BE AS MERCIFUL TO YOU AS I WAS TO THOSE PITIFUL FOOLS AND THEIR ILK."

With that, the demon turned and made its way back through the doorway. Once it was safely back on its own side once more, it made another gesture with its hand and the doorway vanished, as did the skeletons and any other trace that a ceremony had been performed there.

Silence permeated the mansion for several minutes, before Xander finally snapped out of whatever sate he had been in and turned once more to his companion. "So, where to next?"