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
What Makes a Monster?
Then, after a brief whirl of air as everything seemed to turn grey for a moment, the four demonic warriors found themselves standing in a large room, Buffy, Willow, and the three Halliwells standing in the centre, facing a man in a dark suit who was effortlessly holding up a woman apparently in her fifties, dressed in a white lab coat.
For a moment, Angel's eyes narrowed as he glared at her; if that woman wasn't the person who'd 'talked' to him and Cole after their initial fight (If you could call it 'talking' when all she'd been doing was insult them and act like they weren't even close to human), he'd be very surprised…
But, given that she was currently at threat from an individual who he now recognised as the Source, Angel was prepared to put that aside and focus on the more immediate matter of survival.
He didn't even need to speak; as soon as his allies had realised what was happening, he, Doyle and Spike had dived off to the side, out of the path of any potential attack on the part of the Source, just as Belthazor had shimmered away from Adam to stand right beside the Source. Before the master demon could retaliate, Cole struck the Source's arm with sufficient force to make his former master release the scientist, grabbed Walsh as she fell, and shimmered away once more, evidently taking the scientist to safety for the moment.
With the only 'civilian' in the building out of the way- as much of a pain as Walsh might have been, she was still human, and deserved another chance to matter how big a mistake she'd made this time around- the united forces of the Scooby Gang, the Charmed Ones, and Angel Investigations, were now free to act and attack their opponents.
"Get them!" Angel, Buffy and Piper yelled simultaneously; Angel, for one, knew that Cole would be back once he'd deposited Walsh somewhere 'safe', but he didn't have the time to wait for his new friend to return. As Angel watched, Willow, Phoebe, Buffy, Doyle and Belthazor- having returned from wherever he'd shimmered Walsh away to- charged for the Source, lashing out with their fists and weapons before even the self-proclaimed 'Source of Evil' could have time to react.
For all the Source's power, even he couldn't fight off a gathering like that any time soon, so, for the moment, he was out of the fight.
Of course, with half their attack force currently occupied, that only left Angel with Piper, Spike and Paige to face Adam, and he wasn't entirely sure if the chip in Spike's head would actually let him hit something that was only partly human.
Even if Angel and Spike's raw strength, coupled with the Halliwells' own natural powers, meant that it was far from impossible that they could pull it off, this was definitely going to be a difficult struggle…
Not for the first time as he sat on the ground, cards in his hands and his weapon off to one side as he studied his friends and allies, Xander had to wonder how the hell he'd come to this; sitting outside a top-secret demon research military facility, surrounded by an ex-demon, his ex-girlfriend, his current girlfriend- fortunately neither of them had spent much time talking to each other so far-, his old librarian, and the ghost/angel/whatever of a World War Two combat medic, playing cards and waiting for the time when they could move in. After they'd taken up their positions to wait for the moment when they could enter the Initiative and deal with any soldiers remaining in the facility, Cordelia, shallow as ever, had stated that there was no way she was standing around doing nothing until it was time for them to move in, and Anya had suggested a quick game of cards to keep themselves occupied; Leo had set an alarm on his watch to let them know when it was time for them to enter the base.
"Got any fours?" Anya asked, looking inquiringly over at Cordelia as she finished studying the cards in her hand.
"Nah, go fish," Cordelia replied, shrugging dismissively at Anya's query.
"Do you have any tens?" Leo asked, looking over at the former cheerleader himself. Cordelia had just opened her mouth to reply when there was a brief shimmering in the air off to the side, and the 'reserve' team found themselves staring in shock and confusion as Belthazor handed an unconscious body- a woman in her mid to late fifties, apparently- over to Leo, a grim expression on her face.
"The Source is down there," the red-skinned demon explained briefly, nodding grimly at the shocked expression on Leo's face. "He was using her as a hostage, but the other soldiers down there should be OK; the others are probably keeping him so occupied he can't even try to reach any of them."
"Wait a minute; the Source is fighting you guys down there?" Xander asked, looking incredulously at Belthazor as he put his cards down and reached over to pick up his sword. "You guys need any back-up; we can be there in-"
"No," Belthazor stated grimly as he looked over at the young man. "The rest of us will do what we can to wear him down; your job is to make sure nobody else goes down there while we're fighting. Give us a few minutes, and then, if you haven't heard anything from us…"
He shrugged slightly, his eyes narrowed as he looked over at Leo and Giles. "It'll all be up to you then."
As the two men nodded briefly in understanding, Belthazor smiled slightly back at them- Xander wished he wouldn't do that; long experience with vampires had left Xander convinced that demons only smiled at you when they were about to break your neck- and then 'shimmered' away, leaving the five members of the reserve team standing in the ground, looking anxiously around at each other.
Finally, Giles broke the silence as he looked over at Leo.
"What would you recommend?" he asked the Whitelighter. "Waiting outside the house to stop anybody going inside in the first place, or waiting inside to knock anybody out as they try to get in?"
"Inside," Leo stated simply. "It's more straightforward; we don't have to worry too much about explanations."
"Exactly!" Cordelia agreed, smiling over at the Whitelighter as she tucked her cards into her back pocket and picked up her dagger, the others also gathering their weapons as they prepared to move. "I mean, if nothing else, we're going to blow the place up anyway; what does it matter if a few people have headaches in the morning?"
Somehow, Xander doubted that it would be that simple to deal with anybody who tried to enter Lowell House before the Initiative base was destroyed.
He didn't mention to anyone else, though; if nothing else, he didn't want to jinx their current 'mission' by saying it was going to be difficult and thus encouraging the universe to make it harder.
Rolling his eyes as he stared at the door before him, Graham raised his hand and knocked once more on the door before him, glancing impatiently over at Forrest.
"You're sure this guy knows Buffy?" he asked his colleague, jerking his thumb at the door before him. "I mean, why would she keep in touch with her high school librarian of all people?"
"I don't know, and, right now, I don't particularly care," Forrest replied, as he looked back at Graham with a focused expression on his face. "What matters is that, if what that… thing said about Buffy is even remotely true, now that he's out, Riley probably figured that he'd come after her once more and went to warn her; it's the only thing that explains why he's been out of touch for the last few hours."
Nothing Graham's slightly sceptical expression, Forrest shrugged. "Dumb thing to do, I know, but in all fairness, when has Riley ever been the sharpest tool in the box?"
Despite the fact that he had long regarded Riley as a friend, Graham couldn't argue with that; the man was a good fighter, a good tactician, and an all-around decent guy to have on your side in a tight spot, but he could be more than slightly impulsive at the worst possible moments.
"Yeah, fair enough…" he admitted, nodding slightly before his voice trailed off as he tilted his head to one side. "Hey… do you hear something?"
Pausing, Forrest copied his friend and listened carefully.
Now that Graham mentioned it, there was some kind of sound coming from the room in front of them; it sounded like somebody was… trying to get out of something…
Exchanging a brief glance with his friend, Forrest didn't even need to ask for confirmation; they were going in, and that was the end of the matter. Both checking their holsters under their jackets- they always took care to carry at least a pistol and a taser around the campus, in case something came up- the two of them stepped back and launched two powerful kicks at the door in front of them.
Admittedly, if it turned out that the librarian was just into some 'kinky' stuff, they were going to end up monumentally embarrassed at what had just taken place, but, on the other hand, given that those yells definitely sounded like someone who was being held against their will, it wasn't like they wouldn't be able to provide a decent explanation for their actions.
As soon as they'd entered the room, it didn't take long for them to identify where the voice was coming from; judging by the way that a door to a closet was shaking, it seemed pretty clear that the voice was coming from there.
"Hold on!" Forrest yelled, as he and Graham took up position in front of the door. "Just get back; we'll have you out of here in a sec!"
As the voice stopped, Forrest and Graham waited a second or so to ensure the man on the other side had time to move out of harm's way, and then lashed out with two more powerful kicks, a grim smile on their faces as the door opened once more.
Then they saw who'd actually been standing on the other side, and their jaws dropped in surprise.
"Riley?" Graham said, staring incredulously at his fuming friend; he'd never heard Riley really yelling before now, so he'd been unable to immediately identify the voice when he heard it. "What the hell-?"
"Demons, that's what happened!" Riley yelled as he walked out of the closet, glaring at his friends. "I came here to try and warn Buffy, only to find her and her friends sitting around with Angelus as though he hadn't even done anything to her! When I tried to remind them what he'd done, she just hit me and then… well, I must have been knocked out, because the next thing I remember is waking up in there!"
"Sorry, can we back up a bit?" Forrest asked, looking in confusion at his friend. "Are you telling us that Buffy doesn't seem to care that Angelus raped her?"
"Look, she needs help in every sense of the word; why are we wasting time talking about this?" Riley retorted, glaring at his friends. "We need to get back to the Initiative and figure out our next move before she goes and does something really foolish!"
As the two men exchanged glanced, neither Forrest or Graham were surprised to see that the same expression was on their face; general frustration with Riley's sudden resolution to try and help somebody despite the fact that she'd probably end up needing to be saved from herself as well, but still resigned to try and keep their friend from making a serious mistake.
"Well," Forrest sighed, as he looked back at Riley, "we'd better get going if we're going to find Angelus before the situation gets awkward."
As Riley gave them a brief, grateful smile before he headed towards the door, Forrest could only hope that his friend's actions wouldn't result in them making the most serious mistake of their lives.
Personally, as far as he was concerned, if Buffy was repressing the trauma of Angelus raping her, it might be better for them to just try and capture her rather than kill the man she thought she 'loved' in front of her…
Right now, though, his main priority was to keep up with Riley to make sure he didn't make any foolish mistakes; he'd worry about the other details when he got there.
Fortunately for Angel and his group, Piper seemed to instantly guess why the four demons had 'brought' Adam here; as soon as their initial battle cry had finished and each person, Piper had turned to face Adam and flicked her hands at him.
Glancing back at the triborg after taking a quick assessment of the Source- Doyle and Phoebe had each managed to land a decent punch to the guy's face, so it looked like they'd be able to deal with their own adversary-, Angel allowed himself a small grin as he saw Adam's mechanical arm explode around the forearm as he raised it in an apparent attempt to 'block' Piper's attack. The arm itself remained intact, but judging by the sudden limpness of Adam's hand, the process by which signals were transferred from Adam's brain to the arm were no longer effectively transmitting to the mechanical limb.
Almost before his mind had consciously processed what had just taken place, Angel instinctively began to move to attack Adam, but Spike, once again holding his axe, struck first; his fangs bared, he lunged forward, bringing his axe rapidly down towards Adam's damaged arm, releasing it in the split second between him aiming the blow and actually making contact with the triborg (Clearly, Angel noted, Spike was trying to avoid a repeat of his earlier electric shock). The axe failed to totally cut the arm away from the rest of Adam, but it nevertheless managed to create a significant crack in the metal 'armour' that Angel's allies almost instantly moved to take advantage of; Adam barely had time to look down at the crack when Paige held out her hands, aimed them at the cracked machinery, and yelled out "Arm!"
Even as Angel watched, the portion of the arm between the crack and Adam's hand vanished in a swirl of white lights, to reappear almost instantly in Paige's hands.
Despite his long experience of the magical world- ranging from everything from demons to his own curse- Angel couldn't help but be impressed at that little demonstration of what the three sisters could be capable of when they put their mind to it.
Regardless of his awe at what had just taken place, the vampire didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opportunity he'd been handed. While Adam was still staring in shock at the stump that had been an intact arm mere moments ago, the former Scourge of Europe grabbed the dagger that he'd noticed earlier in Paige's belt, aimed it, and threw it directly at Adam, striking the triborg in the area where he'd earlier impaled his foe with his own bone spike. The flesh was evidently still tender enough for Angel to do some damage to his opponent, the dagger penetrating his opponent's skin with relative ease, leaving Angel to lash out with a powerful kick that struck Adam directly on the nose.
"AARRGGHH!!" Adam screamed, staggering backwards as he clutched at his injured face, staring almost incredulously at the 'blood' (If it could be called that; it almost smelled metallic from where Angel was standing) that covered his remaining hand; clearly, no matter how efficiently he was able to use his technological limbs, he didn't register their loss as any kind of actual pain.
"Nice," Paige said, nodding approvingly at the vampire's use of her weapon before she turned her attention back to the arm in her hands, a critical smirk on her face as she studied it. "Now then, let's see what this thing can do…"
What am I doing? Willow asked herself, as she desperately held her axe up in front of her as she tried not to shake too much at the situation she now found herself in. She was practically an amateur at the magic game, and had even less talent when it came to hand-to-hand, and here she was, about to go up against a demon with almost unimaginable magical powers, armed with only an axe?doing? Willow asked herself, as she desperately held her axe up in front of her as she tried not to shake too much at the situation she now found herself in. She was practically an amateur at the magic game, and had even talent when it came to hand-to-hand, and here she was, about to go up against a demon with almost magical powers, armed with only an ?
Quite frankly, this was not a good situation for her to be in.
OK, so she was fighting side-by-side with Buffy, a former assassin for the demon underworld, a half-demon Irishman who had visions courtesy of the higher powers in this game, and one of the most powerful witches who'd ever lived (If Giles' information was accurate), but even as she thrust her axe towards her opponent (Scoring a narrow victory as she slightly cut his arm even as the sucker 'shimmied' away or whatever the expression was), she couldn't help but feel hopelessly out of her depth at the moment.
"Keep him busy!" Phoebe yelled over at Willow as she lashed out with a powerful kick at the Source's 'face', sending the sucker staggering backwards slightly, his face flexing in an unsettling manner.
"Don't give him a chance to recover!" another voice yelled form off to the side; Willow vaguely recognised it as that 'Belthazor' guy who'd been there earlier before she saw an energy ball strike their foe in the side, once again knocking him off-balance before he'd even managed to regain his footing from the previous blow. "We've got to keep him distracted so he can't cast any spells!"
For a moment, Willow was frozen as she stared at the Source's face, unable to fully register Phoebe's earlier call in her direction. Something about his slightly 'unsteady' appearance briefly reminded of vampires shifting into their 'game faces' after attacking their foes; it was almost as though the Source was trying to stop himself from shifting his appearance, as though he was creating an illusionary appearance that he couldn't quite manage to maintain…
Somehow, this idea of further, deliberate deception on the Source's part made Willow even more anxious than she already was.
"No problem!" Buffy added, launching her own quick kick to the Source's back that sent him flying forward once again, just in time for Doyle to land a quick, if amateur, karate chop to the sucker's throat; clearly he didn't do much of the physical work back in Los Angeles. "Keeping bad guys distracted is one of my specialities!"
Then again, Willow mused to herself, as she witnessed the Source staggering slightly in pain from the multiple blows, maybe this won't be as difficult as I thought.
The Source was powerful, true, but it was clear that his ability to get off a decent spell was directly linked to his ability to concentrate long enough to focus the required magical energy against his target, and, with multiple attacks coming at him from all sides, at a speed that he clearly couldn't match, he didn't have the time to even try one spell.
"How does it feel to be helpless for once, Sourcey-boy?" Phoebe taunted, grinning slightly as she jammed her fingers into his eyes, grinning once again as he staggered back, clutching his face in pain.
"You see, this is why you'd never have lasted against the Charmed Ones even if you hadn't been dumb enough to take us on when we've got back-up," Belthazor stated grimly, as he launched another energy ball towards the Source, sending him staggering back once again just in time for the back of his head to meet another punch from Buffy. "You're too confident in your powers to bother with using anything else in a struggle; you've not put even the slightest effort in learning other methods of combat."
"But us?" Phoebe added, as she launched another rapid punch at the Source's face, grinning as he was sent backwards once more. "We've learned… we've adapted… we've researched… and none of us limit ourselves to just one method of tackling our opponents."
"We use magic, spells, weapons… whatever works, really," Buffy added, as she jabbed two fingers into the Source's eyes before following it up with a quick kick to the jaw that seemed to knock a tooth or two out of the sucker's mouth as he was nearly sent flying through the air. "Put it in a nutshell? We're willing to change to accommodate whatever we find ourselves dealing with in a fight situation."
"Which," Willow added, trying not to show her fear as she raised her axe to launch her own blow, "is precisely why we fight side-by-side with a group of legends and you are just one demon of many that'll end their days dead at our feet!"
Trying to conceal her own still-remaining fear at what she was facing at the moment, she lunged forward with the axe, digging the blade deeply into her opponent's shoulder, unable to stop a wide grin spreading over her face as the Source screamed in agony, thick black blood oozing out of the wound like Willow had just struck oil.
"AARRGGHH!!" the Source screamed, thrusting out a hand to hurl Willow away from him, although the axe remained where it was; if Phoebe hadn't managed to fly over and catch Willow, the younger witch would have at least had a broken arm.
His actions didn't win the Source any time, however; no sooner had he reached up to try and haul the axe out of his shoulder, Buffy had charged forward to strike the axe directly on the handle, sending it even further into her foe's shoulder. As the powerful demon screamed in agony from the increased pain in his arm, Belthazor launched another energy ball at their opponent, which was rapidly followed up by yet another rapid kick from Buffy that simultaneously dislodged the axe and seemed to break the demon's jaw.
"How do you like that?" Buffy grinned, as the Source screamed in agony and clutched at his distorted jaw. "We're kicking ass right now, my friends!"
"Oh yeah!" Phoebe smiled, as she exchanged a rapid high-five with the vampire Slayer. "You're going down, buddy!"
"AARRGGHH!" another voice suddenly screamed from off to the side, causing most of the group to glance over in the direction of the scream to see what had caused it (Belthazor, of course, remained facing the Source; even badly injured, he knew that his opponent was never to be underestimated).
Quite frankly, when the combined team saw what had caused the scream, none of them could quite believe it; Adam, the supposedly 'perfect' warrior created by the Initiative and the Source using a combination of science, magic, and various assorted demonic body parts, was knelt on the ground in the centre of a semi-circle consisting of Angel, Piper, Spike and Paige, his own mechanical arm sticking into his side as he clutched pathetically at a badly-bleeding wound in his neck.
He was clearly in pain, of course, but the fact that he was in that pitiful a condition after only a few minutes of combat made it pretty clear to all concerned parties that he was far from being as powerful as his creators had intended for him to be.
"Nice job," Angel said, nodding over at Paige in approval, which at least provided a partial answer as to how Adam's arm had ended up in his chest.
"Well… I try my best," Paige replied, nodding briefly back at him before looking over at the others. "Oh, hey guys; everything going well at your end?"
"About what you'd expect; we're kicking ass and taking… well, OK, not really taking names, because this guy doesn't even seem to have a name, but you catch my drift, right?" Willow added, casually grabbing her axe from where it had fallen and glancing back over her shoulder at their opponent as he lay bleeding on the ground, clutching pathetically at his injuries.
"Damn…" Piper whistled as she stared at the figure before her sister and allies, before glancing back at Phoebe. "Y'know, there's definitely something in the idea of just hitting the other guy."
"Well, it just proves what they say; sometimes, the basic ideas are the best ones," Buffy chuckled, giving the witch a brief thumbs-up before she turned around to look back at the figure before her. "Now then, any chance we could settle this the easy way now? As in, the way where you don't end up with even more broken bones before we cut your head off… or do whatever it is that'll kill you for good?"
"SILENCE!" the Source roared, as he glared back at the Slayer; either his jaw was already healing or he didn't entirely 'talk' in the same way as pretty Much every other demon they'd encountered did. "You shall all PAY for what you have done to me!"
"Oh, give it up, willya?" Phoebe said, glaring critically at where the self-proclaimed 'Source of All Evil Magic' stood shakily before them, bleeding from multiple wounds after the assorted attacks of his foes. "We've totally kicked your ass here, and your little 'project' is already on his knees after a few minutes of fighting with just four people; what do we have to do to make you admit that you don't have a chance of winning, kill you?"
"FOOLS!" the Source yelled at the nine warriors facing him, each one of them tensed and ready for action as they stared at the batted bodies of him and Adam, the remains of the triborg's mechanical arm hanging limp as the Source's black blood freely leaked from the wound in his side. "Maybe you're accurate in saying that Adam and I can'tbeat you in a confrontation on our own…"
Angel's eyes widened in horror as he took in the implications of that sentence; glancing over at his allies, he saw that Buffy, Piper, Spike, Phoebe, Cole and Doyle also seemed to realise what it meant, although Paige and Willow didn't appear entirely certain where the Source was going with that comment.
Unfortunately, they were destined not to remain in ignorance for long.
"But together?" the Source asked, a broad smile spreading across his bloodstained face as he turned to look at Adam's fallen body. "That is a totally different concept!"
At this confirmation of what he'd suspected, Angel's eyes, if that was possible, became even wider.
Oh… no… he thought to himself, glancing anxiously over at Buffy and Piper as he processed what the Source had just said.
If that meant what he thought it meant…
Desperately, Angel leapt towards the Source as the powerful being seemed to literally dive towards Adam, his body shifting into dark red energy as he seemed to almost envelop the damaged form below him. Even as Angel's hands reached out for the body before him, he knew that he would never make it there in time…
Then the red energy that had been the Source struck the damaged body of Adam, releasing a massive burst of raw magical energy that sent all the observers staggering backwards from the sheer intensity of the 'explosion'.
Great… Angel mused to himself, as he was sent hurtling through the air for the second time in the last hour or so. There's no other way to say it; when this part's over, this fight is really going to be a tricky one…