Disclaimer: The title came from Disney's 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame', so I don't own it, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel' came from Joss Whedon, so I don't own them, and 'Charmed' came from Constance M. Burge, so that's not mine either.

Anyway, enjoy.

Feedback: It's here to be read; let me know that it has been

AN: Sorry this took so long to get up; I had a bad case of writer's block for a significant amount of time, and then the document caught a virus, resulting in me losing everything I'd done on it so far and forcing me to start all over again. Anyway, I hope it was worth the wait in the end; we've only got a few more chapters before the story's all over, and they are going to have some significant action scenes, let me tell you

What Makes a Monster?

After the Source had vanished from the room, and the thing he referred to as 'Adam' had stood up, Angel had only a few seconds to run over his possible attack plan to try and stop this new factor before their new foe was ready to attack.

On the one hand, he, Spike, Doyle and Belthazor could charge at this guy in a desperate, all-or-nothing attack, and hope that a surprise offensive of four against one- regardless of how powerful the one might appear to be at the moment- would be enough to get past his defences and actually do some damage to the sucker.

On the other hand, they could just leave him here, have Belthazor take them back to the others, get out of this base and close off all the entrances they could find, leaving this thing sealed away until they could figure out an effective means of killing it.

Unfortunately, much as he would have almost preferred to use the second option, it wasn't possible; they had no way of knowing whether this 'Adam' thing in front of them wouldn't be able to just break out of the base no matter what they did to the entrances. Besides, even if they blocked up every doorway down here that they could find, there'd always be the possibility of them having missed something that could allow this guy to get out without them even knowing he was gone.

They couldn't afford to take that kind of risk; if this guy was half as powerful as he looked, he'd be bad news, and Angel was prepared to bet that he was, if anything, more powerful than he seemed.

That left them all with only one option right now.

"Get him!" he yelled at his friends. Instantly, Angel, Spike and Doyle charged forward, Belthazor hanging back slightly to charge an energy ball; the former assassin may have some degree of superhuman strength, but his main power in combat lay in his energy balls rather than hand-to-hand.

As he leapt towards Adam, Angel was already privately wishing he'd actually brought a weapon of some kind to this fight rather than declining the option. True, it was hard to know exactly what kind of weapon he could have brought that would be able to do damage to something that seemed to be mostly mechanical, but he could have at least maybe severed some wires or something…

Then, just as he and the others had reached a position where they could actually hit Adam, the demon lashed out with a sweeping blow from his mechanical arm that sent all three of them flying backwards at a rapid rate.

Ouch… Angel winced as he struck the wall behind him, only vaguely registering that Belthazor was at least still standing; his mind was currently overwhelmed by the sudden pain he felt in one arm. He was reasonably sure his enhanced healing would have it attended to in a few minutes- he'd had broken bones before since becoming a vampire, and they always healed at a relatively rapid rate- but he was still going to be out of action for the next few minutes.

No two ways about it, Angel thought to himself, as he glanced up at where Adam was still standing, an arrogant smile on his face as he studied the two vampires and two half-breeds that faced him, if I don't get back up and at him soon, or the others can't hold him off long enough for me to heal, this is going to suck…

As soon as Buffy saw the figure standing in the middle of the room, and took in the Charmed Ones' reactions to him, she knew that this guy could only be the 'Source of All Evil' that the Halliwell sisters had told them about after hearing about Angel, Cole and Doyle's encounter with him during their escape from the Initiative.

In which case, if she recalled all the details about what the Halliwells had told them about their regular, large-scale allies, the guy was basically large, powerful, evil, and dangerous.

In other words, he was prime Slayage material as far as she was concerned; the fact that he wasn't something she'd normally be dealing with was a secondary concern if it was anything to be concerned about.

Buffy didn't hesitate; right now, the Halliwells and Willow were still up on the staircase leading down into the main room of the Initiative, and were just slightly too far away for them to instantly strike back at the Source.

She was nearest to the bad guy right now; as far as she was concerned, that meant that it was up to her to launch the first attack against him.

Charging forward, Buffy's eyes barely registered the Source raise his hands to generate what liked like what Angel had described as an 'energy ball'; Cole had apparently used them as long-range weapons to great extent during the initial fight between the two demonic warriors, before they'd realised that they were on the same side.

However, even if she didn't fully register it with her eyes, her other, 'Slayer'-senses were perfectly well-aware of it. As soon as the Source was in a position to launch the ball at her, Buffy had briefly vaulted off to the side, out of the path of the energy ball, and then launched herself towards the guy once more, fist outstretched to strike him in the side of the head…

Only for her to suddenly be hit by what seemed to be an electric 'shock' of some kind, sending her flying back through the air. For a moment, she thought she was going to hit the wall, but then she felt something…

Grab her?

"Sorry if this is a bit uncomfortable," a voice said from behind her. "I don't normally do this in a fight- we tend to stay grounded and in smaller locations- but I figured it was worth a shot, particularly since the alternative was to risk you getting a broken neck."

"Phoebe?" Buffy said, glancing behind her in surprise, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of the middle Halliwell sister literally flying through the air, her hands holding Buffy's arms as they landed beside the others.

"Yeah, I know; cool little extra power, isn't it?" Piper said, smiling slightly at the Slayer as she indicated Phoebe, before turning back to look at the Source, who was presently just standing in the middle of the room and looking at them with an almost casual attitude; it was almost as though he didn't even consider them an actual threat. Buffy was about to suggest that Paige, Willow and Phoebe use the weapons they'd brought for the current fight, but

"Of course," the eldest Halliwell added, glaring at the Source, "as far as offensive powers go, my one definitely tops it."

With that said, Piper casually flicked her hands at the magic-based demon standing in front of them, in the manner that Buffy recognised as being how Piper activated her 'explosion' powers.

Nothing actually happened- at least, the 'Source' was still standing after the attack rather than ending up dead or in multiple pieces- but he was sent staggering back a few feet from a small 'explosion' that seemed to strike him in the chest. Before their opponent could regain his balance, Piper had flicked her hands at him again, repeating the previous instance, before following it up with another attack, and another, and another…

Unfortunately, it was the last attack that nearly caused a serious problem for the united forces of the Charmed Ones and their allies as the Source finally took the opportunity to strike back at his adversaries.

Somehow- even looking back, Buffy was never entirely sure how it had happened- the Source managed to regain his balance just a bit faster than before after Piper's last attack. Maybe his powers allowed him to adapt to attacks that were used against him too often, or maybe he'd just been attempting to lull the witch into a false sense of security…

Either way, when Piper launched her next attack, the Source rapidly raised his hands, almost seemed to catch some kind of energy in his hands- the energy in question suddenly took on an appearance that resembled the energy ball he'd tried to throw at Buffy earlier, before he launched it back at the caster.

Instantly, Willow- the nearest to the eldest Halliwell- dived towards Piper, knocking the older witch out of harm's way as the ball crashed into the stairs behind them. The united forces of the Charmed Ones, Buffy and Willow may all be active, but it still failed to change the fact that the initial attack strategy against the Source didn't seem to have worked out.

"So much for that plan!" Paige commented, exchanging rueful glances with Phoebe before looking anxiously over at Buffy; the Source was currently dazed from the attack, but she doubted it would last long. "You're the Vampire Slayer here; got anyideas of your own for weakening this guy?"

"Maybe…" Buffy commented, as she took in their surroundings in a rapid attempt to come up with something that could use their environment to their advantage.

It only took a few moments for her to realise that the perfect weapon for that purpose was practically under her nose.

Or rather, the perfect weapons were right under their noses.

Specifically, the guns that the Initiative soldiers had been holding when they'd all been knocked out by her initial entrance to the facility; it wasn't an absolutely foolproof attack strategy, but it would give them better odds than they had at the moment.

"Get us some guns!" she yelled over at Paige, as she turned back to face the Source, diving forward even as she dodged another energy ball aimed in her direction. It would appear that the Source had decided to try and eliminate/test/whatever the only unknown element in this fight, given that he was currently only focused on her and nearly ignoring the Halliwells and Willow; after all, he knew that the other four were witches, but he probably wasn't sure what Buffy was.

"Right!" Paige yelled from behind Buffy, as the Slayer rolled forward to land beside the Source, fists clenched as she leapt back onto her feet while simultaneously delivering a powerful uppercut to her opponent. "Guns!"

Instantly, five of the guns that were lying on the ground turned into brilliant white light and 'flew' into the hands of the Source's current opponents. As soon as the guns were in their hands, the five women aimed their weapons at the Source.

"You want a fight?" Phoebe asked, chuckling slightly as the Source's eyes widened in shock at the sight before them. "You've got one!"

Instantly, the five of them aimed their weapons at the Source, pressed down on the trigger, and instantly launched a mass of bullets of their foe. Instantly, the Source was sent staggering backwards, his entire body shuddering as the bullets struck him, sending him reeling as he was persistently struck by his adversaries' weapons. He didn't seem to have sustained much in the way of actual injuries yet, but he was nevertheless clearly not going to be at full strength when the current assault was over.

"KEEP IT UP!" Piper yelled over at her sisters. "WE'VE GOT HIM ON THE ROPES!"

"PROFESSOR DELGADO?" a voice yelled from off to the side.

Despite her current focus on taking out the Source, Buffy couldn't help but notice that voice; the fine details eluded her at the moment- gunfire tended to make things harder to hear- but it was definitely an older woman, maybe in her fifties, who, given that her apparent age made the role of active soldier impractical, was most likely in charge of this organisation.

In other words, it sounded like they were just about to end up with a whole new set of problems on their plate.

As soon as his allies had hit the wall behind him, Belthazor took the opportunity he'd been handed. With Adam's attention momentarily distracted by surveying the damage he'd just caused, he seemed not to notice as Belthazor raised his hand, summoning an energy ball into existence. As the ball crackled in his hand, he hurled it towards the 'triborg', his eyes narrowing as he launched the ball at his target…

Only for Adam to casually raise his mechanical hand and catch the energy ball before it struck him, as though it were only a cricket ball.

Oh, shit… Belthazor reflected to himself, as Adam casually studied the energy ball in his hands as though it was just some oddity he'd found lying around somewhere.

Evidently, whatever the Source had been doing to Adam when he'd been 'dousing' him with that blue lightning when they came into the room, it hadn't just been waking Adam up to deal with the current situation in Sunnydale; it must have also given Adam access to some basic magical powers. Probably not enough for him to cast actual spells on his own- Belthazor doubted the Source would create a warrior that was so powerful it might even be capable of destroying him- but it was clear that his energy balls wouldn't be as effective against Adam as he'd hoped…

"Nice try," Adam's voice said, breaking Belthazor's train of thought as he looked back up at the Source's former assassin. "Now, let me show you how it's done."

With that, Adam raised the hand containing the energy ball and hurled it in Belthazor's direction. The red-skinned demon instinctively shimmered off to the side, leaving the ball to strike the wall behind where he'd been standing mere seconds ago, before shimmering once more to appear directly beside Adam, launching a punch at the flesh side of the creature's head…

Only for Adam to catch Belthazor's wrist in his mechanical arm before the other demon had even struck home.

Turning to glare at Belthazor, Adam grinned slightly at his foe.

"Not a bad try," he said dismissively, as though he was just a teacher complimenting a pupil for attempting a difficult problem. "It just wasn't good enough."

"Is this?" a voice yelled from off to the side. Adam and Belthazor barely had time to realise who'd spoken before Spike had lunged forward, his vampiric features fixed in a roar of outrage as he brought his axe down towards the triborg's mechanical arm, the blade digging into the metallic wrist with incredible force…

Only for Spike to suddenly be thrown back, electricity tearing through his body as it crackled along the metal handle of the axe from where the blade had dug into the cables of Adam's arm.

Fortunately, the shock of the impact was enough to make him release Belthazor, resulting in the demonic ex-assassin escaping the vampire's fate, but Spike was still clearly not in any specific shape to get back up and continue fighting at the immediate moment.

As soon as Piper heard the voice yell off to their side, she didn't hesitate; even if she wanted to kill the Source more than she'd wanted almost anything else for as long as she could remember, if there was somebody else here, they had to stop firing the guns to explain themselves. Evidently, her sisters and allies- it was still too early to consider Buffy and Willow friends- agreed with her; it only took seconds for the sound of gunfire to cease, leaving all five of them free to look and see who'd just arrived.

Whatever Piper had been expecting to see in a top-secret military base dedicated to the study of demons like they were all automatically against humanity just because they weren't human (OK, so the only 'good' demons she'd met so far were Cole, Doyle and Angel; that still didn't mean those three were the extent of the demon population who didn't want to devour and maim everyone else on the planet), she hadn't been expecting to see an older woman, in approximately her fifties, with short greying hair, dressed in a white lab coat over a purple jumper and dark trousers, staring at them with cold hatred.

"How the hell did you all get in here?" she yelled; she carefully, and deliberately, Piper noted, didn't come any closer to them, apparently afraid of what they might be capable of if pushed to fight. "And what are…"

Much to Piper's surprise, the woman's voice trailed off as her eyes fell on Buffy and Willow, both of whom were staring at the woman with an equally incredulous gaze on their faces.

"Professor Walsh?" Willow said at last, her eyes wide in surprise as she looked at the woman. "You run this place?"

"Miss Rosenberg?" 'Walsh'- as this woman's name appeared to be- said, looking incredulously at the red-headed witch, before her gaze flicked to Buffy and she rolled her eyes slightly. "And Miss Summers…"

She rolled her eyes and sighed slightly, shaking her head in a self-criticising manner. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to see that you were never exactly normal; you never liked me from the beginning…"

"Uh… actually, I didn't know anything about this place," Buffy said, glaring at Walsh with an expression that Piper wasn't surprised to see combined confusion with hostility; she clearly didn't like this woman, but at the same time had no idea what she was doing here. "I never liked you because I thought you were a bitch, not because I thought you were-"

"Oh, and you just got here by some fluke?" Walsh yelled, indicating the facility around her as she continued to glare in the direction of the new arrivals. "What is it; you can't take the fact that you're no longer the top of the pecking order and want to eliminate the people who can actually stop you?"

"Y'know, if it wasn't for the fact that we're kind of trying to destroy this place anyway- if not for the reasons you think we are- I'd be accusing of you of being a raving paranoid," Phoebe said, glaring critically at 'Walsh'. "I mean, you're not making that big a splash in the grand scheme of things; from what we've got, you've captured a bunch of vampires and some assorted minor demons, and that's about it."

"Exactly!" Willow said, looking triumphantly at Walsh. "You're suffering from a Narcissus complex; you're so fixated on your own importance you're just pretty much incapable of registering that you're not as important as you seem to have convinced yourself you are!"

For a moment, Willow just glared at the woman before her, than she turned to look at her friend and allies (It was still too early for her to automatically think of the Charmed Ones as friends) and shrugged apologetically. "Sorry if that's not accurate; I tried to pay attention in Psych class, but given that she was teaching it and she's barking mad herself she may have got some stuff wrong…"

"I AM NOT INSANE, DEMON!" Walsh yelled at Willow.

"Excuse me?" Phoebe said, looking intently at Walsh, hoping that the others were doing what they'd arranged and getting anyone else in this facility out of here while they kept the main soldiers occupied here. "You're just automatically assuming we're demons because we attacked you? Does it ever occur to you that maybe we're the good guys who object to you treating a bunch of people like they don't matter just because they're not totally human?"

"Oh, and you attacked Professor Delgado because we're on the same side?" Walsh yelled, indicating the body of the man the Charmed Ones knew better as the Source. "Tell me, do you honestly think all humans are as stupid as-"

Before Walsh could continue, she was suddenly interrupted by the man she insisted of thinking of as only 'Professor Delgado' rapidly standing up and waving his hand. Before any of the Charmed/Scooby team could react, their guns had all flown out of their hands, disintegrating as they flew, and Walsh was being held up in the air by the Source, who was grinning casually at them, his earlier wounds now healed.

"Nice try," he said simply. "Too bad it didn't work out."

"Let her go," Buffy said, indicating Walsh. "She may be a bitch, but you don't get to just kill people on my watch."

Watch, Phoebe thought to herself, anxiously risking a glance at her own one. If things had gone according to plan, she and the others should have been further into the Initiative at this point, leaving Leo, Anya, Xander, Giles and Cordelia to follow them and use the discarded weapons to defend themselves against any opponents. While they were definitely going to be requiring back-up if this 'stand-off' continued, Phoebe also hoped that their friends would be sensible enough not to enter the room in the current situation; from what she'd learned of their new allies, none of the others had any natural abilities they could use to defend themselves in this kind of situation, and it wouldn't do them any good to give the Source access to a hostage who they actually cared about.

In other words, until further notice, they had a stand-off.

As soon as Spike had been sent flying back by the electrical explosion, Doyle seized his own chance for attack. With Adam momentarily distracted after Spike's blow to his arm, the half-Brachen demon leapt forward as fast as he could, punching the human side of Adam's face before following it up with a rapid head-butt…

As soon as his forehead struck the monstrosity of man and flesh standing before him, Doyle knew he'd made a mistake; stars suddenly burst up in front of his vision, and he staggered backwards, desperately blinking to regain his composure as he shifted back into human form from the daze of the blow.

Idiot! he thought to himself, as he clutched at his aching forehead and cheeks; when he'd head-butted Adam, he'd been so focused on 'proving' himself to his allies that he'd forgotten about the metal plate on Adam's face, and he'd practically struck it directly with his last attack. What the Hell were ya thinking; that man's head was obviously going to be-

Wait a minute… he thought, as his ears, momentarily incapacitated from the pain (Or, rather, his brain had been in so much pain that it had been briefly unable to process what the ears were hearing), suddenly started working again. What's that noise?

In a matter of moments, his pain-dazed brain recognised it.

It was Adam.

He was screaming.

As soon as Doyle's head had stopped aching enough for him to feel safe in relaxing his grip, he glanced up and saw exactly what had happened. When he'd hit Adam, although the actual blow had done more damage to himself than it had done to Adam, a few of the spines on his face had managed to lodge themselves in the soft flesh around Adam's eyes from the force of Doyle's initial attack. None of the wounds were particularly serious- Adam's eyes still appeared intact, and the bleeding was already beginning to stop- but it was definitely keeping him out of action for the moment.

AN 2: Regarding Doyle's spines getting stuck in Adam's face, it is possible; in the Buffy/Angel crossover novel Monster Island Doyle's Brachen father Axtius had the anxious habit of occasionally pulling the spines out of his face, although it causes him some slight pain and is a habit he was trying to break himself of

Right now, that was all Doyle needed.

"Take that!" he yelled, leaping desperately for the demented triborg before him, lashing out with a desperate punch for the human side of Adam's head. As soon as the fist struck its target, Adam was sent staggering backwards (Admittedly more from the surprise of the attack rather than the actual force; Doyle freely acknowledged that he was hardly a strong fighter even in his demon form), before the powerful triborg found Angel standing to one side of him, now recovered from Adam's initial attack.

Spike may still be down, Doyle noted as he glanced over at the other vampire, but Angel?

He's as ready as ever.

"Hi there," Angel said grimly, staring harshly at his opponent tried to turn around to attack the vampire. "It's payback time."

With the pain from the recent injuries in his eyes making Adam that fraction of a second too slow to attack, Angel seized his chance to attack, lashing out at the man/demon/machine with both fists simultaneously, striking Adam in the ribs with immense force.

Angel had managed to break through stone walls with similar punches in his past.

Using one fist, he had managed to leave most vampires staggering with shock from the power of his punches after hitting them in the chest like he'd just hit Adam.

Used against his current opponent, Angel only sent the triborg crashing into the back wall. The creature was clearly dazed by the attack, true, but that aside he still seemed fine. Even that crack Spike had made on his arm earlier already seemed to be 'healing up'- regardless of the fact that it should have been impossible for metal to 'heal' itself.

Looking up at Adam's face, Angel was frustrated to note that his foe had even recovered from the recent damage Doyle had caused to his eyes; their advantage of Adam being blinded had gone almost as soon as it had come, and Angel doubted that they'd get another chance to strike back at him like that.

"You know, you really are pathetic," Adam growled, raising his flesh hand as he glared at the vampire. Before Angel could move, Adam had lashed out with a powerful punch, sending Angel staggering backwards and…

Found himself pinned to the wall?

Oh crap… Angel thought, as he glanced down at where Adam's first had struck his shoulder.

Sticking out from the arm, penetrating right through Angel's shoulder, was a three-foot-long spike made entirely of what looked like bone.

Then the pain hit him, and Angel had to clench his jaw together to stop himself from screaming in agony.

God, that hurt!

"A valiant attempt, but an unimpressive one," Adam said, glaring at Angel as he lashed out with his other hand, striking Doyle and Belthazor as they attempted to charge him once again. "Let me make this clear to you and your allies, vampire; you cannot defeat me."

"Really…?" Angel growled, wincing slightly as he felt the sharp bone in his shoulder digging through his muscles; if he didn't get that out soon, he might risk long-term muscle damage.

"Let me make this clear to you, Angelus; you cannot defeat me," Adam growled, staring pointedly at the vampire in front of him. "I am empowered by the greatest energy sources in both magic and science; the magical power provided by the Source itself, combined with a plutonium power pack that shall never run down. I am unstoppable."

"Funny thing… about unstoppable…" Angel grunted weakly as he glared at Adam, reaching up to grab the bone spike that was still lodged in his shoulder. "Just 'cause you can't stop it… doesn't mean… you can't… match it!"

As soon as the word 'much' had crossed his lips, Angel had grabbed the bone spear in his shoulder, and, exerting all his strength, broke it cleanly in half. As he fell to the ground, leaving Adam roaring in shock and pain from the broken 'bone', Angel thrust out with the bone spear, sticking it directly into the side of Adam's neck.

As Adam stumbled backwards, screaming in agony, Angel glanced over at his allies, and was relieved to see that all three of them were back on their feet; Spike was clutching his head and wincing somewhat, and Angel wondered if the electric shock had done something to the chip, but otherwise they all seemed to be fine.

Good, Angel thought grimly to himself as he glanced back at Adam, who was already attempting to pull out the bone spike Angel had lodged into his neck. The wound looked serious, but Angel knew that, as soon as the spike was out of Adam's body, the wound would begin to heal at such a rapid rate that Angel knew would prevent anybody from actually doing any effective damage to Adam in a simple fist-fight…

But what Adam had said had made Angel think.

Adam had clearly demonstrated that he could deal with any physical offences they had to offer…

But what about his abilities in a fight against magic?

If the thing had been capable of using any spells or magical powers, he'd probably have done so already; his 'magic' appeared to be limited to just the accelerated healing and that thing he'd done when he caught Cole's initial energy ball.

With that in mind, Angel had another idea he wanted to try.

"Cole," he said, glancing over at his new friend and jerking a thumb at Adam, "think you can 'shimmer' us over to the Charmed Ones?"

Belthazor didn't even need to ask what Angel meant.

"Hold on tight," he said, holding out his left arm. "I've never tried to take more than one person with me before; you'll need to keep a tight grip if this is going to work."

Nodding, Angel reached over to take a tight grip of Belthazor's shoulder, Doyle and (After some quick prompting) Spike grabbing onto the red-skinned assassin's arm. Instantly, Belthazor dashed forward as fast as he could, grabbing onto Adam just as the triborg had pulled the bone spike out of his neck, focused…