Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Audrey, who will be coming along with Illyria.
Author's Note:
Jess-Thanks, and Death to Hurricane Rita!
Tamara-Sorry but right now it's Angel's turn to get his shots in on Buffy, Spike's time will come later
Angel of Darkness-Kill Buffy...hmm...maybe, though then she'd be perfect for Spike, as undead as he is...
Wicked R-Buffy gets some in this chapter, hope you like it
Jenny G-And then some…
CHAPTER 7-ROYAL RUMBLE
Chaos reigned immediately after Angel's boot struck Buffy's face. She grunted in pain as tears filled her eyes. She knew that her nose was broken but the fact of who had broken it still held the highest position in her mind. Covering her nose with her hands Buffy staggered backwards a few steps, allowing two of The Immortal's bodyguards to rush by her and straight towards Angel.
"Hmpf, how predictable," Angel said softly with a very confidant expression on his face before he raised both arms straight out in front of him and then click the base of his palm with his two middle fingers. The guards rushing towards him no more than got their hands on their weapons before two wooden stakes shot out of Angel's sleeves and dusted the two guards. Smiling like a fox that had just raided the hen house Angel leapt up into the air, did a front flip, and then landed a sharp kick to another guard before landing several feet away from Buffy.
"Get in here," Roger Wyndam-Pryce growled into a small device with an outraged sneer on his face before seconds later the doors to the ballroom were thrown open by a squad of heavily armed security guards, looking like they were employed by the new watchers council. Almost simultaneously the other doors to the ballroom were ripped open and the guards started to flood in.
"Shouldn't have done that," Angel said softly with a sly grin on his face before he sent his sexiest wink Buffy's way and then dove underneath the table. An eerily silent second past before Buffy and most of the party goers were blown off of their feet by a chain reaction of explosions that rocked the entire building to its foundation. Giles choked on the smoke and dust that had been thrown out by the explosions before he feverishly cleaned his glasses and took a look. Anyone and anything that had been standing near any of the doorways was either dead or soon to be dead.
"My God," Giles gasped with a look of total shock and disbelief on his face as he took in the sight of the dead bodies and then started to turn to look towards another of the doorways but was stopped abruptly by Angel's fists smashing first into the side of his jaw and then his stomach.
"Rupert…bet you didn't think that you'd ever see me again huh," Angel stated with a deadly amount of scorn and venom in his voice as he stood oddly still while Giles choked and coughed around on the ground at his feet.
"Who's that," A thoroughly terrified Vi screamed from her spot, crammed as tightly as she could get into one of the corners behind the food tables.
"Angel…he's evil again," Xander choked back in reply with a scared but also angry tone to his voice as he waved his hand back and forth in front of his face in an effort to clear the air to make it easier to breathe and see.
"No he's not," Faith snapped with an angry scowl on her face as she pushed a dead guard off of her and stood up, wanting more than anything to slap Xander upside the head but refrained from doing so.
"You hear that Rupert, still so quick to judge, anything and anyone that doesn't fit your or the new council's narrow minded and arrogant rules is evil and must be destroyed, or put on hold long enough to make sure that an innocent dies," Angel growled sharply down to Giles as he squatted down near the old watcher before he grabbed Giles by the throat and began to squeeze the life out of him as he lifted him back up to his feet.
"Angel no," Buffy shouted through the pain with tears in her eyes as she held one hand over her nose while using the other to push people out of her line of sight. Angel kept Giles where he was, still choking him, as he calmly turned his head to Buffy and smiled his best Angelus smile.
"Don't worry baby, Rupert and I are just having some fun," Angel said with a seductive and smug grin on his face as behind him two council guards drew their weapons and began to rush towards him. They only got a few feet before being gunned down in their tracks. The sudden outburst of hot lead flying through the air sent more shrieks and screams up into the air and everyone diving for cover once more.
"Buffy come here," The Immortal shouted to Buffy as he was crouched underneath one of the tables with several of his bodyguards surrounding him.
"Stop him," Roger shouted with an outraged sneer on his face as he drew a small handgun from behind his back.
"Stop him yourself you self righteous bastard," Wesley growled with a very scornful tone to his voice and look on his face as he calmly walked into the ballroom, serenely stepping over the dead bodies along the way.
"You, what is the meaning of this," Roger growled with an angry scowl on his face, thinking more about how angry he was at his son rather than the fact that he was supposed to be dead as a guard rushed towards Wesley, his game face fully on. Without letting the angry scowl drop from his face Wesley holstered his guns, ducked underneath the vampire's first swing, snapped out the collapsible blade that was strapped onto his wrist, and in one quick motion sliced off its head.
"You're a real piece of work you know that, no Wesley, I'm so happy that you're alive, now I see why you hate him so much," Nina stated with a look of almost disgust on her face as she walked hesitantly into the room through the doorway exactly opposite to the one that Wesley had entered through, her crossbow up and ready, pointed straight at Roger.
"Willow do something," Rhona said with a scared look on her face as she grabbed Willow's arm and pulled her out from behind one of the large potted plants.
"I," Willow started to say with a nervous and unsure look on her face before Xander took the initiative and grabbed the gun of one of the dead guards and aimed it straight at the back of Angel's head.
"Let him go Angel, I'm not going to tell you again, I pull the trigger I blow your brains out," Xander exclaimed with a very confidant and threatening tone to his voice as he tried to sound as manly and threatening as possible.
"Go ahead Xander, you always were a coward, always taking the easy way out, couldn't even be a real man and get married," Angel replied with a calm and mocking tone to his voice as he continued to choke Giles out.
"Angel please, let go of him, stop this now before you go to far, we can talk about this," Buffy pleaded with Angel as she slowly and carefully began to edge closer to him, not sue what was going on but knowing that Giles couldn't have to long left.
"So now you want to talk, that's rich," Angel started to say with a slowly growing look of anger on his face before he felt a crossbow bolt fly past him and kill one of The Immortal's guards that was trying to sneak up on him.
"What is the meaning of this boy, stop this before you're beyond my help," Roger angrily demanded with a furious look on his face as he fully pulled out his gun with one hand while motioning for the new slayers to get behind him with the other.
"I don't want your help father, your kind of help is what doomed the old council and it will doom this one as well, you're all just to damn stubborn to see it," Wesley replied sharply with an frustrated frown on his face as he retracted the blade back in his sleeve.
"To damn stubborn to even give your friends the benefit of the doubt, it was easy to write us off wasn't it, it fit right into your hands, giving you exactly what you wanted, and I'll bet that you were all for it…weren't you Rupert, making sure that there'd be no way that Buffy could ever be friends with someone like me," Angel added with a sinister and daring grin on his face as he looked first to Giles and then over and across the room as Nina was readying another bolt on her crossbow.
"Shoot him now Xander, pull the trigger you fool," The Immortal shouted across the room with a very condescending scowl on his face as he glared over at Xander. Xander looked surprised at how The Immortal was scowling at him and his hands began to shake as he took a more careful aim at the back of Angel's head.
"Put that away before you hurt yourself," Faith grumbled with an unhappy scowl on her face before Xander turned back to her ever so slightly, leaving him open for one quick punch straight to the face. That was all it took and the former carpenter's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the floor. Faith took a hold of the weapon casually as Xander crumpled to the floor.
"Faith…what are you doing," Dawn exclaimed with a look of shock and surprise on her face as she came out of her crouch just a bit to peer out over the top of one of the tables.
"I'd think it would be fairly obvious there D," Faith replied casually with a relaxed smile on her face as she half turned and grinned back at Dawn.
"I knew we couldn't trust you, you're nothing but filth…a disgrace to the other slayers, we should have killed you when we had the chance," Roger growled with a mocking sneer on his face as he aimed his glare, and his gun, straight at Faith's forehead.
"Over my dead body," Wesley shot back with a very determined look on his face as he stepped in between Roger and Faith, all while sliding the hilt of the knife that he had packed for Faith out of the sleeve of his left arm as he slid that arm behind his back. Faith's initial shock at his action and his words quickly wore off and the shiny metal caught her eye. A sly smile crossed her face as she reached out and took the knife, dropping the gun as if she could care less about it.
"Where is this coming from," Buffy asked with a heart wrenching look of sadness on her face as she inched closer to Angel while on the far side of the room, a hooded Spike darted in, grabbed Nina by the collar and hauled her back out again, much to her surprise.
"After everything that we've been through, after everything that we've meant to each other you turned your back on me without even hearing my side of the story, it's your fault that they died every bit as much as it is mine, and now you're going to pay," Angel replied with a very firm and threatening tone to his voice before he growled and flung Giles towards Buffy. Giles landed at Buffy's feet as she hopped back to get out of the way.
"This isn't right Angel, stop this," Willow called out with a very nervous and scared look on her face as she walked out into the open.
"You're right Willow it's not, but it's all that I got, you want a real answer then you should ask Giles about my telephone call asking him to help save Fred, he did nothing to help her and because of that she's dead…her organs cooked in her body, her death was to painful," Angel replied with an almost somber frown on his face at first before he cast a furious gaze in Giles' sputtering and choking direction and then leapt towards him.
"Angel no," Buffy shouted out in alarm as she jumped in front of Giles and spread her arms out wide, releasing her grip on her nose and allowing the blood to gush out.
"Stupid move Buffy, you're protecting the guilty party here," Angel growled with an angry scowl on his face before he slammed his fist into Buffy's jaw, then pounded his other fist into her stomach. As she doubled over in pain he finished his attack off with an elbow to the back of her head. Though not knocked out Buffy did see stars as she dropped to the floor, unintentionally slamming her nose into the carpet.
"You monster," Roger shouted with a furious expression on his face as he wheeled around and aimed his gun at Angel before squeezing off a couple of shots, hitting Angel in the shoulder with one of them and in the middle of his chest with the other. The force of the bullets knocked Angel back a couple of steps as everyone in the room held their collective breaths. Angel lowered his head just a bit before looking up at Roger through the tops of his eyes with a very serious scowl on his face as he raised one hand up and began to slowly wag his index finger back and forth. Andrew was eerily reminded of a similar scene in Terminator two but was to scared to speak and alert anyone else to the fact.
"Angel come on, we got what we came for," Nina shouted out with a very nervous and scared look on her face as she ducked back into the ballroom and fired off a warning shot towards The Immortal.
"Good, Wes…Faith, let's go," Angel said back with a slightly relieved look on his face as he fully picked his head up and glanced over at Nina. He started to turn back to Wesley and Faith but stopped when he sensed more guards rushing towards him. Effortlessly drawing the sword that was strapped to his back he slit open the stomach of one of the guards before he even knew what was happening. The other guards momentarily held their attack, giving Angel just enough time to strike. He skewered the next closest guard through the heart and then yanked his sword free before hacking off the left hand of the next guard.
"Time to leave Faith," Wesley said with a very serious look on his face as he turned around before she spun around and surprised the guards rushing towards them blocking the first attack, slashing the chest of the first guard and then dropping the next guard with an elbow first to the stomach and then to the back of the head.
"I'm ready," Faith replied with a smug smirk on her face as she turned her gaze back to Wesley without noticing the three more guards rushing into the room behind her, guns drawn and aimed straight at her.
"Look out," Wesley shouted in alarm and fear as he dove forward, grabbed Faith with one hand and then went down, barely missing the shots from the guards. Before they could recover and turn their aim his way Wesley got his bearings and blew out the left knee of each of them, smiling devilishly as they went down like a house of cards.
"Thanks, now come on," Faith said back with a slightly nervous smile on her face and just the slightest hint of a blush forming on her cheeks as she found herself lying directly on top of Wesley with his left arm looped around her waist holding her close.
"Boy…don't you dare run out on me, come back here," Roger growled with an outraged sneer on his face as Wesley released his grip and together the two got up and then headed for the exit as Angel ran back to the center of the ballroom and leapt back up onto the table that he had first landed on.
"Another time perhaps," Wesley replied with an invigorated smile on his face as Faith flashed the elder Wyndam-Pryce the bird and then grabbed the front of Wesley's shirt and dragged him out of the ballroom. To this Roger howled in anger and squeezed off a few more shots that followed the retreating Wesley and Faith, barely missing them by inches. When he ran out of bullets he kept pulling the trigger, with the eerily sad clicking sound of an empty clip ringing throughout the room.
"I'd love to stay and thin the herd out a bit but I have more important matters to attend to," Angel stated with a confidant smile on his face as he sheathed his sword before he leapt straight up, grabbed the edge of the window that he had crashed through earlier, and hauled himself up and out of sight, but not before casting one quick look back and catching a glimpse of a tattoo on The Immortal's back through a hole in his shirt and jacket. The Immortal's vampire security force began to rush in and secure the room two minutes before the fire alarm went off and the sprinklers sprang to life, dusting over thirty vampires and soaking everyone else.
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They hurried into the sewers and raced off into the darkness for almost a mile before Angel ordered a halt and pulled Nina aside. She had been having trouble keeping up for almost half of the time and when Angel finally set her down on an old palette she couldn't help but slump forward against him, almost completely out of breath. Spike stayed on his feet, keeping watch in the middle of the tunnel. At first Wesley tried to appear that he was fine and was going to scout on ahead but he had barely rounded the corner when a fit of coughing had overtaken him and he had started to pitch forward.
"Wesley," Faith exclaimed with a scared look on her face as she rounded the corner behind him, saw him start to fall forward, and rushed to catch him before he hit the ground.
"No…I'm okay," Wesley started to say with a tired and worn out look on his face before he was overcome with a fit of violent coughing.
"No you're not, now stop saying that…you're scaring me," Faith shot back with a very worried look in her eyes as she guided Wesley over to one of the walls and then helped him to sit down.
"Sorry about that…never meant to," Wesley said softly with a tired look on his face as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath as Faith knelt down in front of him, straddling his right leg in between her legs.
"I know you didn't Wes, but you did anyway," Faith said with a very concerned tone to her voice as she laid her right hand on Wesley's left cheek and then lifted his head up until she could look him in the eye, with her hand still on his cheek.
"Another one of my failings I guess," Wesley weakly joked back with a half hearted smile on his face as he reached his left hand up and placed it over Faith's right hand.
"Sorry Wes…but you don't have the market cornered on that one, we've all fucked," Faith started so say back almost in a soft whisper before Wesley spoke up.
"Interesting choice of words," Wesley interjected with a randy grin on his face before he felt Faith's hot breath on his lips and she leaned in closer until their foreheads were just about to touch when it happened.
"Wesley, Faith…you guys okay," Angel asked with a concerned look on his face as he rounded the corner, just as Faith shot back away from Wesley and ripped her hand out of his grasp, turning her face away from Angel and trying not to blush.
"Of course Angel…I just need a minute to rest," Wesley replied with a frustrated edge to his voice before he did his best to smile reassuringly up at Angel and then let out the breath that had been holding in since interrupting Faith.
"Good…we'll stay here a few more minutes and then continue on, these bullets are really starting to annoy me," Angel replied with a relieved smile on his face before he turned around and walked off back around the corner, still muttering to himself.
END OF CHAPTER 7
P.S.-Just wondering a bit who people want the pairings to be and how should I get them together, I'm keeping my usual ships of Wesley/Faith and Spike/Buffy(which will happen but rest assured it won't be easy and her being with The Immortal will not be forgotten about and will bring its own share of problems). Other than that I'm open to suggestions, except I do like Nina/Angel…