A/N: Happy Holidays, everybody!
Big ups to the one and only Starway Man, my brotha from anotha mutha, for his fabulous BETA editing skills. Theo, you are the man!
Special shout out to all those who reviewed, especially Nilya2397, ShayleeAlf, wingster55 (My new Broski of the Month! Lol), Lily Emerald, BrucasBangelBrylan, BloodyTink, teamtiva, ashes at midnight, Geoff, Angellufy, DarkVizard447, xxdawnbreakerxx, angelplusbuffyequalsforever, Megagalvatron12 and David Fishwick. You're all AWESOME!
In case you don't notice when you read further down, I've been kinda inspired by the trailer for the upcoming 'The Avengers' film, directed by the AllFather himself, Joss Whedon. Good Luck, Joss, I know you can make that film epic. In theaters May 4, 2012. AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!
Well, we are officially at the halfway point for this story. Took about 8 years to get there, but still, woo-hoo! I'm at a new job, though, and it's pretty hectic, so updates might take some time. Still, I think this can tide you guys over at least through the holiday until I can finish the next chapter (And believe me, it's gonna be a major turning point in this story.)
More on the way, soon, broski's, but in the meantime, enjoy the holiday season, get some hot chocolate, warm up your cookies and hang onto your hats, because it's time for the latest chapter of…
Bring Me To Life - A Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel Crossover Event
Part 23 – We're In This Together
Shadow Valley Vineyard - Sunnydale
Earlier that day
Behind every good villain (now there was an oxymoron if there ever was one) there usually lay a solid crew.
Well, granted, the First Evil knew that the term 'solid' for this particular macabre and motley crew was a…a bit of a stretch.
In the form of Buffy Summers, the First sent a sweeping look over its newly assembled team: the skinless Warren Mears, the wicked witch Amy Madison, the mad vampire Drusilla and one of its biggest aces in the hole - the newly resurrected Beast.
"Felicitations, fellow malefactors!" the First/Buffy crowed, before shrugging dispassionately. "Or something like that."
Warren squinted skeptically. "So, let me get this straight - you can take on the form of anyone you want, and yet you choose to look like that bitch, Buffy Summers?"
"Not just anyone, dummy - I can only take the form of those who've died. Temporarily or otherwise. Figured I'd use a form that can motivate most of you," the First casually replied, before frowning at one noticeable oddity in Warren's fleshless appearance - the peculiar presence of pants.
"By the way, does wearing that hurt? You know, with the you-being-skinless and all?" the faux-blonde asked innocently as she gestured at Warren's trousers.
Warren and Amy turned to each other for a moment, shrugging, before Warren returned his gaze to the First. "It chafes a little. But, hey, it beats going around with Warren Jr. flapping in the breeze; just because I have no skin doesn't mean I have no manners."
"What a gentleman," Buffy/the First deadpanned in a flat voice before it began addressing the rest of its Rogues Gallery. "Most of you have come to know…and loathe…this pretty little face fairly well."
To Drusilla. "She ripped your little Manson family apart."
To Amy. "Her friends humbled and humiliated you…"
To Warren. "She emasculated you, while her little witch friend disfigured you."
Turning to the eerily quiet Beast. "And her ex-boy toy…"
The First abruptly morphed into the image of a smirking Angel - no, Angelus - and said, "Stabbed you in the back and left you as a pile of rubble."
The monstrous horned demon growled as it narrowed its baleful yellow eyes at Angelus/the First. It had barely been a day since the ultimate evil that had originally been expelled from 'Jasmine' had breathed new life into the Beast, and yet all the rocky demon could think about was Angelus - how that damned vampire had fooled him, taken advantage of his distraction when he was beating that dark-haired Slayer half to death, all to plunge a knife made of its own bones into his back. The Beast remembered the searing pain, the life force literally exploding out of him, and then…nothing.
Total and utter oblivion.
Until the First had gathered his essence from the void and made him whole again. Whole, powerful and with one sole purpose running through his mind - to find, dismember and kill his undead nemesis once and for all.
Drusilla eyed the ghostly form of Angel with a dreamy stare. "Daddy," she whispered softly.
Even Amy cocked an eyebrow, a hungry smile playing on her lips. "So who's the gorgeous side order of beefcake you're masquerading as?"
A jealous Warren scoffed, eying Angelus/the First disdainfully. "Oh, puh-lease. What's that guy got that I haven't?"
Amy wickedly smiled. "Well, for starters…a face."
Warren glowered at his girlfriend. "You are really asking for it, you know that, Amy?"
"Ooh, I'm shaking. What are you gonna do, bore me to death with another rousing one-hour speech about the legacy of Star Trek?" the witch riposted.
"Don't tempt me…" The diabolical couple shot dirty looks at one another.
Drusilla suddenly eyed Warren with a hungry look in her eyes. No, not that hungry look - the other one, the 'eying a delicious meal' look.
"I like the fleshy one," she smiled sinisterly as Dru morphed into her vampire face. "He smells like meat…all hot and sticky like bangers. Does your blood taste as good, little meat man?"
Creeped out, Warren immediately backed away from the insane vampiress. Reflexively, Amy extended her right hand, now crackling with deadly dark magick, and pointed it at Drusilla.
"Hey! Back off, Looney Tunes! You're not snacking on my boyfriend!" Amy snapped.
"You tell 'em, baby!" Warren nodded in encouragement.
"Oh, shut up, Warren," Amy waved off his words as she kept Drusilla at bay.
Angelus/the First rolled his eyes in exasperation. It was no wonder that these fools couldn't accomplish anything against Angel and that little blonde Slayer bitch, what with the way they fought among themselves. "If I could get to the point now? I have a master plan to get rolling! So can we please not fall into the ever-so-clichéd trap of the villains fighting amongst themselves?"
Once its new minions returned to their neutral corners, and certain that it had their attention, the First resumed its speech.
"All right, where was I? Oh yeah…time and again, you've gone up against the enemy. Fought the evil fight, put in your best efforts, gone all out to see your grand schemes work." Angelus's voice became condescending. "And time and again, you've all failed. Miserably. Thanks to the person wearing either this face…"
The First morphed back into Buffy Summers. "…or, more often, this one. But that all changes today. This whole little game, Good vs. Evil, Light vs. Dark…people, I'm tired of it. I'm done playing games, and I'm done waiting around. When you want an apocalypse done right you've got to do it yourself, which is why you're all here today. Individually, this little blonde girl with the bouncy hairdo and her buddies have wiped the floor with you. You never even had a chance to get out of your corners before she went Mike Tyson on your asses.
"But, if focused collectively…combining the talents of a powerful witch, a genius-level, misogynistic mad scientist, a clairvoyant vampire with marvelous credentials, a skilled and lethal warlock and an eight foot tall, horn-headed, unstoppable tower of power…with an endless wave of followers at my disposal, deadly primordial vampires at my command, all led by my most faithful servant, one with inhuman strength, and what does that all add up to?"
The First smiled chillingly as its projected image of Buffy suddenly began oozing blood from its eyes, its mouth, and its stomach. "The death of the Slayer. And her friends. And the birth of a new world order."
The villains smiled in intrigue, curious to see what this mysterious entity was offering them.
"I've been waiting for lo these billions of years to seize ultimate power, y'know. And now, finally, I have that opportunity. I'll have the power and the means to obliterate all of my enemies, regardless of their power, in a matter of mere hours. But make no mistake - for the kind of power that I'm talking about, to paraphrase that song, the world is not enough."
"Great movie," Warren whispered to Amy. The witch, not amused, elbowed him in the stomach before diverting her attention back to the First.
"After I've obtained the power I've been seeking, I'll have what I need to reshape the landscape of the entire cosmos," Buffy/the First continued. "And in exchange for helping me get what I want, you'll all be granted your fondest wishes."
Buffy/the First turned to face each of its minions in turn. "Amy…always striving for power, yet always overshadowed by Willow. When this is over, you'll have more power than her and all of the other witches on Earth combined."
Amy smiled in greedy anticipation.
"Warren…the lady-hatin' ladies man, who had his fetching mug peeled off like a banana. But with my help, not only will you have the chance to mutilate that redhead who ripped off your face… but I'll restore you to your former self. You'll be as you were, before your...disfigurement."
Warren's eyes began to water as flickers of desperation and hope ignited in his twisted heart.
"Poor, sweet Drusilla…abandoned, lonely and alone. And yet once this is over, your 'family' will never leave your side again."
Drusilla giggled in insane glee, like a mad child.
"And you, Big Guy? The juggernaut who was feared for centuries before Angel gave you a Julius Caesar special through the back? Stick with me…and you'll get your honor back. Not to mention your revenge."
The Beast grinned in a truly evil fashion, thoughts of retribution running rampant in his head.
"Angelus," the Beast growled in that deep, bass-filled voice. "I will crush his bones under my heel and make him beg for mercy before I crush his skull in my hands, and only the dust remaining will serve as a clue he even existed."
Buffy/the First smiled sardonically. "Boy. You're a real people person, aren't ya?"
The rock-plated demon merely grunted in response.
"Right," Buffy/the First muttered before turning to its minions with a vicious grin. "Okay, guys and gals, first thing's first…who's up for a little road trip to sunny LA?"
Los Angeles - Sixth Street Viaduct Bridge
Now
The silence after Jasmine's shocking revelation about the First Evil's origins stretched for all eternity, or so it seemed.
Finally, Cordelia broke the silence. "I'm sorry, I've been asleep for about eight months, so I'm still got desperately-needing-morning-coffee thought processes going…did you just say that you CREATED THE FIRST EVIL?"
Jasmine looked away, her pale eyes downcast and filled with something that Angel saw resembling regret.
"How…how is that possible?" the vampire detective asked in astonishment, his mind filled with a thousand, no, a million questions.
Buffy's mind was still blown away by this revelation. For the last eight years of her life - whether it was sticking pointy bits of wood into vampires, hacking demons to itty bitty pieces with something sharp or averting whatever apocalypse that came down her way, despite of the overwhelming responsibility and burden of her calling, Buffy had taken solace in the idea that she was at least fighting for something.
Fighting for the side of right, for making the world a better place through her actions.
That she was doing good, and that, in itself, was its own reward.
Was it all just a cosmic joke?
If what Jasmine was saying was true, was all of her suffering, all of her misery and heartache, the deaths of loved ones and the maddening weight of her destiny…for nothing? Was she just a tool to clean up the mess that some all-powerful Higher Screw-Ups had created?
"Okay, you need to explain that statement right the hell now," Buffy said at last, her eyes mixed with shock, anger and confusion. "What do you mean, you created the First?"
"It means exactly what it means," Jasmine mumbled miserably. "It exists because of me."
"Five words don't make for a good enough explanation," Angel brusquely retorted. "A little detail on the side would go nicely with the bombshell you just served up."
"Exactly," Buffy added, just as coldly. "Details, Jasmine. And lots of 'em. Now."
Jasmine bristled for a moment at the tone that the lower beings in front of her were speaking to her with. If only my 'mother' weren't here, I'd tear them apart limb from limb...
At last, however, the fallen Power relented, realizing how she had no leverage in this situation. "Do you have any idea what it's like having to live lifetimes, eternities, with the weight of knowing that you did something so terrible, so horrible, that you would do anything, give anything, just for a chance to make it right?"
Angel's dark brown eyes turned away for a moment, a tapestry of bloody, gory, anguish-filled atrocities flickering through his mind - crimes that Angelus had committed over the last few centuries.
"I know a little something about that," he quietly admitted.
Buffy turned to her lover for a moment, her eyes softening as she saw the guilt weighing down on him, hovering over him like a dense cloud. She knew full well, had seen for herself, how much Angel's past always haunted him, no matter how many times she had tried to convince him that it wasn't really him when they were together.
Jasmine looked up at the vampire detective for a moment. "Right…of course, you do."
Cordelia bitterly looked down and rubbed her arms, the horrors of the last eight months flashing before her eyes. "Well, I may not have eternity, but there's that whole 'rest-of-my-life' part I can spend thinking about the last few months."
Both Angel and Buffy cast the Seer a sad glance of understanding, before Jasmine continued.
"To understand what I'm talking about, we have to go all the way back to the beginning. The origins of the universe itself," Jasmine began, staring off into a distant past only she could see. "I have no direct knowledge of the time before Time, but - imagine a state of existence where there is…nothing. Literally. A nothingness empty of anything and everything. Except for one thing…an anomaly. What your scientists now call a 'singularity'. Without warning, for reasons that will probably remain forever unknown, it suddenly...exploded. And within that explosion…that's where the first life arose."
"The Big Bang Theory," Angel surmised, as he realized what Jasmine was talking about. "That's what you're talking about, isn't it?"
"It's no theory," Jasmine replied, almost indignantly. "I was there. From the fires, the very crucible of creation…from the very first nanosecond of creation, that was when and where I became self-aware. Although I wasn't alone. There were others like me, the first sentient beings, able to think, to feel, to see and hear...and we stepped forward from the chaos into this astonishing universe."
"The Powers That Be," Buffy realized.
"Yes," Jasmine nodded. "Although we never referred to ourselves as that, of course; we simply…were. Countless beings of untold size, incredible power, completely unfathomable to the comprehension of most lower beings. Yet, we worshipped the singularity. It was the fountain of life, the source of all of the raw material from which all of existence was derived."
The fallen Power paused for a moment. "We dubbed it the Eye of Creation."
The black woman said that name with a special reverence, as if it was the holiest name in existence. Then she went on, "For roughly a hundred thousand years after the singularity exploded and the cosmos continually expanded outward, we explored all of creation. We learned all that was knowable; the entire universe was our playground. But then, something unexpected happened..." Jasmine trailed off.
"What?" Angel, Buffy and Cordelia all said in unison.
"The temperature of the heavens finally cooled enough for matter and radiation to become decoupled. The infant universe suddenly became...transparent, as if with a clash of cymbals," Jasmine said with that same remote, distant voice, as if she was actually remembering that unimaginable event from billions of years ago.
"We were...surprised. It was the first time since we'd emerged from the Eye that we'd ever experienced such a thing. And in time, we started to experiment with the new environment around us. We eventually mastered the four fundamental forces of the universe...your scientists call them gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and the weak nuclear force. Atoms, electrons, and quarks were mere playthings for beings with our abilities…we smashed them, molded them, shaped and bent them to our whim. From there came the stars, galaxies, planets, and, at last, our greatest masterpiece…the first living world. Our first home."
"Earth," Angel stated flatly.
"Yes…not the Earth that you know, however," the mocha-skinned 'woman' clarified.
"So, no cars, no Starbucks and no Wi-fi? Bummer," Cordelia snarked.
Ignoring that remark, Jasmine continued her tale. "It was literally Paradise. Teeming with beauty and life. Color and sound. We all gathered here from throughout the universe, took corporeal form and lived as gods. For billions of years, the living Earth was our home. We needed nothing else, and my brothers and sisters were content to live as they were for all eternity."
"But, I'm guessing, you? Not so much," Buffy said suspiciously.
"True enough," Jasmine nodded. "I became…bored. I saw the potential for something greater than trees and mindless animals. I wanted to shake things up, move things along, let life evolve the way it was meant to - fluid and exciting and unpredictable. I called it the Great Experiment."
Angel cocked his head as he studied Jasmine for a moment. "I'm guessing the others Powers didn't see it that way."
A bitter look crossed her scarred face as Jasmine scoffed, "Of course not. I begged them, pleaded with them to help me change things. To continue the path of evolution, as we ourselves had evolved since the moment we had emerged from the Eye. Yet, they refused. The rest of the Powers were content to frolic in the eternal now, the static, the ordinary. They had no imagination, no sense of purpose. No ambition either, the lot of them…they thought I was temporarily insane, and subsequently ignored me. So, looking beneath the ground, deep in the primordial ooze, I focused on the microorganisms there. Willing themselves to move, to change. I…gave them a little boost."
"Meaning, you monkeyed around with their cells and pushed them further down the old evolutionary tree," Buffy mused, dimly recalling what she had learned years ago during high school Science class. "That about sum it up, Darwin?"
"If I hadn't 'monkeyed around' with your first primitive ancestors, as you so flippantly put it, then right now? You and yours would still be mindless bacteria, part of the ooze that ate itself. Well, apart from your so-called 'sister'," Jasmine said, partially growling as she felt offended over how Buffy had made light of her genius. "Don't you understand, you arrogant little fool? I CREATED YOUR SPECIES! I put together the building blocks, laid the foundations for something better, something greater…but my brothers and sisters were less than pleased when they found out. They chastised me. Said I was irresponsible, erratic in my decision…foolish. They wanted me to undo what I'd done immediately."
"But you refused," Angel concluded, yet wondering if what he'd just heard was true.
"Of course I refused. One doesn't simply create a masterpiece and then throw it away like garbage. We argued about it for the longest time, without stopping. Centuries, millennia even..."
Cordelia raised her eyebrows, less than impressed. "Wow. I've heard of arguments that never end, but you guys really take the cake."
"Cute," Jasmine spat, before continuing. "You have to understand...for my siblings, it was not in their nature to know or use emotions. Their arguments were toneless, emotionless, logical and patient. I, on the other hand, was none of those things. I knew passion and creativity; they didn't. At the time, I felt like I was arguing with fools who simply couldn't understand my brilliance, my vision. And it was then that, for the first time, I became the first being in existence to experience a new emotion - anger."
"I was momentarily awed at the heat, the frustration, the fire pouring from every cell in my being. But in beings as powerful as the Powers - we who could bend the physical universe to our will, merely by the strength of our minds alone - such emotion was dangerous…too dangerous to be experienced. As one of my brothers, one that I was particularly fond of, attempted to calm me down, I…"
Jasmine swallowed, her sickly eyes beginning to mist again. "I lashed out. In my rage, I killed him. I-I didn't mean to do it, but the rage had…consumed me…to the point where I could no longer consciously control my actions.
"That was the first time we had ever experienced death. None of us could understand what had just happened - it was utterly incomprehensible to beings such as ourselves. We had always existed since we'd emerged from the Eye, and in our ignorance we had assumed that we, all of us, would always exist. It was a...a shock to find out just how wrong we were. How we were, in fact, able to cease to be. To die.
"As my brothers and sisters were staring at me, aghast in fear...again, something none of us had ever experienced before...something changed within me. I felt a pain from deep within, unlike anything I had ever experienced. I screamed in agony, and then something burst out from within me…something dark. Angry. Full of rage and ill intent. Something truly…foul."
"The First Evil," Buffy swallowed, in realization.
Jasmine closed her eyes as again, a look of regret crossed her marred features. "Yes. It was…the first abomination. Unlike anything we had ever seen, or even conceived possible. Almost immediately, it killed two of my siblings and began laying waste to the area around us. So much destruction, so much death…we began fighting back against it, but it was too powerful. It killed scores of us, as we struggled to learn the ways of war. For eons, the battle between the Powers and the First raged...
"And the longer it existed within this plane of reality, the more it began to infect the creatures around us, tainting them with its darkness. Thus, the first of The Unclean came to be."
"The Old Ones," Angel uttered in astonishment as he realized whom Jasmine was referring to.
Buffy and Cordelia met his stunned gaze with mirrored glances. "The first original demons," Buffy said in amazement.
"It was a seemingly endless struggle, and so many of my siblings were slain, so much of our world destroyed," Jasmine continued. "But at long last, the strongest of us finally managed to destroy the First. Physically, at least.
"Yet, to our horror, while its physical shell was obliterated, its malevolent spirit was not. It continued to infect the lower beings of the planet with its evil, until at last, we were able to capture its non-corporeal self and open a rift between the dimensional walls, where we sealed the First Evil away from this reality.
"But by the time we had defeated the First Evil, we were too weak to defend ourselves against the Old Ones, as you refer to them. Eventually, there was no other choice; after safely hiding the Key, we were forced to ascend to a higher dimension. To leave this realm and seek refuge elsewhere...to find a new home.
"It…it utterly broke my heart. I loved my home, had done from the first moment we had created Paradise here. I hated how we were forced to abandon it, how we were unable to cleanse or reclaim it, leaving our once-beautiful sanctuary to the mercy of those...monsters.
"From there, the Old Ones reigned for untold eons, and it seemed that their carnage would last forever…until mankind arose and eventually drove the Old Ones asunder, thanks to the aid of a few warriors chosen by my brethren and I - a mix of both benevolent demons, such as Makai the Valiant of the Quilloc Tribe, and brave humans - as we watched from our new home."
Cordelia and Angel shared a look of bewildered surprise.
"The first Champions of the Powers. I learned about that in the Higher Planes," Cordelia blurted out.
"They were aided in their struggle by a young girl. She was known as Sineya of the Shadow Tribe. The first of the Chosen, infused by the spirit and power of a demon - tamed by the three shamans of the tribe, yes, but still one of the darkest and strongest of the Old Ones."
"The First Slayer," Buffy realized in shock, flashing back to her encounter with the Shadow Men weeks ago, and that dark spirit they had tried to infect her with in order to fight the First Evil.
Jasmine merely nodded. "Together, they eventually banished or destroyed the Old Ones - many of them were interred within a well deep in the core of the Earth, where their evil would be sealed away for all eternity. At the time, I had hoped that humanity would continue on a path to restore this planet to its former glory, to create Paradise as we had done and follow in our footsteps; maybe even create a world where my fellow Powers and I could descend and share in said paradise once more. But I was mistaken. The humans were - still are - too weak, too easily filled with anger and hate.
Jasmine's milky eyes filled with bitter tears. "I saw my world burn while the First Evil still lived…and I knew that it was all my fault. The other Powers never held what I'd done against me, like I said they were all lacking in any sort of emotion, but - I could never forgive myself for what I'd done. I was responsible…during one moment of weakness, where I lost control of myself, I destroyed everything I'd ever loved. I…I had to find a way to fix it. I just had to…I couldn't live for all of eternity with that burden. It was just too much to bear, even for a Power like me…"
And that left you vulnerable to the manipulations of the Beastmaster and its pal. Unable to help it, for a few moments Angel felt like he could relate to Jasmine's situation. There was an endless list of things he wished he could fix, if he were able. Such as all the deaths he was responsible for, with or without the soul.
Or hurting Buffy so badly, both by unleashing Angelus and by leaving her after Graduation.
Or turning his back on Cordy, Wesley and Gunn when he'd callously fired them all a couple of years back.
Or being a second too slow when Holtz had leapt into Sahjhan's damned portal, along with his infant son.
Or being so desperate to get Cordelia's memories back that he had told Lorne do a spell that, instead of helping his Seer, had unleashed the Beastmaster and Jasmine to terrorize and destroy LA.
Too much for you to bear? Angel then thought to himself. Yeah, I guess I can relate...
Despite her disdain for this creature, a part of Buffy couldn't help but to relate as well. The night she'd lost her virginity to Angel showed her just how quickly life as she knew it could forever change when one lost control.
"Oh, Boo Frickety Hoo!" Cordelia's cold voice shocked both warriors, and Jasmine.
Her hazel eyes narrowed in contempt, Cordelia sneered at her 'child.' "So, you're telling me that not only did you create the Root of All Evil because you threw a major temper tantrum way back when, thereby destroying paradise for, oh, pretty much everyone…but your answer to fixing your cosmic-level screw-up is by raising The Beast to tear apart LA, rain down fire from the skies, blocking out the sun and turning this city into Hell's version of Disney Land, all the while
using my body to do it? Wow...you're pretty much the biggest screw-up ever, aren't ya?"
Buffy tried to calm her down. "Uh, Cordy…"
"No!" the brunette's sharp voice cut the blonde Slayer off at once, resuming her glare on Jasmine. "You really think after everything you've done, everything you did to me, that I'm gonna cut you any slack? You think that just because you had some grand vision to fix your mistakes, that gave you the right to kill people, to manipulate our lives, to do all the terrible things that you did? Well, newsflash, but you're wrong! I don't give a damn what your excuses and reasons were, or how much you try to paint yourself as the victim here, because you know what? You're not getting jack from me unless it's an axe in the skull! You're not one of the good guys, and you never will be!"
Moving quickly, Angel pulled Cordelia aside. "Cordy, we kinda need you to be quiet now."
"WHAT? Don't tell me you actually believe all this crap she's been spouting?" Cordelia angrily sputtered. "All this 'I created your species' mumbo-jumbo?"
"I don't know for sure what to believe right now," Angel replied, looking his Seer dead in the eyes. "Look, what she did to you was unforgivable; I get that. But, like it or not, Jasmine might have what we need to take on the First. If she and the rest of the Powers really did seal it away once, maybe it can be done again somehow. So you have to keep a level head here, or else we can probably kiss the whole world goodbye."
"But -"
"Can you do that, Cordelia? Please? For me?"
Cordelia pursed her lips angrily, but one look at those pleading, almost hypnotic brown eyes, the eyes of the man who meant so much to her, and the Chase woman couldn't help but to cave in.
"All right, fine," Cordelia groused. "I'll play nice. For now."
Despite the anger she felt, the half-smile that Angel gave her was enough to draw a small smile out of the agitated Seer.
As she bore witness to their exchange, Buffy felt the flares of jealousy explode within her again as she saw just how easily Angel and her old high school rival got along. The ease, the familiarity, the chemistry of old friendship…it was so different from what she and Angel shared.
It was always an electrical storm of sparkage between them, a raging inferno of heated history and a tornado of emotions, good and bad. It might have been familiar…but it was never easy. Cordelia and Angel may never have been lovers, may never have shared the kind of rare soul-shaking, heart-rending passion that Buffy and Angel did, but on the inside, the little blonde Slayer knew that the tall brunette Seer had connected with Angel in a way that she never had. And that was something that, deep down, hurt Buffy to know.
Shaking herself from that line of thought, Buffy turned her attention back to Jasmine. "Okay, well, here's the sitch. Obviously, your plan to turn everyone in this world into a bunch of Jasmine-lovin' zombie freaks didn't pan out. And what's more, you know now that it was never in the cards to begin with. The First has played you like a fiddle. That leaves you with only two options - either, A, you give us something that we can use against the First...or B, Angel and I stand back and let Cordy do her best Jason Vorhees impersonation on you."
"I vote option 'B,'" Cordelia replied in a cheery voice that was an odd juxtaposition to the cold, deadly smile she flashed the fallen Power.
"I already told you. The First can't be fought, it can't be killed, and it's only a matter of time before it finds me," Jasmine shook her head. "And once it becomes flesh again, you're dead. You're all dead."
"Well, then. I guess these next few moments are pretty important to you," Angel replied in a steely tone.
"What does it matter, anyway? It's all ruined...this world is doomed to drown in its own blood now," Jasmine said, standing as she looked over the bridge in misery.
Sensing that the ex-goddess was wavering on her decision, Angel tried a different tactic.
"Jasmine, look…we've all done horrible things. I mean, former Scourge of Europe talking here. It's painful to deal with, I know, but…all people like us can do is try and make up for it. You might not be ready to forgive yourself, but maybe you can focus on making this world a better place the right way. Okay, it's not the world that you wanted, but…maybe you can still help us save it, even if you have lost your powers."
Somewhat tellingly, Cordelia said nothing.
However, Buffy, sensing that perhaps Jasmine was close to coming over to their side, decided to add in her own two cents. Nothing much to lose...
"Look," the Slayer said softly. "We need your help, it's that simple. If you sit on the sidelines and do nothing, then we're probably gonna fail. And the First ends up getting the last laugh on you and us. So, you can either stand around, moping and feeling sorry for yourself…or you can take the chance to do some real good. So what's it going to be, Jasmine? Do you want to be remembered as a monster…or as one of the good guys?"
Hyperion Hotel-Library
The Same Time
"You wanna tell me again what we're looking for here?" Kennedy requested of her companion, almost a complaining note in her voice as she and Robin rummaged through the many shelves of occult books, part of the extensive literary material that Angel and Wesley had within the hotel. Well, technically it was all Angel's now, as nearly a year ago Wes had been officially kicked out of the Hyperion along with all his personal stuff; right about that time Angel had tried to smother the British man to death in the hospital.
Anyway, there were a lot of books here in the hotel's ad hoclibrary. Black market texts, demonology books, manifestos, grimoires, codexes and compendiums…it was a collection that many Watchers and magical practitioners would have been proud to have, and would have been willing to pay top dollar for as well.
"It's a book," Robin replied to Kennedy's question as he continued to browse through the stacks of books on the shelves, his eyes eagerly seeking his prize.
Looking around the extensive library and the stacks of books on the walls, Kennedy huffed in annoyance. "Thanks. Could ya be a littlemore specific, though?"
"It's called 'Vampyre: A Florigelium of the Undead, Volume 193'," Robin explained as he continued to pick up untitled books from the shelves, only to slam them back in their places in frustration when they were of a different title than the book he sought. "It's part of an alphabetical listing of virtually every vampire encountered by a Slayer or a Watcher since the Council began documenting them. Which was back around the time writing was first invented, or so I hear."
"So, it's like a 'Who's Who Among Famous Undead Americans?'" Kennedy snorted.
"Something like that, but - not just Americans," Robin shrugged with a smirk. "This book was published by Laura Kay Weathermill, actually. From what I've heard, she was a member of the Watchers Council renowned for her detailed research into the undead. Any self-respecting Watcher has at least part of her collection in their files. And since this Wesley guy is a former Watcher, he should have it around here somewhere."
Kennedy shrugged, not knowing or caring that the odds were against it - given Wesley's acrimonious split from Angel Investigations last year. She then asked, "But why this particular volume?"
"Because it has the most complete information anywhere on the Order of Aurelius - that's the line of vampires that Angelus is descended from," Robin elaborated. "If this Angel guy really is Angelus, I'm thinking Wesley would have ordered out for as much intel on him as possible. At least, I hopehe did."
"He is Angelus, I'm sure of it," Kennedy insisted. "Willow wouldn't lie to me about something like that!"
"I'm not saying she did. But there's no harm in doing your homework and not jumping to conclusions," Robin shrugged again.
Kennedy's face frowned, before her expression cleared up. "Oh, I get it! That's a pun, right? With you being a high school principal, and all?"
Robin chuckled. "Thought it'd go better if I didn't make it quite so obvious."
The young Potential couldn't help but to laugh a little. Normally, she didn't like authority figure-types - but Robin wasn't all bad, she discovered. Plus, he got huge bonus points for being a demon hunting badass fighter.
No sooner than Kennedy had finished her musing than she came across a large black book. "Hey, I found it - that Flagship of the Undead thing you mentioned. Ooh! Volume 193, that's definitely our girl..."
Immediately, Robin dropped the book he was holding onto the ground and strode over to where Kennedy was standing, grabbing the Florigelium book from her hands as he began flipping through the pages of the heavy tome.
Kennedy wasn't disappointed as she and the principal flipped through the detailed pages, notes and diagrams within the book. This Weathermill chick knows her vamps, alright…
After skimming through the stuff on the undead Roman named Aurelius and the Master himself, Robin found the biography on Angelus. Not that he needed to read it, however: Bernard Crowley, his dead mother's Watcher, used to tell him the stories of the vampire known as the 'Scourge of Europe' and the 'Demon with the Face of an Angel,' while he was growing up, sometimes during Halloween as a scary ghost story of sorts.
The difference was, unlike most ghost stories - these horrible tales were real. Which made them all the scarier for a young boy growing up in the shadow of his mother's death at the hands of such a creature.
"Holy cow. 1798, Paris, along with his Childe known as Penn, Angelus nails a litter of puppies to wall of early animal rights activist Miriam Granier. 1860, England, he slaughtered everyone in the Sisters of Mercy Convent…1882, Brussels, the infamous vampire clique unofficially known as the Whirlwind, led by Angelus, massacre an entire orphanage on - ironically enough - Father's Day," Kennedy read. "The man loves his work, huh?"
"Angelus isn't a man, Kennedy; he's a monster," Robin replied grimly as he flipped through more pages. "That's why I want to be sure I know who I've been dealing with, before we make our next move. It was hard enough to let slide the fact that I'm currently on the same side as the dirtbag demon who murdered my mother - but I'll be damnedbefore I fight alongside something like Angelus, and I don't care what Buffy says about souls and all that crap. Bernie and my mother would be spinning in their graves at that thought."
Finally, he came across a daguerreotype of Angelus dating back to 1831 in Venice. Robin's eyes widened as he took in the image; the long-haired vampire in that illustration was almost a dead ringer - no pun intended - for the spikey-haired man that Buffy had assured the demon hunter that he could trust.
"Told ya," Kennedy shrugged, not surprised as much as she was satisfied that her intel was right.
"This…changes things," Robin muttered as he absently turned the page…
…where he found the family tree diagram linking the Master to Darla, then Angelus, followed by Drusilla and then…William the Bloody, a.k.a. Spike. There were a few other names present such as Penn, James, and Elisabeth: but Wood was mesmerised by the name 'William Pratt' and the year he'd been turned into a soulless demon.
Seeing that name in print made Robin's left hand ball so tightly that his dark-skinned knuckles were practically turning white. He stared at the diagram as he absorbed the implications of what it meant.
It was Angelus who had sired Drusilla…who had sired Spike…
And it was Spike who killed my mother, Robin swallowed as the sickening gravity of his discovery slammed down upon him like a brick house. That means Angel…
"Omigod…he's the vamp that, like, made the vamp who made Spike?" Kennedy realized in shock. "Wow…so, what, does that make him, like 25 percent responsible for your mom's death? I mean, if it wasn't for Angelus, this Drood-zilla chick -"
"Drusilla," Robin absently corrected as his mind struggled to comprehend this latest bombshell.
"…would have been dead or something like decades before she made Spike, and he would've never even existed as a vampire, right?" Kennedy finished her rambling.
As the Potential Slayer said that, Robin's dark eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as that old, familiar rage sparked in the pit of his chest. With a stunning clarity, Robin now realized why it was that Buffy had been so annoyingly evasive when asked to elaborate on exactly who Angel was - she must have realized what the truth would have meant to Robin, and how he never would have agreed to ally with the Scourge of Europe.
His mother had been murdered 26 years ago, Spike had gleefully killed her…and at least part of that, no matter how indirect, was Angel's fault.
"Kennedy," Wood said at last, his eyes not focusing on anything in particular. "Remember when I asked you if I could count on you for backup?"
The dark-haired Potential smiled knowingly as she realized what Robin was thinking.
"Yup. And that offer's still on the table," Kennedy smirked wickedly as she pulled out one of her stakes, toying with it.
"Consider the offer officially accepted," Robin replied with a dangerous look in his eyes, as he slammed the Florigelium shut. "When the others return, I think it's time we have a word with our new friend 'Angel' - the kind of word that starts with 's' and ends with 'take.'"
Los Angeles - Sixth Street Viaduct Bridge
Now
With a weary look in her sickly, distorted eyes, Jasmine regarded the three beings in front of her. Three creatures that were little more than bugs compared to her.
And yet, between them they had managed to bring her carefully laid out plan - one that had been millennia in the making - come tumbling down in ruins. Through formidable minions. Across deadly dimensions and a number of planes of existence.
Jasmine had always been skeptical of entrusting the fate of this realm to the likes of these creatures. They were so small, so fragile…and the evil they faced was so very powerful.
And yet, here they were - a Slayer, a Vampire and a Seer - with the audacity to think that they could do the unthinkable, achieve the unachievable, to succeed where she and her siblings had failed.
It was madness. It was lunacy. It was crazy…
But maybe, to survive, that's what this world needs right now, Jasmine realized. Someone who is actually crazy enough to stand against the storm and believe they can win.
With a dry chuckle, Jasmine shook her head. "I must be insane."
"No kidding," Cordelia snarked.
Jasmine turned and looked Angel straight in the eye. "Tell me something. Honestly. Do you truly think you have what it takes to defeat the First Evil?"
"With the right help…I know we do," Angel said, his voice strong and confident.
Buffy watched as Jasmine seemed to take in Angel's words, seemed to weigh whether she could trust them…
At last, Jasmine gave a small smile. "You know something? The crazy part is…I actually believe you."
At that, Buffy let out a heavy sigh of relief. "So, you'll help us?"
"Yes…but we don't have much time," Jasmine explained, suddenly looking rushed and in a hurry. "I can feel the First drawing closer as we speak. Its eyes are upon me, I can sense it now. It may not be much, but I can offer you some tools you will need."
With that, Jasmine's right hand suddenly turned and plunged itself deep into the fallen Power's stomach, ripping through skin and flesh, Jasmine groaning in pain as she did so.
"Jasmine!" Buffy shouted, horrified. "Hey, what are you -?"
After a few moments, Jasmine tore out three chunks of some unusual body part, covered in blood and viscera. It was hard to tell what they were, exactly, but then neither the vampire nor the two humans wanted to examine the three body parts too closely at that precise moment.
Angel stared in shock at the ex-goddess. Okay, I wasn't expecting that...
"Oh, God - scarred for life, scarred for life," a revolted Cordelia, who looked like she was about to be sick, muttered.
With another inhuman effort, Jasmine's right hand closed around the three body chunks of herself and squeezed hard, a bright white light emitting from her palm as she did so.
As her self-inflicted wound began to heal, Jasmine opened the palm of her hand to reveal three shiny golden rings.
Her body trembling from the effort, Jasmine held out the shaky hand to Angel. "Here. Take them."
Despite his wariness, Angel slowly reached out and took the three rings into his hand. And even though he was remarkably pop culture-challenged, even the ensouled vampire thought that the three golden rings looked rather familiar.
We're just lucky Andrew isn't here right now, Buffy mused. The little dorkus might be drooling and saying things like 'my precious...' and 'the one ring...err, three rings...'
"What are they?" Angel asked, confused.
"Rings," Jasmine rasped.
"Uh, yeah, thanks, Bilbo, but I think he means 'What do they do?'" Buffy asked.
"Each ring contains some of my essence," Jasmine explained slowly. "Part of my strength. Only a fraction, but still…if things turn out as I expect, they will be of use to you."
"How?" Angel asked.
"You'll know…when the time comes."
"Time? What time? We're out of time, Jasmine," an exasperated Buffy huffed. "This is no time for the cryptic act, okay? Just tell us how we can use these things, how long they'll last, maybe an instruction manual -"
"Listen!" Jasmine barked. "There are some rules even I can't disobey, and one of them is the eleventh commandment: thou shalt not give the lower beings all the answers up-front! The rings and their purpose will be revealed to you, in time. You heroic types always manage to find the answers for yourselves; it's part of what you do. Be patient. At the very least, they should slow down the First when it comes for me."
"Not gonna happen," Angel replied, his eyes filled with promise. "Jasmine, come with us back to the hotel. We can keep you safe until we know what our next move is."
"Angel's right," Buffy added as she stepped closer to Jasmine. "Look, we're not exactly friends, but I promise you - if you're on our team now, we'll do everything in our power to help protect you."
Suddenly, Cordelia gasped as her eyes went white, her hands flew to her head and a jumble of images filled her mind, her first vision from the Powers in more than a year…**[See Author's Note]**
She saw the Beast.
Her mind reeled at that revelation. The Beast was dead. Angel had killed it, according to what she remembered as the creature's master. And yet, there it was.
The monstrous size, that horrid, soulless smile, stomping, lumbering towards somewhere that was familiar to her somehow.
Around it, at least twenty robed and armed Bringers, eager to serve. Eager to kill.
And suddenly, she was seeing things from the Beast's point of view. And now, she realized, in horror, why the area seemed so familiar.
Because those monsters were on the Sixth Street Viaduct Bridge. And headed straight for them…
The vision faded as Cordelia felt Angel's hands clutch her shoulders tightly and steady her.
"What?" Angel asked in concern. "Cordy, what did you see?"
Fear and confusion were on the face of the beautiful brunette Seer as she uttered, "We've got trouble..."
Suddenly, the loud sound of scraping and grinding metal could be heard, making Buffy look upwards…just in time to see a minivan flying overhead and plummeting straight towards them.
"Look out!" Buffy shouted in warning as she quickly knocked both Angel and Cordelia out of the way - just moments before the uprooted car came crashing down upon the spot where they were standing, turning into a crushed heap of metal and broken glass.
With a look of sheer terror on her face, Jasmine looked straight ahead at what caused the car to go airborne. "No…they're here!"
"What's here?" Buffy groaned before she looked up…and her eyes went wide at the sight.
Angel and Cordelia, who had just recovered their bearings, stared in shock at what they saw just several feet ahead, standing atop a flipped-over Rolls Royce.
"It can't be," Angel breathed in astonishment.
And yet, there it was…the Beast.
It was standing there in all of its horn-headed, rock-plated, evilly-smirking glory. And around it, nearly two dozen eyeless and well-armed Harbingers of Death, twirling their sharp, ceremonial knives and grinning in malice.
"Damn it. Bringers," Buffy muttered in dismay, before turning to Angel. "And by the look on your face, I guess you know the answer when I ask you, 'What the HELL is that thing with them?'"
Never taking his astonished eyes off of one of his oldest foes, Angel grimly replied, "It's the Beast, Buffy."
At that, Buffy's eyes widened as she recalled everything that Angel had told her about the creature that blocked out the sun and brought down the Rain of Fire. "The Beast? As in the unstoppable Beast? The totally invulnerable Beast? The same Beast you killed a few weeks ago?"
"That's the one," Angel replied, though he still didn't understand how this was possible.
The Beast was dead, killed by his own hand - well, technically by his evil alter ego's - and turned to rubble. He had seen the bastard die that day, just as Faith had. Angel didn't believe that the Beast could regenerate itself like some species such as Mohra demons could. So, how was it possible that this hideous creature was now standing there like nothing had ever happened?
"He's looking pretty spry for a dead demon," Cordelia noted, though she was just as shocked as her friends.
"And pretty pissed off," Buffy swallowed.
"Angelus," the horned demon's voice rumbled out like rocks falling down a hillside, a pleased grin exposing his jagged, stony teeth. "We meet again."
The demon cocked its head as it regarded Cordelia with lusting eyes as it ran his blackened tongue across his ash-coated mouth. "And you brought your attractive female friend with the tasty lips. What a lovely bonus."
Both Buffy and Angel gave the Seer a surprised look as a horrified Cordelia paled, vividly recalling how the Beastmaster had kissed this creature a few weeks ago. What the First's minion had actually been doing, however, was using its powers to control the monster's mind through a direct injection of dark magicks into its mouth.
Of course, here and now - that didn't make the horrid memory of the creature's ashy tongue in her mouth any less disgusting to the unpossessed Cordelia.
Buffy gaped before blurting out, "You made out with a giant stone demon?"
"One of the downsides of being possessed, I guess," Cordelia grimaced. "And let us never speak of this again."
Never taking his eyes off of his prey, The Beast ground out a command to the blind demons around him. "I will retrieve the vessel. Kill the mortal women. But do not harm Angelus too much - he is mine."
Jasmine shook her head. "No…no, it's too late! I can't let them take me! I won't!"
She turned to flee, when Angel grabbed her arm. "Jasmine, wait! We can hold them off, just get behind us!"
"NO!" Jasmine shouted as she grabbed hold of Angel's head. Suddenly, a stream of electrical green energy passed though him as a surprised Angel convulsed and shook from the unexpected surge of electricity passing directly into his brain.
"Angel!" Buffy and Cordelia screamed at the same time, though Buffy was the first to bolt to his side as he fell to the ground, dazed and stunned.
Looking up at Jasmine while she cradled a fallen Angel, a frantic Buffy angrily demanded, "What did you do to him?"
"I gave him the last thing that I could give to this cause," Jasmine replied, with a look that almost seemed apologetic. "I'm sorry."
And then, she leapt off of the bridge in her escape, disappearing from sight.
"Jasmine, wait!" Buffy called out, as she realized that at this point, they were in no position to chase after her.
"Uh, hey, Buffy? Now would be a good time to do that ass-kicking thing you do," Cordelia called out warningly as she saw the Bringers charge towards them and the Vision Girl raised her arms to defend herself.
In one swift motion, Buffy rolled across the ground and picked up her sword while she kicked over Cordelia's axe into her hands.
With that, the two women began fighting for their lives as the Bringers began their assault, while the Beast - glancing over once or twice with bored, disinterested eyes - slowly made his way over to the still-down Angel.
The blonde Slayer began throwing herself into her work as she sliced and diced her way through the First's minions. That was quite a task in and of itself, for the Bringers weren't like your typical Sunnydale demons. Because for one thing, even though they were skilled in hand-to-hand combat like vampires - under Caleb's teachings, they had become faster, more lethal and frighteningly organized. They were pure killing machines, that worked together to attack and kill their target.
But bottom line? Buffy was still the Vampire Slayer. Maybe the greatest Slayer in history. This battle could only end one way for the bad guys - badly.
Buffy nailed one of the blind demons with an impressive spinning roundhouse kick, before twirling around and impaling another Bringer through the stomach. One of the tougher ones actually gave her a hard time, slicing and hacking at her with the deadly curved blades with speed and deadly intent. But after dodging one slice towards her throat, Buffy - catching her foe off-balance - knocked the Bringer down with a well-placed sidekick before she finished it off with a neat, yet vicious swipe of her blade across its neck, decapitating the damned thing.
"Cordy," Buffy called out to the brunette, "get behind me, or you're gonna -"
No sooner had the words left Buffy's mouth, though, than she spotted Cordelia a few feet from her - eagerly mowing down assaulting Bringers.
With a sidekick that Buffy recognized to be Eastern-based, Cordelia kicked one Bringer in the stomach before spinning towards it and slamming her axe into its chest in a lethal blow. A Bringer coming up from behind her tried to slit her throat, only for the Seer to slam her foot upwards and into its privates, stunning the blind creature long enough to haul back and decapitate it with a brutal swipe of her axe. Yet another Harbinger angrily slashed and sliced through the air at her with its knives, only for Cordelia to duck each blow before she spun around, jabbed it in the face with her elbow, drive her knee into its stomach and - taking advantage of its doubled-over-in-pain state - slam her axe upwards into the Bringer's face, the minion falling dead to the ground.
"…kick some serious ass," Buffy finished in surprise, stunned as she realized that the same girl who, quite frankly, fought like a girl during time in Sunnydale was this pure fighting machine that just dispatched three Bringers all by herself.
Off her stare, Cordelia shrugged. "What?"
Surprised for a moment, Buffy quickly shook her head. "Nothing. Just watch my back," the Chosen One muttered, as she resumed fighting the enemy.
Meanwhile, three other Bringers slowly circled Angel as he lay on the ground, twirling their knives in anticipation. The Beast had changed its mind and gone over to check where Jasmine had just jumped off the bridge, so the Bringers were going to rough Angel up a bit before dragging him over to the boss.
Their smug sense of victory was short-lived, however, as Angel suddenly flipped upwards to his feet, grabbed one of the Bringers by the neck and viciously snapped it, shoving away its corpse. One of the remaining two Bringers tried to drive its knives into Angel's chest, only for the Champion to grab both of its wrists - crushing each one in his powerful grip - head-butt the minion and backhand it to the floor.
The third one tried a futile swipe at the vampire's throat, only for Angel to duck and, using his momentum, knock it down with a deadly reverse spinning side kick. He hauled the second Bringer up by the front of his robe and - with one strong heave - tossed him over the side of the bridge, his supernatural hearing picking up the satisfying crunch of bones and splattering of brain matter from below only three seconds later.
Grabbing the last one off the ground, he picked him up and hauled him skyward and over his head, catching sight of the now-very close Beast. With a cold glare in his eyes, Angel never took his eyes off the monster as he brought the Bringer's back down over his knee, rewarded by the sound of its spine snapping like a dried twig as he threw him over the side of the bridge to join its friend.
It was like a showdown between two Western gunslingers, an old-fashioned shootout at high noon on a deserted street - about the only thing missing was Ennio Morricone music - as Angel and the Beast stared each other down, barely five feet of space and a ton of bad blood between them.
Sarcastically, the Beast clapped its hands in mock amusement. "Excellent. I was worried that your skills would diminish under the strain of my new master's plan, Angelus. I am pleased to see the opposite. I want you at your best when I finally smash you into pieces."
"Doesn't anyone just stay dead where you come from?" Angel spat disdainfully, as he skillfully kicked his sword up off the ground and into his hands, ready for battle.
"You should talk," the Beast retorted, as it clenched its fists in anticipation. "The Harbingers were merely the appetizer, vampire. Now it's time for the main course."
Angel boldly smirked. "Bon appétit, Pebbles. You're gonna choke on it."
Steel met rocky hide as the old enemies resumed their ancient battle yet again.
It was a stalemate almost from the get-go, though - Angel slashed and hacked away at the Beast's hide, his broadsword holding up well under the pressure. But the rocky demon's skin was simply too thick and too strong to be penetrated by an ordinary blade. Only the bone knife the Beast had constructed could finish him off, and that weapon was somewhere back at the Hyperion hotel.
Meanwhile, the Beast swung with deadly force at his enemy, but the Champion's much faster reflexes allowed him to evade the blows, while landing several of his own. But while Angel was strong, he knew that he could not win a battle of strength against this abomination. All he could do was ride out the worst of the brute's assault and wait for an opening.
Or a miracle, whichever came first.
With a hard swipe, Angel sliced the sword across the creature's abdomen. The Beast grunted in pain and dropped to its knees. Seizing the moment, Angel raised the sword and brought it down, only for the Beast to grab hold of the blade. Angel put all his superhuman strength into it while the Beast twisted with all its inhuman power, two colossal forces battling for supremacy.
It was a struggle of good and evil. Light and dark. Winner takes all…
…and then the Beast snapped the broadsword blade in half, backhanding Angel through the air with one powerful blow and sending the Champion colliding into the side of the bridge. Angel slumped to the ground in a dazed heap.
"Angel, no!" Buffy cried out as she dispatched the last of the Bringers with a brutal snap of its neck.
Bruised and confused, Angel could only gag as the Beast grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him up in the air, unable to loosen the creature's stony grip.
"I would have waited an eternity for this moment, yet here it is," the Beast smirked as he readied his free left hand to burst through Angel's skull like a melon. "Enjoy your trip to Hell, Angelus."
"Back off, fugly!" The Beast heard Buffy's voice cry out before her foot connected with the Beast's face, the sheer power of the blow stunning the evil thing enough to relinquish his hold on Angel and stagger backwards.
As Angel struggled to get his bearings, he saw Buffy standing between himself and the Beast, green eyes blazing, sword twirling expertly in her hands.
"Buffy," he rasped, wanting to tell her to be careful, but his damaged windpipe refusing to let the words out.
The Beast smiled in wicked amusement as he regarded Buffy. "Ah. So, this is the true Slayer. The one who has Angelus's heart. Yes, I've heard much of you. Tell me, small one, do you break as easily as the last Slayer I pummeled - or will you live up to the legends of your predecessors?"
"Ooh, predecessors - big word you're using there, Rocks-for-Brains," Buffy snarked as she sized up the much larger Beast. "Normally, I'd give you a cookie; but, gosh darn it, I'm all out, so I guess you'll have to eat this!"
She promptly jumped up and kicked the rocky demon in the face before trying her luck battling with her sword. Buffy almost regretted it, though, as her foot ached in pain from kicking its stony hide.
With incredible speed, Buffy ducked under each of the Beast's lumbering blows, landing a well-aimed punch here and a solid martial arts kick there.
"Too slow, Rock-Zilla!" she taunted the creature, though her own attacks weren't proving to be any more successful.
She had never fought anything like the Beast before, each of her sword blows clanging off ineffectively, her powerful fists - powerful enough to flatten vampires with minimal effort - beginning to bruise after all of the hard blows she rained down upon it.
It was like this thing had no weaknesses. Damn, I guess Faith wasn't kidding about this thing after all...
With a swipe of its hand, the Beast batted Buffy aside as if she was a fly, sending her skidding painfully across the bridge into a nearby car and seeing stars.
"Buffy!" Cordelia cried out as she ran to the Slayer's side, checking her for injuries. "Buffy, come on. Get up, please! You have to get -"
She broke off as the ground shook - with each great stomping footstep the Beast stalked towards the two women, grinning that awful smile of his.
Swallowing nervously, Cordelia bravely stood up and held her axe in front of her, the only thing standing between a dazed Buffy and this monster.
"B-b-back off, Stonehenge," Cordy stammered, her face set in a serious glare but her eyes clearly wide in fear, knowing that she was no match at all for this creature. "Now."
The Beast merely chuckled at her, its eyes roaming lasciviously down the Seer's curvaceous form, sending a chill down Cordelia's spine. Gross, gross, gross!
"And what if I don't?" the Beast chuckled as it stepped closer to the terrified Seer.
"Then, I'm gonna get pissed," Angel's voice called out from behind as the ensouled vampire, now on his feet, swung a detached car door into the Beast's face, knocking the demon backwards and onto the ground.
"You two okay?" a concerned Angel asked both women as he helped Buffy to her feet.
As Cordelia merely nodded, Buffy groaned as she got to her feet, an angry look on her beautiful face.
"You know what? Lava Boy's gotten on my last nerve," she said through gritted teeth as the Chosen One eyed the Beast angrily, who had already gotten to its feet. "It's time to get down and dirty."
"Singing my song, sweetheart," Angel smirked as he and Buffy got into battle formation. "Now it's time to dance."
With a tandem motion, both supernatural warriors flew towards the Beast and cracked it right in the face with dual flying kicks. So the onslaught went as they set about punching, kicking and hacking away at the menacing monstrosity, the Beast staggering under the combined assault of the Slayer and the Champion.
After another tandem kick knocked it several feet away, the Beast - realizing it was outnumbered, if not outmatched - opted for its alternate course of strategy…a tactical withdrawal.
The word 'escape' never even entered the Beast's mind, seeing as how it refused to even consider Angel and Buffy any sort of viable threat.
"You may think you've won this battle, Angelus," he taunted Angel, who was standing in battle position alongside a sword-wielding and glaring Buffy and an axe-handling Cordelia. "But the war has already been won by us."
With that, the Beast grabbed a flaming car nearby and effortlessly heaved it towards the heroes.
"Move! NOW!" Angel shouted as he, Buffy and Cordelia dived down and away - just as the car narrowly missed them, exploding into a fireball of debris when it hit the wall of the bridge.
Shaken, but unbeaten by the blast, both Buffy and Angel staggered to their feet, ready for the final round with the Beast…
…only to discover that the creature was nowhere to be found, the bridge littered with the bodies of Bringers and wrecked automobiles. Of the eight-foot-tall stone demon, there was literally no sign.
Angel's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he realized that the Beast had given them the slip.
"I really hate that freak," he muttered angrily.
Tenderly clutching her injured left fist, Buffy let out a shaky breath. "Starting to see why. Man, that thing's built like a tank."
Looking around and seeing no signs of trouble, Cordelia let out a sigh of relief. "Well, at least he's gone now."
"Yeah," Angel said with a pseudo-sigh of his own, though he frowned as he reminded the women of something else. "But so is Jasmine."
The three heroes exchanged troubled looks as the gravity of the situation had sunk in. The First had made its latest move, the Beast was back and badder than ever, and to top it off, Jasmine - the key to stopping this entire apocalypse - was nowhere to be found.
"Well," a deflated Buffy frowned. "At least things can't get much worse."
If she had only known how much worse things were about to get, though, Buffy probably would have wanted to stay on that bridge forever…
Hyperion Hotel-Kitchen
Quite a few hours later
And then, There Came A Day…A Day Unlike Any Other.
Where Earth's Mightiest Heroes found themselves united…kind of…against a common threat.
Buffy. The Slayer.
Angel. The Vampire.
Willow. The Witch.
Oz. The Werewolf.
Spike. The…Other Vampire.
Faith. Who is…Also A Slayer (huh, go figure).
Giles. The Watcher.
Wesley. The…well, okay, also a Watcher (what's with the two of everything in this group?)
Cordelia. The Seer. (Although what she 'Sees' nobody's ever bothered to tell me.)
Dawn. The Key. (I still have no idea what that means.)
Connor. The…well, I'm not really sure what he is, exactly, but I know he sure can fight like a superhero.
Anya. The Demon (well, not exactly, at least, not anymore. It's a whole thing, but whatever.)
Lorne. The…Green Demon? (Again with that two of everything deal.)
Andrew. (That's ME!) The Evil Genius (but totally reformed, honest!)
And…okay, I'll be honest, I have no idea what Xander, that Gunn guy, and that attractive Fred girl do apart from their day jobs, but I'll just assume they do something cool, since they always hang out with the superheroes, so let's just move this along, okay?
And on that day…The Avengers Were Born! To fight the foes that no single superhero…group…could withstand.
Through the years, their ranks have prospered, changing many times…mostly, because they were killed off or went evil, but whatever…but their glory has never been denied!
Heed the call, then - for now, the Avengers Assemble!
"Andrew!"
Startled from his daydream, Andrew looked up to see an annoyed Anya stamping her foot impatiently.
"You were supposed to have dinner ready half an hour ago, we're all starving here!" she huffed in irritation.
"Oh! Right. Um, coming right up!" the sci-fi nerd stammered apologetically as Andrew scurried to grab the pot roast and potatoes dinner out of the oven before it accidentally got burned.
With an uncanny grace, Wells raced out of the kitchen into the lobby about seven minutes later with a large cart, several plates of the meal and orange juice ready to go. "Okay, everyone, dinner's ready! Get it while it's hot."
Unlike this morning, however, not all of the heroes made a bee-line move to eat. Lindsey, Whistler, Anya, and Kate along with her crew and the rest of the Potentials grabbed a few plates and heartily dug in.
Xander, however, was too busy worrying about Cordelia, while Darla was still upstairs with Dawn and Connor. Willow, Giles, Oz and the rest of Team Angel were too busy either worrying about how their friends were doing at that moment against Jasmine, or pondering an emotional Cordelia's words from earlier.
Annoyed at his latest culinary delight being ignored, Andrew tried to cajole Xander and the rest of the Angel Investigations crew into joining the feast. "Hey, come on, you guys! Sitting around and waiting for the Potentials to finish off the rest of dinner isn't going to help anyone…and, and I did spend the last three hours slaving over a hot stove for you people -"
"Not now, Andrew," Xander brushed him off, his thoughts concerning his ex-girlfriend still plaguing him.
"Another time," Wesley waved him off, looking distant.
Fred, noting the hurt on Andrew's face, gently offered, "Yeah, thanks, Andrew, really - but we just need a minute. It's been…pretty intense around here."
Smiling gratefully at the pretty Texan genius, Andrew nodded. "I heard…but Buffy and Mr. Angel should pull through just fine, right? I mean, they're like the World's Finest, like…like Superman and Batman. Well, although technically it's Supergirl, because Buffy's, well, a girl, and -"
"Andrew," Giles cut him off, a slight edge to his otherwise gentle voice. "Your faith in Buffy and Angel …in a completely misunderstood sort of way… is appreciated, but…"
If Rupert Giles were a man of less tact, he would have said something along the lines of: "But they're up against impossible odds. Against a force of nature that we can barely understand or comprehend. And while it would be lovely to pretend that the heroes will win the day simply because they stand on the side of right, real life is not a comic book or a fairy tale. In reality, good doesn't always triumph over evil. Heroes can fail. Worse…they can die."
However, when it was all said and done, Giles was still the father figure of this group. And despite what his highly logical, brilliant mind told him about the probable outcome for this scenario, his faith and belief in Buffy - how he had seen her snatch victory from the jaws of defeat time and again with a sharp quip, a brutal right cross and a charming, winning smile - kept feeding the improbable flames of the thought that maybe, just maybe, the heroes might win the day once more.
So, instead, what Rupert actually ended up saying was: "But we have to hope for the best. And prepare for the worst."
"Worst being, Jasmine wins, kills off both them and the ex-cheerleader - and we're left without either your direct link to the Powers or the two most important warriors for the forces of light heading into the mother of all apocalypses," Whistler added as he made his way towards the group, while eagerly chowing down on the pot roast. "Mmm, this is good stuff!"
"Nice to see you lookin' so worried over there, Danny Devito Jr.," an annoyed Gunn bristled, the balance demon's flippant attitude wearing thin on him.
Whistler merely shrugged. "Just wanted to put it into perspective for you guys, is all."
The smirk did nothing to soothe Gunn's temper. "Yeah? Well, why don't you go perspective your ass somewhere else, Short Round?"
"Charles, stop it!" Fred snapped at him, her own temper finally reaching boiling point with Gunn's short-fused antics. "Why do you always do this? Why can't you just talk like a normal person for once, without all the name-calling and the yelling?"
Gunn, caught completely off-guard by his ex-girlfriend's unexpected outburst, stared at her completely dumbfounded. "What? Fred, I…"
The slender physics wunderkind cut him off with a wave of her hand. "Oh, forget it. I've got…somewhere else to be …"
With that, Fred abruptly stood and quickly scurried up the stairs.
Off Gunn's dumbfounded and confused stare, Lorne sighed. "Well, go on, ya big lug. Go after her!"
Gunn swallowed. Deep down, he knew that this had been coming with Fred for a long time now. They hadn't really had the chance to talk since that mess with her douchebag physics professor - the man that Gunn had killed so that Fred wouldn't have to, Oliver Seidel.
Well, guess there's no time like the present, Gunn thought ruefully as he stood up and began to follow his ex.
"As much as I hate to admit it, the tacky balance demon does have a point," Anya shrugged.
"Hey!" Whistler protested.
Paying no mind to him, Anya elaborated. "It's getting pretty close to midnight, and still, nothing from Buffy or Angel. If this Jasmine thing really did put the kibosh on them, we've got to start thinking Plan B."
"Do we have a Plan B?" Xander asked Giles.
"Right now, a Plan B would sound good," Kate relented. When Angel had pulled her aside after the madness had ended last night and explained the situation to her, quite frankly, she'd had half a mind to grab her crew and bolt back to her old apartment. Kate had never had any experience with apocalypses before. She was a (ex-)cop, and a good one…but not a warrior.
Still, Kate Lockley wasn't the type to turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble either. People's lives were on the line, and if she thought that she could save even one life by being here, then she'd be here until the end.
The former librarian was almost at a loss for words. Giles stammered, "I-I-I wish I could say that I did. But, quite honestly, Buffy and Angel were our best hope for victory. Without them…"
"…we'll have to press on regardless," Wesley stepped in, grimly. "Their loss would leave Faith and Spike as our strongest fighters, with Connor being the third option, and whatever we can find through research and magic…at least, magicks we can use given Willow's current limits."
Willow looked downcast as she took in Wesley's words. She knew how strong she was, how powerful - and yet, she also knew that while she desperately wanted to do more to help her friends, she still wasn't quite there yet. She could only barely control the power that she had right now. If she lost control and reverted to Dark Willow, with so much at stake…the redhead shuddered at the thought.
As if he sensed her discomfort, Oz caught Willow's gaze and gave her a small, but encouraging smile, making the redhead blush as she returned the gesture with a smile of her own.
Xander let out a disgusted snort. "So, you're telling me that the fate of the world might just rest in the hands of Willy Wannabite and Darth Slayer? Well, that just inspires buckets and buckets of confidence."
"Took the words right outta my mouth," Lindsey smirked, though he was just as concerned about the direness of the situation as the others. The war was about to kick into high gear, and the two star players for the White Hats might have just been wiped off the board.
"Speaking of which, anyone seen those two around?" Oz asked, looking around.
"Not lately," Wesley muttered in annoyance, as he would have liked to have both the Slayer and the vampire around to discuss strategy with them. Picking up his cell phone, Wes began sending a quick and terse text message to Faith.
Annoyed at the damned 'no signal' icon on his phone, Pryce moved towards the front door for better reception. "Hopefully, once they get this message, they can make themselves present. We don't have time to waste."
"You got that right," Angel's voice greeted him at the moment Wesley opened the double doors…revealing a bloody-mouthed Angel, who was being leaned on by a bruised Buffy and Cordelia, whose shirt was slightly ripped at the abdomen, thanks to a swipe from a Bringer's blade.
"Angel!" a surprised Kate blurted out.
"Oh my God," Wesley uttered in relief at the sight of the three heroes.
"You're alive!" Lorne and Anya exclaimed in disbelief.
"Buffy!" Willow, Giles and Xander all but shouted as they rushed forward to hug the banged-up Slayer. Well, Xander tried to rush, but what with his bad leg the guy was barely halfway there before Willow and Giles grabbed hold of Buffy tightly.
"Ow, ow, ow! Damn it guys, stop…still…banged-up…here," Buffy gasped as she struggled in their grasp.
"Oh, right! Sorry! Are you okay?" Willow quickly asked for forgiveness as she and Giles apologetically backed off.
Once assured his hero was more-or-less okay, Harris turned his attention to Cordelia - who was being engulfed in a tight hug by Lorne while being tended to by Wesley. Xander slowly limped his way over to her, concern visible all over his still-bruised face.
"Cordy, thank God you're back," he said, looking over her ripped and damaged clothes. "Are you alright?"
More out of instinct than anything else, Cordelia wrapped her arms around Xander's torso, which definitely surprised the construction worker.
"Yeah…yeah, I'm okay, thanks for asking," the Vision Girl murmured into his neck, causing Xander's cheeks to flame red before he gently hugged her back, savoring the contact and thanking whoever was doling out favors Up There for bringing Cordy and Buffy back alive and safe.
However, as he opened his eyes to see Anya's eyes slitted in a jealous rage, Xander abruptly let go of the Seer, suddenly feeling awkward as he was pinned between Cordelia's confused gaze and Anya's hurt and angry stare.
Complicated? Oh, no, my life's not complicated at all, Xander sarcastically mused to himself. All I'd need is another one of those wacky love spells, and this'd be like high school all over again...
"Angel, you alright? You look pretty banged up there," Oz asked in concern.
"Yeah, you look like you just tried your luck in the Thunderdome, champ," Lorne agreed as he, Wesley and Oz helped prop up Angel and guided him to a nearby seat, while Willow and Giles did the same for Buffy.
Off everyone's curious stares, begging them to talk about what had happened with Jasmine, Angel and Buffy exchanged small nods.
"We've got a problem," Angel started to explain.
The soul-cursed vampire then told everyone everything. The true history of both Earth and the universe, how Jasmine had accidentally created the First Evil, the planet-wide war between the PTBs and the First that had followed, Jasmine's reluctant agreement to help the forces of good once more…and, to their surprise, the return of the Beast.
That revelation immediately drew looks of shock from Wesley and Lorne.
"The Beast is back?" Wesley asked in shock. "Angel, a-are you sure?"
Clutching his ribs, Angel winced as he replied. "Well, all these cracked ribs he gave me when he was smacking me around made me pretty darn sure, yeah."
"And the road rash down most of my left side could back him up on that," Buffy rasped out as she turned her concerned gaze to her father figure. "I swear - I've never fought anything even close to whatever that thing was, Giles. At least with the Master or Glory I was able to have something close to a fighting chance, but he…it…that thing just kept taking my best shots and shrugging them off like it was nothing. Angel's as well. Even fighting it together, we didn't even manage to tickle its funny bone."
"Dear God," Giles uttered as he removed his glasses while studying the bruised appearance of his Slayer. "That is disconcerting."
"Well, in all fairness, most demons aren't really the ticklish kind, anyway," Xander quipped half-heartedly, which earned him an eye roll from Cordelia and Giles.
"Well, this is great, exactly what we needed," Lorne moaned in dismay. "Old Boulder Head's back in town!"
"I still don't get it," Cordelia cut in, trying to wrap her head around the horrid creature's comeback. "Angel, you killed that thing. It should be at the bottom of a landfill somewhere, not Frankenstein-ing around LA again."
"And yet, evidence to the contrary," Kate said, her eyes observing the cuts and bruises on Angel.
"The First. That's who must have brought it back," a grim-faced Angel hypothesised, which stunned everyone. "While I was fighting it…that thing mentioned something about a new master. Beastie didn't say who was pulling its strings now, granted, but…"
"The appearance of all those Bringers is pretty much a dead giveaway," Buffy elaborated, a deeply troubled look on the face of the pretty blonde. "That explains why they were there, and why Lava Boy was making a beeline straight for Jasmine."
"Oh, boy, this is bad," Whistler muttered as he shook his head. "The First and the Jolly Charred Giant working together? This definitely ain't good."
"No kidding," Lindsey added. "Something that powerful under the control of the Ultimate Evil? Not painting a pretty picture."
"What do we do?" a worried Willow asked. "Anyone have any ideas?"
"We get ready," Buffy grimly said, her eyes turning to Angel.
"Right. Uh, where's that bone knife? I'm sure it's around here somewhere..." Lorne started looking around the lobby of the hotel.
"It's not gonna be that simple," Angel replied, his eyes locking with Buffy's, but both of them staring off into something only they could see…the beginning of the end of this war. "It's all going to get tougher from hereon out. But we all have to be strong. And prepare. Because whatever's coming, I'm thinking it might -"
"End world peace?"
At the sound of that hauntingly familiar female voice, Angel's eyes turned to the door…and nearly popped out of his head in disbelief.
While she didn't have a clue as to who the new arrival was, Buffy could only guess from the reactions of Angel and the rest of the Fang Gang that this person was only going to be further trouble.
Wesley's throat went dry as his eyes widened in shock. It can't be...
Xander watched, surprised, as a stunned Cordelia gasped, suddenly trembling at the sight of the person at the door. Looking over to his right, he could see Lorne, Kate and even Lindsey looking surprised.
For standing in their doorway, wearing a sharp grey skirt, a scarf around her neck, a stunning white blouse with matching Manolo Blahniks and, of course, her trademark smug grin…was a woman that Angel never thought he would ever see again.
Because she was supposed to be dead.
"Oh, wait, that's right - you people already took care of that," grinned Lilah Morgan at the heroes. "But for what it's worth…Congratulations!"
Off Wesley's stunned gaze, Lilah simply couldn't help herself. "What's the matter, lover? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
TBC…
Author's Note: [And it was worth noting at this point, how this act instantly disproved one of the theories the gang had recently come up with; that it had been Jasmine sending the visions all along, that the rest of the Powers simply didn't care. Well, maybe they hadn't; but now with the First on the rampage and they themselves directly under threat of mass extinction, the other PTBs finally did give a damn about something other than just 'maintaining the balance'.]
Next: Lilah Morgan Returns…dun-dun-duuuhn! And she's bringing shocking news…and an unexpected offer. What will our heroes—especially Angel, Wesley and Cordelia—think of the return of one of their most ruthless enemies.
Plus…Spike, Faith, a bar, drinks…your guess is as good as mine!
Well, gtg. More on the way! And remember…Be Cool. Re-view!
See ya!
-Jean-theGuardian
